#idk i just have a lot of skywalker family feelings

[mmelolabelle]

Sometimes I think about how deeply loved and wanted Luke and Leia ultimately were by all of their parents; Anakin, Padme, Breha, Bail, Beru and Owen and I just want to throw myself into the sun.

In some form or another each of them risked their lives for those children at some point. They didn’t have to. Anakin and Padme didn’t have to keep the pregnancy. Bail and Breha and Beru and Owen didn’t have to take them in. Obi-Wan didn’t have to dedicate the rest of his life to keep them safe. Every single one of them either the last thing they did, the last thing they thought about, or the last thing the saw was Luke and/or Leia.

So much of the Skywalker twins lives sucked but they were so, so loved by all their parents and I just 🥲🥲🥲

[dracowars]

hiii, do you take requests for luke skywalker? if you do, could i get a luke and reader fic where shes a jedi too and his close friend? she gets jealous and insecure when he starts to show interest in someone else (can be leia or someone else idm) and slowly starts distancing herself away and one day she gets hurt saving him and she thinks shes gna die so she confesses? when she wakes up she apologises and happy ending please??? Thanks!!

i'm not her | luke skywalker

pairing: luke x jedi!reader

word count: 2,1k

summary: where y/n thinks that luke is in love with someone else

a/n: i’m literally so clueless about legends, but i kind of know who mara jade is? i think? that’s why i thought it would be a nice idea to add her?? idk, don’t quote me on this lmao all i know is she has a cool purple lightsaber! thank you so much for this request, it's my first for luke <3

warnings: angst, violence, attempted murder, mentions of blood, mentions of injuries, mentions of death

universe: star wars

„You have been talking about her a lot lately, kid”, Han suddenly says out loud what everyone in the room was already thinking. A new day, a new plan to overthrow the Empire. You are in the process of developing a new tactic – in this case, you consists of General Organa, notorious pilot Han Solo and his faithful companion Chewbacca, as well as Luke Skywalker and yourself – when Luke cannot resist to bring Mara Jade into play again.

Mara Jade, the Emperor’s hand, who unscrupulously completes even the most brutal of orders from her master, is by no means to be underestimated and definitely has to be seen as a threat to the rebellion. However, she is not worth having a certain someone obsess over her that much. Ever since you have known of her existence, and by the way have crossed her path and fought her several times – Luke and you, side by side – he just cannot seem to stop mentioning her at every opportunity. He is almost enthusiastic about her and her abilities. That this unnatural obsession even catches Han’s attention has to mean something.

And the fact that Luke’s cheeks take on a light shade of red as he apparently feels caught by Han’s words only confirms all of this. The certainty you now have hurts.

The last few Jedi that still roam this galaxy are rarely encountered, and you still cannot quite understand how lucky you were to accidentally meet one of them, if not the best of them. There were times where you had to fend for yourself, you were not allowed to make any mistakes, or they would have caught on to you immediately. But suddenly you had a family, you were part of something much bigger.

Nobody can understand and relate to you better than Luke. Even though he did not know what he was destined to do from birth, you two have gone through similarly difficult times and it is nice to know that you no longer have to face the critical times ahead alone. The bond you built is based on mutual trust and respect. But the more you trained together, the more you got to know the many facets of the Force together, the more this bond of friendship became something else, something deeper.

Apparently, this feeling was only one-sided.

“I am just saying we need to keep an eye on her. She is a threat to-”

“So am I”, Han replies knowingly, arms crossed in front of his chest to underline his statement while starting a staring contest with Luke.

“Listen, we are doing it exactly the way we planned. If Jade crosses your path, well, it wouldn’t be the first time”, Leia intervenes softly, preventing the conversation from escalating any further. Neither Luke nor Han object to this suggestion, so Leia presents a short version of the plan as a wrap-up. The slight pain you feel in your heart is not noticed by anyone.

════════════

Actually, the plan was quite simple: get into the Imperial outpost unnoticed and get the information that a contact, a spy in the ranks of the Empire, hands you over. Unfortunately, the plan did not go as planned and you may not have gone quite as unnoticed as you would have liked. That violet lightsaber just appeared right in front of you, nobody could have really expected that.

Without hesitation, Luke and you draw your lightsabers, which flash green and blue in front of you as you position yourself in a suitable fighting stance, facing her. Your opponent nonchalantly twirls a strand of her red hair around her finger as she waits for the both of you to get ready. A satisfying grin curls her lips as her gaze shifts from you to Luke and lingers there.

“It has been a while”, Mara smiles, and if you did not know how ruthless this woman really is, you could almost have believed that she smiled genuinely friendly. But who are you trying to fool, this woman is the personified evil and finally must be defeated once and for all. Luke and you have already failed once, you are not going to let that happen a second time.

“It’s always nice to meet you”, Luke greets her, also giving her a smile, although you are pretty sure his is truly genuine. Another stab to your poor heart, but you try to focus on the battle ahead, tightening your grip on your lightsaber hilt which feels extremely heavy this time. She certainly will not win this time.

“I just wish our paths wouldn’t only cross when you’re about to rob the Empire”, Mara mentions amused, but at the same time her voice suddenly does not sound as friendly anymore as it did only mere seconds ago. However, the wink she gives Luke at the end of her sentence strongly suggests that she is actually flirting with him. Here. In the middle of an Imperial outpost. In front of you.

“When you two are done, I would really like to leave”, you interject now with a roll of your eyes, and even though you see Luke move his hand ever so slightly in the corner of your eye, holding it in front of you unnoticedly as if he wants to indicate that you should wait, you plainly ignore it. With quick steps you are right in front of Mara Jade and your lightsabers blaze with a bright white light as they meet. Luke, now forced to attack as well because of your attack, appears next to you and Mara uses the Force to knock you back a few meters through the air so that she only has to deal with Luke, at least for one moment.

“I should coach you soon, your tactics are ridiculous”, she mentions between movements, before you manage to get to your feet again and rejoin the fight. You are two against one and yet she has the audacity to make fun of your fighting style.

“No, but no thank you”, you answer promptly and although you are now fighting her at the same time, she does not seem to mind at all. The dark side of the Force that completely surrounds her seems to give her so much power that she can easily take on both of you. Every time you think you are about to wound her with your glowing blade, she finds another way to prevent you from actually doing so. Luke’s green lightsaber spins around and meets her purple blade at the same instant as yours. Together you try to bring her down, but she suddenly lets herself sink on one knee and pulls Luke’s legs away with her other leg, causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud. With a quick flick of her wrist, her lightsaber is dangerously close to you all of a sudden, forcing you to take a few steps back.

Mara uses this to her advantage, getting you into trouble when your back hits the wall behind you, disarming you with one deft move, your lightsaber falling to the ground, the blue light disappearing. Holding the violet blade directly in front of your face, you only now realize how difficult it is to breathe. However, you do not have much time to think about your rapid breathing when she raises her other arm, lifting Luke, who was just about to rush to your aid, off the ground. Groaning and gasping for air, his saber falls to the ground as well, and he instinctively grabs his throat with his hands, as if by doing so he could keep her from fully blocking his airpipe.

Watching Luke’s skin grow pale, your gaze wanders, frantically searching for a way out. With a deadly blade at your own throat, it is not easy to focus properly, but you understand that the only way out is to take risks. If you do not risk it, she will kill him for sure.

Without thinking about it another second, scared that you might regret your decision, you reach into the air and use the Force to pull Luke’s lightsaber towards you, immediately igniting it and catching Mara Jade off guard. In distress, she lets go of Luke to put her saber between you in the last moment, preventing you from piercing her with the green blade. Breathing heavily, you push against her strength while keeping an eye on Luke, who is desperately gasping for air on the floor. His miserable state gives you the power to disarm Mara Jade with one swift movement, her lightsaber rolling over the floor to Luke’s side.

However, when blaster shots suddenly echo around the walls the next moment, distracting your attention for the split of a second, and you see Han and Chewbacca escaping with the needed information, you only feel the excruciating pain as a vibroblade disappears into your abdomen. Immediately, you fall over, screaming in pain. Tears uncontrollably stream down your cheeks, and you put one trembling hand over your bleeding wound while you reach for the lightsaber with the other, but to no avail. You cannot reach the Force, it is as if nothing is left of it around you.

Looking up at Mara Jade, her evil glittering eyes are fixed on only you, a murderous lust in her eyes that makes you shudder.

Before she can severely hurt you even more, however, she is suddenly pushed away from you and against the wall, the impact jerking through her entire body. Trying to control your rapid breath, you watch as Luke approaches her with your blue lightsaber after she regained her balance, now clearly enraged. Luke, on the other hand, now has an aura around him that you cannot quite grasp and maybe you are just imagining it, the pain clouding your senses, but he suddenly seems different, more dangerous than ever. He dodges Mara’s attacks with ease and throws her through the air like she is nothing, the vein in his neck throbbing with anger.

The pain that keeps spreading from your wound through your whole body makes it extremely difficult for you to follow the fight as you try to somehow stop the excessive bleeding. That is why you do not understand why Luke suddenly bends over your trembling figure, carefully placing your head on his thigh.

“Luke, watch out, J-Jade-”, you stutter out, tears blocking your vision and pain clouding your mind.

“Sshh.. She can’t hurt you anymore”, Luke whispers to you, one of his hands on your cheek while the other lifts your own from your wound, before placing his own on top of it. He maintains eye contact with you and orders you to keep your eyes open, but he keeps looking down for a short amount of time, presumably assessing how bad your injury is. The pain you endure during this is unbearable and it feels like she severed your entire lower body. Your pupils no longer focus properly on your surroundings and all you feel is pain.

“I’ll pick you up carefully, alright? I’ll be very careful-”

“L-Luke, wait”, you stop him and grab his hand with your remaining strength so he cannot get on his feet to pick you up. If this is the end, then you cannot leave this galaxy until he knows how you truly feel. You would never forgive yourself. Just for once you want to know how it feels to say the words out loud.

“I love you”, you choke out, the words somehow rolling off your tongue, and for that brief moment when you look him straight in the eyes, you see clearly, and the pain goes away.

“You idiot! Stop saying stuff like that!? Save your strength and-”

“B-But-”

“I want you to tell me that again when you’re feeling well, are you listening?!”, Luke calls out to you from afar, his words ringing in your head as you feel a gentle shake on your body. “I love you too, Y/N. Promise me you’ll hold out long enough so I can tell you a lot more how much I actually love you.”

Closing your eyes with a soft smile on your lips, his words fade from your mind and the world around you darkens. The next time you open them, your head is pounding and the constant annoying beeping of one of the medical devices does not help at all. Just as you are about to get upset, you feel a weight on your right hand and your heart melts as you look over.

Luke’s head is on your hospital bed, his eyes closed, his breath low and his hair tousled in all directions, but his hand is inseparable intertwined with yours.

He has been here the whole time, waiting for the moment he can tell you how deeply he is in love with you, how he has always been and always will be.  

[hxney-lemcn]

To Fight For What You Love — Luke Skywalker x gn! Bounty Hunter! reader

summery: Being a bounty hunter for Jabba leads you into babysitting Han. Who knew that would mean you saving a princess and the rebel alliance in the process.

tw: reference to suicide (like the sayings, not actually talking about suicide). Fighting? Idk, anything in A New Hope.

a/n: Y'ALL 😭 I WAS NOT EXPECTING THE FIRST CHAPTER TO BE NEARLY 10k WORDS ODEWOKHVGK SAVE ME CUS I'M DOING ALL THE OG MOVIES

wc: 8.6k

Master List

Part One | Part Two

(Read on AO3 here if you'd rather)

I stood still as the Tatooine suns beat down on the sand. I watched through my goggles as Jabba called out to Han Solo. I’ve only seen him a few times, some smuggler. Had a silver tongue and tried to talk his way out of many situations, but this time Jabba wasn’t going to fall back. 

Who am I? No one special. I’m a Devaronian, from planet Devaron. My father convinced my mother to allow me to come with him somehow. We landed on Tatooine, the heat reminding us of our home (although it was a lot more dry than we were used to). Quickly, my father couldn’t find work and landed in the clutches of Jabba the Hut. He tried to keep me out of it, but if he didn’t teach me how to fight…let’s just say Jabba had a different plan for me than being a bounty hunter like I currently am. 

I turned around as Han came into the area. I repositioned my scarf back over my nose as it shifted down. 

“Right here Jabba,” Han said. “I’ve been waitin’ for you.” The others pointed their blasters at him, but I just crossed my arms, ready for this to be over. I need to make more money for my family after all, and I can’t do that sitting around here.

“Have you now?” Jabba asked incredulously. 

“You didn’t think I was gonna run, did you?” Han asked back.

“Han,” Jabba started. “My boy, you disappoint me. Why haven’t you paid me and why did you fry poor Greedo?” I tensed slightly as Boba Fett stood beside me. We never seemed to be on good terms. I suppose we were competition after all, but that’s why I let him claim all the bigger bounties, so he understood I wasn’t after his position.

“Jabba,” Han responded. “Next time you wanna talk to me, come see me yourself. Don’t send one of those twerps.”

“Han,” Jabba sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t make exceptions. What if everyone who smuggled for me dropped their cargo at the first sign of an imperial starship? It’s not good business.”

“Look Jabba,” Han said defensively. “Even I get boarded sometimes.” Han walked on his tail before continuing, “You think I had a choice? But I got a nice, easy charter. I’ll pay you back, plus a little extra. I just need a little more time.”

“Han, my boy,” Jabba gave in. “You’re the best. So, for an extra 20%...”

“15, Jabba, don’t push it,” Han interrupted. 

“Okay,” Jabba agreed. “15%. But if you fail me again, I’ll put a price on your head so big you won’t be able to go near a civilized system!”

“Jabba, you’re a wonderful human being,” Han said sarcastically.

Jabba motioned for the others to leave, but halted me, “You go with him, keep an eye out.”

I blinked, not believing this, “Will I be paid?” 

“Yes,” Jabba said, waving his hand. “8% of Han’s payment.”

