#as did the part where he tells leia about her parents I'm

[nycorix]

Not me weeping actual tears over the obiwan finale I'm

[shrinkthisviolet]

Tell me about the symbolism of any fic you want to talk about the symbolism of

Gladly anon 🥰 I'm gonna focus on this fic!

So hair is of course a very symbolic thing generally, including across cultures. And here, hair represents something else too: different forms of expressing various feelings.

It started when I found this post about how Leia would 100% cut her hair if raised on Tatooine, and I realized Lucy absolutely would too. And it gave me the chance to draw parallels between her and Anakin...and her and Padmé. But let's start with Anakin.

Anakin was given the Padawan braid as a symbol: marking him as a Jedi Padawan, and that means something. He's made a commitment to the Jedi and learning their way of life and abilities. It's symbolic in its own way. However, he chafes at this symbol and tries to cut it off. This was likely the subject of many arguments between him and Obi-Wan, especially since Anakin didn't quite appreciate the gravity of the symbolic braid.

Lucy's situation is a little different. She wants to cut her hair for practical reasons—it's hot, and her hair is long and dark, and short styles are all the rage right now anyway. Obi-Wan refuses, because of the person he most sees in her: Padmé, in Lucy's lovely long braid.

See, for Obi-Wan, that braid is a symbol of his dead friend. And Lucy is her daughter. Perhaps Obi-Wan wants to keep a part of her alive in Lucy—sweet, brave Padmé who always fought against injustice.

(And who was so brutally harmed by Vader shortly before dying, but Obi-Wan doesn't think about that.)

So Lucy proposes cutting her hair, over and over. Obi-Wan refuses. The more she insists, the more he hears Anakin in her voice. Beru gives her some perspective about Obi-Wan possibly being from a place where hair is culturally significant, like Naboo or Alderaan (which is partially incorrect—hair is significant to the Jedi, but not like it is for Nabooians and Alderaanians, and that's not the reason for Obi-Wan's reluctance)...but even then, Obi-Wan doesn't budge.

The argument reaches a fever pitch when Lucy finally gets frustrated and cuts the braid with her lightsaber. Obi-Wan won't speak to her after that, seeing more of Anakin than Padmé in her and hurt that yet again, his advice went unheard. Little does he know that Lucy feels likewise.

Beru fixes her hair—in this way, she's the first to validate Lucy's self-expression. There's a reason Lucy cares so much for her and calls her "aunt", after all 🥰

Eventually, Lucy confronts him. They argue again, and then Obi-Wan calls her "Anakin". And there it is. She has parts of both her parents in her, but more often in her moments of arguing or defiance, she reminds Obi-Wan of Anakin.

They're in no emotional state to talk then, but they do later. Obi-Wan lays it all out, corrects her misconceptions, and validates her by saying she's lovely no matter what (validating her self-expression like Beru did earlier, but in his own way). The symbol, carried through, has opened Obi-Wan's eyes yet again to Lucy being her own person.

Taglist (send an ask or DM to be added or removed):

@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @vexic929 @raith-way @ironverseocs @thechaoticfanartist @goldheartedchaoticdisaster @negative-speedforce

[thatseventiesbitch]

Hey, don't know if anyone has messaged about this but there's an early draft of the 90s show pilot online. Here are some pulls from it that might be interesting (this is about to be long, sorry): First, the pilot is an hour long, it's mostly just that the existing scenes are longer. Second, the show starts with Leia and Eric in the car to Red and Kitty's house. The characterisation of Leia is different. She's more openly rebellious, already wearing a magnet nose ring - in this pilot she doesn't get it from Gwen - and she's more of a classic stroppy teenage type around Eric. Also there is no Donna, don't know if that's something to do with not having Laura Prepon on board yet but she's just mentioned as being in Florida visiting Grandpa Bob. Eric's stuff is kept the same but Donna is swapped out in certain scenes for either Kitty or Red. Nikki is called Nisha. Its established that Leia, Gwen and Ozzie are 14. Nikki and Jay are 15 and Nate is 16. Gwen is introduced as singing along to Seether by Veruca Salt, a cooler more 90s choice than Alanis Morissette I would argue. Nate is described as a Johnny Knoxville type and Ozzie calls him a 'future inmate' - they must have changed direction with his character maybe when the tone of the show became more comedic. Nikki is explicitly more of a Jackie analog, she's described as preppy and has dialogue that underlines she's in honor society, that she's lying to her parents about where she is when she's with Nate and at one point she tells Nate not to call her 'baby' because it diminishes her. Leia is supposed to be going to basketball camp not space camp. Kitty makes a joke that in her day if a girl played basketball people thought they were a lesbian. (An interesting explicit reference to sexuality for all the shippers out there). The Jackie/Kelso scene is pretty much beat for beat the same. There's a moment where Jay tries to flirt with Leia in the Runck basement and grabs a hot pipe and ends up screaming, physical comedy stuff. Gwen is a little closer to Hyde but only a little. There's a moment where she encourages Leia to go out of her comfort zone, Nikki accuses her of being like a coke dealer from an after school special and Gwen says that's what she's going for. A fun detail is that Jay has a camcorder and we see footage from the perspective of the camera, so it's shot old school 90s. The scene of Leia trying to get the tap for the keg is longer and features all the kids doing a shot for shot remake of "been caught stealing". When they get the keg, Jay 'gives Leia a quick kiss' and she throws up on Nikki's Keds. There's a moment of all of the kids in the Runck basement with the keg singing Hip Hop Hooray filmed through Jay's camera. Ozzie, Nikki and Gwen are the focus, each rapping a verse into the camera. There's no circle in the pilot at all, it ends with all the kids in the Foreman basement, finding the weed and Nate saying he's never leaving. All in all it looks like in becoming a half hour, going to Netflix and finding the actors they did, a lot of changes happened. But I think some interesting stuff established in this pilot is probably still how the writers will be thinking about these characters and could be interesting in the future. I hope they let Jay have a camcorder in season 2, I loved that detail. Hope you find this interesting.

Thanks for the ask!

I did know about the leaked Pilot script, but I have not actually read it. I've heard about several of those details before, but several of them were new to me. Thanks for sharing!

It's interesting that at one point the show was conceived as being one hour long.

I'm definitely glad Leia's characterization was changed, personally, and that Donna was written in (and that Laura Prepon is involved as much as she is).

I agree with you about Jay. He was also described in some promo materials as "always having a camera" and "constantly filming his friends", so that definitely feels like it was supposed to be part of his characterization. I'd love to see it developed more in season 2.

Curious to hear what others think of some of these details. Thanks for sharing, anon!

[smallblueandloud]

i'm rereading finx's beta notes on the semi-final draft of bail organa time travels (truly i am still so grateful she agreed to look over the fic for me and then left SO MANY detailed notes and reactions and such) and i ended up taking a lot of her suggestions / changing things when they surprised her in a way that i didn't expect

the one thing i DID keep was han's little... side-attempt at trying to figure out who the twins' mother was

“Yeah, well, it didn’t really work out that way, did it,” says Han, rubbing at his eye. “Do you know who their mother was?” He tries to make it sound casual, but his interest is clear. Bail shakes his head. “That’s not a question I’m going to answer.” Han shrugs. It seems like he’s trying not to look disappointed. “Fair enough.”

finx was surprised that han wouldn't know who their mother was -- understandably so, since i think a lot of people assume that leia's biological mother was common knowledge, or that mon mothma let them know once she realized who their father was. i usually assume this, too!

every time i reread the fic -- or this draft, for love of the comments -- i wonder if i should've deleted that line, or if bail should've mentioned it to luke during their one-on-one conversation where they talk about the twins' adoptions. i'm thinking about it especially now, since i'm currently writing another fic about leia which includes the issue of her biological vs adoptive parents.

do i have leia and luke know who their bio mother was? do i have them find out over the course of the fic? do i try to make this fic compliant with the previous fic, and maybe have luke and leia know WITHOUT telling han?

the thing is... the thing is, guys. i think maybe that luke and leia never find out who their birth mother was. i think bail completely forgets to mention it to them when he's in the future. i think maybe mon has forgotten about padme's inexplicable behavior around anakin skywalker.

the thing is, i'm not sure! there's a lot of problems with this theory -- mainly, that it is sad. it is SO SAD. padme's been erased for so many years and now i'm saying that her KIDS never even know that she's their mom? never ever?!?

so i haven't decided yet. but i think maybe... i think it's fitting. i think it's part of the tragedy of the prequels. it irks me when people act like we can just treat the skywalker-amidala family as a unit -- as if padme had ANY impact on her children's lives, aside from what their adoptive guardians purposefully made an effort to pass on. the tragedy is already there! padme has already been lost! and i'm wondering if, maybe, we should commit to that.

[someonepleasegivemechocklate]

A clusterfuck of a Star Wars AU where Leia is raised on Naboo

So, I've always had this world in my mind where Anakin never turned evil and I always had a world in which Leia was raised by Sola Naberrie (Padmé's older sister) alongside her cousins Pooja and Ryoo. SO, I decided - best of both worlds and my mind created this shit show.

So Luke still went to the Lars, obliviously and he was raised by them but Leia went to Sola. Which made no sense for me - even if I'm the one who made this AU in the first place - because Palpatine wasn't dumb he would connect the dots that Leia Naberrie was Padmé and Anakin's child if he knew that Padmé Amidala and Padmé Naberrie were the same people.

So I decided that in my AU Padmé was a very common old name on Naboo (like their version of Mary) so no one knew that Senator Padmé Amidala/Queen Amidala was also a girl who came from modest origins (Padmé's parents and sister were pretty normal from what I can tell) and they assumed that the former Queen chose the name Padmé when she became a Senator and that it wasn't her real name (I imagine the handmaidens kept this rumor going around cause it protected Padmé Naberrie's identity better). So basically, we have a Hannah Montanna situation going. Just put some face paint.

(This means that it was Dormé's body at Senator Amidala's funeral and Padmé was buried wherever Naberries are buried and they say she died in childbirth while Padmé Amidala died pregnant. Imagine how Dormé died yourself if you want to cause I quite frankly have no clue.)

So, now, Leia Naberrie is being raised by her Aunt Sola and Uncle Darred (or just Aunt Sola for people who prefer the AroAce thing they did last minute) alongside her cousins Ryoo and Pooja.

But I wanted her to be a politician, rebel, and Princess so - I sort of lost control of this whole thing.

Leia Naberrie went into politics into a young age despite her aunt's reservations but the woman had watched her own mother try and fail to do the same with Padmé when she was younger and couldn't stop her own two daughters either so yeah.

The handmaidens who survived (Sabé, Rabé, Saché, Yané, Elitraé, Morteé) effectively became a part of the Rebel Alliance and Sabé especially looked out for little Leia knowing that with her mother's ambitions and her father's temperament she would only be a little troublemaker. This led to Leia joining the Alliance at age 14. No one could stop her and they didn't try if they knew what was good for them.

Meanwhile, talking about her life on Naboo she supported her friend Sosha Soruna for Queen in the elections (Sosha supported the Alliance knowing about it from Leia), and when Soruna won, she created a position for Leia in her Council that would effectively give her an in to spy into the Empire as she would follow Palpatine's lapdog Senator from Naboo (when he dies, Pooja will be the Senator) it's basically like Vice-President but it has another title: Princess.

So Princess Leia Amidala of Naboo (they assume she took the name to honor the deceased Senator and Queen, Leia did it to honor her mother) is a goddamn badass.

(Also there's a thing where they say that the "Rebellion was born on Naboo" cause Padmé started it and the rebels of Naboo and a lot of others call her the "Mother of the Rebellion.")

Now, about what Leia's knows of her parents:

She knows her mother was Queen Amidala and is told to never tell anyone (she doesn't even tell Sosha, not even anyone in the rebellion).

She doesn't know anything of her father because Sola lies and says that Padmé chose to have no husband or partner, you know, cause she doesn't want the young lady to get even more dangerous ideas.

(Anakin turning or not turning evil here is up to you, I just thought it would be super cool to have both of my AU's mashed up)

BUT when she's 15, Princess Leia (Soruna was elected when they were 13 out here) already a great leader in the Rebellion who can kick some ass because of the Handmaiden training which rivals even the Empire's training regiment, meets fellow rebel Torrent who many call Captain for some reason even though that's not his official rank.

Leia, for some reason *cough* the Force *cough* is curious about him. She gets talking to him and learns that he's a clone trooper and he was one of the few who didn't answer to Order 66. Torrent for some reason likes talking to this reckless Princess who reminds him eerily of another great General he once knew. She later learns that his real name is Rex.

(She also learns that he doesn't talk to anyone but Fulcrum about his past.)

She also meets Fulcrum, who is surprise surprise, Ahsoka Tano who tells her she is strong with the force. That's a whole 'nother thing with Ahsoka training Leia and getting her a lightsaber and a lot of fifty different things. Then she turns 17 and Ahsoka tells her about two people who Leia reminds her of: her Jedi Master, Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala.

(Ahsoka knows she's their child, she's got the force for fuck's sake it's just dramatics of the Disaster Lineage)

You can see where this is going, Leia certainly can, it became painfully obvious when she heard about the fact that there were some rumors that Knight Skywalker was having an affair with Senator Amidala.

She feels Betrayed by Aunt Sola and they have a shouting match. Leia leaves the life of Leia Naberrie behind full-time. She beats Palpatine's old lapdog and becomes Senator of Naboo at 18 while secretly trying to become a Jedi Knight like her father. She assumes this is all the secrets they kept from her. She is, of course, and is proven so when she meets Luke Skywalker at the age of 19.

Where this is in the Star Wars timelines?

Well, I'm gonna be honest I have no clue. Let's just decide that the Empire's the Empire and the twins destroy the Emperor. There's a Darth Vader redemption arc if the Empire takes Princess Leia as a prisoner just because they realize that she's Padmé Amidala's daughter and a rebel and Palpatine realizes that she's Anakin's daughter and he wants her trained as his apprentice because with a political mind like hers and looking at how strong she is she would be a force to reckon with (notice the pun he he he).

