I Think, Therefore I Am (exhausted)

For Trimberly, prompt list 9, prompt 9, "this isn't my safe space, you are"

Trini sat sideways in the pterodactyl zord seat with Kim stretched out across her in her lap. She wove tight arms around her girlfriend and kissed her forehead softly.

The fight had been terrible. Watching Kim's zord spin down in a fiery blaze when Trini could do nothing but push forward and keep fighting. In the back of her mind, Trini knew Kim would be okay. The zord would protect Kim and keep her safe. But the flames had been huge, red, orange...and pink.

Trini sighed and pressed her face into Kim's neck and held her tighter. She heard Kim's breath hitch and ran her fingers through Kim's hair. "Feeling better yet, Princess?"

"I don't know," Kim murmured. "It's like...I was back there. In our first fight. When we were-" She sucked her lips in.

"The fire," Trini said. She understood. She had the same flashback. The heat, the inability to move, the knowledge of your imminent death... "I've got you, baby, I've got you. You're not there anymore."

"I know," Kim murmured.

"Alpha updated the zords to be more fire-retardent. You were covered in flames, but...you weren't gonna burn."

"I know."

"Yeah, you know, but are you hearing me?" She pressed her lips to Kim's temple. "You're safe. You're safe here. Our zords love us, they protect us...they're our safe space."

Kim curled up more and leaned into Trini's arm. "No," she whispered.

"No?"

"This isn't my safe space, Trin. You are."

"Oh, Kim." Trini held Kim's face in her palm and made Kim look up at her. "You're mine, too. You have been from the moment we met." Kim looked back at Trini with damp, blinking eyes.

"I am?"

"You don't know that by now?" Trini smiled slowly. "I only feel like the real me when I'm with you. When I talk to you. When I text you. We've been Rangers, what, four and a half years now? That's four and a half years of feeling the safest I've ever felt."

"Me too," Kim whispered.

Trini's hand moved and her fingers ran the scope of Kim's jaw and to her chin, which she lifted up and leaned down to kiss her lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kim said, initiating a longer kiss. They broke, mouths still parted, and sighed into one another. "I like being in here with you. It's the most peace I've ever felt."

"We can stay here as long as you need."

"Just keep holding me," Kim said softly. "And keep kissing me."

"My pleasure," Trini said, a smile on her face as she took Kim's lips with her own again.

The struggle is real (x)

He had a name before he was assigned to a battalion, even though everyone called him Shiny until he proved himself in battle. Though once he did earn the right, he decided to stick with the name given to him by the other cadets.

“I’m called Two Tone,” he told his Captain, who raised an eyebrow. To the silent question, he shrugged. “No one told me why.”

And that was the truth. He wasn’t inclined to whistle or sing. He got the name long before he reached the age of his voice cracking in forced puberty. Just one day in class, one of his batchmates laughed and called him Two Tone, and it stuck.

Somehow, he never figured out why he was called that until after a joint battle with General Unduli and General Kenobi, fighting to take back a planet from the Separatists, at the request of the local government. Everyone was giving him weird looks ever since he had painted his armor, and he just told himself it was probably because of the design. He always had problems getting it correct on his armor, and he didn’t want to ask someone for help, so he was stuck with his own quality.

Cleaning up after the fight was normal, trudging around the battlefield to find any fallen comrades and equipment, seeing the medic if hurt, packing things away again. Two Tone thought it was weird when he didn’t bump into anyone from the 212th, but figured it was because they might have been on the other side of the battlefield. He did his best sticking to his brothers as things began to get loaded into the LAAT/is, tired and quiet as he road the drop ship up to the Venator.

He assisted with unloading things, feeling the ship shudder faintly as it transitioned into hyperspace, though his movements came to a halt as he saw General Kenobi walking by the area. Frowning, he turned to the Clone beside him.

“Why isn’t General Kenobi with the 212th?”

The Clone frowned at him. “This is the 212th…”

Two Tone prided himself on being levelheaded, so when he started to panic so hard that General Kenobi came to an abrupt stop and looked at him, he was proud that he didn’t run away or collapse or simply imploded.

“Are you all right, dear one?” General Kenobi asked and a part of Two Tone’s mind was amused to learn that the rumors were correct about the endearing terms the man used.

“I apologize, sir,” Two Tone managed to squeak out. “But… I was assigned to General Unduli… I’m on the wrong ship.”

General Kenobi’s head tilted to the side curiously, glancing over Two Tone’s armor.

“Have you been tested for colorblindness?” the General asked curiously.

***

“Deuteranopia colorblindness,” Obi-Wan said, giving Luminara a faint smile. “The poor man was so embarrassed. Evac tested him and decided to do a ship wide test. Apparently colorblindness isn’t too uncommon among the Clones.”

The holo of the Jedi Master shook her head, a fond sigh escaping her. “When he painted his armor orange and green, I thought he was living up to his name. I am glad to hear that we hadn’t lost him in battle.”