I tried to hide my surprise, knowing Han owed a lot. I nodded, and quickly followed Han and his co-pilot, Chewbacca inside. They looked at me, hands on their blasters. 

“Aren’t you supposed to take your leave?” Han asked, raising an eyebrow. 

I raised my hands in the air in fake surrender, shrugging, “I was ordered to come with you.”

“Great,” Han rolled his eyes. “Just what we need, a baby sitter. And you’re younger than me!”

I tugged my tan scarf under my chin and sighed, “Look, if it makes you feel better, I don’t want to be here either.”

“Whatever,” Han grumbled, standing up. “Don’t touch anything, Chewie, guard the door and escort our guests. I’m gonna go fix what I can.”

The two left the ship and I sat down behind the table. Moving my goggles onto the top of my head, I rested my arms on the table, looking around. It was not the best looking ship. Dusty, probably from the Tatooine climate, a lot of parts seemed rusted. This was going to be a long ride. 

I nodded at Chewie as he walked through to the cockpit. He didn’t even acknowledge me. A few minutes later, the weirdest group boarded. Two humans, an older man and a guy around the same age as me, and two droids, an R2 unit and 3PO protocol droid. 

“Hello,” I greeted with a small wave. 

“Who are you?” The guy with blonde hair asked. I tried to ignore the way my mind immediately went to admire him.

“I’m-” I stopped once I heard the sounds of blasters being fired. I stood up quickly, making my way outside, blaster at the ready. I started shooting at the troopers. “Get on!” I shouted at Han. He kept shooting, running backwards towards the ship. I kept shooting, but Han grabbed my arm, pulling us into the ship. He shut the door behind us before running towards the cockpit.

“Chewie!” Han shouted. “Get us out of here!”

Not knowing what to do, I followed him, wanting to help however I could. I sat down in the seat behind Chewie, putting on my seatbelt. They quickly flew out, quite the bumpy ride. 

Chewie growled something, Han replying back, “Looks like an imperial cruiser. Our passengers must be hotter than I thought. Hold ‘em off. Angle the deflector shields while I make the calculations for the jump to lightspeed.”

“Is there anything I can do?” I asked hesitantly. There was a reason why I was a solo bounty hunter, and that’s because I was really awkward with others. It didn’t help that Han seemed to have a sort of disdain of me being here. 

“Yeah,” Han said sarcastically. “Don’t touch anything.” 

I let out a huff under my breath. That was the second time he said that to me. I haven’t even done anything wrong! And it’s not like I have an incentive to sabotage him or anything either!

“Stay sharp. There’s two more comin’ in,” Han said to Chewie. “They’re gonna try and cut us off.”

The two human passengers came in standing next to me.

“Why don’t you outrun them?” The blonde guy asked. “I thought you said this thing was fast.”

“Watch your mouth or you’re gonna find yourself floating home,” Han snapped. “We’ll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers, we’ll lose them.” One of the imperial starships started shooting at us, and I held on tighter to my seat as the ship started shaking. “Here’s where the fun begins,” Han smiled. 

“How long before you can jump to lightspeed?” The old man asked.

“It’ll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navicomputer,” Han replied, flicking switches.

“Are you kidding?” Blondie asked incredulously. “At the rate they’re gaining?”

“Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dustin’ crops, boy,” Han snapped once more. “Without precise calculations, we’d fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova, and that would end your trip real quick.”

Wanting to deescalate the situation, I decided to speak up, “I’ve mostly heard rumors about Han, but it’s common knowledge that he’s a pro at getting out of sticky situations.” They didn’t seem any more at ease at what I said, but blondie only continued his nagging.

“What’s that flashing?” He asked, pointing to a flashing light.

“We’re losing the deflector shield,” Han replied, batting blondies hand away. “Go strap yourselves in, I’m going to make the jump to lightspeed.”

Pulling a lever, the stars warped around us. I sighed, finally relaxing at the fact that we weren’t being shot at. I unstrapped myself as we glided through the universe. I followed Chewie into the main room of the ship. I sat next to him, watching curiously as the old man was teaching blondie something. 

Blondie glanced back at us, “You never got to tell us who you were.”

“Oh,” I said somewhat awkwardly. “I’m with Han-” Chewie growled out, probably in protest to what I said. “Well, I mean Jabba sent me to go with you. My name is (y/n).” 

Blondie nodded, “I’m Luke, that’s old Ben. And those two are C3PO and R2D2.”

I nodded, “Uhm, nice to meet you.”

“It’s good to see that there are still many Devaronians about,” Old Ben smiled. “Though I’m surprised that you’re so young.”

“My dad took me with him,” I shrugged, looking over to see that Chewie was starting a game of dejarik. 

Nodding, Ben turned towards Luke, who turned on…was that a lightsaber? I’ve only heard tales of the Jedi. Being Devaronian, we tend to be force sensitive. Though we do not focus on these attributes of ourselves. I myself was not force sensitive, but my mother was. Although we do not focus on the force, we are taught the basics, and a little about Jedi. My father told me about their eradication, so seeing that they weren’t all gone was a marvelous sight. 

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard Chewie growl. I looked over at the board and watched one of Chewie’s pieces be killed. Leaning over I pointed out what I thought was the best move. This went on for a bit, but Chewie quickly grew frustrated.

“You can forget your troubles with those imperial slugs,” Han said while walking into the room. “I told you I’d outrun them.” Han took a seat next to Ben who didn’t seem to be doing well. I turned my attention back to the game. “Don’t everybody thank me at once,” Han said sarcastically. Chewie groaned as another piece was killed, and I tried to find a way to redeem the game. “Anyway, we should be at Alderaan in about 0200 hours.”

Chewie ignored the spot I pointed at, and C3PO said, “Now be careful, R2.” The R2 unit killed another piece and Chewie growled loudly. I sighed, holding my head in my hands. “He made a fair move. Screaming about it can’t help you,” C3PO argued. I shook my head.

“Let him have it,” Han spoke up. “It’s not wise to upset a Wookiee.” 

“But sir,” C3PO replied. “Nobody worries about upsetting a droid.”

“That’s ‘cause a droid don’t pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose,” Han replied back with a smirk. “Wookies are known to do that.” I shifted slightly away from Chewie, not wanting to be on the other end of his aggression.

“I see your point, sir,” C3PO nodded. “I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookie win.” I let out a slight chuckle, I suppose I don’t have to help out Chewie anymore. 

My eyes wandered back over to Luke, blocking against a training droid. He sure did look like a Tatooine local. Blonde hair that swooped out, tan skin from the twin suns, and a typical outfit you’d see of a farmer on Tatooine. What stood out the most were his blue eyes. I never met someone whose eyes drew me in so much. I wanted to just stare at him, but I knew that was weird, so I kept my attention on what he was doing. 

“Remember,” Ben spoke out. “A Jedi can feel the force flowing through him.” 

“You mean it controls your actions?” Luke asked. 

“Partially,” Ben replied. “But it also obeys your commands.” The droid hit Luke, causing Han to laugh.

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a blaster at your side, kid,” Han said condescendingly. 

“Hey,” I spoke up with a glare. Han only rolled his eyes at me.

“You don’t believe in the force, do you?” Luke asked. 

“Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other,” Han replied. “I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful force controlling everything. There’s no mystical energy field controlling my destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.”

“You clearly haven’t been to Devaron,” I scoffed. “I remember the elder matriarchs raising a statue without lifting a finger.”

“Tricks, I tell you,” Han scoffed, waving me off.

“I suggest you try it again, Luke,” Ben said, changing the subject. Grabbing a pilot helmet with the blast shield down, he handed it to Luke, “This time, let go of your conscious self and act on instinct.”

“With the blast shield down, I can’t see!” Luke exclaimed. “How am I supposed to fight?”

“Your eyes can deceive you,” Ben replied. “Don’t trust them.”

Hesitantly, Luke lifted the lightsaber back up. Immediately he got hit. I winced slightly for him. 

“Stretch out with your feelings,” Ben instructed. This time, Luke managed to block three blasts. “See? You can do it.” I clapped quietly, a small smile on my face. Taking off the helmet, Luke glanced at me with a smile before focusing on Han and Ben.

“I call it luck,” Han dismissed. 

“In my experience,” Ben spoke up. “There’s no such thing as luck.”

“Look,” Han replied. “Good against a remote is one thing. Good against the living, that’s something else.” 

I rolled my eyes, “Don’t listen to him. That was really good, especially for a beginner.”

“Thanks,” Luke thanked, his grin growing. 

A beeping sounded and Han spoke up again, “Looks like we’re coming up on Alderaan.” I moved out of the way as Chewie got up to go to the cockpit with Han. I let out a silent sigh as I held my head in my hand. Hopefully on the way back we don’t have to deal with the damn Empire anymore. I was brought back to the real world when suddenly the ship started shaking. Ben, Luke, and I all looked at each other before quickly going into the cockpit to see what was wrong.

“It’s not on any of the charts,” Han said, looking at the panels. 

“What’s going on?” Luke asked. 

“Our position is correct, except no Alderaan,” Han explained. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, watching rocks fly towards us. 

“What do you mean?” Luke asked. “Where is it?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, kid,” Han explained. “It ain’t there. It’s been blown away.” I felt my heart drop, because I mean…just how was that possible? We were currently flying through the remains of a planet? One that held so many lives?

“What? How?” Luke asked, voicing my exact question.

“Destroyed by the Empire,” Ben spoke up.

“The entire starfleet couldn’t destroy the whole planet,” Han replied incredulously. “It’d take a thousand ships with more firepower than I’ve…” The ship started rapidly beeping. “There’s another ship coming in,” Han reported.

“Maybe they know what happened,” Luke said hopefully.

“I have a feeling they aren’t going to be too friendly,” I murmured, the sinking feeling getting worse.

“It’s an imperial fighter,” Ben acknowledged. 

“It followed us,” Luke gasped.

“No,” I shook my head. “Those ships are short-ranged, it wouldn’t be able to make the trip to lightspeed.”

“There aren’t any bases around here,” Han replied. “Where did it come from?” Han continued to follow the ship as it tried to fly away.

“Sure is leaving in a big hurry,” Luke commented. “If they identify us, we’re in big trouble.”

“Not if I can help it,” Han mumbled. “Chewie, jam its transmissions.”

“Let it go,” Ben said. “It’s too far out of range.”

“Not for long,” Han dismissed.

“A fighter that size couldn’t get this deep into space on its own,” Ben commented. 

“He must’ve gotten lost,” Luke suggested. “Been a part of a convoy or something.”

“He ain’t gonna be around long enough to tell anybody about us,” Han grumbled. 

“Look at him, he’s heading for that small moon,” Luke pointed out. My heart continued to sink as I didn’t have a good feeling about this situation at all. There’s gotta be a starship that the fighter is from. There’s no way it’s alone. 

“I think I can get him before he gets there,” Han said. “He’s almost in range.”

“Is this really worth it?” I asked, wanting to get out of here as soon as we could.

“That’s not a moon,” Ben said and I felt my fears come to fruition. “It’s a space station.”

“It’s too big to be a space station,” Han replied back confused. 

“I have a very bad feeling about this,” Luke said, the closer we got to the ‘moon’, the more it was revealed to clearly be a space station. 

“Han, turn us back,” I said, fear making its way through my tone. 

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Han spoke slowly. “Full reverse. Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power.” We kept getting closer and I felt my heart hammering in my chest. “Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power!”

“Why are we still moving forward?” I exclaimed, gripping the seat in front of me to try and calm myself. 

“We’re caught in a tractor beam,” Han explained. “It’s pulling us in.”

“Oh great,” I scoffed.

“There’s gotta be something you can do,” Luke chimed in. 

“There’s nothing I can do, kid,” Han replied. “I’m at full power. I have to shut down. They’re not gonna get me without a fight.”

“Fight?” I asked incredulously. “You’re gonna get us all killed!” I glanced over at Luke as he grabbed my shoulder, eyes locked on the sight in front of us. I didn’t think anything of it as I was more concerned about how the hell we were going to survive.

“You can’t win,” Ben said softly. “But there are alternatives to fighting.”

“Chewie, bring them to the smuggling compartments,” Han ordered. “(Y/n), help me make some fake logs.”

“Okay,” I nodded. Luke shared a worried glance with me, but I motioned him to leave with my head. He let go of my shoulder and exited with the others. “What’s the story?” I asked, looking over at Han.

“We abandoned the ship,” Han replied. Nodding my head, I helped him write a few logs before we both rushed to the smuggling compartments. We squeezed ourselves to fit, and I tried not to squish Luke any more than I had to. We heard stormtroopers walk over the compartments, and I waited with baited breath until we couldn’t hear any more footsteps. Han and Luke quietly shifted the fake floorboard off of us and looked around. 

“Boy, it’s lucky you had these compartments,” Luke said quietly.

“I use them for smuggling,” Han replied. “I never thought I’d be smuggling myself in ‘em.” Ben came out of his compartment and Han turned to him, “This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I’d never get past the tractor beam.”

“Leave that to me,” Ben replied, getting out of the smuggling compartment.

“Damn fool,” Han huffed, also getting out. “I knew you were gonna say that.” 

Luke got out, offering a hand to help me but I waved him off, “Don’t worry, I got it.”

“Who's the more foolish?” Ben asked. “The fool, or the fool who follows him?” Chewie’s head poked up from Ben’s compartment and growled. 

Two Empire scanners entered and were quickly taken down by Chewie.

“Hey down there!” Han called out. “Could you give us a hand with this?” Three stormtroopers entered and Han and I made quick work of them. We decided that Han, Luke and I would disguise ourselves as stormtroopers. Luke stayed behind as we all rushed to wait by the command room doors. An officer opened them not too long later and Chewie knocked him out, and I quickly shot the other one. 

Rushing in, Han and I took our helmets off, me struggling slightly due to the vestigial bumps on my forehead (it’s typically where horns would be but I didn’t have any). Chewie was growling and I ran my hand through my hair to fix it. 

Luke ran in and took his helmet off with a glare, “Between his howling and your blasting everything, it’s a wonder the whole station doesn’t know we’re here.” 