But the way I do it, I go far far away from the OG trilogy (Which is weird cause it's my favorite one out of all of the three of them):

Leia and Luke meet at 19. Obi-Wan will train him for longer, like since he was 16 because I just decided I will do a similar AU for Luke. There are no big changes, Luke grew up just the way he did in the OG trilogy with Owen and Beru except now Ben was secretly training him and telling him about his father who was a Jedi and he was 19 when Obi-Wan told him he had a sister too. All he knows about his mother is that: He has her spirit, apparently, and her heart. She was incredibly kind and brave and loved him very much. And lastly, she started the Rebellion which Ben tells him an hour before his death so that's not a lot to go on.

(There's a thing that everywhere but on Tatooine Anakin Skywalker is super famous and that baffles Luke a lot.)

Anyway, I just want soft one-shots about Rex and Ahsoka talking fondly about Anakin to Leia and Ob-Wan to Luke. And Sabé is basically Leia's version of Ben.

I'm just gonna add Bad Batch and Rebels characters down here later. Till then, this is it.

Also if you pick the Anakin-didn't-turn-evil option then Mace Windu lives. And briefly trains Leia.

and a little thing which inspired my idea of the anakin-doesn't-turn-evil-but-dies idea

[galacticwildfire]

found.

Sixteen.

Pairing: Kenobi!oc x Din Djarin

Summary: Satine and Obi-wan’s daughter fought in the war against the Empire and lost her faith when she lost Mandalore. Until she found him. A lone Mandalorian searching for a Jedi.

Warnings: lots of threatening, lots of angst, a wee bit of violence, stabbing, blood, Obi-Wan likes his future son in law

Word Count: 6.2k

A/N: This was originally almost 8k so I split it into two different parts, chapter seventeen will be up shortly

~

~

~

When he returns I'm still there, breathing in a way my father taught me to calm myself, to gain focus. Which I need more than ever to face what's ahead.

"Now," Din says sitting with me and taking my hands in his. "I need you to be honest with me, I need to know how much danger we're in so we can protect the child. I need you to tell me what you know about him."

I nod and squeeze his hand tight, my lifeline, trying to disassociate as much as I can from my feelings as I recount the horrid story to him

"Boba Fett was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy when I knew him," I tell him, remaining as calm as I can as I tell him the story I never even dared tell Leia. "After my mother was killed and we blew up the death star I needed passage to Mandalore, ironically the smuggler who saved us before couldn't do it. It was too dangerous even for him with the Empire's presence in the system. Then I found myself sitting in a cantina here on Tatooine, and behold, a Mandalorian."

"You got him to do it," he gathers and I nod. "So he smuggled you to Mandalore?"

"He didn't know who I was until we reached Mandalore but on the journey there I-" I shake my head at myself now. "I found myself enjoying his company, he was far older than me and wise and I certainly thought myself mature then. Barely nineteen, while he was well into his thirties." I hear the sigh come from him and laugh bitterly "I know, I know."

"You were a child," he says, saying the words I've never been able to. "How could you know?"

"I'd lost my parents and I wanted someone to guide me, to advise me," I explain to him. "And so when I arrived and retook Mandalore I paid him with beskar to stay. Bo-Katan didn't trust him, she knew what he was but I didn't care. I figured he did the odd jobs for the empire, who didn't?" He can't argue with that. "I was nineteen, my parents dead and my aunt and I at odds when I retook Mandalore from the Empire. I paid him to stay as I found my footing, wanting someone with experience but little did I know he despised the Jedi, and little did he know I was one until we were both in too deep."

"Why?" he asks in confusion. "Is he hunting you because you're a Jedi?"

"If only it was that simple," I grimace painfully. "You see, being older than me he was a child when my father as a Jedi knight came to investigate his father for an assassination attempt, so when he learned I was a Kenobi he was reminded of the fact the Jedi cut off his fathers head in front of him." He swallows at those words. "He left in anger but not before I'd seduced him as he would say and I left mandalore in the hands of my aunt to return to the Rebellion."

I had my out, I had my chance to escape him then and yet...

"It would not be long after that Mandalore would be destroyed and I lost everything," I say, tears in my eyes now. "I-" I struggle to get the words out "After Vader tortured me and I escaped I went back to the ruins of Mandalore where my aunt disowned me thinking I'd run away instead of been captured." I look up and find myself struggling to breathe at what comes next "I- I took myself to the burning ruins of the palace and I-"

I cut myself off, the tears running down my cheeks now and he squeezes my hands tight. "It's okay, you don't have to-"

"I do," I say, needing to finally face it. "I used the force to bring down the burning ruins upon me, to bury myself in them."

"Why-" he immediately asks before slowly realising and sighs deeply "Kyra..."

"I was prepared to die with Mandalore," I tell him, telling him what iIcould never tell anyone, not Lando, not Leia, no one. "Until Boba Fett pulled me out of the ruins and saved my life. From then on I saw him in secret. I thought he was all of Mandalore that I had left. And so for the next nearly two years we had an affair no one knew about, I hid it from the people I loved because i knew what they'd say." It's then I say what I've tried to hide from him. "That I'd fallen in love with a bounty hunter, with a bad man and I knew he was a bad man but I didn't care because I loved him"

I feel a flash of pain from him at those words, but he doesn't let it show, he needs to know all of it, he needs to know to protect the child.

He needs to know before he can dare love me.

And so he asks "When did you learn he was Vaders right hand man?"

I can taste the bitterness on my tongue as I force myself to confront the memories, to live with them rather than run. Each word becoming harder. "When he betrayed me with a blaster to my back."

He leans closer, struggling to hide his own anger, struggling to hide the primal protectiveness in him. "I know you won't want to answer this question, but do you think he is capable of physically hurting you?" he asks me and I stiffen at the thought while his voice becomes dangerous. "Or did he?"

"Do it!" I ground out, mustering the last of my strength. "If you don't pull that fucking trigger I swear I will hate you until the day I die."

Boba pressed the barrel of his blaster to my head and stroked my cheek with a heart wrenching gentleness.

And again, I could have almost sworn he loved me.

"Close your eyes princess."

And so I did.

But he never pulled the trigger.

When my eyes opened my saber was now in Vader's hands, and Boba's knuckle lifted my chin up as tears of betrayal burned in my eyes.

And all that could be heard as I was once again torn from him, and dragged to the torture chamber, were the screams of a broken woman, pleading for the man she loved to end her suffering.

But he never did.

"I once begged him to kill me," I confess to Din and feel his hand tighten around mine. "And he stood there as I was dragged to the torture chamber. All in the name of love. Did he ever put a hand on me? No, he wasn't that type of man. But did he betray me and listen to me be taken away, screaming and begging for him to save me from becoming a prisoner of war? Yes." I confront the own darkness in myself as I tell him "When I saw him next Leia and I had been taken prisoner by Jabba the hut, we were dressed as sex slaves and guess who I was given to?"

I feel something dark inside of him as well as he asks "Did he hurt you?"

"No," I answer. "He put his cloak around me before I screamed at him, hit him, beat him and nearly killed him with my bare hands and the chains around them, but I was still the idiot who believed him when he said he loved me." I can't even believe myself as I reflect on that night. "I was given to him as a sex slave and yet I was fully willing." I feel sick at the memories, at just what he had done to my own dignity, how he had broken me down bit by bit. "The next day came and Luke had come to rescue us, in the battle that followed I found myself face to face with Boba, he knew I couldn't kill him and so when I tried I fucked it up, I knocked him off balance and into the sarlacc he went only to live and now come after me."

A heaviness settles over us and he asks me "Do you think he wants revenge?"

The heaviness seeps into me, into my aching bones, and I have to take a moment to breathe before I can speak. "In the time I knew him he may have worked for the Empire, but he serves one person only. Himself. I can't say he was a vengeful person, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time I underestimated him. He is a killer, without hesitation or mercy. A violent man who would go to any length to find his target. And if that target is me then-" That's when the fear begins to rise again and I look towards the Child's bedroom where he sleeps. "I wouldn't dare put anything past him."

He gently turns my head back towards him. "I've seen you walk into an Imperial base without a drop of fear or hesitation, what is it that makes you so afraid of him alone?"

Slowly, after searching my feelings, I force the words out. "I've faced the worst in the galaxy, charged headfirst into danger to save the people I love regardless of fear. But Boba Fett- he knows me, he knows my skills, my weaknesses, how to exploit them." He knows me, and that is what terrifies me. "He knows I would go into the darkest depths of the galaxy to save those I love, which is why I am afraid. I'm afraid for the Child. For you."

He remains calm, a grounding force for me. "I'm a bounty hunty, I know how they think, how they work. If he's waited this long it's for a reason. Do you think it's possible that he could be the one who fears you?"

Something I've never considered, for so long I've been trapped by my own fear of a man I once loved that I never considered if he's the one who fears me. The Jedi who struck him down... as his father was struck down.

"It's possible," I finally acknowledge. "If it was just him and I it would be a fair fight, but with the Child I'm not willing to risk it."

He nods and reassures me. "Tomorrow morning we'll take your ship and leave for Chandrila, but I need to know, what are the odds of him trying to find us? Does he know you have a home here?"

"I- I don't know," I tell Din, the words leaving me with a sense of almost confusion, a realisation of how little we knew of each other.

"Does he know you grew up here?"

Even then I struggle to find an answer. "I can't remember, I'm sorry."

"Would he ever expect you to return to Tatooine?" he asks, trying to get me to think. "Kyra, I need to know if knows where to find you."

"No. He wouldn't," I realise. "He knew my body, he knew how I fought but he- he hardly knew me. Not like you do," I admit to Din, finally putting it into perspective. "I gave him a chance to kill me, I'm not going to give him another one. He won't be able to make it anywhere near the core worlds without being shot down or arrested. So once we leave Tatooine and the Outer Rims we should be safe."

He nods and swears to me. "I won't let anything happen to you or the child, I know you can handle yourself, but if the time comes and you can't do it-"

I shake my head. "I made that mistake once and it's haunted me for half a decade. He and I were a match for each other," I tell Din, hardly aware of my own words. "A Jedi and a Mandalorian, the last I had of my home, he should have felt like home but he didn't. I thought it was love but- it wasn't. Not like-" and that's when I look at Din, who is everything Boba could never be. "Not like this."

And I lean forward, aching to kiss him, and touch my forehead to his.

A Mandalorian kiss.

"Mesh'la," he breathes in a mixture of shock and awe, and a moment later I'm in his arms.

And my only desire, my only need, is him. Is to feel his skin against mine. His touch.

His heart.

To be his, completely.

"I need you," I breathe, my hands caressing the side of his helmet. "Din-"

At the sound of his name he lifts me up in his arms and my dress slides up to my hips as my legs wrap around his waist, our bodies meeting with an urgency that leaves my head spinning. His fingers dig into the bare flesh of my thighs as he carries me to the bedroom, the sheer strength of him leaving me speechless as my hands grip his arms for stability, feeling the muscle beneath.

He kicks the door shut, leaving us in the light of the setting Tatooine twin suns which break through the small window above, casting our shadow onto the wall. My heart falling and healing all at once as he lays me down on the bed with a gentleness I've never known.

He pulls back and stands at the edge of the bed, going to remove his armour until I reach up and stop him with a hand over his. "Let me."

"Please," he whispers and with that I slow down enough to take my time removing his armour piece by piece, until all that is left of the beskar is his helmet.

My hands run down his heaving chest, feeling the warmth beneath his shirt, the flesh and blood beneath the beskar and his bare hand comes to my face, running his thumb over my lips.

"Mesh'la," he breathes as I take his hand, feeling his breath hitch as my lips drag over his fingertips and down until they find the pulse of his wrist and I kiss it tenderly, if I'm unable to feel his lips I want to feel every other inch of him.

And so I nudge him towards me, until he's finally between my legs and I pull him down on top of me, consumed by my singular need for him as his hand runs from my cheek down along the curve of my body until it finds the hem of my dress that rests now at my waist and my mouth falls open as his hand goes further down, his touch heavy as he squeezing my hip before his hand comes up along the inside of my thigh.

His voice is deep in my ear. "Is this alright?"

I nod desperately for him, giving him the consent he's asking for. "Please, don't stop."

His face is above mine, eyes burning into me as he watches how my face draws together in pleasure the moment his fingers trail along the lace of my panties causing a whine to escape from the back of my throat.

"Din," I breathe, pulling his head down so his forehead is touching mine and I protest as his hand goes back down along my thigh, away from where I need him until he suddenly pulls my knee up to his hup and he groans into my ear as his hard member pushes against my core.

"Kyra." His voice hoarse and broken as my hands slide beneath his shirt, nails scraping against the flesh of his back, and I'm moaning his name as he rocks against me again, clutching him, urging him on, feeling his hardness, the sheer size of him. "I need you."

And it's at my words his restraint breaks. "Then have me. I'm yours."

My dress slides up my chest as his hand dives beneath the flimsy fabric with a newfound desperation, a gasp being torn from my throat as his calloused hand scrapes over my hardened nipples and gropes my breast. A gutteral sound comes from the back of his throat as I push him into me with my legs around him and his thumb hooks beneath the waistband of my panties, but just as I go to raise my hips up to help him remove them we hear it.

"Ships?" he asks as we both sit up and I freeze in recognition of the sound, one I'll never be able to forget. "Kyra?"

"Imperial ships," I correct fearfully and immediately wedge myself out from beneath him, half tripping as I climb out of the bed and fix my dress. "The kid-"

Din follows behind me as I run to the kids' room and we find the Child already awake and observing our panic with innocent confusion as I scoop him up in my arms and pass him to Din.

"There's a tapestry in the training room, behind it is a door carved into the stone that leads to a bunker," I tell Din, a bunker my mother prayed I would never have to use, yet here I am. "Take him there and barricade yourselves in."

