𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐡!𝐎𝐛𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧(𝐎𝐀)(2/2)

Pls what 😭😭😭

AU where Xanatos is "redeemed by the power of cute," but it's actually a psychological whammy caused by Obi-Wan being supernaturally adorable as a species-specific juvenile defense mechanism, and is functionally immediate brainwashing by the 13yo who doesn't know that's what he's doing.

Tbh this is mostly just Defense Mechanism that makes Xanatos harmless, but in a way everyone finds very concerning and uncomfortable because it's kind of mind control.

Someone (@dracothulhu) asked if it was related to Mimic Spider AU, and it is not! Mimic spider AU is just "ohhhh you wanna fuck me so b--PSYCH! EATING YOU."

This is more "I'm a little baby, I'm SUCH a little baby, you don't want to hurt me, you could never hurt me, I'm so adorable I'm so cute doesn't it just kill you to think about hurting me?"

Mimic spider AU is just Hot and Confident. This is straight up Mind Whammie.

@threebea also thought brood parasitism, and offered:

I'm trying to figure out a reason for the Stewjoni to have like brood parasitism where they will stick their young with other families for awhile before picking them up Used to do it to Mandoalorians all the time, and it's part of the reason the Mandalorian adopt anything stereotype got so strong. Stewjoni looking at Jedi: those seem parent shaped here you go

Which is great, except I actually started with the idea of it being kind of the inverse!

(That said, I won't actually say no to the brood parasitism option.)

Xanatos: had been about to kidnap and put him on a deep sea mine now is feeding him pudding Is it he's acting normal but doing weird things or is he suddenly talking to Obi-Wan like he's an adorable puppy

He's kind of zoned out.

Xanatos: look at him so cute Omg Obi-Wan: standing there Xanatos: kriff I don't have a camera - also from threebea

Also cuddles! Which Obi-Wan actually Does Not Want. But if he's Very Very Still then maybe Qui-Gon will find him and fix this.

Like if a tiger held and groomed you and you just were waiting Very Still for the zookeeper to distract it and/or load up the tranq.

After the days he's had he'd perhaps like a cuddle but not from this guy Lol Xanatos: so soft The effect only works on humans and near humans so it didn't work on the hutt and (can't remember the other species) on the ship

We can say it works through the Force and that's why the Hutt is immune.

"Stewjoni are targets of slavers" but specifically for illegal adoptions. It's lucrative, because most bounty hunters last about twenty seconds before they give the crying baby back where it wants to go.

And most of the immune ones get caught by planetary defense forces.

So if you CAN steal a baby, the profit margin is insane, since it's so damn hard to do, but the baby up for illegal adoption is sooooo cute.

(…this concept would be hilarious with one of those "Tor adopts baby Ben Kenobi to turn into a weapon" AUs. Still a shitty childhood bc Death Watch can justify a lot under the umbrella of Teaching Self-Defense. But interesting.)

IF YOU HAVE READ TWILIGHT: do you remember the bit about vampire babies being so cute that people would let them slaughter entire villages without a qualm?

It's like that, except Obi-Wan doesn't have dreams of mass slaughter and it only really activates as a Threat Response.

I guess the evolutionary trigger is it's kind of a paralytic You can't move far from where you stole the kid

Which is exactly right!

I have a vision.

Okay, so, we all love Star Wars time travel fics. They're great, and I've read like, 50 of them in two days.

So. Obi-Wan travels to the future. From the Clone Wars to, oh, 10 years into the Empire era. Directly to Mustafar. Directly to Darth Vader's private chambers. Right in front of Darth Vader, who is currently helplessly floating in a bacta tank.

And the first thing he says is "oh Force, Anakin! What happened to you?"

And the first thing Darth Vader says is "You did this."

From Obi-Wan's perspective... well. Obi-Wan can feel it in the Force that the Jedi are gone. Anakin is grievously injured in every way possible, and he's telling the truth that Obi-Wan was responsible. They are on a remote planet, on which Anakin is obviously hiding.

