#man I miss making reylo posts

[fandomrantsandtwittertakes]

[perrydowning]

Time Traveling Home

Hello, m’dears. I’ve missed you. 

I (and my elderly chihuahua who looks like a house-elf) arrived safely in Palo Alto, CA this past weekend. The drive took five days; I needed bit of time to recover physically from the trip, the mad rush to finish packing, and all those little details one forgets about, even when you think you’re prepared.

Though the friend I’m currently staying with—henceforth referred to as ‘Auntie Downing’—offered to have my car shipped, I felt the drive itself would help me process the profundity of this change. This was the fourth time I’ve driven across the country, and there really isn’t another way to fathom just how massive and varied this land is. Not unlike the thoughts and feelings that course through me on a schedule only they know.

My traveling buddy, other than Dobby the Chihuahua, did about two thirds of the driving, leaving a lot of time to look out the window silently crying, make nostalgic playlists from our college years, and update each other on the smaller details of our lives—plus tell our new hilarious stories since we last spent real time together.

Mr. Downing had always wanted to take me to the Grand Canyon. On our way to New Orleans we had to choose between that or seeing the London Bridge (yup, the actual bridge) in Lake Havasu. Neither of us had seen it, whereas he’d already been to the Grand Canyon. And, really, you kinda have to walk across a bridge built 200 years ago in England, that had been built to replace the old, 1,000 year-old bridge … especially when the ‘new’ bridge is now in the middle of … Arizona? Because it totally makes sense to ship and rebuild an entire freakin’ bridge. Americans are weird.

At the time, we decided we’d make a proper trip to the Grand Canyon in the future. Clearly, that was no longer possible, but it had been so important to him that I experience it that I needed to see it, almost like a pilgrimage. 

So, I took his urn with me while I looked out on its vastness. In a way, he did take me to see this magnificent place. I cried—a lot. But I’m so very glad I went. It proved something I’d suspected—that when I experience something new, in a way, he does, too. There’s just too much of him wound through me for it to be otherwise. 

Two days later, we arrived back in the Bay Area; I played ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ as we crossed the border into California. It seemed only right to warn them. It felt really good to know where I was going without having to have my phone tell me.

Now, to the time traveling part. When I last lived with Auntie Downing, I was 22 and beginning my ‘grown-up’ life. First real job, finding my first place, all that. In many ways, it feels like I’ve traveled back to that point in my life, that place of not knowing. It’s been a very long time since I haven’t known the general shape and direction of my future, and, man, it is weird.

This time, however, I know myself a hell of a lot better and have more resources. So, even though I’m grieving, I’m also a tiny bit … eager to find out what’s next.

It’s been two months since Mr. Downing’s death and I think my brain is beginning to come back online, a little bit. My memory is improving and the fog is starting to recede. The mountain is still steep, but I’ve finally figured out what kind of shoes I need to wear for the climb.

It’s time for me to shift these sorts of posts over to my non-Reylo blog, @perrydowning-unplugged. I’ll post a link on this blog to new posts about how things are going for me, but the content here will revert to mostly Reylo.

As always and ever, thank you, so very much, for being such supportive and kind people. 

All my love,

Perry

[onewomancitadel]

I posted 1,927 times in 2022

That's 680 more posts than 2021!

1,454 posts created (75%)

473 posts reblogged (25%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@onewomancitadel

@pacificwanderer

@corseque

@scintilliation

@anomalous-fox

I tagged 1,926 of my posts in 2022

#seraphina's asks - 460 posts

#knightfall - 296 posts

#user: anonymouse - 212 posts

#stirring the pot - 156 posts

#cindemption - 137 posts

#whingeing and whining and moaning - 131 posts

#the distance which fools the skimming eye - 124 posts

#cinder fall sadsack tag - 79 posts

#seraphina's replies - 78 posts

#user: redhoodhungergames - 74 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#ok wtf came back to edit: the automatic dropdown of tags to pick sometimes really fucks with stuff. it tagged something completely randomly

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

These are like blink and you'll miss it shots (I only skipped to it by accident, and it plays for like, less than a second). I think her sexy performance persona is funny, because easily her most sexy shots are when she's not trying to be like that.

77 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

#4

Cinder Fall is a good character you guys are just boring

80 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#3

General wreck of TROS notwithstanding.

90 notes - Posted September 13, 2022

#2

The last time I tried to give a video essay a chance which was rather recently I fucking snapped when the essayist had the gall to ground his criticism in 'and why does everything happen to the protagonists?' the fucking state of narrative criticism, good grief.

134 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I was just musing on how Reylo was argued against for years: 'it's gross,' or 'it's problematic,' or 'he killed Han', or 'it's incest' (that was the funniest one). Reylo is a good comparison of a ship because alike to Knightfall it's a mythic romance, it has a lot of similar motivating themes along with monomythic storytelling. It was also canon.

The issue with Reylo is that not once have I ever seen Reylo argued against on the grounds of monomythic interpretation or anything decently textually and thematically relevant. Because it was essentially impenetrable.

You couldn't argue with it on the terms of the text or the Original Trilogy because the Original Trilogy had a central redemption predicated on love, and in the context of a young man who is the evidence of Vader once being flesh-and-blood, a familial relationship was natural; between Rey and Kylo, who were both young and shared similar wounds, romance was the natural answer (particularly for picking up where Padme/Anakin left off).

The narrative reasoning that motivated Reylo is Star Wars. It's inseparable. It's mythic. It was the only planned canon detail of the Sequel Trilogy. It's evident in the concept art. They sought out Adam Driver to play Kylo and had a particular Romantic vision of Kylo. Eddie Redmayne auditioned for Kylo with the Pride & Prejudice script:

With films that top secret, they don’t give you the actual lines. So they give you a scene from Pride and Prejudice, but then they tell you you’re auditioning for the baddie. If you’re me, you then put some ridiculous voice on.

Pride & Prejudice is one of the most notable romance novels ever written and presumably this is referencing the 2005 film adaptation.

The Reylo dynamic was planned to be romantic.

The point I'm trying to make here is that you can't argue on these textual grounds and that's why you weaponise personal taste or anti bullshit. It's part of why it became so militant (and it was wrong place wrong time as a part of a broader shift of fandom) and to this day I still encounter people who try to explain to me that it's regressive for a female character to 'fix' a male character completely misunderstanding the thematic point of it or relationship of the characters that was reciprocal and grounded in the ethos of SW. They just keep repeating it because it's all they know and it makes them feel special and contrarian.

Sort of the point I'm trying to get at (as I have made a few posts about this already) is that the grounds on which someone is arguing something matters just as much as what the substantial content is. Reylo's refutation was personal taste. That was it. Because there was no other refutation.

Food for thought.

136 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

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[andrinanightshade1]

I posted 1,392 times in 2022

That's 1,033 more posts than 2021!

14 posts created (1%)

1,378 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@readingreylo

@m1ssjess

@dxmedstudent

@durnesque-esque

@katebishopofearth

I tagged 809 of my posts in 2022

Only 42% of my posts had no tags

#ben solo - 336 posts

#rey - 333 posts

#reylo - 287 posts

#reylo fanart - 202 posts

#kylo ren - 141 posts

#ao3 - 24 posts

#galadriel - 23 posts

#halbrand - 21 posts

#writing - 20 posts

#haladriel - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 62 characters

#some fics are so amazing that a single kudos just isn't enough

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Crowned

(T, one shot, 3.6K)

Who would have thought that the man who was once adamant that the past had to die—violently, if necessary—would turn out to be so fussy about tradition? 

Some of them puzzle Rey. Such as his insistence on chronicling their travels using ink and parchment. No matter how much she points out how much simpler it would be on a data pad, he merely smiles at her and goes back to his antiquated tools.  In another, kinder life, Ben might have been a scholar, with his ink-stained fingers and brow.

Some of them she adores—like his habit of braiding her hair each morning. Although he has taught her the different styles and their meanings, she enjoys it purely for the feel of his hands in her hair every morning. It is soothing, a sense of belonging. 

(Of course, it often becomes a prelude for his hands, and eventually his lips, to find purchase elsewhere on her body, until her sweat-slicked skin is pressed to his and they tumble into their bed.

Or to the floor.

Or the cockpit.

Or against the nearest wall.)

He has lots of little habits—from the scientific precision and ceremony of his tea making, to only drinking from a cup or mug held in his right hand—all of which he maintains aretradition. 

Tradition or quirks, Rey doesn’t really mind; for all of them are so fundamentally Ben.

Read it on AO3

10 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#4

A Broken Heart Knows No Second Spring

(E, one shot, 3.4k words)

On the night of his godmother's sixtieth birthday party, Ben Solo will piss people off, fuck up... and possibly reunite with an old flame.

Moodboard by the lovely @diesirate

Read it on AO3

11 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#3

Curses, Comforts and Capybaras

(M, 6 chapters, 16K words)

A curse turns arrogant CEO Ben Solo into a capybara... Can kind-hearted wildlife rehabber Rey help restore his humanity?

Read it on AO3

12 notes - Posted November 24, 2022

#2

The Werewolf of Chandrilla Primary

(G, one shot, 2.7 k words)

Speechless indeed are the pupils of Miss Holdo's primary one class when Ben Solo walks into their Hallowe'en party, unrecognisable beneath layers of latex, fake fur and costume make-up, including fangs dripping with fake blood. Their silence lasts about thirty seconds, before Snap bursts into tears, and the other children erupt into whispers.

Miss Holdo shuffles Snap to the corner, and Ben feels his heart sink. Perhaps the fake blood had been a touch over the top…

Ben had been so proud of his costume earlier, his chest puffed out like a peacock as they had walked to school. He had even allowed Chewie to take dozens of photos, which he had promised would hold pride of place on his workshop walls. This was going to be the best Hallowe'en ever. 

But now, as the other children whisper and recoil from him (with even Poe and Hux look green around the gills), Ben wishes he'd let Chewie buy the pumpkin costume after all.

He retreats to the corner and tries not to cry. 

Read it here on AO3

15 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Nocturnal Conclaves

(M, one shot, 2.6k words)

5 times Rey and Ben share a bed via the Force. Or... There was only one bed - Force Bond edition.

Thanks to @reylotrash711 for the moodboard 💕

Read it on AO3

19 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[elthadriel]

Codex obvs, fives/echo? And uhh I'm sorry but I'm so curious, anidala? ...reylo?

Under a cut because it got long :D

Codex my beloved 😭

What made you ship it?

The Rishi episode had me shipping (Cody called Rex Old Boy and I was 👀) it but mostly in the background, then I wrote Boosting Morale for an event week. That was beginning of the end. I also made some new friends within the fandom around that time who shipped it and were writing the much delicious fic about them. From there there was no saving me and I’m obsessed.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

Can I just gesture vaguely at everything I’ve written for them?

I like that they come with built in pining. Even after they’re together they spend a lot of time apart missing each other. There’s a level of devotion that I love. These are men who aren’t allowed to have anything and took this anyway. They barely own themselves but own each other anyway. It makes me weak.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I prefer them having meet post Kamino as a rule. There’s plenty fun stuff with them meeting on Kamino, and I don’t avoid it, but it’s not my preference.

I adore Fives/echo

What made you ship it?