I'm reaching for my pistol when Din grabs my wrist. "Kyra, what are you-"

"I'm activating a shield," I tell him, knowing my mother had prepared for an attack on this house decades ago. "I'll be able to fend them off until I can get it activated."

"You aren't going out there without cover!" he argues but we don't have time for this.

"Yes I am! If it's the Empire they can't know you're here with the kid!"

It's then I feel a presence I haven't felt in years, but not the one I expected. I look at Din as the dread sets in.

"It's Moff Gideon."

He releases a shaky breath as we both realise "They're here for the child."

~

Armed and prepared to fight I ascend the stairs and find an army awaiting me, at the head of it stands Moff Gideon.

Unafraid I stand before them and greet them.

"Hello there."

"General Kenobi," Moff Gideon replies. "I suspect you know why I am here."

"You should be dead," I say, merely drawing my saber and immediately find dozens of blasters drawn on me in the low light, but I don't flinch.

"I should be," he acknowledges. "But here I am."

"And here I am," I say and feel the force, it is with me. "You come to the home of a Jedi with an army. I never knew you to be afraid Moff."

"Far from afraid," he says but I can sense it in him. I may just be the last person in this galaxy he truly fears.

"Last time I saw you I stood on the battlefield of Mandalore as it fell," I remember. "All the firepower the Empire had against thousands of Mandalorian warriors, who you massacred. You were not afraid then, but now you are. Vader is dead, Palpatine is dead, the Empire is ashes. And I am the last true Jedi master."

"But not the last Jedi," he says and a proud smirk comes to my face.

"No, and I will never be," I say igniting my saber. "I suggest you leave."

He laughs. "You want us to leave?" He gestures to his army. "Afraid General?"

"I've faced worse odds," I dismiss and look to his army. "I could cut them down in seconds."

"But you won't," he says eyeing my home. "Because of who you harbour."

"The scientist I kidnapped you mean?" I ask knowing he's frozen in carbonite aboard the Razor Crest and he shakes his head slowly. "I'm afraid he's quite silent much to your relief I'm sure."

"Where is Din Djarin and the Child?"

I stiffen at the sound of Din's name, and realise how much the Moff must know.

"Long gone."

He turns his head to the Razor Crest and then back to me. "I will only ask you this once more. Where are they?"

The Child is safely hidden away and Din is sending a distress signal to the Republic and preparing the shields out the back of my home while I distract the army. While I stop them from storming the house and tearing it apart to find the Child.

"The Mandalorian is with me," I tell them. "But my padawan is with Luke Skywalker."

"Padawan?" he questions. "So you do know of the Child's powers."

"I do," I say, feeling the force empower me. Feeling the presence of my father. "I trained the children of the chosen one, and I will train him. If you want to stop me you will have to kill me. I will die before allowing another Mandalorian, or another Jedi, to fall to the Empire."

He seems almost amused. "You are your mothers daughter aren't you? A brave but foolish woman, and it got her killed." He watches how my hand wraps tighter around the hilt of my ignited saber and I have to force myself not to bite back. "Be smarter than your mother, than your father, hand over the Child and I will let you live."

I shake my head slowly. "Why do you think I am here on Tatooine? I am here to kill Boba Fett." I watch his reaction closely and it's clear he is aware of his survival. "Do you think I'm stupid enough to bring the Child with me?" And for a moment he considers it. "He is with Luke, safe on Chandrila where you cannot reach him."

He makes a contemplative sound before changing his tactics. "Where is Din Djarin?" He gives me a challenging look before calling out. "Show yourself!" 

I remain steadfast and the corner of his lip twists up into a cruel smirk.

"If you won't hand him over then I'll have to drive him out." He then turns to his men and gives a single order. "Fire."

I move as i have not had to in years, deflecting the blaster fire of an army but just as the fire finally ceases I feel it so vividly that I double over, clutching my side. Fear unlike anything I've ever known hits me and I feel it, feel his pain. He's been hit. With tears blurring my vision I look at Moff Gideon who cocks his head at me.

"Go ahead," he taunts. "If the child is not hiding inside that house then abandon your defence and go find your Mandalorian lover, you may just have a chance to save him if you do."

I don't move despite every part of me screaming to run to Din, and he wears a satisfied smile. "We do not want you or the Mandalorian, we just want the Child. Give us it, and you both may live."

I hold my head high and raise my saber. "You underestimate me Moff. You underestimate him. We would both die before letting you lay a hand on the Child."

Which is why I don't move, Din's survival would mean nothing if we lost the child.

"Very well," he grants. "Have it your way."

The firing squad readies their weapons as I ready my saber, ready for another attack but just as they pull their triggers a translucent shield separates us and the shots rebound onto the army, mowing them down.

Moff Gideon's look of shock is mirrored by my own, but it means Din must still be fighting despite how I struggle to feel him. It means I have time.

"This home was built by my mother to be a fortress," I tell him. "Do you really think we are not prepared for a siege?"

"Break the shield!" he orders and fire rains down on it, but it does not waver. He knows it will not break.

His jaw clenches tight and I give him a spiteful smirk. "You pride yourself on knowing everything, but you are the fool. You talk too much, a trait Imperials share. We are prepared to wait for the Republic's army to come. But are you?"

With that I go to find Din, trying to bury the fear that attempts to surface, and that's when Moff Gideon makes one last attempt.

He pulls out a weapon I never thought I would see again.

"The Darksaber," he says igniting the blade. "A Mandalorian Jedi is a rare thing indeed, but now I offer you a choice. Do you wish to die as a Jedi or rule as Mandalore? Lower these shields, give the Child to me and the weapon is yours."

I can almost hear Bo Katan screaming at me to take it, to give up the Child and take the Darksaber.

But she is also the one who lost it.

"I do not want a weapon to rule over a graveyard," I tell him with gravel in my voice as I begin to taste blood. "If I ever wield the Darksaber again it will be because I won it the old way, by cutting you down."

And he sees me for what I am.

The last great threat to the Empire. While I live so does the spirit of the Rebellion, of Mandalore, of the Jedi.

"Then I will see you on the battlefield where you don't have shields or the Republic's army to protect you," he threatens. "And you will die."

"Kill me and you make a martyr," I tell him, struggling to reach out to Din, to feel him. "Even Vader knew if he killed me then every last Mandalorian in this galaxy would rally to the side of the Rebellion."

He knows it's the truth, and so I step forward towards the shield, standing right before it and look him in the eye. "The Republic is coming, and they will arrive long before these shields give out. Leave my home or die."

He looks at the remaining troopers who lower their weapons. "You win today General Kenobi, but the Child will be mine."

"No," I say fiercely. "The next time I lay eyes on you I will not wait for the Republic's justice. I will strike you down in the name of Mandalore."

And in his eyes I see fear. He knows I will defy the Republic in the name of justice.

Without another word, he turns his back on me to return to his ship, and I take off running to find Din, then cry out in pain clutching my side. But it's not my injury I feel, it's his. I'm almost falling in the sand from my desperation as I call out his name but hear no reply, and I scream it.

But again, only silence.

A cry of sheer horror escapes me when I see his lifeless form on the ground beside the generator, as if he was struck from behind, and I can hardly breathe when I see the blood seeping into the sand.

"Din?" I cry falling to my knees beside him, my hands feeling his beskar covered chest and pleading silently for a pulse as I grab his wrist, the same one I had kissed not so long ago, and find it, but barely. "Din!"

He does not stir and so I roll his body over, laying him on his back and find the blood coming from his side, in the most vulnerable spot in his armour, as if he was stabbed.

And in horror I realise he has been, and not by any stormtrooper.

A chill settles over me and I search the horizon and find it barren, except for that whisper in the breeze.

My hand comes away from his wound saturated in blood, far too much blood and my mind takes me back to those desperate moments on the field, where I'd have to make a judgement, to determine if they were too far gone.

"Din!" I plead, shaking him. "Wake up, please wake up."

I press the palm of my hand to his helmet and feel it, the head trauma. He wasn't just stabbed, he was knocked unconscious which such force I can't dare imagine it. And it's then I realise his unconsciousness isn't just from loss of blood, but from head trauma.

Instinctively I grab the sides of his helmet to remove it and it's then he wakes with a jolt, cursing in pain and I have to push him back down to stop any further damage. "You-"

"Shh it's me," I say calming him. "It's me!"

He gasps out "The kid-"

"He's safe, we're safe," I promise him but I struggle to keep the panic out of my voice. "Din, you're hurt, you're bleeding out."

He hisses sharply as he touches his side and when he pulls his hand away it's covered in blood, just as mine is. He lets out a heavy sigh and I bring his hand back to the wound, pushing down hard, he cries out between gritted teeth at the touch but I've served as an impromptu field medic enough times to know what I need to do.

"Keep your hand there so you don't lose anymore blood, I'm going to carry you inside, understand?"

Unable to nod his head he makes a strained sound of acknowledgment and I sling his arm from the uninjured side of his body around my shoulder, both of us struggling under his weight.

"Moff Gideon-"

"The shield's up, he's gone," I assure Din as we reach the back door he snuck out through. "The kid's safe where we left him. Now come on, I need to get that armour off you and lie you down."

I manage to use the force to fling the door open and I drag him inside to the training room where the medical supplies are kept, he groans as I lie him down on the floor.

Without hesitation I begin removing the upper layers of his armour as the sheer amount of blood he's losing becomes apparent to me, using a knife where necessary to remove it despite his protests, practically cutting his shirt off him to have access to the wound.

The moment I see it I'm horrified by how deep it is, how close to his heart it's located, and know some organ has to have been damaged. But first thing I need to do is to stop the bleeding. I reach over and grab the field cauteriser and give him a single warning. "This will hurt." But when I press it to the wound he hardly flinches and I realise he is no stranger to it, neither am I.

But I know this is different to anything he's experienced before. I close my eyes and let my hand hover over his chest, feeling the extent of the damage and suddenly I still, trying not to let my horror show.

"You need bacta," I say getting up to rummage through my supplies, my hands shaking.

"It's bad isn't it?" he croaks and I try to remain some composure for his sake.

"You're going to be fine," I say, but can't stop how my voice breaks. "You just need bacta."

I kneel back down beside him with a heavy duty bacta patch and he grabs my wrist to pause me. "You're a General Kyra, a field soldier, you wouldn't be shaking if it wasn't bad."

He's right. If we were on the battlefield I would have no choice but to leave him behind, would have written him off as being too far gone.

I look at him, fighting tears. "The wound is sealed, but the bleeding is internal, the weapon penetrated close to your heart I- I think it may have severed an artery or pierced something, I-I don't know what but I can feel it, and it's too deep for me to reach."

Before I can apply the bacta patch he grips my hand tight, both of our's covered in his blood. "Promise me, that you'll raise the child as your own."

"I won't let you die-"

"Promise me," he repeats, and his voice is so broken that tears finally spill over.

"I promise," I swear to him, knowing that I may not get another chance. "I'll take him as my foundling."

He releases my hand so I can apply the bacta patch and has only one request. "Let me see the Child."

"Din-"

His voice is a desperate plea. "If I die, I want it to be with the two of you by my side."

My tears wet his hand as I take it and kiss it hard before murmuring. "I'll be right back."

I stumble out of the training room and through the house, having to hold the wall for stability, my own strength faltering. Before I can face the child I have to stop outside the bunker and take a moment to regain my composure, knowing I need to be strong not just for the Child, but for Din as well.

Even so the moment I open the door the Child can sense my distress and coos in concern. I take a deep breath as I pick him up, whispering quietly. "Your dad's hurt badly, and we're going to see him." And it's then I finally admit the truth of what we may lose tonight. "To say goodbye."

I take the Child to his father and sit him down beside Din who pats the kid on the back, making a choked sound. "Hey kid." The Child nuzzles into his side and Din hold's him close. "Kyra's going to take real good care of you, okay? She'll train you to be a real Jedi, raise you as her own. How would you like to have a mom?"

And it's that comment that forces me to turn my face away to hide the tears that once again threaten to spill over, and I take a deep breath before looking at them again. Prepared to try something I've never truly been able to accomplish, at least not to this extent.

"I'm going to try something," I tell Din. "I don't know if it will work, but I have to try."

"I trust you," he says and so I let my hands hover over his chest and attempt something most Jedi were never truly taught, aside from a small handful of trained practitioners.

Force healing.

I feel the wound within him and let the force flow through me, whispering under my breath old mantra's. "I am one with the force, the force is with me." I feel the cauterised wound heal beneath my fingers and the head trauma slowly begin to resolve, but the internal wounds- even with all my strength I still do not have the power, or the knowledge, to heal him.

To save his life.

And after what seems like an eternity of trying in vain it's Din who takes my hands and pulls them away, knowing it's not working, not enough.

"You tried," he tries to assure me despite the weakness of his voice, and holds my hand tight. "It's alright, if this is how I go then that's alright with me."

I shake my head, tears blurring my vision. "No, not like this."

"It's okay," he breathes and his hands feel so cold. "I'm ready, but there's one last thing."

"Anything," I whisper, and I swear I can almost feel his lips curl into a sad smile beneath his helmet, and he holds the weeping Child to his side so he can't see.

"Close your eyes," he whispers and my lips part as they realise his last request. "Please, Cyar'ika."

Cyar'ika. Sweetheart.

I close my eyes and let out a shallow breath as I hear him remove his helmet and put it into my hands. The ultimate gesture of faith. Of trust. I feel his hand on my cheek and slowly he guides my lips down until they touch his.

The kiss tastes of tears and blood and so many words left unsaid. The unfulfilled promise of a life together. Of a clan of three.

And all I can give him in these last moments is love, peace.

"It's okay Din," I promise him. "He'll be safe with me."

"I know," he says and for the first time I hear his voice as it is. "Thank you."

I press one final kiss to his lips before my shaking hands lift his helmet and place it back on him with a whisper. "This is the way."

