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ffamranxii · 3 years

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Sailor Stars thoughts:

1. The anime does its absolute best to make the Starlights unlikable. Taiki is a fucking asshole (he won’t even give a dying girl, who he explicitly was taken to visit, an autograph, and tells a bunch of children that their grandfather’s theory about souls becoming stars is dead wrong), Seiya is a Nice Guy who hits on Usagi constantly despite being told multiple times she has a boyfriend, and Yaten is a mildly sarcastic cardboard cutout. I know the manga doesn’t expand on them much but the anime is supposed to help make these people real. Counterexample is Chibi-Chibi, who hardly speaks in the manga and relies on her cuteness alone to be likable. They gave her a very cute voice because it was literally all they had to work with, given how often Chibi-Chibi actually appears

2. The dub cast for the Starlights is frankly awful. As civilians, Taiki alternates between a woman trying too hard to make her voice deep and having a bad cold, Seiya sounds like a prepubescent boy, and Yaten sounds like a woman (which they’re not, as civilians); as Starlights their voices are VERY high pitched, especially Yaten’s. Their sub voices just sound like woman talking a bit deeply and then normal women.

3. Why the FUCK did Toei think literally changing sex was less controversial than crossdressing? The Starlights are women and have always been women. Plus, them being male civilians in the anime creates a paradox, because if they’re men with sailor crystals who can become senshi, why can’t Mamoru - who is confirmed multiple times throughout the series as carrying the earth’s star seed and thus being Sailor Earth - do the same? Naoko said Mamoru can’t be a sailor senshi because he’s a man, but the Starlights don’t abide by this rule, they change their fucking biological sex

4. Why is absolutely no one concerned that Chibi-Chibi, a THREE YEAR OLD, just goes off on her own and has her own little adventures? She wanders into some strange old man’s house and they’re all “oh that’s just Chibi-Chibi,” and no one is worried that a literal stranger invites a three year old into his house where he gives her toys and candy? The 90s were WILD, man

5. Why does Chibi-Chibi, again who is THREE YEARS OLD, have a thigh gap?

6. This one’s on Naoko because it’s like this in the manga, but the anime is supposed to expand on the universe so I blame them too: Why does literally nobody question Chibi-Chibi’s motives? Some strange pink haired child who fucking falls out of the sky one day up and brainwashes Usagi’s mom into thinking she’s her second daughter, and nobody bats an eye at this? That’s sus as fuck and literally the only question anyone has is “is she your kid or Chibiusa’s?” She doesn’t even have a NAME, “chibi” is just a random word she says!

7. I am DIGGING the mobster feel of the Animamates’ civilian forms. Especially Iron Mouse and Tin Nyanko, who clearly launder money through a shady car dealership.

8. The Starlights’ only redeeming qualities are their snazzy entrance music and Seiya’s red suit

9. Why is Aluminum Siren the only Animamate who understands that a senshi has a pure star seeds? Like, y’all killed the senshi of your home planets to take their star seeds so YOU could be senshi (which is presumably why Galaxia wants more seeds, to make more Animamates with them), shouldn’t you know that?

10. Aluminum Siren/Lead Crow are trying their damn hardest to give Harumichi a run for their money in the quest to become the Best Space Lesbians.

11. So the Moon Kingdom fosters loyalty through child soldiers. I’m assuming Queen Serenity has her own senshi in the form of our senshi’s mothers, etc. (Which begs the question of if the Asteroid Senshi are supposed to be the future kids of our senshi or if they too are child soldiers from the asteroids they’re named after.) Kinmoku seems to foster loyalty by having the Kakyuu’s senshi fall in unrequited love with her. (In the manga it’s stated Kakyuu has a husband who died when their planet was destroyed.) I mean, whatever works, right?

12. I LOVE Tin Nyanko’s dub voice. She’s only around Usagi’s age and she sounds it

13. The dub actress for Lead Crow seems like she’s half assing it. Her voice doesn’t raise properly when she yells, she never sounds really angry, and it’s just so odd. I find a lot of dub voices do this, while the original Japanese VAs will scream their lungs out into the mic

14. On the reverse, Galaxia’s voice actress is a badass. She’s supposed to have a deep menacing voice but I like the one they gave her in the dub. She’s quiet, and sounds almost kind, and that’s a fucking TERRIFYING sort of villain we don’t see a lot of. Even when she’s pissed she doesn’t raise her voice.