Canon. The last survivors of their squad, the fact even on Kamino when they didn’t get along there was enough of a connection there to seek out being moved to a different squad together

What are your favourite things about the ship?

The codependency. I want them to be unable to recognise themselves without the other as a point of comparison. Which makes it even better that somehow they both have to figure out how to. I just want you to look at them alone, and be able to see the hole the other left behind and they are desperately trying to fill. Look, canon give me a ship where they both have to mourn the other’s death, how could I say no to that?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m not a huge fan of how both of these characters are often written. Fives is energetic but he’s also incredibly smart and driven. He’s not a fuck up or a prankster. Meanwhile, I think Echo is just as much of a shithead as Fives (you think that man wasn’t loving how annoyed he made people reciting regs?) he just disguises it better.

Anidala

I wasn’t sure how to answer this one. I guess I ship it in the sense of I always write with the assumption they’re together, and don’t really ship either of them with anyone else because I don’t think their characters really work without the other. But, on the other hand, I would never write it, would never look it out, and just don’t really care one way or the other 😂

Fuck it, I decided to do a mix from both.

What made you ship it?

I think Anakin’s obsessive love of Padme is so central to everything that happens to him. It’s his primary driving motivator and that’s compelling. And we’re repeatedly told that Padme is a good person and smart, but she gets into a relationship with Anakin, which is objectively a stupid idea considering, and he admits to slaughtering a village to her and she isn’t repulsed. I think Padme making exceptions to her morals when it’s for the benefit of herself says so much about her.

What would have made you like it?

I find the prequels very hard to watch. I don’t even find them enjoyable in a “this is so bad” kind of way. I just think they’re bad. And then Anakin’s characterisation in tcw is just all over the place and feels super different from what we see in the movies. So probably, better canon and probably if I was just more interested in the characters in general.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I hate any implication that Anakin mind ticked Padme or that she felt pressured into a relationship with him. She knew what she was doing and I think it flattens her character into something very boring to pretend she didn’t. Let her justify this man’s viciousness while considering herself just a good and kind person. It’s fun.

Reylo

Why don’t you ship it?

Mostly because I like Finn/Rey way more. Also, while I’m normally here for enemies to lovers, canon was so inconstant with what they were doing with them it was hard to get meaningfully compelled.

What would have made you like it?

I think canon being better and knowing what it wanted to do with them.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

There’s a lot of tropes there that I like. Enemies to Lovers I mentioned, and I often like some unhealthy toxicity in my ships.

[akajustmerry]

I like Rey Nobody. You already had a character with the Skywalker blood/the lineage. Kylo Ren. Rey and Kylo/Ben had a connection. That was the story. Rey Nobody doesn't abandon any of the family space soap opera story. It's just a typical knight saves a princess story with the genders flipped. They just chickened out in really telling that story and having a happy ending because of some very specific fan backlash.

Look I get it. Adam Driver is kinda ugly and an awkward actor who doesn't have the charm of Harrison and Carrie. He was also too old for the role, it should have been cast much closer to Daisy/Rey's age to match the emotional maturity. And maybe he shouldn't have been made the villain since people wanted the Skywalker heir to be a hero not a character who would have been more at home in a Space Balls reboot playing Dark Helmet's son.

But I'm an OG fan and saw Star Wars in the theater. (when it was only called Star Wars and not A New Hope) and I thought it was super obvious that they were going to have a romantic connection. I always figured she'd become part of the Skywalker family through Kylo/Ben.

respectfully, i disagree with just about every bit of this take. you admitted that kylo was a joke both in concept and execution so how can you defend his existence to preserve a deeply misogynistic story of woman falling in love with a man who did nothing but hurt her?? are you coming into my askbox in 2022 and arguing THAT would have been better than making a story where a woman who is a skywalker is empowered for once?? you know, instead of being killed like all the other skywalker women so the skywalker men can be uwu sad??? Also, you're acting like there couldn't have been 2 skywalkers in the sequel trilogy when there were 2 in the original trilogy is so funny. somewhere out there in the multiverse is a version of the force awakens where rey is luke's daughter and leia's son goes to find her to help her learn the force and they team up as cousins to defeat some other sithy bitch out there. also, did you miss the part in my post where i said why someone being a "nobody" in star wars doesn't work?? saying you're an "an OG fan" is a funny way of justifying being a reylo shipper, but whatever guess we'll agree to disagree!

[may-the-force-be-gay]

A little about this blog

What do I ship?

Obikin(otp), anidala(Bc Padmé is a queen and deserves happiness), skysolo, dinluke, reylo, hanleia, vaderwan(I can’t not). I’m open to most ships these days but these are the big ones.

What do I post?

Everything above ☝🏽 and everything Star Wars related.

Do I write fanfic? HELL YES I DO! You can check out my two obikin fics here:

Summary:

He would find Obi-Wan. And he would kill him. Soulmate be damned. (WIP, Teen & Up Audiences, Canon Compliant)

Summary:

“Forgive me, Master, I did not think before I spoke. It came out wrong.”

“That it definitely did.” His auburn brows knit together on his forehead and he missed the way Anakin’s eyes darkened and his nostrils flared. He entirely missed the way those black wings raised as if in mild offense, which didn’t make sense anyways.

Anakin’s own brows pinched together at how dense his master could be, he almost wanted to reach through their bond to show him just what he smelled like to him. The black winged man cleared his throat, mind made up as he set his shoulders in determination, and corrected himself by saying, “sorry, what I meant was, you smell karking amazing.”

(Part of an ongoing series, Completed: 19k words, Explicit, wingfic)

I hope y’all enjoy the chaotic nature of this blog LMAO

Obikin Spotify playlist (literally pretty much just straight shots of depression)

DISCORD SERVER

[redrascal1]

Is making Rey a wife and mother truly demeaning to women?

Okay...I have mentioned before how I used to frequent other SW forums than the JCF, but quit.

This is one of the reasons I quit, apart from realising that I no longer have anything positive to add.

I said this post TROS on SuperHeroHype SW forums:

Lucas created the SKYWALKER saga as a family story. Which is why the ST should have been about either; Ben or.. Rey was a real Skywalker or Solo. One of the many reasons the reylo fandom took off is because they believed Rey, who it was established very firmly in TFA, longed for a family, would end up marrying a redeemed Ben Solo and become a Skywalker. Han, Luke and Leia would live on through their grandchildren. Ben would finally find peace with the one person who understood him. Rey would have the 'belonging' she craved. The dark and light sides of the Force would find balance in a 'lightsider' with some of the Dark (Rey) and a darksider with some of the Light(Ben). Feel free to ridicule folks...but it would have been a better ending than the one we got. Palpatine didn't canonically have any children because according to Lucas he was 'galactic Satan.' Evil personified. By making her his descendent they turned Rey into the AntiChrist. Which is probably why they are so eager on making her Little Miss Perfect, who is adored by everyone but too good for anyone. Hence no Ben/Rey, Finn/Rey, Poe/Rey - just BB/Rey. If DLF wanted to make a film about non Skywalkers they could have set it thousands of years into the future. Instead, they killed them all off and gave everything that was theirs to their enemy's descendent. The irony is, I read several interviews with creators who said that Ben's fate was unavoidable because of who his grandfather was. So...what does that make Rey? It just doesn't add up.

This is one of the replies I got:

Ahh yes, Rey has to marry a man to become a Skywalker. Can't be because Han and Leia treated her like an adopted daughter. And once again, blood is the important factor, not silly things like what they passed on via teaching or mentoring, or just being in their lives. And lets not forget, reducing Rey to baby factory, because that worked out so well when Lucas did it to Padme. Calling Rey the dark and Kylo the Light flies so much of what is established on screen it makes no goddamn sense to me. To place bloodlines above the choices one makes just flies in the face of all lore we have. I fully understand why the Reylo ship is popular. Shipping is fun, and it can also to weird places. I don't give a **** what you ship. But putting your ship above all else in the story is annoying.

I quit shortly afterwards.

I would just like to know if anyone else out here saw what I said as offensive as this poster obviously thought it was?

[sorcerymuses]

Radar Technicians Chapter 3: “The Worst of Luck”

Fandom: Star Wars (Episode VII)

Pairing: Reylo

Rating: 18+

Word Count: 3,208

Summary: Their first assignment together shows Rey just how inexperienced with mechanics her partner is...

More: <- Working Partners/All Links/Movement in White ->

Sure enough, they had the worst luck. Kylo actually felt sorry for Rey, having to deal with his incompetence as they were instructed to repair some vital piece of equipment on the base. Of course she guided him through their task with surprising patience, even after the fourth time he nearly electrocuted himself by misaligning the same set of wires.

He almost wished he'd had the patience as a child to actually listen to his father's lessons. If only for the fact that then he wouldn't be embarrassing himself like this. He barely managed to keep the rage he felt at his failure here bottled up.

Finally, on the fifth try, he got the two wires into the correct positions and Rey secured them expertly before directing him through the next part of the repair. He managed to get things right the first time around this time. And so it continued, with his contribution being rather slow and generally painful.

At some point, a pair of troopers heading towards their station paused in their route to bother Kylo and Rey. The shorter of the pair, likely barely Rey's height, crouched behind her and reached to squeeze her butt. Being beside her, Kylo clearly saw rage flash in her dark eyes as she picked up the nearest tool (if asked, he wouldn't have been able to give the name of it).

"So, since when do they let kittens like you do dirty work like this?" the trooper asked, causing his companion to laugh a little. That really set Rey off and Kylo watched almost in awe as she whirled around quickly, bringing her tool around in a wide swing.

She couldn't have been more unlucky with this job. Sure, it was lucky that Ben had no idea what he was doing, and that gave her a chance to do what she needed to do in order to slowly sabotage the super-weapon that the planet housed. But at the same time, he'd already shocked himself four times with the same set of wires she was trying to get him to realign (admittedly in the opposite positions to what was expected, but things would run smoothly so long as the weapon wasn't activated) and she was honestly starting to lose patience with him.

Finally, he managed to get the wires in their proper positions without hurting himself. And the next set of wires, he managed without much trouble. She thought he might be making progress, but then he electrocuted himself again and Rey shook her head tiredly. They continued with that hit and miss work, and Rey was tempted to try casually instructing him on other parts of the mechanics they were working with.

But then, she absently heard a pair of Stormtroopers, probably on their way to a post, walking towards them. She faintly heard something like a whistle from one of them, but she wanted to think she'd heard wrong. The pair stopped walking and her hand hovered over a ratchet. She heard the light rattling of the trooper's armour as one crouched behind her.

She felt his hand on her ass and rage swelled in her. A ringing in her ears blocked out whatever he said to her and she clenched her hand around the heavy tool. When the other trooper laughed, she whirled on them, slamming the ratchet into the offender's helmet with all of her weight behind her swing.

The man stumbled back a good metre and landed in an undignified heap. Rey pulled herself to her feet, patting her metal tool against her free palm. She glared down at the trooper, and in the corner of her eye, she saw the other man step back.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "I don't recall giving you permission to touch me," she continued when he didn't reply. She vaguely noticed that she'd managed to damage his helmet. "Nothing to say for yourself?!" she demanded.

