#debelltio

send me a 🚩 and i’ll share my unpopular rpc opinions and hot takes.  bonus points if you include a specific topic to talk about, like follower count, softblocking, graphics, etc.

wow, okay!  this took me a lot longer to answer than i would’ve thought. nobody sent in topics ( which is okay! ) but without direction, my laidback attitude about everything ended up hurting me in the long run lmfao   but now i’m here!!  better late than never, eh?  tagging others who also sent in something, mainly because i’ve realized i’m chill and got nothing more to say than this it seems  @fifthdimensicn @lightburnsyou @techniiciian ( thank you for sending something!! )

i’ll preface this by saying i have nothing against anyone.   i am just a massive childhood star wars nerd, who basically learned english through the canon/legends movies, games, books, and writing fanfic etc.   so, i’m rather well read on star wars and have a tendency to be uhhh. autistic lol  stringent, for want of a better word, about the universe lore.   overall, i don’t care whether or not people agree; this is just a topic i lowkey struggle to understand yet see far too often.   why people willingly step into this paradox is beyond me!

anyway, if your muse is canonically a force-null in star wars, yet you create a serious, fleshed-out jedi verse for them, then i can’t help but think you don’t actually love your muse as much as you think you do.

of course, you’re totally allowed to have fun—i am not against fun; i’m actually all for breaking and bending verses to my will—and i understand getting bored with the same verses you’ve played in for years and years.   but when this reinterpretation becomes a serious endeavor—like, you’re really out here recontextualizing the entirety of star wars, including its characters, regardless of how ooc it would be to do so, just to fit this verse??   that’s where you lose me lol

for clarity: force nulls are simply people who are not outwardly force-sensitive, aka an individual who cannot consciously sense or interact with the force.   so, think han solo, padmé amidala, or even captain rex and the clones etc.   these are people who stand tall without the force, relying instead on their resourcefulness, resilience, and humanity.

i know the arguments.    i’m well aware some would argue that han and padmé could be considered “lowkey force-sensitive” in their own way, and i’m actually very inclined to agree—to a point.   these two do exhibit qualities that some might attribute to a higher-than-average midichlorian count: padmé’s marksmanship and her negotiation skills; han’s brilliant piloting and uncanny luck that often defies logic.   but yeah, that’s also the whole damn point—they’re exceptional because they lack the force, not in spite of it.

here, lemme use padmé as my primary example because i already know the concept of han being a jedi sounds absolutely absurd lol ( or at least it should if you know him at all 💀 )

let’s imagine a world where padmé is suddenly a jedi, wielding the force with all the grace of a trained knight.   it’s a pretty popular verse i’ve mostly seen outside of rp—and it’s utterly baffling to me.   sure, it’s an interesting twist, but it’s also a strange one.   why?  well, in my honest opinion: in making padmé overtly force-sensitive, you strip away everything that makes her outstanding.

she is extraordinary precisely because she isn’t outwardly force sensitive.  her ability to connect with people, her unparalleled empathy, and her deftness at negotiation are what sets her apart.  outward force sensitivity would rob her of these defining traits and generally diminishes her skillset—because the ability to sense emotions, to read others with an almost prescient understanding—is not a unique power, but rather one of the many force-given gifts jedi possess.  if padmé could sense others’ thoughts, how would her talents at diplomacy and empathy stand out?  just like that, what once set her apart would be merely an extension of the jedi arsenal.

the same applies to han!  this is why i’ve never written a force-sensitive han solo and likely never will.   his disbelief and distrust in anything he can’t see or feel for himself is paramount to his disposition / mentality as a character.   in the movies, he’s your taste of hard cynicism; he’s introduced as a reality check right after luke and ben’s floaty nonsense about the force.   ya feel me?   han solo is remarkable not because he’s imbued with mystical powers, but because he doesn’t have them.   he survives, thrives, and outsmarts the galaxy without supernatural powers to lean on.   to make han force-sensitive would be to strip away the very core of his character.

