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strrne · 6 years

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Give Me a Signal, Ch.2

Chapters: 2/?

Word count (so far): 5579

AO3 Ch.1 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7

Summary: When Padmé Amidala is unable to contact Coruscant while negotiating a loan on Scipio, the Senate suspects trouble, and sends Anakin Skywalker to go check on her. Of course, the resourceful senator isn’t really in any trouble – don’t flatter yourself, Rush Clovis – but there’s definitely some brewing.

@praetor-canis

Chapter 2

As soon as Anakin and Padmé had stationed themselves at a convincingly professional distance from one another, or perhaps as soon as he sensed himself being accused of something, Obi-Wan stirred awake.

“Isn't that right?” Anakin called to him before the Jedi Master had barely wiped the stupor off his eyes. “If I'd been alone, no one would have paid attention–”

“Anakin, what is going on?” Padmé wanted to know. Gone was the blissful giddiness at seeing her husband, in was listening to yet another bout of squabbling between two grown men, who she was starting to believe were actually physically glued to one another.

“You first,” Anakin insisted, as Obi-Wan was taking his time joining the blame game. “You aren't in any trouble, are you… Senator?”

Padmé shook her head. “No, it was just a misunderstanding. We talked about it at dinner, with… the bankers. Apparently they've been having wide-spread reception issues for the last few weeks or so.”

Obi-Wan shuffled over, looking as though he had either really needed that nap, or ruined the rest of his day by taking it. He did find it in himself, however, to shoot Anakin what appeared to be a 'I told you so' look.

“I knew they would send at least one of you,”Padmé sighed. She gestured at the laxly guarded door, which both Captain Typho and Teckla had just walked through with ease. “As you can see, we're all fine here. And now that we've established that, what's this about an arrest? There's a law that forbids your presence here?”

She was, of course, owning up to her own unfamiliarity with such a law, and already blaming herself for this whole muddle. The negotiations hadn't even started yet, and she already had two Jedi Knights to bust out of jail?

…Or a hotel lobby? Padmé narrowed her eyes as she finally tore her gaze from Anakin and looked around. It was all awfully nice for a lockup.

“Apparently,” Obi-Wan finally found the energy to open his mouth, somehow managing to articulate no less eloquently than usual, “The Scipians have a mostly overlooked, but technically still valid law that forbids military presence on the planet while an interplanetary negotiation is taking place, especially when said negotiation takes advantage of Scipio's status as neutral ground.” He gave a deep yawn, not covering his mouth until he was already done, and apologizing once he realized his mistake.

“That's ridiculous,” Padmé said. “I arrived here with a whole squad of clone troopers and their captain. Of course, they were asked to wait at the spaceport while we entered the neutral zone.”

“Yes… I did say 'mostly overlooked',” Obi-Wan pointed out. “I tried asking the employees about the particulars of this regulation,” Obi-Wan explained, gesturing at what appeared to be… some sort of reception desk. “They had to look it up on HoloNet. Long story short, a squad of troopers stationed outside the neutral zone would not count, whereas two decorated Generals has some troubling implications.”

He gave Anakin a long, significant look. “Especially when one of them refuses to leave without 'checking on the Senator'.”

“Anakin!” Padmé cried, crossing her arms confrontationally. “If you so much as elbowed–”

“I didn't!” Anakin insisted. Obi-Wan made a vague gesture that didn't really confirm or deny anything.

Padmé shook her head, all-too familiar with the great joys of bureaucracy and legal trifles to know this could yet turn into a fine mess. Then again… sometimes those same things were her very best friends.

“Only,” she began with optimism, “I haven't actually negotiated anything just yet!”

“You haven't?” Obi-Wan perked up.

“That's what it says, correct? Military presence is forbidden while the negotiations are underway. I have witnesses to attest that no such negotiations have yet taken place in any form, so that should ensure your imminent release and an easy solution to this misunderstanding.”

Padmé gestured for Typho and Teckla to come over, giving them detailed instructions how to retrieve the witnesses and subsequently secure the release as quickly as possible. The aides nodded without a single question, and saw themselves out.

Padmé looked at Anakin. He'd been awfully quiet for a while, and seemed almost disappointed that he'd soon have to leave after having just arrived, and barely gotten a, uh, first taste of his beloved wife. He did manage a small smile though, and there was a playful glint in his eyes that made her grin as well. She desperately wanted to at least hold his hand, and wondered if she could successfully pass that off as a 'always happy to do business with you' type of handshake. But that would mean she'd have to leave immediately after, not to mention give Obi-Wan a matching uncomfortably long farewell.

