#they like both Jai and Zare but you are the favorite

[x-reader-things]

“You’re our son—” (Spider-Man AU - part 3)

Part One ; Part Two

Ezra Bridger x gn!Reader

Summary ; In which Hera tells you both the plan of action.

Requested? ; No! Part three of the AU that I talked about in my last post- :DDD

Warnings ; mention of Kanan’s master Depa Billaba getting killed. Also not much of a warning, but found family things w / Hera, specifically- <33333

Word Count ; 1.3k

——————————————————————

The explanation was small, and straight to the point. After a couple years of living with the Ghost Crew, Ezra figured out that long winded explanations wasn’t the best route to go down when talking with Hera.

He and Kanan heard from police scanners that ‘The Inquisitor’ was at it again, terrorizing others on a subway train for whatever cause he was trying to pull them into (something something ‘Empire’ or whatever. Ezra didn’t pay too much attention). The both of them swung their way over, got to the subway station just before the train went off on its way, and swung in just in time.

And just before the police got to them too, thankfully. They really don’t appreciate a vigilante when they see one. Luckily, Hera had some pull to help them out of trouble.

While Kanan was busy getting citizens in the subway car, Ezra was busy fighting ‘The Inquisitor’ on his own for the first time.

Bad decision, because he ended up getting thrown onto one of the seats, and his mask got ripped off, which revealed his identity to the ‘Big Bad’ he was fighting. Not that The Inquisitor knew his name, but he definitely knew his face now.

And now yours, too.

Because you were right there, unbeknownst to both heroes and the villain. Hidden in that corner, shielding yourself and your groceries with only your school bag. And you visibly and verbally reacted when you saw what happened.

It doesn’t even take an idiot to realize that you knew who Ezra was once the mask was taken off. Especially when said idiot was The Inquisitor. Which was a no bueno with Kanan and his rules.

After all, he lost his teacher - the only motherly and parental figure he had - Depa Billaba, because something similar happened to him years ago. He never really explained what happened to Ezra. All Ezra knew was that a lot of people were killed that day because of it. Including her.

Kanan could never live it down in the slightest, because of that. He wanted Ezra to always be careful with his mask when going out in the city as another Spider-Man, just in case.

Which, in turn, probably made this situation a lot worse, the more Ezra thought about it.

Hera hummed, mouth pressing into a thin line once Ezra finished his explanation. “Ok… that makes this, well, a little bit more difficult than I thought.”, she said thoughtfully.

She placed the warm ceramic cup down onto the table, and sat up fully. “But, that doesn’t mean this can’t be fixed.”

“Y/n”, she said, turning to you. “You’re gonna have to lay low here for a little while, ok?”

“Wait - what?”, you furrowed your brows, looking at all the grocery bags on the table in front of you. “What about these? Or - or my parents? Or school??”

“We‘ll have that covered, kiddo, don’t worry.”, she smiled at you. “I’ll have Sabine and Zeb drop them off later on today, and we can call up your parents to explain the situation. I work as a consultant for the police, and this house is a designated safe house just in case for situations like these. We have a guest room you can stay inc and You and Ezra can still go to school. You just have to be driven there instead.”

“But the—“ Hera cut you off again.

“I know, I know, the traffic sucks.”, she pointed a thumb to the rooms behind her. “Kanan and I know our way around the city on the roads. So does Sabine, if we can’t drive you guys. It’ll be fine.”

The smile she gave you was one full of sincerity and hope. It was… oddly calming, to say the least. Then again, she always had that effect on you. And Ezra (not that he would ever admit that to Hera herself though. You, however, are a different story).

You took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. It calms you down, before the rush-in of loud thoughts could make their way into your head again. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.

You’ve had sleepovers there before, anyways. It’ll be just like those. Just… a really long winded one, until The Inquisitor is off your’s and Ezra’s tail.

“As for you, Ezra Bridger”, Hera continued once again, her voice taking on a sterner lilt. “No going out as Spider-Man with Kanan for a while. Not until we have the situation with The Inquisitor under control, alright? Do you understand me?”

