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unexpectedreylo · 5 years

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Closing Arguments For Reylo

After it seems like we’ve spent a year anticipating this movie--from the film wrap in February to the teaser trailer in April to the Vanity Fair stuff in June to the D23 trailer at the end of August to the Road To TROS stuff to this final trailer and the onslaught of press for the film--we’re finally in the home stretch.

Who will live? Who will die? Will Reylo ride off into the sunset, a HEA at last for a Star Wars couple, will it end in tragedy or worse yet, will it end in a vague incoherent muddle? After all, no fairy tale ends with “they lived ambiguously ever after.”

I think we’re all going to be nervous sitting in the theater come Dec. 18-20 because whether we believe “leaks” or not, we’re just not going to know for sure until we see the film. I’m almost as nervous about their misusing/under-using Adam in this film as I am about the filmmakers blowing Reylo.

Yet of all of the sequel films, I’m the most confident about this one going in. This is the last film in this story and it’s not going to end with the message that the Skywalker family was somehow a mistake or some curse upon the galaxy that needed to be eliminated, while the few positive aspects about the Skywalkers are handed off to Rey because she’s such a nice girl. It’s not going to end like Romeo and Juliet. It’s not going to end without redemption for Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. The final chapter in the series is not only going to redeem him but everyone else who screwed up before him. It’s going to end this conflict and a Jedi Order 2.0 is going to arise. There will be a big party at the end. It will give you cavities and possibly blood sugar spikes.

As far as I’m concerned, Rey and Ben being together--in LOVE--is an integral part of that happy ending. Cinderella gets her prince. Beauty finds true love with the man who had been the Beast. Anastasia marries Christian Grey and has a baby. There’s just no such thing as a heroine who cheerfully ends up without her lover and in spite of what a lot of people think, Star Wars spends far more time utilizing traditional storytelling tropes (though in new ways) than subverting them. Like I wrote in my piece about gothic romances, the woman gets the man, the manor, and the money. Rey walks into TROS already with the metaphorical substitutes for the manor (the Falcon) and the money (the objects associated with the Skywalker family). She’s already in with her potential mother-in-law. All she needs is for Ben to show up to the metaphorical/literal wedding.

And everything is pointing toward that happening. I’m not saying TROS will end with Ben and Rey in a wedding or Rey waddling about preggers. Maybe it will end that way, maybe it won’t. But it will at minimum pair them together a la Han and Leia at the end of ROTJ.

First, let’s take on the only legitimate, in-universe obstacles to Rey and Ben being in a romantic relationship. No, I don’t mean that they could be related. What I do mean is that there are two things that would prohibit romance: one is obvious...no Bendemption. But I’m certain it is going to happen. The other is the old school Jedi prohibition against forming attachments, including romantic relationships. Many fans expect this deeply unpopular rule to be cast aside. But in the name of fairness, it bears pointing out that so far, this deeply unpopular rule hasn’t been cast aside in the movies. Sure there was a bit in the TLJ novel implying Luke wasn’t fond of this deeply unpopular rule but on the other hand, he lived it. Generalissima Leia did lots of other things but never became a Jedi herself. Maybe she was too busy. Or maybe she’d rather bonk Han to her heart’s content than become a space nun. There’s been some recent news that Leia was originally set to finally take up the Jedi mantle in the last ST film, something that obviously changed after Carrie’s passing in 2016. Note that this would have been after Leia had become a widow. Several months ago I’d listened to a podcast containing an interview with former Lucasfilm employee J.W. Rinzler. He revealed that while the expanded universe was allowed to go nuts with Jedi romances and marriages, Lucas kept grumbling that “Jedi aren’t supposed to marry!” He disliked Mara Jade partially for this reason.

Of every argument against Reylo happening that is the one that no one seems to take seriously yet it’s far more likely to be an issue than a sudden revelation of Rey Skywalker-Solo. The question is were Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams willing to say, “Hey George, your rule sucks so we’re gonna throw it out” to Lucas’s eternal annoyance? Or, is the coupling of Rey and Ben supposed to have happened all along, even in Lucas’s drafts? Are Rey and Ben a glaring exception to the rule?

My argument is that they are going to be an exception. Reylo is not just about hot people hooking up, it’s about mystical forces coming together in a union that will bring the peace and stability that has evaded the galaxy since the Clone Wars. In other words, it’s a divine marriage. Ben and Rey are not ordinary Force users. They are extraordinary among the extraordinary. We already know Ben’s tremendous raw power comes from being literally the great-grandson of the Force itself. Rey I’m sure is something very similar, a demigoddess of sorts. Ben and Rey will demonstrate one can love deeply without it corrupting into selfishness, possessiveness, obsession, and everything else that led Anakin into believing killing his comrades to save Padmé was a really good idea.

Okay, let’s look at some hard evidence.

What’s the one word that keeps coming up over and over again with Rey and Kylo/Ben?

Intimacy.

Or some variation thereof:

“At the premiere I heard somebody in the balcony say, “Yesssss!” You can see Adam was training hardcore throughout the whole process. It’s fun but it also has a specific purpose, which is the increasing feeling of uncomfortable intimacy. That was sticking with the theme of trying to give Rey the hardest thing you could possibly give her, which would be unavoidable intimate conversation with this person that she wants to just hate. This was just one more way of upping that ante.”--Rian Johnson, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2017

“It’s all about those Force connection scenes. The keyword being intimacy. And the idea that this was a way to just, why not step that up?(...)And so it was just another way of kind of disrobing Kylo literally and figuratively a little bit more, and pushing that sense of these conversations becoming increasingly more intimate.”--Rian Johnson, People magazine Dec. 23, 2017

“They just had this horrific fight, but Rian wanted this incredible intimacy and this cascading, twinkling waterfall of sparks from the fight before.”--Ben Morris, ILM Visual Effects Supervisor, Collider Dec. 25, 2017

“Even to the point where Adam flew to Ireland just to be off camera for Daisy’s stuff, which was essential because they’re such intimate conversations.”--Rian Johnson, People magazine Jan. 6, 2018

“That came about first and foremost from wanting a sense of intimacy”--Rian Johnson, Force of Sound Documentary Feb. 20, 2018

“And have it, you’re in their heads with just that intimacy.”--Matthew Wood, Supervising Sound Editor, Skywalker Sound Feb. 20, 2018

“Having a big sound there just didn’t have the intimacy that the scene demanded. It can be so hard to get the balance right to where the audience is feeling the same thing as the characters.”--Michael Semanic, Re-recording mixer Skywalker Sound, Postperspective Feb. 21, 2018

“But we fall back on romance because it's the best analogue we have. Rey and Kylo's relationship is more intimate than that. They've literally been in each other's minds. Rey's seen his deepest fears; he's seen the past she's buried. None of us have had that experience.”

“My point is romance may not be the endpoint of that. (Though it may be.) The analogue may be misleading, because it's an analogue. Their connection is deeper and stranger and far more complicated. I think TFA/TLJ covers those complications wonderfully, with Ep IX promising more.”--Jason Fry on Twitter Nov. 26, 2018

“At times it’s more intimate, sometimes less intimate.”--Adam Driver, Entertainment Weekly, December 2019

Relationships that are intimate aren’t necessarily romantic or sexual in nature but in modern parlance, it’s often used as a euphemism for a romantic or sexual relationship, or for sex itself i.e. “Tyler and Kaitlyn weren’t intimate until they got married.” Because of that, it would be hella weird if they described a familial or friendly relationship in this way. If I didn’t want my audience to believe there’s anything that could possibly be sexual happening between my characters--especially between an eligible attractive man and an eligible attractive woman--I would avoid using the term “intimate.”

If that doesn’t sell it for you, consider these statements:

“It’s the closest thing we’ll ever get to a sex scene in Star Wars”--Rian Johnson re the hand touch in TLJ. (Who the hell says that about cousins? Or just friends?)

“it is certainly true there is a romantic drama...”--Rian Johnson, some Japanese interview from 2017. (By the way this was misquoted into stating there was no romance in TLJ at all.)

“I (Rian) disagreed with John (Williams) twice regarding the score. For example, there's a scene where Kylo Ren and Rey touch hands, before they are interrupted by Luke Skywalker. When John wrote the score (for this scene), he was very protective of Rey's character, exactly as is Luke. Kylo ('s presence) was menacing, musically speaking. It's a valid point of view, but I didn't think of the scene like that. I wanted it to stay on Rey's POV: I wanted that we could believe in this romance.”--Rian Johnson, Classica magazine April 25, 2019 (Note: this is an interview from English to French then translated here and here back to English but the word “romance” is the same in both languages.)

The above statements and various others we’ve all seen over the years are helpful to explain what we’ve seen in the past two films: they’re building toward something.

On one level, the filmmakers are building toward another alliance between our space children, like what they had in TLJ. It’s obvious that they will need to team up to defeat Palpatine because who else could? It’s also obvious that they are key to the Force being in balance. There has been interesting speculation on Twitter about how those forces will come together and the symbolism of a marriage by uniting mystical objects.

But being Force buddies in a tag team match against Palpatine isn’t quite high enough stakes. Nor is “might makes right” the message of Star Wars. These two have to be willing to fight for each other, to the death if necessary. They have to have something to live for as well. They have to have the secret sauce that Darth Sidious doesn’t have. And what I’m talking about is love. Not just the compassionate love of agape (that’s what Anakin was talking about in AOTC but he meant it differently of course) or the friendship love of philia but also the powerful, creative love of eros. It’s basically what was happening in the throne room scene in TLJ. They were fighting for each other and the future they saw when they touched hands. Come on, nobody is going to do any of that just to find an apprentice or to convince someone to join an insurrection you barely spent any time with yourself.

A divine marriage between the two most powerful Force users will end the war and herald in a new age. Either they are a new incarnation of the Prime Jedi or they will become the mother and father to this incarnation.

Plus they will kiss and get in a lot of nookie. The end.

Credits: r/starwarsspeculation, @reylo-evidence-collection, r/starwarscantina, @reylo5 (Instagram),

#reylo #reylo fandom #reylo fam #rey x kylo ren #rey x ben #tros #bendemption #hea

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libralita · 6 years

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June Wrap Up | 2018

This was a really great month for reading. I read sixteen books and once again I have to reblog this post to fit all the tags in. A lot of them were great. Some of them were absolute trash but most were pretty good.

The first book I read was One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus:

Okay so I enjoyed this book but I had some major problems with it. Mostly because the crux of the conflict relies on things that are completely illogical. Teachers practice illegal(ish) searches and seizure that wouldn’t fly by any judge or education administration. An app that caused someone to attempt suicide is not immediately taken down. Author writing a book about crime doesn’t know about the two party recording consent laws. It’s frustrating and yet was enjoyable. I think McManus can write a good mystery and I liked her characters. She just needs to work on her plots. I gave this book a three out of five stars.

Then I read The Wicker King by K. Ancrum:

I don’t really know how to feel about this book. Partly anxiety because of all the mental health stuff and medical stuff. I thought Jack and August’s relationship was pretty toxic and not very healthy. I’m not really into the super edgy, angsty, life-fucking-sucks style of books but it wasn’t bad. I enjoyed reading this. It kept me going. I think I liked the side characters more. The twins, Rina and Alex mostly. So I guess I’m giving this four out of five stars.

Next, I caved and bought the next volume of A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima:

So, in this book Shoya gets Shoko to reunite with the girl who tried to learn sign language in sixth grade. That was really nice. She’s kind of a bland character though. Then we get the re-introduction of Naoka. Who’s still a bitch. She’s an interesting character and it’ll be interesting to see if she shows up again and has any development. But the big tear jerking in this story is when Shoko admits to loving Shoya but he doesn’t understand her. And it’s so sad. Ughhhhh…I’m probably going to buy the next one. Wasn’t as good as the last two but still five out of five stars.

Then I read the fourth volume of A Silent Voice:

Ahhhh so many emotions in this one. First Shoya gets more friends. There’s Satoshi Mashiba is a hottie. Then Naoka planned for Shoya to see one of his childhood friends. I’m guessing at some point he’s actually going to talk to Kazuki. But the big thing that happened in this one was that Shoko’s grandma died. It was really sad and we got to see Shoko’s mother’s backstory and it made me tear up. I just want someone to help out this poor woman. My favorite so far! Five out of five!

