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beauspot · 5 months

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Loki Matters a Lot to Me *Long Post*

If you go on my page you’ll see that I’ve never posted about the Loki show or Lokius before so you might be wondering why now that the show is (probably) over? I always liked this show, and I considered myself a fan but coming out of it I wasn’t shipping anyone.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the dynamic Loki and Mobius had but I was just happy to have Loki alive so I savored that. Also I sensed some history with Mobius and Ravonna which I still think exists. I found all of the characters interesting. That includes this season but something about season 2 was different for me and I couldn’t figure out why.

Why did this show affect me so much? Why did this second season affect me so much? And particularly why did this ship, Lokius, affect me so much?

To understand where I'm coming from you should probably understand that first of all I am queer and even before I knew I was queer I had a want for queer representation. For me oddly enough it started with Owen Wilson in Night at the Museum. Jedtavius was a pairing I didn't even realized I shipped til I was older. The enemies to lovers thing was so cute and it pretty much got confirmed in the last movie.

(Just inconspicuously having your cowboy character quote Brokeback Mountain no big deal.)

I enjoy a good ship. As I got older however I began to crave real queer representation and I was lucky enough to find it in places like Steven Universe

And Adventure TIme

Then as I reached my mid to late teens I was able to see films like Brokeback, But I'm a Cheerleader, First Girl I Loved, The Miseducation of Cameron Post etc. Seeing these made me feel more secure in my sexuality.

Of course along the way I got dragged into non canon ships some of which were queerbait like Stucky or even worse, Stormpilot/Finnpoe.

The malicious part about all of these ships is the teams behind them waving these pairings out in front of people like a dog with a bone, hoping to draw them in to get their money knowing they had no intention of following through.

And I have become disillusioned with that. I have also become annoyed with fans of straight ships that oppose those queer ships acting like we're reaching.

I bring this up because there is a certain segment of sylkis(not all) and on a broader scale fans of straight ships that have this sense of persecution because fans of a queer pairing don't like their ship. It's weird and I am tempted to say it stems from homophobia. If you simply don't enjoy a ship that's fine. There are queer ships I despise, but try and assess where that hatred comes from.

There is a language that conveys romance and it seems like only when there is a minority involved do you guys become unable to understand it. This is an issue within most fandoms when it comes to not only sexuality but race in popular ships. For example, The Bear fandom in regards to Chef's Kiss, but I digress.

When a character feels the need to constantly touch another character that signals something, when a character fixes themselves so they look nice before they see another character that signals something. The way they talk, the way they act, how they are with and without one another says A LOT.

So why is it when we point these things out we get called delusional? Why do I feel like I'm going crazy every time I speak with someone about a queer ship? And why do I always feel the need to justify it?

Straight, white, pairings never have to justify their existence. They just are. Sylvie and Loki can fight, yell at one another, hurt one another, literally be the same fucking person and people will find that ok, but suddenly when people see Loki fixing himself before he meets Mobius we can't see love in that(you’re telling me this isn’t how someone acts when they see their crush unexpectedly)? We can't see loss in Mobius when he can't even do his job anymore now that Loki is gone? We can't grieve what could have been even if we find Loki as the God of Stories cool?

Why?

Mobius is the first person in probably thousands of years to tell Loki he’s not evil and he can be good if he chooses to be. We see how much this means to him. From this point on Loki is attached to Mobius like a puppy. Mobius becomes his person. I find something so refreshing about Mobius calling Loki out but then also offering him a path to redemption. He doesn’t let Loki slide, because he cares about him enough to know he can be better and Loki deserves to be better for himself.

So I was bothered by the way the finale was set up. I know they have the conversation about “the burden of glorious purpose” and often I am honestly a supporter of not everyone gets a happy ending even if they “deserve” it in a storytelling sense. I find the tragedy in that intriguing, but this didn’t feel good to me on a personal level. I didn’t walk away from the finale feeling sad but fulfilled, I walked away from it feeling miserable and empty. And I recognize that I attach myself to characters more than the general populace but I don’t really care? This hurt.

Loki wanted nothing more than for somebody to be there with him, to be for him, to love him and instead he ends up alone. Mobius ends up back in his timeline but he can't go back to his life. A version of him is already there and our Mobius doesn't even remember his children. Mobius doesn't smile at the end because he isn't happy. He's alone. They are alone and realistically there's a high chance these versions of them will never see each other again.

Does Sylvie seem bothered by that? No. She's ready to go live her life. And there’s nothing wrong with that, she took the gift Loki gave to her but Mobius is clearly, deeply hurt by Loki being gone. Because they found purpose in each other. In the order and chaos.

Having watched Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death season 2(along with the movie Bottoms starring Ayo Edebiri which everyone should watch 😁) in the same year I have become quite used to seeing queer rep in my mainstream shows. As the years have passed more and more queer characters are able to take center stage. So even though I knew Disney's track record I still held out hope because even the writer and composer saw the potential in Lokius.

Tom and Owen did too somewhat, but at the end of the day actors don't write the shows.

I think what bothers me most is that Loki is the first queer character in the MCU, we've seen him struggle and grow and learn to love and finally last season his queerness was made explicit (more than in Thor Ragnarok where he like fucked the Grandmaster or something). And they immediately paired him off with a version of himself.

Loki isn't gay so I'm not saying he had to end up with a man or anything you can be queer and end up with someone who is a gender different than yours my issue is a broader one which is, this story wasn't made to validate bi/pan people who date the opposite sex or whatever it was made to close Loki off to any other possibilities. One of those being Mobius.

Rewatching season 1 this decision is exacerbated because there are moments where they could have had him flirt with a man like when he was D.B. Cooper and boom we have on screen rep, but they decided “nah let’s just have him say it one time and then never acknowledge it again.” Again I want to reiterate, you can be queer and not be in a same gender relationship, but this is a television character. We don’t know their innermost thoughts like we’re reading a book we have to take them at their actions and we never got the opportunity for our first queer character to express that(at least in his own show because remember the grandmaster, but somehow that feels worse).

The executive producer recently came out and said Loki and Mobius were always meant to be platonic because they were trying to dismantle toxic masculinity by portraying “platonic male friendships”. A phrase I have grown to hate over the years because ALL WE EVER SEE ARE PLATONIC MALE FRIENDSHIPS. This is another parallel with issues I have with The Bear in which the cast and crew were like “why can’t women and men just be friends?” but only in reference to the black girl. Back to the topic at hand though.

Have you ever met a queer person who acknowledges they’re queer once and then never talks about it again? Especially someone with as much showmanship as Loki? Does that make sense to anybody? Even if he ultimately ended up with Sylvie(which I wouldn’t have liked but I digress) that would have been enough for me.

But instead we had this troubled character give up everything and everyone they love to sit on a throne they didn’t even want so that their friends could have a choice. So that they could have a life. And again I can find beauty in that, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I won’t pretend I do.

🥀End of Post🥀

sidenote ouroboros is so autistic tell me i’m wrong. he’s literally an autistic with no experience of ableism just pure autistic sunshine.

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dalekofchaos · 22 days

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Context

Context for choice 3.

Here is what I mean about The New Republic and The First Order.