Although, truthfully… had she been unable to resist kissing him right then and there, Obi-Wan would have most likely suffered an inexplicable, unprecedented coughing fit, excused himself into a corner and muttered something about koja nuts in the nutrition bars.

“There's… how many of them now?!” Clovis groaned. He had not thought he could detest the word 'Jedi' any more, but on top of everything else, it was of course also a null plural. And with his luck, they were both secretly smitten with Senator Amidala and ready to run down the entire galactic economy if it somehow meant her happiness. He made grudging nods as the aides and a Muun representative combined their efforts to explain the situation.

“Yes, yes,” Clovis interrupted impatiently, “absolutely free them, yes, and make sure they leave the system without delay.”

He would've of course gone with Padmé and personally made sure of this in the first place, had she allowed him to. The Muun representative was eyeing him curiously, as though he was coming to realize that the negotiations, before even starting, had long ago stopped being unprejudiced, or generally in a good place to begin. What should have been a quick swipe of hand on a holopad was turning into a convoluted farce involving a very public exes' spat and a pair of clueless Jedi Generals.

And he had been so close… or perhaps, he had told her just enough. Just enough to awaken her own doubts, to compel her to eventually come back to him. There was no changing the negotiator at this point. She knew now it had to be her. He just hoped his gut was right.

“But sir, you see,” the Muun representative rambled on, snapping Clovis back to reality, “technically there is no evidence that the negotiations were not underway. The 'witnesses' you refer to had left the room, remember? And whatever passed between you and Senator Amidala after that point could technically be interpreted as a form of negotiation, or negotiation strategy.”

“We were alone for five minutes…”

In reality… some very sensitive information had indeed been exchanged. Clovis supposed he could only blame himself. He had wanted to play the dangerous game of legal loopholes and sticking to protocol, and inevitable backfire was his just reward. Still – his frustration was deepening into anger – this could not possibly be that difficult. No harm had been done – that the bankers knew of, or that in any way involved the Generals. The Jedi had legs attached to them, didn't they? And a spaceship, and the ability to fly said spaceship. Why, exactly, were they still talking about this?

“Military presence on a neutral planet while an interplanetary negotiation is underway could be interpreted as a form of attempted coercion over–” the Muun representative babbled, as though having either memorized or eaten a holobook on useless law articles.

“Please don't tell me we have to conduct an investigation.”

“We have to conduct an investigation.”

Darth Sidious' cloaked figure appeared on the palm of Dooku's hand, his shriveled form almost dark enough in its essence to extinguish even the holographic blue glow.

“My Lord,” Dooku greeted.

Sidious did not return the greeting, and in fact remained oddly quiet for a fair while, before starting to mutter under his breath what Dooku soon identified as the word 'interesting'.

“What is, My Lord?”

“Many things are, Lord Tyranus, for these are interesting times,” he responded. “I must confess… if the information that your spies provided is accurate… there are a few variables in this situation I had not… foreseen.”

Dooku barely reacted to the admission – although he was surprised – none too eager to visibly show doubt of his master's strategic genius. Still – this had to be a first.

“Still, most of our pawns are in place, and the few surprise additions, I think we can still use to our advantage.”

“Naturally, My Lord. How would you have me proceed?”

After a few tries, Padmé finally gave up on the hologram projector, unable to contact even her associates, who were on the very same planet, presumably only at a few klicks' distance from wherever this detention… palace was located. He desperately wanted to climb to the top of the nearest reception tower and do some tinkering – but apparently he wasn't really wanted on the planet at all. Anakin could not for the life of him understand how anyone could put protocol and rules before all the help he could give, all the use he could be… Two battalion-less Generals did not a war make. It made no sense.

All the other detainees had been bailed out a fair while ago, and it was really getting late, but Padmé had nevertheless stayed by his side all evening.

The “receptionists” were sleeping at the desk, and the guards were sitting on the floor, resting their heads against the wall, absently munching on something that smelled. Obi-Wan had retreated into a corner, his eyes closed, engaged in another meditation session, and probably getting all sorts of bad feelings all over.

All of this combined amounted to at least a moment's privacy for the husband and wife, and soon enough they found themselves spending it accordingly. Anakin was the first to ever so slightly incline his head in a hopeful fashion, but Padmé just immediately plunged into the kiss and took charge all the way from there.

It was a fleeting moment in a different world, far away from the war looming around them and all this bureaucratic trouble they didn't need, but at the same time – worth it all, and more. Perhaps not worth the war itself – was anything, really? – but worth the wait, and worth the fight. Worth making it out alive.

