The Acolyte Week

The Acolyte Week 2024 runs from Oct 27-31. Icon by @sydneyadmu.

[calamiitywrites]

How can you not know? I have torn apart Chronos himself, thrown his blood through centuries of time, all for the promise of our eternity. nothing will separate us.

— Osha & Qimir + Affections Touching Across Time ( Day 2 playing in photoshop: AU Osha & Qimir ) ⤿ @theacolyteweek FANART

[calamiitywrites]

Like a fever. Like i'm burning alive. Like a sign. Did I cross the line?

— Osha & Qimir + Actions & Consequences ( Day 3 playing in photoshop: AU Osha & Qimir ) ⤿ @theacolyteweek FANART

[groove-on-boogie-down]

The Star Wars Celebration Live crowd chanting “Season 2! Season 2,” after Manny Jacinto’s interview(s).

[jedi-qui-gon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution to The Acolyte Week 2024 Day 5! The prompt chosen - Peace/Conflict.

Hope it’s an enjoyable read! I finished and posted on the same day though did proofread before posting. Things went a bit awry but felt good! I am sure errors/word repetition slipped through, but will fix in the near future! 🙂

Really enjoyed The Acolyte Week! 😊Would love to see more The Acolyte fan events / The High Republic fan events. Really like that era, The High Republic is probably my second favorite era, first being the time period of the Prequel movies (and shows like The Clone Wars). 

Source:

archiveofourown.org

[maythe4th]

@theacolyteweek DAY 5: TROPES – TWINS SWITCHING PLACES

[lokislady17]

My contribution for the Acolyte Week day 5. Prompt peace/conflict | Tropes. I am going to go with conflict. It is here that I would like to celebrate one the show's biggest surprises for me and that is the absolute boss that is Senator Rayancourt. I appreciate this character so much because he relates to what I stated in the first prompt when I explored the Jedi's relationship to the galaxy at large. The first time Rayancourt is mentioned he is described as "An ambitious senator grasping for power." To a public enamored of the Jedi, this is a very easy explanation to buy. But as we learn, through events in the show, Rayancourt's suspicions of the Jedi are well founded. He is right to be apprehensive of such a gathering of powerful people who also have a lot of political influence as well. This goes back to the Jedi learning the existence of Mae and her master. Not only are they a threat to the Jedi's monopoly on the Force, they are a threat to the idea that the only ones capable of wielding the Force are the Jedi. It was a fascinating type of conflict to explore. Furthermore, the idea of a group of Force wielders out their doing their own thing, could be quite frightening. I'm sure Rayancourt would agree. It also hasn't escaped anyone's notice that the Jedi in the Acolyte are a stand in for IRL institutional powers like organized religion or even the police. In recent history, people have tried to put such organizations to more scrutiny (and for good reason) but all too often, the backlash has been immediate and terrible. Most of the backlash comes from those who believe s deeply in things such as the church and the police. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to such institutions that are held so dearly by the public. That is why I appreciated the inclusion of such a character in this show. Senator Rayancourt-we solute you!

[jedi-qui-gon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution to The Acolyte Week 2024 Day 3! The prompt chosen - Location.

Unlike my previous 3 fics which were Jedi Sol fics, this one has Qimir. And some worldbuilding and guesses regarding him, he is a very interesting character for sure! A lot of mystery…

Hope it’s an enjoyable read!

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution for Acolyte Week day 4: Wisdom/Ignorance!

PIP-0604, known by close associates as Pip, had spent fifty-two thousand, five hundred sixty hours with the human female Verosha Aniseya, known by close associates as Osha. As such, by logical reasoning, he knew her better than any of her organic companions. He was accustomed to her mannerisms and expressions, the contours of her face and the styles of her hair. The human female that knelt before him now checked all of those boxes.

Except that the ends of her hair were singed.

Except that her eyes were harder than he had ever seen Osha’s.

Except that while Osha had thrown him to the umbramoths, she had told him she loved him before doing so. He had determined that her voice had held the emotion that humans called devastation, and his analysis of the situation indicated that Osha had made the only choice that allowed her and all of her organic companions to survive. If the human looking at him now had been Osha, she would have greeted him much more warmly.

The only explanation, then, was that this was Mae-ho Aniseya, known by close associates as Mae. Osha had spoken of her often, an experience that had always been confusing for Pip. Her tone was that which humans typically reserved for those for whom they held a deep affection, but her words did not compute with such emotion. It had been Mae who destroyed the commune Osha had grown up in. Mae who, more recently, had terminated two beings whom Osha had also spoken of with warmth.

These actions, Pip decided, overruled Osha’s tonal indicators. There was only one thing to be done. He activated his spout, spraying oil into Mae’s right eye.

Mae cried out, seizing Pip from his charging station. “What if I reset you to factory settings, hm?”

