#you leave planet and on the way have to put up with this asshole smuggler and even free a serial killer just to get to the rebels

[white-weasel]

I am staring DIRECTLY at Film Reroll Luke Skywalker watching and anticipating his next move

#film reroll #the film reroll #Tim Nolan you played him so well!!!! #I don’t think this will happen but this version of Luke is one I can kinda see turning to the dark side?? #like think about it. your aunt and uncle are killed. Ben Kenobi tells you it’ll be alright though and that you have the force in you #you can come with him and train to be a Jedi just like your father was #you leave planet and on the way have to put up with this asshole smuggler and even free a serial killer just to get to the rebels #but it’s fine! because once you’re with the rebels you’ll then be able to train with Ben like he’s promised #except you get there and there are two other Jedi candidates. each seemingly better options than you #one is a child who already has pretty good control of the force without anyone telling her how to wield it. #she’s also young and thus full of so much more potential than you #and the other is a woman older than you. but she has so much more life experience. she’s proven herself worthy both to the rebels #and to the force itself. she is strong and basically everything you’re not #but that’s alright too because Ben knows you. of course he’s going to pick to train you!! but then they say your name Skywalker with horror #and you are told about who your father is and how if you are trained and given everything you want you will become just like him #you are evil and violent by nature even though you feel as if you are anything but… except maybe they’re right #because when confronted with this fact your first instinct was to attack an injured man on death’s door #and if Kenobi has his time taken up by training either kahki or Jyn/planning the destruction of the Death Star #Luke is potentially left in a very vulnerable state to stew #I just am foaming at the mouth thinking about it!!!! #(I do feel like Andy will ultimately take Luke in a more redemption/I am not my father by ‘righteous’ sacrifice’ route though #which also has a lot of potential to be delicious)

[itsclydebitches]

About crosshair. Again lol

Regardless of his scar not lining up with chip scar or the headaches or “soldiers follow orders” again. Or him without a chip being a liability to the empire. I just don’t buy his personality change in the end. I’m the pilot episode they hammered it over our heads it’s very unlike him to follow orders. He said himself “empire or republic, what’s the difference?” But now in the end he cares about the empire protecting the galaxy? Responds to hunter his choice is “soldiers follow orders”? Wtf, really? So he genuinely believes his only personality is being a soldier now? when it’s been established in both in cw and tbb that cf99, including crosshair only cared about completing the mission. I get that people change but not that abruptly especially if we are to believe techs “unyielding” description of him to be true. Echo is the one true soldier of the group. He keeps repeating to hunter “we are soldiers not smugglers”, “there is no other way than being soldiers” etc. but he is clearly loyal to the republic. And I never saw echo and crosshair to be similar in that

So yeah , I think it’s very out of character for crosshair to just see himself as soldier and being content with following order or being a pawn(which he must realize he is cause he’s not dumb) especially with his mega inflated sense of self importance. Just my two cents

Crosshair is a complicated character! There's a lot to discuss :D

That's a good point though. And yeah, as acknowledged the quick personality change could be chalked up to chip influence if it's still having some kind of impact... but if it's not, then what do we make of that?

Putting aside the "It's just bad writing" possibility, I think there's a key difference between not following orders and not being loyal to the organization giving those orders. They're not necessarily the same thing, though it's easy to lump the two together. Yeah, we see early on that the Bad Batch isn't known for doing things the "right" way. Rex and Jesse are pretty unsure about their methods when the Batch first shows up in TCW. In the pilot Tech has a line about how "We're more deviant than defective" emphasizing that they tend to do things differently. Crosshair's sudden willingness to follow orders to the letter, not just in spirit, is questioned during their time in the cell, etc. So yeah, they don't obey the rules, but I don't think that's because they're not loyal. They're not refusing orders because pff, screw the Republic/Empire, who cares about those guys. They're refusing orders because they recognize that their way of doing things—the unconventional methods that deviate from the standard clone playbook—is more likely to net them, and the Republic, a success. They seem to be against the Republic's rules because they want the Republic to succeed, recognizing that their way is the best way to get that. Wrecker takes great pride in their successful missions, keeping tally marks on their room's wall. Crosshair is constantly pointing out how the higher ups called them in because the Regs couldn't complete a mission, likewise emphasizing his pride in being needed. When Rex and Hunter finally start bonding, it's through Rex's decision to charge the droids head on, precisely like the Batch would, rather than following the "correct" strategy of carefully picking them off from the tree line. They bond over the understanding of, "Yes. This is the best way the Republic wins." Perhaps most significantly, the Batch was still willing to complete missions for the Empire up until they were ordered to kill civilians. Killing Jedi resulted in an acknowledgement of how messed up that was... but no solid intent to leave.

All of the above is important because it establishes the Batch's need to be loyal to something other than themselves. The kind of loyalty that is shown through intense, life-threatening acts of service. Hunter's line about them being loyal to each other rather than some Empire, while true, is a simplification. Their loyalty to the Republic and their loyalty to one another overlap in many, many significant ways, simply because the Batch was created for the Republic. They have literally spent their entire lives living, breathing, fighting, and almost dying for the Republic. Their core identities stem from the Republic's desires: skills they want them to cultivate and even personalities they want to foster, if Tech's theories are to be believed (that conversation with Wrecker in the mess hall). The loyalty the Batch feels, those bonds they formed over the years, stem entirely from completing missions for the Republic. Their love for one another is, at least at the start, a product of the Republic's desire for Good Soldiers. And yeah, they sometimes did things the Republic technically didn't like, but it was always in service of achieving the Republic's end goal, whatever that may have been. They were very good soldiers, just soldiers that understood the value of creative thinking. "You want me to reach this location? Of course! I'll reach it by cutting across the grass, despite you asking me to follow the path already laid out. But our goal and the Regs' goal is exactly the same: fulfill your mission. That's our purpose in this life."

And then the Republic became the Empire.

Every one of these characters has a need to serve some higher purpose, to complete missions for the benefit of another. Overlooking the very literal ways in which they may have been genetically predisposed towards this (like the chip), and the cultural brainwashing that went on the second they were born (this is your duty, this is your purpose, this is all you exist for), this is, simply put, all they've ever known. Though it's possible to walk away from that need, it's by no means easy. So what saves the majority of the Batch from falling into that "Republic, Empire, what's the difference?" thinking out of a need to serve someone?

Omega.

I think it's crucial that the second they abandon one mission—killing civilians for the Empire—there's already new mission waiting for them to focus on instead—rescue and protect Omega, indefinitely. That's Hunter's thinking. We're not going to do A, we're going do B instead. All they did was put that single-minded focus onto a new target, but the focus—the need—still exists. And we see that throughout the first season, where everything the Batch does is in service to Omega. Their life decisions revolve entirely around her, from very small things (here's your own room on the ship) to the much larger (we need to stay on the move to help you avoid bounty hunters, even if we may want to find someplace to stay). The purpose of a soldier has been mapped onto the purpose of a parent, with the new, ongoing goal being "Raise Child" as opposed to "Win War." Putting aside for the moment the fact that this is an action-adventure show and thus exciting plot has to happen, I think it's notable that no one suggests non-soldier-y things to help them make money. Tech isn't offering his intellect as an easy way to make credits, nor Wrecker his strength. No one is seriously thinking of a planet they could hide out on, even from bounty hunters, so as to raise Omega in peace. They are still, fundamentally, the people they were during the time of the Republic, people who need to fight for something. Literally fight. It's just now they're chaotically fulfilling missions for Cid so they can give Omega a halfway decent life, rather than chaotically fulfilling missions for a general so they can give the Republic a chance at winning the war.

Omega is the new focus, the new Republic stand-in, but what happens if she's not an option? (Would have been really interesting to see what the Batch did if she'd actually left with Cut.) Without the chip affecting his thoughts, I fully believe Crosshair would have left with the others. Why wouldn't he? That's his family and, per Hunter's orders, Omega is the new mission. But the chip ensured he missed that chance and by the time he came out of it (if he came out of it), it was too late. His squad was gone, they never came back, and Crosshair needs to find a new place in this galaxy, just like they did. Except his options are far more limited and suck a whole lot more. I can't recall anything that implies Crosshair thinks the Empire will save the galaxy, but he does think it's going to control it and he's looking for his own purpose in this new life. Why not find purpose in the winning side? He can serve the Empire just like they served the Republic. He can serve the Empire just like his squad now serves Omega. The need to belong somewhere, to have that larger goal, outweighs those pesky ethical issues, at least for now. Though to me the "Good soldiers follow orders" really, really still sounds like chip influence, it can also be read as a broader acknowledgment that yes, they are fundamentally soldiers and yes, they do need orders of one kind or another. They need that mission. That goal. That purpose. Someone who helps to guide them in this new, crazy galaxy. Yeah, they've always bent and gotten creative with the orders, but until 4/5ths of them left the Empire, they'd never ignored the orders as a whole. None of the Bad Batch went, "I'm not taking this mission because the Admiral was an asshole to us about it and I don't feel like it :/" They suck up all the hard parts—the awful treatment, the danger, the general difficulty—because they have a goal to fulfill. They live for having a goal, literally in the sense that this is what they were made for. The Bad Batch is still doing that with Cid, putting up with bad treatment, dangerous situations, and general difficulty because they have that larger goal of taking care of Omega. Crosshair missed out on that, so he latched onto the Empire instead. Which circles right back around to previous points that if the Batch had tried to rescue him and/or been more welcoming when offering his return, Crosshair likely would have joined in on the Omega mission too. It's the best new purpose for all of them.

Crosshair sees himself as a soldier because, right now, being a soldier of the Empire is the only way he can find the purpose and belonging that the rest of the Batch maintained with each other and Omega, back when he was left behind. No, he's not dumb, but the logistics of the situation outweigh his knowledge that things are far from perfect. Do we think the Batch doesn't also realize that Cid is continually taking advantage of them with 70/30 splits? Of course not. But they need a way to survive and, right now, this is it. Crosshair likewise recognizes that the Empire is treating him as a pawn—I think he was in denial prior to the bombing, but now he definitely knows—but what other option is there? Not his squad. As discussed, he feels strongly that he's no longer welcome with them, with good reason. The only other option is to go off on his own, something that's incredibly foreign to clones who were bred to serve that higher purpose alongside many, many brothers. Yes, we've seen one or two who manage that—like Cut—but they're the outliers. Rex found his new purpose fighting the Empire with Ahsoka. The Batch found their new purpose taking care of Omega with each other. Crosshair's new purpose is... nothing. Not unless he swallows down his misgivings (and his ego) and keeps serving the Empire until a better purpose comes along.

#TBB #the bad batch #SW #Star Wars #mymetas

[fanworldbuildingfun]

Lessons Learned - Rumors from the Cantina (”Nar Shaddaa High Tea”)

The ice cubes clanked loudly in the glass as Altha slammed it on the table, caring little if she damaged either. It was shuffled to the side to join its empty brethren as the smuggler motioned for the server droid to bring her another glass of Corellian whiskey. A not-so subtle snort from her companion made the female cathar’s head snap up to glare at him. The man, though, seemed completely unimpressed with Altha’s attempt at intimidation

“Girlie,”  - the nikto male stretched back in his seat, placing his arms behind his head -  “keep practicing and one day you –might– be scary. Not anytime soon, but one day. You going to finish that one?” his head titled in the direction of the new drink en route to the table

Altha pointedly ignored the query, and snatched the whiskey the moment server droid was within the reach, downing it in one go. Immediately after, she bent over gagging as an ice cube made its way down her throat with the rest of the alcohol. It took a few moments of heaving and hecking before the cathar managed to straighten herself – all to visible amusement of the nicto

“Either you shut up, Madras, or I know where I am getting leather for my next pair of boots” no one outside of the feline race would have hoped to achieve the rumbling hissing in which the words were uttered

“And here I thought I should be a good friend and point out you don’t exactly have the creds to slush on booze –“

“Barely acquaintances, and I kriffin know it!” Altha slumped into her seat “You don’t need to remind me”

The previous bluster was all but gone. Almost as an afterthought, she placed the glass – the one she managed to hold onto by some stroke of luck – with the rest of. A scaly, green hand appeared in her line of vision, dropping a small stack of paper napkins before her

“Then clean up and pay attention this time” the mildly-teasing tone Madras spoke in vanished – and so did the carefree look in his eyes

“You aren’t a bad captain, Altha, but neither are you so good I can’t find someone else to go on a run with – “ the man paused, mulling over what he was going to say  “ - and I’m not missing out on this one just because of your prissy mood, kid. I’ve done jobs for these guys before, got my payment, a place to lay low, all at the small cost of timely delivery and sealed lips. Which is more than I can say of you”

The worst part was, Altha couldn’t even say anything to that – the last cargo she carted almost cost her her ship, and all she got for her run were a measly few thousand creds. That barely covered the repairs – and the asshole whom she delivered the goods to knew it. She could still remember that tiny smirk on his face. Oh how she wanted to wipe it off with her claws… Or maybe she did. That would explain the tail she had to drop… A snap of fingers in front her face startled her out of finishing that thought

“Oi, I thought I told you to pay attention” the nicto drew back from where he leaned over the table “Run, money, a spot to park while those Exchange assholes are up and riled, that ring any bells?”

“Keep your head in this, kid. Or I –will- take my offer elsewhere”

“Yeah, yeah – so you keep saying. Going to spit it out already? Ain’t like you to dance around like that – must have been quite something to get you all cagey in a middle of a packed cantina” which, on Nar Shaddaa, was as close as you could get to privacy – there were just too many people to keep track of

“It keeps me coming back. That should tell you something” the man harrumped before going on “Look, the guys are cagey, but they did good by me so far. Ain’t like they are asking for anything terribly under the table – I have zero idea why they would go to freelancers to do the job, but I am not complaining. But this one’s bigger than normal. I need a hand here”

“And so you thought, “My, that stellar gal Altha is just the one I would share the good job with?” the cathar snorted “Because if so, I call your bull”

“Actually, I thought of your big ship” the smile that appeared on Madras’s face was just this side of sleazy “Now, your personality is an unfortunate side effect - ” he barely blinked as a half melted ice cube hit him in the chest “ – but I’m ready to sacrifice my standards for company. Just this once. My ship doesn’t fit that much people…”

The nicto was interrupted by the sudden near shriek of “People?!” that caused a few nearby patrons to turn their attention to their table. Putting on his best sappy look Madras leisurely raised his hand – to drop it right on the top of the fuming female’s head, giving it a bit of scratch. It served both in freezing Altha in her rant, and causing those staring at them to look away, some rolling their (multiple) eyes in exasperation over the perceived couple’s antics.

“What the kriff you you mean my people?!” Altha’s words were just as furious, but much more quiet this time “Because I am not dealing with slavers, Madras, and you better explain why the heck you would ask me….”

“And I just told you they aren’t asking for stuff like that” the nicto retained his sappy look, but his tone was quickly moving into “annoyed” territory “We aren’t talking slaves, kid. This is a transport run – we are picking up refuges, or settlers – whichever, I didn’t bother asking – and getting them from point A to point B. Now will you stop spitting at me?!”

