Garrotte was one of Fox’s favourites. the truth was it was cute. She was adorable; but this dangerous modification to her appearance made him want to strangle her because he wanted her to be safe.

and so, Fox had an actual panic attack when he saw all three of them the next morning, nursing their monstrous hangovers with kaf strong enough to stand a spoon up in, but feeling extremely smug about their new ink; their table in the mess hall surrounded by a crowd of excited corries, many of whom were keen to get their own very identifiable facial tattoos. This was at the tail end of the early days, where the clone brass of 000 were finally figuring out that if they wanted to stop haemorrhaging shinies (who universally seemed to think it was a smart idea to take up Senators’ spouses and children on an easy fuck or two whenever given the chance, and were then surprised when they got caught and the universally controlling and horrible Senators punished them for it—by summarily ordering their murder) they would need to present an absolute bescar-clad, perfectly united front. Which pretty much meant looking exactly the same so they could switch in and out and confuse the shit out of the kinds of senators that thought being cruel to clones and sending them for reconditioning or even decommissioning was fun.

So to Fox (the one exception to these rules, as Palpatine had already singled him out, so he decided to all but paint a giant red target on his armour to draw all eyes to himself), three of their most vulnerable troopers straight up etching their identities on their eyelids was the very height of conspicuousness, and so dangerous even with their recently laid down Buckets Stay The Fuck On When Outside The Barracks policy, that he insisted on them taking up desk jobs for the foreseeable future, safe behind the many guarded doors of the offices—a move that Fox later had to admit had been fruitful, as all three ladies turned out to actually be pretty brilliant at logistics and paperwork wrangling; which would eventually get Stone promoted to Commander so they could wrangle even more flimsy into submission. Little did the cake eaters of the GAR know the person who actually turned up to receive those promotions and consequently endure their soliloquies about exemplary service and flimsy keeping the GAR rolling was Thire and not Stone. but there was nothing for it, she’d made her bed, she had to lay in it (though she honestly didn’t seem nearly contrite enough for Fox’s patience, even years later).

Similarly, Garrotte thrived as Chief Medic, and quickly turned the Coruscant Guard’s med bay into her own fiefdom, using her authority to ensure more corrie troopers survived than anyone could have predicted given the conditions and their lack of extra supplies for the troopers they managed to safe from Decom via stealthy chip removals, serial number swaps, and slick paperwork wrangling (in fact The Three Sisters were the ones behind most of those little rescues, and Fox made sure not to learn any of the details so he could claim ignorance).

Those tatts and Fox’s public breakdown were the catalyst for the later famous speech about staying the fuck alive in the corrie guard, which became an unofficial list of rules that made Fox infamous amoung the GAR for being a fun hater and ball breaker but had him loved withequal furivor among the CG as the shock troopers in red realised that he was right; their identical appearance was like a second set of armour, in a place where their chances of survival were so much more fraught than anyone could have guessed.

It did mean, unfortunately, that no other CG sisters were able to get themselves that most coveted eye ink for quite a while after that first incident, till things settled down a little, and the Commanders were able to establish some more nuanced rules, having been able to gather data and figure out the most perilous positions for displaying the slightest scrap of individuality (rule adjustment 5: If a Clone Trooper of the Coruscant Guard hasn’t been ordered to debucket by a natborn superior in a Coruscant year, they may begin to experiment with ink and hairstyles within certain limits, see Base Medic Pat for details—do not under any circumstances bug Chief Medic Garrotte with your cosmetic concerns, or you’ll find yourself scrubbing bedpans) but as Sonia, Garrotte and Stone were the life of the party at 79s, as well as intra-clone community social media networks, and were often seen in clone-only spaces without their helmets on; many of their sisters in the wider GAR saw their face art, and and wanted in.

All too soon, the clone girlies posted on fronts all over the galaxy were frothing for a chance to avail themselves of this absolutely fire look. it was a trend that swept through the republic army faster than any one thought possible, with the only roadblocks anyone would allow to slow their roll being those the medics were able to get into place with fear campaigns of a slip of the wrist poking out eyeballs, horrific infections, and lost eyesight; all of which would draw desperately unwanted Kaminiise attention, and affect their ability to aim properly. Thanks to recently promoted Chief Medic Garrotte, who herself had awesome eyelid tatts, CMs everywhere were able to finally lay down the law about the more dodgy diy tattoo operations some clones had resorted to, and ensure a certain limit on battalion tattooists to the clones who were able to get their hands on actually suitable tattoo guns (one of the designs of which were rumoured to have come from General Skywalker himself, but no one other than the 501 were sure of that, and those vod’e were known to be full of shit), and medic-stream tattoo artists with training enough to be trusted with someone’s delicate and very essential eyelids.

The day Commander Bly announced her gender on the unofficial command chat with smiling selfie fluttering her brand new egg-yolk-yellow eye tats (the motif a stylistic fluttering ribbon that circled around to curve prettily over each cheek bone) was one to be remembered; especially as she seemed to be more thrilled at famed space lesbian General Sekura’s having noticed and complimented her on them, than anything else.

While Stone’s jaig eyes, which had been rightfully earned during the Battle of Geonosis, remained beloved among the GAR, and were widely considered the standard for coolness and badassery as far as most sisters were concerned, each member of the clone brass had their own favourites among their Battalion. Cody had to say his was Lt Sohla’s marigold sunbursts, that she had shyly admitted were inspired by his paint. Captain Rex was a big fan of the ladies in the 501st who had done some interesting designs inspired by their own Commander’s distinctive face and lek markings; while Captain Keeli was pleased to be asked to design several eye tattoos among his trans siblings, all inspired by various types of plumage he’d seen in his travels. Those tattoos were quite popular, his artistic talent visible for all to see on his lovely armour.

The artists all agreed it was a fun challenge to find designs that were unique and interesting, but streamlined in order to be able to get some sort of idea across with as little needle contact with the delicate skin as possible, to ensure such a vital part of their siblings were able to heal swiftly, and remain unimpeded.

As time went on some few sisters still wanted to have dark and blocky designs like their older vod’e, but as time went on it grew more popular to have designs that consisted of just a few lines; enough to communicate an idea and change their eye shape subtly, which could then be added to or filled out with colourful and glittery cosmetics on the rare occasions they could get away with it; generally during shore leave and nights at 79’s

fig. 1-6 examples of the tattoos described in textc