A jolt of fear pulsed through Pip’s circuits. He protested, loudly, but Mae was unyielding. The world went dark.

A few seconds later, she came back into focus.

If Pip had been re-set to factory settings, he would not have recognized her.

It must have been the Tynnan called Bazil, who had rescued Pip from the forest floor. He had done a few unnecessary repairs that Pip had been unable to identify a cause for. One of them must have disabled Pip’s reset feature.

But if Bazil could do that, Pip was confident Mae could undo it. It would be wise to act as though the reset had worked.

Mae reattached Pip’s head to his body. “Can you run a check on the power system?” she asked.

He replied in the affirmative.

Once he had determined that the system required a five-minute reset, Mae engaged the procedure and went to report to Sol. Once he had been updated, Sol engaged in typical human regret procedures over the numerous organic terminations on Khofar. Then, to Pip’s surprise, the human nodded at him.

“You found him. Your PIP droid.”

“Yes. He’s okay now.”

“I noticed the way you take care of him. Talk to him. You love him, even though he’s just a machine.”

Pip protested loudly at that— just, when used in basic, was usually a derogatory modifier— but neither human paid him any mind. They conversed until the ship’s power returned, and as soon as it did, Mae made a run for the communications console.

“Hello? Is anybody there? Can you hear me?”

“Identify yourself.”

“My name is—“

Mae’s voice was drowned out by a pulsing sound, and a bright blue beam of light passed over her and Pip. Pip’s functionality did not change, but Mae collapsed to the ground. It had been a stun weapon, then. Bazil knew, as Pip did, that Mae was masquerading as her sister. It was logical that he would wish to put a stop to the charade.

But the organic who picked Mae up from the floor was not Bazil. It was Sol.

“Oh, Mae,” he said.

“Master Sol. The rescue team is on their way. Leave your transponder on—“

Sol switched it off. A second later, the ship entered hyperspace. Pip had only spent one hundred ninety-two hours with Sol, but that was long enough for him to know that these actions were incongruous with his previous ones.

Sol picked Mae up from the floor and brought her to a bed in the ship’s living quarters, strapping her wrists down on either side of it. He then took a seat across from her, evidently intending to remain there until she regained consciousness. He didn’t acknowledge Pip.

When Mae finally awakened, it was with the same thrashing, panicked movements that her sister made when coming out of a nightmare. To an organic, it might have seemed that she settled when she caught sight of Sol, but Pip could tell that her muscles were still tensed.

“I have no intention of harming you, Mae.”

“Then let me go.”

Sol crossed the room to stand next to them. “I will, believe me. We have a lot to do. We need to find your master. We need to save Osha. But first, you and I are going to talk. I’ve had sixteen years to think about what I would say to you if I ever got the opportunity. So you’re going to listen.”

Mae’s current position gave her little opportunity to do anything else— and Pip decided it was in his best interests to listen, too.

Sol’s story went against everything that Osha had told Pip. And yet, logically, it made more sense. Osha had spoken of Mae with affection because the willful destruction of their home had not been in conjunction with her sister’s characteristics. It was, however, in keeping with what Pip had observed from Sol. The man who treated Osha with such care could easily have let those emotions override his rational judgments when contemplating her future. The man who had strapped Mae down in an attempt to make her think he was in the right could easily have killed her mother out of a misplaced confidence in his own judgment.

Sol’s story came to a close just as the ship emerged from hyperspace, and Pip began to craft a plan. Above all else, his primary directive was to fix. To make pieces fit in the way that they were meant to. His secondary directive— a self-determined one, admittedly, but it counted to him— was to protect Osha. Freeing Mae would accomplish both.

He nudged her finger, gently, and she began to talk, holding Sol’s attention while inching Pip towards the cuffs. He unlocked his electric prod, piercing the cuff with it and sending a pulse into its wiring. As soon as it released, Mae lunged forwards, and Pip sent a jolt of electricity into Sol strong enough to make him collapse. Mae ran down the hall, but it was clear in her hesitant steps that she had no idea where to go.

Pip called out, indicating the opening for the escape ship, and Mae glanced down at him. It was more ingenuity than a model running on basic settings would show, and they both knew it.

She took him into the ship anyway, making sure he was secure in his place at the console before putting her helmet on.

“Thanks for the assist,” she told him. “I never knew a droid could be such a good actor.”

Pip hesitated, unable to tell if she was being genuine or facetious.

“Don’t worry,” she said, pulling the escape ship away from the main one. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Osha loves you. And you know I love her too now, right?”

Pip agreed, and Mae gave him a quick grin. “Then you and I are on the same side.”

They wove through the asteroid field above Brendok, with Pip offering suggestions and observations as fast as his processor would allow. It didn’t stop them from crashing to the surface, but Mae was on her feet almost as soon as the ship had stilled.

