#this is the one where ben solo lives and they have kids

[lildoodlenoodle]

One of the biggest problems and red flags about the whole spider society was having kids be workers for them.

Now I’m not saying the spider society shouldn’t have contacted the younger spiders or even work with them! But the spider society should function as more of a support group and emergency backup type situation for the younger spiders.

There was no reason for Margo, someone who is implied to be like Miles’s age, someone who can’t even drive, to be running an integral part of the society and how they are keeping the multiverse intact. She not only ran it, but if it malfunctioned it was clearly her job and responsibility to fix. When the machine ‘breaks’ and functions while, as far as she’s aware, no one’s in it she’s panicking, even though there would be no real consequences if she just let it run. There was no reason for Gwen, a 16 yr old, to be running around the multiverse alone going on high stakes solo missions(and that’s not even getting into the whole homeless thing). We don’t know yet what Peni’s role is but we have to assume it’s similar in nature and responsibility. That is insane.

Pav is the only one who seems to have a healthy relationship with the society, because he’s not really in it! He doesn’t know the indoctrination canon events yet, we don’t see him going off on solo missions, he gets backup when he needs it and that seems to be it.

For the kids that do know the canon events theory(Margo, Peni, Gwen) I cannot even imagine what must be going through their heads. Who else from their worlds has to die. For Peni, is her last living relative, Uncle Ben, the next person for her to lose? If Gwen returns to her world how long will it take for her dad to die? What other traumatic events have Miguel’s theory dictated will happen to them next? What horrors do they know will happen to them and their loved ones that they aren’t allowed to prevent? Is Gwen destined to die young because she’s the only Gwen we see Alive? And Gwen and Hobie, Pav’s friends, do they know that Gayatri and her dad are both destined to die? Like the mental gymnastics these kids have to go through and the mental torment that goes with it.

And then on top of it, to threaten said teenagers, who you have working for you, with being kicked out and being isolated from the people that are like and understand them is really fucked up. Especially if the threatening is because they are acting like teenagers and not soldiers. If Gwen is sent home, not only is her life put in danger but so is her father’s and they all know it. That is some culty level gaslighting and even grooming. Margo and Peni both are implied to not have good home lives either. The more you think about it the worse it gets honestly, because what goes along with this is we never see any of the adult spiders say anything about this.

Miguel and Jess both saw Gwen’s father, a grown man, try to arrest his daughter with a gun pointed at her. They save her, Jess takes her under wing(and whether they meant to or not) effectively become her guardians. They monitor her with what could essentially be a baby monitor/tracking device. They can control where she can and cannot go. And while understandable to not give a teen access to the entire multiverse they were very much giving her the adult responsibilities of protecting it.

When she does screw up, because she is a child who wants to see her friend, Jessica very flippantly references Miguel sending her home, making me think this is not the first time they’ve had that conversation, which is so worrying. And then they eventually do. They knew exactly what situation they were sending her into and not only did the entire society watch Miguel do it with little protest but didn’t even mention it afterwards. Even if Gwen was a threat they had other options, rather than sending her home, where she could still be safe.

There’s also a lot to say about how Jessica, Peter B., and Miguel handled Miles that speaks more to this pattern of behavior but that’s another post.

In the comics the ‘Spider Society’ got away with this sort of stuff, even having an actual infant just chilling with the group, because the spiders were being hunted. They couldn’t go home or leave the safe space dimension because it wasn’t safe. In the movie that is very much not the case. WHY WERE TEENAGERS WORKING FOR THE SOCIETY!?

#Peter b. Jessica and Miguel that is very weird of you #I feel like I could talk about Gwen’s situation specifically for a long ass time(cause we know the most about her)bc it rlly is nuts #like as an adult WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT #literally not just having her work for you but then constantly THREATEN her with essentially homelessness and a very unsafe situation is #CRAZYYYYY #like it’s even implied Margo doesn’t have a great home life either #YOU ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF KIDS #it’s literally grooming and it makes me so mad that not enough people recognize it for what it is #Jessica specifically I wanna know more about cause she’s the only where my mind could b changed cause we simply don’t know enough about her #THE OSHA AND CHILD LABOR LAWS MIGUEL IS VIOLATING #Gwen Stacy #Margo kess #miguel ohara #Peter b. Parker #pavitr prabhakar #Hobie brown #miles morales #ghost spider #spider byte #Spider-Man 99 #Jessica drew #spiderwoman #spider society #ATSV #across the spiderverse #spiderman india #tw grooming #tw gun

[dalekofchaos]

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.

#Star Wars #Star Wars The Sequel Trilogy #The Sequel Trilogy #Rey #Finn #Jedi Finn #Poe Dameron #Stormpilot #Finnrey #Reylo #Supreme Leader Snoke #JJ Abrams #Rian Johnson #Matt Reeves #Greta Gerwig #Rey Skywalker #Rey Kenobi #Luke Skywalker #Leia Organa #Han Solo

[brw]

Could you please give me a Greer Nelson reading list & a TigerAnt reading list? Thanks.

oooo okay, to be honest these lists are very similar so i'll incorporate them together for you. many thanks to @pymcoded for helping make this list!

the cat #1-#4 is her first solo series and shows her before she is tigra, it's really interesting n one of the first marvel comics written by a woman and is very based in second wave feminism politics.

giant size creatures is where she first becomes tigra.

marvel chillers #3-#7 is a short lived series she stars in beginning issue 3 and is pretty interesting n cool n further establishes her tigra identity

marvel two-in-one #19, fantastic four v1 #177-#184 is her first time working in a team and shows her friendship with ben grimm! she's not majorly in it but it is a good taste for her in team dynamics.

marvel premiere #42 finishes off dr tumolo's side of things and builds upon the cat people and greer's relationship with them.

avengers v1 #211-#216 is her stint on the avengers, as with the fantastic four she's not a main character but it does set up and establish her future relationships with a lot of these characters!

west coast avengers is a big one for both greer and her relationship with hank so definitely read this if that's what you're interested in. i would say just to keep going with this series really until vision and wanda become bigger characters because from that point their arcs dominate a lot of this series and i don't remember tigra having any major character focused issues the later on it goes.

marvel comics presents #162-#165 is a weird interesting story with some really wonderful art taking place in australia where tigra seeks revenge on soldiers for kidnapping aboriginal women. not exactly sensitive but an interesting read.

avengers infinity is a fun team up comic including monica and starfox, again she's not a massive player but it's fun and i like her dynamic with the other cast.

tigra #1-#4 is her solo series which i generally like for the art and the arc of her uncovering police corruption, however it's not perfect in that it ties a lot more importance to her dead cop husband and does go on a bit of a "not all cops!" thing but for a mainstream comic in the 2000s it's pretty interesting.

avengers academy is the next big one for her and hank, i would say read all of it but good issues to focus on are #7, #8, #13-#15, #27-#28, #31, #38-#39

avengers: solo #1-#5 b story is a cute one where hank takes some avengers academy kids out n him and greer are very sweet in it.

moon knight 2021 is her most recent big appearances, she's a semi regular occuring member since #4 so keep reading that, #22 is her big character focused issue so prioritise reading that.

and yeah! that's my tigra reading list, this is most of what i would consider her essential appearances with one or two bonus issues for her and hank :) hope this helps!

#asks #itsblueberry13-blog #tigra #greer grant #reading list #comic recs #reading guide #etc

[indominusavenger]

I'm gonna come out and say it; No Way Home sucked. Sure, it had some good moments but in my opinion, it does not live up to the first two instalments of the trilogy. I liked the first part of the movie but as soon as I knew where the second part was going, I fell off that train pretty quickly.

Not only did it make MCU Spidey end up with the same tale as his two predecessors but it also undoes Peter's entire establishment in Marvel's overall franchise. What was the point of the last four movies putting him on the roster with Earth's MIGHTIEST Heroes if you were just going take all that away and make it like he exists in a completely separate world from them? What was the point of the three cameos we had from RDJ, Samuel L. Jackson, and Benedict Cumberbatch in their iconic roles to show that interconnected universe as with every other MCU movie, only for that to be stripped away at the very last second? Might as well have been another one of Sony's solo ventures at making a series after TASM but it's not and that's why I HATE the uncertainty of Peter Parker's future in the MCU. However, given the current failing reality of the MCU with every new movie that comes out, I can already confirm it's nothing good. In fact, it probably would be best if progress stops altogether before Marvel really is stuck in the dust and just a part of a magnificent past with no legacy to carry on. (This is a side note but that is still a big issue for me anyways that I may expand upon later in another post. In the meantime, go watch all the video essays on YouTube, I'm sure you'll find many good ones.)

He had a unique story that fit into the overarching plot of the MCU and the premise he had was different from the previous Spideys which is what was so interesting about his character development. This Peter Parker had friends that weren't introduced before, or at least, they were more developed than in other series; he had a superhero as a mentor, not a scientist turned villain due to unfortunate circumstances; he had a guy in the chair who wasn't after him or turned villain because his father was one, he had two crushes that were friends, he was part of clubs and acted more teenage-like than the last two. He interacts with other heroes, joins the Avengers, fights THE villain, perishes, comes back, loses his mentor, and is still expected to keep on going.

For crying out loud, he was asked if he was going to be the next Iron Man but he knew he wasn't which is what Far From Home set out to show us. And to all those who called him Iron Man Jr. in Homecoming, I hope you know that you make no sense and I think Marvel did a wonderful job making him stand apart. He was a kid admiring one of his role models and now that he actually had a connection to him, of course he was going to want to be like his mentor but even Tony recognized that he wanted him to be more, not like him. This shows Iron Man himself had great respect for the young hero.

Now, moving onto No Way Home, two main things that annoy the heck out of me; Peter being forgotten (obviously) and Aunt May dying. I'll start with Aunt May's death. To be honest, it was a completely unnecessary death and it actually doesn't make sense for the purpose it had in the movie. The punchline "With great power comes great responsibility." loses its premise as soon as you recall Civil War's intro to Peter in the first place. Uncle Ben had already died, Peter was Spider-Man at this point, and remember what Peter told Tony when they met, why the older hero related to him so much? "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen... they happen because of you." So he already learned that lesson on responsibility and by the time we get to No Way Home, this kid had learned lessons also involving the universe at large. Why are we rehashing Uncle Ben's offscreen death with Aunt May if Marvel literally stated that was overdone? Make that make sense. But oh, it was to make something big and dramatic happen in the movie because we needed to mOve aLoNg. Peter lost his parents, his uncle, and mentor; can you come up with something new other than parental figure losses? Why do TASM Peter and OG Peter still have their Aunt Mays and even if it was just a deleted scene, technically TASM Peter's dad? Huh, then what do you say there? Why did MCU Peter Parker have to lose ALL his parental figures?

Finally, the thing that probably broke most of us; Peter being wiped from everyone's memory. As I stated earlier, his entire existence within the MCU just vanishes, like that, in seconds. So......... what was the point of his existence up till now in the MCU? What was the point of his specific development and growth if he was just going to get forgotten? Why was he meticulously introduced at the height of the Avengers' conflict and then constantly involved with some other MCU hero/important character if he was going to be removed from that? If the Avengers were never a big deal, why make him a part of that at all and why were we still bringing them up at the climax of the film? For those who bring up the argument that he's supposed to be a solitary hero, well that was the worst way to have introduced him then, right? But Marvel chose that route, not any other. Which is why that decision still makes no sense to me. You put him in a world where he wasn't the only superhero and he was going to interact with other heroes which none of the other Spider-Men had and that already put him in a unique position. Why give him a background that was going to get swiped?

Imagine that, making five blockbuster films that gave him a firm standing in the MCU at the peak of Phase 3 and then in his sixth film, his last standalone which is supposed to be his most shining moment, he gets the rug pulled out from underneath him to give him a blank slate? You might as well have thrown every script out from 2015 to 2019 including him before they were ever written or considered. It's the equivalent of undoing everything you just worked on in a school project that's worth 40% of your final grade. Think about that for a second. Marvel just undid 6 years of work and investment in a single character for them to go back to the beginning. Why didn't you just do that then from the start? You could have had more classic Spidey a long time ago by that train of thought (which I really didn't want because we already saw that twice and this Spidey was something fresh).

Anyways, thanks for reading. This is 2 years worth of disappointment and frustration put on the page.

#peter parker #spider-man #mcu analysis #mcu rant #spider-man: no way home review #mcu thoughts #spider-man: homecoming #spider-man: no way home #homecoming #no way home #the avengers #avengers #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #marvel

[nikki-is-a-nerd]

Of Portals, Travels and Blossoming Romance

Synopsis:

As Rey's newest apprentice, you managed to stumble across the Jedi temple in Ahch-to when she leaves you to meditate and to guide the other younglings.

Apparently touching murals in a temple is not the brightest idea, seeing how you're now faced with an unknown.

Note: this is honestly just the third rewrite of this one XD after this I'm going on star wars break to write more jjk, but I'll write Ezra stuffs, if ya'll have requests. Gimme a week or two to write some of my jjk ideas and then it's back to Ezra <3

___________________________________

You were stuck in a temple in Ahch-to, not because your master left you there, but because you decided that you wanted to explore this planet that had the remnants of the very first Jedi temple. Your master told you to meditate, feel the force as she said. But being left all alone in your room, hearing all the new younglings that were brought here by Poe Dameron and parents who believed that their children needed guidance, training basic saber skills using bo staffs, made you feel antsy.

There weren't many padawans your age, nor were there many Masters, in fact your master was still the only known master. Though you've heard that Ezra Bridger lives, his location is unknown and with what he went through, your master decided to not involve him in her plans. Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren are also unknown. Whether Ahsoka is still alive is quite debatable. Togruta's who were force sensitive were rumored to live til two hundred years old but you digress.

You wanted to see the temple that crumbled down due to what Kylo-no, what Ben Solo did. Now here you were, foot stuck in a crack on the ground. You held onto the wall for stability, in the picture of a woman with an owl beside her. You felt dizzy, then nothing. You opened your eyes to a fascinating sight. It was like a path filled with endless gateways, with the stars as its background. You had no clue where you were, so you decided to walk around. This place was strange to say the least. You could feel your lightsaber with you still and the small pack you carried but you nearly dropped both when you heard the sound of birds' squawk. The owl's white feathers tinged with green with light green eyes, stared at you. As if sensing your fear it flies away. It turns around and beckons for you to follow. You ran after it and saw that as it landed on one of the gateways, it opened up. The sight before you was a blur but you decided to fall through, perhaps the owl had an idea. You wished to learn about the force or what the history was but, there were barely any salvageable items in any of the temples thanks to the empire. So without any hesitation you leaped in.

"Move kid!" A voice shouted.

"Sorry!" I said as I moved out of the way.

You were confused. This was a rebel base, but you don't know where this was. Try as you might but you got nothing.

"You lost?" A voice asked.

"Yeah I am. Excuse me but where are we..." You trailed off as you came face to face with a tall, young man.

"Wow...hi." you said shyly.

"Hi. Who are you? I'm sure I've never seen you around before." He said quite sternly.

You got nervous, how can you tell them that you basically are from a different time and that you're basically here because a bird led you here.

"Um it's a long story." You said.

He looked at you and noticed you small pack and the lightsaber clipped onto it and he looked back at you curiously.

"Come with me for a bit. I need you to talk to Hera." He spoke.

"Hera? As in General Hera Syndulla?" You said excitedly.

"General? Okay...sure whatever you say." He said shrugging.

As you two walked in silence, you kept looking at him. Something about him felt awfully familiar, it's like you had the answer at the tip of your tongue and you just couldn't figure it out.

"If you stare any harder I might turn to goo." He said teasingly.

"Sorry! It's just that, I don't know your name. I mean you don't know mine either which makes sense, but I'm (Y/N). Not that you were asking but you know, formalities." You said as you felt your face heat up.

"I'm Ezra. You're a jedi." Ezra said with a small smile.

You looked at him starstruck as you just now realized who he was. Ezra Frickin Bridger. Savior of Lothal, king of fake names, hoarder of helmets. The only other Jedi who's alive but his location is a complete mystery. You shook your head and acted normal. You spoke once more trying to hide your sudden excitement.