Then I finished but did not complete the Summer I Turned Pretty bind up by Jenny Han:

I read the first two books in this bind up but rage quit the last one after five chapters. The first book was fun. Belly was a snot and is written like a 10 year old instead of a sixteen year old. However, I liked the rest of the characters and wanted to see what would happen to them. I gave that four out of five stars. Then I went onto the next book hoping that Belly got better. She did not. She got worse. She’s such a bitch to her parents in this book, especially to her mother. Belly says some awful things to her mother and I don’t even think she apologizes for it. Conrad also starts to act like a little snot. He just leaves school without telling his brother. They also don’t do the most logical and correct answer which is to call Belly’s mom and ask her for help. That was my first instinct and it takes them forever to figure it out. And it’s only when Belly drunk calls her mom. God this book was so bad. Two out of five. Then I tried to read the third book but it was just Belly being a bitch to Jeremiah and Jeremiah kind of cheating on Belly. DNF’ed. Will not be reading any more Jenny Han books.

Next, I finally reread Cress by Marissa Meyer:

I still can’t believe how well this series has held up. There are a few logic problems like Cinder presses her metal hand onto her face to “cool off”. Marissa, I don’t press my face to the roof of my car to cool off. Also Kai is kind of more annoying than I remember him being. However, I still really enjoying this series. I like the dynamic Cress adds and I teared up when Erland died. I also really liked Winter small roll. She’s such a fun character. Jacin was also amusing. I give this book five out of five stars.

I think picked up Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi:

This book was pretty good. I was a little bit skeptical going in and I did end up having a few problems with it. The humor didn’t always land and it was a little too similar to the Lightning Thief. However, I think this series has potential and there were a lot of cool elements that I really enjoyed and I’m excited to see where this series goes. I gave this book four out of five stars.

I felt like going back to A Silent Voice and read the fifth, sixth and final volume:

The fifth one was a little underwhelming. I still gave it four stars but it mostly focused on the movie plot which isn’t my favorite thing. I did like getting to know more about Mashiba who is my favorite even if he is a little…intense. Also Shoko might have attempted suicide at the so it was a real cliffhanger. Get it? Then the sixth one was a bit better. It’s starts off with Shoko’s mother apologizing to Shoya’s mother and it’s really sad. Also Nao just starts beating the shit out of Shoko and then Shoko’s mother fights back which was really awesome. We saw that Satoshi was bullied for his…eyebrows and is super creepy about it. Then we get kind of Shoko’s perspective on things. Not my favorite but I enjoyed it. Five out of five stars. Then I finally read the 7th and last volume. This was a nice ending to the series. You had the mothers getting drunk and becoming friends. Shoko and Shoya both want to become hairdressers. And they’re eventually going to Tokyo together? It’s a nice, hopeful ending. I gave it five out of five stars.

Next, I read The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert:

This book was Every Heart a Doorway but done better. I still didn’t love this book. I gave it three stars. I just don’t like this type of super cynical tone. It just annoys me. However I thought the world and how the Hinterland worked was pretty awesome. I also liked the twist that Alice was Alice-Three-Times and Ella had plucked her from the story. Finches character kind of bugged me. Overall I gave this book three out of five stars. I won’t be continuing on with this series but I may check out another Albert book.

Then the newest volume of Tokyo Ghoul: re by Sui Ishida came out:

I enjoyed this one. I wasn’t expect an all out fight. In this Shu’s family is discovered of being a bunch of ghouls so there’s a big fight. Sen/Bandage girl got Kanae and made him crazy…er, crazier. There’s a really great seen between Akira and Kaneki where she hugs him. I’m pretty sure Amon’s out there somewhere. Lots of people die, including Hairu who was really cute. Then a random monster came at the end. Overall it wasn’t the best fight ever but I still enjoyed it Five out of five stars.

I decided to order Volume Two of Teen Titans so I reread the first volume Teen Titans: Damien Knows Best by Benjamin Percy:

Why read new books when I can reread comics? Also god I love the art in the first issue. I wish the art had stayed that way. But I did like the art in the last issue. I think the rest is fine but man that first issue is great. I really love this team dynamic. All the different personalities and powers. It’s so cool. And I’m a sucker for the heroes versus their opposites. It’s great. I wonder when we’ll see Mara and the Demon’s Fist again. Five out of five stars.

A few days later Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Rise of Aqualad by Benjamin Percy came out:

I really enjoyed this book. I’m a little sad that Aqualad’s personality and backstory is completely different but he still has the same Young Justice design. However, I still think he’s a really interesting character. I like his arc with his father. I really liked Kid Flash and Raven’s relationship and wish we saw more of it. But the thing I really liked was Star Fire taking charge. She’s my favorite character and honestly the best leader for this team. Hopefully we’ll see more of her doing this in the future. This book got five out of five stars as well.

Then, I read Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor:

This took me like 10 days to read despite the fact that I really enjoyed it. I kept getting distract by shorter books. I really enjoyed this book. I liked Karou having to work with the White Wolf. Thiago is such a great villain and I’m glad he died. I’m sad that Hazael died and wish he would have stuck around. He gave the angel trio a fun dynamic. I’m interested to read the next book. It’s going to be a lot of battling but hopefully not a lot of “Will Karou and Akiva get together???” Because they will.

And those are all the books I read in June! It was a great month and I’m now onto July!

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yeomangamer · 6 years

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After My Father’s Funeral Chapter 1

Summary: Funerals can be stressful, but so can weddings--especially with a family as effed up as theirs. Unfortunately for Leia, she has both to attend in one go. So much for repression. Modern AU

Pairings: Leia/Han, Mara/Luke, Jyn/Cassian, Leia&Han&Luke&Mara&Cassian&Jyn, Uncle Owen/Aunt Beru

Chapter summary: Let the past die, bury it if you have to.

Chapter pairings: Mara/Luke, Jyn/Cassian, Past!Leia/Cassian, Luke&Leia&Mara

A/N: Based on the idea that it would be really traumatizing to be a Skywalker in the modern day. See Ao3 and FFN versions for full authors notes.

If Leia had learned anything from her albeit limited experience traveling, it was that bureaucracy was a bitch. “Bureaucracy is a lawyer’s best friend, Miss Organa,” her boss, Akbar, had told her. “These people, they try so hard to cover every little crack and crevice, but it’s our job to find where they were wrong.” Today, in-line at the airport, Leia was fairly certain it was the whole idea that was wrong with bureaucracy. After her ticket failed to work, she had to wait in-line to speak with a representative, having already spoken with two other employees and a supervisor. It was as if the universe was preventing her from going home, which she desperately wanted to take as a sign to switch her flight to someplace with tropical beaches. She was even considering Canto Bight, when it was her turn in line.

“Thank you for flying Rebel Air. How can I help you, ma’am?” The smiling woman said.

“Yes, hello, I have a last-minute booking to Naboo, and my tick-“

“We have a policy on exchanging flights for last-minute bookings, ma’am. I’m sorry.” The response was tired, rehearsed, as if countless people had tried to weasel out of the policy of the company.

She sighed inwardly, bidding the dream of the casino goodbye. “I don’t want to exchange, I want to get on my plane, my ticket won’t check me in.”

“How odd, may I see your ticket and some ID, please.” Leia handed both over, and the woman scanned it. “Naboo, huh?”

Leia was not in the mood for smalltalk. “Yep.” The airport had to be the worst place for small talk.

“What brings you there? Big racing down there, I hear.”

“Yeah, yeah, I grew up there. I’m going for family stuff, you know. A funeral and then a wedding.” The representative nodded and smiled knowingly. How ironic, there’s no way she could’ve known.

The computer made a noise, not a good one either, and the rep made a face, and tried again. “Hmmm,” she said. “Odd, let me get my supervisor.”

Leia groaned and laid her face on the counter. She hated to leave her fate in the hands of strangers, without any agency as to getting anywhere. After a few moments, she huffed, trying not to lose her temper. She wasn’t in a hurry per se, but also wasn’t in the mood to spend any more time than she had to with airport employees.

The rep appeared with another employee. “I’m sorry about that Ms. Organa, here’s a new ticket for you, should work now,” the (presumed) supervisor told her, scanning the ticket. There was a happy sounding beep, and she took her ticket with a thanks.

She checked her bags, and sat down at her gate. The tv above the gate was on; she immediately regretted glancing at it.

“…the noted activist, and so-called ‘Champion of Free Speech’ Anakin Skywalker has died. The 65-year old had been battling lung cancer for nearly a decade before passing away at his home in Naboo on Friday. Skywalker first rose to fame as a leader of the Imperialists under the name ‘Vader.’ But Skywalker had moved away from the group in recent years—even calling it a ‘cult’ in one noted interview—to support pro-environmentalist groups. His family asks to make any donations to…”

“Quite the enigma, that man.” The voice made Leia jump, and she looked over to see a man sitting next to her looking at the TV. He saw that she had looked over and continued. “I read his book ‘Anti-anti-‘, and let me say—“ She immediately got up, took her carry-on bag, and moved to sit on the opposite side of the seating area with her back to the stranger. If the man was at all offended by her behavior, she neither knew nor cared.Skywalker certainly had a way of ruining everything, even the flight to his funeral.

The Naboo airport held one of her most treasured memories: when she had parted with her brother, Luke, for the first time since what she had dubbed the Ruling. They who had spent a majority of their formative years apart, only to be reunited at 16 through the worst of all circumstances, left each other for the first time since then in a tearful goodbye at the airport four years ago. At the time, she knew she wouldn’t miss the city, her old college, or even her (recently) ex-boyfriend, but she hated leaving her twin after trying so hard to stay together.

So today it was only fitting that it be Luke’s face to greet her at the gate. Their embrace was tight and full of longing, she hadn’t seen her brother since before they had turned 25. Leia turned and greeted the woman beside Luke with her own tender embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

“Mara, you look so well,” Leia said, gripping her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s forearms.

“Thank you, as do you as always. Thank you for coming sooner than we’d originally talked about, I’m sorry if it spoiled any of your plans.” She blew her red hair out of her face, smiling broadly.

“Well, if they were spoiled it’s how ol’ dad would’ve wanted it,” Leia released Mara and heading towards baggage claim.

“Now, Leia-“ Luke’s voice was a warning, one that she wasn’t about to heed.

“‘Now, Leia’” Leia mockingly repeated. “I promise to keep my comments to myself during the wake and the funeral, but I make no such guarantees about anywhere else.”

She couldn’t hear Luke’s sigh, but she knew it was there. They picked up her bag, and hopped into Luke’s old truck.

“When’re you going to get a new car?” Leia asked. “The windows still roll down.”

“Luke had said something about the end of days, but that is in contention,” Mara joked from the backseat.

Luke only smiled. Leia knew that he wasn’t bothered at all at Mara’s comment, or even at her’s towards Skywalker. Her brother had the most positive temperament of anyone she’d ever met; she resented him just a little for that.

“I hope you don’t mind staying with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru,” Luke said as they crossed over Amidala bridge. The bridge connected the inner city and the boroughs of Naboo, a passion project of their late mother’s. They had named it after her, a symbol of how much she had been universally loved in her local community.

“Of course not,” Leia stated, only lying a little bit. It was difficult to pin blame on anyone for the unpleasantness that had framed the last ten years of her life. Luke was definitely not a candidate, and therefore should not have to suffer her contention. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were contenders as well as her own dear parents. The only person who Leia could surely, 100%, be blamed was Anakin Skywalker. And blame him she did.

They pulled into the drive-way of the Lars’ Farm, and all three each rolled out of the hot car—Luke’s air conditioning had quit sometime in college. Her Uncle and Aunt greeted her warmly, showing her to the guest room, which had, at one time, been Luke’s room. After the Ruling, Leia had sat with Luke in this very room and imagined their lives together growing up as they might have been. The faces of those who would raise them were blurry, but so many of the memories she’d constructed had felt so real, it was bittersweet to think of her childhood without him. Now the walls were bare of Luke’s Ahch-To and X-wing posters and the room certainly smelled better.

She was debating between living out of her suitcase or unpacking when Luke came in with his hands in his pockets and a peculiar smile on his face. Leia knew that look, as she knew every look--every movement even--of her brother’s. Choice words were about to be said, and she was sure she wasn’t going to like them.

“A bit different from when we were 18,” Luke commented.

“Certainly smells better.” That got a chuckle, but it didn’t really reach his eyes.

“Leia…” She sighed, and crossed her arms. “I’ve never been able to tell you what to do-

“Nor will you ever.”

“-but could you at least keep your comments about dad, our dad, to a minimum? Or at least confine them to just between us?”

“Mara knows perfectly well what I think about your father, no sense in hiding from her.” She tried not to be exclamatory, only firm, in her distinction of “your.”

