#as obi-wan loses yet another female love interest to death at the hands of the sith. again.

[inkognito97]

can we have tahl and jocasta meet in the Dracula au with them bonding over their mutual love of reading?

@mostie01

Includes the following prompts:

In the Dracula au can we have jocasta complete her transformation but with her being mad that dooku used his powers on her when she was human m. - anonymous

In the Dracula au can we have Vampire quigon and vampire tahl decide to have a family dinner after their um love making? With obiwan being happy for his parents and dooku showing up with Jocasta who drinks the wine spiked with his blood.  - anonymous

In the Dracula au can we have jocasta fully transform into a vampire after drinking wine spiked with his blood in the bedroom after um sex. - anonymous

In the Dracula au can we have tahl meet jocasta with her being amused that this human Jedi has caught his attention. - anonymous

Tahl looked softly down at her ginger haired brat, who was happily walking between her and her husband. Speaking of which, the older vampire shot her a loving look, it was full of longing and she could easily spot the pain he had suffered through since her death. She looked again at the boy, who had taken her hand, as well as his fathers. Tahl had not said it out aloud, but she knew that Qui-Gon would have gone mad had it had not been for the little ray of sunshine walking between them.

The trio entered the dining area as one and as expected, was Yan already seated at the table and he was in company of a female human. Tahl could immediately tell that she was the female Jedi her husband had told her about. Despite everything that had happened, or perhaps because of it, the honey skinned female found it very funny that her father in law had developed an interest in such a person. No wonder Qui-Gon was so grumpy about it.

Yan’s eyes widened for the briefest of seconds, but he quickly hid the surprise behind the usual mask he put on. If the Jedi noticed anything, she did not let it show.

Tahl sat down across the human, with Obi-Wan seating himself next to her and Qui-Gon next to him. This way, they could easily hold hands on their son’s lap, who did not mind at all. 

“I don’t think we have met yet,” the honey skinned vampire’s smile was genuinely. She wanted to observe before making a decision. “Tahl Jinn, pleased to make your aquaintance.”

Jocasta inwardly winced. It was already bad enough to be surrounded by three vampires, now it were four. Not to forget that the oldest of the bloodsuckers at actually managed to get under her skin. “Jocasta Nu, head archivist in the Jedi temple,” she introduced herself nevertheless.

Gold-green striped eyes found the almost unnoticeable red marks on the woman’s skin. A smile threatened to appear on her features. So her father in law had already made his move. There was no need to fear the human. Now she just needed to make Qui-Gon see it her way… and Obi-Wan as well, if the evil glares he shot the mortal were any indicator. Yes, Obi-Wan was definitely his father’s son, there was no denying it. And just as the long haired vampire, he would break a lot of hearts one day.

A servant with a large bottle of wine entered. The young male bowed and showed the bottle to Yan, who nodded his approval. There was a gleam in his eyes and both Qui-Gon and Tahl knew exactly what that meant. The smell of blood that was only noticeable if you were a vampire, was the final hint. The vampire couple exchanged an amused look over ginger locks. The wine was spiked with the count’s blood.

Meanwhile Obi-Wan was chewing happily on the piece of meat before him. He had noticed the hint of his grandfather’s blood in the wine as well and he was not stupid. He knew the female Jedi would soon be a vampire and part of their family, but she would not be for him. He narrowed his eyes. There was no way that he would call a Jedi family, no way.

Jocasta felt funny. She felt as if she was about to lose the content of her stomach every minute now, but even for that kind of activity was too much for her body. It was as if a whole herd of banthas had trampled over him, leaving bruises and broken bones. 

If she did not know better, she would say that her body was shifting. Her eyes became wide in realization and she curled in on the soft bed she was resting on, as another wave of pain ran through her form. 

“That bastard,” she grit out, already planning a way how she could get out of this situation and desperately hoping that there was one to begin with.

[sepdet]

Star Trek Discovery: ep 2

Okay, I absolutely adored the premiere, which I liveblogged Sunday night. But I’ve been feeling rotten and groggy and didn’t watch episode 2 until tonight. 

I’m kind of glad I waited.

I’m transcribing remarks I made to a friend in a private chatroom while watching, and then I’ve added some thoughts afterwards.

SPOILERS.

Ep 2.

Raw remarks transcribed from private chat while watching (slightly edited)

So, our cliffhanger ended with Michael committing mutiny trying to save them, her captain betrayed and pointing a gun at her, and a whole Klingon fleet warping in like several buckets of shit flying towards a fan.

I’m still trying to get used to Sarek being nicer to a human trying to Vulcan than he was to a son whom he practically disowned for leaving Vulcan to join Starfleet. But I love Sarek so will try to muffle the "buts." I want Amanda to show up.

