#luke: you can profit by this or be destroyed

[anghraine]

The last time my best friend and I were hanging out (back in March), we watched my eternal SW favorite, The Empire Strikes Back, so this time we followed it up with Return of the Jedi, which we both love very much.

We just finished and as ever, I feel perfectly happy-sad.

[secondstar-acorn]

LUKE’S ENTRANCE!!!!!!!!

[antianakin]

So the Ahsoka show happened, right? It was certainly...a show of all time. Clearly more profit-driven than not, like most media is. But from a writing perceptive, there was a lot of stuff in Ahsoka's character they could have explored, and the direction they took was to basically like ignore Ahsoka's past and the nuances of her character entirely to cater to a wider audience while also failing to make the wider audience care about anything either.

But anyways, I'm interested to know what concepts about like Ahsoka and like her character you would want to see. If there was a Ahsoka show catered to you specifically. Like what arcs, what explorations of her past, what characters that are important to her would make a return? I'm just curious to see how different people on here that are super into Star Wars stuff have like different interpretations of what they would want her character to go.

Oh yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on this, buckle up.

I personally feel like the best thing to do with Ahsoka is really make her DARK. She doesn't have to go full Sith or even Inquisitor or anything but I want her to be genuinely DARK to the point of selfishness and even almost cruelty. I want to see how Anakin's relationship TRULY impacted her in a negative way because I don't think that's something we've really seen much of before (Reva didn't HAVE a relationship with him before, Luke ultimately chooses to love Anakin and it 'saves' him, Obi-Wan still loves Anakin and can remember the positives despite all the negatives, Padme dies too early to really explore that).

Because here's the thing: I want Anakin to have RUINED her, I want him to have BROKEN her. The Jedi assign her to Anakin because they believe the best of him, but what we SEE is Anakin passing on more of Palpatine's Sith manipulations than the Jedi's own teachings, something that SHOULD have an interesting impact on Ahsoka down the line, having been under the guidance of the "bad father" during a formative time in her life and then very abruptly having what's left of her support system destroyed by that very person, leaving her abandoned and alone and incapable of relying on or trusting anybody.

Ahsoka is also in SUCH an interesting position post-Wrong Jedi arc as a Padawan who never finished their training but who had left the Jedi BEFORE Order 66 happened. Unlike characters like Cal or Kanan, she can't just go right back to who she was before the Jedi died, because she WASN'T A JEDI before Order 66. She'd left. So her path back to BEING a Jedi, if that's the journey you wanted to send her on, should look different than theirs. It isn't just a matter of deciding to take on the title again for her. She has to learn to let go of what happened in the Wrong Jedi arc, forgive those she feels have wronged her, and figure out how to trust HERSELF again before she can even start down the path of figuring out what it means to her to be a Jedi and how to reclaim that identity in a world where she can never rejoin the Order she left behind.

So the combination of both this very unique journey and the fairly unique way that her relationship with Anakin should've impacted her towards leaning into her own darkness would ideally create an obvious arc for Ahsoka to go on towards letting go of her fears, her pain, her grief, and coming back to being a Jedi UNLIKE Anakin. There should be a LOT more irony coming from Anakin telling her that she'd never make it as Obi-Wan's Padawan but that she might just make it as his because the truth is that she DOESN'T make it as Anakin's Padawan, that being Anakin's Padawan is what causes her NOT to make it as a Jedi, and only by letting go of Anakin and his teachings is she capable of reclaiming the Jedi she should've become.

And I think Rebels season 4 set us up fairly nicely to explore that by having her sort-of pushed to the brink with the revelation of Anakin's betrayal and then Ezra coming in to save her at the last second forcing her to live with that truth and everything it can (and could) mean. If we were going to get an Ahsoka show, THAT was the place to start it. Show us how Ahsoka gets off of Malachor, where she goes afterwards, what she was DOING during the time of the Original Trilogy that kept her from participating in those events, and let us SEE her actually deal with knowing who Anakin has chosen to be in the immediate aftermath of her confrontation with him, when she should be at her WORST.

Ahsoka was good before, still kind, compassionate, and she does help Ezra in the WBW with letting go of Kanan, but when she's left alone in the darkness of Malachor, it's harder to hold on to that, harder to remember how to let go of her own grief. And it starts to twist her, just a little, just enough, and when she gets out, she's not QUITE herself anymore and it's something she has to figure out how to heal from, both literally and figuratively.

In terms of structure, I'd have probably done a two season thing, with the first season being all about Anakin and letting go of him and coming back to being a Jedi in the immediate aftermath of Malachor and pre-ROTJ. This is where Ahsoka should be at her darkest, most vitriolic, most selfish, most cruel. Make her REALLY struggle, none of the quarter-assed slightly annoyed bullshit that the Ahsoka show actually gave her. Let her be genuinely WRONG and awful to people, REALLY highlight that Sith manipulation shit she learned from Anakin, LET HER TRULY HIT ROCK BOTTOM.

Look at the way Obi-Wan acts in the beginning of the Kenobi show, the way he abandons helping people like his co-worker and Nari, the cruel words he says to Nari about the Jedi, the really downtrodden attitude he has, the refusal to help Bail save Leia initially, his defeatism. He's BARELY the Obi-Wan we all knew and he has to WORK his way back to being that person again. In comparison, Ahsoka in the Ahsoka show says like... two slightly strict things to Sabine when Sabine is acting like a reckless brat and... that's about it. She's not honestly THAT FAR OFF from her Rebels personality, so I don't buy anything afterwards that's supposed to be about Ahsoka CHANGING for the better afterwards. I don't buy that Ahsoka needed some sort of Force intervention to make her "choose to live," I don't buy that Ahsoka's relationship with Sabine was because of HER distance, I don't buy that Ahsoka is genuinely fucked up all that much by Anakin's betryaal. I just don't.

And Ahsoka is a character who has consistently been shown to be rude, unfair, insensitive, reckless, mistrustful, and impatient. She WAS compassionate and kind before, yes, and that's where she would need to get back to, but she had a TON of traits that could easily be exaggerated to show how badly this was all affecting her that would make her rise back to being a Jedi feel all the more earned. Give her a couple of side characters (NEW characters, NO pre-established cameo characters who were clearly supposed to be the main characters of their OWN stories or who would pull focus from Ahsoka) to go on this journey with her that she has to learn to connect to and who help pull her out of the darkness somehow.

If you HAD to bring in a pre-established character here, this is where I'd bring in Barriss Offee and let Ahsoka sort-of learn to forgive Barriss for what she did in the Wrong Jedi arc as Barriss learns to redeem herself for her own choices. Barriss works as a proxy for Anakin and someone Ahsoka can be rude to without it immediately seeming unbelievable that that person would stick around; Barriss might be willing to just let Ahsoka take her anger out on her because she knows she's sort-of earned it. Ultimately Barriss would need to stand up for herself and the two of them sort-of work their way back out of their respective pits TOGETHER. The problem with using Barriss is that everything about Barriss's actions in the Wrong Jedi arc were wildly racist and badly set up and so this is something I wouldn't trust a lot of people to handle WELL, even though I think it would be a very relevant way to manage Ahsoka's journey through her darkness and back towards her identity as a Jedi.

The second season would be more about the war and her feelings on having spent the majority of her life fighting as a soldier and what that means for the kind of Jedi she's become and what she has to give to the galaxy and potentially to a padawan of her own, all set post-ROTJ. This time, she teams up with another random Force sensitive person (again, a NEW character, NO ONE pre-established) who wants Ahsoka to be their Jedi master and Ahsoka struggles with taking on this responsibility and whether she even CAN. And a nice ending could be Ahsoka showing up to Luke's school to finally meet him for the first time, now that she's able to stand in front of him without shame and without seeing someone else when she looks at him. (We're ignoring the Sequels here for this one because I Do Not Give A Fuck about the Sequels and what they did to Luke and the Jedi was horrible anyway, so we're choosing to ignore the Council's decision this time.)

If I was going to bring in a pre-established character for THIS season, it would be Rex. Rex is a really great symbol for the soldier she had to become and the war that took a large part of both of their lives from them. But Rex also symbolizes that not all of that was BAD, some of it led to good things, like her relationship with the clones. There's always light to be found in darkness, if you're willing to look for it. This would also be a great place to really flesh out that dynamic in a way that I don't think ANY of the shows really have.

Only after ALL OF THIS has been done do you get to go into the Rebels sequel show with Sabine to search for Ezra, now that Ahsoka's journey is done and she can just be support for someone else's story. (And at NO POINT in this would Sabine end up a fucking Force sensitive person or be apprenticed to Ahsoka as a Jedi of ANY KIND. Also this is my AU so this Sabine isn't a fucking selfish brat so Thrawn doesn't get released just so Sabine can have Ezra back or whatever.)

[usergif]

You can either profit from this, or be destroyed. It's your choice—but I warn you not to underestimate my [resumé]...

⟶ LUKE SKYWALKER x Original Star Wars Trilogy [1], [2]

[astralisbelle]

Dead Man's Hand 10 - Dead Man's Hand

Dead Man's Hand Masterlist tags: engineer!reader, gambler!reader, loose canon timeline, eventual smut, fluff, action, casino aesthetics, touch starved reader, touch starved din, reader and din get on each other’s nerves, also they’re idiots, defrosting ice king din, cinderella vibes, everybody loves grogu

chapter summary: As she rises towards the top, she catches someone's attention -- the wrong kind. warnings: minor violence

note: two updates in one day, y'all are getting SPOILED (tbf, so am I. this fic is such an indulgence for me) thank you THANK YOU for all the likes, reblogs, and comments. I read each and every one and they fill me with such joy <3

And then there were three. She managed to bluff out the Hutt into blowing the rest of his pot. He cursed and spat at her in Huttese before slithering off (Din was this close to blasting him for the things he said). The old gentleman drew the Mon Calamari into a trap of overconfidence and the latter decided to walk away, still pleased with his profit.

Between learning tells, catching up on the lingo, getting comfortable working with such exorbitant amounts of money, she’s feeling good. So good that when they call a temporary recess, she orders a drink from the bar before sitting back down.

“Good evening.” Taking a seat next to her is the old gentleman, a small drink in hand and a welcoming smile on his lips. “You’re the girl from Tatooine, is that right?”

“That’s right. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

He bows his head. “Bras Luum. I am delighted to finally speak with you. You know, I simply must thank you for taking out that Besporos lad. He has no respect for the game and I think his true hobby is spending his father’s credits.”

She laughs, nodding in agreement. “You’ve seen him around these parts?”

“Too often, I’m afraid,” he replies in his posh accent. Bras is a good player. He is subtle, but humble, and takes his losses the same as he does his winnings. Between her final two competitors, he is definitely the one to beat. “But that was a marvelous play. The Dead Man’s Hand.”

“Thank you very much.”

“You know why they call it that?” She shakes her head. “Many cultures use sabacc cards to divine the future, yes? Now, your hand, the Dead Man’s Hand, consists of The Evil One and The Endurance. Evil enduring is quite the omen, yes? Very bad luck.”