What happens after you win a war? How do you not make the same mistakes or become the thing you fought. What happens in a power vacuum? The New Republic should have been the dominant emerging power, and the Remnant should have been a small, secretive, unknown order, striking strategically from the Unknown Regions where they hid, and causing fear and panic to spread in the NR. After the Galactic Civil War, The New Republic commanders the Imperial Fleet and starts protecting systems who join the NR, all while chasing down and fighting any of the Remnants (Moffs, Warlords, Crime Lords, etc) who have grabbed power in the resulting vacuum. We could have seen an evolution of ships from Old Republic to Empire to NR ones. They could have renamed Star Destroyers into Star Defenders. Hell, they could have had a Republic of independent systems, each with their own sizable military, so that power isn’t centralized.

But no, instead of telling an interesting story, we are force fed the recycled poorly written rehashed Rebels vs Empire and the Rebels are made to be weaker than The First Order. The First Order are a terrorist movement, they should not be reigning after Hosnian Prime’s destruction, ESPECIALLY AFTER LOSING STARKILLER BASE!

Choice 4. Here is how I would give Kylo Ren motivation as to why Ben Solo fell and his main motivation as Kylo Ren.

Choice 6. I don't think there was absolutely no need for a Palpatine clone and eventually Palpatine himself(🙄) we all knew what was happening around the time this trilogy was being made. Trump. Base Snoke around the mango Mussolini and his lunatic fringe followers. An Alt-Right cult leader who cultivates the worst people imaginable. All The First Order needed to be was pointing out The New Republic brought the galaxy to an age of scum and villainy. A lawless state that usurped the rightful rulers that brought law and order. Basically "Make the Galaxy great again with Imperial Greatness"

You see, originally Lucas was going to make Palpatine JUST a politician and base him around Richard Nixon.

“George Lucas has spoken on various occasions of the way that the Nixon administration and the Vietnam war had an important influence on how he shaped the plot of the early films in the saga. The impact that these two events had an American in the 1970s started him thinking about the ways in which democracies can sale and how they deteriorating to dictatorships when corruption goes unchecked. He’s quoted as saying that Nixon - Who he viewed as having subverted the Senate and as acting an increasingly imperialistic way - what is the direct inspiration for Emperor Palpatine the supreme leader of the evil Empire in the first Star Wars trilogy”

So I don't see why they couldn't do something similar with the CLEAR FUCKING EVIL going on in the world at the time this trilogy was being made. No Sith master was needed.

In this scenario, I would call The First Order, The Imperium

Now you might have questions. What about the Stormtroopers and Kylo?

Stormtroopers? Don’t abduct kids, nationalize and recruit them willingly. Abducting children and training them to be Stormtroopers instantly made The First Order out to be cartoonishly evil from the start. So what do you do instead? Use propaganda. Nationalize them. Make them believe The Empire was right and convince them that the life of a Stormtrooper will help bring order in a chaotic galaxy. We’ve seen cults do something similar, Far Right Wing groups do it and we’ve seen Trump radicalize and nationalize white supremacists, so it’s not impossible for The First Order to do the logical thing.

Finn only leaves because he sees they are murdering unarmed civilians and chooses to leave. He is an example that it isn't too late to leave harmful fringe cult movements.

So how would Ben turn in this scenario? He's radicalized by Snoke. Ben starts hearing passionate speeches in the senate and Ben is moved. "I know he opposes my mother, but he's making a lot of sense" "He's right, we need to bring order to the galaxy" and Ben is radicalized by this Imperium movement and what he believes is Snoke's righteous cause. To Snoke, Ben represents everything great about the Empire. Snoke collects Sith Holocrons and uses the holocrons to turn Ben Solo into Kylo Ren.

In this scenario, I wouldn't redeem Ben. He is far too gone. He's committed atrocities in Snoke's name, for The Imperium and to bring order to the galaxy. While Finn represents those who could break away from Right Wing movements and Cults. Kylo Ren is far too gone, he's radicalized to the point where he's a die hard believer like Hux and Phasma and he's willing to fight and die for this indoctrination.

Choice 11. The Episode IX rewrite with Ben living and Reylo ending

Choice 12. The original plan for the Sequel Trilogy was to just get three young directors together to direct the Sequel Trilogy. It was supposed to be JJ, Rian and Colin Trevorrow, but Colin's IX was bad and his Jurassic World trilogy was terrible. So I would make either Matt Reves or Greta Gerwig as the director for Episode IX and ideally they would plan the trilogy out together instead of JJ setting up Mystery Boxes and expecting Rian and others open said mystery boxes and Rian subverting expectations.

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finnpoeweek2023 · 10 months

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There is no denying that there are crystal clear parallels between our Princess & Scoundrel and FinnPoe/Stormpilot 💜 🧡

youtube

One part that seems to be lost is the same emotional misery that Han and Poe go through in their respective last movies.

Han is ready to give up if Leia is truly in love with Luke, feeling insecure and abandoned by the secrets seemingly shared between the two. While Poe goes through the same turmoil, regarding the discussion and bond between Finn and Rey. Their secret so heavy on his soul that that is the last thing he wishes to hear before dying.

#finnpoe #stormpilot #star wars #finnpoeweek2023 #finnpoeweek23 #finn x poe #fpweek2023 #fpwk23 #finn #poe dameron #hanleia #ScoundrelPrincess #Youtube

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thelostgirl21 · 9 months

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Tips for those of you that wish to enjoy Geraskier as a romantic couple, without erasing Jaskier's greyromantic (more specifically sapioromantic) identity.

Alright, here's the deal...

I've recently gone on a very long rant re: how queer baiting has conditioned most of us, in the queer community, to read any emotionally intimate friendship between two same-gender characters as romance.

Because:

A) The lack of officially acknowledged same-gender relationships on screen - in major TV shows and series that aren't specifically about LGBTQ+ themes - has put us in a situation where, if he want to enjoy any same-gender romance at all, we are forced to interpret close "officially platonic" (*cough*StormPilot*cough*) pairings as romantic couples.

B) The TV and movie industries have been purposefully encouraging such perceptions, and inserting as many "romantic cues" as they can into such same-gender "friendships", to keep their LGBTQ+ audience involved in those stories without alienating their more conservative audiences by having to depict some actual queer romances.

So, not only are non-queer people under the impression that it's perfectly typical, for same-gender friends, to constantly become so emotionally and physically close and intimate with each other that they behave as if they are almost dating while also being 100% straight.

But, they don't realize that there is barely any equivalent of straight men/women characters on screen developing such emotionally and physically intimate friendships without them inevitably "getting together" romantically at some point.

Unless one of them is already romantically taken, that is (and even there, a dreaded "love triangle" may occur and they'll still wind up together anyway!).

But, if the boy and the girl are both straight and available, and they behave as you would expect a married couple at some point, obviously they are romantically/sexually into each other! What else?!

If it's two same-gender characters, however?!

Well, it's obviously a friendship all the way (while nevertheless often heavily dousing that friendships with romantic subtext).

And sadly, the way queer baiting has been heavily messing with our perceptions of platonic vs romantic relationships is putting the aromantic community at a huge disadvantage.

What huge disadvantage, I hear you ask?

I mean, after all, if all those emotionally close and intimate relaltionships remain platonic in canon, shouldn't people on the aromantic spectrum be happy about it, and feel represented? Don't they have tons of "queerplatonic ships" to choose from, and enjoy as such?

Sadly, no.

The answer is firm and resounding NO.

Wanna know why?

