The Minimalist Character Sheet

That is when the first crow landed. It fluttered down, its talons curling around a branch. Then came another. Another. A parade of black settled about the tree, cawing and purring under the stars.

Cynthia Bond, from 'Ruby'

Nautolan feet v2.0

I can’t find it now, but I really didn’t like my previous attempt to draw decent swimming feet for them in 2019, so here’s version 2: T-Rex frog edition.

There ARE shoes for Nautolans, but most prefer to go without or with simple foot wraps. And whether or not they blunt their claws is up to personal preference, but it’s more common for off-world Nautolans to do so.

The Jedi in Yoda’s vision of a world at peace say so much about who he is. 

I plan on extensively yelling about Yoda’s visions in the immortality arc in the future, but for now please consider this.

Okay, getting this quick remark out of the way: it’s Katooni (the little Tholothian girl) who guides Yoda there. Children are a symbol of innocence, and what’s interesting is that Yoda takes her hand without hesitation after seeing all of the Jedi dead (and specifically Mace, Petro and Ahsoka). Throughout this scene here Yoda is the one asking questions and Katooni is the one answering - she speaks slowly and patiently, almost as if she’s talking to a youngling. –> The embodiment of wisdom manifested to Yoda (in a vision meant to tempt him through his dearest wishes) is a child. Talk about humility. 

Now please pay attention to the Jedi in the background. 

Here, the three Jedi right in the center of the set are Mace, Ahsoka and Petro - the exact three Jedi Yoda just saw dead and cried over (boy, s6 is so much fun, isn’t it?). So a significant part of Yoda’s deepest dreams is seeing other Jedi safe. He knows how to let go - that’s what this whole scene is about - but he still very much yearns for his fellow Jedi’s safety and happiness. 

Onto the even sadder part: have you noticed what’s going on here? Younglings are playing around, and the older Jedi are all talking. Quinlan with Saesee Tiin, Tera Sinube with Gungi, Anakin with Aayla Secura, and Mace with Ahsoka. And not just talking, look at the gif above! Mace is openly laughing at whatever Ahsoka said.

And Ahsoka looks at him like this. (Again, this is right after Yoda’s vision of her dying, desperately asking how the Council could expel her.)

One of Yoda’s greatest hopes is seeing Ahsoka happy with her fellow Jedi, at ease with the embodiment of authority that is Mace. 

Yoda loves Mace - he’s the first person he reaches for in the vision of the devastated Temple - and he loves Ahsoka, and part of his greatest temptation? Is to see the rift between the lost child of the Order and its Head healed. 

Same thing with Quinlan - the known loose cannon - and Saesee - another Council member. And Tera Sinube is an elder Jedi, talking to a youngling. And Aayla is “just” a Knight, almost a random one, and Anakin is chatting with her.

This follows a pattern: the rogue and the conventional, the very old and the very young, the common and the extraordinary - each pair shows opposites enjoying each other’s company, differences embraced. 

(Anakin talking to Aayla instead of sticking to Obi-Wan’s side like he does in the real world is especially interesting - he’s part of the community here, not ostracizing himself like he tends to do. Again, for this to be part of Yoda’s great temptation says so much about how caring he is. He wants Anakin to belong, more than anything.)

And finally, we get this: 

(I couldn’t make this part into a gif because of technical reasons, so enjoy the beautiful family picture.)

Once again we find that central theme of healing and wholeness. This part is what convinces Yoda to briefly let go of his (well-founded) doubts and to embrace the vision. It’s his biggest, greatest, deepest desire. The one that could have made him abandon reality itself to stay in this idyllic dream. It’s his unbroken lineage, happy, in the light. 

Yoda just wanted them all to be a family. Obi-Wan clearly adores Dooku in this scene (check it out, his awestruck look is amazing), their body language is incredibly warm and open, and they are completely at ease with each other and delighted to be sharing stories. It just screams domestic life.

And that’s it, that’s all Yoda ever wanted. For the young and the old to be content together, a community bathed in light, the gardens filled with the sound of windchimes and the laughter of children. He just wanted to have his family alive and safe and smiling. 

