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river--glass · 4 years

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Reylo Fic Recs Long Ass Fics pt 2: Alternate Universe

Someone asked for fic recs 100K or over, so here they are. See Pt. 1 for Canon Verse or Alternate Canon Verse fics. (I haven’t read all of these- my personal comments are in bold)

Equilibrium by AttackoftheDarkCurses & thebuildingsnotonfire. (modern, E, 479K)

When Rey works up the nerve to ask Grand Master Luke Skywalker to train her, she makes friends and finds something deep and wonderful in the martial art known as Taekwondo.

She never thought the choice would change her life.

Alternatively, a (long) story of love, family, and Martial Arts.

The Heartbreak Prince by diasterisms. (Harry Potter, E, WIP)

I swore I would never read Harry Potter AU’s or Works In Progress, but for this fic I broke both rules. This is, pun not intended, so magical in every way. It has me SHOOK and if somehow you haven’t heard of it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out!

In Living Memory by SpaceWaffleHouseTM. (multiple times, E, 221K)

Ben and Rey are rendered immortal after being struck by lightning at the precise same moment, and keep running into one another as the centuries drag on. Waffle’s stories are all amaaaaazing and you need to read ALL of them.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot by SageMcMae. (modern, E, 214k)

MMA fighter, Kylo Ren is suspended from the league and sentenced to community service at his uncle’s martial arts academy. There he meets Rey Niima, a recent graduate with a natural ability and incredible potential.

Soul Searching by OptimisticBeth. (AU, Modern, E, 205K)

A Soulmates AU in which Ben is horrified to find out he’s soulmates with his 16 year old student, ten years his junior. (no underage shenanigans) This fic fucked me up. The world building is so stunning. The story is rich with love and fluff, but oh the angst. Soooo much angst and emotional anguish and two people who are trying their best but just can't communicate for shit. The overall story is so beautiful and worth every heartbreaking moment. A happy ending WILL come!

Satan Wears a Rolex by AquaWolfGirl. (Modern, E, 205K)A Devil Wears Prada AU. Unfinished, but it’s fascinating and it ends well where it is.

Hiraeth by Ferasha. (1990′s, E, 204K)

An absolute angst and pain train of a historical war fic. This is not a comfort fic. It will fuck you up. But if you’re into that, the way they’ve woven canon plot in with the Yugoslav Wars is a masterpiece. It’s dark and gritty and will make you feel things.

Le Fin Du Fin by QueenOfCarrotFlowers @leofgyth. (Victorian, E, 196K) A Crimson Peak AU!!! This writer has never let me down.

A Proposal by Any Other Name by Lucidlucy. (Modern, E, 188) A Leap Year AU.

Salt in the Blood by Hagen. (9th century, E, 169K) Featuring pre-Norman invasion Ireland, selkies, love of the sea, and mythical creatures.

The Great Big No by dietplainlite. (1990′s, E, 165K)

Kylo Ren is third generation rock royalty, a reigning brat prince starting to feel the burn of the fame he reached for with both hands. Rey is an aspiring singer on the verge of a big break, provided her A&R guy still has a job by the time she reaches LA. Their paths have crossed briefly, disappointingly, before. What happens when they collide?

The Trail Bride by SecretReyloTrash. (AU, Wild West, E, 160K)

Rey Niima finds herself in a perilous situation when her husband dies at the start of their journey West. From the few bachelors on the trail in her party; she attaches herself to the best of her options- mysterious Banker Ben Solo. A really interesting, amazing piece. Lots of introspection, and a heart wrenchingly real look into abuse and recovery. I emotionally digested for days.

The Sacred Texts by Eskayrobot & Poaxath. (Modern, E, 159K)

Doing the Unstuck by slipgoingunder. (Modern, E, 158K) A When Harry Met Sally AU.

The Mating Service by AlbaStarGazer. (Modern A/B/O, E, 146K)

If Rey had known how quickly she would find her biological mate and alpha through the world wide mating service, 'Match,' she might have considered signing up years ago.

Unravel Me by UnderTheCancerMoon. (Modern, E, 145K)

Rey and Ben push and pull their way through their 20's, experiencing the love, success, loss, and challenges that make life rich.

Fire Away by Daisyflo. (Modern, E, 141K)

The Witch in the Wood by HarpiaHarpyja @thisgarbagepicker & Inmyownidiom. (Fantasy, E, 138K)

I cannot say enough good things about this fic. It’s serving you knight Kylo and witch Rey and so so many good feelings. Sure there’s some angst and dark magic and some struggles but mostly this is a lovely Ghibli-esque story about two people living in a treehouse and talking to animals and having a really good life! Everything HarpiaHarpyja writes is magic.

Snow Without Winter by neonheartbeat. (Renaissance, E, 138K)

If you’re into serious historical fics (this once features catholicism and Rome in 1492) this is for you.

Lemon-hot Summer by IshaRen & pr3tty_g1rl5. (Modern, E, 130K).

In which Ben is the horniest virgin alive and Rey is bored and looking for something (or someone) to do.

Stranger Than Fiction by daxcat79. (Modern, E, 127K). Grumpy writer Ben and sunshine muse Rey.

Like Red But Not Quite by @kylotrashforever. (Modern, E, 126K) KTF is a god-tier reylo writer and you need to do yourself a favor and go read everything they have ever written.

Dark Water by LinearA. (1950′s, E, 125K)

The North Shore by @strawberrycupcakehuckleberrypie. (Modern, E, 125K)

Notting Hill vibes. Actor Ben meets shop owner Rey, and both their lives are changed instantly. It’s mostly about them both being smitten and starting a really good life together!! Lovely!

Stars In My Pockets (Wear Daisies In My Hair) by LostInQueue. (Modern, E, 125K). A Reylogan fic.

we could plant a house, we could build a tree by like_a_dove. (Modern, E, 124K).

An absolute classic. It’s about growing pains and growing feelings - the transition from childhood into adulthood and all the messy bits in between. God, it will hurt you. Badly. But it’ll be so, so worth it.

go i know not whither and fetch i know not what by voicedimplosives. (1990′s, E, 118K)

Russian Mafia AU!! A truly beautiful piece of work. Great plot,great smut, great Bendemption arc. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that’s fully worth the ride.

Souviens-toi de moi by Maniable. (Modern/historical, E, 117K)

Disconnect by Weatherbug02. (Modern, E, 115K)

Candyleg by 5cents. (1950′s, E, 115K)

The girl was too young, but old enough to have a hustler’s-eye view of her own bleak future. The boys were paying her to do a snow job on a candyleg, but she was beginning to love her work and love Solo, and she decided to stick with him till death did them part...

Baby, It’s Just Biology by polkadotdotdot. (Modern A/B/O, E, 112K)

Only If You Want To by Violetwilson. (Modern, M, 111K)

Personal security expert (and occasional under-the-table hitman) Kylo Ren has a strong feeling about the cute dive bar waitress with the strange bruises and the vicious wit. She's either a victim or the weirdest criminal he's ever met. Possibly both.

Ileenium Manor by WaterlilyRose. (AU, victorian, E, 109K)

Leia’s maid Rey instantly hates Lord Ben when he comes to take over the household. She can’t hate him for too long as he starts to pursue her. If you’re in the mood for a sweet but angsty Lord/Maid fic, this is for you.

Kohelet 3:16 (Call Me A Cab) by LinearA. (Modern, E, 108K)

Ruby Woo Red by HeartSabers. (Modern, E, 107K) Featuring makeup artist Rey and TV star Kylo.

Sixth Year by witheyesclosed. (Harry Potter, M, 107K)

The one where Ravenclaw Rey gets paired with Slytherin Ben in Potions and ohmygod he’s hot now

Lockjaw by bitterbones. (zombie apocalypse, M, 106K)

A Song of Trash and Fire: Ben and Rey Make a Porno by HarpiaHarpyja & sunshineflying. (Modern, E, 106K)

With the help of rich Unca Wanwo, flagrant misuse of Ben's creative writing degree, and copious amounts of coffee, Ben and Rey put together the porno of the century, starring themselves and their friends . . . with interesting results.

The Hypnotist by Pandora_Spocks. (Modern, E, 104K)

From a galaxy far, far away, soulmates Ben and Rey have been reincarnated on Earth to resolve their karma. Dr. Ben Solo is a charismatic hypnotist to whom present day Reychelle Lumen has been referred to for help with her nightmares.

Score by SpaceWaffleHouseTM. (Modern, E, 104K)

Ben's friends convince him to take the Rice Purity Test, but when he and Rey are revealed to have the highest scores of their friends, they quickly form a pact to beat Poe's out by the end of the semester. I loved this! Its so so sweet and funny and all from Ben’s POV. Sweet, sweet pining Ben.

The World Shifts (And I Am Better Here) by lachesisgrimm. (Fantasy, E, 102K)

Once upon a time there was a beggar girl whose parents sold her to a thief, and she was very unhappy.--In which prophecy is used with malicious intent, and the universe exerts itself to correct the problem.

for @scarletvizhlovers

#reylo fic recs #reylo fic rec #reylo fanfiction #rey/ben solo fanfics #reylo

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sasskarian · 4 years

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Fanfic Masterpost ... sort of

In honor of Fanfic Appreciation, I put together a list of my fics for anyone who’d like to look

Under the cut, because length

Dragon Age:

After the Glitter Fades (Glitterverse): Hawke x Fenris, modern AU. (Long fic, WIP) Hawke and Fenris are movie stars in a torrid love affair. Fenris has a mysterious past. Also Cassandra is investigating a murder mystery? Varric, as ever, is a delight. (*this is borrowed from @nug-juggler‘s excellent and shorter summary!)

Memorable quote: Fenris observed candidly was something sacred. For a moment, Hawke fiercely wished she were an artist. The scene in front of her was too… every word she could think of— beautiful, elegant, breathtaking— was trite, a pale description of perfection.

In the Heart of the Woods: Lavellan x Fairbanks rarepair. (WIP) Inquisitor Lavellan’s heart is broken by a certain Commander, Fairbanks has an appreciation for her, and a love story blooms like elfroot in the Emerald Graves.

Memorable quote: This kiss, she thinks, two mouths moving in perfect unison, is a spell of its own. Not quite love, not yet, but close enough she can pretend it is. Hope wells up, a solid thrum beating in counterpoint to her heart, and for one perfect moment, the world just bows down and… stands still. All that exists, all that ever has existed or ever will exist is wrapped up right here, right now, in Fairbanks’ lips on hers. Motes of dust turn golden in the sunbeams splashing through the roof, and a touch— his thumb, her cheek— says a million more words than words ever could.

Yesterdays: Surana x Zevran, mild Surana x Alistair pining. Post Origins, complete. A Warden’s sacrifice means something only as long as someone remembers it. A king looks back, balancing regrets with happiness.

Memorable quote: With a half-sob, he realizes he’s forgotten the sound of her voice. Oh, he remembers how it made him feel, all those years ago, all the glorious, shining moments where happiness dwells still. But what she truly sounded like, what sounds she made as she buried herself in books, the snap of her magic, the low buzz of her and Zevran whispering in their tent, all of that is gone. He knows it happened, but the memory is lit dimly in his mind, a torch burned too low to be flame but not low enough for embers yet.

If You Ever Did Believe (for my sake): Lavellan x Cullen. (On temporary hiatus) A wary Commander. A lost Dalish mage. Two hearts beating alone and exhausted on a battlefield, their only rest coming from each other.

Memorable quote: “Does your Maker hate us so much?” Isera asked bitterly, and for a moment, Cullen felt as though years had rippled, bringing his past self— still clanking through the halls of Kinloch Hold in Templar plate— and his current together. He’d asked Ser Greagoir the same question once, after a Harrowing went wrong and the body of a former apprentice lay at their feet. So much potential wasted, so much fear in the mages’ eyes after that. For once, Greagoir had shown a hint of emotion, clapping Cullen’s shoulder briefly before walking away, but hadn’t answered.

Voiceverse: Lavellan x Solas/Dread Wolf. (WIP) Building off of the great works of @khirsahle and @athreehundredthirtythree. All mages are born with a soulmate--a voice they hear in the darkness of the Fade all their lives. The lucky ones find their soulmates and forge a bond strong enough to threaten the very foundations of the Chantry. At least, that's what they claim. So what happens when a Dalish mage hears the voice of their most reviled and feared god shaping her dreams?

Memorable quote: Accompanying the thundering voice, great fissures ruptured around her hiding spot, green light streaking upward as they gathered into a roiling cloud. A wave of raw sound— howls, cries, pleas— rolled over her, forcing her to her knees. Iveani clapped her hands over her ears, losing her own scream among the agony thundering through the Fade. All caution, all her hard-won lessons about walking the Fade, vanished into the back of her mind under the need to simply ride out the explosion and survive.

Mass Effect:

Home is Where You Are: Ryder x Jaal (WIP). Ryder didn’t cross two galaxies and 600 years in search of love. But damn if she didn’t find it anyway.

Memorable quote: “I should take a shower,” he mumbled, as the same time as Sara said, “Would you like to stay?” Both of them broke off, staring at the other, and she laughed nervously. That feeling was back, the one from the tech lab, fragility and strength and affection turned fierce and bright tumbling over and over one other.

A Song of Sea and Stars: Garrus x Shepard x Thane (WIP). Our favorite turian badboy sees right through the mask the galaxy’s most famous Commander projects. Neither of them expected to fall in love on a host of impossible missions. And both are taken by surprise by a pious Drell who steals both their hearts.

Memorable quote: (He opens his eyes, shocked how it feels to look into her face, intimate and hungry. He hazily notices that up close, her eyes are thulium-gray. There's a hot, tight knot in his chest and she's pressed so close, he thinks he could count each faint freckle on her face.) (They look like tiny stars.) (…there are twenty-eight on her right cheek. Thirty on her left. And fourteen, right across the bridge of her nose.) (Those are his favorite. They remind him of his own markings.)

the sound of shattering glass: Generic Shepard, post-Tuchanka, pre-Citadel II. The Shroud explodes, taking a beloved friend with it. Shepard only has herself to blame.

Memorable quote: “Damn Reapers,” he said, striving for nonchalance. “Always throwing us around.” “Banged us up pretty good,” she agreed, and he knew she wasn’t talking about their bumps and bruises. “So what do we do about them?” “Get back on our feet. Keep fighting.” Garrus hummed as she shifted closer, pressed her forehead against his neck. “Maybe find a way to use some really big canons I spend half my time adjusting.”

Star Wars:

He Might Like That: Mandalorian x Cara Dune pining. So they argue. So they took down Gideon, and have a magic green frog baby older than both of them. That doesn’t make them a thing. Does it?

Memorable quote: He tunes back into the not-so-friendly argument in time to hear Greef splutter. “You trash talked while holding hands! If that’s not flirting, I’m a kowakian monkey lizard.” “It was arm wrestling, not holding hands,” Din points out mildly.

Star by Star: Post TRoS. Ben x Rey pining, Finn x Rey x Poe. Can three hopeless idiots in love fill a wound as deep as the death of a dyad? Maybe not, but they’re out to try anyway.

Memorable quote: “You know,” Poe whispers, a glint of mischief in his eyes, “if we ever did tell him we loved him, he’d probably sleep right through it.” Rey touches her fingers to his lips, tracing the shape of his questioning smile. It’s an invitation to play, that smile. A careful offer of love, of comfort. And though she’s not sure if he can really understand when even she doesn’t, she’s finally ready to try a little.

Counting The Days (Since Exegol): Finn x Rey x Poe, Ben x Rey. Its been 42 days since Palpatine’s death. 42 long days since she felt the surge of light in Ben Solo. And in her dreams, something whispers on the edge of the Force. But she’s shut it down too tightly to hear it.

Memorable quote: True to form, Poe can’t resist the urge to kiss away Finn’s troubles whenever possible, and Rey looks away to give them a moment. Some love stories work out, yes, and she loves Finn and Poe more than almost anything else. But that doesn’t stop the way bitterness floods her mouth as the memory of Ben surfaces, and it isn’t until Poe gently squeezes her knee (and she throttles back the near-instinctive urge to break his fingers from a lifetime of fending off handsy scavengers on Jakku) that she comes back to the moment. His brow furrows and she reaches for him, smoothing out the lines of his frown with her thumb. “I’m okay,” she says, answering his unspoken question. It’s mostly a lie, but she has to say it. Most days, she’s okay enough.

