#@fialleril

[imaginarygirltnt]

That moment where you really enjoyed the mandalorian s2 episode 1 but you also like the fanon amavikka culture, so seeing a krayt dragon killed leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

[roseunspindle]

Firmus Piett in many universes

Firmus Piett is a man who earned Vader’s respect, however, in many universes (hi fanfics) Anakin never becomes Vader, so I needed to help Piett find his stress inducing leader in other ways.

- In one universe, he’s barely a lieutenant when assigned to assist Jedi General Skywalker on a mission. Through a great deal more screaming, death defying stunts, and accomplishing more in one day than Piett ever thought was possible, he found returning to his regular post a tad dull. General Skywalker and 501st were quite inspiring, if rather stressful. He can’t help it, he puts in a transfer request and after a rather, odd, comm call from Admiral Yularen who seemed to be worried about his mental health. Piett’s transfer is approved. When Skywalker see’s him on the bridge he looks confused for a minute, then grins. “Couldn’t stay away from us huh?” Piett nods, a bit stiffly, still not used to Skywalkers informality. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else sir.”

- In another universe, Piett is a Captain and his small squadrons’ duty is to keep his area of space cleared of pirates, smugglers, and slavers. He is an odd duck in that he actually clears them out instead of accepting bribes. All but one, pirate may be the technical term for Anakin Skywalker, but as he only ever attacks slaving vessels and his only smuggled cargo is escaped slaves, Piett never feels terribly upset when Skywalker’s ships evade him. It’s possible he also may not have tried that hard, or has potentially even given aide or information to him.

It isn’t until the Tatooinian revolutionary is captured, by a rather nasty officer of Piett’s acquaintance that things become dangerous. It’s a bit of a blur but Piett knows he chose to abandon his post to go rescue the man, teaming up with some of Skywalker’s pirate team. When at last they are back aboard Ekrreth’s Wings (Skywalkers flagship as it were) Piett knows his military career is over. However the other are smiling at him and thanking him for his help and when Skywalker claps him on the shoulder and welcomes him aboard, Piett feels like he’s in the right spot.

[wingletblackbird]

Hygiene on Tatooine

(Inspired by this post by @redrikki.)

Bathing

Most people on Tatooine were unable to afford the quantites of water that would allow for any kind of typical shower, let alone bathing. It was only the richest of the rich who would do that. Some of the wealthier people may have bathed once a month, but even that would have been more than most people could  have managed.

Most of the upper lower class, and middle class people on Tatooine would have used Sonic showers. Sonic showers used the barest minimum of water and soap which than vibrated the dirt of your skin. It was the most common means of cleaning one’s body that existed on Tatooine. The soap was made through a combination of natural fats and alkaline salts. A fortunate side note was that it also helped prevent skin disease.

Amongst the slaves, and lower classes, however, even sonic showers were not an option, although, they may have had access to soap, even if it was only homemade. They would take fine sand and mix it with leftover fat and oil which they would smear over their skin and scrape off with scrapers that were specifically designed for that purpose.

(You can just imagine now why Anakin hates sand.)

(You bet it gets everywhere...)

Dental Hygiene

Those who had the means would buy proper toothbrushes and toothpaste from the core. However, those who did not have the means would have sticks with frayed ends that they would use to scrape and clean their teeth. They would make their own toothpaste (or buy toothpaste sold by locals) made of makkana (the Tatooinian version of mint), salt, and dried kaktru petals. It was more of a paste than anything really. Spit was never anything to be wasted though. So this would be done one or twice a week and the paste was rubbed off the teeth with the stick and an old rag.

Since, teeth could not be brushed regularly, however, egafa (a sweetener similar to agave which also had anti-bacterial properties), would be boiled together with amee, Tatooine cinnamon, to make breath mints that you could suck on. They also helped to prevent gum disease. (Doubt they prevented cavities though….)

Deodorant and Perfume

Strong oil based perfumes would have been very popular on Tatooine for those who could afford it. Even if you were one of those people who were able to wash regularly, the heat would get to you and oils a) masked the smell well, and b) were able to wake you up if you feel you’re about to pass out from heat. They were made from the roots, blossoms, and leaves of various plants that were found on Tatooine from which the oils were extracted and mixed together. Creams and salves were made by adding in wax or fat. There was a huge market for these scented products on Tatooine. The best, strongest, and most refined oils/perfumes were, naturally, reserved for the upper middle classes and richer individuals due to expense. Nevertheless, the other people on Tatooine were able to buy the cheaper perfumes made of less expensive and refined oils like that which is found in the peel of common fruits found on cacti, like pallies, which were than mixed with spices like amee. The less refined the oils were and the more common the source ingredients the cheaper the price. Even amongst the lower classes, most, were able to afford the cheapest perfumes.

Those that could not, slaves, and the poverty stricken families would make their own deodorant by rubbing combinations of fruit peel, fragrant flowers, and spices over their bodies and/or creating bags of the fragrant combinations to place under their armpits in an attempt to mask the stench.

It was a significant thing on Tatooine to smell nice. The nicer you could smell, or could afford to smell, the better. Ideally, on Tatooine when you walked past someone, or at least when you hugged someone, you would smell their oils/perfume and it was meant to be an intense, but pleasant fragrance. Most peope who came to Tatooine found that you had two extremes, you smelled really good, or fairly bad. Really good was what Tatooinian society strived for. People were supposed to smell. Best case scenario it was really good.

I would imagine that Anakin, once he came to Coruscant, made an extra special point of smelling nice if he could. He’s definitely the type to wear extra-strong cologne.

Washing

Laundry pretty much existed on the same level as bathing. Few could manage it with water. Most,who could,tried to do it with sonic cleansers. Those that couldn’t did as described below.

The slaves and the lowest classes would scrape what grime the could off their clothes with special scrapers, then they would rub it with an abrasive combination of sand and salt, this they would then scrape off as well. Then, they would place the clothes in a bag filled with commonly found, fragrant flower petals, herbs, and fruit peels and toss it together. They would leave it their for a while to let the clothes absorb the scent. After, to prevent the Tatooinian version of fleas and lice which were very common even among higher classes, let alone the lower ones, they would smear it with fat, (the luckier ones had scented fat) and than left it to dry. The smearing was done every couple of weeks. The washing was done as deemed necessary. Cleanliness was prized on Tatooine so it was done when feasibly possible

Dishes were cleaned using sand as scouring powder. A rag would have been used to remove the remaining sand on the dish. Salt may have been added to the mixture in hopes of cleaning it better.

(I now have this amusing idea that Padme would have helped Shmi to wash the dishes...it’s the least she can do after all. Than she realizes that these dishes...are not really hygienic. She cringes a bit internally and muses that she shouldn’t be surprised. As much as she likes these people, they don’t smell the best either and it’s not their fault at all.

They smell sort of like body odour masked with something citrus. One minute they smell passably ok, the next they smell pungent, the next they smell some combination of the two and it’s just bizarre. She tries not to wrinkle her nose and eventually gets used to it.

It’s the sand scrub, though, that Shmi teaches her the next day to cleanse her body that really makes her gag. How can people live like this?

It gives her a new appreciation for the comforts she’s grown up with.)

(Incidentally, the above information is based upon things people have actually been known to do when living under poor conditions in the desert.)