She chuckles. “Yes, but you know as good as I that luck means little in this game.”

There is a pregnant pause as he ponders it. “Indeed. People like ourselves… we don’t need luck.” He takes a sip of his drink. “So. Tatooine. Now if I recall correctly, Luke Skywalker himself was born on that planet.”

She lifts her brows. “Skywalker… the pilot that destroyed the Death Star? I… I didn’t know that.” Huh! She suddenly feels a swell of pride for her garbage desert planet.

“Yes, yes.” He nods. “So you see, great talent comes from anywhere.” The way he speaks is so charming to her, so nostalgic. “The rumor is that the Mandalorian hired you to win the beskar grand prize. Is that right?”

“Yes.” She nods, eyes fluttering to Din and Grogu for a moment.

“And the winning pot?”

“All mine.” Well… a good chunk of it, at least.

“How generous of him.” Bras laughs behind his lips, finishing his drink. “What has he told you about beskar? I’m curious.”

She shrugs. “It’s the metal of his people. It belongs to them… that’s what he’s said about it.”

Bras nods slowly, listening to her words. “Hm. So all beskar belongs to the Mandalorians. Is that right?”

“It makes sense. It was found in their mines, wasn’t it?”

Bras sighs wistfully. “Indeed. It's a beautiful metal. Blasters do virtually nothing against it. It can even stop a lightsaber.” A what? “Only beskar can pierce beskar. It's... exquisite."

"I... didn't know that. No wonder D... The Mandalorian is so keen on retrieving it. It belongs with him."

The old man nods once. "I know you are young, so I will not fault you. Especially one that is new to the expanses of the galaxy. The Mandalorian believes that the beskar belongs to him. But that simply is not true.”

Her smile drops. “What… what are you talking about?”

“I see the way you play cards. You have a keen mind, good memory, yes? Remember the image of the beskar. That perfect rectangle ingot. What was there in the corner?”

She gets goosebumps on her arms, a loud heartbeat in her ears. “The… the symbol of the Empire.” She has to turn away. “But the Empire’s gone. Wiped out.”

Bras laughs, but it doesn’t sound friendly. “The same can be said of Mandalore.” As she stares at Din, worry knitting her brows, Bras leans in and whispers, sending cold chills down her back. “Surely, child, you can see that even though something doesn’t exist, its spirit can live on. And so... do I not have equal claim to that beskar as the Mandalorians do?” She trembles in her chair, her sight darting to the identical bodyguards that stand at attention not far from Din. Her throat dries and her skin crawls as the realization sinks in.

I know what you are.

“There’s no need to be frightened, child.” The sweetness in his voice does little to convince her of its sincerity. “You, after all, are not in this for the beskar.” He rests a gentle hand on her shoulder, and yet she somehow feels more violated than when that prick felt up her leg. “Take your winnings home now and bow out gracefully. With the amount that you’ve made so far, why, it’s beneath you to do favors for the Mandalorian. You owe him nothing.”

Din turns and sees them talking. That look on her face…

She bites down on the tip of her tongue, weighing his words carefully. It’s a generous offer, she assumes, because she knows that if she refuses, this man has other ways of getting what he wants. His fingers curl into the skin of her shoulder, nails making indents. “Have you been enjoying your taste of luxury? You can make it last longer. All you need to do is step aside. This isn’t your conflict, sweet one. So don’t get in the middle of it.”

The dealer announces that it is time to resume and Bras’s hand slips off her shoulder as he readjusts himself in his seat. She, however, is deathly still. Her heart races faster than ever and her stomach churns, threatening to burst. Before Din can approach her, a casino hostess tells him that the game is about to resume.

This isn’t your conflict, sweet one. So don’t get in the middle of it.

Two cards fall in front of her and she’s still spacing out. It takes the dealer calling her name out twice before she’s responsive. Quickly, she looks at her cards and surveys the table. The Twi’lek is as stoic as ever, but Bras’s smile haunts her. “It’s your turn to call,” he tells her. “What shall it be?”

What shall it be, girl? Are you going to make me happy… or disappointed? Is what he seems to ask.

Could she do it? Could she just bow out now, take her winnings, and flee? She could go anywhere, anywhere, with that amount of money. Could is the key word. She turns her head, looking for Din and Grogu in the crowd. Her eyes close with her slow inhale. Her hand remembers being held by Grogu, her skin remembers Din’s touches, and her eyes remember that beautiful sunrise. All this money at her fingertips, but no amount of credits can compare to those wonderful feelings.

With her exhale, she opens her eyes, cold focus setting in. The numbers fly in her head and she realigns herself. She knows exactly what she wants to say to Bras and where exactly he can shove his intimidation tactics.

That beskar belongs to Din.

“I call.” She shoves a pile of chips towards the pot, her unerring glare staring right at Bras as she does. Her brazen defiance makes his eye twitch, but he quickly covers it with a smile.

His mistake costs him nearly half of his earnings. If he was angry before, he must be livid now. So hard to tell with sabacc players.

The dealer calls the final adjourning for the tournament, much earlier than last night. Tomorrow night, a winner will be crowned. She stands up quickly and picks up her skirts, fleeing from the table the best she can in those shoes. Just before she can reach Din and Grogu, someone steps in her path. “The girl from Tatooine!” says Dastiv. “My, my, don’t you clean up nicely.”

“Oh? Th-thanks. I’m sorry, I’m trying to--”

“I know you’re exhausted, but I was hoping to have a little chat.” He smiles. “Have you given any thought to your future as a gambler? You’ve certainly got the skills for it.”

“Ah… well, I haven’t had much time to think about it--”

“Splendid! One drink in my office is all I ask for. Then I’ll let you catch up on sleep. How’s that?”

She tucks some hair behind her ear, looking over her shoulder. Surrounded by his posse of guards, Bras makes his way out of the gambling hall, all the while peering at her through the cracks of his security. Perhaps this could be a key time to tell Dastiv what kind of people are gambling here. “Sure,” she says. “One drink.”

Dastiv wraps an arm around her shoulder, leading her towards the exit.

“Hey.” Din notices immediately, catching up to them. “Where are you going?”

“To his office for a drink. Then I’ll be right back.” She puts on a smile so he doesn’t worry. “Go back to the room. I’ll be there soon.”

Dastiv wheels her away before Din can object to it, yapping on how Canto Bight is the perfect place to make a living as gambler. The Mandalorian watches her go and something sits in the pit in his stomach. He can’t put his finger on it, but he doesn’t like this.

---

She finds herself in Dastiv’s office once more, albeit in completely different attire. Now, she looks like she belongs here. He rants on about how he would be willing to give her a penthouse if she decides to stay, what sort of money she would have to win on a yearly basis. Truthfully, she’s only half paying attention as he pours their drinks. “We like to keep the money circulating here, you can understand.”

“R-Right.” She nods along. “It’s been wonderful here. Beyond my wildest dreams.”

“That’s what we do.”

“Mm. Listen, um, I wanted to ask you about one of the players. Bras Luum?” He presents her a shot and holds the other.

“Yes, lovely fellow. Go ahead, take it.” He lifts his shot. “To you, my dear.”

“Th-thank you.”She takes the shot glass. Just one drink, then she can go. She tips it back, drinking all of it in one go. When she swallows and faces forward, Dastiv has done the same. “Now, about Bras.”

He sighs loudly. “What a shame,” he says.

“H...huh?” Suddenly, dizziness flushes through her body. Her head grows hot and she cannot make words.

“You were talking about Bras Luum, weren’t you? Yes, he’s an old friend.” Dastiv sits on the edge of his desk with a proud grin. “I’m so sorry, my dear. Neither of us expected you to be doing so well! I suppose that’s a compliment for someone like you.”

She drops the glass, hearing it shatter as she wobbles, her feet losing coordination. What’s happening to me?! The doors slide open.

“Ah, there you are. She’s all yours.”

A pair of gloved hands catch her before she falls. Din? They hoist her up, carrying her. Her vision focuses for a second, showing that it is not the Mandalorian, but Bras’s guards. No… The sight of their helmets is the last thing she remembers before it all fades to black.

Din…

---

Grogu’s eyes fly open, his heart pounding. He looks up at Din, attempting to convey worry in his words. Thankfully, his father understands that much easily. “What is it?” He can’t quite say her name yet (or any name, for that matter) but he tries anyway, stressing the syllables. Din’s voice darkens. “...Is she in trouble?” He doesn’t wait for confirmation.

The elevator doors open and instead of returning to their room, he turns on his heel and strides straight towards the ones that can take him to Dastiv’s office. He shoves past people waiting in line and orders the attendant to take them straight to the top floor, his voice deep enough to scare him into doing it. It feels like an eternity waiting for the elevator to reach the top, but as soon as the doors open, his hand is near his blaster and he charges forward.

The door open and the Mandalorian draws his blaster, knowing Dastiv’s guards are ready for him. He knows he can dispose them quickly if it comes down to it. “Where is she?”

“Mando!” Dastiv claps his hands together. “Quite the entrance. I have to ask you to put your weapon away, however.” His smug, unassuming smile just makes him fume even more.

“Where. Is she?”

“Are you looking for your friend? We had a drink. I’m sure she went straight to your room.”

He doesn’t believe that for a second. “Grogu. Don’t look.” The child presses a button on his pram and hides. Once he’s shielded, Din swings his blaster towards the guard on the left, opening fire. Blaster shots bounce off his beskar armor as he slides behind the guard, striking him on the back of the neck. Once that one falls to the ground, he shoots the other in the leg, bringing him to his knees with a yelp. Din kicks him straight in the head to knock him out, then he swoops towards Dastiv and seizes him by the collar.

The casino owner looks ready to talk now.

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

“No, no! I heard you! L-Listen, Mando, you better take the kid and high tail it out of here. You don’t wanna get entangled in this business.”

“If she’s in harm’s way, then it is my business. Who has her?”

“I-It’s Bras! The old man. I’m warning you, Mando. You won’t get her back.”

He tilts his head, a slight growl tinging his words. “What can I say? It’s a casino and I feel lucky. Now. Where is he?”

“F...Freight elevator. Bottom floor.” With that, he shoves him back into his seat and whips around, not bothering to ask anything else. It doesn’t matter who this man thinks he is, only that he’s a fool for thinking he wouldn’t come after her. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Mando!” Din immediately turns and fires, the shot whizzing past Dastiv and shattering a vase over his shoulder, eliciting a scream.

“That’s my warning shot.”

Din leads the way back to the elevator. “Grogu,” he says. “Go back to the room.” Grogu grumbles, his mouth frowning and making wrinkles in his cheeks. He makes a noise of defiance and Din knows that it’s futile to stop him. Where did he pick up that stubbornness? Din shakes his head. “Fine.” Let’s go get her back.”

[galacticwildfire]

Fire Meet Gasoline | Poe Dameron

One

Poe Dameron x Solo Original Character

Hope Solo’s haunted by the night the temple burned. Having gone rogue she hunts the First Order in search of answers until a fateful encounter with Poe Dameron brings her back to the Resistance and Leia puts her daughter under his command to find Luke Skywalker.