A Language Made for Lovers: SWTOR (NSFW). Torian Cadera x Bounty Hunter, gender neutral. Reflections on love and marriage under the glow of hyperspace.

Memorable quote: He murmurs in your ear, words that should sound harsh in that still-new tongue scalding your mouth, molding you from aruetii to mandalorian. But the love in his voice softens them, steeps them in warmth and adoration. Still the language of a hunter, of those brave souls willing to be reforged, but with a gentle side, a language reserved for lovers. Words like cyare and riduur, words that mean I love you and forever and home.

Malicious Compliance: SWTOR (NSFW). Malavai Quinn x Sith Warrior, gender neutral. Far away, in an apartment no one knows about, a Sith Lord plays dire games of control... and trust.

Memorable quote: It takes a man with the courage of an entire fleet of Mandalorians to love a Sith, and oh, how he loves you. Like you hung the moons and the stars and all the spaces between. Like you are his other half, like loving you is his sole purpose in life, does Malavai Quinn love you. Your old masters spoke nothing of this, of this enraging hunger gnawing at your bones and curling into the hollows of your rib cage. ... Is it really even love if you don’t want to devour him just a little?

Misc:

Tumblr Prompts: Grab bag of every fandom and series listed above. Prompts filled originally here on tumblr.

Visual Files: Collections of art and commissions from talented friends and artists here on tumblr.

Every Beautiful Thing: Crimson Peak. Thomas x Edith, Edith x Alan. Edith learned, in the dark halls of Allerdale, not to take ghosts lightly. But still she waits, every year, for a chance to see Thomas again. Until the night their son tells her he can see him too.

Memorable quote: Snow heralds nothing but pain in Edith’s world: first her mother’s funeral, smothered in fat white flakes wet on her lashes like tears, then her father’s. Smaller ones, then, rain slowly freezing and scattering on the ground; the ones that night at Allerdale were the smallest yet, more ice pellet than snow. Jagged, hateful things scraping at her with a cold that burned through skin and encased bone.…God, how she has come to hate the snow.

Where I Can’t Follow: Co-authored by @suspendnodisbelief. show!Witcher, mild Geralt x Jaskier. (Temporary hiatus) Drawing from a variety of inspiration, including greek mythos. Geralt takes a blow meant for Jaskier, finally granted the death by battle he expects Witchers to end by. And Jaskier is not having it, at all. It’s his turn to save Geralt, even if he has to walk the entire bloody underworld to do it.

Memorable quote: “Geralt, get up. Come on, open your eyes. You’re going to upset Roach if you keep this up, and she’ll bite me. You know you aren’t allowed to be dead, because Yennefer didn’t give you permission, and neither did the Princess, and I’m pretty sure they both outrank you.”

#dragon age #Mass Effect #star wars #the mandalorian #the witcher #crimson peak #swtor #my fic #fanfic writer appreciation day

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ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years

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Signed, Sealed, Delivered (4/8)

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)

Note: And the chapter count keeps going up. I was thinking I’d just up it to 7, because maybe I can get this done in 7 chapters, but 8 is probably a more realistic number. I hope if you are reading this that you are enjoying it. I truly have had so much fun writing Ben and Rey in this universe. As always, @andyouweremine is the world’s best beta and friend and deserves so much credit for all of her work.

Read below or on AO3

“What are we going to do?” Ben asks Rey as soon as she steps in the elevator. “This can’t all fall apart now of all times.”

Rey knows that the situation is bad just from the conversations she’s had with Amilyn, and that’s overheard while in the office that morning, but looking at Ben and taking in his loose tie and hair that’s slightly disheveled, she knows that it is really, really bad.

“I know.” Rey sighs, pressing her fingers into her temple while leaning her head back against the elevator wall. “Why couldn’t this happen next week? I mean, it’ll suck whenever it does happen. But this weekend, Ben, we deserve this weekend.”

“I don’t know how we are going to fix this. I don’t even know if I’m going to have time to help try to fix anything.” Ben glances up at the ceiling. “The lemon electricity project was directly in Snoke’s war path this morning. It’s completely destroyed. The science fair is tomorrow. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“Oh, Ben.” Rey reaches out and places her hand on his arm. “I’ll come up and help tonight. I have a lifelong history of waiting until the last minute to do projects. We’ll come up with something.”

“We need a plan,” Ben says, looking down at Rey before nodding slowly a few times. “I am going to admit that we need a Rey plan.”

Rey snorts. “Of course now is when you admit that my plans are far superior to yours.”

Ben laughs and it makes Rey smile. There should be no smiling or laughter at this moment, Rey knows that there is a very, very good chance she’s going to have to tell Kaydel that she can’t make the engagement party. That Ben is going to have to miss Leia’s birthday. Rey is barely able to keep her own disappointment down that this means that their date isn’t going to happen.

If they can’t fix whatever happened last night, everything they’ve worked so hard for is going to slip right from their grasp.

So, no there shouldn’t be any laughter or smiling, but it fills Rey up with hope that maybe even without Amilyn and Snoke together, things between her and Ben can be good.

“Do you even know what happened?” Rey asks while they walk out of the elevator and through the main lobby of the building. It’s windy, Rey pulls her sweater tight. “Amilyn did not want to talk about it. I have some random clues like that he’s an insufferable embarrassment, something about food, and I think vomit?”

Ben grimaces. “Yeah, that’s about all I was able to get out of Snoke. Only in his version Amilyn is vindictive and was out to make a fool of him.”

“Great.” Rey closes her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. “We need to get them both to apologize to each other. Like the original phone call, where we got them both to think that the only one was initiating contact.”

“I’ve never heard Snoke say anything remotely close to the word sorry, Rey.”

“Yeah,” Rey acknowledges Ben’s point, tossing her hands up a bit in the air. “I can’t say I have for Amilyn either, but that’s what they are both going to want to hear. They need to believe that the other one is sorry. Otherwise, it’s goodbye weekend and hello work.”

“Any ideas on how to make that work?”

“Nope,” Rey shakes her head. “But we’ll come up with something, Ben. We have to. I have not spent the last three days tearing apart my closet looking for the perfect outfit to wear to your mom’s lunch to not at least try to salvage this.”

Ben grabs onto Rey’s hand, spinning her around. He’s got this small smile on his face that feels so intimate and personal that Rey almost wants to look away. Only, she thinks that the smile is meant for her and that freezes her in place.

“You’re worried about what to wear to my mom’s party?” He asks, and his smile grows.

Rey blushes, glancing away. “I mean, a little bit,” Rey admits and Ben squeezes her hand. It’s reassuring and when Rey looks back at him, he’s still got that smile on his face and his eyes are soft and he looks so happy. “I want your parents to like me. I want to make a good impression.”

“You will,” Ben says and it sounds like a promise. “Trust me. You could show up wearing those pajamas with the snowflakes and reindeer on them and my parents would still love you.”

Rey narrows her eyes at Ben, using her free hand to playfully shove against his shoulder. “You were never supposed to see those pajamas. They are my comfort pajamas.”

“They’re cute.”

Rey turns around, tugging on Ben’s hand as she starts walking again. “We’ll figure this out Ben.”

“I believe you,” Ben replies and there’s so much confidence in his voice that Rey almost believes him. “Besides, I’ve also been going through my clothes trying to figure out what to wear to Kaydel’s engagement party, and I would hate to have all of that time wasted.”

“You’re struggling with what to wear?” Rey questions, knitting her eyebrows together. “You? The guy who wears suits to a Yankees game is unsure of what he is going to wear to an engagement party?”

“Yeah,” Ben answers and Rey looks over at him as he shrugs a little, his lips twisting in a mischievous grin. “I have it narrowed down to these two black suits. But one is more black than the other, and I’m just not sure. And then the tie and the undershirt. I mean, should I add in a dash of color? Or keep it to my usual with a white shirt and black tie?”

“My dress is green,” Rey offers. “You could find something to go with that?”

“Green? Yeah. I can work with green.”

Rey smiles at Ben as he holds the door open to the coffee shop for her. “Now, I really have to figure out a good plan for this. I can’t miss an opportunity to see Ben Solo wearing color.”

Ben shakes his head. “You’re a little bit ridiculous.”

“So are you,” Rey points out, grabbing a banana muffin from the shelf as they stand in line. “I think it works for us.”

***

Ben stares at the computer screen, scrolling through Pinterest and the different “easy” science fair project ideas.

Absolutely none of them look easy. At a minimum it would take him days to get the projects ready. Glancing down at his watch, Ben sighs. It’s almost 11 pm and the project has to be done by 7 am for it to make it to the school in time.

He has eight hours to somehow figure out a project, by the necessary items to complete the project, build the project and write out the information on a posterboard. Even with Rey’s help, Ben isn’t sure how this is going to work at all.

Ben’s a little worried about Rey, if he’s being completely honest. He hasn’t heard from her since they got coffee that morning and agreed to meet tonight to go over whatever plan she manages to come up with and to work on the science project together. The original plan had been for them to meet at 10, but she hasn’t shown up and she hasn’t responded to his messages.

The elevator dings and Ben looks over, a smile already on his face at the thought of seeing Rey. Only it isn’t Rey walking across the office, it’s Snoke. Snoke’s movements are much more loose than normal, there’s a certain sway to his body when he walks toward Ben. Once Snoke is closer Ben can see the mostly empty bottle of alcohol in Snoke’s hand and it all clicks.

“You’re still here?” Snoke asks, and if the bottle and the walk hadn’t given it away, the slight slur to Snoke’s words would have. Snoke is definitely drunk.

“Yeah,” Ben answers, standing up from his desk. “The project is due tomorrow. So, I’m trying to come up with something.”

Snoke almost looks remorseful as he looks at the remnants of the destroyed science project sticking out of the trash can near Ben’s desk.

“You’re a good guy.” Snoke says and Ben tries to keep the shock off of his face. It almost sounds like an apology. It is definitely a compliment. “I don’t tell you that and I should.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ben responds, running his hands down his suit jacket. “I appreciate it.”

“You want a drink?” Snoke offers, holding up the bottle in his hands. “I have more in my office.”

Ben nods, following behind Snoke as he heads into the office.

They are silent as Ben watches Snoke�� try to open the bottle in his desk. Ben wants to take the bottle from him and open it himself, but he also knows better than to push his luck when it comes to Snoke and what he might take as offensive. Snoke starts rummaging around his office looking for something to open the bottle with. Ben’s eyes widen as he pulls out a small knife and goes to try to cut the cork out of the bottle.

“Why don’t I try first?” Ben asks, but he’s already moving and placing his hand on the bottle and taking it away from Snoke.

It’s surprising how little resistance there is from Snoke. Ben pulls the cork out easily, setting it down on the desk before pouring the alcohol into the two cups Snoke had set down on the desk in front of him.

Ben waits for Snoke to take the first drink before taking his own.

The alcohol burns his throat, but it’s good. Not that Snoke would have anything less than excellent alcohol in his office.

“I think I fucked up.” Snoke says after a few moments. “With Amilyn. She’s… well, she’s something.”

Ben thanks whatever higher power is giving him this opportunity, but is also growing steadily concerned that he is going to somehow fuck up whatever advice he is about to give Snoke. This could be his and Rey’s one opportunity to fix things between Snoke and Amilyn.

Of course it would fall into his lap.

Rey would know what to say.

Ben doesn’t quite know what to say, so he just nods instead. Snoke seems to take that as a signal to keep talking.

“I almost called her before coming up here, you know?” Snoke finishes his drink and quickly refills his glass. “But I can’t make myself do that. I can’t be the one to call first. What kind of guy would that make me?”

Ben finishes his drink and says the first thing that comes into his head, hoping that if it blows up in his face that he might be able to get away with being a little too drunk, or that he can get Snoke drunk enough to forget it.

“The kind that cares about someone?” Ben offers. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Relationships should be a bit of give and take, don’t you think?”

“Not in my experience.”

“I’m just saying, if you want to keep seeing Amilyn, maybe you should go up there and talk to her. Tell her what you just told me. That you fucked up. That she’s something… special. Women like to hear that. And, honestly, would you rather be with her or down here drinking with me?”

Snoke doesn’t respond. Instead, he twirls the cup in his hand, watching the amber liquid swirl and push against the glass. He takes another drink and sets the glass down.

“I’m going to head out,” Snoke finally says, standing up. Ben’s almost positive that he can see a small smile flash over his face for a second. “You can head home whenever.”

Ben decides it’s not the best time to remind Snoke that he actually can’t go home whenever because he has a science project to complete in less than eight hours. Instead, he follows Snoke out of his office and over to the elevator and watches as Snoke presses the up button.

He’s going to see Amilyn.

Somehow, whatever he said maybe worked.

Ben runs back to his desk once Snoke is on the elevator and grabs his cell phone to call Rey to tell her to get the fuck out of the office, if she’s still there.

***

“Hey,” Rey says as she answers Ben’s call, “I know we were supposed to meet like, God, over an hour ago, but Amilyn has been yelling at me to do a million different things and I haven’t even had a chance to start coming up with a plan--”

“Rey,” Ben interrupts, his voice sounds almost giddy with excitement. It throws Rey off. “You need to get out of the office. Now.”

“What?” Rey narrows her eyes in confusion, half of her attention still on the magazine layout she’s been working on for the last hour. “I just told you that I can’t leave the office, Ben. Amilyn would kill--”

“Snoke is on his way up. He’s drunk. He is going to apologize to her,” Ben interrupts again. Now the happiness in his voice makes sense.

“Are you serious?” Rey asks, but she’s already saving the project she’s working on and closing out of the different applications.

Ben doesn’t need to answer because Rey hears the elevator and watches as Snoke starts walking toward Amilyn’s office. Rey scrambles out of her chair and tries to hide underneath her desk.

“He’s here,” Rey whispers, a large grin on her face, she’s trying not to giggle at the situation she’s in. “How the fuck am I going to get out of here without them seeing me?”

“I don’t know,” Ben replies and Rey can clearly see the teasing look that must be on his face by the tone of his voice. “But figure it out and get down here. I need more help than I’d like to admit on this project.”

Rey hangs up and slides the phone into her pocket. Snoke is leaning against Amilyn’s door and is saying something that is beyond inappropriate and yet Amilyn’s laughing and telling him to come in. Rey waits until Snoke is in her office and the door is closed before she starts crawling around her desk.

She’s not quite sure how her life involves moments of her crawling across the office floor to avoid ruining her boss’s sex life, but she’s not even mad about it.

The birthday party is back on. The engagement party is on. And she gets to spend the rest of her night helping Ben.

All in all, her day is ending much better than it began.

Rey stands once she reaches the elevator, her fingers hover over the call button, but she pulls away and walks toward the stairs. She doesn’t want to risk more noise than necessary.

Her mind is almost racing as she makes her way down the stairs trying to figure out how exactly Ben managed to pull this off. She hated admitting that she had managed to come up with absolutely zero plans on how to make things better between Amilyn and Snoke.

But somehow Ben had. Which is all that really matters.

Rey’s glad that she at least has a few different science project ideas to offer Ben.

“Hey there,” Rey says as she walks over to where Ben is waiting for her in front of the elevator.

Ben doesn’t say anything in response, he just wraps his arms around Rey’s and spins her around a few times.

“It worked!” Ben exclaims, setting Rey back down, his hands still loose on her hips.

“How did you pull this off? Rey asks, smiling up at him. “I might have to concede the best planner title.”

Ben chuckles, taking Rey’s hand as they walk over to his desk. “Honestly? I didn’t really do much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Snoke came in about half an hour ago. He was pretty drunk.” Ben shrugs. “He asked if I wanted to drink and then he started talking about Amilyn. And I just asked if he’d rather be with her or down here drinking with me. And then he left.”

“Amazing,” Rey says, her mouth opening a little in surprise. “I’ve spent all day trying to come up with the perfect apology that the two of them could send each other, and Snoke just, decides to be half decent today?”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Ben shakes his head, leaning back against his desk. Rey lets go of his hand and sits on the desk next to him. “I’ve spent most of the day planning out the phone call to my mom that we weren’t going to be able to make it.”

“That’s what you’ve spent your day on?” Rey bumps her shoulder against his. “No wonder you haven’t gotten anywhere on this science project.”

Ben rolls his eyes. “I’ve spent hours searching for a replacement project and none of them seem like something I can pull off in a few hours. Despite this working out well tonight for Snoke and Amilyn, there’s a pretty good chance I’m getting fired tomorrow.”

“Absolutely not going to happen,” Rey intertwines her fingers and stretches her arms out in front of her and then above her head. “I’ve come up with three easy options that we can definitely get done tonight.”

