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Kaas City shines in the rain.

The Republic news always shows it as grim and forbidding, endlessly smothered by floods. But anyone who’s lived here knows the city was built to be beautiful in a downpour. Gutters made of strengthened glass, refracting light into shining patterns as the water courses through them; funnels and spouts that catch the rain it trickles down buildings, channelling it into fountains.

Lana shines in the rain, too. But then, Lana always shines.

Neyna doesn’t bother to hide her smile as she leads Lana out onto the balcony of her apartment. This feels like the right place to talk: appropriately dramatic, what with the drumming of the rain on the canopy above their heads, and the city a shimmering artwork all around them. And here, she gets to see Lana in the light of the city. See the highlights and shadows thrown over her face. It’s a breathless experience – even though her robes are soaked and her hair’s sticking to her face – and Neyna very badly wants to kiss her.

She wonders if Lana has noticed her repeated glances towards her lips. Probably. Hopefully.

‘You didn’t have to come here in this downpour,’ Neyna says, leaning against the parapet. ‘Or if you did, you could have taken a taxi with a roof.’

‘I took the first one I saw as soon as I learned you were home.’ Lana smiles, and stars, Neyna will never get over what that does to her insides. ‘I wanted to see you as soon as I could. Besides, you didn’t have to buy me flowers, either.’

She’s still holding them, a explosion of amber-coloured petals – which, Neyna is delighted to see, match her eyes perfectly. ‘I did, really. It seems like the least kind of apology I can make for apparently-dying on you. And for taking so long to let you know I was alive.’

Lana is silent for a moment, her fingers twining around the flower stems. Then she says, ‘I missed you.’

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Deep Pressure (Meredith/Lexie Grey)

The nature of Lexie and Meredith's relationship can be up for interpretation in this one, there's no overtly sexual or romantic things happening, but because I was imagining them as together I've tagged it as such, do with that what you will.

When Lexie has her breakdown after the shooting incident Meredith helps her be able to relax and fall asleep. Also Lexie is autistic

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When Meredith stepped into the room she heard soothing melancholy music pouring from the tinny speaker of Lexie's phone, Jenny Owen Youngs, the same albums Meredith had heard her listen to on repeat after she and Mark broke up. Meredith bent down towards the hospital bed to see if Lexie's eyes were open.

"Lex, hey, how you holding up?" Meredith's gentle voice added to the floaty sensation of the drugs in Lexie's system.

Lexie gave a small sad smile and looked down. She didn't need to say the words out loud, they'd both been a hell of a lot better.

"I heard you had a rough morning." Meredith took a seat on the bed next to her. Lexie nodded looking up at her sister with brown shining doe eyes. "Can I touch you?" Meredith's hand hovered near Lexie's face, waiting for another nod before smoothing it over blond locks.

Lexie put her hand on Meredith's leg, giving an appreciative squeeze. Now more than ever she was relieved to have someone who knew how to be comfortable in silence, and who understood that sometimes when things were too much Lexie couldn't even figure out how to form the words with her mouth, in this case the drugs made it even worse. Her big sister was the only one she could even bear to have around her in this state. Lexie whimpered as Meredith removed her hand and pulled away.

"Hey, don't worry I'm not going anywhere, I'm just going to look at your chart." Meredith grabbed Lexie's hand off her thigh, rubbing her thumb over the back of it as she flipped open the chart with her free hand. "Discussion with patient suggests sleep deprivation may have been a catalyzing factor or possible primary cause of the incident. Well, I could've told them that much."

Lexie raised an eyebrow.

"I can hear you puttering around at all hours, you're not as light on your feet as you think." The teasing comment brought a smile to both their lips. "Though I might not be sleeping so deeply myself these days." The moment of joy melted back into the coldness of their reality. "Want help?" Meredith crossed her arms in an x over her chest, the sign they developed for Lexie to non-verbally ask for deep pressure. Something Lexie had looked into after a somewhat surprising tip from Cristina.

Lexie nodded emphatically. Meredith's heart warmed and broke for the precious creature before her all at once.

"OK, straighten out, like a log." Meredith ordered. "Don't give me that look, just do it. I have an idea." Meredith quickly slipped into the hall to grab a fresh warm blanket, once it was draped over Lexie she started wrapping it around Lexie's legs and tucking it under her torso. Seeing her little sister sigh with relief before she even took her place spooning her, drew a chuckle from Meredith. Once she had Lexie wrapped in her arms, hugged tight against her chest, leg wrapping to rest over Lexie's hip, she found herself letting out her own tense lungful of air, demonstrating just how elevated her own parasympathetic nervous system was despite her even keel.

"Psst Meredith." Cristina's whisper roused a glaring Meredith from heavy slumber. "Hey wake up, it's time to go home, I'm driving."

"I can't just leave her!" Meredith whispered angrily.

"Mer if you don't keep it together and take care of yourself you're gonna punch your own ticket to the psych wing." Cristina slipped into a more normal volume in order to be heard over the truck engine caliber snoring now coming from Lexie. "Then who's she gonna have to take care of her? Just me."

"I'm not sure if that's a threat or a sweet show of support." Meredith raised an eyebrow mockingly.

"Yeah well if you end up in psych you'll take just as long as sleeping beauty here to get cleared for surgery, so let's go, chop chop."

"She doesn't even have her weighted blanket. What if she freaks out and can't calm down?"