Obi-Wan puts two and two together and gets twenty-two.

"I Fell. Didn't I, Anakin? I did this. All of this."

Obi-Wan explains away Anakin's obvious Darkness as a result of the trauma of watching his Master, brother and best friend become a Sith Lord. And, because Obi-Wan is duty-driven, selfless and above all a man who loves punishing himself, he immediately agrees to help Anakin hunt down his older self. Actually, he suggests it.

Darth Vader is caught in a conundrum. On one hand, he hates Kenobi almost as much as he hates himself. On the other hand, Kenobi is willingly admitting that this was all his fault and not Vader's (which is what Vader already believes anyways, and it's nice to have validation even if Obi-Wan is, technically speaking, wrong), and if he can just keep Young Obi-Wan on his side, he could overthrow Sidious...

Hilarity ensues. Vader tries to keep Obi-Wan from finding out the real truth while desperately lying to himself and Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan is too caught up with blaming himself to actually look at the situation they're in, and, of course, if Vader just managed to be honest with Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan was able to return to his time, this whole mess could be averted.

I know Mark Hamill is too old to play Luke pre-sequel trilogy now and it's probably too expensive to keep using tech to de-age him.

But.

I feel angry on Luke's behalf that he's mostly forgotten about now in canon. Luke became a Jedi and brought Anakin back to the Light Side and it's kinda like Star Wars has just gone "thank you, next" and discarded him?? It's his storyline to rebuild the Jedi Order but they had him mess that up and passed over his storyline to Rey. It's like they've decided Luke's only value was saving Anakin and now that that's done they don't care about him anymore. Justice for Luke Skywalker. He deserves so much better.

fool's gold

part 2, with part 1 included :)

--

“It cannot be stressed enough how dangerous this news is.”

General Madine leveled a flat glare towards the Rebels, who were nodding thoughtfully. Luke wanted to scream. “It appears we as the Alliance have a new enemy—an unknown enemy, one who has yet to strike, but one who will clearly be formidable. After all, look at his father.”

Yeah, huh, what must that be like? Having Vader as a father? Of all the—

“It is our understanding that not even the Empire knows the identity of Vader’s child. Whoever they are, they’ve been kept well under wraps. Obviously, if their identity were to be revealed, they would be in extreme danger. It’s no wonder Vader hasn’t advertised their existence. Being his offspring would come with a myriad of built-in enemies.”

Great. Oh, great. It didn’t help that Leia had murmured agreement to that. Little did the Alliance know that Vader’s enemies were so numerous they technically included his son. Not that Luke was about to share that little fact with the group. He raised his eyes to the ceiling.

“The media is also champing at the bit to find out more. No one knows anything. No one knows the age of the being, no one knows the species—much like with Vader himself, even the most basic of details are a mystery.”

A mystery even to the child himself, Luke thought miserably. He didn’t know anything about his father either. Well, besides the fact that he was (1) tall, (2) dark, and (3) evil, and, oh, that’s right, he’d been Anakin Skywalker once upon a time. Somehow, Luke got the feeling that information wouldn’t smooth over any ruffled feathers.

Why didn’t you tell me, Ben, he thought unhappily for not the first, second, or even thirtieth time. He felt as if he had been led blindfolded, not with a knife to a blaster fight, but with nothing to a, a nuclear event. The information had definitely dropped with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb.

Wedge spoke. “Are we planning to devote any resources to finding them, whoever they are? Or are we just going to wait to see if they make an appearance?” Unsettled murmuring rose in response at the thought of a Vader 2.0 waiting in the shadows. Luke tartly thought that, much like the man himself, the Alliance was going to be disappointed. The last time Luke had pulled out his lightsaber in a fight, he had lost a hand. Catch him repeating that experience again anytime soon. That, and, uh, Luke had all the trained finesse of a wobbling baby bantha foal. He exhaled gloomily.

