"And for our first competition… the Thrawn off!" Pyrondi announced with flair in the Chimaera officers' cantina. "The question is: who here does the best impression of Commodore Thrawn. Everyone will be judged on voice, body language, and overall serious air. Everyone will perform the same scenario: Thrawn eating a puffsweet for the very first time."

Eli snorted in his chair. Thrawn hated sweets. He doubted the Chiss would ever be caught dead eating a puffsweet… which is what made this competition so perfect, now that he thought about it.

"Let the Thrawn off begin!" Pyrondi held out a bowl of white puffsweets to Commander Hammerly first.

She took a cautious bite of the puffsweet, then raised her eyebrows. She fixed the rest of the officers with a stare as she asked. "What is this glutinous monstrosity before me?"

Her portrayal was met with giggles, though Eli didn't find it convincing. Blunt as Thrawn could be, he wouldn't ask a seemingly ignorant question so directly. At least, not to the whole group. To Eli himself, maybe.

Next up was Commander Faro. Eli was surprised she wanted to partake in this competition, given how little she seemed to like her new commander. She took a larger bite than Hammerly had, keeping her face neutral throughout. "The sugar in this is… quite much."

That one didn't get as many laughs, but Eli found it to be closer to the truth. Thrawn had uttered nearly the exact same words when Eli offered him chocolate for the first time.

After Faro was Major Carvia. He didn't offer any words for his portrayal, just a series of high pitched "hm" sounds as he consumed the puffsweet. Pyrondi shook her head. "Really, Major? That's your Thrawn impression?"

"I can hear him doing that." Carvia argued. No one was convinced.

Without further comment, Pyrondi offered her next puffsweet to Lieutenant Lomar, the comm officer. He pinched the puffsweet from several angles without taking a bite. "It looks like a sticky pillow."

As if Thrawn had ever slept on a fully stuffed pillow. As far as Eli knew, Thrawn had been in either the military or exile for his entire adult life. A cot was his default sleeping place.

Finally it was Pyrondi's turn herself. Eli had been offered a chance to partake in the game, but out of respect to Thrawn he had chosen not to partake. Unlike the other contestants, Pyrondi popped the entire puffsweet into her mouth without hesitation, chewing discerningly. After swallowing the puffsweet whole, she gave a solemn announcement. "I don't care for it."

Now that one Eli could also see. Thrawn probably wouldn't say such a thing unprompted, but he had used that exact phrase when a hostess asked how he'd enjoyed his food before. That and, "it serves its purpose as sustenance. Nothing further."

All the contestants of Pyrondi's game had now gone. Before they could discuss among themselves who had won, Thrawn made an unexpected appearance in the cantina. "So this is where my bridge crew congregates when they're no longer on shift. What are you discussing?"

Lomar stared at Thrawn like a Lysadeer caught in speederlights. Of the group, Pyrondi recovered her wits the fastest. "Commodore! We're just relaxing. Eating some puffsweets I secured on shore leave." In a stroke of genius, she held one out to her commanding officer. "Would you like one?"

Thrawn bent over the bowl, murmuring to himself. "Puffed sweets… hm." He took a small bite off the corner of one, then laughed softly to himself. "Hm. Hm hm hm!"

Carvia blew their cover, jumping out of his seat to declare, "I knew it!"

A/N's: I'm getting back into writing ficlets/drabbles whenever my WIPs overwhelm me. This one in particular was inspired by a cold open from the NBC show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This is not my first time adapting B99 to the Thrawn fandom: my other fic "Friendly Competition" is a reimagination of the show's recurring Halloween Heist gag. If you haven't read that fic yet and you enjoyed this one, I recommend checking it out.

I'm thinking about five chapters in this ficlet series. Installments can be comedic, like this one, or more hurt-comforty, just depending on which plot bunny I pull out of my magician's hat.

Hope y'all enjoyed! Don't forget to leave your thoughts below.