I felt myself shrink, since it was actually me who did the blasting. I know we’re on a stealth mission, but I panicked. 

“The blasting was all them, kid,” Han replied snarkily, pointing at me. “Besides, I prefer a fight to all this sneakin’ around.” Luke’s gaze fell onto me and I turned to face the control panel, not wanting to fall under any more scolding. 

“We found the computer outlet sir,” 3CPO spoke up. I was glad for the distraction.

“Plug in,” Ben ordered. “He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial network.”

R2 did as ordered and started beeping, 3PO translating for us, “He says he found the controls to the power beam that’s holding the ship here. He’ll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor. The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave.” On the screen, R2 showed the closest terminal.

“I don’t think any of you can help,” Ben stated. “I must go alone.” 

“Whatever you say,” Han dismissed. “I’ve done more than I’ve bargained for on this trip already.” I couldn’t help but agree, I mean I was just meant to make sure Han didn’t try to run off with the money, but I got waaaayyy more to deal with than just that. I should’ve negotiated a higher price with Jabba. 

“I want to go with you,” Luke whispered to Ben.

“Be patient, Luke,” Ben replied. “Stay and watch over the droids. They must be delivered safely or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan. Your destiny lies along a different path from mine.” Opening the door, Ben finished, “The force will be with you…always.” We all watched Ben leave, and once Luke closed the door, Chewie started growling. 

“You said it Chewie,” Han agreed. “Where did you dig up that old fossil?” I rolled my eyes, of course he’s going to insult an elder. He really knew no respect. 

“Ben is a great man,” Luke replied defensively. 

“Yeah,” Han agreed sarcastically. “Great at getting us into trouble.”

“I didn’t hear you give out any ideas,” Luke defended. 

“Anything’s better than just hangin’ around waiting for ‘em to pick us up,” Han countered. I bit my lip, I did feel uneasy just waiting here, but that could also just be because of the fact that we were stuck on an enemy base. 

“Who do you think-” Luke was cut off when R2 started making noises. I’m sorry Luke, but if you were concerned about how loud we were before…well fighting amongst ourselves isn’t helping. “What is it?”

“I’m afraid I’m not quite sure, sir,” C3PO responded. “He says, “I found her,” and keeps repeating, “she’s here.”” 

“Who?” Luke asks, walking closer to the droids. I once again didn't like where this was heading. “Who has he found?”

“Princess Leia,” C3PO answered.

“The princess?” Luke asked in awe. “She’s here?”

“Princess?” I asked, confused at the lack of context. 

“Where?” Luke asked excitedly. “Where is she?”

“Princess? What’s going on?” Han asked, also confused. 

C3PO once again translated for R2D2, “Level 5, Detention Block AA-23. I’m afraid she’s been scheduled to be terminated.”

“Oh no,” Luke said with big puppy dog eyes. Don’t…think like that. “We’ve gotta do something.” 

“What are you talking about?” Han asked, shaking his head. 

“The droids belong to her,” Luke explained. “She’s the one in the message, we gotta help her!” I blinked in confusion as the two stood chest to chest. What message? Why is she so important? I mean yes, princess is a big title, but there are many princesses across the galaxy. 

“Don’t get any funny ideas,” Han scolded. “The old man wants us to wait right here.”

“He didn’t know she was here,” Luke countered, then turned to R2. “Find a way to that detention block.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Han said, sitting back in one of the officer's chairs. 

“They’re going to execute her,” Luke replied back with a glare. “You said you didn’t want to wait to be captured. Now you want to stay?”

“Marching into the detention area is not what I had in mind!” Han argued back, and I felt hopeless watching the two fight. 

“But they’re gonna kill her!” Luke exclaimed.

“Better her than me,” Han spat. 

“Han,” I said sternly, but he only waved me off. Luke turned towards me, frustration showing in his crystal blue eyes. 

“(Y/n)...” Luke trailed off. 

I bit my lip, “We’d need a really put together plan…”

Then, like a lightbulb appeared over Luke’s head as he turned back towards Han, “She’s rich.”

Chewie growled and I felt like I was on the same side as him. I shook my head, They had no plan! This was stupid! 

“Rich?” Han asked, turning towards Luke once more. 

“Rich, powerful,” Luke listed. “If you were to rescue her, the reward would be…”

“What?” Han asked.

“Well, more wealth than you could imagine,” Luke replied.

“I don’t know…” Han trailed off. “I can imagine quite a bit.”

“You’ll get it,” Luke said persuasively. 

“I better,” Han replied. 

“You will,” Luke agreed. 

“All right kid,” Han agreed. “You better be right about this. What’s your plan?” 

I stared blankly at the two. Idiots. Complete and utter idiots. 

Luke looked around, “3PO hand me those binders there, will you?” Walking over to Chewie once he got them, he continued, “Now I’m gonna put these on you.” Only Chewie growled back, batting at the binders. “Okay, Han, you put those on.” 

Han smiled, and I turned to Luke, “What’s your plan for getting out?” 

Glancing at me, Luke turned towards the screen that showed the map, “Don’t worry, it’ll be an easy in and out.”

“Master Luke,” C3PO called out. “Sir, pardon me for asking, but what should R2 and I do if we’re discovered here?”

“(Y/n) will keep you safe,” Luke replied, handing Han his helmet. 

I furrowed my eyebrows, discontent with the situation. I wanted to go with them, but the droids needed someone to protect them. It still somewhat hurt that I seemed to be automatically chosen to sit on the backburner. 

“Lock the doors and hope they don’t have blasters,” Han chimed in. 

I scoffed, “I know how to fight, thank you very much.” 

Luke patted my shoulder, passing by me with a smile, “Don’t worry 3PO, they’ve got you two covered.”

“That’s a bit more reassuring,” C3PO agreed. 

Once the three left, I turned towards the two droids, “Do we have any communications with them?” 

“Yes,” The golden droid replied. “Master Luke gave me a comm link.”

“Good,” I mumbled, taking a seat in one of the chairs. “Hey R2, can you tell me the layout of the detention cell?” R2 beeped, pulling up the map once more. “What are all the exits?”

“He said that there is only one exit,” C3PO translated. “That is through the main elevator.”

I blinked in disbelief. This was literally a suicide mission. I groaned out, knowing this entire situation was going to go downhill. 

“Any vents they could go through?” I asked exasperatedly. 

“There is a trash shoot,” 3PO replied. 

“Well that’s something,” I grumbled. 

I spun around in my chair, trying to pass the time. Coming up with excuses to give Ben when he eventually comes back to a bounty hunter with two droids. I wonder who this princess was. Luke didn’t seem to have much experience outside of Tatooine, and there definitely weren’t any princesses there. Of course the first person I’m attracted to seems to like someone, a princess no less. I suppose I didn’t stand a chance in that aspect. Besides, I barely know Luke, so it’s not like I wanted anything like that yet. Best to get past these emotions than dwell on them. It’s not like I’m gonna see him again after this. 

“C3PO, C3PO!” Luke’s staticy voice called out through the comm link. I sat up and turned towards the droids once more.

“Yes, sir?” C3PO asked back. 

“Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?” Luke asked. “We’ve been cut off.” The sounds of blasting could be heard in the background and I shook my head. 

“Lemme see that,” I said, reaching out for the comm link.

“Master Luke asked-”

“Don’t worry,” I waved him off. Turning on the comm link I replied, “That’s the only exit, but there are vents on the bottom that you can go through.”

“What was that?” Luke asked back, sounds of blasters getting louder. “I didn’t copy.”

“All systems have been alerted to his presence!” C3PO gasped after R2 beeped. 

“You're being swarmed, there’s vents running along the cell bay, go through that!” I shouted into the comm link, hoping he heard.

“Open up in there!” A voice sounded outside the room. “Open up in there!”

“Shit,” I muttered, handing the comm link back to C3PO. I quickly put on the stormtrooper helmet, the more armor the better I suppose. 

“Oh no,” 3PO muttered. 

I got my blaster ready, looking around the room. There was a door, and opening it revealed a closet. I bit my lip in thought, they’re gonna find a way in somehow. I motioned the droids and they entered the closet.

“Pretend I’m dead, and act like you were attacked,” I whispered. C3PO nodded and I closed the door on them. I laid on the ground with my blaster being close enough to my body to grab, but far enough to look like it fell with my body. The sound of Luke’s voice could be heard coming from the comm link. Damn it, of course they need help when we’re being found. I just hope it stops when the stormtroopers enter. 

From this position, I couldn’t see much as the door opened. I held my breath, my body tensing. I watched as a stormtrooper walked into my view, nudging my body with his foot. 

“Look, there!” I heard a stormtrooper call out, and the one looking at me turned and followed. I let my breath out slowly, thankful for the armor blocking their view of my chest moving. 

“They’re madmen!” I heard 3PO shout. “They’re heading to the prison level! If you hurry, you might catch them.”

“Follow me,” A trooper called out, and the sounds of their footsteps grew fainter. “You stand guard.” 

Shit…I really don’t want to bring attention by blasting the stormtrooper. I moved my head slowly, I bit my lip. I don’t want to underestimate my enemy, but troopers tend to be really dumb. I saw C3PO’s feet in front of me. I let out a gasp, trying to act like I was an unconscious and injured trooper. 

“Oh my!” C3PO faked surprise. “Let us escort this trooper to the medbay.” 

The trooper rushed in front of me as I clutched my side, standing hunched.

“I’ll be fine,” I said with a groan. I slightly leaned against C3PO, not wanting to put too much weight on him, “Just keep guard.”

The trooper nodded, and just like that, we were out. I bit my lip to suppress my chuckle. I can’t believe we made it out of there alive. We made it down towards the ship, but a good amount away from any of the other troopers. 

“You still got the comm link?” I whispered to him.

“Right here,” 3PO nodded, handing me the comm link.

“Luke,” I whispered into it. “Are you guys still alive?”

I tuned out C3PO as he talked to R2, listening for Luke or any stormtroopers. 

“(Y/n)?” I heard Luke ask. 

“Yeah, we managed to escape some storm-”

“We need you to turn off all the garbage mashers in the detention level!” Luke shouted. “Do you copy?” 

“R2, shut down the garbage mashers on the detention level,” I ordered, just in case he couldn’t hear Luke repeat himself. 

“No!” C3PO exclaimed. “Shut them all down! Hurry! Oh no.”

I clenched my fists, hoping we got it in time. R2 was beeping and I bit my lip. Suddenly, the sound of cheering filled the comm link and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly in relief. 

“Listen to them,” C3PO said solemnly. “They’re dying, R2. Curses, we weren’t fast enough. It’s all my fault, my poor master.”

“Don’t worry, 3PO,” I chuckled. “I think they’re doing just fine.”

“You did great!” Luke praised, and I smiled. “Hey! Open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit number…where are we?” 

I rolled my eyes in amusement, just glad that we all seemed to survive so far. 

“Number 3263827,” Luke said.

“You heard that?” I asked R2, who only beeped while turning the controls. 

We waited a bit, I kept low to the ground, not wanting to be spotted. After a bit the comm link went off once more.

“(Y/n), C3PO, do you copy?” Luke asked. 

“We copy,” I replied. 

“Are you safe?” He asked.

“For now, yeah,” I said. “We’re in the main hangar, across from the ship.”

“We’re right above you,” Luke said. “Stand by.” 

I sighed, once again sitting like waiting ducks. More troopers came and went, the ship being surrounded. I wonder if they had a plan? 

“I wonder where they could be?” C3PO asked aloud. After a minute, all the stormtroopers ran off, and a pit of worry hit my stomach. Did they finally catch them? What was going on? “Come on you two,” C3PO said, breaking me out of my anxious thoughts. “We’re going.” I nodded, discarding my helmet, no need for that now. Not that it was going to help me now. I followed behind them, blaster at the ready. 

Luke, Han, Chewie, and I’m assuming the princess all came out at the same time. Luke got sidetracked, calling out for Ben. I turned to look at where he was going and my heart dropped. Being barely able to see through the horde of stormtroopers, I was able to see Ben facing off the one and only Darth Vader. His looming presence caused all my alarm bells to go off. I raced towards Luke, stopping beside him. Ben stood still as Darth Vader cut through him. 

“No!” Luke screamed, bringing all their attention towards us.

“Luke c’mon!” I shouted, tugging at his arm. He stood his ground, shooting at the troopers. I helped him, as did the others. They called him to board the ship and I managed to blast the door close before Vader could cross through. I tugged at Luke’s arm once more, blasting with one hand as best I could. This time, Luke allowed me to drag the both of us to the ship. 

I tried to catch my breath as the ship took off. I’ve caught bounties 2x my size, and that was nowhere near as scary as this entire trip was. I discarded the stormtrooper gear, grabbing my scarf and goggles once more. Getting my outfit all situated, I found Luke solemnly sitting at the round table, messing with the table. The princess brought him a blanket and sat next to him. I looked over to the droids and I decided to sit at one of the side seats.

“So you’re (y/n)?” The princess asked, looking at me softly. I nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, you really helped out in the end.”

“You too,” I smiled awkwardly. “I’m sorry, but I never catched your name.”

“You can call me Leia,” She replied. It was silent once more, our focus once more on Luke. 

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Luke finally spoke. 

“There wasn’t anything you could’ve done,” Leia tried to console. 

“C’mon buddy,” Han said standing in the hallway. “We’re not out of this yet.”

We all followed Han, Han and Luke towards the guns while I followed Leia into the cockpit. She sat in the pilot seat and I stood behind her chair. 

“Here they come,” Leia warned the two. Four tie fighter jets flew around us. I held onto the back of her seat as the ship started shaking. “We’ve lost lateral controls!” Leia shouted after a few minutes.

“Don’t worry,” Han dismissed. “She’ll hold together.”

We could hear Luke cheering and I decided to pipe up, “Just two more to go guys!” 

We watched in suspense as the last two kept flying around. Luke managed to get one, and I sighed out in relief when the last one was hit. 