"A padawan. A very bad one, since I managed to not only ignore my master's order but also managed to lose my way." You muttered to yourself.

"Oh so that's what that little rat tail is for." Ezra said.

"Hey! This rat tail shows I'm an official padawan. My master was just following what the stupid temple said." You defended.

"It looks cute on you though." He added as he opened the door that showed Hera Syndulla herself, sitting down while surrounded by a few others.

"Ezra, I'm in a meeting, what's this about?" Hera said as suddenly all eyes were on you both, all except Hera herself.

"I found a wandering girl in the base and she's a jedi, sorry, she's a padawan." Ezra said.

"A padawan?" Hera said confusedly. She finally turns around and looks at the two of you and out of sheer awkwardness, you raise your arm to wave at everyone. Hera looked at the rest of the people in the room to signal them to exit.

When everyone has left, all except Ezra and Hera, she calls for Zeb and Sabine to join her. You were led to sit in one of the many empty chairs. You looked around fascinated with what you could see. This was the now destroyed Chopper Base or home base of the ghost. Grand Admiral Thrawn follows one of the ships that dock here, then rains fire on this base. This is what intertwines the fates of both Thrawn and Ezra Bridger.

"What did you call us here for Hera?" Sabine's voice rang out.

You have only seen holograms of her in the Lothal museum before the empire ransacked them and destroyed everything. Only bits and pieces of the mural were left behind but she looks exactly like the holograms, perhaps years younger, behind her was Zeb and Chopper, and to say I was fascinated and in awe was an understatement.

"Ezra found a wandering girl in our base who just so happens to be a padawan." Hera said.

"A padawan? Where's your master?" Zeb asked.

"It's a long story." You said quietly.

"We've got time." Sabine said crossing her arms.

I took a deep breath and hoped to the force that they find it in themselves to believe you. You understand it's gonna be a lot to process but it's better to do it sooner rather than later.

"Well, I'm truly a padawan, my master's name is Rey Skywalker. I'm also not from this time. I'm from the far future. Well not that far into the future seeing how in my time Ezra's still alive, around his early fifties and Sabine is still probably alive...I think." You said.

"Okay, you could be making it up though." Ezra said.

"I know that you're in need of more pilots, and Ezra's joining them because he has a bigger role now in the rebellion. I know he's way stronger than he was six months ago, and that there's trouble brewing in Mandalore and Sabine needs to return there." You said confidently.

"That could have been heard by you." Hera rationalized.

"The problem with Mandalore, is nothing new. It was bound to happen." Sabine answered.

"I can't just say something about the future! There are rules to time travel that one mustn't break. There are time paradoxes that could be born just because I exist here." You said.

"So, you could also just say that to avoid us questioning you further." Zeb said, arms crossed.

"There is a spy within the empire, planted by the resistance. The unexpected ally would be an important part of your lives. This base is also bound to be found by a bigger threat." You said.

You walked towards Ezra, keeping eye contact. You whispered your next words to him.

"You're learning to be stronger from the Sith Holocron that you've gotten from Malachor." You looked at him pleadingly.

"She isn't lying. She just told me something that only I knew." Ezra said.

Hera looked at Ezra before she nodded her head. Sabine looked confused but couldn't care less and Zeb felt confused but let it slide.

"Well, the kid's lost. She should probably get some time to get used to this time period." Zeb spoke.

"Ezra, you should train with her. She said she's a padawan, so she's probably used to training the same way Kanan was training you." Sabine added.

"It'll also help you not be a little shit anymore to others." Sabine added jokingly.

"You're also much closer in age it seems so you have the honor of leading her around these places. If you don't mind as well, would you be willing to help out our cause while you're here?" Hera asked kindly.

"Oh sure. I'm fine with that." You said.

"Great, well welcome to the rebellion, um. What's your name again?" Hera inquired.

"My name's (Y/N) (Y/L/N), nice to meet all of you." You answered.

"Well for formalities sake, I'm Hera, That's Zeb and Sabine." She said as she gestured to them who were standing by the door.

"And of course you've met Ezra. Kanan is busy as of right now, but you might bump into him from time to time." She added.

You nodded your head as she gestured for all of you to leave. Zeb and Sabine parted ways, Sabine going off to do her own thing, while Zeb went to train new recruits. Ezra gestured for you to follow him and so you did.

"So you know about the holocron." He said.

"I do. Don't worry I won't tell anyone, not because I agree with you using it but because you have to learn your lesson first hand." You reasoned.

"Oh and what lesson would I learn?" Ezra asked teasingly.

"To not mess with forces unknown to you." You whispered.

"You seem to know what it's like to use a sith Holocron though." Ezra pointed out.

"It's a long story. A painful one as well." You said stiffly.

Ezra grabbed your hand and brought you to a secluded area and patted the spot beside him as he sat down.

"I've got time. It's not like Kanan is training me anytime soon again." He said with his eyes closed.

You took a deep breath, clearing your mind. It's not like the memory was a distant one. After all, the fall of the empire, of Palpatine, was only a year ago. Your escape from the empire was only seven months ago.

"When I was a child living in Naboo, my parents were part of the few remaining empire loyalists. I never shared their views as a child. Often getting into fights with them. When my force sensitivity manifested, I didn't know it then that they called for General Hux. They told him about my abilities in the force and when he arrived, he took me with him. I begged and cried for my parents to save me but all they said was that the knights of Ren would be a suitable place for me. To show me the beauty of the dark side of the force. I was only ten years old." You retold your painful memories. You felt your nails dig into your palm to ground you as you continued.

"By the time I was fifteen, I was one of the strongest among the other force sensitive children they took. Kylo Ren would watch as we train, he would pick and choose who would fight him for the day, to test our limits. When we weren't training they'd make us touch the sith Holocron, a lot of the others succumbed to their desires to be stronger, to know everything and they were given the title Knight of Ren. I didn't so, I got a bunch of the others like me to run away when my now master arrived to escape the starkiller base. I was the only one who successfully escaped as the others were killed by the loyalists. I only escaped because I had to kill them too." You said, voice filled with regret.

"I'm sorry." Ezra said as he reached for your tightly closed fist.

"I surrendered to the resistance, I expected to be imprisoned but Poe took a different path. He told me that I was just a child, that it wasn't my fault. I followed Rey, my master when she found the person Kylo Ren was searching for. The rest was history. I can't fully tell you the details as it would cause problems...probably." you finished.

"Yeah that's alright. I hope you know that even with that, I still need to use the Holocron. I need answers and-" Ezra spoke but you cut him off.

"As I said. I'm not here to change what happened. But if you really want to continue, test out your skills on me. I still have years of training from the sith on me. I'm still learning how to do defense more than offense, so maybe you could teach me that." You offered.

"Plus, this is part of your journey. Taking it away from you might fully change who you are." You added.

"That makes sense. So, you ended up here because you were clumsy enough to get your feet stuck in a hole?" Ezra said trying to light up the mood.

"Really, that's your ice breaker? I'm quite sad with that. You could do better." You said smiling softly.

"Hey it's better than, your rat tail looks so long, can I pull it? Would you rather I say that then?" He joked.

"This rat tail is a staple for padawans. Wait, if you're a padawan, why don't you have one?" You asked

"Because I don't need it." Ezra answered smugly.

___________________________________

Weeks passed with you stuck in this time. Hera and the rest of the ghost crew tried fitting, finding the location of ahch-to to perhaps lead you home but have come up with nothing. Ezra has trained with you, though you see that the Holocron affects him, somehow you can also see that he is not one to be easily swayed to the dark side.

"You're distracted." Ezra said as he pushed you back using the force.

"Sorry, I just, miss home." You said as you dodged another of his attacks, dropping yourself lower and using your saber to attack him from below, to which he dodges gracefully.

"Focus on your surroundings and use it to your advantage Ezra." You critiqued

As you two trained, your sabers clashing against each other. Yellow and green clash, sending sparks to fly. Ezra proved to be stronger as he managed to disarm you, his saber pointing close to your face.

"I win. We still need to work on how you defend yourself. You have way too many openings, your stance when defending yourself is weak. Here grab your saber." He said handing it to you.

He stood behind you, kicking your leg to tell you to widen them. He then checked your stance before kicking your right leg again to tell you to widen it a bit more.

"You have to widen your stance, to have balance, it makes sending you falling when you deflect another saber difficult. And raise your arms a bit higher to protect your face more." Ezra said guiding you from behind.

He was kind to you, though he had moments where the dark side seemed to call out to him, he never lashed out on you. His kindness and willingness to protect his friends, his family, was something that you wished someone had for you. It was no wonder why you easily fell for his charms. He was also funny. Though your master told you that she believed that love wasn't the problem in being a Jedi, but the selfish kind of love. You learned not to shy away from your feelings. You knew that you were meant to return to your time sooner or later, so you chose to keep your feelings locked up. Ezra has his life here.

"what's it like in the future anyways, after the whole schtick with the second coming of the empire?" He asked one night.

"It's peaceful. The people don't feel worried about fighting to survive anymore. Most of the people in the resistance can finally go home. The remaining empire loyalists were put to trial and sent to prison. They can choose to join a rehabilitation program, or they stay where they deserve." You said.

"I have a question." Ezra said.

"I might have an answer." You joked.

"What if you stay here? With us, with me." Ezra said, his gaze stuck on you.

"You know I can't. This isn't my time." You said softly.

"But it can be. We fit well together. I won't be alone as a Jedi, Kanan's back with us, so he can train us better." Ezra tried to rationalize with you.

"We can be something more than this!" He exclaimed.

"And what is this? We're friends aren't we?" You asked.

"Friends don't look at each other the way we do, and they don't sleep in each other's beds." He said.

"I like you and I know you do too. So stay here." Ezra pleaded.

"I can't. I'm sorry." You said.

"You didn't deny your feelings." He pointed out.

"I don't want to. But it's selfish of me to be with you when I have no intentions of staying here." You said.

___________________________________

Ezra avoided you after that, going on mission after mission. While you joined Zeb to find clues to where Ahch-to was, and though it took a while, you finally found it. The cantina that would one day belong to Maz Kanata was where you found its location. Supplied to you by a pirate that Zeb was in contact with. You related this news to the rest of the ghost upon your arrival and though the rest were happy, Ezra could only stare sadly.

You packed what you originally had, leaving behind the clothes given to you, but took small mementos that they had given you. You were busy packing your things that you didn't notice Ezra enter your room.

"You're leaving soon." Ezra said monotonously.

"Yeah, I am." You said avoiding his eyes.

"I'm sorry about the argument before. It's just that, why would you be led here? Why this time?" Ezra said frustratedly.

"Because I had to learn from you and you needed someone to understand." You said still not looking at him.

"Please look at me (Y/N). I don't want my last memory of you to be this. This distance, it hurts." Ezra said softly.

You faced him, arms still crossed. Your eyes avoiding his. He walked closer to where you stood and held you close. He knew that this was where it ended for you two. Funny how he was shown someone he would have wanted to be with only for them to belong somewhere else.

"I'll miss you." He said, voice muffled by your clothes.

"I'll miss you too. Thanks for being my sparring partner and my friend." You said, eyes closed.

"Thanks for being my friend too. For reasoning with me when I needed it. Thank you for letting me learn on my own terms." He said.

As he let you go, a part of him felt pained. This would be the last time. Seeing you in the future would be much too painful, because he'd be reminded of this moment. So he took a chance, and left a chaste kiss on your lips. It was gone before you fully understood what happened.

Ezra didn't see you off anymore, nor was he part of the crew that dropped you off into the temple. You followed the writings on the wall, when you finally reopened the portal. You don't remember what happened next but as you woke up, you were back in your cabin. You heard the voices of the younglings once more. Then your door opened.

"Rey! She's awake!" Finn called.

Rey alongside Rose, Poe and Chewie, entered your room. Rey smiled softly at you and you couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Hey, hey, you're okay." She said rushing to your side.

"I went to another time. The temple opened a portal and I went in. I met someone and it hurt to leave." You said.

Rey held you close as she looked at the others. Somehow that sudden letter from Ezra felt like a clue but she waited for you to calm down. Once you were she explained what happened, where they saw you and the sudden arrival of a letter addressed to you, from Ezra Bridger himself. She gave you privacy once the letter was in your hands.

You ripped the envelope open once you saw that it really was addressed to you.

Dear (Y/N),

How long has it been? For you perhaps a few minutes? A few days maybe? For me it's been too long. I bet you knew of what I did for Lothal, or my exile, my return, what happened when I returned. I still can't believe you were right about the Chopper base getting destroyed. I missed you all those years. I missed you when I was in Peridea. I missed you during those nights where all I had were my own thoughts. I'm old now, like you said. Why did I hide myself during the war again? Because I knew that if I saw you, even by chance, I wouldn't be able to take it. I already saw you, in the world between worlds. I now know that in that time, I saw what would've happened to you, and if it weren't for Ahsoka's logical reasoning, I would have done something stupid, like jump in to save you.

Life went on even though we were apart but I believed that what you taught me the most, was selfless love. I was selfishly asking you to stay and leave it all behind when your life has barely begun. Mine was already preordained. Though I know that at this point I'm older than you now by many many years. I hope you know that the feelings I felt for you, were my source of light. Thank you for those few weeks. Live your life.

P.S. for the love of the force, don't disobey your master alright.

Farewell and live a good life,

Ezra.

It truly was bittersweet. To meet the right person in the wrong time. But everything, every moment was one you will cherish and Ezra's right. Life goes on and so will you. Perhaps one day, time will be right for you two.

___________________________________

Note: holy kamote! I finished it! Though I apologize for accidentally posting he unfinished work earlier, Tumblr glitched and even though I put it as save to draft, when I clicked save it got posted. So here's the finished work. It's longer than my usual ones, heheheheh. Enjoy!

#ezra bridger x reader #fanfiction writer #ezra bridger #starwars fanfics #fanfic #fanfic writing #fanfiction #star wars imagine #bring ezra home #eman esfandi

[roxineedstosleep]

Can you make a soulmate au one shot with yandere Peter Parker where the reader is not his soulmate.

So, I'm sorry for the delay, but I loved the idea, although I had to put together a good structure… and find an English translator.

I hope you enjoy it a lot.

(Also, I can of bit make it a bit little to much large: TW to much text!!)

____________________________________

Soul mates were wonderful but complex things.

Nobody knew how people began to connect with others in a magical and powerful way. But they didn't question it either.

Why do it if you were predestined to someone who would allow you to find happiness? Full development?

The person who would encourage you to be 100% happy and vice versa, the one who would adore you and you that other person.

Everyone had a soul mate, connected in some way to their other half.

It could be on the way to a tattoo, a phrase, name, songs or "Magic Clicks"

Always personalized, even if the method was similar to other people.

There could be different methods, millions and millions of ways to be able to say that one had a soul waiting for one. But regardless of the method or means of recognition, it was ALWAYS the same within the couple.

For example: If person A had a soul mate mark on his arm, and this mark was a drawing or a phrase, his soul mate B would also have the same mark shape. If X listened to the same song, Y would have the same song and they would both tune into a beautiful melody together when they met.

They all knew about it.

Peter knew he had a soulmate out there. Waiting patiently for him.

When he was younger, he used to marvel at how Aunt May and Uncle Ben used to sing the most beautiful melody in the world in unison. And sometimes, he looked hopefully at the drawing on his arm, thinking that his soul mate was seeing his own mark and thinking of him in some way.

Somewhere, waiting for him.

He always saw couples on the street, with matching brands, unison songs, discovering colors together. Always together, always in tune, always loving each other. But he also saw uneven pairs.

Unfair and selfish people. If you asked him.

Couples in which one had someone else's name on their arm, while the other sang a beautiful solo song; couples in which one saw in gray, and the other had his arms full of rainbow drawings.

At first he did not understand. He guessed that he was still too young to understand.

He did not understand why others would not look for their other half, Why they would stay with another person who did not fully understand his soul and his way of thinking? What happened to his other half? Would he be waiting for them forever in solitude? Had they gone to heaven and that's why they couldn't be together? What if the other half was sad that they couldn't find them?