"Oh, come on! It was a compliment," the uninjured trooper said to her. She whirled on that one. He was at least a head taller than she was, but she didn't care. She'd taken down scavengers twice his size on Jakku.

"A compliment?! A compliment is admiration from afar! You want to compliment someone, you give them space and say things like ‘you look pretty today', or ‘I like your hair'!" she raged, actually throwing her ratchet into the man's head. The trooper stumbled back a few steps and she could almost feel that he was glaring at her under his helmet.

"Your ass was sticking out and begging to be touched, you little bitch," the trooper she'd first struck snapped, getting to his feet. Rey was a little surprised to find that he was, in fact, several centimetres shorter than she was.

"Is there a physical sign anywhere near me that states ‘free to touch'?" she questioned. Sure, she knew from experience that men seemed to care more about their libidos than anything else (she'd even used that to keep from starving once she'd realized it) but this was ridiculous. At least the men on Jakku knew to respect even the space of the whores.

The trooper stammered a little, fishing for a response. "The answer is no," she snapped. "Unless you have express permission, do not touch someone! I should take down both of your serials and report you to Captain Phasma for sexual assault!"

The pair looked at each other and then fled the scene. Rey let out a heavy sigh and retrieved her ratchet. She then resumed her position beside Ben and yanked the set of wires he'd been handling from him. She purposefully touched the exposed ends together, sending a shock through her fingers and up her arms. She handed the wires carefully back to Ben.

Kylo watched in utter shock as he held a pair of wires carefully apart. Rey's outburst had caused damage to both of the troopers' gear. He wasn't all that surprised at her rage, really. Even he knew better than to touch someone without their permission, especially in a sexual way.

Watching Rey in this moment reminded him again of his mother when he was younger, arguing with her husband over one of his antics. Of course, most of his parents' arguments either ended in Han leaving for weeks or with them having rather angry sounding sex in their bedroom. And he knew that wouldn't happen in this instance.

He was brought back to the present when Rey threatened to report the pair of troopers to Phasma. He watched the pair flee for their assignment and wondered fleetingly how they intended to explain the damage to their helmets. Kylo turned his attention to Rey as she stalked to her tool-turned-weapon and picked it up.

The petite brunette stalked back over to him and resumed her previous position before snatching the wires out of his hands and electrocuting herself with them. He was sure his jaw had fallen slack with shock as she handed the wires back to him and instructed him on where to position them.

Kylo wondered why she'd purposefully injured himself, but he recalled times when he would either injure himself or attack existing injuries to clear his mind. Perhaps in her harsh life on Jakku, she'd found that as the quickest way out of a rage.

They finished their task without further incident and reported in. They were congratulated on a job well done and directed to the library with a note about where to find materials on mechanics and blueprints of the facility. The overseer instructed them to take the rest of the day to study.

Of course, Rey was far more eager to get to the library than Kylo was, but that was likely because he wasn't all that enthusiastic about his situation. He went with her, all the same, because he had to keep up appearances. When they arrived in the base library, she went straight to the section they'd been told about.

Honestly, Kylo was more interested in the texts on strategy and the history of the old Empire, or even the pilfered texts on Force manipulation. He sat at a table within the mechanics section and watched Rey dig through the collection of holorecords and hand written texts. She set a small selection on the table in front of him before nimbly scaling the shelf unit to get to the top shelf.

Rey had never seen so many records in all her life. She glanced around the large, mostly uninhabited, library. She found her way to the proper section and tried to ignore the other sections that they passed. Some would be good to read later on, she decided.

Oddly, outside of the area containing the technical manuals and blueprints, she was most drawn to the small sign pointing towards a ‘restricted section'. Well, maybe that was her desire to discover the treasures others didn't want found. They arrived at the correct section of materials and Rey immediately set to work, hunting down basic terminologies and guides for Ben.

She barely noticed him fold himself into a too small chair as she searched. She had a feeling there was probably a catalogue somewhere, but she preferred to physically search for her treasures. The blueprint she was looking for was nowhere within her reach, so she shed her orange vest and started climbing the shelf unit to search. It crossed her mind as she climbed, that there might have been a ladder nearby she could use, but it was too late for her to stop.

She found her prize on the top shelf. Clearly labelled on the side of the holorecord was Starkiller Mechanical Blueprints. Smiling at her success, she tucked the device into her shirt and carefully made the descent to join Ben. She dropped the last couple of metres to the ground and joined her roommate at the table.

"These are for you," she told him, pushing the materials she'd gathered towards him. "So we don't have so much trouble next time." He nodded a little and started reading.

Kylo lost track of time as he read, finding the information surprisingly interesting. He barely registered that Rey had only been studying a single holorecord: the one she'd scaled the shelves to retrieve. He paused in reading to see what she was so engrossed in.

The most he could discern from the projected image she was examining was that it was a set of blueprints. Probably the blueprints for the super-weapon they were on. He supposed he could understand why she was clearly memorizing the schematics.

"Attention personnel, last call for evening rations," a mechanical voice stated calmly from an overhead speaker. It was already evening? His stomach growled, as if just realizing that he hadn't eaten since that morning.

Kylo hastily shut off the holorecord he was reading from and looked at Rey. She followed suit and stood, leaving their materials on the table as she retrieved her vest. They both knew a droid would come and put things away during the night. The pair left the library, again with almost perfectly matching strides, and made their way to the mess hall.

The moment they arrived, a trio of unmasked troopers surrounded them. Kylo immediately recognized them based on the height of the one directly in front of Rey. The pair of troopers Rey had scared off earlier in the day had brought a friend with them for revenge.

"Not so bold without your toolbox around, eh?" the shortest questioned with a smirk, reaching to grope Rey's breast. She clearly saw through his intentions and caught him in a painful looking arm hold before he could touch her. The man cried out in pain.

"I don't need a toolbox to make you regret messing with me," she said sharply. The trooper's comrades stayed where they were, clearly afraid to make a move. And rightly so, as Rey had easily overpowered one and Kylo towered over them. Carefully and silently, he pushed into their minds with the Force, compelling them to continue maintaining their distance.

He'd honestly never attempted using Force Compelling without a vocal command, and he found it draining, but he wasn't sure if Rey could take all three at once, and he couldn't physically fight any of them to help her without revealing exactly who he was. He preferred to remain the terror in black of the First Order, and he had no intention of revealing that ‘Ben the incompetent radar technician' was, in fact, Kylo Ren the right hand of the Supreme Leader.

His trick seemed to work, because the two slackened their positions just enough. The shortest one finally surrendered to Rey as she nearly broke his arm. The former scavenger released him and he scrambled to his friends' sides.

"Just what is going on in here?" Captain Phasma's voice said from behind Kylo, filtered through her grey helmet as she entered the mess hall.

"That new bitch just up and attacked me!" the shortest trooper shouted. "Nearly broke my arm just now."

"Ah…the one that you claimed damaged your helmet earlier today ‘for no reason'?" the captain laughed harshly, without humour. "All three of you, come with me," she instructed the troopers. Kylo quickly removed his hold on the minds of the troopers and he and Rey watched as the trio donned their helmets and followed the Phasma out of the mess hall.

A group of civilian faculty erupted into cheers as the group left and Kylo and Rey proceeded to the line to get their rations. When they arrived at an empty table to sit down, a group of women surrounded Rey.

"Thank you so much!" one said brightly.

"He's been hassling us non-stop for the past few weeks," another agreed.

"But none of us have been able to stand up to him and his friends."

Kylo watched as Rey humbly accepted the thanks, an embarrassed flush to her cheeks. Finally, the crowd of women dispersed and they finished eating in peace. He didn't say anything to her as they gathered their dishes and went to put them in the proper bins.

Rey barely acknowledged the praise of the women who surrounded her at the table. To satisfy them, she feigned humility, though the flush she could feel in her cheeks was genuine. No one had ever really praised her before. After several agonizing minutes, the women dispersed to allow Rey and Ben to finish their rations in peace. Fortunately for Rey's nerves, Ben didn't say anything to her.

She got the feeling that he didn't care much for casual conversation. And that was okay with her. Now that she'd had the opportunity, she felt that she wasn't very fond of interacting with strangers.

Of course she was fine with the idea of talking with Ben, likely because she knew she had to maintain a friendly relationship with him in order to avoid suspicion. But at the same time, she was starting to get the feeling that there was something else that was drawing her to him.

She finished eating right before Ben, but only just, and they went to put their dishes in the proper bins for cleaning. And then they went to their room in silence, their steps in sync again. She wondered why they were already able to match their steps despite the difference in their heights and the fact that they'd barely met, but she didn't voice the question.

Once they were inside the room, Rey started stripping, putting her dirtied work clothes in the laundry bin for a droid to come wash. She glanced over at Ben as she pulled out her pyjamas, debating on whether she should shower again or just go to bed. Her breath almost caught. She'd seen his back in detail, but this time he was facing her.

She barely managed to contain her urge to cross the room and trace his muscles and the map of scars that etched across his skin. Quickly, she decided to take a quick shower before bed and gathered her pyjamas and fresh underwear. She hurried to the next room and turned on the water, setting the temperature to cool. She stripped out of her underwear and tugged her hair out of its bindings.

She didn't even bother to try and get rid of any tangles in her long hair before getting under the spray of cold water. She hit the wall lightly as she let the water run down her body. This wasn't part of the plan, having a working partner to observe her every move and remind her of her libido. She glared down at herself as she ran her hands up her body.

Not surprisingly, with the cold water, her nipples were hard (something that on Jakku was almost always simply due to arousal with the lack of even mild temperatures) but when she carefully touched herself, she was wet. Had just looking at Ben gotten her that aroused? She shook her head to banish her thoughts and turned off the water, satisfied that the sweat from the day's exertions had been washed away. Rey sighed and grabbed a towel, drying herself off as best she could before putting her hair at least back into a tight braid and getting into her pyjamas.

When she emerged, Ben was fully dressed in his pyjamas and watching for her. She looked away from him and climbed into her bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm fine," she said softly, rolling over to face him. "You think you can manage to get through the day without electrocuting yourself tomorrow?" she tried to sound light.

"I think so," he replied seriously. "Well…good night," he added awkwardly before laying down. At first, his feet hung over the end of the bed, but he quickly folded himself into an almost foetal position in an obvious attempt at getting comfortable.

Rey watched for a moment before rolling over again and trying to get to sleep.

Movement in White->

[juuls]

Reylo The Last Jedi & The Rise of Skywalker fics and AUs that were far better than the movies! ;)

Look, okay. Here's the hard truth: A lot of us wish the series was cancelled after The Force Awakens because what in the actual hell was all that nonsense that followed? Anyway, I was in the mood for TFA or TFA-like fics and my readers responded!! I received TLJ and TRoS fics that are actually quite good, so I'll be addressing those in this post! Thank you everyone for contributing! This is almost entirely a crowd-sourced fic rec list from one of my other posts.

Just in time for reading season (keep an eye on @fanfic-reading-challenge for this and next year’s challenges!) and revisiting some of the best fics from or relating to fixing two of the sequel trilogy fiilms (sigh). There are a couple that delve into the OT and PT but are rare, and there are a few ships other than Reylo, which will be clearly marked, don’t worry!