General Madine sighed. “It’s hard to say at this point. If Vader has trained his child—if that child has Vader’s powers—I don’t have to state that they are an extreme danger to the Alliance and its mission. Vader himself is enough of an enemy for us, let alone Vader doubled.”

Vader doubled—Luke’s mouth dropped open in offense (and a little bit of humiliation at how far Madine has missed the mark as to the threat level), but he clamped it shut before anyone noticed. A moment too late because Leia shot him a funny look. Luke tried to smile at her to cover it but knew from her expression of unimpressed all over that he had probably just looked constipated.

“We’ll keep everyone updated on our strategy,” Madine finished. “High Council is still discussing how we want to approach it.”

“Well, I think the best defense is a good offense,” Wedge muttered, lowering himself back into his seat.

“I’m on the same page,” Madine nodded. “I suspect that’s where the Alliance will land.”

Luke decided he didn’t like the direction the conversation was heading. “I mean, is it really necessary? Vader’s,” barely catching himself before he said son and blew everything to hell, “child hasn’t done anything yet. What if they aren’t a threat?”

They aren’t, he added silently in his head. Not only because Luke’s politics and sense of morals were about as far away as his father’s as possible—forget opposite end of the spectrum, between Luke’s Vader’s lay the entire spectrum, if you asked Luke—but also because…well…Luke didn’t know anything. Baby bantha foal, indeed. Vader could squash him like a bug. Leia could squash him like a bug. Although the thought was unpleasant, embarrassing, and a whole other pile of disagreeable words, Luke presented no threat to the Alliance.

“Luke,” Leia’s voice was patient, which meant that Luke had just said something she considered idiotic but that she wasn’t going to hold it against him. “It’s Vader. Any child of his would almost certainly be a powerful Force sensitive.”

“Yeah, kid,” Han languidly stretched out his feet, having leaned back in his chair during the entire conversation with his characteristic idleness. “I’m with her Worshipfulness on this one. I ain’t eager to sit back and let some nightmare creature of the dark sneak up on us.”

Nightmare creature of the!!—Luke knew he had zero right to be so offended at the entire conversation but also thought sulkily that anyone would be a little insulted. Well, except Vader, probably. Which made Luke wonder for a split second how Vader felt about his general image as a whole, but then he shook off the thought. Anyone who still cared about how they lived at all wouldn’t do what Vader did on a normal weekday.

After a beat, Luke just shrugged in surrender, letting the conversation wind on without speaking again. The Alliance would piddle away resources (Luke had tried to stop them, he really had), and Luke already knew they wouldn’t find anything worth noting. In the meantime, he’d try to live in peace. As much peace as someone being intently hunted by both sides of the war could.

--

“I bet he eats infant limbs for breakfast.”

“Hey, it could be a girl too.”

“I bet she paints her face in blood then.”

“I bet they suck the blood of their victims.”

“Hey, that’s vampires,” Luke objected halfheartedly, speaking for the first time since the Rogues’ conversation had begun. Lunchtimes weren’t as fun lately, not since the news of Vader’s child had swept through the base. Not that anything was much fun after Bespin, but if Luke had learned anything from missions with Han, it was that things could always get worse.

“Yeah, but for all we know, Vader could be a vampire.” The pilot’s mouth was flecked with sauce as he continued. “Mebbe that’s why he wears the suit. Can’t be in the sun.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Luke said flatly, but everyone else was nodding thoughtfully.

“Whoever it is, I don’t envy them,” Wedge commented. “Vader is hardly going to win parent of the year awards.”

It was the first sympathetic comment Luke had heard, and it nearly made him tear up. Finally—

“Not that it matters in the end. The jarra fruit never falls far from the tree,” Wedge took another bite of his sandwich decidedly. “You know, Luke,” he mused, “They probably are aware of your existence, given how Vader has hunted you down.”