Word count: 8.3k

Tags/warnings: hondo ohnaka reminiscing the clone wars, boba fett, r2 being sick of skywalker bs, mentions of war crimes/torture, ptsd, descriptions of injury, typical skywalker bs over ranks, absent father/angry daughter, meet cute, flirting, ego's, simp poe, exhausted leia

A/N: hey guys first chapter is finally up after I swore to rewrite this in march and the prequel will be up in it's entirety very soon as well. First half of the chapter spends some time setting up the story before Poe comes in. I promise Han and Luke aren't as bad they are through her eyes, Leia pov next chapter will give context. Also all my stories are written for adults with adult themes, I use appropriate tags but read at your discretion.

Prologue

~

~

~

32 ABY | Two Years Before A Force Awakens

Hope

It was meant to be a simple run, picking up the package from the contact and ensuring its safe passage. Whenever Hondo Ohnaka tells me it's an easy job that I'd handle with no problem I know to expect some sort of trouble in the form of a skirmish or firefight, but I didn't expect that skirmish to be with tie-fighters.

I'm used to taking them out, but I prefer being the one ambushing them instead of the other way around.

"Solo, you're alive!" Hondo laughs anxiously at the look on my face as I walk into his outpost on Batuu and slam the box down on the table. "Careful now, that's fragile!"

"What the hell did you send me to get that the First Order would want?" I ask him and he curses as he downs the rest of his drink. "Hondo, I swear-"

"Those bastards have finally done it!" he declares to no one in particular. "I knew it was only a matter of time before they targeted my business, just like the Empire did. One empire falls and another-"

I don't wait for him to finish his dramatics before I pull open the box but freeze when I see what's inside. "We already raided Grakkus the Hutt's vault, where did you find this?"

"Maz Kanata," he answers and raises his hands in his defence at how I gape at him. "Like myself she feels a certain sense of nostalgia when it comes to Jedi relics and well, it just so happens I had one of my men infiltrate her castle to steal one."

"Maz Kanata is a friend," I remind him but he doesn't seem awfully phased.

"Which is why I did not tell you what you were getting or who it was stolen from," he tries to reason as I hold the kyber crystal in my hand, a real kyber crystal. It's cracked and faded from the years, no use to me but it would still be priceless. "Well, it's not as impressive as I was hoping for, but I don't suppose you can use your Jedi magic to make it look pretty again for me?"

"No," I answer curtly, there still being one question I need the answer to. "How did the First Order just happen to know I'd be transporting a kyber crystal when I didn't even know what I was carrying?"

"They didn't," he answers and now I'm the one cursing as I realise what's happened, that they weren't targeting the shipment, but me. "It is not profitable for the First Order's tie-fighters to be repeatedly destroyed by one rogue Jedi in a starfighter, embarrassing for their reputation, so I'll let you put that one together."

"Shit," I whisper, knowing if the First Order's profiled me then the Resistance is only going to be one step behind them in figuring out who's been tormenting First Order patrols in the Outer Rims. 

Which means Mom will know exactly what I've been doing out here.

"I still do not understand, you want to kill the bastards but left the only organisation willing to do it," Hondo says, a pirate but still a jedi and rebel sympathiser at heart, and like all supposedly legitimate former criminals running illegal operations, he's worried they're going to put his business at risk. 

"Because if I shoot first I break the Galactic Concordance and every other damn treaty they've signed which puts the Resistance in trouble with the senate and risks declaring open war," I answer, frustration still thick in my voice after all this time. "Which I did and got permanently grounded to avoid starting said war, but thankfully it made me realise it's no fun fighting a cold war when I can be out here taking the fight straight to them without consequences, and the last thing I need is to be held back."

But I didn't just fire first, I wiped out one of their elite ground squadrons to try to find out where Ben is on what was meant to be reconaissance, to ask their captain where Snoke has my brother stationed. Except I didn't just ask and he had a nice little electric shocker in his pocket to stop me from finishing my interrogation. When Mom heard about the mess I'd left I wasn't just demoted from captain, but forbidden from partaking in any off base missions at the insistence of every single member of high command pending complete expulsion. 

And so I left. Almost a year later I still haven't showed my face.

"Haha, you do come from that Skywalker boy, he liked committing war crimes too," Hondo laughs and my eyes roll back in my head, preparing to hear for the tenth time how he once fought the man who became Darth Vader and lived to tell the tale since the galaxy now knows that unfortunate truth. "Good with a lightsaber, although I cannot forgive him for killing my good friend Kenobi and you know, all the rest. But once I acquire the right weapon we must duel for old times sake."

I never thought a pirate could so intimately know two utterly separate generations of my family through swindling them but there always seems to be surprises. "So you can get your ass handed to you again?"

"He liked to insult me as well, although not as well as Kenobi," he remembers fondly and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't found his stories of working with and against Anakin and Obi-Wan interesting, to hear what my grandfather was like from one of the few people still alive who knew him during the Clone Wars. "So did your father, I'll never forget when I tried to steal the Falcon from him, I'm still mad someone else beat me to it."

My spirits sour at the mention of him and I pour myself a drink from the bottle on the table only to grow more bitter at the taste of the Corellian whiskey, then quickly put it down remembering another story Hondo once told me. "Well I fully intend to steal it back and if my father wants it he can come and find me."

Somehow that wound is more raw than anything that happened the night the temple burned despite the permanent scars it left me with. A father packing up and leaving because he couldn't look at my mother without seeing Ben, and he couldn't look at me for reasons I still don't understand. I'm sure he only stayed as long as he did because Chewie refused to leave me behind, until eventually Dad didn't care anymore and left both of us. 

"A lasar sword wielding maniac with the knack for piracy is a formidable opponent," he acknowledges and informs me. "From what I hear he is keeping low, owes money to the worst of the worst, people not even I, Hondo Ohnaka, would double cross and that is saying something. But I have no doubt he would be very proud his daughter is giving him a run for his credits and has certainly made a profitable investment."

The thought he'd be proud of what I'm doing is the opposite of what I want, but the rest is hardly news. "What can I say? I'm the best pilot there is."

I'm not quite sure how I ended up as an investment for some of the most established underworld figures there are. It began with me looking in all the wrong places for Dad and instead finding old friends and foes of his who were quite curious to see what I could do for them. Being nineteen with no credits, my weapons, and a ship in desperate need of maintenance, I was happy enough to oblige them. 

Perhaps I hoped working for the very people who'd betrayed Dad time and time again would be enough he'd track me down out of anger to smack some sense into me like he should have done to Ben, but no. He's a ghost like the rest of the men in my family. 

Still, in this unexpected change of career path I've learned a thing or two about profit and have turned my transport, my dear Shiraya, into an armoured starship that could almost be called luxurious, along with my more recently acquired and heavily modified Naboo Starfighter that I make use of for the contracts Boba Fett provides me to hunt down the First Order patrols trying to interfere in his operations.

"Speaking of which," Hondo continues to try to distract from the payment he owes for the delivery. "Boba has a contract for you."

Now those are always good words. 

"But first," I say and look at the kyber crystal knowing it could go for half a million credits even in this state since genuine kyber is so rare, especially since this one appears to have been used in a saber at some point, no doubt dismantled for parts long ago. "I want half of the profits."

"Oh no, you merely transported the goods," he says and negotiates. "Ten percent."

I hold his eye carefully. "Thirty."

"Fifteen and don't you try those Jedi mind tricks on me," he says and I just smile to myself. "Fifteen percent which you will receive once I find a buyer."

"Twenty five and I'll be coming for my credits," I promise him as go to head out the door to where R2 awaits. My faithful companion since I was twelve years old, my best friend, my only friend, although always eager to get off this planet since he has a longstanding grudge against Hondo for numerous Clone Wars era offences. 

But he won't exactly like where we're going next either.

"Come on R2, to Tatooine it is."

~

The evidence of the recent Boonta Eve celebrations are still evident from the bottles on the streets and firework shells scattered across the sand. People are still settling their debts from the races as a New Republic news channel plays from one of the holoprojectors in the square and I hear the Resistance mentioned fleetingly in arguments over funding for the ever decreasing Republic navy. A reminder that I've never been gone from base this long. 

For Mom's sake I held it together and threw myself into forming the Resistance with her after the temple burned, but when Dad disappeared without a word that was when I began to finally lose it. Mom and I had our fights to the point we became notorious for them. I'd run off for a week or two and stay with Lando, but eventually I'd always go home. 

Until now.

But after what I did she was horrified. One mention of my brother's name from the First Order captain, or rather his new name, and I snapped and learned just what a lightsaber is capable of doing to a lifeform. Even if he was the one who took his own life they still blamed me for his death since they knew the First Order certainly would and feared retaliation. I'd previously engaged the enemy and disobeyed orders countless times, I was known for insubordination and worked alone in the field since we didn't even have enough pilots for an active squadron, so when they told me I couldn't step foot in my x-wing after what I'd done I was shocked. I shouldn't have been, I'd pushed command to the brink too many times to count, but the torture of an unarmed evil man had them debating if I should be removed from the Resistance entirely. 

And so I made the decision before they could and took off. 

But not alone, never alone as long as I have R2 with me, even if he has been difficult this past year. R2 complains the whole way to the palace, while he's loyal to a fault he has made it clear he does not agree with my choice of lifestyle. Even if I'm walking around with more credits than Dad ever did while he's in debt to the worst of the worst. 

I hope that wherever he is he knows it too, that he abandoned his daughter to go back to the only thing he was ever good at, only for me to put him to shame.

I'm a recognisable enough figure by now as I walk through Mos Espa, the place Anakin Skywalker was found by the Jedi Order, a place I've now come to frequent having long ago deterred anyone trying to collect Dad's debts from me from trying that again, and being under the Daimyo's protection gives me privileges.

Perhaps Boba Fett thought it would be ironic to have Vader's grandaughter being the one serving him, or maybe he found humour in Han Solo's daughter being on his payroll, either way it's been profitable for both of us. He's getting old to say the least and muscle is a needed supply in these parts. Jedi have been myth for decades and the sight of Vader's own blood with a lightsaber is enough to deter most trouble, the rest I deal with.

"Solo," Boba says as I enter the palace that once belonged to Jabba the Hutt, my visions have showed me well enough what transpired here when Mom was his slave along with other unfortunate visions of my family's history here on Tatooine. Psychometry, to this day I still can't decide if it's a gift or a curse. "I have a contract."

"Hondo told me," I say and eagerly ask "First Order?"

"They've been patrolling well beyond the border regions and now they've turned their attention to my sector," he informs me. "I had one of my men string up a First Order spy we found in the city but we know there's more and I have it on good authority there's a squadron or perhaps more of tie fighters patrolling the system."

"I'll take them out," I say immediately and he gives an approving nod but stops me before I can leave. 