The cathar’s ears pressed to her skull, shutting up her oncoming tirade – though she kept glaring up at the nicto. A moment later she shrugged his hand off her head with a huff “Start with this one, next time. What’s the price?” And was it worth the hassle of dealing with having who knows whom on her ship?

“Three thousand up front. Rest depends on the amount of pick-ups we need to make. We split half and half in both cases” satisfied the cathar wasn’t going to blow up again, Madras made himself comfortable again – and away from the explosion radius of the temperamental female

“Uh-huh. Looks to me you are getting the better cut out of it, if you intend to lump most of them up on me” even half of three thousand was a… Loath she to admit, a good offer – three grand were a cost of a shiny new speeder

“And if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be seeing even those” Madras spent far too long in the smuggling business to fall into a trap like that “Plus, you’ll need me to deliver them. Our guys aren’t exactly the most open – the place is full of nav scrambling tech like you won’t believe. Had to be towed at least part of the way there – no way you are finding the place yourself”

On one hand, a job for paranoid lunatics who may or may not deal in slaves. Artha wasn’t going to just take Madras’s word on that (though it helped). On another, the pay was… Acceptable, and the big guy said it wasn’t his first rodeo for this folk. And the nicto didn’t have the rep of maverick to work just for anyone. Heck, it couldn’t be worse than her last run

“Fine. Deal. You sharing the coordinates now or later?”

The grin on the man’s face could rival that of a loth cat who finally got his prey “Later, kid. Isn’t exactly the place to do it, cantina. Once we are off planet. I’ll holo you”

Pushing his chair back, the nicto got up and stretched. Altha winced as she heard a few bones pop (even the noise of cantina was not enough to cover the sound up), but Madras didn’t seem to care. Lizards

“Oh, and kid?” the man’s face twisted into expression of unholy amusement “Hard as that seems, try to be on your best behavior. Think at least a few of our folk are Imps” with that statement, the nicto walked into the crowd with a noticeable spring to his step

Leaving the female staring at the small mountain of glasses she racked up

Imperials. She just had to jinx herself, didn’t she?

#Star Wars #Star Wars: The Old Republic #Star Wars characters: Originals #Original Characters: Altha #Star Wars Organizations: Smugglers #Planets: Nar Shaddaa #Story Series: Lessons Learned - Rumors from the Cantina #Original Characters: Madras Novaghost

[pulpwriterx]

SOLO’S RUN

For Reylo Week 2020. A Star Wars AU in which smuggler Ben Solo never falls to the Dark Side, but in a way, still becomes Kylo Ren,

Ben Solo extinguished his lightsaber, unclenched his fist, and looked at the blood on it.

And Luke Skywalker lying in a heap on the floor.

Ben panicked. 

“Oh shit. Shit!  I am in so much fucking trouble! Farkled! I am farkled!  What do I do? I gotta get out of here. For good. Forever. This is too much. I almost…maybe I did kill him.”

Ben walked over to where his Master, his Uncle,his guardian since he was 15 lay unconscious against the wall.

He crouched down, got Luke’s lightsaber, opened the housing, and pulled a few wires out.

Just in case his uncle wanted to attack him,again.

Then he gently shook his Uncle’s shoulder.

“Master? Uncle Luke? Are you dead? Please don’t be dead. I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. Give me a happy ending, here!”

His Uncle groaned

“Ben. Fight the Dark Side. Ben…”

Then he was out again.

“Yeah. That’s it! No more running from the Dark Side!  I will fight it!  After I get as far from this place that focuses Snoke into my head like a laser beam. Master Snoke. Sith Lord. He’s the badguy. I hope you can still hear me.”

In a panic, Ben was shoving all of his belongings into his pilot’s chest.

“I’ll never get out. He’s here. Maybe right outside this hut. I’ll kill myself. I’ll cut my own fucking head off before I join him. He’ll never get me. Never. But I don’t want to die. I want to live. I need help. But you’re too crazy to help me, Uncle Luke. And you’re unconscious. Mom will never believe me? And I still love the Old Man, but he’s kind of a fucking asshole. I wish Uncle Chewie was here. He’d know what to do. What do I do? Where do I go? I’m all alone. Armi’s gone, and Hela. Back to Arkanis. None of the girls really give a shit about me, and I don;t have any other friends. I’m all the fuck alone.”

“You are not alone, Ben. You have never been alone. I have always been with you. I only wish you could hear me. And see me. The way you used to.”

The room glowed softly blue.

The hulking man in Jedi robes standing in the doorway was about the same size as he was, and he had the same prominent features; his hair was reddish brown, though, instead of black.

“Grandfather?” Ben asked.

He could feel fear leaving him.

“Yes, Ben! You can see me, again? Finally?”

“Grandfather!”

Anakin Skywalker was glad that Ben could see him, glad that he could give the frightened boy the reassuring hug that he needed.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Grandfather. I’m really farkled.”

“You are not really farkled.” Anakin assured him.

“How?”

“I’m here to help you. I can already feel your fear leaving you. That is good. But you can’t relax your vigilance. Listen to me. Now that you know my presence? Don’t be fooled by anyone imitating me. Your instincts are sound. It’s time for there to be no Dark and no Light. No Jedi and no Sith. Time for a new path. A path of balance, where the Force is United. But you do need a guide. But I know now is not the time. It’s not always the time for philosophy.”

“Tell your son that.”

“He never listens to me. What you need now isn’t philosophy. You need to feel safe. Protected. You will have me to protect you. I am more powerful than Master Snoke. I will keep him away from you, until you have recovered from this terrible attack.”

“Can you get me out of here? Without him getting me?”

Anakin opened the door.

Master Snoke was lying on the ground, unconscious.

“The pretender is no match for me, Ben. He’s no match for you, either. He has lied to you. You are strong, where he is weak. He wants to hide behind your strength. Use your power. But without you? He is only a Pretender to the Emperor’s throne.”

“Why did Uncle Luke attack me?”

“He sensed a great darkness here. A great evil. He saw what you might become. Luke shared your nightmare.  And he was afraid. And when Skywalkers get scared, rage comes. You know that, Ben.”

Ben nodded.

“I know. I was angry, too. But I was more frightened than angry. I knew I could never out-duel him. But I’m a big guy, and he’s a little guy, so I did something he wasn’t expecting and punched him out. I punched him too hard. He flew all the way across the room! Like a rag doll!  Will he be OK?”

“Yes, Ben. My son is a Jedi Master. He had enough time to reach to the blow, but not avoid it. But had you punched an ordinary man like that? You would have crushed his skull and killed him. Learn from this? A big man should never punch a smaller man or woman as hard as he can. Unless you are in combat, and you are justified in killing. Also? Sometimes retreat is your only option for victory. Had you given in to your rage and struck my son down with your lightsaber? You would be a pawn in Snoke’s hands, now. Luke is as frightened as you are. Leia will be furious. It will be her instinct to immediately focus her considerable powers to destroy the threat. It falls to me to lead you all. I have been waiting. I am ready.”

“What should I do, now? Find my own way in the Force?”

“You must reach your own balance between the Dark and the Light, Ben. Then I can guide you. But first? You must admit that both live in your soul, and only then can you find your equilibrium. While you undertake this task? I will protect you from Snoke. But, after I become your guide? You will have to learn to deal with him.”

At least it was a plan that made sense to him.

“What about right now?”

“We well go to the spaceport. I must leave you, once we get there. But you can get on a freighter at first light, and leave this planet. After? When you are stronger, talk to your mother. And I will speak with my son. Eventually, you must speak to him, too. But not yet. As for Snoke? My daughter and I will deal with him, for now. But in the future? When you are strong enough? You will destroy him, and his evil.”

“You will be my Master, grandfather?”

“No. You will be your own Master, Ben. I will be your teacher. And your guide. You will be safe. You will not dream of the Dark Side.”

“Will I see more of you now, Grandfather?”

“Yes. Almost as much as if I were alive. All the love and attention that you have not had from your mother, your father and your Uncle? You will have from me. I have no other distractions. No other purpose, Ben, than to love and teach and support you. My love for you gives me form, and purpose, and the ability to come to this world. The next time you lay your head down? Sleep well, my boy. Sleep well every night, knowing that Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader, is watching over you. I am your sword and your shield, until you learn to defend and protect yourself. Sleep. And know how well you are loved.” Anakin promised.

“Yes, grandfather. What do we do, now?”

“Sometimes, Ben, a student asks his teacher a question he knows the answer to. Try to answer your own questions, before you ask your teacher.”

Ben thought about it.

“We should hot-wire a speeder and get the fark out of here.”

“An excellent idea. Get your trunk.”

After Ben ran out, Anakin ignored him cursing Snoke, and kicking him in the ribs.

“Motherfucker!” Ben spat.

“Don’t kick him twice. Once is enough.” Anakin instructed.

Anakin got a pillow, and put it behind Luke’s head, and covered him up.

“I will take the boy’s training from here, my son. You have more pressing matters to deal with. The Sith have regained their strength. The Empire will rise again.”

***

“Hey, mister. You need to load up, faster? I can carry twice as much as the guys you’re using. I know how to fly. And I can fix most of the things that go wrong on a vintage YT-1300 Frieghter. I grew up on one.”

The Mandalorian captain took a good look at the big kid.

He was big, about six and a half feet tall, and he looked strong.

He also looked nervous.

If he was waiting around the spaceport at dawn, with his pilot’s chest packed and his gun hand twitching nervously, moving from the hip where his blaster was to the hip where his lightsaber was?

He was in trouble.

Also, he was dressed like one of those Jedi apprentices.

And he had a lightsaber.

“Are you over 21?”

“I’m 23.”

“Did you do something wrong, kid? I don’t care if you’re just tired of Jedi school. Or maybe you got in trouble with a girl. I mean did you break the law?”

“I didn’t. Somebody at the school tried to cut my head off with his lightsaber in the middle of the night. I’ll level with you, Captain. My father is a smuggler. I wanted to go into the family business. This Jedi School shit was my mother’s idea. I never thought it was worth my time, but it’s sure as fark not worth my life.”

“Do I know him?”

“I don’t want to get him involved.”

“Okay, kid. I get it. I’ll get you off the planet. I’m on my way to the Outer Rim. If things work out, you can stay on. If not? I’ll drop you off.”

“Great. I’m Arkanian. So that’s good news.”

“Oh yeah? What clan?”

“The Raven Clan. I’m a Skywalker. No relation to the Jedi Master.”

“I guess you can tell I’m a Mandalorian. I’m a Saxon, myself. Din Saxon. You got a first name, Skywalker?”

“Kylo.”

“OK. Kylo. Grab your gear, and I’ll show you where you bunk. Then you can start loading.”

***

Luke Skywalker awoke with a splitting headache, and a bloody nose.

There was a pillow behind him, and a blanket over him that told him his vision of his father had not been a dream.

Anakin had dire news.

The Sith had regained their strength.

The Empire would rise again.

And Ben was gone.

When they were at crossed lightsabers, Ben had punched him in the face, as hard as he could, and Ben was as big as Father, and just as strong.

The blow sent Luke flying to the far wall and he had hit his head.

He had a vague memory of Ben, in a panic, checking to see if he was OK.

Poor Ben.

Luke knew he had failed his nephew,

He stood up, shaking his head, and saw that Ben’s hut was cleaned out, and his pilot’s chest was gone.

“Shit!” Luke exclaimed.

He went to his own hut, got cleaned up, announced to his students he had been called away on Republic business and they had a free day, and then jumped in his speeder.

The spaceport was about two miles away.

Maybe he could still catch Ben.

Luke spent the whole day, asking around about Ben by name to the people who knew him, and by description to those who didn’t.

One of the dockworkers said he’d seen a young man answering to that description ship out with a Mandalorian on a YT-1300, but he forgot the name of the ship and didn’t know the Mandalorian’s name.

Try as he might, without a warrant, Luke couldn’t find out any more details.

He didn’t want to face his sister’s wrath, so he went back to the Temple, and radioed the Falcon.

“Han, I…I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think Ben’s run away for good. Maybe from all of us.”

“What? What do you mean, Ben ran away for good? What happened?”

“I made a mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?”

“You know, Ben isn’t like my other students. Let me finish, Han. I’ve dismissed kids because they aren’t of the Light. It’s tragic, but some people just are of the Dark Side. With Ben? It’s a shifting balance between the two. And you know Ben. He doesn’t like rules, he doesn’t get along well with most kids his age, and he’s not a joiner-in. I would have let him go his own way, find his own path, but he’s just so powerful. I’ve never seen power like his. It scares me, Han. I mean it. And this obsession he has with his grandfather? Not just Anakin Skywalker. But Darth Vader? That scares me, too.  Ben just…he understands Father’s duality too well. He even looks like him. If he didn’t have black hair and dark eyes, they could be twins. I always feared that Ben would turn. And I have sensed the Darkness in him. And around him. Last night, I had this overwhelming feeling of evil, and it was coming from Ben’s hut. He was asleep. Dreaming. And I saw into his dream. I saw what he could become. I saw war, Han. And death on a horrendous scale. I panicked. I drew my lightsaber, and…I was going to strike him down.”

“You mean kill him? Because he was having a bad dream? Luke, are you out of your goddamn mind?”

“I was. With fear. And my fear led to anger. Ben sensed it woke up. And when I saw the terrified look of betrayal on his face, I knew I had it all wrong. He was just my nephew, Ben, a terrified boy who’s master had betrayed him. He was having a nightmare. Some Dark Force is pursuing him. Trying to seduce him. Haunting his dreams. That’s why he’s always running away from the Temple. I realized the truth, but it was too late. Ben got his lightsaber and jumped up. When we were at crossed sabers, he hauled off and punched me in the face as hard as he could. I went flying back into the wall, and hit my head. Before he left, he checked me, to make sure I was still alive, and he told me about a Sith Lord. Master Snoke. When I woke up it was morning and he was gone. I asked around the spaceport, and I found out he made the spaceport by dawn and took off on a YT-1300, like the Falcon, with a Mandalorian captain.”

“Saxon. Din Saxon. I know him. Ben doesn’t. He’s OK. Especially for a Mandalorian.”

“What do we do, Han?”

“Ben’s not a kid, anymore, Luke. He’s 23 years old. Old enough to decide what he wants to do. If he wanted to go off with this Dark Side Sith guy, Snoke? You gave him the motivation. And if he wanted to be a good little Jedi, he would have laid there and said “Yes, Master Luke” and let you cut off his head. But what he did was knock you could, bug out, and get on the first freighter at first light with the first smuggler he spotted. I’d say Ben’s made it pretty clear what he wants to do. I’m going to let him do it.”

“But what if we never see him again?”

“Don’t be so fucking dramatic, Luke. Let the kid go. Let him find whatever he flew off, looking for.”

“You’re saying that because you know you’ll see him again.”

“Well, for a while? Maybe you shouldn’t. And I am not explaining this to Leia. You farkled up. You tell her.”

***

Captain Saxon liked Kylo Skywalker, and his work, well enough that he didn’t drop him on Arkanis during his first run.

He kept the kid on for several runs.

After the second run, he almost left Kylo on Arkanis, because he was an hour late for takeoff.

The Mandalorian waited, and what showed up almost scared him.