Luke was not having said distinction. “He was your father too.” His tone was matter-of-fact, not loud.

“No, he wasn’t. A father is there for you, a father teaches you how to ride a bike and playfully threatens your prom date. Anakin Skywalker was not my father.”

Luke sighed, exasperated. “What more could he have done to redeem himself to you?”

Leia rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s no use asking that question now as there isn’t anything more he could do. He’s dead.”

“I know that, but what could he have done?”

“Not be a racist? Not inspire god-knows how many to kill? Not left our mother to die? Taken care of us after she died? Oh, and when he didn’t do all those things, how about not putting the fact that we are related to him in the goddamn public record? You know how many opportunities I’ve lost because of him? All a potential connection need do is google my name and right there is ‘daughter of noted activist Anakin Skywalker.’” She stood from the bed, ready to defend her viewpoint in the impending argument.

“You think I haven’t had doors closed in my face too? You really think you’re the only one to suffer?” They weren’t yelling, Luke never yelled. But his voice was firm and contentious.

“No, but you still defend him, he ruined our lives!” Leia didn’t understand how Luke could see the events of the past and come to any other conclusion.

“What would you have done, Leia? If you were in his shoes, what would you have done?” He had always seen the world through their results: Skywalker had brought them back together as brother and sister so ergo Skywalker was good.

“How can you continue to defend him? He’s ruined your wedding!” There were tears in her eyes now, threatening to fall.

“By dying? It’s not like he could choose when-“

“I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Luke sighed, and she felt the tension drop. Their argument would not escalate further. “Mara and I already live together, and we have the rest of our lives, the wedding is just a day.”

“One of the only days in your life where you have all of your loved ones together in one room.”

Luke shrugged. “Maybe you’re right, maybe he was comforted by the idea that everyone was going to be here anyway.”

Leia bit back her comment, knowing it was no use to argue with him. She sat back down, her temper deflated. Luke kneeled on the bed beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“You have every right to be angry, and I hope one day you decide to let it go. Either way, I’m glad you’re here.” Leia bit back the tears until Luke embraced her and she let them fall, silently crying into his arms.

“Luke, Aunt Beru wants to know-“ Mara said, poking her head into the room. “Oh, sorry. Is everything alright?”

Leia nodded and wiped her face as Luke rubbed her back. “Yeah, it's just a lot, you know, to be back here, in this room. We tried weed in here, one time, did Luke tell you?” Luke was right, there was no use dragging Mara into her trauma.

Luke didn’t seem phased that she had lied about what was going on, and groaned. “Never again, I will never understand the appeal.” The three of them laughed and Leia fingered the duvet cover. She tried to tell herself it was only the jet-lag and airport that had made her so upset.

The Wake was the next day, and flew by before Leia even noticed. Both the funeral and visitation were closed events, invitation only, with enforcers hired to keep any unwanted company out. There was a slight mix-up that involved a Senator from Scarif but was soon sorted out without much hassle. Overall, the night was full of people wishing both her brother and her well. Though the stream of mourners was steady, there couldn’t have been more than a few dozen. Mara had mentioned something about the event conflicting with the races, and Leia laughed to herself that not even her father’s funeral could compete with this town’s obsession with racing. Most of the guests were also wedding guests, and promised to be there in a little over two weeks under much lighter circumstances.

“I hope they all RSPV’d, otherwise it's going to be terribly awkward to turn them away,” Luke said to Mara and Leia during a small break between mourners.

“‘Sorry great-aunt Myla, I know you said you’d be here two weeks ago, but that was then and this was now,’” Mara mimed Luke turning away elderly potential wedding guests. The three all cracked a smile and greeted another couple, Anakin’s former editor and his wife.

They had chosen a closed casket for both events. Still, Leia couldn’t help but glance at the casket every so often with a sick desire to set her eyes on Skywalker one more time. To see if he was really dead? Would she find joy in knowing he’d finally gotten what he’d deserved: a slow death, probably most of it in pain? She snapped her head away and shook her head. Pretty soon, she’d turn out like him: evil.

The funeral was the Friday after. In front of the mirror, Leia was hoping no one would notice that she’d worn the same black dress to both the wake and the funeral. She only had maybe two black dresses to begin with—white was more her color. And, even then, she’d had to pack for nearly a month and could only take so much with her. Besides, she was grieving, right? Who expected someone to be en vogue while in mourning? To finish the outfit, she wore big, dark glasses so that—hopefully—no one saw her rolling her eyes during the ceremony.

The temple was surrounded by natural beauty, flowering trees and even a waterfall. She was sure Luke had picked out this place. Another receiving line, more mourners. After a dozen or so, she was stifling a yawn and excused herself to get some water.

It was on her way down the hall that she ran into someone she had not expected to, and, from the look on his face, he had not expected her either.

“Cassian?” She said, removing her glasses.

“Leia, its good to see you again.” They awkwardly stood in the hallway. Cassian was with a very pretty woman their age, with big blue eyes and somewhat of a European face. If the rumors from Luke were true, then this must be...

“Leia, this is my fiancé, Jyn Erso. Jyn, this is…an old friend, Leia Organa. We went to school together.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Leia said, smiling and extending her hand.

“Ditto.” So she was English. “Sorry about your loss.” She shook Leia’s hand. It shouldn’t feel weird, should it? To meet your ex’s fiancé. She tried to smile and push it out of her mind.

“Thank you both for coming, but, in truth, I had not expected you to be here.”

“It was more for your brother and Mara-“

“And you, of course,” Jyn interjected.

“Of course. You and Luke and Mara, we came to support you. How are you doing?” She couldn’t make out his tone, and therefore if he was referring to her life in general, the funeral, or the wedding. She said as much. Cassian chuckled and Jyn even cracked a smile. “All three, I guess.”

She addressed each in sequence. “Fine, ehh, and fine.”

“We should get together and catch up, the fo- five of us,” Cassian said.

“We’re having a party tomorrow night to celebrate the wedding,” Jyn said. “You’re invited, of course.”

“Well then, of course I’ll come,” Leia assured. The three of them started back towards the entrance where her brother and Mara were waiting.

“And we’ll have to meet, and catch up,” Cassian reminded.

“Yes, catching up, let’s. It was nice seeing you both, I’ll see you in there, and maybe after. Definitely tomorrow.” Leia talked as they walked. She took her place next to Luke as Mara kissed the cheek of some tall scruffy-looking guy. Leia figured he was probably one of her family as she had never seen him before, but thoughts of the man were quickly put out of her mind.

“Cassian! Jyn!” Luke said, shaking the hand of the two, Mara embraced them both.

“It’s great that you’re both here, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Mara told them and Leia nodded, already turning to the next person in line.

The funeral went by also without a hitch, though Leia had her fair share of eye-rolling and snorts—the latter of which she masked as sobs with the help of an acquired tissue. The speaker carefully skidded over Skywalker’s debatable crimes against humanity by simply referring to them as “dark times.” Leia had to pretend to blow her nose to contain the scoff from that one.

Soon enough they were wheeling the casket up the aisle and headed to the cemetery. Only close friends and family were attending, no more than ten or so people. Luke and Mara rode in Leia’s rental rather than Luke’s truck. They were right in the front behind the hearse.

“I don’t think I ever thanked you for coming early, Leia,” Luke said, and Mara rubbed his arm.

“No need, I wish I could’ve come sooner and helped out with any affairs that needed to be tended to.”

Luke shrugged. “There wasn’t much to sort, he knew it was the end and had already planned with money set aside. He was in the hospital for the last year, didn’t even have a house or many personal items. No, all he-“ Luke must’ve known that she wouldn’t’ve cared if Skywalker had wanted her at his funeral or not, and amended his statement. “All I wanted was for you to be here.”

“Then I’d do it again, one-hundred times over. Anything for my baby brother.”

Luke smiled. “I’m the oldest.”

“Are not.”

“Are to.”

“I can dig up the pictures of the birth certificates again, if you insist.”

Luke seemed to shrug. “Pictures can be doctored, unlike your attitude.”

That made Leia laugh out loud as they pulled into the cemetery, the loud bell proclaiming their purpose for visiting.

There was a small ceremony at the tomb-site, the speaker inviting anyone to come and say something. Luke gave a small speech, as did a few others, but Leia hardly noticed. She was looking over the rise to the group of men wearing all black who seemed to be staring at them. They had shaved heads. One raised a sign over his head that read: “Long-live the Emperor.” That was enough for Leia.

“Excuse me,” she said quite suddenly as she got up and to the enforcer who’d come with them, directing his attention to the intruders. He quickly spoke on a walkie-talkie, making his way in the direction Leia had pointed.

The group noticed the man heading towards them, and some started to run away. Most stayed put.

“Hold fast, brothers!” one yelled so that even the dead could hear. “They can’t stop our free speech!”

“We aren’t the government, you fucking dickhead! It's a private ceremony, and you’re intruding! Go be a waste of oxygen somewhere else, you ignorant, servile scum!” Leia shouted back.

“It’s you who are the scum! Not giving this great man a proper burial as he outlined in his 1986 manifesto!”

“Tell that to executor of his fucking estate with a will from circa 2014! Leave us to mourn in peace, and let the past die before I kill it myself!” Leia’s throat was hoarse, but she would gladly out-shout a symphony to keep skinheads away from Skywalker’s burial. Not for the sanctity of Skywalker’s grave or anything like that, instead for the sake of peace for those she loved.

“You hear that, she’s threatening me!”

By now the enforcer had caught up to them, and most of the group had fled. But the person conversing with her across the cemetery had to be restrained and escorted out. Leia sat down and with a nod, the speaker continued as if not missing a beat. No one seemed too surprised something like this would happen. All Leia could think was it figured that Skywalker could even ruin his own burial.

They lowered the casket and began burying it. As they did this, Leia made her way over to a different plot, placing the bouquet she had brought with her on the tombstone: “Here lies ORGANA Bail and Breha, loving wife, husband, parents, and friends. May the force be with us all.”

“Hi,” Leia whispered. “It’s been a minute.”

The wind whispered over the peaceful place.

“Wish you were both here, I think about you every day.”

She laid on her back, head on the flat stone as though it were a pillow, and imagined herself there, forever.

“Practicing?” A voice said and she cracked her eye open to see her brother, his tie untied, and dirt on his pants.

She nodded and closed her eyes. She heard the grass rustling as he lay next to her.

“Do you wanna be buried here?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, it’s so peaceful. You’ll be next to me, right?”

“Of course. I’ll even do you one better and split a coffin with you. Save us a lot of money.” With the private ceremony and unlisted grave, there was hardly any money left for the two of them. Leia had felt bad for Luke what with the wedding three weeks away, and had refused what small amount was left for her, insisting he take it.

Leia laughed. “Go out of this life the way we came in?”

Luke also laughed. “I didn’t even think of it that way.”

“Hey, at least we’ll be together. I never wanna not be together, in one way or another.”

Luke sighed in agreement, and took her hand. They stared at the sky together, watching the clouds.

“You two should move to Coruscant, there’s a ton of writing jobs there. And it's not too far from Ahch-To, which I know you love.”

“We’ve talked about it.”

“You should do it.”

“We’ll see.” Luke was silent for another moment. “We should be getting back.”

Leia sighed and got up. “Any more appearances until the wedding?”

Luke looked pensive for a moment as he got up. “Well there’s Cassian and Jyn’s party tomorrow, and our party that we’re throwing and-“

“Ok, ok, I guess I’ll have to always be on my best behavior.” They started walking towards the cars.

“Thanks for getting after those guys,” Luke said after a moment of walking.

“It was my pleasure, I assure you.”

“Never thought you’d defend dad’s right to have some peace.”

“I was thinking mostly about how much I didn’t want to see you try to have a calm discussion with the skin-head before he reset your clock.”

“I could’ve taken them.”

“Sure.”

They reached the cars where most everyone had left, Mara was waiting by the car.

“There you two are, I was beginning to wonder if you’d fallen into an open grave or something,” she said.

“At least then we’d leave this life the way we came in,” Luke joked.

“Gross, you know, there is such a thing as too close, you two.”

“It was Leia’s joke!” Luke said as he claimed the front seat.

They started driving back Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s, stopping to get a late lunch.

“You met Jyn, right?” Mara asked from the backseat. Leia nodded.

“Yeah, she and Cassian seem cute together.”

“He’s great. She’s my maid of honor.” Leia nodded. “She seems really nice, kinda quiet. But nice.” “Well, we’ve been through a lot, the two of us. I’d like if you two got along. I know there’s some history between you and Cassian, but-” Leia shook her head emphatically. “There won’t be a problem, I swear.” “You’ll have to meet my best man,” Luke piped up.