                   Slight chest heaving,  the girl crept to the collapsed man’s side,  fingers trembling as she reached tentatively for his bloodied face.          ❝  Mister Kryze?  ❞          Voice tremulous,  the fragile glow of his signature temporarily remained her only comfort in that moment that she wasn’t shut in with a corpse.

                   ❝  Can you hear me?  ❞         If she weren’t merely eight,  if only she was trained,  if she were older,  taller,  stronger,  she could have turned the injured man over,  perhaps even removed the still present cuffs from his wrists.     Bitter helplessness welled up,  furious tears stinging unwanted.     If she were trained,  older,  taller,  stronger…   she could have rescued both of them.          ❝  I’m  sorry…  ❞

⌯⌲  𝙿𝙻𝙾𝚃𝚃𝙴𝙳  𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁  𝚏𝚝.  @debelltio

the  transport  settled  on  the  landing  pad  with  all  the  subtlety  of  a  blade  sliding  into  place—silent,  precise.  ZEPHYXIS  stepped  out  first.  her  armor  wasn’t  the  heavy  kind  the  stormtroopers  wore  but  the  sleek,  reinforced  prototype  issued  only  to  Imperial  Security  Bureau  contractors—white  plates  with  obsidian  lines  cutting  clean  geometry  across  her  frame.  the  kind  of  uniform  reserved  for  someone  being  tested,  not  trusted.

beside  her,  the  wind  carried  the  low  murmur  of  a  displaced  city.  rioters  funneled  into  choke  points.  the  EMPIRE’s  fingerprints  smeared  across  every  wall,  every  rooftop.  and  somewhere  in  all  of  that—one  scientist,  one  leak,  one  man  too  valuable  to  simply  eliminate.

the  reason  she  was  here.  tapping  the  side  of  her  helmet;  the  upper  plate  folded  down  over  her  face  with  a  soft  mechanical  hiss.  𝙾𝙽𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴. target  parameters  populate  her  HUD  in  clean  red  script.

“Imperial  Security  dispatch:  ZEPHYXIS  reporting  for  evaluation,”  she  echoed,  voice  modulated  and  crisp.  her  gaze  flicked  toward  the  occupied  streets,  the  tension  coiling  like  a  fuse  waiting  to  be  lit.  “the  objective  is  to  locate  and  retrieve  the  missing  asset.  and  to  ensure  nothing…  leaks.”

the  last  word  was  mechanical,  clinical—yet  sharp  enough  to  hint  she  already  knew  exactly  how  catastrophic  this  could  become.  she  straightened,  plasma  blades  shimmering  faintly  along  her  forearm  gauntlets  in  idle  standby  mode.

somewhere  deep  in  the  city  below,  the  first  sparks  of  unrest  crackled—waiting  for  someone  like  ORSON  KRENNIC  to  turn  tension  into  a  weapon…  and  someone  like  ZEPHYXIS  to  enforce  it.

the  city  folded  like  a  maze  designed  for  the  unprepared.  for  her,  however,  it was  simply  terrain.  ALIGN  parsed  every  alley,  every  heat  signature,  every  tremor  of  movement.

𝘛𝘈𝘙𝘎𝘌𝘛  𝘓𝘐𝘒𝘌𝘓𝘐𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘋.  𝟪𝟩%  —  𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘛  𝘙𝘌𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓  𝘉𝘓𝘖𝘊𝘒.  𝘞𝘈𝘙𝘕𝘐𝘕𝘎:  𝘏𝘖𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘌  𝘈𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘝𝘐𝘛𝘠  𝘋𝘌𝘛𝘌𝘊𝘛𝘌𝘋.