“Kylo? Is that you under that mask?”

“Yes. What do you think? I’ve had the whole thing made for me, special.”

“I think you look like another Darth karking Vader. I don’t want any of that kind of trouble, Kylo.”

“I’m not thinking of joining up with those assholes. I’m going to use this when we board ships. To intimidate people. I finished my lightsaber, too. I want you to get the full effect, Captain.”

Kylo ignited his lightsaber.

The blade was red, and it had a hilt that was made of two deadly beams, as well.

“It’s pretty goddamn terrifying, Skywalker. And I’m a Mandalorian. And you were intimidating to begin with. OK, next time we board a ship? You can try it out.”

 ***

The Mandalorian’s next port of call was on Chandrila.

At the spaceport, they saw Crimson Dawn’s flagship freighter.

And from the way his dark eyes lit up, the Mandalorian knew that Skywalker had ideas.

The thing about Skywalker’s ideas, they were always crazy.

The other thing was, they always worked.

“Captain? You see what I see?”

The Mandalorian peered through the snow.

“Yeah. A Crimson Dawn guy smoking a good cigarillo.”

“Past him. You see the way that whole fucking freighter glows? It’s full of coaxium. Chock full. How do you feel about Crimson Dawn?”

“Fuck Crimson Dawn. They make the Hutt Syndicate look like the Jedi Knights. There never would have been an Empire without Crimson Dawn. But there’s nothing we can do about it. Unless you’ve been having another one of your big ideas. Talk to me, Skywalker.”

“My grandfather was a Jedi. He was betrayed and murdered by the Empire. They turned him to the Dark Side, and used not just his Force sensitivity, but his personal power, his physical strength, and his skill in battle for their own uses. And when he realized that they had fucked him over, royally? They murdered him. An Arkanian never forgives a betrayal, and never forgets one.”

Saxon laughed, under his helmet.

“Leave it to an Arkanian. You’re just as tough as we are, but I think you’re a little crazier. So you’ve got a blood vendetta against the remnants of the Empire, and anybody connected with them?”

“They want me, too, Captain. I almost lost my head over it. And I mean they want me. They want my work, my life, my soul, my total allegiance. They’ve wanted it since I was a little kid. I used to think I could just run for it, but you know something? I’m not a little kid, anymore.”

“You’re done running, and now you’re ready to stand and fight?”

“Yeah. And That New Republic bullshit about no capital punishment, letting Sith cultists live? It was a disgrace.  Not to mention,  Crimson Dawn with a ship full of coaxium means just one thing. Another of those “last stands” the Imperials keep making is in the works. Now, us with a ship full of coaxium? That means money. Serious money. Fuck you money.”

“I don’t get you, Skywalker. You talk about revenge and honor, and then in the same breath, you talk about money.”

“I can’t live on revenge and honor, can I?”

“No. But you know you’re a madman, don’t you?”

“Why? I want that coaxium.”

“So do I.”

“And I want to see all those Crimson Dawn fuckers dead.”

“So does everybody. I’m waiting to hear about your plan.”

“OK, then. Let’s be real friendly to the crew at the cantina. Get ‘em real drunk. Then, when they go back to their ship. We board ‘em, kill ‘em all, take the coaxium, and blow up the ship and the hangar. I can see just how intimidating my uniform is. I was born here. Chandrila is a real quiet place. This is their biggest city. They’ll have every cop and fireman on this side of the planet investigating the shitstorm we ignite. It’ll be a perfect cover for a nice,  clean getaway.”

“Skywalker, I like the way you think. You’re a real ruthless fucking pirate. Your Old Man must be proud.”

“He might be. He will be, if I pull this off.”

“How good are you with that lightsaber?”

“Supernaturally farkling good.”

“You had better be. This is Crimson farkling Dawn”

***

After completely fucking Crimson Dawn, and blowing up a hangar and their flagship Freighter, Captain Din Saxon and Kylo Skywalker blew out of Chandrila in a hurry.

Saxon decided to take his ship and his half of the coaxium back to Mandalore.

The Arkanian wanted to take his part back to Tattoine.

“My ship is at the Mos Eisley Spaceport, right now. You and your guys help me load up my share of the coax, and we’ll shake hands and part as friends.” He explained.

“What about the Hutts?”

“That’s my problem. I’m square with the Hutts. You can just help me unload. It won’t be a problem.”

They had disguised the coaxium in crates that were meant for transporting equally volatile but far more mundane industrial chemicals, so it wasn’t the cargo that was remarkable.

It was Skywalker’s ship.

It was a YT-2400, but a definite custom job.

The ship was raven-black, except for blood-red trim, and Beskar chrome accents.

She had black opaque molded domes over all her external cannons, and even for a YT-2400, she was sleek and streamlined.

There wasn’t a port, or a flap or a rivet that wasn’t flush with the body of the ship; her lines were custom-built smooth and close to perfect.

“I call her the Hellfire. I’ve been thinking about her, and planning her out since I was 13 years old. When I turned 21, I got some money from my mother’s family, and I sunk every penny into my ship. I even helped them buld it, on Corellia.  Everything inside and out was made to my exact specifications. Even the compartments on the inside for swag are specifically designed for each kind of cargo. And she is the fastest ship in the Galaxy. While she was under construction, I took her out and put her through the Kessel Run. I kept making modifications until I made it in 11 and a half parsecs. It was the domes on the guns that got me that extra half a parsec. And she has one of those experimental space-time hyperdrives. That cost me the most money. I melted down two engines before we got it right. But she’s worth every penny. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.” Skywalker proudly explained.

“You can’t fool me, kid. You Skywalkers might be from Arkanis, and it’s good to see you’ve taking your ancestors and your clan seriously, but you’re a Solo. From the ground up. When your old man sees that ship, and finds it full of coaxium? He’ll be the proudest father in the Galaxy.”

“You think so, Saxon?”

“I know, so, Skywalker.”

***

They knew Ben, well, at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

By his name, Ben Solo, and by his alias, Kylo Skywalker.

By now, everybody knew that some crazy son of a bitch had ripped off Crimson Dawn for the biggest coaxium heist since the one Han Solo pulled to get in the game when he was a kid.

A heist that involved killing ten Crimson Dawn members, and blowing up their biggest freighter and their private hangar on Chandrila.

There was one survivor, and he told a terrifying story about a big man, a huge man in a black mask, dressed all in black, wearing a black hooded cape and a black mask, a man with a red lightsaber that had a glowing red hilt for a tripartite blade, who dealt swift death to the other ten men as if they were rookie Stormtroopers.

“He was unstoppable. And I never saw anybody who could move like that. Use a lightsaber the way he did. It was like the blade was part of his own flesh. I’m not a young man, I’ve been with the Dawn since I was his age, and once I saw Darth Vader, in action. That’s the last time I saw anything like that. This man was another Darth Vader. I’m sure he only let me live so I could tell what I saw. And he told me something else. He said that we had crossed the wrong man. The Empire, the Sith and all who served them. And now? We were all going to pay for it. With our fortunes. And our lives.”

The survivor told the story all around the Outer Rim, and there had been that persistent rumor, for decades that Luke Skywalker was somehow related to the man who became Darth Vader.

In fact, old timers on Tattoine would tell you that Ben Solo looked like a negative of a photograph of Anakin Skywalker, who had been a Jedi Knight.

People in the rest of the Galaxy might have believed the story that Ani Skywalker’s father was the Force, but on Tattoine and Arkanis, people knew that Ani Skywalker was the illegitimate son of Kylo Skywalker, the Chieftain of the Raven Clan of Arakanis who had died in battle after a betrayal by a usurping cousin, who sold the concubine Shmi Skywalker and her son into slavery on Tattoine, making way for his own legitimate heirs.

Ben Solo knew it, too.

Hence his alias.

Clearly, it would take a Solo to plan such a daring heist, and have the balls to pull it off, and a Skywalker to have the skill to carry it out.

This was Ben’s way of getting the word out that he was a Solo, and a Skywalker, and nobody had better forget that

When Ben loped in, a few tough customers were sitting in a certain corner table, Han’s table, and even though neither Han Solo nor Chewbacca were in sight?

They got up and left so Ben Solo, in his black pilot’s shirt, vest and pants could slide into the booth.

Back to the wall, facing the door.

He ordered two meals and they were both for him.

As Chewbacca’s godson he was a member of a Wookiee clan, and it suited him; the man was the size of a short Wookiee and he ate like one.

Ben was halfway through his first pitcher of beer when everything stopped and a purple Hutt in a purple hat wearing a purple belt filled the doorway.

“Junior!” he yelled.

“Muffkin!” Ben called back.

They shook hands.

“You got out! Big time! Good for you. All that religious nerfshit? It’s bad for business.”

“I appreciate you letting me and the Mandalorian unload here. I’ve sent a token of my esteem to your palace.”

“I got it. That’s why I’m here. You’re too generous, Ben. Let me pay you something.”

“A man can never be too generous with his business partners.”

Maude, the owner, brought Rotta’s drink.

“When the rest is on the market? I’ve got a bid ready.”

“We’ll take your bid first, Mufkin. And give you a discount. I stole it, so it’s all profit. Fuck Crimson Dawn.”

Ben raised his pitcher and Rotta his glass

“Fuck Crimson Dawn!” Rotta replied.

Ben Solo and Rotta the Hutt drank to their mutual dislike for Crimson Dawn.

“You know, nothing I did was ever good enough for my Old Man. He was the Mighty Jabba, and I was always going to be just Mufkin. I’m still in his big, fat shadow. I hope this gets you out of Han’s. But more important, Junior. I hope the pirate bastard finally thinks you’re good enough to be his son.”

“I hope so, too. Mufkin.”

The root of the friendship between Ben and Rotta that was behind their business partnership was their difficult relationship too and with their legendary fathers.

Rotta thought if he could crush Crimson Dawn, then he would be proved worthy of the great Jabba the Hutt; it was the young Hutt’s life’s work.

“I sent my people to the Hellfire, with your goods. They’re in your hangar. Meanwhile? I need charger packs for blasters.”

“I’ve got zip. But the Old Man has some. We'll bring a couple pallets, later this month.”

“So you’re done with that Jedi business?”

“Done with the Jedi. Done with the Sith. I have a different path to follow. I won’t let the Jedi take my balls, like they did to my Uncle and tried to do to my grandfather. And I won’t let the Sith take my soul, like they did to my grandfather. Nobody but me cares about vengeance for Anakin Skywalker. Or Darth Vader. Nobody but me cares about finishing what he started, and bringing balance to the Force. So it’s up to me to do it.”

“I respect that, Junior. The only problem with it is, there’s no money in it.”

“There will be, the way I do it.”

“Because you’re a Solo, from the ground up, Junior.”

“And I think you’re a better Hutt than your father was, Mufkin.”

“Well, I don’t want to be here when Han shows up. It’ll be awkward. I’ll see you around Junior.”

“You know you will, Mufkin.”

***

Han and Chewie showed up just as Ben’s food arrived.

Ben got up, and yielded his father’s place at the booth to him, sliding down a little.

“You know, I could probably do 11 parsecs in the Hellfire, right, kid?”

“That’s why I’m never letting you fly her unless I’m there with you, Dad.”

Maude came over.

“Just three more of what Ben’s having. And a pint for me, and a pitcher for Chewie.”

“OK. Han.”

Ben was looking at him, expectantly.

“Chewie, will you remind me that Ben takes everything I say absolutely literally? Look, kid. I know I’ve never been the Father of the Year. Especially not when you were little.”

“Yeah, but I was a rotten kid.”

“No, you were a weird kid. That’s why we sent you off with your Uncle. He’s a weird guy, too.”

“Skywalker men are all weird guys.”

“Yeah, but you were never weird in a bad way. I don’t know what to tell you, Ben. I never planned to be a husband. Or a father. I did my best.”

“I don’t know, Dad. I think you did a better job when I was a little kid. You made me food, and taught me how to fly the Falcon. And how to beat up bullies. And you never gave me bullshit when I asked you a question. You didn’t let me down until you gave me away.”

“I just thought your Uncle would be better at the whole thing than me. But I took you back when you ran away from Jedi School! I did that.”

“Yeah, Dad. But you always sent me back there.”

“I thought it was good for you!”

“I begged you not to send me back there.”

“Yeah, but you never told me why you hated it so much. The worst thing I ever did, though? It was all that stupid shit I said to you, a couple years ago. It was all shit, and I didn’t mean a word of it, and I’m a fucking asshole for saying any of it. But I was pissed off when I said that shit to you about how you weren’t the son I wanted. I had just spent a small fortune buying you back from Fenrir Darkstar, because you literally lost your ass to Hela in a Sabacc game! I didn’t mean it. You’re not weak, you don’t disappoint me, and after thinking about it? I do understand you, Ben. You want to be your own man, and make your own way in the world. But look, you didn’t have anything crazy to prove to me that you have balls of Beskar steel. I’m your father. I love you, even though I’m not good at it. And I know you’re tough. You get that from your mother. She’s the toughest son of a bitch in the Galaxy. So, do me a favor? Don’t do any more crazy, suicidal shit to get me to notice that you’re a Solo, too. I never would have let you make one run with me if I didn’t think you had what it took, kid. That said? Gimme a hug, you crazy bastard!”

Ben couldn’t remember the last time his father hugged him.

He hugged Han back.

“I knew it was you. The day I heard about it? I told Chewie, that was Ben. Ben did that. I didn’t figure I’d ever hear from you again. You coulda knocked me over with a feather when you said you wanted us to meet up. Son? I’m really proud of you. Even if you weren’t cutting me in? I’d still be really proud of you. You know what this means, Ben?”

“It means you’re back in the big time, Dad.”

“It means I’m finally Han fucking Solo, again! And I can say fuck you to everybody.”

“I’ve always wanted to be able to say fuck you to everybody.”

“Now you can. You and me, kid? We are going to take this whole fucking Galaxy for every penny its worth!”

Ben’s smile spread all over his face.

And as for Han?

He felt like he finally had a handle on this father thing.

“You have no idea, Dad. It’s all money, Dad. All of it. Everything is for the taking. Snoke gave me all the details about the First Order. They’re what the remnants of the Empire are re-naming themselves, for their next uprising. He tried to sell me all this shit about my place and my destiny, just like Sheev Palpatine tried to sell it to my grandfather. Well, Grandfather put me wise to that shit, long ago, and you can’t fool a Skywalker twice. But you know what I was hearing?  The sound of money. Money beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. Dad, you wouldn’t believe what these First Order assholes are like.  They’re just as dumb as the Empire.  It’s all about their goddamn conquest. They’re so stupid. You wouldn’t believe what they have. Just lying around! The spoils of almost sixty years of conflict. And I know where all of it is!  Everything. Money. Guns. Good booze. Cheap booze. Cigarillos. Rubbers. Coaxium. Uniforms. Medical supplies. Food. Imperial Gold Coins by the chestful. Wealth and swag beyond my wildest dreams. You know where they keep it? Warehouses. Farkling warehouses! They got the goddamn Imperial Gold Coins on a goddamn Star Destroyer that’s older than I am. With a skeleton fucking crew. And their defenses are shit. Total and complete shit. I mean, the whole Galaxy is about to be at war, and they’re just sitting on all this stuff. And I can’t farkling sleep at night, thinking about all the places we can move all this shit to once the shooting starts, again. We’re already back in with the Hutt Syndicate. What’s Mom calling the new Rebel Alliance?