Luke stiffened—the remark toed too close to uncomfortable truths, but no one blinked an eye or wandered after the thought to its logical conclusion.

“Yeah, it’s a good thing the Rebellion is searching for them. Vader’s child could be after you too, for all you know,” Tycho remarked. “They might view you as an enemy, same as Vader.”

This—this was ridiculous. “I think I’m good,” Luke said weakly.

“If you say so,” Tycho shrugged. “But given your status as the pilot who destroyed the Death Star and Jedi trainee, whatever you call ‘em, I’d watch my back if I were you.”

Oh, Luke was, but for entirely different reasons than Tycho was thinking.

“Don’t worry, Luke,” Wedge said kindly. “You have us to watch your back. You aren’t going it alone. Vader’s child won’t hurt you, not if we have anything to say about it.”

Luke didn’t know what to say other than thanks.  

Their lunch was interrupted by a summons to a briefing room.

“Gentleman,” Madine greeted, Leia standing beside him. “We’d like to update you on where our search stands. We’ve compiled a list of potential identities for Vader’s child.” A holoprojector flickered to life in the front of the room. “First, we have…”

What followed was an indescribable mix of assassins, warmongers, Imperial hands (Luke noted the red haired one), and various other slightly to very murderous galactic citizens. By the end of it, Luke was simultaneously relieved and insulted. Relieved because the Alliance was nowhere closer to guessing his secret, and insulted because—

Luke blinked. Shifted uncomfortably. Wondered if perhaps he wasn’t getting enough sleep. That had to be it; there was no other explanation for the mysterious disappointment that—

“Luke, are you coming?”

“Yes,” Luke said quickly, leaping up to follow Leia and leave the room and any awkward realizations behind him. This would die down soon enough once the Alliance failed to find anything.

--

Or so he thought, until a month later, when Leia came marching up. “I have news.”

“Oh?” Luke said distractedly, eyeing the fencepost he and Han had been trying to hit with rocks for the past hour. Han had soundly been kicking Luke’s ass. Luke sighed. Destined to suck even at throwing pebbles.

“It’s about Vader’s son.”

That got Luke’s attention instantly. His head snapped towards Leia, who was gazing down at her datapad. Han, for once, leaned forward with interest instead of lazily reclining.

Son? They had already found out it was a son?

“We also weren’t expecting to have so much luck so soon,” Leia responded, Luke realizing he had accidentally blurted his thoughts out loud in a panic.

He rocked back on his feet with a tentative, “That’s good.”  Or not. It was in fact, bad. Very, very bad. But nothing else about Luke’s life was going well for him at the moment, so he just wearily accepted that this was going less than amazingly too.  

“So, what did you actually find?” Han interrupted impatiently. “The kid and I were busy.”

Leia shot him a scorching look, then briskly pulled up something on her datapad. “Our spies in the Empire have informed us that based on communications between Vader and the Emperor, Vader’s child is a boy. Vader frequently refers to him as one.”

Oh, that was all. Luke could have told them that. After all, Luke actually---

Luke shoved down the thought before it took off. He didn’t like anything about Vader. Nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. He would have even told the Alliance Vader's son hated him out of sheer spite, if it wouldn’t blow his cover (? As much of a cover as someone’s real identity could be) apart.

“Huh…welp, one step closer to finding him,” Han meandered to find another pebble, clearly bored with the conversation once it was clear no other information was forthcoming.

“Yes. We’ve managed to eliminate half of our list of potential identities.”

Half of zero was still zero, Luke thought comfortingly.

“You know,” Han said reflectively, “You could cut down the list more by focusing on known Force sensitives.”

Wait—

“We’ve actually already planned on doing so,” Leia’s tone said she wasn’t about to be outdone by Han. “But thank you for the suggestion.”

Wait—

A lazy grin. “Anytime, your worshipfulness. In fact—”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Luke cut in loudly (and desperately).