15. Why are Lead Crow and Tim Nyanko the same height? Lead Crow is like 5’10 and Tin Nyanko is 4’11 like Sailor Moon

16. As an aside, Tin Nyanko and Lead Crow don’t like each other, which reminds me of the cats vs crows trash can showdown in Haikyuu lol

17. Haruka’s hate boner for Seiya gives me life

18. FINALLY someone calls the Starlights out on being assholes but it’s only after Makoto sees them harassing a THREE YEAR OLD (Chibi-Chibi). Literally everyone BUT Usagi thinks they’re assholes. “They sing such beautiful songs!” Bro. You can sing pretty and still be a fucking dick.

19. Lead Crow goes after Sailor Moon only after reading Siren’s notebook. Ditzy SIREN is the smartest Animamate, lord help them

20. Kakyuu’s dub voice is SO GOOD. She’s my favorite minor character, I’m still bitter they didn’t show Sailor Kakyuu

21. Seiya’s crush on Usagi was so awkwardly shoehorned in. I hate it. Jesus fucking Christ Usagi is sobbing in the goddamn rain about how much she misses Mamoru and Seiya is STILL coming onto her.

22. It is literally so fucking funny to me that Mamoru spends all of Stars fucking dead. He’s just a perpetual damsel in distress.

23. Rei literally lectures Usagi about leading Seiya on and how “you need to do the right thing and tell him you already have someone,” AS IF USAGI HASN’T BEEN DOING THAT AT EVERY AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY. THE FIRST TIME THEY MET SHE SAID SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND, SHE’S TOLD SEIYA OVER AND OVER THAT SHE ISN’T INTERESTED IN HIM, THAT SHE’S GOT A BOYFRIEND, THAT SHE LOVES HER BOYFRIEND. The fucking MISOGYNY here, like it’s Usagi leading Seiya on instead of Seiya being a fucking Nice Guy who can’t take no for a goddamn answer. Shut the fuck up, Rei.

24. Pretty sure under Kakyuu’s headdress is a pair of odango

25. The fact that Iron Mouse and Aluminum Siren both die when their bracelets are removed yet Tin Nyanko doesn’t implies that Tin Nyanko was the original Sailor Mau. Mouse and Siren dying implies that forcing senshi powers on a civilian is dangerous and that Galaxia’s bracelets are the only thing keeping them alive (albeit brainwashed). Yet Tin Nyanko seems to revert to “good” when one of her bracelets is destroyed. Galaxia has to intervene and kill her personally. Tin Nyanko may have offered her senshi powers to spare Mau (this applies only in the anime; in the manga she’s explicitly said to have killed Sailor Mau)

26. Oooh Galaxia’s angry voice is so commanding and sexy

27. Don’t gimme that “we love Usagi but we love you Starlights just as much.” No you fucking don’t. The whole death scene in the anime is just so... ugh. Bad.

28. The Outers fighting Galaxia is hilarious. They’re supposed to be stronger than the Inners yet Galaxia never even has to get out of her chair to kick their asses. The writers were trying real hard to make us fear the worst and back the senshi into a corner but literally they’ve made this an impossible battle to win that only becomes winnable due to plot armor.

29. Rewatching Stars and classic after Eternal and Crystal makes me miss the battle damage the fuku took. The new series always has them looking pristine, but in classic they actually get roughed up and battle scarred. It makes it more real.

30. Aww how come Uranus and Neptune got to keep their names when they joined Galaxia? I wanna know what whack ass Animamate name they would’ve gotten. (Also Galaxia literally just sent them out like Pokémon, wtf)

31. I feel like Saturn dying shouldn’t be possible since she’s literally a senshi of death but... whatever, go off I guess.

32. So.... Uranus and Neptune joining Galaxia to try and take her star seed is a cool idea that absolutely did not happen in the manga, and needed more than half an episode of development. Would’ve been a cool plot if it wasn’t so rushed.

33. So much of this season was rushed so they could tie the series up at a beat 200 episodes. If they really didn’t want to go over 200, they should’ve cut the Nehelennia arc (which isn’t in the manga anyway) and and focused on developing the Animamates, this sweet Harumichi betrayal plot, and explaining Chibi-Chibi??? Her existence makes no sense without Sailor Cosmos, and they just... didn’t include her??? Wtf

#sailor moon #ffamran watches anime

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red-applesith · 5 years

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The Skywalker saga is coming to an end and I spent virtually four years hiding in the shadows to avoid the discourse (™). Well, to that I say no more! Rey isn’t a Skywalker! Finn is important even if he’s not a Jedi and Ben Solo is going to redeem himself!

And to rest my case below is a long thread about the Skywalker Lightsaber, the place of each character in the sequel trilogy and their narrative function. Buckle up!

First, let me postulate that--in-universe--the Skywalker lightsaber, throughout the trilogies, is the mythical sword of power, the Excalibur of a galaxy far far away. Some characters are meant to care for it for a short period of time while others are meant to wield it.