“The Resistance.”

“Yeah. Whatever. So we can sell guns and uniforms and medical supplies to the First Order and the Resistance. I mean, it’s all profit, because we’re going to steal it all, so we can sell her the good stuff cheap and sell the First Order back their own cheap shit garbage at crazy prices. They’ll shit their pants to do business with Kylo Skywalker, the grandson of Darth Vader. As soon as they see the outfit, those old Imperials will be down of their knees, wanting to suck my dick. Get this?”

Ben leaned over.

So did Han and Chewie.

“The Hellfire is fucking loaded with coaxium and Imperial Gold Coins. I swept onto that Star Destroyer in my new uniform, telling them I was Kylo Skywalker, Lord Vader, Master Snoke’s apprentice and they had better get my money onto my ship, right now. Most of them just started following my orders? This one prick Admiral tried to give me some shit, so I Force-choked him into the ground and after that? It was “Yes, my Lord.” These assholes are completely fucking brainswashed. It’s so much gold that looking at it all in the smuggling compartment on my ship made my dick hard! It’s that much gold!”

“Shit, Ben, we can buy off all the guys who guard or own all those warehouses without ever firing a shot. Holy mother Force, we can buy anything we want!”

“But there’s so much more, Dad. The way they loaded my ship up, I know that score was just a fraction of the Imperial gold the Empire still has. We can do it all. Crush Crimson Dawn. Even corner the market on coaxium. We could be the richest me in the Galaxy, Dad. It’s gonna be great.”

“There’s only one problem. It sounds like the Empire is gearing up for the Big One. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume they really needed you for their side. But even without you being Vader Junior for them? Shit’s going to get bad. We might have to get into it, if it looks like they might really win.”

“That’s even better for me.  Mom made a mistake, letting one Sith live. Or any of the Imperial high ranking officers. Pardoning the little guys was alright. They were either out and out slaves, or just grunts. But look what happened because she didn’t just line the bigwigs up against a wall and shoot them, like you used to tell her to? I’m not making that mistake. No fucking way. Those cocksuckers are going to pay for what they did to me. And to my grandfather. To my whole fuckin’ family. I used to think Uncle Luke was just a cold man, but the older I got, the more I realized? He’s not there. Uncle Luke is so fuckin’ destroyed inside by the war, he’s just a wrecked shell of a man. They’re gonna pay with their fortunes, and with their lives. That’s a fuckin’ promise.”

“Your mother won’t go for that kind of talk. Her and your Uncle Luke don’t understand that dead men make no trouble and tell no tales.”

“Then I won’t tell her that part.”

“Good. So, how much coaxium are we going to give the Republic Army?”

“Give? Whaddya mean, give?”

“Hey, it hurts me, too, kid. But if we don’t give your mother something, now? She’ll never pay us for more, later. And you have to face your mother, Ben. I know you don’t want to. But you have to.”

“Yeah, you got a point, Dad. But I’ll let you negotiate with her.”

“Good idea.”

 D’Qar- The Newly-Built Resistance Base

Ambushed, again.

The Old Man had said that his mother wouldn’t be there, to receive the coaxium in person.

He probably believed it, too, from the way he was trying to charm her pants off.

Literally.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Solo boys. Smells like war? Time to make a fortune!” she snapped.

“You should be glad to see me. It’s been three years.”

“Don’t try to charm me, Han. Just don’t. You and I are going to have a nice, long talk, later, in my tent.”

Ben kept unloading the coaxium.

“I know what that means. I’m staying on the ship. And if you guys meet on the Falcon? I’m staying in a tent.”

“You wait till you get married, Junior. It’s not all fun. Sometimes you have to fight, first.”

“You guys have done nothing but fight and screw for, like, my whole life. And you can never do it, quietly. I will never get married.”

“Just unload the crates, kid. As for you, Your Worship? I don’t want you getting my son involved in another one of your Galactic Wars. He’s safer with me, on the money end of it. I was right about that Jedi shit being bad for him. And other than selling you the good stuff, cheap? I’m not getting involved, either, unless things are completely farkled for your side. I don’t want to get killed, and I don’t want to get Ben killed!”

“Now you care about Ben? Now that he’s old enough to make you money, and big enough to throw crates of swag around! He’s only doing this because of you, Han! Because he wants to feel like he’s a good son, and his father loves him, and is proud of him! And you think you’re doing a great job, because you’re letting him prop your old ass up!” Leia snapped.

“That’s not true! Why do you have to twist everything up, and make it sound terrible that me and Ben are trying to do something as father and son?”

“Because it’s piracy!”

“Well, if it wasn’t for piracy, Mom, your shiny new base wouldn’t have coaxium. Or uniforms. Or tents.”

“See? He’s defending you! Ben, stop that! Put those crates down! You too, Chewie. We have people I pay to do that work. Ben, you don’t have to live your father’s life. You’re a Prince.”

Ben stopped working

“Aw, shit, Mom! Can you just stop with the Little Prince Organa-Solo deal! I am not that guy! I will never be that guy! Your fucking ambassador for all your political lies and bullshit! Mom, I am not Prince Organa-Solo, Jedi Knight. Look at me. Just look at me, just once and see me for the man I really am, whether you like him or not!”

That surprised both Leia, and Han.

“You want to be honest, Benjamin? We’ll be honest. You’re right about what I wanted from my son. And you’re right about me spending years trying to shove you, a square peg, into a round hole you were never going to fit into. I was wrong. I admit it. But I’m still your mother, Ben, and I don’t want to see any potential you had in your life to go swirling down the toilet because you want to be a piece of shit criminal! That’s who your father was, when I met him, and even he didn’t like that guy! Did you, Han?”

“Well, uh, I…I really didn’t know anything else, Leia.”

“That’s right, Han. You didn’t. But you don’t have that excuse, Ben. You’re just lazy, because you had everything handed to you, and being a pirate, for you is like falling off a wet log! You like to fight, and you love money and pussy, and as long as you have both, you figure, fuck it, let’s have another pitcher of beer!” Leia chastised Ben.

“What’s wrong with that?” Ben demanded.

“Because you do know better! You knew better that to spend all your money on drinking and girls and you did it, anyway.”

That made Ben angry.

“I did not! I built my ship, Mom. The one I’ve been planning since I was a kid. The Hellfire isn’t just a dream, anymore! I made it a reality. I even helped build her! And I’m not this wicked seducer you think I am. What girls are you talking about?’

“You might have been a late bloomer, Ben, but I know you know about lot of girls.”

“You mean like Trixie at the Yavin-4 Spaceport Cantina?”

“Please tell me you didn’t. Even if you did.”

“I thought about it. Yeah I know a lot of girls. But it’s not like you think. I know just about every girl at the Jedi Temple who’s over the Galactic Age of Consent. Not that I’m complaining. But they only like me for a little while, or they only like me at night, without my pants on. Like at the Temple. They all act like they didn’t even know me. Until they did. Sure, I like women, but I don’t use them. I’m not that kind of man.”

“No. You let them use you, and you like it.”

“So? I’d spend some money on a girl, if I could keep one.”

“All of ‘em, kid? At the Temple.” Han interrupted.

“Yeah. I still don’t know what they see in me. But I let them have it, just the same.”

“Good job, son.” Han told him.

Ben blushed.

Leia wanted to laugh.

“Ben, your female classmates took a vow of chastity. They can’t act like they're crazy about you in public.”

“I never thought of that. You think maybe they miss me. I miss them.”

“They?”

“Yeah. I had the girls spaced out to different days of the week. Every day, I miss that day's girlfriend.”

Leia was at a loss for what to tell him.

And she was still trying not to laugh.

“I used to do that.” Han mused.

“Han? Stop. Ben, you’re still too young to worry about getting serious about a girl. It will happen when it happens. We’ll talk about your lack of respect for yourself, later. Tell me about your ship.”

“It’s great! I’ll bring her here, Mom and take you for a ride! All black, black as a raven’s wing. With red piping and Beskar steel chrome. And I had  mouded retractable housings put over all the guns. To make the ship more aerodynamic. She has the latest model hyperdrive, and I specifically designed the, uh, secret compartments to fit their different cargoes. Two layers. Where each false bottom has a false bottom. And in the cargo bay, a station for my TIE Fighter. I had the whole interior done in Beskar chrome, black leather and red Endor mahogany. I made the Captain’s cabin a little bigger than usual, so it’s big enough for me. Wait till you see her, Mom.”

“See, Leia? He’s in love, already.”

“I can see that. Space really is your home, isn’t it, Ben?”

“I am a Skywalker. The stars belong to me.” He replied.

“Well, since you’ve got your own ship, that means you should finish your last year at the Republic Academy.”

“I don’t need a commission to be a pilot, Mom.” Ben bristled.

“But you liked the Republic Academy. And as well as you fly it will be six months. You want to be a pilot, not a Jedi? I accept that. But you have to finish your education. Even your father finished school at the Imperial Academy. I want you to finish school.”

“Do I have to? Dad, do I really have to?”

“I’m with your mother on this one, kid. Like she said. Even I finished school.”

“On Coruscant?”

“Yes. Maybe you and your old man can come home for the Fall semester. I haven’t sold the penthouse, yet. I’m not living at this base. It’s just a precaution. In case this latest Imperial uprising gets out of hand. Or First Order. Whatever they are calling themselves, now. And we can do family shit, until you graduate. Yell. Throw things at each other.”

Ben laughed.

“I could do that.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Han agreed.

“Ben, I want you to concentrate on what you want to do. Who you want to be. I admit it. I was wrong. I pushed you too hard to do what I wanted. So, can we compromise on this? You can go play pirates with your Dad, as long as you finish school. You know. In case you ever want to do anything else with your life.”

“I’ll give it a shot, Mom. You’re…you’re not mad at me? Really?”

“No, Ben. I’m not. I’m furious at your Uncle, though. What was he thinking? He could have killed you.”

“I keep telling you that Luke’s losing his mind.” Han told her.

“I have to talk to him. Well, Ben? Do you trust me, yet?”

Leia felt the conflict in Ben.

He wanted to trust her.

But he was afraid.

“Also? I had a long talk with my Dear Old Dad. I hate it when he’s right and I’m wrong. But I have to admit it. He was right. I was wrong. And now I’ve got big problems. Especially with this Sith Lord. Somebody just needs to kill this guy, and take him off the table.”

“I can do that.”

“No, Ben. You can’t. At least not yet. But back to your grandfather.  I’m not opposed to him guiding you. As long as he lets me in on what he’s doing. And I think I'll take over your non-metaphysical training. “

“Mom, I already…”

“Ben, just because you paid some nut to make you a Vader suit and you built yourself a scary new lightsaber and you killed a bunch or drunken pirates with it does not make you ready to battle the Sith! Not even close! You’ve created quite a persona for yourself. Not that I object. In fact, I might be able to use you as a double agent…”

“A double agent? When? Now?”

“Hey! Over my dead body!”

“Not until he’s ready, Han. Let me talk to Ben. You know about the smuggler stuff. I know about the Arkanian warlord stuff. Okay?”

“Because you are one, Your Worship?”

Leia didn’t reply to that.

“Ben, there’s no short cut to mastery. And you may not want to hear the philosophy. I didn’t. But you need the practical training. That’s something I know. You need to develop your strength, your resilience your endurance. Your toughness. Both mental, and physical. The next few years aren’t going to be easy for any of us, and you need to be ready when things go bad. I can train you for that. Lightsaber drills. Obstacle courses. Beating the drone with the blast shield down. Except I’m not going to coddle you, like Luke coddles you kids. It’s going to be hard. The way reality is. I’m not going to nerfshit you, Ben. You’re a tough kid. But if you want to step into Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader’s boots and piss off the porch with the big boys? You’re going to need more than a big dick. You’re going to have to get one fucking hell of a lot tougher. You know. Like me.”

“That’s pretty tough.” Han agreed.

Ben had to laugh.

It swept the last of his conflict away.

He knew she was with him.

“Can you teach me to talk as tough as you do, too? I don’t know if I can ever be as tough as you, Mom. But I can try.”

“Good.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me to do or do not. There is no try.”

“No. Because every time your Uncle Luke said that to me? I wanted to cut his head off.”

 Jakku. Five Years Later.

For the next five years, Ben Solo/Kylo Skywalker worked hard under his teacher and grandfather's watchful eye.

This was how he would find his balance.

It didn’t give him much time to think about metaphysics.

Or listen to voices from the aether.

By the time he was 27, he was a graduate of the Republic Academy, officially Captain Solo, of the Hellfire.

He had mastered his mother’s tough, practical, and entirely non-mystical brand of what he came to think of as Grey Jedi training.

And he wasn’t just Han Solo's kid, anymore; Ben was a pilot and a pirate in his own right.

They had an official business in Anchorhead, Solo Shipping and Receiving, and Leia was proud that Ben actually had his father doing some legitimate business.

But then again, being a pirate was legitimate business on the Outer Rim.

Ben had found his balance, and in his 28th year, he was a year into his grandfather's teaching about the New Path of the Force United.

Anakin and Leia were no longer blocking Snoke from Ben’s thoughts.

He had the strength, the confidence, and the raw power to do it, himself.

In the legit business realm, Ben had bought salvage rights on Jakku, Yavin-4 and Endor, because there was a fortune out there, rusting.

He heard the best scavengers in the Galaxy were on Jakku, and he wanted to hire the best, so he would know what was garbage, and what was gold.

He had no idea that meeting the best scavenger on Jakku was going to change his life.

***

The Force is strong with this one.

Ben almost slapped himself for thinking that.

Especially about a young woman that he’d been looking at, for the job, for weeks.

Maybe he was looking at her for more than the job.

There was something about her, something alchemical.

Whatever it was, the Force is strong with this one, was an insult to it.

It was just the kind of arrogant, shitty, self-important Uncle Luke bullshit that he had always hated.

What did Grandfather teach him?

If you want to think for yourself, learn to think in your own words, not in the cliches and platitudes of others.

She has abilities she doesn’t understand that saddle her with responsibilities she doesn’t even know about.

And she’s always here first, with the best stuff.

And?

She’s looking at me, again.

Maybe she feels the same thing.

Time to talk to the girl, but don’t give her the Ben Solo, Hotshot Flyboy and Ruthless Pirate snow job.

Be honest.

The Force flows from her; she’ll know if you’re lying.

“Hey, Rebel Girl!”

“What? Oh, the X-Wing helmet. It’s to keep the sun off my head. You looking for something, Flyboy?”

“Yeah. And not what you’re thinking. I’m looking for a scavenger. Are you looking for a job?”

“You mean a real job?”

“Yes. A real job. I’m Ben Solo. I’m a pilot, and I’m in the transportation business. I just bought salvage rights here on Jakku, and on Yavin 4 and Endor. I know there’s gold in that garbage. But I wouldn’t know the trash from the treasure. I need to hire a good scavenger. There’s good money in it for you. Plus a roof over your head and three meals a day for the next month. If things work out, I’ll probably hire you for the Endor and Yavin-4 jobs. I might hire you to be a part of my crew, after that, if things work out. What do you say, Rebel Girl?”