“Speaking of someone she might have a problem with,” Mara muttered.

Luke looked over his shoulder at her, but Leia didn’t catch it. He ignored Mara’s comment otherwise. “He’ll be at the party tomorrow.” Leia hummed in agreement. “Try not to kill him, will you? Or at least wait to kill him until after the wedding.”

“I make no such guarantees,” Leia quipped, getting a small laugh. “But I promise to at least try to leave him in one piece for the pictures.” She racked her brain and trying to remember if Luke had said something previously about this guy. Did Luke even mention him at all? He kept up with such a strange crowd since dating Mara, who knew a lot of people in the racing scene. Leia groaned internally, praying to god he wasn’t one of those stuck-up racing types.

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hollywoodjuliorivas · 4 years

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Biden has four great options for a black female running mate. One is his best.

Image without a caption

Jonathan Capehart

Opinion writer

May 18, 2020 at 10:13 a.m. PDT

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he will choose a woman as his vice-presidential running mate. In a previous post, I argued that she needs to be African American. And I stressed an often ignored point: Winning the Midwestern states Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 and appealing to African American voters are not mutually exclusive.

Now comes the parlor game of figuring out who that black woman should be.

Biden knows how important it is to have an empowered governing partner who commands respect inside and outside the White House. That’s who he was as vice president to former president Barack Obama, and Biden is right to want the same for himself.

Biden needs a black woman as his VP

Before I list some popular choices, let me obliterate an argument that has cropped up in response to my first post. When folks say that whomever Biden selects should be the most qualified or that “identity politics only gets you so far,” they should be aware of how that hits the African American ear. Since Jim Crow, such sentiments have been used to question our abilities and snuff out our ambitions. No matter how brilliant we are, we are never brilliant enough in a world that still believes someone not straight or white or male (usually all three) is inherently unqualified for any role, let alone being a heartbeat away from the presidency.

The four black women most often mentioned as a possible Biden running mate defy that racist notion. They are worthy of the speculation.

Former Georgia House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Nov. 15, 2019.

Former Georgia House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Nov. 15, 2019. (Michael A. Mccoy/AP)

Stacey Abrams was the Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives for six years before she resigned her seat to run for governor in the 2018 election. Abrams won the Democratic nomination with 76.5 percent of the vote. Had Abrams prevailed in the general election, she would have been the first African American female governor in the United States.

Abrams lost the race to Republican Brian Kemp by just 55,000 votes. He was the Georgia secretary of state, where he oversaw elections in Georgia for eight years. In that time, according to New York magazine, Kemp went about “purging 1.4 million voters from the rolls, placing thousands of registrations on hold, and overseeing the closure or relocation of nearly half of the state’s precincts and polling sites.”

More than 200 women sign letter urging Biden to pick a black woman as his running mate

Abrams was born in Wisconsin and raised in Gulfport, Miss. Her mother was a college librarian. Her father worked in a shipyard. When Abrams was in high school, the family moved to Atlanta, where both of her parents became Methodist ministers. Abrams would get her bachelor’s degree from Spelman College, a masters in public administration from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Yale. Abrams now runs Fair Fight, an organization she started after the governor’s race to focus on suppression in 20 states.

Why folks are talking about her

Abrams’s name has been on the lips of Democrats since she almost won Georgia in 2018. She nailed one of the toughest assignments in politics when she delivered the Democratic response to Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address. And Abrams has been the boldest of all the potential picks in her pursuit of the vice-presidential nod. When I interviewed her at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum last December, I asked her if she would want to do it. “I’m a black woman who’s in a conversation about possibly being second in command to the leader of the free world, and I will not diminish my ambition or the ambition of any other women of color by saying that’s not something I’d be willing to do,” Abrams said to thunderous applause. She has repeated some form of that answer at every opportunity ever since.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) walk to the Senate floor on the last day of opening arguments by the White House defense team during President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, on Jan. 28, 2020.

Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) has been in Congress since 2017. The Jacksonville native, whose district includes Orlando, had a front-row seat to impeachment as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and as one of the seven impeachment managers arguing the case against Trump before the Senate.

Biden wants a woman as his running mate. Val Demings could be the one.

Investigating the president was no stretch for Demings. She spent 27 years in the Orlando Police Department, becoming the city’s first female police chief. But she wasn’t the first African American. That distinction belongs to her husband Jerry L. Demings, who is now the mayor of Orange County, Fla., the first African American elected to that post. The Demingses are a Harley-Davidson-riding power couple in Florida’s all-important I-4 corridor whose individual achievements are the embodiment of the American dream.

Why folks are talking about her

The visual of a black female former police chief helping to make the case for the rule of law against the president had many in the Democratic Party in full swoon. During an interview in March, I asked Demings if she’d be interested in being vice president. She leaned into her blue-collar roots.

“I grew up the daughter of a maid and a janitor. I grew up poor, black and female in the South, someone who was told a lot of times that I wasn’t the right color or gender. But my mother pushed me and said, ‘No, you can make it. If you work hard and play by the rules, you can be anything you wanna be and do anything you wanna do,’” Demings said. “So the fact that my name is being called in such a special way for such an important position during such a critical time, it’s such an honor.”

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) smiles during a presidential forum at the California Democratic Party's convention on Nov. 16, 2019, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) smiles during a presidential forum at the California Democratic Party's convention on Nov. 16, 2019, in Long Beach, Calif. (Chris Carlson)

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) came to Washington in 2017 after serving six years as the attorney general for California and two full terms as district attorney of San Francisco. Harris joined the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in January 2019 but ended her campaign in December.

Harris is the daughter of immigrants. Her late mother was a breast cancer researcher from India. Her father is an emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University from Jamaica. They divorced when Harris was 7 years old. Harris graduated from Howard University, where her identity as an African American woman was cemented. She returned to California to get her law degree at the University of California at Hastings.

How to run for vice president

In “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” Harris writes that fighting injustice was a major part of her upbringing. Her decision to become a prosecutor took her family by surprise. In an interview with Harris that I did in conjunction with her book tour in Washington in January 2019, she said, “I had to defend my decision like one would a thesis.” She then made her argument before the audience, saying, “What I tried to live in my career as a prosecutor is the understanding that, in that role, you have the power to be the voice of the most vulnerable among us."

Why folks are talking about her

Harris came to Washington with presidential buzz already around her, which only increased as she questioned Trump administration officials. She so flustered then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions at one hearing that he admitted Harris’s questioning “makes me nervous.”

Harris jumped into the race for the presidential nomination before a crowd of more than 20,000 people in her hometown of Oakland last January. (Disclosure: My husband volunteered at that event.) Her debate performances had memorable moments, including when Harris went after Biden over his past stance on busing. The resulting bump in polling Harris received was fleeting. She ended her campaign before a primary vote was cast. But the VP buzz grew louder. When Harris has been asked about being Biden’s running mate, all she will say is she would be honored.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice briefs reporters about President Barack Obama's then-upcoming trip to Africa at the White House on July 22, 2015.

White House national security adviser Susan Rice briefs reporters about President Barack Obama's then-upcoming trip to Africa at the White House on July 22, 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Susan Rice was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama in his first term and then served as his national security adviser in his second term.

If you read her memoir, “Tough Love: My story of the things worth fighting for,” you know that Rice was reared in the elite circles of Washington. Her mother was known as the “mother of the Pell Grant.” Her father was a Tuskegee Airman and economist who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, the second African American to hold such a post.

Susan Rice on Trump’s coronavirus response: ‘He has cost tens of thousands of American lives’

A graduate of Stanford and a Rhodes Scholar with a master’s and a Ph.D in international relations from Oxford, Rice’s first foray in government was as assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Clinton administration. She has never run for elective office. Nevertheless, she has been battle-tested in the partisan crucible of Washington and the fever swamps of Fox News. See, Benghazi.

Why folks are talking about her

Rice has been unsparing in her criticism of Trump’s response to the coronavirus and uses language that scratches deep that itch among Democrats to take the fight to the president. “He has demonstrated utter lack of leadership, utter incompetence,” Rice told me last month.

When I asked her what she thought about the Biden running-mate talk, Rice responded via email, “I am honored to be among the highly accomplished women mentioned as possible VP candidates. I have great admiration for Joe Biden. Biden will be an excellent president, and I am committed to doing my utmost to help him win and govern effectively.”

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) hugs Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after introducing him at a campaign rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit on March 9.

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) hugs Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden after introducing him at a campaign rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit on March 9. (Scott Olson/Photographer: /Getty)

At a virtual fundraiser last month, Biden said, “I view myself as a transition candidate.” If elected, he would be the oldest sitting president in U.S. history and would lead a nation in desperate need of stability and leadership from the White House. Therefore, Biden needs to choose a future vice president who is young enough to embody the transition he envisions while also being a governing partner. That person has been staring us in the face for months now. Her name is Kamala Harris.

Joe Biden isn’t the Democratic Party’s future. He needs a vice president who is.

Harris has demonstrated broad appeal by winning two local elections and three statewide races in California. So she entered the 2020 presidential campaign somewhat battle-tested. Having run for president herself, Harris knows the rigors of that kind of campaign and has endured the microscopic press scrutiny that comes with it.

Harris would not be rattled by the inevitable bullying by Trump and his campaign. She is neither afraid of a fight nor afraid of him. “I know he has a reason to be afraid of me,” Harris replied when I asked her last November if she thought Trump was afraid of her. Considering he has yet to give Harris a sophomoric nickname, I’m convinced the president is really afraid of her.

Opinion | Vice President Biden, you need black women voters. This is how to win us.

Black women are the Democrats’ most reliable voting bloc. Here’s how seven prominent black female activists and media figures say Joe Biden can win them over. (Kate Woodsome, Joy Sharon Yi/The Washington Post)

Biden will need a fighter. And Harris would be for Biden what he was for Obama: a loyal vice president who fights for his agenda. But as the last person in the room with the president, Harris would not be shy about sharing unvarnished opinions.

Harris’s friendship with Biden’s late son Beau, then the attorney general of Delaware, produced a deep well of mutual respect and admiration that was tested by last June’s debate. But I think they both learned something from that bruising encounter. Biden learned that Harris is a fighter. Harris learned that some punches need not be thrown.

Biden still needs black women. Here are 3 things he needs to do.

Vice-presidential nominees might not influence the outcome of elections, but what they can do is excite the electorate where votes are needed most to win the electoral college. As I’ve argued, Biden must ensure that African Americans turn out in November if he wants to win. He must ask for their vote in Detroit (Michigan), Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Atlanta (Georgia) and Miami (Florida).

As we learned in 2016, when the black vote is taken for granted or not even requested, black voters don’t show up. The nation cannot afford to have that happen again. Biden must give African Americans a reason to vote. A Biden-Harris ticket is a reason to vote.

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solerey · 4 years

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Rules & Verses for Mobile:

Having had these requested for my Finn account, I thought I should go ahead and make some mobile-accessible rules/verses for the rest of my accounts too, so here are Rey’s! (This also includes the various parental backstories I will play for her.) Note that while I don’t change my rules much (or basically ever lol) the VERSES information here is definitely not going to be up-to-date because I am forever making new aus…but here’s a start, at least, to give you something to explore until you get back to your computers!

Mun is named Nicky and is well over 21. Muse’s age will vary. Multi-ship and multi-verse.

RULES:

Following and Mututals:

This is a sideblog of nickyrp and as such cannot follow back.

We do not need to be mutuals to send memes or starters. Feel free to throw things like that at me at any time even if we’ve never played or plotted before. If I’m not interested or just too busy etc I promise I will let you know politely and not just leave you hanging!

If you want to play please send me a message or toss me a starter; I’m bad at paying attention to my follower count and probably didn’t notice your subtle arrival! Or thought you wanted to lurk idk. Say hi!

If you are a multimuse with a lot of characters or a lot of fandoms all on one url, I may not follow you because that tends to be overwhelming for me. It’s nothing personal nor a comment on your writing style; it’s just more than I can easily keep track of, myself. (That’s why mine are all on their own sideblogs.)

If I can’t read your blog (small text, low-contrast colors, etc) I will not interact with your character. I don’t have the best eyes and straining to read sucks all the fun out of rp. If you need any of my formatting or color choices adjusted for your own ease of accessibility please let me know! I will do so happily.