Fics will be alphabetized by story name, and may need to be broken into a couple posts, which I’ll link together here at a later point.

The point of my fic rec requests were for that old-school, fight-me bro. proud to be a reylo feeling and the sigh we all inevitably let out. There was just something so magical about TFA stories, really….

I’m a Millennial but I’m going to say something really Boomer: I wish for the good ole’ days!! :’(

Included are classics, hidden gems, very… unique fics, some that were written post-TFA and then others that were written post-the other movies because we all just miss TFA too much, hahaha. There are also AUs that fit TFA-themes or were written in the pre-TLJ years.

TFA-related Part One | TFA-related Part Two | TLJ-related & TRoS-related

Dates are posted as Y/M/D. Coloured titles are non-Reylo (or at least not just Reylo) Please ignore them rather than making a deal out of it!

***Fics recommended almost exclusively by stranger submission with a few thrown in from my bookmarks!***

Beautiful images gifted and also commissioned for me with @pandacapuccino the wonderful lady she is!

_~_

Fics that make The Last Jedi far more satisfying.

a promise of grace (under silver-grey skies) by meritmut

First day of posting: 2018-02-24

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 47,388

Chapters: 10

Summary: After the war, he's shipped off to Ahch-To to live out his days in exile among the seabirds and the ghosts. Every six months, someone will visit and make sure he's still alive. /// At least, that's the plan. /// (Or: the war for Ben Solo's heart, featuring an immanent cosmic entity, an island where time is wonky, and a stubborn twentysomething from Jakku.)

As Stars Through Our Souls by LadyRhi

First day of posting: 2020-06-04

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 201,472

Chapters: 20/34 (last updated 2021-05-18)

Summary: Rey is the bright hope of the Resistance, but as loss piles upon loss she feels herself begin to crumble beneath the weight of their expectations. More lost than ever, Rey feels a growing desperation to find her place in all of this, heartbroken at the thought that it could mean going on alone. One night, when her sorrows allow the Force to reach out across the galaxy and through her tattered barriers, she rediscovers that sense of connection she'd felt so briefly months before... and turned away from. When she dares to offer a second chance, Rey learns the man she failed to cut out of her heart still longs for her with equal intensity. Now, Rey and Ben Solo have a secret. Each committed to opposite sides in a war tearing the galaxy apart, they nurture the unusual Bond they share in stolen moments that grow more meaningful each time the Force draws them together. As the stakes rise ever higher, they learn just what it means to have a love worth fighting for. What is this, Ben... what are we?

Burgeoning Hope by crossingwinter

First day of posting: 2018-02-03

Ship: Reylo

Rating: T

Total word count: 14,162

Chapters: 9

Summary: When word gets out that Rey is pregnant, the Resistance is startled. Had she really slept with Luke Skywalker during her mission to bring him back from his seclusion? He’d been isolated for so long, but then again he had never seemed to have any interest in that particular pleasure of the flesh. But who else could have fathered her child? (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Luke Skywalker) (Spoiler alert #2: It was Kylo Ren)

Constellations of You by ebongawk (makeshiftcandy)

First day of posting: 2018-03-12

Ship: Reylo, background FinnRose, implied Stormpilot

Rating: E

Total word count: 181,298

Chapters: 39

Summary: Four months following the Battle of Crait, Rey has closed off her side of the Force bond between her and Kylo Ren, but not without consequences. He's taken on the title of Supreme Leader of the First Order, putting an insurmountable bounty on her head for the murder of the former Supreme Leader. Leia has grounded Rey, keeping her confined to the new Resistance base on Barkhesh. Despite her protests, Rey falls into a boring routine, until she's given a Force vision urging her that the answers she seeks are on Tatooine. /// She follows her intuition, running to Tatooine; running inexplicably to Kylo Ren.

Everything In Between by Polkadotdotdot

First day of posting: 2018-06-18

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 110,680

Chapters: 32

Summary: Ben loves Rey. Rey loves Ben. If only it were that simple. /// After Crait, what's left of the Resistance go on the run. With Poe trying to win Rey's already stolen heart and Rey and Ben acting like stubborn fools over joining the other, Leia just wants to know why Rey is talking to herself...and how she ended up in the family way. /// Redemption is a beautiful thing.

Exile by Ernzo

First day of posting: 2017-12-25

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 25,506

Chapters: 11

Summary: The war is over and the First Order has fallen. Ben has returned home to face his consequences. /// A story of Rey and Ben finding peace in the aftermath of war as Ben accepts his punishment.

Footnotes by Camucia

First day of posting: 2017-12-18

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 121,823

Chapters: 22

Summary: Rey is having an incredibly difficult time deciphering the Jedi texts, much less actually gaining any meaning from them. In a moment of frustration, she knocks over the final, unopened volume, discovering that someone has left some very insightful commentary - and poetry.

Free to Fall by uselessenglishmajor

First day of posting:

Ship: Reylo

Rating:

Total word count:

Chapters:

Summary:

Hand of Fate by Sweetestcondition

First day of posting: 2017-12-18

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 101,235

Chapters: 33

Summary: Rey is offered a choice at the end of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. This time, she takes the hand of Kylo Ren, grasping at the chance to transform the First Order from the inside. She hopes to create a Resistance from within, starting with the heart of Ben Solo.

No Rest For The Wicked by Avdal

First day of posting: 2017-12-22

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 111,555

Chapters: 24

Summary: No one said being a Jedi was going to be easy… /// The sneak attack had come out of nowhere. Kylo had boarded her ship and the battle that followed should have sealed both of their fates. /// Except that it hadn’t, and now they’re both stranded. Trapped on a strange and remote alien world with only each other to depend on. Good thing they didn’t just have sex only an hour before, effectively ruining both their chances at behaving like reasonable and rational force-wielding adults…

Not Alone by rightforlife

First day of posting: 2021-01-28

Ship: Reylo, Leia & Ben Solo

Rating: E

Total word count: 72,008

Chapters: 12

Summary: For balance to be achieved, the Force required a union of light and dark. Fortunately for the Galaxy, it accomplished this quite easily. Unfortunately for the scions of light and dark, they didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. Or: When Rey finds herself inexplicably pregnant, she has to learn how to deal with morning sickness, an overly doting sort of mother-in-law, and a supremely overprotective baby daddy who would tear down the Galaxy if anyone dared tried to hurt what was his.

Powerless by Perry_Downing

First day of posting: 2018-03-27

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 212,944

Chapters: 68

Summary: She looks down at the floor and whispers, “I’m pregnant.” There’s no thought as he rushes to her, towering over her smaller frame. He grabs her face and holds her firmly as he forces her eyes to his. “Whose is it?” he hisses. Mine, mine, it should have been mine! Her startled eyes go wide and fill with confusion. “Is it FN-2187’s?” he growls. She looks at him like he’s speaking Huttese. “Tell me!” Kylo bellows. He can barely hear her when she stutters out, “Y-yours.”

Safe Harbor by ItsALilah

First day of posting: 2018-04-02

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 193,465

Chapters: 51

Summary: After the ultimate betrayal, Rey flees to the only person she knows she can still (kind of) trust. But as she spends more time with Kylo Ren, she begins to understand just what kind of future he was offering in the Supremacy's Throne Room. /// She really doesn't hate it. At all.

Saving the Last Hope by Aaveena

First day of posting: 2020-05-23

Ship: Reylo, background HanLeia, Big Ole Happy Skywalker Drama Family

Rating: T

Total word count: 262,160

Chapters: 46

Summary: “Rey, I’m not – I’m not delirious. That -” He points towards the blond boy on the other side of the rocky enclosure, still passed out but now stirring fitfully. Kylo’s hand is shaking as he gestures desperately towards his young uncle. “That’s Luke.” He chokes out past the lump in his throat.  --- Kylo Ren and Rey find themselves in the desert on Tatooine in 0 BBY. When Obi Wan Kenobi dies long before he is supposed to, it is up to Kylo to make sure the timeline stays the way it should, or else risk never being born. Of course, Darth Vader, who has sensed not only a great disturbance in the Force, but also the death of his former master, is not going to make things easy for Kylo. How will Kylo deal with being forced to work against his beloved grandfather? Super fun and non-traumatic family reunions, time travel hi-jinx, and confusion ensue! E-Rated chapters linked as separate parts.

saying your names by neonheartbeat

First day of posting: 2018-12-15

Ship: Reylo & just about all of the awesome Knights of Ren, plus a wild Poe appears

Rating: E

Total word count: 93,709

Chapters: 28

Summary: The Supreme Leader calls back his Knights of Ren as a preemptive measure against a suspected plot to overthrow his rule. The Knights are not what they might appear to be, however, and after a Resistance pilot is unexpectedly taken prisoner, things get complicated on every side. -- "To truly judge the character of any ruler, one must turn one's attention to those he surrounds himself with..." -A Treatise On Monarchy and the Conduct of the Prince, Chandar Voss, Alderaan

Sealed To Me by glitter_reylo

First day of posting: 2017-12-15

Ship: Reylo, implied Stormpilot

Rating: E

Total word count: 152,077

Chapters: 50

Summary: Rey turns around again, starting to descend the steps, leaving him alone in the temple. ‘You can’t be here. Go back to your sycophants.’ He stands up abruptly and she flinches, shying away. ‘Have we really regressed back to being enemies now? After all this time?’ He motions between them, to the ephemeral, unbreakable bond. Rey faces him, her hazel eyes so full of sorrow; it pierces straight to the core of him, an arrow to the heart. ‘You made your choices. You chose the Dark, Ben. You chose to kill the rebels rather than help them. There’s nothing I can do to help you anymore. So yes, you’re my enemy. And you need to leave.’ She turns away again, starting down the flight of steps that lead away from the cliff. The water in the pool undulates as her footsteps peter out, and Kylo stares into the pool, at his reflection, the scarred, damaged face that doesn’t even come close to portraying the conflict within. The face of the First Order. He hates it more than he ever has. You're no Vader. You're just a child. In a mask.

Songs of Innocence, Songs of Wisdom by Cosmogonika

First day of posting: 2017-12-21

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 217,247

Chapters: 36

Summary: Only days after their defeat on Crait, Rey and Leia embark on a secret mission to find an old ally. Kylo and Rey are faced with more questions than real answers.Being on opposite sides of the Force and sharing a bond is not an easy task, and both of them are faced with more contradictions and conflicts than clear routes to follow, while their cat-and-mouse chasing will shape their destinies. From Innocence to Wisdom there is a long path. Between political plots and old allies and enemies emerging from the past, the new teachings of the Force will unveil ancient hidden secrets. From their interpretation rests the fate of the whole galaxy. How will the future unfold?

Tactical Surrender by destinies

First day of posting: 2017-12-28

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 155,839

Chapters: 23

Summary: “It was foolish of you to come here,” he says. “You won’t escape this time.” Rey looks at him, at the Stormtroopers, at the combat walkers. She gives the illusion of thinking it over, and then says, “You’re right." She presents her wrists to him. “I surrender myself to the authority of the First Order.” -- Three years after the Battle of Crait, Rey, Resistance hero and teacher to a budding new Jedi Order, once again delivers herself into the hands of the enemy. To provide cover for a maneuver that could deal a serious blow to the First Order, she must gamble with the thing she knows its Supreme Leader wants most: herself.