“What?”, now it was his turn to question the decision made. “Oh, c’mon Hera, it was one slip-up—“

“One slip-up that could easily get you and your best friend either hurt or in danger, or - hell - even both”, she told him, gesturing to the both of you. Her tone grew more serious, more urgent the more she went on. “Kanan and I aren’t willing to risk it, Ezra. Your our son—“

Ezra’s eyes subtly went wider. The amount of conviction in Hera’s voice struck a chord in him, one that he sometimes forgets he has.

Family.

The concept is still so new to him, even if it’s been a few years.

“—much like how Sabine’s our daughter. And Y/n may not be apart of this family, but we care about them just as much as you do. We need you both to be safe. This is the best course of action we’re able to do right now, alright?”

Ezra sighed, shoulders visibly deflating. Hera was right; you both knew that. It was the best course of action, and there wasn’t much either of you could say about it. Not right now, at least.

And it’s not like he minded being out on house arrest either. Especially if it was with you. It could be fun, if things went smooth enough.

Hopefully.

“Alright”, he agreed, albeit a hint of reluctance still hung on to the edge of his words. “If this is the best course of action to keep us safe then… I guess it’s fine. Right?”

He looked to you.

“Right.”, You gave a reassuring nod, brows furrowing upwards afterward for a moment in a silent question. He nodded back at you, reassurance there and clear as day for you this time.

Hera’s face softened up, a small and relieved smile turning the corners of her mouth up. “Good. It’s settled then. I’ll go get Sabine and Zeb to grab the groceries and bring them to your parents, Y/n. In the meantime… think about dinner.”

She stood up from her seat, bringing the cup of coffee with her. “Usually it would be my turn to choose what to have tonight, but I’ll leave that decision with you”, she raised her cup in your direction. “After all, it was this bucket-heads fault for getting your into this mess.”

She lightly flicked Ezra’s ear. He let out an indignant noise, and brought a hand up to his ear, staring at Hera with a look of utter betrayal.

“Hey!”, he exclaimed, pouting a little bit. “What was that for?”

“You know why, Ezra.”, Hera gave him a pointed look, and turned back towards the kitchen. On her way, she glanced back at you again. “Think about what you want for dinner, sweetie. It can be anything you want.”

You smiled brightly at the thought. Hera chuckled fondly at the sight, and opened the door to the kitchen, closing it behind her once she stepped over the threshold.

Ezra slowly turned back to you, his hand still rubbing his ear. Flick or not. Hera’s strength stung.

“Soo… what’re you thinking about for dinner?”, he asked you. The casualness of it all made you both fall right back into the usual comfortability, as if nothing big happened between you two, or the family in the house you were in.

The bright smile you had stayed clear as day, only enhanced by the setting sun blaring through the blinds behind you.

“How does Chinese food sound?”, you asked, leaning your forearms against the table.

Ezra always thought sunsets were beautiful. This one was just as lovely.

“Sounds perfect.”

His own smile radiated back at you, like the glare of the moon reflected back to the sun.

[lightsabersandkatanas]

I was tagged by @sagethedreamer. I’ll tag whoever wants to do this.

I’m also going to use three muses for this. Derp.

1 is Star, 2 is Kallus, 3 is Ezra!

1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME? “Starkiller.”

“Kallus.”

“Ezra!”

2. WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME?

“... Um... Galen Marek.”

“Kallus? Again?”

“Ezra Bridger?”

3. DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE CALLED THAT? “I don’t really know exactly.”

“Nope.”

“My mom and dad just liked my name.”

4. ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN? “You mean this AU specifically?”

“Taken.”

“I’m single.”

5. HAVE ANY ABILITIES OR POWERS? “I can use the force.”

“Is trucking people an ability?”

“I’m still in training with the force.”

6. STOP BEING A MARY SUE/GARY STU. “WHAT?”

“I really doubt I’m that...”

“What the heck’s a Gary Stu. *Someone tells him* I AM NOT!”

7. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR? “Brown.”

“It’s... Amber? I think?”

“Blue as blue can get.”

8. HOW ABOUT YOUR HAIR COLOR? “It’s black.”

“It’s... Strawberry... Blonde...”

“I have no idea. Blue?”

9. HAVE YOU ANY FAMILY MEMBERS? “Yes, but my bio family is dead. I have a new one though, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Sage and Nyx are my adopted daughters, and I have my mother. Don’t care much for my father.”

“I have the Ghost crew, which is Hera, Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper. And then there’s my family with Star.”