Then he made the mistake of opening his eyes, only to witness a pair of guards glowering and whispering at them, and making a show of losing their appetite. He was right back in the real world – where there was only the wait. And somewhere down the line, probably another fight, too.

“Who were you trying to contact?” he suddenly asked Padmé, who didn't care about the guards, and would have much liked for their little voyage across an alternate reality to go on a little while longer. Anakin himself wasn't sure why he wanted to know – but sometimes, even when he didn't want to probe, he couldn't help his Force senses – and something about the air around Padmé just seemed a little off.

Padmé sighed, and reached to scratch her head, and potentially ruin her perfect hairstyle, which she only ever did when she was reluctant to talk about something. She looked at him, seemingly bracing herself a moment, and causing Anakin to conjure up all kinds of awful and ridiculous scenarios, before she drew a deep breath and responded calmly, “The representative from the Banking Clan. I'm sure you remember Rush Clovis.”

Anakin gaped at her, unable to prevent his mouth from comically falling open. “Rush… Clovis?!” Before he knew it, or could in any way stop himself, he had already jolted up from the chair they shared, his voice risen to an alarming pitch and volume. Padmé followed the example, albeit in a more composed fashion.

“Let me rack my brain… oh yeah, Rush Clovis. Almost got you poisoned, conspired with the Separatists–”

“Anakin–”

“Thinks no means yes–”

“Anakin–”

“Nice fella! So, he's… back, huh?”

He couldn't help himself. Before he had even fully processed what, why or at whom he was angry, the rage was already there. All it took was a trigger. Be it a past trauma, something threatening his loved ones, or the thought of losing Padmé… or common jealousy. And somehow, all of these came together and took an ugly, tangible form in the cursed name of Rush Clovis, someone he had hoped to never see or hear of again. Sure, he remembered him.

But the rage had been there before the recall. Why was it always there, and where did it all come from?

“Anakin, whether you like it or not – whether I like it or not,” she placed a pacifying hand on his chest. “He's the assigned representative for these negotiations, and he...” Padmé hesitated.

There was so much of it. It almost seemed to require a designated target.

“And he what?”

“Anakin, we barely even got to begin the negotiations at all, before…”

“We arrived, and–”

“And messed things up, yes,” she shot back without blinking. Only now withdrawing her hand, she reached up to rub her temples and stopped to sort out her thoughts. “I know this is difficult to understand, but it is very important I hear him out. It is imperative that I do this, specifically.”

Anakin worked hard to compose himself.

“Why is that?”

Padmé lowered her voice to a whisper. The guards had fallen asleep, and, amazingly, Obi-Wan was still deep in meditation, or, again, skillfully faking.

“He made a very bold claim at dinner today. If it's true, the implications are huge… the potential consequences for this war massive. He said the–”

She gestured for Anakin to lower his head so she could whisper into his ear. For a moment, her soft voice and the tingly warm feeling on his ear sent him right back into the parallel universe. What she actually said, on the other hand, brought him right back.

“What? That's–”

“Not only that, but–”

There it was again, her warmth and her patience and her kindness, all trapped and taken advantage of in these convoluted circumstances.

Circumstances that she could maybe, just maybe sort out – if only he would let her. Or rather, accept that she was not his to let.

“Padmé, I don't trust that man.”

“I don't trust him, either,” she assured him. “But I might just believe him. The economics of this war have not been adding up for some time, hence the need to make this new loan agreement in the first place. Something is definitely up, and I want to get to the bottom of this.”

Anakin gave a vague nod. At this point, he mostly just wanted the argument to be over. He cherished these precious few moments with his wife, and would have liked for them all to be like little time capsules of utter bliss and perfection, that he could take with him to the battlefield and turn even rosier in his memory. He didn't want to fight – he already did enough of that and some more with the Separatists.

But the problem was, he didn't like that “something was up”. He was worried – afraid – that even if Padmé could handle this, he just wouldn't be able to.

“Okay,” he finally managed to say.

It was not until the next morning that Rush Clovis saw fit to arrive, along with an ever-growing cluster of Muun bankers.

”Pardon me, I'm confused,” Clovis said, a sardonic smile playing about his lips as he walked up to the pair, and a finally reinvigorated Obi-Wan; eyes decidedly fixed on Anakin. ”Is he a Jedi General or your personal bodyguard?”

”I'm a person – and I'm here, in person, to guard her,” Anakin responded before Padmé had a chance to. ”From, I don't know, persons.” ¨ Padmé shook her head, none too happy with either Clovis or Anakin's idea of a polite greeting.

