#I LOVE ONE (1) ROUND ORANGE DROID

[marc-spectorr]

y’all

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME I CAN BUILD MY OWN BB8 AT GALAXY’S EDGE 🙂

[milfjinart]

I love pins too!!! What are your favorites???

omggg okay I’m glad you asked this because it made me actually sit down and pick out some favorites (it was so hard lol)

so. buckle up.

first off, there’s this absolutely gorgeous, gold metal LE50 Cody pin from ElectricInkStudios! They’re a smaller company, and I absolutely love the softness and detail of all their designs. I have their Rex and Obi-Wan pins too, but Cody is my fave. It’s so warm and sunny and goes perfectly with the sandstone-orange baseball cap I wear all the time!!

Next, this fuckin badass Ahsoka pin from Tomorrowlanddesign. I just loveee how detailed and dramatic the art style is!!!

Next, this LE66 pin of the 501st battalion from ZARPindom. I love pins with unique little details, and this one has a real cloth flag, handsewn by the grandma of one of the shop owners!! 🥺🥺

Also I love my “who the fuck is ahsoka tano” pin from Whatthewhatpins purely for its comedic value. Cracks me up every time I look at it tbh

Moving on, another of my favorites is this glow-in-the-dark holo Ahsoka pin from Hyperspacepins, as well as this beautifullll Threepio and Artoo pin from Punchitchewiepress!! Again, I love the Ahsoka pin because it’s so unique, and then honestly every PICP pin I own is just a work of art.

Then we have this awesome Plo Koon pin from TeamTanoAlive. I love how big and detailed it is and his pose is just so cool!! When it’s not summertime and boiling hot, I love wearing this pin on my farm overalls :)

Next up, more pins I love for their uniqueness:

1. Mando + Gideon’s TIE fighter by Macguffingoods! The little Din hanging off the chain is just. So good

2. Jedi holocron pin, another lovely one from Punchitchewiepress. The blue is sandblasted enamel and it is sooo pretty in the sunlight (I also have their Sith holocron pin and they go so well together!!!)

3. Death Star + Millenium Falcon pin from ZARPindom. These guys honestly always knock it out of the park with their pin designs, this one is absolutely gorgeous - from the silver plating to the translucent blue enamel to the screenprinted details on the Falcon and the TIE, I just love love love this pin!!

4. Mando flamethrower pin from bbcre8. It’s a sliding pin, so you can slide the flame back and forth as though it’s coming out of his vambrace! Again, just super unique and such a fun little detail :-) and the level of detail on the screenprinting is amazing!!

Last but certainly not least, all my clone helmet pins from FulcrumDawn. They honestly might be my favorite shop, and I could make a whole post talking about my pins of theirs! The one pictured below is of Captain Keeli, and I keep it on my backpack because the colors go so perfectly together. But I also have 11 of their other clone helmet pins and counting, along with some of their iron heart pins and a Sentinel pin! I just really love how they make pins of less popular characters. They’re coming out with a Colt pin soon and I’m definitely snagging that!! :’)

aaah okay this post is pretty long so I’ll stop but I definitely have more favorites!!! Like I said I could honestly make a whole post dedicated to my FulcrumDawn pins, or my PICP pins, or my Ahsoka pin collection, or my Mando pin collection, or or or —

Image IDs below the cut!

Photo 1

[Image ID: Enamel pin of Commander Cody from The Clone Wars. It is chest-up with his helmet on. The plating is shiny gold metal, and the enamel colors of his armor are shades of soft, muted orange and white. There is no black in the image, just dark gold for the shading. Behind Cody’s head is a large Galactic Republic wheel logo, edged in gold plating with white enamel for the blank spaces in between the spokes of the wheel. The pin itself is pinned on a sandstone-orange baseball cap. Below the pin are hand-embroidered desert plants - ephedra, rabbitbrush, and scarlet paintbrush. End image ID.]

Photo 2

[Image ID: Ahsoka bust pin held in my hand; it’s a bit longer than my fingers. The art style is kind of cartoony and dramatic. Ahsoka’s lekku are long, like they were in Rebels, and also her dark blue lekku markings are wavy like they were in Rebels. Her skin is dark orange, as though you were seeing her at dusk; her eyelashes are huge and dark, and her eyes are vivid electric blue. She is wearing a simple black cloak with silver trim, and a dark gray headband with a light gray stone set in the middle. End image ID.]

Photo 3

[Image ID: The first pin is of four 501st troopers, including Captain Rex, holding up a red cloth flag with a black Galactic Republic symbol on it; they’re in the pose of that famous Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph. they are wearing phase 2 armor and standing on brown dirt, and a discarded phase 2 clone helmet is half-buried in the dirt towards the right edge of the pin. The second pin is round and has a thin light blue border around the edge, followed by a thick band of dark blue with the words “WHO THE FUCK IS AHSOKA TANO” in light blue over top of the dark blue band. In the center of the pin is a padawan-aged Ahsoka; just her head and lekku. She’s wearing her akul-tooth headdress, and looking over her left shoulder and glaring at the viewer. End image ID.]

Photo 4

[Image ID: The first pin is another bust of Ahsoka... lol can you tell I love her?? With this pin, it’s just her lower back and up; she’s looking back over her right shoulder at the viewer, in the pose from that one scene in season 7 when she contacts Anakin. The pin is all light and dark blue, striped with pale white-blue like how the holograms in Star Wars look. You can’t tell from the picture, but the pin glows pale green in the dark. The second pin is a waist-up design of the droids Threepio on the left and Artoo on the right. It’s all gold plating, and Threepio is very shiny gold. He is resting his right hand on top of Artoo’s head. In the background is a jagged slice of space - black enamel with red, white, and blue dots of varying sizes to represent stars. End image ID.]

Photo 5

[Image ID: Large pin of Jedi Master Plo Koon. It’s about 4 inches tall. The design is him from the waist up, clad in his dark brown Jedi robe with the hood up, and wearing white clone armor vambraces and gauntlets, decorated with the 104th wolfpack symbol like he wore in the Clone Wars show. His right arm is stretched out and down, and he holds his blue lightsaber in a backwards grip, the blade extended up and behind him, extending past the left side of his head. His left arm is bent, his hand up near his face, and his fingers are extended, palm towards the viewer, as though he’s using the Force on you. End image ID.]

Photo 6

[Image ID: Pin 1 is a dark chrome enamel pin of Moff Gideon’s TIE fighter from The Mandalorian show. It’s sleek, dark gray and black. There is a metal loop on the bottom of the TIE fighter body, from which hangs a short dark metal chain; on the other end of the chain is another metal loop, attached to a tiny little Din Djarin pin. He is wearing his silver beskar armor, and one arm is reaching up above his head to hold onto the chain. His cape flares out behind him to the left, and his legs and other arm dangle down. 

Pin 2 is a Jedi holocron, all gold plating and turquoise-blue sandblasted enamel that glitters in sunlight. It is a two-point perspective of the holocron, meaning you can see both the left and right sides and the top of it.

Pin 3 is the first Death Star, with chrome plating and light gray enamel and screenprinting to show all the details of the surface. It is a pin-on-pin design, and the Death Star is the lower pin; the pin attached over top of it is the Millenium Falcon, flying away from the Death Star, trailing blue light (shown with blue translucent enamel) and being pursued by a tiny dark gray and black TIE fighter. Red and white blaster bolts streak in front of and behind the Falcon, as if the TIE fighter is shooting at it.

Pin 4 is Din Djarin in his silver beskar armor, shooting his flamethrower out of his vambrace (forearm armor). He is facing to the left, and his right arm is held straight out in front of him, with the screenprinted orange-and-yellow flame shooting out from behind his arm. It’s on a sliding attachment, so you can slide it back behind him or fully extend it along his arm. His left arm is bent and his hand is held up in a defensive posture, as though to shield his face. The design shows him from mid-thigh and up, and his dark grayish cape swirls around him. End image ID.]

Photo 7

[Image ID: This is a pin of Captain Keeli from the Clone Wars. It is square on the left, right, and bottom edges; the top edge slants up from the left to the right top corners, so the pin forms a trapezoid shape. The pin shows his helmet, which is white with a light maroon-red border around his black visor, and darker maroon designs curling around the upper sides of the head and across the cheeks of the helmet. The curling designs resemble ram’s horns. The background behind the helmet is an even deeper maroon color, with a pale maroon ram’s horn curling design in the upper right corner. The pin is secured on my maroon red waterproof REI backpack; the fabric is the same shade as the ram’s horn designs on Keeli’s helmet. End image ID.]

[ashthewaterghoul]

“What if Ahsoka Went to Mustafar”

Chapter 7

Rex’s voice came over the comm link, “The Chancellor is here with a division of the Coruscant guard led by Fox”

“We’ll be right there.” Anakin replied. He looked at Padmé, confusion on her face made him feel guilty; he kissed her and said “I love you, never forget that.” Then he ran out of the room with Obi-Wan. Ahsoka and Yoda were in the hallway and joined them in running to the front of the station. When they got there, Rex was stationed with Organa’s men and they had already engaged the enemy.

“Well, you’ll need these!” Ahsoka said while tossing Anakin and Obi-Wan their weapons. All the force wielders, including Palpatine, had their lightsabers ignited, ready for battle.

“Come, Lord Vader.” Sidious demanded.

“No.” Anakin replied “You lied to me!”

He ran at Sidious and started to attack him.

“Your hatred is giving you strength, you aren’t even trying to supress it, see how powerful the dark side can be?”

Sidious knew what he was doing been as this made Anakin so angry that his eyes glowed red. From then, flashes of red and blue replaced the two men. The fight went on for some time, Palpatine’s acrobatics and Anakin’s lightning fast strikes caused both to start losing their stamina. As Yoda witnessed this, he quickly came up with an idea.

“Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, apart help me push them!”

The two nodded as they all called upon the force to separate the two. Yoda brought Anakin back over to them but the success was short lived as the clone battalion’s incredible combat training paid off and quickly started to overwhelm the opposition. The Jedi’s team were doing their best to keep the clones at bay but it was taking its toll on the Alderaan troops. Being in close proximity to Fox allowed Rex to tune in the frequencies only carried in clone helmets.

“This is Commander Fox to Commander Cody, we need your help, I repeat, we need your help.

“Cody?” Rex thought, but before he could relay the message, Yoda stated his new plan.

“Attack Sidious I will, join one by one you will to assist.” he said.

He used the force and jumped over to Sidious. The Sith was surprised to see the little green Jedi was alive, which briefly played to Yoda’s advantage. The momentary surprise allowed Yoda to slide past Sidious and take his gaze away from the station. Sidious called his second lightsaber down his sleeve to his hand and ignited it, the crimson blade illuminating his disfigured face under his hood. He was determined to finish their business. As his back was turned, Ahsoka ran to join in but Sidious used the force and held Ahsoka back, but she was soon released when Obi- Wan jumped in to attack also. Ahsoka ran to aid the Jedi masters. Even though it was 3 vs 1, Sidious was somehow still getting the upper hand.

“Any time… now… Anakin!” Obi-Wan said struggling and panting.

The flashes of the lightsabers clashing made it almost impossible for Anakin to see where he should jump in. He remembered what Qui-Gon said about staying on the light, he pulled himself into a brief meditation and used the force to see the action. He saw what to do but all the clones were in the way. He couldn’t get past them without killing them, which he didn’t want to do. He looked at Rex who seemed to know what he was thinking.

“You have my permission, if that’s what you were going to say.” He said, after what happened to Fives and Ahsoka, the Coruscant Guard had a lot less respect from Rex.

Anakin nodded at his friend, gripped his lightsaber tighter and practically ran through them, slicing each one of them like a Tusken Raider. It took some time to get through them but in the end he saw his friends becoming more and more fatigued by the very quick combat of the sith. He didn’t know how to do this while staying on the light, he couldn’t, it was impossible; he just dipped back into the dark then, Anakin could already feel it’s seductive nature intoxicating him, clouding his conscious.

“Don’t worry. I am with you, Anakin.” Qui-Gon said through the force. Anakin swore he felt his master’s large hand on his back like he did all those years ago. While he had the courage to do it, he leaped up and flipped over the lightsaber caused chaos. As he landed, he sliced Palpatine in vertically in half. Palpatine grunted before he could take his last breath, and fell to the ground. The three of them stared at Anakin with complete and utter shock. Ahsoka couldn’t look at the mutilated corpse so she turned and ran back to Rex’s aid. Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s gazes went from each other to the body, all were expressionless. The moment was over powered by the LAAT’s of the 212th legion arriving. Obi-Wan saw his old battalion and flashes of what happened on Utapau invaded his mind.

“Oh, not good.” He said as the orange clad clones descended from the gunships and immediately started to attack.

Rex saw his brother, Cody, for the first time in weeks and decided to try and talk some sense into him. He tried to act like his chip was still in to blend in with the rest.

“Cody!” he shouted,

“Rex!” he replied, happy to see his brother alive. “Or should I say Commander? I do believe that congratulations are in order!”

“Not anymore, demoted.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you another time but for now, what do we do now the Chancellor is, well, dead?” he motioned to the decapitated body. Cody hadn’t even noticed, he was shocked at the sight and left speechless. Before he could respond, Fox ran towards them and said “We carry out Order 66 and execute the people responsible for treason.”

The mention of the command made Rex wince. He saw Cody straighten up and look almost robotic, just like the droids they fought against, programmed to do whatever is needed of them.

“Yes sir!” Cody said and started to run off but stopped when he realised that Rex wasn’t following.

“Aren’t you coming?” He asked.

“What? Oh right yeah.” Rex started to follow Cody, but while he wasn’t looking, he ran to the Jedi generals.

“Order 66 has been activated again for yours and Ahsoka’s termination.” The Captain said.

“Lovely.” Obi-Wan said completely monotone.

“A laughing matter this is not, Obi-Wan.” Yoda scolded “Stop this how do we, Captain?”

“All the clones have an inhibitor chip implanted in their brains; Ahsoka was smart enough to remove mine, but the rest of my men weren’t as lucky.” He turned to Skywalker “Remember when Fives told us about them?”

“He was right?” Anakin responded.

Rex nodded.

“How do we remove these chips?” Obi-Wan asked.

“We need a scanner and a surgery droid or capsule, it’s a short procedure and then they can function normally right after.”

“Look for one of these capsules inside, I will.” Yoda said, he then quickly ran through the commotion and into the station.

The three men ran back to help the other troops, Rex wanted to fight alongside Cody again, but he couldn’t betray his General. He could feel Cody’s confusion as he ran past him to the man-made trench.

“Rex, what are you doing?!” Cody shouted over the comm. Rex quickly thought of an excuse for his behaviour, “Doing it from the inside.” He shouted back.

“Smart move!”

Rex hated that his brother’s unique personality had dissolved to become just like all the other clones. The laser bolts flew between the two sides for a long time until Yoda’s voice finally came through the comm.

“Found the resources for the surgeries I have. Many of the capsules are there.”

“Understood, Master” Obi-Wan replied.

“How do we get them in?” Ahsoka said while blocking rounds of blaster fire.

“Try to pull them over with the force while Rex stuns them. Then Anakin, put them inside and the droids will get to work.” The Jedi master replied.

They all nodded their heads in agreement.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka called to Rex as a trooper flew his way, Anakin dragged them one by one into the lobby onto a gurney which was quickly whisked away to a med-bay.

The clones started to see that there brothers were being forced behind enemy lines.

“They’re taking hostages!” Fox yelled out.

“We need to recue our brothers!” replied Cody.

They started to charge at the station.

“Rex! Get out of there!” Cody shouted.

“No can do, Cody.” He stunned his brother and dragged him in to Skywalker.

“There are too many of them!” Ahsoka said.

“Fall back!” Kenobi ordered.

Everyone went into the station and held the doors shut.

“How many are left out there?” Anakin asked.

“About half, sir.” Rex said.

“That’s too many.”

Bail Organa ran around the corner, “We have clones coming in the south entrance by some of the other med-bays.” he said.

“That’s where Padmé is!” Anakin said “Rex, how many are out of surgery?”

“We have around 20 left to go.” The Captain responded.

“Take them to the south entrance and get ready to evacuate the place if we need to.” he ordered.

“Yes sir.”

Yoda came round the corner.

“Skywalker.” Yoda called

“Master.” Anakin responded.

“Subdue the clones from here we can. Together we must work to do this. All their heads, hit against each other make them, but not too hard or kill them it will.”

Anakin nodded and they both held their hands out, reaching deep into the force. The clones all rose up in the air and all crumpled into a pile on the floor with a loud clang.

“To the med-bays, get them.” Yoda ordered. Everyone there obliged and carried a trooper onto a gurney. Rex ran back from the south entrance.

“All the troops are ready for the procedure.” He reported.

“And Padmé and the twins?” Anakin asked.

“I … I couldn’t see them sir.”

Fear once again rose in Anakin.

I’m sorry this chapter is so long, I couldn’t condense it or find a place to split it into 2. But I guess it makes up for how short the last chapter was😅. Also there is one chapter left of this and then its the epilogue! I hope you enjoyed it and please leave any feedback or suggestions for future fics. Please interact with my posts as much as you can! You can follow me on Instagram if you want @siriusly_a_jedi.

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[call-signvalkyrie]

Ignite the Spark pt. 1

So I quit my shitty job today. Yay me! With the extra time I had today, I got a chance to finish the first chapter of a Poe Dameron series I’ve been working on. Let me know what you guys think!

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Summary: After years of undercover work for the Resistance, the daughter of Luke Skywalker has returned. Arriving on Ajan Kloss to a warm greeting from General Leia Organa, the Reader is given a gift and has their first meeting with everyone’s favorite pilot.

Pairings: Poe Dameron x Skywalker!Reader

Tags: talks of the Force, a few flashbacks, Poe being embarrassed lol

Word Count: around 3k

When your transport landed on Ajan Kloss, you weren’t sure you would be cut out for this. You’d spend so much time on backwater planets, filtering information to the resistance and doing your best to go unnoticed. You were so used to not interacting with anyone that the thought of being around so many people on a bustling base was a bit scary. All feelings of reservation were swept away, however, when the door of the transport opened to reveal the face of an older woman. Her hair was different since the last time you had seen her. Her face was aged from the many years of fighting the good fight for the rebellion. Her eyes, however, had not changed a day. They gleamed and twinkled in the dying twilight. Her smile made them sparkle even brighter as she reached out toward you.