There were so many doubts and so many unknowns that he simply avoided thinking about the odd couples.

In his fantasy, Peter believed that he would see another person with the same drawing on his arm. They would meet, fall in love, and start simultaneously living alongside each other for the rest of their lives.

Until he met you.

It was by chance, if he was honest.

He was wandering around the city, looking for a good place to keep watch after a long day at school; when you crashed into him after a bunch of kids had to swerve their bikes to avoid crashing into you.

They greeted each other, and as if Peter didn't have a mark on his arm, he felt a click in his mind at the sight of your grateful eyes. Beautiful eyes covered with thick dark glasses; that even half covered could dazzle more than one person with the beauty of these.

After that not much happened. Or at least, nothing really scandalous.

They started to talk.

They chatted a bit while they both went to the train station to return to their respective houses.

They talked about the city, its weather, their neighbors' pets, street gangs, pigeons, statues, popular songs, their favorite foods, their favorite classes, their clumsiness and your families.

When he saw that you had to get off at the next stop, surprisingly for him, he took all the nerves out of his excited heart and asked for your phone.

"It's just... you're great, I- I wanted to know if we could keep talking" he told you, when you were finishing packing your bag.

"Oh sure!" you replied, completely excited by the idea of having a new friend "Give me your phone, to have you added"

And after a few mistypes, You managed to save his number to your phone and vice versa.

And then everything was wonderful.

Do you ever remember that feeling of a beautiful day? You know, when you wake up on the right side of the bed, breakfast tastes delicious, there's no traffic, and you're in time for that awful test, where everything you've read about just so happens to be.

Yes.

That's how Peter felt when he managed to chat with you. No texts, no audio, only long drawn out phone calls or video chats.

They both went to different schools, but within nearby school districts. So they had started using the same train route to get back home.

You always waited for him, on the same corner, with the same thick dark glasses and you always hung on him when you walked.

And he loved that you hung on him like a lifeline.

He loved how you asked him for a little help choosing the right subway card or reading the distant signs.

He loved it when you grabbed his arm and didn't let go until he reached your whereabouts.

When you called him at night and they stayed late.

Chatting with you had been the best part of the day for Peter.

They were always laughing, always joking or crying (because of some cute video of a baby kitten)

Always supporting each other, always helping each other in the sad moments, in the moments of difficulty, in the moments in which each one felt that they couldn't take it anymore.

Being there for each other, being like a constant of happiness within sadness.

Be the happiness and joy of the other.

And the more you got to know each other, the more Peter began to consider that there would come a time when you and he would have to formalize things more.

Show each other your identical marks and more appropriately come out as soul mates to the rest of the world. Being able to say that you were his, how he belonged to you.

Being able to get all those emotions full of love and passion for you without having to receive uncomfortable questions. To be able to love you with every cell in his body and show you all the things he was capable of doing for both of them.

Then one day, when they were both eating Aunt May's cookies and watching a movie, Peter decided to ask the biggest question.

I was so excited to see your soulmate mark.

“You know, my soul mark is a drawing” he mentioned, as casually as he could he showed you the intricate drawing on his arm; but he didn't notice how you felt a little bit the surface of the drawing with your fingers, almost drawing it “What about yours? Can I see yours?

"A drawing? She must be a cutie Peter” you said, without stopping eating the biggest cookie that Aunt May had left on the plate “But I'm afraid I don't have such a beautiful drawing”

"Your drawing should be- Don't you have a drawing?" he asked, his heart beginning to pound heavily, and his lungs drained of air. "How so?"

"Yes well, I don't have a drawing, my parents have one, but my soul mark is different" you said calmly "I'm afraid my soul mark is a bit more physical"

Physical? Aren't the drawings?

"It's not very common for marks to take on the vitality of a sense, but that was my case" you continued, as you took off your thick glasses and rubbed your eyes a little "Legally I'm blind, I barely see more far from 1 meter ratio, since the doctors discovered that my soulmate distintion is to be able to see in all my capacity when I find my soulmate”

And Peter saw Red, Blue, Black and Yellow.

Peter saw tears fall from his own eyes and from his soul.

Peter felt his drawing burn painfully on his arm. Mocking him.

But the worst of all, or the best (he doesn't know yet), was that you couldn't see him destroying himself in front of you.

Because you couldn’t.

Was that his karma?

When he was young, he always complained about couples who were with others who were not their soulmates, who did not desperately seek their other half to be together all their lives.

Was that the price to pay for not being more flexible?

His punishment for being so prejudiced and closed was to love someone who wasn't his half?

But how was that possible?

It’s because he sin with those closed mind thoughts?

How was it possible that I couldn't love you if you were so perfect?

How could I not adore you when it seemed like you always had the answer on the tip of your tongue when he was confused?

How not to want you when you managed to get smiles and laughter out of them?

How not to love you when you were the reason, the only one, why he still had faith in others?

How not to consider yourself his half when you seemed to be designed specifically for that?

When their souls seemed to dance together and connect deeply to unimaginable limits?

And you came, in a machine gun way, to tell him that they were not designed to be together.

"Wow, it must suck not to be able to see" he managed to say "Does it bother you?"

“Can't see? At first, yes, but you get used to it over time” he heard you say, now the only thing he could hear besides your voice were the sounds of cookie bites and the background movie “The good thing is that, being a mark of such a strange soul is pretty strange, this and anyone who generates a disability must be registered… in the city there must be at least 6 cases similar to mine… in the country there must be a total of 40. All of them registered for matchmaking”

"Oh," he said, "so, it's-"

“I'll be able to see after my birthday anyway” you cut him off “Two other doctors have registered three marks very similar to mine and we will have a meeting with the individuals to see if we are soul mates or not. Since blindness is a fairly heavy inconvenience and affects us all. All the cases that are similar to mine just want to be able to see, after all"

After that he didn't listen anymore.

He do not speak more.

He thought of no more.

When the movie finished you had received a call from your mother and you had to leave in order to get home on time.

Apparently, it had something to do with a possible Match within the city and they wanted to coordinate the meeting.

How dare they?

How did they have the gall?

How could they even do this to you?

How could they even think that you could be with another person when you were already with him?

Was it because of his blindness? He could help you with things.

Was it because you didn't have a drawing? You probably couldn't find it yet; it must have been hidden somewhere.

Why should they break their happiness?

It was his Karma; he had already discovered it.

It was her punishment for thinking soulmates were destined just because of a stupid identical drawing or mark.

It was his cross, because now that he had found you, you would be completely separated from his side.

It was his sin, having believed himself more intelligent and he sees it for being so stupid for that reason that souls meet by a fucking identical mark.

And now… what would he do?

He couldn't sit idly by.

I couldn't see you smiling at someone other than him.

I'd rather drink bug spray than have to see you in someone else's arms. He would rather lose his powers, take off an arm, throw himself into the void than have to lose you that way.

What if you really fell in love? I would be alone.

And he couldn't live without you anymore.

So, he made the decision to be selfish and fight for both of them. Fight for the love he felt for you, for the future you both deserved.

He didn't care if you couldn't see, he would be your eyes.

It didn't matter if you couldn't walk straight, he would be your cane.

It didn't matter if you needed to read the signs, he would be your interpreter.

He would be the light of your path, he would be your firm hands in moments of doubt, he would be your support in the heaviness of the crisis, he would be your smile, your voice in moments of protest, he would be your comfort in times of pain.

If you needed a voice of comfort, he would be a choir of love.

If you needed a helping hand, he would be a pair of arms ready to work.

If you needed a caress, he would adore you with all his being.

Because it didn't matter that their markings were different…they were destined for each other.

Because now Peter was meant for you and you were meant for him.

Every fiber, every hair, every cell, every neuron, every muscle, every ligament, every spider web… Everything. Everything inside of him was designed to adore you, love you, support you, care for you and desire you.

So, if the first thing you could see with, after that stupid meeting, was him… no problem.

He understands that you were a little scared. He doesn't blame you.

How could he?

If the first thing you could see of him, with your now healthy eyes, was that he was completely covered in blood.

Drenched in blood, and at his feet, was that despicable rat who had had the audacity to approach you with the idea of stealing you from his side.

You would obviously be scared. He do not blame you.

It was a scary scenario, isn’t it?

But it didn't matter right now. Why would he?

If you were scared, he would be your comfort.

If you were crying, he would be your handkerchief.

If you wanted to break down, he would be your support.

There was nothing to worry about now that you could see him and get a chance to see the future he had planned for both of them.

#tw yandere #yandere peter parker x reader #yandere peter parker #yandere and reader #yandere #yandere mcu #yandere spiderman #yandere spiderman x reader #yandere marvel #peter parker x reader

[zmediaoutlet]

happy wincest wednesday!! deanna ask<33. do you think anything about s6 happens differently in the het version? or maybe s9/10?

yayyyy happy wincest wednesday, a day Deanna gets to shine <3

I mean the first thing that I think is true is that Deanna is staying with uhh Mark, the hot dude she hooked up with way back when Sam was at Stanford, and Mark's got a kid from a failed relationship with a past woman and Deanna learns to make pretty good meatballs and stir fry and tomato rice soup from scratch when little Ben is sick, and it's actually a lot harder for her to leave than it was for Dean.

But Sam's back and she has to go -- has to, even if she tells Mark that it's just a quick hunt to help and she'll be back for Ben's soccer game on Saturday -- and the break-up with Mark happens a lot faster and is a LOT more painful than the one with Lisa because Sam talks his way into her panties on that very first solo hunt together, when they're alone after the Campbells go their own way, and in her life Deanna has never ever thought of herself as a cheater but it's -- Sam, and his mouth tastes the same and his hands are finally the right size on her jaw when he drags her in close and he's the right weight between her thighs, lying heavy on her hips, at last, after the last year (and more) of missing him. He rolls off the bed quick after but she hardly notices at first that something's off because the sheer relief is too much for her to notice anything else at all, and it's not until she's showering, after, that the random thought pops into her head that she was going to pick up a 24-pack of Gatorade for the kids before the game, and then she realizes that she's got to tell Mark. She's got to. It's not fair, otherwise.

When Cas finally reveals that Sam's soulless she doesn't beat him up -- physically can't, for one thing, especially not now that he's gone all greek god -- but she walks out of the room and gets into the car and knows that from Calumet City to Battle Creek where Mark and Ben are living now is two and a half hours, and two hours if she ignores traffic laws, and she thinks about it -- she thinks about walking in and hugging Ben and taking Mark into the bedroom that she'd barely started to unpack before the breakup and going to her knees and saying how sorry she was, and how she'd never meant to be this way, and could she come back, please, could she crawl back into their bed and have the good boring sex they had and could she try again to make his mom's recipe for cinnamon rolls and could she teach Ben how to repair a carburetor, and get it right this time, and raise a kid who wouldn't crack her heart in half, wouldn't make her want to lay down and never get up again for the sheer enormity of what loving him did to her. How impossible it was to exist under the weight of it.

Then she gets back out of the car and goes back up to where Cas is finishing up his examination of Sam and she tells Cas to leave the room and she tells Sam that they're done, until he gets fixed. "I feel fine," Sam says. "Nothing about this is fine," Deanna says, and his eyes skip from her eyes to her mouth to her tits and then he shrugs, turns away and puts his belt back on, like so what. Like, fine, he'd get it somewhere else and it didn't matter. Deanna goes outside to where Cas is awkwardly waiting and thinks that whoever did this, whoever bifurcated her brother and removed all the best parts of him, she will find that person and destroy them to the last atom, if it's the last thing she does. (Cas looks from her face to the door beyond which Sam's waiting, and disappears.)

#answers #happy wincest wednesday #girl!dean #deanna #?? what is my TAG that's another project for another day #anyway yes #deeper entrenchment with not!Lisa #deeper 'betrayal' by sam #cas is on thin fuckin ice lol #i wonder if deanna would actually fuck cas? #i still think no. although maybe in early s9... #it'd depend on whether she and sam were back together #either way: i maintain that very early seasons/preseries for sam/deanna is the raddest queasiest best option #makes every single part of them just... More

[himilce-persephoniea]

Five Fandoms, Five ships

Get to know the blogger, via five different ships from five different fandoms! Tagged by @fishnamedsushi thank you 🤗

(I’m about to be unfollowed by so many people 🤣)

1. My loves! Anakin and Obi-Wan in all their forms (Obikin, Vaderwan, I’m here for them 😍)

2. The Ineffable Husbands (Crowlew/Azirafale). Those two adorable dorks showed me the path to AO3 and fanfics. I’ll love them forever for that. I’m waiting season 3 like you can’t believe it!

3. Caltrilla (Cal Kestis /Trilla Suduri): they gave me the courage to write my first fanfic. I’ll never accept what happened to her at the end of Fallen Order. So, I live happily ever after in AO3. Plus, she’s so sexy!

4. Reylo (Rey/ Ben Solo) Here is where everyone is going to drop off 🤣 Yep, I like them. I left the fandom before entering the Obikin one, but I still love the ship. I could talk about how I love how they fit perfectly in their opposition, or how it’s so easy to write threesomes with Kylo/Ben/Rey, but it would be really long. If people are curious, you can ask.

5. Truten (Trunks/Goten). Still don't know how I landed here but I’m a happy lad. Friends since birth, they know each other perfectly (and there is a future Trunks if I want to spice the mix).

Seriously, how I didn't see this as a kid??

Honorable mentions:

-Dinluke: I love them, and Luke is my choice’s for Din 🤭 but I’ve just read one fic.

-Drarry: not read so many of them, but I’m sure that they are adorable together. I’ll die of the hill that Harry should have been a professor.

- Spirk: 🙂 who wouldn’t ship them seeing Star Trek??

-Oscar François de Jarjay / André Grandier (Versailles no Bara): the first time I read a fic was from them without knowing it. I still refuse their Canon end.

If you want you’re tagged.

#ask game #fandom asks #this was fun

[nikoisanidiot]

Explaining my AU||Background Info and The Creeps

The Creeps are a group of killers outcast from society that lurk in the woods of Denver, Colorado. In my au, some creeps live together in cabins, while others live completely alone, secluded basically(for good reason). The Creeps don't exactly have a boss. Slenderman/Operator is a sentient being the creeps are trying to find more out about because boy oh boy does that being cause chaos. The main 3 proxies are Tim, Brian and Toby. These are the three usually leading hunts for the Operator or giving out commands for solo missions. The creeps don't kill at random, but that being said, the more unhinged, otherworldly do kill at random. The unhinged include EJ, LJ, Candypop, and Kagekao. Though rare they do, it's only random people that wander a little too close to the cabins they inhabit. Onto the creeps!(I will be doing more details for each individual in the future, but this is just a general look into the character.)

Eyeless Jack- 26 yrs old||Goes by he/him||Died by sacrifice. Jack prefers to go by just Jack but when there's two Jacks in the group, it's hard to refer to him as just "Jack", as LJ and EJ would get mixed up a lot. Jack is a medic, and does a lot of the repairs for the team. He likes to be alone, and often the others stay away from him, mainly cause they are scared of the man. EJ does have a separate room in his cabin(he lives alone) where he does all his operations, like fixing up Jeff for the millionth time that week. He also does all his organ harvesting in there. Jeff Woods- 22 yrs old||Goes by he/him||Isn't dead. Jeff(or better known a Jeff The Killer) is a 22 year old Hispanic man. He was acquired by the team when he was found lurking alone in the woods after killing his own family(all except is brother, Liu Woods). Jack is the "strongman" of the team, carrying a lot of brute strength and weird patterns of behaviour. Jeff lives in a cabin with one of the other creeps he gets along with. He live's with BEN. BEN- 19 yrs old||Goes by he/they/it||Died by sacrifice. BEN is a nerd, I'm throwing that on the table right away. He's a computer nerd and does most of the tech stuff the creeps need to have done. BEN is probably the least social guy you will ever fucking meet, he often stays in his room and doesn't come out for hours at a time, busy on his devices or doing something for the team. Toby Rogers- 20 yrs old||Goes by he/him||Isn't dead. Toby is one of the three men that leads the team on hunts/missions for the operator. He isn't immature but also isn't mature either. When it comes to living with people, he live's alone. He's not fond of newcomers, and certain creeps. He doesn't like Jeff all that much, or Tim. Mainly cause Tim and Toby just butt heads a lot. Toby has CIPA, tourettes, and PTSD. All three of these illnesses are dangerous to his mental health and physical health, but he's coping. Toby is an alcoholic in my AU.