Because, most of the time, whenever a relationship might read as "potentially queerplatonic", it is virtually never acknowledged as such.

It is virtually never about them.

It has absolutely nothing to do with both, or one, of those characters being on the aromantic spectrum.

When we talk about classic models of "bromances", those are virtually always occurring between two men that are assumed to be otherwise straight (or, at least, one of them is, ex: Jace Herondale & Alec Lightwood from "Shadowhunters"), or two women that are assumed to be otherwise straight (or, at least, one of them is).

When "bromances" occur between a man and a woman (I'm thinking Steve and Robin, from "Stranger Things"), it is usually because one of them is gay.

The implication and the message being sent to us with all those close friendships is thus a very clear:

"You can only achieve such emotionally close (queer)platonic friendships, and/or companionships, because you are not sexually compatible.

Otherwise, you would already be forming a romantic couple, and/or secretly longing to be in one.

If Robin wasn't a lesbian, she and Steve would obviously be dating."

And the reason why Steve and Nancy still love each other that deeply - despite no longer being a couple - is because they still have romantic feelings for each other despite Nancy also having romantic feelings for Jonathan and having chosen him as a romantic partner...

So, that has nothing to do with queerplatonic relationships, either, at all!

Also, can someone please sit these three kids down and have a good discussion regarding polyamorous relationships with them? Thank you!

So, how could anyone on the aromantic spectrum identify with those friendships, and/or feel represented by them, when they are always treated as being either "lesser than" a romance, or "a consolation price" when romance isn't an option?

That's not even bad representation, it's a complete lack of representation!

Yet aromantic love (be it defined as alterous, platonic, etc.) can be as beautiful, intense, and sincere as a romance, and there's a deep, almost spiritual connection there.

It is not "lesser than", but simply different.

The kind of emotional intimacy you share, and the way you connect together with the person you "platonically/alterously fell in love with" feels different.

The relationship dynamic you may achieve together, and the kind of commitment you may choose to make with those friends (that may even become life partners), as well as your needs and expectations, tend to be different than what would be expected of a romantic partnerships, although there can be many overlaps.

Aromantic forms of platonic/alterous love aren't a consolation price when romance isn't an option!

They deserve to be seen and treated as a first choice.

Those relationships provide a unique and profoundly valuable way of emotionally and sometimes even physically (because physical attraction can be sensual rather than sexual, and there are best friends that are comfortable enough to be sexually intimate together without any desire to form a romantic couple, too, by the way) connecting and being intimate with another person.

And what currently makes Geraskier unique in canon, is that they've established that Jaskier, at the very least, would have been 100% compatible with Geralt romantically and sexually (given he's a panromantic pansexual).

What makes the way Jaskier has been canonically falling in love with Geralt different from the usual BrOTPs the queer community are usually offered, however, is the fact that Jaskier's desires for Geralt are not romantic, but platonic in the way aromantic people are known to experience love.

Jaskier having no romantic crush for Geralt would thus not prevent him, at all, from wanting to share a loving relationship, and even perhaps queerplatonic partnership with him.

He could still love him in an amorous way. He could still yearn for sharing some sensual (or even sexual) intimacy with him.

Between having what people typically consider "purely platonic" and "purely romantic" feelings, there is a wonderful universe of affections and attractions for Jaskier and Geralt to explore together!

And aromantic people can experience the same level of heartbreak and loss upon losing their "best friend in the whole wide world" than they would a romantic partner.

I mean, when you listen to Jaskier sing:

Did you ever even care With your swords and your stupid hair?

in "Burn Butcher Burn", I've always felt like it was a callback to the very first things that Jaskier physically noticed about Geralt, and what initally sparked his (platonic? alterous? sensual? sexual? aesthetic? all of the above? other?) attraction for him!

If we compare the way Geralt and Jaskier behave together on screen with queerplatonic partners in real life, there is no proof of anything romantic going on.

I can't stress this enough.

HOWEVER, sadly, queerplatonic partnerships aren't really ever explored and acknowledged as such on screen. So, most people are very unfamiliar with them.

Instead, the TV and movie industry typically makes same-gender characters behave in an amorous manner to suggest romance and bait their queer audience.

AND it took them 4 FREAKING YEAR (we're actually a bit closer to 5 now) to confirm that Jaskier fell in love with Geralt platonically, rather than romantically, while canonically establishing Radovid as being Jaskier's very first sapioromantic crush.

This is where real life collides with fiction in a deeply heartbreaking way, to me...

Because during those 4 years, the queer community has been reading Geraskier as a romantic couple the way they've been taught and conditioned to identify queer romance on screen.

Most of them likely haven't even considered the possibility that Jaskier could have been on the aromantic spectrum, and thus "squishing" (hard) on Geralt rather than "crushing" (romantically) on him.

I don't believe that any of those fans would have had any desire to ignore and/or reject aromantic love and/queerplatonic relationships representation, if they'd known earlier on that Jaskier simply wasn't someone that experiences romantic desires (unless certain very specific conditions are met).

And 2 complete seasons is a very long time for romantic Geraskier fans to get profoundly attached to their ship, and feel somewhat gaslighted by the show's producers and writers when suddenly they're told "Oh no, they were 'just friends' all along! Nothing romantic to see here!"

(Of course, with the establishment of Jaskier as a greyromantic, they were never 'just friends' in the typical sense, but I've feeling that many fans have missed how significant Jaskier experiencing his very first crush was to the narrative.)

So, I believe that the knee-jerk response of pure disbelief that Geraskier could have been representing anything other than a romance can be expected and understood within that context.

HOWEVER, the unfortunate consequence is how that anger and disbelief has lead some fans to claiming that Geraskier can only be read as romantic.

Using some arguments such as: only someone romantically in love with Geralt could ever have experienced the level of heartbreak that Jaskier did, and written a song such as "Burn Butcher Burn", following their breakup.

I've seen some arguing that, if Jaskier's feelings had been "platonic", he wouldn't have been so hurt by their "break-up".

What those that have been shipping Geraskier romantically for over 4 years are truly expressing, I believe, is:

"Once again, I feel like I've been emotionally used and baited by the TV industry that keep on denying any romantic intent whenever they heavily layer a same-gender friendships with romantic subtext; and I can't agree with what they've done, or accept that Geraskier should be read as platonic!"

And I do hear you, I get it, I see how wrong it is that you have been made to feel that way, and I do not believe that you should be forced to embrace Geraskier as being aromantic / queerplatonic, or made to feel guilty for wishing to continue to ship Geraskier romantically.

But what I want to help you realize, is that by using such arguments, what your fellow queer siblings, on the aromantic spectrum, are hearing is:

"The way you love not only does not exist, but even if it did it can't be as strong, nor as valuable, as romantic love."

And that's not okay. The anger and hurt you feel is okay and 100% justified, but insisting that aromantics are not capable of such love, by saying that Jaskier's behavior with Geralt has always been obviously romantic, is not okay!

If you've been using those arguments before, first take the time to acknowledge how you feel, realize that you are not to blame for those feelings, remember you're still an amazing person, and take a fucking deep breath, alright?

Because you're 100% entitled to blame the people that have kept messing with your head and your perceptions through their queerbaiting practices for those mistakes you just made.

If we go purely by classic TV show queerbaiting standards, that relationship did seemingly present itself as romantic. You weren't wrong for seeing romance there.

But queerbaiting isn't real life.