You can reblog any of my shit (headcanons, graphics, verses, meta, whatever) even if you’re a personal blog, I don’t care; it’s all one fandom imo. That said please don’t reblog my interaction threads with other people because most rp-ers do not like their things reblogged and I want to respect that. If I reblog anything of yours you do not want reblogged just let me know and I will delete it; I promise it’s just because I thought the thing was cool and got excited!

Interactions:

I am always up for trying new things so if you have a crazy idea, please hit me up! I promise I rarely disintegrate anyone.

I am happily open to interacting with Original Characters! I need to know who your character is though, so if you don’t have a bio or background I can find on your blog I’m not going to be interested.

I will not write smut with anyone under the age of eighteen.

If I ever do something that upsets or confuses or offends you, please let me know. It probably wasn’t intentional and I always want to be called out on problematic behavior because how else can I learn to do better? I promise to react apologetically, not defensively.

Formatting:

I’m a visual person so I like icons and gifs and will almost always incorporate them. If you don’t want to use images that’s cool with me, but I majored in comic book art so I enjoy the marriage of words with images. I should further admit that interactions with visuals do tend to keep me more excited than plain ones – I’m shallow!

I’m not a big fan of fancy formatting. I don’t mind if you use it but I don’t. Feel free to adjust my formatting to suit your aesthetic if that makes you more comfortable, but I’ll likely keep mine simple.

If you need any triggers tagged message me and I’ll do so gladly.

Canon & AUs:

I have as of yet read very little of the expanded universe materials for the New Canon (a few comics, the Thrawn novel, etc). As such, my portrayal of Rey may at times be lacking in regards to supplemental canon information. Please never hesitate to inform me of any details relevant to your character or any ongoing/burgeoning threads. I appreciate that assistance!

As far as the Legends EU goes, I have read most of the old novels (excepting NJO period) and many of the Dark Horse comics but that is a lot of material and I do not promise to remember everything. Please let me know if I make a mistake or assumption you do not agree with; I promise I will not be offended!

I will generally default to putting Rey into the canon of the Sequel Trilogy because that is where she comes from, but I am happy to play her in Legends Canon too – just let me know! If you don’t indicate verse/time on a meme or starter, I might pick another verse (or make a new one) so please indicate where you want to play if you have a preference!

I also love making AUs whether canon-divergence or totally off-the-wall so please don’t hesitate to throw new verses my way! I love both plotting and winging-it when building new worlds, so don’t be shy!

Characters Relationships & Shipping:

Platonic Ships: I generally enjoy Rey without any ships and am thus extraordinarily eager for friendships, familial relationships, and Found Family interactions. (Antagonistic and abrasive interactions are also welcome – it doesn’t have to be all sweetness and light all the time!) Rey very much wants to be loved, but it isn’t romance she is primarily looking for. I will usually write Rey as being either an aromantic or biromatic asexual.

OTPs: That said, I do thoroughly enjoy the idea of a Finn/Rey/Poe polyship and would be thrilled to play out interactions under that set-up. I will also happily ship her with either of those two gentlemen on their own, or with Rose Tico or Jess Pava or Jannah or really anyone whom it makes sense to ship her with, providing there is chemistry and a basis in friendship to build the ship from (whether that be formed via interaction or plotted ahead of time). Interspecies ships with non-human characters are also welcome!

NOTPs: No teacher/student, adult/minor, or incestuous ships, please. Additionally I will not ship Rey with Kylo Ren in any verse. I have no objections to playing in verses where they are not related, but due to the fact that I started thinking of them them as siblings about five minutes into my first viewing of TFA (the Jaina/Jacen vibes were too strong for my Legends-based heart, sorry!), it is simply something that I am not comfortable shipping regardless of their actual familial status in a verse or lack thereof. Please tag your reylo so I can block it?

One-Way Ships: I will never force a ship on you. I expect the same courtesy in return. That said, you are more than welcome to have your character express unrequited romantic feelings toward mine. (In most cases I expect I’d even be okay with this sort of one-way attraction coming from a Kylo Ren character; if it ends up crossing the edges of my comfort zone I’ll let you know!)

Main Faceclaim: Daisy Ridley [older: Keira Knightley] [younger: Raffey Cassidy]

“We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.” ―Poe Dameron

VERSES & BACKSTORIES:

I am a big fan of AUs and canon-divergent verses so if you don’t see something here that looks like your cup of caf know that I am always happy to plot out a new one! Also feel free to pull anything from my wishlist.

BACKSTORY OPTIONS: I find that I enjoy the Rey Palpatine/Rey-Chooses-Skywalker Idea more and more the longer I contemplate it. I do however remain wholly convinced that Rey Organa-Solo was the original intention with the character in TFA. Thus, for threads set early in Rey’s character arc I am likely to default to Rey Organa-Solo while in threads set later I’ll probably go the Palpatine/Skywalker route. (And I have other options too!) If you have a backstory preference, please specify before starting a thread.

The Last Solo (default canon verse): Rey was too little to remember that her full name was Breha Organa Solo but it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d been one hundred; when Emperor Palpatine decides to mind-rub the entire galaxy, they forget. Sensing the all-but-unprecedented power within the little girl, the half-resurrected shadow of Palpatine was too tempted by her potential to destroy her outright; instead he erased her life. He couldn’t erase the emotional weight of her absence, though, nor the instant sense of connection felt by both Rey and those who had once loved her. Even Kylo Ren didn’t know why the little girl he dragged from the ruins of the Jedi Temple mattered, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill her, instead abandoning both her and his father’s ship on Jakku before following Snoke into the Dark. Palpatine’s lies about Rey’s lineage fooled everyone for a time – but in the end, the truth felt real in a way that the lies did not, and Rey reclaimed the heritage he had stolen. In the end, Palaptine lost everything.

The Last Skywalker (secondary canon verse): When the half-resurrected former Emperor mind-rubbed the entire galaxy to forget Luke Skywalker’s daughter, he succeeded – but his former Hand recognized the feeling of his touch on her thoughts. Mara Jade immediately knew he was back. She didn’t know why she felt such a connection to the little girl buried beside her in the ruins of the Jedi Temple, but she knew she had to kill her former master – and that she had to keep this child safe. She “borrowed” her brother-in-law’s ship and went searching for Palaptine, her forgotten daughter in tow. When she reached Jakku, she left the girl and the ship behind, knowing the next step was too dangerous to bring a child she loved along – but the Final Order she found was more than the fragments of the Empire she had expected, and Mara never returned for her daughter. That didn’t stop the girl who called herself Rey from sensing a connection to her true family when she finally found them again, nor stop her from claiming her true lineage in the end in spite of Palaptine’s lies. (Can also be played with a different mother!)

Palpatine’s Heir (canonical canon verse): When Rey at last discovered her lineage, she was horrified. She was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, the man who had destroyed the Old Republic and created the Empire – and was now the resurrected Lord of the Sith. After initially giving in to fear and despair at the darkness she believed she saw within herself, Rey eventually returned to the war. With the assistance of Kylo Ren, who had turned his back on the Sith at the last minute, she was able to destroy Palpatine while the Resistance obliterated the Final Order’s fleet. Hope was restored to the galaxy, Rey was restored to life in a final act of atonement, and the stain of the Sith was at last ended…at least for now. Choosing to turn her back on the bloodline that spawned her, Rey has instead declared herself a Skywalker in essence if not in birthright, carrying on the legacy of the late Luke and Leia. As the first of the new Jedi, Rey now looks to teach others the ways of the Force as Leia did her – starting with her dearest friend, Finn.

Not So Nobody (alt canon verse): The daughter of Kam and Tionne Solusar, two of Luke’s earliest Jedi students, Rey was the first child born within the Temple. Kylo Ren desperately wanted to make her his first apprentice of the Dark Side, but the Solusars escaped the slaughter and fled across the galaxy. The First Order pursued. Unable to shake them, Kam and Tionne made landfall on the nearest planet: Jakku. They hid Rey with a junk dealer and left, planning to lead Ren away and double-back when it was safe – but the First Order caught them. They convinced Kylo Ren that Rey had died of wounds taken during the attack on the Temple, but the deception cost them their lives. Kylo Ren was irritated to have lost Rey as an apprentice but had more important things to do than dwell on the death of one child…until he heard about the girl on Jakku who helped the deserter. He knew immediately who she had to be – and that she would become his apprentice after all, or he would ensure that her parents’ lie became the truth.

Orphan of Jakku (alt canon verse): Kylo Ren told the truth: Rey’s parents were nobody…but what does that matter? A person’s worth isn’t determined by their lineage but by their choices. And Rey chooses the Light and the Resistance and she will give her all to defend her friends and to free the galaxy from the shackles the First Order wants to wrap them in. Kylo Ren might be descended from Darth Vader but Rey doesn’t need to be a Skywalker too in order to end him and his reign.

Twinverse (for duplicates): Twins run in the Skywalker line, and B(rey)ha and Pad(mey) were no exception. Named for both of Leia’s mothers, their loss hit her as hard her son’s fall to the Dark Side – and hit the girls even harder: separated for the first time in their lives, they were scattered to distant planets and lost, abandoned. So young they could barely remember their own names let alone those of their family, they grew-up like orphans until one day “Rey” found herself leaving aboard a ship whose controls fit her hands like they’d been made for her. When the Force stirred in Rey, it reached out to her sister as well and Mey went looking for the family that had never come back to find her. (I’m happy to play either Rey or Other Rey in all versions! Can also be done as Skywalker twins or nobody twins. Names changeable!)

SEQUEL TRILOGY VERSES:

Her Mother’s Daughter (alt post-TFA): Leia had always been too busy running rebellions and piecing-together governments to truly master the Force, but she knew enough to teach Rey the basics – at least until the old friends she dispatched to fetch her brother could talk him into coming back. She could have sent Rey, but after losing Han she didn’t want to let her daughter out of her sight – not so soon after finding the long-thought-dead girl again. Besides, they had so much to catch up on…and the Resistance could use a Force Sensitive woman like Breha, training or no training. And for General Organa, duty always came first.

Corrupted Coordinates (alt post-TFA): the map did not lead them to Master Skywalker. Artoo wasn’t sure if the data was corrupted or if Luke had been there at one point and then moved on – but wherever he was, it wasn’t here. Unwilling to return to the Resistance empty-handed (to fail again the way she had failed to save Han, to protect Finn) Rey went looking for every rumor of Luke she could find. Aboard the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca and R2-D2 in tow, she is determined to keep searching until she can come back to Leia with something that will give them all hope.

A Newer Hope (alt TLJ): It wasn’t Rey who finally convinced Luke Skywalker to come back to the Force, back to the Resistance, back to his sister; it was the droid Artoo Deetoo, perhaps Luke’s oldest living friend. Artoo’s old hologram reminded Luke of the boy he’d once been and the hopes that had once filled his life to brimming. Lifting her Jedi Master’s ancient X-Wing from the water had been the last task Rey completed before Luke deemed her ready to return to the galaxy and to continue her training from within the Resistance, although he was cautious about letting her progress too quickly, unable to shake his fears of creating another Kylo Ren.

A Skywalker Returned (alt TLJ): If Luke had not cut himself off from the Force he would have recognized his daughter’s presence the moment she set foot on that island. As it was, the resemblance she bore to his sister – to the woman his daughter would have been if she had lived to grow-up – seemed like a cruel joke of the Force and inspired him to push her away instead. His daughter had died alongside her mother, murdered by Ben Solo in an attempt to hide his fall to the Dark Side…or so Luke had thought. Unable to kill his little cousin, Ben instead mind-rubbed her and dumped the confused girl on an out-of-the-way planet. He never expected the girl from Jakku to come back to haunt him – but the Force has a way of returning things to their proper balance, and Kylo Ren knows now that no lies will keep him safe from his long-lost cousin. Unless he can twist her to the Dark Side the way Snoke once twisted him, their next meeting will leave one or both of them dead.

The Rise of Organa-Solo (post-TLJ): Rey felt an instant connection to Han and Leia (and Kylo Ren), the Force within her whispering that this was the family she sought. Her father thought her resemblance to his beloved Leia was mere coincidence and died before learning the truth; her mother surely sensed something when they met but whether out of concern she might be wrong or hopes of sparing Rey further emotional turmoil before she started her Jedi training, Leia said nothing…and Luke had cut himself off from the Force and thus was unable to recognize his niece. Now only Leia remains to guide Rey into the Light away from Snoke’s lies and toward her destiny – but will the truth make it harder or easier for her when she has to kill her brother?