“We did it!” Leia cheered, hugging Chewie and I. I let out a chuckle, hugging her back. I patted Chewies back before making my way back into the main room. I ran into Luke before making it.

“You did great!” I praised with a smile.

A similar smile graced his face, “Thank you!” Similar to Leia, he pulled me into a hug, which I of course returned. My heart seemed to beat a bit faster at the affection but I ignored it. Pulling away Luke seemed a little sheepish. “Thank you also for uh…trying to keep me grounded back there…” He trailed off, looking away. 

My smile turned slightly bitter at the memory, “Don’t mention it. I know if the roles were reversed you’d do the same.” 

Our eyes met and I felt myself soften. I ignored the sudden urge to kiss his cheek and nodded at him before continuing on my way. Soon after, Chewie and Leia joined me. I took out my blaster, checking to make sure it was clean. I didn’t do much fighting, but it never hurts to check. 

“What’s your position here?” Leia asked as she sat next to me. 

Looking up at her I started to fidget with my weapon, “I, uh…I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.” I chuckled awkwardly. “Basically, think of me as Han’s babysitter.”

Leia raised her eyebrow, “Well you aren’t doing a good job.” 

“Well,” I sighed. “Once he drops you guys off, I basically just gotta make sure he returns to Jabba to pay his debt.”

“I see,” Leia sighed, seeming less friendly. “So I’m assuming you're not going to help.”

“I wish I could…” I trailed off. “Really, I do. But I have to go back and continue to take care of my family.” I knew my reasoning was selfish, I just hope she understood. 

“I suppose we all have our priorities,” Leia shrugged. I looked down, feeling guilty of my decision. It was quiet for the rest of the ride, only Chewie's growling breaking it from time to time. 

Once we landed, I couldn’t help but look around the planet in awe. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a planet with such luscious greenery. I smiled, a comforting feeling as it reminded me of home. We were escorted to a hangar. People were all around preparing their x-wing ships. Clearly the rebels were preparing for a fight. Once again, I felt guilty. All these people who either lost their family or left them to fight for a noble cause while I cower and run away back to the monotony of my life, being Jabba’s puppet. 

Someone greeted Leia as we finally stopped. I looked over to Luke who was looking around in awe. His gaze met mine and I felt flustered and embarrassed at the fact that he caught me looking.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Luke asked breathlessly.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I didn’t realize the rebellion was this big, but I suppose I didn’t think of it much.”

“C’mon, they’re going to go over the plans to defeat the Death Star,” Leia called out, waving us over.

Luke looked towards me once more, his blue eyes shining brilliantly, “You think they’ll let me pilot a ship?”

“Definitely,” I chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll take all the help they’ll get.” 

Once we got to the meeting room, I stood next to Luke and his droids. If this was going to be the last I saw of him, I might as well make the most of it. He was a sweet guy, and I would love to stay friends with him. There needs to be more people like him in the galaxy. I zoned out as the person was discussing their plans to defeat the Death Star. It didn’t involve me so I didn’t find any harm in it. 

Once they all started standing up, Han patted my shoulder. I looked over at him and he motioned me to follow him and Chewie. Looking towards Luke, I spoke up, “Uhm, bye Luke.” When he looked at me, I waved. 

“Cya,” He grinned, waving back. Following the two smugglers, I felt like Luke didn’t understand that we weren’t sticking around. When we all made it back to the hangar, boxes of credits sat next to the escort. 

“Help me with this woudja?” Han called over to me. “If you want Jabba to pay you that is.”

I rolled my eyes, but said nothing as I helped him load the payment. 

Luke quickly came onto the scene, “So, you got your reward and you’re just leaving then?”

“That’s right,” Han nodded. “Yeah. I got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn’t, you don’t think I’d be fool enough to stick around here, do ya? Why don’t you come with us? You're pretty good in a fight. We could use ya.”

“Come on,” Luke frowned. “Why don’t you take a look around? You know what’s about to happen, you know what they’re up against. They could use a good pilot like you. You’re turning your back on them.”

“What good’s a reward if you ain’t around to use it?” Han asked back. “Besides, attacking a battle station ain’t my idea of courage. It’s more like suicide.”

“All right,” Luke said with no emotion. “Well, you take care of yourself, Han. I guess it’s what you're best at.” Then, Luke's gaze fell onto me, “You too, (y/n)?”

I kept my head down, knowing I couldn’t meet his gaze, “I’m sorry, Luke. But I can’t stay…”

I heard him scoff, “I guess I just expected you to be different.”

I felt like crying as I heard his heavy boots storm off. I kept my head down as I loaded the last box. One thing I hated the most was disappointing the people I care about. 

“Hey Luke,” Han called out. “May the force be with you.” Chewie growled and I finally looked up. “What are you looking at?” Han asked us. “I know what I’m doing.”

Boarding the escort, we made our way back to the Millennium Falcon. We then loaded all the money onto the Falcon. Chewie and Han bantered a bit, but I kept to myself. 

“What’s got you so quiet?” Han asked as we carried the last two boxes. 

I stayed quiet, placing down the box I was carrying, “...I…wish it could be different. That we could help.” 

I heard Han sigh, “If you want to help you can, I’m not making you come with me.”

I felt tears brim my eyes, feeling even more guilty due to the fact that Han spoke the truth. I kept blaming others for this choice, when I can only really blame myself. My obligation to my family was more important. I mean what would my dad say? What would my mom say? 

Han shuffled before continuing, “If it’s what Luke said…kid, we all have to choose what’s more important to us. We can’t please everyone.”

I nodded, “I know.”

“C’mon,” Han said, ruffling my hair, making me glare up at him. “Let’s get outta here before it gets bad.” The sound of ships flying could be heard above us. “And that’s our queue.”

I followed Han into the cockpit, Chewie already getting the ship running. I sat behind them as they started to fly away. I couldn’t help but watch as the tie fighters were getting shot down one by one. My heart clenched as for all I knew, one of them was Luke. This felt wrong. It all felt wrong. Just leaving them there when we could be helping. Couldn’t we help them before we left? 

It was quiet in the cockpit. My gaze wouldn’t leave the Death Star as it continued to shrink. I bit my lip in worry. I couldn’t get this damn feeling out, and I knew it would haunt me the rest of my life. The uncertainty of it all. Leaving my newly founded friends behind to die. Tearing my gaze away, I looked back to Han. He was quiet, his face contemplative. 

“We should go back,” I spoke up, not being able to stand the guilty feeling bubbling under my skin. 

“No,” Han dismissed. 

“This isn’t right,” I countered. “Once we finish helping them we can go back to Tatooine.” 

Han stayed silent, the Death Star was now almost out of site. Chewie growled, and Han’s frown grew worse. 

“Please Han,” I pleaded. 

Finally he seemed to snap, “If the both of you are gonna keep whining about it then fine.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I cried out, wrapping my arms around him. 

“Quit your yapping and go prepare the shooter,” Han waved off, flipping some switches and turning around. 

I quickly ran to the same ladder that Han and Luke went into before. I sat in the seat putting on the headset. I flipped some switches and the gun hummed, turning on. 

“All right,” I spoke into the comms. “Everythings a-okay here.” 

We quickly approached the Death Star, getting in position behind three tie fighters. Only one x-wing was left and I knew we got back just in time. As fast as I could, I aimed for one of the tie fighters and got it in the first shot. Han whooped into the comms and I let out a ‘hell yeah!’. The other two tie fighters nearly collide, one falling outside of the Death Star. 

“You’re all clear, kid,” Han said. “Now let’s blow this thing up and go home!”

Luke shot right into where it needed to go and we all flew out. I laughed out in relief as the Death Star blew up.

“Great shot Luke!” I cheered. 

“That was one in a million,” Han cheered as well. I got myself out of the gun pit and went back into the cockpit with Han and Chewie. Han clapped me on the shoulder, “You had a great shot too.”

“Thanks,” I smiled breathlessly. That weight of guilt that was pushing me down seemed to lift. Luke was safe and so were all these fearless rebels. 

We quickly made our way to the hangar. We found Leia and Luke already hugging, Han and Chewie quickly joining. I went to follow but was blocked by the other rebels. My huge smile fell quickly as they continued to cheer for each other. I raised my hand, but lowered it. I suppose I’ll cheer from a distance. Luke suddenly looked around and his eyes met mine. I smiled awkwardly and he quickly made his way towards me, pulling me towards the rest of the group and hugging me tightly. I hugged back, just as tight as he lifted me off my feet slightly.

“I knew you weren’t like that,” Luke whispered, nuzzling his face into my neck.

“You should thank me,” I laughed. “It took a bit of convincing to get Han on board.”

Luke laughed, letting me go. We gazed at each other for a second before we all looked up to see R2. 

“Oh no,” Luke said breathlessly.

“Oh my,” C3PO cried out. “R2, can you hear me? Say something. You can repair him, can’t you?”

“We’ll get to work on him right away,” A rebel agreed. 

“You must repair him,” C3PO replied. “Sir, if any of my circuits or gears will help, I’ll gladly donate them.”

“He’ll be alright,” Luke consoled. 

Leia wrapped an arm around me with a knowing smile, Han hugging her other side. I wrapped my arm around Luke’s shoulders and followed the other two, dragging him along. 

“Wait what?” I asked, turning towards the rebel members who held up the outfit I was supposed to wear. 

“It’s an award ceremony,” One said. “You weren’t expecting to wear your regular clothes were you?”

“I mean…” I sighed out exasperatedly. “I don’t know. I’m not used to dressing up for anything.”

“The princess picked this out for you specifically,” The other mentioned. 

“Of course she did,” I mumbled. “Fine, I’ll wear it.” They left to let me change. Once I was finished changing, I couldn’t help but pick at my clothes. They were so form fitting in some spots, a drastic change to my casual wear. 

I stood in between Luke and Han with a slight frown. Luke looked towards me and his eyes widened. 

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Is it really that bad?”

“N-no!” He stuttered out. “You, uh…uhm actually look really good.” I looked away, not used to compliments.

“Oh,” I said, not exactly sure how to reply. “Thank you, you look real nice too.” 

“Thanks,” He replied in a whisper.

“C’mon you two,” Han said, rolling his eyes. “Quit flirting, the ceremony’s starting.”

I looked up at him aghast, but the doors opened and I tried to calm myself down. As we walked, I tried to keep my gaze on Leia and not the hundreds of eyes that were currently on us. Once we reached the stairs, we stopped and Leia stepped forward. She looked at Han sternly, her gaze fell on me and she smiled a bit more softly. When she looked towards Luke, they shared a goofy smile, which seemed to spread to me when I glanced at Luke and noticed that he did the same. 

When Leia put the medal on Han, he winked at her which made me roll my eyes. And he says the awkward compliments Luke and I gave each other was flirting. Leia placed a medal around my neck, and then finally one around Lukes. We all bowed our heads in respect. Suddenly, R2 showed up, beeping and whistling. We couldn’t stop our laughter, happy to see the droid was okay. Turning around, Chewie growled and everyone started clapping. I felt small, finally seeing how many people were looking. 

Once the ceremony was finished, everyone started packing. It was time to move to a new base after all. I was waiting for Han to stop bothering Leia when I noticed that Luke snuck up next to me.

“How’re you feeling?” Luke asked, giving me a side hug. 

“Much better outside of all that attention,” I replied, returning the short hug.

“You don’t like being recognized as a hero?” Luke laughed lightly.

“Not if it means that many people are watching you,” I replied back. 

“So…” Luke trailed off. “Are you staying?” His smile somewhat fell at the question and he looked genuinely concerned.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, looking down at my fidgeting hands. “I was just gonna talk to Han about it. I’m sure my parents would understand and support my decision…but…I don’t know.” I looked back up at Luke feeling somewhat helpless, “What do you think I should do?”

Staring back at me, he smiled gently, “Well…I think you know what I’m about to say.” I laughed softly, crossing my arms. 

“I think I know what Han’s gonna say too,” I sighed, watching him interact with Leia. It’s clear he was interested in her…but wasn’t Luke as well? This was definitely going to get messy. 

“I’d love for you to stay,” Luke spoke up. “Uh…a-all three of you, I mean.”

I looked back over to Luke as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, looking away. 

“Okay,” I couldn’t help but agree with a giant smile. How could I leave the friends I made now?

[marimeeko]

Out of the death threads, togas case will likely be the easiest to fix so I am not worried.

Like she's giving blood, if she is tended to in a timely matter, by another hero and or medic, she could ALSO recieve a transfusion, they'll give her a cookie and send her off to the recovery bay. (A little more complicated than that but yk).

(Also, how much blood would Ochako even need, she hasn't completely bled out and it's only one major stab wound...I don't think she would need all of Togas blood?? A tad overdramatic maybe??

Same for Ochako, Himiko tended to her, and stitched up her wound, and is currently receiving transfusion. She's in a rough shape now, but she should be fine as well.

Katsuki is a lot more complicated because man's heart got pierced or exploded in his chest. I am still worried but feel like he is too important to perma-die, his relationship arc with Izuku is not finished yet, it would have been such a sad way to die(with him longing so badly to reach Izuku and knowing that at that point he never could and that Izuku wasnt going to be there to save him) and otherwise I feel like I'm just waiting for the plot armor to kick in. But he got tended to right away and hopefully through another heros sacrifice and unconventional technique, he will be functionally fine until a hospital can get a hold of him...but STILL MAN IS BASICALLY GETTING A BRAND NEW EMERGENCY HEART ON THE BATTLE FIELD

Touya... honestly the man is a crisp. He is charred, there isn't even much left of him. If a human being was burnt that badly they wouldn't be talking anymore like touya was, they'd be 100 percent DEAD, unable to move, call out or cry about how much they hate every one. Even Anakin Skywalker is looking at this like "OH. DAMN." IDK what kind of quirk Magic and power of family is keeping him alive at this point, but he is still ALIVE.

If you're gonna tell me that the girl who basically just needs a blood transfusion to replace the blood shes giving is gonna be the one to die, I'd say READ THE ROOM, The context that one guy lost his heart and is getting fixed and one guy is currently in the same state as the lone French fry that got dropped in the bottom of your oven and never got picked out but is still somehow carrying on yelling at his family?