But for the first time he doesn't say it back.

"Din?"

My eyes open and no silence has ever been so cruel.

"No," I whisper as the Child realises what's happening. "No, please, don't go."

And I'm unable to do anything but sob over his unconscious body as his life-force slips from between my fingers.

Until I hear my fathers voice.

"The Child," he tells me. "The Child can save him."

Through the tears I see the weeping child beside me, his little hand resting on the wound, as if in recognition of something and I remember, he healed Greef once.

Together, we may just be able to bring Din back from the brink of death.

"Kid," I say taking his hand in mine. "Do you know what you did before, how you healed Greef?" He looks up at me confused and I tell him. "We need to heal Din before we lose him. Now focus."

We hold our joined hands over Din's wound, and tapping into the Child's strength I focus it, but it's my fathers hand who guides us with knowledge long gone, transferring our joined life-forces to Din until finally, finally, I hear his breath.

"Kyra?"

My father's hand disappears as Din props himself up and I pull him into my arms crying from pure relief, unable to even form words. I press a kiss to his helmet and pick up the Child who practically launches himself at Din who holds us both tight in his arms.

A clan of three.

[lightsaberupmybutt]

Three’s a Crowd - Reader/Ben Solo/Poe Damerson (Modern AU)

alright so Ben/Kylo is a big ego kid in this, because of course. Also, Rey is ACTUALLY Lukes daughter in this, making them cousins. Ive fiddled with the plot okay sue me. 

Summary: Poe, Finn and their roommate have been living in a harmonious tenancy, but when Finn decides to move out for a year of travelling, the two are left with no option but to look elsewhere for their third body. Rey Skywalker, a friend of the group, proposes her cousin for the role. He's in a band, wears all black and all in all is somewhat of a social reject - but he's also all theyve got.  

“I think that one was actually somehow worse than last weeks” You tell Poe, as he pours himself a juice and settles down next to you on the sofa. You'd just finished showing around another possible roommate and you felt exhausted in every sense of the word. 

“How can he be worse than the neo nazi?” Poe shot you an unbelieving look and rolled his eyes, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and knocking some of your papers in his wake. 

“Alex was a she, and they asked if they could hang their deer head in the front room” you grimaced even thinking about it, weren't all artsy college students supposed to be vegetarians anyway? why did you have to get saddled with the only blood thirsty one on campus. 

“Thats not so bad”

“Poe she showed me a picture of her taxidermied cat”

“Oh”

You had tried to find a polite way to stop her from passing you her phone, but you were too nice to make her feel uncomfortable, and now the image of the long dead tabby would remain behind your eyes for god knows how long. 

“was she hot?” You shook your head, causing Poe to sigh wistfully. 

“Not hot enough to cancel out her obsession with dead bodies anyway” you informed him, the hopeful look from his eyes gone. 

“Face it Poe, were doomed” You let your head fall into your hands, Poe letting out a laugh before wrapping his arm around your shoulder. 

“Hey we’ll get someone! who wouldn't want to live here?” You knew his question was rhetorical but when looking around the cleaner than usual flat, you had to admit it was missing something. Bare spaces on the walls from where Finn had taken down his pictures, the empty side of the kitchen counter that had once houses his overpriced coffees. You even missed picking up his empty cups after him, the room feeling like it had less character without them. It truly hadn't felt the same in the flat since Finn had left, and although Poe concealed it well, you could see it was getting to him too. Poe had, after all, known Finn first; Finn managing to get a very drunk and outspoken Poe out of a sticky situation he had found himself in when running across a local gang in a dive bar. The ‘first order’ as they so called themselves, had an infamous reputation around campus for being trouble makers and general doers of bad deeds. Ever since that night they had been an unstoppable duo, until they met you of course, and their duo became three. 

You loved Finn, and you knew told miss him like hell, but you also knew that Poe must be feeling that ten times over. 

“You wanna do something tonight?” You asked, changing the subject before his mind  drifted to where yours had. 

“what kind of something?” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, 

“Gross” 

“hey I'm serious!”

“what about Razor Crest, they are open late, we could grab some drinks and meet up with some people” 

Razor crest was the only worth while bar in town; it was certainly nothing to write home about, but it played fairly decent music and it had a marginally less sticky floor than others. Additionally, your other friends lived just over from the humble saloon, making it the perfect watering hole for you guys. 

It didn't take much convincing before you had Poe out the door and ready to socialise. Upon arrival, he headed to the bar while you were waved over by Rey, who had already found a booth and was already at least a few drinks in. 

“Look, i think i have a solution to your roomie problemo” She told you, peeking over her straw, a gleam in her eye that made you feel not all too confident in her yet to be spoken plan. 

“Go on” you told her, cautiously. 

“My cousins back in town” She told you between gulps. 

“The weird one?” You asked, 

“Hes not weird, just ...eccentric” the last word was more of a question, but you could tell she was on a roll, 

“He's just joined one of the college bands and Auntie Leia says him and Uncle Han are butting heads” 

“ah cool, weve always wanted  live music in our own flat at 2 am” Poe injected, rejoining the table and placing a drink in front of you before taking a sip of his own. 

“hes not BAD at it, he just plays loud i think” She corrected him, “anyway, he's not a total twat, I'm sure he would be considerate of your sleep schedules” 

“didn't he try and stab you with a stick when you were five” you asked her, you'd heard stories of this cousin before and none of them were quite savoury, 

“that was ages ago! he's like way old now” she was starting to slur her words, but you had a feeling this was something Rey was quite set on. Rey was stubborn, and when she got something in mind she would move hell to make it happen; she was also your best friend, and someone you trusted the judgment off. Had she gotten you into some weird shit in the past? sure. 

Did you have any other options; nay on that. 

“Fine, get Han or Leia to bring him round at some point next week and one of us will give him a tour” You tell her, and she lets out a little happy shrill at her own personal win. Poe, not so much. 

“Speak for yourself, weirdo cousin can see himself around” he crosses his arms and pouts, you give him a little nudge. 

“Hey, maybe you'll be best mates” you offer, but when he shoots you a death stare you go back to your drink.

The family turmoil must have been more vicious than Rey had let in on; It was barely the next morning before you had a tall, intimidating male knocking on your door. 

“Hey!” you offered him, in as cheery a voice as your hung over self would allow.

He looked down at you from his towering height, but gave no verbal response. 

“You must be Ben?...”  He offered you the slightest nod you'd had ever seen in response. Okay so, not much of a talker, noted. 

You waved him in, shutting the door behind him. God, he looked even bigger inside? is that possible? Rey had failed to mention the sheer height on the boy. You'd seen pictures of her and her aunt and uncle, it seemed like Ben was a scientific and biological mystery. Like how did he get clothes to fit? did he have to shop somewhere special or

you were snapped out of your thoughts by a clearing of a throat. 

“So, how much is the rent” so he DID have a voice, 

You informed him automatically, still part dazed. 

“Ill be in by the weekend” he told you, and with a nod he moved past you, making his way back to the door.

“But wait .. y .. you haven't even seen your room yet?” You stumbled, dumbfound by the lack of foreplay. The previous people you had shown around were full of questions; they wanted to know the ins and outs of the place. Ben had seen all of the door way and the front room and he was already signing the lease. 

“See you then” he didn't stop, hand on the door knob as if you hadn't spoken.

“But i don't have your phone number” you don't know why that came to you first, but it was true. At no point had Rey offered you direct contact with Ben, probably assuming he would. It seemed reasonable, that you'd need his number before he moved in, didn't it? Poe was always texting you about random shit in the flat, arguably too much, but it seemed like the norm for people coexisting in such a small space. 

He turned back at you and gave you a confused look, 

“why would you need my number?”

“erm... to talk to you” your condescending tone not completely masked, 

“but ill be living here” he stated, which, he had you there. 

Before you could even think of a response  he was out the door.

True to his word, Ben had his things over by that very same weekend. Although it was unsurprising considering just how light he packed. In fact, other than his bass and musical equipment, you couldn't really think of anything he had actually brought with him to the flat. You got to meet his parents when they dropped him off, both of whom seemed leaps and bounds more conversational than their son. Ironically, you got Leia’s phone number before her sons; her telling you to message if you ever needed anything. It felt like an indirect jab at Ben, a ‘if he fucks up let me know’, but you digress. The tension between Ben and his dad was blatantly obvious, them sharing no words before he got back into the car and Ben into the house. He did give his mum a small hug goodbye though, and you thought you saw a small tear in her eye before she managed to wipe it away. 

Since his move in, Ben had kept painfully to himself. You barely saw him at all in those first days, just heard him through the walls the odd time he dropped something - or saw a plate or cup gone from their places in the kitchen. To be honest , it felt more like a paranormal haunting than a new roommate. Poe was vocal of his apprehension to the situation, sharing glances with you when you would both be in the living room and you'd see ben scurry by or passive aggressively texting you when his favourite cup had been used by someone who wasn't him. it was a relatively small issue, but Poe had blown it so out of proportion that you had ordered a new set of cups from Amazon and sent him the link, shutting him up for a while before he found something else to complain about.

it was the fifth day before you actually bumped into ben again. He was on the sofa with his base set up, twiddling with his amp. The sight surprised you so much you physically jumped back, causing him to look up. crap. act cool. act cool. 

“hey” you offered him

“hi” hi replied back, looking back down at his amp. 

right, yer. his space, give him his space. Just get your stuff and go back to your room. don't speak to him, leave him alone. he clearly wants to be left alone. 

“nice day isn't it” you wanted to cover your mouth, the words coming out against your will. Truthfully, you had no clue why you said it. You hadn't even looked at the weather this morning. Its just what people say right? 

“Erm” his eyes shot to the window and then back to yours,”no”

sure enough, it was pissing it down outside. The sky was actually comically grey and you'd have laughed if you werent so angry at yourself. You were unsure of what to do, and he was still looking at you, almost assessing you. His eyes were so serious and dark they felt like they were burning tiny holes into your skin. shit, you had to speak now right?

While regretting every single life decision that had brought you into this kitchen at this time, Poe sauntered into the room like your night in shining armour, ignoring Ben all together and coming straight over to you, placing a big arm around your shoulders. You saw Ben drop his head back down to this bass, and you used all your might to not let out a sigh of relief.

“Tonight, I'm taking you out” He offered, a cheeky gleam in his eye. 

“Are you now” 

“Razor crest, drinks and dancing, be there or be square” He lists off as if he's a paid promoter, causing you to let out a giggle. 

“Whos invited?” 

“just the gang” he said, causing you to shoot him an eye roll, knowing full well you ‘gang’ consisted of all of three people, yourself and Poe included in that number. 

but then you remembered, there was another person now, whether they liked it or not. Poe’s eyes followed yours to Ben and then back to meet yours again, you saw the realisation change to disgust, as he shook his head silently at you. 

you knew this look, the ‘don't you dare’ look, the ‘not in 1000 years’ look. But you couldn't help it, your lips were moving before you could stop them for the second time this morning. 

“Are you free tonight, Ben?’

The look of sheer betrayal on Poe's face made you wince, surely he'd understand right? he knew you well enough to know your verbal diarrhoea  problem. 

Ben didn't even look up, but he did let out a small laugh that felt quite antagonistic. 

“i dont go to Razor Crest” 

“i don't go to razor crest ugh” Poe mocked, causing Rey to let out a hysterical giggle, and you a sigh. 

You'd been out for all of three hours and you were all already feeling the effects of the alcohol. It was late and the bar was jam packed with students all raring to go. Poe had been making eyes at one particular red head  almost all night and you were half surprised he hadn't already made his move. Poe put out, it was a fact. You and Finn had at one time made a fridge chart for him, a gold star awarded every time he brought  girl home. Whether the goal was to make him feel proud of his conquests or embarrassed, you still weren't 100% sure, but after a month or so you had both lost count and given up. You told yourself it didn't bother you, that he was just a friend, and that he owed you nothing, but every time he left you at the bar for another girl something stung inside; something you pushed deep down but regrettably was still there none the less. 

Sure enough, as the night progressed, you and Rey ended up fending for it alone, and instead of feeling sorry for yourself you decided to do the responsible thing and drink more. 

After the third round of shots, Rey calls it in. 

“I think I'm gonna be sick” she tells you sheepishly, and you can't help but belly laugh in response. She starts to shuffle towards the door and you go to follow.

“Hey don't leave on my behalf” she tells you earnestly, but you wave her off. 

“Nah I've had my fill, I'm starting to forget which flat number i live at” you tell her, causing her to giggle this time. 

You both stumble out the bar, past the smokers and up the cobbled road towards her flat. She unlocks her door and lets herself in, not before giving you a drunken hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. 

As you ready yourself to make your way back to your own flat, you come back past the bar entrance; a particularly prominent cobble causes you to trip ever so slightly and gain a whoop from a group of boys who were passing round a box of marlboro straights. 

You suddenly realised just how dark it was and just how alone you were. Most nights you wouldn't stay out this late, and if you did, then you'd normally be walking back with finn. You let out a shiver, a mix of both the cold night air finally breaking through your drunken daze and a smidge of fear. The Razor Crests entrance lights were getting progressively further away, and although you know that you only had a maximum of a half mile walk back to your home, it felt like ample distance to get kidnapped or murdered in, most probably both. 

How many true crime stories started with a young drunk girl, scantily clad and out alone at night? You could hear the police reports now, which photo would they use? you prayed it would be a hot one, at the very least one after your thin brow phase. 

Being literally bumped back into reality, in almost a cruel humorous way, you felt yourself walk head first into a figure, their arms coming out to catch you as the sheer momentum bounced you back. 

Oh god, I'm dead. I'm literally going to die.  

“Hey, chill out” The voice made your heart beat both slow and race again, 

“Ben?!” you shrieked, voice hoarse through pure anticipation of your thought to be demise 

“Are you okay” he asked, and only then did you realise you were shaking like a leaf. 