On a meta-level, we can advance that the Lightsaber stands for the Skywalker saga itself. This is why salty fans complain that toys packaging read “Rey's lightsaber” instead of “the lightsaber that once belonged to Anakin then lost by Luke.”

It bothers them that A GIRL inherited/took the lead of Star Wars.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the meta and explore the symbolic function of the Skywalker Lightsaber in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

In TFA, Maz Kanata is our Lady of the Lake, and perhaps it’s not a coincidence she lives by a body of water in a quasi-medieval setting. Like Obi Wan before her, she’s the custodian of the Lightsaber and her function is to bestow the magic laser sword to the protagonist.

The how or why she’s gotten the sword isn’t important in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is she’s here to kickstart the adventure.

But where Luke was simply handed the sword by birthright in the OT, Rey actually receives “a calling” as well as a Force vision of things past and things to come. Through Maz’s words, the audience understands that Rey is our protagonist.

Unlike Luke, Rey freaks out and runs away thus refusing the call to adventure, one of many steps on her Campbellian monomyth journey. Paradoxically, running away is how Rey is definitely sucked into the story since it’s in the forest that she meets Kylo Ren.

Ultimately--in-universe--her latent Force powers awaken thanks to this fateful encounter, and Kylo becomes--from a narrative standpoint--the reason why Rey joins the fight/the story. There is no hero without a villain but we’ll come back to that later.

Meanwhile, Maz is pulling the same kind of trick with Finn. I don’t know if you remember but before TFA Finn was marketed as the one wielding the lightsaber and people were lead to believe he would be Force sensitive.

In the following sequences though, Maz isn’t bestowing the lightsaber to Finn, she’s giving him the task to deliver it to Rey. This is how Maz lays out to the audience that Finn is our Deuteragonist. This is also how she prevents him from running away.

In the OT, it’s Han who was the deuteragonist, and the next few scenes where Finn is given the opportunity to wield the Legacy lightsaber, inform us on his own heroic journey.

Although he demonstrates great bravery during his fight against “Nine”, Finn is bested and almost immediately relieved of the sword. It’s only after the Resistance saves the day that he picks it up, alongside a weapon he’s more comfortable with, a blaster.

We are to understand that Finn’s destiny isn’t to become a Jedi or follow Rey on her path to becoming one, instead, he’s destined to become “a big deal in the Resistance”.

After that, we don’t actually see the Lightsaber before the end of the movie. But before we dive into the symbolism of the epic fight on Starkiller base, we need to discuss the role of our third main character: Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren, formerly known as Ben Solo is the only son of Han and Leia, nephew of Luke and grand-kid to Anakin thus making him the heir to the Star Wars legacy. He’s also obsessed with Darth Vader, which makes him the most meta character of the trilogy.

His function in the ST is...complicated. On one hand, he’s the antagonist, the character who opposes and causes trouble for the protagonist but if we analyze his relationship to the Legacy Lightsaber, we quickly that the lines are blurred.

Because the movies are told from Rey’s POV, in TFA all we are given to see are his actions, but not his motivations--although J.J. gives the audience plenty of hints, but I digress--The first time Kylo lays his eyes on the Legacy Lightsaber, his reaction is visceral.

Some called it entitlement, and in a way it is. But at the same time, it is not--the Lightsaber/Star Wars does indeed belong to his family. In this scene, it is the first time that Ben Solo actually embraces his Skywalker heritage!

It’s important because the first time we saw him, he sliced Lor San Tekka for implying he’s a Skywalker, then we witnessed him murdering his father in a desperate bid for embracing the dark side for good (which he failed).

Moreover, the Skywalker lightsaber isn’t a relic of Darth Vader, it is Anakin’s sword, a sword of light he lost when he committed to the Dark Side of the Force. In this context, it shouldn’t be something Kylo Ren is seeking. Yet...

Anyway, Finn--who for dramatic effect kept the lightsaber instead of giving it to Rey when they met in the corridor--readies himself to face Kylo Ren, whom we know he’s terrified of, in spite of his previous failure with that weapon.

By allowing Finn to wield the lightsaber a second time, the writers allow us to witness another step in his character progression. But once again, Finn is not destined to win this fight, and the lightsaber lands into the snow.

This is another exciting Excalibur moment--Like the fabled blade in the stone, the Legacy saber starts vibrating until it chooses its champion, flying past Kylo into the hand of Rey.

Follows a beautifully choreographed fight in the snow, chock-full of raw emotion and symbolism that culminates when Rey slashes Kylo’s face and--for a split second--considers ending his life. But the force and the directors have other plans.

The movie ends on a sort of bittersweet note for me as we see Rey embarking on her journey to Ahch-To. On one hand, she receives the blessing of Leia, the “other Skywalker twin” who places her faith in her.