Parting word to Michael: "Behave." On the bright side, seems like it took her seven years before she LOL NOPED.

I hope the Klingon fans are happy. This is a very ponderous language to listen to when it's whole scenes of dialog and not just quick commands or insults. But I know there's a whole branch of fans who embrace Klingon culture and language, and I hope they're as thrilled as I was to hear Sindarin Elvish spoken.  (And that they're not too perturbed that the Klingon look has mutated again.)

Oh SHIT. I know the Captain was trying to defuse situation with diplomacy, but did they not have their shields up? Or was this just an old ship and/or Klingons managed to puncture shields. Ouch ouch ouch.

Wow, Michael is not having a good day. Waking up in remains of brig with failing containment fields around her — whole sequence is impressive and sad.

I like the way they're employing FX in service to story. It's hard not to let CGI overwhelm. But here, no matter how spectacular FX are, they're functional, rather than an end to themselves: like incidental music the Big FX moments help set mood/tone and give audience catch breath to process what just happened. As opposed to only using FX to foster one mood, maximum adrenaline, and keep audience off-balance so they have no time to catch breath and reflect on situation.

Intense telepathic scene with Sarek. Man he really likes this kid. He is one crazy ass Vulcan, even if he won't admit it: sharing a katra with a near stranger, especially a human child, is pretty drastic. (Also I'm confused: thought he adopted her after parents died in attack, but it looks like Michael was already his ward during attack?

ARGH.

Sarek: "I did not come here to judge your actions. I came here to—"

*Pumpkin, who likes to snooze on desk next to keyboard and occasionally use it as pillow at inconvenient moments, carefully and deliberately stretches out paw and plants it over ESC key, backing up browser window to several URLs ago, losing livestream.*

Cats. Such exquisite timing.

Back online.

Okay yes [STC sounded slightly noncommittal when I was enthusing about restraint of FX] now they're getting a little show-offy. But yikes. First time I've ever seen a space battle using classical Greek naval warfare maneuver. Trireme beak-ram!

...although it could be coincidence, and I'm reading it that way because of my classical studies background. They might've come up with that unusual and dramatic visual independently. At any rate, impressive.

OOOOO. Just hit scene where Captain, out of options, sees Klingons beaming up their dead, and she sees option.  I've been kind of waiting for her to be proactive instead of reactive. Earlier her hands were tied by trying to avoid conflict (following orders).

...DAMMIT. Just Googled to find out spelling of Phillipa's last name and saw the kind of spoiler I really hate to see. Stupid, stupid me.  I really honestly didn't know, since I had been so strenuously avoiding behind-the-scenes stuff. 

—

[At this point I stopped babbling in the chatroom to watch final scenes, so rest is post-watch thoughts.]

At least we have one great sequence between Burnham and Captain Georgiou, although the lull to confront one another and devise a strategy was a little forced— Klingons being very polite about not finishing them off. And YES, YES YES, finally seeing Michelle Yeoh fighting, which believe it or not I never have. (I don't watch many films or really much media.) 

:( Ouch. So close. Just a second or two longer.

So that's that. Man, that's gotta be a record even for Trek; can't even get through two eps without ship's destruction and crew evacuation. (Mom and I used to get annoyed at destroying Enterprise for shock value; first time was so dramatic and meaningful, whereas repeat felt gimmicky.) 

Not sure Michael's Expository Speech is did her any favors at this trial, but at least now we hear what she thinks.

Teaser for next episode (or "real" Discovery show) follows. Kinda confusing that they're convicts but on a Federation ship? Or did she get transferred from prison?

I am still mourning the captain and really not in the mood to parse the trailer. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT. I was wary of this show, but after watching Ep 1 I let my guard down and was SO EXCITED.

I had seen one article about this series last spring showing what looked like a predominantly white-dude bridge with generic-looking white male captain and a few tokens, just like TOS. That had dampened my enthusiasm for this show and prevented me from getting into it or looking forward to it.

But recently I saw posts saying, "Yo, WOC captain and first officer!" (or rather, in Tumblr's usual WE MUST MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT SUPPORTING THIS THING YOU WEREN’T AWARE OF, SHAME ON YOU!!! way, there was a post berating Tumblr for lack of photosets and buzz and excitement over Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green, and why weren't we getting behind WOCs when we'd been all excited for Gal Gadot?) And I thought, Wait—what?! I thought this was going to be generic white dude captain with token black female first officer which is okay but not ANYTHING LIKE as cool as what you're saying?

And since I do try to avoid spoilers and PR I didn't know Yeoh wasn't going to be the regular series captain. Or rather, I was confused why the hype I was seeing now differed so drastically from that one article I’d started to skim and then closed thinking, “Nah, I’m going to avoid spoilers.” Had the showrunners changed their minds and decided to bring in Michelle Yeoh as an upgrade after seeing their version of Captain Pike wasn’t good enough to anchor a series?I was just going to wait and see.