. . .

Dammit, I love this frog grandpa so much *sobs*

IE11 Ask Game: FFI Edition V1

How to get the fandom to talk about something: make an ask game. Reblog so that your follower can ask you stuff and you have an excuse to talk about fictional football.

Kickoff: Favourite character?

Captain: Favourite team captain?

Lineup: Favourite international team?

Bleachers: Favourite NPC (game) or sidecharacter?

Scouting: Favourite scout character in the game?

Benches: A character you’d have chosen for Inazuma Japan?

Penalty: Favourite villain?

Friendly match: Favourite friendship or character dynamic?

Cup: Favourite match?

Techniques: Favourite special move?

Baton: Favourite special tactic?

Offside: Saddest scene in the game/anime?

Halftime: Funniest scene in the game/anime?

Locker room: Favourite character’s backstory?

Relegation: A match you think should have ended differently?

Stadium: Do you have a favourite place in the anime/game?

Finalist: Which team is the ‘true’ winner of the FFI?

Header: Unanswered questions you have?

Random: Let us hear any thought/opinion you have!

This person is awesome

Ahsoka and Rex go to Tatooine

Ahsoka gets pointed to Tatooine about two years after the Empire rises. Bail is vague about it, but tells her she’ll find Someone She’s Looking For if she goes. Ahsoka brings Rex because reasons. Bail intended for her to find Obi-Wan, because he’s heard about training bonds and one time Obi-Wan mentioned Ahsoka had formed a minor one with him, but he doesn’t know enough about the Force to realize she’d be drawn directly to Luke instead.

So one day, Beru and Owen just open the door, toddler in hand, to see an exhausted, distraught former Jedi a good decade their junior on the step, with an clone soldier, eyes fixed on Luke and looking like she’s about to cry.

For a particularly high level of drama, this wasn’t planned, and Bail had only told her that she could Find Allies on Tatooine if she ended up in the absolute worst possible situation (she is pretty much the only person he felt deserved to know there were allies on Tatooine at all), and what actually happens is that Ahsoka passes out like two seconds after the door opens and Rex is left holding the bag of “how the fuck do I explain the thing.”

Rex gains a bit of favor by explaining about the chip in his head after Owen demands an explanation because last he heard, the clones had turned on the Jedi on the Emperor’s orders, and Beru and Owen have enough knowledge of slavery (and Beru’s family has been freeing people for so many generations) that the story of what happened during O66 on Mandalore immediately wins Rex some points, at least enough for someone to go get Ben.

This is the point at which I admit that this was partially driven by me thinking about one of those “Cody finds/is found by Obi-Wan on Tatooine, gets de-chipped, they end up Husbands” AUs and me really wanting post-O66 Ahsoka crying on Obi-Wan while he awkwardly explains to the Lars family that this girl is Basically His Daughter

Probably while Ahsoka’s passed out in his lap.

Also I want that dramatic moment of Owen telling Obi-Wan that someone showed up “looking for Jedi” but not really explaining much, just enough for Obi-Wan to panic and jump on a speeder with Cody in full armor and with a blaster because Owen doesn’t seem worried enough for it to be imperials but what if and then he shows up and instead it’s Ahsoka, exhausted and injured and unconscious, but it’s his grandpadawan.

He freezes when he sees her, almost doesn’t even parse that Rex is there until the man starts talking, and then he backpedals, grabs Cody from outside where he’s helping Owen secure the speeder, and shoves him into the building because Brothers.

(In Owen’s defense, he had a vague idea that there were millions of clones and had no reason to assume these two in particular would know each other.)

There’s a Keldabe kiss with some tears that everyone later denies happened, and Obi-Wan just goes over to sit with Ahsoka and push some healing energy into her body until she feels well enough to wake up. Luke toddles in and basically just gets passed around between Beru and Owen and Obi-Wan. He gives Owen and Beru an abridged explanation of how they all know each other and how Jedi families work, which leads to Beru declaring that if Ahsoka was Anakin’s adopted family, then she’s family to the rest of them, too, by Tatooine standards. And since Rex is a brother to Obi-Wan’s husband–

“Your WHAT?” Rex demands.