Yet, on the other hand, we also see her afraid as she reaches Luke and presents the Lightsaber to him as if she was a mere messenger and not the hero of the story.

Thankfully, our Lord and savior Rian Johnson (I’m not being sarcastic- turn around right now if you hate him and TLJ) picks up the story right there to assuage that fear.

Allow me to digress before I dive into TLJ. Imagine J.J. Abrams, wearing Jedi Robes handing over the Skywalker Lightsaber to Rian. “Here. Star Wars is yours now. Go play with it.” (or see alternative image below)

The first thing that Rian does is to take his toolbox and take the lightsaber apart: What is it made of? What part goes where? Do I need all the parts for it to work? How can I make my own lightsaber?

TLJ is a very meta Star Wars movie, even more so than TFA. It’s also a character-driven story,

and presumably, that’s why so many people didn’t “get it”. They either expected the characters to stay static or they wanted a completely different story.

However, as we’ve seen, Rey was destined to become a Jedi, Finn was destined to be a part of the Resistance, and Kylo was destined to not be a mustache-twirling villain.

In the second installment of a series, you need to shake things up, push the characters further down their path. And that’s exactly what Rian does. Rey hands the Skywalker lightsaber to Luke, who simply throws it away.

The Last Jedi is a movie about self-realization, that gesture leads Rey to question her place in the narrative. Until now she convinced herself that her mission was to bring Luke back to the Resistance so he can defeat Kylo Ren and magically fix the galaxy.

She picks up the lightsaber and tries to convince Luke to come back or to train her because she’s afraid and doesn’t know what to do. She can’t go back to Jakku and has nowhere to go on top of being magically linked to a guy who killed his dad.

The next scene with the Lightsaber occurs after the second Force Bond. Between Luke’s stubbornness and her conflicted feelings towards Ren, she decides to work out her frustration. First, with her staff, then--as her confidence in her abilities grows-- with the Lightsaber.

It’s a way to show that Rey is slowly starting to understand that she needs to take her destiny into her own hands, and the response won’t come from outside of her. That realization though isn’t made to happen further down the line.

Before that, there are two more times where Rey is trying to hand out the Legacy Lightsaber to a Skywalker before taking it for herself and embracing her destiny.

1 - Right after her fight with Luke. Now that she understands that Ben Solo’s turn to the dark side stems from a big misunderstanding she gives one last chance to Luke to be the savior of the galaxy everyone expects him to be. But Luke has his own demons to fight before being ready (we’ll come back to it)

2. When she ships herself to Ben. Symbolically she’s reiterating that he’s the Skywalker of the trilogy and that his place isn’t by the villain’s side. She wants him to be good (and to climb him like a tree)--But Ben also has his demons to slay before being ready.

The next thing, they’re standing in front of Snoke. Immediately, the raisin-faced villain takes the Skywalker lightsaber away from Rey and tries to manipulate the narrative, in an effort to render both Rey (and Kylo) powerless.

First, he coldly explains that he laid out a trap to both Rey and his apprentice, and that he’s going to discard Rey because she doesn't have a drop of Skywalker blood in her veins and thus isn’t relevant to the story.

Whether he lies about the Force bond doesn’t matter because--in the end--Snoke’s obsession with the Skywalkers is his downfall.

It’s no coincidence Kylo kills Snoke with his grandfather’s weapon, a light side weapon. In that moment it’s not about power, it’s about saving someone he cares for, like Vader saved Luke.

And the weapon he so desperately wanted to keep for himself in the last movie? He floats it right back to her, proving once and for all he wants her to live and be a part of the story.

Ensues the battle with the praetorian guards where our protagonist and our antagonist fight back to back for dear life. For the second time Ben Solo saves himself thanks to the Skywalker lightsaber that Rey throws back at him.

But then…as he looks down on Snoke’s corpse, Ben/Ren pockets silently the lightsaber.

The thing is, we’re at a crossroads in the story. This is the second episode of a trilogy and both Rey and Kylo have made tremendous progress in their self-realization journey. But they’re not there yet.

In this moment we understand that Kylo has bigger demons to fight before being ready, whilst Rey needs to fully embrace her role in the story.

Her heart breaks as she listens to Ren’s plea to join his side “because nobody else believes she’s worth it because she’s not a Skywalker”. He wants her to be bad (and marry him)--she wants to save everybody.

She reaches out and calls the Skywalker lightsaber to her but this time, the weapon “hesitates” and Rey and Kylo end up locked into a game of Force tug of war.

Eventually the Lightsaber breaks. In this moment are we to believe that Rey isn’t worthy? Or that Ren/Ben is maybe not so unworthy, and there’s still hope for him?