“Aunt Leia,” you stepped off the transport and into her open arms. “It’s been too long.”

“Yes, it has. I’m so sorry, Y/N. I shouldn’t have kept you away.” She smiled lovingly, taking your face in both hands.  

“I brought the data you asked for. I’ve got it all here.” You said, pulling a flash drive from your jacket pocket.

“That’s wonderful, Stardust.” You beamed with pride at the mention of your childhood nickname. “Lt. Connix, will you please take this data to the command center. Start running a detail immediately.”  

“Yes, General.” Lt. Connix took the flash drive and was gone before you could blink.

“Beaux, see to it that Lt. Skywalker’s bags are placed in her quarters, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Beaux gave you a quick wave before stepping onto the transport and out of sight.

“Now, Y/N, I want to give you a quick tour before you settle in. I’m sure you’re exhausted but I want you to be as familiar as possible with everything on this base. This is your home now. No more field missions, I need you with me.” Leia smiled again, taking your arm and leading you toward the left wing of the base and toward the living quarters.  

Home. Leia was the only thing you had left. Wherever she was, that’s where your home would be.  

After showing you where your quarters would be located as well as the mess hall, med bay, and a quick tour of the Command Center, you were ready to get settled in for the night.  

“Well, Y/N, if you need anything tonight, my quarters are right down the hall. You should have a data pad on your desk all charged and ready to go. It’ll have your clearance codes as well as any information you’ll need to know while on base. I’ll need you with me in the morning to debrief that data. It should be downloaded and ready so make sure to give it a look over before the morning.”

“Yes, ma’am.” You said, smiling softly at the older woman.

“Goodnight, Stardust.” Leia gave a quick wave before walking out the door.  

Turning on your heal, you took a quick second to familiarize yourself with your new home. Being the niece of the general had its perks. Your quarters were small, yes but they were cozy. A small bookshelf and dresser were along the wall to your left, a double bed and desk and chair to your right. The data pad Leia had mentioned was right where she said it would be, all charged and ready to go from the looks of it.  Straight ahead was your own private refresher. After unpacking your duffle of clothes, along with your rucksack containing a few personal mementos, you decided to take a quick shower before bed. You could wake up early and review that data for Leia. It wasn’t like you hadn’t spent the last 5 years gathering every piece of intel you could on the First Order.  

Grabbing a fresh pair of underwear, a grey tank and a pair of sleep shorts from your dresser, you stepped into the refresher. Ten minutes later you were scrubbed clean and feeling surprisingly relaxed. It was amazing what a proper shower could do. Opening the door and stepping into your room, you turned to hang your towel on the desk chair when you spotted something you hadn't noticed earlier. On the desk were two boxes accompanied by an envelope. Scrawled across the front in a familiar script was the word “Stardust”. Opening the envelope, you began to read:

Y/N,

For far too long I have kept you in the dark and for that I will always be in your debt. Please accept these as tokens of my sincerest apologies. I hope at least one of these will help light your way. I understand if you’re conflicted but I have hope that one day you will be able to continue your training. Your fathers only wish in life was to see you follow his footsteps. Maybe we can fix that now.  

All My Love,

Leia

Setting the letter to the side, you wiped your eyes with the back of your hand. Picking up the smaller of the two boxes, you opened it to reveal a small jewelry box. Lifting the lid, you gasped allowed. Nestled on a small black pillow was a beautifully woven silver chain. Placed ever so delicately in the middle of the pillow was a pendant. Pulling the chain from the box, you let it dangle in front of you in the soft light.  

You never thought you would see this necklace again. Your father had given it to you when you left the Jedi temple to be with your aunt Leia all those years ago. When the temple fell and Kylo Ren rose to power, your necklace went missing in the night. That was almost 8 years ago now. Yet, here it was right in your hands like it was never gone. You ran the compass shaped pendant through your fingers, letting the wave of sadness and nostalgia run over you. On one side, a golden crescent moon surrounded by three silver stars embellished the surface. Turning it over, there was an engraving: Stardust.  

You gingerly pulled the chain around your neck and adjusted it to size. That’s why you had always loved this necklace.

“It will grow with you, Stardust.”  

Sniffling, you took a look at the other package. Thinking back to the note, you already knew what it was. How Leia had found it, you would never know but would be forever grateful. This box was longer, over a foot in length. The box was made of a soft wood that smelled faintly of burned embers. It had no exterior markings and no obvious way of exposing its contents. Slowly, you lowered the box to the floor. Taking a seat in front of it, closed your eyes. Reaching out with your mind, you felt it: The Force.

“The Force is all around you, Y/N. Reach out with your feelings and let it flow through you.”

“Okay, dad.”

“Ahem.”

“I mean: Yes, Master.”

The box gave no notice it had even opened. If some random onlooker happened to be watching, they would be none the wiser. You knew, however, the moment it happened. Lifting the lid, your breath caught in your throat. The inside of the box was lined with a soft, deep blue velvet pillow the color of the night sky. On top of the pillow, an emblem was stitched into the fabric. A shooting star wrapped in what looked like wings. Atop this pillow was a smooth cylindrical object, covered in beautiful ancient markings. It had a slightly curved handle for better grip for your smaller hands. You always favored nature and practicality over dominance and your build had reflected that.  

“You must gather your crystals quickly, younglings. The cave is only open for so long. We don’t want any of you getting stuck in here.” You could hear his soft chuckle even now.

Picking up the silver object, you ignited the switch. Your room began to buzz with the soft whir of noise from the object in your hand. Ethereal, green light radiated from the source. You disengaged the ignitor, taking the smooth metal in both hands. How could it have survived? You looked everywhere after the temple was burned and never found it. Had Leia had it all this time and was just waiting for the right time to return it? Who had taken your lightsaber?  

Your thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of frantic beeping coming from the hallway. Quickly, you slid the blade back into the box. Tucking it away under your bunk, you scrambled to the door and hit the lock. The door opened with a soft shlick and you stepped into the hallway. Another round of agitated beeps could be heard coming down the hall followed by what sounded like combat boots. Coming around the corner was a small round droid, a BB Unit by the looks of him.  

“BeeBee-Ate, I’m sorry! Buddy, our room’s not even this way, where are you going?” a male voice called after the little droid.

“What do you mean you're telling Leia?! It’s the middle of the night, pal. She’s most likely asleep.”  

Leaning against the door to your quarters, you began to understand the little guy. He was angry because someone named Poe left him alone with the ship. AGAIN. And got captured and made him worry. AGAIN. You gave a slight chuckle as the little guy rolled by, angry beeps the whole way. Punching your code back into your door panel, you were just about to step back in when a voice called out to you. Stepping back into the hallway, you were greeted by a Resistance pilot. He was still wearing his bright orange flight suit. His thick, curly hair stuck up in odd directions from his helmet. He gave you a soft smile and waved.  

“I’m sorry for all the noise, it's been a weird day.” The pilot smiled at you apologetically. “I hope my friend didn’t wake you.”

“No, I was awake.” You smiled back, taking a step out of your room and into the hallway. “Just checking to make sure everything was alright. The General, however, won't be too happy about being disturbed.” You nodded toward the little droid, now rolling his body into your aunts' door at full force.  

“Gods, BB-Ate! It’s not that serious! I -” the pilots voice stopped in his throat as the shlick of the door BB-8 was throwing himself into slid open. The little droid went flying full force into the now open quarters of General Organa. You heard a loud clang followed by a series of confused beeps and whistles from the little droid.

“Dameron, you nerf herder! Get your droid out of my room right now or so help me not even the Force will be able to save you!” the General stepped out of her quarters and into the hallway, glairing toward the man to your right. You had to cover your face to hide the smile that was creeping onto it.  

“General, I am so sorry.” a deep blush began to creep up the man's neck and onto his face. “I tried to get him to calm down but he just wouldn’t! He insisted - “

“I don’t care, Dameron. Get him out of here NOW. You’re obviously alright so whatever it is can wait until morning.” Leia said, placing one hand on her hip. You hadn’t seen Leia this irritated since you were a child. You were glad that look was fixed on someone else for once.  

“Yes, ma’am.” The pilot said, lowering his eyes. “C’mon BB-8. It’s time for bed.” The little droid gave what you interpreted to be a light grumble but complied, rolling out to meet his master. Turning on his heal, the pilot gave you a light nod and started off in the direction he came from.  

“Y/N! Ben! Get in here.”

“I told you not to take her lightsaber!” You whispered to your cousin, jabbing him in the ribs.

“She’s my mom. I can take whatever I want from her.” Ben smirked at you and you rolled your eyes.

“Whatever, Bantha-breath! I’m gonna tell her you said that!” You skipped off toward your aunt's voice, Ben chasing close behind you.

“Y/N, you okay?” A hand touched your arm, bringing you back to reality.  

“Yeah, Aunt Leia, sorry. I think I’m just tired.” You yawned, covering your mouth lightly. “Hey, who was that guy?”  

“Oh, that’s Poe. Poe Dameron. He’s a pilot, leader of Black Squadron.” Leia said, exasperation in her voice.  

“Like, THE Poe Dameron? Wow.” You laughed lightly, shaking your head.  

“He’s a good guy, just has his head in his cockpit most of the time instead of down on solid ground.” Leia said, shaking her head with a smile.

“No, it’s not that. I just thought he’d be taller.” You both smiled, enjoying the joke between the two of you.  

“Well, between you and me, he really is the best pilot I’ve ever seen.” your aunt gave you a little wink before turning to go back into her own room.  

“Even better than...” but you stopped yourself, letting the thought trail on.  

“Almost. Maybe.” you could hear the smile in her answer as the door to her room shut behind her.  

[summahsunlight]

Perhaps It’s Fate, Part 2

Rating: T

Word Count: 1064

Summary: After joining the Resistance as a mechanic, you were happy to keep to yourself, until a little orange and white bb unit and his master wander into your workshop one day.

Pairings: Poe Dameron/Reader

Warnings: Cute, fluffy, BB-8 the matchmaker!

A/N: Yours and Poe’s first meeting from Poe’s point of view, plus BB-8 being his cute, adorable self. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated :)

Masterlist / Part 1

Poe wasn’t one to believe in things such as love at first sight but after seeing you for the first time, he was certain he had never seen anyone more beautiful. He began to ask around the base about you, what your name was, where you came from--but no one knew a thing about you--other than you liked to keep to yourself. 

He noticed when you were working on the flight pad that you hardly conversed with anyone.  When it was time for lunch, Poe noticed that you liked to eat alone, in a small corner of the mess hall, your nose buried in a data pad. The mysterious nature around your arrival and your past only made him more intrigued. He just didn’t know how to meet you. 

Black Squadron was already assigned a mechanic, so it seemed silly if he went to you asking for help with something. He supposed he could just waltz up to you and  introduce himself, but that seemed too abrasive.  And you didn’t seem like someone that would respond well to brash and abrasive. So, for the time being, Poe just enjoyed seeing you on the flight pad, working on the fighters, not caring that grease sometimes smeared across your face covering up your freckles on your nose. 

That was the last place Poe saw you the afternoon you finally met--working on a Y-wing, elbows deep in the guts of the fighter, completely unaware that he was standing near by, watching.  Poe was called away to a briefing with General Organa, at least happy to have the vision of you working to think back on when he found his mind wandering during the meeting.

By the time his meeting was over, many workers had called it a night and headed for the mess hall for dinner.  Poe found himself searching for BB-8. It wouldn’t be the first time his droid wandered off, and honestly, he didn’t mind. Poe wanted his droid to have a sense of freedom, that he wasn’t solely there to serve Poe. However, tonight, no one had seen BB-8.  It took Poe thirty minutes to finally track the droid down towards the mechanic’s workshops and to his surprise, he found BB-8 in your workshop.

“I know the basics,” your sweet voice echoed down the hall the closer he got, “but I’m not a very good pilot. Not like the ones you probably fly with.”

BB-8 warbled an excited response that made you laugh. Maker, your life was angelic; Poe peered into your workshop, as you stood at the table tinkering, his little droid at your feet. “BeeBee-Ate? Where did you go?”

Your eyes snapped up to see him standing in the door and he swore he saw your cheeks flush. “C-commander, can I...can I help you?”

Poe gestured towards BB-8 with a soft smile. “Just looking for my droid. Thanks for keeping him company. He can get a little lonely when I’m busy or not around. I hope he wasn’t too bothersome.”

BB-8 loudly voiced his displeasure with that comment. He’d had a lovely afternoon with you, which Poe did not doubt, you seemed like a lovely type, and his droid made it know to him all he had learned about you. 

“He wasn’t a bother, Commander,” you said, and now Poe definitely saw your cheeks blush as he looked upon you, “It was nice... it was nice to have someone to talk too while I worked.”

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Poe questioned, stepping into the workshop. He realized that now was his chance, now was his chance to perhaps at least get your name. “I’ve...I’ve seen you around the tarmac... no body even knows your name. Everyone tells me that you keep to yourself, that you'd rather be left alone than to make friends here.”

“You asked about me?”

“Yes. I wanted to learn more about you so maybe we could be friends.”

“Why?”

“You look...forgive me for saying this...you look lonely.”

Poe felt his heart break a little at the sad look that passed in your eyes as you told him it was your first time away from home.  He picked a tool up off your table, pretended to inspect it and then gently put it back down. “Well, since you already know who I am, can you at least give me your name? So I can stop calling you the pretty mechanic.”

You shyly and anxiously look at him, there was still color on your cheeks, and he wondered for a moment if perhaps you had been thinking about him just as much as he had been thinking about you.  “It’s Y/N,” you finally answered.

It was a beautiful name. He wanted to say it out loud because he was certain it would just roll off his tongue.  “It’s pretty,” he said, with a smile, “it suits you.”

Poe couldn’t help but smile at your adorable reaction, the continued blush on your face, the way your eyes flickered back and forth between his and the ground.  “Come on buddy,” he said to his droid, “we’ve taken up enough of her time. See you around, Y/N.” 

BB-8 followed him out of the workshop after saying good-bye to you. When they were a little bit aways from the room, he asked Poe if he did a good job. 

Chuckling, Poe looked down at his friend, a little confused. He had not given the little droid any work to do before he went into his briefing. “A good job doing what?”

Whistling happily, BB-8 asked if he did a good job setting up the meeting between you and Poe. He had been listening for days on how Poe was trying to come up with ways to introduce himself, BB-8 just decided to take matters into his own hands. 

“You... you set me up,” Poe concluded, to which BB-8 proudly affirmed that he had.  Leaning down, the pilot scratched the droid’s round belly. “Thanks, buddy, I mean it.  So... do you think... she might actually... like me... a little?”

BB-8 confirmed that you did indeed like Poe--even if you had not talked to him. 

Poe smiled, feeling his heart warm.  After today, he was starting to believe in love at first sight because something about you had made him fall completely in love without even knowing your name until today.

[moon-antics]

Prompt song [56] Poe x reader please?

destiny? pt.1

authors note : yes, i am actually splitting this into 3 parts because i love the idea of a first order reader and poe so good ?? i hope you enjoy it!

character / ship : poe dameron x reader

song prompt : rewrite the stars – zac efron + zendaya

summary : no matter how much you two wanted it, the world wouldn’t allow it

word count : 1060

warnings : swears, and angst, someone dies! (later on)

 A bang, you yelling into the comm, then a loud crash. That was all your fellow comrades could hear coming from you before your voice cut off completely.

Your TIE had gone down. One of those damn pilots landed a good hit on your ship – you were sure you hit them just as bad. “Ah Fuck!!” With all the options you still had, you tried to land as softly as possible, at least so you were still alive.

The wings cut deep lines into the wet earth of the planet, slowly coming to a stop. Quickly stumbling out of the cockpit, your knees weren’t able to hold your weight anymore, sending you to the ground. Your hands tried to take your helmet off in a hurry, panic washed over you when you felt the air in it getting thinner. A deep gasp escaped your lips as you finally got that stupidly tight thing off, your lungs filling with the fresh air.

Helmet tossed in the dirt besides you, you slowly tried standing up, legs shaking as the adrenaline gradually drained from your veins. Were you alone on this planet? The comm in your cockpit only gave you static when you tried contacting someone from your fleet. Great, this was just great.

Nevertheless, you send out a distress signal, or at least tried to. If it worked or not, only time could tell.

“Stupid shit.. can’t even take a lousy hit..”, your boot made contact with one of the pieces laying around. A loud hit, sounding very close to your position, made you turn and look around the area. And yes, not that far away you saw another ship hit the ground, harshly. Your mind was torn, should you go see and risk dying from a shot to your face or maybe get saved by one of your comrades working comms?

Tossing all the worry aside, you marched towards the shipwreck. The way through the bushes was harder than expected, one branch leaving a nasty scratch on your otherwise surprisingly unharmed face. “Stupid planet..”, at this moment, you hated everything.

“Oh, shit..” You stopped in your tracks when you saw who just crashed. It was the ship that shot you down, and you had guessed right – you hit it as well. While running your gloved hands over your face, brushing the hair that has escaped your up-do back, you contemplated whether you should help them or not.

You were ripped from your thoughts when you heard a few distressed sounding beeps. Wait what..Beeps?

A small, round droid rolled around the ship, looking up and desperately trying to get the attention the person inside. You couldn’t let a droid lose his master, could you? ( You would never admit it, but droids were your soft spot. )

You quietly muttered under your breath as you went over to the ship. “Let’s hope I don’t regret this.. move.”, you told the droid as you stood next to it. Alarmed, it looked up at you, rolling away before going in to zap you. “Hey, HEY! I’m trying to help you!”, you dodged the rolling droid a few times before it came to a stop, slightly tilting his head on his body, chirping questioningly.

“I know how this looks, alright?”, you climbed up the wreck, reaching to open the cockpit, “But not all of us are.. pure evil.” Understanding beeps came from behind you, making you smile softly as you opened the transparisteel construct. And there he sat; a man, leaned back, clearly having gone unconscious from the impact.

First thing you did, reach over to take his helmet off so you could judge the damage he had endured. Your hands opened the buckle under his chin, gently pulling the helmet off. One hand rested on the back of his head, making sure he wouldn’t just drop back and forward because of your actions.

When the helmet was off, you could see him. And blast, now knowing how this will end, you wish you never even went near this freaking ship.

He was stunning. Seeing his features, even though bruised and bloody, made your breath get stuck in your throat. Almost immediately after your initiate reaction, a warm feeling of shame crept up your neck. Wrong, that was the only word that popped in your head. Wrong, this was so, so wrong.