“You’re really Ben Solo? Why would you want to hire me? I’m nobody.”

“Not to me. To me, you’re the one I’ve been looking for.  I’ve been watching this trading post for days. You’re the best. So, does Plutt own you? Do I have to buy you from him?”

“No! I’m not a slave!”

“Don’t get upset. There’s no shame in it. My grandfather was a slave on a desert planet. And my father was so poor he didn’t even have a last name. The Empire gave him one as a joke. Well, nobody laughs at the name Solo, now. Or Skywalker. What’s your name?”

“Rey. I'm so poor, I don’t have a last name, either.”

“We’ll find you one. It’s a big Galaxy. The flat I hired only has one bedroom, so you can sleep on the couch. I don’t fit on it. I’m too big. You got any stuff to pack?”

“This knapsack. This spear.”

 “Good enough. You tell me. Where’s a good place to eat?”

“Do you mind cantinas?”

“I do most of my business in cantinas. Show me.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, aren’t you even going to ask me if you have to sleep with me, first?”

“I was kind of hoping you would expect me to sleep with you.”

“You’re a hungry Little Rebel Girl, aren’t you. That’s OK. I like hungry girls. But this is my work we’re talking about. I have money in this. So, business before pleasure, OK.”

“Okay.”

 ***

Rey knew her table manners were lousy, but so we’re Ben’s.

Both in style and quantity, he ate like a Wookiee.

For dinner, he had four sandwiches, two pitchers of blue milk, one pitcher of beer and a bowl of baked potatoes.

Rey, who never got to eat real food ate about half as much.

Eating so much made her sleepy.

She sacked out on the couch, and woke up in the middle of the cold desert night covered in a blanket with a pillow under her head.

He had also taken her boots off.

Rey got up, and found the bathroom.

From the sound of the snoring, she figured the bedroom was right through the other door.

She liked Ben; he wasn’t a liar, and for a guy as big and blessed with such dark, saturnine good looks as he was?

He didn’t even seem to realize he was good-looking, let alone have an attitude about it.

But there was something different about him.

Something that drew her to him.

He didn’t act like the pampered son of a princess, and though he seemed more like the tough, hard-bitten, streetwise son of a tough, hard-bitten, streetwise pirate?

That wasn’t all there was to him.

Rey opened the door that led to his bedroom, silently, and the room flamed with red light.

She saw his face, with the thin pinkish white scar from his forehead across the side of his eye and over to his nose, in the red light of a lightsaber with a crossbar like an old-fashioned sword.

So, that was it.

What he was hiding.

When he saw it was her, Ben extinguished the lightsaber and put the bedside light on.

He had the sheet pulled across his lap, and his feet were on the floor.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that, Rey! Never sneak up on me in the middle of the night, if I’m sleeping. You can knock on the door, or yell my name, but don’t creep around. OK? That’s a good way to lose your head. Or get sliced in half.”

“Where did you get a lightsaber?”

“I made it.”

“At the Jedi Temple?”

“Don’t bother, Rey. The Jedi take all the joy out of your natural Force abilities. And the Sith will use you as a weapon. Find your own balance, within yourself, between the Dark and the Light. Then? Follow your own path to Enlightenment.”

“How did you know that I am Force sensitive? I hardly know it.”

Ben shrugged.

“I can feel it. It’s one of the reasons I asked you to come work for me. I don’t want to see those Sith bastards or fucking Jedi hypocrites get you, and rip your soul apart. It’s not an easy thing to stick back together. And it leaves scars.”

“How do I find this path? Or this balance?”

“The balance you find within yourself. But you'll need a teacher or a guide to find your path. Or you can just keep using your abilities for the little things you do, and forget the whole thing. Just stay away from anyone who tells you about Dark Side, Light Side, all that shit. Okay?”

Rey just nodded.

“What did you want, Rey? I know I didn’t want to go through all this shit, the first day I met you.”

“I wanted to see what the bed was like. It’s huge. And bouncy!”

Rey bounced onto the bed.

“You do know I’m holding this sheet where it is because I am 100 percent bare ass naked, right?”

“Do you pay extra for bathwater? Can I take a bath?”

“Go ahead. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Don’t you want to take a bath?”

“Rey, I’m trying to be chivalrous. But I’m not the good guy. I’m a ruthless fucking pirate, and if you keep asking for it, you’re going to get it.”

“Ok, Mr. Ruthless Pirate. Mr. Tough Guy. Mr. Make Your Own Path. Mr. Rules Are For Other People. If I want you, and you want me, why should we be miserable for another week? Or two? Or a month. What’s the point, Ben?”

“You’ll leave. It never fails. I like you and I hired you to do a job. I don’t want you to leave. So I’m not fucking you.”

“Don’t you want to?”

“Do you always fuck on the first date?”

“Yes. Don’t you.”

“Yeah. That’s my problem. I’m too easy.”

“It’s not that I’m easy. It’s just that flyboys? They’re here, and then they’re gone. I’ve only had three first dates. And other than once? There was never a second. Men leave me, too. I won’t leave you.”

“Women always leave me. Especially after I go to bed with them. I’m telling you, it starts out, oh Ben, you’re the greatest, and goes to oh Ben, you’re so moody, and then it’s oh Ben, if you’re in town, come over on a Wednesday. After 9. No, you can’t sleep in my bed, now that we’re finished, you should go.”

“Me too! Flyboys always leave me! I really loved the first one. I was 16, then. I’m 18, now, so you’re a couple years past Galactic Consent, don’t worry. He promised me the stars, and took me to them. It was nice, while it lasted. But then he left. He comes back, every once in awhile. Makes me more promises. Then he leaves. There were two others. But they just left and never came back. I wouldn’t leave you, Ben. I know how that feels. And I wouldn’t treat you like a dirty man-whore, either. I don’t know how that feels. But it must be awful.  People are awful to you, when you’re weird, aren’t they?”

“Always. People fucking suck.” Ben agreed.

“Ben, listen. I have no money. No home. No family. My parents left me when I was a little girl, with Unkar Plutt. You’re offering me a job. Money. A chance to travel the Galaxy and learn about the Force. And you’re a mean, moody, magnificent flyboy with dark, saturnine good looks. Why would I leave you? I’d have to be crazy.”

“Can I write that down? It sounds better than moody and bad-tempered and funny looking. I believe you. But go back to the couch. I’m ten years older than you, and I just saved you from slavery and poverty. I would feel like I was taking advantage of you.”

“Ben, the guy I was telling you about? He’s forty-nine, now. He used to be an Imperial Pilot. For Darth Vader, once, even. He can still squeeze into his old uniform.”

“Really? Darth Vader is my grandfather. I own his TIE Fighter. It’s convenient for short trips. And the passenger seat goes all the way back. And I am wearing Imperial jackboots. I always wear Imperial boots. They are made the best. You want me in an Imperial-type Uniform? I have one. Custom made.  Also? I’m a Republic Captain, so I even outrank this guy. Go back to the couch. But, by all means? Think about the future.”

“Ben, I don’t want you to think I sympathize with the Empire. I just…”

“Yeah, I know. The whole Imperial Flyboy deal. I get that all the time. And I never tell women about my Imperial connection.”

“Why did you tell me?”

“Because the Force has bonded us together. And because I wanted to outdo your boyfriend. Couch. Now. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Why do you have an Imperial Uniform?”

“To wear to First Order meetings.”

“Those crazies? The fake Imperials who yell on streetcorners? You’re one of them?”

“Nope, Rebel Girl. I’m a wrecker. I like to go to their meetings and be imposing, authoritative and disruptive.”

Rey laughed.

“You really are a weirdo, Ben Solo. But I like it. I like you. I’ve always been a weirdo, myself. It’s a big bed. Are you sure I can’t sleep in it too?”

“Not yet, Rebel Girl.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you. A lot. And that scares the fark out of me.”

“It kind of scares me, too. But I still don’t want to leave you. I will, however, go back to the couch. Because if we really like each other? We shouldn’t just do it. At least not tonight.”

“Exactly. We should wait, like a week? Do you think a week is good?”

A week sounded like a long time to Ben, who happily went along with just about any girl who crooked her finger at him.

A week sounded like forever to Rey, who was used to her little romances not lasting more that 12 hours.

Even Dack had never stayed with her for a whole week, after the first time he had taken her off-world.

“That’s a long time.”

“Yeah. It is.”

Rey chewed her lip.

Ben frowned.

She grinned at him, impishly, and started tugging, a little on the sheet.

“Stop that, you little monster! You just won’t let me be a nice guy and do the right thing, will you?”

“I really don’t like nice guys who do the right thing. And you’re not that guy. Why pretend you are?’

“Good point. Let’s go take that bath? And whatever happens? It was just meant to be.”

#reylo week 2020 #reylo daily #reylo au #smuggler ben solo #anakin skywalker darth vader #reylo smut #ben solo lives #han solo lives #grey jedi ben solo

[tonystarkbingo]

Tony Stark Bingo Party Prompt Meme

http://generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=25057 -- we took tags from this random generator and then made up more detailed prompts from them. These prompts are open use, even if you’re not participating in the bingo, but please tag us if you write one, we’d LOVE to see what you did with it! nonsense + everyone is gay + denial : Tony+harem - Tony, while an incorrigible flirt, does not believe that anyone actually likes him, let alone as many as do. They come up with increasingly ridiculous ideas to ask him out or at least let him know they like him, while he innocently thinks they're all just such awesome friends superpowers + bodice-ripper + sad Stuckony - something set in the Regency(ish) era but with secret superpowers as an added bonus. Let’s of angst over trying to hide their secret powers, and wanting to save people without revealing themselves and also cause they’re gay. clones + nighttime + wishes Coulson/Strange (StrangeAgent? AgentStrange? DrAgent?) - Coulson ends up spending the night in the NY Sanctum. Some of the artifacts happen to be particularly sensitive to subconscious fantasies... and isn't it lucky that cloning himself happens to be one of Strange's powers? cruising + flashbacks + bad boys Winteriron possible future Stuckony - small warning for drinking mention - Tony is driving around to distract himself so he doesn't get drunk. He gets in an accident because he is not actually in a state to drive. The accident is comparatively harmless, the flashback to his convoy being attacked in Afghanistan is less so. When Tony wakes up in the hospital he learns that the person who dragged him from his car to safety is one James "Bucky" Barnes, resident motorbike riding bad boy heartthrob and friend/visitor of Steve "regular ER customer" Rogers, who's his hospital roommate. room service + lifeguards + sharing Tony is a lifeguard who takes his job very seriously. He's attending a convention-slash-training seminar at a posh uptown hotel, but then there's a knock at the door. He opens it to find two room service carts, both with order slips on them that indicate they're actually destined for another room. Rather than call the obviously harried and beleaguered bellboy back, he pushes them down the hall himself and knocks on the door... which is answered by none other than the hot beefcake fellow-lifeguard that's been distracting Tony all day. They end up sharing the enormous amount of food... and then maybe some more. :wink: overthinking + pity sex + customer service Tony just turned 40, he's been friends with Bucky and Nat for forever, and they'd been each other's marriage backups for the longest time, like, if they weren't married at 40, they'd marry whoever wasn't married either in their little trio. Only, two years prior, Buckynat became husband and wife and so he's having a little pity party on his floor at the Tower, drinking virgin mojitos and seriously consider a particular customer service to cheer himself up in one way or another - might as well get an orgasm, as shitty and sad as it may be, it's his birthday ffs - but then Bucky and Nat appear in his elevator, and they pull him off the couch he's been sprawled on for three hours, and Nat is the first to kiss him, and he's too stunned to react much but when he does question wtf is happening, Bucky shushes him and Tony lets him. The next morning he is evidently convinced it was all just pity sex, or a kink of theirs or whatever.... certainly nothing to do with the fact that they've been courting him forever and got tired of waiting for him to step out of ObliviousStarklandia. Of course not. wolves + romantic friendship + wigs Okay, so, someone has been doing an excellent job of hiding his baldness from someone else, with whom he's been in a long term best-friends-but-in-love not-quite-relationship. He's got an elaborate series of wigs, and over the years he's gradually been replacing them with slightly more grey ones so that someone else doesn't realise. Aaaand then someone gets bitten by a werewolf, and when he shifts for the first time he is completely bald and the secret is out. accidental relationship + butt dialing + warlocks Tony Stark is not happy with today's mission, not like there's an occasion to enjoy dealing with magic. But now he's in a relationship with Bucky, which is not bad, that man is gorgeous, but this is not the way. He's ranting about it to Jarvis and doesn't realize that he sat on his phone nor that he dialed the other supersoldier in the team until he hears a muffled laugh beneath him. He's going to kill that warlock smuggling + fear + road-trip okay, a Star Wars AU. Farmboy Peter is fleeing from stormtroopers who found out his parents were Jedi. He runs into smuggler Tony and they take off in Tony's ship for an extended road trip in space. possession + loving marriage + gardens & gardening Pepperony, Morgan insists there's a spirit possessing the garden because she's seen the plants dancing. Turns out they've accidentally created sentient plants and Tony is like nope, call somebody else, I do mechanical engineering and they call Dr. Cho to fix it. The marriage is in there somewhere I promise  idiots in love + bonding + resurrection Ironhawk - Clint tries to get Lucky back after he goes over the rainbow bridge, but he can’t actually read latin and ends up bringing back Tony from the 18th century.  And poor Tony gets Clint as his guide to the 21st.  Shenanigans and eventual fluffy ending improv + cultural appropriation + shield maidens After the Battle of New York, Tony's interviewing Thor about Asguardian tech and learns that they have all kinds of shielding devices, and gets interested in trying to replicate what Thor describes just in case aliens decide to pay a call on Earth again. Thor, for his part, is kinda shocked that Earth doesn't have any such shields, though on the other hand it is Midguard, so. You know. Tony gives it a shot and a couple weeks later he's launching the satellites into orbit for a preliminary test of the shields. He intends to test them with SI tech developed from seized Chitauri tech, but before he can get the chance an alien army shows up, guns blazing and very mad about something. The shields hold, thankfully, and the aliens send a strongly worded letter informing him that he has infringed upon their religious and cultural traditions by putting the Stark logo on them. Their planet was visited centuries ago by time-travelers that greatly influenced their culture, religion, government, etc. These time travelers carried devices with that same Stark Logo on them. The Stark Logo has become a complex cultural symbol over the centuries, and they don't appreciate him using it on war tech, even if on shields. Eventually, they figure out that the time travelers' tech was Tony's tech, and agree to leave in peace, but only after Tony spends a terrifying couple of days trying to improvise his way through a diplomatic disaster with an alien power. vampire family + slapstick + loss WinterIronWidow: So, Natasha's been a vampire for a long time, and she's lonely, so she decides to take on some mates, enter established relationship WinterIron. She vampirises them, which leads to Tony having fits about GARLIC and my god, I'm ITALIAN, you horrible woman!  And Bucky's like "I'm... CATHOLIC?? OM-- I can't even say G-- now??" awkwardness + chatting & messaging + shyness Tony doesn't understand why everytime Bucky comes into the lab, Dum-E tends to drop whatever he's holding and go hide in his charging station. Dum-E's always a bit clumsy and silly but this is more than usual and Tony's worried that Dum-E doesn't like Bucky or something like that. Anyway after much discussion, with JARVIS as translator and go-between, it turns out that Dum-E has developed a bit of a crush on Bucky's fancy robotic arm. Which ends up of course being a hilarious & awkward situation for all involved. candles + explosions + blind date tony gets bullied by pepper to go on a blind date to get out of his funk, she insists that this Matt Murdock character is the perfect date and Tony will like him. reluctantly tony goes to fancy restaurant and meets Matt Murdock and they hit it off instantly the little snarky assholes. they have a nice dinner by candle light and it's all going so well up until dessert when they order some kind of chocolate lava cake which was tragically not cooked properly and ends up exploding on both of them and bam they fall in love and live happily ever after skeleton puns + reincarnation + deus ex machina A snap, that was all it took to snuff out something so bright amidst the rubble of what was once New York City, and, with Tony gone for good, the living seem rather, well…dead. Until, one day, someone they all thought long dead returned to them, a blue cube glowing in his grip and a sweet promise of a new beginning dripping from his lips. But of course, no new beginning comes without a price laundry + tenderness + dialogue “I hate laundry,” Morgan declared after trying to refold her sweatshirt for the seventh time. “Me too kiddo,” Tony whispered back, sneaking a glance over his shoulder to Pepper who was putting clothes into the wash. “But that’s why we do it together. It gets done and we don't have to do it alone.” world domination + paranoia + everything hurts Tony knew what was coming, he knew. He’d seen the future and he knew. The Kree were coming - why would no one believe him? Not his husband, not the team, not even his own son. He kept convincing them they had to suit up and defend the planet and Steve and Peter kept telling him that a engineering professor from Cal Tech can’t do that, that this suit he talks about is only in his delusions. But he’s not paranoid. Or crazy. Or any of those other words. He is Iron Man. He just has to convince everyone else. feels + useless lesbians + Santa's workshop Toni doesn’t think anyone could accuse her of overflowing with Christmas spirit. That hasn’t stopped the rest of the Avengers from turning the “festive cheer” dial up to eleven, and Toni thinks she might just have to spend the whole next month hiding in her workshop. (Hey, she let DUM-E wear a Santa hat – that has to count for something.) Too bad Jamie Barnes – cyborg superassassin extraordinaire, Captain America’s best friend, and Toni’s big gay crush – has gotten the exact same idea. Now the rest of the team thinks they’ve got a “thing,” and Toni can’t decide which is worse: putting up with the Avengers’ not-so-subtle attempts at matchmaking, or spending all her time with the woman she loves and who she is absolutely, 100%, totally certain doesn’t reciprocate. Getting through this holiday season without having her heart broken might just take… a Christmas miracle. shapeshifting + secret organizations + nurses “C. Barton - Orderly.”  That’s what his tag said.  But only a very few people knew exactly what kind of hospital Saint Natalis actually was, and just how busy they could be during the full moon. kissing games + pirates + book stores Tony always thought that the shop had a mind of its own. The books were one thing, whispering their secrets to patrons who managed to find their way to it. Jarvis always did warn him not to touch any of the artifacts. The "DO NOT TOUCH" signs plastered all over the crates. So maybe it was his fault that he managed to summon 'Buccaneer Barnes' after touching the shiny pirate sword. "Let's play a game. If you win, I'll help you put all those runaway monsters that jumped out of the books. If I win, you owe me a kiss. Whatdaya say Stark?"