10. OH? WHAT ABOUT PETS? “I have a huge three headed dragon called Prince.”

“I have a Trico named Static.”

“Does Chopper count? If not, then I used to have a Loth cat.”

11. THAT’S COOL I GUESS, NOW TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE. “Vader...”

“Imperials...”

“Maul...”

12. DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE DOING? “Well... Hmm. I go out to the wooded area near my house.”

“Making sure Nyx doesn’t blow anything up.”

“I have an activity of training.”

13. EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE? “Yes...”

“Yeah...”

“Not yet... *Kallus looks at him* Okay, maybe a little.”

14. EVER… KILLED ANYONE BEFORE? “Mhm...”

*Kallus looks away*

“Yeah...”

15. WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU? “I’m a human.

“Human.”

“Human????”

16. NAME YOUR WORST HABITS. “Candy... I literally brush for 4 minutes instead of 2 because... Yeah...”

“I tend to mess with my bo rifle, sometimes I shoot holes in the ceiling because I poked the trigger a little too hard... There’s still holes in the ceiling and Star gets frustrated...”

“Fiddling with my lightsaber’s hilt and turning it on... I’ve nearly set the house on fire a few times.”

17. DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE AT ALL? “Myself actually.”

“To the rebellion to better myself.”

“Kanan.”

18. GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL? “I have no idea if you add Alex in there...”

“Bisexual.”

*SHRUGS*

19. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL? “Nope.”

“I graduated a long time ago.”

“No.”

20. DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS ONE DAY? “I have enough kids to take care of in my own house...”

“I already have a couple girls.”

“Ehhhh...”

21. DO YOU HAVE ANY FANBOYS/FANGIRLS? “YES.”

“I have a protection squad...”

“UM. YEAH?”

22. WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF? “Losing my friends.”

“Thrawn and Tarkin.”

“Losing my family...”

23. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR? “That old flight suit I have. It’s not that bad to wear.”

“Usually a long sleeved shirt and pants.”

“What I usually wear is some gear I made myself.”

24. DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE? “Family counts.”

“I love my daughters.”

“Family!”

25. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WET YOURSELF? *ALL THREE STARE IN UNISON*

26. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? (HIGH CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, LOW CLASS) “I’d say we’re not really high class?”

“I don’t think so...”

“Least likely.”

27. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE?

“Do you really want me to count?”

“I’m making a few.”

“Yep! I have my family here, and Zare and Jai nearby!”

28. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE? “Yes please!”

“Ehhh...”

“You have one?”

29. FAVORITE DRINK? “Usually just soda.”

“Caf, or something that doesn’t make me drunk the moment I drink it.”

“Star’s restricted me to soda until I’m of age.”

30. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE? “The cafe. It’s also where I work too.”

“Probably where Star goes, there’s no light polution, and you can see the stars above you.”

“The house. It’s my home.“

31. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOMEONE? “Not at the moment.”

“Of course I am.”

“Yes.”

32. WHAT’S YOUR BRA CUP SIZE AND/OR HOW BIG IS YOUR COCK?

“Excuse me?”

“... Why on earth would I tell you that.”

“NOPE. NOOOOOPE.”

33. WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR THE OCEAN? “Lake.”

“Ocean.”

“I can’t really swim, but I heard the ocean is nice.”

34. WHAT’S YOUR TYPE? “Do I need to tell you that.”

“...”

“Umm...”

35. ANY FETISHES? *DISGUSTED LOOKS*

36. SEME OR UKE? TOP OR BOTTOM? DOMINANT OR SUBMISSIVE? “... What are these questions?”

*Blushes brightly*

*SQUINTS AT YOU IN SLIGHT RAGE*

37. CAMPING OR INDOORS? “Camping.”

“Combo of both.”

“Mostly indoors.”

38. ARE YOU WANTING THE QUIZ TO END?

“PLEASE.”

“If there are any more disturbing questions, than yes...”

“Depends on what questions there are... More fetish shit?”

[jasonfry]

Notes: Rebel in the Ranks, Pt. 1

WARNING: These notes will completely spoil Servants of the Empire: Rebel in the Ranks. If you haven’t read it, stop and go here.

(Here are notes for the first book in the series, Edge of the Galaxy.)

