I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars or any of its characters!

Riyo's POV.

It had been a slow day at the brothel. Not that she minded, but less customers meant less money; and money was real hard to come by, these days.

Since the start of the Clone War five years ago, Coruscant had gone into a deep depression. All taxes had been spent on fuelling the goddamn war. The longer the war raged on, the greater the taxes. Every year, more and more money was demanded from the struggling civilians.

And by the looks of things, the war wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Riyo had worked in the brothel offering her services for just under two years. She had lived a simple life before the war - herself and her parents had lived in a homely apartment on the top level of Coruscant. Her parents had been members of the Senate - however, just year into the war, they had been assassinated by the Separatists. The culprit was never caught.

Without a family and without a job - she was too young to work, the legal working age being eighteen standard years on Coruscant - her parents inheritance money had quickly run out while paying rent, bills and providing for herself. It had lasted until just a little after she turned eighteen. She wasn't put into care due to being over the age of sixteen. You needed to be eighteen to be able to work legally, but 16 to live alone. What a bunch of poodoo.

That's when she stumbled across this old place; a small, off the radar brothel on one of the lower levels on Coruscant. Since the war started, more and more brothels uncovered themselves. They'd always been there, hidden. But the war was so severe at that point, even only a few years in - the Government couldn't really do anything, as they were so focussed on the war.

She'd been there ever since.

It was incredibly scary the first few times she'd slept with men. She knew that she was putting herself at risk of contracting STI's, but she had no other way to make money. She had been at an All Time Low. Eventually, she had paid for an injection that helped to protect her from such infections.

The brothel itself was actually quite clean. Sure the furniture was a little dusty and outdated, but the building was clean and suitable for the workers there.

It wasn't uncommon for soldiers who fought in the war to stop by. In fact, it was becoming more and more frequent for clones to stop by, to release the pent up stress and emotions

Riyo felt for them, she really did. They put their life on the line almost every day so that they could one day maybe live in peace again. Not only that, they were bred to fight the war. They had no choice of their path; it was already set for them.

Since the start of the war, Riyo had soon come to realise that the Jedi were not what they once were. They were no longer peace keepers; just more soldiers who threw themselves into battle, trying to change the Universe for the good.

She didn't hate the Jedi and army like so many did.

Offering her services to Clones had meant that she got time to actually understand the situation better and got to know them. A lot of Clones were so affected by the war, they just needed to release the stress and tension in their bodies, and Riyo was happy to help the people who were fighting for the planet.

It didn't mean she particularly enjoyed her job. She didn't. But she knew she was somewhat helping the soldiers, and that they appreciated her service, like she appreciated theirs.

The soldiers, despite being so hardened and even damaged by the war, were always more caring and considerate. They were never rough with her - Riyo just expected that they just wanted to feel something that wasn't pain or despair.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for some of her other clients. Often drunken, old men just wanting to control and humiliate her. Riyo hated it - but she had no other choice. This was her job. The pay was decent and it was a little more than enough for her to get by. Finding a real job these days was almost impossible. Employers had to take on the bare minimum for staff and wages, since Coruscant's government was so corrupt. The economy was falling. Children lay homeless on the streets, women would practically beg people on the streets to use them, just to get enough money to feed themselves and their families for a few days.

The war was ruining everything, but she couldn't do anything about it. It was all down to the Republic Army to fight, and they were doing their best, no matter what anyone said.

There were those who hated the Army, believing that their taxes were being wasted on Clones and the 'thieving Jedi' who got to 'laze around in a cozy temple all day'.

But Riyo knew different. She'd interacted with so many soldiers - she knew they were trying - trying their hardest to change things.

She'd interacted with a handful of both clones. Sometimes it wasn't even sexual, they just wanted to talk and truly get their emotions out, since they couldn't do that around their hardened companions.

Some were frequent visitors and Riyo would get to know them enough to tell them apart from their identical brothers. She'd realised that despite being identical clones of one another, they were definitely in fact not the same. From their personalities, their specific professions and roles within the war and even their appearance; they were not the same.