The droid behind you chirped up again, questioning why you’ve stopped so suddenly. “Just.. checking his face for injuries.” You mean staring? Burning this image in your brain? That’s more like it.

You hooked your arms under his, hauling him out of there with all your might. How you did that, you still didn’t really know, maybe the little bit of remaining adrenaline?

You sat him up against a tree, leaning his head back against it softly. Getting up from your crouched down position, you watched the droid roll to his owner quickly, bumping against his leg a few times and beeping quicker than you could translate in your head. Without saying another word, you stepped away from the scene, you did what you wanted to do, he’ll be fine. The droid probably already called for back-up or something.

Yet, something in your stomach felt unsettled, like you could do more. But you were no medic, so what could you do?

A pained groan accompanied by the droids sounds made you turn back around. He was waking up. His hand laid over his stomach, his eyes squinted shut when he attempted to sit up more. “How did.. how did I get out of the ship?”, he mumbled to his little orange companion.

The droid turned around to face you, making the man look at you as well. Awake he looked even more beautiful. No! Stop thinking like this. Your eyes only met for a split second before you decided to turn away, quickly making your way back to your own wreck, still having the littlest bit of hope that someone went looking for you.

“Wait! Who are you?”

Your quick footsteps pulled you back to your ship, ignoring his question, and luckily enough, someone of the fleet has come to get you. They spoke up hen they saw the direction you’d come from.

“We saw a ship of the Resistance go down close by, are they still alive?”

“No.. no one’s alive, sir.”

[capricornus-rex]

Bad Ideas Make Good Memories (4 - End)

Cal Kestis x Reader

Requested by @queen-destenie​ | Prompt:

i live for you qUEEN! i LOVE your writing. if you have the time, could you do a fic where reader is the most reckless badass and Cal is like ‘wait don’t do THAT’ and she is just ‘im living life BABYY’. she does the most insane things that always somehow work and Cal is literally like what the F*CK’. reader is basically a GOD. please and thank you

Additional tags: Rebel base, rebel fleet

Also posted in AO3

Chapters: 1 – 2 | Previous: Part 3 | Masterlist

4 of 4

Meanwhile, back in the command ship, the cadets were panicking while reporting the casualties on the ground to the Moff.

“Sir, they’ve overpowered the AT-ATs deployed there and even the TIE Echelon!”

“Impossible! They’re just ragtag starfighters, how can they overpower us!?” the Moff was livid as he was startled with how the odds did a 180 unexpectedly.

“W-Well, Sir, they had help… with the Jedi.”

“That can’t be! What’s two Jedi against a full assault unit!?”

The poor cadet stammered, unable to find a satisfactory answer, “I… I don’t know, Sir…”

“Sir, we don’t have any more troops to deploy! Should we retreat?” one of the tactical analysts reported from his station in the bridge.

The Moff was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The scouts back in the surface were closely watching the gray triangular figure in the sky, Cere ran to the base’s communication station and monitored the Star Destroyer’s movements.

“It’s… idling?”

“What?”

Cere’s eyebrows furrowed, “It’s just… there.”

“They’re probably preparing for their next move!”

“Base, this is scout Merl from Watchtower E reporting, that Star Destroyer doesn’t seem to be doing anything!”

“Hang on, I’ll see if I can crack their comms!” Cere strained her ear while tuning the knobs on the transmitters and receivers. She was able to pick up a transmission from one of the remaining TIE Fighters in the dogfight.

“This is Admiral Plov, we have direct orders from Moff Loon to retreat! I repeat, we have direct orders from Moff Loon to retreat! Prepare for a jump to hyperspace to these coordinates once you’re off-planet!”

“They’re retreating,” Cere first muttered to herself, then she turned around to face everybody. “They’re retreating!”

The operators in the base relayed the exact message to everyone. Seconds before the transmission from the ground came through, all of the pilots—you and Cal included—saw that each TIE Fighter were retracting from the fight.

“We did it…” you gasped, and then your head jerked up. “We did it!”

“Come on down home, all of you!”

The communication station at the base was filled with the cacophony of cheers as all pilots flew back down and docked their ships into the hangar.

Technicians, engineers, tactical analysts, and communication operators—every single one of them—came flooding the hangar upon the arrival of the pilots. Applause, whistles, and cheering filled the landing pad. The pilots who have jumped out of their ships found themselves in the embraces of their comrades in the ground.

When you climbed out of your Interceptor, Cal comes at you with his arms stretched out wide.

“You little lunatic, get over here!” he laughed, pulling you in for a bear-hug and you received it laughing in celebration with him; he smothered kisses on every inch of your face. He pulled away, but kept his hands cupped around your face, “Where in the hell do you even pick up your ideas, babe?!”

“Oh come on, I know that turns you on anyway!” you playfully thumped his chest before he pulled you in again for a hug.

You and Cal get yourselves smothered with the rebels clapping your backs, giving an affirming shake on the shoulder, and a tussle of the hair for Cal. The technicians have detached your astromech droids using the magnetic crane and carefully settled the droids down on the floor.

“R-12, you’re amazing!” you cheered on your droid, kneeling to its level while patting its round top.

Cere pushed through the crowd and came towards the two of you. She hooked the both of you in the tightest hug either of you have never felt from her.

“Please tell that hug was my free pass from a scolding,” you joked.

Cere exploded in laughter and she tussled your hair as well, leaving your hair in a frizzy-looking mess. Merrin and Greez as well came out of the crowd and rejoined you.

“You are perhaps the craziest pilot I have ever met, [y/n],” Merrin commented in her blunt tone, but her façade betrays her when she couldn’t longer contain the joy she was bottling up. She threw herself to you and wrapped her arms around you.

“You two kids just make my blood pressure turn to an unhealthy level with your flying and stunts!”

“Think you can give [y/n] a spin on the Mantis’s wheel?” Cal kidded Greez.

“As long as she promises not to do the same thing she did with the bigger TIE Fighter!”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think she’ll do that…”

“Oh good,” Greez sighed, and flapped all four of his arms.

“Because she’s gonna have to come up with another stunt just for the Mantis.” Cal finished his sentence.

“Aww, gimme a break!”

“Just kidding, cap’n,”

“Are you really?”

Captain Miccah personally approached you and Cal, a warm smile flashed on her face, she brings her hands on each of your shoulders.

“I cannot thank you enough for your courage, you two,” she sighed. “Because of you, Andaro still has a fighting chance.”

“It’s the least we can do,” Cal shrugged.

“The least?” the captain chuckled in a mellow tone. “Oh no, your efforts are worthy of my deepest gratitude. So, thank you, Cal Kestis and [y/n].”

The captain disappeared into the crowd, cheering and affirming her pilots; Cal wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you in close to him.

“Well, this is gonna be one hell of a story soon,” he blurted.

You smiled, reading between the lines and slightly getting the idea, you buried your cheek to his chest—you feel his heartbeat still pumping really quickly.

“Yeah, sure is,” you agreed.

Night falls and Andaro is blanketed in an evening sky of deep indigo, the primary twin moons hung over the treetops, illuminating the celebration in their pale ivory light. Stars glittered across the sky as a large bonfire in the center of the base’s clearing flickered bright orange—the rebels played their instruments, others danced in pairs even if it was out of rhythm, and the crowd laughed as they cheered.

The Jedi couple was the life of the party, they were the ones who stoked the heat of the celebration, joining in with the people on their makeshift dancefloor, and the whole forest was just filled with laughter. Cal stole you away as the floor became more crowded, the two of you took a break and watched the celebration go on. He slipped his arms around your waist as he planted a kiss on your temple. Your eyes trailed between the starry sky and the celebration on the ground—simply enjoying either view, you snuggled close to Cal, savoring the hard-earned victory that you practically risked life and limb for.

[plutoswarrior]

Force Signatures Part 3: force sensitives

and other characters who i simply just care about.

Part 1

Part 2

no i don’t think you can actually see force signatures, they’re just felt, but it’s easier to explain things visually.

i write strange, buckle up!

the force signatures of those outside of the sith/jedi order are all always different. there is no defined feeling or shape or color. the only constant really is that they are a lot quieter than those of the order, less noticable.

Padme: soft and pink like roses, but also feels like being shot in the face during a water gun fight. smooth like sucking on chocolate. smells fresh and lively.

Clones: all clones have the same base signature, the same harsh red and orange starburst that Jango Fett has, but obviously they vary from clone to clone. for instance, Fives’s smells like honey, and is warm. Kix’s is like an ice sculpture, and Rex’s is like winter mint gum and tastes cold. Cody’s is softer on the edges, more rounded and relaxed, but it also smells like fireworks. once order 66 is put into motion, their signatures go silent and completely disappear. 

Grievous: hoooooo boy. yellow and bitter. like chewing on coffee beans and the smell of gasoline. it doesn’t sing, it huffs and chugs, it feels suffocating and full of bile and anger. burns like acid and seems to drip on the ground. smells sour.

R2 and C3PO: droids are difficult to sense at first, especially because it’s so rare to find one in them. but when you do, they click into place. R2′s is very geometric, lots of electric blue rectangles and cubes, and it feels like glee. droid signatures are usually more bland than other living creatures. C3PO’s is soft and egg shaped, and golden. it’s shimmery and will make you sneeze.

Leia: it’s like getting kicked in the face and smiling about it. its losing your front tooth in a fight and falling in love with the fist that knocked it loose. it’s red and purple and yellow and it swirls like a tornado. tastes like Tamales, and very strong cinnamon. it makes you feel small, but only because it’s so prevalent. it’s warm but it will burn you if you feel it too long.

Han Solo: Green and yellow, and looks like bubbles. makes fun popping noises. lemon lime flavored, sparky.

Chewbacca: the epitome of “just vibing”. it’s sitting in a hammock on an island drinking a martini wearing sunglasses. yellow and bright blue. feels like the beach on the east coast. there is an underlying layer of pure energy though.

Finn: Finn’s is the first in a long time that sings. it glows and fades out from him like he is a pure blue and white light source. it’s white hot and it burns. blue on the tips of the beams of light and energy. feels like screaming, but in a good way. like singing a song at the top of your lungs, or cheering. if Kylo was better at sensing signatures he would have passed out if he even thought about looking at Finn’s signature. crunching ice in your mouth. when you go to those soda shops and you mix the sodas and syrups to get the perfect flavor.

Poe: bubbly. yellow and orange. crackles almost, like electricity. underlying soft pink tones. warm like carmel, but it doesn’t taste like it. it feels like it tastes like tootsie pops and apple cider.

[onwardintolight]

Han x Leia, ESB, Trip to Bespin, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff

Summary: ESB from Leia's POV. A journey from despair to hope, a blossoming, an opening to vulnerability and love.

Warnings: Deals with some heavy themes, incl. working through trauma, depression, self-harm, attempted sexual assault. Each chapter will be individually warned.

Note: I’m currently in the process of reposting the first nine chapters here in full, since when I first wrote this fic, I only shared links to the chapters on AO3 and FFN. I will try to post at least weekly. In the meantime, if you’d prefer to binge-read it, the entire fic is posted in full on AO3 and FFN.