Nahhh

She's gonna be fine

[adragonsfriend]

Ryloth Social, Historical, Cultural, Ideas

Writing a story using mythology is really cool because it makes me expand on the available cannon data about the culture of any character whose perspective I write from. Writing a story using mythology is also really hard because it makes me expand on the available cannon data about the culture of any character whose perspective I write from. (Most of this is about Ryloth and requires no knowledge of fialleril's Amavikka stuff, it's just present in the beginning)

The latest was Syndulla, and therefore, Ryloth:

Hikka Redsun/Syndulla's Family

I've said that his family, aside from one of his grandparents, come from Rhovari, a city on Ryloth which canonically exists but which there's hardly any information about. I've placed it on the northern continent (same as Lessu, the capital), but toward the south, bordering the massive forest that rings the equator.

Hikka Redsun is Syndulla's grandmother on his mother's side. She escaped slavery on Tatooine as a teenager and traveled to Ryloth, settling in the city of Rhovari, where she had a rough time at first. She gave birth to the child she was already carrying (one of the reasons she took the risk of escaping), a daughter I haven't named as of yet. She eventually married another Twi'lek she met there, by the name of Jennah Enullah. Syndulla's other grandparents are Rhovari as far back as anyone can remember, idk they weren't important to what I was writing. Redsun is an analogue to Whitesun, eg Beru Whitesun. As Skywalker is to Ekkreth, Redsun is to Dereia, so in Amatakka, Hikka would be Hikka Dereia.

Over the course of her lifetime, Hikka blended Amavikka storytelling traditions with those of her new home, which resulted in the story I wrote for Tales of Ryloth. That story was one of only a few Ekkreth stories she told to any members of her family. She was only a teenager when she left, and in her first few years, she wasn't focused on remembering lots of stories, so by the time she reached a point where she realized she wanted to hang onto them, she was already fuzzy on quite a few details. Her family on Ryloth were all freeborn, and didn't necessarily have a need for Ekkreth stories from her own. Those she did tell them were ones she altered or created to tell her own life story.

The story from Tales is her artistic interpretation of leaving Tatooine and her first few rough years in Rhovari. It uses Ryloth's animals and plants, and the single-day structure of lots of Rhovari stories, but places Ekkreth alongside them. It has a bit of a different structure and feel to most Amavikkan stories I've written, hopefully reflecting the influence it takes from Rhovari tradition.

Now, onto everything else this made me learn/create:

Mythology

Symbolism

Specifically for the Rhovari Twi'lek people:

Reliable, trustworthy things: rock, ground, mountains, betnek trees, the sun

Treacherous, scary things: any animal or plant (except betnek trees), darkness, rain,

Good things/good signs: light and warmth underground

Bad things/bad signs: cold, dark, mud, too much rain, too little rain

Format

Chants, songs, I mention war songs, idk

Many traditional myth-stories from Rhovari have events all told in the course of single day, usually starting in the morning and going into the night.

Homes

Tunnel vs Shallow Homes

Some communities have shallow homes like we see in Nabat in Clone Wars (Nera's home that waxer and boil visit is in Nabat), and other communities live in fully underground tunnel systems (the community I describe Syndulla's family living in is one of these). There's probably some deep prejudices over which way of living is better, especially between warring clans. These prejudices are probably less present in places like Lessu, which combine the two.

Also, by the time of the clone wars, I imagine there's a small but significant group who advocates for abandoning underground homes and living entirely above ground, assimilating to be like more of the rest of the galaxy. Orn Free Ta is one of these, and he probably works to defund programs which help preserve traditional homes in between doing other heinous crap.

Cave-hearths

Cave-hearths are the lowest rooms in tunnel homes, which are also the warmest because they are made closer to underground magma flows. These are community gathering places, just like a campfire would be. There are probably old traditional roles surrounding finding good places to dig for these.

Lessu

Ancient city

Lessu is a very old city, there have been Twi'leks living in the mountain as far back as there's written and archeological history.

Interestingly, the visible buildings in Clone Wars Lessu are a different color from the surrounding stone (white vs light brown). I'm aware that the actual reason for this is probably that it's easier to animate and see if they're different colors, but we're extrapolating right now, shhh. This means the stone for the buildings has to have been mined and brought from somewhere else, and then somehow transported onto a literal island. All that instead of using the naturally available rock all around.

Outer wall

The outer wall surrounding the city is classified as a historical site, and has legal protections surrounding how it can be modified (alas, no turbo lifts can be installed). For Twi'lek's from some communities (not Rhovari), the wall itself is a pilgimage site. The Separatists using it as a military defense (which was its original use, but hasn't been relevant in several centuries) would've been highly unpopular. The walls aren't as old as Lessu itself, but the first versions of it date back to some of the earliest known clan wars.

Landscape

Thought the city has been disconnected from the main landscape as far back as written history goes, there are oral traditions and mythology which have been passed down which indicate that there was once a land connection. The stories talk about the land bridge falling as a result of moral decline of some kind, and for a long time it was considered to be just that that, a story. That is until geological research (which happened quite a long time ago as of star wars present day) showed that there was a land bridge there which lasted long after the surrounding rock eroded away, due to some unique rock deposits there (or something, I'm not a geologist). The confirmation of the land bridge dates these oral traditions to originating much earlier than previously thought. (I stole this idea from real life. The specific occurrence that inspired this was tree species and aboriginal Australian traditions, but considering indigenous stories as one source of information to guide archeology is a developing field.)

Water

Lessu has probably, at various times, been surrounded by water. The canyon behind it is significantly larger and deeper than the rift in front of it, and has probably been wearing down for millions of years (still not a geologist, guess based on the grand canyon in the US). At the points when this canyon was full of water, maybe there were Twi'leks who accessed Lessu by boat. Also, at times when the canyon was only partly full, there could've been tunnels which had entrances down at the water level, but which became flooded when the water rose, or inaccessible when it fell.

Bridges

Various bridges have been built and destroyed in the time since the land bridge eroded.

Religion

I don't have any detailed thoughts on this, but I think there's probably a bigger religion common in Lessu that is much less connected to the land than Rhovari traditions. It's more mainstream, and it's what most people not from Ryloth would think of as "Twi'lek religion."

Slavery

Indigenous slavery

With frequent clan wars, prisoners are war were common, and for many clans, slavery of this form was an accepted part of their culture, especially before Ryloth had contact with the wider galaxy.

Hutt slavery and general capitalistic forces

When Ryloth fell under hutt (or zygerian?) control, a fully chattel slavery system developed, but it would likely have started with clans on Ryloth selling the slaves they already had off planet.

Transport of enslaved Twi'leks off planet is probably a big part of why Twi'leks are so common across the galaxy.

Family Names

Because of Rythoth's complicated history with slavery, there is some controversy about family names. Traditions vary across clans, but most follow a matrilineal tradition. This is controversial for some because it originates from slave owners wanting to keep track of who is an isn't enslaved under Hutt, chattel systems (Before paternity tests, the only parent people could be absolutely sure of was the mother, so tracking lineage by the maternal side makes for more stable societal lines between free/enslaved people. Also other, arguably worse effects I won't get into here).

After joining the Republic and getting some protection from the Hutts, the matrilineal tradition remained, and came to include marriage as well, for many clans.

This origin makes maternal family names controversial for some, who instead choose patralineal or completely alternate naming traditions. This is present in Tales with Hikka's daughter noted as taking her husband's name, Syndulla.

Gender

We see some pretty clear gender roles on Ryloth in the Clone Wars episodes I've watched, and we see there are differences in how men and women dress. Twi'leks are noted as being similar enough to humans to produce fertile offspring together, so I figure that cultural and biological whatever are pretty similar about gender, eg the range of binary, queer, intersex, etc are all present in Twi'leks. Whether queer twi'leks are openly accepted probably varies clan to clan.

Male twi'leks are seen as fighters--all of the rebels who invaded Ryloth were male.

Female twi'leks are very much present in the Rebellion, seeming to take on support roles.

It's pretty boring trad gender role stuff, honestly just human writers projecting their ideas directly. Pretty meh.

I think Hera Syndulla gets a kind of cultural pass to be a fighter based on Cham Syndulla being her father, like the hollywood "my father was the great scientist blah blah and I must be as great as him" woman scientist trope. I also think Hera's pissed off about this being the only reason many people are okay with her fighting.

Language

I think Ryl/Twi'leki is a gendered language with a masculine bias, like the romance languages have.

In conclusion,

I gave myself a sandbox with Tales of Ryloth and really expected myself not to play in it. You'd think I would learn at some point.

[bikananjarrus]

i rewatched episode 4 of ahsoka (bc i wasn’t super focused the first time) so here’s a little review in bullet point form!

(this got kinda long i’m so sorry. i love complaining lol)

starting with things i liked:

-finally seeing sabine actually fighting in her mandalorian armor! it felt like the sabine we know and love

-the ghost!!!!!! THE GHOST MY BELOVED!!!!!!! prettiest ship in star wars fr

-seeing jacen again! literally he is my baby boy 💚 (also the “mom…I’ve got a bad feeling” like yeah 😭)

-ahsoka pulling the ‘obiwan dealing the killing blow to maul a la twin suns’ move on marrok was good and the fight choreography with baylan was solid i thought. you could feel the weight behind him and ahsoka’s moves

-baylan and shin’s outfits are so cool

-i like sabine’s move to go with baylan and shin a lot

-the wbw looks quite pretty in live action, i will admit. like how the path glitters like stars and that fade in shot from the water to the stars? very good

-anakin!!!!!! HAYDEN ANAKIN HI BESTIE HELLO HI! also hearing hayden anakin say “snips” 😭😭😭

things that i didn’t like and am here to complain about:

-ahsoka telling sabine that if they can’t get the map back they should destroy it, and thus destroy the chance at finding Ezra ever. Now. This is practical, and I don’t really dislike it for that reason. And I think as far as it goes for Ahsoka’s character, trying to fall back on old jedi ideals of not choosing attachments, choosing the greater good, this also makes sense. it just, idk. there’s something about it that is irking me

-the absolutely terrible writing for hera’s role as general. there was that whole line about “i’m a general, nothing’s classified to me” in ep2, and now with the disobeying orders and telling that lieutenant to cover for her and telling jacen that when he’s a general he can disobey orders too. that would literally just not fly in a military organization. and character-wise, hera is all about protocol and setting a good example in the rebellion, this is NOT hera and it just makes her look bad.

-baylan’s random “witchcraft” comment towards morgan. a) wouldn’t it have made more sense to put a line like that in ep2 when she first showed him the sphere? and b) just felt like a weird comment in general? the nightsisters have a relationship to the force too, and baylan is old enough and seems old school and sentimental enough to respect that, not look down on it. Just odd.

-the dialogue in general this ep just felt so clunky and shallow to me. There was no depth to hardly any of the conversations, even ones that should’ve had depth. I thought ep3 improved on the dialogue slightly, actually putting emotion into, and making it feel like the characters had relationships with one another. and in this ep it just felt so rehearsed again.

-relatedly, sabine kept saying things in her dialogue that gave away key information (“go get the map”, hera’s name, etc.) and it was so frustrating! on a character level, sabine is smarter than that. on a technical/craft level, the dialogue is just not thought out.

-also related to the lack of emotion, it was written in a way that we get almost no reaction from sabine when ahsoka says that they may have to leave ezra behind for good (despite the fact that we find out later in the ep that ahsoka let sabine down in some capacity when it came to sabine helping her family). And when it came to sabine’s family, almost no reaction there either! absolutely no shade to natasha, i think she’s doing a fine job. i just don’t think filoni knows how to write sabine. Or women in general.

-not sure how i feel about the rest of baylan and ahsoka’s confrontation. i feel like we’re supposed to feel more, especially with the “anakin spoke highly of you” / “everyone in the Order knew anakin skywalker” and baylan mentioning ahsoka “abandoning” anakin (which, starting to beat the dead horse with that one filoni. that theme has come up before and been done better, ie when it was done in rebels!). like maybe if baylan and ahsoka had talked more about being masters themselves or the end of the clone war (since they’re both survivors), something! we could maybe establish more of a connection, since it seems like they’re supposed to be fools (like sabine and shin are being set up to be).

-marrok. The move ahsoka pulled on him was cool, but otherwise, why was he here? Also reanimated nightsister or some other dathomir ghost?? I’m guessing that’s what the green smoke was? weird. fine, i guess. But just like what was the point of having marrok around when we already have baylan and shin and morgan?

-“your legacy, like your master’s, is one of death and destruction.” ???? i’m not sure exactly what this is supposed to mean????? any harm ahsoka has caused (intentionally or unintentionally) in her lifetime is nowhere near, oh idk, the fucking child murder???? and murder of all the jedi???

-the dialogue in this ep is just SO baffling.

