5 Challenge Responses
Here, have some Anakin and Ahsoka!
Author: patientalien
Title: Feasting
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: feast
Word Count: 198
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka is uncomfortable at the feast. Her Master isn't helping.
-----
Ahsoka never feels comfortable at these kinds of things, and she's pretty sure her Master doesn't, either. Obi-Wan is in his element, regaling the others around the table with some tale or other, his gentle voice rising and falling with the twists and turns of the story. Ahsoka can't quite hear him, seated at the other end of the table as she is, but she wishes she were closer. Not just because she wants to hear the story, but because she is profoundly uncomfortable and she feels that if she is sitting closer, maybe Obi-Wan's calm confidence will rub off on her.
Her own Master certainly isn't helping matters, looking lost as the feast revolves around them, picking at his food, trying not to look as hungry as she knows he must be. She knows they have to make a good impression, and Anakin knows as well, so he is so far from being himself that it is almost ridiculous. "I think the perimeter needs to be patrolled again," he announces suddenly, standing. "Want to come, Snips?"
She nods, relieved, and laughs as Anakin grabs both of their plates and some extra rolls and heads towards the door.
Author: patientalien
Title: Facing the Executioner
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Order 66
Word Count: 202
Characters: Ahsoka, Rex, Fives, Anakin (mentioned)
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka and Rex and Order 66
-----
Ahsoka feels it in her montrals before she knows exactly what has happened. She drops to her knees, retching into the dirt, her lightsaber rolling out of her hand. Her head is spinning, pinpoint explosions going off behind her eyes. She reaches out, desperately, trying to sense her Master through their bond. All she can feel in that direction is exhaustion, fear, and rage. He must feel it too, then, this wrongness, this sense of other Jedi dying. She can only assume he's fighting, protecting the others, from whatever this unknown threat might be. She is tempted to comm him, but feels the muzzle of a blaster pressed against the back of her neck. "Rex, don't," she says softly.
"It's orders," Rex replies, but his voice is shaking.
"We can't." And that's Fives, at Rex's side. They're not all the same, not to her, not to Anakin. She can tell who has come to kill her without even looking at them.
"I know," Rex sighs, and Ahsoka feels the blaster lower. She stands, calling her lightsaber to her hand. "We'll be executed for this, you know," Rex tells Fives.
"Everybody's gotta go sometime."
Rex turns to her. "Run," he says.
She does.
Author: patientalien
Title: Merciless
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Krayt Dragon
Word Count: 186
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka just wants to know more.
Author's Notes: Takes place during the Clone Wars movie.
-----
The skeleton is bleached white by the sun and the desert winds. Ahsoka hunches her shoulders, adjusting the pack that holds the little huttlet. She knows Anakin hates the thing, but he won't tell her why. Won't tell her anything, really, not even as they pass the hulking bones and she asks what creature it had once been.
It's not until the skeleton has disappeared over the horizon that he speaks. "A krayt dragon," he says, gruffly, voice raspy with dehydration and the sand. "That one probably starved about a week ago."
"A week?" she asks, stunned.
He bows his head and keeps walking. "I told you, Ahsoka. This place..." His gloved right hand curls into a fist.
"Tell me," she prompts, jogging lightly to catch up with him.
He shakes his head, hands her his canteen. "Here," he says. "Don't want to see you end up like our friend back there." It's the end of the discussion, she knows, and the warm water tastes bitter in her mouth. She'll get him to open up, she vows to herself. If it's the last thing she does.
Author: patientalien
Title: Just Dance
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Outlander Club
Word Count: 301
Characters: Ahsoka, Anakin
Rating: PG
Summary: Anakin and Ahsoka share a dance on the eve of her Knighting.
-----
Ahsoka has never been to the Outlander Club before. She's heard of it, of course, from other Padawans and in passing in conversations between her own Master and Obi-Wan. But this is her Knighting, the youngest in the Order - even younger than her own Master had been (and since he is not that much older, and was not Knighted that long ago, she considers it a considerable accomplishment), and her Master has agreed to take her.
Her senses are immediately overwhelmed by the pounding music, the sights and smells of hundreds of creatures all dancing, drinking, sweating. She suddenly isn't sure she wants to be there, but Anakin's eyes have lit up and he looks happier than she's seen him in months, and she can't really think to leave.
She tugs on his sleeve. "Do you want to dance?" she asks, feeling in turns shy and bold.
Anakin looks confused for an instant, but nods, smiling, and they move out to the dance floor. She wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. It is not the Jedi norm, certainly, and while she had once had an almost crippling crush on the Hero With No Fear, this is not sexual. She does not expect anything to happen between them, tonight or ever, but she feels safe in his arms. She closes her eyes, lets the music wash over her, and lets the moment happen.
Four months later, the Outlander has been closed down. She is there, in the ruins, hiding from her own soldiers, from her own Master. She stands in the middle of the empty dance floor, closes her eyes, and brings forward the memory of that night. She feels Anakin's arms tighten around her, and she cries for everything that never could have been.
Author: patientalien
Title: Sensing the Future
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: hallucinate
Word Count: 485
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka
Rating: PG
Summary: Bad berries and a dark future, not a great combination
Author's Notes: Darkish, might be triggering for berry-induced suicidal ideation.