Part: Masterlist | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Epilogue

~~~

They awoke suddenly and all too soon, startled by the sound of someone entering the room. Leia blinked. For a second she forgot where she was; then it all came flooding back in hideous detail. Her entire body ached. Han moaned.

“Get up,” growled a low, sinister voice.

Summoning what little strength she had, Leia rose, pausing to assist Han as he got up, too.

It was the bounty hunter, Boba Fett, and several stormtroopers. “You’re coming with us,” he said, and a few of the troopers moved to put cuffs on Han. Leia felt a surge of panic. Were they going to take him away now?

But no, the troopers were readying all of them.

“Oh dear,” exclaimed Threepio. Currently, he was just a head, a torso, and an arm, but Leia was grateful, despite everything, to have him back. Chewie quickly dug a net out of a pouch on his bandolier and gathered up the droid and all its various parts, stringing them to his back. “Really, this is rather uncomfortable,” Threepio complained.

«Deal with it,» muttered Chewie. Impatient, the troopers prodded them towards the door.

They followed the bounty hunter deeper into the bowels of the city; the corridors growing more industrial as they went. They hadn’t been walking long, but Leia’s body was dragging; her movements slow and clumsy, her mind groggy. The ache hadn’t gone away. She could only imagine how Han, walking beside her, felt.

Threepio, seemingly unaware of the state of things, prattled on about his discomfort. She barely registered it. She was focusing on Han, at least as much as she could while trying not to stumble. She needed to see him; needed to hear him breathing next to her. Finally, a door ahead of them opened, and they went through.

Leia would have stopped, frozen in her tracks, if Chewie and the troopers hadn’t been so close behind.

It was the place from her dream.

The room was large, round and dark, with a sunken central ring surrounded by the walkway they were on now. Bluish light lurked around the perimeter; it ceded to orange in the center, glowing out of the grated floor like tongues of fire. Steam billowed up through the grates and puffed down erratically from the ceiling, which bristled with strange machinery. In the middle of the ring, there was a strange, circular hole. Around it stood Lando and his aide, another squad of stormtroopers, and a number of busy Ugnaughts.

Leia blinked, wondering if she were still asleep.

But no. There was a faint yet distinct metallic scent on the air—she could almost taste it—and a loud rumble and whine emanating from the machinery. Her dreams had omitted such details. Fear, raw and wild, nearly overpowered her.

Fett led them down a short stair to the central ring; at the bottom, he directed them to the right, and they halted behind Lando. Darth Vader descended from the opposite stair, his gait slow and triumphant. She refused to look directly at him, but her fear grew sharper as the monster from her nightmares took shape once more, his presence looming like a shadow over the room.

“What’s going on, buddy?” Han spat out the last word with contempt.

“You’re being put into carbon freeze,” Lando replied, not looking at him.

“What if he doesn’t survive?” Fett hissed at Vader from across the room. “He’s worth a lot to me.”

Leia turned to Han in horror and found he was already looking at her, his eyes solemn and sad.

No, she thought, panic sweeping through her. This couldn’t be happening. She wasn’t ready to lose him yet.

She couldn’t lose him yet.

Certainly not like this.

Han watched her, resignation showing on his face. Somehow, his lips widened slightly into the hint of a smile, compassionate and apologetic, that she knew was hers alone.

“Put him in!” Vader ordered, and the moment shattered. All of a sudden, Chewie was yelling; tossing stormtroopers everywhere. Threepio screamed in fright. For a moment Leia felt a surge of wild hope—it wasn’t over, they could still fight—but then she saw the other troopers surrounding them, blasters raised, and Vader, always Vader, standing stone-like across the ring, entirely undismayed.

No. This wasn’t going to work. They would die fighting the inevitable, and then there would be no one to warn Luke, and no one to rescue Han if by chance he survived. They had to live, somehow.

“Stop! Chewie, stop!” That was Han’s voice, rising through Threepio’s frantic pleas. He went to stand right in front of him, catching the Wookiee’s gaze as more stormtroopers approached with another set of handcuffs. “Hey! Listen to me! Chewie, this won’t help me! Save your strength; there’ll be another time.”

Suddenly, Leia felt a cold chill. Almost of their own accord, her eyes were wrenched to the other side of the ring. Vader was staring at her. She felt open, laid bare, seen in a way she didn’t understand. He was a gravity well, a black hole pulling her in towards destruction. What would he do with her after this? She backed away slowly towards Han and Chewie.

“The princess,” Han was saying. “You have to take care of her.” Yes, she needed Chewie now, and Chewie probably needed her just as much. She was willing to admit that, although she once would have bristled at the idea of needing anyone. Sure, she was capable, and she could take care of herself. But people, friendships, love—that was something capability couldn't replace, no matter how high she built her walls.

It wasn’t just that, though. Shaking herself out of her terror, Leia guessed what Han was getting at. She drew close to Chewie, reaching out to stroke his fur. The Wookiee had sworn a life debt to Han; he would never betray that, except to protect someone else who he felt came under it. With a slight shock, she realized that she was now one of the rare few.

“You hear me? Huh?” Han prodded.

Chewie let out a desolate yes.

Han turned to face Leia. Suddenly, his lips were on hers, and she reached out towards him desperately, kissing him with everything she had left. For a moment they slowed down time; defying their enemies, denying the end.

And then he was torn away from her, the taste of his lips still on her tongue. He stood on a platform that had risen in the central cavity, and his eyes didn’t leave her.

Vader was going to take him from her, like he had taken everything else, and as in her nightmares, she was powerless. They were weak and surrounded; there was no way out.

There was nothing she could do, nothing that wouldn’t make it worse.

But there was something she could say. The words formed deliberately, without hesitation; echoing throughout her entire being, a shout flung to the farthest stars. She no longer cared about anyone else knowing. She no longer cared if it caused her pain. She no longer cared about regrets, because she was finally, absolutely certain that she would regret it a lot more if he never heard the truth.

“I love you,” she said.

Han looked at her gravely. There was no hint of surprise; only love. “I know.”

The warmth of his reassurance and the freedom of the truth flooded her heart. It mingled with the agony of loss, both comforting and painful. They loved each other, and now, they would lose each other.

I know.

Past conversations flickered through her mind.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know if it ever came to that, you’d do somethin’ to save me if you could.”

“I would.”

“I know.”

The Ugnaughts unbound his hands. The platform began to lower, slowly, inevitably. Their eyes locked onto each other, filling with tears, and they never let go until the moment the machine hissed, Han’s head was thrown back, and steam billowed up around him.

She turned away, burying her head in Chewie’s fur. The Wookiee let out an anguished wail.

“What’s going on?” Threepio demanded. “Turn around! Chewbacca, I can’t see!”

The machine whined loudly, and she looked to see a claw-like structure descending from the ceiling. She forced herself to watch as it latched onto what was below and slowly began its ascent, bringing with it a large, human-sized block. Her throat was constricting, her mind spitting denials. She grabbed onto Chewie’s arm and clung to it, and he pulled her close.

The Ugnaughts examined the block, and then—casually, as if it were of no consequence—they pushed it over. It hit the floor with a clang. Leia flinched. Han’s features could still be seen; his hands were raised as if to protect himself, and his face was caught in frozen agony.

She trembled. She couldn’t weep now. Not in front of Vader.

Lando crouched beside the carbonite block—beside Han.

“Oh, they’ve encased him in carbonite,” Threepio remarked, having finally gotten a good glimpse. “He should be quite well-protected; if he survived the freezing process, that is.”

Lando finished examining the data panel in the encasing. Then he rose up on his arms to look at his old friend with his own eyes. Leia waited, hardly daring to breathe.

“Well, Calrissian, did he survive?” Vader inquired.

“Yes, he’s alive,” Lando responded, not moving. “And in perfect hibernation.”

Relief swept through Leia, and Chewie gave her shoulder a squeeze. There was still hope, however small.

“He’s all yours, bounty hunter.” Vader turned to the Ugnaughts. “Reset the chamber for Skywalker,” he commanded.

An officer approached. “Skywalker has just landed, milord.”

Leia caught Chewie’s eyes worriedly.

“Good,” Vader responded. “See to it that he finds his way in here.”

Her eyes traveled back to Han’s still, petrified form. She stared at it, trying to commit every feature to memory. She never wanted to forget. Not him, and not what they’d done. Fury filled her; fury that they would do this to him, fury that he had been separated from her, fury at the sheer, incomprehensible horror of it all.

Then grief came rushing in, and the fury was overwhelmed.

Lando finally finished his reverie. Rising, he marched over to Leia and grabbed her arm. Without even a sideways glance, she pushed him away.

“Calrissian,” she heard Vader say, “take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship.”

“You said they’d be left in the city under my supervision!” Lando argued.

“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any farther.”

Vader swept out of the room. Leia didn’t watch him go. Her eyes were still frozen on the one she loved.

For the first time, she allowed a few silent tears to fall.

[franpaw]

Ben Solo interview from May 2019 issue of 1/6 Scale GQ.

Mr Solo Rising

Meet Ben Solo, 1/6 scale Star Wars Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece action figure. He is, of course, better known as Kylo Ren and was marketed as the dark intense heir to Darth Vader.

“The name on my box is Kylo Ren,” he explains, “and he is still a big part of my image. But after arriving in my new home I’m Ben Solo. As soon as I was greeted by Rey I fell in love with her. It was instant and right. I discovered I possessed a very romantic and sentimental side which I’ve allowed to flourish. In fact, it’s Rey who is fierce mostly!”

It’s partly due to his relationship with Rey, another 1/6 scale Star Wars Hot Toys figure, that he’s keen on action figures being seen as more versatile then simply posing on a shelf or in a glass box. “That’d be very boring for me,” he says firmly. “And,” he leans forward and drops his voice, “ do you know how much damage those figure stands can inflict right between your legs?” He blushes and adds, “And I’d like to be able to have children at some point in the future.”

Today he joins 1/6 Scale GQ for a coffee after working on a Star Wars photo shoot, but he’s dressed down in a grey t-shirt and blue baggy jeans. The only black in his attire is his Converse shoes and there is no sign of his Kylo mask and lightsaber.

He explains that he’s very busy, mostly making photo stories and videos and is experimenting with stop motion filming. “Though it takes a long time to capture it’s a good medium to work in,” he admits. He can see the exciting potential of action figures to retell film events or as fan fiction.

He and Rey develop many stories themselves, such as their first video called Love During Conflict. “We wanted to convey the real angst of being in a war and facing the fact that you may not see the ones you love again,” he elaborates. “Each moment is so precious.”

And Ben is certainly having his own moment. He’s fronting several advertising campaigns including Plaidam clothing and one big name he’s remaining quiet about. He promotes Dark Devotion, his fragrance for men, which he jokes does indeed smell very like him.

When he’s not in front of the camera he relaxes by drinking coffee, reading and listening to music. He’s formed a band – Kylo and the Rens - but needs to put in more guitar practice as they aim to play gigs. He’s just started to study astronomy. Is that because of Star Wars? He shakes his head. “No, in one of our upcoming photo stories I play a University astronomy teacher and when I did my research I was really was struck by it. I’ve asked for a telescope for my birthday,” he confides.

He’s also about to get married to Rey but won’t discuss it in detail, only that it’s a very small secluded wedding. But he does disclose that his online fans will be able to see plenty of photos of the Big Day and that Rey has designed and made their outfits.

And how is working with his famous fiancée? “Oh, it’s a joy,” he tells us, and he can’t prevent his trademark wonky smile from appearing. “She’s very open to ideas and of course her amazing beauty translates so well to camera.”

How about the more intimate shots of them? He was shy at first and was careful to keep his clothes on. “Even my boots,” he adds. “But people enjoy seeing more risqué poses,” he reveals, “so we’ve done some of those. And there is still a lot we obviously don’t show!”

Do he and Rey get along all the time? “We sometimes fall out a bit when she gets the giggles,” he responds with a shrug. “BB-8 (the round orange and white droid) is the most difficult. He’s very inquisitive and easily bored so he’s never still for long.”

What would he like to do in the future? I wouldn’t say no to a romantic comedy he says. With Rey? We have to ask as their chemistry is, as many people have noted, extremely hot. He laughs and shakes his head. “Is it? I don’t know. It just is what is it is.”

He was on standby for Burn This on Broadway but didn’t think the difference in scale between him and the full-sized cast members could be accommodated for. But he really fancies historical drama and is in the running for the stage role of Steinbeck’s Tom Joad. The Grapes of Wrath is a 1/6 scale production and would start in the autumn.

Is he excited about the next Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, and does he think Hot Toys will make an Episode IX version of him? “I’m always excited for new Star Wars films,” he agrees enthusiastically. “It’s great for us action figures. And as for a new version, I don’t mind as long as they make a Rey for him. He’s not having my Rey,” and we see a flash Kylo’s anger in his eyes as he says this.

He was at action figure awards earlier this year, nominated for most realistic action figure, but lost out to his film mother Leia. “I’m fine with that,” he divulges, “as the likeness to the film character is incredible.” Then he grins and whispers, “and the award’s still in the ‘family.’”

He was a big favourite at the recent Action Figure Star Wars Celebration; his Heroes and Villains panel with Poe Dameron was sold out. As black-clad Kylo the villain he appeals to male Star Wars fans, what many think of as the traditional figure collector. Yet there are a growing number of fans who love Kylo’s conflict and his dynamic with Rey.

Female fans appreciate Ben’s personal fashion style and moody look. He’s very modest about this and waves his hand dismissively. “I look okay at some angles and just really grumpy and tired at others. Rey loves fashion and chooses most of my outfits.” He knows his face sculpt and body build has captured the character’s intensity but, he adds, “I think I have a much happier life.”

Yes, we think he does. And it looks like it’s only going to get better for Ben Solo.

Pictures below clockwise:

Ben as Kylo Ren, Ben signing autographs at Star Wars Celebration, Ben with fiancée Rey at the Action Figure Oscars, advertising Dark Devotion.

[fuzzydemolitionsquad]

The Tractor

                                                   Part   1

A rusty GNK droid plodded across the farmstead’s dirt yard, its pace much slower than its maker had programmed it to be.

It was morning. The sun had just peeked over the humped ridges of evergreen trees in the distance. The air was already beginning to warm and the humidity was high.

The GNK tried to ignore the condensation building on its circuit boards. It made a deep gonking groan and tilted its boxy body toward the sky. How dreary it was to waddle around a farm, looking for something in need of power.

Why couldn’t I have been a spaceship, a sleek X-wing, or a roaring TIE? The sky beckoned. The GNK moaned sadly .

Its dream suddenly ceased to be when a circuit in its electronic brain crackled. Sense of duty restored, the GNK marched toward a shed containing the chooken brooder. There, behind a wall of woven wire, a passel of fuzzy, powder-blue chicks snuggled together. The cord to their heater box had come loose, pulled out by a pesky varmint who chewed it to a fray . The GNK  plugged a pronged service arm into the box and powered down to fifty-percent so that it could rest.

And dream.

Pa Trodd stepped out of the farmhouse’s door and stood on the porch drinking his morning caf. He snapped his suspenders and looked at the large and formidable anooba laying upside down on her back and staring back at him.

“ Whadda yew say ol’ Gracie. . . wanna hep me till that quarter acre fer ma’s garden?”

Gracie’s tail thumped the porch’s wood planking so hard it raised a ferocious cloud of dust. The anooba stood up and stretched and trotted over to where pa was standing.

“Dat’s my girl.” The lasat thumped her side and scratched her ears.”When we done ahl gives ya a nice big soup bone anna plate a kalgow jowls for breakfast. Howzzat sound?”

The anooba's brushy black and tan mane quivered. Pa stepped off the porch, slapped his thigh and whistled. Gracie galloped to his side,  her tongue lolling and her great jaws clacking. She gently took his wrist into her mouth and followed him to the barn where the old tractor sat.

                                                                **

Zeb Orrelios opened his eyes, stared up at the ceiling and smiled. He was back home.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love the barracks at the academy–on the contrary–all of his best mates were there. He chuckled as he thought of serious Geezer who–didn’t look like it– but had connections to the owners of every dive cantina and strip parlor in the Capitol.

Zeb checked his chrono on the nightstand and jumped out of bed. The delicious aroma of   bacon and maize-bread, fried eggs and beans tugged at his nostrils like a farmer leading a hammerhead bull by the nose-ring. Being away on leave meant ma’s home cooking and lots of it. It wasn’t uncommon for Zeb to put on  fifteen or twenty pounds during his stays with his family. Of course, it was all converted to muscle. Zeb  thought of the academy.  If it was one thing he didn’t like there, it was Private Rrazchow’s breakfast special, a plate of jellied meat chunks floating in greasy gravy and served on a couple pieces of stone-dry bread. Zeb and his mates affectionately referred to the entree as ‘dung on a raft.’

Zeb looked into the full length mirror and couldn’t help but smile. His stripes were growing a deeper purple, a nice contrast to the pale lavender of his base coat. His beard was darker too, and  a lot thicker than it was the last time he was home.

“Looking good.” He pointed into the mirror with both index fingers and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Pulling on a pair of skivvies he grabbed his scrub brush and towel and headed to the wash room to pump water into the round wooden tub he had taken baths in when he was a child. It seemed so big back then, a veritable ocean. Now he couldn’t even stretch out his legs.

Ma Trodd served up plates of bacon, beans and bread then padded back to the stove to pick up a huge iron skillet full of sputtering eggs. She went around the table, neatly plopping two eggs on every plate.

Jax rolled his eyes and slammed his elbows down on the table. “Aww ma, yew know I like mah aigs on m’ beans! Now there’s yolk all over the maize-bread!”

“Land-a-muddlin’ Jax!” Ma put her furry hand on her hip. “Yew done act like I kilt yer best friend. They’s a lot worse thangs happ’nin in thee universe then aigs a’leakin’ on bread!”

“I’m sorry ma. Didn’t mean t’ get yew riled.”

“She’s not riled.” Sister Sal said, cutting a dainty slice of egg with the side of her fork. “She’s worried. Mizz Yogg  was telling her about the Coruscant emperor. He’s got six more planets under his belt.”

Brother Muss wrinkled his snubby nose. “Huh? Whadda yew mean, sis?”

“He stole them. Not fair and not square.”

“How do you steal a planet?”

“With a lot of guns.” Puggles grunted through a mouthful of breakfast. Egg yolk glistened in his shaggy beard.

Sally nodded her head. “It’s true. Unfortunately.”

Ma’s yellow eyes flashed with fear. “ Some people is fightin’ back. Mercy. There might be another Clone Wars round thee corner.”

“Ain’t no Jedi left t’ fight um.” Brother Jimbo said, subdued, a sweating beer can held to his forehead. He hadn’t touched his breakfast. The hangover he was fighting demanded some hair-of the bantha first.

Sister Shoog changed the subject. “ I shore wish cuzzin Zeb could stay longer. He’s only got two more days, and he promised to take me to the fair.”

“Cuzzin Zeb never breaks his promises.” Said Muss.

“CuZzIn ZeB NEEEEEVER BreAKs his PrOmiSes. . . Puggles said in a wheedly, exaggerated voice, his face puckered like a dried korbapple.

“Did I hear my name?” Zeb said from the foot of the staircase. He hopped down and entered the kitchen.

Ma beamed. “ Bout’ time yew got up! Sit at the table. I’ll git yer vittles ready. Did you sleep well?”

“I slept like Firuz in his tomb.” Zeb  said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation of his breakfast.  Maybe tomorrow ma would make her special spawffles and needle tree syrup. He was about to tuck his napkin into the front of his shirt when-

“Hey, did you all hear something?”

“ Like what?”

Like bellowing. Sounds like the Lunx’s  bull got out of his pen again.”

There was a stamping of feet out on the porch. Older sister Hallie opened the front door and hurried inside. She set her basket of herbs on the table and started to pour herself a cup of caf.

“ Pa’s out in the field and he’s cussin’ up a dust storm. I mean, worse then usual.”

“ Ma clutched her apron. “Goodness child! D’yuh think he’s a’right?”

“I asked him, but he jus’ kept on a hollerin’ and   carrying on. I think the tractor musta broke down or sumthin’.”

“Great an’ benev-lent Bearded One.” Ma groaned as she served  Zeb his breakfast. “I’m  gonna hear ‘bout this til thee end a’ days…Jimbo, Jax,  go see what’s goin’ on, woudja dears?”

Jimbo looked up. His yellow-orange eyes were rimmed with red. “ Ma! I jus found out mah girl is courtin’ another he-male! I cain’t take pa’s bellyachin’ right now. I’m too e-moshan-lee com-pree-mized!”

Shoog  rolled her eyes.

Ma looked at Jax, who panicked.

“I’m late for mah sparrin’ practice!”  The blotch-coated lasat rose from his chair and threw his napkin on his plate.

“Now where’s mah boxin’ gloves at?” Jax ran from the kitchen.

Zeb forked his food between two pieces of maize-bread, making a giant to-go sandwich. He  scooted his chair back and grabbed Puggles by his scrawny wrist.

“Let’s go help pa!”