"You know Solo, it's past time you accepted the offer of membership to the guild," he says, and while the offer certainly flatters me I know the consequences of formally making myself a scoundrel for hire. "You can start making real coin then."

Except it's far more complicated than that when I still have legal duties. Mom did not pass down her responsibilities as Princess of Alderaan to me on a whim, she did it out of necessity. When the truth about her real father was exposed she was ruined, the senate and her allies had turned on her, so with full faith she stood there and transferred whatever powers that title still gave her to me. They could force her resignation and silence her voice, but not mine. 

"A princess joining a bounty hunting guild isn't good press for the Resistance," I say, knowing the moment my name is processed in the guild's database that information would be sent straight to the New Republic which would very much complicate any business I might have to conduct in the senate. Even if I've left the Resistance I cannot betray Mom's trust in me when it comes to those responsibilities. "Besides, its loyalties are too loose for my liking. The same as most of the people out here who keep trying to exploit me into paying off Han Solo's debts to them."

It's a miracle Boba Fett doesn't do business with the Empire's successor considering his loyalties were always famously for hire, but from the stories I've heard and those he's told me he has personal reasons to detest the Imperial remnants that the First Order came from, having made himself an enemy of them long ago. It's only because of the stories he's told I know there is one other survivor like me out there, although from a different destruction of a different temple many years before my own. 

Mom would be disappointed in my current career to say the least, but I only ever take work from those who were friends of the Jedi or the Rebellion, even if they didn't necessarily begin that way. Boba is as far as that line blurs, but considering he turned on those remnants to help save a Jedi youngling that's good enough for me.

"I would advise you to remember princess that it's the people out here who were the lifeblood that kept the Rebellion running, especially in its early days," he lectures. "They were the ones who smuggled weapons and all the rest to their bases without the Empire intercepting it, without them the rebellion would have been over as soon as it began. Even the Jedi in the Clone Wars did business with our kind, your grandfather included as Hondo's no doubt told you. Like him I'd met your grandfather long before he became Vader when I was just a child, he was much like you are now and just as self righteous. The biggest difference between Anakin Skywalker and Vader was that at least Vader kept his mouth shut when he didn't need to open it, a lesson you could learn."

"I was trained to be a politician before I was ever trained to be a Jedi so that's not gonna work," I retort and he shakes his head. "And there's a very big difference between smuggling weapons for a rebellion and smuggling people for traffickers."

He doesn't like that response but somewhere a line has to be drawn. "Your mother might be high and mighty about working with us low lives despite marrying one, but I would have thought you'd be smarter than that."

"I'm smart enough to know the moment the senate learns we do any business with smugglers and crime lords they cut all funding and support," I challenge, still politically adept from my upbringing and time served in the senate. "We can't afford to make more enemies than we already have."

"We?" he repeats and I lower my eyes. "I thought you said you weren't part of the Resistance, that you were too efficient for their liking, which you are. You've got a ruthless streak that would make you a damn good bounty hunter, or a mercenary for hire if that's more your style, but you're too afraid of what your mother would think to fulfil that potential, or maybe you just don't have the backbone I thought you did."

His words are true which is why they sting, except for the part about having a backbone. My first instinct is to lash out in defence but I bite my tongue, remembering who it is I'm standing in front of. I'm certainly not afraid of him but he's one of the few people in the Outer Rim's I'm willing to work for considering he's the only one willing to pay me to go after the First Order. And maybe I've found a certain wisdom in Boba Fett considering the enemy I face. The rest of the Resistance worries about stormtroopers and tie-fighters, but I know there's a different enemy only I can face and what better way to learn to kill the Knights of Ren and Snoke than from a man who is more than experienced in hunting and killing those trained in the force.

Mom would be horrified, but I know they're out there and I know I'm the only one who can destroy them since Luke's run away, which means I need preparation that she can't give me while she chases a ghost.

"You forget my focus isn't on credits, but on killing as many of those bastards as I can until I get close enough to their leader to strike him down," I say and nod my head in respect to the Daimyo. "And that's what I'm going to do."

But before I can leave he warns me "I bet Vader thought he'd do the same, but he didn't have a backbone either."

Something in me goes cold, but if there's anyone who has the grounds to challenge me on Vader it's his right hand man. "In the end he did. He killed Palpatine."

"When they were all but defeated above Endor," he says and I try to keep my face neutral, having never thought the day would come when I'd ever defend anything Vader did but things change. "Anakin Skywalker was known as the hero without fear and yet he became a slave, from what I hear for the second time in his life. Even if he did kill him in the end he was still a slave to his master. I wonder if Kylo Ren thinks he's going to do the same," he challenges and my face falls, my throat tightening at the very mention of his name. "So it is true then."

My hand tremors slightly and I'm at a loss for how he could have that information, managing only one word. "How?"

"Vader's grandson conveniently dies just like Skywalker did during Order 66 and now a new Vader pops up as the First Order's enforcer," he says and tilts his helmeted head. "Educated guess. You know what they say, history repeats."

My body may be cold but I can feel something burning in me at those words, remembering it all, everything up until the moment lightning hit the temple. Seeing his eyes turn yellow as he raged with his saber drawn, screaming that Luke was dead and that he'd betrayed us. 

Luke was his master and mine before Ben had taken me as his apprentice despite Luke's disapproval. I'd asked Ben to not hold me back and he did just that, something Luke never did. He was my brother, my teacher, and I tried to walk away from him and my training to form the Resistance. That was my final mistake that sealed what would happen that night.

And so my voice shakes as I insist. "He's no Vader."

"Someone should tell him that then," he remarks and leans back on his throne. "Because from what I hear he's earned himself quite the reputation, black mask and all."

I feel sick and without another word leave the palace with a purpose, knowing every tie fighter I take down is one less between me and killing their Supreme Leader. I thought I could never feel more horrified than the night the temple burned, concussed and choking on ash with lightsaber burns to my arm and thigh, only one of which I actually recall receiving, but when we discovered that Snoke, the creature that had seduced Ben to the darkness, was the mysterious leader of the First Order I watched Mom fall to her knees. 

Whatever Mom believes happened that night, whether I'm lying about not remembering or have suppressed it, I truly don't remember what happened after lightning struck the temple, there's only flashes of screams and pain. Once we felt Ben turn we let everyone believe he died in the fire, no one would dare ask a grieving mother to account for a missing son.

From the start I knew I was searching in vain, for an uncle, a father, a brother. All ghosts. Luke can stay hiding in exile for all I care, but for so long I thought I could bring Ben back so Mom wouldn't have to suffer the loss of a son as well as a husband and a brother. So I wouldn't have to suffer the loss of a brother as well as a father. My idiot brother who became so delusional when he discovered who the man he worshipped, Anakin Skywalker, truly was. As at odds as we were, he was the he only other person in the galaxy who knew was it was like to be the heir of Skywalker, of Vader. To be vilified for sharing blood with a man we never knew, for being able to wield a power so many distrust. Now I'm alone in that. 

For so long I tried so hard to do what she asked of me, but whenever I would step foot on Hosnian Prime to petition the senate for funding I would hear the whispers, the speculation. When a temple full of children burns to the ground and Luke Skywalker disappears people want answers, answers I couldn't give. Answers I can't give. 

But when I'm the only survivor people look to put the blame somewhere.

It's only fitting in their eyes that it's on the blood of the Jedi Killer himself.

R2 beeps at me as we scout the system, I thought by now he'd give up trying to get me to go home but he hasn't. I thought when I left Mom I'd no longer have to look at someone who's afraid I'll turn into Vader, or my brother, but R2 has seen too much to not be afraid I'll fall as well. Except much to my sorrow I can hardly fault him for it knowing what he's seen.

"How about after this we go to Naboo for a little while?" I propose to him, it's only a stone's throw from Tatooine and where I've resided in my free time. With the Lakehouse all but forgotten during the Empire's reign I've found refuge there, having put most of my spare credits into restoring it since it fell into ruin. The Naberrie family had said it was meant to be where Padmé raised her children, and that all that was left to her she would want to be passed onto me and I do what I can to preserve her memory. For a long time Naboo was my home almost as much as it was her's, and R2 likes that idea, Naboo having been his home once as well.

The N-1's controls are engrained into my memory from my training and education there, having been the youngest starpilot to ever fly as part of their starfighter corps at the mere age of twelve. I'd grown up in N-1's as much as the Falcon, although I had become quite fond of my x-wing that no doubt still resides on D'Qar, that better still be there and waiting for me, even if it never saw as much action as I wish it had.

I like to think Dad would be proud of me if I could tell him that by the age of twenty I'd become a quadruple ace, even if those kills were achieved with contracts like these instead of with the Resistance. Perhaps he'd be horrified instead despite being the first one to put me behind laser cannons in the field. Any reaction would be acceptable if it meant I could just see him, but now I'm seeing another target.

"Here we go R2, you see them?" I say, eyeing a group of tie's coming out from behind one of the moons. "This is where the fun begins."

Even if he pretends to be worried for the sake of my self preservation, an override of his loyalty programming installed by Luke to keep me from getting myself killed, I know he loves this almost as much as I do. When a droid's been in action for nearly seventy years he tends to become more independent than his programming and I know he's missed being shot at even if he'd disagree. 

"It's just target practice R2," I tell him as I prepare to ambush, taking a moment to see if the First Order's bothered to make any modifications to their tie's with the amount I've been taking out, having collected data from the wreckages, but it seems they're happy to keep sending them out as cannon fodder. "Let's see, take them out in the open or herd them into that asteroid belt?"

He agrees with the asteroid belt, and so do I. Tie's aren't as nimble as a Naboo starfighter.

"I count eight, should be easy pickings," I say and prepare to attack. "Let's get em."

I debate strategy as I come up behind them to ambush, my instincts tell me now might not be the time to play around and I have the nagging feeling there's more where these eight have come from and so instead of taking my time I fire the proton torpedo I've been itching to use right into the centre of their formation. The shot takes out the tie's in the centre with the exception of the flanking ships that scatter at the blast and sure enough another formation comes up behind me from one of the moons.

This just got slightly more dangerous now that they're the ones trying to push me into the asteroid belt, but only slightly. "Easy R2, follow my lead and prepare for a L'ulo stand."

After taking out the flanking ships I cut the engine's thrusters and pull up hard a fraction of a second later in the same manoeuvre that L'ulo taught me when he joined the Resistance, a manoeuvre he taught me could only be done in atmosphere, space is a little trickier to pull it off in but manageable with counter thrusters. The nose of my ship slams upwards to slow the acceleration of my fighter so the tie's behind me overshoot, counting ten in total that head straight past me for the asteroid belt, finding myself surprised by the amount they have to spare, but at least the amount I'll get paid will more than cover the cost to replace the torpedo.

Now to scatter them and pick them off.

"Alright R2, fire up those thrusters for me," I say and a second later they come back roaring as I roll the N-1 before slamming the nose down again and shoot forward to herd the second formation into the asteroid belt, grinning as I follow after the scattering ties, manoeuvering the belt with ease and by the time I exit the tie's are either destroyed by my laser canons or their own shitty piloting. The First Order clearly have pilots to spare but not instructors. 