Remember this: queerbaiting is not at all representative of how relationships work in reality.

In reality, you have romantic same-gender relationships that read as romantic and that are romantic.

In reality, you also have queerplatonic relationships that people often mistake as romantic, but are nevertheless queerplatonic.

In reality, queerplatonic relationships do happen between same-gender partners, but also between sexually compatible men and women, too.

In a strongly stereotyped TV and movie world, where relationships are oversimplified and watered down to follow rigid rules and expectations, canon Geraskier is a relationship that feels refreshingly real.

This is the kind of friendship I have with some of my own best friends. I know at least 5 friends (and maybe more, but they're the first 5 faces that popped to mind), for whom I've got 100% platonic feelings for, that I'd feel 100% comfortable rubbing chamomile onto their lovely bottom, alright?

On TV? Thanks to a legacy of queerbaiting, such a scene feels gay as hell!

In real life? Look, if you've pulled a muscle in your buttocks, and a massage will do you good? Pants down, my friend! Pass me that chamomile oil, I'm here for you buddy!

You're a heterosexual man and I'm a pansexual woman? I don't see how that changes anything to the task at hand! Or how that would be supposed to make me suddenly develop romantic feelings for you I've never had! You don't suddenly fall romantically in love with a best friend just because you've *gasped* "touched the butt", for frak's sake!

Just... give me a moment to recover from that ludicrous idea...

So, you want that butt massage or not, dude?

The physical contact might be affectionate, sensual, and feel intimate... but friendships are emotionally and quite often physically (though a bit more rarely sexually) intimate, too.

And demisexuals, like myself, might actually tend to favor and enjoy sensual intimacy (tender caresses, kisses, snuggles, etc.) more than they enjoy sexual intimacy, even with their romantic partners.

So, I can't blame any of you for how you might have instinctively responded to the announcement of Geraskier being canonically platonic.

But, now that it's done, and you've hopefully let that frustration out, I am inviting you to shake off all that queerbaiting conditioning, reclaim power over your own mind, and reflect on how love happens in real life, outside of those distorted TV standards.

I am inviting you to reflect on how those arguments might accidentally be invalidating the love that is experienced by another marginalized queer community.

And hopefully, bringing some measure of comfort to the aromantic community, as well, by letting them know that the vast majority of Geraskier fans that did have that knee-jerk reaction of saying "Geraskier is obviously romantic because there's no way Jaskier would have responded like this, or loved him so much, if there was no romance!" likely have been reacting that way because the TV and movie industries have been constantly "teasing them" with romance, while laughing in their faces and telling them that they are crazy for reading romance into those dynamics (hence why I'm calling it downright gaslighting)!

As aromantics, you did not deserve having your own sexual identity invalidated.

After all, I think this is literally the first time that aromantics have been offered some actual representation on a show that does not specifically revolve around queer characters or queerness, and a chance to openly explore a (queer)platonic ship where one of the two characters is an acknowledged greyromantic.

The last thing you need, is to have people come and mock Jaskier and Geralt's relationship, by saying that it can't be anything other than romance.

But, knowing where that hostile response towards the idea that Geraskier might be platonic comes from, might help you hopefully understand that the hostility wasn't meant for you, and that I'm sure the vast majority of the fans of that pairing would have been more careful, with the way they've been expressing their own hurt, if they'd realized the kind of message it sent.

Because if there are people that should understand how having their own sexuality being erased in fandom hurts - ex: whenever someone decides that they are going to start writing a canonically bisexual or pansexual characters as either straight or gay, depending on the gender of the character they are pairing them with - it should be bisexuals and pansexuals.

So, if you are unfamiliar with sapioromantism, here's what to know:

Sapioromantics are greyromantics that experience romantic attraction towards a person in response to the way they perceive that person's intellect.

This is what awakens their desire to form a romantic bond with another person and, under the right circumstances (because I'm guessing they might also need to find the other person aesthetically attractive, for example), allows them to fall romantically in love.

Otherwise, they can still fall in love with people, but platonically/alterously.

The show officially decided, this season, that Jaskier was to experience his very first crush with Radovid, feel confused about his feelings, sense that there's something different about the way he's attracted towards him, etc.

BUT there's no obligation for you to follow the show canon when it comes to Geraskier.

There's no obligation, at all, to give up on Geraskier as a romantic ship or pairing.

The fact is that Geralt is a deeply intelligent and insightful man, too. So, it's not unrealistic that a sapioromantic could have been attracted to that side of him, and fallen in love with Geralt romantically as well.

Yennefer is another smart, brilliant woman that can absolutely be romantically shipped with a sapioromantic.

There are many, many different types of intelligence, and what Radovid appears to specifically be displaying is more specifically high levels of emotional/relational intelligence, true.

But that's how the show decided to portray the specifics of Jaskier's sapioromantism.

And you won't be erasing a character's sexual identity if you decide to have your own version of Jaskier romantically connecting with other forms of intelligence.

People mention that Geralt, in the books, uses way more words than on the show, and would apparently rather discuss philosophy with Jaskier, at times, than hunt monsters.

You won't be disrespecting or erasing the aromantic community if you make Jaskier become romantically attracted to other models of human intellect.

You really don't have to accept Geraskier as a platonic ship after having grown attached to them as romantic partners for over 4 years! I don't believe it would ever be fair to ask that of you or even remotely necessary!

And, as far as I'm concerned, I'd never dare tell you that you "misread" Geraskier as romantic. I think Joey Batey might have been exploring the idea of Jaskier being an aromantic or greyromantic seeking a queerplatonic relationship with Geralt since seasons one, yes...

However, as he said in interviews, he had never received any clear answer regarding his portrayal of Jaskier's queerness before Season 3.

So, you couldn't really have "misread" something they hadn't fully made up their minds about now, could you?

Queerplatonic relationships do often read as romantic, too, as they tend to share many similarities.

What hurts, is when Jaskier's behavior and the strength of his love for Geralt is being used as proof that his emotions can't be platonic, and/or ignore that Jaskier is being portrayed as a greyromantic in Season 3.

Aromantic representation matters.

I'm therefore hoping that we can find the right balance between allowing everyone to ship their favorite character(s) with who they want romantically if they need to; while at the same time avoiding to erase Jaskier's sapioromantism, and/or arguing that platonic/alterous attractions can't be as important nor as strong as romantic attractions.

I think with a little empathy, the queer community can find the right point of balance between everyone's needs, and be given the opportunity to ship and enjoy Geraskier (queer)platonically and romantically, without invalidating Jaskier's sexuality in the process either way.

I know this post is similar to that other one I'd made, but I've heard few a-spec people saying that they'd had to stop following certain fans, because of the way those fans were were aggressively arguing that it was impossible for Jaskier to have been loving Geralt platonically in Season 1 and Season 2.

And so, I felt it needed to be said again, with this time giving a bit more importance to the aromantic side of that issue, and offering fans that ship Geraskier as a romantic pairing some information on what sapioromantism is, and how you can make Jaskier's greyromantic identity work as part of your own romances and headcanons.

You could decide to have Jaskier experience romantic feelings for the very first time with Geralt (instead of Radovid), and be adorably awkward about it! The possibilities are pretty much endless!

I just hope you can realize that what's happening on the show is not yet again another case of "Stormpilot" or "Stucky", or any other same-gender straight guys acting queer together!