Both Han’s and Leia’s eyebrows shot up.

“Luke…” Leia began after a beat, “I know this must be stressful for you, knowing that Vader likely has his son after you too—”

“But, kid, I wouldn’t sweat it,” Han finished. “If Vader hasn’t gotten you yet, his son isn’t gonna either.”

Luke didn’t respond. He was staring down at his hand. A silence fell as Han and Leia watched him.

“Vader won’t touch you,” Leia said fiercely. “Never again. He’s scum, Luke. He’s scum, and one day, we’ll defeat him. I know it.”

It should have been comforting. But Luke just felt sick. He knew what Leia meant by defeat. Doing otherwise was unthinkable. Yet somehow…

“Him, and his son,” Han added.

Luke was done. After dropping a curt, “Sure,” he walked off, shaking his head while muttering.  He felt Han and Leia’s eyes on his back but ignored it. They wouldn’t guess the truth. No one had. Luke scowled and kicked at the ground. No one could believe that he and Vader had anything to do with each other. Luke knew he should be delighted, but all he could think of was Obi-Wan telling him how Luke was so much like his father, recalling it with a wistfulness that ashamed him. Luke—he’d wanted—well—

Anyway, that was probably yet another one of Obi-Wan’s lies, Luke dismissed firmly. He was profoundly lucky that he and Vader were so dissimilar; it was the only thing saving his ass right about now.

Still, Luke spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the base alone.

Post-Episode 5 reaction

I will continue to call The Creature “Frankenstein” and no force in Heaven or Earth will impede that.

I’m gonna just throw this out before it happens:

Even if Sabine somehow “unlocks” the force through hard work, the Jedi were STILL RIGHT to only recruit force sensitive children.

There has only been one episode of Sabine learning to be a jedi so far. Look at how terrible of a time she’s having. She’s making zero progress, and we know she spent a long time with Ahsoka before quitting because she was making no process.

Why is she putting herself through all this grief with no reward? No idea. That’s another post.

But the point is Ahsoka isn’t even teaching Sabine what younglings were usually taught. She’s not trying to get Sabine to deflect blaster shots (bc she’d never be able to) and she’s not trying to teach Sabine how to move things with her mind (bc she’d never be able to). It’s just lightsaber lessons. Something Kanan taught Sabine already just as a Mandalorian wielding the dark saber. Sabine would be doing so much worse if she was in a normal youngling group.

Sabine has only gotten this far because she is a natural warrior. And she still already quit once. Ahsoka’s really not helping at all. She’s just telling Sabine to “feel it”

And sure! The other jedi masters did that. But they did that knowing that their students actually had a natural ability to feel the force!! Their students knew what they were trying to feel.

For someone who went through the public school system with dyslexia I honestly felt so frustrated and bad for Sabine last episode. Ahsoka and Huyang are telling her to do things she just has no ability to do. At least Huyang is being honest with her about why.

There is nothing more frustrating when you’re struggling and someone tells you to just. Do it better. Huyang and Ahsoka are not giving her any real instruction. Bc there is no instruction. There is no shortcut like there was with reading.

But unlike me and reading, Sabine does not have to be a jedi. She does not have to learn how to use the force. So why is Ahsoka putting her through this? Why is she putting herself through this?

Imagine if the Jedi order did that with little kids? Kids who may not have the option to quit like Sabine did? That would so so terrible for them. It’s already terrible for Sabine. How long did Sabine try the first time around? How terrible did it get, not making any improvement for so long, before she quit the first time? She doesn’t have to be a jedi. If you’re not force sensitive there’s no reason to force it. (Hehe, get it? Force it?)

If Ahsoka wanted a padawan she should have found someone force sensitive and trained them. Honestly this whole thing feels like a cruel joke on Sabine: someone who works hard and is naturally talented at many other things.