“Im fine” you let out in a small voice, looking down at your shoes. You could feel the redness in your cheeks through pure embarrassment alone. This was not an ideal situation for him to see you in, and you kind of started to with that he had been a murderer, at least then you wouldn't have to deal with the second hand embarrassment in the morning. 

“What are you doing out here”

“why are you out alone” 

you both asked simultaneously,

“I was coming out for a smoke” He told you, flashing his tobacco pouch at you from inside his coat. His very warm looking coat, might you add. Another shiver ran down your body. 

“Im coming home from Razor Crest” you tell him, trying to be matter of fact but slurring your words just enough to spoil the show. 

“Yes obviously, but why are you alone” he shoots back in some what of a patronising tone, it wouldn't sit well with sober you and it definitely doesn't go down well with drunk you. 

“Im a big girl” 

“clearly” he makes, making extra sure to look you up and down from his towering distance above you, causing you to huff. 

“well i can take care of myself” 

“you shouldn't be out alone around here, its not safe” he ignores your response, looking you dead in the eye. 

You feel something inside you flutter, a warmth that you can't quite control. Okay, ben might be weird and a bit annoying it would seem, but he was handsome, thats for sure. The limited light danced off his strong features and dark shaggy mop of hair, making him look both dangerous and appealing. 

As if you were standing here mentally flirting with the idea of being with Res cousin; you made a mental note to punish yourself for the ludicrous thoughts in the morning. 

“Okay well I'm going home now” you tell him, attempting to push past him, but his large hand finds its way to your forearm and pulls you back,

“yes, you are, come on” If what he said before was patronising, he was now speaking to you like you were a dog he was walking. 

“go have your nicotine, ive got this one covered” you tell him with a mock salute, causing him to roll his eyes. He lets go of your arm and you take your win, trying to step confidently away without falling. You're proud of yourself for handling the situation when you realise he's following all  of 10 steps behind you, rolling a cigarette in his hands while holding a filter between his teeth. 

when he catches you looking, he nods down to his hands, 

“want one?” he mumbles between his lips, still holding the filter pride of place. 

“no thanks” you snap, picking up pace. 

Ben smirks at you, but you miss it, too focused on not embarrassing yourself and keeping your feet in line. 

[darthspideys]

antithesis // one

din djarin x jedi! reader 

summary: You expected to find another of yoda’s species, much less under the protection of a particularly stubborn mandalorian. Little do you know its that discovery that will change life as you know it, and put all three of you in danger you never saw coming. 

words: ~2k 

a/n: I really can’t believe that I'm finally posting this! I started this story more than a month ago, and I have been editing it and editing and editing which is not something that I normally do. I love this story, and I love this reader, and this story represents so much for me in terms of improving on my writing. Anyways welcome to the ride, hope you have fun :) 

disclaimer: I h8 baby yoda and it shows 

Disturbances in the force are easy enough to sense now. In the age of the empire, with Inquisitors, Darth Vader and The Emperor himself running around there was nothing but disturbance, a constant feeling of dread for those on the side of the light like any one of those sith could appear from around the next corner. Four years after the fall of the empire, things are calmer. It seems that the force is in balance, now that the emperor is dead though you know that since there are two jedi there have to be two sith somewhere else in the galaxy. 

There’s always the threat of some other powerful sith making its way out from the shadows, finally deciding to finish what Palpatine started. So when Luke senses a disturbance in the force on Tatooine, something slicing through the calm waves of power, the two of you are a little bit nervous about what that could be. You feel it too, once he mentions it, it’s so easy for you to brush past those kinds of feelings because you're so used to them. However when you focus in, you feel it too, something is off. 

You look back at Luke, who is staring down at his feet, not at the holo projector in front of the two of you and realize that whatever is happening on Tatooine isn’t the only thing that's off. You sense the uncertainty that he feels, and it confuses you, because it's not like the two of you havent been through this before. You tilt your head to the side, “Is there something I’m not seeing?” He doesn’t respond right away, “You seem uncertain.” 

“I’m not-” He doesn’t know what to say, “It’s not about this exactly.” 

You put your hand on his arm trying to pull him away from his thoughts, “Then what is it about?” 

He turns to you, and you suddenly realize how close the two of you are. He leans in, whatever it is he wants to say, he doesn’t want anyone else to hear it if they happen to walk in. Not that there’s a high chance of anyone disturbing you, most of the senators are afraid if you to say the least. As it turns out the fact that the Jedi had been absent from the galaxy for the entirety of the empire turned them into more myth than truth. People assumed it had all been somewhat of a legend, that people with glowing light swords and all that power couldn’t have possibly existed. Therefore seeing the two of you glowing light swords and all in the senate building almost everyday made people a little uncomfortable. 

He leans in, “I’m from Tatooine.” 

“I’m aware,” You say, a small smile beginning to form on your face. You think he’s setting up a kind of joke, and that he’s been messing with you this entire time. 

“I haven’t been back since my parents were killed.” 

You nod. He looks sadly at the floor, and you can feel the emotion coming off of him in jagged waves of hurt and a longing of some sort. You don’t ask, because he knows that you can sense it. “I’ll go, okay?” 

“Thank you.” 

You’re still standing there when Leia appears in the doorway, arms crossed. When he sees her, Luke says good luck to you and walks out of the room. Leia saunters down the stairs and stands in front of you with her arms crossed again. The only thing you can think is that she definitely has the disappointed mother look down pat. 

She asks, “What was that?” 

“What was what?” 

“What I just saw between the two of you.” 

“There was nothing, less than nothing. He wants me to go to the desert, what you just witnessed was a punishment.” 

She makes a face, “That is bad.” Then she pauses, “Don’t think that I don’t know what’s going on with you.” 

“Nothing is going on with me, not a single thing. I just hang out here or I’m going to some random planet to make sure nothing untoward is happening, and sometimes I pull out my laser sword and use it to cut down trees or something. That is my life, nothing is going on.” 

She doesn’t believe you and you can tell. You wish she wouldn’t look at you like that, you wish that no one knew about it. “Other than the fact that you're in love with my brother, of course,” She’s laughing at you which makes the whole thing worse somehow. 

“We are not talking about that,” Your voice gets way higher than you mean it too. You cough and try to lower it, “We are never talking about that because I have to go to Tatooine.” And with that you walk out of the room ceremoniously leaving Leia to just shake her head. 

Tatooine is just as terrible as you thought it would be. As soon as you get off your ship, your feet sink down into the sand which sends a chill through your body. It’s the kind of place where you can’t quite get your footing, because the wind is always blowing more sand around everything is always shifting. That and it’s unbearably hot, which is not helped by the sand. It seems to reflect the sun and make it even hotter. You hate it, and you wonder if Luke really meant what he said or if he just hates it here too. 

You give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s him, and the two of you have been through enough for you to assume that he did have a good reason for sending you here alone. You have no idea what that reason could possibly be, but you know it’s something. Ahead of you, you see what you think is a structure sticking out of a nearby cave. You walk forward and sink into the sand as you do, feeling lucky that you were born on a farm. 

As you get closer you see that it is a small structure built into the side of a cave so that it’s bigger. Right when you’re close enough to be seen, the hair on the back of your neck stands straight up and you duck as fast as you can. As soon as you're on the ground, a blaster bolt flies right over your head and you sigh. Whatever this is, there’s something guarding it that does not want to be found. You roll your eyes and try to get to a better position all while spitting sand out of your mouth. This is not going to be as easy as you thought it was. 

Instead of getting back onto your feet you roll to the side where there’s a large rock sticking out of the ground and get behind it. In hindsight, you shouldn’t have been right out into the open when you didn’t know what was ahead of you. Luke would have reminded you of that, if only he were here. 

Before you can finish your thought, a Mandalorian in full armor walks out of the structure and stands at the entrance with a blaster clutched in his hand. “Holy shit,” That shakes you to your core, you thought they were all gone or at least most of them. You duck down behind the rock again, trying not to make a sound. Suddenly you can’t catch your breath and you're panicking not because you're afraid but because of something else. More so than when you first got here, you regret coming and you regret coming alone. 

You climb to the top of the rock and try to peek over again. Normally there would be some kind of strategy involved but you’ve decided that you're just gonna show off a little bit and see what sticks. You jump on top of the rock, which is up higher than you realized and he starts shooting as soon as he sees you. 

You duck every shot and jump off the rock which lands you a few feet away from him. He takes a shot right at the head, and you stop it midair which is part of the showing off strategy. That surprises him, which you expected, the whole blaster bolt hanging in the air is quite something. You let it hang for a minute and then move a few inches to the right and let it go so it crashes into the rock. 

“Hello there,” You say and give a little wave. 

He lunges at you this time, dropping his blaster to the side once he realizes that it’s probably useless. Oh he wants to go hand to hand, you think and it makes you smile. He comes at you with a flurry of easily dodge-able kicks and punches to which you respond by coming back just as hard with your own. You push him back farther and father, not letting up so that he doesn't even have time to think that he could beat you. Soon enough you have him on the ground pinned using the force mostly but a bit of your own body weight. You blow straight hair out of your face and say, “That was fun, now you have something that I need.” 

And as if on cue a small green thing walks out of the opening and stands at your feet. “Holy fuck,” Your eyes widen as you realize that thing looks a lot like Yoda. You can feel it immediately, he is what you're looking for. “You have a little baby-“ 

He takes advantage of the fact that you're distracted and flips you over onto the ground so that he’s the one with the advantage. You curse again, your voice low, because it hurt when you hit the ground, badly enough that you can’t get back up. He looks at you and sighs before grabbing onto your leg and pulling you through the sand and into the hut. “So you're just gonna pull me? You're just gonna pull me through the sand through the disgusting sand, sir-“ when you hit hard ground and your head bounces up, “And now you're gonna drag me against rocks? Little inhumane don’t you think?” 

You can tell he’s glaring at you, even with the helmet as he drops your legs to the ground dramatically. The child stands at his feet watching the entire thing, “How did you find me?” 

“I don’t know if you know this, but that thing-“ Your eyes are fixed on the child, “Is a beacon to anyone who can use the force.” 

“The what?” 

You roll your eyes, “Why does that not surprise me?” He’s genuinely confused, and you can tell, though it's not going to stop you from pushing his buttons as much as you can.“I could explain, if you would just let me up-“ You try and sit up, but he points another blaster in your face. “Or not.” You raise your arms over your head, but he doesn’t seem like he’s getting the message. “Yeah okay this has been fun and all but-“ With one move of your finger the blaster flies out of his hand and against the wall the sound echoing throughout the cave. You take advantage of his confusion, and get to your feet, even though you're a little shaky and there’s a lot of sand in your hair. 

You pull your lightsaber out of its holster, surprised that he hasn’t noticed it there. You light it and hold it right at his throat. His beskar armor can repel lightsaber strikes, you know that but you're not sure he does, or at the very least the throat is open enough for you to kill him if need be. He steps back and raises his own arms in surrender, understanding that he’s beat for the most part. The blade glows bright green, reflecting off his armor barely, and you smile, “We’re gonna play nice now, okay?” 

He realizes something, “Jedi.” 

[kittystargen3]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13534569/1/Return-of-the-Survivors

Summary: Alternate Universe- What if Anakin's mother survived and Anakin never went dark side. Padme has the twins on Tatooine and survives. Anakin tries to help the surviving Jedi, while still keeping his family secret. Meanwhile Darth Sidious has been crowned emperor and is going after the remaining Jedi. Rumors have it he's looking for a new apprentice. Anakin gets to be a daddy.

I've added chapter 55 to Return of the Survivors today. Below is a small selection. Please click the links to read more.

Chapter 55 - Calling

“Luke, carry this into your father’s garage for me.  That’s a boy.” Luke's Uncle smiled and messed up his hair playfully.

“Yes, Uncle Owen.” Luke responded.  The man treated him like a kid still sometimes, but really Luke couldn't get too upset over it.

“Have you heard any more news from your sister?  I was meaning to ask, but…” The old man left the sentence to hang.

“No, not in several months.  She’s with the Rebellion.  Ahsoka assures us she’s in a safe unit, but my dad still worries,” Luke answered.

Uncle Owen nodded.  "As a parent, he's going to worry.  If my boy ever spoke about joining the Rebel Army, my wife would have a heart attack.  Mace-Ti’s only just learning about the politics of the wider galaxy now though.”

“Yes, Fourteen is a little young to enlist.” Luke joked.

Uncle Owen laughed.  “Yes it is.  Now take this to your father’s garage.  He’ll be home soon, I hear.”

“Yes, Thank you Uncle Owen.”

“No problem, my boy,”

As his Uncle got back into his speeder, Luke focused on the large box of outdated farm equipment.  Anakin had always been a fan of reusing what others considered junk.  Luke didn’t know what use any of this stuff could be put to, but he’d do as his Uncle had said and leave it in the garage for his father.

As Luke entered the garage, R2-D2, his father's favorite droid beeped a greeting to him.

"Hey R2.  No, I don't know where dad left the socket wrench..." Luke stopped to clutch his head.

R2 beeped with concern.

"Ugh, no I'm okay." As he recovered he marveled at the difference.  Ever since that night a little more than a year ago, it had felt like a part of his world was empty.  But now his mind rushed from overstimulation.

"Luke!" There was no way that he wouldn't recognize that voice.  But yet, he knew it with the Force that she wasn't really behind him.  Still this was a stronger connection than their head-talks as children had ever been.

"Leia?" He turned around and saw his sister, just standing there.  Yet, if he needed proof this wasn't his imagination, she had red hair.  And Instead of a uniform that he'd expect her to wear, she wore a white outfit.

They both stood there amazed at the sight of each other.  "I like the hair." Luke broke the silence.

"Oh this. It's a long story." His sister blushed.  "Listen, we are on our way to Tatooine, but I fear we won't make it in time." The seriousness in his sister's eyes sent chills up his spine. "My brother, you're our only hope.  Juno Eclipse is on Scarif on the Rogue Shadow.  She has a very important transmission that the Rebellion needs.  Countless lives are at stake here!"