Geraskier is canonically queer. Possibly queerplatonic, but most definitely queer, because Jaskier is a pan greyromantic that fell in love with Geralt in a platonic/alterous way, and might have experienced sensual and sexual desires for him.

It's a queer ship, regardless of whether you ship them platonically or romantically.

Personally, I think I'm likely to enjoy

But that is entirely up to you.

Just please be mindful that, when you start mocking the idea of Jaskier and Geralt having platonic feelings for each other, you are ridiculing a canonically queer ship, as well as the type of love experienced by a canonically queer greyromantic character, though.

This is what I have a problem with.

And no, saying "Well, I can headcanon that Jaskier isn't a greyromantic because he hadn't come out as greyromantic in Season 1 and Season 2, so I'll continue to write him as being able to fall romantically in love with anyone!" is not okay.

Back in 2012, when Mass Effect 3 came out, Kaidan Alenko was revealed to be a canonically bisexual character, available to be romanced by both fem!Shep and m!Shep.

However, since some women were uncomfortable with Kaidan's bisexuality, they decided to continue writing him as straight in fanfiction arguing that, because he could only be romanced by fem!Shep in ME1 (and everyone had thus assumed he was straight since 2008) they were allowed to continue to write him as straight, and ignore the character having been established as bisexual in the 3rd game.

Yet, the fact that Kaidan is bisexual, rather than straight, does not create any obstacle for him to be in a romance with fem! Shep!

There is no rational reason to headcanon him, or continue writing him, as a straight character moving forward once he's come out as bisexual!

"Well, my Kaidan Alenko is straight!"

Congratulations! You are expressing a biphobic view of the character!

Understandingly, the bisexual and pansexual communities were angry about it, and called them out on it.

So, let's not put the aromantic community through the same thing, shall we?

Because there is absolutely no reason to ignore Jaskier being on the aromantic spectrum while romantically pairing him with Geralt, Yennefer, or even both!

If you purely go by the books or the games, it's another story. They have their own canon.

But if you are writing / using the TV show character, Jaskier being a sapioromantic has been made canon, and is not creating any obstacle for him to experience romantic love for other characters than Radovid.

Other characters are plenty intelligent enough to realistically spark a sapioromantic connection with him, should you wish to!

Have Jaskier be intrigued/enamored with some of their intellectual features, and you'll be doing just fine.

If you're unsure how to do that, simply ask.

Ex: once that romantic spark has been ignited, you don't need to have the character continue to constantly obsess about the other character's intellect... I'm demisexual, and I don't keep obsessing about how trustworthy I find my sexual partner to be, despite the fact that my own sexual desires are usually "sparked" by a deep sense of trust/emotional safety with the other person.

There is also the notion that you can occasionally find yourself with an exception that feels different without the character themselves knowing why. Ex: a friend that identified as a lesbian (romantically and sexually) found herself desiring a man for the first time and, to this day, she still has no clue what was special about THAT man, but she decided to go with her instincts rather than "Oh no! It doesn't fit my label or established orientation, and therefore I shall skip a chance at romantic love and sex with this wonderful man!"

You want to introduce a bit of flexibility to Jaskier's sapioromantic instincts? You can do it respectfully, while still finding a way to point out, in your writing, that him having a crush on Geralt, Yennefer, or [insert name of the character here] is still an uncommon occurance.

You can enjoy what you love, without erasing a canonically queer character's identity to suit your own romantic narrative, is basically what I'm saying.

And you can enjoy your own romantic ship, especially, without mocking or belittling a canonically queer aromantic ship (Geraskier).

The rest is 100% up to you!

Our sweet aromantic sisters, brothers, and non-binary siblings deserve some love and visibility, too. And to enjoy things that have been made canonically theirs without becoming the unfortunate casualties of other people's disappointment.

If you hadn't realised canon Geraskier was a queer ship, and/or understood/noticed that Jaskier was being portrayed as a greyromantic that experiences romantic attraction for the first time in Season 3, it's okay.

Once again, I'm not taking the time to explain all this to blame those that jumped on the "b-but... Jaskier so obviously has romantic feelings for Geralt!" conclusion.

Had they been a sexually straight man and woman on a TV show, chances are they'd be "romantic endgame" or at least go through a "romantic phase" (a practice that is deeply wrong and damaging, too, IMHO, and does not allow to properly represent what platonic / alterous love is, and/or offer queerplatonic relationships any actual visibility), yes.

And, like every instance of queerbaiting, it ended up with the close emotional and physical intimacy between them not leading to any romantic conclusion.

But it did lead to a very much queer conclusion, and Jaskier having been portrayed as a character that fell in love with Geralt aromantically, thus being highly representative of a queer community.

This is that "but" that I sincerely hope you now understand, and will be treating with the same care and respect that you want others to show the representation of your own sexuality.

If you are a fellow panromantic/pansexual, or even bisexual, omnisexual, polysexual, etc. Yes, the representation also affects you / is close to you.

But Jaskier has been canonically established as more than pan. He's also a-spec on the romantic side, and it's actually the first label that Batey used to describe his romance with Radovid.

That his romantic desires be triggered specifically by the way he connects with a person's intellect, rather than their gender, matters to the community it represents.

Now that it has been brought to your attention, please do not lose sight of that over your own joy of him being queer, and romantically/sexually compatible with men. It's all I'm humbly asking of you.

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maddytheintrovert · 5 months

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So I’m revisiting FinnPoe fics on ao3 and I’ve been once again struck by a) how much I love no.1 Stormpilot fan Oscar Isaac and b) how cheesed I am that Disney wimped out on giving us the queer ship we deserved (tho little shout out to Commander D’Acy 🥰🥰). I feel like I’m just cheesed because the sequels follow the plot line/tropes of the original trilogy in so many ways but then don’t give us this… like if you are not going to be original, at least be consistent. Like ok, a few things that are the same from the originals:

- a trio made up of a sullen Jedi, a cocky pilot, and a force-sensitive (future) general

- dramatic scene where one sees themselves in sith form (a dream) - Luke sees his face under Darth Daddy’s helmet and Rey sees sith hottie version of herself

- first ep. - loss of mentor/father figure at hands of “villain”

- it was palpatine all along🎶

Sorry I’m blanking, I haven’t watched the movies in a bit. But essentially the vibes between Rey, Finn and Poe are just so reminiscent of Luke, Leia and Han and it KILLS ME

- like Finn, like Leia, is buddies with both Rey/Luke and Poe/Han, meanwhile those two have some weird jealousy going on (reminiscent of Endor anyone?)

- Rey and Finn are like family… no they aren’t twins but like living embodiment of found family trope

Erg, this feels have fledged out because it’s been too long since I’ve seen the movies but watch me come back and edit this as I reimerse myself in the fandom.

But conclusion, Disney ur mean, Oscar Isaac, u are a sexy fucker and I have issues.

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walterwhitecat · 7 months

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feeling the same way or even more about wolfwren as I did stormpilot back in the day watch out for my return to ao3

#wolfwren #stormpilot #star war tag #space gays

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rhea-of-kaylie · 4 months

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Just so we're clear - because I've seen this way too much recently - not all reylos are implicitly racist? Not sure why this is hard to grasp for y'all.