The First Jedi (alt post-TLJ): While Leia reforges the fragments of the Resistance into a New Rebellion, Rey has a mission of her own: finding other Force Sensitives and leading them with her into the Light before Kylo Ren’s agents can drag them to the Dark Side. She is no Jedi Master but she has the ancient Jedi teachings to draw from, friends to support her, and her own clarity of vision to guide her. She will learn, and she will teach. The Jedi will not end with her.

The Sunrider Option (alt TROS): With Kylo Ren dead at her hand, Rey faced Palpatine alone – but she had read the old Jedi texts and knew of a different sort of sacrifice she could make. She did as commanded and struck him down, claiming her position as Empress of the Sith – but severed herself from the Force at the same time. The spirits of the Sith moved from him to her…and found nothing waiting there that could house them. They faded, dissipating into nothing but impotent screams. Before the Final Order could realize the ritual had failed, she gave the command for their fleet to stand down. The combined Resistance and Free People’s Fleets destroyed most of their ships before they could fight back or flee, and Rey returned to her friends alive and untainted – but forever sundered from the Force. Now she does her best to pass her training on to Finn so he can guide the new generation of Jedi that she will never be a part of…and learns to live with a world that will feel forever muffled, forever less.

The Balance Restored (post TROS): While Poe Dameron, Rose Tico, Kaydel co Connix, and the other leaders of the Resistance turn their hand from rebellion to building a government, Rey has a mission of her own: finding other Force Sensitives and training them as Leia did her. From the fragments of the Jedi Order, something new will rise – something that is not bound by the limitations of the Jedi Code or the sins of Jedi past, but something nonetheless firmly rooted in the Light. She will restore balance to the galaxy one student at a time, starting with her first apprentice: Finn.

Rebel Daughter (pre-TFA divergence): Breha was not lost when her brother fell to the Dark Side. She grew-up amidst the strain and stress of political upheaval and imminent war, but she also grew-up surrounded by family. Breha’s devotion to the Resistance is total – almost. The loss of her brother cut her too deep for even the dozens of unofficial aunts, uncles, and quasi-siblings of her parents’ friends and allies to assuage – but dragging Ben back to the Light would do it. Breha refuses to give up on the big brother she once adored, no matter what Uncle Luke or her parents caution her, but will she risk the continued survival of the Resistance she loves on her certainty that Ben is still in there somewhere, and she can bring him back? She tells herself it’s the will of the Force guiding her – but maybe she just misses her brother.

Scoundrel Daughter (pre-TFA divergence): when Ben Solo fell to the Dark Side, Leia and Han decided that the Force was too dangerous for their remaining child. Duty demanded that General Organa stay with her burgeoning Resistance, so Han and Chewie took young Breha away from war and into the safety of the seedier side of life. She grew up more on the Falcon than off, flitting from port to port and learning the tricks of the smuggler trade rather than the ways of the Force. It wasn’t until Hosnian Prime met its grim fate that they came home to Leia, joining the Resistance for a desperate mission to Starkiller Base – and Breha’s first confrontation with her brother since she had been a little girl and he had not yet become a monster.

Dark Lady of Ren (pre-TFA divergence): When young Ben Solo proved resistant to Snoke’s manipulations he set his sights on an easier target: the boy’s baby sister. His assault on the Jedi Temple left many survivors, but it had all been a distraction so he could kidnap Breha. Raised to the Dark Side and indoctrinated with the beliefs of the First Order, Kreya Ren has few memories of any life before and even less interest in uncovering them. With her family convinced that she died thirteen years ago, she might never have discovered her origins – save that Poe Dameron knew the moment they came face to face who this woman who looked so much like Leia had to be. That had been Kreya’s first mission as a Knight of Ren and she took Dameron’s escape and the defection of the traitor FN-2187 personally. Vowing to destroy the Resistance once and for all, Kreya Ren never expected to discover a brother barring her way – nor parents who refused to accept that she would never turn her back on the Dark Side.

Orderly Mechanic (pre-TFA divergence): The First Order was never picky about where it harvested its resources – or about how willing they were. Rey didn’t want to leave Jakku but she wasn’t given a choice when stormtroopers marched over the sands “recruiting” anyone useful. She was barely a teenager but everyone knew she was good with machines and they needed people to keep their ships spaceworthy. At least she’s learned a lot, although “traveling the galaxy” probably would be more exciting if she ever got to step foot off the ships for more than the occasional dirtside repair. Being a young and self-taught prodigy has netted Rey few friends among her co-workers, but some of the stormtrooper recruits at least are nice to the girl who helps fix their boots and blasters…and so far no one, not even Rey herself, has realized that her instinctive avoidance of Kylo Ren is anything more than ordinary prudence. And every day, her lost family feels a little further away…

More Coming Soon! like literally as soon as soon as someone asks for or suggests one, I love AUs. Don’t be shy!

LEGENDS EU VERSES:

Another Desert Daughter (as Shmi’s great-granddaughter): Luke felt an instant connection to the new Jedi trainee the moment Rey stepped into the temple. Here was yet another Force user from Tatooine, another orphaned child of the sands who dreamed beyond the confines of her hot and distant world, like Taihiri Veila and himself before them. So why did the extent of her powers frighten him? Was it because the coincidental resemblance of her features and his niece’s, his sister’s, had Luke making the mental leap to yet another Jedi from Tatooine? But this girl was no Vader, surely! Of course, if he had known that she too carried Skywalker blood in her veins, Luke might have let himself worry more…but Shmi Skywalker had died too quickly to tell her son that there was another. (can be set at any time in Legends Continuity but probably not NJO because I don’t know it)

Lost Hapan Princess (as Allana Djo Solo): deeming it too dangerous to hide her daughter in plain sight with Han and Leia Organa-Solo, Tenel Ka sent Allana to Dathomir after faking her death – but the ship never made it there. Left on the nearest planet for safe-keeping by her escort while they dealt with the threat pursing them, Allana soon found herself abandoned and alone. Her memories damaged by the upheaval in the Force following Caedus’s fall and Abeloth’s rise, she spent the next several years sure of nothing but that she had family out there somewhere who would be coming back for her…but as the amnesiac girl drew inward to shield herself from the darkness in the Force, Tenel Ka was forced to conclude that her deception about her daughter’s death had become the truth: Allana was gone. But the Force wasn’t done with the woman now called Rey just yet… (for post-LOTF interactions)

Littlest Solo Sister (as Breha Organa-Solo): either taking Anakin Solo’s place as the youngest of the three Solo children, standing alongside Anakin as the second set of Organa-Solo twins, or as the fourth and youngest of the siblings, Breha grew-up as the daughter of the New Republic’s Chief of State and the niece of the Jedi Grand Master. It was a life that involved lots of affection from a host of unofficial aunts and uncles, the occasional kidnapping, and training in the Jedi Temple on Yavin Four. It eventually involved war as well, interspersed with tragedy and darkness. (can be set at any time in Legends Continuity but I really don’t know the NJO so assistance with details may be necessary if you want that)

More Coming Soon! like literally as soon as soon as someone asks for or suggests one, I love AUs. Don’t be shy!

#rules #verses #rp style #sw rp #ooc ramblings #for mobile users

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selfproclaimedunicorn · 7 years

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How do the characters know each other?

Chass Clement is the patriarch of House Clement, and that's a big fucking house so just assume that if the character is in House Clement they are related to him. Here's a small rundown of the family though. Chass's Children: Nathin (married to Linley Grey), Gurnar (widower of Mara Sparr), Annarel (deceased wife of Stanler Araval III), & Ser Jarrad (father of Colliff Snow)Chass's Grandchildren: Warrek (son of Nathin & Linly, husband of Alssa Bolton), Jorrell (younger brother of Warrek, husband of Lauryn Feathers) & Rydin (son of Gurnar, widower of Adryonna Orlion)Chass's Great Grandchildren: Heiley & Royce (twin siblings, daughter & son of Warrek & Alssa), Luciya (daughter of Rydin), & Alvar (son of Jorrell & Lauryn)Due to the nature of House Clement being very sociable & family oriented they historically keep tabs with whoever they marry into for a few generations. So House Clement has friendly relationships with Stanler Araval & his children (discussed below), a few Ironborn houses due to intermarriages, House Brimsblood (discussed below), House Stark, & strained relations with House Bolton.I'd say the relationship with House Brimsblood is the strongest in spite of them [Brimsblood] being a Dornish House simply because of the volume of intermarriages & Chass's sister being the mother of House Brimsblood's current Lord.

House Ironbark doesn't have a high number of outside contacts because of how small they are, but Bryce & his mother Jaidyn know Laina Snow due to her helping Bryce during their time staying with Jaidyn's birth House (House Reed) after their stronghold is sacked by Ironborn raiders. And due to some relationships Aran, Jaidyn's brother-in-law & Bryce's uncle had in his youth, they get involved with a few Skagosi Houses, including the exiled & thought extinct House Greystark.

Let's round out the North by listing Night's Watchmen & Wildlings.All Black Brothers in my fic are stationed at Castle Black BC this is where the action is. So Aran Ironbark (a ranger), Marcos Everbright (a builder), Colliff Snow (a steward), & Malrick Pommingham (a ranger) all know each other by virtue of being stationed at the same place. And they have connections to their respective families, save Colliff who doesn't know his father. Also Colliff & Malrick are lovers & that's greatThe wildlings Mirie & Domun Giantblood know each other only BC if Mance uniting the wildlings, but they have a tentative friendship. I am debating if they get involved with any of my Night's Watchmen or just stay a small focus to keep an eye on what's going on with the Wildling raids & Jon's time beyond the Wall with Ygritte.

Now moving onto another region: The Iron Islands.House Brine mostly has connections with other Ironborn Houses, but at the time of A Game of Thrones a potential betrothal is being discussed between Heiley Clement & Lord Castor Brine's second son: Jaremy. Heiley ends up becoming friends with Castor's bastard Emely due to some time they both spend in Bolton occupied Winterfell, & the aftermath of this has Emely making contacts with House Clement & hooking up with the oldest son of House Brimsblood with an implied May/December Romance marriage, with Wyllas Saltstone tagging along as Emely's best friend & raider-steward due to his House being sworn to her's.Further along in the House Brine web is Brydan Shield: ward of Castor Brine, son of the exiled Rohar Shield (discussed below), eventual soldier for Stannis Baratheon, & eventual husband of Ilyana Veltheos (discussed below).

House Veltheos is another stupidly big House (but this time they're in the Riverlands instead of the North), & they're Valyrian to boot. I'm not here to discuss the lore of House Veltheos, but know they want the throne & will salt about House Targaryen till they're blue in the face. So, anyway, like I did with House Clement, I'll give a rundown if House Veltheos as they relate to their patriarch Baesemorys & his wife Vaerneyna.Baesemorys's Children: all dead, he only has his daughter-in-law Dasina Shield (who is the aunt of Brydan)Baesemorys's Grandchildren: Daeragor (son of Dasina, husband of Minaena Sorryl of Lys), Sarsah Araval (granddaughter-in-law & widow of Visegsron), Raegel (husband of Suesane Pommingham)Baesemorys's Great Grandchildren: Gahaemion (son of Daeragor & Minaena), Nyssessaro (younger brother of Gahaemion), Malaenyra (daughter of Sarsah), Ilyana (daughter of Raegel), Taecenys (younger brother of Ilyana), & Raenenys (younger sister of Ilyana).Ilyana (along with her handmaiden Serolla Nahiros) get left in Essos with Team Targaryen BC Viserys is a dick, but she winds up being brought back to Westeros by the oldest daughter of House Brimsblood. They become pretty good friends BC when you smuggle someone out of the situation that got you stuck in an abusive & isolating marriage & take them home you become pretty good friends with someone. But landing on the Storm Coast where Stannis is kinda prevents her going back to her family but that's okay because Ilyana grows as a person & finds a loving marriage with Brydan Shield who's sort of the cousin she never met.

Next is The Vale where we find House Grey & exposit about those relationships. So Cira Ruthermont is the mother of the current Lord (who has no political sense to be a lord but his brother died so here we are), Karsan. Karsan is married to his late brother's wife Clare Bracken, so he's uncle step-daddy for his nephew Rohar. He has 3 children with his sister-in-law-wife: Olyvia (named for his late older brother Olyvar), Justan, & Gabrin. Now, Clare thinking she knows how to "play the game" & wanting to move up in the world tries to set up marriages for her daughter but this kind of backfires & they get strong-armed into marrying a 14-year-old off to a 60-year-old with tons of money.