ZEPHYXIS  moved,  her  steps  are  soundless  on  the  duracrete,  armor  shifting  with  quiet  pneumatic  precision.  civilians  glanced  her  way  and  then  quickly  pretended  they  didn’t.  The  EMPIRE  has  taught  them  all  the  shape  of  fear.

a  door  slammed  somewhere  deeper  in  the  complex.  ALIGN  pinged  the  direction  and  ZEPHYXIS  followed  to  an  abandoned  workshop,  the  ‘asset’—a  balding  scientist  in  soot-stained  clothes—scrambled  through  scattered  datapads  and  half-packed  crates.  he  froze  when  he  saw  her  in  the  doorway,  haloed  by  the  flickering  light.

“I  won’t  be  part  of  that  project.  I  won’t—”  he  breathed,  backing  away. 

“your  refusal  is  noted,”  ZEPHYXIS answered  calmly.  “however,  irrelevant.  you’ve  been  classified  as  a  security  breach.”

the  scientist  lunged  for  the  back  exit.  ZEPHYXIS  didn’t  move  for  half  a  second—just  long  enough  to  calculate  his  trajectory.  then  the  upper  part  of  her  helmet  sealed  with  a  click.  the  plasma  blade  arced  to  life  along  her  forearm—white-hot,  a  clean  razor  edge  humming  in  the  dim.

one  step.  one  strike.

and  the  scientist  collapsed,  the  blade  having  cut  cleanly  through  the  weapon  he’d  tried  to  raise,  leaving  him  disarmed,  trembling,  and  very  alive—but  very  incapable  of  running  again.

she  taped  her  comm-link.  “director,”  voice  like  polished  steel,  “the  asset  has  been  neutralized  and  secured  for  retrieval.  no  further  leakage  anticipated.”

her  visor  glowed  faintly  as  ALIGN  confirmed  the  feed  and  locks  the  coordinates  to  Imperial  reinforcements.  ZEPHYXIS  looked  down  at  the  terrified  man—no  malice  in  her  posture,  no  triumph. just duty.

 just  the  Empire’s  mandate  made  flesh. 

“cooperate,”  she  said,  “and  you  will  survive  transport.”  outside, the unrest stirred louder—like a storm beginning its spiral. ZEPHYXIS activated  her  beacon  and  stood  guard  over  the  subdued  scientist,  awaiting  KRENNIC’s  arrival.

the  trial  run,  by  all  metrics,  was  going  flawlessly.  securing  the  scientist  should  have  been  the  end  of  it.  but  ALIGN  flashed  a  warning  across  her  visor:

𝘜𝘕𝘈𝘜𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘙𝘐𝘡𝘌𝘋  𝘚𝘐𝘎𝘕𝘈𝘓  𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘊𝘌𝘗𝘛  —  𝘚𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘊𝘌  𝘜𝘕𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘕.  𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘚𝘐𝘉𝘓𝘌  𝘊𝘖𝘜𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘙-𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘓𝘓𝘐𝘎𝘌𝘕𝘊𝘌  𝘈𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘝𝘐𝘛𝘠.

ZEPHYXIS stood  still.  faint  click  echoed  through  the  workshop  walls.  not  a  weapon.  a  transmitter.  someone  else  was  listening.  she  dragged  the  scientist  to  cover  just  as  a  hidden  holo-projector  activated  on  the  far  wall—grainy,  distorted,  voice  scrambled  through  a  modulator:

“Imperial  lapdog!  you  think  you’ve  won?  we’ve  been  watching  you.”  the  transmission  cut  before  ALIGN  could  trace  it.  another  obstacle  appeared;  a  decoy  heat  signature  in  the  adjoining  corridor  mimicking  a  humanoid  run  pattern…  but  flickering  too  consistently,  too  rhythmically.