Me and my friend had some fun trying to rewrite the sequel trilogy a while ago and I think the best idea we had was Luke dies and Han and Rey get stranded on some nowhere planet where he has to haphazardly attempt to teach her years of jedi training in like a week entirely by reading out of Luke’s notes (somehow even worse than Luke’s extremely DIY training in the OT).

This isn’t at all based on the ‘Han has the force’ theory it’s literally just crabby atheist old man Han Solo and his dead best friend’s religious texts that are totally useless to him vs the world.

i LOVE that, disney needs to get you two rewriting the sequels STAT

(commission info // tip jar!)

After all the events of the past day: being hijacked, the inexplicable crash, and absolutely everything to do with this 'Ben', Jango was at his wits' end. While the adult jetti was a good actor, his ad was not.

"I know you are hiding something from me." He demanded, breaking the tense silence that had smothered the cockpit. "Where are we? What planet was that?" A wiser man would probably shut up and not shoot the rescue, but Jango was not about to play ignorant to the glaring red flags for potentially a tenday stuck aboard this ship.

(Jango POV on Sithspawn!Obi-Wan drabble with some headcanons below.)

The preteen to Jango's left tensed with a scowl, he opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted by his baji.

"Set. Please go to your bunk." He said with a jett'la mildness.

His ad whirled on him. "Master!" Jango stifled a twitch at that address.

"Please." 'Ben' repeated. Something unspoken passed between them, before 'Set' relented, storming out of the compartment with an angry huff to poorly conceal his nervousness.

Once the door to the cockpit closed, 'Ben' turned and gave Jango a stony look that made his hackles raise further. It was only the presence of the jett'ad--the padawan--outside, and Jango's own precarious transport situation that stayed his blaster.

"Bac aliik, gar haat'mando'ad, ni tion'serim?" The jetti demanded.

Jango startled, narrowing his eyes at the sudden switch from Basic. "Gar jorhaa mando'a." He growled. Where was a jetti that spoke his language and recognised his symbol during his last encounters with the jettise, he thought bitterly.

The jetti ignored his statement and continued in his oddly accented Mando'a. "I have heard that True Mandalorians have honour, so I will be true with you." Kalevala, an uncommon accent nowadays, but with hints of his foreign Coruscanti and... a slight Keldabe twang? "If you tell anyone of the coordinates of that planet, it will not end well for you."

"You're threatening me." Jango laid out bluntly. Ballsy of this jetti.

"I am stating a fact. It won't just be me that follows after you, in the case that happens". He spoke fluently but with the occasional phrasing that sounded off to a native speaker like Jango. He idly wondered how long he had been studying, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

"What was that planet?" He demanded once again.

The jetti pursed his lips and sighed through his nose. He was reluctant, but he already seemed to know that he could not get around this. "We're in the condemned space of the former Sith Empire right now. That planet is called Stewjon, but you might know of it as Halasar."

Jango stilled. Condemned Space was a relatively small region consisting mostly of abandoned Sith planets and their neighbourhoods. While the original no-fly-zones around death-traps like Moraband and Ziost weren't enforced anymore, not for centuries, they were still known to be treacherous. As the seat of the dar'jettise Empire's abominations, the entire area was an old minefield of traps, dark magics, scorged lands, and even bioweapons: pathogens and monsters alike. After the fall of the Empire and the Sith Space Exodus, the hyperspace beacons had been destroyed, and many debris and obstacles had been scattered to order to essentially baracade the region from the rest of known space. Of course that didn't stop the clandestine, the arrogant, and the desperate from attempting to navigate it using old starmaps, but everyone knew that one risked simply disappearing, and becoming yet another cautionary tale.

There was a reason that the dar'jettise were still infamous even a millennium after their extinction, those ancient demagolkase truly scorched everywhere they once walked.

While Condemned Space was a well-documented no-one's-land, Halasar was a myth. An ancient Sith outpost full of old labs and cursed ruins, absolutely infested by sithspawn abominations left to reproduce unchecked. It was clearly a myth, because if it had existed, it would have been glassed long ago.