#TonyStarkBingo2020 #prompt meme #party games

[fancyfade]

okay SWTOR post day 1

(in response to this post (link)

Tank: Before the class story, Tank was in wherever they train spec force officers (I get the idea they have more training than regular republic soldiers because a) Forex says so and b) when you talk to Jakarro after understanding him in Shiriiwook, you say something like “amazing what they teach you in spec force training”.) But before that, she was working with some other people her age, Tam Zaris and Sharr Kii, who she met on Nar Shaddaa.

On Nar Shaddaa, Tank pissed off some Hutts by telling their enforcers to fuck off when they were trying to collect “protection” money from some guys who weren't paying up. Things wound up escalating until she got a bounty on her head, she wound up laying low in the sector of Nar Shaddaa Tam and Sharr Kii were in. Sharr Kii wanted to fight the empire because her wound up being pushed around during that Togruta rebellion thing (IIRC mentioned on Imp Side Nar Shaddaa plot?), and Tank went along for the ride when Sharr Kii suggested going off planet and helping rebels against the empire. The three of them (Tam Sharr Kii and Tank) eventually wound up over their heads and a section of Republic troopers both noticed them and rescued them when they invariably got kidnapped. They were each offered a place in Spec Forces, Tank took it but Tam and Sharr Kii didn't, preferring to stay helping rebels directly wherever they existed.

Tai: Since I've been playing him a bit recently, people who read my tumblr posts about SWTOR probably already know that Tai used to go to Korriban. He was the only child of Raihon Kor, and due to her hopes that he would continue their family and keep making them look strong, she ignored some of his flaws in battle and was happy when he got picked to go to Korriban. Sadly, he was way less powerful in the Force and lightsaber combat than all of his peers, and lived mostly by sneakery and getting other acolytes killed by other people or beasts (in the instances where the ultimatum is “one of you will succeed, the others will die” by the teacher).

After about two years of this, his Overseer got sick of seeing acolytes who were obviously more talented than Tai dying because of Tai's trickery (even though by sith logic, they'd be too gullible to stay alive) so he took Tai out to the Valley of the Dark Lords and slashed him across his back and cut off all his limbs, leaving him for dead. Tai finally tapped the force for something impressive and stopped himself from dying, hanging on until he was rescued by a team of smugglers (a zeltron, Dahxa Lyshow, and a twi'lek, Hay’laya).

Hay'laya and Dahxa wound up getting Tai medical care and taking him off Korriban. Tai learned how much of an asshole he was slowly over the course of 10 years and became a person you might not mind hanging around. The three of them also wound up rescuing Oriah Sam after she was wounded in an Akul hunt, and Oriah and Tai sort of became rivals, as Tai didn't like Oriah's edge and Oriah didn't like Tai's pretentiousness (because he was pretentious for a while).

After coming into possession of another ship, Dahxa and Hay'laya suggested that Tai and Oriah could use it for a second smugglign vessel, since they'd already taught the two everything they needed to know. Unwilling to work together without the glue of Dahxa and Hay'laya, the two of them settled the ship's ownership with a game of cards. Tai won and started smuggler story shortly after

Messilandre: Messilandre was training to be a Jedi on various planets, occasionally following around her mother, a politician from Miral, as mom wanted to instruct her on the way of her mirialan heritage and the political situation of the world. As she got older, Messilandre grew apart from her mom due to her own interpretation of the Jedi code, and she wound up working in a more formal capacity as a guard for her on dangerous missions. Mom disapproves of her daughter tagging along as a guard, because Messilandre's dad died on a combat mission, and mom is a bit worried. Messilandre takes this to mean her mom doesn't understand the realities of being a Jedi (it's dangerous). They have a strained relationship.

Either way, not too long after her last mission with her mom, Messilandre gets sent to Tython to finish her training and the plot starts.

Harin So: Harin So was a Voss Commando (IIRC military conscription is mandatory for the Voss?) who got tapped for mystic trials due to strategic acumen that wound up a little “Hmm, can zie see the future?”-y. Harin So never had a vision while training to be a mystic or in the mystic trials, and eventually sort of “dropped out”. Feeling useless and disconnected from zir society, zie wound up sneaking off world to try to learn more about the wider galaxy. There, zie met Yuon Parr, who trained zir in the way of Jedi on Tython until the start of the planet plot.

Lycaea: Lycaea's exact pre-planet plot will be told in my Trials fancomic if I ever finish it. The main difference between what's implied in game and her story is that she is not forced into Korriban early – not because she did all of the proper training channels, which she didn't (that wouldn't mesh with the Baras dynamic you have at first), but because she was ignored for a long time due to being mostly togruta. Her father sees what he views as his last opportunity to get her into Korriban by contacting Tremel, who also dislikes her for the aforementioned reasons (and her being part sith part togruta). Her dad convinces Tremel that she has at least been instructed in the ways of thinking like a Sith, and therefore will carry on Tremel's ideology. A desperate Tremel accepts, and Lycaea starts her planet plot (plus other details, revealed in comic if it gets finished)

Xareesh: Xahaiyarishin was a warrior on Kalee who was the second-in-command in her town (married to the first in command, the war leader). At one point, her town got attacked by a group of Czerka thugs because they had something Czerka wanted. Xareesh was left as the only surviving warriors after she had successfully evacuated a decent portion of the civilians. She felt aimless and lost, having lost too many friends in the battle, and wound up falling into a depression and working as a bounty hunter, alone, because staying with the rest of the survivors was a too painful reminder of what had happened.

When she is aimlessly bounty hunting, that's when she gets contacted by Braden, Jory, and Mako, and makes her way to Nal Hutta. After hearing their proposal for the Great Hunt, she figures that it will somehow snap her out of this and make her feel worthy again.

Aereinys: Aereinys's parents were exiled from Chiss space for (reasons I'll think of later). They died before she was born, and she grew up in an Imperial orphanage (probably state run and focused on getting the kids to be good little soldiers). She joined the army when she turned 18, as was expected of her, and impressed recruiters for Imperial Intelligence. Her path from Intelligence to the start of the prologue is straight forward, she was just assigned there due to her performance in the Academy, as the dialogue implies.

Nehari: Nehari grew up on Nar Shaddaa as a storekeeper's daughter. She started scavenging scrap metal to sell to help her mom make ends meet, and when her mom died when she was fifteen, Nehari took over the business and ran the store for a couple years, before getting fed up with kicking up protection money to hutts. She figured that she could be the victim or the victimizer, and quickly started fighting back and establishing her own miniature criminal empire. She became a pirate and raided cargo from everyone – and got captured by the Imperials, where she was put into slavery as a punishment. That is how she gets to the start of the Sith Inquisi plot, where she's recently been freed to become a Sith or die trying.

#swtor15 #me lovely little ocs #swtor #saeyt doraz #nehari racin #aereinys trin #xahaiyarishin #lycaea archeliou #taimen kor #harin so #messilandre melina #slavery mention #long post

[sleemo]

16 Fascinating Revelations About the Making of Star Wars: The Last Jedi

— io9 | Dec 19, 2017

The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is much more than a bunch of pretty pictures. Buried in Phil Szostak’s 256-page book are some fascinating insights into the production of the film. And while we highly recommend you flip through yourself, we picked out our favorites.

1) One of the earliest pieces of art for The Last Jedi was actually supposed to be in The Force Awakens. Designer Doug Chiang painted an image of Luke’s X-wing underwater in February 2013, but it got cut from that movie, and was used in TLJ instead.

2) A storyboarded version of the opening shot would have panned down from the crawl to reveal what at first looks like a huge planet, but was actually going to be the top of the tank Finn is recovering in.

3) The opening battle scene of the film wasn’t always directly after The Force Awakens above D’Qar. But choosing the location informed the design of the First Order’s Dreadnaught. The top was always flat, to allow for Poe’s heroics, but guns were added on its bottom, in order to fire at the planet below.

4) The Resistance bombers were a very early idea and a nod to how George Lucas was influenced by the planes of World War II. Also, while you may not be able to see it in the movie, some of the bombs have messages on them like “Hi Snoke” and “Han Says Hi.”

5) An early draft of The Last Jedi had Finn as the pilot of the bomber with Paige Tico, until writer-director Rian Johnson struck it down. “If Finn witnessed Paige’s death and didn’t know she was Rose’s sister that meant there would have to be a big scene after he found out,” Johnson says in the book. “If he did know Paige was Rose’s sister, there would either have to be a big ‘I saw your sister die’ scene, which I didn’t want to write and the movie would have come to a full stop to do, or he would be an asshole because he would never tell her. So ultimately it felt really right as a set-up but I realized there was no wood to burn in terms of a pay-off.”

6) There was a piece of concept art that would have had Rey abandon the Millennium Falcon in the waters of Ahch-To because she couldn’t find a place to land.

7) For Rey’s costume change after Han’s death, an early design had her directly influenced by the smuggler, with a short blue jacket and brown pants with red marks down the side.

8) The character of Rose came about because Johnson originally had Poe traveling with Finn to Canto Bight, “and it was so boring,” he says. “It was just these two dudes on an adventure... I realized I had to come up with something else. Finn needing somebody else to go with who would actually challenge him and push him and contrast with him was where Rose came from.”

9) The codebreaker storyline on Canto Bight was also much more complex in early drafts and designs. Originally, Finn and Rose were going to find him playing keyboards accompany a lounge singer. He was there “casing an insectoid warlord known as the Butcher of Brix” from whom he planned to steal “the blood jewels that finance his murderous regime.” The three would go on a journey to find a backpack with thieving tools, only to get caught on the roof and Finn and Rose put into prison.

10) Late in the design process, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that the design of Canto Bight didn’t feel “Star Wars” enough to her. So the team scrapped everything and ultimately drew inspiration from early Ralph McQuarrie drawing’s of Jabba’s Palace.

11) The whole Canto Bight scene originally started with Rose and Finn breaking into a clothing shop to put on fancy clothes to blend in. However, Finn would’ve put his tuxedo on backwards, and everyone was going to laugh at him.

12) There was a bathhouse sequence on Canto Bight that was designed and shot but not used in the movie. It’s not entirely clear how it would have played into the film, or why it was cut, but it seems like it may have been another elaborate, lavish location for the fathiers to smash through. It was a steamy place complete with aliens in all manner of dress, lounging around and sweating.

13) Before DJ was in the movie, Finn, Rose, and BB-8's arrival on Snoke’s ship started with several different gags. One was them following a trail of lint into a laundry room. Another was an homage to Han and Chewie running into a mass of Stormtroopers on the Death Star, except this time, all the suits would be empty.

14) At one point, there was a line in the movie where Snoke mentioned his gold slippers.

15) The three flashbacks in the film, which are an homage to Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, were one of the final things to go into the script before shooting. Johnson saw them as a way to give Rey more emotional impact when leaving Ahch-To, by having Luke initially lie about what happened between him and Ben Solo.

16) The Art of lists the various dates of the movie’s production, allowing us to put together a fascinating timeline of how it got made—and how early work began on it;

• January 9, 2013 - The first visual meeting about new Star Wars movies • May 16, 2014 - The Force Awakens begins filming • May 27, 2014 - Rogue One director Gareth Edwards’ first day at Lucasfilm • July 2, 2014 - Rian Johnson’s first day at Lucasfilm • August 2014 - The basic story for The Last Jedi is in place • November 12, 2014 - A production office for The Last Jedi opens in Burbank, CA • March 4, 2015 - The first draft of The Last Jedi is completed. • April 20, 2015 - Rian Johnson and his team present the film and early work to Disney executives. • July 29, 2015 - The second draft of The Last Jedi is submitted. • August 3, 2015 - Rogue One starts filming. • September 15-17, 2015 - Johnson and his crew capture the first footage for The Last Jedi on Skellig Michael in Ireland. This “preshoot” was to get outdoor shots before the weather changed. • December 11, 2015 - A third draft of The Last Jedi is complete. • December 18, 2015 - The Force Awakens opens in theaters. • February 1, 2016 - The first draft of the shooting script for The Last Jedi is completed. • February 11, 2016 - The Last Jedi begins principal photography. • July 29, 2016 - The Last Jedi finishes filming.