-ahsoka automatically assuming sabine was dead when she saw shin (like girl can’t you sense that sabine isn’t dead??) and then getting all angry when she fought back at baylan again. it’s giving copy-pasted kanan (briefly) thinking ezra was dead in fire across the galaxy, but the worse version. kanan did it better <333

-called this before the show even came out, but i fucking knew filoni was just going to write off Sabine’s family as dead (if he mentioned them at all, which tbh i’m a little surprised he didn’t forget about them entirely). i knew it was coming and YET. still disappointing bc i know they’re not going to address the deaths of her family or Sabine’s trauma in a meaningful, well-written way 🙃🥲

-hera being told that the enemy has a giant hyperspace ring and then flying right in its path and then not moving or telling her pilots to take evasive action when it was powering up. fucking ooc she’s a better pilot than that

[jiabeewrites]

STAR WARS ATLA HEADCANONS

(because I'm now obsessed with this idea, thank you @vulpesarctica for your lovely posts)

THE CLONE WARS || OG TRILOGY || REBELS || MANDO ERA

GENERAL AU HEADCANONS: - for the sake of the story let's flip the original atla timeline on it's head - republic city came first, and then the whole "100 year war" - i actually haven't watched all of lok so pls bear with me - sidious is some sort of chancellor, still - dooku is firelord, however he's NOT A BENDER - I MUST STRESS THE FACT THAT HE CANNOT BEND - *cough*atleastothepublic*cough* - *cough*he'stotallyafirebender*cough* - anyways he's very "antibender" - and ig benders are a lot like jedi, bc they hafta be "disciplined" or whatever - except, yk, more organized than the benders in atla - but dooku declares war, on benders, and the rest of the world, yadayada - badabing badabang badabingbangboom - btw i have ZERO clue how clones would work in atla but let's just say they're all hired fighters or smth that look the same idk - or they're like the dai li - idk - ANYWAYS let's excuse my sucky worldbuilding skills and get onto the headcanons :)

ANAKIN SKYWALKER: SANDBENDER FIREBENDER 🔥 - actually tho imagine if he was a sandbender - okay so he would TOTALLY be a firebender like cmon - he's feisty and chaotic and fire is fucking perfect for him - but in this case firebending wouldn't be, like, taboo because of the circumstances of the war - and it's canon that darth vader cannot use sith lightning so let's make it (head)canon that anakin cannot summon lightning - he's salty abt it - sidious probably eventually burns him but blames it on obiwan - except his marriage with padme wouldn't be taboo either??? let's just say she's very anti-war so the rest of the temple doesn't really like her

OBI-WAN KENOBI: WATERBENDER 🌊 - so at first i thought that obi would be an airbender - but then i read iroh's lil speech on airbenders and it doesn't fit obi-wan - so waterbender he is :) - he was taught by qui-gon, who is an earthbender (he's so stubborn cmon) - so obi-wan definitely has some earthbender qualities to him - i think that obi-wan does eventually bloodbend, when maul captures satine - it wasn't something taught in the temple, but obi-wan is obi-wan - (ventress taught it to him) - and he fucking hated that feeling and vowed to never do it again

AHSOKA TANO: EARTHBENDER 🪨 - so ik that the post linked above has ahsoka down as a waterbender - and while it does, in fact, fit her - she possesses a LOT of earthbending qualities and honestly i think this fits her better - no, it doesn't make sense that anakin is a firebender and teaches her but then again - iroh said that people have to learn from each other and so that's what the temple does :) - ahsoka gets her fiery temper and overall chaoticness from anakin - and her adaptability from obi-wan - but her stubborness and her resolve? that's all her own - she's strong and she's not afraid to show it :D - tbh she's basically the avatar with all of her mentors but can't actually bend all the elements but whatever

MACE WINDU: EARTHBENDER 🪨 - i feel like this doesn't need to be explained - but i shall anyway - he's very headstrong - he has strong morals and isn't afraid to fight you on them - what other explanation do you want ;-;

PLO KOON: WATERBENDER 🌊 - *pulls out powerpoint presentation* PLO IS SUCH A WATERENDER AND HERE'S WHY - ok so i was SO FUCKING CLOSE to putting him down as an airbender but ultimately i had to choose water as plo's element - because he's a very peaceful person and we see that a LOT - but i had to make him a waterbender because he's a family man and so loving and that's what made me choose water for him - *cough*wolffepack*cough* - ily plo

KIT FISTO: AIRBENDER 🌪 - he doesn't really need any elaboration - he's just an airbender - he's very free-spirited, and we do see him joke around a bit during clone wars - very peaceful dude

ASAJJ VENTRESS: BLOODBENDER 🩸 - okay so i need to explain this for a sec - dooku's whole thing is against benders - but if we include some of the niche bending, like metalbending and bloodbending - which aren't really out there if yk what i mean - then nobody would know that it was ventress who was technically bending - i feel like there is a potential way for bloodbending to be used for good, and that's kinda where the whole nightsister thing would come in - people think they're witches but no, they're just really good waterbenders - (the nightsisters use bloodbending for kinda gray-area purposes) - (but they use it to help maul later and you'll see what i mean)

SHAAK TI: AIRBENDER 🌪 - i'm pretty sure that shaak ti could fall under waterbender, because she cares a LOT for the clones and i totally agree with her being their "mom" like how plo is their "dad" - but she's very peaceful, and i'm in AWE every single time she's on screen - like how tf is she so calm - so airbender she is :)

YODA: AIRBENDER 🌪 - he is an airbender and you can fucking fight me on this - HE CHECKS ALL THE BOXES HELLO - "detached themselves from worldly concerns" CHECK - "and they found peace and freedom" CHECK - "and they apparently had great senses of humor” DEBATABLE BUT CHECK - bro could literally be the former avatar but whatever - he's amazing and we love him - people sometimes think he's just a really weird spirit - and he probably is - but whatever

MAUL: FIREBENDER 🔥 - okay so i actually did consider making him a bloodbender - because of ventress & the nightsisters and that whole thing - however - there's no way that sidious would have taken him on as his apprentice if he wasn't a firebender so uhhhh yeah - he's a firebender, with a LOT of rage - a lil too much tbh

BARRIS OFFEE: AIRBENDER 🌪 - i think that barris is an airbender - she's very calm, most of the time - however she does have the capability to blow up, and we can see that when she frames ahsoka - aang blew up too tho so it's okay :) - i don't know a lot about her or her master so idk if this is good or not

also quinlan vos is an airbender okay bye

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay, @laurelindorenan and @catkin-morgs were interested in my Star Wars thoughts, so here ya go. No particular order, just gonna ramble. Idk what all to discuss exactly, so this will be pretty broad-strokes.  

I am an Original Trilogy girl at heart and I do maintain that all three are actual masterpieces. All other Star Wars media, good bad or otherwise, is secondary in my book. Not an unusual opinion or anything, but maybe a little out of step with a lot of folks my age. I didn’t actually even see the prequel trilogy until the runup to The Force Awakens. 

And I just. I can’t even articulate the fondness and joy and giddy love that I have for those first three movies. For Luke, Leia, and Han. The whole supporting cast. The sound of Darth Vader’s breathing. Wookiee noises. Lightsabers and blasters and the jump to hyperspace. The sets! Hoth and the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon and Cloud City and -- and-- they’re so immersive and tangible and lived in and it always feel likes I could just step into them. The music!

I adore every single solitary thing about the romance between Leia and Han, which was probably the first love story I ever encountered that fully captivated my heart. It’s not just the bickering, it’s the fact that they change each other! They’re fire and steel together, but also Han learns to stay and to care because he loves Leia and Leia steps away from the rebellion to go after Han. He’s blind and frightened and he asks “who’s there” and she replies, “someone who loves you.” 

The themes of family tragedy and legacy and love and REDEMPTION! Han coming back to the Death Star and Lando the rebellion general and “I’ve got to save you!”/”You already have.” Luke, Luke the boy who throws aside his weapon and says “I am a Jedi like my father before me.” Who risks everything on the foolish, stupid hope that his father can be rescued from the Dark and he’s right. 

Thanks heavily to the influence of my dad, I’m an old fogey Star Wars fan who vehemently rejects the special editions. I alluded to the fact that I switched over to the despecialized edition to show my roommate the original Han/Greedo scene, subtitles be damned. I plan to do the same with the ending of Return of the Jedi. Idk, maybe that’s a little too rigid of me, but I can’t help it. I’m my father’s daughter. 

My personal ranking of the current cannon:

The good stuff, in order of preference: Jedi Empire, ANH (tentatively- my favorite OT movie is the one I've watched most recently), Clone Wars season 7, rest of Clone Wars, The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2.

Revenge of the Sith is compelling in spite of itself, but I can't quite bring myself to call it good. I’m ehhh on Rogue One and Obi-Wan. I have a complicated relationship with The Last Jedi.

I actively dislike Solo, Attack of the Clones, The Force Awakens, Phantom Menace, and The Rise of Skywalker (UGH), in ascending order of badness.

Haven’t seen Andor, Book of Boba Fett, or any of Rebels apart from like, 4 episodes. Waiting to watch Mandalorian s3 with my Dad over Christmas.

I also read a whole bunch of the old EU books as a kid and while the quality is highly variable, I still have very fond memories of quite a lot of it. I fully maintain that the sequel trilogy should have pulled from the New Jedi Order series. I miss Jaina Solo.

The prequels are. Um. They’re less than the sum of their parts. The opening to Revenge of the Sith is straight fire and you know I love me a good doomed romance and I swear I could get high on “This is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause.” But like. Sigh. They’re not good movies, guys. I know a lot of people my age will defend these movies, but I just. No. Y’all are nuts. The older crowd is right, the prequels are, in fact, bad, but hey, at least they gave us Clone Wars. 

On the other hand, the sequel trilogy is just a blot on the series. In a vacuum, I do rather like The Last Jedi as a movie, particularly the last hour, but in the context of the original films it's terribly unfair and cruel to Luke. It had some great themes and striking visuals, though. I never much liked The Force Awakens once the initial high wore off because it was super bland and not nearly interesting enough to distract me from the fact that it broke up Han and Leia!! Like what the heck. And of course The Rise of Skywalker is utter garbage. 

I wish Disney would stop it with all the new Content(tm), or at least slow down. It's just too much.

idk what else to say. I reblog Star Wars stuff on my other blog sometimes, but ironically (because it’s the biggest franchise in the world basically), Star Wars is really personal to me. I’m always, always, always gonna connect it with my dad.

[dreamwritesimagines]

Dream!!! It’s CMA:)

Omg so does benedict totally know that Charlie and Anthony are pining after one another?

Also do you think that Anthony keeps insisting that benedict must have been courting Charlie because otherwise how can he excuse the fact that he hasn’t made a move on her in all these years??

And like the complete difference between how Benedict sees her vs how everyone else sees her😭😭 it’s so poetic and sad and sweet at the same time

Also I need an au where Benedict and Lottie actually do get engaged and Lottie has to be like best friend/fiancée’s brother, childhood friends to lover, grumpy/sunshine trope LOL. I know we’re already getting the last two but the added layer of forbidden love 👌

Also thanks for explaining the fact that they can be left alone together now! That does make more sense, and it also further explains why they’d be allowed to be alone together in the garden if they were engaged

I love this series so fucking much; it’s a complete contrast to enamored but in a good way.

Also you saying that clover won’t be gardening😫😭😭😭 will she be able to garden at her aunt and uncles place in the meanwhile or completely cut off? Because that’s such a huge coping mechanism and de-stressor/self-care for her, and she’s been so dependent on it for so long that it seems cruel to completely deprive her of it for long.

In the meanwhile tho, I could see benedict giving her cut flowers, or even better buying plants and being like ‘I got this but idk how to take care of it so if u don’t do anything it’ll just die I guess’ and she’ll be torn between wanting the plant to survive and not giving in.

And even better than that is if he ropes his family into it, like one day violet will just be like ‘I got these seeds at the store by accident but I don’t know how to take care of them. Either I will have to learn (and do it completely wrong) or I’ll have to throw them away’ and clover is like ‘NOOOOOOOO!!!’ (like the Luke skywalker no gif from the second movie)

Or if hyacinth/Gregory/etc. are like ‘we are learning about crops this is so boring plants suck and I don’t get it’ and clover is like ‘well actually they are fascinating and let me tell you why’ and she ends up getting into it through helping them.

Will clover spend a lot of time at the bridgerton home or will she mostly be alone/with Ben in their new home?

This reminds me of this thing which is when you have people who have the tendency to feel selfish doing self-care, you can often ‘trick’ them into doing it by pretending that they’re actually helping u do it when it’s secretly about them. Like they would never go get a massage for themselves but it’s now a bonding time for us and you wouldn’t want to make me feel sad would u? And they feel justified because it fulfills their need to feel helpful. Idk it’s a thing. It sounds manipulative but it’s the only way to help people sometimes and I bet benedict will have to employ that tactic all the time with clover…

Okay sorry my neck is cramping from bending over to type this so imma take a small break. Love u lots tho and I am SO glad we got this extra chapter!!!!!!!! I love it so much!!!!!!!!!

Love u lots dream<3

Hi my loveee! ❤️

Oh I don't think Benedict knows, I actually don't think any of them are aware of it yet😂

Also do you think that Anthony keeps insisting that benedict must have been courting Charlie because otherwise how can he excuse the fact that he hasn’t made a move on her in all these years?? In a way yes!

Like, in Anthony's mind, Charlotte was always out of question because he always thought eventually she'd be his sister-in-law 💔 He always thought she was supposed to end up with Benedict, so that's why he never even considered entertaining the idea of courting her 💔 He always kept his distance to a point, at least as much as he could❤️

Benedict is so in love with her❤️

Wait wait, Lottie as Benedict's fiancee and falling for Anthony in the AU?! Ohhh that would be so intenseee😏❤️

Omg no problem! I love details like those❤️ That was also why breaking an engagement was considered to be scandal and such, because *gasp* they already have been alone together in a room! 😂

Oh I thought the same! Like, gardening is a huge part of her self-care, so if she completely stopped, I think that would be very difficult for her because she will already be incredibly stressed about the whole marriage thing💔 So I think she'd keep doing that at her uncle and aunt's home ❤️

Awww Benedict would totally do that! 🥰 It'd be like luring a jumpy animal out of its cage tbh, he will have to be very slow and patient ❤️

His family would love to do that! 😍 Especially Violet I'm sure!😍

I feel like she will spend most of the time at their own place at first but they will certainly visit the Bridgerton house for dinner and stuff, and Violet will invite them very often❤️ But like at first, it'll be very funny in their home because Clover will try to run into him as little as possible in the same house😂😂

WAIT THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSEEE!😍 I can totally see Benedict doing that 😂

Darliiiing ILYSM, thank you so much for this! ❤️😍😍

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Last Jedi

Author: Sebastian Junger

Rating: 7/10

I guess it's been a while since I watched The Last Jedi. I know I said I hated it in the middle of the night, but the next morning I felt bad for saying it. Like, you don't necessarily have to hate the movie, you just don't have to like the movie. But the next morning I thought about what I'd seen and decided the movie wasn't as terrible as I remembered. Maybe I was just on autopilot that first night, idk.