“Husband, vod'ika, keep up.”

Anyway, everyone’s family somehow but the important part is reuniting clones and having the disaster lineage crying on each other because I have seen those screenshots where Ahsoka canonically refers to Obi-Wan as her adoptive father when talking about him to strangers post-O66 and sure that’s arguably just her reframing to fit the conversation and her audience, but also. Like. That’s Her Dad.

Monstrous Love

~

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous // Fortesa Latifi, We Want To Be Ruined // Mashmello, Silence // Richard Siken, A Primer of the Small Weird Loves // Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak // Leah Reader, Black Iris // Azra T., via thelovejournals // Florence and the Machine, Howl // Helen Cixous, Stigmata: Escaping Texts // Casey MxQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue // Georges Bataille // Charlotte Bronte, in a letter to Ellen Nussey // Yves Olade, Bloodsport // Andria Zabala, Coffee and Cigarettes // Caitlyn Siehl, Start Here 

I wish you'd write a fic in which for once Myles is the one who gets to give Jaster grey hair! I feel for him lol.

“I cannot believe you,” Jaster says, muffled where his face is buried in his hands. “One week of leave and this—this—this is how you come back?”

Myles weighs whether he should be ashamed of himself, considers that last time Jaster got himself kidnapped because he pissed off a culty group of guardians around an ancient shrine, and promptly decides he regrets nothing. “I was only the Sith Emperor for three days before true love’s kiss broke the spell, it was fine.”

“Fine,” Jaster repeats, pained, and raises his head, leveling an incredulous look at Myles. There’s possibly more grey in his hair than there was a week ago. Myles should likely feel bad about that. He doesn’t. “Fine. Myles, you conquered a planet.”

“It was a small planet,” Myles defends. “Practically a moon.”

“You raised a fleet of Sith ghosts.”

“Revan was a lot politer than the stories say,” Myles says mildly, and only partially for the way Jaster practically twitches at that, his desire to shake Myles down for every single detail warring with his need to yell. With great amusement, Myles watches his jaw twitch, the vein in is forehead throb, and doesn’t grin, but—it takes more self-control than anything has in a very long time.

“You,” Jaster manages after a long moment of struggling with himself, “raised a fleet of Sith ghosts, took over a planet, threatened the Republic into handing over a Jedi, and then married him.”

Said Jedi, leaning back against the wall and looking entirely unbothered by this whole thing, raises a brow but doesn’t comment.

“That’s slightly out of order,” Myles says, and it’s kind of a defense. “We met before the Sith…incident. On my first night of leave. And Agen realized what was going on and broke the spell eventually.”

Jaster closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. Myles is intimately familiar with that expression and the headache it’s meant to ward off, mostly because his beloved Mand’alor inflicts it on him frequently, and he tries hard not to let his smile slip into a smirk.

“But not before, of course, you gave every corner of the holonet enough material to sustain the one-credit romance novel industry for the next decade.”

“I've been informed that some of the offerings that have already come out are surprisingly decent,” Agen says, and Myles is going to kiss his husband square on the mouth.

As soon as they’re out of the office, maybe. If he tries it right now, Jaster's head might explode, and that would defeat the purpose of torturing him with this for the rest of his natural life.

Jaster stares, blank-faced, at Agen, like he expected nothing but still had his hopes crushed regardless.

Myles doesn’t laugh in his Mand’alor’s face, because it’s much more fun to laugh behind his back. “Revan said he’d visit after the honeymoon,” he says, perfectly mild. “And Agen knows that Jedi you were making eyes at—”

“Mace Windu, my lineage brother,” Agen puts in dutifully.