So this leads into the Crownlands House Olyvia marries into: House Orlion. Which, just like I could talk about Alssa all day I could also talk about House Orlion all day simply to explain them. Olyvia Grey is wife #3 to Lord Alren Orlion. His children from his first marriage (to an Ullr) are Hectar Orlion (married to Breyna Tarly) & Adryonna (deceased wife of Rydin Clement). Hectar & Breyna have 2 daughters: Jaslin & Giyana (the latter if which is Olyvia's age). His son from his second marriage (to a Kenning) is Brenn, who becomes Olyvia's lover & the probable father of her future children.

Now one of my favorite Houses: House Araval of the Westerlands. Most of their connections are with House Lannister BC of salty, salty familial history & my bring a shameless Lannister fangirl (except with Lancel who can suck an asshole). Now, I mentioned before their connections with House Clement, so I doubt I need to go over those again. Most everything after that is their familial relationships.Stanler Araval is widower of Annarel Clement & the father to Danielle, Dorian, & Bryant. Dorian is married to Calypso Lannister & has one (1) surviving child: Bernys.Stanler's brother died & left behind his wife (Maralynn Blackwood) along with their son Jon. Jon is married to Eva Frey, & they have a daughter named Amaranth who eventually gets married to her cousin Bryant BC if Lannisters can marry their cousins then anyone can. It's weird, but hey, they were in a pinch.Further along in the connections for House Araval is Casandra Lannister (not a Canon Lannister, merely me indulging in Lannister love) who becomes Danielle's lover sometimes around the events of A Dance of Dragons. And Casandra comes with two living shitposts as handmaidens: Marian Flowers (the bastard daughter of Mace Tyrell) & Anora Kinsbriar (the heir of the smallestM Dornish House in History).

Casandra & her handmaidens have very loose ties to Aerys Targaryen's bastard (discussed below) because of events that accelerate the Dornish Civil War & Casandra's younger brother Ser Ramses becoming Queen's Guard to the aforementioned bastard when he abandons the King's Guard due to senpai Jaime lying about the incest thing.

Next, and lastly, is Dorne. I've mentioned what I'm pretty sure are all the connections for House Brimsblood, aside from the fun fact that the oldest daughter , Elisheva, not only rescues Ilyana but us best friends with Alssa Bolton & eternally thirsts after Rydin Clement.

So the next step is mentioning House Gargalen. This is a Canon House, but I've fleshed it out and added members to aid in my Dorne plot that will wind up superseding the book's Dorne plot because I'm not a huge fan of it & this is my fic so I can supersede what I want. There's a small connection there with House Brimsblood since they [brimsblood] are a cadet branch of House Gargalen & there's a marriage there between Lord Gargalen's son & Lord Brimsblood's son.Most of the Dorne thing center around how everyone knows Aerys Targaryen's bastard daughter Aeremera Blackfyre. So. Her biggest allies are House Gargalen, with her biggest military support coming from House Brimsblood. She has the exiled Rohar Shield as her Hand (which, fun story: Rohar thinks his son, WHO WAS 2, is dead). She has Ser Ramses, Casandra's brother, as part of her Queen's Guard, an Astapori spy master who fled Slaver's Bay in the Dany aftermath) as her Mistress if Whispers), & Lord Tremond Gargalen as her Master of Ships. Also her lover is Lord Gargalen's grandson.

And then there are characters I haven't even finished fleshing out but thank God because I'm running out of steam trying to remember how people do & don't know each other. Why did I do this to myself?

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vileart · 6 years

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Vessel Dramaturgy: Laura Wyatt O’Keefe @ Edfinge 2018

VESSEL

How far would you go for a cause you believe in? How far is too far?

There is a woman. Woman is pregnant. Abortion is still illegal in her country. There is a man. Man is a journalist. He meets Woman and starts to cover her story. A story that will change the world.

Irish writer and performer Laura Wyatt O’Keefe, tackles the divisive subject of women’s bodies and women’s rights in a compelling new drama. It is inspired by Ireland’s recent referendum on abortion and real cases of women around the world not receiving medical treatment and support they need in their own countries. Vessel is a timely reminder that globally women are still fighting to gain control of their own bodies and their right to choose. At its heart a love story, the play tells the story of an Irish right-to-choose activist. While using her own unwanted pregnancy to bring a legal challenge against the government she meets a journalist who interviews her to publicise her campaign. As their relationship develops he worries he is getting in too deep and begins to reconsider his situation.

Vessel uses wit and humour to explore the complexities of love and relationships in modern society, taking in motherhood, fertility, bodily autonomy and restrictive abortion laws in many countries. With campaigns and rallies for women’s rights gathering momentum worldwide, it questions if we can ever separate a woman from her fertility? As a society do we value women as humans or just potential mothers?

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Vessel was inspired by the Repeal the 8th campaign. I grew up in an Ireland where we did not talk about abortion, we did not talk about choice. Abortion was something that was talked about in hushed tones behind closed doors and it was always something that the person would regret. But something started to change around 2010, people started talking, marching, campaigning.

People were unafraid to speak out.

Vessel started as a play about abortion but its become a play about choice. So much of the theatre I see about women acknowledges and details female struggle and that’s it. Vessel is about exploring what happens after that struggle, what happens to the female character when she has freedom, when she has choice, when she is empowered? As a theatre maker I’m excited by the possibility of female focused narratives not the retelling of female suffering. For women to keep moving forward socially and artistically we’ve got to start telling and listening to stories of female empowerment.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

'The right to choose' will always be an incredibly divisive subject. It's a subject entrenched with political and personal views. It feels impossible to separate ourselves emotionally from the subject. But theatre and performance allow an audience to bare witness to the intimate parts of this subject, it allows the audience to sit in the clinic with the characters, to see the affect on their family, to listen to the online trolls.

It allows the audience to see the human behind the issue - to feel, to laugh or cry with them. The audience gets to walk in their shoes but also gets to leave those shoes at the exit when the curtain closes. Or maybe not? Maybe they change along with them? From the safe space to a darkened auditorium.

How did you become interested in making performance?

My Aunt was a director and I was sent to rehearsals with her because it was cheaper than a babysitter. And then of course, I was given the role of 'child no 10' or something and that was it, I had the bug.

I don't ever remember deciding to be an actor or a theatre maker, I just was one. When I was in secondary school, I had a meeting with my career guidance counsellor and when I said I wanted to be an actor they told me I would end up very poor and I should look at 'real' career options but it didn't really affect me. I had an incredibly supportive family who never questioned my decisions.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Whenever I make a show I ask a lot of questions. I bury myself in research. Normally when I start writing I'm angry about something, I'm angry about the lack of female bodily autonomy or I'm lost - I don't know what I feel about it. So I keep asking questions and keep researching and eventually I reach a point where I know what I need to write. My research for this show started in 2013 when I interviewed Mara Clarke of Abortion Support Network and with people who oppose legalised abortion. And that's how I wrote the show, in the middle of those opinions, the for and against.

Once the research was done, I went into a room with artists and offered up the script. And slowly through feedback from these workshops, pages of ideas and questions arrived. Then it was my job to write the story that needed to be told.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

It does in lots of ways. It's about female-focused social issues but I feel this is the first time I was courageous enough to simply write a story. As a playwright and an artist I normally try to be clever in narrative form and structure. I try to impress an audience with the ingenuity of the presentation of the work but with Vessel I didn't hide behind form or structure, I wrote a story that was honest and simple. I just told the truth of the story. And that was hard as an artist, to be truthful, to not try and distract the audience with theatricality.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope they are challenged, that their ideas and opinions about bodily autonomy and theatre are challenged, that they walk out with questions about the play and questions about themselves.

http://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/vessel

‘Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe’s work is fresh, fearless and raw. Vessel is a timely yet timeless play about how we value women and fertility’ Bryony Kimmings (artist and project mentor) On 25 May a referendum in Ireland produced an overwhelming vote in favour of repealing the 8th Amendment and allowing abortion on request up to the 12th week of pregnancy. Prior to this, each day 9 Irish women travelled to the UK, spending up to €1,000 to be considered as criminals - all in the pursuit of a safe abortion. There is still no firm date for the new legislation to be passed. Incredibly, women in Northern Ireland continue to make journeys to Britain for a procedure that remains illegal there – a country legally and constitutionally part of the UK. ‘The writing is evocative … impressive pulsating atmosphere’ The Irish Examiner on O’Keeffe’s Wish I Was Laura Wyatt O’Keefe is part of a family steeped in Irish politics - her great granduncle was Michael Collins who fought for Ireland’s independence and brokered/signed the peace treaty with the United Kingdom. As a performer, writer, facilitator, researcher, collaborator and activist she tells stories, in any way that she can – through theatre and site-specific performances, sound and video installations, spoken word and short films. www.lwok.co.uk <http://www.lwok.co.uk> Vessel is performed by Laura and Edward De Gaetano. It was created with director Christopher Gatt and Laura is working with Bryony Kimmings as a mentor. The show was developed with support from Olivier Award winning Fishamble Theatre Company and input from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Abortion Network Support, a GP, solicitor and activist Diane Munday. Listings information: Vessel Underbelly, Jersey, Bristo Sq (Venue 302) 3-27 Aug (not 13) 13.10 (65 mins) £9 - £11

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yeomangamer · 6 years

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After My Father’s Funeral Chapter 6

Summary: Funerals can be stressful, but so can weddings–especially with a family as effed up as theirs. Unfortunately for Leia, she has both to attend in one go. So much for repression. Modern AU

Pairings: Leia/Han, Mara/Luke, Jyn/Cassian, Leia&Han&Luke&Mara&Cassian&Jyn, Uncle Owen/Aunt Beru

Chapter summary: Mara and Luke had not been looking forwards to their party, and if Leia could've predicted the future, she wouldn't have either.

A/N: This chapter contains explicit/mature content under the cut, after the line break. Ya’ll been warned. Thanks to my friend @padmenaberrje for being my beta and a great friend. Please check out the Ao3 and FFN versions for full author’s notes

It was a week to the wedding. Everyone Leia had ever known from college and high school was at Mara and Luke's residence. She hadn't attended a ton of parties in college, but this was already bigger and wilder than she'd ever seen. But that wasn't difficult. The wildest party she'd been to was in law school: a guy passed out and people had drawn on his face, some girl had cheated at that party, breaking up a 5 year relationship. There had maybe been 20-25 people in total attendance.

Mara and Luke were not stripper people, and had opted to have a combined bachelor/ette party. Neither of them seemed too excited to potentially be embarrassed in front of their peers, but did it after so many people asked what they were doing. Leia was under the impression that because of their squeamishness, people were going to act that much raunchier. Guests had brought obscene posters and games on top of gag gifts. Leia was waiting for the stripper to come in uninvited, and decided she would leave at that point.

Two of her three vacation weeks had passed her by, and she was dreading the last one. Had things gone according to plan-had Skywalker not ruined everything once again-her plane would have landed that morning. Maybe she would've been excited to be here instead of being in a funk after spending the day staring at the wall in Luke's old bedroom, browsing Twitter in between existential crises.

She was already a little tipsy and planning on at least getting mildly drunk. Jyn and Cassian were nowhere to be seen and Mara and Luke were opening the gag gifts in the living room. That left Leia on the stairs, not really in the living room, nor out. Most people left her alone, but Han Solo wasn't most people.

"This seat taken?" He asked as he sat down on the step below her. He was wearing a blue button-up plaid shirt with short sleeves over a white t-shirt and jeans. He looked good in a rugged sort of way. As he always did.

"Now it is," she said, looking up at him.

He took a look at her, assessing her current state. "You drunk, sweetheart?"

"Not yet." She smiled at him, a wide smile. Her usual inhibitions weren't working, but she didn't feel out of control...yet. "Say, what's with the nicknames, cowboy?"

He laughed. "Easier than remembering real names."

Her face fell. "You don't know my name?" She was more than a little hurt by his comment, joking or not.

"Of course I do. Lily was it? Or Lorelei." She got up to move, but was stopped by his hand on her wrist. "I'm joking, Leia. I know your name."

She sat back down. "Not funny."

"Man, don't tell me you're a mean drunk."

"Of course I'm a mean drunk. I get drunk and I mean it." He laughed pretty hard at that one.

They watched the party unfold, people laughed and drank. Music was playing and it was generally a great vibe.

"Did you help plan tonight?" she asked him, and he shook his head.

"Nah, this has to be the easiest best man gig in the history of weddings. Luke is so low maintenance, its almost infuriating." He settled onto the step. "I only had to write a speech and buy a vest."

"And show up." He pointed at her and nodded.