But in the heat of the moment I failed to notice the x-wing that had followed me through the belt and my heart stops at the realisation I didn't see it, a mistake that could have me dead if it was a First Order ship.

"The hell?" I whisper at the sight once I recover from the momentary shock. "The Republic shouldn't be out here..." It's then I take in the model of the x-wing and realise it's a T-70. It's a Resistance X-Wing. "Fuck." R2 beeps at me and I remind him "Who taught me to curse R2? I'd settle somewhere between you and Mom and if she's sent a fighter after me... no- no, she has no idea where I am."

At least I hope not.

A transmission comes through the radio as R2 begins to lecture me, a man's voice interrupting him. "Naboo starfighter identify yourself."

R2 feels the need to point out it's the Resistance, not so kindly suggesting we should follow them home. I never knew a droids patience could wear thin but R2 may just be getting too old to deal with Skywalker bullshit. 

"Yes R2 I'm aware it's a Resistance x-wing," I say before answering the transmission and replying to the pilot. "No, I don't think I will."

He doesn't seem to like that answer, but plays along. "Before you get cocky are you aware you were just ambushed by a squadron of tie-fighters belonging to the First Order and that I came to assist?"

He hasn't identified himself which means he's impersonating a New Republic officer by ordering me to identify myself, most pilots wouldn't pick up on the difference between x-wing models, but I know better. 

"I was the one ambushing them," I grin, a little smug I'd taken them out before he could even get a shot, finding his voice unfamiliar which means he's a new pilot who wouldn't know mine. "I'd thank you for your assistance but you were a little late."

His ship pulls up beside mine, close enough to see clearly into the cockpit, and I make out a grin beneath his helmet as he says "It's a shame, I thought this patrol was about to get interesting."

"I didn't think New Republic pilots were allowed to engage," I say since he's failed to identify himself and I want to see how long he keeps this ruse up, but I can't help but like what I see and tease. "Am I under arrest officer?"

I hear him laugh and study his face as best I can, finding it attractive and unfamiliar even with it being obstructed by his flight helmet, but my stomach drops at the markings on his ship and helmet that tell me I'm certainly not mistaken in my identification that he's with the Resistance, spying an orange and white astromech with him. "It's your lucky day, I'm not New Republic."

"Thought not," I say, continuing to play naive. "They aren't allowed to patrol this sector anymore so that leaves the question of who you are."

He continues to play along and I realise he's enjoying this. "Take a wild guess?"

"A moonjockey in a beaten up x-wing?" 

"Beaten up?" I hear him repeat in offence and I can't help but smile. "Not everyone's got the credits to be flying state of the art N-1's so why don't you tell me what organisation you're with?" he asks, knowing I'm sure as hell not part of any New Republic starfighter corps if I'm attacking the First Order without provocation. "Bounty hunters guild or something like that, hired security?"

"Something like that," I answer before remarking "Maybe I'm just a pilot like you who's sick of those bastards and decided to take matters into my own hands."

He seems to like that answer as much as it surprises him. He keeps his ship level with mine and only then does it occur to me that my face could be recognisable from his angle since I can certainly see his, but he doesn't seem to have a damn clue who I am.

"You know," he begins. "The Resistance is looking for pilots."

I have to hold back laughter at the irony. "Is that so?"

"I was tracking the tie's that got behind you before you went into the asteroid field, counted fourteen you took out with those cannons, makes you a double ace, triple if you count the one's you herded into the asteroids."

"I'm a quadruple," I correct a little too proudly. "And that was easy work."

Somehow nothing clicks in his head which makes me wonder where the hell the Resistance believes I actually am for one of their pilots to not register who I must be. Even if he's a newer recruit I'm the daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo, hell I was the best pilot they had before they permanently grounded me. People know who I am and I'm slightly offended he doesn't. 

Which is why I'm confused as much as amused when he offers. "You're a hell of a pilot, I've only ever known two pilots to pull off that manoeuvre you did and I'm one of them, definitely the only other one to be able to pull it off in space. If you're as good as you seem I can put you in touch with General Leia Organa herself."

I can't help but look back at R2 to make sure he's hearing this but instead of laughing along he beeps at me to consider it, to go home.

"I know I'm a hell of a pilot," I state. "Best one there is."

"Well I don't know about that," he says and wonder just how good he thinks he is. "But I'd be willing to see what you've got."

The challenge is clear in my voice. "Is that so?"

Instead of backing down like a responsible Resistance pilot should he takes it on. "That's right."

He tilts his helmet towards me and I make out the stubbled face beneath the helmet, even obstructed I can't miss the stupidly handsome grin he flashes me and he knows it. Typical flyboy.

Except I might actually like this one.

"Alright hotshot," I say and fire up my thrusters, finding myself genuinely curious. "You know, I never got your name."

"Commander Poe Dameron," he says and it rings a bell even if I know it won't come to me until later. "Of the Resistance if you haven't put that part together yet."

I roll my eyes and even R2 has to laugh at that until something clicks and I very quickly change my mind about liking this one. 

"Commander huh?" I say, realising he must be something then for a man who wasn't there a year ago to get promoted so quickly to a rank I never even held. It almost makes me bitter, nope, it definitely makes me bitter. Almost three years, there since the damn beginning and I was never even considered for that rank, then a new flyboy turns up and takes it. "You must be a real hotshot then."

"The best," he says and R2 begins calculating the jump to hyperspace before I can even give the command. "And you still haven't identified yourself."

"And I'm not going to," I say as I prepare to take off. "But I'm sure you'll figure it out Commander, give General Organa my regards."

He's taken back enough by that remark that I get a head start on him, my ship being far faster than his is with the illegal modifications to the thrusters and while he pursues I quickly lose him through the asteroid belt, getting far enough out of his line of sight until I'm satisfied before jumping to hyperspace so he can't follow and once I'm clear I realise my hands are trembling slightly.

Even if he has no idea who I am, Mom will piece it together if she hasn't already. If the First Order's profiled a rogue Naboo starfighter in the Outer Rims targeting tie fighters I know she has to have the same intelligence from Threepio's spy network. 

If she doesn't know what I've been doing, she's about to.

And if she thought me engaging the enemy was bad, she's going to lose it when she realises what I've been doing in the year since I left base. 

~

Poe

She jumps to hyperspace and I sit there purely stunned, the slight hit to my ego overshadowed by her piloting. I've never seen anyone ever fly like that except for myself, pulling off stunts I thought were impossible until I'd done them in the heat of a skirmish, and not just that, she pulled them off like they were nothing. 

I've come to think of myself as one of the best pilots in the galaxy, knowing it's not ego or arrogance but pure fact. I know damn well what I can do in a cockpit and the results I produce, but she might be the first person I've ever met who could possibly, potentially, have me beat.

I should be mad about that possible fact, but that's the last thing I'm feeling right now, and maybe there's a few butterflies flying about amongst the overwhelming awe. 

"She's something huh BB?" I find myself saying and shake my head in wonder. "Is this what love at first sight feels like because wow..."

No adequate words to finish that sentence come to mind and for a few more minutes at least I sit there stunned until getting it into my head that I have to tell Leia about her. For whatever no doubt valid reason she hates the First Order and she's picking them off like they're nothing, Leia's had me doing recruiting the past few months since I joined and I think I just hit gold.

I have to recruit her.

My heart's still racing from the encounter as I come out of hyperspace and enter D'Qar's atmosphere, asking myself who the hell she could be and what training she has to have to be able to fly like that. She has to be ex navy, or from a planetary starfighter corps, but even then I can't begin to comprehend that a rogue pilot who flies like that is picking off tie-fighters and hasn't been recruited. 

I've gotta tell Leia about her and then go track her down.

"Another boring patrol?" Snap asks as I climb down from my ship but I can't help the grin on my face and the moment my feet hit the ground I can practically feel myself pumping with nervous excitement and so can he. "Get some action then?"

"Oh I wish," I answer and can't help but blurt everything out to him. "Thought I was gonna get some when I tracked some tie-fighter's trying to ambush a lone starfighter but turns out she was the one ambushing them. I counted her take down fourteen with my own eyes and when I caught up to her and asked her to identify herself she just laughed like it was nothing." I find myself shaking my head, knowing it wasn't just her flying that left an impression. "Let me tell you Snap, she's something else."

"So Poe Dameron sees someone blowing up tie fighters and falls in love?" Snap teases while working on his ship, half listening. "Sounds about right."

"You should have seen her man, the manoeuvres she pulled, she pulled a L'ulo stand like it was absolutely nothing and let me tell you when I saw her I swear I did fall in love," I say and can't help but gush a little since it's just Snap. "Brunette with these big eyes, the messy eyeliner you know." He suddenly stops what he's working on but I don't take much notice. "She's got an attitude on her and she's damn beautiful too, but that's beside the point. I've never seen anything like what she did in the field, hell I don't even know where she learned a L'ulo stand but she did it in space. In space Snap! I thought I was the only person that's ever pulled that off." 

He looks over and clears his throat before asking "She identify herself?"

"No, she didn't," I admit, still a little mad she got away without identifying herself but she has to be contracted by someone in the sector to be taking them out with missiles like it's nothing. Hell I wish the Resistance had the spare credits to use torpedoes on tie fighter formations. Not that we're meant to even shoot at them of course. "But I've got another patrol in the sector in a few days and I'll track her down, she'd be a hell of an asset."

Cautiously he asks "And how old was she?"

"Early twenties maybe?" I guess and he nods, like he knows something I don't but my mind's racing a little too fast to think about that. "She was amazing, hell I've never seen anyone fly like that, except for me of course."

Snap nods slowly and slaps a hand on my shoulder. "Might want to mention that to the General."

"Already on it," I grin, maybe a bit ahead of myself but Leia's had me doing recruiting and I'd be neglecting my duty if I didn't follow this up, but I'd be lying if I said that's the only reason I'm excited. "You know, I think she was flirting with me."

He's visibly surprised and looks like he's struggling to keep a straight face as he says "Maybe not mention that part to the General."

~

The grin's still on my face as I come to Leia's office still in my flight suit but she hardly seems phased by the informal visit, if anything relieved to see me in one piece. "Poe you're back, did you find any activity around Tatooine?"

"Oh yep," I say and sit down across from her, practically buzzing with an excitement I haven't felt in a long time. "Two squadrons of tie's, I was following their trail when they were ambushed by a pilot in a Naboo starfighter and she took them out like they were nothing, fired a damn torpedo right into them."

"She?" She wears the same expression Snap did now. "Did she identify herself?"

"No, she took off before she did."

"Well did you get close enough to see her what she looks like or anything else identifying?" Leia asks and her sudden interest surprises me, but it's the desperate edge to her voice that really takes me aback.

"She was pretty," is the first thing that comes out of my mouth, even if it's an understatement, but I quickly realise I misspoke with how she raises her eyebrows at that answer.