Anyway, here's the review:

This is a weird movie, in many ways. It's about as weird as Return of the Jedi was, I guess. It has that "weird but also kind of wonderful" vibe, that's all I can say for it. The plot is very confused. But the visual design and the soundtrack are really good, and they make it work. The last hour of the movie is the only good thing about the movie. I guess it's kind of like a "revelation" movie -- you watch it, you are horrified, then you look at it, and you say "wait, no, this was great! I like this movie!"

So, a couple of points about the plot. A lot of people are complaining about a lot of plot holes in this movie. I'm not going to address them at all, but I will address the issue that is at the heart of a lot of the complaint: the Jedi are supposed to have existed as a group for the last century, and then they don't. When they get to that planet, it's like the Jedi never existed at all. And there's this huge plot hole that goes all the way to the very beginning, which is the reason the original Star Wars was so great: no one even seems to question it.

There's this thing in Star Wars where the creators, in order to make their stories as resonant as possible, have to show you something very important about life. If you've got an emotionally moving story with a lot of characters who are really distinct and memorable -- and you don't -- then the story will fall flat because it's a bunch of disconnected people. When you have an emotionally moving story with really distinct and memorable characters, you can't make them seem like "one big happy family" because it's not true. You need a couple of the characters to have really different motivations and personalities, so the audience can sort of pick them out and think about them separately. And the more distinct your characters are, the more "real" the characters seem, the more powerful their stories become.

But there's a real issue here. When you're trying to build a world, you need to think about what kinds of people it makes sense to have. And how do you get more people in your world? By making the people who already exist more interesting. One of the things that made Return of the Jedi more moving was that Luke had grown up in the pre-Skywalker era of the Old Republic, so he knew the Jedi as people who were as different from him as modern-day New Republic soldiers are from him. And when he got to the planet and saw that the war had gone on for a century in that galaxy and no one seemed to remember anything about the Jedi, he had that moment of "ah, they really have forgotten all about them." The old Jedi order had been a sort of distant memory for him.

This is sort of the same thing with the "weird but also kind of wonderful" vibe I mentioned earlier. It's like, even though the movie tries really hard to be serious, it's trying to do it seriously in a way that is kind of silly or goofy or whatever. And I get this weird feeling that it's trying very hard to have it both ways: the characters are supposed to be complex and unique and yet their stories are "not real" -- like, we're aware we're watching a movie, and yet we're looking at these people who are real enough that you can read their real stories. Like, a lot of the plot feels like it's been set up to allow these characters to go on a wild ride, to do things that were never on the table before, which was a really fun prospect but only really happens if you don't go back and think about the characters and how the world has changed.

To make up for how bad this movie is, it's a great movie to watch alone. I'm watching it again to be alone while I think about all of the things I've just written in the last two paragraphs. It's a fun movie to watch by yourself. It's an amazing movie to watch with someone who you don't want to watch with. It's good, in the end, and I enjoy watching it. I just don't think it's for most people.

[linewire]

i want to get into some new media since i feel like my hyperfix might fade, is there anything you recommend? (books, shows, whatever!!)

Hello anon,

Honestly I’m not sure if I’m the best person you should be asking about this lmao. I tend to like a lot of popular media ie star wars, star trek, bond movies, etc so idk how to recommend something that’s already popular?

Ig here’s my list if u wanna try getting into some new stuff, take this all with a grain of salt cause i usually become a fan of something for mainly the ships.

Action:

The Old Guard: okay so if you like action stuff and good characters, this is probably a good start. The movie is on the surface a typical action movie but i think the characters are more of the actual focus. It’s basically a found family of immortals with a canon queer couple, a very explicit canon queer couple, and relationships born out of thousands of years of cohabitation. There’s a lot of good fanfics and the sequel is coming out next year i believe. U can find this on netflix.

The man from uncle movie: this is a bit harder to recommend because of Armie Hammer but if you look past that, the movie is really fun with (again) a found family of an american spy, a russian spy, and a german car mechanic. There’s fake dating, banter, and good ol dumb spy shenanigans. This was on netflix for a bit but u prolly have to pirate it now.

Bond movies (specifically the Craig movies): this is the HARDEST to recommend because u have to ignore so many dubious things like the fact that only one or two of the movies are actually good (Casino Royale is the best one, Skyfall was okay because it introduced Q). Like I said, I only got into this because of the ship between Bond and Q. The fics are great (Ulysses and Redamancy are my recs) but the fandom is mostly dead (there was a bit of a resurgence with No Time to Die but eh). You gotta pirate these i think.

Sci Fi:

Star Wars (just the original trilogy and the Mandalorian tv show): yeah it’s corny and stupid but it’s just the right amount of corny and stupid. If you look past that, the ship between the Mandalorian and Luke Skywalker was my shit right before mcyt so I have a lot of fond memories of it. There’s just something about two damaged people learning how to open up and coparent a green baby that just gets me. Don’t watch this on Disney plus, pirate it.

Star Trek (the Abrams movies with Pine and Quinto): I’ve only watched the Abrams movies and a but of Next Gen so I can’t really say which of the many series are worth watching but the movies definitely are. Spock and Kirk are the og ship so they have the most content out of all my recs. Once again, ANOTHER found family dynamic between the main characters. It’s basically like, what if you put a group of the most competent people together who somehow lose all braincells (except Spock) when they’re next to each other, into a spaceship and tell them to go fuck around and find out. Pirate these.

Fantasy:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (hear me out): first of all fuck Joanne Rowling. Pirate this movie, don’t give that racist terf another dime. Don’t watch anything beyond the first movie (i’m not exaggerating when i say this is the only good movie) in this horrible series. The aspect of this series that i like is nonexistent in the other movies, which is the “relationship” between Newt and the original Percival Graves. The fandom basically pose the questions, “What if Newt and Graves knew each other before the events of the first movie?” and “What if Newt found Graves after the first movie?” and i eat that shit up. Personally, I think that aspect is a total product of the fandom, just using JK’s world and blueprint as a foundation so I see them as completely separate entities. The fandom is dead (though I am writing a fic for it despite that) because the movie came out in 2016 but there’s enough fan content that I still stick around.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: so these books are a part of a bigger universe called the Grishaverse but I read them before I read the original Grisha trilogy and I understood them just fine. It’s a heist story set in a rich fantasy world with compelling characters and great writing. It’s really easy to get into it and immerse yourself in this expansive world and relate to the characters.

[im-in-love-with-pizza-bites]

Ranch Hand: Chapter 2

Farmer!Veteran!Bucky Barnes X Teen!Reader (Small town and Farmer AU)

Series MasterList

Series summary: When you ran away from your nightmare of a family, you found a small town, population 200. In this town you meet a retired army veteran turned farmer who hires you as farm hand. Only mystery will you two be able overcome your pasts together.

Chapter Summary: A trial run of working for Bucky.

Series Warnings: Mentions nightmares, Child abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, war, swearing, mentions death by cancer, mentions of alcohol and illegal substance abuse, if your a vegan who hates farmers this is not the story for you. please tell me if you see anymore!!! But do so politely please.

Chapter Warnings:

Divider: @skylightlantern

Bucky sat looking out of his window at 4 thirty am. Yesterday he cut you a deal, if you showed up first thing in the morning and helped him the whole day. He told you to be there at 5 am. So he was waiting, he already collected the eggs at pick them away and he was starting to make breakfast. He looked away to keep making breakfast. He was making a little extra for you.

He looks at the clock, 4:59 then he looks out his window. You were on your bike pretty far down his driveway but still hurrying to the best of your ability. He noticed your leg still bandaged so he isn't going to count it against you if your slow today since it is his fault you hurt your knee. He checked the eggs again before you knocked.

"It's open kid!" Bucky shouted. You walked in before finding your way to the kitchen, which was easy since it was the first arch way after entering.

"Hi sir." You said smiling setting your backpack on a chair.

"Don't call me sir it makes me feel old, you hungry?" He asked turning the stove off.

"Yeah." You nodded.

"Eat up." He pushed a plate of food to you before sitting down with his own.

———

Bucky tasked you with cleaning the horse stables. He owns two horses, Valley and Icy. His grandpa bought them as foals not long before he passed and Bucky and his sister inherited the farm. You were raking at the hay while the two horses were in their field.

Bucky walked over tossing down a straw bale. You didn't even notice him, humming as you worked. He walked off to keep doing his own work. He was going to hire you. You have potential. Besides it might be nice to have a kid around the farm.

Coming here for the summer when he was a kid was his favorite thing, Steve got to tag along some times too. So it'd be nice to share the joy of this farm with another kid. He dropped another straw bale down.

"Where do I dump this?" You asked referring to the filled wheelbarrow.

"I'll take it. Just spread the straw around then fill the troughs." Bucky instructed before walking away with the wheelbarrow. You spread the straw and filled their food, hay, and water troughs.

"Okay lets go get the horses." Bucky smiled walking back over.

"Okay!" You nodded.

———

"And here you are." He placed an hundred dollar bill in your hand. "Your hired, I'll pay you 10 dollars an hour, from 5-6." Bucky explained. His work day is longer than that but he works about 16 hours a day, which is twice as much a minor can legally work so instead you only work 13 hours plus a lot of breaks. He doesn't want to make your parents mad.

"Really? Thank you!" You smiled.

"You have weekends off, and Friday is payday."

"Thank you so much!" You stuffed the bill into your backpack. "I'll see you tomorrow sir!"

"Wait. First off I'll dock your pay if you call me sir." He joked but there was a sense of seriousness. "Let's get you a new bandaid." He motioned down to your knee.

"Okay." Soon it was cleaned and he sent you away telling you to wear jeans tomorrow.

Taglist: @rachaelswrites @killerqueenfan @lukajim @lrosenblut26 @depressed-barnes @worldssidechick @hanainneverland @littleolive24 @babbsissuperblij @cute2043 @skycaliforniaart @idk-whats-happend @chloe-skywalker @retiredfromglad @katopotato06 @xennityxen @whore-4-thor

A/n: it's out early cause I can't schedule it 🤦‍♀️

[softieskywalker]

So your Disney Luke post is absolutely correct and the way they keep whipping Luke out whenever Disney wants to bludgeon the rest of the universe into a plot they want is going to torpedo the story every single time. Luke is the heart of the story, and in the sequels having completed his Hero's Journey he is supposed to Not only embody the story's themes but rise above the failures of the past and the mistakes of others in doing so. The petty bastard in me absolutely agrees with you that trying to kill Kylo was not wrong but Mark knows Luke better than both of us and he would never do that, if he could see the good in Darth Fucking Vader he could never kill a child in his sleep no matter how alarming the vision. Anyway your post and general take on Luke has me thinking about when tlj first came out again and I'm in my feels. I foolishly defended a lot of the weirder decisions the movie took because I had thought it was going a very different direction than what it and tros ended up doing. With Rey's parents being nobodies, Kylo abandoning his obsession with the past, and that note of hope at the end with that kid with the broom everybody thought was using the force, I thought the movie was outright stating that being a Jedi and the force and Star Wars itself is not about midichlorians and special lineages and the only important people being relatives of other important people. the force binds every living thing in the galaxy and connects them and it's not special magic for the special wizards on coruscant to hold over the commoners; that was how I took Luke's dumb brooding about how the Jedi order (as it was) needed to end, and Yoda casually destroying the sacred texts, because none of it was supposed to Really matter and the dead master with his former student had both realized that. The exclusivity, the hoarding, all of that was the problem with pre-66 Jedi. I thought tlj tried to be too subtle with delivering the theme so it didn't hit right but as more and more of what was Actually the thought process behind it came out I was increasingly proven wrong and just. I dunno, I miss delusionally thinking they have respect for the original characters and trilogy. Sorry for the wall of text lol do you have strong feelings about the Solo movie?

ok so yeah I agree like when the trailer for tlj came out i was so excited i actually wanted them to take Luke's character in an interesting direction, i was hoping he was there to propose something new, but then what we got was clumsiness. i think that movie fails fundamentally in that it's trying to say something it doesn't actually believe in. who can possibly believe in the ultramodern notion of "forget the past because everything new is inherently superior"? it doesn't work in a saga that's about generations and transcendence. the point of the skywalkers never was for them to be the space Kardashians it's that they're there to represent the most human of conflict which is family and legacy. everyone in the world can relate to some degree to this conflict. it was never about Anakin or Luke or Leia or Padmé but what they represent. about fathers failing their sons and neglecting their daughters, about mothers doing ten times more and still being a footnote on the family history, about new generations dealing with complicated legacies and having to choose between forgiveness, compassion and sacrifice. it's universal. and to negate that and make a movie that says "everything you care about sucks" will never have any type of transcendence. it will always feel empty because people like to care about things!

it's so convoluted idk where to even begin but for example. the issue with Rey's parents. It was A Thing because the people who made the movies failed to understand why Vader being Luke's dad is important. It's not important because it's a mystery, because it's not, it almost comes out of nowhere. it's not important because it gives Luke any type of status, on the contrary. it's important because it starts to erase the line between light and dark, between good and evil, between right and wrong, between "us" versus "them." how can I be better when i am one of them? how can they be worse when we're the same? how, if we're the same, did he get to that point? how can I avoid falling down the same path? it's important because it completely changes Luke's worldview. he can't even look at himself in the mirror the same anymore. so then, what did Rey believe about herself, about the world, that knowing her parentage (skywalkers, palpatine, nobody) would change? honestly? nothing. we never really know what her convictions and beliefs are. so why does it matter if they change?

i think that beyond differences in ideology, star wars shines when you can see it was made with love. none of the sequels feel like they were made with love. they're just what disney pumped out of the movie making machine to make money and that's it. they didn't have anything to say. they didn't really care about anything beyond profit. and star wars, a story about a boy who saves his family and in consequence the entire galaxy by choosing love over greed, can never and could never be done well by people who only make more out of greed.

oh and i actually liked solo i thought it was alright. not the best not the worst. definitely better than tlj for me. didn't deserve to flop as badly as it did.