“Really?” Ben doesn’t sound like he believes her at all. “Three options? You managed to come up with three science project ideas but zero ideas on how to fix our bosses’s relationship?”

Rey shrugs. “Like I said, I have extensive experience on doing projects at the last minute. Do you want to hear the options are not?”

“Please continue.” Ben holds his hand out in front of Rey in an offering for her to proceed.

“First, we could make homemade lava lamps. Second, we could make pennies turn green. Or, finally, the third option is magic milk.”

“A lava lamp?” Ben tilts his head down, taking a deep breath. “Rey, I can’t send Snoke’s kid to school with a homemade lava lamp for his science project.”

“Right.” Rey claps her hands together. “Magic milk it is then.”

“What is magic milk exactly?”

Rey just smiles at him, hoping off of the desk and walking toward the office kitchen.

“It’s magic.”

***

Ben watches Rey as she moves around the office kitchen with a familiarity that if he didn’t know better, he would assume that she works there. Which in all fairness, she has spent enough time with him at the office over the last few weeks that it makes sense.

She grabs three small bowls from one cabinet, balancing them in one hand as she searches through the drawers until she pulls out a box of food dye. The small fist bump in the air that she does when she finds the box is possibly one of the most adorable things Ben has seen.

He almost tells her that.

“Can I help get anything?” He asks instead.

“I got it all.” Rey frowns, her nose scrunching as she tries to concentrate on grabbing a bottle of dish soap.

“Here,” Ben offers, closing the distance between them and grabbing the soap from her hands. “Let me help.”

“Right,” Rey breathes, smiling at him. “Grab the milk from the fridge and meet me over there.”

Ben follows her gaze to a table next to a window on the far side of the office. He nods and heads over to the kitchen. He grabs the milk from the fridge, and a box of cookies that are next to the fridge that he’s positive Rey will want.

Rey’s eyes light up when he sets the cookies down in front of her.

“Magic milk is really very simple,” Rey starts, separating the stack of bowls and placing one bowl in front of him, one in the middle of them, and one in front of her. “You just add a little milk to the bowls.”

Ben follows her instructions, pouring milk into each bowl, stopping once Rey nods at him.

“Perfect.” she says, opening the box of food dye and dumping out the small bottles of different colored dye. “Now, we just add a few drops of food dye.”

Ben grabs the green and yellow first, carefully dropping a few drops of each color into the bowl. He trades the colors for the red and blue bottles that Rey has and adds them as well.

“And now,” Rey rubs her hands together in excitement. “The magic happens.”

“Is there an incantation we need to say first?” Ben teases. Rey rolls her eyes in mock annoyance and the moment feels so familiar that Ben’s heart swells a bit.

He’s falling for her.

It’s possible that he has already fallen for her and he’s just in denial about it because he’s not quite sure how someone like Rey would feel the same way.

Only she does. He can tell that she does with the soft way she looks at him when she doesn't think he’s paying attention. And in the way she grabs his hand when they are walking or how she reaches out to comfort him when he’s frustrated or upset.

She said that going to his mom’s birthday was a date. She invited him to Kaydel’s engagement party. She’s nervous about meeting his parents.

There’s really no doubt that she feels the same way.

Yet, He just can’t quite wrap his head around it.

“Absolutely.” Rey agrees. “So go ahead. This is your project. Say the magic words.”

Ben stares at Rey, shaking his head. “I’m afraid magic words weren’t taught at any of the fancy schools I went to.”

“Sure.” Rey laughs before she sits up straight. She holds her palms out flat over the bowls and starts moving her hands in semi-circles over the bowls while humming. “And abracadabra.”

She grabs the bottle of soap and squeezes a small drop into the milk and Ben watches as the colors dance around the milk.

It’s amazing.

“You’re amazing.” He says out loud.

Rey blushes, looking away from him, but not before he could note the way her eyes warm at his words. “I told you it was magic.”

“You did,” Ben agrees, taking the bottle from Rey and holding it over his own bowl. He sighs, closing his eyes as he mimics the hand gestures Rey had made earlier and whispers abracadabra before lightly squeezing the bottle and watching the way the colors in his own bowl swirl and move along the milk.

Rey’s laughing and moving to rest her elbows on the table, before pressing her head against her palm and she watches him. “I think this is a winner myself. Lemon electricity has got nothing on this.”

“We’ll have to write the instructions out,” Ben points out. “Make sure we have enough supplies to send along with the poster board to allow for demonstrations. I think this is an experiment that is going to require a lot of hands-on activity.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Rey agrees, running a finger over the edge of the bowl in front of her. “Want me to help with the poster board? On my never ending list of talents is my terrible penmanship. It’ll really sell that a child put this together.”

“You don’t have to,” Ben says, despite the fact that he wants her to stay. “I’m sure Kaydel wouldn’t mind seeing you.”

“Nah,” Rey shrugs. “Rose has the night off. And I could crash and be a third wheel, but I’d rather… I’d rather stay here with you? If that’s okay.”

“It’s more than okay,” Ben says softly. “Can we try again?”

"Yeah, absolutely. Let me just--" Rey stands from her seat and moves into the chair next to him so that she's in front of the remaining bowl.

Ben doesn't think when he reaches down for her hand. He watches as her cheeks redden and she smiles. It's small. Her lips barely turn up at the corners, but it's there and it's his and it's enough.

"Pour the milk?" Rey asks as she squeezes his hand.

Ben doesn't take his eyes off of her while he pours the milk. Rey has half her attention on the bowl and half on his lips and Ben would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the way she was struggling to keep her attention on the bowl over him.

He's going to kiss her, he decides.

It's been on his mind for a while. He is constantly replaying the kiss from the Yankees game in his head. He longs for it. The feeling of her lips against his. How she grasped his shirt and the image in his head of her fingers grasping his hair.

Rey keeps her eyes on him while she grabs the blue dye. Ben watches as she squeezes two drops into the milk. Then when she grabs the red dye and repeats her actions.

She leans closer to him, her grasp tightening in his own.

"That's all the color you want to add?" Ben asks, his voice low and quiet. He uses his free hand to grab the yellow dye and adds a few drops. "What about the soap?"

Rey turns her head to look at him. She's so close to him it would take just a little movement to dip his head down and kiss her. He wants to kiss her again. She grabs the soap bottle that's next to his arm, brushing her fingers along the skin that's exposed from where he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up.

She doesn't take her eyes off of his when she tips the bottle upside down and squeezes so that a few drops of soap fall into the bowl.

Rey's gaze drops from his eyes to his lips. He isn’t surprised when she closes the distance and presses her lips against his.

Ben closes his eyes and kisses her back. Neither of them watch the dye and the soap interact, but Ben can imagine the way the colors would dance in his mind and knows that kissing Rey is a much better use of his time.

Rey deepens the kiss, one hand resting on the nape of his neck, her fingers twisting into the strands of his hair.

When they finally pull away from each other, Ben rests his forehead against hers and she's smiling at him. She looks so thrilled and happy and it does something to Ben's heart to see that look on her face as a direct result of him.

It is possible that he's more than just a little gone for her already.

"So," Rey says, pressing her lips to his cheek before dropping her hand against his neck and standing up. "Where are those poster board supplies?"

***

"I can't believe your guys engagement party is tomorrow," Rey says, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.

Rose's face lights up the second Rey says the word engagement and it makes Rey so happy to see her friend so joyful.

"Don't tell Kaydel," Rose whispers, leaning in closer to Rey. "But I haven't figured my speech out yet at all. At first I thought maybe she wasn't serious about it. But she's been working on hers so diligently and now I have no idea what I'm going to do. Or say."

Rey takes a drink of her water. "You're going to be fine. Just speak from your heart and you it'll be great. Better than great."

"What if it's bad?" Rose shakes her head. "I don't want to let her down. I swear we are doing traditional vows. I don't know if I can do this again."

Rey hates seeing Rose this insecure. It's so different than how she usually comes across. Rose has always been confident and sure of herself.

"Hey," Rey reaches out, placing her hand on Rose's arm, gently squeezing it. "I promise if it starts to get bad I'll make a big scene and get everyone to focus on me instead."

"I love you," Rose grins, her eyes a little watery. "Seriously. I hope you are ready for a lifetime of me needing you around."

Rey pulls Rose in for a hug. "Wouldn't have it any other way," Rey whispers, her voice cracking a bit at the end. "I'm so glad Kay found you."

"Guys!" Kaydel shouts as she walks into the kitchen.

Rey lets go of Rose, taking a step back and wiping at her eyes.

Kaydel frowns, looking between Rey and Rose. "What's going on in here? Why are you guys crying?"

"No reason," Rey says, stepping forward to wrap an arm around Kaydel's waist. "We were just talking about your engagement party and I got emotional. I'm so happy for you guys."

Kaydel does not look like she believes Rey at all, but Rey is glad when she lets it go, wrapping an arm back around Rey.

"So, you going to tell me what you were doing at work until 1 am for the first time in weeks?" Kaydrl asks and Rey hates how knowing she sounds. It’s almost as if she somehow knows that she was late for non work reasons. "Amilyn keeping you too busy?"

Rey rolls her eyes and looks over to Rose for help.

"Don't look at me like that," Rose laughs, pointing her finger at Rey. "We both know you're keeping something from us."

"My money is on Ben," Kaydel announces, bumping her hip against Rey's. "Were you hooking up with him? Is that way you were so happy when you came home?"

"We did not hook up," Rey says quickly. "It was just a kiss."

"I knew it!" Kaydel let's go of Rey, pumping her fists into the air. "I totally called this."

Rey rolls her eyes, one hand resting on her hip as she watches Kaydel dance around the small kitchen. Rose is laughing, letting Kaydel pull her into a dance.

"I'm bringing him tomorrow." Rey watches as Kaydel's smile grows, excitement practically beaming from every inch of her body.

"This is not enough advance warning," Kaydel puts a finger up to her mouth, making an exaggerated thoughtful face. "I need at least 3 days to come up with a full list of interrogation questions to make sure he's good enough for you."

"Why do you think I'm telling you now?" Rey laughs at the fake look of hurt that crosses Kaydel's face. "Besides, you'll be too busy being all coupley and in love and celebrating your engagement to ask my boy… Ben anything."

Rose's eyes light up at Rey's almost slip up. "We both know Kaydel is capable of doing all of that and interrogating Ben at the same time."

Rey tips her head back and takes a deep breath.

Rose is absolutely right. Kaydel is perfectly capable of doing that.

Tomorrow night is going to be interesting.

"Let’s see if I make it through his mom's lunch first," Rey says after a moment, looking back at Kaydel and Rose. "Maybe he'll be sick of me and won't come."

"Nah," Kaydel shakes her head. "He'll be there. And I can't wait to meet him."

***

Rey looks at the apartment numbers once she finishes walking up the stairs to Ben's floor. She's still a little surprised to see how dingy the hallway looks. Ben had told her about how determined he was to make it on his own and to not his family's name or trust funds, but it still surprises her to see it.

It's strange to Rey how adamant Ben is to make something of himself without help from his family. Especially with how close he is to his parents. Since she doesn't have a family to rely on or ask for help, Rey isn't sure what she would do in his shoes either.

She likes that about Ben though. That even though he has the means to call in favors and to have things handed to him, he wants to earn it.

She knocks on the door, pulling down on the hem of the pale yellow sundress that she picked out for Leia's party and adjusting the strap of the larger bag on her shoulder. She's hoping Ben won't mind if she leaves the bag here so she can change before they go to Kaydel's engagement party.

The door opens and Rey doesn't recognize the man standing in front of her. It must be Poe. Ben's told her a little bit about his roommate and Rey has been a little nervous to meet him.

"You must be Rey," he says with a big smile, stepping back so Rey can walk inside. "I'm Poe."

"It's nice to meet you," Rey says, returning his smile. Her nerves start to settle when Poe closes the door and leads her over to the living room.

"Ben has told me almost nothing about you," Poe admits as he sits down on the chair across from the couch. "But he's been happier than I've seen him in a really long time these past couple of weeks. I have a feeling you have quite a bit to do with that."

Rey blushes, dropping her gaze down to the coffee table. "I mean, it could have to do with the fact that my plan worked and our bosses haven't been up our asses every second of the day too."

"Nah," Poe brushes off her comment. "Ben is addicted to his work. Whether or not he likes to admit it. The good mood has definitely got to be because of you."

"I'll take your word for it." Rey gives Poe a tight smile in concession. "How long have you known Ben?"

"Practically our entire lives. Our parents were friends. We grew up together. Went to college together. We've basically never really been apart."

"So, you're who I need to talk to to get all the good embarrassing childhood stories."

Poe laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he tips his head back. "Oh I've got plenty of those, but Leia tells them the best. She's going to have the time of her life talking to you today."

Rey takes a sharp breath when Poe says Leia's name. The nerves that had been calming down flaring back to life in her stomach.

"I'm a little nervous." Rey bites down on her bottom lip. "To meet her. And Han. And you, actually. I've never really done the meet the friends and the family of someone that I…"

Rey lets her sentence trail off, unsure of how to phrase how she feels about Ben. Poe gives her an understanding look, and leans forward to rest his hand on top of hers.

"They are going to love you," he says and it sounds like a promise. "I already love you. You have nothing to worry about. And if you start to feel nervous, just come find me. I'm bringing my boyfriend, Finn, today to meet everyone too. So, you're not the only one that's a little bit nervous."

Rey gives him a grateful smile. "Where is Ben anyway?"

"Showering," Poe answers. "He should be done soon."

"So, what do you do?"

"I'm an art teacher." Poe practically beams with his answer. "I work mostly with middle schoolers. I'm a float teacher, so I don't work at just one school. Which honestly is kind of great. I love getting to work with so many different students."

"That sounds wonderful."

"What about you? I mean, I know you're an assistant now, but what's the end goal?"

"I want to write articles," Rey gives a small shrug. "I was hoping to use some of this extra time lately to write, but I've been a little busy between my friend's engagement and well…"

Rey gets flustered as she thinks of all of the time she's been spending with Ben lately.

Poe's grin grows wider and Rey knows that he has figured it out.

The door behind Rey opens and she turns around to find Ben walking out of what she assumes is his bedroom.

It's the most dressed down she's ever seen Ben. Ben looks amazing in a suit, but there's something about the way the dark blue jeans fit to his body that is grossly unfair. The light blue, short sleeved button down shirt he is wearing looks stretched across his chest. He's holding wrapping paper in one hand and a book in the other.

"Hey," Ben says and there's that small smile he seems to reserve for her crossing his face. "You're here early."

Ben walks toward Rey, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Rey can see Poe's eyes widen slightly out of the corner of her vision. Ben straightens and heads into the kitchen.

"No suit today?" Rey teases as she watches Ben move around the kitchen. "Are you feeling a little ill?"

Poe snickers before joining in. "I mean I know your mom said the party was going to be casual, but are you sure showing off that much arm isn't just a little too casual?"

"I can go change," Ben deadpans, glaring at Poe, but there’s no heat in his gaze. "I have a nice three piece suit that I look fantastic in."

"Does it also have short sleeves?" Rey asks, tilting her head to the side. "Cause really it's a crime that you cover up those arms every day."

"I've been trying to tell him that for years," Poe adds, standing from the chair and moving to sit next to Rey on the couch. He leans his head onto her shoulder. "You should see him in shorts. Those thighs."

Ben looks like he's in pain, standing at the kitchen counter trying to wrap Leia's present. "You two are not allowed to be friends. I thought this was decided."

"I didn’t agree to that," Rey grins, looking sideways at Poe. "Did you agree to that?"

"I made a life vow when I was 6 to never agree with Ben Solo."

Rey laughs as she watches Ben roll his eyes.

"This is going to be such a long day." Ben sighs, placing the final piece of tape on the present. "Shall we go? Or are we waiting for Finn to meet us here."

Poe stands up, holding his hand out for Rey and helping her up from the couch. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind stopping by his place and picking him up. It’s on the way out of the city."

"I don't mind," Ben says a smirk on his face as he holds the door open for Poe and Rey. "I'm looking forward to meeting your boyfriend. I'm going to need someone on my side today."

Poe heads down the stairs, but Rey lingers behind waiting for Ben to finish locking the door. She reaches for his hand once he's done.

"I'm on your side," Rey says quietly, enjoying the way Ben's face softens at her words. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to egg your mom on if she starts pulling out baby pictures or good stories."