Sally Williams- 14 yrs old||Goes by she/they||Died by murder. Sally is a spunky girl, she's very sweet and love's to pull pranks on the creeps. Many of them love her, as she grew up with them. Sally carries around a stuffed animal bear. While she's not fond of killing and rarely ever does, she does like to scare adults, play with kids and learn what being a teen is all about.

Jane Richardson- 24 yrs old||Goes by she/her||Isn't dead. Jane Richardson isn't a creep, getting that off my chest right now. She is a lone assassin killer looking for Jeffery Woods after he killed her family, alongside his own. Jane is a lesbian and her favourite thing on a woman are their hands. Hands tell a story, and she love's stories. She can be cold towards those around her but is mostly sweet to them. Jane is a romantic-goth!

Tim Wright- 29 yrs old||Goes by he/him||Isn't dead. Tim is kind of an asshat sometimes and is also really sweet at the same time. He's the head of the creeps, self titled with Brian. He is a leader, has that personality. This man does have DID and Schizophrenia. Tim is the only one who has come close to the operator and has severe night terrors over the haunting image that was the operator. Cigarette addict(Trying to still keep this a little accurate). But overall? Nice guy who is just tryna survive.

Brian Thompson- 28 yrs old||Goes by he/him||Isn't dead. Brian is a bit of a secluded guy who only really interacts with Tim, sometimes EJ if he's felling up to the task. But more often then not, he's alone in his room. He and Tim share a cabin. Brian likes guns, he prefers them. They are easier to handle. Note about Tim, Toby and Brian. Tim, Toby and Brian all look the most human, so typically, these three are the ones who go into town to get supplies for the others. Like food, water, clothing, shoes, new weapons, ect. Toby usually wears a mask over his mouth to hide his scar, he looks human, other than that.

These are just a few pasta's for now!

#creepypasta #creepypasta hcs #creepypasta fandom #jane the killer #marble hornets tim #tim wright #brian thomas #mh masky #hoodie mh #eyeless jack #jeff woods #jeff the killer #sally williams #ticci toby #toby rogers #ben drowned #ben creepypasta #creepypasta au #slenderman #the operator

[all-the-things-2020]

Home is Where the Force Is

Summary: Rey knows she can’t stay on Yavin IV forever, but where does she go from here?

Note: Includes characters from my other series, “Finding His Way,” and refers to incidents in the first story in that series.

Word Count: 12,500

Rating: PG

Rey Skywalker walked through the jungle of Yavin IV, her eyes closed but her footsteps sure. She’d been on the moon for the better part of a year, ostensibly to help Poe and Finn Dameron with their children while Poe’s father, Kes, recovered from a broken hip. But Kes had been up and about for months, back to his regular routine at the Dameron ranch, while Poe and Finn had the kids well in hand.

For a time, she’d told herself she was staying to keep tabs on young Ben Dameron, who showed signs of being Force-sensitive like his father, Finn, but since the child’s talents seemed to be limited to empathy and a unique ability to see and speak to Force ghosts, there wasn’t much in the way of training to be done. Then she’d almost convinced herself she was monitoring the progress of Ad’ika Djarin, the tiny eighty-year old child of unknown species whose Force powers rivaled her own. But again, Ad’ika was still too young (by his species standards) for proper Jedi training, and anyway, Rey hadn’t even worked out what proper training would be yet. And so she walked through the jungle, knowing exactly where her feet would lead her but refusing to accept it.

“You’re so predictable.”

She opened her eyes to find herself under the Force Tree on Kes’s property. Leaning against the trunk, a lopsided smile on his face, was the Force ghost of Ben Solo.

“No, I’m not,” Rey retorted. “Yesterday it was evening when I came. It’s barely past noon.” She stepped under the shade of the Tree, feeling the slight tingle of Force energy on her skin as the Tree welcomed her.

Ben laughed. “All right then, you’re slightly predictable,” he said. “But you know time isn’t quite the same on my side of things.”

Rey dropped her eyes, unable to meet Ben’s gaze. She was still struggling to understand her connection to the Force and the rules (if there were any) that applied to the Jedi who had lived before her. “I know,” she said quietly. “Am I being annoying?”

Again Ben laughed. “No, of course not,” he said. “I enjoy seeing you. I enjoy our conversations, even when you have questions I have no answers to.”

Now Rey looked up. She did have a tendency to bombard Ben with questions about the Force. Luke, or one of the older Jedi, would be more likely to have answers for her, but they wouldn’t always appear when she needed them. Ben always showed up.

“Sorry,” Rey said with a rueful smile. “But you’re the only one who’ll talk to me on a regular basis.”

Ben sat down against the trunk of the Tree and patted the ground beside him. Rey lowered herself into a meditation position, her hands resting lightly on her knees. “That’s because they see you as a student, and they only show up when you need some guidance, when you’re stuck or in danger of taking the wrong path,” Ben said. He bumped her shoulder with his own. “I just come because I like you.”

Rey felt her cheeks burning. She knew she was a pest, but sometimes she felt like nothing was right in the world unless Ben was beside her. Their connection puzzled her; was it simply their bond as a dyad in the Force, or was it something else, something more mundane but also more wonderful?

“Thank you,” she said when she’d composed herself. “For listening to me. It’s just … sometimes I need to talk things out, and Finn understands a little bit, but you --” She turned to look at him, resisting the urge to reach out and stroke his hair. She ached to touch him but even here under the Force Tree, he wasn’t corporeal enough to satisfy her senses. There was a subtle but immense difference between hugging Ben and hugging Finn, for instance. When she hugged her friend, she felt the warmth of his body, the pulse of his heartbeat, the texture of the fabric on his shirt, the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. When she hugged Ben, it was pressure, and a sense of the Force coursing through him, but that was all.

“I understand,” Ben said, breaking Rey out of her reverie. “But Mother and Uncle Luke think you need to start relying on yourself and your intuition, not me.”

Rey closed her eyes. She’d had this conversation with Luke several times. “I need to get my butt off Yavin and get back to work,” she said bitterly. “I know that, but …”

“You’re getting too attached,” Ben said softly. “I always hated that part of the Jedi creed. ‘No attachments.’” He shook his head. “Bantha shit, as my dad would say. You can’t do any good in the world without something to do good for.” He picked up her hand. “You have family, and friends, and your love for them is the base from which you develop a love and reverence for the rest of the galaxy.” He squeezed her hand. “I lost out on a lot of that. Mother and Dad were always busy saving the galaxy or making money, Uncle Luke was trying not to give me preferential treatment. I had family but I didn’t learn to love them until it was too late.” He took Rey’s chin with his other hand and turned her face so she was looking at him. “You never had a family, until you made one. You did it the right way around.”

“But I still need to leave them behind,” Rey said sadly. “I have to forge my own path, fulfill my destiny.”

Ben shook his head. “There’s no such thing as destiny,” he said. “You make your own decisions, you choose your own path. You want to help other Force sensitive beings reach their potential; you aren’t the savior of the Jedi religion. You are doing your own thing, Rey. Don’t forget that.”

*************************************************************

The next day, Rey firmly told herself she was not going to visit the Force Tree. To make sure her steps didn’t take her anywhere near it, she rode with Finn and the kids to the Djarins’ house. Both Ben and Shara had been clamoring for a playdate with Ad’ika and Finn had decided to indulge them.

“You’re gonna spoil them,” Poe said as he helped them load the kids and their paraphernalia into the speeder.

“Like you don’t,” Finn shot back. “And from what I’ve heard from Kes, you were plenty spoiled as a kid yourself.”

“Yeah, and look how I turned out,” Poe said.

“Oh, dear, Finn, he’s right,” Rey said. “We don’t want to risk that.”

Poe pointed at her and made a stern face, but Rey knew he was joking with her. At one time, she’d taken his teasing and bickering as a personal affront, but she’d learned long ago that it was how he showed affection. It had taken her some time to get used to this strange form of communication but now she was almost as fluent in it as Finn was.

Finn let her pilot the speeder, much to the delight of Ben who, like Poe and Rey, loved speed. Shara shook her head in the backseat with Finn. “She drives like Papa,” the little girl said. “Why can’t you drive, Daddy?”

“Because if I don’t let Auntie Rey drive, she’ll pout,” Finn shouted, loud enough for Rey to overhear.

“Maybe she’s spoiled,” Shara laughed.

“Probably,” Finn agreed. Rey took a moment to shoot him a look but she couldn’t take her eyes off the road for longer than a half a second. Even with her Force enhanced reflexes, the road to the Djarins’ house was twisty and rather dangerous at the speed she was going.

“Faster!” Ben screamed, his hands in the air.

Rey couldn’t go faster, but she reached out to tousle Ben’s hair. He had inherited Poe’s hair texture, with looser, softer curls than Finn and Shara’s hair. Of course, he hadn’t inherited his Papa’s vanity about his hair (or more likely, it just hadn’t developed yet) and his hair was usually a tangled mess. Poe had combed it neatly before they left, but the wind and Rey’s hand had done a job on it.

They reached the Djarin home and before Rey had even turned off the engine, Ad’ika was running up the walk toward the parking pad. “Ben! Shara! I have some new toys. Come see!”

Ben clambered out of the speeder, nearly taking a header, but Ad’ika deftly caught him with the Force and helped him get his balance. Rey was impressed by the child’s control of the Force. It came to him almost as easily as breathing, and she knew that with the long years of life ahead of him, he would one day easily outstrip her in power. For now, though, he was just a kid who liked to help others, and she was not worried about him starting down the path to the Dark Side.

Shara waited for Finn to lift her down from the speeder but as soon as her feet hit the ground, she was off and running after the boys. “Be careful!,” Finn called out as they disappeared around the side of the house.

“Din will keep an eye on them,” Mariana Djarin assured him from the doorstep. “He’s out back messing with some gadget or other.” She shrugged. “It could be a jet pack for Ad’ika, or possibly a vacuum cleaner, I’m not sure.”

Finn chuckled. “I’ll see if he needs any help,” he said. “With the kids or the gadget.” He gave Rey a pointed look and headed around the side of the house after the children.

Mariana tilted her head and gave Rey an appraising look. Rey hadn’t spent as much time with her as Finn had, but she liked the older woman very much. “I take it you need to talk about something,” Mariana said. She smiled at Rey’s widened eyes. “I don’t need the Force to see the look Finn gave you. He thinks you need to talk and I agree.” She stepped aside and gestured for Rey to precede her into the house. “Come on in. I’ll make some tea.”

Rey liked the Djarin home almost as much as she liked the Dameron homes. Poe and Finn’s place was always cluttered with toys and clothing (Poe was notorious for never putting anything away, despite Finn’s best efforts to retrain him), and Kes’ house was always full of delicious cooking smells. The Djarin home was tidy, but homey.

Mariana moved a stuffed bantha off the couch and invited Rey to sit down. “Make yourself at home while I fix the tea,” she said. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Rey sat back into the slightly lumpy cushions. The Djarins’ furniture and belongings were well worn but comfortable. It was clear that they didn’t have as many credits as the Damerons, or at least they didn’t spend them as freely. The most impressive item in the room was the perfectly polished beskar pauldron displayed on the wall over the fireplace. Rey knew that somewhere in the house was Din’s Mandalorian helmet, but she hadn’t seen it on display since their move to Yavin IV.

Mariana returned with a teapot and two cups on a tray, along with a plate of cookies. “I figured we should enjoy some cookies before the kids get a hold of them and they disappear,” she said with a smile. She poured the tea, handed a cup to Rey and then settled back on the other end of the couch.

“Thank you,” Rey said, taking a moment to inhale the warm scent of the tea. It was a variety from Koora that was said to have relaxing qualities. Just breathing in the steam helped loosen the muscles that Rey hadn’t even known she’d been tensing.

“So,” Mariana said, after taking a long sip of her own tea. “What’s on your mind?”

Rey thought briefly about denying she needed to talk, but she quickly realized she would not be able to fool Mariana. The woman had raised two human children, was still raising an alien child who would outlive her by centuries, was married to a former Mandalorian warrior, and had enjoyed a career as a college professor before the rise of the First Order had forced the family into hiding. She certainly knew how to identify a lie.

“I’m not really sure how to start,” Rey admitted. She paused to take a sip of her tea. The minty, slightly bitter top note faded into a mellower floral flavor shot through with a hint of sweetness. “As you know, I’ve been here on Yavin a lot longer than I originally planned to be. I’m supposed to be studying the lore of the Jedi, in order to learn how to use my own Force powers properly, and figure out the best way to teach other Force sensitive beings how to use theirs.”

Mariana nodded. “Finn’s mentioned that he was surprised you’d stayed this long,” she said. She offered Rey a cookie from the plate. Rey enjoyed eating almost anything, but she’d developed quite a sweet tooth ever since leaving Jakku. She nibbled around the edge of the cookie before she went on.

“And you know about Ben … Ben Solo, I mean,” Rey said. Mariana nodded again, encouraging her to keep going. Rey sighed. “I’ve been talking to him a lot, especially under the Force Tree on Kes Dameron’s ranch.” She looked down at the cookie in her hands. She’d broken it into pieces and the crumbs were scattered all over her pant legs. “I know I should leave, get back to my plans, but it’s hard.” She looked back up at Mariana. “I can communicate with Force ghosts anywhere, but it’s so much easier under the Force Tree. And they’re so much realer there. I’m … I’m going to miss being able to talk to him whenever I want, being able to reach out and touch him …” She trailed off, feeling embarrassed. “I mean, I can’t really touch him, he’s not solid but the Force is so strong under the Tree that he can sort of project solidity, if that makes sense.”

“Why is he so important to you?” Mariana asked.

Rey shoved a piece of cookie into her mouth so she could take her time answering. Even after she’d finished chewing and swallowing, though, she still didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I thought it was because we’re a dyad in the Force, and that’s part of it, but it’s not all.” She was embarrassed to go on. “I’ve … I’ve been wondering if … I mean … how do you know if … if you’re in love with someone?” Her voice fell to a whisper by the end of the sentence, and her face was hot with shame.

Mariana smiled gently and laid a hand on Rey’s knee. “It’s not simple,” she said, “So don’t feel silly for asking.”

“How … how did you know with your husband?” Rey stammered, then shoved some more cookie into her mouth.

“I knew he meant something to me,” Mariana said, “and I knew I was physically attracted to him, even though I’d never seen his face, or any part of him without a coating of beskar, but I didn’t really know I loved him until the time he came back after a job and he was hurt.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t a very big injury, nothing he couldn’t have taken care of himself, but I was so shaken to see the blood, I might have overreacted a bit. I made him sit down and let me take care of him. It was a hand injury, and when I was done and had bandaged him up, he reached out and tucked my hair back behind my ear. He’d never done that before, and feeling his hand against my face …” She paused, a smile on her face. “I didn’t even think, I just grabbed his hand, turned my head and kissed his wrist. And that’s when I knew.”

“So it was sexual attraction,” Rey said.

“No, not entirely,” Mariana said. “It was the feeling of relief that he was okay, knowing that I wanted him always in my life and that he felt the same.” She leaned back, tilting her head thoughtfully. “I knew we were friends, but after that I knew he meant more to me than just friendship could account for. Like I said, it’s hard to explain, and it’s certainly not simple.”

Rey stared into her tea cup, using her awareness of the Force to nudge the temperature of the beverage slightly higher, back to the optimum drinking range. She took a long sip before she turned back to Mariana.

“Am I crazy to have these feelings for someone who’s not even alive anymore?,” she said quietly.

“Not at all,” Mariana said. “And he’s not like most dead people, after all. You can still see him and talk to him.”