True to her word, Mae plucked Pip from the wreckage before anything else, running with him towards a fortress that Pip inferred must have been her and Osha’s home. As she got closer, however, her pace slowed, and by the time they went inside, she was barely moving at all.

“It was the Jedi’s fault,” she whispered. “But you want to know a secret, Pip?”

He gave a hesitant affirmation.

“I will never forgive myself for starting that fire.” She brushed a hand along a wall, and her fingers came away caked in ash. “If I hadn’t tried so hard to scare Osha into staying, she never would have believed I was the one to kill our family. If I hadn’t fought so hard to keep her here… well, she would have left. But the rest of us would have stayed.”

But then, Pip pointed out, she would have been with Sol, who had proven he was not to be trusted.

To his surprise, Mae understood. “That’s true,” she agreed, patting his head. “I guess you and I will just have to do what we can to look out for her now to make up for it, huh?”

Pip agreed. But another idea occurred to him. It was contrary to his set objectives, but he had a hard time letting it go.

Who was going to look out for Mae?

Osha refused to listen to Mae when she arrived. She fought her, kicking and screaming. And when she yelled for Pip, he told himself he was doing it for her own good as he sprayed water in her eyes, allowing Mae to gain the upper hand. That his attack was only to make her listen, because once she did, she would be happy.

But when another Jedi ship came out of hyperspace and Mae fled the room, Pip didn’t call out to Osha.

When Osha heard Sol confess his crimes, when she killed him, Pip found himself just as glad that Mae had proved her innocence as he was that Osha could at last make sense of what had happened.

When the two sisters reconciled at last, his relief for each of them was equally strong.

And when the human who had introduced himself as Qimir approached, Pip didn’t know what to think. He seemed to no longer be a threat towards either twin, at least, and Pip agreed with his assessment that the Jedi Order would likely not show Osha mercy for what had taken place. But he wanted to reset Mae to factory settings. Having been so close to the same fate, it didn’t sit right with Pip.

Mae agreed to it, just as Pip had agreed to be taken by the umbramoths. They were a team, as Mae had suggested, their directive to keep Osha safe and well.

Only, Osha had a new protector. Mae did not.

Only, Mae had protected Pip, while Osha had sacrificed him.

Only, Pip knew all too well what Mae was about to go through— and he was confident he could help.

So after Mae’s reset, when Osha plucked him from Mae’s belt, he protested.

“You… want to stay with her?”

She had protected him.

Pip was accustomed to Osha’s mannerisms and expressions. He could tell it was guilt that settled on her face now, and as much as it hurt to see her feeling negatively, it made him feel a little better, too.

“I think that’s a great idea, Pip,” she said, placing him back at Mae’s side. “Look out for her, please.”

He intended to. If Pip could come back from a reset, it stood to reason that an organic could, too— and Pip would be ready to fight at Mae’s side the moment she came back to herself.

Until then, he would hold the memories for both of them.

[spaceprincessleia]

Day 4: Location - The Coven ↪ for @theacolyteweek 2024

[lokislady17]

My contribution to the Acolyte Week day 4. Prompt wisdom/ignorance-object/location. I’m going to go with Location and that location is Qimir’s cave. Not just because it’s another female centric romance trope, though I do like that the cave is obviously Qimir’s sanctuary. Everything within, he willing shares with Osha: his food, his space, his knowledge and yes, even allowing Osha to sleep in his own bed while she recovers. I’ve gushed about it before but I’m going to again, the fact that he made a makeshift bed nearby and was asleep next to her while she was unconscious, oh, nothing bad is happening on his watch. But overall, caves a a major motif in the Star Wars universe. Like the sea, caves are symbols of death, rebirth and transformation. Younglings enter caves to find their crystals, a transformative step on their Jedi paths. Rey encountered the dark side mirror and received a very cryptic answer to the question of her parents. That answer being the truth that she already knew who they were-nobodies just like or her (or that was supposed to be it until JJ came back and threw all that out in TROS). In this cave Osha accepts Qimir’s invitation to put on his helmet, ultimately taking the first transformative step in her journey. She receives a vision of what we would later learn to be her own future.

[fulcrum-art-fox]

Acolyte Week Day Four:

Wisdom/Ignorance | Object or Location

The Bunta tree my beloved. A more significant location you could not find, nor a more beautiful one

[jedi-qui-gon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution to The Acolyte Week 2024 Day 3! The prompt chosen - Healing/Hurting. 

Hope it’s an enjoyable read! Things went awry so there may be some errors and word repetition but it’s something I’ll fix in the near future, after The Acolyte Week is over. Just two more days left…

Been enjoying this event so far! 😊

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution for Acolyte Week day 3: Healing/Hurting!

The rational part of Osha knew it wasn’t going to work.

