#also ish

OOOooooo

so 1, THANK YOU FOR THIS

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2... I wrote something and accidentally lost it, but it was nonsense anyway.

3, I attempted to write an actual fic, but it proved to be a puzzle I couldn't quite solve

4, okay so I would write some kind of meet cute where they're all stuck at the same airport for different reasons. an au where they haven't met yet. Mira has a long layover, Zoey is getting ready for a trip, Rumi... is also there for a reason I haven't puzzled out yet. anyway, there's a blizzard or something, Mira's phone is dead and her charger is fucked—broken? no converter for an American layover? something. Zoey is an old pro at this, she's got her chargers, she's got extra batteries, she's got snacks in her pockets. she probably has a big squishy turtle pillow/stuffed animal situation.

So Mira is trying to buy a charger, but even if she could find one (she can't) all the outlets are full, the airport is full of people waiting, and there's not an outlet to be found. she finally plops down, defeated, looking miserable, every ten minutes or so, she reaches for her phone on instinct, only to find it dead.

and actually? I've decided, Zoey and Rumi are traveling together, so I guess they do know each other? Rumi came to visit, and it's the end of her trip and now they're flying to... probably Korea. Zoey is fine killing time, plenty of people watching, everyone is so interesting, she's got a half written song bouncing around in her head, she's kinda boppin along to it. Rumi tho, is kind of captivated by Mira, and after the third time Mira reaches for her dead phone, Rumi nudges Zoey and nods towards Mira. Zoey just kinda quirks an eyebrow at Rumi, and then they're both watching Mira.

"Zo do you have a spare battery pack" and obviously she has like 3, what kind of rookie do you take her for? so she hands it to Rumi, who just kinda sits there fidgeting with the battery for a minute, before taking a deep breath and walking over to Mira kinda timidly. maybe there's a spare seat next to her, maybe she sits down. or?? maybe Mira has been watching them right back and when Rumi comes over, she just kinda tilts her head expectantly. and Rumi... struggles to actually find words, mostly because I'm tired and I'm not sure what she'd say. but she offers Mira the battery, and she's grateful to finally be able to get a little juice in her phone.

something something, blizzard gets worse, flights are cancelled, hotels are full, Mira's face is like 😨 and Zoey's like... my apartment isn't far from here?? something something, one bed maybe?? or maybe apartment is too weird, maybe they just all share a hotel room... with one king size bed, it's all that was left.

they're snowed in for three days.

Since I'm not done with other stuff, it might be a bit before I can sit down to color this, so y'all can enjoy the sketch for now >:D

None of this to say they deserved what happened to them (not even close), that they were the real bad guys (obviously not) or even that they were particularly stupid or incompetent (they weren't). Many of the problems were the result of decisions that made perfect sense at the time, or in contexts where they seemed reasonable. And in general, many of their choices were the best choice really available to them with what they had.

And I'm happy to point out their flaws and their successes and discuss how the Jedi's own mistakes contributed to their destruction (which is key to making the Tragedy of the Prequel Trilogy work, in my opinion), even if it's not their 'fault', what happened.

And that's the key. Like, Jedi done fucked up. They did. But you know what? The Jedi Critical side of fandom, which I am often part of (though not as far as some people) likes to spend so much time criticizing the Jedi for what went wrong that they honestly steal credit from the guy that really did it.

I remember seeing a meme once, here on tumblr, but it was something along the lines of a speech bubble of Palpatine saying "everyone talks about Anakin this and Jedi failure that and the Senate corrupt the other thing, but nobody talks about Palpatine and how it was his success and his plan. No one says 'ooh, Palpatine was so smart and so clever, he deserves to be named sith of the year!" (might have been multiple people on the post to make the form I'm remembering). And like, ha ha, but honestly, I do feel like some people are so busy criticizing the Jedi (or Anakin, but the Anakin-Critical posts are not the point here) that they forget that Palpatine was like... a fucking mastermind.

By the time the Clone Wars actually started, the trap was sprung, and a course of events that were nearly inescapable were already in motion. Palpatine (and his master, Hego Damask, aka Plagueis) crafted a scheme that was decades in the making, building on the centuries of work that their predecessors in the Line of Bane did to gather influence, stymie the Jedi and jam up the works of the Republic. The specific moves that led to the fall of the Republic were put into motion by Damask and Palpatine, though, and Palpatine executed them. He (and then Dooku, once he joined in) crafted a trap for the Jedi, the Republic, the Separatists - all of them. The Clones and the Droids both ultimately worked for him, but he created a situation where everyone pretty much had to do what they did or (as far as they knew) worse things would happen.

The Jedi couldn't not be part of the war - they started it by going to Geonosis, in the eyes of the public, and they were the closest thing the Republic had to a real military core. The Republic had to adopt the clones because they had no damn army and no time to make one. The Separatists had to fight because 'look, clone army, the Republic was always going to attack us!'

Yes, technically, no one had to do those things, but Palpatine is considered one of the GOAT Villains for a reason - because he was a mastermind, because he constructed this scheme and pulled all the strings and put a trap out that worked. A trap that we the viewer can see through, but a trap that the people in the moment couldn't - and not because they were stupid, or blind, but because Palpatine was just that fucking good.

Jedi failed, yeah. But Christ on a Pogo Stick, it's definitely true that Palpatine absolutely schemed and plotted and intrigued his fucking heart (a small, blackened, smouldering little acorn of a heart, but still) out.

Apalala

"Don't be so arrogant as to think you're the thing that's going to make the fucking difference, that whatever scrap of power you trade your soul for is what the world hinges on."

"Excuse me?"

"If the world depends on us, it depends on us TOGETHER, so stop fucking trying to leave. You think any of the rest of us will be able to give it our all if we're grieving you? You think IMOGEN will be able to? Fuck off."

"It’s not a matter of arrogance, Ashton, the opposite really. It’s that there are things Delilah can provide that I just simply cannot. Because let's be honest, in the grand scheme of things, I’m not worth much."

"Oh fuck off. Do NOT talk to me about low self worth. Do you know what I was telling myself when I took that fucking shard? That it was what was going to help. You know, I told Imogen once that every hit I take is one someone else doesn’t have to. And I wanted to take the hit. And it just about fucked us all."

"Ashton-"

"And I don’t even care that it fucked me and almost fucked me worse, so don’t talk to me about that. What I fucking hate is that all of you had to watch. That Fearne had to watch.