“I was not making eyes at him,” Jaster says, all deep offense and indignation, like Myles can't see him grab for a stylus and scribble the name down on the edge of a pad. “And I am not giving you time off for a honeymoon. In fact, I don’t think I'm ever going to give you so much as a single solitary day off ever again, if this is what happened after one week of vacation—”

Myles rolls his eyes. “I'm taking my husband back to our rooms,” he says, pointed, right over top of Jaster. “And you are not going to bother us for at least three days, or I’ll tell Arla that you chased off her first girlfriend.”

Jaster's face leeches of color. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try it and see,” Myles says, unwavering, and steps back. when he offers an arm, Agen takes it delicately, practically radiating amusement, and Myles smirks back at him, then turns precisely and leads him out the door.

The last thing he hears from inside is Jaster's long, despairing, heartfelt groan.

[On AO3]

Heimdall is a SAINT.

Imagine being Heimdall and having a spirit so generous that you could sincerely say “welcome home” to the individual who once turned you into an icicle and is now showing up 15 minutes late without Starbucks to the apocalypse that he sort of started.

Freemor/Alpha-17 fluff whit alpha loving his jedi

The weight against his side is sun-warm, there are gentle breaths against his collarbone, and Alpha has his blaster resting on his knee, ready to shoot the first idiot who thinks about making a smart comment and waking his Jedi.

And if that doesn’t work, the fact that he’s spinning his favorite knife between his fingers should probably get the message across nicely.

Rex, who was never one of Alpha's trainees, apparently nevertheless has more brains than most, given the way he’s keeping his head down and very determinedly not looking anywhere even close to Alpha, even when Feemor shifts and stirs. Alpha doesn’t bother moving from the chair he claimed, even though it’s probably supposed to belong to the planet’s king; the old bastard can eat bantha shit for all Alpha cares, because it’s a huge, pretentious thing, and just about the only chair in existence that he’s ever found that’s big enough for both him and Feemor to share. And it’s nice, having Feemor curled against his side, legs hooked over one of Alpha's knees, fast asleep like at Alpha's side is the safest place to be in the universe.

Entirely pleased with himself, Alpha curls his arm a little more tightly over Feemor's shoulder, resettling him against his chest, and Feemor hums, drowsy and exhausted and content. It makes Alpha press a lingering kiss to his bright hair, then smooth a thumb over the edge of a sapphire-blue tattoo he can just see through a rip in the shoulder of Feemor's robes. He idly rolls the knife over the top of his hand, rests his cheek against the top of Feemor's head—

With a clatter of entirely unacceptable noise, the door slides open, and Alpha's least favorite trainee ever says loudly, “—get karked, Wolffe, we’re not staging a ground operation just to soothe your ego—”

Rex's head jerks up, horror flashing over his face as he signs abort abort abort with increasing desperation. Alpha knew he liked the little brat for a reason.

“It’s not about my ego, it’s about routing the damn Seps—” Alpha's other least favorite trainee says just as loudly—

Alpha's knife buries itself in the edge of the holotable, two precise centimeters from Cody's hand.

“Voices. Down.” Alpha bites out as Cody and Wolffe both freeze, their gazes snapping right to him. Mildly murderous, Alpha scowls at the pair of them, stroking Feemor's shoulder with soothing passes of his knuckles, and dares either brat to test him.

Much more quietly, Cody clears his throat, sidestepping carefully as he eyes the blaster resting on Alpha's knee. “Sorry, sir,” he says, barely audible, and Wolffe swallows, nods, and keeps his damned mouth shut, just the way it should be.

With a grunt of satisfaction, Alpha sinks back into the chair, and when Feemor stirs he immediately turns to resettling him. “Easy,” he says. “Just go back to sleep, you're going to get your idiot self killed one of these days if you keep not sleeping.”

Feemor huffs, but sinks back down, one of his hands skimming Alpha's chest in a clumsy brush that trickles his gratitude and love through Alpha's mind. “Be nice,” he mutters, but his breathing is already evening out again, and Alpha snorts softly, kissing his forehead. It’s only partially because Cody and Wolffe are both staring at him like they’ve never seen a bastard in love before.

“Never,” he says, and catches Feemor's hand in his own.

[On AO3]