“Help Pa? Is yew crazy? He’ll tie me into a Mon Calamari sailor knot fer intrudin’ on his bad mood!”

“ Not if we solve his problem.”

Pa raged. He pounded on the tractor’s hood and stamped the turf beneath his feet, turning it  into a large patch of dark dirt. Gracie sat on her makeshift perch next to the tractor’s seat, grinning and panting, her tongue darting in and out of her mouth. Every time a fist came close she attempted to give it a sloppy kiss.

“ WHAT IN CONSARN-A-SHUN IZ WRONG WID YEW, YEH BLASTED CONTRAPTION!!!???”

“TAR-BUBBLIN�� LAZYBUMP SONNAVA JUGHEADED PLEASURE DROID!!!”

“ POCKMARKED’ PISSENGINE!!

“CHEAP PIECE A’ RUSTED RUIN!!”

“DROIDSON BATTERYDOOKER!!!”

“Do you kiss ma with that mouth?”

Rufus Trodd whirled around. He saw his beloved nephew standing there, smiling, his demeanor as calm as a boodle bug floating on the surface of a still pond.

“She would faint if she heard you cursing like that.”

Pa’s giant mitt batted at the air. “ Aww. Not now Zebidiah. I’m inna awful gaumy stew.”

Puggles stepped out from behind his brave younger cousin.

Looky here pa, I brang yeh a nice cold one! I thanked yew could use it.”

The mammoth  lasat grabbed the offered six pack of beer, cracked each can open with machine-like speed and poured six streams of  golden brew into his cavernous mouth. He wiped  the stray foam from his mane and belched.

“Thanks son. Remind me not t’ call yew an ijit next time yew piss me off.”

Zeb approached the tractor. He ran his hands over three, still-warm engine cowls and sniffed the turbines and jet ports. “What’s going on with her?”

“She were running fine, then all of a sudden, she starts a’shaking and a sputterin’. Den the jets got all quiet-like. How did I blow up three engines? That tiller I’m towin' behind her don’t weigh that much. Hells, I towed a big ol’ howler-barr to thee taxidermist with dis here tractor. ”

Zeb scratched his head. “Was there any smoke?”

Pa thrust out his thick lower lip and tapped one of his fangs. “Now thet I think about it. . . not a hole lot. Jus’ a little puffin’ out from under thee hood.”

“Ah-ha. Pop the hood Puggles.”

The little lasat obeyed and the tractor’s  boxy mouth opened with a ‘TUMP’ Zeb raised the hood, looked inside and saw the problem immediately.

“It’s not the engines, pa. It’s your injector cylinder. Are you running super-lean Kashyyk oil in her?”

“Shore as dust I am!”

“Well, it must be  clogged with dirt. The guy you bought this from should have changed it before he sold it.”

Pa snorted. “Figures.”

Zeb changed the subject. He patted the old Agri-Hover. You know, inside, these tractors are almost identical to the inside of the tanks in the royal army. They really ARE well made. Let’s pull the injector and Puggles and I will go into town and get a new one.”

Pa looked resigned to his fate of plowing the field by himself. Why did he sell that good team of muley-tauns? They weren’t that long in the tooth.

“Payday’s not fer six more days. I don’ wanna ask ma t’ dip into her savings. She ain’t got that much anyway.”

Zeb grabbed Puggles by the ear and tugged him away’t so pa couldn’t hear.

“I have some extra pay this cycle.” He whispered.

“Must be nice.” Puggles' gold eyes flashed orange. “I cain’t even afford a lil’ teeny-eeny far-cracker or a pack a smokes.”

Zeb crossed his striped arms. “First of all, you shouldn’t be smoking. It’s bad for you. Second, you’re a liar. I know for a fact Hallie gave you credits for cleaning her shed. You put them in your. . . ahem, ‘detonite fund account.’”

The little lasat was incensed. He balled his bony fists and put them up, taking a fighting stance.

“I otta whup the green right outtta yer eyes yuh sucklin’-cub!! Of all thee indig-nitities! Called a larr by m’ little cuzzin!!!! Y’ain’t got the manners of that bitch anoobie over there! Come on, git yer dukes up!”

Zeb rolled his eyes and bit his lip. “ Not again.”

The young lasat was turning out to be a rather large and honorable soldier. One befitting of admiration and praise. How much longer was he going to allow his belligerent cousin to talk to him this way? Zeb sighed. A lasat couldn’t choose his family or the members within, but if he could have chosen, he would have picked what he already had,  the hard-working and sometimes crude,  spiritual, salt-of -Lasan Trodds.

“Alright you little a-hole. I’m sorry I called you a liar.  Do you have any creds you can spare? Any at all?”

Puggles put his fists down. He retrieved a toothpick from his pocket and wedged it between his crooked incisors. He made a sucking sound with his teeth.

“Maybe. . .”

[darkfoxartstudio]

The Sequel Trilogy and a Fairy Tale Heroine's Journey.

(I posted this right after TLJ, and I thought it would be worth reposting today)

The Reylo community is a beautiful place let me start by saying that. I have been a part-time meta writer/fanfic writer/silent observer of discourse/and an okay “artist.” It has been a pleasant experience for me over the last two years. I have learned quite a bit about literature, storytelling, cinematography just by being a fan of a fictional couple who I thought had a spark of something. We all invested a lot of time into theory and art of all mediums. I have made friends that I wouldn't have otherwise. The ride has at times been bumpy.

As I sit and try to take in everything in The Last Jedi I admit I am overwhelmed and rightfully so. Rian Johnson has given us so much in this movie to pick through, and over analyze for the next two years. I admit like some of you, I was confused after my first viewing and very conflicted. I wanted Ben and Rey together so badly that when they didn't end up together, I was a bit upset. I was mad at Ben for rejecting Rey, but then I was mad at Rey for rejecting Ben. My emotions were all over the map.

A lot of us felt the same way, some of us freaked out left the fandom, cried in a corner, and some took a minute to really start sifting through the wreckage.

What I have found in that wreckage (as well as many others) is a beautiful treasure. We got way more story than we could have hoped for. It is complex, it is layered and no doubt we will find tidbits of something new while rewatching it until Episode 9.

In this meta, I am going to attempt to shed light on the Heroine's Journey using a fairy tale template if you will. This will hopefully help decipher where we are in this cycle, even though it can at times skip around. I am going to give my full disclosure that I am an amateur. I don’t pretend to be the end all be all super meta writer who knows all of this as fact. I am simply using the Heroine's Journey as a guide and placing my own wet of views on what we’ve been given thus far. I highly recommend at the end of this analysis that you buy a copy of The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness by Maureen Murdock. I also suggest you read this blog by Theodora Gross. This is where I get the “template” for the breakdown of a Heroine's Journey as it is usually told in a fairy tale.

*Remember- This analysis is based on the fairy tale stories thus the template I am using provided by Theodora Gross.

The basic break down of a Heroine's Journey in a fairytale setting according to Theodora Gross is this

1. The heroine lives in the initial home.

2. The heroine receives gifts.

3. The heroine leaves her initial home.

4. The heroine enters the dark forest.

5. The heroine finds a temporary home.

6. The heroine finds friends and helpers.

7. The heroine is tested.

8. The heroine dies.

9. The heroine finds her true partner.

10. The heroine finds her true home.

​

Firstly, I am using this example for a few reasons.

JJ Abrams stated that Star Wars is more like a fairy tale or a western. Here is the actual quote from The Force Awakens Bluray commentary.

“This whole location of Maz’s, of course, mirrors the cantina from A New Hope, as this Starkiller Base mirrors the Death Star. These were the kind of locations that felt like a given in Star Wars. For example, we looked at it like a Western or a fairy tale. What are the elements that you’re going to see that makes it this genre, this specific genre? And clearly, in a Western, you’re going to have the dusty main street, the saloon. You’re going to have cowboys. You’re going to have the bad guy, who’s probably dressed in black. You’re probably going to have a castle, and a prince and a princess, if you’re looking at a fairy tale. We wanted to give these sort of, fundamental, not cosmetic, but, sort of, prerequisite elements. These locations in which we can set our new story and our new characters.”

     2. George Lucas has stated Star Wars is for children and it is a fairy tale.

So if we apply Theodora’s template for the Fairytale version of the Heroine's Journey to Star Wars more particularly to the Sequel Trilogy and Rey, we get this breakdown.

 The heroine lives in the initial home

    The Force Awakens introduces us to our heroine, Rey. We get a glimpse into her harsh everyday life by following her through a Star Destroyer in the barren desert of Jakku- a junk planet on the outer rim. She lives alone in an overturned AT-AT working all day just to feed herself. Like most adventures or fairy tales the main character longs for a different life. Rey longs for her family and even watches a ship leave the planet. We see this in Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella. Another more similar example is how Luke wanted to leave Tatooine and looked longingly at the twin suns wishing for adventure-- this is part of Joseph Campbell's Hero’s Journey and yes there are similarities, but they are not the same at all. But for the sake of Star Wars and this discussion, I’ll throw in these comparisons. 

    The point of this setup is to show the audience how bad the conditions are for our heroine or how they are longing for something - a change, a person, adventure, etc.

“And this idea that she won’t share with him here is, of course, because she feels like the only belonging she’s ever going to have is her family and if she leaves she’ll never get a chance to see them. So there was a very powerful idea that what she desperately wanted was belonging, which she’ll get, but just not how she expects.” JJ Abrams TFA

 The heroine receives gifts.

    Unexpectedly Rey receives a gift in the form of a bright round orange droid- BB-8. This is not the only gift Rey receives. She acquires a blaster from Han Solo, and eventually the Skywalker Legacy lightsaber. I would like to take this moment to note these steps do occur in order. However, storytelling is fluid and just because the heroine receives a gift later in the steps does not void the order of the heroine's journey or take it back a step.

Another example of gifts would be Luke acquiring R2D2 and C-3PO. But he also gets the lightsaber later on. It's important to point out here as well, that in a lot of adventure type stories, we have a Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, The Mentor, etc. That is part of myth which is a part of every story in existence essentially in some form.  Please watch these videos for reference (they are a bit long and old), but it goes over the themes and myth integrated into Star Wars. And please remember that George Lucas focused on Joseph Campbell's model of the Hero’s Journey when he first wrote A New Hope. Also yes as George has stated these stories are meant to rhyme. That does not mean they are a play by play of the plot. However, themes are similar, because the message of Star Wars is the same. “It is about love.”

 The heroine leaves her initial home.

    The First Order is hunting BB-8 and forces Finn and Rey to flee the planet for safety. According to Theodora sometimes the heroine is given away, runs away, or she chooses to leave. If the heroine decides to stay her home is destroyed in some way. An example of this is Cinderella. Her happy home is destroyed when her stepmother makes her work as a servant after the father dies.

    In Star Wars Luke chose to leave after the death of his aunt and uncle. Anakin was taken by Qui Gon Jinn (Haaa, Liam Neeson - “Taken” get it- get it? I know I’m lame) and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 The heroine enters the dark forest.

    Rey runs from the safety of Maz’s castle into a dense dimly lit forest after she Refuses the Call. In other fairy tales like The Lassie, the girl enters the dark forest after losing her temporary home. Sleeping beauty grows up in the forest, and Rapunzel enters the dark forest after leaving her tower.

    The refusal of the call in Star Wars (hero’s journey) Luke initially tells Obi-Wan he can’t leave Tatooine because of his family. Anakin does not want to leave his mother. Since Rey is a heroine her journey is slightly different but similar at the same time. She doesn't want to go on this adventure because she is holding out hope that someone will come for her on Jakku. Looking back in hindsight after viewing The Last Jedi Maz is forcing Rey to face the truth. “I see it in your eyes, you already know the truth. Whoever you are waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back.”

    Rey is not ready to face this reality yet. It is this belief that her parents were coming back is what kept her alive for so long. It was a survival coping mechanism that eventually she started to believe. However, deep down she’s always known.

“She’s telling Rey what she needs to hear, which is, “Stop trying to go home, it’s not right, it’s a waste. And that the belonging you seek is not behind you, it’s ahead.” And this is the thing that she can’t accept right now. The idea that she has anything to do with this man that she thought was a myth just this morning, and now here she is being told that his destiny is somehow tied into her choices and her actions. So, when Maz asks her to close her eyes and to feel it and to let it in, she’s not just setting up the moment at the end, when Rey is battling Kylo Ren, but she’s also telling her to stop looking and stop trying to understand and just feel and it is that great lesson of the Force. But she can’t do it. She’s not ready. She can’t take it in.”

 The heroine finds a temporary home

    Now we jump ahead a bit here because stories are fluid and there is no one formula or beat for beat plot that matches a heroine's journey even though they do follow a direct path. Rey’s temporary home in the entire arc of this story is physically Ahch-To and metaphorically the Resistance. If the story ended completely with The Force Awakens, then her temporary home would have been the Falcon and even her friends Han, Chewie, and Finn. But we know this is a trilogy, and the pace of this journey will be slower. Think back to the Hero’s Journey which is integrated into this framework and note that Rey didn't even Accept the Call to Adventure until the end of The Force Awakens.

Theodora notes that the heroine may think she can stay in this temporary home, but she will eventually have to leave again. Snow White's home was with the dwarves who helped care for her. Sometimes in the temporary home, she finds her true partner, but not in the right form or at the right time. Examples Beauty finds Beast in her temporary home, but he is still the Beast, selfish cruel and unkind. Rapunzel meets her prince but loses him again. Cinderella enters the castle to go to the ball, meets her Prince, but it isn't the right time. She has to leave this temporary “home.”

Rey takes up residence on Ahch-To until she can convince Luke to return. Rey knows this is a temporary home because once she succeeds, they will leave. But what is more interesting than anything else and more telling is that Rey meets her true partner, but he is not in the right form nor is it at the right time.

Ultimately Rey loses Ben again. And I want to stress this again the metaphorical home she has with the Resistance still stands. We are in the middle chapter of the story. Rey left the temporary physical home only to still hold onto the Resistance as the temporary home. And before you try to come at me with pitchforks-- when I say the Resistance, I mean it as an organization, not Leia and Finn or Poe. Those people are her friends, but she is seeking shelter in this metaphorical temporary home because Rey does not know fully who she is yet. Yes, she's a Jedi, but what is her place in all this? Wage war on the FO as the mascot Jedi for the Resistance? Or is it to find the true meaning of the Force, and try to establish some sort of balance with Ben Solo. Remember Luke played this role of legendary Mascot and embraced it-- it led to failure, hubris and the creation of Kylo Ren. Rey’s story is so much bigger than your standard Jedi or weapon of the Resistance... sorry got a tiny bit sidetracked here but you get my point. 

The heroine finds friends and helpers.

Luke fills this role to a T albeit begrudgingly. The heroine finds them and enlists their aid by being kind to them and giving them what they need. Later on, they help her when she is forced to leave her temporary home.

Rey finds Luke and tries to enlists his help by telling him she won't fail he like Kylo Ren. Rey attempts to reassure Luke that she can do what Ben could not and at the same time pleads with him to help his sister, Leia. Luke does indeed help Rey after she flees Ahch-To by facing Ben on Crait. Giving her a chance to save her other friends (who have also helped her along the way Finn, Poe, Leia etc.) and what was left of the Resistance.

The heroine is tested.

    Heroines can go through agonizing periods of testing. Rey is tested in The Force Awakens when she fights Kylo Ren. She is tested on Han’s freighter when she has to figure out how to help Han escape the gangs. She is tested when she goes up against Kylo in the interrogation room.  Make no mistake about it,  Rey will still run through the test and trials all the way up to the end of Episode 9. So what were her trials or test in The Last Jedi? If you thought The Force Awakens was tough on her, The Last Jedi was downright brutal and with good reason.

Most of Rey’s tests are not physical in The Last Jedi like they were in The Force Awakens.

The first test is to convince Luke Skywalker to return- she fails.

She fails at her Force training (according to Luke) when she goes straight to the dark and doesn't even try to stop herself.

In the cave when she asks the mirror to see her parents. The cave reveals Rey's deepest fear- she is alone, her parents are gone. But this test in the cave does have its positives even though it devastates her. It is forcing her to confront the truth she already knows - They are dead, and they were nobody.

Rey faces her biggest test in The Last Jedi when she refuses Ben's hand. At this point, Rey has already seen a vision of Ben’s future. It moved her to tears and prompted her to seek him out against all odds. When Rey realizes, Ben isn't in his true form she has to reject him. She begs him to not go down the path. But again it's not the right time yet. This is the part of the fairy tale/heroines journey where she loses the Prince/Partner again.

Although this is heartbreaking for both her and Ben the test does have its positives. Rey finally accepts the truth about her past with Bens help albeit he was a little harsh. But he also makes Rey say it. He doesn't lead the conversation by saying they sold you for drinking money, then forces her to admit it to herself. He prompts her to say it FIRST, then he confirms what they did/or his interpretation of the events. Notice Rey does not correct him. Rey learns to let go, even if it does means she has to let him go too.

 The heroine dies.

    Attached to the test and trials (again according to Theodora Gross) is a journey into death. Persephone's journey into the Underworld, Snow White’s temporary death/ deep sleep in the glass coffin. Sleeping Beauty and her hundred year sleep.

    Rian does an excellent job showing us visually Rey’s death, during a time of testing. Rey ships herself into essentially Hell (Snoke represents the Devil) in an escape pod that looks like a coffin. Again visually this is stunning, it ties in Snow White’s death and Persephone’s journey into Hell. Also one could tie in Psyche’s descent into Hades. It all represents death.

    In Star Wars we see literal death and metaphorical death. Han Solo went under a Sleeping Beauty type death. The trope was subverted, and the Princess woke the sleeping “Prince” giving him a kiss at the time of his awakening. There are other “clues” that give a nod to Han Solo’s slumber and Reys metaphorical death. The escape pod also says Property of Han Solo. Rian specifically asked for it to be written on the coffin-shaped escape pod. You have to stop and ask yourself why? General Audience viewers are not going to know it says that or even see that anything is written on it so why bother? Because Rian is telling a more in-depth story here. Nothing he has done throughout this entire movie is without thought and purpose.

What is the purpose of the death of the heroine?  Well, let's think about what happened to cause Rey to run to the other side of the Galaxy-- and descend into the metaphorical underworld, to begin with. What was happening? Luke wasn't teaching her the way she thought he would. It was proving to be difficult especially once she learned the truth behind his self-imposed exile. Luke refused to get involved, his way was not working for her. Rey wanted to act.

According to because the Heroines Journey Project in this step, the new way of life is too limited.  Success in this new way of life is either temporary, illusory, shallow, or requires a betrayal of self over time.

Wouldnt be Rey be betraying everything she stands for (Hope) if she just stayed away like Luke wanted her to? To give in, to let Ben Solo’s fate remain on its current destructive course? That is not Rey, it isn't what she represents in Star Wars at all. The purpose of this metaphorical death is to shed away this ideology Luke had about himself and about the Jedi.  

 The heroine finds her true partner.

    We have not reached this point in the story. The Last Jedi ends with the heroines death (step 8). But we will get here in episode 9 and since there are only two steps left I say that is fitting for Rey’s overall arc.

    In this step the partner is in his true form, the beast has transformed into the Prince. Theadora notes that in fairytales it may not seem like much of a love story because most tales are told shorthand (the prince dances with the princess three times) But lucky for us Star Wars although forced to tell such a story shorthand has and can do it. The core to this step in the journey is that the heroine and the partner recognize each other.

   For Ben and Rey this could mean that they finally see each other clearly. Recognizing that the balance is not all Light or all Darkness. Or that both light and dark live in both of them. Perhaps they realize that both sides of the war are wrong and the only real way forward is through love and acceptance.

The heroine finds her true home

    Rey had to leave her initial home to find her place in the world. This could be with Ben, Finn, and the rest of the Resistance which she has coveted as a second family or perhaps will occur in Episode 9. In fairy tales, Belle can finally live with the Beast, and Cinderella can live in the castle with her Prince.

    There is usually a partner in these situations although it is possible to end the story without one. However, considering the heroine's journey, and the theme of Star Wars I believe we will get a happy ending for both Rey and Ben.

I’ll leave this quote from Theadora’s blog here.