Jango thought of the grass and the lichen of the mystery planet, the fresh rain, and laughed. He would buy that they were near, or possibly somewhere within Condemned Space, given the large patches of devastation and scarring on the various continents when viewed from orbit. But the jetti trying to sell him that the planet was Halasar? How gullible did he believe Jango to be? He would be offended, if the whole lie wasn't so ridiculous.

The jetti smiled ruefully, called out on his banthashit. "You don't believe me." Jango snorted and gave him an incredulous stare through his visor. 'Ben' must have sensed it through his force, because he had the gall to look ever so slightly amused. "Very well."

And then his form distorted.

Jango was emptying blaster charges on battle-hardened instinct before his rational mind could catch up, but it was useless. Pale pink Human skin hardened into deep crimson-brown chitin. Legs cracked and reformed, and creature's body elongated and sharpened. Spines, tail, teeth, claws. Were those mandables?!

His eyes roamed, cataloguing the threats the creature posed. He needed to get out of this enclosed space to have a fighting chance, and to preserve the ship's controls from damage. But outside the cockpit he potentially had a stubborn jett'ad to manhandle out of harm's way. Osik.

Jango was about to launch at the thing with a vibroblade before the creature held up a long fingered hand and an unseen force froze him in place.

Peace. No harm. Jango reeled. "Stay out of my kriffing head!"

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the creature collapsed in on itself, process reversing until the pale Human jetti stood before him once more. Jango strained against the magics, carefully regulating his breathing. A Clawdite? No, Clawdites weren't capable of such transformation.

His brain already had the answer for him, planted by the jetti's words. The insectoid exoskeleton and mandables, the mammalian teeth and tail, the crown of warped montrals, the long horns, (the jewellery? His brain whispered). The jetti had just mutated into a sithspawn and back again. Me'sik'ven.

The jetti(?) still looked amused. "While there are many wild rumours about my species, our shapeshifting abilities are, ironically, understated." He spoke again, still in Jango's native tongue. "I will let you go and explain if you agree not to stab me. I still wish to be narudar, if you are amenable."

"Fine." He gritted out, and the pressure slowly eased. He didn't sheave his blade, but gestured for Ben to continue.

Ben's face turned grim. "Stewjon is my homeplanet. During the time of Empire, the Sith used it as a base for their organic engineering. Their favourite subjects were the people they enslaved, and when the population became smaller, they stole from further to bolster it. Those people were my ancestors."

He let his words soak in before he continued. "The Sith enslaved both our bodies and our minds. To the point where we are remembered as monsters born from the corpses of sapient people. The perfect predator of ambush to invade and suppress worlds, able to change shape and hide within their prey.

However, the Sith are no longer, and those that the galaxy remember as sithspawn were able to fade into obscurity, to choose again, to heal, to be people again.

I don't wish to harm you, but I cannot let you endanger their security. I need your vow, haat, ijaat, haa'it, that you will not share this information."

Jango shook off the heaviness of his shoulders as the adrenaline come-down started to hit. He wasn't faced with a beast, he realised with some resignation, but a person with something, someone, to protect. Was the ad the same as him?

Fighting now seemed even less of an option. This day was so kriffed. "If my knowing this is so dangerous to your people, why am still alive?"

Ben hummed. "Honestly? The only reason I brought you with us is because the Force whispered so."

Mando'a sentences:

"Bac aliik, gar haat'mando'ad, ni tion'serim?" That symbol, you're a True Mandalorian, am I right?"

"Gar jorhaa mando'a." You speak Mando'a.