Fast forward to Crait, where Luke appears to face the First Order alone armed with a laser sword. Many wondered why he’s using the blue Skywalker lightsaber instead of his own green lightsaber.

Well, one answer of many is that not knowing what went down on the Supremacy, Luke appears to the FO--and the audience--as if he’d listened to Rey’s plea on Ahch-To and took the lightsaber she was presenting him.

On a meta level the battle against his nephew is Luke’s climactic moment, and we’re here to witness his last and most daring heroic moment in the saga, where he accepts to embody the galaxy’s “last hope” once more.

Not unlike Obi Wan’s before him, Luke’s sacrifice ensures that Rey becomes “the new hope”.

Some found Luke’s death cheap and tacky, but I found it very moving and thematically relevant to the concept of birth, death and rebirth evoked on Ahch-To. By becoming one with the Force like his mentor before him Luke became more powerful than before.

With that in mind, is it a coincidence that the title of the next movie is The Rise of Skywalker? I think not. Now we need to discuss the last shot where the Skywalker Lightsaber appears. Rey holding the two shattered pieces in her hands while Leia delivers words of hope.

That’s some powerful imagery here because Rian spent a whole movie shaking up Star Wars and he knows it. That’s why he shows the shattered lightsaber. It is “broken” but not beyond repair. You just need to reassemble it.

At the same time, it is no longer the “Skywalker lightsaber”, it’s about to become something new, something else, something I’m very much looking forward to discovering in December.

#star wars #star wars meta #the force awakens #the last jedi #reylo #mymetasandtheories

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spinnenpfote6 · 4 years

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On ReyS*y And A Certain Ben Solo

I honestly think that a good chunk of that ReyS*y mentality is that she is almost treated as such by the movies and marketing. Instead of Kylo/Ben, the actual Skywalker of the ST. That’s why I don’t find it logical, but not far-fetched either.

Think about it: She’s the trilogy’s heroic protagonist after Anakin and Luke and she even gets their legacy lightsaber. She is part of the trio we are supposed to root for, her origin is mysterious and so far unknown and our newest Skywalker already got a bad reputation in his first movie.

In the thumbnail of a fan video I saw - the Skywalkers? According to the song’s title - “Legacy” - I thought so, but no. Because the thumbnail showed Anakin, Luke and Rey in a row. Not Ben. And the video editor wasn’t even a big or real ReyS*y supporter. Just because she fits so perfectly into the picture.

During the first two movies Rey flies around with Han, hangs around with Chewbacca, gets hugged and welcomed to the crew by Leia, trained by Luke and called by Anakin’s lightsaber. She’s not a Skywalker, but she feels like one. She feels like a member of the family and gets treated like one.

And Ben? It feels like he doesn’t even belong to the Skywalker bloodline. He is an antagonist from the start, he is isolated from Han, Leia and Luke, is almost killed by Chewbacca in rage, his grandfather’s lightsaber chose his enemy, not him, his last name is Solo, not Skywalker. Heck, not even his hair color suits the Skywalkers.

Han stroking his cheek while dying almost felt out of place because we didn’t get any father-son-vibes from them. Just like Leia sensing him in TLJ or Luke trying to apologize to him as his uncle. The only Skywalker connection that got shoved in our faces from the start is him being the grandson of Darth Vader, but somehow that fact didn’t make him feel more like a family member to me.

That isolation from the beloved Skywalkers, combined with him still being their relative, his emotional/psychological/familial problems (resulting in him not only crying, raging and failing a lot but also killing Han) are probably what lead to Ben being disliked by a lot of people, especially salty Fanboys. You can see it in the YouTube comments of Han’s death scene if you need proof: “That bastard emo kid just killed Han Solo! Chewie’s best buddy!”

See? They are very rarely referring to Ben as Han’s son, despite the movie highlighting this fact, only as that ugly emo kid or [insert random insult here].

Their problem is that they know that Ben is a Skywalker, that he is Anakin’s/Vader’s legacy and Han and Leia’s son and Luke’s nephew, but that he is neither treated like one by the plot and marketing, nor that he behaves like one. Or at least how they expect him to behave.

Ben being designed as a more human villain, for example, lead to men calling him a “weak Vader-wannabe, a constantly failing, girly emo crybaby” and women on the other hand calling him a “poster child of toxic masculinity, mysoginyistic abuse and spoiled white privilege”. Which is pretty ironic, considering how paradox this is. And I certainly think that both is bullshit.

And so, we often end up with Ben being either disliked and/or ignored as the next Skywalker or him basically getting replaced by Rey. Ants even go as far as to say Leia should disown/kill Ben and adopt Rey instead because she is “better” and “more worthy of their love”. And let’s not forget that she perfectly fits into the picture of a perfect Skywalker.