“If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of the heroine finding her true partner (does she really need a man to be her partner?), you can think of it as a metaphor. The true partner is also the other side of herself, so the story shows us the integration of the feminine and masculine, human and animal, sides of the personality. I don’t know, really: I just know that the partner is usually there, that the heroine is eventually united to a prince. Perhaps it means that a union with the right other is one of the highest things we can achieve in this life, perhaps it’s about unity within the self. Either way, it seems to be part of the story.”

If you have read other meta on the Anima and Animus, you’ll understand that reference that I bolded above. Rey and Ben fit the Anima and Animus profile, I can’t express that enough. The theme of The Last Jedi throughout marketing was Balance. We have been given very blatant clues about the balance of the Prime Jedi First Order. The symbol on the floor of the temple was pretty close to a Yin and Yang symbol. We know that The Art of The Last Jedi had concepts of Rey seeing Kylo on the other side of the mirror in the Dark Side cave. Rey and Ben have been mirrors of each other since The Force Awakens. (I go into depth on Kylo/Ben’s mirror cave here). You can see it in their choreographed fighting at the end. They emotionally mirror each other (both are lonely, and were isolated). They are coded in dark and light clothing. Even when Ben speaks to Rey its as if he could be talking to himself in a mirror. This happens in both Episode 7 and 8.

The merging of the Anima and Animus is paramount to the end of a Heroine's Journey. Only then can they be complete. Rian has repeatedly stated (paraphrasing) They are both two sides of the same coin two halves of the protagonist. For Rey and Ben to not come together in balance at the end of Episode 9 would be odd, to say the least.

I've seen arguments that Ben has to die or endure some type of harm to be redeemed. But to that, I throw this line at them. “It isn't about fighting what we hate, it is saving what we love.” - Rose Tico

Sure, Ben will continue to suffer, as Rey will continue to go through trials but only until they recognize each other. I don’t think Ben has to be mortally wounded or die to gain redemption. Star Wars is about Love.

From a storytelling perspective, we’ve had a tragedy and redemption in death. Ending the Sequel trilogy (a heroine's journey) with redemption in death is repetitive and doesn't fit the structure. It is my own personal opinion that we will get happy ending with redemption in life.

[rebaobsessivelywrites]

Emotional Intelligence Ch2 (SS:BH Pt1)

You can find this entire series here on AO3. This chapter is here.

Fandom: Sanders Sides (Web Series) and Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)

Fic Description: Logan was a genius. Everyone said so. He was also the most self sufficient 12-year-old you would ever meet, and he was very happy with that--thank you very much. If there was one thing he did not want, it was an android. Thankfully, things don't quite go his way.

(This is the first installment in a 5-part series. I expect 3 chapters currently.)

Warnings: ‘benign’ neglect, social anxiety, panic attack, emotional, and misgendering. This chapter is mostly comfort/fluff though

Chapter word count:  3,841

Headcanon post, master list, previous chapter, next chapter. 

A/N: Finally done! And in time for #sidescontentweek too!!

One dinner, Logan could handle. Two? Sure. A day at an event? Well, he could suck it up. But a weekend? Three days spent being paraded around like a prize pony, passed from important person to important person… he just couldn’t.

His parents had sprung the surprise on him Thursday, just after his fourth visit to the chess park. The following morning, they packed up and left bright and early, caught a plane, and were plunged directly into the chaos of politics and high-class socialization. There were dinners and events and lectures every hour of the day, it seemed, as Logan was expected to attend every event either of his parents had been invited to. That meant breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with politicians and scientists and lobbyists and CEOs and everyone in between, with added lectures and meetings.

Logan didn’t understand it all, but he understood a lot and the people his parents met with were always so impressed by him and his parents loved to use that to their advantage. And, well, it was interesting. He did enjoy the science and finance and that sort of thing, but… he wasn’t used to that many people. This was the first time his parents had asked him to be so involved in one of these symposiums when both of them were attending, and it was absolutely excruciating.

He got about five hours to himself each day, but two of those were from waking up at 5 am and two were spent hiding in the corner of some hotel or event center, desperately trying to center himself before the next event. He was used to maybe 3 or 4 hours with people a day, and that used to be only 1 hour or so with his parents before he started visiting the park a couple times a week. So this? This was overwhelming.

It was the third and final day, and Logan was certain the only reason he had made it this far was his android. Three weeks ago, he would have never believed that he would become irreparably attached to the thing, but now he was seriously wondering what he would do with out h—it. Beyond its now integral role in his daily life, the HK400 had been a godsend throughout the weekend, carefully monitoring Logan and swooping in at the best possible times with various excuses—he hadn’t eaten enough vegetables, he needed to spend 15 more minutes in the sun in order to absorb the proper amount of vitamin D, he hadn’t slept sufficiently and needed to go to bed early, etc—that bought him a couple minutes, at least, to regroup. It kept him sane.

But even with that crucial aid, it was too much. He had been at lunch (again) when he had been cornered and interrogated by a curious stranger (again) and he just couldn’t. He couldn’t stand another minute in that room; he couldn’t think or even breathe! So he fled. He didn’t manage to do much more than mutter a few apologies before he was on his way out of the ballroom and running up the stairs to his room. He fumbled with the electronic key, stumbled into the luxuriant room, and immediately collapsed, bracing himself against the wall and struggling to breathe.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, hunched over, before he finally caught his breath and stopped feeling like he was drowning, but once he did a wave of overwhelming shame crashed into him stealing his breath in a completely different way. Why had he left? He shouldn’t have done that! What were his parents going to say? He was a horrible son. Horrible…

A quiet knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts and made him jump. As he frantically picked himself up off the ground and attempted to make himself presentable, he realized that he had be crying. He scraped the sleeve of his suit over his cheeks and cleared his throat, “Yes?”

“It’s just me, Logan,” the last voice he was expecting but the first voice he should have expected echoed through the door, “Can I come in, kiddo?”

“HK400,” Logan protested, just as he had every time since the android had started using that awful nickname. The only blessing was he never used it around other people.

The HK400 obviously took his response as permission as the locking mechanism gave a telltale click and the droid slid into the room with hi—its key card. It had its near constant smile already plastered across its face as it carefully moved closer, giving him a concerned once over. “How are you, Logan? What can I do to help?”

“I’m fine,” Logan shook his head and pasted his smile back on, “I just… forgot something,” he finished lamely.

The android gave him the most unimpressed look he had ever seen—not just on it, but on anyone—and for a moment Logan very much felt like the 12-year-old he was. “We both know that’s not true,” it pointed out softly, “You don’t need to hide from me, Logan. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

Logan stood there for a long moment, taking in the steady blue LED that shone brightly in the muffled daylight of the hotel room, and the matching earnest blue eyes. “I know,” he almost whispered, “I just—” His voice broke and a hand flew to his mouth of its own accord. Breathing through his nose, he swallowed hard and did his best to force down the tears.

The HK400 stood as still as a statue, as though he was attempting not to startle a wild animal, a concerned look still plastered across his face. For some reason, the steady unassuming silence calmed Logan down even more.

“I can’t,” he choked out after a minute that felt like an eternity. His entire body was trembling, and Logan was just so frustrated with himself. He was angry and guilty and so very sad… He felt like his world was crumbling around him, but that was completely illogical—he was fine! He needed to piece himself back together and rejoin his parents, that was it.

The android gave him a pained look of understanding and stepped closer, as though preparing to physically help and… that was it. The dam broke open again and Logan let out a painful sob that shook his entire body. It was followed by another and another, and he was shaking harder and harder. His knees gave out on him but before he could do more than start to tip, he was suddenly surrounded by a pair of powerful arms, pulled in close to a solid chest. The android had knelt in front of him and was nestling him close and rubbing his back… “Let it out, Logan,” he murmured, “It’s ok, just let it all out. I’ve got you.”

Logan did.

He wasn’t sure how long he spent in his android’s arms, soaking his uniform with tears, but after some indeterminant period he stopped shaking and the android slowly loosened his hold on him. “Hey, Logan?” he murmured against his hair, “How does NASA organize a party?”

Brows furrowing in confusion, Logan pulled away to frown at his caretaker in confusion, “What?”

The HK400 gave him a crooked smile, “They planet.”

Logan felt his eyes, which were no doubt red from all the crying he had been doing, widen comically. His android had just told a joke. …Why?? The experience had become more common since the bot had slipped up in the park over a week previously, but it still baffled Logan to no end every time, and this was by far the most blatant occurrence yet.

“What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?” he—it asked in the same tone of voice, that was almost mischievous.

“What? No, that’s,” Logan shook his head, “There’s nothing… I mean, maybe an orange parrot, but—”

“A carrot!” it exclaimed before letting out a delighted little giggle.

Logan stopped to stare again, forgetting to close his mouth in the process. He was still baffled and dumbfounded, but he was also thankful that the android wasn’t immediately retreating and making excuses like he had a few times in the past.

“Come on,” he—it— smiled warmly and stood, offering him a hand, “Let’s move to the table. It’ll be more comfortable for the chair of us.”

Still stunned from the last joke, Logan couldn’t do more than accept and let himself be led to the small round table that was equipped with two chairs and a small coffee setup—including a coffee maker and all the proper accoutrements. It was currently piled with everything Logan had gathered from the lectures he had enjoyed over the past two days, but neither of them cared about the clutter. (HK400 was most certainly bothered by it, but he didn’t press the issue and was clearly preoccupied at the moment.)

As Logan sat down, however, he wobbled slightly on his still unsteady knees and accidentally knocked several papers off the table. His android immediately bent to collect them, a faint smile still playing on its lips. When he straightened and set the collection of articles and book recommendations back where they belonged, Logan was still staring—no doubt with a slack jawed look.

The HK400’s lips twitched slightly. A moment later, he lost the battle and a broad grin stretched across his face, “Aw, you ok there, Logan?” he teased gently, pushing the article on the top of the pile towards him, “Do you need a patent the back?

Once again, Logan was completely lost, “…you mean… a pat on the back?” After a moment of confusion, however, he glanced down at the paper the android had pushed towards him. It was an article he had picked up on his first day, when he had been attending an informative lecture on the legal bounds of patents with his father…. The article was an overview of every type of patent the government authorized, complete with examples. His eyes widened in realization. Patent.

The android reached over the pile of papers and fished a pink packet out of the coffee service station. “I’m not sugar,” he said almost contemplatively, waving it at Logan, “what do you pink?”

Logan let out a soft groan and leant his head forward into his hands. Despite his actions, however, there was a smile floating at the corner of his mouth. “Your mispronunciation of words… is meant to have a comedic effect,” he muttered, “But I am not certain how I feel about your attempts.”

“No, no, Logan,” the android grinned cheekily at him, “Its mispro-pun-ciation!”

Logan gave him his best glare, but it failed miserably thanks to the laughter that bubbled up in in throat and slipped past his lips. The HK400 observed his reaction with unadulterated glee, letting his own laughter join. The sound of the android giggling like a little kid set Logan off even more, and soon he was caught in a downright hysteric bought of belly-deep laughter. He nearly fell out of his chair before the android managed to settle himself down enough to catch him.

Just like before, with his uncontrollable sobbing, Logan was unsure how long he spent laughing himself silly, but eventually it passed. He spent a few moments after it finally died off gasping for breath and examining his android, who was fast becoming something akin to a friend. He was sitting in the chair opposite from Logan now, grinning dopily—almost like laughter was a drug to him. The sight of the content expression on the bot’s face made Logan smile again.

“HK400,” he started, before stopping, stumbling over his own tongue. That sounded so wrong. HK400… was a type of android. It seemed illogical to continue to insist on calling him—it… whatever!—something so generic and impersonal, not to mention a mouthful. If the past three weeks had shown him anything, it was that the HK400 was possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him. It —hell— he didn’t deserve that.

“Logan?” the bot asked in concern, breaking through his thoughts.

Logan shook himself and smiled up at him, “Sorry, I was just thinking that HK400 is a rather big mouthful.” The android simply frowned down at him, a hopeful but baffled expression on his face. Logan self-consciously straightened his glasses, “I mean, it would be more, uh.. logical to call you something more… unique?”

“Are you,” the bot hesitated, his LED flashing rapidly and his eyes growing wide, “asking me to register a name?”

Logan swallowed hard, “Uh, yeah, I… I think I am.”

His LED flashed yellow once before it settled to a more certain blue. “That… I’d like that,” the HK400 unit smiled softly, “Who am I, Logan?”

Logan paused at the wording, examining the android, “In all honesty, I think only you are capable of answering that question.”

“I don’t… understand,” confusion creased his eyebrows, although his smile didn’t waver.

The young genius shook his head softly, “That’s for another day. But I truly don’t know what to call you.”

“No?” the android asked curiously, thankfully showing no offence.

“No,” he confirmed, “I’m sorry, I should have thought this through more…”

“Don’t be,” he held up his hand, still grinning brightly, “You’ll think of something.”

“I’m not so sure,” Logan couldn’t help giving a self-deprecating shrug, looking down at where his hands rested on the table. He wasn’t creative, and giving his android a name was such a big thing…

After a beat of silence, the article on patents was pushed to brush against his fingers. He glanced up to find the HK400 smiling mischievously at him again, “Well, that’s patently absurd!”

Logan groaned, lips twitching without his consent, “Are you ever going to stop now?”

“Pat-ain’t likely!” he chuckled warmly, looking proud of himself.

Logan smiled ruefully and shook his head slightly. This new attitude his android was displaying was annoying, but it also…. It was nice. And the puns were… interesting, or at least creative that’s for sure.

A thought occurred to him, eyes widening unseeingly. “Pat…” he murmured.

“What?” the android shifted forward slightly “Are you ok, Logan?” Logan’s eyes snapped back into focus to find his caretaker’s LED cycling yellow. “Do you need another patent the back?”

“Sorry,” he smiled reassuringly before his eyebrows drew together in concentration, “Just… Your name. What about Pat… something. Patrick?” As soon as the name left his mouth he wrinkled his nose in distaste, “No.”

The android leant forward eagerly, resting a hand on each of Logan’s and smiling encouragingly. Logan returned the smile and carefully regarded the machine he had come to care for. He really wanted to get this right; a name helped a person define their sense of self, and for him it was so much more important because he had existed for almost a month fully cognizant without one. In the beginning that didn’t seem to be a problem, but now… he —and the android was definitely not an it, not if Logan was honest with himself— was so clearly capable of independent thought and it seemed wrong to call him by his model name.

The android gently squeezed Logan’s hands and the 12-year-old’s eyes were drawn down to where they rested on the table… on the article. “Pat…ton. Patton.” Logan nodded to himself, lifting his head to observe his android’s reaction.

His soft smile grew to a blinding intensity as he stared at Logan, an emotion the young genius failed to identify shining in his eyes. “Patton,” he murmured, as though testing the word, “I like that.” He giggled, “I could give you a Patton the back whenever I want.”

Logan simply raised his eyebrows at his caretaker; yes, the name was inspired by the pun but was it really necessary—

“Or a Patte,” the newly minted Patton added happily, retrieving a mug from beside the coffee pot on the table.

The genius couldn’t help rolling his eyes a little, lifting his freed hand to adjust his glasses again. “Let’s not push it too far,” he muttered.

The android froze in the middle of his movement, causing Logan to jolt and stare at him in surprise; Patton’s eyebrows were furrowed, his LED spinning yellow.

It took Logan a moment before the reason clicked, but as soon as it did his eyes blew wide and he hurried to correct his mistake, “No, no I don’t…” he shook his head and glanced down, carefully shifting the hand that still rested in Patton’s grip to give him a comforting squeeze. “I mean… I doubt my tolerance— for puns, that is— could possibly withstand your, uh, obvious aptitude for them.”

To the genius’ relief, the android immediately relaxed, tension draining out of his frame, and gave him another blinding smile, “I guess we’ll just have to see, now won’t we?”

Logan hesitantly returned the smile, “If we must… Patton.”

The way Patton’s smile grew in response to hearing his new name left a warm feeling in Logan’s chest, leaving him more settled than he had in days. That same warmth, renewed every time Patton smiled, miraculously lasted even as he ventured forth from his room and back into the mire of social expectations. It buoyed him through the remainder of the unpleasant weekend, and left him content and focused for days afterwards.

Upon their return from the stressful trip, everything returned to normal. Logan resumed his studies, rarely seeing his parents, Patton flitted around the manor, efficiently handling every problem before Logan ever encountered it, and the pair upped their outings to three or four times a week. Logan found himself growing fond of Mr. Stokes and the other chess enthusiasts, who seemed to almost live in the park, and was happy to oblige his android’s incessant herding.

In fact, Logan found he actually appreciated Patton’s constant presence and energy. On one particular occasion, the food delivery service his family used failed to arrive and Patton left to fetch supplies. The young genius was alone for only a few hours, but it had felt like days; without the background noise his energetic android provided, he had simply been unable to focus. Patton had given him the softest smile he had ever seen upon returning to find his grouchy, unfocused charge.

It was much easier to focus on matrices and derivatives when he could hear the android humming idly from just beyond his bedroom doorway.

“Hey, Logan?” the familiar cheerful voice cut through the 12-year-old’s train of thought.

A smile already spreading across his face, he glanced up from his textbook to see his android approaching. Patton gave him a smile in return and lifted an object for observation—a pair of glasses held carefully by the ear pieces, “What are these?”

For a moment Logan just blinked at them; they appeared uncannily like his own, except for the fact that they were obviously too large and no longer held lenses of any variety. That moment was, however, all it took for him to remember and flush a vivid red.

“I was cleaning your room and found them wedged…” Patton trailed off as he glanced up from the object of his curiosity. “Kiddo?” he asked, concern coloring his tone.

“They, ah,” Logan cleared his voice, “They were my father’s. I was, evidently, so fascinated with them that… after he had surgery to fix his vision, he gave them to me.”

“Oh!” the bot exclaimed in delight, returning his attention to his discovery, “That’s nifty.”

Another smile claimed his lips without his consent and he shook his head at the android’s word choice. Patton had grown on him even more over the past few weeks. He seemed to be increasingly comfortable both with himself and with Logan; he only reverted to his initial behavior (what Logan was coming to think of as his ‘pre-programmed’ behavior) when in the presence of others. Even then, he had begun to slip more and more around Logan’s chess partners. The genius received an inordinate amount of pleasure watching their reactions to the android’s unexpected sense of humor.

Logan watched with a similar sense of amusement as Patton, face scrunched up in thought, ever so carefully placed the glasses on his own face. After a moment spent fiddling with them, making them sit more comfortably, he beamed down at Logan, “What d’ya think?”

Even though the frames were very similar to Logan’s, they looked remarkably different on Patton’s face. They seemed… rounder, less rectangular, even though that wasn’t possible, and made Patton’s bright blue eyes look twice as large, despite the absence of lenses.

“They look nice,” he answered honestly, earning beaming smile.

Patton quickly scooted a few feet to the side, so he could see himself in the mirror on Logan’s wall and regard his new accessory with curiosity. After a moment he turned back to Logan, a mischievous smile creeping across his face and setting alarm bells off in Logan’s head, “Well, they are rather… spectacular!”

“Patton,” Logan groaned, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

“Are you doing math?” he asked out of the blue, moving closer to his charge and peering down at his calculus textbook.

“Patton…” Logan muttered in warning. Where he would have been confused a few weeks ago, he was now merely suspicious, eyeing his android carefully, “don’t—”

Patton merely grinned, “You might need some new glasses to help with that di­vision!”

“Ugh,” he huffed, burying his face—glasses and all—into his hands.