Ben shakes his head in amusement. "Just remember that I'm going to meet Kaydel and Rose tonight and I'm sure they've got some great stories about you."

Ben kisses her then, and it is short and sweet and just familiar enough to make Rey ache and want more.

"C'mon," Ben tugs on her hand. "We don't want to be late."

#reylo #reylo fanfic #reylo fic #reylo fanfiction #reylomovies #my fic

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hecckyeah · 4 years

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star wars for the meme :D good to see you around again! *hug*

Aw hey! SO good to be back here with you lovelies again <3 <3 *lots of hugs*

Star Wars!!! Wow, throwback to my middle school years, for real lol

(I’m mostly going to ignore the sequels, btw. I really kind of hated them, and I didn’t even watch the last one, soo....) And be warned: I have really weird opinions on Star Wars 😂

send me a fandom and i’ll tell you…

the first character i ever fell in love with: None other than Luke Skywalker himself. my first love, forever my adorkable space boi <3

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: Hmm.... I used to be a huge Wedge Antilles stan, but idk, I don’t really care anymore. not that I don’t like him anymore, per se, but middle school me was weird in her choice of men lmao

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: I used to adore Anakin/Padme... But now, rewatching the prequels, they were low-key pretty toxic

my ultimate favorite character™: Gotta stick with Luke, my dudes. Also Obi-Wan. They’re pretty much tied for favorites <3

prettiest character: Padme Amidala, no competition

my most hated character: Oof. I really really really really dislike Boba Fett. Idk what it is, I just can’t stand him. Oh, and Palpatine. But he’s a different story

my OTP: Han/Leia, Obidala (don’t @ me), FinnRey (the only part of the sequels I had any hope for)

my NOTP: Not to get the sequels involved, but... Reylo. Yuck.

favorite episode movie: Return of the Jedi. No competition

saddest death: Obi-Wan, probably. Also Shmi Skywalker 😭 And Han, obviously

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: *hides behind my desk* Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. Can’t stand the kid. Sorry, guys...

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: Oh, Han Solo for sure. The piece of trash with a heart of gold

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: Again... Luke 😭 The sequels really did him so dirty, that’s one of the reasons I can’t stand them

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: I don’t know if I have one... I think I did when I was younger (wasn’t there a fanfic somewhere about Qui-Gon Jinn being shipped with one of Padme’s handmaidens or something?? I can’t remember...) Usually I’m a pretty straightforward shipper, even if I do lean more toward rarepairs 🤷‍♀️

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship: Luke/Mara from the Thrawn trilogy <3 I was head over heels as a kid, I thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. But now I’m just neutral. Not super invested anymore lol

send me a fandom...

#star wars #ask game #this was fun aahaha #haven't really thought about star wars in a while #I need to rewatch them omg #i miss the OG gang #mostly I miss tiny baby Luke #in like episode 5 #who wasn't damaged too much yet #:(#the sequels did him so dirty #i'll never forgive them

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 4 years

Note

I've noticed that you use the R*ylo tag a lot and I was wondering if you could explain why you ship something that's so abusive? I'm not condemning you for shipping them, I used to myself I'm just wondering if you could explain *your* reasons? I don't think that I'll ever understand why people do but maybe you could help me take the first few steps?

Oh, no problem!

First, I would like to clarify that I don’t really consider myself an active part of the Star Wars fandom, and I am aware that Reylo shippers can often be toxic about things that have nothing to do with the actual ship. (Finn, John Boyega, etc.) Might go without saying, but I do like to make sure everyone knows that I think that behavior isn’t okay.

I have also heard the Reylo ship described as abusive. While I can more than understand that interpretation, I wouldn’t say I agree with it. That is, I don’t think this ship is any more problematic than say, MC/Merula. It’s a traditional case of enemies of lovers. True, Ben Solo said and did some terrible things to Rey. He tried to kill her friends, he Force-probed her mind, etc. But on the other hand...she also gave him the scar on his face, and stabbed him in TROS. I don’t think of their antagonistic behavior toward each other as abuse. I think of it as simply being two people on opposing sides of a war, a life-or-death war, who are also wrestling with confused feelings for each other. A growing fondness and respect. Enemies to lovers.

In general, I tend to think it’s a bit odd to condemn Kylo Ren as a villain...more than we condemn Darth Vader, who’s onscreen body count is significantly higher, and includes children. Ben is trash, I don’t deny it. He did terrible things and that makes him interesting to me...but I guess I just don’t understand the hatred he gets from half of the fandom. Anakin slaughtered an entire tribe of sand-people and was not sorry. He called them “animals.” Meanwhile, Ben murdered his father and doing so “split his spirit to the bone.” I guess this also applies to shipping him with Rey. I’ll admit, I find it odd that people think it’s toxic for Rey to want to redeem him...when it’s the same idea as Luke wanting to redeem Vader. Like, the exact same. The only difference is that the bond is romantic isntead of familial. (No, J.J, that was not a “sibling” kiss. Stop trying to appease both sides, dude.)

Why do I ship them? Well, mostly because of TLJ. I will admit that TROS didn’t mishandle this ship the way it mishandled so much else, such as Ben’s redemption and death...but this fire really started in the second movie. Could just be the performances, or the chemistry that the actors have, or maybe it’s how Ben and Rey are written. They do have some interesting parallels. I dunno, I just really got invested in their bond during TLJ. How they were trying to figure each other out, and realized they were kindred spirits. How indignant Rey was on behalf of Ben when she thought Luke had tried to kill him. How heartbroken she was when he wouldn’t turn back to the light - and Ben’s equal desperation for her to turn Dark. That scene in the elevator, where Rey uses his name for the first time? More romantic tension in that one scene then between Anakin and Padme across all three prequels, if you ask me.

TROS fortunately didn’t abandon this like it abandoned so much else of TLJ’s contributions (Cough cough, Rose, cough.) and while I think the writing was overall weaker, there were some really sweet moments nonetheless. Rey healing Ben and basically telling him that his loyalty to the Dark Side is all that’s stopping them from being together. The way they perfect the Dyad by the end so Rey can pass Ben the lightsaber. Hell, the concept of the Dyad in general. I am more frustrated than you can imagine that Ben had no lines following his turn back to the light, but I don’t care what people say - their kiss wasn’t cringe, that moment was earned. At least in my opinion.

But hey, it’s just a ship, and it features a rather divisive character, so there’s no reason anyone has to want anything to do with it.

#Star Wars #Disney Star Wars #Reylo #Rey x Ben Solo #Shipping #Rey from Nowhere #Ben Solo #Kylo Ren #Darth Vader #Anakin Skywalker

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unexpectedreylo · 5 years

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Here It Is: My Spoilerific Review/Post Mortem of TROS

When I saw The Last Jedi two years ago, the movie haunted me for days, for weeks, for months. It inspired the imagination, dragging me into the world of Reylo and reassuring whatever reservations I had about the post-Lucas sequel trilogy.

The Rise of Skywalker haunts me too but more in a “Demon House” kind of way. It fires up the imagination, but more in the sense that it keeps you up at night thinking of all of the ways it could’ve been better.

This isn’t to say I hate the movie. I don’t. It’s not even entirely or mostly bad which is what makes it extra frustrating. You can laugh your way through a total disaster like “Cats” or “The Room” but a movie with plenty of promise and of talent behind it that makes some bad decisions is tragic. Especially since this is the closing chapter to a trilogy and the saga itself.

You can see there are bones for what could’ve been a really good, maybe even great movie. One of my favorite parts was the opener where Kylo Ren literally descends into hell/the underworld to confront the devil for no other reason than he didn’t even want Satan above him, a man who serves no gods or devils. (That right there is a classic Byronic hero.) Exogol is a great haunted house/spooky setting. The revelation that it was Palpatine manipulating him all along was a shocker and makes Ben’s story that much more poignant. I also really liked the contrast with Rey’s introduction, a beautiful shot of her in the verdant forest floating among rocks as she’s meditating. She is Persephone in her element (which makes the ending all that more baffling but don’t worry, I’m getting to that).

This sets the stage for the revelation that the two are part of an intriguing concept, a Force dyad, kind of a Star Wars version of soulmates maybe even twin flames. The two just had to acknowledge the feelings between them, reunite, and take out the Sith trash while Rey finally confronts her own dark side. I don’t mind the latter concept at all because with the trilogy’s thickest plot armor, I think it’s valuable to put her in some peril and to have her better understand Kylo/Ben.

Abrams also wanted to recapture the feel of 1980s blockbusters like the Indiana Jones films or The Goonies, both made by his old mentor Steven Spielberg. That’s most palpable when the Space Scoops Troop, er “trio,” falls into quicksand and pokes around an underground cave looking for one of the film’s many MacGuffins. Abrams does good set pieces and powers them along with snappy dialogue. Like TFA, it’s peppered with some genuinely funny scenes.

If nothing else, you can’t blame the cast for any of the film’s problems. Everyone does the best they can with what they’re given and the long-standing chemistry between various pairs (Adam and Daisy, John and Oscar, Adam and Harrison Ford for example) do a lot to serve their scenes. I think Oscar’s best scene was when he confesses to Leia lying in state that he doesn’t know if he can be the leader the Resistance needs. It’s an honest, human moment. Daisy continues to infuse Rey with her natural luminance. I particularly liked the few quiet moments she has, such as meeting the children on Pasaana or healing the snake. It shows her compassion and foreshadows healing Ben.

Daisy does pretty well with what she is given about struggling with her dark side. (Remember, she didn’t write her own screenplay.) Maybe it’s unpopular to say this but I kind of liked her brief turn as “Dark Rey.” I have no doubt had she turned dark she would be pretty scary. Her desire for revenge and fear of her own nature--driven by genetics or not--were intriguing concepts and I thought she tried to make the most of it in her performance.

Ah Adam Driver. God bless that man. He brings his considerable A-game 100% of the time no matter what and it shows. He could sell sand on Tatooine. I have no idea why they put the mask back on him other than a marketing department decision as I suspected, but taking it off when he’s making his appeal to Rey before she leaps out to the Falcon carries a gravity few people can pull off. His reconciliation with Han was one of the film’s highlights. For once the repetitive nature of the script actually worked in TROS’s favor, as Kylo retraces his steps in that fateful scene from TFA and finds a way to clear his conscience. I also think this was originally meant to help the audience forgive him, especially since right after this he renounces the dark side. Which makes later choices baffling, which I’ll get to. Driver’s shiniest shining moment though is when he is once again Ben Solo. Deprived of dialogue for the rest of the film other than “ow,” he nevertheless manages to convey a different personality that is very much Han Solo’s son. His fight scene is right out of a 1970s martial arts movie, imbued with determination and sass. I want to see a trilogy about THAT guy.

The Reylo scenes are, well, until it goes south, wonderful. Some of us would’ve preferred a lot less fighting but I see it as mostly Rey trying to deny herself and Kylo not being sure if he really wants Rey to turn to the dark side. (On that note, I wish we’d seen Rey’s vision of sharing a throne with Kylo rather than just hear her talk about it.) As I predicted, the turning point of the relationship came after the lightsaber battle on the Death Star wreckage. I find it interesting that Kylo hesitates to kill Rey--partially because of his mother’s influence--and it’s she who could’ve killed him. She immediately recognizes the dark side was turning her into something she didn’t want to be and nearly costs her the man that deep down she loves. She heals him completely and along with her confession that she would’ve taken Ben’s hand, his soul is nearly healed by the power of love alone. Which makes the film’s later choices baffling. If you think about it, Ben’s turn is even more dramatic than Vader’s. Vader chose his son over the Emperor at the last minute, some inkling of his light still there shining through at the right moment under duress. Ben flat out rejects the dark side of his own volition. That is pretty powerful. Which makes the ending far more painful.

Rey and Ben’s one big romantic moment was tender and sweet and that was a pretty good kiss. We finally get to see Ben’s big toothy grin. Even though we all hate it, Driver did an amazing job conveying first his sorrow over Rey, then his relief, his joy, his love, and finally his strength leaving him.

Visually, the film looks great. I think J.J. did an even better job shooting this film than TFA. Adding to the visuals is the fabulous art direction. They hired supervising art director Paul Inglis immediately after his previous flick Blade Runner 2049 came out, and that decision paid off. This leaves the film with a number of beautifully-rendered scenes, whether it’s the haunted house scary underworld beneath Exogol, Kylo Ren’s starkly white quarters, the landscapes of Pasaana, the stormy seas around the Death Star II’s wreckage, the shot of Rey hesitating in the Star Destroyer’s hangar before leaping out to the Falcon, or Rey meditating among the floating rocks during her introduction.

I liked D-O and Babu Frick. I even liked the lady who complimented Kylo’s helmet.

Where do I start having problems? The first time I saw the movie the scenes with Leia didn’t bother me but the second time I saw it, it was far more apparent they wrote around the bits of footage they had left. It was a valiant effort to make Carrie Fisher part of the last film she never had the chance to perform in but it didn’t feel organic. Since Leia dies during the movie anyway, I don’t know why having her pass away offscreen in between TLJ and TROS is less merciful to the audience than having her body lie beneath a sheet for half the film. No wonder Billie Lourd skipped the premiere of this flick. I couldn’t take it if it were my mother either.

On my second viewing, the Resistance base scenes started to get on my nerves. Maybe it’s because I got tired of looking at the same group of like 10 people over and over. Maybe I was annoyed that the only purpose of those scenes was to earnestly spout exposition. Now, exposition is important. I’m surprised Abrams, notorious for not bothering with it even if it’s necessary, even did this much. But there was something about George Lucas’s Rebel base scenes that made these people look and act like guerrilla soldiers. Maybe it was Lucas’s experience shooting films with Navy guys as a student, or his documentary style. Abrams’s Resistance behave more like college students and activists than soldiers.

But TROS’s biggest problems lie in its breakneck pacing and its writing. Parts that should’ve had greater emotional resonance don’t because it moves along too fast. I would’ve sacrificed one of the set pieces/action scenes or chuck one of the pointless new characters for the sake of deepening the relationship between Kylo and Rey or showing us more Ben Solo.

Some of the characterizations seemed off. I know a lot of fans are deeply unhappy Rose Tico didn’t get to do much but I was surprised to see her in it even to the degree she was there. What gets me about the whole Rose thing was her relationship with Finn is totally forgotten FOR NO REASON. Really, why drop it? There was no narrative purpose for doing so!

General Hux is totally wasted in this film, reduced to little more than a cameo. Sure it might be a surprising twist that “I am the spy!!!” (LOL) but his reasons for it are totally OOC. He might despise Kylo Ren but to the point of helping the Resistance? This is the guy who cheerfully blew up the Hosnian Prime system and wanted to blow up more. He’s evil, a psychopath, a true believer in the First Order. He might give the Resistance a tip that would result in embarrassing Kylo Rey and use that to start a coup against him but just helping the Resistance out of petulance and spite? Nah.

Poe tries in this film to be a combination of rogue and deadly earnest idealist, but you generally don’t find those two qualities in the same person. One second he’s talking about smuggling space dope, the next second he’s saying stuff like “Good people will fight if we lead them!”

Finn, God love him, is reduced to largely running around yelling, “Reeeey!” and eagerly trying to tell Rey something but the film never really got around to what it was. It wasn’t until a Q&A session that Abrams revealed Finn was trying to tell Rey he was Force sensitive (something that should’ve been developed over the course of the trilogy). Abrams had time to show us a random lesbian kiss for representation points, but no time for Finn to tell Rey he was Force sensitive? Huh?

The story not only contradicts the previous films--I wonder if Abrams even saw his own movie TFA much less anything else besides the OT--it contradicts itself throughout. Palpatine’s return is never really explained and his motives with Rey keep changing. MacGuffins are added on top of MacGuffins with side missions thrown in. Chewbacca is blown up then he’s miraculously alive on another transport we didn’t see. Abrams and Chris Terrio didn’t just add to Rey’s origins, they blatantly spackled over it and TLJ’s overall message. Discovering one is of evil origins is a gothic storytelling trope but really, it should’ve been developed since the first film so it doesn’t feel like whiplash from something else. Everyone keeps telling Rey don’t be afraid of who you really are, but Rey ultimately does nothing but run from who she really is. With each reversal, retcon, or contradiction in the film, it leaves a mess. We’re supposed to believe Rey was better off sold to Unkar Plutt than be with her not-so-bad parents? Who the bloody hell had sex with Darth Sidious? You mean to tell me Luke and Leia knew all along Rey was a Palpatine but they never bothered to say anything and somehow they had more confidence in her than in their own flesh and blood? Oh while we’re at it, I noticed the second time I saw the movie they straight up gave away Ben’s death before it happened! WTF? “Leia saw her son’s death at the end of her Jedi path.” It seems like Luke and Leia were resigned to Ben’s fate as some horrible destiny that couldn’t be changed but Rey was still an open book to them. That’s so stupid and really fellow OT fans, how does this respect our childhood faves? Han comes off as the only decent person in this thing.