Either way, thinking about how Ben’s family is more welcoming to a random girl than to their own son (whom she almost killed) is pretty sad, especially after him getting nearly lethally attacked by family members for future or present horrible acts he committed, makes this even more sad.

Back to Rey, I feel like they are trying to say that the Skywalker family is going to help Rey finding out who she really is but a part of that kind of backfired?

Rey being framed as a Skywalker (-worthy person) seems so out of place regarding her story. And if she does end up being a Skywalker for some crazy ass reason in TROS it’s destroying her purpose entirely. Because her whole point was that she is able to be an awesome hero just because she is an awesome person, not because of some cool, super-important legacy. This is probably also why they chose to make Ben confirm that her parents were “nobodies” and then saying that she still matters to him in the shittiest way possible tho. (And, like I thought from the beginning, Rey believes him but doesn’t give up about her family because she feels like there is more...)

Now she’s almost too much a member of the Skywalker family for me, that’s why I’m rooting for her to find her real self, origin and belonging and I want her to go against the “uwu perfect hero Rey”-thoughts the Resistance probably has, simply so that Rey is not being forced into a role (just like they wanted to force troubled Ben to be their perfect child) - the role of the perfect Skywalker hero. Something that was confirmed to stress her out and not being what she wants in life.

Rey being the child of - let’s say - some other super-important force users we’ve never heard of would be better than her being a Skywalker for me... Because it would at least be some new people we’ve never heard of and this family seems to rule and/or screw up the whole galaxy since their existence and the SW universe being confirmed as a big one we can’t have a Skywalker in every corner if the galaxy.

That being said, I wish they would have included something more of Ben being connected to the Skywalker family and Rey having something that reminds her of her parents to exclude her from the Skywalker family because that’s the point of their stories, which was a bit hard to grasp, especially in TFA.

Not to mention that I of course want my two sad troubled Space Babes to bring balance to the Force and find their belonging together after how much their stories and souls intertwined! It would make the perfect ending!

Anyway, idk if I’m wrong or right but that were my thoughts on this topic!

I’m super excited for TROS!

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fantazeerps · 5 years

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inspired b/c of stuff in a chat

ASTRA

Vil: Dislikes the gods. Was raised to believe that they basically took over Astra and took credit for its creation, and thus views them all as liars and thieves taking credit where they own none. The only one that has some of his respect is Pharasma for her role in making sure souls are fairly judged to keep the cycle progressing, and keeping the undead from becoming too much of a blight. .

Mox: Respects the gods (mostly the Demon Lords), draws inspiration from them, but would never worship one. She can’t stand the idea of her own inventions and discoveries being co-opted or even stolen from her by a higher power, nor does she like the thought of “only being good because of someone elses help.”

Pan: Ambivalent.

Eden: Ambivalent but respects all faiths, aside from tyrants and the ‘joyless,’ such as Abadar, Asmodeus, and Torag.

Oma: Respects the gods and has a high regard for Nethys, but does not pray to any of them. and finds divine servants to be insufferable more often than not.

Eren: Endlessly curious about everything, and the divine are no different. He carries charms of Erastil and Desna everywhere he goes, and will sometimes say prayers to them, but does not actively worship them.

CRACKLING FORGE

Rey: He’s honestly been considering Velsharoon, having seen the Lich God’s power time and time again, but would rather write songs extolling Velsharoon’s power than actually sit down and worship the guy.

Bon: More secrets to unlock. He’d never worship any of them, being thoroughly educated on their weaknesses by the Archives, but to study them? That’s interesting.

Sizzle: Ambivalent, but would not object to any of them wanting to lend her their power, esp a Demon Lord.

Klayde: Worships Mordiggian, obviously. Despises more or less every other god in the pantheon, especially those who oppose the creation of undead. Has a decent opinion of Orcus, and finds Juiblex amusing.

TRINITY CITY

Alex: Has some serious reservations against Lawful gods of any alignment. He has a positive opinion of Sharess and Alobal, though his horrible grandfather masqueraded his cult of pleasure as Sharess’ faith for a while, which left a sour taste in his mouth he hopes true worshipers can wash out.

Kay: Ambivalent, but respects all faiths aside from Chaotic Evil and some Chaotic Neutral ones. “Worships” his money instead.

Althea: Has seen The End. She sees the gods sort of like how you’d see a man marching up to a rampaging demon armed with a pocket knife; commemorating his bravery, knowing he’ll be horribly killed but will still give you time to escape. Has a paradoxically hate-filled but thankful relationship with Rhan-Tegoth, who showed her The End.