I forgot any doubts when Episode 1 gave me EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED: Two great female characters with a friendship and professional working relationship. Banter. Excellence. Skills and wits. Clunky TOS tech and new shiny bridge set. Smart captain. Brave first officer. With two WOC they couldn't be tokens; they had to be expanded as just... 3 dimensional characters.

I was so here for that. I loved that whole opening minisode, and also the Captain sending Michael off to play in a brief voyage of discovery and enjoying that her first officer was enjoying herself.

Their friendship was perfect, legendary Kirk and Spock material. It was distracting me from the other bridge crew— even Saru, who is an interesting character, but I was focused so much on these two women— but I figured other characters would get filled out in subsequent episodes.

And now?

"Here. Here's what you really wanted. Two women being superbly competent officers with a meaningful friendship, leading a show just the way Kirk and Spock did. And it's going to be about discovery and an older woman mentoring another one, and tackling difficult ethical problems without providing easy answers and— PSYCHE! 

“...FOOLED YOU! Two leading women in a Kirk-Spock dynamic? Oh, we could never do that. So we're killing off your already-favorite character. As consolation prize, here, have an incarcerated and demoralized WOC who has to be 'grateful' to a white dude for letting her out of jail. Power imbalance between her and captain, no close friendship, and oh yeah, instead of voyage-of-discovery and complicated-ethical-problems Star Trek, it's going to be various people being macho and angry, and a depressing Federation-Klingon War."

 I hope I'm wrong.

It feels like they gave me everything I'd hoped for and more, and then, once I'd let my guard down, they took it away. I'm left with a character and actor (Sonequa Martin-Green) I like enough that I'm going to watch anyway...for now. But I'm back to being wary. And here we have yet another WOC/minority being killed to make way for generic white dude. So now I'm disillusioned and won’t trust this show, and we're only at the end of ep 2.

Okay, yeah, I'm pissed. 

Discovery could redeem itself and turn out to be fantastic. There is a lot of potential here and a lot to like. Saru and Burnham are good characters, and I assume some of the others will be too. But they're going to have to pull off a miracle now to keep me from fantasizing about the better show that COULD HAVE BEEN.

ETA: so maybe I should have read the behind-the-scenes stuff beforehand so I’d be prepared for this premiere to be backstory, in effect. I guess everyone else knew her death was coming, and could appreciate the drama while anticipating this would be a tragedy. Either I’m naive, or too groggy/tired to pick up the Obi-Wan vibes.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: The Last Jedi (quick thoughts).

so, the basic of my coming in to this:

- it’s been a long while since i watch the prequels or the original trilogy. - i like the prequels. a lot. - i keep meaning to get through all of clone wars, and probably rebels, too. - i liked rogue one as a film and story, (i love the design of u-wings) but don’t feel disney should be dedicating films to side stories. - i @campaignpodcast. it’s good listening. - The Force Awakens was not satisfying.

i was trepidation going in to Last Jedi.

this won’t be a full review (still want to save that for when i finally get around the rewatching everything).

so, Canvas’s quick thoughts. spoiler warning. no, seriously, spoilers to the point this won’t even make sense unless you’ve seen the film.

the bad

i do not like Poe Dameron. he always opens these films, and it’s always with dialogue that just breaks things.

i mean, TFA, his first line undermines kylo ren.

this movie, it’s just more immature, overly comedic squabbling with hux. and poe refers to the letter ‘H’. this is a really dumb nitpick, i know, but Star Wars doesn’t have the roman alphabet, they have arabesh. having Poe refer to letters is oddly world and immersion breaking?

another nitpick is Luke using the term ‘laser-sword’ once. it wasn’t as bad as the 'H’ thing, and it does make sense in context, but it’s also a term previously foreign to the universe.

back to poe.. he’s gone a long walk to engage me next movie. i swear, if the next film opens with poe running his snark mouth, i will grant him immortality in the worst way.

another consist problem is ‘the bad guys’/ the first order. the first order are just so boring. somehow, despite chasing down the last vestiges of the resistance, they don’t feel like a looming threat over the galaxy. sure, they have military power, but we haven’t seen them flex any political power.

the empire may have been evil and despicable, but they still had papers to sign, taxes to collect, people to subjugate. they felt like a threat deeply entwined with the world around them.

the first order just feels like an upstart band of hitler youths. they blew up the republic last movie,[1] and yet the First Order still feels like nobodies on a galactic scale!

worst still is Snoke: he is nothing. absolutely nothing. what’s his history? where’d he come from? what’s his goals? never explained. he gets killed, but nothing about Snoke is explained!