ZEPHYXIS  ignored  it.  instead  she  scanned  the  ceiling—just  as  a  small  detonation  charge  blinked  to  life  above  her,  rigged  to  bury  the  room  in  rubble.  “shit.”  she  murmured  and  hurled  the  scientist  under  a  reinforced  workbench,  bracing  herself  and  fired  a  precise  plasma  pulse  that  detonated  the  charge  early—before  its  full  power  armed.

the  ceiling  cracked,  dust  raining  over  her  armor  but  the  room  held.  ALIGN  pinged  again:

𝘔𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘔𝘌𝘕𝘛  𝘋𝘌𝘛𝘌𝘊𝘛𝘌𝘋  —  𝘌𝘟𝘐𝘛  𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘌  𝘊𝘖𝘔𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘔𝘐𝘚𝘌𝘋.  𝘔𝘜𝘓𝘛𝘐𝘗𝘓𝘌  𝘏𝘖𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘌𝘚.  𝘏𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘓𝘠  𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘐𝘕𝘌𝘋.

and  that  was  when  ZEPHYXIS  realized—this  wasn’t  just  a  runaway  scientist.  he  had  help.  smart  help.  three  shadows  slipped  through  the  smoke—saboteurs,  masked,  silent,  their  weapons  fitted  with  suppressors  and  non-reflective  plating.  professionals.

one  lunged. ZEPHYXIS  pivoted,  helmet  sealing  with  a  hiss,  plasma  blade  igniting  along  her  arm.  they  expected  a  stormtrooper.  they  got  her.

the  first  attacker  dropped,  blade  slicing  clean  through  his  weapon.  the  second  kept  distance,  tried  to  override  her  suit  remotely—ALIGN  slammed  the  intrusion  attempt  with  a  hard  firewall  spike.

𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘙𝘜𝘚𝘐𝘖𝘕  𝘊𝘖𝘜𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘌𝘋.  𝘚𝘜𝘎𝘎𝘌𝘚𝘛  𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕  𝘖𝘍  𝘚𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘊𝘌.

she  obliged.  the  third  bolted  for  the  emergency  access  shaft.  too  late.  ZEPHYXIS  fired  a  grappling  module  from  her  wrist—the  line  caught  his  ankle,  yanking  him  off  balance.  he  hit  the  floor  hard,  disarmed  before  he  could  scream.

marvelous munday meme

a lot of people that i interact with in the rpc fall into that category and i feel so lucky to have not only had the pleasure of writing with them, but getting to know them outside of the rpc too. but there is someone who i IMMEDIATELY thought of who has been and continues to be one of the most positive impacts in my life.

@paramounticebound / @deficd <3

lee & i have been writing together for...honestly, I'm not even sure. nearly as long as i've had this blog and its almost 13 ( !!! ). i can safely say fox would not be the character she is today without lee's impact and neither would i. when good things happen in my life, when bad things happen in my life, when completely mundane things happen in my life, its lee who i reach out to ( seriously i have sent snaps from inside bookstores or, i think, a thrift shop once because something reminded me of them ). lee is someone who is endlessly encouraging, who never tells me that my ideas are too wild ( and who share's their own "wild" ideas with me, which makes me feel so privileged to know the ideas brewing in their head ), not to mention who indulges every single one of my au or new fandom ideas/plots ( and gives more of their own--seriously i have been INHALING the fallen gods series by hannah kaner because of lee ). lee was someone in the beginning of my rpc journey who made me feel seen, made me feel not so alone, and someone who has moved past being just another rp partner and into my best friend.

more than that, lee is my favorite writer, author, and word-smith. they're someone who makes me strive for better, who makes my love of writing come alive, which i think, as writers, we all have or hope for someone who does that for us. lee is my someone. my gratitude for them is endless, my love for them is limitless. being able to write together is one of my greatest joys, but getting to know them, to have them in my life, that is the highest honor !

so yes, not to get too mushy--because i could go on and on when it comes to lee, but they are the person who sticks out to me the most when i think of who has had a positive impact on my life. <3

thank you for sending !

who are these people?

<<how is this man still alive?>> (@ orson who’s presumably wishing absolutely nobody a happy birthday today and likewise wondering why he's here.)

she doesn’t flinch. doesn’t bow, doesn’t bend, even as the storm of her anger rises. her hands clench at her sides, the ghost of breha’s voice reminding her: to act with grace is to wield a weapon sharper than any blade.

but this is no ballroom. there is no audience to charm. it’s her and him and the yawning gulf of the lives he’s ruined.

the silence grows louder than any blaster fire.