-----
The berries weren't good. They looked appealing, big and juicy and like they would provide the sustinence needed for the next few days of slogging through unforgiving swamp land after their supplies had dwindled to nothing. Ahsoka was not well-versed in botany, but she knew enough to know that if berries that looked that delicious were still on their vines and hadn't already been eaten by the local wildlife, that meant there was something wrong with them.
Anakin, too, should have known better, and though she hadn't seen him actually eat any of the berries, she had seen him sprinkling some kind of juice over the roasted meat they'd prepared. She assumed that was the reason he was currently sitting in the middle of the clearing they'd made camp in, pupils dilated, floating several large rocks in front of him.
"Master?" she asked, tentatively approached him.
He lifted a finger to his lips. "Shh," he admonished. "I'm trying to listen. I can't hear them if you're talking."
Ahsoka reached out with her senses to try and figure out what he was talking about. "Hear who?" she demanded once she determined there was nothing but the rustling of leaves.
"Everyone," Anakin replied, voice hushed. "Everyone. It's..." He closed his eyes, and the stones raised slightly. "Beautiful."
"Riiight," Ahsoka drawled, picking up her datapad and trying to find her first aid guide. Suddenly, the rocks slammed down and Anakin was on his hands and knees, vomiting violently. "Master!" she cried, running to him.
"No," he gasped at her, pushing her away. "No. I won't let you, I won't. You can't." He rose, unsteadily, to his feet, hand going to his lightsaber. "You're going to hurt so many people," he said, his voice cracking with pain.
"Master!" She drew her own 'saber up to block his strike, but it never came. Instead, he had the hilt pressed against his collarbone, tears sliding down his pale cheeks. "Master, don't! It's not real!"
He stared at her, and she took that moment to pull the lightsaber from his hand. "It's not real," she repeated. He blinked, and dropped to the ground, fisting his hands in his hair. "You're safe," she said softly, treading lightly over to him and crouching down, rubbing his back, sighing as she realized his tunics were soaked through with sweat. "Sleep." She wasn't very good at the more subtle, suggestive uses of the Force, but she tried anyway, pressing her will against her Master's, chipping away at his tattered shields. "Sleep, Master."
She was shocked when it worked, though if it was her skill with the Force or him finally succumbing to the mild poison, she wasn't sure. She draped his cloak over him and sat beside him, knees drawn to her chest, his lightsaber heavy on her own belt. She would keep him safe, from himself and everything else, for as long as it took.
Author: patientalien
Title: Feasting
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: feast
Word Count: 198
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka is uncomfortable at the feast. Her Master isn't helping.
-----
Ahsoka never feels comfortable at these kinds of things, and she's pretty sure her Master doesn't, either. Obi-Wan is in his element, regaling the others around the table with some tale or other, his gentle voice rising and falling with the twists and turns of the story. Ahsoka can't quite hear him, seated at the other end of the table as she is, but she wishes she were closer. Not just because she wants to hear the story, but because she is profoundly uncomfortable and she feels that if she is sitting closer, maybe Obi-Wan's calm confidence will rub off on her.
Her own Master certainly isn't helping matters, looking lost as the feast revolves around them, picking at his food, trying not to look as hungry as she knows he must be. She knows they have to make a good impression, and Anakin knows as well, so he is so far from being himself that it is almost ridiculous. "I think the perimeter needs to be patrolled again," he announces suddenly, standing. "Want to come, Snips?"
She nods, relieved, and laughs as Anakin grabs both of their plates and some extra rolls and heads towards the door.
Author: patientalien
Title: Facing the Executioner
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Order 66
Word Count: 202
Characters: Ahsoka, Rex, Fives, Anakin (mentioned)
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka and Rex and Order 66
-----
Ahsoka feels it in her montrals before she knows exactly what has happened. She drops to her knees, retching into the dirt, her lightsaber rolling out of her hand. Her head is spinning, pinpoint explosions going off behind her eyes. She reaches out, desperately, trying to sense her Master through their bond. All she can feel in that direction is exhaustion, fear, and rage. He must feel it too, then, this wrongness, this sense of other Jedi dying. She can only assume he's fighting, protecting the others, from whatever this unknown threat might be. She is tempted to comm him, but feels the muzzle of a blaster pressed against the back of her neck. "Rex, don't," she says softly.
"It's orders," Rex replies, but his voice is shaking.
"We can't." And that's Fives, at Rex's side. They're not all the same, not to her, not to Anakin. She can tell who has come to kill her without even looking at them.
"I know," Rex sighs, and Ahsoka feels the blaster lower. She stands, calling her lightsaber to her hand. "We'll be executed for this, you know," Rex tells Fives.
"Everybody's gotta go sometime."
Rex turns to her. "Run," he says.
She does.
Author: patientalien
Title: Merciless
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Krayt Dragon
Word Count: 186
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka
Rating: PG
Summary: Ahsoka just wants to know more.
Author's Notes: Takes place during the Clone Wars movie.