“I grew up on Jakku,” Rey said. “I was alone almost all the time. There were very few beings I could trust. I had to rely on myself. When I met Finn, and Han, and Poe, and Leia and the rest of the Resistance, I had no idea what friendship meant. In fact, I’m still learning. And as for romance and … and sex ….” She shook her head, unable to articulate any further. “Maybe I’m just not meant for that.”

“Not everyone is,” Mariana admitted. “But if you are, you’ll know. Maybe you’ll never have a lover, or a husband, or a wife. And that’s okay.” She patted Rey’s knee again. “There are entire species that are genderless. Even the gendered ones have an array of different sexual orientations. None of them are wrong or right; they just are. Don’t worry about what label to put on yourself. Just be yourself.”

Rey took a moment to digest that, then nodded. “That makes sense,” she said, “but it still doesn’t solve my problem. I know I need to leave Yavin and get back to work but I don’t know where to go. I’m stuck.”

Mariana nodded wisely. “Oh, I know all about being stuck in your research,” she said with a chuckle. “I always find that when I can’t make any headway, it’s best to switch gears. Research something else, or work on another aspect of the project. Come at the problem sideways, so to speak, and often you’ll discover what you’ve been overlooking.”

Rey ate another cookie while she pondered Mariana’s advice. Come at the problem from another direction … “I think I need to talk to Master Skywalker,” she said. “He was always good at nudging me in the right direction.”

“Luke?” Mariana asked, her eyes lighting up. “Of course, you can still talk to him.” She smiled gently. “I wish I could talk to him again. I didn’t know him long but he was a very wise man.”

Rey suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She’d known Luke only as an old curmudgeon; Mariana had known him as a young man, long before the unpleasantness of Kylo Ren and the First Order. Perhaps in those days he had been wiser.

“Would you like to talk to him again?” Rey found herself saying.

“Of course, but I can’t,” Mariana said.

“Well, not directly,” Rey admitted, “but I’d be more than happy to act as interpreter, so to speak.”

“I’d love to,” Mariana said. And the conversation ended there, as Finn, Din and the kids all burst through the back door and tumbled into the living room, carrying the platter of cookies with them. Din and Finn were laughing about something, while the children were bouncing around, shoving cookies in their faces and zooming toy star fighters around the room.

“So, what do I have to clean up?” Mariana asked, eliciting a sheepish look from her husband and Finn’s sudden interest in the blank wall on the other side of the room.

Rey sat back to finish her tea, basking in the warmth of a family. It was still a foreign concept to her, but she was beginning to learn how to navigate the currents of family life, courtesy of the Damerons and the rest of her Resistance family. But there was still a tiny part of her that remained cold and empty, even as she laughed and joked and ate with the ones she loved. It was a Ben Solo shaped hole, and although it had grown smaller over time, she wondered if it would ever fully disappear.

*******************************************************

When Poe heard about Rey’s proposal to take Mariana Djarin to the Force Tree for a conversation with Luke Skywalker, he immediately turned it into an excuse for a Dameron/Djarin family barbecue at Kes’s house.

“It’ll be perfect!,” he said. “The kids can run around and tire themselves out, Dad and I can cook, and Finn and Din can discuss what it’s like to be married to incredibly talented and intelligent people.” Finn smacked at him, but Poe dodged his husband easily. So much for the Force giving Finn an edge.

“You just want Dad’s famous grilled toobeck,” Finn said. Toobeck was a fish native to Yavin IV that was notoriously difficult to cook properly. Too little heat and it stayed slimy and raw; too much heat and it turned to the consistency of jerky. Done just right, it was flaky and sweet and subtly spicy. Poe had tried — and failed — several times since they’d moved to Yavin but his father had the knack.

“Well, it is toobeck season,” Poe said with a shrug. “I supposed we could ask Dad to cook some.”

Rey shook her head, but commed Mariana to ask if she and her family could make it.

“That sounds delightful,” Mariana said. “Din’s been wanting to learn more about the Yavinese style of barbecuing, and we’ve yet to have a well-cooked toobeck. Our neighbors had some at a party when we first moved into the neighborhood but it didn’t turn out very well.” She laughed. “Din ate it anyway. Said it was better than some of the rations he’d eaten while out bounty hunting. The neighbors were appalled and they haven’t asked us to anything since.”

In the background, Rey could hear Din say “Hey!,” and Mariana giggled like a young girl. “We’ll be there, and I’ll bring something delicious.”

“Don’t bother,” Rey said. “Between Kes and Poe, there will be more than enough food to feed a small army. Maybe something for the kids to drink? Or that ale that Finn likes so much?”

“Done,” Mariana said. “See you then!”

*******************************

Kes had a fully equipped kitchen as well as a sturdily built grill and smoker combination made from salvaged ship parts and native Yavinese stone. Poe had gone out early to help his father with the ambitious menu, but there was still plenty to do when Rey and Finn arrived with the kids. The Djarins arrived shortly after, and soon Kes and Din were in deep conversation about the merits of different types of grills and smokers, while Finn wrangled the kids and Poe finished up things in the kitchen.

“Can I help?” Mariana asked, after she’d unloaded the bottles of ale and fizzy fruit juice she’d brought into the conservator to chill.

“Just keep Rey out of the kitchen,” Poe said, pointing at her with a wooden spoon. “The girl loves to eat but she’s hopeless at cooking.” He sniffed. “Remind me to tell you about the time she tried to fix a meal for me and Finn when she was living with us during Ben’s gestation.”

Mariana raised an eyebrow, but Rey gently steered her away from Poe. She still maintained that it was impatience born of her imbalanced hormones that had made her serve the noodles too soon, so that they were still crunchy, and her weird cravings that had led her to think that hot peppers and pickled plums were a good base for a sauce. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a food snob,” she told Mariana. “Come take a walk with me until the food is ready.”

She gave Mariana a quick tour of the yard around the house. She’d come to know and love the ranch during her time on Yavin, and she enjoyed meditating in the vegetable garden, where she could feel the burgeoning life in the soil all around her. She pointed out the treehouse that Kes had been working on when he’d fallen earlier in the year, and the old hangar, now overgrown with jungle vines, that still held the remains of Shara Bey’s old A-wing fighter.

“I guess Poe used to go out there for hours every time he visited,” she told Mariana, “but ever since he and Finn got married, he hasn’t been out there very much.”

“Din’s much the same with his helmet,” Mariana said. “He used to keep in on display and polish it every week, but since we moved here, and he knows we’re safe, he leaves it on the shelf in our bedroom closet. I think he takes it out once a month or so, to clean it and tell Ad’ika the same old stories he’s been telling him for thirty years, but he doesn’t rely on it as much as he used to.”

“Am I the same way with the Force Tree?” Rey wondered aloud. “Am I putting too much importance on a material thing?”

Mariana looked thoughtful. “It’s a bit different, though, isn’t it,” she said after a moment. “The Tree is a living thing, not a hunk of metal. But the underlying principle might be the same. Maybe you should ask Luke about that.”

Just then a loud clanging rang through the air. “Food’s ready!” Rey said with a grin. Nothing cheered her up as well or as quickly as the prospect of a good meal, especially one prepared by Kes Dameron.

************************************

Rey and Finn were the only ones still eating. Everyone else was on the verge of slipping into a food coma, and there was still enough food left to feed several more people. Even Rey and Finn had progressed to the nibbling stage, “filling up the empty corners,” as Poe called it.

“You know, Rey,” Poe said as he leaned back in his chair and undid the top button on his waistband, “once you head back out into the galaxy, our grocery bill is going to be cut in half.”

“Ha, ha,” Rey said around a mouthful of custard pie.

“If she takes Finn with her, you’ll save enough money to buy a brand new X-Wing,” Kes said.

“Hey!” Finn said. “I resemble that remark.” He popped another cheese stuffed pepper into his mouth.

“I’d never do that, Dad,” Poe said complacently. “Finn’s worth more to me than any old X-Wing.”

Kes spluttered through the mouthful of ale he’d just taken. “Have the stars fallen from the sky? Have the trees turned blue? Did Poe Dameron just place something in the galaxy higher than his beloved X-Wing fighter?” He turned wide eyed to the others, while Poe rolled his eyes. “This boy’s first word was X-Wing. He obsessed about them from the time he was old enough to point at things.” He shook his head dramatically.

“Yeah, yeah,” Poe said, “I know. But I’ve matured a lot since then.”

“Since two weeks ago,” Finn muttered. “You were drooling over that X-Wing that Pava flew in on to drop off those Resistance files from Connix.”

Poe laughed. “Well, okay, but I drool over you more.”

Finn grinned. “It’s true. He literally drools … in his sleep.” He dodged a smack from Poe. Rey laughed along with the rest of them, but there was still that tiny part of her that wondered if she was always going to be the outsider, watching from the sidelines.

******************************************************

The Force Tree glowed softly in the twilight. Mariana had visited it before, but always with a group of others. It had been the setting for Finn and Poe’s wedding, and they’d had an anniversary party under it to celebrate five years of marriage just last year. It felt different now, though, as she approached it accompanied only by Rey. The girl closed her eyes as they came closer, a look of almost beatific joy coming over her face as they stepped under the canopy. The faint blue light that suffused the air surrounding the tree seemed to coalesce around Rey’s body, giving her a slight aura.

“So,” Mariana said after a moment. “How do we do this?”

Rey opened her eyes and smiled. “I just ask Master Skywalker to come talk to us. If he wants to, he’ll come. If he doesn’t, he won’t.” She settled down on the ground near the trunk of the Tree and assumed a meditation pose. “Be with me,” she began to mutter, and the glow around her intensified.

“Master Skywalker, there is a friend here who would like to speak with you,” Rey said after a short while. “An old friend of yours, and a new friend of mine.”

Mariana couldn’t see anything, but the air under the Tree changed subtly and she saw a broad smile break across Rey’s face. “He’s here,” she said. She paused, her head cocked as if she was listening. Then she laughed. “He said he’s busy, so get on with it. But he winked.”

Mariana stood awkwardly. “Um, how do I do this? Just talk to him and you’ll relay his answers?”

“Yes,” Rey said. She paused again and nodded. “He says, ‘It’s good to see you again.’ And he wants to know if your husband is still as stubborn as always.”

Mariana laughed. “Not quite as bad,” she said. “Despite all the odds, I think he actually did learn something from you and your lightsaber training.”

Rey sat up, her eyes wide. “You trained Mr. Djarin in the use of the lightsaber?” She listened attentively. “What happened to the saber?” She nodded again, her face going thoughtful before she shook herself. “I’m sorry, we’re supposed to be here for you, Mariana.”

All through the conversation with Luke, the girl was slightly distracted, and Mariana made a mental note to ask her about it on their way back to the house. For now, though, she caught her old friend Luke up on the past twenty years or so. “I wish I could see you,” she said wistfully. “I envy Rey and Ad’ika that much of their Force powers.”

Rey smiled softly. “He says he wishes you could see him, too, so you’d know how old and decrepit he’s gotten.” She laughed. “He’s joking, of course, because while Master Skywalker may have grown older, he was as strong as ever right up until he …” She stopped to gather herself. “I’m sorry, it’s just hard to believe that you’re … dead.”

“Everyone dies,” Mariana said, laying a hand on Rey’s shoulder. “Even legendary Jedi masters.”

Rey shook her head. “Now he’s laughing,” she said with a chuckle of her own. “He says the only legendary master he knows is Master Yoda. Maybe Ben Kenobi, but certainly not himself.”

“You’re legendary to me,” Mariana said. “Both of you.”

************************************************************

As they left the Force Tree, Rey could hardly keep her question from bursting out. Fortunately, Mariana was perceptive and asked her point blank what was bothering her.

“Not so much bothering me as exciting me,” Rey admitted. “Did Master Skywalker really teach your husband how to use a lightsaber?”

“Yes,” Mariana said. “While we were waiting for his sister to get intel on the whereabouts of Moff Gideon, Luke trained Din in how to fight with a lightsaber, since he’d be going up against the Darksaber.”

“Master Skywalker said he made a lightsaber for him,” Rey said. “And when I asked him what happened to it, he said Din returned it to him and he dismantled it.” She could feel a surge of energy go through her body as she blurted out. “He buried the kyber crystal and left it behind. He said it had done its job and it was time for it to wait for its next assignment. I think he wants me to find it.”

“There you go,” Mariana said. “It’s the sign you were waiting for, an impetus to get you moving again on your path.” She stopped and grabbed Rey’s hands. “I’m so happy for you. Florian isn’t the most exciting planet, but it’s not dangerous and I have good memories of that place. It’s a good first step to get you inspired.”

Rey squeezed the older woman’s hands. “Come with me,” she said, purely on impulse. “You’ve been there before, you can help guide me.”

Mariana laughed. “It was thirty years ago and there’s not much to tell. The abandoned hunting camp where Luke was camped out isn’t very large. Din can give you the coordinates and I’m sure it won’t take you long to find the crystal.”

Rey shook her head. For some reason, she wanted Mariana with her. “I think it’s important for you to come with me,” she said, “although I don’t know why.”

“I’ll think about it,” Mariana said. “That’s all I can promise right now.”

“That’s enough for now,” Rey said. She felt invigorated by this new piece of information. Kyber crystals were rare; finding the one for her own lightsaber had involved a three month expedition to a tiny planet in the Outer Rim that had called to her. Finn’s crystal had been slightly easier to find, as it was found in the jumble of broken crystals at an old Jedi temple site they had explored not long after she’d returned from finding her own. While the rest of the crystals had been shattered beyond repair, one perfect, unused crystal had been nestled at the bottom of the pile, and had glowed a soft green when Finn touched it. She wondered what destiny the crystal on Florian had in store.

******************************************************************************

Din Djarin was practicing with his quarterstaff. Rey hesitated in the doorway, not wanting to intrude on his workout, but uncomfortable watching without his knowledge. “I see you,” Din said without breaking out of the graceful, complicated steps he was putting himself through. “Come on out, just stay back so I have room to work.”

She stepped onto the back porch and settled into a wicker chair that sagged slightly as she sat down. Din was heavier than she was, and quite a few years older, but his technique with the staff was similar to her own. Even without the help of the Force, the man was totally aware of his surroundings, pulling a strike back a few millimeters to avoid hitting a lumbering butterfly that wandered through the backyard.

Ad’ika appeared on the porch, a tiny version of his father’s staff in his hands. “Dad says I need to practice,” he said quietly, hoisting himself into Rey’s chair and flopping on her lap. “But it’s boring by myself.” He pouted, his tiny green mouth turning down at the corners. “I’m too little to work with Dad.” He looked Rey up and down. “You’re pretty big, too. No one’s my size anymore.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she said. “They say Master Yoda was one of the greatest Jedi warriors of all time, and he was small like you.”

Ad’ika looked at her skeptically. “But that was when he was grown up. It’s going to be forever before I’m grown up. Cabur and Mirdala are grown up already, and I’m still small. Even their kids are getting big.”

Din joined them on the porch, sitting on the steps and leaning his staff against the railing. “That’s because we’re humans,” he said. “You’re different. Special.” Rey got the feeling father and son had had this same conversation many times over the years.

Ad’ika’s ears drooped. “Yeah, I’m different, and I’m going to live lots longer than you. You’ll be … gone … before I’m all grown up.”

Din held out his hands and Ad’ika leapt gracefully from Rey’s lap into his father’s embrace. “I know, ad,” Din said, gently stroking the boy’s ears. “But that won’t be for a long time.” He looked up at Rey. “Are you here to talk my wife into running off on a wild goose chase with you?” His words were gruff, but there was a twinkle in his eye that led Rey to believe he was joking with her.

“It’s not a wild goose chase,” she said firmly. “Luke said he buried the crystal, and R2 was there, so he should remember at least approximately where it’s buried.” She leaned forward. “I know you’re worried about Mariana going with me, but it’ll only be a few days. We’ll go to Coruscant to pick up R2, then fly directly to Florian. A day or two there to recover the crystal and we’ll head straight back. I promise she won’t be in any danger.”

“Oh, it’s not danger I’m worried about,” Din said. “I’ll just miss her, that’s all.”

“What, you aren’t looking forward to a few days without me?” Mariana stepped outside, carrying a tray with mugs of steaming chocolate. Ad’ika immediately perked up, his former bad mood forgotten at the prospect of hot chocolate.