“but the emperor showed up in Empire Strikes back without a backstory! or even a name!’ okay, but at the time A New Hope was the only predeccessor. there was no canon ‘before’ times yet. the emperor was the face of ultimate evil, and that’s all he needed to be.

and when time came to write the backstory? Palpatine was given the need explanation. we saw his rise to power.

Snoke is a Sith-aligned... thing that just appeared between RotJ (where Luke killed the last two standing sith) and TFA, and there’s no story. he’s clearly a clumsy stand-in for palpatine, but they put in no narrative work for him.

but Snoke’s dead now, so who gives a crap! we’re not going to have a comfortable time giving him a story now. and if disney does snoke’s story in another stupid spin-off film, i’ll be angry. you can’t get away with a 6.5. snoke’s too big of a plot hole to be relegated to non-main series fodder.

Luke doesn’t teach Rey that third lesson. just... if you say there’s going be three of something, deliver the third. Checkov’s Gun and all.

finally, it just felt long in parts. the third act just dragged on for a good while. the movie kept cutting back and forth between stories so much, that it made the slow progress feel even slower.

there’s an improv game i play, some times, called rotating scenes. you get four performers to stand in a square, and you rotate this square around, with each side have a different scene. the key to making it work is, between the times a singular scene is being played, you let time advance. basically, a scene should go until it reaches the interesting point (the payoff of why this scene is happening) then you cut away. when you cut back, you’re forward in time at the start of the next interesting thing.

Last Jedi had a lot of cut away, then cutting back nearly to the moment a scene last left off. which makes short moments feel longer.

The Good

everything else.

most importantly, the Last Jedi is a self-contained story. no stupid dangling (major) plot threads are left at the end. things that get introduced are resolved to some manner (except lesson #3).

Finn continues to be great. shining star that he is.

Rose is a good addition. she works well with Finn, and though it pains my inexplicable FinnXRey[2] shipping heart, i won’t scream if Finn and Rose is the end game. it’s cute.

i also like how Finn’s arc concludes with him committing to being all in for the resistance/rebellion/the good guys. self-actualization is good.

Rey... has a character. she’s a Spunky Female Protagonist, standard issue. but, you know what? Luke was standard issued male protagonist. so Rey’s finally given some meat beyond the force-sensitive macguffin girl everyone’s trying to get while Rey’s stalled out in the ‘Refusal of the Call��� part of the hero’s journey. our new jedi’s given actual material and characterization. i am. on. board. with Rey now. she just needs a last name. (i suggest Organa. why not? time to bury the Skywalker legacy, and having Leia adopt her would be cute).

speaking of resolving things, Rey’s parents? nobodies. literal nobodies. garbage smugglers who sold their force sensitive daughter for a quick buck. Rey has no legacy to follow. Rey is a random force-sensitive kid with no prophecy behind her. she’s a nobody.

which makes her great. she’s comes from no where, so she could be anybody.

it’s the same thing that made me fall in love with Finn. i like fantasy stories about people who make themselves.

Luke delivered on being the best part of the movie. i have no complaints. it’s was the right enough nostalgia baiting, the sort that makes you comfortable with the future while (and this is key) being used to build up what comes next.

and Yoda. i... i felt genuine delight when Yoda’s ghost appeared for that single scene. i can’t even put it into words. it must be what everyone else felt when Han showed up last movie, accept it felt earned and heart warming.[3] i nearly cried with joy. i was so happy.

finally, Luke’s death. narrativewise, i’m fine with it, it served a strong purpose. having luke’s final scene be the setting of the two suns that rose in his first scene is a masterstroke. my own reservation (besides lest luke, but then again, force ghost) is... well, Carrie Fisher passed away. Leia survived the film. i fell that should’ve prompted a sad sigh, a somber rewrite, and a switching of which OT character we lose in this film. i’m not happy to say it, but luke felt more like a yoda than an obi-wan. Rey needed to return to complete her training. luke should’ve left next film (with the same setting suns) just as they did with yoda.

anyways... i like Last Jedi. i may even boldly place it as my second favorite of the main series films (after Revenge of the Sith. you can drag that out of my cold, dead, hands.)

EDIT: the way, masked, imposing figure who doesn’t remove their mask/helmet in the first film, and we get a quick peek underneath in the second? a description that applies to both Darth Vader and Captain Phasma. just saying...

kataal kataal.

[1] fine by me. i’m more aligned with the Separatists of the Clone Wars anyways. [2] Poe’s right out for everyone. i don’t support romances of characters i don’t like. (citation: Mei of ATLA, Asami of TLOK, and Tom form Daria.) they need to add to the narrative before i care about their relationship. [3] kinda wish it was kenobi, but that’s a logistical nightmare so i’ll excuse it.