Honestly, we can’t recommend this book enough.

— io9

#sw books #reference #the last jedi #rian johnson #rey #finn #paige tico #rose tico #poe dameron #luke skywalker #ben solo #uploads #* #concept art

[rekkingcrew]

The Krieger Files: Pursuit (1)

Not a full session, really, more of a prelude. It’s been one of those weeks. But the character stuff is pretty fun.

Drax is at a party with a pirate gang he knows and sometimes works with. They ran into each other on one of Drax’s more recent jobs- since the events of the last arc, Drax has been avoiding Nar Shaddaa by taking very workman contracts outside of Hutt space- and everybody had a friendly exchange of banter while they shot at mutual enemies. Drax got about 75% of what he wanted out of the exchange, and so did the pirate leader, and because he’s a friend, he’s invited to the after party. (Also established that the gang met Patience (Drax’s recent ex-wife) and while they all hated her, about half of them, the leader included, thought she was super fun at a party (also that the leader and Patience always parted with a big grin and a jaunty “next time, I’m going to kill you!”))

Mostly Drax spends his party time drinking alone in a booth and looking at the bounty feeds, though he does have a 20 minute conversation with a member of the gang who did some very brave mechanical alterations to a live grenade on the last mission (whatever number of fingers this guy started his life with (not ten), he has two less now). 

Rek (around 14 or 15 at this point in the timeline) is also at the party, though he was notably absent from the mission. The pirate leader is giving him claps on the back and has bought him a drink, but Drax is able to observe that Rek is looking for approbation even more than usual from the adults in his gang, and until he gets it he seems a bit nervous.

A hilariously botched stealth vs. vigilance roll means that Rek’s attempt to skirt the side tables to sneak up on Drax results in a lekku getting caught and Rek, who is a tiny bit drunk, falling over backwards. Drax notices two things as a result of this roll. One: on the TV there’s a report about a Hutt who’s just been violently taken down in some sort of internal Hutt police action; the victorious party’s ghouls are basically standing on the TV holding bazookas labelled “crime cannon” and saying “damn shame when ‘accidents’ like this happen.” Two: Rek took a bit longer to get up than he should have and he got up weird. He’s favoring one side and seems like he was recently hurt. Drax- who canonically has the uncanny talent to pick the exact right drink for anyone- orders Rek what is essentially a chocolate milkshake with gin in it. (We recall the very first time Drax met an even younger Rek and made the mistake of saying “whatever you want, kid, my treat,” at a cheap burger joint. The camera begins on Drax making a face of mixed horror and disbelief and pans over to where a child Rek sits, surrounded by the detritus of empty cartons, baskets, and wrappers, and drinking a soda cup full of free condiments as he continues to eat.)

Rek gets up, saunters over, and does a manly lean onto Rek’s table. His voice hasn’t quite finished dropping yet, and he’s trying to pitch it down, without complete success. He’s wearing clothes that look too big for him- hand me downs from other gang members, including a decent, if worn, flak jacket- but he’s managing to pull off a thuggish look with it. Drax reaches over and flips the safety on Rek’s gun back on. He asks his teenage miscreant buddy how it’s been going and Rek assures him that it’s been good. Nothing bad. Then he inhales 75% of an alcohol milkshake without breathing to avoid following up on a really unconvincing “nothing bad.” When asked what he’s getting kudos from the boss for, Rek replies “keeping quiet, mostly.” Drax is a professional bounty hunter, and has been talking to members of the gang- he knows they stole a load of drugs recently and have been moving it around in smallish shipments. He’s able to intuit Rek’s been working as a mule and assumes he was caught and gave nothing away.

Rek says he heard Drax and Patience got divorced, and he’s glad because, man, she was evil. Drax rubs his face and says yeah, you were right. It was ugly. She cleaned me out. But she’s gone now. Rek’s face lights up. She’s not dead, Drax corrects. Rek’s face falls again. He thinks about it, gives the kind of sage nod only a teenage boy who thinks he knows everything can, and goes “Bitches be crazy, man.”

“I know we’re divorced, but you don’t talk about my wife like that,” Drax replies.

Rek nods, and, after a pause, says with the air of someone who means a lot more, “I’m glad you’re back.”

Rek asks Drax, as a man of the world, for advice on talking to, you know, a girl. Drax says just tell her you like her, worst she can say is no. Rek opines that No would be a huge fucking deal. Drax says, listen. Don’t peacock. Be yourself. You’re a good kid.

At this point he gets a ping on his datapad. In the last fifteen minutes, there’s been a flood of bounties, all related to the recently dead hutt. One in particular is flagged as very close to Drax’s location- no more than a 20 minute hyperspace jump: a twi’lek by the name of Suvi’ovask. Drax turns the bounty around to Rek and asks if he knows this guy.

“He’s the galaxy’s biggest fucking asshole,” says Rek, who rolled very well. He’s a slave hunter for the Hutts with such a brutal reputation that people kill themselves when they hear he’s on their trail. He always brings people in alive, but, you know, alive’s a pretty broad category. Rek is very much of the opinion that being both a twi’lek and a slave hunter is the worst selling out you could possibly do. 

Well, says Drax, I don’t speak Ryl or the, you know, tail thing. You wanna come with me on this one? Rek’s eyes light up. Meet me at the ship in an hour, says Drax.

During the interval he looks up his quarry. They bounty makes a specific note that any technology found on the mark is considered part of the bounty, and it says it in such a way that it implies that’s worth a lot. He’s known to be dispatched on a moon called Unlau, orbiting a gas giant. A good roll means Drax has been there before, though not professionally. He and his first wife visited. The moon is far from the local star, but near both a nebula and an arm of the spiral galaxy in such a way that it exists in a kind of perpetual twilight full of brilliant stars, and it’s famous for geysers, waterfalls, and cave filled cliffs. It’s on the edge of Hutt space- one of the last stops before you go in, which means it’s a trading post, a favorite spot for smugglers, and a place a lot of runaway slaves wash up. It’s also about 75% twi’lek by population.

Drax puts a bunch of snacks where Rek will know to look for them. Rek gets there early, seemingly packing nothing but his blaster, though he is wearing a large jacket. Drax reminds him they might be gone for a while and Rek seems perplexed as to why he’s bringing it up. The ship is more spartan than Rek might remember. Rek asks what happened to the paneling that was in here. Drax responds by yelling “Divorce!” down the corridor.

(A pause as we imagine Patience in jodhpurs on a manicured green lawn, in front of a young holding a tray full of drinks and wearing shorts that look both tiny and uncomfortable. She yells “PULL” and raises a laser canon.)

Drax calls Rek up to the cockpit when he’s ready to leave. Rek has found the snacks, grabbed all of them, and secreted them away various places on his person. Drax shakes his head and reaches over to switch the safety back on on Rek’s gun. He asks Rek if he’s sure he can handle himself, because this guy is going to be dangerous. Rek is a teenager raised by pirates. He’s sure he can handle himself no matter what the situation is. 

And then Drax punches the ship to lightspeed and the stars become bright blue lines, and our boys are off on an adventure.

(Also gave my player a bit of out of character meta on what to expect: which is to say his quarry will be trying to evade him. He can spend as much or as little time investigating as he likes, and he’ll be rewarded for doing so with information, BUT his quarry will be spending that time gathering assets that will be used against him (unless he can use information he’s found to deny those assets to his quarry). Then it’ll be a question of defeating the challenges posed by those assets and catching the quarry before he can jump planet. His opponent will also be using the gadgeteer bounty hunter talent tree, same as him).

#Edge of the Empire #tabletop rp #the Drax Krieger files #Rek #teenage Rek #I DMed

[tiaraofsapphires]

So I kinda updated my Rydaal Royalty AU...

Sara made a beeline to the training grounds as soon as Alec dismissed her, whipping off her jacket and shirt until she only in her pants and thin tank top.

She really needed to hit something.

It wasn’t in anger, not truly. She couldn’t be angry with Jaal—only the abstract idea of him because she didn’t really know who he was—after her father broke the news to her. Jaal likely didn’t want to be a part of this either and it wasn’t his fault.

It didn’t matter.

She was getting almost certainly going to be married to him, an angara of royal blood. Unlike her, Jaal wasn’t the heir to the throne of his respective kingdom. According to Alec and the file he had on the angara prince, Jaal was the third-born child and, therefore, third in line to the throne.

Jaal was older than her, the equivalent of 27 years to 22 of hers. There was some consolation to be had there. At least he wasn’t twice or three times her age or something outrageous for an angara who would likely live to be as long as she would.

Sara twirled an omniblade in her hand, easy as breathing.

From a young age, Alec demanded that his children be skilled in combat, along with book-learning and being a ruler. They had their bodyguards whenever they left the palace, sure, but it wasn’t satisfactory for the king.

“You need to know how to defend yourselves,” Alec had said.

Sure, it served her when smugglers and pirates tried poking holes into her. They landed their hits, but it was rare.

But now it would serve her in another way.

The angara were a warrior race, above all. They had to be, after centuries of skirmishes with the Nexus races and now this decades-long war with the kett. It made them suspicious of outsiders, clinging to those who looked like them. Outside of relatively few cases, they interacted with Nexus out of necessity, nothing more.

Sara couldn’t blame them.

But now, that was changing.

Not only was the Prince coming, but he was bringing various representatives from Heleus to strengthen and renegotiate military and economic ties.

It wasn’t just about the engagement and wedding. But a lot of it was about this unconventional event. It would serve as a distraction for the average citizen to ogle and gossip about while leaders and politicians haggled and bartered behind closed doors.

Who cares about a potential economy-altering deal when there’s Sara’s dress to be whispered about?

Her omniblade tore out some of the stuffing, making the soft stuff smoke and burn.

Sara supposed this training would make her pleasing to her likely-future husband.

The thought of it made her feel a bit ill. They hadn’t even met yet, the engagement not even finalized, and it felt like she was waiting at the gallows.

She jumped into this without really thinking.

Lunge forward, stab, twist.

Time seemed to blur, as she made mincemeat of the target dummies. Sweat beaded at her temples and dampened her shirt.

When something large moved into her periphery, she jumped, whipping towards the source of the movement with a gasp.

Drack held up his hands in a sarcastically placating gesture, bowing in mocking supplication. It was more for her benefit than his. It wasn’t like she could really do anything to him.

Sure, an omniblade to the gut would hurt just about anyone, but Drack would easily shrug it off and knock her flat on her ass.

“Something’s got you pissed off, kid,” Drack grumbled.

Sara huffed and turned back to her unmoving victim. She liked Drack. He treated her like a normal person, if not with a slight bit more respect. It was refreshing.

“Did you hear?” Sara asked.

It was probably hours since she talked to Alec. After that, there was no reason why this engagement would remain hidden.

This union would be milked for all its worth to drum up morale and feelings of camaraderie between the two planets. The word would be put out as soon as possible and not even the malcontents in the Citadel would dare come out too loudly against it.

She could only imagine the amount of emails she was going to return to.

Drack leaned up against the nearby wall and crossed his arms. “About that angara prince that’s coming in a couple days? Yeah.”

Sara’s lip curled. “My fiancé, Prince Jaal Ama Darav.”

No, she wasn’t angry with him. She just needed to keep reminding herself of that fact.

“That’s if he actually proposes,” Drack huffed.

“If he does, I will accept. For the good of our peoples.”

She glanced over at Drack, who grunted disbelievingly.

It wasn’t like he had much faith in this sort of thing. After the genophage millennia ago, the objectively tyrannical and self-destructive krogan government dissolved as the birthrate was reduced to almost nothing, breaking up into municipalities absorbed by the human, turian, asari, and salarian kingdoms.

The genophage had been a disgusting thing, an ugly stain in the history books. Something that Heleus politicians liked to throw in the Nexus’s face whenever it came to making treaties and agreements.

‘Look at how you treat your own people. Why should we deal with you?’

Perhaps this marriage would help the Nexus’s image.

“I suppose you’re doing a brave thing,” Drack relented, “Damn foolish, in my opinion, but brave. I don’t trust those Heleus types.”

“Why?”

Drack grunted. “They’re cagey and isolated. That makes them dangerous.”

Sara shot back, “Like you?”

That drew a chuckle out of the krogan.

“Yeah, a bit. At least you probably ticked off a bunch of idiots at the Citadel with this. Makes it worth it in my book.”

Drack hauled up a fresh dummy for her to dismember and she murmured her thanks.

Lunge forward, stab, twist.

“Have you ever been to Heleus?” Sara asked. The exertion was getting her, raising her heartrate, making it a little harder to talk.

Drack nodded.

“Yeah, on a few—ahem—less-than-legal supply runs back in the day. Lots of fun critters to kill. Angara also make some damn good weapons.”

Okay, not exactly what Sara wanted to hear if someone was going to sell a trip to Heleus.

“Nice scenery?” she suggested.

“I wasn’t looking. But yeah. Nature, ruins, all that shit. I’m sure Your Braininess will love it.”

She smirked at the nickname.

“Thanks for stellar review of Heleus, Drack.”

“No problem, kid.”

Yeah, she really liked Drack. She was glad he was in Hyperion. He was more than happy to come with her when she went on Prothean digs.

To make sure some asshole assassin doesn’t get any ideas, was his official excuse.

But, she knew it was out of friendship. And Alec wasn’t going to protest to the idea of an experienced krogan warrior like Drack ‘looking after her’.

Clan Nakmor didn’t particularly like the idea of one of their own kowtowing to the human crown. But Drack didn’t give a shit.

“I wonder if I’ll be able to go on digs after I’m married.”

“Maybe, kid. And maybe you’ll get to dig some holes in Heleus. Find some nice shiny things that you’ve never seen before.”

He stopped and winked conspiratorially.

“And we can sneak you out if we have to,” Drack continued.

That was one way to think about it.

“I like the sound of that,” Sara murmured.

Despite the tempting possibility of new discovery, she still didn’t like the idea of her ability to study Prothean sites being in jeopardy. It was less her hobby and more like her life.

Dammit, stabbing things wasn’t enough. Maybe she would need to take a trip to the shooting range and put some bullets in things.

She could challenge Drack into a contest that she would definitely lose.

“Sara!” a shout echoed through the space.

Sara sheathed her omniblade at the sound of her brother’s voice. Before she knew it, Scott was in her arms, hugging her. Almost crushing her, in fact.

“Ah, Drack, do you mind?” Sara gasped.

The krogan didn’t protest.

“I’ll leave you, Your Highnesses.”

Drack nodded and retreated. As soon as he was gone, Scott pulled away and looked her up and down, like he was expecting her to be wounded.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said.