“No,” Din said firmly. “You know I always miss you when you leave.” He took a mug and cupped it in his hands. “She used to go off for conferences now and then, when she was teaching,” he told Rey. “Left me with three kids while she was having exotic drinks at resort hotels on fancy planets.”

Mariana shook her head. “Those were academic conferences,” she said. “The drinks were weak and the hotels didn’t have many amenities besides conference rooms and sometimes a swimming pool. And I wouldn’t call Raxa and Fetoo fancy planets.” She took a sip of her chocolate, but grimaced.

Rey checked the temperature of her own mug; it was definitely still too hot to drink comfortably. That hadn’t stopped Ad’ika, who already had a chocolate mustache on his upper lip, but then he was rumored to have eaten live frogs when he was smaller, so he probably had a hardier digestive system than the humans.

“I do think you could do with some father/son bonding time, though,” Mariana said. “Which is why I’ve decided to go with Rey.”

Rey couldn’t help herself. She sat her mug down and leaped to her feet to wrap Mariana in a hug. “Oh, thank you,” she said. “I can’t explain it, but I just feel that I need to have you with me.”

“Jedi mumbo-jumbo,” Din grumbled, but that glint was still in his eye. He was not as friendly as Kes Dameron, but much less curmudgeonly than Luke Skywalker. Rey decided she liked him, very much.

“That may be,” Rey said, “but I feel much better knowing Mariana will be with me.” She sat back down and picked up her mug. The chocolate was cool enough to drink now. She took a long drink, savoring the bitter sweetness on her tongue. “I was thinking we could leave in two days, if that’s alright with you. I have to do a little maintenance on the Falcon, since it’s been sitting for so long.”

Mariana smiled. “That will be fine,” she said. “My, it’s been a very long time since I was on the Falcon,” Din looked up and locked eyes with her. Something passed between the two, but Rey couldn’t fathom what it was. It was clearly something pleasant, though, judging from the almost bashful smile on Din’s face.

Mariana winked at Rey. “I’ll tell you the story while we fly,” she said, which elicited a strangled squawk from her husband. “Not the whole story,” she conceded. “Just the highlights.” She kicked playfully at Din’s knee and he caught her leg, pulling her off balance. As she fell, he caught her expertly and lowered her into his lap, both of them giggling like teenagers.

“It must be some story,” Rey deadpanned, sipping at her chocolate.

“Oh, it is,” Mariana said, before leaning forward to kiss Din on the lips.

“Yuck,” said Ad’ika. “They kiss a lot.”

“I’ve noticed that,” Rey said. She also noticed that the boy’s mug was empty. “Come on, let’s see if there’s any more chocolate in the kitchen.” She drained her own mug and they left Mariana and Din sitting on the steps, their own cups of chocolate long forgotten.

****************************************************************

The Millenium Falcon dropped out of hyperspace and approached the planet Florian. It had been an uneventful journey, except for the surprise appearance of a pair of porgs in the galley. As promised, Mariana had told Rey the story of her previous experience aboard the Falcon and what had ensued after. This had led to a few in depth conversations about boys and feelings and Rey felt a lot more sure of herself after talking things out, although she still found it hard to speak (or even think) about certain things without blushing.

“I never had a mother,” she confessed the day before they arrived at Florian, while the ship cruised on autopilot and she and Mariana sipped cups of kaf at the holochess table.

Mariana smiled. “I’m already sort of Finn’s honorary mother,” she said, “so I might as well be yours, too.” She gently kicked Rey’s foot under the table. “Anytime you need to talk, wherever you are, I’m here for you.”

Rey ducked her head, embarrassed. “You already have a family …,” she started to say, but Mariana held up her hand to stop her.

“And there’s always room for a few more,” the older woman said. “Besides, Mirdala sure doesn’t need me any more.” She laughed ruefully. She’d told Rey how her fiercely independent daughter had chafed at the family’s self-imposed exile during the years of the First Order. She’d taken off once, coming back a few years later with a baby, and was once again out exploring the galaxy, with her son Ronal in tow.

Rey sipped at her kaf, wondering if this was the reason she’d felt compelled to bring Mariana with her on this venture. It certainly made her feel better knowing she had an older female in her life. Her time with Leia had been all too short, and far too much of that time had been spent dashing about just trying to survive.

R2-D2 beeped excitedly as Rey guided the Falcon down to land on a bluff overlooking the sea on Florian. The droid was the first one down the ramp after they were safely on the ground. Rey followed it slowly, taking a moment to breathe deeply. It was always good to be planetside after even a short flight. The air on ships was always stale and smelled slightly of dirty socks (or worse, depending on which species were aboard). The wind off the sea was brisk and salty, but without the bite that the wind on Ach-To had. Despite the superficial resemblance, it was a gentler place that the tiny island Master Skywalker had exiled himself to.

“Yes, R2, we’re coming,” Rey assured the droid, which was already trundling across the scrubby ground, heading inland.

Mariana paused at the bottom of the ramp next to Rey and took a deep breath as well. “I forgot how invigorating the air is here,” she said. “Of course, that was thirty some years ago!” She looked around. “Not much has changed. A bit of erosion on the cliffs, maybe. I don’t think the edge was quite that close to those rocks last time.” She pointed to a jumble of large boulders that was a scant few paces from the edge of the clifftop.

R2 beeped impatiently, its head swiveling back and forth as it scolded the women. Rey laughed. “All right,” she said. “R2 says if we’d stop sightseeing, we could get on with the job.”

Mariana shouldered her bag. “I always meant to take a class in Binary,” she said, striding after the droid. “But since Din doesn’t like droids, it never seemed very important.”

R2 beeped something very rude about Mr. Djarin, which Rey wisely did not repeat. Apparently the droid still held a grudge against the man, who had refused to accept its assistance on his mission against Moff Gideon all those years ago.

They walked across the uneven ground, picking their way through tussocks of grass and heathery bushes. There was no path, but R2 knew where it was going, and soon they came to the edge of a ravine where a path appeared, dipping over the edge and down into what soon widened into a small canyon.

R2 picked up speed once they were on level ground and soon disappeared behind some trees. As Rey reached the trees herself, she stopped and gasped. Laid out before her were the ruins of a small encampment, larger than a single dwelling but nowhere near large enough to rate the term village or even hamlet. What struck her most was not the dilapidated condition of the stone buildings, or the riot of weeds and saplings that covered the ground, but the feeling of calm and peacefulness that emanated from the area. A stream trickled past, the remains of whatever mighty torrent had carved this canyon in ages past, its water singing merrily as it tumbled over the rocks. A bird sang sweetly as it swayed on the top of a patch of reeds that grew along the bank. Something small and gray and furry darted across the open ground and then peeked out from between the crumbling blocks of stone of the nearest wall. The place was deserted but it was full of life, full of the Force. Rey could feel it in her bones.

“That largest building is where Luke and R2 were camped,” Mariana pointed out. “And over there …” She pointed at a much smaller building on the far side of the encampment. “That’s where Ad’ika and I stayed while Din was gone.”

Rey looked at Mariana. The older woman was smiling, her gaze unfocused as she remembered the past. “You have good memories of this place,” Rey said. She could feel it. Good things had happened here.

“Yes,” said Mariana wistfully. “This was where I learned that Din and I were married, and where I learned I was pregnant with Cabur. This was where my life began anew.” She had shared some of her life story with Rey during their talks. It had been a rough journey until she met a Mandalorian bounty hunter and his small alien child. And a Jedi knight.

R2 beeped loudly. [Dig here, Friend-Rey! This is where Master-Luke buried the crystal.]

Rey grinned. “R2’s found the spot,” she said. She pulled a small folding shovel out of her bag and went to work. The crystal was not buried deeply, maybe only a foot and half below the surface. As she got closer, Rey abandoned the shovel and dug with her hands, suddenly eager to reach the precious stone. Soon, she had it in her hand, a smoothly faceted piece of smokey white crystal. As she wiped the dust from it, it began to glow softly, a sheer blue light that flickered to green and purple as it woke.

“So that’s what a Kyber crystal looks like,” Mariana said, kneeling down beside Rey. “And that’s what powers a lightsaber?”

Rey nodded. “It acts as a power source and a focus for the Force,” she explained, taking a piece of soft fabric out of her pocket and carefully wrapping up the crystal before tucking it safely away in a pouch sewn to the inside of her bag. “Each one is unique, and the color changes depending on who wields the blade. Usually blue or green, but some are purple or yellow or even white.” She frowned. “The Sith channeled the Dark Side of the Force into their crystals, and their blades turned red as blood.”

“The Darksaber was black,” Mariana said. “Or rather, it was no color at all. No light, like a black hole. It was … unsettling.” She shivered despite the warm sun on their backs. “I was glad when Din gave it to the Armorer. I didn’t like him being the Man’dalore.”

Rey sat back on her heels. “I don’t know how the Darksaber was made,” she said. “Maybe one day I’ll contact the Man’dalore and see if she’ll let me take a look at it.”

Mariana raised an eyebrow. “I’d be careful about that,” she said. “There’s not much love between the Mandalorians and the Jedi, even though Luke helped Din recover the Darksaber for them.”

Rey nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right,” she said. She stood up. She’d accomplished the task she’d come to Florian for, but it felt as though there was still something more she was meant to do here. She looked up at the sun, which was still high in the sky. “We have quite a bit of daylight left. Do you mind giving me a quick tour?”

Mariana stood up as well, a bit slower and more stiffly, but waving off Rey’s offered hand. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just takes a little bit longer to get moving these days. And I was never the most athletic and graceful person anyway.” She laughed. “I’d love to give you a tour. There’s not much to the place, so it shouldn’t take long.”

She showed Rey the interior of the main building, where Luke and R2 had set up their work stations and she’d seen Luke meditating while levitating off the ground. “If I hadn’t been so worried about Din attacking him for being an ‘enemy sorcerer,’ I’d have asked him about it,” Mariana said. She tilted her head. “Can you do that?”

“Of course,” Rey said with a smile. “I’ll demonstrate tonight.”

Next Mariana showed her the tiny, dilapidated hut where she, Din, and Ad’ika had stayed. “It had a roof back then,” she said. “And Luke had brought in some basic furniture from the closest settlement. It wasn’t fancy, but it was snug and …. “ She stopped and wiped at her eyes. “Sorry, I just … I just realized this was our first house.” She laughed through her tears, and Rey tentatively patted her on the shoulder. “You probably think I’m being silly and sentimental,” Mariana said.

“No,” Rey said. “I think … I think this place is special. To you and your family, of course, but there’s also something else …” She couldn’t put her finger on it but it was tantalizingly close.

“It was a Jedi outpost around three hundred years ago,” Mariana said. “Luke was here searching for any books or artifacts left in the caves. You might be sensing whatever drew those Jedi here in the first place. Or maybe their connection to the Force is still resonating.”

Rey nodded. “I’ll check out the caves later. But let’s finish your tour first.”

Mariana led her upstream a few hundred yards to a lovely little meadow. The stream widened out and wound lazily through the grasses. “In the springtime, there are beautiful flowers here,” Mariana said. “Lots of birds and beautiful little lizards.” She laughed. “I had to stop Ad’ika from eating them!”

Rey stepped into the middle of the meadow. Whatever she’d been feeling was even stronger here. “It’s so alive,” she murmured. “I can feel the Force pulsing through everything so strongly.”

“This is where Luke and Din practiced with the lightsabers,” Mariana said. “I remember Din telling me that after one of their sessions, he suddenly saw the meadow in a different light. It felt so vibrant and alive … those were his exact words.”

Rey slowly lowered herself to the ground. “Do you mind if I meditate here for a while? Alone?”

“Of course not,” Mariana said. “I’ll just take R2 back to the Falcon and get some supplies. I think we should spend the night here. So you won’t have to rush your exploration of the caves.”

Rey faintly heard the older woman walk away, but she was already dropping into a meditative state. “Be with me,” she whispered, and she felt herself connecting to the swirl of life that surrounded her. She felt the grasses growing, the worms and microbes and fungal threads that swarmed in the soil beneath her, the droplets of water that made their way from the ground to the tops of the trees, the whirring wings of insects and the flutter of bird wings. A lizard slithered through the leaves. A furry mouse-like mammal snuffled around the tree roots. It was all connected and it went deep, down into the bedrock that lay underground.

She surfaced several hours later, the sun dipping below the rim of the canyon and her stomach complaining about being empty. She followed the scent of something delicious being cooked over an open fire to find Mariana and R2 in the largest building, putting the finishing touches on a cozy little campsite.

“I thought the smell of stew might lure you back,” Mariana said.

“Is that Kes’ recipe?” Rey asked. It smelled of the Yavinese spice that Kes Dameron used so often it was a signature part of almost every dish he served.

“Sort of,” Mariana said. “He sent some ingredients with me, things he said you particularly like, but I just sort of threw it all together.”

“Well, it smells delicious,” Rey said. She plopped herself down next to the fire. “Is it ready yet?”

Mariana laughed. “Just about. Let me get some bowls and spoons.”

The stew tasted as good as it smelled, and Rey polished off three bowls before R2 made a snide comment. “What? Meditation makes me hungry,” she replied, wiping her bowl clean with a piece of insta-bread.

After they had washed up the dishes, Rey made good on her promise to demonstrate levitation to Mariana. It took a bit more focus than simple mediation but it came more easily to her than it had in the beginning.

“Very impressive,” Mariana said once Rey had settled back to the ground. “But don’t teach Ad’ika how to do that just yet. I think it would freak Din out.”

Rey laughed. Her heart felt so light here. It was more than just being next to a cozy fire with two trusted friends. It was something more. Long after Mariana was snoring quietly in her bedroll, Rey lay awake in the soft darkness of the hut, opening herself to the Force. As she was just about to drift off to sleep, she heard a voice whisper to her, “You’re home.” It took her a moment to realize it was her own voice, and when she did, she smiled.

***************************************************************************

When Mariana woke up the next morning, Rey was already up and gone, her bedding neatly folded. It was quiet and the birds were singing, so Mariana indulged in a bit of a lie in, something she didn’t get to do very often. Ad’ika might be over eighty years old, but he was still a little boy and like all small children, he woke up early and was ready for breakfast soon after.

She had dozed off again when Rey returned. “Did I wake you?,” the girl said. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, I should have gotten up a while ago,” Mariana said, stretching her arms over her head. “I’m just being lazy.”

Rey folded herself gracefully onto the ground. “Do you know who owns this piece of land?,” she asked. “Who I would talk to about getting permission to stay here?”

“Stay here?” Mariana was surprised.

Rey nodded. “I just … feel like I belong here,” she said, a faint smile on her face. “I went into the caves this morning and there are carvings on the walls. Very ancient, pre-dating the Jedi presence. I think this place has always been special. I want to find out why.”

Mariana sat up and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “Well, I don’t think anyone really owns this area, but we can go to the settlement where Luke got his supplies and ask,” she said. “It’s not far. He got there and back in his X-Wing in just a few hours, and that included purchasing the supplies and whatever else he did. I’m sure R2 has the coordinates, or you can use the sensors on the Falcon to find it.”

“Then let’s go today,” Rey said. “I don’t want to keep you here too long. I know your husband is missing you.” She grinned. “I’ll fix breakfast.”

While Mariana got dressed and washed her face, Rey heated up the leftover stew and prepped some insta-bread, humming as she worked. It was amazing how much happier she seemed here. The girl had a delightful laugh and an infectious smile, but all too often she was the serious one in the group, taking her cues from the others.

After breakfast, they packed up everything and headed for the Falcon. R2 consulted its memory banks and plugged the coordinates for the closest Floriana settlement into the nav computer. “Twenty miles to the northwest,” Rey said. “That’s not too far, and from the orbital scans we took on our approach, it looks like there’s plenty of flat ground where I can land the Falcon just outside the settlement.”

It only took a few minutes to hop from their landing site to the open plains outside the Floriana settlement. R2 beeped directions to Rey once they were out of the ship, and the girl headed confidently into the small town.

“Any idea who is in charge?” Rey asked as they walked.