“No, just temporarily misplaced,” Obi-Wan said with a chuckle.

“Joint custody then, until you can return him to me?”

“Well keep him safe, I promise you.”

Secret Clones AU

Short version: Secret Clones AU is the clones going into hiding in plain sight across the galaxy to force a fair wage and also to keep the babies safe from Kaminoans

The clones figure out the plan to take advantage of them, brain chips, etc. several years before the war hits. IDK how, maybe Jango decided to take a closer look with Mij and went Oh Shit. Doesn't matter. Point is, they caught on and decided that they needed to uhhhhh get Out.

There are millions of clones, yes, but there are tens of thousands of planets.

Once the chips are out and someone's jabbed them with anti-aging serum... they're not that different from standard humans.

And it's not exactly hard to tie up the Kaminoans long enough to get off planet.

So what happens is that a while, let's say a year and a half, before the war kicks off, you have a mass exodus from Kamino, and a wide dispersal of clones. They are generally staying together in groups of about half a dozen, claiming to be brothers, so that there's a 16-18-ish looking clone to take lead, with progressively younger cadets to look after. Each one has a commander they can 'report' to in case of emergency, and if something goes real bad, they can call in an Alpha (and Alphas can call in Jango in a worst case scenario).

It's still sort of a military structure, but... it's a phone tree.

And you have one of these groups of half a dozen clones in every major city. There are thousands of planets, and most of those planets have more than one city. Denon and Coruscant are nothing but city, so they can get counted as dozens of cities on their own. It's easy to disappear in places like that.

It's so easy for the clones, before anyone knows them, to just... disappear. Go into hiding in plain sight.

It's not like more than a handful of people know what to look for.

(It's not like they have a centralized record of who went where.)

(It's just the phone tree.)

They still get real excited-happy-eager when they run into a Jedi.

They want to work with Jedi. They're the good guys! And they're cool!

But your army did a mass desertion before the war started and finding/recruiting all of them is going to take a stupid amount of money. You cannot hire a bounty hunter for each and every clone.

And as @bytebun put it:

Somebody two years later: you look …familiar. Have we met? Clone: haha I get that a lot just one of those faces

AND THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE THE GALAXY IS HECKING MASSIVE

I think the Republic has to like… negotiate with Jango and the Alphas and set up paid contracts if they want these Ultra Skilled Warriors to fight for them.

The clones can fight. Some of them even want to fight. They are good at this and they recognize that many of the things that are occurring under Separatist invasion are Mega Bad.

But like. Pay them and treat them as citizens, first.

The Jedi are even more confused about this identical army that really loves them than they are in canon Where the heck did you guys come from Who trained you Why do you like us What the heck is going on

"Someone wanted us to be a trap for you but we took the trap out. Here we have a sample if you want. Anyway. We like you guys and want to fight with you because honestly civilian life is way understimulating. Let me punch a droid."

I think a few of the clones do 'scouting' where they voluntarily help a Jedi in the field to gather information on their validity as Friends. Cody keeps a number of spreadsheets that are just Various Jedi Encounters.

Rex does a scouting mission with Kenobi&Skywalker and just goes to Cody like "Listen. I know he's insane. But. I want that one."

Rex just "I call dibs" "Cody. Cody did you hear me. Dibs, I call dibs."

@catboydogma: stats for pong krell are all zeroes

Absolute shit tier Jedi They play rock paper scissors to decide who has to deal with him

A solid half of the clones don't get recruited because the lack of advanced aging (past a certain point) means they're physically still minors and My Dad (Alphas and CCs) Said No. They stay behind on their various planets to look after The Real Babies.

"Let me ask my dad" "Wait--" "He said no."

Just want these boys to have Civilian Lives they can return to or at least experience before war gets them all fucked up.

I think some of them try to Make Connections with influential people (whether politicians or like... Space Influencers) so they have people vouching for them once the war kicks off. And there can be at least some public pushback on functionally enslaving them.

"I can't believe you manipulated people into liking you! That's so mean!" "Well you see. I wanted to survive past the age of eleven. So."

As someone who lives in the US, they’re not wrong.

Lmfaaooooo Norway just called the US a dusty ass bitch and they ain’t wrong

Powerful Women+Classical Elements:

Earth: Grounded, Stable, Focused, Disciplined

Warrior Nun fandom, the sisters of the OCS wear something similar to a hakama for their battle gear. It’s not a skirt. I noticed this when Beatrice was fighting the guards at Arq Tech.

Part 3/7 - Previous / Next / First

Track: ‘Soldiers’ - Otherwise

Wolffe didn’t understand what was happening when Plo Koon was suddenly handing him his lightsaber. And he still couldn’t quite put the pieces together when he noticed Cody go flying through the air under Padawan Tano’s guiding force. But he definitely understood the tightness of fear in his chest when Rex and Cody ran directly at the Sith Lord who had just beaten one of the strongest Jedi he knew to exist.

