Author's Note: All right, next I have two events to share! First up is the 200 Freestyle (exactly 200 words about your character, family, friendship or couple with any theme), followed by the Tennis Match (a dialogue-only story of 100 or more words).

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The New Jedi Diplomacy

7 years post-RotS (12 BBY)

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It wasn't customary for Mace Windu to peruse the latest sludgenews headlines before he'd eaten his morning meal – it wasn't customary for him to peruse them at all if he could help it – but he had unwisely chosen to sit adjacent to a group of very exuberant Padawans who happened to be discussing said headlines as they all clustered around a single datapad. He might have ignored their conversation entirely, had he not heard the name "Skywalker" spoken in hushed and slightly scandalized tones.

Mace closed his eyes for one moment and tried very hard not to sigh. He did not succeed.

Standing slowly and with all the gravity of a senior Master of the Order, Mace approached the table of apprentices and peered over the shoulder of Padawan Noreb Raigh, the Devaronian boy holding the device, and said with utmost calm: "May I see what has you all so excited?"

Young Raigh glanced anxiously at his fellows before meekly handing over the datapad for Mace to read:

Hapan Hospitality and the New Jedi Diplomacy: Master Skywalker gets cozy with Queen Mother Ta'a Chume at her seaside retreat as negotiations continue…

Mace handed the datapad back. "I'm sorry I asked."

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Aggressive Negotiations

7 years post-RotS (12 BBY)

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"Are you seeing this garbage?"

"I haven't stopped seeing it since you turned on the news, old friend."

"How can they think— I would never, ever— I'm a happily married man! With kids!"

"I know this may come as a shock to you, Anakin, but it so happens that those particular qualities often conspire to make a person more desirable, not less."

"You can't be serious?"

"Quite serious, I'm afraid."

"Stop that. I can see you laughing, and you'd better stop it right now. I'm a father."

"At the risk of sounding crass, I wonder If you recall what tends to go hand-in-hand with fatherhood?"

"This isn't funny, Obi-Wan. What's Padmé going to say when she hears about this? Or the twins?"

"I suspect Padmé will find it quite amusing, and you are far more likely to find your children outdoors playing starfighter pilots or pirates than you are to catch them reading the latest sludgenews. Relax, old friend. It will pass."

"If you had to deal with Ta'a Chume draping herself all over you every chance she gets, you wouldn't be saying that."

"I must admit, I'm impressed that you've lasted as long as you have against her. Oh no, not like that, of course. I simply meant that I once knew a young Knight who would have balked at the prospect of leading these negotiations, especially when dealing with someone as… determined as the Queen Mother."

"Believe me, I wouldn't be if it wasn't important. I still can't believe I'm going to be in-laws with that viper someday."

"You have my deepest sympathies, Anakin."

"You can go ahead and wipe that smirk off your face, by the way – you're part of this family, too. If I have to suffer her, so do you."

"Then it seems I will have the perfect vantage point from which to observe Her Majesty's continued attempts to woo you."

"Oh, go throw yourself in a crater."

"And leave you all alone here, with no one to support you as you valiantly resist Ta'a Chume's wiles? Never, my friend. You're stuck with me."

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