The misbelief comes from the assertion that because reylos don't want Finn and Rey to be romantically endgame, they're racist because they don't want a white heroine involved with a black hero. On the surface, I understand these concerns. Rey is the morally pure white heroine. For her to be anything but Finn's friend complicates the comforts of traditional, conservative American society. However, I am not trying to undermine the validity of interracial relationships in storytelling or in real life by finding the reylo dynamic more appealing. We can and should include more representation of interracial couples in all storytelling mediums and genres.

Personally, the mythicality and balance between Rey and Ben is simply more exciting than the possible strangers to friends to lovers dynamic Rey and Finn could have had.

I've also seen criticisms of reylo as it relates to Kylo Ren being essentially an active agent for the First Order, the newest iteration of Star Wars space Nazis. Rest assured, internet, I also hate the First Order and what they stand for. Additionally, I hate what Ben Solo did when he was called Kylo Ren. Most, if not all, reylos will condemn the actions and ideologies of Kylo Ren. Reylo is and always has been about Ben Solo's inevitable redemption. He couldn't be with Rey until he reconciled his evil choices. (And most of us are wholly dissatisfied with how TROS inadequately addressed Kylo Ren's redemption).

We do also know that there's a very large overlap between stormpilot shippers and reylos right??? (ie reylos are the same people who want a gay relationship between a black man and a hispanic man, both of whom are fervent believers in violent revolution against a white supremacy-coded regime. Cathartic as hell and a 'fuck you' to the real basement-dweller racist Star Wars fans if you ask me.)

Anyway, hope this helps.

#reylo #rey #kylo ren #rey skywalker #ben solo #finn #poe dameron #finnpoe #stormpilot #star wars #the force awakens #the rise of skywalker #the last jedi #fuck the racist star wars fans #hope this explanation helps

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agrippaspoleto · 1 year

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Finn and Poe share a stolen moment in the ludus of the Ordo primis. Silk sheets and fine food came with obligations and duties, so called favours and unwanted attention, but for one night they enjoyed the sweet warmth of an unhurried embrace.

Takes place in between the two chapters of "Names are but Sounds".

Yeah, so I've written this slice of life snippet for quite some time but it kinda felt weird to post it for some reason. I wanted to write another part to it, but I never managed. And when @waywaychuck asked about the ancient Rome AU in a WIP game, I thought why not. At some point I'll write the rebellion, but for now have this angst and comfort snippet.

Please read the tags first. The fic deals with the non-con slaves and gladiators were confronted with even if there's nothing graphic about it. But I hope, the story manages to convey the hope and the stolen moment I intended it to be. And someday I'll write the uprising of the ludus, because stolen moments are not enough.

Under the cut you find the whole drawing.

Fun fact: The mural in the background is a fotograph I took in Pompeji earlier this year and was basically the reason I wanted to draw Roman Stormpilot again. Thankfully for me, John Boyega also did a new photoshoot around the same time, which provided me with wonderful reference.

#stormpilot #finnpoe #finn (star wars)#poe dameron #ancient rome au #agrippa writes #agrippas art #I've been sitting on this one for quite a bit...#but I really love the art

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moinsbienquekaworu · 11 months

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Kylux in French!!! S'il vous plaît!!!

(Hi hello ily my brain isn't working cause i spent the morning gardening i love seeing you in my tags youre so cool ily have a lovely evening <3)

Kylux in french for my beloved <3

It's a very short list of like, 5 fics and 2 authors, but they're good fics and good authors!

The author is going to be jesuisbetejesuispatissiere, here on tumblr under the same username (I don't know if I should tag them or not?), especially two fics:

• La Guerre des Étoilés (110k, 10 chapters)

Le Général Hux est mécontent. Il a un concours de cuisine à gagner contre la brigade de la Petite Résistance mais il doit aussi gérer les sautes d'humeur de son propre coéquipier, Kylo Ren, descendant d'une longue lignée de cuisiniers mythiques. Du Kylux, un soupçon de Luke Skywalker/Wedge Antilles et peut-être un poil de Stormpilot sur le long terme.

-> The fic that fanart made me think of! The author was publishing a translation in english here, it hasn't been updated in 2019 and it only goes up to chapter 6 but since you're reading in french 👀 personally I thought it might not hold up to my current tastes but I reread it like a year ago and it really did! It's great, I love it. The puns are funny, it feels like watching a cooking contest but you also get UST on top, impeccable.

• the En ton nom series, Ben & Sheev (210k & 23 chapters, 198k & 16 chapters)

Le fraîchement promu Général Hux se fait enlever par la Résistance. Enfermé dans une cellule, le seul visage qu'il voit au quotidien est celui de l'homme chargé de l'interroger, un Jedi nommé Ben.

Après avoir fui la Résistance en compagnie de Hux, Ben rejoint le Premier Ordre sous le nom que lui a donné le Leader Suprême Snoke : Kylo Ren.

-> It has been almost 5 whole years since I first read this fic and I'm still mentally ill about it (mostly in a good way). It predates Armitage as a first name for Hux and the ending absolutely destroyed me. I read it during the holidays at like a lunch with family and I was just sobbing in a corner of the room because of these two and I do not regret looking like an idiot in that moment because the emotional Moment was worth it. Absolute masterpiece. If you finish it come tell me about it even if it takes you years because that ending... listen I love the fic so very much but I won't lie that dot dot dot is (derogatory). The emotional wreckage of it was not satisfying to teen me but I'm still thinking about it with minimal prompting 5 years later and that's how you can tell the author did a great job. To be clear this is a cherished memory even if I wasn't crying with joy. There's also an english translation being worked on by im_your_hope!

• I also have good memories of L'autre con, but it's been years so they're just vague memories. It was written as a prompt fill for a fic starting with "Y'a encore l'autre con dans ma chambre", like Y'a encore l'autre con dans my chambre by Hermineuh! (that's uh, "that other dumbass is in my room again") And speaking of Hermineuh...

• Dites-le avec des fleurs by Hermineuh (30k, 6 chapters)

Hux a un secret. Rien d'extravagant ni de malsain, fort heureusement. Juste une petite passion qu'il s'est découverte il y a peu et qu'il compte bien garder pour lui. Ce serait tellement dommage si le Maître des Chevaliers de Ren venait à le découvrir. Vraiment dommage…

-> This right here is my first Kylux fic ever. I read it just after watching episode 7 (I think? or 8?) in bed when I should've been asleep. I was scrolling of FFnet trying to find something interesting, this seemed a safe bet, and then BAM surprise Kylux, and now look at me. Thank you Hermineuh for single-handedly selling me on the ship. This fic changed my life and also it's good!

Okay that's it, the only fandom I have french recs left for is probably Johnlock now haha. Hope you enjoys these!

#kissing you kissing you kissing you btw i love you too and i hope you have a great rest of the afternoon!!!#<3 <3 <3 #i should make a recs tag lol i keep reccing you fics :'))#wow i have an asks tag now #star wars #kylux #fandom nerdery

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trudemaethien · 1 year

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Hello, can I ask for droidcaptain, codymaul and stormpilot for the ship it or not game?

droidcaptain is…gotta check, too many droids and captains out there… oh! Cassian/K2SO! yes!