“No,” Mariana said. “I never came here. The only local I met was a being named Klev … and the resident nurse droid. They came to the camp with Luke. The Florianas are a genderless species, and Klev wanted to see a female.” She laughed. “I remember they were disappointed that Din had already left because they wanted to observe a mated pair. Luke got a good laugh out of that.”

Rey stopped in her tracks and turned to face Mariana. “Master Skywalker laughed? On purpose?” She looked puzzled.

“Yes,” Mariana said. “Is that surprising?”

Rey thought for a second. “A little,” she said. “I know he wasn’t always an old, embittered man, but it’s hard for me to picture him any other way.” She sighed. “What happened with Ben — I mean Kylo Ren — must have hurt him terribly.”

Mariana laid a hand on Rey’s arm. “The Luke Skywalker I knew joked around with his brother in law, liked to tease, and had a great laugh,” she said. “I wish you could have known that version of him.”

“Me, too,” Rey said simply. Then she turned back toward the settlement and continued to walk.

********************************************

The Florianas were tall, with intricately braided hair and a faint reddish fur covering their skin, but otherwise a typical humanoid species. Rey found their openness to strangers refreshing; no one had reached for a weapon or ducked inside a doorway when she, R2, and Mariana walked into town. Instead, they were greeted with genuine smiles and the third person they saw had approached them eagerly.

“Can I help you with anything?,” they asked in careful Basic. “I am called Koran. I have lived here my whole lifetime.”

“Thank you, Koran,” Rey said. “I am Rey Skywalker and this is Mariana Djarin.” After an indignant beep, she added, “And R2-D2, of course.”

Koran smiled, showing neat pointed teeth that indicated the species was a least partly carnivorous. “A pleasure to meet you,” they said. “You are human, correct? And if I am not mistaken, of the female gender?”

“Yes,” Rey said. She felt a sudden urge to cross her arms over her chest, to conceal her admittedly not very prominent breasts. She did not consider her gender important; no one had ever treated her differently because she was a girl, except a few men on Jakku who had quickly learned that she was more than capable of defending herself from their unwanted sexual advances.

“And what business do you have with our village?” Koran continued. “We know you are not tourists, because no one comes here unless they have to.” They chuckled, showing even more of their delicately pointed fangs. “All the interesting bits of Florian are on the southern continent. We don’t see many offworlders here.”

“We have a question about the abandoned village of Arvala,” Mariana said.

Koran tilted their head. “I do not know of an Arvala,” they said. “But there is an old hunting camp we call Arrek near the coast.”

“Maybe Arvala was an older name,” Mariana said to Rey. “That’s what Luke called it. I remember, because it’s the same as the name of the planet where Din found Ad’ika. We commented on what a coincidence it was.”

“Kinja might know,” Koran said. “They are an elder and a scholar.”

Koran led them to a small house on the other side of the village. Kinja proved to be a thin, slightly stooped being with a few patches of gray in their dark braids. When Koran explained who they were, Kinja welcomed them into their home.

“Please, sit,” they said. “I can make refreshments if you would like.”

“That’s not necessary,” Rey said as she and Mariana settled onto a pair of woven cane chairs. Kinja reclined on a low wooden couch covered in cushions.

“Forgive an old being for claiming the most comfortable seat,” Kinja said. “What is it you wish to know about Arrek?”

Rey sat forward, suddenly feeling very nervous. “I’d love to know anything you can tell me about its history,” she said, “but most importantly, I’d like to know who owns it.”

Kinja laughed. “No one owns Arrek,” they said. “Very little land is owned on this continent. We have never gone in for that sort of thing. Life has always been harsher here than on the southern continent, so we have practiced a more communal way of life.”

Rey felt a surge of excitement. “So … if I wanted to stay there for a while, it would be all right?”

Kinja tilted their head. “Yes, although I do not see why anyone would want to. It is so far away from others. Even the hunters who used it as a base camp traveled in groups and only stayed there for a few days at a time.” They paused for a long moment. “There was one human, many years ago.”

“Yes,” Mariana said. “Luke Skywalker. He was searching for books and other artifacts left from the ancient Jedi settlement.”

Kinja’s eyes lit up. “Ah, yes,” they said, leaping to their feet. They hurried from the room and returned a few minutes later with a large wooden bound volume. “Jedi … Jedi …” They paged quickly through the book until they found the page they were looking for. “Here it is. ‘The hunting camp of Arrek lies on the ruins of the ancient settlement of Arvala. This village was built by a group of Jedi, an off world religious order dedicated to the understanding of the Force and the training of those gifted in the manipulation of the Force.’ You say this Skywalker was studying these Jedi?”

“Yes,” Mariana said. “He was a Jedi himself, trying to recover some of the teachings that had been lost when the Empire destroyed the Jedi order.”

“And I am continuing his work,” Rey said. “He was my master, if only briefly.”

Kinja nodded. “Then it is clear that you have as much claim to use that site as anyone else on the planet,” they said. “The village was built by Jedi and it has not been used as a hunting camp for centuries.” They paged through the book a bit more. “There is no record of any settlement there before the Jedi, although perhaps our primitive ancestors lived in the caves at one time.” They shrugged. “I see no reason why you should not stay there as long as you like.”

Rey felt a flood of relief at Kinja’s words. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to stay in Arvala (or Arrek, or whatever it was called) until this moment. Then she paused a moment to think about what moving to Floriana meant. “I … I might be there for some time,” she said. “I not only want to learn about the Jedi, I want to help other Force-sensitive beings learn how to use their abilities, and help them avoid going down the wrong path.” She looked up at Kinja. “There may be more of us as time goes on.”

The Floriana nodded solemnly. “Then you will be a new trading partner for our village,” they said. “And maybe your offworlders will have visitors … we might finally get some tourists after all!” They laughed. “The southern continent may have the Baths of Lingor and the Great Canyon of the Rekkan River but we will have a Jedi settlement.”

“I’m not sure I’d call it that,” Rey said with a laugh. “Maybe a school? A … retreat?” She shook her head. “I’m not even sure I’ll use the term Jedi anymore. Honestly, I’m making this all up as I go. So much was lost during the time of the Empire and the First Order.”

Kinja nodded again. “We were, for the most part, safely out of the chaos here,” they said, “but we are well aware of what went on in the rest of the galaxy. It would be nice to help restore a little bit of light and culture to the galaxy, even in a small way.”

There was a pause in the conversation as they all pondered Kinja’s words. Then Mariana cleared her throat. “When I was here before,” she said, “about thirty years ago, I met a being named Klev. Are they still living here?”

Kinja dipped their head. “Klev departed the living about seven years ago,” they said. “I admired Klev. They were in the same generational group as my sibling Klemar. Klev was always curious about new things, so I am not surprised you met them. They did have an offspring, but that one left to study on the southern continent after Klev’s death and they have not returned. They are called Kovan; they are from the same generational group as Koran, who brought you here.”

While Mariana and Kinja chatted about Klev and the Floriana tried to explain the intricacies of their species reproduction, Rey let her mind wander. Already she had plans to repair the buildings at Arrek (she felt it only right to use the local name for the place) and to plant the Force Tree sapling Poe had given her on her first visit to Yavin IV. She saw it growing tall and strong among the native trees, and she heard the voices of younglings laughing as they darted among the stone buildings. She saw a flame lit meditation area deep in one of the caves, the walls painted with ancient and arcane symbols. She saw books and scrolls filling the shelves of the communal hall, and heard stories of many worlds told around the fire pit as young and old alike sipped warm drinks while the wind and rain raged outside. And she saw herself, standing under the Tree, with Ben beside her, watching a pair of mismatched beings spar with lightsabers: one a hulking Wookiee, the other a diminutive Ughnaught.

She shook herself from her reverie when Mariana touched her leg. “Are you okay?,” the older woman asked.

“I’m absolutely fine,” Rey said with a smile.

******************************************

Koran accompanied them back to Arrek. “Kovan will be interested to hear of this place, where their parent once came,” they explained. “And I would like to see what kind of help you will need to restore the area. We have several skilled stone workers who would be willing to assist you.”

Rey spent the rest of the day sketching out her plans for the village, while Koran took copious notes on a data pad. As the sun began to lower in the sky, she stopped. “We should be going,” she said reluctantly. “I’m sure Mariana’s husband is missing her and I said we’d only be gone a few days. But I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Koran nodded. “I will bring a few workers out to begin preparations. And I can tend to your young tree until you return.”

One of the first things Rey had done upon their arrival at Arrek was to plant the Force Tree sapling. It had stubbornly survived for years in a pot on the Falcon but as soon as she placed its roots in the soil of Florian, she felt a surge of what she could only describe as happiness. It was as if the little tree wiggled its toes into the ground and stretched its limbs toward the sun with a sigh on contentment. Mariana had helped her pick just the right spot, on the edge of the little meadow. The Tree would not overshadow the open area in years to come, but was close enough to the stream that it should not need much supplemental watering once it was established. From what Rey sensed, that wouldn’t take long.

“We can stay a bit longer if you like,” Mariana said gently.

“No,” Rey said, shaking her head. “You need to get back to your family. And I need to say goodbye to mine.” The only sad part about all of this was that she would have to leave Finn and Poe and Kes and the children behind. She’d known that life on Yavin IV was not her path, but being with family, being part of a family had been so tempting.

“Let’s go,” she said, giving one last look around Arrek. “I’ll be back soon enough.”

********************************

As she predicted, Finn was stoically accepting of her decision. Poe, on the other hand, was not.

“So you’re just going to go off and live in an abandoned village twenty miles from the nearest settlement on some backwater planet all by yourself?,” he half-yelled as he paced the living room, scrubbing his hands through his hair.

“Yes,” she said simply. “And I won’t be by myself. Koran and the others will be helping me restore the buildings, and I’ll have the Falcon so twenty miles is nothing. Plus I’ll have R2 with me.”

“She’ll be okay,” Finn said.

“Oh, I know she’ll be okay,” Poe admitted. “She’s probably the most capable one of all of us. She killed the freaking evil Emperor for Force’s sake.” He threw his hands in the air. “I’m just … I’m going to miss her.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” Rey said, touched beyond words by Poe’s confession. They teased each other constantly and had always been rivals for Finn’s attention, but he truly cared for her. “I’ll miss both of my stupid brothers,” she went on. “And my adorable niece and nephew. And Kes’s cooking!”

Poe laughed. “You’re going to miss Dad’s kitchen most of all, admit it,” he said.

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

Finn put an arm around each of them and pulled them into an embrace. “We’ll all miss you, Rey,” he said, “but you have to follow your path and we have to follow ours. And we’ll come visit. And you’ll come back when you get hungry enough.” He laughed that whole-hearted laugh that always made Rey smile. Finn had seen some terrible things in his life, but he could still enjoy life to the fullest, because he had a heart full of love.

Rey made her goodbyes to Din and Ad’ika, then made her way out to Kes’ ranch. He’d promised her a final meal with all her favorite dishes. When she arrived, Poe was helping his father in the kitchen while Finn and the kids were setting and decorating the table, which had been set up in the garden. A string of fairy lights hung from the boughs of the treehouse tree, which Shara proudly announced was her idea.

When the meal was finished, Rey whispered in Finn’s ear. “I’ll be back in a bit. I just need to say goodbye to someone else.” He nodded and kissed her cheek.

She made her way slowly down the path to the Force Tree. It shimmered in the darkness and the leaves seemed to reach out for her as she approached. Before she reached the trunk, Ben appeared, leaning nonchalantly against nothing. She hated when he did that.

“So, you’re finally leaving Yavin,” he said.

“Yes,” she said simply. “I think Arrek is where I’m meant to be, at least for now.” She reached out and took his hand, which was there and not-there, as usual. “I planted the sapling there. It’s still very small but I think it will grow quickly. I saw … I saw it standing tall and strong, and you and I were under it, watching two of my students spar. I had a little bit of gray in my hair, but I didn’t look too old … it might be some time before the Tree is strong enough to allow us this much physical contact, but I know you’ll be there.”

“I’ll always be here for you,” Ben said. “But don’t wait for me. If you need more than I can give you … don’t feel guilty.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know if I’ll ever want that, but I know you can’t give that to me.” She sighed. “I had some good talks with Mariana. For now, it’s enough for me to have friends and family … I might want more in the future but it’s not like I want to have children.” She laughed. “Carrying Ben for the Damerons cured me of that. And I’ll have students eventually. That’s all the legacy I need.”

Ben wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his embrace, wishing she could feel his warmth as well as his energy. “Whatever you want, I’ll do everything I can to help you get it,” he said softly. “I fought against you, against the Light, against my own family, for too long. I will be your staunchest ally, Rey Skywalker, in everything you do. Even if it means I have to watch you fall in love with someone else, above all else, I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” she said. “I will always be happy, knowing you are by my side, one way or another.” They stood quietly, bathed in the gentle blue light of the Force Tree, knowing it would be some time before they could be this close again.

“May the Force be with you,” Ben said as she prepared to leave. He kissed her forehead, his lips cold and lifeless against her skin.

“Always,” Rey said. Then she turned and faced her future.

****************************************************************

End Notes:

I realize while looking back at previous stories that I had inadvertently named the village where Din and Mariana met Luke after the planet where Din found The Child (and home of Kuiil). I hope I corrected my blunder in a believable way :)

I wrote this story to resolve some of the loose threads of Rey’s story that were left dangling in my previous stories. I did not expect her to end up back on Florian and it was a pleasant surprise to bring my two series full circle and tie them together.

#star wars #star wars sequel trilogy #rey skywalker #ben solo #grogu #baby yoda #din djarin #finn star wars #poe dameron

[raisedbythetv89]

The Star Wars sequels are such a beautiful message for the people who are healing generational trauma and righting wrongs they never committed in the first place to break cycles our ancestors were stuck in their entire lives.

Healing wounds that aren’t yours fucking SUCKS. Fixing things you didn’t break fucking SUCKS. It’s so unfair and exhausting and confusing until you figure out inherited wounds and trauma is what you’re dealing with not just what has happened to you in this lifetime.

I love that they made Rey a Palpatine. It makes for an incredibly powerful message of healing and overcoming your childhood and your family and defining your own destiny no matter where you came from - it is SUCH a hopeful and empowering message that such a literal ray of sunshine could come from such evil!! People with abusive parents NEED to see that kind of story where you become NOTHING like your family and can literally say fuck you and everything you’ve ever stood for AND your family name I want nothing to do with it! 🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻 the original trilogy sort of dealt with these themes as well but the ending are completely different. Anakin finally sees the error of his ways and comes through for at least one of his kids. Rey literally DESTROYS her grandfather’s clone by reflecting back on him what he dishes out and changes her last name. She’s for the people who had to give up hope of ever reconciling or finally being heard by their parents or the people who harmed them and just moving on and building their own life instead.

Anakin failed to protect and save his love as a result of Palpatine’s manipulation and fell to darkness, betraying everything Padme fought for and believed in.

Rey, instead of manipulating a Skywalker to darkness for her own power hungry selfish ends like her grandfather, inspires Ben to come back to the light. And where Palpatine “saves” Anakin by turning him into even more of a monster after his battle with Obi-wan, Rey literally heals Ben not just of the stab wound she had just inflicted but ALL of his scars as well making him whole again by sharing her life force in an outpouring of love and saying I didn’t want power, I didn’t want to rule, I just wanted YOU, Ben Solo - “I did want to take your hand, Ben’s hand” not only breaking the cycle Palpatine’s and Skywalkers have been trapped in but literally fixing what her grandfather broke.

And Ben DOES save his love from dying and not only that, where Anakin’s thirst for power was his downfall because he falsely believed more and more power was how you become invincible, Ben literally gave Rey EVERYTHING he had😭. HE SAID GOODBYE TO HER WITH THAT HUG BEFORE HEALING HER BECAUSE HE WASNT SURE HE WOULD SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE IF HIS EFFORTS WORKED. Literally the polar opposite of Anakin - being willing to give up EVERYTHING just for a CHANCE that Rey could live even if he wouldn’t be alive to be with her.