Thankless by Lyledebeast

First day of posting: 2018-08-20

Ship: GingerRose

Rating: M

Total word count: 48,847

Chapters: 17

Summary: Rose takes on a duty that no one else wants. Hux can't make any sense of his life. Both think they have the other all figured out, but what will happen as they get to know each other better?

They Don't Have A Word For What We Are by andabatae

First day of posting: 2019-02-21

Ship: Reylo, background FinnPoeRose

Rating: E

Total word count: 183,096

Chapters: 69

Summary: After Crait, Rey retreats to Jakku to grapple with her past... and her unwelcome attraction to Kylo Ren. -- Kylo Ren was a monster. A murderer. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him? Rey was already a bad Jedi, so in the dark of the AT-AT that had sheltered her during her vulnerable years, she gave in to the allure of the fantasy. Kylo Ren’s tall frame and big hands, his dark hair and hungry eyes. His desperation as he’d said “Please.” The sheer size of him, combined with the peek at his vulnerabilities she’d gotten from this strange, antagonistic Force bond. As if she’d summoned him, his consciousness brushed against her own, dark and tempting. You hate me, he said in her mind. There wasn’t a word to encompass how she felt about him. Yes, she agreed, ignoring the twinge of guilt.

Unbidden by Perry_Downing

First day of posting: 2017-12-15

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 183,798

Chapters: 62/64

Summary: "I'll destroy her," rings in his ears and he's shocked by how shamed he is he ever said those words. He’d meant them, oh how he’d meant them. He’d been lost to his rage and he’d thought he could … he knows now that he could never hurt her. Rey ... Then Kylo pulls himself to his full height. She rejected him. Met his offer with going for a weapon. Like she always does. She always, always strikes first. Shooting at him on Takodana, attempting to on Starkiller Base … she was even the one to ignite her blade in those snowy woods. --- Kylo struggles with Rey's rejection and a new threat pushes them together again.

World In My Eyes by sasstasticmad

First day of posting: 2017-12-17

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 96,457

Chapters: 22

Summary: "The bond should be dead," Rey says through gritted teeth. "Just like you.” /// "The bond is only this strong because of you," Kylo Ren tells her. "You're the one who touched me. You took my hand and let me hold yours. This is your fault, not mine. /// (A post-TLJ force bond fic)

Written in the Stars by ReyloRobyn2011

First day of posting: 2018-04-24

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 89,961

Chapters: 42

Summary: He felt an emptiness in his heart where Rey belonged. It left him feeling dark and cold. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to go on in a galaxy where Rey wasn’t in his arms. /// Kylo supposed they were destined to be on opposite sides of a war. They were destined to be nothing more than enemies. /// Yet he knew, if the time came… he wouldn’t be able to kill Rey. He would happily die by her blade if it meant he didn’t have to live in a galaxy without her presence.

/*\

Fics that scrub The Rise of Skywalker right outta your brain.

and if I live, I want to live for you by LordReborn

First day of posting: 2020-03-04

Ship: Reylo, HanLeia

Rating: M

Total word count: 89,704

Chapters: 12

Summary: Months since Exegol, the sudden stir of their bond brings with it a staggering amount of hope and, after a disheartening amount of research, Rey stumbles upon a possible way to bring Ben back. On the other side of time and space, Ben wakes up to a world he, by all means, shouldn't be alive in anymore. Both are resolved to find a way back to each other. Now if only the Force will stop flinging them around...

Benimina Solo's Late On-Set Force Ability by MissCoppelia

First day of posting: 2021-02-14

Ship: Reylo (fem!Kylo, male!Rey)(it's less weird than it sounds :P)

Rating: E

Total word count: 19,771

Chapters: 7

Summary: Benimina Solo has never, not even once, had an ounce of Force Sensitivity. She's done a great deal to move on with her life after failing out of her uncle's Jedi training school. So when Rey Palpatine comes into her life and suddenly everything changes, she's not a happy camper.

Ben Solo and his Midwife Crisis by Ray_Gosh

First day of posting: 2020-07-22

Ship: Reylo and secondary GingerRose

Rating: M

Total word count: 26,544

Chapters: 11

Summary: Nurse Ben quits his job to become a full time natural childbirth educator and doula. He is empathetic, dependable, calm and professional, that is, until he is hired by a very pregnant and very nervous, single mom Rey, who is a student midwife. He can’t stop thinking about her after their first class, and he knows it’s SO wrong. Until he realizes she’s a surrogate for her best friends, Rose and Armitage Hux. /// Ben becomes her birth doula and then her postpartum doula. Will he manage to stay professional or will he ruin his reputation and career by his inability to remain level headed around her?

come down from your mountain by HalfwayThrough

First day of posting: 2020-02-24

Ship: GingerRose

Rating: E

Total word count: 48,737

Chapters: 19

Summary: A group of rebels took their position, blasters at the ready surrounded a single prisoner. The Resistance wasn’t exactly known for taking prisoners, but they seemed to have made an exception. His black coat was torn at the shoulder and blood dribbled from his pale lips. But it was the red hair, loose from its carefully glued style that made the air in her lungs freeze. The last time she’d seen him she’d been on her knees, hands shackled, with a stormtroopers weapon at her neck.

Darkness, Take My Hand by kathyswizards (counts as post-TLJ too)

First day of posting: 2018-04-03

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 245,958

Chapters: 65

Summary: If Vice-Admiral Holdo had rammed the Raddus into Snoke’s flagship five minutes sooner, before Rey had a chance to reject Kylo Ren's offer... The Force is determined to make the galaxy whole again, however unlikely the means. Forging a bond between the dark and the light is one thing, but finding a path to trust, balance and a shared future is a lot more difficult. ~~~ OR ~~~ The way TRoS should have gone.

Hiraeth by TheOriginalSuki

First day of posting: 2020-03-02

Ship: Reylo

Rating: M

Total word count: 47,894

Chapters: 18

Summary: "I don't want to use you." "You wouldn't be using me. You'd be letting me love you. Please let me love you." --- Rey uses the World Between Worlds and the Force bond to go back to a time before Kylo Ren, hoping to try and prevent the events leading up to Ben's fall to the Dark Side.

i kill giants by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2019-12-20

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 84,301 so far

Chapters: 23/35

Summary: In the end, she has to hand it to him— he'd always been an expert in taking her by surprise, and it would appear that he's chosen not to shake the habit even in death."Rey Skywalker?" There's a vaguely sardonic twist to the corner of his mouth. "Does that make you my cousin now?" "It seemed like a fitting tribute," she says in wooden tones. Be it dream or vision, she might as well play along— draw this out until reality comes crashing back. Who knows when he'll come to her again as solid and as vibrant as this? "I see." Suddenly he's leaning into her, their faces so close together. "Tell me," he murmurs, his lips almost brushing against hers, "have you ever heard of the term kissing cousins?" She registers the smell of alcohol on his breath at the same time that his eyes flutter shut and he slumps face-down into her lap, snoring softly. You're alive, is all she can think at first, staring down at his head of lush black hair. Ben Solo is alive. Alive and very, very drunk.

Shattered by rightforlife

First day of posting: 2021-03-28

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 8,557

Chapters: 1

Summary: The revelation of her heritage doesn’t go over well with the Resistance and Rey is left feeling more alone than ever before. /// Until a concerned hand reaches out to her, and this time - she doesn’t hesitate in taking it. /// Based loosely on that prompt where the hero falls into the villain’s arms after having nowhere else to go.

Star Wars IX: The Fallen Knight by AKyloDarkly83 (ksquared83), KR Krause (ksquared83)

First day of posting: 2018-07-06

Ship: Reylo, but also easier to just post the other relationship tags [[Finn/Rose Tico, BB-8 & Everyone, Bastila Shan/Revan (Star Wars), Kaasha Bateen/Lando Calrissian, Malak Ren/Shira Ren, Kylo Ren/Lucia Bonterri (OC), Hondo Ohnaka & Rey, BB-NX/BB-8 ]] --- this is still Reylo!

Rating: E

Total word count: 226,757

Chapters: 60

Summary: A rebellion reborn. Having escaped the First Order assault on Crait, the brave resistance survivors have established a new hidden base and grown their insurgency against the rising darkness. With the aid of a mysterious source within the First Order itself, the rebellion, led by Poe Dameron and General Leia Organa, have been able to acquire much needed supplies and weaponry from secret First Order depots. Rey of Jakku, continuing to develop her skills as a Jedi despite having no master, struggles to keep secret the existence of the mysterious bond she shares with Supreme Leader Kylo Ren through the Force. Fearing the loss of her friend's trust if the bond is known as well as her conflicted emotions toward him, she holds on to what hope there is that Ben Solo could be turned back to the light and become an ally in their struggle against the First Order. As the rebel attacks against secret military installations continue with the aid of an anonymous source within the First Order, Kylo Ren has been forced to dispatch the Knights of Ren to track down and crush the rebels once and for all.

The Bulge That Separates Us by Celestial_Mess1

First day of posting: 2020-11-14

Ship: GingerRose

Rating: M

Total word count: 16,106

Chapters: 5

Summary: Rose Tico was tired. No, it wasn't due to her job at Snap's Auto-parts shop. It was because of the baby growing inside her. It squirmed, kicked and tired her out on a daily basis. The only thing that made any of this bearable was her aggravating, snobby, hot neighbor, Armitage Hux. He was checking off everything on her ideal man list, too bad he had to speak and ruin the illusion. What's a pregnant, horny girl to do?

the heartbreak prince by diasterisms

First day of posting: 2019-12-14

Ship: Reylo

Rating: E

Total word count: 229,160

Chapters: 48

Summary: Rey notices him the moment she walks into the Great Hall with the rest of the seventh years. In her defense, he's hard to miss.

the kingdom of dirt by juniorstarcatcher

First day of posting: 2020-01-25

Ship: GingerRose

Rating: M

Total word count: 47,468

Chapters: 14/26 (last updated 2021-05-08)

Summary: General Armitage Hux didn’t just want her for one night. He wanted her forever. /// Rose Tico works as a repair woman at a bordello frequented by members of The First Order. But despite the fact that she's never taken a client in her entire life, when General Armitage Hux comes in search of a mistress, she's the only one he wants.

The Patron Saint of Lost Causes by ElfMaidenOfLight

First day of posting: 2019-12-30

Ship: GingerRose, background Reylo and Stormpilot

Rating: E

Total word count: 98,081

Chapters: 17

Summary: She'd been his contact, his handler, and if he had to admit, not much had changed. Except now she was his jailer, his benefactor; despite all his protests and, admittedly, her better judgment. Surviving the Steadfast, Hux's only hope was to barter his First Order knowledge for his life. It's not a trade the Resistance wants to make. He's a killer of almost unimaginable magnitude, and if he'd been a turncoat once, he'd be a turncoat again. Only Rose, who had been coordinating with the spy unaware of his true identity, believes he deserves a second chance, even if Hux himself disagrees. Buried under all the pain she's endured, some at the hands of Hux himself, is her belief that he can help rebuild a galaxy he once tried to slaughter into submission.