The android just giggled, moving to perch on a nearby chair and removing the black frames from his face. Once Logan recovered from the horrible pun and Patton settled his giggles, the pair just smiled at each other.

Logan had never smiled so often, before Patton had entered his life.

But as he stared at him, Logan couldn’t help noting how different his caretaker looked without the glasses on, almost as though frames had belonged on his face from the start. “You should keep them,” he burst out, gesturing to the frames in the bot’s lap, “It’s not like they were doing any good, wherever they were when you found them.”

Patton blinked at him in surprise, “Are you sure?”

He gave a one shouldered shrug, “Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to use them.”

“Thanks, Lo,” the android gave him another brilliant smile, warming him in a way he was still growing used to. He watched fondly as Patton returned the frames to his face, dramatically pushing them up the bridge of his nose.

Logan may not be certain about everything, especially not when it came to his android, but he was positive that Patton was the most amazing person he had ever met. He did not know how he had developed such obvious independence or if all androids were capable of doing so, but he was incredibly grateful to have him in his life. Puns and all.

A/N: I know the last scene seems a little tacked on, and I almost didn't include it but I wanted to limit this installment to three chapters and it REALLY doesn't fit with the next one. Speaking of... brace for angst. (I still need Patton to deviate, after all. He's only bending his programming at the moment, kinda like snarky Connor in the game. He still needs to tear down the wall, so to speak.)

Let me know if you want to be tagged! (I will be reblogging with the taglist from @reba-andthesides)

[itsjustascarecrow]

i heard it was Lady Friday and that @starwarsladies put out a call for oc’s, so uh. here i am i guess?? w/ a little fic (just over 2.3k words) featuring one of my sw ladies. i shall preface this by saying i’ve not shared anything about any of my oc’s on this site before, so this is kind of a first for me, b/c i know how some people can be about 1) oc x canon, and 2) oc’s related to major characters, both of which this oc falls under.. but! this is not a shipfic, i promise! in fact, i’ll (try to) give a brief intro:

name: Jey-Min Kenobi age: about 23/24 (at the time of this fic; born 19 BBY) appearance: light-skinned, bluish-gray eyes, yellow-orange hair, 5′8″ (so save those last three things my face claim for her is Deborah Ann Woll) affiliation/occupation: the Rebellion/Resistance; a Jedi telekinesis Sage (her lightsaber is orange) other general things: friendly; kind of an oblivious idiot sometimes; can flirt like a champ w/o actually meaning to do so (she just thinks she’s being nice); panromantic/asexual af; hates being cold; loves cute things; was best friends w/ a jawa growing up--as she was raised by her uncle Obi-Wan on Tatooine; can speak a lot of different languages (tho not necessarily fluently) and can swear in even more; enjoys music and knows how to play the space-equivalent of a banjo; never met her parents as they were killed by Separatists when she was only a month old--and thus has underlying issues revolving around motherhood b/c of it; a great baker (tho not at the time of this fic; that comes later); considers Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, etc. to be family; is one version of my first ever star wars oc/concept for an oc and is friends/allies w/ another oc of mine who’s the other half of that original concept

but ye, in terms of plot, a quick note: this fic mentions some things that involve events that my friend @fettjango and i have come up with in our own sort of. au i guess you can call it; it also mentions a couple oc’s of theirs as well. long-story-short, their oc Fareema, who at one point worked for the Empire, has offered Leia and the Resistance information on any remaining Imperialists in the galaxy, such as where to find them, and Jey offered to accompany Ezra Bridger on said missions to take down said Imperialists. this fic takes place after the first of those missions. so w/o further adieu, here goes nothing??

Jey-Min Kenobi stood outside the gray stone dwelling that had served as her home for 19 years, the home her uncle, the great Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, had raised her in. But she was not thinking of the Jedi Knight he had revealed himself to be in his later years. She was thinking of the man named Ben, a simple, kind old man who spent his days caring for his late twin sister's daughter and their herd of bantha, and occasionally helping any other locals out of tricky situations should the need arise. She closed her eyes, picturing the door as she last saw it, when they first welcomed Luke Skywalker and a couple of rebel droids into their home, changing both his and her own lives forever. When she opened her eyes again, gazing upon the sight of a door nearly hidden entirely by the sand that had piled up over the past four years, she'd realized the tears had already begun to fall. She thought back to when she had asked her new friend, Ezra Bridger, to take her here and continued to question if this was a good idea or not. He had been fine with making this quick pit stop but had volunteered to stay behind with their ship. Jey thought to herself that he probably didn't care much for this planet's climate, as not many people did. And while that was one of the many things that made this place home, the memories this home held of times and people now long gone made it difficult for her to see it as anything other than a tomb. Not only was Obi-Wan dead, but so was Old Ben. And with him, Jamie Kenobi--a version of herself that had known nothing of Jedi and their lightsabers and their control over the Force. Of their involvement in the Clone Wars and connections to those who created the Empire, who had been in power since she was an infant. The lies told to keep her safe, the people she had never been told about and the legacy they had left behind--a legacy now carried on by a man her own age whom she had always known to be just like her: a simple child of a desert planet with nothing special about them. Jamie Kenobi had never left this home some five years ago. She had died in this very building and Jey-Min had left in her place. And now she was terrified of the ghost of herself she knew to still haunt this place. One last time she thought of going back to Ezra empty-handed before she raised her hands to clear away the sand and opened the door using the Force her uncle so truly valued. As she stepped over the threshold, the ghost of Jamie took over, and she saw the home she always knew. It wasn't the most elaborate or expensive home, but they never needed it to be. Adequately-sized rooms, square windows, round pillars, arched doorways, all made of the same grayish-white stone as the outside; cool the touch and always a welcome respite in the sometimes near-sweltering Tatooine heat. The way she saw it now, things were in their place as she had last saw them, in their proper places all nice and neat and clean. She and her uncle weren't necessarily the meticulous type, but they understood the value of a tidy home in a dust bowl like this. And what would seem to many as old relics or antiques strewn about the place in some sort of decorative manner were almost like treasures to them. Things collected of a time long passed that, perhaps when she was younger, she didn't quite fully appreciate. But as Jey-Min looked through Jamie's eyes, she began to wonder if she and her uncle were actually a part of that collection as well. She noticed the tears flowing more steadily now, though she did not know if they were Jey-Min's or Jamie's. At this point, she didn't even know what she was looking for. Whatever excuse she had told Ezra had since been forgotten; now she just wandered aimlessly from room to room. But the longer she stayed, the weaker Jamie's grip on her became, and she began to see things as Luke had last described them to her. He had come back to their home planet four years ago in search of something; she couldn't remember exactly what for. But one of the stops he made was back here to the old Kenobi family homestead, and it was here where he had ran into the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett. Luke had described their fight to her in cautious detail, knowing full well she wouldn't have appreciated him unintentionally trashing her childhood home like this. Nor was he prepared for the sudden appearance of sand people, who must've either wanted in on the action or perhaps an easy target for a scavenging run. Either way, as her feet kicked aside bits of rubble and scrap, and as her fingers traced the blaster holes in the walls, she had to fight the growing urge to turn and run. While Jamie's hold on Jey-Min's sight had been released, her presence within the home still remained. Jey-Min would turn at the sound of a young girl giggling and see an afterimage herself being lifted into the air by her uncle, and when she moved into another room, she would see herself again, this time playing with toys that now lay discarded or in pieces on the floor. Eventually it all became too much for her to bear; she raised a hand to cover her mouth and slumped against a wall, slowly sliding down to the floor as she began to openly sob. She wasn't sure how long she had sat there, but eventually she calmed down enough to realize she was in fact alone. No more mirages of small children and dead uncles, of a home still in a functional state. Just a lone Jedi amongst the sand and debris. Her tear-stained face turned slowly as she took everything in one last time, her chest rising then falling with a deep, heavy sigh. 'I shouldn't have come here,' she thought. 'There's nothing left here for me.' Jey-Min finally rose to her feet and made her way back out into the midday Tatooine heat, but as she turned to close the door for the final time, she saw Jamie standing just inside, watching with sad yet angry eyes as her future walk away. But together, the two versions of Obi-Wan's niece raised their hand and wafted it to the side, sealing the entrance for good. Jey half-ran, half-briskly walked back to the ship, eager to get off the planet, as she tried to wipe her face clean with her hands. She knew it was a mess and would certainly give away the emotional ordeal she just went through. And she felt she trusted Ezra (as much as one could after only knowing him for a few days so far), but she wasn't sure if she was ready to explain herself to him just yet. Pausing at the bottom of the loading ramp, she took one last moment to collect herself, but before she could make her way up, she heard the familiar beeping of R8-V2, the Imperial astromech on loan to them by the Chiss woman who started them on these missions to begin with. "Well," Jey sighed, "if everything was alright, I wouldn't look like this, now would I?" She slowly trudged her way up the ramp but still made a point to pat V2 on the head as they beeped a reply, which did make her chuckle. "Yes, I'm sure your 'weird blue mother's stealth tricks' helped out more often than not in these situations, but honestly I'm already such a mess, I'm not sure there's anything that could save me at this point. I'm just too far gone, I'm afraid." Ezra was slouched across the captain's seat when Jey stepped into the bridge. "Oh hey, you're back," he called over a shoulder. "Was starting to worry you'd gotten buried alive in a rogue sand dune or--" He stopped mid-sentence after doing a double-take when he caught sight of her face and scrambled to his feet. "Woah, are you okay? I-Is something wrong; did something happen out there?" The genuine concern in his voice nearly made Jey break down all over again, but she managed to hold most of it back this time. "I'm fine," she lied, raising a hand to stop his advance. "Or, at least I will be. It's just... too many memories.." She shook her head slightly, annoyed with herself as she felt a couple more tears escape. Quickly wiping them away, she tried to laugh it off. "I promise I'm not always like this." "Hey, it's alright," he chuckled a bit awkwardly. "I know it can be.. difficult coming home after a long time being away." "Yeah, it's.. it's cool; I'll be fine, I just.. let's just go; we should report back to Fareema." "Okay, if you're sure." He slid back down into his seat as his co-pilot just nodded, settling down into her own seat, and within moments they had left the surface of the planet, made it up into its atmosphere, and blasted off into hyperspace. They had sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a good while before Ezra felt a pair of eyes seemingly boring into him off to his right. He turned to catch Jey staring at him for what certainly wasn't the first time this mission. "Uh.. you're doing it again," he pointed out when she didn't turn away after being caught. A quiet "Hm?" was the only reply. "Staring at me." "Oh. Sorry." It was almost as if she had been broken out of a trance. "I'm just.. trying to remember your face. Sometimes memories are.. all I have left of some people." "Right... Are you sure you're okay?" Jey took a moment to think about how she wanted to answer, leaning an elbow on one of the arms of her chair and placing a hand on her cheek. "Not even Nara and Dolo were still around," she muttered almost half to herself. "Who?" "A couple of banthas that were part of a small herd my uncle adopted when I was little." She smiled when Ezra laughed in disbelief. "Oh yeah, we had a fair few; those two were the oldest. "There was this one time when I was still quite small and wasn't quite old enough to know not to play with large animals unsupervised, but anyway, that's exactly what I did. I just thought they looked nice and cuddly, like giant, woolly blankets, so one evening I thought to myself 'I'm gonna sleep outside with Dolo and Nara tonight' and I just.. snuggled right up in there with them. And at first, it was pretty great; real cozy, y'know? Until somehow I just sorta. Fell into them. Like I was just lost within the void that was their fur almost instantly. "I didn't panic though, like I had faith that I'd be fine. If anything, I thought it was pretty funny at the time. But then I heard my uncle calling out for me, wondering where I'd run off to. And instead of calling back out to him, I stayed right where I was, all nice and quiet-like. But clearly I wasn't quiet enough; I heard him getting closer to where the herd had settled down for the night, so when I was sure he was standing right next to us, I popped my little hand out and waved at him. And to this very day, I will never forget the sound he made." By this point, Ezra was nearly doubled over with laughter. "That's incredible, holy shit!" "Yeah, we kinda did that a lot to each other; we weren't the most responsible family, got away with a lot of shit. He'd even take me with him when he'd stop by the local cantinas to drink, and at the time I wasn't even in double digits yet age-wise. "Actually, y'know what's funny?" Ezra jumped slightly as Jey continued, and she realized she may've spoken a bit more aggressively than she had intended. "All those times my uncle would stop in to drink? He was a responsible drinker as far as I was aware; either that or he just had a much higher tolerance than most. But I asked him one time why he drank so often and he told me, 'You remember all those stories I told you about your uncle Ani? That's why.'--now it fucking makes sense!" "Uncle Ani; who's that? I didn't know Obi-Wan had a brother." "'Ani' was short for Anakin. As in Anakin Skywalker, his former apprentice. Darth fucking Vader was technically my 'uncle'." Jey took a moment to take in what she just admitted, placing her head into one of her hands. "Gods, I'm really glad I didn't know him growing up; it probably would've made me drink as much as my uncle did." "Yikes, yeah. I had the misfortune of running into him a couple of times, and those certainly weren't.. pleasant experiences..." Another short awkward silence followed, but this time it was V2 who decided to break it. They beeped out a story about a time when their "weird blue mother Fare" climbed up to the top of a stack of crates during a bit of training with her commanding officers when something on the ceiling had caught her attention. Of course V2's punchline to the story was to say she had been "on top of things". This spurred another round of laughter from the two humans, and they then proceeded to swap stories from their youth about momentary lapses of judgement and the like. This lasted all the way until they made it back to their home base, and by the end of their journey, they knew this would be the start of a very interesting partnership.

[fuzz1912]

I’ve got an okay feeling about this

A fan’s review of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY.

(Spoilers ahoy, matey. Proceed with extreme caution. Running on extreme low sleep, so this will probably be updated over the next day or so.)

I’ve been pretty clear about the parameters for what I consider to be a good Star Wars film. My initial concern has been that they should at least be internally consistent, and consistent within (let alone respectful of) the established lore of the Star Wars universe. Beyond that, my mind also turns to whether or not it merely repeats what has come before or extends the universe in logical and interesting ways. Is there a need for this story to be told, or does it excessively rely on (or trivially extrapolate from) a known backstory? And finally, does it strike the right balance of humour and fan service while telling a decent story that stands on its own?

So, having been quite critical of Disney’s previous Star Wars releases on that basis, how does this latest instalment fare?

May the month of May be with you

There’s something right about Star Wars in May. Despite the attempts by all and sundry to turn a stupid dad joke into ‘Star Wars Day’ (May the Fourth - get it? No, Cinco de Quatro is much better), in fact the month of May has its own enduring significance for the franchise. Each of the original and prequel trilogy movies were released around the mid-May Memorial Day holiday. In the US, this means summer, when kids are on break and sitting in an air-conditioned cinema is preferable compared to just about anything else. For us on the other side of the world, it is on the cusp of winter, just as the weather really starts turning for the worse - the wind picks up, the chill sets in, and darkness falls before you know it.

It’s those memories of fighting to stay warm while making it to midnight on a dark, crisp winter’s night that have always accompanied first watching a new Star Wars film for me. For some entirely silly commercial reason, Disney has thus far eschewed the traditional May release window instead choosing  December for its premieres, which has never felt right to me - December is for Christmas movies and Lords of the Ring, not Star Wars. So if nothing else, there’s some small satisfaction for me in being able to enjoy a new Star Wars movie for the first time again in the cold of May - perhaps its karma, but it feels like that’s translated to my reaction to this second anthology film.

Why make a movie about Han Solo?

Here is a character who is infamous for his intrigue. Many so-called fans criticise George Lucas for adding context to Star Wars where they believed none was necessary - see the “Han shot first” controversy (the real objection being that Greedo shot at all - which changes nothing about Han himself)(1) - in which case, why sacrifice the ultimate lamb and give him an origin story? That being said, I am loath to be too critical of the raison d’être for the ‘Star Wars Story anthology’ films (this and ROGUE ONE) - they have to date been somewhat respectful of Canon, made some generous nods to what is now ‘Legends’, and taken some interesting new directions in filling the gaps in the existing story. We don’t necessarily need them (much like we don’t need the Saga to continue an already concluded story), but that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything interesting to add to the stories we already love. 

Back in the very early days of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (what would now be called ‘Legends’) there was a series of novellas by Brian Daley about a pre-Yavin Han Solo and his adventures with Chewbacca and (you guessed it) a couple of droids on the Millennium Falcon, as he tried to eke out a living as a white hat smuggler in the Empire-lite Corporate Sector.(2) They were some of the first EU books that I read, and simple though they were, I enjoyed them because they were episodic tales set in a different part of the world of Star Wars established by the films. They weren’t high stakes, and didn’t give Han Solo an origin or back story - they just gave a glimpse into some of the sort of swashbuckling adventures that we assumed the character we met in the Cantina Bar would have had.

This movie is nowhere near as light or insignificant as that - much like ROGUE ONE before it, it takes a throwaway line mentioned in the original film and turns it into a definitive origin story about how Han Solo became that guy who shot first.(3)

Now the story of a film that lost everything and the one director who had no choice but to bring it all together

From what little has been made public, this film has not had an easy gestation - even more so than ROGUE ONE, whose ending was completely changed (undoubtedly for the better). THE LEGO MOVIE directors were fired during the shoot due to “creative differences” with writer Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote the brilliant EMPIRE (but also the lackluster AWAKENS). Apparently their take was too humorous and not the sarcastic selfishness that characterises Han Solo - which I guess is a good thing considering how ridiculous the obvious jokes in the Disney ‘Saga’ films have been. Their replacement is none other than early Lucas protege and all-round pretty damn talented Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment (not Orange County Imagine), whose voice is embedded in many of our heads thanks to his shoddy narration of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.(4)

Ron Howard reliably makes good movies. He might not have the most stylistic flair, he may not be the most innovative or creative, he may not use the most challenging source material, but it would be difficult to suggest that any of the movies he’s made are anything less than solidly watchable - and most of them have been, in their own way, pretty great. He now runs a director’s masterclass, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better teacher from whom to learn the craft.

George Lucas had offered Howard the opportunity to direct previoud Star Wars films over the years, but as with Lucas’s other bestie Steven Spielberg, Howard didn’t want to take the reigns from his longtime friend. Now that Lucas has rather foolishly handed the keys over to the Walt Disney Company, that reluctance seems to have diminished. I’ve been disappointed with the direction Disney has been leading the franchise enough times to have serious doubts about this film, but the one thing that kept me optimistic about it was that it was ultimately left to Howard to deliver the final product.

That faith was well placed - this was the first Star Wars film in some time that I really enjoyed.

“You’re the good guy”

The fundamental premise of the film appears to manifest itself in this line of dialogue that Qi’ra casually throws away towards the climax. This information will spoil the payoff of A NEW HOPE, just like knowing who Darth Vader is spoils the reveal in EMPIRE. But it’s nevertheless true to the core of the character of the Han Solo that we know and love - despite being a selfish cad and a scoundrel, he is a softy underneath.