Luke remembered meeting Juno Eclipse two years ago.  He didn't want to see any harm come to her, but his priorities would always be to his sister first.

"I don’t know how we’re doing this after so long apart, but this couldn’t be more fortunate," Leia went on.

Just then Luke remembered some of the Grandmaster’s old teachings regarding their bond.  “Actually, it might be because we were so far apart that we can do this now.  Yoda said once that bonds like ours either grow or die when separated.  I never thought our bond would die.”

“Neither did I.”

Luke knew his sister was saying that she wanted him to leave her again, but he couldn’t let that happen without trying first.  “I can feel you on the edge of the system now.  Do you need help?”

“No,” Leia said, and Luke winced.  “Just go to Scarif.  Find Juno.  She’s out of fuel.  Bring her to Alderaan.  And remember, Brother, I love you.”

Luke looked up at his sister with pleading eyes, as he formed an argument in his mind.  ‘ I can do that too.  I’ll just pick you up, then we can go to Scarif together. No…’  But before he could form his reply, Leia cut their connection and she vanished from in front of him.

“Leia.  Leia, no!” Luke called out in vain.

Beside him R2 beeped in concern, inquiring about Leia.  Luke summarized the exchange for the droid, who beeped in concern for him.

“Yeah, I know.  I want to do both too, but how can I?”

R2 beeped again.

“Two pilots?” A lightbulb went off for Luke, and he ran out of the room, stopping comedically before he got to the door to turn back around.  “Just don’t tell my parents about this.  I don’t want them to worry.  You know how stressed dad gets when he gets news of Leia.”

R2 beeped in disappointment, confirming the request.

“Good.  I have to call Galen now.” Luke ran out of the garage.

[evendeadlmthehero]

The Skywalker Mechanic (Headcanon)

Poe Dameron x Mechanic!Reader

“Could you possibly do a Poe Dameron x mechanic!reader. Were the reader is Leia's daughter but no one really knows that because the reader is quite and only works at night because she just wants to be alone. And her work is amazing that no one really know who does it, so Poe ask Leia who is behind it but she tells him not to bug the reader. But he doesn't really listen so he sets up a stakeout to figure out who it is and he meets the reader. He tries to befriend/slowly falls in love with her, but she has trouble trusting people because of what happened between her and Ben. I really don't know were I'm going with this but basically Poe and the reader end up together.” - @depressed-comics

A/N: so it didn’t save half way through because tumblr is always a b****. BUT thankfully I screenshotted it before it disappeared so the last part is just images.

Ultimate Masterlist

-Ever since Poe joined the resistance, he was always fascinated by the quality of his aircraft after a mission

-he came back from a mission with a damaged engine and a busted wing yet 19 hours later, the aircraft came back better then it was when it was brand new

-sometimes he’d find the most ideal additions that help him during his missions

-that could range from devices that help him go undetected by the First Order to something as mundane as a cushion to help relieve the stress from his neck

-one day in particular he was fighting three first order members.

-he had hit two, leaving one left.

-turns out he was better than Poe expected, resulting in the ship hurderling down due to a failed engine

-Poe thought he was going to die. But he didn’t. His seat had created a safeguard of hard metal around him before ejecting him out of the plane

-what even amazed him more is that a signal was sent out to the resistance that helped them locate him in a matter of hours

-Poe was amazed by the work of this mechanic he had yet to meet

-in fact, everyone was amazed, yet no one knew who you were

-“Please Commander, I just want to show my gratitude, he has saved my life countless of times with his inventions,” Poe begged Leia who rolled her eyes at him. “It’s the least I could do.”

-“This is final Poe. I don’t want you to interfere with the Mechanic. The Mechanic works better alone and would prefer not to be interrupted,” Leia commanded in a strict tone

-but Poe detected some protectiveness in the Commander’s tone. Did she know this being personally?

-Poe nodded before walking away. Leia sighed, thinking this was final

-but it wasn’t. Poe was determined to meet this mechanic

-so he created a plan.

-he went out with his X-Wing for ‘errands’, before landing and throwing out his engine in a random planet

-he knows. He should have done that. But he was desperate to meet the ‘man’ behind the great inventions.

-“Stupid Jawas took my engine while I was running errands, any chance you can fix it?” Poe asked one of the guys who he normally gave the aircrafts to so he can send it off the the mechanics.

-the male nodded as he waved to the others to take it to be fixed.

-Poe watched, biting his lower lip. “You know, I’ve never asked. Where do you guys take the aircrafts.”

-“Well we just place it in the garage at Sector 6 overnight and it comes back brand new,” The guy explained, throwing the chain over the X-Wing and locking it into the carrier. “Mechanic apparently likes working at night. And alone.”

-“Do you know who he is?”

-“No sir.”

-At 6pm, when the sun begins to set, he sneaks into the garage at Sector six, hiding in the ledge near the ceiling.

-when it hits 11pm, his eyes begin to flutter, tiredness taking its toll

-it isn’t until 1am he hears the sound of footsteps

-look down, his face morphs into shock because the mechanic is a girl

-and not just any girl. The most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on in the entire galaxy

-you stop in your tracks and Poe gets scared. Did you see him?

-Of course you can’t because he’s out of view, it was impossible for you to see him

-but you could. Not in the way Poe thought. You felt a presence within the room, one that you haven’t met.

-“Why are you here?” He heard your tired voice speak. Poe was taken back. He thought you were talking to someone else. “I know you’re up there on the ledger.”

-Poe’s heart started beating. How the hell were you able to see him, he kept thinking

-he slowly made his way down, now embarrassed for having been caught

-you folded your arms, an eyebrow raised. “So? What are you doing here?”

-“I-I wanted to thank you,” Poe stuttered, your beauty making him nervous. “For saving my life numerous times.”

-“You’re welcome,” you spoke quietly, not being a very social person. You just wanted to be left alone.

-You didn’t say anything else. Poe tried to think of something, trying to keep the conversation going

-you were the girl of his dreams. He knew that the moment he saw you, he wanted to marry you

-I mean, where else is he going to find a mechanic who’s this gorgeous?

-“I’m Poe Dameron,” he introduced himself, raising his hand up. You looked at his hand and Poe detected some slight fear in your eyes so he placed it back down.

-“I’m Y/N,” You spoke, not mentioning your last name. Poe rubbed his hands together, looking around the garage.

-“C-can I get you something to eat?” Poe asked. “Since you’re always fixing my aircraft.”

-“No- no it’s fine-“

-“I insist.”

-and ever since then, Poe had been coming into the garage to give you food and sometimes help you out.

-you’d both talk about aircrafts, about flying and everything else related to those topics.

-Poe would stay up all night just to talk to you.

-and bring you two different meals so that you could have first choice and he’d eat whatever was left.

-this happened for almost three months

-Poe felt himself falling for you every passing moment

-and you felt it too

-but you were scared

-this fear stemmed from the fact that your brother, your own blood, had betrayed you

-trust was something that was difficult for you. And although that was a reality, you still felt you could trust him. And that terrified you

-you never spoke about family, even when Poe talked about his parents, his past.

-And he was okay with that

-until one day you let it slip

-“I’m telling you, Han’s Millenium Falcon isn’t even that fast!” Poe laughed as you both argued about what planes are better. “The X-Wings are new, improved even!”

-“My dad will kill you if he ever heard you say that,” you laughed, before you went quiet

-‘fuck, fuck, fuck,’ you kept repeating in your head. Poe’s eyes widened as he realised what you had said.

-“You’re a Solo?” Poe asked slowly.

-You quickly got up, packing your stuff.

-You felt so embarrassed, so ashamed.

-Tears formed in your eyes, remembering the pain you went through, the betrayal you went through

-Remembering how your own brother hurt you

-you shouldn’t have trusted anyone. You shouldn’t have let anyone come so close to you.

-“Wait, where are you going?” Poe asked

-you didn’t speak to him as you quickly ran out the door before Poe could chase after you.

-a week passes and Poe still hasn’t seen you

-he stayed up every night and waited till 7am in the morning at the garage just to get a chance to speak to you

-but you never arrive

-“Please Commander, I need to speak to Y/N,” Poe pleaded Leia, his voice desperate. “Just tell me where she is.”

-“Poe I told you to stay away from her, she’s been through enough and-“

-“-I love her,” Poe cut her off. He nodded himself, taking in the words he had just spoken. “I love her.”

-Leia sighed, closing her eyes as she sensed the urgency in Poe’s words. And plus, you needed someone like Poe in your life.

-“She’s at Bay 5,” Leia spoke, rubbing her eyes.

-“Bay 5?” Poe asked in confusion, hurt laced in his tone. “She- she’s going to leave?”

-“In five minutes if you don’t hurry up.”

-and with that, Poe ran towards bay 5 like his life depended on it.

-he felt like this was it. It was now or never. There will never be anyone quite like you in his life and he knows that.

-“Y/N!” Poe yelled as he finally made it to Bay 5.

-his heart was beating rapidly as he saw a plane about to take off

-“Y/N wait-“ Poe yelled but was cut off by the sound of your plane flying away

-he breathed in heavily as he watched your plane fly away further and further before he couldn’t see it

-he was glad no one else was in bay 5 to notice the pain in his face

-you were gone. You were really gone. And Poe might never see you again

[callioope]

I'm curious about the fencing au, if you'd be willing to share. =)

Hello! Sure. (I’m a little less satisfied with what I have for this, but happy to share!) 

I used to fence back in the day (it hurts me to say just how long ago), and I was feeling pretty nostalgic for it sometime around two years ago, so I decided to write a rebelcaptain fencing AU and thought for sure I’d be able to post it in time for the Olympics. Hahaha... well, I guess technically they haven’t happened yet, so I’m not quite late with it.

[This is in response to the WIP Title Game I did; anyone else reading this, please feel free to send an ask! I will actually answer in a timely manner this time…]

Anyways, the plan was to write a modern fencing AU, where Jyn (and everyone) competes on an Olympic level. I’d take a handful of important moments of Jyn’s life related to fencing. I only really finished like two scenes, and the rest were just collections of lines and ideas and not really fleshed out.

But it starts with Jyn hanging out at the YMCA while Bodhi’s taking a beginner lesson (Saw refuses to teach anyone younger than 10 -- which was my instructor’s rule). Jyn’s just watching, and at the end, when Saw is talking to the parents after class, she nabs a sword and a fencing mask and starts goofing around with Bodhi. She thinks she’s gonna get in trouble, but Saw is impressed and makes an exception to teach her despite being, just like, a year or two too young. (I almost posted this scene, but c’mon, y’all want the rebelcaptain right? Right.)

Throughout the years, she meets Maia, becomes really good, competes in the Junior Olympics, and then... when she’s 16, something happens with Saw where he can no longer be her coach. I never figured that part out (maybe he got sick, maybe they had a falling out about her training, maybe he just thought he’d taught her everything he knew and wanted her to go somewhere else), but Jyn doesn’t take it well.

Then comes this snippet:

At eighteen, she walks into Alliance Fencing, a thrill running through her at the sound of blades clashing, the beeps of scoring machines, the voices of directors calling touches. 

A tall fencer wearing a foil lamé watches her as she crosses the room and sets her gear in an open spot next to the wall. He’s talking to a red-haired man, who she recognizes as the epee coach. There’s no name printed on the back of the fencer’s lamé, so she pays attention when the director calls them to fence. 

“Erso fencing Andor!” 

Andor. Isn’t he an epeeist? She has just enough time to flip between confused to annoyed, and she channels that to defeat him. He certainly knows tactics for lefties, concentrating his attacks in five, going for the back of her left side, but he’ll have to try better if he thinks those tricks are enough to break her defenses.

Jyn’s focus rarely leaves the strip, when she’s on it. But peripherally, some part of her brain registers that a crowd is gathering. 

Blades never clash the way they do in movies — swords crossed, adversaries glaring dramatically over sharp edges. Getting so close, knocking bell gardes like that, only results in frantic flailing, as two opponents try awkwardly to contort their arms to bring the tip of their blade back around to the target area before the other retreats. No, infighting is never pretty, and better avoided. 

She wins, of course — his style betrays his preferred weapon — but she refuses to admit she’s impressed. 

“Don’t worry,” Leia tells her after. “That’s his idea of a welcome.”

Later, she challenges him to an epee bout, just to prove a point. When she loses, and they shake hands, breathless, she says, “I’d’ve won, if I hadn’t taken a nap out of boredom.”

She’s surprised to win his smile — and more surprised how good it feels to earn it.

#

...yeah, it was still a work in progress.

I feel like this probably suffers from too much jargon, although some of that probably would have been explained earlier in the story, when Jyn is still a beginner.

Bell garde: I think this is pretty obvious but it’s that silver part by the hilt that protects your hand. 

Bout: a match between two fencers

Epee: one of the three types of fencing weapons. Target area is the entire body. 

Five (as in “concentrating his attacks in five...”): ummm short story, basically the body is divided into different target areas. usually beginners learn 6, 4, 8, 7. 

Foil: one of three types of fencing weapons. The smallest weapon with the smallest target area (torso only).

Infighting: basically when fencers are too close so it’s harder to use normal techniques

Lamé: a vest that foil and saber fencers wear to define the target area. It’s covered in little wires so that when a fencer is hit, a red or green light goes off on the scorebox indicating it was on target. (If you hit off target, a white light goes off.)

Saber (not discussed in this snippet, but for the curious): the third type of fencing weapon. Target area is waist and up. 

And yeah, it’s lame to have to explain my own joke so I probably need to rewrite it, but re: the ending of the scene: epee is more of a slower, strategic, longer game, so Jyn’s just teasing Cassian by trying to say his preferred weapon is boring. 

I decided Leia fences saber. Bodhi fences foil, like Jyn. Luke was either foil or saber, I apparently hadn’t decided. Cassian and Kay are epee, and Han is saber. 