Rey and Ben taking on the Emperor was a great applause moment, the dyad unified against the ultimate evil. For the most part it was fantastic...until The Yeetening. Two things annoy me about the remainder of the conflict against Palpatine. One, Rey and Ben should have destroyed Palpatine together. If Rey could do it on her own then what the hell did she need Ben for? He could’ve sat out the rest of the movie at Starbucks and remained alive while Rey killed Palps on her own. There’s no point to their combined power because it wasn't necessary. Two, while poor redeemed I-turned-back-to-the-light Ben was crawling up the pit with no help from anyone, every good guy we ever knew of in Star Wars, even from the cartoons, is giving a voice over pep talk to Rey. (It seems cheap too since we don’t see the characters. Avengers Endgame did this kind of thing far better.) How about if the pep talk was given to the BOTH of them? That Anakin Skywalker, the man Ben had idolized, had time to say “wakey-wakey” to his tormentor’s granddaughter and not his own grandson is appalling. The third thing is while Darth Vader defeated Palpatine with the love for his son and his long-gone wife, Rey defeats Palpatine simply with power. Rey and Ben’s love for each other could’ve been the force that defeats the Sith once and for all but for some reason it doesn’t occur to Abrams and Terrio.

I could’ve forgiven most of this--the jar of Snickles and all--had they got the resolution right. But they didn’t.

ROTJ and ROTS’s endings were masterful. ROTJ gives you an idea of what trajectory our heroes were likely to follow: Han and Leia were going to end up together, Luke was going to bring forth the next generation of Jedi. ROTS sets up Obi-Wan on Tatooine, Yoda on Dagobah, Leia on Alderaan, Luke on Tatooine, Darth Vader on a Star Destroyer, and poor Padmé on her way to Star Wars Heaven. I have no idea what happens to Finn. Maybe he’ll train with Rey. Maybe he’ll go to college. Maybe he’ll backpack through Europe. I have no idea. His story just stops. Same deal with Poe. Aside from getting shot down by Zorii, what’s he going to do? The film gives zero indication. It goes from the Free Hugs session to Rey squatting at the old Lars homestead.

The biggest crimes though occur to Ben and Rey. Ben’s death sucked all of the air out of the film. Yes, it’s beautiful that Ben loved Rey so much and so selflessly he was willing to surrender his life for hers. It’s beautiful that it never mattered to Ben who Rey was, whether it was “nobody” in the last movie or the granddaughter of his tormentor/enemy in this one. Had the Palpatine concept been there all along, there would’ve been something sweet about healing the rift originating in the prequels. But I wanted Ben to live. I wanted for once for someone to address the issue of atonement but Terrio and Abrams were too lazy to bother. If The Grinch could be redeemed AND find atonement with those he wronged in a 30 minute Christmas special with commercials, then why not Ben Solo in a 150-minute movie?

I could have lived with a sacrifice arc though had it been handled correctly. But they flubbed it big time. The sacrifice isn’t honored at all. He just dies, he vanishes as Leia’s body vanishes, and he’s “never to be seen again.” Or mentioned. Rey barely reacts on camera. It’s as though reviving Ben from certain death, choosing good over evil, making a valiant attempt to save his girlfriend armed only with a blaster, and giving his life for hers weren’t valued by anyone. The movie didn’t give a damn. When Vader died in ROTJ, he at least had final words with Luke who then burns Vader’s remains on a pyre. We see Anakin restored to his true self join the Force Ghost crew at the end of the movie. We got none of this with Ben.

It’s also the most frustrating and disappointing disruption of a romantic arc since 1980′s “Somewhere In Time.” In that film, Christopher Reeve travels back to 1912 and finds true love with Jane Seymour. Everything is going great and Reeve’s character has made the choice to stay in that time and marry Seymour. Then he pulls out a 1979 penny and is sent “back to the future” as Seymour screams. At least that film though had the decency to reunite the love birds in the afterlife. Which might explain why the movie still has a cult following to this day. Tragic love stories always make sure there’s some kind of catharsis for the audience. Rose takes Jack’s name, lives her life as he asked her to do for him, tells his story, and reunites with him when she dies. Romeo and Juliet are united in death and the healing of their respective houses begins. Even Padmé got a state funeral and had the legacy of her children. There was no such catharsis for Rey and Ben.

Rey ends up right where she started: alone and in the desert. She got the Dorothy ending, there’s no place like home. But the difference is Dorothy is a child not yet ready for the big scary world and the answers to her problems weren’t out there but right where she was. Rey is a grown woman. She should’ve been treated like one. Instead she is deprived of her lover/soulmate and while such a separation should have been painful, it doesn’t even register. She has a “found family” but they’re not there with her. She’s in a home others tried to escape from, haunted by ghosts instead of being among those she loves. Taking the Skywalker name seems tacked on, as though they realized if the name is to live on somebody needed to take it. Why not then just have made her Han and Leia’s or Luke’s daughter in the first place? It’s worse when you remember it’s a Palpatine who’s usurping the name. Or when you realize she’s still hiding who she is.

Here’s what would’ve been better. Rey tells the Resistance about the pure selflessness of the Skywalkers and she wants that to be the core value of the new Jedi going forward, where every new student was going to learn their story. Then we see her anywhere but Tatooine, happy and surrounded by students of all ages. Maybe Finn training too. She sees the approving Force ghosts of Leia, Luke, and Anakin. Then Ben, clearly a different entity, materializes beside her.

Or something, anything other than what we got.

It’s as though they kept making story decisions without giving any thought at all to their implications. They tried to do too much while being lazy about it. They went for expedience--copy pasting ROTJ when convenient--over meaning.

The ending accomplishes what no other Star Wars film has done to me in 42 years of being a fan...it broke my heart and fulfilled my worst suspicions about where the ST was going to end up, largely due to its deflating ending and terrible denouement. It leaves for me and many other fans a big gaping open wound, not closure.

Ultimately the sequel trilogy’s biggest flaw is that there clearly was no plan. What we got was a billion dollar game of exquisite cadaver with no real design for characters, their arcs, the story, or even what message these films are supposed to have. Every decision was based on the director’s own ideas along with corporate meddling. So we get conflicting ideas and blatant spackling over what the last director didn’t like. Was Kylo Ren meant to be a guy we love to hate or a lost boy we want to come home? Was Rey a heroine we can all aspire to be or a lost princess of darkness? What the hell was the point of Finn or Poe? What does this add to the saga overall aside from more stuff? Who are these films even for, old OT fans or young fans? I believe it’s this lack of a plan that has generated so much confusion and bitter internet wars among fandom.

#reylo #tros review #spoilers #rey #ben solo #kylo ren #ben solo deserved better #rey deserved better #we all deserved better

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youphrogthoseshuffles · 3 years

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30 questions!

tagged by the wonderful @incorrect-lotr-trash!

1. Name or nickname: i hoard names like a dragon you may call me sunny, jordan, anor or dante :D

2. Gender: non-binary

3. Star sign: scorpio

4. Height: ok last i checked im 4'9 but i hope thats changed hjhsjxn

5. Time: morning, eating breakfast as i type lmao

6. Bday: nov 16

7. Fav band(s): the mechanisms, imagine dragons, softwire, the paper kites, project smok (i listen to a lot of folk and sea shanties but im not putting folk groups on here they arent bands necessarily)

8. Fav solo artist(s): vindsvept, sleeping at last, will connolly, hozier, ben below, reesha dyers, brent arnold, i could go on for ages

9. Song stuck in your head: santiano (longest johns ft. skald)

10. Last movie: lotr: rotk bc i just finished my rewatch

11. Last show: young hercules...... but only the 1st ep bc i cant find the others and the plot is killing the poor greek myth nerd in me

12. When did you create this blog?: uhh sometime last yr? reasoning is in question 17

13. What do I post: mostly th/lotr stuff with the occasional podcast

14. Last thing I googled: 'difference between scandinavia and nordic'

15. Other blogs: @sorrowsunny my shitpost mechs sideblog! dont post as much as i want to tho ever since th/lotr brainrot took over

16. Do I get asks: nope! am lonely pls talk i swear i dont bite

17. Why I chose my url: oh boy i love this story

in science class last yr we had to play a game that involved getting paper frogs and shuffling them around. the phrase 'you shuffle those frogs!' started as a joke then we tried to see what the weirdest way we could spell frog was while still pronouncing it right (furtherest we got was phroggue) then changed the phrase around to 'you phrog those shuffles!' (had to shorten phroggue down lol) and i said smth like "it sounds like a shitty tumblr blog url" and here i am

18. Followings: 58? wtf i swear i followed more

19. Followers: 13

20. Avg hours of sleep: depends but rn i think its like 4 or 5 whoops

21. Lucky number: 4 bc its orange, sometimes 6 or 8

22. Instrument you play: main is violin but i mess around on piano, guitar and vocals too

23. What I'm wearing: fluffy panda pjs

24. Dream job: illustrator or concept artist, preferably character design OR musician

25. Dream trip: new zealand or greece i guess? the classical studies student in me vibrates in excitement just thinking abt it

26. Fav food: nope try again you cant make me pick tho im rlly craving taho rn (filipino sweet tofu snack)

27. Nationality: filipino

28. Fav song: top 5 favs i can think of on the spot is eight (sleeping at last), like a river runs (bleachers), northwest passage (unleash the archers version), mary ellen carter (stan rogers) and the wind and rain (razor hill version)

29. Fav book(s): too many but top 5 favs are probably lotr, the mortal engines, the night circus, les miserables and the song of achilles

30. Top 3 fictional universes I wanna live in: middle earth, the httyd world (book or film i dont mind) and the world of deltora bc im still a deltora quest nerd 😔

if any of my 13 followers see this go wild lol

#tag game #this was v v fun!

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eohachu · 4 years

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I was tagged by @mel-loves-kdramas, thank you!! 🥰

rules: answer the questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better!

tagging: no one and everyone who feels like answering some questions!

nickname: eva

pronouns: she/her, they/them

star sign: capricorn

height: 5’2″

time currently: 21:18

when is your birthday: 9th January

favorite bands/groups: i don’t remember what i said last time lmao but queen, mcr and red hot chili peppers are up there

favorite solo artists: tamino, grechka, alyona shvets uhh yeah this is pretty difficult to answer bc i listen to a lot of different artists. not really a stan of anyone tbh 👉👈

song stuck in your head: ride home by ben&ben

last movie watched: your name engraved herein

last show you binged: rewatched gaya sa pelikula (🤧🌈)

when you created your blog: created my main in August 2016

last thing you googled: how to scan spotify codes (lmao)

other blogs: main: @kutyozh (languages & music) my personal trash dump side blog: @disenchantedteenagers (everything from mental health to aesthetic stuff, politics, science. well. anything really)

why you chose your url: bc!! i love!! xiao xingchen!!! LOML

do you get asks: sometimes! mostly from moots <3

how many people are you following: 295

how many followers do you have: 577

average hours of sleep: hahahahahaha well if we’re talking abt the average this month. 10-12 hours (i’m hibernating)

lucky number: i used to have lucky numbers (i think it was 13 and 26) but i don’t have one atm!

Instruments: flute & guitar

what I'm currently wearing: grey sweatpants and a rosé knitted sweater my best friend gave me

dream job: i recently learned that you can study how to preserve rare/dying languages and i haven’t been the same since

dream trip: idk brother anywhere really

favorite food: DUMPLINGS

favorite song: song of the month is tahanan by nica del rosario!

top three fictional universes you'd like to live in: jeez i couldn’t answer this question last time either. like idk i think i’d only want to live in the cql universe

#[look at me promoting the gsp soundtrack lel]#[thank you for the tag!! 🥰]#tag game #personal #about #r.txt

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elopez7228 · 4 years

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Scenic Route 38/47

Read on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268208/chapters/43229774

Start over : https://elopez7228.tumblr.com/post/620919089893933056/scenic-route-0147

***

Rey tried to speak but not a sound escaped her throat. Tears burned down her cheeks. Her lips trembled, her legs giving out.

Ben stepped forward to catch her in his arms before she could collapse. “Hey, sweetheart. Everything’s okay. I’m here, it’s over.”

Rey nodded, still unable to stop her tears. She just couldn’t anymore at her state, emotionally burned out and covered in dirt and grime. She had just lived through her worst nightmare: she’d fought Syed blow for blow and lost, failing her mission. And it was all his fault—this tree of a man with soft brown eyes who held her in his arms. And she didn't even resent him.

Still curled up at the foot of the bed, BB8 began to growl.

“Down, you fur ball!” Rey scolded her, causing her to lie back down with a yelp. She didn’t growl after that.

With Rey still in his arms, Ben sat down on the bed and nestled her body between his knees, putting his arms around her neck and pressing his face against hers. In the comfort of his broad frame, she let herself cry for real. He stroked her hair, covering her forehead and temples with gentle kisses. “Shhhh...It’s over, it’s done. You’re not in danger anymore. You were so brave.” “Ben… she tried to kill me.” “I know sweetheart, I’m sorry. That was my fault. I fucked everything up and I put you in danger. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

With his thumb, Ben wiped away a tear on Rey’s cheek, but she flinched away in pain. He gently took his hand away, looking deep into her eyes.

“It’s my turn to patch you up, beautiful. Let me take care of you.”

Rey acquiesced in silence. With steady hands, Ben helped her take off her jacket and her t-shirt. Her skin was marred with bruises where Syed had kicked her, and cuts and scrapes where she had been dragged across the pavement. Ben grabbed a sponge from Rey’s shoulder bag and wet it under a stream of tap water in the sink. Then, as gently as possible, he alternated between wiping her face and her hands. The layer of dirt that had been eclipsing her features began to fade bit by bit. He found her luminous. This girl was like daylight in the face of darkness, like burning fire against ice. He had barely known her for a week but felt as though he was drowning in a bottomless pit when they were apart.

He dabbed gently at her wounds with a few disinfectant pads from her first aid kit. She let him, her eyes closed and her breathing uneven.

Rey opened her eyes when she felt his fingers in her hair. “What are you doing?” “Your hair is filthy. You should take a shower when you feel up to it. Saul told me you fought like a lioness.”

Rey stared at him in shock. “Saul? When the bloody hell did you talk to Saul—before or after he left me for dead on the side of the road?”

Ben rilled his eyes. She may or may not have been immortal. His fingers slowed their movements in her hair.

“He worked for me from the very beginning, like Kelsi and Shakti. Syed was double-crossed.” “And what about the microchip?”

“He gave it to me. His mission was to recapture it if Syed ever got her hands on it. Here, see?”

Within seconds he withdrew a small, mostly plastic rectangle from the pocket of his jeans. He placed it in the palm of her hand. Rey’s throat constricted with an emotion she couldn’t name. Her breathing was uneven again. “Is this the real thing? Why are you giving it to me?”

Ben placed a tender kiss on the shell of her ear. “You know why,” he whispered. “Tell me,” Rey breathed.

He leaned into her again, his burning lips pressing softly against her ear. “Because I love you, Rey. It’s the only thing I know for sure. My whole life’s been swept away in a matter of days and yet I’ve never been more sure of anything. I love you.”

Rey closed her eyes. She turned her body just enough to find his mouth, and kissed him. Slowly, at first, almost shyly. She basked in the softness of his lips, in the slight prickle of his stubble against her skin, the taste of his tongue. “Ben,” she said in a broken voice, “if I give this to your mother, you’ll be sent to prison.” “I know.”

He looked down in resignation, not at all his usual fiery self. He had made his choice. Rey disentangled herself from his hold and came to her feet. “No, we have to do something! I can talk to Leia, she can—“ “Rey.” “She would never let her only son go to prison, not after you were the one who gave her the evidence in the first place and—“ “Rey!” “What?”

Ben smiled up at her with an odd sort of sadness in his eyes. “Let it go, okay? It’s up to me to face the consequences of my actions, remember? Don’t worry about me, I’m a big boy.”

Rey turned her back to him, unconvinced. Ben got up slowly, wrapping her arms around her from behind and burying his lips in her neck. “Hey,” he murmured against her skin. “I’ll fix it. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, promise?”