"I'm going to need a little bit more than that Commander Dameron," she says with the fond but frustrated tone that's become familiar and I quickly try to redeem myself. 

"Early twenties, brunette, wasn't wearing a helmet and it um-looked like her hair was braided," I start trying to describe and realise she looks a bit like Leia but considering I just blurted out that she's pretty I won't say that, that would just make things weird. "Fair skinned, human."

I can't quite read her face as she clarifies "So she was flying a Naboo starfighter, and did she have a blue and white astromech, an R2 unit?"

"Yeah," I answer in surprise and at the look that crosses her face realise "You know her."

A thought quickly comes to mind but I dismiss it just as quickly. I know Leia has a daughter who's a pilot, Leia's said as much, but from what I've heard she's at university and doing political stuff in the core worlds on Leia's behalf so there's no chance it could be her and besides, there's no way the kid of Leia Organa would be out there acting like that and taking jobs for hire in the Outer Rims. Well considering that's Han Solo's kid as well it's possible but still, from what I've heard about her and seen on the holonews she's more of a politician like Leia than a hop in an x-wing and blow something up sort of fighter, otherwise she'd be on base leading the wing Leia put me in charge of.

Still, Leia takes a deep breath, having to stabilise herself. "I know this Naboo starfighter has gained quite the reputation in the Outer Rims," she reveals to me and feel that cloud of grief that so often follows the General, hear the ache in her voice that's so common but this time there's hope amongst it. "We've been trying to build a profile and the information you've just brought me is far more valuable than anything else you could have collected. Thank you Poe."

"I'm meant to go back out there in a few days," I begin, knowing I'm not gonna be able to let this go. "She's a hell of a pilot and I really think she could be a great asset."

"So do I," she says without missing a beat, amusement written across her face.

"She said she's sick of the First Order and it seems like she's being contracted to take out tie's in the sector so I told her the Resistance was recruiting and she said to give you her regards."

She stills now. "You spoke to her?"

"Yeah," I say and her face changes. "She might have a bit of an ego but from what I've seen she lives up to it. I've seen a lot of pilots but I don't think I've ever seen anything like her, she was picking them off like they were nothing, pulling stunts I've barely been able to pull off."

It hurts my pride a little to admit that but it's true, she really is something else and I need the General to see that as well. 

She purses her lips together and nods before asking "What else can you tell me?"

"Claimed to be a quadruple ace which not even Biggs Darklighter was but-"

"Not about her boasting," Leia sighs and I start to get the sense she actually must know her personally only to jump in my seat as she loudly exclaims "Quadruple ace?! How many kills is that?"

"Twenty or more," I answer and can't hide my concern as she puts her head in her hands. "General?"

"So you're telling me this rogue pilot has made herself a quadruple ace by hunting the First Order for sport?"

Not how I'd put it but I still nod, not seeing a problem with it. "Sounds about right."

"Force give me strength," she murmurs and asks "What impression did she give you besides being pretty and please use your head when you open your mouth this time."

I press my lips together slightly embarrassed, realising I definitely had the wrong choice of words there so try to make up for it now. "With the modifications to her starfighter she's got to have some credits to spare. Took her for the type to be doing contracted work to take them out since it's Tatooine and the people there wouldn't want the First Order anywhere near their business. When I asked if she was part of one of the guilds or something like that she said something like that and that she's sick of those bastards and decided to take matters into her own hands. Her words not mine."

She leans back in disapproval, but surprisingly not towards me. "Did she now?"

Before I can say anything else to put Leia off recruiting her I stress what I came here to say in the first place. "Which is why I recommended she consider the Resistance and that I'd put you in touch."

"You did?" she says and I realise I might have overstepped but stand by my decision.

"With all due respect General, you didn't see what I did out in the field."

"I'm quite aware of her skills," she says but before I can ask any more questions she waves me off. "I'll handle her, you focus on your patrols and have Snap fly a reconnaissance mission in the sector to see where those tie fighters were based, there's no doubt more where they came from."

"General, I can-"

"No, because you'll blow them up," she says knowingly. "That's if this rogue pilot doesn't get to them first. Thank you for bringing this information to me, could you write up a mission report as well."

She's frustrated, but not with me for once. She really does know this pilot personally.

I'm left with questions but the pained look in her eyes keeps my mouth shut and I nod. 

"Of course General."

"Thank you," she says again, genuine gratitude in her voice. 

Over the past few months I've been here I've felt the unmistakeable shroud of mourning that hangs over her as it does now, having become familiar with it from my own father. Except I've never seen such raw emotion in her eyes before, which leaves me wondering what history she and this rogue pilot could possibly have.

[captainninej]

why capitalism is the difference between the lotr and hobbit trilogies

hi i am once again back on my what happened to the hobbit movies bullshit. everyone loves to make fun of the hobbit movies and how CGI filled they are, how rushed they are, even how unnecessary they are. but i seriously urge everyone to watch some of the behind the scenes and see how exhausted peter jackson and the crew are, because of the intense, unreasonable capitalistic decisions made by studio heads. the hobbit movies went through so much jumbled bullshit, had peter jackson working 20 hours a day 7 days a week - of course the end product was going to be borderline shit!!

don't get me wrong, i'm from new zealand, i have so much respect for peter jackson for making my favourite trilogy of all time (lotr), and the hobbit movies hold a special place in my heart since they came out when i was 10 and i didn't understand all the shit that went down. but the difference in quality and love between the trilogies, i think, can easily be boiled down to one thing: capitalism. the hollywood landscape changed DRASTICALLY between the makings of these trilogies. for lotr, while many things about it were monumental, one of the most was the time that was given to peter and co to create the films from top to bottom. before filming even started, they spent LITERAL YEARS in pre-production!! not to mention FOUR HUNDRED DAYS of filming!! (helms deep alone took four months!!) they were allowed the freedom to experiment, to truly create art; while it was still to make a profit at the end of the day, they weren't being throttled by the studio the way that directors/movie crews are now - just see the MCU.

the studio wanted billions again, so they brought peter jackson back and expected him to make the same trilogy again (due to the franchise craze that hollywood found itself obsessing over in the early 2010s and is still in the throes of) without realising that the reason lord of the rings holds up is because of the time that was given to the team to craft beautiful sets, costumes, ideas and scripts, the time they were given to not only excel at doing all this, but to love and enjoy it. you can feel the love in every frame of lord of the rings. you can't for the hobbit. and while people love to blame the CGI (which is very very true), i think a lot of people should take the hobbit and its downfall from the quality of lord of the rings as a warning tale of how capitalism destroys art by pressuring artists for capital so much that all the life and joy is sucked out of what they create. peter jackson was DRAGGED through the mud in the new zealand press and beyond for supposedly 'losing his touch' (which is NOT true - just look at what he did with they shall not grow old and get back) but everyone missed the fact that this man was broken by the decisions of the studio heads above him and did the best he could with the conditions he was given.

we can see this easily with the MCU now, and how hollywood is in a bit of a slump, but i think the signs were there with the hobbit too. and i still think it's so tragic because peter jackson and his crew and everyone who worked on the hobbit are so genuinely talented, and the hobbit movies were cast PERFECTLY. martin freeman as bilbo??? richard armitage as thorin??? lee pace as thranduil??? luke evans as bard the bowman??? THEY CARRIED THIS TRILOGY, just to mention a few!! and it just shows that even if you have millions of dollars, even if you have the most talented cast and crew and directors and writers in the world, you can't make good art unless you love what you do, and are given time to love what you do. you can have everything, but if you don't have time, it won't work. which hollywood just. doesn't understand anymore. and the tanking in quality of movies recently shows this, the obsession to turn everything into its own universe with spin offs and sequels and prequels. it doesn't work. people are moved by art when the art has something to say other than 'i am completely soulless and void of any meaning and i only exist so the studio makes money.'

of course there are other reasons why the hobbit and lotr trilogies would never be the same anyway. the scales of both stories are completely different. one is three books and the other is one. one carries more serious themes of war and authoritarianism and one started as a bedtime story about a dragon for tolkien's son. but the hobbit still could have been adapted beautifully, in a way that aged well, if it only gave its creators time.

i've always been a firm believer that art can never fully translate to capitalism. we're living through it right now, with the slump of hollywood, music made for tiktok virality. because true art, art that speaks to people - movies, music, visual art, writing - can only be made with time, and love.

and neither exist in capitalism.

[shammah8]

🕊️🌺Wendy🌺🕊️:

Tithing for New Testament Believers The tithe, which means 10 percent, belongs to the Lord.

Genesis 14:18-20, records when the tithe was first offered by Abraham to Melchizedek, king of Salem and “priest of God Most High.” God was delighted in this act and blessed Abraham as a result. Later, this act was made law so that all of Israel could live in the same blessing as Abraham.

In the New Testament, however, we are not under the law and we don’t tithe out of duty; instead, we offer the tithe through the Kingdom’s love law. Rather than fulfilling a law, we give to show our love and to affirm our sonship; the tithe is an expression of heartfelt worship by grateful sons and daughters. The blessings of the tithe then come upon us just as they did for tithers under the old covenant. Malachi 3:10-12 says:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.

Look at the realms of blessings you are promised because of tithing:1. He will open the heavens over your life.

2. He will pour out a blessing that you will not have room to contain.

3. He will rebuke the devourer on your behalf.

4. Your fruitfulness will not be lost.

5. The nations will call you blessed.

6. You will be a delightful land.

From the time I was saved, I tithed. Immediately after receiving Christ, I had the desire to give Him my all and I have never skipped tithing for more than 35 years. This is because I quickly learned the value of bringing the tithe. When you tithe you are saying, “God, Y ou are more important to me than anything else in life!” In Malachi, we are taught that the tithe belongs to the Lord, and He actually rebuked Israel when they withheld it. He said they were robbing Him by neglecting tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8-9).

Can I Afford It?

I have heard many say that they cannot afford to tithe when finances are tight. I personally believe that we can’t afford not to tithe if we are in a hard place. I would rather give the Lord what belongs to Him and do without myself. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” or to rephrase Luke 12:34 in modern language, “What you do with your money shows who or what has captured your heart.”

If our hearts belong to Christ, then even in the most difficult times, we should give Him the first and best – itbelongs to Him.

Consider this scenario: an investor came into partnership with a bankrupt individual who had no money to invest and no assets. The investor said, “I will give all that I have into this investment, and all I want is the first 10 percent return on the gross. Y ou can have the remaining 90 percent and manage the account.” What a glorious partnership for the bankrupt individual. He was obviously happy about that arrangement, as anyone would be. He made no investment, had a promise of success, and received 90 percent of the gross profit. On the other hand, the investor gave everything into the investment.

When it was time for the individual to set aside the investor’s 10 percent one month, he decided he could not fulfill his obligation. He had used his 90 percent to repair his vehicle, pay the rent and utilities, buy some new clothes, purchase items online, and pay off some bills. After that, although he was a little short for the rest of the month, he took his family out for a movie and pizza, and bought an advanced satellite package for his television. After all, he deserved to have a bit of pleasure because he worked hard and had done without in the past! He thought he would wait until the next month and catch up, but a similar scenario developed the following month and for each subsequent month.