/|\

And that's it for now! I could've gone digging for some of the other best TFA fics, but I keep getting some suggestions so I'll likely release another TFA rec list similar to the other recent ones. :)

[earstwo]

     ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

I hit 7k recently after losing almost 1.5k followers when I converted to a Reylo blog (not sorry in the slightest) and decided it was time to finally compile some of the INCREDIBLE fanfics that I’ve read since joining the fandom in December. 

I’m constantly impressed by the talent around here and I'm so grateful to love a ship that has some of the most amazing content I’ve ever seen. The creators in this fandom are second to none. I’m so thankful for all they do and all that they give to us. 

Please keep never stop sharing your gifts. <3 

**Note: Most (pretty much all) of these are rated E. 

Without further ado, here are (some of) my favorite stories: 

The Jedi Path  by SouthsideStory | 19k | E | I am such a sucker for Jedi Academy Ben and Rey. It’s everything I never knew I needed, and this fic is a beautiful rendition. If you know me at all, you know that I devour Angst with a Happy Ending stories, and this is no exception to that rule.

Exile by Ernzo | 22k | E | Oof. This one hurts. Leia sends Rey to the planet where Ben is exiled. It’s angsty and sad and cathartic in every way. I’ve read it dozens of times. 

Before the Saber Swings by @waterlilyrose​ | 28k | M |  Fuck. When I tell y’all that this story fucked me up, I mean it from the bottom of my s o u l. It stayed with me for days. I literally couldn’t get it out of my head. It felt so real to me that I was in physical pain while reading it. I also made an AU gifset of the fic with a quote from Buffy because I’m extra and love pain. 

penitence by @bettsfic​ | 16k | M | Look, Betts is one of my favorite fanfiction authors of all time. Her Bellarke works are some that I’ve read dozens of times and I was fucking ecstatic when I found out she also writes Reylo. This is an A+ TROS fix-it that is lovely and soft and sweet. 

The Writings of Ben Solo by BurnedStars777 | 39k | E | This was recced to me by the fabulous @galacticidiots​ and is just a fantastic story all around. Rey finds Ben’s journal whilst stuck on a planet with Kylo Ren and she (eventually) connects the dots. Rey falling in love with Ben sight unseen? Here. For. it.  find a thread to pull, and we can watch it unravel by again_please | 17k | E | A fantastic post-TLJ story with angsty and broody Ben and just some all around quality smut. I devoured this and have read it multiple time since. 

We Could Plant a House, We Could Build a Tree by @likeadove​ | 124k | E | I will probably never stop reading this fic. It’s such a beautiful coming of age story for Rey and her relationship with Ben as she grows up is just... gah. It’s fantastic. Please read it.    

Soul Searching by OptimisticBeth | 205k | E | Soulmates AU where Ben is Rey’s teacher? Sign me the fuuuuck up, and Soul Searching is so fucking well written. I go back to this one every few weeks and just gush at how great the world building is. I love the relationship Rey has with Leia and Han. It’s rich with love and angst and fluffffff. So good. 

Coveted by OptimisticBeth | 82k | E | WIP | OptimisticBeth is just an incredible writer, so you should honestly read all of her stuff, but I am so, so, so into this fic. It’s A/B/O and Ben’s Rey’s pack leader. He, along with a bunch of other Alphas are trying to court Rey, a highly desired Omega. It’s so fucking delicious, y’all. Alpha Ben Solo is just...it doesn’t get much better. 

A Treehouse Covered in Salt by violethoure666 | 34k | E | This fic made me cry my eyes out. I’m not kidding. It’s so raw and real. It hurts to read at some points, but you care so much about Ben and Rey in this that you fight through the pain. They grow up together as neighbors and Han builds them a treehouse where they meet throughout their childhoods/teen years. Prepare to cry but also be so fulfilled and satisfied. It’s wonderful. love it when you call me lover by @kylotrashforever​​ | 66k | E | WIP | First, let me say that anything by KTF is going to be gold. These fics I have listed are just a few of my favorites at the moment. Lover is hot as fuck (as is all of her stuff) but also fluffy in the best way. It’s in Sadsville right now so I’m fucking PUMPED for her to update. Ben’s a doctor who basically gives Rey a sexual awakening when he proves her statement of “I just don’t think I can come from (insert sexual act here)” very, very wrong.  

mountain at my gates by @kylotrashforever​ | 26k | E | More A/B/O goodness. Omega Rey’s car breaks down on a mountain. Ben is a mountain man Alpha. You can probably guess what happens from there. *fans self* 

take me to church by @kylotrashforever​ | 26k | E | I love this story so much. Ben is the pastor’s son at the church Rey grows up in. They start hooking up in secret and are terrrrrrible at communicating with each other which leads to angst. But it’s so sweet and soft while also being super hot. I love this Ben and Rey so much. 

Your Pretty Little Heart by @ever-so-reylo​ | 64k | E | The A/B/O Reylo bible, I feel like. They’re doctors and he’s a grumpy as fuck Alpha. Shenanigans ensue. And by shenanigans I mean a lot, a lot, a LOT of sex. 

The Food of Love by @lovesbitca8​ | 60k | E | Y’all. If you haven’t read this yet, please stop what you’re doing and read it RIGHT NOW. I ate this fic up in one sitting because holy SHIT it’s amazing. It’s so well written and the story is just... absolutely exquisite. Ben is cellist that’s also a famous rockstar and Rey’s an up and coming violinist and they fall in loOOoOOve in the best, most angsty, sexiest way. Please just read it right now. The scene when she firsts goes to his apartment and plays one of his cellos............you guys. It’s a lot.

Already Home by AttackoftheDarkCurses | 81k | E | This is soulmates + A/B/O so naturally I am obsessed with it. Rey gets connected with her soulmate via a website and he’s going by the name Kylo Ren. At the same time, she’s also moving in with grumpy librarian Ben Solo. She falls in love with both but has no idea that they’re the same person. It’s INCREDIBLE. 

Tangled but Unbroken by AttackoftheDarkCurses | 20k | M | I read this the other night and it’s so fucking soft. I am such a fucking sucker for growing up together fics and this is just such top quality. The braiding kills me every goddamn time. Also, I’m making my way through all of Attack’s works right now and they’re all incredible. Highly recommend. 

Dear Mr. President by @shmisolo​ | 89k | E | I love this Ben so much. The characterization is so on the money. The angst is absolutely delicious. The smut is top brass. Oh, and did I mention they’re soulmates? It’s everything you need, I promise. 

Good Day, Professor by @faequeentitania​ | 38k | E | One of the best Professor Solo fics out there. I’m such a sucker for age difference fics. Of course there’s angst, who do you think I am? 

Embers by sciosophia | 34k | E | Breaking up/getting back together fics are some of my favorites and this one is fantastic. The pining with these two is ridiculous. You just want to smush their faces together. It’s a beautiful love story. 

Reclaimed by @bettsfic​ | 14k | E | Ughhhhhhhhhh, Reclaimed. I am so in love with Reclaimed. Alpha Ben adopts Omega Rey after she’s rescued from this terrible Alpha that held her captive for most of her life. She doesn’t talk and Ben has to help her learn to be a human being and not just a subservient Omega. This Ben is the Ben of my dreams. No contest. 

the following are all written by  @kylorenvevo​. please read them all if you haven’t already. 

landscape with a blur of conquerers | 362k | E |  Y’all know this shit is fire. It’s basically the bible. If you haven’t read this yet, consider this as me yelling at you to do it NOW.   

like young gods | 84k | T | fuck, the Sword of the Jedi series is incomparable when it comes to in-universe fics. I cannot begin to express how much I love this story. It’s so soft and intense and sad. Like, gut wrenchingly sad. Ben senses Rey on Jakku when she’s six and he and Luke take her back to the Jedi Academy. She grows up with Ben. 

to kingdom come | 145k | M |  The sequel to Like Young Gods. I’m not gonna spoil much here, but just know I cried through most of this fic. I downright SOBBED at the end. It’s gorgeous and I will never stop rereading it. The love these two have for each other... it’s unreal. 

i kill giants  | 34k | E | WIP | The TROS fix-it we all need. Ben is alive and finds Rey on Tatooine. It’s soft and Thea does a great job of soothing so many of the gaping wounds we were left with after TROS. My heart soars every time I read a new chapter. This is what we deserved. :( 

the heartbreak prince | 58k | E | WIP |  Harry Potter AU. Professor/student. Size kink. Virginity kink. ANGST. All the good things life has to offer. Professor Solo is fucking filthy in this and I (along with Miss Niima)  am here 👏 for 👏 it. 

place the moon at my eyes (and her whiteness shall devour)  | 29k | E | Another breakup/get back together fic that I absolutely adore.

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Thank you to everyone that’s been so kind and welcoming to me the past couple of months! I love this fandom and its energy and enthusiasm and how much everyone seems to care for each other. I hope that I can continue to create content for you forever <3 

[reylofanfictionanthology]

TO FIND YOUR KISS - AUTHOR REVEALS!

Here are our treat authors for this year’s exchange!

To Find Your Kiss collection on AO3 | Gift Fic Master Post

TREATS MASTERPOST

- Sunflowers & Special Blend by FangirlintheForest for abbytheatre08  

Ben is a barista who draws on each of his customer's coffee cups.  Rey is a customer who wants to get one of his drawings tattooed. Will  she find the courage to talk to him?

A Reylo Coffee Shop AU

- a page in your book if you let me by like_a_dove for crysania

After being dumped a week before Valentine's Day, Rey accepts Poe's offer to fly across the country and stay at his house for a week while he stays at hers. She doesn't have much expectations.

Then on the first night a large, drunk man barges in unannounced and changes her life as she knows it.

- The Beast You've Made of Me by LRRH17 for cuddlesome

Rey finds a way to bring Ben back.

- A Wash of Broken Bits by misszeldasayre for firelord65

Bounty hunter Ben Solo has not spoken to his father in seven years, and he has no plans to pick up that nasty habit again. But when the Scavenger, known for her deadshot and hidden face, approaches him with a bounty puck bearing Han Solo’s hologram, Ben persuades her to help him track down his father before other hunters collect the reward. As they scour the galaxy for Han, Ben and Rey take off their masks and allow each other to be seen.

- Where angels and shadows foregather by midwinterspring for LittleLostStar

Ben meets Rey on a magical night in Los Angeles...

Inspired by Evalyn's gorgeous and ethereal album Salvation.

- Sweet Briar Rey by XarisEirene for LRRH17

Rey’s grandfather curses her to die by the thorn of a Kelsen-briar; Ben’s grandfather blesses her to wake by the kiss of her true love. A canonverse retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

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

He’d wanted to kiss her in life. Did he dare to kiss her in death? Would she mind? He dragged the rough pad of his thumb across the supple skin of her lips. Just once. He’d regret it forever if he didn’t.

- Time is a circle by Blueyedgurl  for midwinterspring

Ben goes exploring an old mansion that he is inexplicably drawn to. Rey follows him home, unearthing the love she lost long ago.

- Repairer of the Fences by englishable for niennathegrey

Rey certainly never expected to become the sole  inheritor of her caretaker's farm and lands, but then the Reverend Luke  Skywalker was always known as something of an eccentric. After a life of  belonging nowhere, and of being a nobody, it is a welcomed change.