“If you think I can promise that, you don’t know me well enough,” she grimaced.

“Right. Knew that,” he grinned. “Promise me you won’t do anything dangerous then, okay? Your friends are waiting for you back in London.”

Rey’s a seeing smile dimmed. Her friends, in London. She thought she would never see them again. Her breaths turned into sobs again as Ben held her tightly in his arms.

“You can cry all you want, I’m here.” “I...I think I need some sleep,” she finally managed. It had been a grueling twenty-four hours. “Will you sleep next to me?” She asked, looking up at him.

He nodded. Rey stopped undressing when she got down to her underclothes. She darted underneath the covers with a satisfied groan, making Ben laugh. He took off his clothes as well, stripping down to his boxers and slipping in next to her. He rolled on to his side and wrapped his arms around her once more, skin against skin.

“Tell me a story,” Rey murmured, already half-asleep.

“A story?” “Yeah...tell me about your family.” “As you wish,” he said, placing kisses against her shoulders, and the nape of her neck. She trembled at the feel of them.

“I’m the third act of a generational tragedy that will end in two weeks, when FORCE and Earth Soldiers confront each other in court. Are you sure you want to know?” “I already know some of it. Your mother told me. But I want to hear it from your perspective.” “Well...my parents never really wanted kids. I was an accident and I grew up with a lot of guilt on plate because of it. I always felt like I was a life-ruiner. My mother literally saved the world for a living and my father wanted a son—but not a son like me.” “Why do...you say that?” Rey hummed, still half-awake. “He wanted an adventurous son—some daring, never-say-die kid he could take on his batshit exploits and spontaneous road trips. He never really asked me what I wanted to do. And when I was fifteen, he died.”

Rey’s chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. Her eyes were closed but her lips were parted. Ben kissed her hair.

“He died and it was my fault. I was the one who killed him,” he whispered softly.

He fell silent. Rey didn’t answer, she was asleep. Rey awoke to the sight of daylight filtering through the blinds.

Her first instinct was to panic: where was she? She overslept again! They needed to leave now, the Knights would be here any minute to—

Stop.

Everything was fine. Saul took care of Syed and Skylar. Ben gave her the microchip. No one was chasing her. She rolled over, expecting to find him there, but instead she found the bed empty.

Rey sat up, running a hand through her hair. She didn’t need to worry anymore, didn’t need to be scared. The scent lingering on her fingers caught her attention. Did her hair really reek so badly? Her memory flashed back to the dirty sidewalk, littered with discarded cigarettes and bits of trash. Ben had spent ages stroking and kissing her hair. Why hadn’t he said anything? Hell, that man was going to be the end of her. Rey made a beeline for the shower. A few minutes later she was clean and wrapped snugly in a towel, patting her hair dry. Mid-motion, a thought occurred to her: where on earth was BB8?

She checked her phone. No messages. Her eyes widened in panic. This was a fear she was all too familiar with. Did Ben disappear on her for good? She dressed quickly, throwing her hair into a messy bun and packing her remaining possessions. Great, now what? Should she call him or just wait? Was she supposed to leave?

On the nightstand, a little plastic object caught her eye. Rey’s mind raced as she held it in her hand.

It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing.

She slid it into her pocket. No need to hide it anymore.

A clicking sound from behind the door made her turn around. It opened to reveal BB8, and one Ben Solo dressed in black from head to toe. He was holding a styrofoam tray, which held two large disposable cups of coffee and two donuts.

“You went on a walk? With BB?” Rey smiles incredulously.

Ben shrugged. “She needed to go. Besides, it was nice out.” “And she didn’t bite?” “Well, not after I bribed her with a whole donut, I guess. Strangely enough, she’s warming up to me.”

He placed the tray on the nightstand, hardly noticing the absence of the microchip. “How are you feeling?” He asked, carefully stroking the purpling bruise on Rey’s cheek with his fingertips. “Not bad. I slept some. I feel a bit more like a proper human today.” “You’re perfect.” he said, making Rey blush.

She stared at her lap. His gaze was too intense, like he could see her soul. When was the last time someone looked at her like that? Finn had been loving, but their love had never been like this, even in the beginning. Ben looked at her like he wanted to consume her from the inside out, and it made her blood heat in ways she couldn’t describe. She clenched her thighs together to maintain her composure despite the lust that was gnawing at her. But...but what if she were to give in? What did she have to lose at this point? They were alone, clearly pining for each other with a few hours to spare—she could just let it happen... She grabbed him by the collar and yanked him towards her, capturing his lips in a long, heated kiss. She almost forgot to breathe. His hands slid beneath the fabric of her clothes, and he unhooked her bra without ever breaking the kiss. She protested feebly as he pulled both her bra and her t-shirt off in one swift motion, but her objections dissipated when his thumb circled her right nipple.

She gave him a taste of his own medicine, reaching for the hem of his t-shirt and sliding it over his head. Due to his height he had to finish the movement himself. On Rey’s side, a large blue bruise was blooming. A similar bruise graced Ben’s back, somewhat yellower on the edges. Both of them had been the work of Syed Ren. Strangely enough, against all odds, she had unknowingly brought them closer together. Rey took a moment to admire a very shirtless Ben. Something about his marble skin was begging to be touched.

As for Ben himself, he was looking only at her. At the light dusting of freckles on her shoulders, and the dusky pink of her nipples that hardened under his ministrations. Delectable. Rey stood on her toes and kissed him again. She unzipped his jeans, running both hands of her hands inside. Ben groaned when her fingers palmed his hardening cock. Refusing to stand still, he busied himself with removing her slacks. Somehow, she practically tripped and fell backwards onto the bed, dragging him with her. “Condom?” “In my pocket,” he replied smoothly.

“I may have to buy a few more if this keeps happening,” she mused. “Is that so?” Ben asked, giving her a genuinely surprised lopsided grin. “Of course my flight is in a week, how many times do you think we could get away with it?” “Only one way to find out,” he answered.

He stepped way to take off his jeans completely, leaving her to do the same. Rey stretched out on the bed, inviting him to join her. He lay down beside her, kissing her again with no small amount of urgency. “You can do anything you want, except one,” Rey whispered against his lips.

“Except what?” “Except for stop kissing me. I strictly forbid it.”

Any protest Ben had was cut off by yet another searing kiss.

“I haven’t forgotten that you can put that mouth to good use. But this time I want to look at you. Always.”

He kissed her harder in response, as she hooked her arms around the nape of his neck. He shifted his hips and suddenly he was on top of her. She sighed contentedly at the feeling of his skin against her own, the comforting weight of his body and the faint scent of his skin mixed with desire made for a heady combination.

He was careful to avoid her bruises, gliding the palm of his hand sensuously down her throat, between her breasts and along her abdomen, all the way down to the waistline of her underwear.

Her knees fell open to accommodate him, hips grinding down to give him better access to her core. Her skin was flushed, her slick soaking the cotton fabric of her briefs. He looked at her with the same desire reflected in his eyes.

Leaning his weight on his left elbow, Ben began taking off her underwear with his right hand, making sure to never break the kiss. She helped him by folding her legs so that the fabric slipped smoothly down her calves. One final push and the garment fell from her ankles down on to the carpeted floor.

Now that her hands were free, Rey used them to pull down Ben’s boxers and free his erection, pushing them as far down his body as she could in an attempt to remove them entirely. Ben got up onto his knees, finally moving his lips away from hers.

“Oi!” Rey protested, her eyes wide. “Safety first!” “Oh, right.”

He needed both hands and a few seconds, but soon an foil packet joined the pile of their clothes on the floor. Keeping his weight on his elbows, Ben stretched out against her, joining their mouths again in a sloppy kiss. She moaned into his mouth, swallowing each of his sighs. She welcomed him body and soul.

His right hand dipped between her folds, seeking her clit. Her body spasmed under his touch and she bit down painfully on his lower lip. He pressed on, fingers sinking deeper to find the hidden place inside her. He studied her reaction. Her breathing was ragged as her fingernails clawed at his back. They had only just begun. With his right hand, he guided his member along her swollen lips, teasingly rubbing back and forth without pressing inside. He could feel her tight bud throbbing against him in response to the friction.

It was her who broke the kiss now, desperately gasping for air and moaning her pleasure at the same time in a way that made his heart soar.

“What are you waiting for, fuck me!” She demanded raggedly. He broke out into a laugh, she was radiant. And valiant, and vulnerable, and debauched—everything he really needed right now, right here. She bucked her hips and opened her knees further, offering herself to him. He buried himself in one thrust, crying out in bliss. “Fuck yess,” she groaned as he slowly bottomed out.

He remained motionless for a moment, panting against her lips, his eyes open as if to study her. She pressed her forehead against his, arms curling tighter around his neck, fingers twining in his hair. He bucked his hips again, pulling all the way out before delving in again, causing her to whimper. He kept up the pace, finding a rhythm that made both of them keen. Rey rolled her hips in time, taking him deeper, changing the angle ever so slightly with each thrust to prolong her pleasure. She opened her legs even wider, propping her bent knees under Ben’s body. He let go of her mouth but still held her gaze. He slid his hands under her hips and lifted her slightly so that she could take him deeper, if such a thing was possible. Flushed and breathless, she cradled his head in her hands.

“You...kept one...of them?” She stammered as her fingers found a section of braided hair, hidden behind his right ear. “To remind me...of you,” he panted. She lowered her knees and placed her feet on either side of him, gripping his shoulders. In this position, the pleasure hit her in waves, rippling deep into her core and making her thighs tremble. She could feel the muscles in her abdomen contracting as she drew closer and closer to her peak.

Ben’s face was crimson, his eyes hooded and his mouth agape. Seeing him unhinged like this pleased her ever more. It only served to heighten her desire. She held his shoulders in a viselike grip, snapping her hips forward and—giving into a strange compulsion—she bent her head to lick a hot stripe along his neck. As her pulse skyrocketed she knew she was just on the cusp of climax. Her whole body thrummed in anticipation.

Every touch was like an electric current across her skin. Her hardened nipples strained against the friction of his chest, their bodies practically fusing together. How was it possible to match someone else like this? Like puzzle pieces that were made to fit together, built for a more perfect union—how had she lived so long without what felt like the most natural thing in the world?

She sped up, jerking her hips rapidly and impaling herself on his cock with a practically indecent amount of satisfaction. Ben held on to her as though she would suddenly disappear, cradling her in his arms and pressing his cheek against hers with each movement of their bodies. He broke when Rey leaned over to bite down on his earlobe.

“I love you,” he breathed, “Fuck, I love you so much.”

His body stilled and he lost the rhythm as his climax tore through him violently. Her own movements faltered as he pulsed within her, a raw sound emanating from deep within his throat followed by a satisfied sigh. His eyes were still closed. He collapsed on top of her and she took the opportunity to stroke his hair and press her lips against his skin. She peppered his neck and the hollow beneath his ear with kisses before pulling away from him and gently tugging the condom off.

He curled around her immediately, giving her a long, slow kiss. Rey smiled. Hazel eyes met brown.

“Permission to put my mouth to good use?” “Granted.”

She was flushed and soaking, but she hadn’t been able to come. Gentleman that he was, he could never leave her hanging.

He licked a trail down her stomach, kissing each of her nipples and her navel, running his lips through her folds along the length of her core all the way up to her pearl. She practically melted when he began to mouth her in earnest, twisting her fingers into his hair and holding him firmly against her center. She felt her pleasure mounting again, her body ready to give in this time, her muscles contracting eagerly until she felt herself falling suddenly off the precipice. She let out a long, electrifying moan as she came against his mouth, her body trembling uncontrollably and arching off of the bed.

She melted into a sated, inarticulate puddle. Ben moved up to join her, carding his fingers through her hair and kissing her again.

“I love you,” she whispered as she looked into his eyes. “I know.”

#reylo #fanfiction #modern AU #scenic route

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starlightstarduststarfall · 5 years

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Little Things//Big Things

I'm confused by these things, bothered by them, upset because of them~

Little Things

Did Poe like ..give Rey BB8? Cause he was with her at the end and it seemed like she was maybe gonna be there for a while... That's a big gift.

So Lando didn't want the Millennium Falcon then I guess? He and Chewie flying that together seemed idk, right. But Ben's gonna come back anyways right, so I guess he and Rey will fly it together (yeah yeah I know)- cause that ship has always need two- always needed a co-pilot.

Man I really wanted to see Maz in action~!

Ben Solo, son of Han Solo, is an amazing pilot. We all know it. I really wanted to see it one last time. Where'd he get that ship from?? I know he found it and flew like the devil to Rey in Exegol. Shooooowwwww mmmmeeeeeeee!

I also wanted Rey and Ben to be flying together danggit.

I guess Finn never had identity crisis..? Cause he was FN2187, then Finn, just Finn. But he seemed mostly ok withbit. Rey was Rey, just Rey. But then she wanted more and got it- lots of it. Jannah was also a number as a storm trooper and she wanted to know who she was and her interaction with Lando at the end alluded to them going on a future mission to find it all out.

NABOO. I WANTED NABOO SO BADLY. And Mustafar. But nope. We got sand. Lots and lots of sand. Two deserts. A new one and an old one. Yay.

Did anyone say "May the force be with you"??!? I don't recall hearing it...

Chewie and Ben interaction... Come on. That was..he was a prisoner! Whatever.

Those Knights of Ren were sooooo cool. They like...were so significant and helpful and...and...hmmm idk what purpose they served besides being Kylo Ren's squad for a minute only to be wiped out by Ben Solo the next. Cool. (I was thinking the Knights would be super loyal to Ben...like sorta not really friends...and maybe not fight against or with him but take that grey side).

I would've loved to see that grungy codebreaker from TLJ again.

R2D2 is one of the most capable droids. I wish we had a bit more of him.

I'm still waiting for "BUT I DO" line.

Okay okay. Done.

Big Things

The worst circular ending is to start with a lonely, broken, hopeful girl in a desert who goes on a beautiful journey of love, self discovery, war, and friendship who along the way finds her soulmate, her lineage, her bffs, etc. and then she ends up in yet another desert (not even a beloved desert from former characters) lonely, broken (don't tell me she's not- you don't just heal from trauma of finding out your grandfather is big bad evil jerkface and then losing the other half of your actual soul after he saved your life- that's gonna take some TIME), and hopefully still hopeful. Like what is that all about??

Ben Solo, called by Palpatine himself, the last Skywalker- HOW IS HE NOT THE SKYWALKER THAT GOT TO RISE AT THE END?!?? WHAT?!? Rey loved Han SOLO- she saw him as a father figure. Rey loved Leia- she was trained by her and cared deeply for her. Leia was Leia Organa SOLO basically. Rey and BEN SOLO are a dyad- wow. What a term to introduce in TROS. Two that are one! But she takes on the name Skywalker...hhmmm. That was the most unsatisfying thing ever. Ben rising just...it just makes the most sense of any and all options. Why else bring in the son of Leia and Han? That title is trash, period.

How dare they give us Ben Solo in his best Han Solo element for less than 10 minutes. How dare. Ben didn't even get a single hit or nothing on Palpatine- the person that ruined his life. They really just threw him off a cliff. After going through this whole ordeal about how if Rey killed Palpatine then she would become the sith and then brining in Ben only to have Rey, even with the help of the Jedi, end him alone...that was a travesty. Boooooooooo!

Kelly, Kelly Marie Tran, girl- I love you. How they did your character dirty was awful. Awful. I love Rose Tico.

So. What's the state of the Galaxy now? Is the first order completely destroyed?? Is the Resistance gonna establish a Republic...or some kind of government/democracy to combat the evils...HAS BALANCE BEEN RESTORED OR NOT?!?? What's Rey gonna do on Tatooine??? Are Poe and Finn the new Galaxy Presidents??? So many questions.

Okay. Yep. Done for now. Haha🙃

#tros spoilers #star wars tros #Ramblings #movie ramblings #Reylo #Kylo Ren #Ben Solo #Rey #Finn #poe dameron #rose tico #the rise of skywalker

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hellobrockie · 5 years

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Some very long Rambly TROS thoughts

Holy fuck there is so much wrong with this movie.