[parismystere]

Am I the only one salty that felix could break out of the akuma in GA but not Adrien in Ephemère or CB? Like - surely our literal hero, who has shown to have some of the most internal strength throughout the show (I mean staying soft and kind and saving Paris while putting up with LB’s and his fathers rejection) can break the akuma’s grip more easily than someone who seems to have an actually decent life and parental relationship with his parent figure. At this point I feel like it’s honestly just the writers shitting on him, not letting him be as strong as he surely can be for the sake of plot. (And if the senti theory is right - then why is Felix scared of the snap when he knows Gabriel has Adrien’s ring, not his - and if Gabriel has control over Adrien like that - why not expose him that way when he suspected him of being CN way back in S2? Idk man somethings just not adding up)

oh, boy. now you're gonna make me defend the show i salted on so much last week in the heat of the moment lol.

i'll just have to respectfully disagree! here is my perspective: in both chat blanc and ephemeral, adrien got the knowledge that 1) his father is hawk moth; 2) his mother has been lying in a capsule below him the entire time he thought she was gone; 3) his father's plan is to bring her back to life by getting his and ladybug's miraculous. he was still sleepy in ephemeral even. i wrote this meta about how adrien is terrified of his father even under normal circumstances. it would have been insane for adrien to break the akumatization under these circumstances, and frankly, kind of cheap? it would have minimized his family... problems, if you call the realization that you've been fighting your father and that your mom is creepily hidden in the basement problems.

now, on the other hand, with felix - he's a sentimonster who knows that gabriel has the power to destroy him and end his life. he's presumably had time to live with the idea and form a plan how to proceed. i think gabriel's threats were kind of empty at that point - they could become much more worrying later on, of course, but even though gabriel detests felix, killing him seems like a last-resort idea, if felix goes too far. so i can see how felix, who has had the chance to process everything, could rein in his emotions in the moment!

i'm not gonna act like there aren't adrichat moments that made me roll my eyes, like, did you seriously expect me to believe that alya is able to beat paris' fencing champion in physical fight? alya, who has been ladybug for 15 minutes at most? oh, please. bull.

but adrien's strength is his kindness! i think he's a great model because he is always looking for the best in others and is able to actively bring it out of them, or at least tries to. i think he's a far less passive character than the fandom makes him out to be, or at least his passiveness hides a lot of fire. but felix is someone rather cold-blooded, stealthy and rational. him breaking out of akumatization added a lot of depth and intrigue in my eyes. it didn't feel out of place for me.

what adrien did in 'chat blanc', to me, is far greater than what felix did. no, adrien didn't break out of his akumatization, but in the worst moment of his life, he found the strength to try to control himself and his power, and then directed it at himself in a desperate, futile attempt to end his life instead of ladybug's or his father's. like. luke skywalker would be so proud. it was the ultimate attempt at a self-sacrifice. and later on, after still being under the akuma's influence, stuck in a wasteland alone for months, knowing that he killed everybody on earth... he still loved ladybug in his own twisted way. there was so much love under the brainwashing that he made it easy on ladybug on purpose. he could've easily killed her from a distance, but he artifically prolonged the battle and he even gave her a hint as to where his akuma is. i'm not gonna act like chat blanc is flawless (see: pacing. animation.), but whoever wrote adrien's characterization in 'chat blanc' must love adrien a lot. it was the perfect display of love and strength and resilience under the worst circumstance possible, and making adrien break out of his akumatization would've made his whole family storyline look like something that isn't a big deal. until felix gets a moment like this, or at least 1/100th of the show relevance that adrien has, i think this is a win for adrien in my book.

[cherryblossomriot]

i had a dream the other day that was basically a dinluke cowboy au and it has been HAUNTING me, so just allow me to deposit it upon you like my subconscious drop kicked it onto me:

Luke is a disabled veteran who has returned from war one hand lighter and several scars heavier. When he returns, his family, who are heavily involved in the politics/military of this fictional land, don’t understand his now jaded and melancholic view of both the world, but also the ideologies that they so strongly believe in, leading him to constantly feel like an outcast even among the people that he so dearly loves. They’re all passionate and strong-willed, but they still don’t understand, not his struggles with mental health or his new perspective, and it just makes things worse and worse and worse. Anakin is a general, and though he’s seen the gruesomeness of war firsthand, he’s also become desensitized to it and has anger-management issues, so he often almost finds a sort of refuge within the chaos of battle, so he clearly cannot even fathom the emotions and trauma that Luke is trying to sort through, much less know how to deal with them properly. Padme is a senator and cares deeply about the crimes and seemingly senseless violence occurring during the war, but she’s also a politician and knows how to play the long game, so when Luke comes to her, he leaves feeling misunderstood and pushed aside. Leia is the only one who seemingly understands, as the pair of them have a deep, intrinsic bond, but she doesn’t fully grasp Luke’s moods and doesn’t handle his breakdowns and flashbacks well. So everyone feels a little upset, a little unsettled, and a lot like they don’t understand why and how Luke has changed, which leads to Luke feeling more and more out of place within his own family. The war ends relatively soon after Luke’s return, which leads to parades which leads to awards which leads to balls and banquets, all of which Luke is forced to attend, his heart dragging but his head held high, because he’s an Amidala-Skywalker goddammit, and we have a certain responsibility and image to maintain to the public and everyone who endured so much. So Luke has to sit there through awards and boasts of glory and mentions of battle scars and it goes on and on and on, and he has to smile and bear it and accept the medal that they’re giving him because he did such a great service to his country and-he has a panic attack. A nasty one that leads to him having to flee from a ballroom, and outside to the gardens. Once he’s there, he realizes that he doesn’t want to go back in. At all. So he runs away. He just picks a direction and goes, stealing a car on the way (this is a modern au but also fictional countries because I don’t want to get into real politics, hooo boy no siree). In the middle of nowhere, he gets caught in a storm and basically crashes his car and passes out. 

But when he wakes up! That’s when the fun begins. 

He’s in this cozy sort of bedroom, and this hot guy is fast asleep in the chair beside his bed, and is that a little kid in his lap? Anyway, the hot guy wakes up, introduces himself as Din Djarin in the softest, most attractive voice Luke has ever heard with his own two ears, and doesn’t ask him where he’s from or what he was doing driving in the middle of bumfuck nowhere at 3 in the morning, so Luke is obligated to have a lil crush on him, even though he’s not sure about the kid. So he asks, and Din introduces him to his son Grogu, who waves at him and signs hello, because, as Din explains, he doesn’t speak much, and the foster system wasn’t too kind to him, so he’s got a little bit of trauma to work through. And Luke just, instantly falls in love with this soft dad and his cute little son who can shift his features from the biggest, most pleading puppy eyes ever to the face of a demented gremlin who will try to eat the frog he caught in the backyard, no matter how slimy it is, or how hard it tries to wriggle out of his hands. Din tells Luke that he can stay for however long he needs, because Luke’s kinda injured from his accident, and anyway, once he’s healed up, they always could use another hand on the farm. So Luke stays, and he meets all of Din’s other farm hands (and shitty friends). There’s Boba, who doesn’t talk much, but when he does it’s always something slightly ominous and menacing, and Luke thinks that his name sounds familiar...hey wasn’t he on the news for robbing a couple banks a few years back?...no, surely not..., Fennec, who speaks even less than Boba, and manages to be far, far more intimidating, but also helps Luke with his prosthetic and gives him fun little tips that always sound more like she’s cut off a lot more limbs than she’s lost. Cara Dune (who is not gina carano but i digress) is also there, and she’s just constantly a harbinger of chaos, but will babysit Grogu whenever Din wants to brood and stare longingly into the distance (or at Luke who’s also brooding as the sun sets but shhh). Bo-Katan and the gang are there, and while Bo-Katan grumbles about how the old ranch boss had different/better methods on how to run things, she still follows Din’s lead and helps him with the finances and taxes. They all take to Luke like a wildfire, because Luke is a sunshine boy who can make friends with literally anyone and somehow manages to make Din not only smile but laugh, but also because they can tell he’s got a lot of trauma and pain bubbling just under the surface, and they all silently but collectively agreed a long time ago that they are the patron saints of troubled and lost souls. 

When Luke gets better and starts to help out, he’s constantly upset with himself because he used to help out at his aunt and uncle’s farm in the summers when he was a kid, and he knows how to do this stuff, but his prosthetic is really throwing him off and his body has sustained a lot of other injuries that make doing manual labor a much more different experience than it used to be, but everyone is really patient with him and helps him out, especially Din. At one point, Din is so nice that Luke just loses it, because he doesn’t understand how Din can be so kind and so patient, and care about him so much, and kind of calls himself broken and useless in front of Din, and Din gets super protective and grabs his hands (real and prosthetic) and tells him that he’s not broken or useless, and you’re so sweet and wonderful, and can’t you see? Ever since you’ve been here, everyone’s been so much happier, so much lighter. You’ve brought something precious to us, but most of all to me. And they’re standing really close and for a second Luke thinks Din is going to kiss him, but instead, Luke realizes that he’s crying, and Din just wraps his arms around him and holds him.

After that, time sort of blurs, marked by things like Grogu climbing into Luke’s bed because he sensed that he was having a nightmare, and Din waking up to find the pair of them coloring in a serene silence, Luke getting the hang of ranch life and his prosthetic and dealing with his panic attacks and flashbacks as they come, and Din enduring relentless badgering from his friends because hey, if you don’t marry Luke, I will and Fennec, you’re a lesbian and that doesn’t matter, it’ll be a marriage of twink and butch solidarity. And all the while, Din and Luke are spinning closer and closer towards each other, two suns hurtling in their orbit to the other with an inescapable certainty. 

When it finally happens, they’ve just gotten back from one of those cowboy dances (idk what they’re called...hoedowns? yeah okay) (and yes, I wanted to hit all of the cliches in the book, thank you very much), and Grogu’s fallen fast asleep on Luke’s shoulder. After they tuck him up all snug in his bed, they head out to the porch, because it’s raining outside, and the steady thrum of water droplets splattering on the roof and on the grass is the most soothing sound Luke has ever heard (aside from Din’s voice), and he’s a little too afraid to go to sleep and ruin his perfect night with a nightmare. They stand there for a while, silence binding them together, shoulders brushing every now and then, hesitant and questioning. Luke thinks about how Din had asked him to dance earlier, his lips tilted in a teasing, but achingly soft smile, and how his heart had pounded a tattoo to the shape of his ribs when they’d pushed up so close together, the fast, rowdy dances of the beginning of the night having faded to something lasting, something meaningful. Luke remembers the ball he’d run away from, how the dancing had been cold, almost jeering in a way, and Luke realizes how far he’s come, how different it is here. And suddenly, there isn’t a question in his mind anymore. He turns toward Din, who turns toward him, and when he leans forward, Din breathes an uncertain “Luke-”, but he doesn’t get to finish the thought. Luke kisses him, and he kisses back, and it’s just them. There are hands in hair and noses nudged together, and at some point, they move, without either of them releasing the other, into the house and into Din’s bedroom. Buttons are unbuttoned, and whole stretches of skin are kissed, and when it’s over, they curl up together, Din tucking his head into the crook of Luke’s neck and falling asleep there. 

When they wake up, Luke explains why he came here, why he ran away, all the while Din looks at him with his beautiful dark eyes and runs his hands through Luke’s hair, which is catching the sunlight filtering in through the window and making him look like he has a halo, all the while never once condemning him for keeping it a secret this whole time. After he’s finished, he expects some sort of shocked reaction-after all, his family’s pretty famous, but all Din does is kiss him and ask, “Wait, so you have a twin?” 

It’s so unexpected that Luke throws his head back and bursts into uncontrollable, and very contagious peals of laughter, and when he’s finally able to breathe again, he kisses Din’s forehead and murmurs, “I love you.” 

Din, who has been touch starved and lonely for years (no time for relationships when you’ve got a business to run and a toddler to raise), tears up and kisses him, too overwhelmed for words. But Luke understands.  

And then Grogu pushes his way into the room holding up a box of Frosted Flakes above his head and shaking it, as if to say, I’d like to eat now, please. 

Din and Luke stifle their smiles into the other’s shoulder, and when they get up, Luke can’t help but think that he’s finally where he belongs.

----

It takes approximately .5 seconds for all the others to figure out they’re together now, and Cara and Bo-Katan (of all people) start cheering immediately, to Din and Luke’s shock. Boba and Fennec grumble and begrudgingly hand over a huge wad of cash each to Cara and Bo-Katan because they thought it would take them at least another two weeks to get together. Din’s very done with his friends at this point, but he takes one look at Luke’s flustered but smiling face and decides he won’t kill them all this time. 

And if everyone thought Luke was a lot of excitement for a humble ranch in the middle of nowhere, then they are in no way, shape, or form, prepared for when his very angry twin sister shows up with a himbo with a shit-eating grin and his 7 foot tall best friend she hired to track her brother down. 

(needless to say, Boba punches Han within two minutes of interaction).

[girlrandomstuff]

Okay, I have been thinking a lot about this, maybe I'm wrong but I want to say it.

Despite the last movies and that they constantly are showing "parallels" between Anakin Skywalker/Vader and Ben Solo/Kylo.

But I think, they couldn't be more different.

Anakin was a slave since he was a baby but then he found a 'safe place' (I'm not saying that the Jedi order was perfect but it was as safe as it could).

Ben was born into a privilege family and loved but with the time he lost that because of human mistakes and because his mental abusse getting stronger as he grew up (I'm not saying Han and Leia were bad parents and I'll fight everyone who says they didn't want or love him).

Anakin felt into the dark side because his attachment feelings.

Ben felt to the dark side because his wish of de-attachment.

Anakin came back from the dark side when he let gp his attachment.

Ben came back from the dark side thanks to his attachment to his family.

Anakin killed Padme accidentally in his try to point something (I think, Idk how to explain it).

Ben saved Rey just for his love for her.

Even tho I like more Darth Vader than Kylo Ren as villain, I like more Ben Solo than Anakin Skywalker as a character in his whole aspect, I'm gonna be so yetted for it but as I said, I could be wrong or maybe that's what I noticed from both characters and stories.