❝ director krennic — ❞ her voice doesn’t tremble, though she can feel the weight of alderaan’s ashes pressing against her throat. ❝ how generous of you to meet me. i assume your time is as precious as the lives you discard. ❞

Over the years I've made quite a lot of friends!

Among my oldest friends in the rpc are @mando-of-esverr/@mantleoflight , @timeguardians , @fallsekings and @therapardalis

Recently I've gotten to reconnect with @quietresistance who is always wonderful. And I'm starting to make friends among the SW peeps as I'm getting brave and talking to people.

SEND AN ASSUMPTION/MISCONCEPTION ABOUT AHSOKA

oh, alistair, you’re baiting me and i love it.

so, to, as you say, pop off: i bloody blooming despise a notion that sprouted from ahsoka’s appearance in the book of boba fett.

the takeaway from her conversation with din in “from the desert comes a stranger” became that ahsoka not only still upheld but passed on to luke the traditional jedi order principle of “no attachment”.

in practice, for grogu this would mean he’d willingly and wholly separate himself from his bond with din in order to become a part of the jedi order, forsaking any other way of life with all its trappings. unfortunately, the armorer in the previous episode said something similar which pulled this aspect of jedi life front and center. the two life paths luke ends up presenting to grogu do enforce this idea.

but ahsoka, jedi no longer and previous open critic of the order and the strict mis/understanding of the attachment principle (the clone wars s1:ep:13 “jedi crash"/14 “defenders of peace”), wouldn’t have encouraged luke to employ this. instead, she would merely have passed along her memories of how the jedi lived and operated, presenting luke with options for how to run his order. ultimately, since ahsoka would remain uninvolved with the order itself and merely be a resource for luke, it would be his choice how to move forward. he chose to go “by the book”, shown in his recycling of words obi-wan and yoda used to instruct him, despite how often luke had disagreed with them in the past.

both in the eu and in canon, luke’s call as the last of the practicing jedi order was to fall back on what had already been established. however, in the eu he had significantly more help. and older students who provided mature feedback while still technically padawans. from there the order evolved into an entity more stable though less strict in terms of lifestyle. here in canon he’s going it alone with what remains of the jedi code he can find and speak to, including ahsoka.

what is important to recall about her is her prior refusal to teach grogu. it wasn’t just about his emotions. it was about her own as well. she no longer believed in the lifestyle of a traditional jedi when grogu crossed her path and would only encourage that lifestyle for him if he truly wanted it, which is why she directs father and son to travel to tython. from that point forward, everything was luke’s responsibility. no matter what she passed on from her own training, he was the one at the helm training his student.

[ another thing i’m not sure i’ve seen mentioned yet is that luke may have purposely chosen to teach grogu the code his new padawan was used to, thinking it may have been a source of comfort to reinforce the familiar. and due to the traumatic pause in grogu’s time with the jedi, luke’s stance on teaching was a surprisingly self-centric one: protection. not of others, but of himself. a tactic essentially leaning into grogu’s remaining fears after order 66 – but that’s a meta for another blog another time. ]

when it comes to the conversation ahsoka has with din about his fondness for grogu, it’s less about the order and more a personal test for din. especially considering din’s status as a mandalorian: time honored adversaries of the jedi, regardless of ahsoka’s own past interactions with them. wars can make surprising allies, after all.