Let's start at the beginning. Kylo tracks down the wayfinder/holocron crystal thing that will lead him to the sith homeworld. We learn that Palpatine was behind both the Snoke and Vader voices in Kylo’s head-basically the dude has been manipulating him for 30 years. Kylo states very clearly he's gonna kill this motherfucker. This is very in line with the Last Jedi- Kylo wants to destroy everything- the Sith the Jedi the Resistance- because he’s tired of the constant push-pull of rejection and manipulation. BUT THEN HE DOESNT KILL PALPATINE???? At first the film argues that he doesn't kill Palps because Palps promises him the big FINAL ORDER fleet? Okay...but I don’t think Kylo really gives a shit about a big fleet of ships when it's offered by the fucker who has been scrabbling his brains for shits and giggles. Once the ‘Rey Palpatine’ thing comes to light, we are lead to believe Kylo went along with the whole final order plan because he wanted to kill Palpatine together with REY???? Ahh okay?

So now we switch back to Rey. She's basically a jedi, cool. And I guess the Skywalker saber just fixed itself, with literally no scars or anything. A great visual representation about how this film feels about character development that happened in The Last Jedi. So Rey breaks concentration and fails the courses. According to the film, this happens because sheisapalpatine. If you had two brain cells you would realize Rey could be upset for normal reasons ...like that in order to the Resistance to win she’s going to have to put Kylo down like a dog. Its kinda cool that Leia is her teacher (more on that later).

Soo then we spend the next hour on a pointless adventure with the Trio™. Which would be fun, if they were ever established as a Trio. Arguably the real trio might be Rose-Finn-Poe. More on Rose later. Here is a list of incomprehensible things that happen here:

Kylo reforges his mask. Because Reasons? The knights of Ren. Because Reasons?

A handful of force bond scenes. The first one actually isn’t half bad. By wearing the mask, Kylo is rejecting the intimacy inherent to the connection because he is about to defile it. Grabbing Rey’s necklace is a physical and emotional violation. It's the first time he has ever used the connection for personal gain. The other connection scenes mostly just play around with the two of them being able to pass each other stuff. They lack the careful editing of TLJ connection scenes. Disclaimer: I’m a pretty hard core Reylo and these scenes really lacked the magic they previously had.This might be un-purpose Kylo is clearly pretty lost as this point. Dull, lacking in heart like so much of this film.

Kylo becomes a cartoon power ranger villian spouting Palpatine exposition and attempting to create suspense by almost catching the trio a couple times. Some of the dialogue is almost Revenge of the Sith Anakin level awkward. It lacks both the unstable angry energy of FA or the sad tired boi energy of TLJ.

Rey makes force lighting because I guess she was upset and it's a genetic ability now???

Poe gets a female love interest, becuase hes heterosexual. HeTeroSeXUal.

Poe and Finn flirt for a whole hour while Poe checks out some new chick and Finn now has a harem thing kinda.

Poe is now a spice trader. BECAUSE YOU KNOW HE'S THE HAN SOLO OF THE TRILOGY. Let's just forget that TLJ establishes that Poe is his own character, probably loyal to the resistance since birth. His parents are rebellion alumni.

Two death fake outs. I don’t know why they had to give 3PO his memories back. He lost them at the end of the Prequels and R2 loved him anyway. Chewbacca capture was a missed opportunity to get some resolution to him shooting Kylo in the gut.

Hux is the spy. Lovely. He is the ultimate weak bitch. Tbh the most consistent character development. Arguably my favorite detail on the entire film. Perfect execution. Domhnall Gleason is a gift.

Now onto Endor. Endor has so much potential and squanders most of it.

Finn meets other people who left the stormtrooper program. Cool. Weird how it's tied to force sensitivity. I like the idea of the force putting Poe and Finn in the right place at the right time, but I think to imply people’s ability to escape slavery is tied to force sensitivity brings us to the problematic terrority of the sequels. Also the only one who talks to Finn is also black. And Clearly has a romantic vibe. Okay…..

The Rey Palpatine thing is made explicit. Even though anyone will half a brain figured it out 90 minutes ago. More wierd implications…..who would agree to fuck an old man Palpatine? So Rape i guess. Rey’s parents were normal...is this some kinda side material hook to read more about them or some shit??? Kylo refers to Rey’s parents as ‘filthy junk traders’. He's right. THEY SOLD HER INTO FUCKING SLAVERY. However Rey’s parents are good people??? WTF THIS IS THE JEDI COUNCIL ALL OVER AGAIN.

Soo Kylo destroys the wayfinder to force Rey to work with him. Anti-Reylos will often get their panties in a twist about how it’s an ‘abusive relationship’. This is the only scene that really comes off as manipulative- in a way it never did in TLJ. Partly because they play up this idea of power-hungry Kylo (which has little basis in reality. In FA he just wanted to make Snoke his daddy. And TLJ Kylo is just soo fucking lonely) rather than sad boi Kylo trying to hold onto someone. Damn the TLJ throne scene is soo careful with getting that energy right, balancing the heartbreak with a little gaslighting (sorry off topic). Then They Fight. Kylo doesn’t even pull out a saber at first because he literally has no intention of killing her. Rey fights because she's mad. Leia decides to intervene at this time, which is weird because Kylo still has no intention of hurting Rey. Apparently Leia sending Kylo a text is enough to freak him out. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE TIME FOR FLASHBACKS, MAYBE A ‘YOU’RE MY ONLY HOPE’ TO TIE HIM BACK TO HIS NAMESAKE.

Instead Rey gets him in the gut. She then heals him, something that should have been really intimate. This would have been time to kiss him in that wistful ‘ I wanted to know what it would be like before I exile myself forever way’. This is one of the scenes that desperately needed more breathing room AND GIVE KYLO SOME FUCKING DIALOGUE YOU COWARDS. Healing him combined with Leia stuff should have reduced Kylo to a pile of tears. I think he would find it completely overwhelming that someone thinks he is worth it, worth a part of their life source, worth their final breathes.

Oh woah surprise Han Solo. This kinda works for me because unlike robot Leia and fairy godmother Luke, Han looks alive. Plus Han is only a memory so Kylo has to save himself, make his own choice. Aww fuck this got me the closest to tears becuase he looks so fucking sad about the fact that he can’t go home. Damn you Adam Driver and you’re big weepy eyes. His mother is dead and I don’t think he ever truly realized that she wanted him back. I guess with the way things went with Luke, he just assumed he was unwanted. Even now, Han is the only one of the 3 Ben can really imagine taking him back. Who knew Han was such a softie. At the same time there is something so unintentionally sad about the fact that Ben’s whole family can become force ghosts and not a single one gives enough of a shit about him to show up at the turning point of his life.

Also the implication that Ben turns to protect Leia’s lifework is strange. Leia’s legacy is the Rebellion, a democratic senate, a planet wiped off the map, NOT SKYWALKER JEDI #2 JJ!!!!! Ben doesn’t even interact with any of the larger powers at work, he just saves Rey.

Also while Ben’s guilt and shame about killing Han (his true sin) keep him on the dark side, this doesn’t address the 8 million other reasons he left the light. Also why do Leia and Rey never discuss this???? His own fucking family repeatedly rejected him because of his ‘Vadar-ness’ which is ironic considering…….

Then we cut to Rey’s fairy godmother-esque trip to Ahch-To where she arms herself with all of the Skywalker’s personal effects:

Mad that Rian Johnson denied you that ESB fanservice call-back of Luke being able to pull his x-wing out of water?? Don’t worry JJ has got you covered.

Mad that Leia didn’t have lightsaber? Don’t worry JJ has got you covered, Leia was always prepared to be a back up to Luke because she doesn’t have her own perspective or anything or like a whole fucking political system to run. Also she stopped training because apparently completing her journey would end in Ben’s death...ooo SmArT foreshadowing that Rey using her lightsaber will end in one dead Ben boi.

Leia and Luke ALWAYS knew about Rey Palps. Which is funny because they threw their own flesh and blood in the trash because he seemed kinda Vader-y. I guess it's wrong to judge people by their bloodlines unless its your own bloodline. I can’t even.

There is no mention of Ben at all- even though Leia and Luke both died for him and Rey put her whole heart into saving him.

Now to Exeger or whatever again. Almost two hours in and we’re back at the planet we were on in the first 5 minutes.

Spaceship stuff happens. Take out your checklist to get those pilot and ship cameos. Ooo look its The Ghost! OG trilogy pilot! Lando is there! WOOO! Poe’s girlfriend lived somehow!

Ben’s last words are ‘Ow’.

Palps wants Rey to kill him because I guess that will make her evil? Since when does killing people make you evil? I don’t think killing Palps to save the world in the same as ‘striking your enemies down in hatred’ or whatever.

Oh Hey Ben is here. Palps doesn’t care much I guess even though trolling Skywalkers is his whole life’s passion.

Palps drains the life out of Ben/Rey. They don’t die. Ben goes flying into a pit. Rey has to face Palps alone because I guess even though Ben/Rey are stronger together and are cosmically linked the lone jedi thing will happen anyway?? Is feminism about doing everything on your own rather than building meaningful connections with your equal partner. Honestly only Men would think a women has to do everything alone to prove her worth, Rey has been wanting allies and family her whole life LET HER HAVE IT.

Also okay sooo Palps did technically kill Rey’s parents and she had about a whole 5 minutes to think about that. Multiple generations of Ben’s family have been tortured by this guy, so I think it would be rather cathartic to see him play a bigger role in the end of Palp.

Rey enters the Avatar State. Cue more fanservice cameos (I love you Ahsoka, but you said it yourself, you ain’t a jedi). In another backhanded slap to TLJ were back on the TheJediDidNothingWrong line of thinking. Anakin is present ...I wonder if anyone else is interested in talking to him…...

Rey dies. I’m not sure why. Palps legit sucked the life of her and she lived, but the Avatar State killed her.

Ben crawls out of pit. Damn Adam Driver has legs for days. He heals Rey, its kinda sweet but it's also really really weird that he hasn’t said anything. Not saying we need an over the top love declaration but even his emotionally constipated parents managed to get an ‘I love you’ out.

Ben saves Rey. The thing Anakin thought the dark side would give him the power to do. Interesting bookend. Sad that my boy has such low self preservation, he gives her his life without hesitation. Why do we have to die for other people? It’s much harder to have to live for other people. To move and grow beyond the past. To try and be our best everyday, even when its hard. Isn’t that real redemption?

Ben kisses Rey. Awww. Its missing some of the elements of a big romantic drama kiss, which I would be okay with ...if it was followed up with a big romantic kiss with a sunset on a new planet before the credits roll. Alas this does not happen. The audience is somewhat befuddled since their had been almost no dialogue referencing their emotional connections. The ‘no one knows me./I do.’ dialogue from the trailer did not appear in film.

Ben smiles. It has all the boyish charm and innocence Anakin wished he had in the prequels. Aww he really has never kissed anyone. I wonder when the last time he smiled was. HAS THIS MAN EVER HAD A GOOD DAY HIS ENTIRE LIFE. I am emotionally moved until approximately 2 seconds later….

Ben dies. There is no funeral. No mention. Rey doesn’t shed a single tear. This dude literally gave you his life without hesitation. Is Reylo one-sided? Or at least not equally felt? Ow. U The Resistance doesn’t wonder what happened to the Supreme leader. We know at the end of TLJ Luke became a legend, I do not think this happens to Ben.

The Resistance parties. Cue Return of the Jedi film reel. Poe and Finn are heterosexual. No resolution to the stupid ReyFinn force sensitve thing. Two women kiss. It will be cut out of the Chinese release.

Rey buries the lightsabers on Tatooine because you know Luke lived there and Leia once wore a metal bikini there. Rey choose the name Rey Skywalker. Which is interesting because she didn’t get along that well with Luke. She finished her training with Leia Organa Solo, Princess of Alderaan who just happens to have been a result of a sperm donation from Anakin Skywalker. She found a father figure in Han Solo. She loved a guy named Ben Solo. I’m not saying she should name herself Rey Solo, but it certainly is better than Rey Skywalker. I mean it's almost like a person's worth and ability aren’t dependent on either a bloodline or acceptance into the galaxies most powerful family. Rey nobody would have been fine. I’m not going to get into the feminist angle of a self made women tying herself to the legacy of a man. Cue theaterwide groaning.

Twin suns. Cool. I liked them better in The Last Jedi.

Rey has a yellow-ish lightsaber and maybe made out of her staff. Wonder where she got the crystals from and why they didn’t introduce it earlier. Possible implication she's going the way of the ‘grey’ jedi? idk some Jedi have yellow actually. Ahsoka had a yellow one. Not sure since this film is back on the JediwayisBest bullshit.

We see Luke and Leia's force ghosts. Ben’s last word was ‘ow’.

In Summary, some odd implications:

Rey Palpatine is quite possibly the worst idea of all time. Worse than midichlorians. The highest level of fanboy pandering and Rian Johnson erasure. Rey has a lot of very real things to be angry about - her rough childhood, the deaths of her mentors, loving someone as dense as Ben Solo, having to come to terms with the fact that her parents didn’t love her.

Return to prequel-esque thinking on slavery. Apparently it is not that bad if you sell someone as long as you do it with LOVE.

Making Finn force sensitive is not character development. Its just half assed pandering and additional exposition in a film filled with exposition.

There is some truly awful dialogue in this film. Its shot composition and editing is so sloppy compared to FA or TLJ.

The force in balance means killing everyone on the darkside.

Rose is completely sidelined. She is the only Asian character on screen. She is seemingly replaced with a black woman who has a similar background to Finn and is a scavenger like Rey. Yikes. Why does this feel like an anti-interacial relationship thing.

Said Black women Jarrah talks to Lando, another black character in a bizarre dialogue that vaguely implies all black people are related. I might be really misreading this, but its weird. I would have liked her to talk to Rose instead because female solidarity.

FinnPoe is played up a LOT. But we are also repeatedly reminded they are attracted to women. This does not feel like woke Bisexual culture. This is pandering without making a commitment.

Rey’s worth as a character is related to her connection to powerful people in the Star Wars mythos, not her own traits.

Ben’s character resonates really strongly with abuse victims and outsiders. His lack of dialogue strips him of a lot of his agency. His estrangement from his family is not resolved. Vader, who arguably did a lot worse things gets a whole dying monologue and force ghost thing.

Oh hey C3PO said the festival is every 42 year old….OG came out 42 years ago. heh.

In Summary:

Watch the Clone Wars animated series

Fall in love with Ahsoka

Watch Star Wars Rebels or at least all the episodes with Ahsoka and also the series finale, it's got some cool force stuff in it.

Think about the cool force stuff in Star Wars Rebels and the cool force stuff in The Last Jedi. Woah.

Apply all this cool force stuff to your own personal version of the Rise of Skywalker

Wait for clone wars finale Feb 2020

Rinse and Repeat

Peg Kylo Ren

Oscar Isaac is the Captain on the FinnPoe Ship.

The Last Jedi was the Best One. Fight Me.

Find the fanfiction where Rey tells him what a good boi he is which reduces him to a puddle. Find the fanfiction where he cries during sex the first time, the second time, every time. Find the fanfiction where his force ghost gets a hug, where his family welcomes his back.

Read Fanfiction:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852886

What I would do instead:

Delete Rey Palpatine

Ditch the mask. You have a fucking Oscar nomiated actor hiding under it.

After the Endor part, have Kylo join either Rey or the Resistance. Personally I think him hitching a ride on the Falcon would have been wonderfully awkward. And maybe give some closure the calling Finn a ‘traitor’ thing. This is fanservice-y, but no more fanservice-y than the rest of the film. And maybe finally answer the question of who does/doesnt know who Kylo Ren is. Would like a verbal declaration that he identifies as Ben Solo or least Ben or something.

Ben can still die I guess but maybe give him some kinda funeral. Or reuse the golden dice symbolism.

Slow everything done. Let the audience feel sad, feel happy. Oh and cut out those fucking death fake outs.

#tros #rambling #reylo #spoilers #rey #Rey of Jakku no last name given #why did i write this #catharthis #ben solo

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marinersubmariner · 4 years

Text

I watched The Rise of Skywalker again. But here’s a curveball for you!

Things I Like in The Rise of Skywalker

Babu Frik

The dead speak!

The little GPS in the wayfinder is so cute

The descent into the underworld on Exegol

Threepio is actually really funny the whole time. Although if you’re supposed to be emotional about “taking one last look at my friends” it does not work at all since Poe in particular is never not a total asshole to him. But maybe Threepio just thinks being an asshole is how everyone expresses friendship given his history with R2 and like... every other character

The music in the Tatooine scene is beautiful, it has a deep sense of melancholy to it that resonates with how I feel at that point in the movie

Rey staring up at the lightning on Exegol, as the shot flies out into the stars it gives a very good hypnotic effect that really sells the Force meditation

“General.” “General.”