Given the context above about the importance of the tone of the film, it would appear that the decision made by Lucasfilm to bring in Howard was on the money (though really, the question is why he wasn’t there from the start). Moments of over the top humour have been toned down (at least from what I can recall of one of the early trailers showing Han being interviewed to join the Imperial Academy). That’s not to say there aren’t any funny moments, but for the most part they feel earned and not simply played for easy laughs (like *ahem* Poe/Hux).

There are some call-backs in the dialogue to the original films that might go a little too far (L3: “They don’t even serve our kind here”), but they are mostly effective when they subvert our expectations (“I hate you”/“I know” and “I’ve got a GOOD feeling about this”) which is nice when the film itself is a giant call-back. On the other hand, there were a couple of lines of dialogue that strayed towards uncharacteristically real-world expletives - especially Han’s use of the phrase “Bantha crap”, when we all know the correct terminology is “poodoo”.

Visually the film was just as much of a treat as any Star Wars movie, exploring some new frontiers with the Maelstrom / Maw surrounding Kessel, as well as the WWI-style trench warfare and snow train hijacking scenes. What I loved about each of these was that they created new unfamiliar environments with their own mechanics that drove the plot and the plight of the characters, as Star Wars does at its best. The Kessel Run - in particular the climax with the Millennium Falcon trying to escape both a hideous space monster and a black hole / gravity well at the same time - was both spectacular and incredibly intense to watch, despite the fact that you know that the chracters you’re invested in are going to survive (and that the Falcom reliably has trouble making the jump to lightspeed). From that perspective, it far exceeded anything in the last couple of ‘Saga’ films (two hour long chases of fuel attrition, anyone?).

The music was serviceable and on par with, if not a little better than, Michael Giacchino’s score for ROGUE ONE. It was used effectively and enjoyable, with impactful use of the well-known themes and leitmotifs. While I wouldn’t have called it as memorable as John Williams at his best (he was only partially involved), it was adequate if not decent - and unlike the ‘Saga’ films, it didn’t have to be any more than that.

Finally, the performances were for the most part quite good. Alden Ehrenreich faced the near impossible task of stepping into Harrison Ford’s shoes to recreate one of cinema’s most iconic characters, and he did it pretty well. Rather than attempt to mimick or channel Ford’s trademark smirk or swagger (let alone be forced to undergo make up or CGI as was done rather poorly in ROGUE ONE), he simply stayed true to the character and made it his own. Within a few minutes, I was on board and completely accepted him in the role, made all the easier by not constantly being reminded of how Harrison Ford would have played it. To each of their credit, Howard and Ehrenreich have created a perfectly believable young Han Solo that stands on his own two feet, not in the shadow of a legend.

Similarly, Don Glover (aka Childish Gambino) perfectly captured Lando Calrissian and at no point did I feel like I missed another legend in Billy Dee Williams (though I feel like Glover may have had some prosthetic teeth put in). Having to portray the dashing Lando in his prime provided Glover with the opportunity to bring greater depth to the character than Williams, who pretty much just played himself. Woody Harrelson and Thandie Newton were both solid as far as their roles allowed them to be - as was Joonas Suotamo, for the first time reprising his role as Chewbacca (despite the subtleties of the Wookiee costume, not for a moment did I doubt it was the same character created by Peter Mayhew). Paul Bettany chewed the scenery as the slimy crime boss Dryden Vos. Wherever there is Bettany, Jon Favreau can’t be far behind, giving a short but charming life to the personable alien pilot Rio (bonus point for giving the universe a little more needed diversity). Also bringing her vocal talents to the fore was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who created one of the more sympathetic droid personalities in L3. Perhaps the only slightly disappointing performance came from the otherwise brilliant Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra, through no real fault of her own - despite playing a duplicitous badass, she wasn’t given much meaningful to do.

“Assume everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed.”

The film is at its essence a heist movie, and a good one at that - it effectively uses the tropes of the genre, and though largely predictable it subverted them enough to keep me engaged the whole way through. The number of double crosses was just right enough to reflect that none of these characters were naive, but they all had their fundamental weaknesses.

I feel like Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan did a pretty decent job with the script. Having said that, while the plot overall was thrilling, the story itself was a little disjointed. Other than Han’s relationship with Qi’ra, there was no real thread that wove all the way through and connected the somewhat disparate few escalating heists that resulted in Han’s independence and acquisition of the Falcon. Perhaps that’s enough, given most of the second and third acts focused largely on the famous Kessel Run and its consequences - most amusingly, how the Falcon goes from Lando’s souped up, sleek hot rod, into the bucket of bolts we’re introduced to in A NEW HOPE.

The side plots involving the competing crime syndicates and the mysterious motivations of the marauders weren’t particularly compelling until they each revealed their secrets towards the conclusion - but they did an effective job of believable world building, and setting up things that we already know will follow (like the Rebellion). However, the ‘droid rights’ concept inspired by the new character of L3 seemed a little underdeveloped and out of place.(5) It actually reminded me more of Hermione Granger’s Elf welfare from Harry Potter mixed with Korg’s ‘revolution’ from Thor Ragnarok, though I’d love to see the idea more fully explored within the Star Wars universe.

The film introduced the concept of ‘hyperfuel’ (also known as coaxium) as the primary MacGuffin for driving the plotting of the heists. This acted as a deus ex machina at several points with some interesting results in the execution of the Kessel Run itself (Where were the spice mines by the way? Was Disney afraid of being sued by the estate of Frank Herbert?). While fine in isolation to this movie, this did also feel a little bit on the nose given the central role fuel bizarrely played in the plot of the last ‘Saga’ film (not to mention the ongoing focus on Han’s lucky gold dice, which was overplayed in that film and introduced here as if they were far more significant to Han’s established identity than they actually are).

But there was one final touch to the plot that got the kind of ecstatic reaction out of me that I haven’t felt in years - it genuinely shocked and thrilled me, but more on that later.

“I’m putting together a crew? Are you in?”

A good heist requires the building of a good crew that brings a variety of talents to the table. To be frank, the actual Kessel Run heist in this film itself was somewhat anticlimactic. Other than the diversion created by L3 and the subsequent fire fight, the stakes involved in boosting the coaxium from Kessel were not particularly high. On the other hand, the escape and ensuing ‘Run’,(6) as well as the inevitable series of double-crosses and competing moral and selfish imperatives after pulling it off, were full of thrills and gave the characters an opportunity to really shine through - and this was nothing if not a character piece.

The Anti-Hero: The eponymous Han Solo. Well, this is his movie, you can hardly expect us not to start with Han - who is for the first time the sole protagonist of a film. As this is an origin story, he’s not going to be leader of this pack, but he’s hopefully going to show us why he will be when he meets the Skywalker family. Despite a stray reference to his father being a shipbuilder on Corellia, we never get Han’s true family name or any other indication of his lineage; he was dubbed ‘Solo’ by the Imperial recruiter quite literally for being on his own.(7) We meet him as a street kid with a conscience and a mouth - who’ll happily point out to a superior officer in his company that they are themselves the hostiles, not the natives of the planet they’re invading for the glory of the Empire. Much like his father-in-law before him, he starts off idealistic and a little bit twee in his oft-repeated desire to become the best pilot in the galaxy (the title actually held by said future father-in-law). Also like Anakin Skywalker in PHANTOM MENACE, we don’t actually get to see a lot of those skills before he slips into the role; Anakin at least was a Force-sensitive pod racing child (let alone the Chosen One), but other than the pretty nice speeder chase opening the movie its’s not until the Kessel Run itself that we actually see Solo’s exceptional skills. Han in this film is very much driven by the loss of Qi’ra right at the start, and his quest throughout is to first find her and then win her back. Having seen his cynicism while Luke is under Obi-Wan’s tutelage, it’s a nice change to see him as the earnest student trying to learn the game from his own mentor, the master con-thief Tobias Beckett. He slots easily into the role of rogue, deserter and mercenary, and through Beckett and his crew he also learns never to trust anyone but himself - with one notable exception. And the fact that exception exists, is also why underneath all that bravado, Han truly is still the good guy - when given a choice between a quick score or the greater good, he chooses the latter. Han may start off street smart but somewhat naive, but by the end he demonstrates empathy and a canny insight that lays the foundation for the scruffy looking nerf herder with a heart of gold that Luke meets in the Mos Eisley Cantina. At the very end of the film, we can see conclusively why Han had to shoot first.(8)

The Brawn: Chewbacca. The one notable exception to Han’s rule is his future trusty co-pilot, who we’ve never yet seen not by his side. Here we get to see how they meet for the first time and forge their lifelong partnership. While I was fully expecting Chewie to show up at some point, I must admit to being misdirected by the set up leading to his meet-fight with Han. Howard’s staging suggested that the ‘beast’ the stormtroopers were feeding Han to would be something like RETURN’s Rancor and the muddy fur that was our first glimpse of him also echoed EMPIRE’s Wampa. Hearing that familiar growl was both thrill and relief, as Chewie engaged Han in ferocious combat until we hear Han speak Wookiee for the first time in order to persuade Chewie that he can devise a way for them both to escape.(9) The two are literally bound together until Han tracks down Beckett - who immediately recognises that Chewie, not Han, is the prized recruit. Han learns of Chewie’s desire to reunite with and free his tribe / family, something he can and can’t relate to at the same time. Chewie appears initially skeptical of Han, but circumstance conspires to keep them together from one job to the next and along the way they continually pull each other out of the kind of pickles that would well establish the life debt he later owes to Han (but nothing specific is singled out here as the sole cause for it). At a critical moment, we see Chewie choose to stay with Han rather than return to join others of his own kind. This cements the fact that Chewie isn’t simply sidekick, but that Han and Chewie are in fact partners in crime. It’s also probably the most agency we’ve seen Chewie use throughout the saga - except perhaps for the moment that we’d all been waiting for (and had been teased at least once with Beckett), when he finally pulls someone’s arms out of their sockets. He’s also the first to throw cold water on Han when he starts bragging about making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs - as Chewie points out, he was already rounding it down.

The Money: Lando Calrissian. When we first met him on Cloud City, Lando presented as a smooth-talking, responsible administrator with shades of a dark past. Lando is just as charming as he ever was, but in his younger days we can see more of the conniving, selfish operator he needed to be to survive as a renowned smuggler in the galactic underworld. However, as with Han, a glimmer of his true nature shines through his relationship with L3, his partner in crime (and possibly life). While Lando’s side of that relationship wasn’t that well explored at first (other than L3 suggesting that he may be what Futurama would call “robosexual”), and it’s not clear how sympathetic he was to her robot rights crusade, it is clear following L3’s death just how much she meant to him.(10) In return for an ever-diminishing cut,(11) Lando provides the getaway vehicle for the heist - his highly-polished and specially-modified freighter, the Millennium Falcon. The Falcon we see for the first time(12) is pristine and complete, including the escape pod completing its front that we’ve as yet not seen. Having cheated Han out of his first opportunity to take possession of the Falcon, we see the foundations of the mistrust underlying their chummy rivalry, and the guile that Han brings back to the table to finally win it fair and square. Given the considerable damage Han does to the ship through the maelstrom to turn it into our beloved hunk of junk, it’s somewhat ironic that in RETURN Lando promises Han to bring the Falcon back from the Battle of Endor “without a scratch”.

The Beauty and the Brains: L3-37 and Qi’ra. I feel terrible conflating these two, particularly between the two female members of the crew, but unfortunately that’s the sort of movie this was. Qi’ra may have conceived of part of the scheme, and been the mastermind who ultimately ended up on top, but she didn’t actually have a whole lot do other than drive the plot. It’s arguable that she may have used her emotional leverage over Han to ensure that she always had the upper hand throughout most of the film. Perhaps hers is a character that has scope to grow over the course of a greater story, but in this chapter alone she felt a little underdeveloped; you never got a sense of why Han was so besotted with her, to the extent that he would spend years trying to get her back - and her convenient reappearance at just the right time was a little contrived. But I find it more interesting to look at L3 as the one who used her appearance and/or emotions most effectively to create a robot rebellion diversion to allow the heist to proceed, despite the fact that it was literally her brains that ultimately enabled the getaway. Unlike the prissy C3PO and the sardonic K2SO from ROGUE ONE, L3 is the first protocol droid we’ve encountered that is idealistic and empathetic, and she tolerates no nonsense from her beloved Lando or the rest of the crew. While her demise was somewhat inevitable, she’s probably the most ‘human’ droid to date across all of the Star Wars movies. The other resonant feature of L3 is that she literally becomes part of the Falcon, and is as such retconned into the Saga itself as the ‘peculiar dialect’ that always seems to bring bad news to C3PO.

The Leader: Tobias Beckett (and his partner Val). Beckett also doesn’t have much to do beyond driving the plot and be a representation of the mercenary that Solo would become - his Fedora Man - without the redeeming qualities. When Val vainly sacrifices herself to try to help Beckett settle the score to end his indebtedness to the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, he loses what little remaining connection and trust he had with others (at least, that’s what Beckett would have us believe). The challenge for Han will be not to do the same when Qi’ra walks away from him (or at least, not until he rescues a princess from a hidden fortress). Beckett is a ruthless mentor for the hungry young Han, but his commitment to making sure Han learns his lessons ends up being own weakness, resulting in his ultimate demise as Han catches him monologuing. Truly the student does become the master, with some regret but no hard feelings.(13)

The Competitor: Emphys Nest. Now this is an interesting character. Initially set up as a brutal marauder captain with a proto-Ren mask, it turns out that in fact she is the leader of a group of outcasts dispossessed by the Empire, who are not in the game for the money but for survival - and ultimately, rebellion. I found the the portrayal of the marauders and their motivation a little hard to follow at first, but ultimately far more believable and earned than the ‘resistance kids’ in the ‘Saga’. Also, I love the realism of the idea (reflected in the REBELS series) that there are disparate cells of resistance across the galaxy fighting their own wars against the Empire, who eventually coalesce into the organised Rebel Alliance. The fact that Warwick Davis’s PHANTOM MENACE cameo character Weazel returns as one of Nest’s lieutenants is icing on the cake.

The Heavy: Dryden Vos. I was fully expecting the boss of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate to be a Hutt, so it was a surprise to see an apparently humanoid villain instead.(14) Vos appears recklessly tyrannical and limitless in his arrogance. It’s hard to believe that he’s effectively just a middle manager, though he alludes to that fact along the way, setting us up for…

The Big Bad: Holy poodoo. Darth F’ing Maul (sorry, simply ‘Maul’ now that he’s ceded the mantle of Sith to the little brat watching him from the fighter cockpit). I could not contain my glee when I saw his horned face reappear. Now this is probably going to be confusing for the casual viewer, because most would have assumed that Maul was dead after Obi-Wan bisected him in PHANTOM MENACE. But those who have had the benefit of watching CLONE WARS and REBELS know that Maul survived and has tangled with our heroes (and even his former master) a number of times, all the while plotting his comeback and revenge against his almost-murderer Kenobi. Along the way, Maul and his brother Savage Oppress took over the alliance of criminal syndicates known as the Shadow Collective (of which Crimson Dawn is one part) and took control of the planet Mandalore (in the process killing Kenobi’s beloved Satine - yes, just like in MOULIN ROUGE). We also have had the benefit of seeing his final rematch with Obi-Wan on Tatooine, possibly one of the most meaningful duels of the saga. So with context, given CLONE WARS and REBELS are technically Canon, it’s unsurprising in a way that Maul would be revealed as the ultimate villain of the piece. Nevertheless, the reveal of seeing this iconic and criminally-underutilised antagonist once again in live action was simply breathtaking. Maul was portrayed by original PHANTOM MENACE actor Ray Park, and voiced by Sam Witwer. I was somewhat disappointment that the amazing Peter Serafinowicz didn’t return to reprise Maul’s voice, but given the substantially greater amount of work Witwer has done for the character since in CLONE WARS and REBELS, it’s fair to say that Witwer is now to Maul as Hamill is to the Joker.

“You look good. A little rough around the edges, but good.”

The rather unsurprising conclusion to all that is that this film has managed to meet and perhaps surpass, the bar I’ve set for what makes a good and enjoyable Star Wars movie.

Simply by virtue of the fact that they aren’t recreating the figurative wheel, Disney seems to do a much better job with these Star Wars anthology movies than the ‘Saga’ they are unnecessarily trying to continue (but in fact are simply rebooting). I really hope they take advantage of the favorable ages of Ewan McGregor and Daniel Logan to tell the Obi Wan and Boba Fett stories that are dying to be told, let alone find a way to bottle a tiny bit of Don Glover brilliance before he becomes bigger than Yeezus and stops acting altogether.(15)

At this stage we know that there will be at least two ‘spin-off’ trilogies, by Rian Johnson (ugh) and the Game of Thrones showrunners (Qi’ra returns?). If each of those manage to continue to follow the trend set by SOLO, and to a lesser extent ROGUE ONE, rather than the tired tropes of the ‘Saga’, then my outlook is optimistic on the future of Star Wars on the silver screen for years to come.  

So for now: I’ll happily go see another Star War.

Notes:

(1) I’d add that despite sketching out a potential back story and cameo for an orphaned young Han Solo adopted by Chewbacca and present at the Battle of Kashyyyk in SITH, Lucas exercised restraint and omitted it from the shooting script. While not begrudging the creator his licence, it appears in hindsight that this was probably a wise move and certainly created an opportunity for this film.

(2) Actually, now that I read that back with decades of hindsight, I can totally relate!

(3) In this case, that line was Solo’s reference to the Falcon making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs - long maligned as an incorrect reference given that parsecs are units of distance not time, though there have been some novel explanations of how that might still work that were Canon-ised by this film.

(4) Actual narration may be brilliant, please see a theralyst if doubt persists. Speaking of which, I wonder (did someone say WONDER?) which still life image he used as inspiration for this movie?

(5) I feel like the galactic resentment towards droids was signposted a little more effectively indirectly by the prequels, given the years of destruction caused by the Separatists’ droid armies.

(6) Lando set the bar at 20 parsecs, which is way higher than what Han eventually claims he achieved. It makes you wonder about the significance of the “less than” part of the claim. 

(7) It may as well have been “Corellian” or “Corleone”, for that matter.

(8) But let’s not blind ourselves to the fact that that says nothing about whether or not Greedo would have taken a shot too - Greedo already delivered his verbal coup de grace and allowed Han to get a response in before Han shot (back). Han’s mid-monologue blow to Beckett was more along the lines on Indiana Jones’s similar shot against the swordsman in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. As I said before, whether Greedo shot or not changes nothing about Han, who had already been preparing for the shot himself. 

(9) It’s a shame we didn't get an allusion to how Han picked up his stuttering Wookiee language skills or knowledge of their Imperial enslavement - particularly given the fact that the reason probably would have further demonstrated his empathy - hat tip to my friend Justin Scott for that one.

(10) I’ll be honest - as a COMMUNITY fan, it’s always a joy to watch Don Glover cry hysterically.

(11) He can’t seem to avoid deals that get worse all the time!

(12) Technically we did see the Falcon briefly in SITH, but let’s say that Lando has done a bit of a refurbishment since then.

(13) There hasn’t been such an effectively executed succession plan since the soon-to-be Darth Vader got ‘ahead’ of Darth Tyranus.

(14) It appears that the Hutts are being set up as the antagonists for a future Solo movie.

(15) I still vainly hold out hope for #SixSeasonsAndAMovie.