I didn’t have a very compelling plot in mind, other than Cassian and Jyn just gradually falling or each other. That’s probably one reason I never finished it. I couldn’t figure out the conflict! 

Yeah, I think this suffers from being rather niche, but presumably before I ever post it, I’d fix that to make it more accessible. For the record though, I deleted a ton of dumb opining about fencing so if anyone ever does want to talk about fencing with me, clearly that is a thing I want to do.

ANYWAYS this feels like I’m workshopping myself at this point, SORRY this scene leaves a lot to be desired, but there you go, the reason I never got anywhere with this fic!

Thanks for asking!

[herguardianvampire]

‘The Ways of the Jedis’ part 1

Living on Earth was a blessing for Anakin and Padmé. They had moved here 12 years ago, in search for a new beginning and a much better life. They had bought a huge house in a nice Californian neighborhood, adopted two puppies, made a lot of friends, and eventually welcome two babies into their lives 11 years ago. The couple had never been happier than when they found out they would live the basic life of a typical earth inhabitant. It was a dream come true to leave behind them the problems of the senate, and the jedis, and their secret marriage. Everything had been sorted, they had ran away together, letting Obi Wan know. Anakin's master ended up coming to earth too, close to his grown up padawan. Life was great. simple. Maybe too simple for Luke, 11 years old.

Luke had dark blond hair, and an angelic face. He looked a lot like his father. And he wanted to be like him. He was usually very calm, but lately things had changed. It all started a few months earlier when Luke and Leia's teacher had asked their parents to come over to talk about Leia's skills in class. She was remarkable. really advanced for her age, and the teacher was requesting them to apply for a scholarship to a gifted school. Leia was gifted. She was the smartest around and her parents were really proud. Anakin and Padmé spent a lot of time trying to figure out which school to apply for. Luke started to feel out of place, not enough, especially to his father who was always so close to Leia.

It's true that Anakin had always told his wife he wanted a little girl, that she would have her daddy wrapped around her finger. And it had been right for the last eleven years. But lately, Anakin was the one taking care of driving his daughter around to get schools stuffs ready. She was going to sleep away during the week and come back home on week ends. Luke started to act differently around his parents and especially his dad to get his attention. It's true that with everything going on, Anakin might have forgotten to take time for his son. His grades went down, he started to act up at school and get himself into all sorts of trouble. And he would spend the majority of his time with Obi Wan. When he was around his parents, he would be quiet, almost secretive. Padmé understood pretty quickly. Their son needed his father. But when she would bring the subject in the conversations with Anakin, her husband would rarely talk about it. For him, all tween boys were like this, he was just growing up. He wouldn't admit that maybe he was doing something wrong.

On a morning, as Anakin was driving Luke to school, Luke started to mention his past discussions with his father's old master.

"Did you know Obi' is going back to Tatooine for some business? He's going to go for like weeks, to be a jedi like you two used to be." he said. Anakin was surprised his son started the conversation. The rides to school were always pretty quiet. He was driving, he looked in the mirror of the car to see Luke and shook his head "no, I did not know that." he replied. He was also surprised his master was having more conversations with Luke than with him.

"Yeah, it's so cool. Maybe I could go with him. He would teach me to be a Jedi too, like he did with you." Luke said as he was looking by the window of the car.

Anakin didn't give much reaction to that. He kept driving.

"Dad? do you even listen?"

"Mhm? Yes, yeah I listened. You're not going."

Luke's eyes started to show some anger. "Why not ?? it sucks here! Earth is boring!" he was shouting at his dad.

Anakin sighed. He hated confrontation, especially with his kids. When they were little, Padmé was the one to ground them, Anakin just didn't have the courage to say no to their cute faces. It was still hard now, but this was a serious matter.

"well excuse us for wanting to find a place where we would be able to give you the best chances at a good life. Maybe you'd like to try and be a slave on Tatooine or get your life plans ruined by having to live a secret life to stay alive ?" Anakin hated how Obi Wan kept telling his son all these old Jedi stories without mentioning the most important part: danger. They had left Naboo to live a better life and had promised themselves that they would never leave, to protect the children.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Jedis can go through anything and do whatever they want. I want to be one." he said.

Anakin was still driving and trying to avoid a massive fight with his 11 year old son. "Too bad Earth does not have Jedis". he wanted to pull this idea out of his son's head while he still could.

"well then let me go !! Obi Wan said-"

"I don't care what Obi Wan said, Luke! I'm your father and I say you're not going to TatOoine!" he was shouting back. He knew he needed to control himself, he took a breath and kept driving.

Luke's eyes started to tear up a bit and as he looked at his father from the back seat he shouted again "I hate you!!"

I hope you like that first part! You’ll have Anakin’s reaction in a few days!

For the edit, I use Jacob Tremblay as Luke since Mark Hamill said Jacob would be a perfect young Luke. And Jacob wants to be a young Luke so now, they got it! 🙊

[madsmikkelsenschesthair]

I’m sorry... ch.1

A/N: so, I wrote this story and I uploaded this on another account on here like 2 years ago(?) But now I’m uploading it here again. It’s just a mini series :) Anywho, Reader is 15 years old at the beginning

Pairings: daughter!reader x Poe Dameron and future pairings Kylo Ren x Reader and General Hux x Reader

Warnings: angsts, anger, running away

She was crying. Tears streamed down her beautiful face, her eyes filled with so much pain it broke his heart but he was so angry.

The mission had been a complete disaster and Poe was mad that many were lost including civilians and he blamed it all on his daughter.

"None of this would have happened if you just stayed close to me like I asked you to!" he yelled making her flinch.

"You are never proud of me! I did what I was supposed to do and this is what I get?! You're never satisfied with me ever since mom died I've been a burden to you!" she cried. More tears rolled down her face but she didn't care people were staring anyways. "I've joined to fight, I'm a pilot in training, I'm Force sensitive and none of that is good for you! Nothing I do seems right!"

"You don't belong in the Resistance, Y/n!” he snapped. The look on her face would haunt him forever but the idiot inside him made him continue spew out the rest of the venom inside him. "You don't belong in any part of the resistance. I think it's best if you just put those butterfly dreams in a jar and bury it somewhere in the graveyard." Without another word, Y/n ran to her room and put the door in "Do Not Disturb" mode. She collapsed on her bed crying as she had never done before, she could feel her heart shattering into a million pieces.

Her father was right. She didn't belong in the Resistance. She didn't belong anywhere. Her mother wasn't here to soothe her or to tell her that she did belong. There was no place for her. Y/n sat up and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and angrily took off her father's jacket throwing it on the floor and began to pack the few things she owned in her backpack. She didn't know where she was going but anywhere was better than here. Before she stepped foot out her window, Y/n noticed a picture. It was a picture of her and her parents back when she was a child back before mother got sick. They were smiling at the camera, all of them, they were standing in front of her dad's X-Wing. Y/n knew that she might never see this place again and if she left it she would never get it back. So she ripped the side where Poe was and only took the part where she and her mother were and threw the other half on the floor alongside the jacket. Without a second thought, she jumped out the window and ran into the woods.

------------------------

After talking to General Organa of the mission and the argument, Poe realized that she was right. His daughter was young. She was just barely training to be a pilot and a soldier. Just at the ripe age of fifteen she wanted to be just like her parents and he didn't give her a chance. Poe decided he was going to fix this once and for all. Rose was all he had left in the world and if he lost her...

He sighed when he saw that her door was in 'Do Not Disturb' mode but he knocked anyways.

"Sweetheart, dad's sorry for what he said earlier tonight. I was wrong okay? You do belong in the Resistance here with dad. I'm sorry Rosie.." he pressed his forehead against the door and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry for what I said. And I'm sorry if I haven't been the best father. You just remind me so much of your mother....but from now on everything is going to change. We're going to be a family just you and me Y/n. The family your mother always wanted." Poe opened his eyes and immediately realized something was wrong.

Very wrong.

He took out the spare key to her room and unlocked it, the alarms going off. His stomach dropped when he saw an empty room and the opened window. All of her stuff was gone. He noticed his jacket on the floor and gingerly picked it up and held it close to him. On her bed was a piece of paper. It read, 'I will no longer be in your way, dad. You are right. The Resistance doesn't need me.'

He dropped it and ran out of her room, "Y/N!"

----------------

Y/n was sitting in bank of a stream her knees pulled to her chest. She had her head rested on top of her knees, tears still rolling down her face. The whooshing of the stream and the noises of the life around it didn't drown her sobs.

Why are you never proud of me dad?

Why do you treat me so badly?

All I ever wanted was for you to love me.

Suddenly, a blue glowing light made her look up. To her surprise, butterflies were floating towards her. Bright blue colored and big enough to fit her palm. She stood up and watched them float around her, Y/n wiped away her tears and smiled at them. She raised her finger to touch one only for the biggest one to land on it. Y/n softly giggled at this. Where did they come from? She had never seen butterflies like these. The butterfly fluttered its wings and started to fly back to the direction it came from. Y/n followed them into the darkness of the woods their light leading the way. Then something strange happened. As she got closer to the butterflies her chest started to glow the same hue as them. Y/n could hear her heart beat as well and then se sound of another heart...

The butterflies suddenly disappeared and she didn't know why. But then, a dark figure appeared in front of her. It had the same glowing chest as her. Her breath hitched and her heart beat faster but she didn't move. The figure reached to its head and the latches of a mask hissed revealing a beautiful man. He had long dark hair, brown eyes and pale silky skin. Y/n didn't say anything but only stared as the mysterious man brought his hand up and reach into her mind. He was a Force user as well. She could feel him dig into her thoughts and memories, a look of concentration crossed his face.

"You're so lonely..." he whispered softly. She closed her eyes. Tears already started to form.

"And sad...your mother died and your father doesn't seem to care about you..."This time she didn't stop the tears from coming out.

"He thinks you don't belong in the Resistance. He only thinks you're useful when you're using the Force." Then he stopped going through her head. Y/n opened her eyes.

"I'm lonely and sad too," he said. He cupped her cheek and she melted into his touch. "My name is Kylo Ren."

"My name is Y/n. Y/n Dameron."

"What if I told you I could teach you the proper ways of the Force? What if told you there's a place for you in this galaxy after all? A place where you will truly be appreciated for everything you've done? " She looked at him in awe. Was he offering to- "I will be your teacher. I can show you the way, my dear. Just come with me. Join me and we will rule the galaxy together. Neither of us will be lonely and sad ever again." Y/n looked back the small opening behind her. She could see the Base from here and by looks of it no one had sounded any alarms to look for her. He was right. They didn't need her. She turned back to him and said, "Let's go." With that, he wrapped an arm around her and lead the way back to his ship.

Meanwhile Poe was going crazy. He looked everywhere on base for his daughter but she wasn't found. General Organa organized a search party being led by herself. She didn't want to sound the alarms because she told Poe if he wanted his baby to be found, they shouldn't scare her off. They were now searching in the nearby forest hoping to find some kind of sign that she was there. He was desperate and scared, his daughter was probably too heartbroken to even notice where she was going.

“Y/n!” Poe screamed into the woods again.

“Poe come quick!” Leía called out to him and he ran out of the trees and met the rest of the search party and General Leia by the stream. Another pilot was holding up a backpack and Poe recognized it. His heart dropped. At that moment, a strong wind blew startling everyone and they all glanced at the sky in horror to see the famous TIE Silencer hovering above the trees then blasted off into hyper space.

“Poe,” Leia said in a sympathetic voice, “Y/n was on that ship....”

[smallblueandloud]

okay, time for some reva headcanons!

she takes some time for herself after the events of kenobi, traveling the galaxy, trying to keep a low profile. she learns and learns and learns on every planet she visits -- how the people there live, how they suffer, and eventually, how they survive. as she starts to learn which planets are safer, people start to trust her with information. one day, she ends up on a transport with a family with two force-sensistive children who are on the run.

she's managed to keep a low profile so far. no one who's ever sheltered her has ever realized that she used to be an inquisitor, and she relishes the freedom that gives her. but when their ship is stopped and she locks eyes with the parent of the two kids, whose dread is so strong it feels like her own, she realizes what she has to do, and uses her knowledge of how the empire works to get the patrol to leave them alone.

after that, she realizes luke wasn't a fluke -- she can't live in a galaxy where children (jedi children) are killed. she refuses to live in a galaxy where children are killed.

she joins the path. she keeps in contact with the parent of those two children and teaches the kids a little bit of meditation while they're still in the same area. she was never really trained as a pilot, and she's frankly done with fighting, but her knowledge of the empire is good and her instincts are better, so she spends a lot of time riding transports or greeting people at spaceports to get them through the most dangerous part of an escape -- the gap between a ship and a safehouse.

(that is, after all, where she caught leia.)

she rediscovers gardening. she used to love the gardens in the jedi temple when she was young, and she finds that caring for plants slowly draws her force senses out of their desperately-hidden crevices. she starts to see the force as the light in other people again, instead of something that can only be used for violence lest vader would figure her out.

whenever she's set to go on a transport, she brings plants with her -- small ones, in pots, that grow either fruits or flowers. she loves, loves the look on kids' faces when they taste a fresh-picked tomato. parents look at her with gratitude, and she doesn't deserve it, but... maybe one day she will.

the path starts to merge with scattered other organizations, growing into something that will one day be called the rebellion. she still doesn't want to fight, but as a force-sensitive and a well-known strategist, she gets invited to meetings anyway. roken knows of her past, of course, but as (oftentimes!) the only other representative of the path in the room, he keeps her secret.

she runs into bail organa a few times -- "oh, a former jedi? that's-- that's nice" -- and oscillates wildly between wanting to break down crying (to beg forgiveness) and wanting to burst out laughing (because this guy so clearly wants to give her obi-wan's contact information, as if she doesn't know he's alive). generally, she tries to release her feelings into the force and opts for a joke instead.

it takes her six years to meet one of the few other force-sensitives the rebellion has, and when she realizes "the fulcrum" is actually ahoska tano, the padewan she (and every other kid her age) worshiped, she finds herself grinning. ahoska actually recognizes her, which makes her feel a little guilty but mostly just so, so happy to see someone, anyone else who understands where she's come from.

it takes them several months to discuss anakin. she knows from the way bail greets ahsoka that she at least knows of luke's existence, but they still dance around the subject of obi-wan and why he isn't with the rebellion -- reva hasn't told a soul anything that happened on tatooine in six years and she won't start now. but she at least could tell ahsoka about what she did with the inquisitors, why she did it, how she failed. ahoska doesn't even hesitate, just tells her, "i can't blame you for trying. as far as i'm concerned, as far as the force is concerned, what you've done -- you are good. you have been doing good."

when she sees the look on reva's face, she softens. "i forgive you," she says, and hugs her.