Lightspeed skipping is dumb and way too frantic but it looks neat, I like seeing weird new places however briefly

Babu Frik

Ben Solo lightsaber behind the back exhale

Funnily enough I never liked Han’s “shoot without looking” move in TFA, it’s very tryhard “look how cool Han is” superhero bullshit... but I love Ben repeating it here, just because it’s a small moment that really quickly and obviously conveys SOLO, in addition to Ben’s confident decisiveness in his True Form

.......just Ben Solo

Rey and Zorii and “I care.” That lightsaber vs. blaster standoff pose is cool and reminds me a little of Mando and Cara with their blasters on the ground while Baby Yoda sips soup

Babu Frik

WEDGE

When Rey chops the wing off Kylo’s TIE and it wobbles really stupidly before it crashes, it makes me laugh. There’s like a Three Stooges woob woob woob playing in my head

Those little fennec fox looking things in that one establishing shot on Pasaana. CREATURES!!! TLJ is the only one of these movies that really went for prominent incidental creatures with the porgs and vulptex and I love shit like that for worldbuilding

Finn holding the lightsaber in the snake cave. Finn and Rey and Ben all using the same lightsaber.............. I’m fine

Rey using Chewie’s bowcaster

D-O’s “no thank you” (although I liked this a lot better before I knew it was JJ doing the voice. Now I mostly hear JJ which is a bummer)

The lightsaber hand-off is still the very best. Objects passing through the Force bond culminating in Rey and Ben using that to be TRICKSTERS. Friendship is magic

Babu Frik

The Luke and Leia flashback feels so old school EU, it makes me happy. Their outfits, the atmosphere, and the glow of the lightsabers are all really good

The little shutter flaps on Rey’s lightsaber emitter

Finn wearing Han-style pants with the stripe down the side

That lens flared close-up of Ben’s face in the Pasaana desert....... seeing Ben in full sunlight............ it’s... nice..........

Rey conjuring Force lightning is cool

The leap over the TIE is also very cool

“I’ll come tell you.” sassy

There’s always that one dude at the board meeting who has to trash talk the evil wizards. They never learn

Our lord and savior Babu Frik

“The daughter of Vader” and “the Princess of Alderaan”

SHE WAS IN MY QUARTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Kylo picks up the wayfinder in the Death Star throne room and Rey immediately ignites her lightsaber, the way he then drops his hand in exasperation at her instant hostility is so funny

The aerial shot of the Knights of Ren standing on a rock doing nothing. Amazing

Falcon thrusters into the Star Destroyer hangar and Kylo hanging on while everybody else gets blown over

OCEAN MOON. I have a whole thing about water and rain in Star Wars, mostly because of Kamino. I just like water. And its relation to Rey as a child of the desert, and water as life and the ocean as a journey into tumult and darkness and discovery. I like that we had snow in TFA and water here and how it counters Episode 3 and Mustafar. Those giant waves are rad

Rey climbing in wreckage

Dumb anime Force jumps

Melting Palpatine is gruesome but I kinda like it. Also really like him dangling from a robot arm

The surprise on Ben’s face when Rey heals him and the surprise on Rey’s face when Ben heals her................... elmofire.gif

THEY’RE ENEMIES AND THEY’RE SOULMATES WHOSE METAPHYSICAL CONNECTION MANIFESTS PHYSICALLY IN A CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK LOOP OF VIOLENT AND GENTLE RECIPROCITY AND THEY DESTROY AND REGENERATE AND GROW INTO THEIR TRUEST SELVES

Not only Ben’s smile but his little laugh fuckfuckfuckfuckkcuffjjffhfgffff

“Ow.”

Babu Frik the one true king

#star wars #the rise of skywalker #sw meta #HAPPY BEEPS HERE BUDDY

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 5 years

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i was mostly wondering how you would’ve handled the reylo storyline? here’s the thing, i’m such a sucker for a trash ship (hello garcy) but i am so not a reylo shipper (finnrey!! you saw me in a way no one else has come oN they were RIGHT THERE DISNEY UGH). however, i thought their kiss at the end was objectively kinda cute (and i loved the ben solo redemption arc cause i’m a trash human), but it was so random based on how they were presented throughout the trilogy?? (part one)

(part two) you’re an amazing writer and lover of trash as well, and i was wondering if you had to construct the reylo arc, how you would’ve handled it? this is purely an objective thing because the end scene made me realize that they had potential, like garcy level potential, to be a really good dynamic and ship, but it was just handled so poorly everywhere overall, it makes me want to go back and be like “now THIS is how you do a trash ship, not whatever actual garbage you tried to pass off”

(again if you don’t want to that’s 1000% okay cause it was so gross i’m just bitter at the trilogy as a whole cause i don’t understand why they all didn’t decide on an overarching plot for all three and then direct/write their movies based off that????? like????? how?????? good?????? writing????? is????? supposed?????? to????? happen??????) (part three) 🤗

(thank you and i love you) (part four)

Aww you are so sweet anon, thank you! Much love and kisses and hugs to you! I hope that you’ve been having a good holiday season, disappointment over Star Wars notwithstanding.

I would also like to thank you for your patience–it’s been a crazy few days, with the holidays and all, so it took me a little bit to get around to this.

This will get long, I’m sure, so it’s all behind the cut! I apologize for how this turned into complete rambling. There is no structure to this. I’m sorry.

Now, I love a properly done, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers ship as much as the next feral hyperfixating moron, but so few people do it properly. An enemies-to-lovers ship that’s done properly is one that has two people be enemies because of equally valid but opposing moral viewpoints or, takes the time to show the ‘enemy’ character a) recognize that what they’re doing and have done is wrong b) apologize c) make reparations d) continue to improve in their behavior and do good, not to win back favor or make reparations but because they have seen the error in their ways and they want to keep doing good for its own sake.

The example of the first is Flynn/Lucy from Timeless. Flynn and Lucy start out as enemies, and as we learn over the course of the first season, Flynn is actually the hero. He’s the one who is opposing the white supremacist bullshit cult trying to take over the country/world. Flynn, out of grief and desperation, does things that are morally questionable and objectionable, and through his interactions with Lucy, tries to hone and adjust his plans. Lucy on the other hand has the more “moral” standpoint aka let’s not kill people, etc, but she’s working on behalf of the evil bullshit cult. Their viewpoints are opposing but equally valid and the joy of season one is watching them start to fumble their way to meeting in the middle so Rittenhouse can be defeated.

An example of the second is Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now, I’m not going to call out any particular ship here, but no matter who you ship Zuko with, it’s only possible for you to do that because he spends seasons and seasons of television making up for his mistakes. We see him slowly come to question his motives and actions, realize he’s wrong, and take steps to apologize and make reparations. After he does that, he then continues to do good. He doesn’t say, “well I apologized and then I taught the Avatar how to firebend so I’m all good now bye!” He continues to fight the good fight, and not because he wants a reward or praise, but because he knows it’s the right thing to do, and he wants to do the right thing.

So right away, we’re off on the wrong foot with Kyle Ron.

I don’t give a flying piece of monkey fuck what any other books or media say about Kyle’s fall to the dark side. Most people are only going to watch the films and in the films, all we know is that there was darkness sensed in him, Luke thought about killing him (which is a shitty piece of characterization that I will never forgive Rian Johnson for and trust me he can throw whatever arguments he wants at me with his I’m So Woke White Guy Persona and I can and will destroy every inch of his arguments and his brain but that’s a story for another time), Snoke started talking to Kyle or rather Palpatine as it’s explained in a quick ham-fisted explanation in TROS, and Kyle goes and MURDERS A BUNCH OF HIS PEERS WHO ARE ALL CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS, THEN PROCEEDS TO BECOME A SPACE NAZI.

…yeah that sure doesn’t sound to me like a traumatized child trying to make his father proud (Zuko) or a grieving widower and father trying to fight white supremacists and destroy their organization with full knowledge that he’s breaking his own moral code to do so (Flynn).

So yeah, right away, we gotta fix that.

The next thing we gotta fix is his first interactions with Rey. The Force Awakens didn’t set Rey and Kyle up to be romantic at all. He tries to mind rape her with his Force abilities, for crying out loud. And this is after he mind rapes and tortures Poe for information with his Force abilities. Then, after his father offers him redemption and love, he kills him–right in front of Rey, who had come to see Han as her adopted father.

Never once does Kylo Ren apologize for any of it. Not. Fucking. Once. Not even a simple ‘I’m sorry’. What the fuck.

I wouldn’t have him hurt Rey in any way. Capture her, okay, but not hurt her, certainly not try and force himself into her very mind. That’s not something I could ever forgive someone for doing. Sorry not sorry. Then I wouldn’t have him kill his own father after said father had offered him love and understanding and redemption. Nope.

Then, if we wanted to show the two of them establishing a Force bond et al like in TLJ, I wouldn’t have him fucking gaslight her. Saying “you came from nothing, you are nothing, but not to me” is a manipulative as fuck thing to say where you a) destroy the person’s self worth b) make them think everyone is against them and c) that you are the only person who values them. That is, as I’m sure I don’t have to remind everyone, not. healthy.

Having Kylo treat her with respect and consideration, praising her, not gaslighting her, and also um NOT TRYING TO GET HER TO JOIN THE DARK SIDE, especially after he killed Snoke. He rejects once again an offer of rejection, this time from Rey, and decides to rule the Space Nazi Army. Not cool bro.

Let’s compare that to Garcy real quick.

Flynn tries to get Lucy to help him specifically because Lucy is the person who told him to do this in the first place. He is doing things he hates doing and needs a true ally, a partner, someone he can trust and turn to for advice and assistance. Lucy’s refusal to budge on her moral stance even once she knows about the existence of Rittenhouse is actually a problem because it draws out the conflict between her and Flynn and makes it so that Rittenhouse has more chances to succeed. Flynn goes about asking for her help in an entirely trash way which… doesn’t help either. But he never lies to her, never manipulates or gaslights her, he respects her (and makes that clear) and repeatedly, when Lucy offers him redemption (or what she thinks is redemption) begs her to explain to him how he can accept it. Lucy repeatedly says to Flynn, “please do abc in order to be the honorable man I know you are,” and Flynn’s response to that is, “but will that mean that my terms of xyz are fulfilled.” They’re negotiating a treaty, essentially. Flynn needs certain things so that he has a guarantee that Rittenhouse is defeated, and until he gets that, he cannot accept Lucy’s offers despite making it clear he wants to.

Kyle Ron, incel fuckboy, does not do this. He instead kills his ‘mentor’ and assumes the throne as supreme leader after manipulating Rey and gaslighting her and then tells her to join him or die. Not… the same thing… at all.

Basically the whole Reylo thing suffered because there was never originally an intention for Reylo to be A Thing. Rey and Kylo Ren were set up in TFA to be opposites and to be enemies. Then in TLJ we got an enemies-to-lovers setup that was done incredibly poorly with gaslighting and manipulation and no effort on Kylo Ren’s part to actually apologize or atone for any of his behavior. How can anyone possibly have seen good in that boy? Because he talked to Rey a couple times across the galaxy when she was too far away for him to kill?

So to make Reylo work, you have to go back to TFA and completely change the setup, the character interactions, and THEN you get into TLJ and you have to change how Kylo Ren talks to her. Perhaps his decision at the end after murdering Snoke is to stay so he can destroy the First Order from within because he knows that if he doesn’t, someone else will just step up into Snoke’s place–you can’t just erase an entire movement just because one leader is gone, although that is a pretty big blow. Something like that.

THEN in TROS you wouldn’t have to change much at least as far as Kylo Ren and Rey’s interactions because you would’ve established them from the start in TFA and left out the blatant emotional abuse in TLJ. Oh, and have Kyle say he’s sorry and do some actively good things for other people BESIDES Rey so that we actually see him doing good. Someone realizing they did wrong is not the end of a redemption arc, it’s the START of one.

And the guy can’t only do good things for his love interest. Nope nope nope. Going, again, back to Garcy, over the course of season two we see Flynn a) save Rufus’s life several times and care about him b) give Denise a pep talk and come to an understanding with her c) support and praise Mason d) give Wyatt advice that Wyatt didn’t even deserve and e) joke about giving Jiya a hug (and would’ve given her one if she’d wanted it) and protect her in Chinatown.

Flynn mostly interacts with Lucy because she’s the person who gives him a real chance and opens up to him, but he’s there for the others as well and we see that. To get the same from Kylo Ren, we’d need to see him apologizing to and doing good things for Poe, Finn, etc.

Again: Reylo sucked ass because TFA didn’t set it up to be a romance. TLJ made it all worse by making the romance actually A Thing and using emotional abuse to do it, but TLJ really didn’t have much of a chance to make it a Good Thing anyway because it was building off of what TFA started, and TFA started off on the wrong foot if you want a romance between those two.

Personally, I think that there just isn’t enough time in three movies to pull off a really solid Zuko-style redemption arc for Kyle. There are too many other characters to worry about and too much else to deal with. So the answer would be to make Kyle Ron more like Flynn, but that would completely change his character, so… it’s a vicious circle of going around and around trying to make something work when the framework, the foundation, is just not going to let you do that.

How would I do Reylo? Well, to be honest, I wouldn’t do Reylo in the first goddamn place because I am so FUCKING sick and tired of white boys getting redemption arcs. I know this makes me a hypocrite because I have written 50+ fics of Wyatt Logan, The Most Whitebread of White Boys, earning his redemption, but I wasn’t starting from scratch there (and if I get a chance to make a boring white het person into a queer as fuck person, thereby actually making them interesting, then I’m taking that chance). And if I’m starting from scratch, if you’re giving me this new trilogy and saying “here are the characters, do with them what you want,” I ain’t having one more fucking lily-white privileged-ass bitch motherfucker be the “hero” because he said he was sorry and he looked longingly at the pretty girl a few times.

The trilogy gave us Poe and Finn. Two excellent, handsome as fuck, kind, loyal, good-hearted men who were fighting to save the ones they love and the galaxy. I would marry the fuck out of both of them. I wouldn’t do Reylo.

But if you put a gun to my head…

…no wait I don’t fear death that’s a bad analogy…

…if you put a gun to a kitten and told me I had to do Reylo, that’s how I would do it. Go all the way back to TFA and have Kyle Ron treat Rey with respect, never try to force himself into her mind or torture her, I’d have him not be nearly so murderous in the first place and I wouldn’t have him throwing tantrums left and right, and I wouldn’t have him MURDER! HIS! FATHER! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!

Then in TLJ I’d start to show his conflicts, have the Force bond be established but have him talk honestly with Rey and open up to her instead of having him manipulate her and try to get her to the dark side at every turn. I certainly wouldn’t have him keep telling her that they’re meant for greatness together and all that bullshit while she kept telling him no, stop, go away, I don’t want this. You know that what kind of scenario reminds me of? A man continuing to push and do things when the woman told him to stop? You know what that makes me think of?

Yeah, I bet you do.

At the end of TLJ he would not just murder Snoke and take the throne, he’d be shown in the middle of a moral quandary so that we’re given a nice and satisfying emotional cliffhanger for his storyline for us to look forward to seeing resolved in TROS. Then, TROS, at that point eh I’d leave that pretty much the same, because it would WORK, BECAUSE THE GROUNDWORK HAD BEEN LAID PROPERLY IN TFA AND THERE WOULD BE NO BULLSHIT EMOTIONAL ABUSE AND MANIPULATION IN TLJ.

So there you are, nonny. I contribute anyone enjoying that last bit of Reylo in TROS to Adam Driver’s admittedly good and dedicated acting, and I hope that my answer explains my (rambling) train of thought and explains how I would do things. But to be honest I really wouldn’t do Reylo in the first place, the whole thing sickens me, I want to set the entire Disney studio buildings on fire, and if anyone tells me they ship Reylo I can and will stop talking to them for the rest of my goddamn life because they are not to be trusted and I can successfully hold grudges for decades.

…wow, I’m just a pillar of rage.

Thank you for your very lovely asks, nonny! I hope that this satisfies. If you have any follow up questions, don’t hesitate to ask them! I admit this wasn’t a very structured response but I hope it explained everything. Have a beautiful day and give yourself a hug!

#lincoln answers things #anti reylo #anti kylo ren #star wars spoilers #FLAMES #FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE #I really hope I explained all of this well #I feel like I was just kind of word vomiting

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