He got used to spending the investor’s money each month.

After a year, the investor asked for his 10 percent. The individual explained that he was sorry but he could not afford to pay what he owed. Let me ask you, “What would you do if you were the investor?” Not only is withholding the 10 percentillegal, actually embezzlement, but it is selfish and foolish. He had the perfect business partner, a dream-come-true, and he blew it!

In my parable, Jesus is like the investor. He gave His entire life – all He is and all He has. We are like the bankrupt individual who received Jesus’ gift of life, Kingdom power and authority, while dead in trespasses and sin.

I have heard people say, “Y es, but it is my money because I worked for it.” If that is your take on it, then you have not understood your salvation. When we come to Christ, there is an exchange – He gives you His life and you give Him yours.

All that He is and has, becomes yours; all that you were, are, and have becomes His.

My life is no longer my own; it belongs to Him. “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.

Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8 NKJV, emphasis added).

Tithing establishes that truth because it demonstrates that I realize my life fully belongs to Him. What an awesome blessing that He only asks for 10 percent. Investors in the world would never offer that kind of deal. They would never give you something for nothing, let alone offer you 90 percent of a blessed income.

Most governments ask for much more than 10 percent of your income in taxes and do not give anywhere near as much in return. Y et the King of all kings in whose Kingdom you are a citizen asks only for 10 percent. The reason the Lord requeststhe first 10 percent is to engage you in the fullness of His blessings.

God does not need your money. However, you need His partnership so that all the finances remaining in your hand are touched by blessing. The same power of blessing and multiplication that Jesus released to feed a multitude from a boy’s lunch is released over the remaining 90 percent.

During our testing season in personal finances, we never withheld the tithe. I remember saying to God one day that I would rather do without everything than withhold anything due Him. It was truly a difficult season for a while, even though we were faithful in our tithes. However, after a few years, the blessings began coming in on every wave, and they still do.

That test revealed what was in our hearts. We discovered through the trials that our love for God was stronger than anything money could buy. I believe the prosperity we enjoy today is based on our faithfulness in tithing. Tithing is one of the most powerful expressions of worship. Over the years, we increased our faith to tithe more and more. We went from one tithe to two tithes, then three, and we continue to increase it. I love tithing and its benefits!👏PATRICIA KING

[tempest-toss]

Tempest-Specific GOIs [Masterlist 2/2]

[A = Ally, P = Partner, N = Neutral, T=Threat; vignettes attached if applicable]

Shibuya Ghost Detectives (A) A group of young adults that work to put to rest the many ghosts and spirits of Japan, although they tend to handle cases in Shibuya. They have worked with the Foundation's Japan branch to help with any paranormal anomalies

Snapdragon Smugglers (N) [Cold, Auction, Report] One of the first Tempest-specific GOIs to be jotted down. The kings of the anomalous black market, they'll steal, sell, kidnap, destroy, and kill in order for them to make a profit. Oddly honest.

Talvania Author Society (P) A former secret society that is less cullt-like but still meets in secret to discuss how to preserve and enforce knowledge. A fierce rivalry with the Mystery Masqueraders. Currently on good terms with us since we helped save Lily Teca.

The Cinephile Club (N) A club dedicated to all things film, but they land on our list since not only are all the members anomalous, but the movies they make are to. We must be vigilant whenever movie theaters change out their movies, for they might try to sneak one of their own in.

The Curious Caravan (N) One of the few truly neutral GOIs, they only appear to those in dire need of assistance when traveling. They are well known for having the POI, The Lady with a Cart, who saved a few stranded personnel members.

The Expressionists (A/N) A group of anomalous artists consisting of punks, art students, AWCY? members and more, they tend to hang out around train depots and work. Have allied in the past, but have also clashed with events such as the Paris Paint Panic.

The Flora Fighters (T) [Misson, News, Report] A group of Eco-terrorists that seek to eliminate all human life and reset the world to a plant utopia. They are one of the few groups that almost shattered the veil when they used the Gaia Seed and grew a plant monster in the center of Prague.

The Golden Gambler Casino (N) Formed by Jack Royal, this anomalous casino is the definition of "The House Always has the Advantage". Infinite gambling, spontaneous anger, and rigged games fill this avarice den. While you have a chance at winning, it is best to avoid entering if you want your wallet and sanity.

The Horror Havocs (N) Formed by brothers Luke and Letif Rangel, these two seek to show the world that horror is still a good genre and that the world can and should be more spooky. Frequently teams up with The Cinephile Club; actively tries to help other students escape Brunshire Academy.

The Moonshine Makers (N) Moonshining is still a business and these illegal manufacturers are thriving from it. With their dangerously alcoholic and Veil-ruining moonshine, they could topple the world, but why bother when it can churn out such a profit?

The Neon Nightsticks (T) Dominating the world of cybercrime, these hackers do everything for their betterment, and have no care for whoever they are stalking, doxxing, and hacking. Your credit cards and passwords are forfeit and may have already been compromised.

The Plague (T) A group made up of "The Immune", who claim that they "Must plague the earth in pestilence so that it can be reborn". It is believed they created the different plagues and pandemics that have littered the world and killed many. Be cautious whenever approaching them.

The Popcorn Palace (N) Created out of anon magic, this group is one of anomalous humans made of differently flavored popcorn. Their status as a new GOI means we have little information on them as well as their end goals.

The Troupe of Shadows (T) [Thoughts, Mission, Report] Having existed since the feudal era, the Troupe of Shadows is a hard GOI to place. The ringleader determines their status as friend or foe, and unfortunately, the current ringleader is the evilest one yet and has even garnered enough hate that the Foundation created a task force specifically made to hunt her down.

West Virginia Bug Committee (T) Originally an entomology club, a zealous Mark Mosura took over and changed it into a group comprised of insectoid humans all of who wish to summon Mothman so that he can help them dominate the world.

Worldwide Photography Co. (P) Posing as a camera distributor, the Worldwide Photography Co. has been using their cameras and abilities to take stunning photographs, although these ones tend to move, attack, and much more! Currently has a prodigy known as Dimitri Polar.

[creativewaygrace]

The Identifying Marks of Cultural Christianity

1. Denying the inspiration of scripture or parts of scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16-All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness. 

2 Peter 1:21- Because no prophecy ever came by the will of man, instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

2. Ignoring or downplaying true repentance as the first step toward knowing God. 

Matthew 4:17- From then on Jesus began to preach “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.

Acts 2:38- Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

3. Focusing on Jesus love and acceptance to the exclusion of His teaching on hell, obedience, and self-sacrifice. 

Matthew 4:17- From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. 

Matthew 23:33- Snakes! Broad of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?

Mark 9:43- And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed then to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire. 

Luke 12:5- But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear. 

4. Tolerating or even celebrating ongoing sin claiming to know God. 

Romans 1:32- Although they know God’s just sentence, that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2- It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles, a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from the congregation the one who did this?

1 John 3:9-10- Everyone who has been born of God, does not sin, because his seed remains in him, he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister. 

5. Redefining truths to accommodate culture.

Numbers 23:19- God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?

Malachi 3:6- Because I, the Lord, have not changed your descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.

6. Understanding Jesus to be a social reformer, rather than God in the flesh who is the sacrifice for our sins. 

Matthew 10:34- Do not assume that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Mark 14:7- You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me.

7. Claiming God’s promises while ignoring the requirements included with them. 

Psalm 50:16- But God says to the wicked: What right do you have to recite my statutes and to take my covenant on your lips. 

Jeremiah 18:10- However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening to me, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do it. 

8. Denying or minimizing Jesus claim that He is the only way to God. 

John 3:15-18- So that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way. He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world, but save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 

John 14:6- Jesus told him, I am the way the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

9. Performing enough religious activity to gain a sense of well-being without a true divination to Jesus. 

Galatians 5:16-17- I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh, these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 

Romans 8:9- You, however are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to him. 

10. Talking much about “God” in general sense, but very little about Jesus Christ as Lord.

John 13:13- You call me teacher and Lord, and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 

John 14:6- Jesus told him “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

11. Seeing protection and blessing as goals to be achieved, rather than by products of a loving relationship with God.

Mark 12:30- Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 

Deuteronomy 11:13-17- If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship him with all your heart and all your soul, I will provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and fresh oil. I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied. Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, serve and bow in worship to other god’s. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut the sky, and there will be no rain, the land will not yield it’s produce and you will perish quickly form the good land the Lord is giving you. 

12. Choosing a church based upon any or all the above. 

Revelation 3:15-17- I know your works, so that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. For you say, I’m rich, I have become wealthy and need nothing, and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.       

[steveezekiel]

THE PATH TO SUCCESS 1

"Observe people who are good at their work—skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don’t take a backseat to anyone."

Proverbs 22:29 (MSG)

"Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank."

Proverbs 22:29 (NIV)

• The foundation for success in life is knowing God the Father.

- You cannot claim to be successful without the discovering of purpose, the reason why you were created.

- You may acquire all things and be whatever you want to be, if you have not fulfilled what God designed and ordained you to fulfil, you are not a success.

- Success in the sight of God is different from success in the sight of Man.

- What God considered a success is when you are fulfilling the purpose of your being.

WHEN the reason why God has created you is being achieved, then you are a success in His sight.

• The journey to success in life

I. Getting to know God

- Journey to success start with establishing a relationship with God, that is, being born again: "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (Luke 9:25 NKJV).

READ: John 3:3-6

- Until you acknowledge you are a sinner, and you repent and forsake the sinful life, you have no relationship with God.

- Every human being is a sinner by birth, and cannot save themselves from the power of Sin, thus God made provision for the redemption of Man, He sent Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of His to die and pay the penalty for the sin of mankind (John 3:16; Acts 4:12).

- If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, that Jesus died for your Sin and resurrected that you might be justified, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9,10).

IF you open the door of your heart, Jesus will come into your Life, live with you, and dine with you (Revelation 3:20).

- If you took the step, it means you have established a relationship with God.

YOU build the relationship by Fellowshipping with Him.

YOU read and study His Word, the Bible, and practice what you have discovered in it (James 1:22,25).

YOU live according to the Bible, and you live a prayerful life.

- It is when you begin to grow in your fellowship with Him that you discover the purpose or Plan He has for your Life.

II. Discovery of the Plan and Purpose of God for your Life

- This is called a vision, and the pursuit of it is called an assignment or a Ministry.

Some are given assignments to do businesses, make money and use it to bless making through various means like: raising orphanages, foundations for widows, helping the poor and the outcast, giving to support a ministry or a particular vision, and so on.

HOWEVER, there are those who are called into five fold Ministry (Ephesians 4:11,12).

- Whatever Blessing God has for you would be gotten in your place of service; the assignment or Ministry.

GOD blesses with a purpose, and until you discover the purpose, abundance would not be released because you may abuse it.