Cailia: Much like Mox, her instructor, she puts no faith in the gods for fear of her discoveries being claimed by a third party or being unable to claim credit for her own skills. Unlike Mox, she draws no inspiration from the divine, and actively dislikes deities like Myrkul, Yurtrus, and Talona, who invite plague and undeath into the world.

#long post

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southsidestory · 6 years

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when you leave, the sun goes

RATING: Teen

SHIP: Reylo

SUMMARY: Touch is the foundation of love, the bedrock upon which forever-things are built. (What might have happened if Luke hadn't interrupted Ben and Rey as they touched hands.)

NOTES: This fic is a gift for the lovely @lochtayboatsong, who donated toward @reylotrashcompactor's GoFundMe in exchange for this story.

The title comes from the song "The Best Part" by Paul McDonald and Nikki Reed, which I listened to about a thousand times as I was writing this

—

show me, she says. show me my missing pieces, so that i can sew my soul back together and finally feel whole. show me show me show me what i can’t see in the dark.

—

Her reflection stands before her, and there are countless counterfeit Reys at her back, but she has never been so isolated. Not even when she was scratching tallies on the wall of her rusting AT-AT; not even on the nights when she imagined an island to soothe her fears. The very island she ventured beneath tonight, armed with the only demand that mattered: Show me my parents. Please.

Perhaps if she was less polite, that mirror would have given her a real answer.

It’s storming outside, the Ahch-To skies opening to pelt her with stinging rain, and by the time Rey makes it back to her hut, her clothes are twice soaked through. She knew cold on Jakku, but those desert nights were arid, not wet, and apparently that makes quite a difference.

She takes off her vest, starts a fire, and sits down on the floor of her hut with a blanket wrapped around her. She’s cold, so cold, and she can’t stop thinking about that mirror. Its fractured glass slowly unclouding, showing her the last thing she wanted to see.

She has no family, and she never will.

It takes Rey a few moments to register the world closing in around her, how the storm outside seems to disappear, giving way only to an echoing tunnel connecting her to Kylo. Ben, maybe. She can’t be so sure who he is anymore.

—

don’t forget: all shadows have light at their backs.

—

“I thought I’d find answers here. I was wrong.” Then: “I’d never felt so alone.”

“You’re not alone.”

“Neither are you.”

(Somewhere in another life, Luke runs through the rain, calling for Rey. But not in this one.)

“It isn’t too late,” she says.

And maybe this time it’s not.

—

he never learns the constellations, because he already knows what story the stars have in mind for him. but over enough little millennia, even the stars can change.

—

Girl. Scavenger. Jedi-to-be. There are many categories to place her in, but now Kylo can only think of her as Rey, because she is impossible to put in a box.

She holds out her hand slowly, and in this infinite, private space he can hear the tremulous note in her breath. Shaking, waiting, wanting.

Her hands are too elegant to belong to a woman who was a slave a week ago, the prettiest of paradoxes. Kylo’s glad that her greater nature shines through, even in such small ways as this. She is meant for more, like him, this girl from nowhere.

He takes off his glove and reaches for her, both unsteady and sure. Then they’re touching, fingertips to fingertips, innocent but intimate, and—

(“Don’t be afraid,” he told her, not so long ago. “I feel it too.”)

There is a low roll of thunder outside and a resounding energy inside as two sides of the Force collide, Rey’s presence melding with his own. And he sees everything: the now and the past and the future to come. His own quarters and the stone hut Rey sits in. A barren desert. The impenetrable red of Snoke’s throne room. Rey as she is now, a tear slipping down her cheek; and Rey as a child, being sold for—

(“Forty credits.”

Her father grouses over the blobfish’s price. “She’s a smart girl and a hard worker,” he says. “Surely that counts for something?”

Plutt grunts. “If she was so smart and so hard working, you wouldn’t be throwing her away. Forty, and not one credit more.”

“Fine,” her mother says. “Forty will do.”

It’s a bad deal, and Rey understand it now in a way that she couldn’t have then. Child slaves are worth more than adults. More trainable, more easily broken. But drunks are too desperate to strike smart bargains, and her parents were nothing if not desperate.)

Rey knows already. Somewhere inside, under the optimism she wears like armor, lies this truth. When the time comes, he won’t even have to tell her.

—

there is a difference between alone and alone together. there is all the difference in the world.

—

If she goes to Ben, he will turn back to the light.

(Between the walls and their enemies’ armor and the embers in the air, Rey has never seen so much red. They stand back to back, fighting together instead of against each other. He moves like a monster finally uncaged, wielding his saber with a vengeance she can taste on the back of her own tongue.

“Please,” Ben says.

It’s a future as solid as stone and as clear as glass. And although Rey doesn’t know what he’s asking of her, she’s certain that she’ll give it to him.)