Everyone being all pissed at the “somehow palpatine returned” line need to get some fucking perspective. Their ENTIRE PLAN was to make TROS centered around Leia!! Finishing her story like they did for Harrison and Mark, and Carrie fucking DIED. I still feel the grief of that loss literally anytime I think about it!!! And I never even met her!!! You have this crew of people grieving this powerhouse of a woman and wanting to honor her by giving Leia’s story a worthy conclusion working with like SEVEN LINES they didn’t use from a previous movie. They had to build an entire trilogy finale that worked around a few lines of dialogue. Any idiot with half a brain can figure out Leia’s line of “always in the shadows from the very beginning” was what prompted the return of Palpatine because literally how else do you make that line usable?? Also they clearly needed a new villain because they wanted Leia’s death to be about saving her son just like Anakin’s was so Kylo Ren couldn’t be the big bad anymore - Palpatine as the villain is literally the only thing that makes sense for the movie projects (and even before I knew all of the behind the scenes of why and how they made the choices they made I loved all three movies I truly think everyone is way too fucking critical of our campy space opera’s and gets all worked up with their own theories and when they don’t be what they were expecting they have a meltdown combined with their internalized misogyny making them hypercritical because the story centers around a girl and people subconsciously hold women to unrealistically high standards)

So not only do Rey and Ben fix the mistakes of their grandfathers but they break the Palpatine/Skywalker abuse cycle that has wreaked havoc on the galaxy for decades. Making the movie about so much more than just another conflict between the rebellion and the first order. It’s an incredibly important story to me. Is it perfectly flawless? No. But literally nothing in life is so maybe just try and enjoy what you can and if you can’t enjoy it yourself leave the people who can ALONE.

#rey skywalker #reylo #ben solo #star wars sequel trilogy #the rise of skywalker #meta #generational trauma #carrie fisher #princess leia

[rhaenryatargaryen]

15 questions

Tagged by @aemondtragaryen. Thank you for tagging me!!

1. are you named after anyone?

Not for my first name but my middle names are the female equivalent of one of my grandfather's and then the other one comes from an F1 driver who died right before I was born. I can't explain my parentals' thinking behind that either.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Today, watching Clara Oswald edits because I forgot how much I love her.

3. do you have kids?

No, I can barely keep my plants alive.

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

It's in my top three coping strategies.

5. what's the first thing you notice about people?

Probably their energy towards me. I'm a very socially anxious person so I notice whether they seem interested in engaging with me before I invest any more time in them. Otherwise, eyes and hands. Always.

6. what's your eye color?

Blue but like a stormy blue? This may just be me in denial over having grey-ish eyes.

7. scary movies or happy endings?

Both! But not at the same time, I want all of my scary movies to have a dark ending to match the failings in society they are reflecting, thanks.

8. any special talents?

I can bake reasonably well, cry on demand (and not on demand) and get lost on a straight road :)

9. where were you born?

In the U.K. but I have managed to at least move away from the place I was born over the course of my 28 years of living.

10. what are your hobbies?

I love to consume media via books, film and television, think about that media an unhealthy amount, bake, run and pretend to be cultured at the theatre and exhibitions while understanding so, so little.

11. have you any pets?

No, but my top priority now that I have my own place is to buy a cat. My dad has the world's stupidest cat and he is my angel.

12. what sports do you play/have you played?

I used to play field hockey and water polo while I was at uni, but now I just run because it's cheap and I am poor.

13. how tall are you?

I am a giant at 5'10.

14. favorite subject in school?

English Lit, History and Latin filled me with joy.

15. dream job?

I absolutely love my current job but otherwise I'd love to either go into publishing and be paid to read for a living or go into academia and study literature for life.

Tagging @shaunasjackie @tuseranita @vsenyatargaryen @ben--solos @demontargaryen @grandlovescheme @valarrtargaryen @bcygenivs @targaryeirene @targaryenbrainrot + anyone else who wants to do it :)

[canonrpfinder]

☀️📲🌑 — 🏫❤️

Hello hello hello party people! let’s get right to it.

Today I’m looking for an 18+ writing partner (I myself am 21+) for a very specific Star Wars roleplay. The pairing will be Reylo; I’d like to play Rey, and am more than happy to take on side characters to give our verse more depth.

I can write literate to novella, however this roleplay will be a different sort of style… I’d like a storyline where we form their relationship primarily through text messages, as I really enjoy playing with the text message style. So much of our communication is text-based these days, when you think about it. We would do pivotal/important/necessary scenes in paragraph format, but I’d love for us to focus on having them text each other as all kinds of teenage drama goes on around them! I’m talking 80% texting style and 20% paragraph style. 💞

The plot (a high school AU) is as follows;

Rey Doe is a foster child who is consistently moved from home-to-home. None of them have been great, but she’s always been the type to push through hard times. Most recently she has been moved to [Insert Name of Some Suburbia Here], coincidentally right across the street from one Ben Solo and his parents. Once Rey begins school, she quickly becomes well-liked because she’s friendly and approachable, so she falls in with the semi-popular kids at school such as Finn, Poe, Rose, Kydel, etc… Meanwhile, Ben doesn’t have the best reputation. He’s known to be a loner who’s in with the wrong crowd, known to be angry, gets into fights, skips, smokes, drag races, has lots and lots of (not necessarily always completely true) rumours about his “dark” and “sordid” reputation going around. Rey isn’t convinced, and somehow she ends up with his phone number (we can decide how together). Overtime they begin to slowly form a friendship that’s kept mostly via text, as in their irl lives they don’t actually interact very much in the beginning. They are from different cliques, and not the types people would think to become friends.

As you can probably tell, I love to world and story-build, and i love character development. I appreciate a partner who is also driven by these things, and will be just as excited about contributing to our plot as I definitely will be! I love love love themes of angst/hurt/comfort. Let’s put these hormonal teenagers through hell! 😈

If you find yourself interested and you would like to discuss, like this post and I���ll send you a message with my Discord username, where we can get down to business. ✍️💙

✒

#roleplay #rp #star wars #reylo #18+ age range #discord rp

[kylo-wrecked]

Wood shavings. Moth balls, something chemical in still quiet. Just grazes.

Place smells colder than it is.

The Bat waits even so. Reasonable cause hiding in his caliber - (Getting the readouts on some of this guy's pricier hardware, but it takes a few seconds and digital thumbing, file after file. After file.) - but that's not what has his shadow suspended across a faux pad/lounge with its complement of eclectic, not-quite rock-and-roll joints and a couple Fenders. (Thinks it's a Mustang that catches his eye, but easier to move on as stillness grows. Expands.)

He's not so sure nobody's home.

The Bat departs from the limelight; this blood orange glow that drenches the trailer (so-called) from somewhere outside. Scouts a chalk scuff of blow on a glass table. Shadow exhaling over carpet; couch; crystallized lid where glass becomes a code-locked cartridge within table's core.

Starting to nose out a tinge of panic here. All this. It's in the secrecy.

Velvet noises, skin on skin rustling over Egyptian linen. You can hear the quality of the sheets if you really listen. The small breaths passing from one mouth to another.

Toward the back of the trailer, a tinge of panic and something else—restraint. And then it shifts, this restraint. This dark braid of unrefined energy comes slowly, foot by foot, from behind a shoji screen. 

The disdainful scowl, the surly pout, the cut of his profile, hollowed by too much work, too much party, too much time under fluorescents in studios. One would have to live in a cave not to recognize his face, but at any rate, Ben Solo, who ordinarily wouldn't be caught dead in sweats, stands shirtless behind the double-barrel of a firearm, squinting at the umbrage kneeling by his glass table. 

Dark as it is, it's easy to spot the ears. And behind that, the lattice on the ol' Kylo Ren helmet.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," he hisses. "You? Even you come sniffing my way. This city."

He snuffs, skims the drop of shadow between them, pallid behemoth navigating his grotto with scotopic vision, eyes wet and black in a temporary brume of amphetamine-induced aniridia, mutant coach gun raised, the needle of the serpent's tail poised to strike. 

"Reallyritzyfuckingtown, Gotham, par Southside." Grinding his teeth as he tracks the Bat with the barrel, Ben shakes his head. Whispers, "No, don't move. Hands where I can see them. I know what you're trying to do."  

He tracks; he moves with military poise. It's not acting. Click, and that thing, that custom no one, least of all Ben Solo, should own, is loaded, locked, locked, loaded, like the corners of his jaw. 

"Where was I when whatsisface died tonight?" His grin catches in that famous everlasting Gotham red. "Yeah, I know all about that. It's news. I'll tell you. You gotta hit the Iceberg for anything that's not fucking Drops, and it's shit. You think I'm panicking? TryIjustsnortedalumpofuckin'dryice. Jesus. I can't fucking work in this place. I have a set in two days. Gonna be in limbo, trapped in this      fucking     place for two days before that, before I get to live for a few hours. And that's touring, iswhatitis-done. But last year, I heard some pyromaniac freak called Firefly burned the west stage down, and everyone died."  

Serpent's eyes narrow, shining with a joyless kind of mirth. Snake voice with the merest baritone timbre rolling beneath. 

"So, I left this trailer at twenty-three-hundred-hours-to-buy drugs, Batman. Picked up some rocks from this other freakshow called the Penguin, which you already know. There's your answer. That's what you wanted. Now you got it, at the cost of wasting both our time. Now get the fuck out."

Gun to the hatch; and one has to wonder how the fuck he got in; but in Brooklyn, Ben saw rats like five feet tall. What was a six-foot bat in boots? Just another day in the fucking city. 

"Go on, Bat. That's stage left there." He gestures with the shotgun he now lowers out of a radiant, misplaced sense of chivalry. "Beat it. You bother me." 

Then, the panic the Bat clocked when his shadow passed Ben's threshold makes its voice known: "Babe? What's going on?" 

A feminine voice and Ben freezes. Thaws, his face contorting momentarily into a hellscape of wrath. He raises the gun again, cocks it at the cape. Sniffs. 

"Man, you're really fucking up my night."

The voice, keening: "Ky-looo?"

And Ben, seeming like he might turn on his heel, walk the five or so feet, and jerk the barrel through the Shoji blinds: "Shitting fuck." (More to the Bat, almost apologetically). "I told you, do not fucking call me that. What?" (Acidic, spitting, meant for the bitch too high to notice or care that there's a strange man decked out in high-tech rave gear hiding in Ben's trailer).

The panic in the voice melts into Halcion bliss: "I'm waaaait-ing." 

"You'll keep waiting... there's V. on the bottom right. On the tape. Top up and touch yourself. I need to handle this."

"MMmndf, handle whatttt?" 

"A giant bat."

"OhmyGod, grossssss." 

Ben keeps his eyes and his gun on Mr. Cloak and Dagger, unflinching, unimpressed. 

"It's just a bat, 'babe.'" He grins and blows The Bat a little plump-lipped goodbye kiss. "Don't worry. If it doesn't fly away after a friendly, animal cruelty-free chat, I'll shoot it right between its eyes, slice it up, and eat it off your ass like sashimi."

Trailer's like a vent. Oh, if that gun went off. The colors, the sound.

#nightmarefuele #m. au | music!ben: nowhere man #v. bat in the rafters (music!verse remix) #mini thread #edited: for quality assurance #tw: drug mention

[prpfs]

☀️📲🌑 — 🏫❤️

Hello hello hello party people! let’s get right to it.

Today I’m looking for an 18+ writing partner (I myself am 21+) for a very specific Star Wars roleplay. The pairing will be Reylo; I’d like to play Rey, and am more than happy to take on side characters to give our verse more depth.

I can write literate to novella, however this roleplay will be a different sort of style… I’d like a storyline where we form their relationship primarily through text messages, as I really enjoy playing with the text message style. So much of our communication is text-based these days, when you think about it. We would do pivotal/important/necessary scenes in paragraph format, but I’d love for us to focus on having them text each other as all kinds of teenage drama goes on around them! I’m talking 80% texting style and 20% paragraph style. 💞

The plot (a high school AU) is as follows;

Rey Doe is a foster child who is consistently moved from home-to-home. None of them have been great, but she’s always been the type to push through hard times. Most recently she has been moved to [Insert Name of Some Suburbia Here], coincidentally right across the street from one Ben Solo and his parents. Once Rey begins school, she quickly becomes well-liked because she’s friendly and approachable, so she falls in with the semi-popular kids at school such as Finn, Poe, Rose, Kydel, etc… Meanwhile, Ben doesn’t have the best reputation. He’s known to be a loner who’s in with the wrong crowd, known to be angry, gets into fights, skips, smokes, drag races, has lots and lots of (not necessarily always completely true) rumours about his “dark” and “sordid” reputation going around. Rey isn’t convinced, and somehow she ends up with his phone number (we can decide how together). Overtime they begin to slowly form a friendship that’s kept mostly via text, as in their irl lives they don’t actually interact very much in the beginning. They are from different cliques, and not the types people would think to become friends.

As you can probably tell, I love to world and story-build, and i love character development. I appreciate a partner who is also driven by these things, and will be just as excited about contributing to our plot as I definitely will be! I love love love themes of angst/hurt/comfort. Let’s put these hormonal teenagers through hell! 😈

If you find yourself interested and you would like to discuss, like this post and I’ll send you a message with my Discord username, where we can get down to business. ✍️💙

like if you're interested and anon will get back to you

#star wars rp #star wars roleplay #fandom rp #fandom roleplay

[thevindicativevordan]

Any thoughts on Star Wars? The sequel trilogy specifically.

Used to be more obsessed with that franchise than anything else in the world.

Unlike most it wasn't The Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker that disenchanted me. I was out after The Force Awakens. What a garbage movie, a soulless rehash of A New Hope that rendered the entire Original Trilogy pointless. Prior to the Disney buyout I was a Star Wars fanatic. I devoured obscure articles on Wookieepedia as a child. Teen me couldn't get enough Star Wars books, even trash like Darksaber. Ben Skywalker and Jaina Solo were my favorite characters from the old EU, and Lucas can seethe to his dying day but I thought Mara Jade was awesome. I watched the VHS tapes of the OT until they broke, and seeing Revenge of the Sith in theaters for my birthday as a kid remains one of my favorite childhood memories. On the original Xbox I must have played the campaigns for Star Wars: Battlefront and the KOTOR games over 20 times. When Disney bought the franchise and announced the reboot, I was sad but as a DC fan who came in with the New 52, I had some hope that maybe this would be a good thing. And hey, Legends actually got a decent ending with the Sith finally being completely destroyed and the Skywalker lineage living on. So I gave Disney a chance, went to see TFA with my family... and walked out depressed.

Now I don't care at all. Somehow I successfully managed to sever the emotional connection I used to have. Doesn't bother me when I see the franchise helplessly flailing about these days. I played Jedi Fallen Order and enjoyed that, I'll probably play the sequel, and that's the extent of my engagement with the franchise these days. My littlest sister is a big fan of Star Wars, or at least the Clone Wars and Sequel Trilogy eras. She likes Ahsoka, Anakin, and Kylo the most. She likes Rey. I don't flip out on her for being "wrong" and enjoying those movies any more than my dad did at me enjoying the Prequel Trilogy which he hates. My dad enjoyed the Mandalorian. I have fun talking Star Wars with them, it's been a blast to see my little sister finally get old enough to play through the KOTOR games. I just don't obsess over Star Wars anymore.

At least with Legends, as dumb as it got, I saw the Luke story I wanted to see of him rebuilding the Jedi and having a family. Legends Luke accomplished what his father could not. Legends Han and Leia got their happy ending despite the heartbreak of Jacen's fate. Their fates in the ST are just bafflingly awful. All three die total failures who accomplished sweet fuck all, in some cases outright regressing from where they were at the end of the OT, and the Skywalker lineage ends in total disgrace while the Palpatine bloodline survives through Rey. Whatever, I guess they'll just retell Legends Luke stories with Rey since they basically soft rebooted the franchise to make her the central replacement for Anakin and Luke. She's the one who actually ends the Sith for good and she's the one who will rebuild the Jedi. Long as my sister enjoys what comes next, I guess I'll just treat the Legends ending as my personal canon and treat the ST as fanfiction.

#star wars #me