What made you ship it?

the snarky old married couple banter and well-worn arguments. can just tell they are a team, a unit, for better or worse.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

robot person ❤️ organic person is such a good dynamic and the imagination possibilities are so much, like. canon size difference. complex power dynamics. the mechanics of robofucking. and not even just the nsfw! like, i want to know how they met! how that relationship developed! how they think about each other. i think about them often they are so cool

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I have no clue what the popular opinions are actually and I think im happy living in ignorance. Maybe that Kaytoo is sort of indebted to Cassian by programming and circumstance and struggles with that in his own way, and Cassian is not unaware of it but can’t really interfere more than he already has? idk

——

codymaul: oh hell yeah i ship it! (and you’re one of my favorite writers of Them 😍😍😍)

What made you ship it?

it’s your fault for sure because I never thought about it prior and now i have a wholeass wip languishing nearly finished that i’ve been working on forever. the kenobi connection is really attractive and fun to subvert, and also the bastard on bastard violence potential energy is off the charts

What are your favorite things about the ship?

see above and also BITING. lol, actually, that there’s so much potential even within canon and adjacent because of maul’s cockroach status and cody’s unknown fate, so it’s really sort of impossible to fall into a formulaic portrayal. maybe that’s just because there’s not enough fic out there to have caused that sort of fanon to develop, but whatever. it’s just a cool pairing and every story is its own thing.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Cody should also get to be force sensitive as a treat. and go a little dark side bc there’s nothing quite like second servings of dessert, plus also fuck with maul in the force as the cherry on top of all that. idk if that’s unpopular, but i like when they are villains, okay

——

stormpilot: hmm i do think they are totally husbands shippable but im not into the sequel trilogy in quite the same way so I don’t really have specific answers for them.

but they could and should have kissed in that jacket scene fr, if the moviemakers weren’t cowards

#star wars #fanfiction #ask answered #ask meme #ship ask game #cassian/k2so #cody/maul #stormpilot #finnpoe #cassian andor #K2SO #clone commander cody #darth maul #finn 2187 #poe dameron #robofucker #villainy #shipping #thanks for asking!

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levitatingbiscuits · 8 months

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I found your take in the height difference discourse interesting, mainly because I agree, but also because the exact opposite is also true (at least in my experience).

I get the ick a lot of the time Cody is portrayed as the short one in the relationship, mostly due to the connotations that come with being the short one as people have detailed many times before. It’s the exact same problem with Obi Wan being the short one, as in that they’re woobified or even viewed as the submissive one in the relationship or even as the ‘woman’ (and I can’t even begin to get into how many layers of fucked up that is) but what also happens with Cody is it feels a lot more exploitative and sinister than it does with Obi Wan. The difference in their ranks is an interesting thing to explore when it comes to them, but the problem comes when younger or less experienced writers end up portraying them with a power imbalance.

Would canon Obi Wan ever take advantage of anyone, especially in that way? Of course not. But that doesn’t stop some writers. It just feels a lot grosser when Cody is the one being babied, at least to me. Especially since a lot of these people go out of their way to make Obi Wan bigger and more powerful than Cody.

To be clear: you are absolutely right, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in. I think any portrayal of a ship has the capacity to be problematic, we just need to be careful we don’t resort to relying on stereotypes or overused tropes that come with shipping dynamics. Cody or Obi Wan being noticeably taller isn’t inherently bad, but the internal biases of the writer are what could potentially make them that way. All rational people know height has absolutely nothing to do with any of this, and it’s strange that we’re gotten to the point where this inevitably ends up being a problem in every single fandom.

Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem. I've never encountered a fan work where Cody is a smol uwu bean, but that could get pretty weird for different reasons. Codywan is a ship I enjoy for the devotion and fluffiness and old married couple/coworkers vibes, so I tend to avoid fic that specifically revolves around the power imbalance or the age difference, which is likely why I've never encountered this.

I have encountered clone fics where the chronological ages and "sheltered" upbringing (for lack of a better adjective) is leaned into HARD, which can give me the ick if they're portrayed as sexy or appealing rather than tragic or an obstacle to romance. Maybe the ultra smol Cody trend is an extension of that?

And yeah, not all exaggerated size differences are problematic. Some of the clones have canonically turned out extremely large due to cloning mishaps, like Wrecker. Often it's just because the writer or artist thinks it's cute. I've read some very interesting fics that lean into the sci-fi body horror aspect of cloning and even how being genetically engineered to be extremely large can be an obstacle to the clones being seen as anything other than weapons. Sometimes fics can discuss epigenetic factors to explain height alterations, which is very plausible because Jango didn't always get adequate nutrition and rest growing up and the clones were all standardized and specifically made to be at his physical peak.

But the fact that these trends keep happening in this fandom makes them worth examining and dissecting. For example, I remember a lot of stormpilot discourse about why Finn was so often depicted as significantly larger and more muscular than uwu smol Poe, when that's not what John Boyega and Oscar Isaac look like. I've even read some Han/Lando fics that did the same thing to Lando, even though you could just write Skyrissian or Solorgana or Lando/Leia or Skysolo if you want a big size difference in your ship. Considering the star wars fandom's history of racism, I think that it's worth examining why it's so often characters of color that this happens to.

#and before anyone gets mad again I'm not calling anyone a bad person if they read or write this kind of thing #I'm just expressing why i personally sometimes think it's uncomfortable #anonymous #and I'm not saying you're bad for liking power differentials or age gaps either #in fact i think power differentials are very interesting to write about!#you just have to be careful about how you write it and clarify ahead of time if you're purposefully writing it as transgressive/unhealthy

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ke-119 · 1 year

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FALLOUT - Chapter 15

Chapters Posted: 15 of 18

Rating: T+

Warnings: Canon-typical violence & fighting/blood/gore/graphic descriptions of injury/angst/hurt/comfort/Multiple POVs

Characters/Pairings: Poe Dameron/Finn, Karé Kun, Iolo Arana, BB-8, OCs.

Summary: Still reeling in the aftermath of Crait, Poe Dameron and Finn are sent to a secret Resistance base tucked away on Lothal to serve as acting generals. Their numbers dwindled to barely a handful, and with General Organa’s order grounding all surviving Resistance personnel to heal and regroup, morale is at an all time low. Poe grapples with his inability to sit still; the First Order looms, an ever-encroaching threat to what remains of the Outer Rim’s free space; intimate feelings grow impossible to ignore and a shocking return promises devastating consequences not only for those stationed on Lothal, but for the Resistance and galaxy at large.

A/N: An AU adventure, a side-quest of sorts, to account for some of the time between TLJ and ROS. Stormpilot centric. Canon up until the end of TLJ (but does not take into account Resistance Reborn or the Finn/Rose arc).

Thank you to anyone who has read, liked, and/or reblogged! I am so grateful for you and your time.

Masterlist

CHAPTER 15

His entire body had caught fire.

Brilliant red and orange flames licked up his legs, gently at first, then roaring to life. Eating him alive. Burning him to dust, up his hips, smoldering a black hole in his left side.

A sky of black clouds, thundering against a backdrop of gray ash, alight with bolts of electricity. Screams, ears ringing, dizzy. Mangled ships, bodies. The dead, reaching for him with their ice-gnarled gray fingers. A fissure in the dark, a flash of light, choked out.

They came as dreams, at first. Puzzling but innocuous; mostly forgotten by morning. For decades, Ira Nyx shut it all out; every instinct, anything that connected him to the living. But soon, the visions came on during the day. Violent, taxing, and always undecipherable to an infuriating degree.