Vocabulary:

aliik - symbol (usually of allegiance)

ad - child

baji - teacher

dar'jettise - Sith plu.

demagolkase (plural of demagolka) - someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal. From the notorious Mandalorian scientist of the Old Republic, Demagol, known for his experiments on children, and a figure of hate and dread in the Mandalorian psyche.

jetti - Jedi sing.

jettise - Jedi plu.

jett'la - Jedi adj. (e.g. "How very Jedi of you.")

jett'ad - Jedi child

haat, ijaat, haa'it - truth, honour, vision. Words said to seal a solemn pact.

me'sik'ven - what the shit

narudar - temporary allies

Hi! Thank you for reading all the way to the end of the post. This wee thing snuck up on me at midnight last night and I shockingly managed to finish it. I'm not a writer so this won't be going anyway, sorry! But if anyone wants to expand on it in any way, you have blanket permission and my eternal love and delight. Also I purposely wrote Obi-Wan less eloquently in this because he's speaking in Mando'a for most of it. If some of the phrasing was weird to you that's on purpose, because it's weird to Jango too. Obi-Wan is very good as Mando'a but not totally fluent/native.

Some worldbuilding rambling:

In this AU in my brain I've based Sithspawn!Stewjoni off of xenomorphs in the sense that that's how the galaxy views them. I do also love the idea of eusocial societies in worldbuilding. I tried to see if anyone had done anything for Geonosian worldbuilding but no dice :( In my headcanon Stewjoni don't actually have parasitic reproduction (if anyone does parasitic!Stewjoni though I would be excited and impressed) like people think they do, but they are eusocial apex predators who could theoretically reproduce quickly enough to be an invasive species. Of course they don't do that, because they collectively have a very long generational trauma around bodily and reproductive autonomy, and would never force a fertile member of the colony to bear children.

Obi-Wan in this was given to the Jedi by his colony (small at around a hundred members, and from a temperate island because I'm Scottish and must have some space-Scotland in this) because he was a strong enough force-sensitive that he was being negatively affected by the lingering darkness of the planet's Force presence, and his shapeshifting was enough that he was able to pass as non-Stewjoni (Human in his case). How does this work? Anything is possible with the Force is my excuse.

The Stewjoni have maintained an amicable relationship with the Jedi after the Order helped them get back on their feet once they were freed, and this is common practice. However, some force-sensitive Stewjoni children are not able to pass and thus are not able to spend extended periods off-planet around other sapients. The Jedi aid them where they can but they often become sickly in some way.

The disabled and elderly are usually well supported by their colonies and Stewjon's medical infrastructure. Some disabilities are widespread due to the Sith fucking up their bodies so much. No one even remembers what their ancestors were like before the Sith. Were they insectoid? Mammalian? Carnivores? Omnivores? A colony of another known species? There are some theories but that information has long been lost.

Stewjoni colonies in this can range from under a hundred to thousands. Megacolonies of hundreds of thousands to millions like the capital tend to be made up of lots of smaller colonies. Stewjoni!Scotland in this is has a few hundred different colonies. There are other regions with different biomes and different cultures as well. Stewjoni Jedi aren't numerous or structured enough to truly be a colony within themselves, but many consider their Jedi temple or Corps to be their colony. They are often also still considered 'outmembers' of their birth colony, and part of their regional culture and of course greater Stewjoni culture, but of course how connected they are varies between the individual person.

Body modifications of various forms are popular. Jewellery and decorations are also more common for everyone than not.

Anakin in my mind is also considered an outmember of Obi-Wan's birth colony as Obi-Wan's apprentice because that sparks joy. There's a generation of the colony around his age (around 10-ish kids) who essentially adopt him when Obi-Wan takes him to visit for the first time. They're absolutely smug and excited to have the cool Human Jedi kid as a sibling/cousin and laud it over everyone else. Obi-Wan's generation (the Wan generation) are less than impressed. Anakin may not have a crèche clan but he does have a bunch of Stewjoni kids who will holocall him on an encrypted line regularly to bug him for news and anecdotes about the rest of the galaxy.

Anyway that's all my rambling for now. I welcome comments and tags if anyone wants to throw stuff at the wall with me :)