#when the script is so good it bleeds into rl walk with me…

[charliesthirdeye]

okay I’m locking in for season 3 of the Bear

[jedimordsith]

So uhhh. You gonna finish your Visions of the Future series? Pretty please? 🥺

I absolutely WILL finish my VotF series!! I've got a good chunk of Katana written already and outlines for the rest. I got a little derailed getting DBW posted and then Sedo ate my brain BUT I haven't forgotten about VotF or lost my love for it!

I'm taking a partial hiatus for a bit this summer as RL demands will limit my fic time, but I'll try to post updates about what fic is coming and when once I dig back in.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek from Katana Ch 3! <3

Luke caught Mara’s hand as they exited the lift and walked toward their rooms. They hadn’t spoken in the lift, the weight of their upcoming separation suddenly real and pressing. Part of him — the responsible part — was grateful Mara would be staying behind on Coruscant. She’d be safer with Karrde’s people than with him, and Force knew she badly needed time to regroup after the trauma and mayhem of the last few weeks.

But he’d only just gotten her, and the idea of being alone again — even temporarily — of leaving her safety and care in the hands of others while things were still so new and fragile felt perilous and raw. He wanted to do something, anything to lessen the sensation.

When they reached Mara’s door, Luke followed her in and impulsively demanded, “give me your comm.”

Curiosity flickered across her face but Mara complied, handing over the device. Taking it, Luke programmed in a series of numbers.

“What are you doing?”

“Making myself feel better,” he answered as his thumbs flew over the device. “I’m putting in comm codes — mine, and a direct line to Artoo. Han and Leia’s place, too. And Iella’s Wessiri-Antilles’ office.” Handing the comm back, he pulled a piece of flimsi and a stylus from the table beside the suite’s door and scrawled out three codes in blocky script. Turning around, he folded it and held it out. “These are my codes. The first two are to get into my wing of the Palace residences and my apartment. The third is my security clearance as the New Republic’s only Jedi.”

Mara stared at him, then hesitantly extended her hand to accept the flimsi. “Why are you giving me this?”

“Because I don’t want to leave you.” Luke stepped in close and ran the backs of his fingers over the soft skin of her cheek. Mara’s eyes fell shut at the touch and his heart squeezed. “I know Karrde’s people will protect you, he said, sliding one arm around her and pressing his lips to her forehead. “And you’re not helpless — you can take care of yourself. But it’s a risk, being mine, I know that.” Luke closed his eyes against the memory of the ranks of loved ones who’d died because of him, directly or indirectly. “If I can’t be with you myself,” he finished thickly, “I can at least leave you everything I have that might help you stay safe. If — if anything happens, call Iella. Give her my codes and tell her you’re under my protection. You can trust her.”

Mara’s arms wrapped around him and she pressed her forehead into his chest. “Come back,” she demanded roughly, her hands fisting in the back of his tunic.

Minion rumbled on her shoulder, and Luke knew enough by now to recognize the sign that Mara’s feelings ran far deeper than she was trying to let on. Impulsively, he clucked his tongue at Minion and lifted the little lizard from Mara’s shoulder. The lizard squawked indignantly but let him place it on the stand beside the door.

The instant Luke pulled his hand away, awareness of Mara’s stormy sense hit him like a sucker-punch to the head. There was a ragged, gaping wound in her silvery sense. Jumbled images and feelings gushed out of it, splattering over him like blood. Luke’s throat constricted with remembered terror that wasn’t his, and cold swept over him.

Alone, alone, donttouchme, stopstopithurts, blackness — so much blackness. Grit and cold and screams — they never stopped screaming. I was good Iwasgood why did you leave me? I hate you comebackcomebackcomeback.

Luke’s fingers clenched, digging into flesh — no, not flesh. Metal.

Celestial winds whipped around him, stinging his chapped and bleeding skin, icy and battering as he hung beneath the city. Ben, Ben help me please! The winds tore his words away, flung them into the vortex. Ben would not come. No one would come. He would die here alone, a failure, his body lost, his soul lost, he’d wander forever in the empty swirling gases — a new sound… a thin, reedy cry threading through the winds. A screech —

Everything cut out. Tiny claws dugs into Luke’s shoulder through his tunic and his knees buckled.

Minion. The little lizard squalled his displeasure and then the claws were gone. Pain nipped at his fingertips and Luke jerked his hands back. They felt numb and clumsy, and it was only when he let go that he realized he’d been gripping something. His stomach plunged and he blinked rapidly, willing his vision to clear even as he realized he was shaking.

Movement. The Force rolled back in and with it the ability to clear his head. Digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, Luke pulled on the Force desperately. Calm and light poured in. It grounded him in comforting surety, but couldn’t completely chase away the queasy, shock-y affect effects of falling that deeply down the hole of old trauma.

Dropping his hands, Luke wrenching his eyes open and blinked them clear. His vision resolved on Mara and an entirely different sick feeling slid like a blade between his ribs. She was on her knees, curled forward into a ball, her looped braids falling forward across her cheeks, her hands wrapped around her upper arms. Minion had latched his claws into the front of her tunic and wedged his small body under her jaw, his purple tongue flicking at her skin frantically.

Shavit. “Mara.” His voice came out rough and she flinched. The blade in his chest twisted.

Luke crawled the two steps between them and half-sat, half-collapsed behind her. Dropping back onto his butt, he pulled Mara to him. Her shoulder pressed against his chest and he tucked her head under his chin as he propped one leg up so that his knee could brace her back and dropped the other, tucking it so his foot locked against her rear. Wrapping his arms around her, he fully enclosed her in his embrace and began to rock slightly.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her hair over and over in anxious, guilty kisses. “I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I didn’t know that would happen. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“What…?” Mara’s voice cracked and she couldn’t finish the question.

“A feedback loop,” Luke answered anyway, his eyes squeezing shut. His voice sounded strange around the low, buzzing hum ringing in his ears. “Your… war sickness triggering mine. Creating a cycle across the bond. It happened to Leia and I once. After Bespin. Before I knew we were twins. I didn’t realize…” He shook his head, her hair soft against his cheek. “I thought I could help. Through the bond. But it’s… different from anything else I’ve seen. I never imagined —”

“‘s fine.” Mara turned her head, pressing her face into his tunic. “Just — just come back. You and Talon. Promise me.”