On the surface, Rebel in the Ranks seemed like an easier project than its Servants of the Empire predecessor, Edge of the Galaxy. With the first book, I’d had to introduce Zare Leonis and his family and show how an Imperial poster boy was plagued by doubts and finally decided to resist the Empire. Rebel seemed like an easier lift – that work had been done, and about a third of the new book would be based on “Breaking Ranks,” the Star Wars: Rebels episode that introduced Zare.

I was wrong about the easier part, I think because Rebel was a larger story that needed to incorporate an adaptation. I had to work up to moments in “Breaking Ranks” that the show used as starting points, explain some things that worked on TV but not on the page, and figure out how to go beyond an adaptation without drifting into filler.

I learned a lot and it was a lot of fun. But not without some nervous moments.

Prologue: The Intake

The prologue’s main purpose was to catch the reader up on what had happened in Edge of the Galaxy: we get a quick review of Dhara Leonis’s disappearance, Zare attending Lothal’s Imperial Academy under false pretenses, and that Zare’s girlfriend, Merei Spanjaf, is helping him.

Exposition is the bitter medicine of storytelling, so you want to cover the taste with a little sugar. One technique is to deliver the exposition through dialogue, ideally as part of a conversation that has some other purpose and its own tension. I couldn’t do that everywhere here, as Zare has to keep secrets from Sergeant Currahee. But it works because Zare is essentially having a conversation with himself even as he’s answering Currahee’s questions.

The section also spins up the wheels for what's to come -- the most effective scenes do more than one thing. The reader meets Currahee, who’s straight out of central casting as the tough-as-nails drill instructor. And both Zare and the reader are tantalized by the possibility that the truth about what happened to Dhara is close at hand, maybe even displayed on the datapad that Currahee can see but Zare cannot.

We also get something new: a question that Zare, the reader and Currahee herself didn’t expect. Currahee asks if Zare ever dreams about his lost sister. What could that mean? We’re not going to find out, though – at least not yet. Currahee welcomes Zare to the Empire, and off we go.

Currahee’s name is an homage to Band of Brothers – it’s the name of the first episode, and an actual mountain in Stephens County, Ga., that paratroopers from Camp Toccoa had to run up and down.

Part 1: Orientation

Merei and Zare’s stories necessarily unfolded in parallel, as Zare is stuck at the Academy – a limitation that worked fine in Rebel but would nearly be the death of me in the third book, Imperial Justice. Fortunately for both books and the overall series, Merei had evolved from a supporting character to a main one who could hold her own with Zare – a happy accident I discussed in the notes for Edge of the Galaxy.

My starting point for this section was Ezra Bridger, AKA Dev Morgan. When we see "Dev” in “Breaking Ranks” it’s clear that he’s a new cadet. Maybe the Rebels producers intended the exercise in “Breaking Ranks” to be the first day of orientation, but it didn’t feel that way to me. But if Dev was a newcomer to the ranks, whose slot had he taken?

The answer to that question became Part 1, with Zare assigned to Unit Aurek with three other cadets: Jai Kell, Nazhros Oleg and Pandak Symes.

Jai’s role in the story was a straight line to the events of “Breaking Ranks” – he’s a talented, happy-go-lucky cadet who believes in the Empire but has no idea he’s Force-sensitive. Basically, he’s what Dhara was before she suffered the fate Jai must now avoid.

Oleg was a more interesting nut to crack. In “Breaking Ranks” he’s literally a faceless villain – we never see him with his faceplate open, undoubtedly to avoid stretching the animation budget. 

“Oleg” sounds like a first name, but the forms of address used in “Breaking Ranks” made it clear it was a last name, so I called him “Nazhros.” I suspect the starting point for Nazhros was “nauseous.” In creating names, I like taking words that get at something fundamental about the character, then fuzzing up those words. I learned that from George Lucas himself, who once explained how “Darth Vader” emerged from blending “Death Father” and “Dark Water.” (The Secret History of Star Wars found a high-school classmate of Lucas’s named Vader, but that’s not necessarily a contradiction – we subconsciously channel stuff all the time.)

I crafted a bit of a backstory for Oleg to set up a payoff in Imperial Justice and to give the character a bit of shading. Oleg is basically an abandoned child who’s been left in the indifferent care of his uncles. I intentionally didn’t go too far beyond that – the world is full of antisocial jerks whose stories of how they got to be antisocial jerks are depressingly simple. I also wanted to be true to the show – doing more with Oleg helped my story, but doing too much more with him might have wound up feeling like an inversion of the episode.