Yeah, he received word. And he didn’t take it well, if the hard line in his brow told Sara anything. What a surprise.

“Trust me, neither can I. But, if you think about it, it makes sense.”

Scott shook his head vehemently.

“No. No, no, don’t you go defend this. Don’t defend our father’s asinine schemes.”

Oh, boy. Here we go.

Alec never really treated them like a father ought to treat his children, even less so after their mother died, and both of them resented him to some degree. Of the two of them, Sara had the better relationship with Alec. It wasn’t by much.

Whether it was because she was the elder, because she was heir, or just because Scott was the more rebellious and blustery of the two of them, she didn’t know. All she knew was that Scott and Alec’s relationship was strained, and that was putting it in the best of terms.

“But it does make sense,” Sara sighed, “The asari have refused and I’m the only one in this family who can have children with Jaal.”

Scott sneered, “Jaal? Already calling him by his first name?”

Sara bristled.

Fucking hell, Scott seemed to be angrier about this than she was and he wasn’t the one being married off.

“Don’t be childish. The angara have been suffering since before we were born. This marriage could help them, maybe help end this war.”

An arranged marriage to a man she didn’t know, a member of a species that wasn’t her own. A union to bridge two planets in something deeper than a military treaty or trade negotiation.

Something bigger than simply a husband and wife.

It was terrifying.

Scott sighed, “Come on, let’s get out of the sun. You’re sweating like crazy.”

He punctuated the comment with an offer of his elbow.

The sudden change in mood should’ve given her whiplash, but she knew her brother and she knew this conversation wasn’t over. Scott was reining in his anger so there wasn’t a public shouting match.

They would continue this in private. And then start shouting at each other.

“It’s called exercise,” Sara said primly, taking his arm and letting him lead her back inside.

There were more whispers as they walked than usual. Still the respectful bows and nods. They were still prince and princess regardless the gossip.

Anticipation of visitors and an arranged marriage would definitely be major sources of gossip.

She glanced over at Scott as they walked.

His clothing—combat boots, t-shirt, cargo pants—told her he had just been hanging around the barracks. Scott found his niche, his place in the world, in the military. And he was good at it, probably one of the best human soldiers in Nexus.

Sara worried about him, of course. But he had friends to watch his back. And Sara wasn’t bad with a knife and a gun. She had plenty of scraps with pirates and smugglers who tried infiltrating her digs. So, she’d be able to run to her brother’s rescue if need be.

Scott nudged her when they got close to her quarters.

“You shower and stuff. I’ll get some food made for us.”

Sara didn’t want to think about what kind of fuss her brother’s presence in the kitchen would cause. It would be mostly because the prince just waltzed in asking for something and probably throwing everyone off of schedule.

“Alright, Scott. See you in a bit.”

Sara shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

Shit. Well, this was happening. Scott was going to hound her about this until he gave his piece on why he thought this was a terrible idea.

He was always stubborn, hell, it was a family trait. The word could be emblazoned on the fucking family crest. House Ryder: Stubborn and Impulsive.

She would only delay the inevitable by telling him to go away.

The only consolation was that he was going to provide food while he railed on and on about the injustices that their king-father was putting them through.

Hooray.

Sara stripped with tired hands, shuffling to her bathroom. She was sweaty and sticky, Scott was right about that. Totally princess-like.

The blast of hot water relaxed her tense muscles. She would boil herself in the water if she could. Just dissolve and disappear.

No, no, bad thoughts. She was doing something in service of her people. She couldn’t be so selfish and run.

She washed her hair, scrubbing suds into brown locks with more force than probably necessary. Her nails scratched at her scalp, a bad habit that stuck since she was a child.

And it hurt when she did it, soreness curling around her knuckles. She must have been holding her omniblade too tightly. Out of anger for a situation she had no control over. She had a feeling she would see a lot of the training grounds between then and when Jaal arrived.

Let off steam and let the world pass her by as her inevitable fate got closer and closer.

Languid hands cleaned the rest of her body, not rushed. She imagined she could take her time. Scott would need some time to arrange whatever food he was planning on bringing.

The bathroom was full of steam and her skin was blushed from the heat by the time she turned off the water.

More time drying off and putting on some pajamas.

It was a stark, unpleasant realization that soon her privacy was going to be a rare thing.

She would likely have to share quarters with her new husband. When he was visiting, before the wedding, he would likely stay in the guest rooms. But, still.

She supposed her quarters were big enough for two. Enough living space, enough closet space, a big enough bathroom. The bed was certainly big enough for two.

Oh, no, she shouldn’t think about that sort of thing.

Marriage leads to sex which leads to babies. That was how it worked.

With a sigh, she flopped on her bed.

Yeah, this was going to suck. Her life wasn’t hers. Not that it was anything new.

“Yo, sis!” Scott shouted, thumping at the door, shaking Sara out of her reverie.

“Let yourself in,” Sara called back, unwilling to get up from where she lay on her bed.

She glanced over at the sound of the door opening. Scott had changed from fatigues to loose pants and shirt. And he was carrying…

She was expecting two plates of actual food. Instead, Scott had a tray with two bottles of wine and a large plate of little cakes.

“Come on, time to eat and drink our feelings.”

He toed off his shoes and sat on her bed next to her, setting the tray between them

“Our feelings?” Sara asked.

“Hey, I have feelings too. Besides, I’ve been hoarding these bottles for a special occasion. And what better occasion than learning my twin sister is being married off to a random dude from another planet?”

Sara bit back a comment as he uncorked the first bottle and poured two glasses.

She took a sip—damn, it was really good wine—and crammed one of the cakes in her mouth to delay the inevitable conversation with Scott.

This was nice, the two of them sitting on her bed, sharing wine and cake like they were children having a picnic.

“It might not be so bad.”

Scott glanced over incredulously at the statement.

She took a gulp of wine and shrugged.

“He might be so busy with his own business that he will leave me alone entirely except for when we need to be together for…procreation,” she suggested.

Scott made a disgusted noise at that.

“I really don’t want to think about you having sex, thank you very much.”

She glanced over at Scott.

“Like the three or six times I’ve walked into you having sex?”

He reddened.

“Point.”

Silence fell again.

Sara’s thoughts still swirled.

She never held any serious illusions that she would get to marry someone of her choosing. She had her flings here and there before this, carefully chosen so she didn’t cause a scandal by choosing a gossipy partner.

She blinked, telling herself that something was in her eye. She wasn’t crying. She couldn’t cry.

This was an honor. Marriages between Nexus and Heleus peoples were few and far between, but usually happy in their small numbers.

“I don’t know a lot about the angara. I wish I had at least visited Heleus once before this.”

Scott shrugged. “Heleus has their anti-Nexus groups. The Roekaar is the biggest one. I don’t think Dad would’ve let us go for a flimsy reason.”

Sara tried not to let fear knot up her stomach.

She hadn’t really taken into account how unpopular this marriage would be in some groups. The conservative politicians, isolationists and species purists on both Nexus and Heleus would not be happy about this at all.

Of course, Alec did not and never had given a damn about the opinions who were resistant to progress. So, it was clear he didn’t take those possible opinions into account before agreeing to Queen Sahuna’s offer.

Sara forced some humor into her voice. “I bet the Roekaar all had a collective stroke at the news of the marriage.”

Scott snickered, topping off his glass.

“A politically-sanctioned marriage between a human and an angara? Oh, I bet they’re burning effigies of you and Prince Jaal as we speak. Ugly ones.”

It was meant to be a joke, but the mirth of it all evaporated very quickly. Scott opened the second bottle in silence.

“Dad wouldn’t have approved of this if I was in danger, like if Jaal was a member of the Roekaar or something,” she murmured, “You know that.”

Sara knew she had a point there and Scott knew it too. For all his faults, Alec would never directly cause his children harm.

“It’s still bullshit,” Scott said into his glass. To her relief, he sounded a bit more resigned. At least he wasn’t spitting venom about Alec anymore.

“How could Dad do this to you?”

Oops, spoke too soon.

“He’s a leader first, Scott,” Sara mused. “It’s not like this a brand-new side of him. It’s for the good of the people.”

That was what she kept reminding herself.

For the good of the people. That was what mattered.

“You’re not suited for martyrdom, Sara. Just saying.”

“I don’t plan on being a martyr.”

“Does anyone? No, don’t answer that. I’m sure you have an example in that nerd brain of yours and I don’t want to hear it.”

She rolled her eyes. She really didn’t have an example on-hand and was too close to getting buzzed for wracking her brain to find one.

They finished the bottle—Scott taking the lion’s share as usual—and the cakes in relative silence until Scott broke it with another quip.

“If this Jaal hates you, it certainly won’t be because you’re ugly.”

Sara rolled her eyes at that, really wishing she had saved another cake just to cram in his face.

Sure, she wasn’t unattractive. She was sun-kissed and freckled, wiry from training and digging. And in preparation for events that required Sara actually sit down with her attendants to work their magic with makeup and hair and clothes, she could even be beautiful.

But being attractive to humans wasn’t the same as being attractive to angara. She was almost sure of it, at least.

“Yep, I’m a catch,” Sara deadpanned.

“A heartthrob,” Scott drawled. “And, who knows? Maybe you just bagged yourself a fucking dreamboat and he’s everything a princess could ever desire.”

“Wow, somebody is suddenly keen to this idea.”

“I’m a little drunk, sis. I’m sure once I’m sober I’ll take it all back.”

Sara sighed, resigned. She really hoped he wasn’t serious. If there was one person she wanted to have on her team, it was Scott.

#jaal ama darav #sara ryder #rydaal #jaalxryder #jaalxsara #mass effect #mass effect andromeda #me:a #my fic #my fics

[pathfindersemail]

✤ for sarianna and reyes!

Yay! Thank you for indulging me

WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST?Neither of them say it. The phrase is always at the tip of Sarianna’s tongue, and the temptation to say it is strongest whenever they have a quiet moment to themselves. She thinks, however, that it embarrasses him a bit (not really), or that grandiose gestures of affection aren’t really his style. So she settles for a misplaced smile towards his way or a wistful sigh whenever he isn’t looking.Reyes is similarly guarded with his declarations but nowhere near as obvious as Sarianna. Sure enough, you get a tender look here or there, or even something as showy as a stolen kiss. But his “I love you’s” are said through the gestures she would never know about: when he sent his own “henchmen” to look after her during missions; when he goes out of his way to find extremely rare food ingredients so she can recreate Filipino dishes; or when he sends those random “I was just thinking about you” emails while they’re both working, albeit in very far and distant planets. 

WHO LAUGHS WHEN THE OTHER TRIPS?Reyes laughs at Sarianna, definitely, but he picks her right back up anyway and kisses her to make her feel better.Sarianna, on the other hand, will scream and have a heart attack should anything ever happen to Reyes ;( (especially if he trips!)

WHO PAYS THE BILLS? It depends on when and at what point in their lives this happens. In the first few months, it was definitely Sarianna (he, after all, kept up with the smuggler charade). However, after the events of Meridian, business prospered, and Reyes wanted to show off his ability to spoil his... “baroness” (he found Vetra’s joke amusing). Reyes showed off his wealth by randomly buying her luxuries and the most sought-after goods in Heleus. Some of these gifts include very expensive getaways to prime locations in Aya.

WHICH ONE MAKES A BIGGER DEAL AROUND THE HOLIDAYS?Neither of them do. Sarianna normally would, but since her father’s death and the discovery of her mom’s... real status... the memories of past holidays are too painful. Reyes, however, has different reasons. Work takes him elsewhere all the time, and he’s actually a little grateful that they keep holidays lowkey, so he can focus on getting some business done.

WHO’S MORE CLUMSY?Haha oh god. Definitely Sarianna, but to be honest Reyes is like a VERY close second. He likes to pretend to be smooth and competent af, but we all know he has his... missteps.

WHO CHECKS THEIR DAILY HOROSCOPE?Sarianna! She believes in the auspices and archetypes of the signs, and she checks them daily both for fun and to add some cheer into her life (because they’re usually good news, depending on which she checks).Reyes just laughs at her and considers it all nonsense. 

WHO SINGS LOUDER IN THE CAR?Reyes. He does it to annoy Sarianna whenever they argue while driving/piloting (and it totally happens all the time, because they’re both such backseat drivers). So whenever an uncomfortable silence ensues, he sings very melodramatically to get her to cheer up.

WHO LEAVES THE CAP OFF THE TOOTHPASTE?Reyes does, and yes he will change his habits (he promises); and yes he knows Sarianna prefers it screwed back on all the way, with the end of the toothpasted rolled up so as not to be wasteful.

WHO IS MORE UP TO DATE IN POP CULTURE?Neither! They’re both so busy. However, by virtue of his... extensive network over Kadara... Reyes subconsciously absorbs all the latest trends, songs, and gossip just based on the reports of his people, spies, etc.Sarianna keeps up with her pathfinder work for five more years before she retires. During which time, she stays busy in the so-called outskirts of Heleus, in the vacuous realm of uninhabited systems.

WHO INSISTS ON GOING TO SEE THE NEWEST MOVIES?Sarianna does, but only because it’s the easiest way she can ask Reyes for another date without his prompting. She is also a bit of a “classics” cinephile, her favorite films done by the 21st-century director, Park Chan Wook. New films aren’t really to her liking (she’s a snob in the way), and Reyes is honestly more the type to watch thrillers, action films, and blockbusters.

WHO CRIES WHEN THE ABUSED ANIMAL COMMERCIALS COME ON?Sarianna does, but Reyes flips the channel before the water works could even start.

WHO’S THE LIGHTER SLEEPER?Reyes is, unless he’s exhausted from work-marathons he does (sometimes not sleeping 36 hours straight). Sarianna has a bit of a sleeplessness problem, and her tossing and turning really keeps him up for longer. It’s okay, though. What happens in the end is that he tries to console her with pillow talk, and they fall asleep saying sweet nothings to each other.

WHO BELIEVES IN GHOSTS?Neither of them do, but (in 15 years since the events of ME:A), Sarianna uses “multo” to discipline their two kids because clearly Reyes doesn’t do anything prohibitive when it comes to bad behavior. She tells them spooky stories passed down from her dad when she was little about aswang, “white ladys,” and other Filipino urban myths to scare them into behaving lol. Reyes, meanwhile, pretends to be engrossed in his datapad sending emails, but really kinda intrigued by these tales.

WHO DOES THE GROCERY SHOPPING?Neither. They order everything via the extranet (whenever they need something, they put it on a “wishlist” and once a week, a paid service delivers the accumulated list of things). If they need something rare, Reyes will go behind Sarianna’s back and pull a heist. Some rich asshole in Andromeda probably has it. Chances are, they also don’t need it.

WHO UPDATES THEIR FACEBOOK STATUS MORE OFTEN?Neither of them have an account. Because of the Pathfinder’s celebrity status, Tann appointed a “media relations” assistant to handle all of Sarianna’s email and social media accounts.Reyes doesn’t have a personal social media account until way later when they have kids. To, you know, post the baby pictures.

#Thank you! #I am so grateful you sent this ask #Sarianna Ryder #Reyes Vidal #headcanons for my two idiots #amadarav