Bunta trees only grew on Brendok. It was why she’d been able to identify Mae immediately by the poison she used, why Mae had used that poison in the first place. When she’d been homesick in the Temple, Osha had spent hours in the library scouring for a mention of it on any other planet. She’d never found one.

But there were a lot of things that the Temple hadn’t told her. A lot of things she’d assumed were impossible, until they weren’t. The seed she carried in her pocket wouldn’t be planted in Brendok soil, but it would be tended to by a person who was every bit as connected to the planet, and infinitely more powerful.

Osha dropped the seed into the plot she’d dug with her bare hands, right in the line of sun that streamed between the rocks that towered around it. She scraped dirt over it until it was good and buried, then pressed both hands to the ground and focused on her energy, her life force, her Thread. She tied it to the Thread of the seed, sending a pulse of power between them, giving it a silent command.

You will grow.

She would come back every day with the same actions, the same words. She would make it so.

Osha stood, brushing her dirty hands off on her dark dress, and wove her way between the rocks, down the path to where the sun set over the water. She unhooked Sol’s lightsaber from her belt, turned it over in her palm.

Sol, who had cut her from her roots. From her tree, from her family.

Sol, who had loved her.

Sol, whom she had killed.

She took a deep breath, feeling the fury that still rolled through her with as much force as the waves that crashed at her feet, matching the energy that roiled within the crystal she held.

Qimir left the ship a moment later. She sensed rather than saw him, walking towards her, not so much as hesitating at the sight of the saber in her hand. Instead, he wrapped his own around it, holding it with her. Helping her bear the weight.

“Where did you go?” He asked, his voice barely audible over the foam crashing against the rocks.

“Somewhere that isn’t for you.”

He would have killed her sister. He had wiped her memory, rather than taking her with them. Osha hadn’t forgotten— would never forget.

But Qimir seemed to understand that. He didn’t push her, didn’t ask again. To a woman who had been required to share everything, for as long as she could remember, it was a greater gesture than his hand around hers.

Qimir would help her bear the weight, the ash that clogged her mind and the rasping breaths that dogged her ears. Qimir would help her learn to harness the anger she’d spent sixteen years trying to bury. Qimir would let her be powerful— and one day, she would become more powerful than him. Powerful enough to undo what he did.

I’m coming, she thought, sending the words above the sea and through the stars.

She used the same tone she had used when telling the tree to grow. It was all connected, after all. The trees of Brendok would grow in new soil. The witches of Brendok would find each other in a new galaxy.

I’m coming, Mae. Just hold on.

…

As soon as the seed disappeared beneath the dirt in Mae’s hands, Vernestra squeezed her shoulder and left her… well, not alone, because there were still figures in masks of white and gold who watched her every move. But in solitude.

Mae ran her fingers over the dirt, wishing with a ravenous ache that she could tell what lay beneath it. They had found the seed in her pocket when they searched her. It was the only thing they’d let her keep. And Mae had the sense that it should be familiar, that if she could just recall where she’d seen it before, all the broken shards in her mind would slot neatly together. But no matter how far she reached, she came up empty.

So Vernestra had let her plant it in the Temple gardens. It was a touching gesture, especially considering that Mae had allegedly killed two of her colleagues. The Jedi’s compassion was clearly even greater than rumored.

Or at least, that was what Mae told herself, trying to calm the anger that beat constantly at her skull, unending and without source.

With a disproportionate amount of effort, Mae lifted her hand. The past would come together for her, or it wouldn’t. As far as she’d been told, there was nothing she could do to speed the process. She would have to look towards the future or risk losing her sanity altogether. She turned from the seed and made to follow Vernestra.

I’m coming.

It was a child’s voice that whispered the words, right in Mae’s ear, so close she could feel the little girl’s breath on her neck.

Only, when she turned around, no one was there.

[lokislady17]

My contribution to the Acolyte Week day 3 prompt healing/hurting significant moments: for my significant moment, I’d like to go all the way back to episode one when Yord confronts Osha with the reality of Osha being a suspect in Indara’s murder. Osha ardently pleads her innocence stating “do you really think I’m capable of betraying the Jedi order, overpowering a Jedi and murdering them?” It stands out to me because by the end of the season, that is exactly what happens. Osha renounces the Jedi, overpowers Sol and murders him. That scene in episode one is some of the best foreshadowing I have ever seen.

[spaceprincessleia]

Day 3: Significant moments ↪ for @theacolyteweek 2024

[maythe4th]

@theacolyteweek DAY 2: FAVORITE EPISODE – LOST/FOUND

[jedi-qui-gon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

My contribution to The Acolyte Week 2024 Day 2! The prompt chosen: Truth/Lie

Warning: spoilers for Episodes 4-8 of The Acolyte. 

Hope it’s an enjoyable read! Been enjoying The Acolyte Week 2024 so far!