The  sudden reappearance of Luke's purportedly long-dead nephew is a  slightly less gladdening development, by comparison, but Rey could at  least use an extra pair of hands for the winter. As for the rest of the  man, she will have to find out.

- high hopes by thewayofthetrashcompactor for notkellymarie

A couple's first Valentine's together is always a minefield of expectations. Ben wants to give Rey everything she deserves, but starts to worry that she's looking for something else.

(Happy ending, of course)

- A World of Their Own by misszeldasayre for OccasionallyCreative

After surviving the Battle of Exegol, Rey embraces anonymity to seek out her happily ever after with Ben by her side.

- show me the stars. by shariling for Priestly

“I have work tomorrow, no.”

He snuffles and  keeps rutting, turning to lick his rough tongue on her cheek, down her  neck. She grins, loving it, pushing her tiny hands down his huge chest  to touch at his engorged, overheated cock. It feels like it’s burning  her palms, velvety and smooth in a way that’s reminiscent of his human  half — hot like her hands are a balm to the fever taking him now. His  breath comes out hotter, clouded against her skin, thick enough that it  could be a blanket laid over top of her. It just makes her laugh, two  hands encouraging his cock fully out of the sheath, wriggling her  shoulders on the mattress until she’s scooched down far enough to cup  his balls. Whining, he licks at what he can get of her — mostly her  hair, as if grooming.

“I have work,” she says again, fondness in  her voice. Scooching again, she sinks lower, face to face with his  belly, her hand snaking further down until her fingers are pressed to  the flat twist of his hole. “But you don’t.”

- Heirs to a Glimmering World by misszeldasayre for Prix

Discovering that she’s pregnant brings Rey grief and hope, and another chance to find Ben.

- Nighttime in the Garden by Blueyedgurl  for QueenOfCarrotFlowers

Ben is recovering from a severe injury. Rey is his in-home nurse. She actually lives in the building behind his and he can watch her come and go from her apartment. What happens when the news reports on a missing man and he uncovers her secret?

- Dirty Vegas by Camucia for SpaceWaffleHouseTM

Getting invited to the national career tech teacher’s conference in Las Vegas was one of Rey's greatest achievements as a second year educator, thank you very much. Never mind the fact that her less-than-stellar school could only afford to send her due to extensive grant money, and that the only reason she even got this job was because so few people could even teach the content.

As long as she was as far away as possible from that horrible Alpha from the rival school, Ben Solo.

A woke-up-mated fic through the lens of someone who has gone to more of these conferences and competitions than they ever wanted to in their life.

[nebulousfishgills]

My thoughts on the finale (long post)

Okay, I really just wanna put some thoughts down and I need to do it here. Spoilers and opinions, you can choose to agree or not, but please be respectful

I usually try to have a good attitude about things, pointing out the best in everything.

I'm having a really hard time right now.

That's not to say the episode was bad, it's just...

Well, I feel like I'm watching the Game of Thrones finale again. I just feel so unfulfilled. Then again, my hormones are a little out of wack at the moment (thanks mother nature) so my odd feelings could be because of that. I feel so angry and upset and hyped and... I don't honestly know. I really don't. I feel like I want to throw up, but not in a bad or good way.

I guess I just...

Feel.

I've stayed up every night for every episode because I just adored it so much. Yet I feel like... there should be more. I know we got a second season confirmed, but we don't know when. We don't know what it means for the future of the MCU. We don't know anything.

I guess we should have expected this because Loki was supposed to be this new horizon for the MCU. Doctor Strange 2 needed a plot. Someone said this show was just a big ad for MoM, and I find myself disagreeing with that, but only a little.

I think the best way to describe it is it's like the show suddenly decided it wanted to be something else. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but after episode 3, the tone really shifted.

I'm trying really hard to hold off on my more detailed thoughts, but they just keep creeping in, so I'll just wrap up this... intro? Idk.

I think the TLDR is that I feel disappointed, but I don't really blame anyone. Kate Herron, Mike Waldron, they all did AMAZING jobs. They really deserve the highest of praise for this. Is it my favorite MCU project? Yes. Am I excited for season 2? Absolutely.

But Game of Thrones can still be my favorite show and I can still dislike the ending.

I find writing this out is helping me feel better. Once I sleep it'll probably feel less... hopeless.

Now, next section. My thoughts on key plot points.

We all figured Kang would be introduced. I'm actually very excited to see what they do with him. The actor was just phenomenal and I can't wait to see him later on. Someone call up Erik Voss because he redeemed himself after the whole Mephisto deal

I guess the Multiverse was reborn, but not in the way I was expecting/hoping. I feel like there's a large gap between when the timeline shattered and the final scene with Loki, Mobius, and B-15. What happened? Though, I guess it makes sense. We all wanted a multiverse. We never considered the consequences.

I'm angriest about Mobius losing his memories and not getting his jetski. Like I said, Yelena can get a dog in BW after mentioning it once. But as someone on Reddit pointed out, they had to make sure Marvel would greenlight a second season. It does not mean I can't have a huge cow about it. That's what we get for jinxing it, friends.

I think I understand what Star Wars Sequel haters went through. Getting all these grand (maybe... glorious?) ideas about the ending and what a hopeful message about destiny and identity the series could give us. And the series gave us... none of that. Hell, I was so sure these would be used, and I was bamboozled. I'm sure others saw it coming, but they just looked too good to be fake out shots. My best guess is that they're gonna use this footage in season 2 for a plotline and they stuck it in here to trick us... but maybe that's just me being desperate

It was barely 1 AM here, Marvel. The Miss Minutes jumpscare was NOT COOL. I mean, THIS IS HORRIFYING IN LIGHT AS WELL

I'm really confused about Ravonna now. Is she good or is she bad? Where did she go? And why was it important we see her backstory and not any of the others (say, B-15 or Mobius)?

God, okay, I guess I have to address the elephant in the room now.

The Sylki kiss and then betrayal fight thing.

Let me get one thing very extremely clear before I continue: I do prefer Lokius, but I am FINE with Sylki. I think I've just been desensitized to any ship that ends with -cest because, as I've made clear here and in the past, I adore Game of Thrones and Crimson Peak.

I honestly think my main reservation about it is a flaw within myself that I dared not admit until I saw it staring me in the face: I'm probably a little possessive. I can admit this and I really dislike it about myself. But I think I'm just not a fan of Loki having a love interest in general. What makes Lokius different, I have no clue. Maybe deep down I knew Marvel was too much of a pussy to ever make it canon... then again, I was begging for a last minute kiss or something. My feelings on the matter are complicated.

But the way they handled the kiss in this episode? Gotta say, not too much of a fan. I know some antis like this, but it just felt too... not genuine. Maybe I'm just an idiot who thinks all kissing should have a meaning. A purpose. The Reylo kiss in Rise of Skywalker? Ben just saved Rey's fucking life, I think that warrants a large gesture of affection.

But this?

I think I get bad juju from the kiss, not the fact that they made it Canon. You can disagree or agree any way you want, you can even send nasty anon messages. That's my opinion and I'm choosing to stick to it.

And sending nasty anons won't do squat, I don't give a shit about faceless threats and hate.

Anyways, back to my point

The fight felt like a mutual betrayal, but at the same time it felt like neither really wanted to go through with it. I admit I felt Sylvie was more in the right and that Loki seemed a little too complacent, especially after everything he went through and saw. But like Sylvie, I didn't consider the consequences and now everything is fucked. But I still don't think Loki was right.

I think it boils down to being an impossible choice because no matter what you pick, everyone loses.

I believe that my main gripe with Sylvie and Loki's ideology split is that it feels a little too rushed and/or, dare I say it, out of character. I've agreed with Loki's characterization up until this point (again, you can disagree with me, that's your opinion and you have full right to it), but... man, I don't know. It all feels like an impossible situation.

Then again, I'm not the one in the director's chair. I'm not the team in the writers room. I don't know the first thing about making a project like this. I like taking solace in the fact that Tom had some creative control in the series about the character he loves so much. And, let's be real, he knows Loki the best out of all of us. None of us can hold a candle to that.

We can call ourselves experts, but Tom is the real expert. I trust him more than anyone. If he hated how this was turning out, he probably would have said something.

We just have to trust in the creative process

So, at the end of the day, this series was (and still is, remember, season 2 is on the way) absolutely phenomenal and I think it's Marvel's strongest work in a very long time. They know Loki is a character we all love and adore and I feel like they've done their best in honoring that. Besides, what other character is getting a second season? How awesome is that??

I found writing this out helped me process my thoughts and emotions IMMENSELY. I don't feel as... angry? Hopeless? I don't know. I keep comparing this to the end of Game of Thrones, and I feel like that's doing a disservice to Loki. Game of Thrones' ending was just absolute dog shit and there was no chance to redeem it because it was the last season.

Loki has a second season on the way.

It's not over yet.

Nothing is ever final until the universe forces it.

Kang can be stopped

The Multiverse can roam free

Loki can learn to find true happiness

Sylvie can stop running and fighting

Ravonna can redeem herself

The TVA can burn or reform (whichever you choose)

And yes

Mobius can get a jetski

We know nothing yet of season 2, what it will entail, how it connects to the rest of the Marvel Universe, or even when it will be out. But I know that I will eagerly await it when that day comes. I will once again put on a smile. I will wait hours to watch the new episode the moment it drops. I will be excited for it and enjoy it.

Because, at the end of the day, that's all it's about. Telling a story. And, mother of God, Marvel sure is telling a good one.

Until next time, my friends.

For All Time. Always!

-FishGills

[onewomancitadel]

thank You for answering my previous ask. Your reply was perfect. The "Jaune cant date Cinder kuz she a murder" argument was always so silly to me. They r trying to make some moral claim but it doesnt add up. Like what so the better option is to have Jaune become a killer by murdering her? Wouldn THAT ruin his character by their logic? I dont really get the stigma against men saving women either. I think the idea is that it makes men look like clueless simps and women look like useless idiots???

Hi again, no worries. (: Ask in question.

I mean to be entirely frank I've literally not interacted with a single person who has expressed these ideas to me about Knightfall (definitely Cinder though, and the idea that Jaune will kill her etc.) because I keep to myself on Tumblr. I've mostly only interacted with people like this regarding Reylo, but I've heard it all before.

I don't think it's really a claim about what stories ought to be told for the sake of preventating harm though, as I said in that post.

Like what so the better option is to have Jaune become a killer by murdering her? Wouldn THAT ruin his character by their logic?

Well, yes it would, but they don't understand Jaune's character because they've ignored every single scene he's in ever, as well as the entire point of the Haven confrontation with Cinder. They invented a different story in their head: Cinder is evil, obviously you're supposed to kill her, please ignore the point of Jaune's Semblance which is literally compassion and support as a superpower.

I dont really get the stigma against men saving women either. I think the idea is that it makes men look like clueless simps and women look like useless idiots???

'Simp' is one of the worst words ever invented. I don't like reading it one bit.

I think 'man saving woman' is a flat reduction of the Knightfall dynamic (as proposed) though, but I know what you mean. I don't know how we got to the point where 'You don't have to do it alone, let me help you and see you for who you really are and could be' is somehow a bad thing, but it makes me feel uneasy. It's just very strange that kill death murder is a more acceptable and 'less regressive' conclusion than like, connection.