"I won't forget that, I promise you. Write a speech, buy a vest, and show up. Two down, one to go." They toasted to that and drank. The scene in front of them continued to unfold.

"How did you get into the racing scene?" Leia asked after Mara threw the edible underwear she'd received from a guest at their face.

Han chuckled at Mara and bit his lip in thought. "I'd picked up odd jobs in and after high school, a lot of mechanic work. I honestly can't remember not wanting to be a driver, but...it took a while before I finally got behind a wheel. And even when I did, it was rough. And it wasn't always legal. I lost a lot of races, a lot of money, and nearly hung up my career at the ripe age of 25."

Leia raised her eyebrows. "Really. What changed your mind?"

Han smirked. "Kessel Run. That win launched my career. All of a sudden I was turning away sponsorships 'stead of begging for them. I was able to get the Millenium Falcon, the first real racing car I'd ever owned. No longer had to borrow from Lando or some other racer, I had my own car. I had my own life." He was in his own world then, looking out at the party, but lost in his own memory. "Even if things crash and burn, literally or figuratively, I had that moment, you know? That moment of doing exactly what I wanted to do."

"That's inspiring." Leia nodded. "I'm afraid my own career isn't nearly as satisfying as that."

He laughed, and she smiled. "You'll get there, sweetheart. We've both still got a lotta livin' to do." They sat in silence for a moment, drinking. "So what made you want to be a lawyer?" He asked as Luke puffed up an inflatable penis.

Leia laughed at the scene in front of her. "Sorta like you, I think I always wanted to be a lawyer. But it wasn't until the Ruling that I understood exactly."

"The case you and you brother were in." Han clarified.

"Yeah, Luke told you about it, right?" Leia took another sip of her drink. Who'd've thought alcohol was the answer to not thinking about painful memories.

"I'd heard about it. It was all over the news when it happened. Luke's told me some details, but-"

Leia huffed, feeling in a very overshare-y mood. "Well, what do you know, what do you wanna know?"

Han seemed surprised she wanted to talk about it, but continued. "I know your father wanted custody, and you and Luke were reunited, but not much else."

She gathered her words carefully, even in her slightly drunk state. "We weren't just reunited, our entire world view was shattered." Leia took another drink. "We both knew that mom—our biological mother—died due to complications with childbirth, and that dad wasn't around."

"But neglected to tell you who he was?" Han was sitting a step lower, leaning next to her onto the step she was sitting.

She nodded. "What he was and about each other."

Han looked thoughtful. "Wait, you didn't even know about-? You thought you were an only child-"

"Until my 16th birthday, yeah. That's when they told us."

Han was shocked, and Leia couldn't blame him. No one seemed to want to remember that detail, that they had both been lied to by the people they trusted the most.

"Why didn't they tell you?"

"'It was simpler that way.'" Leia quoted her own father, Bail, on that one. "They claimed they were going to tell us when we turned 18, but…"

Han scoffed. "Was that what they told you to make you feel better?"

She nodded and fingered the sleeve of her jacket, neither of them spoke. "Imagine receiving news like that. If you absolutely have to, you would hope that your parents would sit you down nice and calmly, and tell you the whole story when you're ready to handle it. Definitely not when you receive a subpoena for your DNA."

Han's jaw dropped. "A subpoena? How did they let it get that far before telling you?"

"The record for Luke and mine's adoption was supposed to be sealed until we turned 18. I don't know how Skywalker found where we were, but the court needed to prove paternity in order to even consider opening the file. They—my parents and the Lars'—had argued that since there was no father listed on our birth certificates, there was no grounds to examine the file. The judge disagreed, he wanted to be thorough." Her eyes itched and she scratched them, her fingers coming up wet. She was crying. "We lived in the same town, Han. Opposite sides of a picket fence. I could've walked by him on the street, and I probably would've made fun of his clothing to my friends. My parents, I loved them so much. I could care less about paternity, the Organas were my parents. But they didn't tell me I had a brother, a twin! We shared a womb and they separated us. I love Luke so much, he's everything to me." She was on the verge of blubbering now, the tears streaming down her face.

Han sat up a step and wrapped an arm around her, handing her a napkin. She blew her nose. Damn, she'd thought this trauma had been long-since buried.

"He ruined my life, Han. First driving my mother away so she died alone, then being such a fuck up, that Luke and I had to be separated, then dragging us through the courts for what reason? The judge ruled against him, but allowed visitation. Luke even lived with him for like 6 months. Then, as if all this wasn't enough, he caused the death of my parents." She blew her nose again, and wiped her eyes on her sleeves. She tried to compose herself, failing miserably. The words kept pouring out of her. "And don't give me that 'He changed, he wrote a book.' It doesn't matter. If he hadn't been such a- such a fucking bastard, we could've been a family, we could've been happy."

Up until this point Han had been silent, only keeping his arm around her. Everyone had crowded around Luke and Mara with their backs to Leia and Han. No one had seen her break down but him. He pulled her into his chest for a tender embrace, he rubbed her back as she sobbed into his chest. After a minute or so, she was finally able to compose herself (as well as she could) and pulled away, reaching for the drink she'd sat down.

"I think you've had enough." Han took the cup from her, setting it down by the stairs.

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and blew her nose on the almost disintegrated napkin. "Sorry to ruin your night with my problems, again." The shame was hitting her hard. This was why she didn't overshare. This is why she didn't go to parties and drink. This was why she never went back home.

"Do you always apologize after admitting your problems?" He took his arm out from around her.

"What else are you supposed to say after baring your soul to someone?" She'd felt she'd offended him somehow when he moved away from her. In that moment, she only wanted comfort.

Han stood up and she immediately felt the lack of his warmth next to her. She looked up, certain her makeup—which she had put on painstakingly in Luke's old bathroom—was a mess. "I'm not sure. Wanna take a ride?"

She blinked at him. "In the Falcon?"

He nodded. "I told you, I owe you. You're leaving in a week, right?" He stretched out his hand to her.

She nodded and took his hand. He pulled her up and they slipped out the front door.

You need more scoundrels in your life, he had said. Right before he'd kissed her. He had taken her for a drive along the backroads of Naboo county, almost driving an hour until they didn't see any sign of civilization. Leia felt as though they had landed on a different planet, there was so much wild around her. He had zipped and zoomed, before they finally settled within spitting distance of the the suburbs. That was when she told him he was a pretty good driver.

"For a scoundrel," she qualified. She'd sobered up some, but her stupor had turned to a more pleasant buzz. The drive had been more exciting than she had thought it would be.

He'd leaned over to her seat and stared directly into her eyes, that smirk of his as prominent as ever. Her skin had never felt hotter. "You need more scoundrels in your life." Then he'd kissed her, deeply, passionately.

His tongue slipped between her lips and she ran her hands through his hair. His hands pulled her jacket off, feeling the bare skin of her arms and shoulders, slipping around her waist to pull her as tight as the confines of the car would allow. At this point, she was seriously thinking about the logistics of the front seat, the back seat…the ground outside even, when they broke apart. His eyes looked as bright and wild as she felt, and she was wondering if he meant multiple contexts of this "ride." But he turned to start the car and sped off before she could think too hard about that.

His house was small, big enough for two people maybe, with a three-car garage. She could see the lights from the city in the distance, but not too close to be intrusive. She felt as though she were in a dream. He led her inside. She barely got a look at his home—which screamed "bachelor" to her—before he was leading her to his bedroom. He kicked Chewie off the bed, and put him outside.

She sat on his bed, looking over her shoulder at him, having already taken off her jacket. The door shut with a click and she felt the tension in the room change. This was happening. He sauntered over to her slowly, taking off his plaid shirt and letting it fall to the floor. He kneeled down in front of her, parting her legs to sit between them, nose to nose with her. His breath was hot on her face as he leaned in to kiss her cheek, her jaw, and finally her lips. Her heart pounded in her chest as she pulled on his t-shirt to pull it off. They parted to let the garment pass, and Han moved to her neck, kissing down and over her collar bone. She took in a small breath as she felt his fingers creep up her legs under her floral dress to pull down her panties. Up until then his touches had been chaste. He moved back up to kiss her mouth as he rubbed the outline of her labia and moved deeper with each stroke slowly. Too slowly.

"Force, Han, are you going to keep being a tease or are you going to-" She demanded, hornier than ever. But before she could finish he dipped his head down, in between her legs. She gasped and moaned as he licked and sucked his way around her clit before tongue-fucking her. She barely registered that she was pulling on his hair extremely hard as she approached her orgasm. He introduced his fingers back into the equation, leaving her a wet mess. "R- right there, y- oh!" She came without making much of a sound as she fell back onto the bed. She felt him wipe his mouth on the hem of her dress, his breathing heavy.

"How's that for teasing, sweetheart?" She could hear his indignant smirk in his voice.

She sat back up, pulling her dress over her head and dropping it next to him. "I swear to the force, Han. If you don't put your dick inside me, what was the point of all of this?"

He stood, undoing his belt, and letting his pants fall. "So much for being coy, princess." He moved forwards to kiss her, laying her back against the bed.

He seemed content to rub against her for a while, and Leia was not. She shoved at his shoulder and he broke apart, taking a big breath in.

"You wanna- (huff) stop?" he asked. "I can t-" She pushed him over and onto his back, throwing her leg over him and straddling his middle. He settled his hands on her hips. His eyes were wide as she placed open mouthed kisses onto his collar-bone. She discarded their remaining clothing, and he'd pulled out a condom. She rolled it over, and settled herself overtop of him. She was still very slick from his meal earlier, and she slid him inside with ease. They both took a breath, eyes locked onto each other.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

She made no reply, only rolled her hips, eliciting a moan from both of them. She did it again, and again, finding a rhythm. He held onto her hips like he was holding onto a lifeline, bucking up into her. She stopped moving her own hips, preferring his movements to her own. She threw her head back, moaning and palming her breasts.

"Force, Leia, fuck." He pushed her back onto her side and she moved onto her back. He wasted no time settling back on top and inside her, she wrapped her legs around his waist. He buried his face in her neck, suckling on her earlobe as he found his same rhythm again. She hissed and moaned as he found that spot inside her, hitting it again and again. His hips were stuttering now, but had more force behind them and she cried out each time his hips met her's.

"R- right- there- right!" She squeaked and felt the sensation wash over her once again. His movements stopped with a single, powerful thrust shortly after and he heaved one last cry into her hair.

Hours—days it felt like—later, Leia was lying awake in the darkness of his bedroom. His arm was slung across her bare stomach, and he was sleeping soundly. He snored, she'd discovered, but that wasn't what kept her awake.

This was wrong, so wrong. How hard had she worked to get herself out of Naboo? Only to end up back in. Force, she'd told him about her father. She'd cried on him about her father. How pathetic was she?

A scratching at the door finally made her get out of bed. She passed over his t-shirts for the jacket she'd worn at the party, pressing it to her chest so that the important parts were covered—at least from the front. She opened the door and let Chewie in, delighting in the serenity of Han's backyard illuminated by the waxing moon. It looked as though he hadn't mowed it since the start of summer. There were old pieces of junk sitting in the tall grass, but there were also terra-cotta pots making up a small garden.

She closed the door and sighed, looking back to the bed to see that Chewie had taken the spot she had previously occupied. She took this as her sign to leave, and started pulling together her outfit from the party. It wasn't easy hunting around in the dark, but she'd eventually recovered all but her bra. She faintly remembered being on top of him in nothing but her underwear, and he'd made some snarky comment about whether he should leave his socks on if she was going to wear her bra. In hindsight, it was definitely a line to get her to strip, but it had felt good in the moment to fling the garment across the room. Force, how much of what he'd said had been lines? "You need more scoundrels in your life", "don't go retreating into your shell when it took so much to get you out of it", "I have better things to do." Well, now, he would have time to do anything, except her.

She abandoned the bra as a lost cause, let him proclaim her as a conquest if he chose. She looked back over at him on the bed one last time and wondered if he'd mistake Chewie for her in a morning haze. Her phone buzzed as she walked out the door to her Uber. It was Jyn: "Where r u?"

She texted back: "Sorry, Han took me for a drive in the Falcon, I'm on my way home."

"Party is still happening (confetti emoji)."

She got into the backseat. "I drank too much (sick face emoji), I'm going to bed. See you later though."

"Text me when you get home."

She did.

#sw #star wars #star wars: original triology #star wars modern au #star wars au #han #lei #han solo #leia organa #leia skywalker #han x leia #han/leia #fic #my fic #kisstheprincessofpurewhite #after my father's funeral #after my fathers funeral #after my father's funeral chapter 6

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