That left Pandak Symes. Pandak arrived “pre-doomed,” fated to be replaced by an undercover Ezra. But in that I saw a story to tell. The Zare we meet in Edge of the Galaxy is a natural leader who inspires, instructs and cajoles his grav-ball teammates into becoming league champions. His instincts would be to do the same as an Imperial cadet, and he’d try to help Pandak through his struggles.

That gave me not one but two obstacles for Zare. The first was obvious – the physical and mental rigors of boot camp, which would show Zare gaining strength and discipline and demonstrating his gift for leadership. But there was another wrinkle: boot camp was designed to turn out officers for the very Empire that Zare had sworn to defeat.

That put Zare’s instincts in collision with his goals, which was a dilemma not just for him but also for the reader. Zare helps his fellow cadets because of a basic decency that makes the reader root for him, but that same decency drives him to work against the Empire. There’s a queasy tension there for both character and reader.

My other major character was created to heighten that tension. Lieutenant Chiron is “the good Imperial,” a capable leader and mentor for Zare and other cadets. (In Greek mythology, Chiron is the wise centaur who tutors Heracles, Achilles, Jason and other heroes.) Chiron’s good qualities are real, but undermined by a fatal flaw: his inability to see that the system he supports is evil and cannot be reformed. From the beginning I knew that Chiron would be part of the series’ endgame, so I got to work early.

Quick notes on Part 1:

The book’s working title was The Rogue Cadet. I liked that, but Rebel in the Ranks tied in nicely with “Breaking Ranks.”

Merei’s alarm is a song she hates -- a treacly ballad called “With You Among the Stars.” I thought that was a revealing and funny character moment for her. The song is by Plexo-33, a band mentioned way back in HoloNet News. Heavy isotope was mentioned in the first Medstar book.

Chiron’s speech about “every morning in the Emperor’s service” was a goof on Sergeant Apone’s oorah call-to-arms in Aliens. Which, of course, was itself an homage to innumerable boot-camp stories. Currahee yelling at Pandak about his shower shoes, on the other hand, was a nod to Bull Durham, my favorite baseball movie.

I needed to map out the Academy system a bit here, and drew on The Essential Guide to Warfare. Lothal isn’t the same kind of academy Luke wants to attend in A New Hope – Zare is only 15. Rather, Lothal is a one-year junior academy, with those who do well going on to a regional senior academy. The course of study at a regional senior academy would typically last three years, with top cadets graduating to specialized service academies for officer training within a branch of the Imperial military. I kept all this a bit vague to avoid tying future storytellers’ hands. 

Chiron and Currahee transferred to Lothal over the summer from the Imperial Academy on Marleyvane. That meant there was no way they could have been involved in Dhara’s disappearance, increasing the tension as Zare tries to reconcile the idea that there might be “good” Imperials with their support of an evil system.

Note Unit Forn is all-female. We don’t see female cadets in “Breaking Ranks,” but we know they exist – Dhara was one, after all. And female officers and stormtroopers are increasingly common in Star Wars storytelling – something I explored in Warfare.

I turned to the cutaway view of a stormtrooper helmet in The Complete Visual Dictionary to figure out the positioning of the atmosphere intake and the suit-air intake, then checked it approximately 8,000 times to make sure I hadn’t reversed them in my mind. Just checked it again, even though it’s years too late. Make that 8,001.

There’s a quick reference to seatroopers -- a stormtrooper class introduced in Legends -- helping the cadets. I described them sparingly to give future storytellers as much flexibility as possible.

In the obstacle course, Zare directs his unit to switch between wedge and file formation. I read up on the relevant tactics for scenes in Rebel in the Ranks and Imperial Justice, but didn’t go beyond the basics here to avoid slowing things down. That happens a lot as an author – you do a bunch of research that winds up getting boiled down to a sentence or two. But if that makes that sentence ring true, it’s worth it.

Zare’s sports experience comes up a couple of times in this section. He describes his tactics in the obstacle course as a weak-side carry, and accepts Pandak’s departure after Chiron compares the cadet’s weakness to a grav-ball teammate not making plays.

Next up: Naming confusion and the mechanics of a successful computer hack.