the pertinent dialogue between ahsoka and din goes this way:

din: i thought you weren’t going to help train grogu. ahsoka: i’m not. master luke is. din: then what are you doing here? ahsoka: that’s my question for you. din: i’m here to see the kid. ahsoka: that’s why r2 brought you to see me instead. [….] din: i wanna see him. ahsoka: i know you do. let us take a walk. i warned you when we met, that your attachment to grogu would be difficult to let go of. din: he was a mandalorian foundling in my care. i just wanna make sure he’s safe. ahsoka: there is no place in the galaxy more safe than here with luke. din: i don’t understand why you’re alright with skywalker’s decision to train the kid when you wouldn’t. ahsoka: because it was his choice. i don’t control the wants of others. din: then it’s my choice to go and see him. ahsoka: of course. if that is what you wish. […] are you doing this for grogu or are you doing this for yourself? din: i just… i wanna give him this. ahsoka: why? so he will remember you? din: no. as a mandalorian foundling, he should have this. it’s his right. ahsoka: foundling… perhaps he is a padawan now. din: well… either way this armor will protect him. ahsoka: [nodding] if you are set on it, then allow me to deliver it. din: i came all this way. he’s right there. ahsoka: grogu misses you a great deal. If he sees you, it will only make things more difficult for him. din: make sure he’s protected.

so, what’s the deal with ahsoka practically interrogating din about what should be a simple request?

ahsoka’s specific goal here is to ensure that din’s interest in grogu, his safety and chosen education, was out of love for grogu the child and not grogu the potential mandalorian. if din let his hope for grogu as a mandalorian instead of a son interfere with grogu’s time at the temple, their relationship might become poisoned. jedi vs. mandalorian rifts became wars time and time again. while one man like din might not have caused a great fallout immediately, the mandalorian remnant and luke’s fledgling jedi school could have become violently opposed to each other not unlike their forebears, given the right attitude and enough time. ahsoka does not need to be a jedi any longer to still have a vested interest in the success of luke’s efforts, which she does, nor does she need to be a mandalorian to care deeply for the future of recovering mandalorians.

her conversation with din is both a general test and an individual one. plus, she is aware of something that din is not: grogu will be undergoing his own test to judge for himself what lifestyle he wants. ahsoka cannot tell din this and must let him wait for the outcome, or otherwise develop false hope. which might turn into an instrument of discord were din to hold his disappointment against grogu and the new jedi order. this is why she gently urges din to determine whose best interest is at stake in going to see him. is din more willing to protect grogu’s feelings and choices, or his own? and are din’s feelings those of a father or of a mandalorian?

by the end of the conversation, ahsoka has made it clear that she will not withhold din’s gift from grogu. in fact, she immediately turns to make her way to master and padawan with the beskar in hand.

we don’t get much in terms of grogu makes his choice or luke’s reaction, but we do see the result: a balanced representation of what grogu might want laid out physically in front of him and how he acts on his choice. which ends up being a life with din as his father and potentially a life as a mandalorian over the life of a padawan who would eventually become a jedi.

i believe that in her heart ahsoka already knew what grogu wanted most. but as she said, she did not control the wants and desires of others. i also believe ahsoka urged luke to let grogu choose what he wanted, or risk yet another instance of potential resentment against the reborn jedi order should grogu ever discover luke withheld an option from him.

choice of lifestyle was something ahsoka was only implicitly granted during her time in the order, not explicitly. grogu, as long as she was able to make it so, would have the opportunity to choose the path he wanted. and to the degree ahsoka had freedom to ensure it, the little one would be able to live a life he felt at peace with. sacrifices would have to be made, but at least grogu would know ahead of time. and through this process, luke would have opportunity to learn his own lessons about attachment and letting go as a newly forged jedi master. also that not all force users who forsook the jedi order became sith or otherwise evil. she was proof enough of that.

to wrap this whole thing up, it was never about the jedi code for ahsoka. it was always about intention. it was about love and concern between father figure and child, between master and student. she freely admits that her chosen place is not with the order, but she had vested interest in its future and the future of its members. however she’s lived too long and experienced too many historical events to keep her eye on only the jedi.

din earned her respect and trust on corvus. she encourages (and tests) his trust and respect for her on ossus. in their conversation she finds exactly what she’d hoped to find: genuine, sacrificial parental care for grogu. this indicated the best case scenario for the little one either way. once everyone was informed of their options, ahsoka could step back and allow both grogu and luke the freedom to be whatever they desired. her job was done, and done well.