”Yes… I do personally believe we left off on bad terms last time,” Clovis suddenly switched to diplomat mode. “I am sorry, and eager to rectify the situation. Speaking of situations…”

He proceeded to explain at length why the Generals were not to leave the planet at the earliest opportunity after all, while also being absolutely prohibited to take part in any business proceedings that involved himself and Senator Amidala. And why, in fact, they would soon be moved to a slightly smaller and less comfortable room.

#anidala #anidala fanfiction #Anakin Skywalker #Padme Amidala #The Clone Wars #miiiight not post all the chapters here only on ao3 #dont want to spam my non-fanfic-inclined followers too much lol #we'll see #but yeah #i promise the pace will somewhat pick up after this chapter #so far it's a more convoluted plot than in canon lol #i can't write romance in any case without it also having a general plot thats just how i do #star wars #fanfic

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tenshinokorin · 7 years

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fic news!

I'm just like 2000 words short of breaking 100K total on the RRD series (+ the FF8 Crossover), and that's all only happened in about two-three months. This is a humongous thing in so many ways and I'm trying not to think about it too hard because it'll flip me out. But! I'm posting this because I've got two big trips in a row coming up, plus I do have a remarkably grown up kind of day-job and it's kicking into busy season, so updates might be a little wonky until about mid-April.

I have so many wonderful comments, thank you guys all so much! I promise I'll try to reply to all of them as soon as I can. I gobble them all up and reload my inbox way more than I should. ^_^; I made a vow to myself to reply to every comment (and to try to get most of the reply-tos as well) but it's actually really hard for me and I get overwhelmed easily (in a good way! But also in a hello-my-generalized-anxiety-disorder way) so sometimes it takes a while. Also, if I'm feeling low on resources I'll always prioritize more fic over comments in an either-or situation, because I figure more fic is always good for everybody. ^_^ But please don't stop leaving comments. :D I never expected this to get so big and I am having a fantastic time. You guys are super.

Here's the best way to keep up with the series: Running Down a Dream (Series) on Ao3

With the exception of Tyrants and Kings, which is complete, all stories in the Running Down a Dream series are still live and will still get updates. Here's what I have in the works (in no particular order or planned publish date):

RDD (main): * Ignis' skin care routine is truly alarming/impressive * car wash (that miiiight wind up in the b-sides ;) * any inevitable business from the DLC * anything that happens while I'm running around working my game save to platinum / inspired by actual road trips

B-sides: * a case of mistaken identity in the middle of the night * Ignis and Gladio while away the time waiting for a hunt to appear on a rainy evening in Altissia * Soft beds, baby. (Prompto's turn.)

One Other Year: * First night camping, Luna borrows everybody's clothes, the return of Prompto's lucky socks, new kinds of magic, dreams, smooches, marriages, boyfriends, chocobos, adventures and dangers, fishing, fencing, fighting, true love, all that good stuff (yaay)

Persistence of Memory (FF8/15 crossover) * continuing chapters (Orange rolls, SeeD exam, President Heartilly, Leviathan, Magitek)

And here is some Very Important Information: * Gladio's pole-dancing routine at the Gimme Cat was to Need You Tonight by INXS. * I realize I have not said boo about Ardyn, but this isn't his story. I'm still getting him sorted out, and he's unlikely to turn up seriously until I do. I do know that his image song is The Boy Racer by Morrissey. (He's gonna kill this pretty thing.) Plus, I need Prompto's DLC. :\ * I'm sorry if I gave anyone the impression that this was something other than the Prompto Argentum Show starring Prompto Argentum. Once I used to have high-falootin' ideas about the kinds of characters I attract, holy warriors and whatnot, but no. I am equipped with a magnet that is tuned expressly to the resonance of blond cinnamon bun idiot puppies with big mouths and more heart than sense, and that's just how it is. (see also Zell Dincht, Joey Wheeler, Bart Fatima.) * Runnin Down a Dream is a song by Tom Petty from the album Full Moon Fever. It's about driving! And about going out to get things instead of waiting for them to come to you. * I would make an entire playlist but I fail at posting that kind of thing (by which I mean I make great playlists for myself but never manage to actually share them in any way). * I totally want to draw more XV/Songbirds of Valnon crossovers, except for how Noct and Eothan are kind of already the same person. O_o * I'm going on multiple roadtrips over the next three weeks and you bet your ass I'm taking action figures for photoshoots. * I owe you an email. I know. It's on my list. * Thank you all so much.

#final fantasy xv #running down a dream #tnk fic #tnk updates #tyrants and kings #one other year

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