But yes, there's an assumption there that it's foregrounded in misogynistic tropes, e.g. classic damsel in distress scenario. I'm not sure that 'simping' factors in (as in, as an actual influencing bad trope) since this, as a 'problem' seems to be a relatively recent (?) and bizarre idea - not sure how extending affection and compassion to a woman (aka the foundation of romance and generally relationships) is... behaviour to be looked down upon?

I also think these kinds of tropes are always contextually sensitive.

If anything I would put forth that Knightfall is specifically a relationship that would reconstruct the knight and Maiden in the tower trope (i.e. damsel in distress), especially as it's so literally reverse Salem/Ozma (the first maiden and knight). Especially because you've got the holy knight who is also Joan of Arc inspired (famously nonviolent) tied to the Maiden who is a maiden because Maidenhood grants magical powers. So yes, considering how traditional gender dynamics are influencing the pairing is worthwhile, but I don't think there's anything regressive here. Quite the opposite.

But as I said I don't think that's really the angle being argued from because trying to take it seriously when it's not about that will leave both parties dissatisfied. It's not really a topic I'm earnestly interested in debating.

The reality is that most of the people who take issue with Knightfall in this context probably want some other ship to happen or they don't understand Jaune's character and think that something textually rejected back in V5 (him trying to kill Cinder) will somehow happen. So if their interpretation is so countertextual and missing the fundamental themes of the show I'm not sure I'd waste time worrying about their analysis.

Obviously that isn't to say some people might take genuine issue with Knightfall but they're not the people I'm talking about. You're allowed to like and dislike things in equal measure, you just don't need to use pseudo-social justice rhetoric to defend your point. That's part of how we ended up with this mess. If it were actual earnest concern I might take such criticisms more seriously. But because they show their hand thinking that romance is regressive (?), compassion is regressive (?), and Cinder shouldn't be redeemed (?), I don't have reason to really care.

Thanks for your ask. I understand gossiping is fun and so is judging other peoples' opinions, but I also suggest you try to find a space where you're not being subjected to this stuff all the time. Unless that's your idea of fun. (:

[galacticidiots]

So you want to read some banging Reylo fics...

{or: a roundup post of some of my recent reads}

And It Burns. (T, 6K) I am begging you to read this. It’s Lightside Ben and Darth Kira and it is glorious and so beautifully written. The constant push and pull between them, the shifting dynamic, the way the character roles are reversed but everything still feels so incredibly natural and organic and them... masterful. So, so gorgeous.

To Say (M, 600 words) is a really, really beautiful soulmate AU drabble. You will definitely cry, but it’s so worth it. Truly.

I’ve got you (under my skin) (E, WIP) Y’all, it’s nanny Rey and she’s hooooorny. So is Ben. They’re both like, indecently horny. It’s great. Basically, Ben hires Rey to look after his son. (Sexy) stuff happens.

Six Feet Under (E, WIP) Archeologst Ben & Egyptologist Rey are working on a dig together when they find a very interesting journal. It goes very much uphill from there. Guys, this is so much fun! Do you know how long I’ve wanted a story like this? (as long as I’ve been alive, probs). I love the fact that they’re supposed to have huge IQs but they’re basically idiots when it comes to like... feelings.

Truth Be Told (M, 29K) IT’S AN ALIAS AU. Ahhhhh. Alias is one of my favourite shows of all time and this does not disappoint. Rey is the babeliest badass, just like Sydney, and Agent Ben is dreamy, just like Vaughn. This reminded me of the best of Alias and for that, I love it.

Midnight Snacks (T, 2K) They meet late one night in the community kitchen and Ben is offended that Rey would choose to eat something as awful as noodles - so he makes her something infinitely better :))

A Bright New Light (G, 3K) A really special take on Ben’s time at the Temple and how he felt when Rey was born. I love everything about this. The author’s take on what Ben felt when he was sent away, on his conflicting emotions, his inability to fit in, and his yearning for belonging all align perfectly with what I have always envisioned. I also love the care they put into the side characters, like Luke and particularly Tai, and the way they wrote about the bond. So, so beautiful.

a love like ours (T, 6K) In which Ben is a funeral director and Rey is a florist and ohmygodit’samodernHadesandPersephone AU. Utterly charming!!

Do You Know The Muffin Man? (T, 2K) The one where Ben is smitten with his co-worker Rey and he starts leaving muffins on her desk. So really, my taste in everything.

can’t take my eyes (off of you) (E, WIP) Is the genderswapped 10 Things I Hate About You AU of my dreams. I don’t know what else to say besides the obvious - read it.

take care of you (M, 3K) Come one, come all - get your sugar sweet devoted Reylo fix! Wherein Ben has had a bad day and Rey wants nothing more than to make it all better *happy sigh*

Remedy For Rivalry (E, WIP) Listen, some people say there’s no such thing as a perfect story, but then this comes along and it’s an historical arranged marriage enemies to lovers WHO HAVE HISTORY type of deal and they are proven wrong. Because this? Perfection.

how to be something you miss (T, 7K) They’re exes but they love each other and they miss each other but they’re dumb... is the thing. Soft. Soft, soft, soft and sweet and perfect.

all of you, all of me (intertwined) (T, 7K) *sobs in a good way* This is an incredibly sweet take on the whole ‘redeemed Ben trying to fit in at the Resistance base’ scenario. Lovely stuff!!

A Nightingale Sang (E, WIP) I know I keep begging you to read stuff, but I am begging you to read this. It’s so fucking beautiful I could cry. I have cried, and I’m sure I’ll continue crying. It’s a WWII AU and Ben & Rey are both pilots. I don’t want to spoil it for you because this is not the kind of story you read - it’s the kind you experience. Give it a chance, I promise you won’t regret it.

Choreae Lucis (E, 7K) The one where single father Ben takes his daughter to Ballet lessons and his heart pirouettes for teacher Rey. Sooooooooo sweet and wonderful and SOFT.

neither here nor there (E, 6K) What happens when Rey purchases a sex toy that is an exact replica of porn star Kylo Ren’s, uh... lightsaber, only to find out that her neighbour Ben is Kylo Ren? This happens, and it’s glorious.

curse the beauty, curse the queen (E, WIP) I’ve only just started this but the premise is delicious - former Queen of Naboo Rey and Senator Ben Solo are to be married, in a plan hatched by Ben’s grandmother Padmé. Naturally, I’m in lust.

Twitfics

System Override - If you’ve been following me for any measure of time, you might be aware of how much I love the Illuminae series (it’s a whole, disgusting lot). This gives me the BEST illuminae vibes. Basically, It’s Supreme Leader Ben bonding with AI R.E.Y. I love love love love it.

want you more than a melody is my current obsession. Orchestra AUs are of one my favourite things in the world and this one is GOD TIER. Ben plays the cello, Rey plays the flute, and they are reunited at the New York Phillarmonic after six years without seeing each others. Turns out, Rey was left with more than just memories after their whirlwind romance. This. is. everything.

Betas Only is a roommates AU in which Ben is looking for a beta to share an apartment with him. Beta Rey applies (lol). Also on AO3!

Priceless - Y’aaaaaaall, it’s a Wedding Date AU and I’m in love.Or: the one where Rey hires Ben to be her escort to Rose’s wedding.

Fall Into the Dark Side - comic bookshop worker Rey and comic book writer Ben are possibly my new faves. I binged it this morning and I love everything about it.

Lingerey - the one where Rey texts her dearly detested colleague Ben a photo of herself...scantily clad. Shenanigans very much ensue. Gourmet!

Lingerey (II) is another take on the above prompt, but this time Rey is Ben’s son’s nanny.

Shampoo Challenge features roommates Ben & Rey and Ben’s dick going viral.

Artfullly sees Poe asking Ben & Rey to participate in his risqué art installation.

To Whomever Gets My Dog tells the tale of military man Ben who has to leave his pooch behind. Thankfully, Rey is available to foster him :)

Last twitfic rec post | Fic Rec tag | Masterpost

[echoesofmyfootsteps]

I posted 2,325 times in 2021

54 posts created (2%)

2271 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 42.1 posts.

I added 475 tags in 2021

#ben solo - 76 posts

#dramione art - 74 posts

#reylo art - 68 posts

#reylo - 53 posts

#kylo ren - 42 posts

#on writing - 40 posts

#dramione - 35 posts

#things that made me laugh out loud - 31 posts

#respect the process - 28 posts

#lotr - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i fast-forwarded to the death star fight and loved that it’s implied that rey’s mortal wound to ben affected leia (maybe caused her death?)

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

[whispers] Anyone else immediately suspicious of sprawling Star Wars gif sets that are conspicuously missing Ben Solo/Kylo Ren?

18 notes • Posted 2021-05-04 07:47:11 GMT

#4

I Wrote a Dramione Fic!

I’ve had lots of outlines and even more ideas (you should see my note app), but I’ve finally officially posted a Dramione fic online!

Inspired by a Twitter prompt from @galacticidiots: “Reject seven minutes in heaven, embrace seven minutes in hell. You go into the closet with your sworn enemy to beat each other up (but end up making out instead).” 

Seven Minutes in Hell

Summary:

>>Hogwarts has inaugurated a fully integrated 8th year class, regardless of previous house or Death Eater status. On the surface, it appears like a bold experiment in harmony. In practice, they’re still just young adults doing young adult things.

“Seven Minutes in Heaven, the Muggles call it. But heaven isn’t my thing.” Pansy paused dramatically and popped her hip like a diva. “We’re playing Seven Minutes in Hell—a chance for you to have a real, no-holds-barred, honest-albeit-forced conversation with your greatest enemy in eighth year.”

The room went silent. <<

Happy reading!

Seven Minutes in Hell (4660 words) by echoesofmyfootsteps Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Blaise Zabini, Minerva McGonagall

32 notes • Posted 2021-08-08 03:49:08 GMT

#3

32 notes • Posted 2021-08-11 21:20:28 GMT

#2

Womaneater is LIVE!

A Runaway Bride/Dramione AU.

Draco Malfoy might be a serial runaway groom, but that doesn’t interest Hermione Granger in the least. She’s only been keeping tabs on him for his seedy business dealings, which is just part of her job as the Daily Prophet’s top writer. That all changes when the Prophet faces ruin - unless she profiles him in the days leading up to his next wedding. Resolving to set personal feelings aside and get the job done, she lets her curiosity take hold and begins to wonder: is Draco Malfoy really the man he’s let her, and everyone else, believe he is?

Part of @dramioneromcomfest ❤️❤️❤️

45 notes • Posted 2021-10-08 17:40:25 GMT

#1

Ben Wyatt Is Our Doughty Nerd King

I’m fangirling over Ben Wyatt’s fangirling today. He is the best nerd depiction in a major series ever.

He is the everyday adult superfan: realistic, capable, takes care of his real-world responsibilities, has meaningful relationships—but you also know there’s always at least 5% of his brain on other worlds.

Ben: I have been kinda tense lately. Just thinking about the new Star Wars sequel. I’m worried they’ll rely too heavily on CGI and I’m carrying it all in my shoulders.

- - -

See the full post

223 notes • Posted 2021-03-17 00:23:58 GMT

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