-----
The skeleton is bleached white by the sun and the desert winds. Ahsoka hunches her shoulders, adjusting the pack that holds the little huttlet. She knows Anakin hates the thing, but he won't tell her why. Won't tell her anything, really, not even as they pass the hulking bones and she asks what creature it had once been.
It's not until the skeleton has disappeared over the horizon that he speaks. "A krayt dragon," he says, gruffly, voice raspy with dehydration and the sand. "That one probably starved about a week ago."
"A week?" she asks, stunned.
He bows his head and keeps walking. "I told you, Ahsoka. This place..." His gloved right hand curls into a fist.
"Tell me," she prompts, jogging lightly to catch up with him.
He shakes his head, hands her his canteen. "Here," he says. "Don't want to see you end up like our friend back there." It's the end of the discussion, she knows, and the warm water tastes bitter in her mouth. She'll get him to open up, she vows to herself. If it's the last thing she does.
Author: patientalien
Title: Just Dance
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: Outlander Club
Word Count: 301
Characters: Ahsoka, Anakin
Rating: PG
Summary: Anakin and Ahsoka share a dance on the eve of her Knighting.
-----
Ahsoka has never been to the Outlander Club before. She's heard of it, of course, from other Padawans and in passing in conversations between her own Master and Obi-Wan. But this is her Knighting, the youngest in the Order - even younger than her own Master had been (and since he is not that much older, and was not Knighted that long ago, she considers it a considerable accomplishment), and her Master has agreed to take her.
Her senses are immediately overwhelmed by the pounding music, the sights and smells of hundreds of creatures all dancing, drinking, sweating. She suddenly isn't sure she wants to be there, but Anakin's eyes have lit up and he looks happier than she's seen him in months, and she can't really think to leave.
She tugs on his sleeve. "Do you want to dance?" she asks, feeling in turns shy and bold.
Anakin looks confused for an instant, but nods, smiling, and they move out to the dance floor. She wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. It is not the Jedi norm, certainly, and while she had once had an almost crippling crush on the Hero With No Fear, this is not sexual. She does not expect anything to happen between them, tonight or ever, but she feels safe in his arms. She closes her eyes, lets the music wash over her, and lets the moment happen.
Four months later, the Outlander has been closed down. She is there, in the ruins, hiding from her own soldiers, from her own Master. She stands in the middle of the empty dance floor, closes her eyes, and brings forward the memory of that night. She feels Anakin's arms tighten around her, and she cries for everything that never could have been.
Author: patientalien
Title: Sensing the Future
Challenge: SWMININANO2
Prompt: hallucinate
Word Count: 485
Characters: Anakin, Ahsoka
Rating: PG
Summary: Bad berries and a dark future, not a great combination
Author's Notes: Darkish, might be triggering for berry-induced suicidal ideation.
-----
The berries weren't good. They looked appealing, big and juicy and like they would provide the sustinence needed for the next few days of slogging through unforgiving swamp land after their supplies had dwindled to nothing. Ahsoka was not well-versed in botany, but she knew enough to know that if berries that looked that delicious were still on their vines and hadn't already been eaten by the local wildlife, that meant there was something wrong with them.
Anakin, too, should have known better, and though she hadn't seen him actually eat any of the berries, she had seen him sprinkling some kind of juice over the roasted meat they'd prepared. She assumed that was the reason he was currently sitting in the middle of the clearing they'd made camp in, pupils dilated, floating several large rocks in front of him.
"Master?" she asked, tentatively approached him.
He lifted a finger to his lips. "Shh," he admonished. "I'm trying to listen. I can't hear them if you're talking."
Ahsoka reached out with her senses to try and figure out what he was talking about. "Hear who?" she demanded once she determined there was nothing but the rustling of leaves.
"Everyone," Anakin replied, voice hushed. "Everyone. It's..." He closed his eyes, and the stones raised slightly. "Beautiful."
"Riiight," Ahsoka drawled, picking up her datapad and trying to find her first aid guide. Suddenly, the rocks slammed down and Anakin was on his hands and knees, vomiting violently. "Master!" she cried, running to him.
"No," he gasped at her, pushing her away. "No. I won't let you, I won't. You can't." He rose, unsteadily, to his feet, hand going to his lightsaber. "You're going to hurt so many people," he said, his voice cracking with pain.
"Master!" She drew her own 'saber up to block his strike, but it never came. Instead, he had the hilt pressed against his collarbone, tears sliding down his pale cheeks. "Master, don't! It's not real!"
He stared at her, and she took that moment to pull the lightsaber from his hand. "It's not real," she repeated. He blinked, and dropped to the ground, fisting his hands in his hair. "You're safe," she said softly, treading lightly over to him and crouching down, rubbing his back, sighing as she realized his tunics were soaked through with sweat. "Sleep." She wasn't very good at the more subtle, suggestive uses of the Force, but she tried anyway, pressing her will against her Master's, chipping away at his tattered shields. "Sleep, Master."
She was shocked when it worked, though if it was her skill with the Force or him finally succumbing to the mild poison, she wasn't sure. She draped his cloak over him and sat beside him, knees drawn to her chest, his lightsaber heavy on her own belt. She would keep him safe, from himself and everything else, for as long as it took.