(eventually, she'll run into luke skywalker, fresh off the destruction of the death star. he looks at her without recognition, cheerfully introduces himself, and she says, "i think i met your uncle and aunt on tatooine once, when i met obi-wan there. owen and-- beru?" his face falls as he says, "they were killed by the empire." she reaches out to touch his cheek. "i'm so sorry to hear that," she says, sincere enough that even she's surprised, and then she says, "i didn't know them for long, but i knew they loved you." his small smile feels like healing, feels like forgiveness, feels like a flower blooming in the cold deep blackness of space)

[who-talks-first]

The Skywalker Legacy documentary confirms what I was already fairly certain was true.

I don't need to go in-depth for you Bendemption fans. I know you picked up on all the little things after the death of Kylo Ren.

But I just want to go over this a bit because, while I maintain that Kylo Ren didn't deserve redemption, if it HAD to be done, this was absolutely the best (only) way it could have happened, and I really respect Adam's performance and all JJ's attention to detail.

The metaphorical (and literal?) death of Kylo Ren and rebirth of Ben Solo don't need to be explained. But the inclusion of which gives us such a tangible, real, tactile setup for his redemption. It doesn't happen here. This is just the catalyst that lets it happen.

Harrison Ford's uncredited cameo is so beautiful. It makes this scene possible. I think it's meant to be intentionally vague, but I personally feel that Leia sent him through the Force. Memory, Force Ghost, regular ghost, guilt vision, whatever - Leia made sure her son saw it.

And from then on, with the rebirth of Ben, we get to see the man he could have been. Brave. Strong. Feeling. I don't know how they do it, but his entire affect AND appearance change. The way KR holds himself, how his hair falls is entirely different from those of BS. And it's impressive acting and makeup/wardrobe. Ben's hair is... dare I say it? Fluffy. Where we all mocked Kylo for his nasty greasy Snape hair. Something about Adam's face, even when he's fighting, feels more natural, more relaxed.

You know what? In 15 minutes of screen time for BS, I actually like him. Meaning, if he had been a character in movies instead of KR, I would have liked him and rooted for him along with the other heroes. He even looks more youthful. Instead of the 40 year old appearance in TLJ, Ben looks like he's 25 (a little closer to the character's actual age, I think). And I think that's good filmmaking that all those things can be made apparent * just like that.

Anyway. I want to focus on some details. There's probably something to be said about the costume change - from the hard, rigid armor of KR to the, uh, is that a sweater? of BS. When did he have time to do that? How'd he get off Endor? I have other questions about that escape, but that's not the focus of this discussion.

Anyway, I seen all the GIFs where scenes with KR mirror the behaviors his parents (like the Solo Slide). But I think that as Ben, we really see him channel his parents.

This is the most obvious one to me:

Han in TFA at Maz's castle/Ben arriving on Exegol (some kind person already GIFed it for me)

That's very deliberate given that these are both JJ's films.

Now this may not be as intentional as I think, but it's obvious to me. Leia training with her brother /Ben answering the knights' challenge

That casual, wide stance? I dunno. It feels like something he picked up from his mom like he picked up the other thing from his dad.

All this stuff just let you see and feel what was taken away by Snoke and Palpatine. He could have been a good man, strong fighter for the light, a Jedi like his mother before him and her father before her. It gives you that sharp contrast of what you lose when you choose the dark.

Then Ben and Rey both squaring up to fight Palpatine and then he straight up removes Ben from the fight completely. That's important. It makes sure there's no misunderstanding that this is Rey's fight. No one else can fight it for her or take it away from her. Kylo Ren said "that saber belongs to me" but the truth is Rey earned it. But I digress.

TROS builds up how strong Rey is in the Force throughout the movie, showing her ability to transfer life. Something it appears she learned on her own.

So when she falls. And it's made clear that she is dead. (Her body doesn't immediately disappear, however, and I think there's another discussion to be had on why that is!)

And Ben hesitates. You can see him wonder if he can do it.

He puts his hand on Rey and transfers far more than "a bit of life". Already drained by his and Rey's life-forces being used to revive Palpatine, it takes everything that is left in him. But he is also pulling Rey back from somewhere she hadn't yet pulled anyone with her own technique. Is Ben more powerful in the Force than she? (I don't think so, but I think in another life he could have been) I think Ben only knows all or nothing. It's part of how he got here in the first place. Perhaps he could have brought Rey back from the other side without using all his strength. Perhaps not. We'll never know.

Now I do not approve of the kiss. I don't even know how to begin discussing my feelings on it. But maybe it was necessary to include it just to pacify the Reylos (as if the redemption arc wasn't enough).

But the smile. The smile is so important. We've not once seen Kylo Ren happy anywhere in the series. I don't think anything he could ever achieve would have made him happy. But Ben, maybe even aware that he is about to meet his end, is so happy that she is alive, that he succeeded in saving her, that she defeated Palpatine, (that she is in his arms?) and he finally smiles and again we see the man that should have been. It's bittersweet. As relieved as I am to see Kylo Ren perish (because, like Darth Vader, after taking so many many lives, saving only one is not enough to live a free life) I am saddened to see Ben Solo die. There's probably a conversation to be had on how anyone can be tempted by evil. I dunno. I'm not a philosopher or anything.

Anyway. My sister, who is not really a Star Wars fan but who often understands storytelling far better than I, informed me that Leia was essentially possessing her son for the duration of the redemption arc. That's why her body doesn't disappear until Ben dies. That's why he fights like her, understands Rey's techniques better, can heal like that... I don't know if she's right, my sister. I don't think it's all Leia cuz I'll be damned if she kisses Rey on the mouth.

And then my bf informed me that Ben became a part of Rey when he disappeared into the Force. That's why his ghost didn't appear later. I don't know how I feel about that. I def don't know how Finn and Poe are going to feel when Rey tells them both this. I can't imagine wanting to smooch your gf after you find out that Hitler's wannabe poser grandson is possessing her. I mean.

Okay I've been writing so long I've lost what little coherency I started with. I'm so sorry.

But I just wanted to share my thoughts on all this with you guys. My main point is that if the redemption of Ben Solo had to be included in the film, I genuinely believe that it could not have been done better - from a storytelling standpoint AND with regards to the performance itself! - than they did for TROS. My hat is off to JJ and Adam, really.

(oh and his insistence on doing all his own stunts? Adorable.)

(I'm cool for discussion on the topic, but I have neither the time nor the energy to fight any Reylos about this and anyone trying to start drama gets the ol' Instablork.)

[artsyongallifrey]

hello naughty children, it's time to watch a Star War.

Specifically, the Rise of Skywalker. My fiancee is out of town and I'm bored and this is marginally less self-destructive than a lot of other things. Also I still haven't seen it so y'all get to suffer with me.

Here we go.

Oh okay. So we just opened this bitch with the fact that Palpatine is alive.

This is the least interesting title crawl for a Star War and I already want to die.

"tHe FoRcE iS a PaThWaY tO mAnY aBiLiTiEs SoMe WoULd CoNsIdEr... UnNaTuRaL" Oh FUCK off.

WHERE DID THE FINAL ORDER COME FROM?? WHEN THE FUCK WERE THEY HAPPENING???

What the FUCK is lightspeed skipping???

Okay, I am fan of Rey going "fuck it" with the lightsaber and just stabbing the training droid thing with a stick. That's how I feel about watching this movie.

I also do like Leia training Rey.

WHY IS MERRY BRANDYBUCK HERE

Oh hey, Maz!

Why can't Rose go with them? That feels like bullshit. Because it is bullshit.

3P0, R2 is your husband.

Okay, while I love Carrie Fisher and I am still heartbroken by her death and I really wanted her in this movie, this feels choppy and unnatural. It's a shell of Carrie Fisher.

Oh yeah, the Knight of Ren. Forgot about those guys.

"I sense unease about my appearance, General Hux." Yeah, dumbass. Your boyfriend misses seeing your face.

I really wish someone would explain how this Force Facetime works

Lando!!!

"ThEy FLy NoW!!" BOBA FUCKING FETT COULD FLY, JESUS CHRIST

Quicksand?? What is this, the 80s?

Finn is Force sensitive. Just fucking say it.

Poe knowing all that "shifty stuff" could just be part of being in the Resistance, and I know that is just gonna be Poe's criminal history because we had to be racist, but seriously, there could be so many other explanations. But we went with the racist one. This movie sucks.

That is a weird ass, impractical dagger.

C-3P0 is forbidden??? from translating runic Sith??? What kinda bullshit???

Oh cool, Force healing!

Wait, so does that shorten her lifespan? Because that makes Baby Yoda healing Apollo Creed way more fucked up.

For the record, Force healing was an established thing in Legends canon. But it didn't work like that. I'm telling you this because literally nothing else important is happening right now.

Except Chewie just got captured for some fuckin reason.

OKAY THAT WAS COOL. REY IS COOL. I'M GAY.

JUST SHOOT KYLO REN. HE'S RIGHT THERE.

Did she just... accidentally use Force lightning??

Chewie is definitely not dead. I don't believe that for a second.

I hate this whole playing hot and cold with the Dark Side thing. We did it with Luke and it was interesting. With Rey... it's really not. We know she's not going to turn because that's not what Star Wars is about. There's no tension here and it's boring.

Called it. Chewie's not dead.

Ah, another little droid we can use to market toys.

And there is it. Poe was a spice runner. Whoop-Dee-fucking-Doo.

Okay but Finn poking fun at him for it is kinda funny.

We've wiped 3P0's memory before so this scene holds no emotional weight.

And now we gotta go to Endor. For the Nostalgia Points.

Rey using the Jedi Mind Trick is great and Poe's reaction is the best.

The Force Facetime fight is kinda cool.

Hux was the spy. Whoop. Dee. Do.

Ah. Hux and Kylo broke up, apparently.

Why would Palpatine want to kill a child? I dunno, Rey. Maybe because he's EVIL.

I mean, also you're a Palpatine but there are other very legitimate reasons.

But also, and this is a very important question: who did the Emperor fuck? He never fucked. Dude was probably an incel or something. Who and how did he fuck?

I love it when ground troopers fire at ships as if that will have any effect on anything.

And Hux is dead.

Rey is allowed to be a little murdery. The guy killed her parents.

That thing with the dagger is bullshit.

I think it's been 16 hours by now.

More deserter stormtroopers!! That's actually pretty cool.

JUST. SAY. FINN. IS FORCE SENSITIVE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

It's definitely been 16 hours by now. Everyone lost. Go home.

Okay, Sith Rey can get it.

WAIT IS LEIA GONNA DIE?

Kylo Ren looks so fucking ridiculous soaking wet, I'm sorry. I had to pause, I was laughing so hard. I'm sorry to Adam Driver. They did you dirty, man.

There is an hour left in this movie. I want to die.

YES FINALLY, WE KILLED KYLO

Are we really supposed to feel sorry for him?

DID YOU REALLY JUST HEAL HIM? REALLY? FUCKING REALLY?? REALLY? SHUT THE FUCK UP. FUCK THIS MOVIE.

That is the worst way you could have killed Leia. I fucking hate it.

Kyle is hallucinating now.

That misspelling is on purpose. I am angry and tired.

You didn't earn your redemption arc, Kyle.

I kinda dig the Final Order uniforms. Respect the drip, Karen.

I'm sorry, Force ghosts can handle solid objects now?

So who doesn't know that Rey is a Palpatine?

LEIA HAD A LIGHTSABER?? SHE WAS TRAINING?? WE WERE FUCKING ROBBED.

"Atmo" readings?

I'm just... so fucking done with this movie. I don't even care anymore.

Are they gonna try to frame this final battle like the end of Episode 6?

"How do you know?" "A feeling." JUST SAY HE'S FORCE SENSITIVE OHHHH MYYYY GOD I AM GOING TO SCREAM

They have horses. Because... I don't fucking know anymore. I hate this movie.

That is a huge Palpatine cult. Holy shit.

Yep, we're pulling an Episode 6. "Watch your friends die and get angry and kill me!" Oooh how compelling.

Okay. This fight scene was cool.

And that was way too short. The movie sucks again.

Oh hey, reinforcements.

Where did Palpatine's spicy new robes come from?

"And I'm all the Jedi." Fuck yeah. If only this movie was actually good.

WAIT DID REY DIE?

But Kyle isn't dead. Why.

Oh wait, is he Force healing her? Okay, cool.

Nah, he's still not Ben.

OH FUCK NO. WHY ARE THEY KISSING? WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Oh thank christ. He's finally dead.

Let Finn and Poe kiss, dammit.

Are we implying that former stormtrooper lady is Lando's kid?

Actually let Finn, Poe, and Rey kiss. They're a thruple.

Luke's old house, okay. Why are we burying the lightsabers here?

OH SHE MADE ONE OUT OF HER OLD STAFF.

SHE'S REY MOTHERFUCKING SKYWALKER BITCHES.

THE MOVIE IS OVER. I NEED A DRINK.

That was bad. That was so bad. I hate this.