They crept unbidden into his conscious mind, snapping his days in two, distorting reality. The looming shadows took on shapes—the shapes of living beings. Faces he didn’t know at the time were very clearly those of Poe, Finn, Karé and Iolo. The others he had seen… if they had been caught up in the explosions like they said, they were long gone. He would never know them.

But somehow, the four rebel fighters, along with their little astromech, had made it to him. Barely in one piece, but alive. There had to be deeper meaning… He’d seen them for so long and now here they were, solid, real. Surely it wasn’t up to him to show Finn the path to the Force?

Ira Nyx had only ever known the Force. He couldn’t remember a time before he was a youngling, or a home before the Jedi temple on Coruscant. His memories began there, tiny feet squeaking across shiny marble floors, clumsily chasing after training remotes. He was raised to wield the Force for good. He knew no other way—any temptation had been bred out of him. Finn’s upbringing was the opposite. Finn was raised to be a soldier for the dark side. There was no room for interpretation, meditation or unity.

The fear in Finn swelled like a tidal wave when there was a shift in the Force in any significant way. It not only confused, but terrified him. No doubt, it was getting harder to ignore. Impossible to ignore after a certain point. Ira knew it well. It was where his visions came from. He’d had them since he was a youngling, and the same destabilizing result if he tried to close himself off to them.

There was a longing in Finn. For a guiding light. At his core, Finn didn’t believe he could be that for himself, it must come from an exterior source—Ira knew that well, too. The feeling had plagued his early padawan years. Then, his full connection to the Force had always felt just out of reach—like a ship without a compass, off kilter, listing aimlessly through space.

To some, particularly those who weren’t sensitive to it, the Force could feel like an exterior source. Some frightening power that precariously toed the line between light and dark at any given moment. It wasn’t this… mystical thing. It was simply energy. Energy connecting living things to one another, in every form. The ground you stand on. The beat of your heart; the beat of another’s. To those who were Force-sensitive, this energy was palpable, malleable, could be shaped in many different ways. At best, it could be used to repair what was broken—objects and beings alike. At worst… the much more iniquitous possibilities were endless.

Finn was acutely aware of the Force. With the release of that intense fear, with patience and training, he would learn to wield the Force with great skill. He had, after all, managed an energy transfer to his partner without even knowing it. Finn had managed to take some of Poe’s pain away, but in doing so, had also, for a brief period of time, masked the severity of Poe’s injuries until they were too substantial to ignore.

Ira Nyx had watched and lived through every one of his friends and the people he loved most die, violently murdered. He escaped the massacre of the Jedi Order by cowardice alone—you could call it exile, but really… He had fled. Ignored the calls of those in pain, in need, in danger, though he heard them. Left to die those he could have saved. Turned his back on any living thing outside of himself. There were days the remorse stole the breath from his lungs. Kept him awake at night. He was so very tired. The kind of soul-deep weariness that was too late to fix. No long night’s sleep or time spent like some carefree vacationer in the suns of Iloh could fix it. He found out by accident that the Empire had fallen, on a rare supply run into Garel City. He paid close attention, from then on, watching as the galaxy stumbled into a semblance of democracy… only to have it annihilated by the First Order.

From the doorway, Ira watched the last embers in the hearth go dark and cold. He took in the humble bed in the corner, the little rickety table and chairs he had built with his bare hands. Then he dropped the tattered cloth over the doorway one last time, and left without looking back.

* * *

Garel City was significantly larger and busier than Kothal, which made some things easier, and others more difficult. They lost their way several times picking through the dark alleys, underpasses and lesser traveled routes to stay out of sight, but blended in perfectly, the beige and brown of their borrowed garb (Ira’s—rolled multiple times at the sleeves) coalescing with the swarms that milled about their daily tasks and errands.

The spaceport loomed ahead, like a dome flipped on its convex top. Shuttles departed every few minutes, lifting out of the durasteel crater and jetting up into the atmosphere. As they approached, flanking the wall of the alley steps that led into the spaceport’s underbelly, they found Ira was right—it really was crawling with troopers, like lines of angry little white ants filing up and down alleys and docking stations, hassling random travelers for their transit papers and identification cards.

Several hangars surrounded the open air area of the spaceport, disappearing under the lip of the structure. Poe’s heart sank as he scanned the maze. Then, Finn nudged him and pointed.

To their left, four doors down, was 71-C. They waited for the pack of troopers to walk the opposite direction, then pelted across the open space and into the shadows of hangar 71-C.

It was close to empty, two decaying land-speeders parked to their right by the entrance, and a few other ships scattered through, covered with dusty tarps.

“Hey!” A mechanized shout came from the hangar bay door. Poe and Finn threw themselves behind the speeders, BB-8 dimming all his lights. Karé and Iolo followed.

An anguished Mythrol in ragged travel clothes bolted past the mouth of the hangar, followed by four troopers in pursuit. The sounds receded.

Poe nodded to the group. “Let’s get this over with.”

There was an electric hum, and the cold, metal touch of a blaster against his temple. “You’ve got five seconds to scram before I put a hole through your brain.”

Poe slowly raised both hands, and caught a flash of Finn doing the same in his peripherals. BB-8 squawked.

“Okay, easy. Are you Jem Cade?”

“Three seconds.”

“Ira Nyx sent us.”

The blaster faltered. Poe could have grabbed it. Maybe he should have, but they needed this bridge unburned for the time being.

“What did you say?”

“Ira Nyx. Told us you had a ship.”

The blaster came down. “Who the hell are you?”

With a cloud of black hair curled into tight coils and ochre skin, Jem Cade was tall and athletic, with a soldier’s ready stance. Her blaster remained unholstered.

Poe slowly lowered his hands. “We’re with the Resistance.”

One of Cade’s eyebrows popped up. “You lot are still alive and kicking, huh?”

“Our ship wrecked outside of town. Ira helped us. Said you might have a ship with cloaking capabilities we could put to good use.”

Cade finally holstered her blaster with a heavy sigh.

“Of all places to wreck a ship. That old man is a kriffing disaster magnet for someone trying to stay off the radar. He also is damn sure lucky I owe him one. Follow me.”

Up close, the ship was a giant bucket of rust. Probably had spent decades idle in here, but had remained successfully hidden from the Empire, then the First Order, to have made it this far.

Jem Cade lovingly patted the hull. “Here she is. Got a lot of history, this one. Completely undetectable, too.”

Poe marveled at the size. A G1-A Starfighter. More than a little worse for wear, but Poe had never seen one in person and a grin tugged at his lips. Things were looking up. His legs itched to jump into the pilot’s seat.

BB-8 yelped.

“What is it, buddy?”

“YOU! Stop right there!” Troopers. Nine of them filled the mouth of the hangar, blaster rifles leveled right at them.

“Blast it! Last time I’m doing that old wizard a favor!” Jem backed away.

Maybe it wasn’t too late—Poe jerked his head at BB-8, who slid out of sight behind the starfighter. The troopers descended on them, each grabbing hold of an arm. None seemed to have noticed BB-8.

“Now, what exactly are you doing in here?” The ninth trooper, squad leader judging by the white shoulder pauldron, stood before the group.

Poe looked the squad leader up and down; a challenge. “You guys really got the short end of the stick, didn’t you?”

“QUIET!” The trooper slammed the stock of his rifle into Poe’s gut and the ensuing shouts and scuffle dissolved into the roar in his ears as his knees dropped out from under him.

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