IF the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.

- Discover His purpose and see His blessings being released on your Life: "Don't be stupid. Instead, FIND OUT WHAT THE LORD WANTS YOU TO DO" (Ephesians 5:17 Contemporary English Version).

YOUR abundance and greatness is attached to the Discovery of your assignment!

III. Diligence

- After you have discovered your assignment, you have to pursue it vigour and with all diligence: "Do you see a man diligent in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men" (Proverbs 22:29 Modern English Version).

YOUR vision is your Life!

- The assignment is the reason why you are on planet earth. YOU have the right to be around here on earth because of the vision, or the assignment.

IN other words, without the vision or the assignment, one has no right to be here, the devil can have his way in the life of such a person.

- Many are doing what they have not been assigned to do, thinking their success is in it. EVEN in business, you have to know what God is leading you to do.

- You also have to know why you are doing whatever you are doing, you are not to make money only to consume it on your own LUST: "YOU ASK [God for something] AND DO NOT RECEIVE IT, BECAUSE YOU ASK WITH WRONG MOTIVES [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires" (James 4:3 AMP).

- You are to make money in whatever business you are doing and use it to fulfil purpose.

IT is either you are supporting a cause, that is, a ministry or vision; or you also have an assignment God wants you to finance with the money you are making.

- I mentioned the helping of the poor and the needy, widows, orphans, and others.

GOD will not continue blessing you in the business that you are doing ONLY to spend the money on living an ostentatious life and Sin (Luke 12:16-21).

- God wants to commit wealth to the hands of Believers who will be faithful in the management of the money given to them. Those who will use the money as He intends!

- When you discover the cause which God wants you to support, the vision or the assignment to pursue, and you start pursuing it, then you begin to experience success.

- God releases material blessings to you when you are faithful with the money He has allowed to pass through your hands. Fulfilments can only be found in DOING His Will.

- God's Blessing and abundance are given to those who will use them as He wants (Acts 4:34-37).

IV. Develop your skills

- For you to experience success after you have discovered your assignment or ministry, you need to develop your skills. REFUSE to be a novice in your field. Even God will not use a novice in His work (1 Timothy 3:6).

- Develop your gifts. Sharpen your gifts through learning.

ACQUIRE more knowledge in your area of operations.

- Developing your skills means learning how to do whatever you are doing well.

IN whatever you are doing, do it with excellence. Be unique. ENDEAVOUR to do it better than the Ways others are doing it, add what others do not add, that would give you an edge above them. Challenge traditions!

- Refuse to do things in a conventional Way; initiate New things, that would make you more relevant to the people.

- Develop your skills by acquiring knowledge, laying hand on relevant books, attend seminars, and get yourself equipped through whatever material.

ALSO, develop your skills in relating with people. And develop your skills in communication.

MAKE sure you set a standard and give a taste of excellence in whatever you do.

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

Peace!

TO BE CONTINUED

[dailydevotion-ltckyrke]

Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 1. Deny himself 2. Take your cross daily 3. Follow me If you desire to follow Jesus, you must hitch up to your plow and not look back! The grace of God has extended salvation to you...now you must obey him and him alone! Our fleshly desires must be crucified daily - as Paul said "I die daily". We must crucify our old man, so that we can be born again in a new life in Christ... Paul continues with this little nugget of wisdom Cor15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. If we die to sin, we don't continue to live in and wallow in sinfulness. Our robes which have been washed white by the blood of Christ can get dirty again if we continue with our sinful associations - we follow Christ, and don't look back to Egypt with its leeks and garlic, and slavery! Galatians 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Deny, Crucify, and Follow Christ! Repent, be Baptized, receive the Holy Spirit! My God and my Savior, I thank you for your death, burial, and crucifixion! Your sacrifice fulfilled all the law and brought a new testament for our salvation. Help me to follow in your footsteps, give me the courage to deny my flesh and the strength to present my body a living sacrifice! Help me to live for you every day!!! Lord, save me from myself!! In Jesus name! https://www.instagram.com/p/Cowz5P4Awf_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[usergif]

hiiii! Whoever made thosamazing luke skywalker gifset (00047842620981248/you-can-either-profit-from-this-or-be-destroyed) can you please teach me how you cut him out t change backgrounds? I've been trying to make a gifset like this for weeks now but every time I try the animation is inconsistent, I either miss a chunk of hair or sometimes the face isn't cut out like i want it too and every frame look wrong ;(

hello there! that beautiful set was created by the very talented ames aka @tattooine, and they put together a tutorial for you to explain how they did it:

check out the rotoscoping & masking tutorial here!

[yhwhrulz]

Today's Daily Encounter Monday, December 12, 2022

Do You Hear What I Hear?

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.1

Christmas is fast approaching! Do you hear what I hear? I hear carols, bells, and laughter. Do you see what I see? I see lights, decorated trees, and crowded shopping centers! Do you know what I know? I know that God sent his only Son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin and bring Salvation to all mankind!

A Christmas carol asking the same questions was written in October of 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviets had set missiles in Cuba, poised and ready to destroy any city in America, along with their hopes during the holiday season.

While out on a walk one day, Noel Regney, noticed the fear and worry on every person's face, except for two small children who were smiling and laughing as if in full conversation, oblivious to the hovering threat. By the time he reached his home, Regney had composed the words to "Do You Hear What I Hear?'' in his head. Upon writing the words on paper, his wife, Gloria, wrote the music to the carol we enjoy today.

In this famous song, the author saw: "A star, a star, dancing in the night, With a tail as big as a kite" – The star that announced the birth of our Lord Jesus!

He heard: "A song, a song, high above the trees, With a voice as big as the sea" – The voice of the herald angels announcing our Savior's arrival!

He knew that: "A Child, a Child shivers in the cold, Let us bring Him silver and gold" – The newborn Child is worthy to receive our greatest gifts and worship!

What a beautiful message to come out of such a dreadful time. Similar to the night Jesus was born, when a threat loomed over the birth of the newborn King — hope came from despair! Jesus came to bring light to a dark world, and we are called to carry that light still. Won't you ask Jesus to shine in and through your life today?

Said the king to the people everywhere,

"Listen to what I say!"

"Pray for peace, people everywhere!"

"Listen to what I say!"

The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light

He will bring us goodness and light.2

Suggested Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, how gracious you were to mankind to send down your only Son from Heaven to save a sinful world. Your love and mercy still reign today, and I worship at your feet and lift you high my most precious Savior! In Jesus' most Holy name, Amen.1. Luke 2:10-11 (ESV). 2. "Do You Hear What I hear?" by Noel Regney, 1962.

Today's Encounter was written by: Veronica B.

NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon Click on: http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or if you would like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please click on http://www.actsweb.org/decision.php to note this.

Daily Encounter is published at no charge by ACTS International, a non-profit organization, and made possible through the donations of interested friends. Donations can be sent at: http://www.actscom.com

ACTS International P.O. Box 73545 San Clemente, California 92673-0119 U.S.A.

Phone: 949-940-9050 http://www.actsweb.org

Copyright (c) 2016 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following: "Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2016 ACTS International.

[god-whispers]

nov 28

the hummingbird story

once there was a great forest fire.

all the animals fled to the edge of the forest and froze in fear not knowing what to do.  they watched as the flames began destroying the beauty of their home.

finally a tiny hummingbird flew to a body of water and took a few drops into its beak.  it then flew quickly toward the fire allowing the drops to fall on the roaring flames.

over and over the tiny bird continued.

drop by drop.

back and forth.

again and again.

the other animals watched from the edge of the forest, and called to the little bird, "Wwat are you doing?"

the hummingbird replied, "i am doing what i can."

how often we can become overwhelmed by fear or the shear size of problems and become paralyzed to do nothing.  or we may compare ourselves to others and feel too small to matter.

small.  what we consider to be small and insignificant may actually be huge in God's scheme of things.  have you ever noticed how often God's view and the world's view are opposite?  the world says, "be first!"  God says, "be last."  the world says, "go, go, go!"  God says, "be still."  the world says, "bigger is better!"  God says, "small is important."

the widow giving her offering of two small coins in luke 21:1-4, was affirmed by Jesus when He said she had given more than all the rest.  Jesus went on to say in luke 16:10, "he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.

in God's hands, small can become big just like in john 6 when a boy's lunch of five loaves and two fish became enough to feed over 5,000 and also have leftovers!  

this little hummingbird story can remind us to do what we can.  everything we do for the Lord Jesus matters.  it counts!

every word.

every prayer.

every act of kindness.

every hug.

every penny.

small counts in the hands of our BIG God!

© susan smart 2021 permission is given for non-profit use of the information from this web page provided it is accompanied by the citation: used by permission of susan smart www.creativebiblestudy.com

-------

"but let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.  for each one shall bear his own load." gal 6:4-5

[anghraine]

Some Skywalker quotes I enjoyed from the SW marathon:

1.

Leia to Anakin: Only you could be so bold. (ANH)

(uh huh)

2.

Anakin to Grievous: You’re shorter than I expected. (ROTS)

Leia to Tarkin: I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board. (ANH)

3.

Luke: It just isn’t fair. (ANH)

Anakin: He just doesn’t understand! It’s not fair! (AOTC)

4.

Luke to Han: Between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it’s a wonder the whole station doesn’t know we’re here! (ANH)

Leia to Han: Put that thing away! You’re going to get us all killed! (ANH)

5.

Leia to Han: You needn’t worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive! (ANH)

Luke to Han: Well, take care of yourself, Han. I guess that’s what you’re best at, isn’t it? (ANH)

6.

Luke to Han: I knew you’d come back! I just knew it! (ANH)

Leia to Han: I knew there was more to you than money! (ANH)

7.

Anakin to Ozzel: You have failed me for the last time, Admiral. (ESB)

Luke to Jabba: That’s the last mistake you’ll ever make. (ROTJ)

8.

Anakin to Padmé: I saw my mother. I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She is suffering, Padmé. She is in pain ... I must go. I have to help her! (AOTC)

Luke to Yoda: Han! Leia! ... I saw a city in the clouds ... they were in pain. ...I’ve got to go to them. (ESB)

9.

Anakin: Don’t make me destroy you. (ESB)

Luke: You can profit by this or be destroyed. (ROTJ)

10.

Anakin about Padmé: It’s impossible! No!!! (ROTS)

Luke to Anakin: That’s impossible! ... No!!! (ESB)

11.

Anakin to Obi-Wan: You underestimate my power. (ROTS)

Luke to Jabba: I warn you not to underestimate my powers. (ROTJ)

12.

Anakin: You’re asking me to do something against the Jedi Code. (ROTS)

Luke: I am a Jedi, like my father before me. (ROTJ)

13.

Anakin to Shmi: Hang on. I’m going to get you out of here. (AOTC)

Luke to Anakin: You’re coming with me ... Father, I won’t leave you. (ROTJ)

14.

Shmi to Anakin: I’m so glad to see you, Ani. Now, I am complete. (AOTC)

Anakin to Luke: Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes. (ROTJ)