“Son,” Plo Koon's voice cut through Wolffe's fear, a sense of calm in his storm, and dragged Wolffe back to the Kel Dor and his offered saber. “Your family needs you.”

Wolffe's world shifted to an odd halt as he considered what was happening. Thoughts that haunted him flooded through him, bit at the edges of his mind with doubt. What was he going to do? What could he ever do?

Wolffe has felt useless before, has lost everything in an instant. He has watched his brothers die often enough to wade constantly in hopelessness. And he remembers fruitlessly hugging his brothers close when they were all just cadets, wishing for an option other than the trials for war. There were so many times Wolffe, the supposed strong and intimidating commander he was, had only felt pointless and worthless. So many times he had cried to the galaxy to give them all something to hope for, something to make all the pain worth it.

And yet, Wolffe realized in a bright instant, he always had it. In his stillness he remembered how Plo Koon called him son, and meant it as much as Wolffe did calling Plo his Buir. How after each battle he would come back to the 104th and be greeted with just as much warmth from his brothers as respect, finding strength in each other. That at the end of the day, it was his family that had always kept him fighting, striving to stay hopeful and survive. It always had been and always will be his family that makes this life worth living, and he would do anything and everything to keep it that way.

Wolffe locked eyes with Plo Koon for a moment just long enough to convey everything he knew the Jedi could already see clearly. And as the world came crashing back to him he took the saber without an ounce of hesitation. 

Alpha-17 and Obi-Wan being friends (derogatory) on 17's part and friends (threatening) on Obi-Wan's part is such an underrated dynamic

They could be so funny and terrifying, like Obi-Wan went through a soul shredding experience with Alpha-17 as his only company. They're friends because what else are you gonna be after you witness each other at absolute rock bottom from torture.

It's like 'dog put in cage of cheetah who's threatening to go crazy', except the dog is a grizzly bear and also threatening to go crazy.

Emotional support trooper except the trooper in question has never done any sort of supporting in his life and is actively an emotional distress trooper to a great number of the CC batch.

I want them texting everyday, I want Obi-Wan mailing handmade BFF bracelets to Alpha and Alpha sending pics back of him flipping off the camera but still wearing them, I want Alpha using Obi-Wan to keep track of and occasionally terrorize his cadets, I want 17 ending problems in the GAR (like Krell) before they begin because Obi-Wan has him shipped out on a personal transport at the first opportunity, decked out with slug-throwers Obi-Wan got him for his decant-day.

Natborn officers think this is all just an odd indulgence of General Kenobi, the Vode, however, correctly identify it as a goddamn threat and their danger assessment of Obi-Wan ticks up significantly.

When Alpha arrives on Kamino, Shaak Ti presses a shiny new comm into his hand. It has the Jedi Order symbol painted onto it alongside a smiley face sticker, and it pings immediately with a new message: Hello! I hope you're settling in well!

Alpha stares at the message, stares at the singular contact named 'OWK' and then stares Shaak Ti in the eye as he pitches the comm straight into the ocean. Shaak Ti's serene smile only grows larger as she calmly reaches into her robes and pulls out an identical comm, only this one has a frowny face sticker, and presses it into his hand. It lights up: I'm afraid we've bonded, Alpha :). Alpha shuts it off and pockets it with resignation.

Cody arrives on Alpha-17's personal recommendation.

A-17: He's the most difficult little bastard I have. You're perfect for each other. OWK: Thank you, he's very handsome :3 A-17: No. Stop.

The first thing he asks once he gets comfortable is who his general is texting so much that has him swinging his legs and twirling his hair. Cody assumes it's Anakin, given they seem joint at the hip anyway, but little does he know Obi-Wan's ability to consistently have the Weirdest Relationships Ever.

"Oh, it's Alpha-17, I understand you're familiar with each other?" Hmm. OK. Cody.exe is experiencing a processing error, please hold. He exits the room instead of answering. The next day he peeks over the General's shoulder when he's texting and sees walls of rambling messages from Obi-Wan. Alpha-17 replies every hour with a single text: Lose this number. Obi-Wan giggles. "He's so funny." he says.

When Obi-Wan meets the rest of the CC batch, Cody makes sure to stand perfectly angled so that he can record the reactions when his general cuts off their introductions with "Oh, no need, Alpha-17's told me all about you." It's always immediate FEAR.JPG followed by a slow spiral of What The Fuck.

What do you mean by that General. What does that mean Cody. What do you mean they text. No. Cody. What the fuck is happening, Cody. Alpha-17 doesn't have friends he has enemies and enemies he tolerates enough not to shoot on sight.

OWK: Wolffe reached for his vambrace? when I mentioned you A-17: That's where he keeps his spare knife. OWK: Hm that does explain the way he eyed me up, ambitious. A-17: Clearly not enough, he should have followed through. I taught them better.

The crispiest F*ck You I’ve heard from Chyler