Riyo sighed and rubbed her eyes, being careful not to smudge the light mascara that lengthened her eye lashes. All this thought on the war was giving her a headache.

Trying to pass the time while she waited for a client, she reached into her credits pouch and counted her earnings from the the day. Not quite satisfied, she recounted it, in case she'd made a mistake.

Sighing again when she realised that she had been right the first time, she tucked the pouch away again. Rent was coming up soon and it wasn't looking great. She'd had plenty of clients over the past month but many had been sleezballs who had underpaid her, telling her they'd give it to her next time. When next time rolled around, they still didn't repay what they owed.

Usually, if Riyo had money to spare, she would catch a taxi ride home. However, since she was a little short this month, she assumed she'd be walking home.

Just the thought of walking home by herself sent a shiver up her spine. Since the start of the war, crime had increased tenfold. Gun crime, knife crime and theft had increased by over sixty percent since the first year of the war.

Riyo was lucky enough that she'd never been put into one of those situations, but it didn't mean that it couldn't happen. The thought of walking home alone scared her to death.

Lost in thought, Riyo barely registered the door opening and a figure stepping inside. She quickly sat up straight and checked that her credit pouch was tucked securely into her pocket. The others who worked in the brothel also looked towards the door, where a hooded figure walked up to the counter.

She watched as the figure stood at the counter, speaking with the receptionist, the brown cloak masking their features.

Riyo observed the ominous figure from her position on the dusty couch, which was up against the wall adjacent wall, giving Riyo a view of the figure's side.

The rusty brown cloak stopped at the figures knees, meaning Riyo could only see the figures legs below the knees, since the cloak was so oversized. She could tell that this person was either Twi'lek or Togruta, due to the odd shape of the hood.

Her eyes skimmed over the person's legs again, observing the worn, red combat boots. Raising a brow, Riyo was almost sure that this person was female.

It surprised her a little, though she didn't know why. It wasn't unknown for females to come to brothels - she'd even had a few female clients herself.

She wondered why this woman was wearing such a concealing cloak, however. Maybe this was her first time coming to a place like this and she was shy, maybe a little embarrassed?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the woman pulled down the hood that concealed her face. Riyo almost gasped, managing to stop herself before she opened her mouth.

The girl was Togruta, young, probably late teens possibly early twenties. She suspected she was in the late teens but the girl could just look younger than she actually was. But she was sure she'd seen her before. Not positive, but she recognised the face - she just couldn't remember where from. Maybe she'd seen her around the streets a few times or they'd been in the same grocery store.

She had orange skin that reminded her of the tatooine sun - she'd never been there but she'd seen it in movies when she was younger - white markings that framed her face and blue eyes that matched the colour of her own skin.

Riyo watched as the receptionist tapped on the datapad and the girl stood there patiently.

She seemed nice enough, she guessed. She hadn't met the girl but she was patient, and she didn't reek of alcohol like a lot of the clients did. Sometimes she could smell it even before they reached the counter.

Riyo perked up suddenly when Braana called her name, "Riyo, you're up."

...

A/N 1: Obviously, this fic is AU. The war is a lot more severe than portrayed in the movies/series, and it has also gone on for longer. The Jedi and Clones have reached breaking point - there isn't enough money or resources and it's getting harder and harder for all of them.

A/N 2: In this story Riyo is 21 and Ahsoka is 19.

A/N 3: Don't ask me where I got the idea for this fic from - I have no idea myself. This fic will mention sexual content but it won't be graphic.

A/N 4: Most of this story will be from Riyo's POV, since I usually write everything in Ahsoka's POV. I might change it up a little however.

A/N 5: This was originally going to be a one shot. But the more I thought about it, the more ideas popped into my head so I thought... why not make it a multi chapter.

A/N 6: I know it was short, but it's only the first chapter. I just wanted to set the tone. I don't usually write stuff like this but I thought I'd give myself a challenge. Hope you enjoyed so far, thoughts and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks a lot, nerds!