"Wait here." Cristina slipped out of the room and returned a bit later with one of the lead aprons used to protect against xrays. "Heavy as balls." Cristina handed it to Meredith to drape over Lexie's legs within reach in case she wanted to pull it further up. Meredith printed a clear note:

Had to go home so I could be ready for work. Text me at any hour and I'll be there in a flash, will check in with you as soon as I get in.

Love, Mer

Then she folded like a card so it could be propped up in Lexie's field of view, before leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"I hate to leave her like this." Meredith watched her thoroughly sedated sister snoring and dead to the world.

"I know." Cristina grabbed Meredith's hand to say what she couldn't with words before guiding the still groggy Meredith to the car.

I’m a total sucker for fics where Harry is dark and gets sorted into Slytherin, but I’m also really disappointed with how Ron and Hermione are treated in them

So: dark au where the trio is sorted into Slytherin

Hermione, who wants to use knowledge to change the world

Ron, who wants to finally be free of his family’s shadow

Harry, who wants to be great, to be admired, to be free

The teachers adore quick, clever Granger, but Severus worries when he sees the way she eyes the restricted section, how her mind is filled with deadly recipes and the ways to use them

The purebloods learn not to badmouth the halfbloods, not to bully the muggleborns, because Hermione knows forbidden magic, Hermione knows the untraceable poisons and the painful curses-and Hermione knows how to avoid being caught

No one outside of Slytherin pays attention to Ronald Weasley, so quiet compared to his brothers, and that’s a mistake

Ron casts his first dark spell and the power takes his breath away, Ron sinks into the comfort of blood rituals and makes outlawed sacrifices to forgotten gods

Ron wonders how his family could abandon this happiness in favor of a flickering light

Harry, the chosen one, the special one, the abandoned one

Harry looks at the light, looks at the people that did nothing for him, and dives into the dark

Lockhart dies drinking poison, Snape finds the trio huddled around Peter’s body, the aurors that find Umbridge’s remains vomit, and the Wizarding World doesn’t notice

Voldemort rises and does not face an old man and a group of do gooders

Voldemort rises and faces a witch with a brilliant mind and no taste for mercy, a wizard that delights in bloodshed and manipulates people like he moves chess pieces, and the broken, bloody boy that’s won their loyalty

Voldemort falls

Au idea

Obi-wan 'I see dead People' Kenobi.

The boy has always been able to see the ghosts of past jedi and sometimes even a dead sith or 2.

Little 4 year old Obi-wan looking Master Yoda right in the eyes and telling him that fucking Jedi Knight Revan thinks his ideas are dumb and he says Obi-wan should go be a pirate. (Once Revan realized Obi-wan could see and hear him he was like 'im causing problems on purpose' just to rile up the council)

Fucking Tarre Viszla is constantly nagging him about getting armor (he does eventually give in to this)

The day he looked at the council and parroted some heretical ideology from a jedi 1000 years dead was the day Qui-gon was like "this is my child now". He had to fight Madam Nu for him. The match was a tie. They have joint custody.

For the longest time everyone thought Obi-wan was making shit up but that got quickly thrown out. It's hard not to believe it when he's spilling the beans about something Yoda did when he was 3 that only Yoda's Master and crechemaster should know about.

Shit gets less funny and more scary when the fucking Sith Ghosts come to talk to him. Obi-wan coming to his crechemaster like Darth Immolation just tried to coerce him to the darkside again and wont go away, he just wants to eat his cookies and drink his juice in peace.

Jedi ghosts and Sith ghosts fucking bickering whenever they are forced to interact. Its mostly Darth Whomever being bullied by the Jedi until they go away.

Jedi Shadows having to dust off the 'How to banish Sith Ghosts' manuals that haven't been touched since just after the last sith war.

Qui-gon slowly learning how to communicate with the dead jedi as well. Hours spent in the archives. In sith ruins. In jedi ruins. On Jedah. Qui-gon getting heckled by a gaggle of dead jedi every time he fucks something up once he can see/hear them.

Obi-wan and his posse of dead jedi masters. Their connection to Obi-wan gives them the limited ability to interact with the physical world. So spooky ghost shit is always happening around him. They will hide your shit if youre being rude to their grandson/padwan/bff/only-connection-to-the-world/whatever the fuck he is.

Anakin shows up and he learns to hear them in the force. This somehow leads him to avoid Sheev and go to therapy. The ghosts bullied Qui-gon and Obi-wan into therapy too.

Obi-wan explaining to his clone troopers that no he isn't crazy. He is talking to the ghost of a jedi that has been dead for 1000 years about battle tactics. No really. Ask the temple healers and the rest of the council. Yes Boil ghosts are real. Please calm down. Yes theyre the ones that left the creepy note on the fresher mirror about washing your hands.

Oh fuck. The Living Council having to come to terms with the fact that Obi-wan being on the council means they now have a Dead Council they have to deal with. Mace has never been more entertained than when listening to Obi-wan argue with Yoda on their behalf. He should start bringing snacks.

Obviously this saves the galaxy. Somehow. Most of the ghosts are from a time around the last sith wars? They can sniff out any sith business when Obi-wan is close to it? One of them find Sheevs lightsaber? Idk.

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."

me

yes i am smart. yes i am stupid. it’s called being flexible.

WandaVision is just Wanda's fixitfic, EveryoneLivesAU, and I think its time we discussed that.

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. 

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