She clasps his hand properly, and her surroundings flicker. Her hut disappears, replaced by a dark, spartan room that is undoubtedly Ben’s. For a moment, she can see exactly where he is, but then she blinks, and she’s back on Ahch-To. His brown eyes widen, and she suspects that the same thing just happened to him.

Her visions have whispered away, but Rey can still feel the warmth of him. This is real, regardless of how far apart they are. After all, what truth could be stronger than one revealed by the Force?

—

touch is the foundation of love, the bedrock upon which forever-things are built.

—

They draw so close together that Kylo can feel Rey’s breath on his skin. She lets go of his hand, but only to brush his hair away from his face, her touch achingly gentle. She traces a line down his cheek, then brushes his lips and chin, mapping out every flaw with her fingers, and Kylo closes his eyes against this soft examination.

“No,” she says. “Look at me.”

Kylo is not used to following any orders besides Snoke’s. But Rey, she wants him to give, not submit, and this matters more than he could have known. So he opens his eyes and finds understanding in her gaze. No hate, no judgement. Monster, she called him, but now Rey looks at him like she only sees a man.

“Thank you,” he says.

Rey cants her head, and he notices, not for the first time, that she is prettier scowling than most women are smiling. She touches his scar, following the seam of it, this wound she’d inflicted just days ago.

(The wind bites his skin, its needle teeth pricking the fresh burn on his face. Death hovers over him, his own grandfather’s lightsaber held in her hand, and Kylo is surprised to find no fear within himself.

Do it, he thinks, but he doesn’t have the breath to say as much.

Then the ground opens up between them, and as this violated world collapses, Kylo’s last wish is that if he lives, he wants to see Rey again.)

“What are you thanking me for?” she asks.

The honest answer—that she’s made him feel something besides misery and anger for the first time in years—is not one that he’s ready to share.

So Kylo deflects.

“Not for slashing open my face.”

Rey pulls her hand back to her chest, her expression so unimpressed that it almost makes him smile.

“Perhaps you should,” she says, voice lofty. “You look roguish now. Before you were too pretty.”

People have been terrified of him for so long that Kylo almost doesn’t recognize her teasing for what it is, but Rey’s blush gives her away.

“You don’t flirt very nicely,” he says.

She shakes her head, gaping. “I’m not flirting with you!”

He does smile then, and nearly laughs. “You are, but I don’t mind.”

Rey looks ready to crawl under a rock and never come out, so he grabs her around her waist and hauls her onto his lap. She scrambles to steady herself, holding onto his shoulders tightly.

Everything around him shivers, rippling like the air on an impossibly hot day, and suddenly he isn’t in his room at all. That stone hut he’d glimpsed earlier has manifested around him, and Kylo doesn’t even know if he’s still aboard the Supremacy at all. Maybe he’s only here now, drawn halfway across the galaxy by Rey’s touch alone.

—

here and there are not such strangers, but the closer you want them to be, the farther apart they are.

—

Rey’s bed is small and hard, so she and Ben lie on the floor together, holding hands. Firelight casts flickering shadows across his face, a sight that makes her shiver.

This man was her enemy, and he could be again tomorrow. A few sweet words don’t mean much in the middle of a war. Except, Rey wants to believe in him. It’s in her nature to hope, no matter how high the odds are stacked against her.

“My father always said to never tell him the odds,” Ben whispers, as if he plucked her thoughts right out of her head.

He did, she realizes. She forgot that he could do that so easily.

“Wait. We’re not supposed to be able to use the Force when we’re connected like this. How did you—”

Ben squeezes her hand. “I don’t think those rules apply anymore.”

Rey listens for the echoing that had accompanied his voice before, but it’s gone. Now there’s only the sounds of thunder and rain, Ben’s breathing and her own.

“Are you here?” she asks. “Really here, I mean?”

He’s quiet for a long while, then says, “I don’t know, but I’d like to think so.”

They hold hands all through the night, sharing simple truths and hard ones as the storm outside eases.

“It’s not about finding things that still work,” Rey says, because he asked about a scavenger’s life. “Just about everything on Jakku is garbage, so you don’t look for things that are whole; you look for things that can still be salvaged.”

The fire is dying down, but dawn light shines through the window now, so Rey doesn’t miss Ben’s subtle smile.

“What is it?” she asks.

“No wonder you’re trying to save me,” he says dryly. “You’ve spent your whole life fixing broken things.”

She moves closer, until every part of her is touching some part of him. “Do you truly think that you can’t come back?”

Ben wraps an arm around her, and for the first time in her life, Rey feels small and protected at once.

“How could I?” he asks. ��After everything I’ve done.”

“You’re the one who said to let the past die.” Rey draws back just enough to look at him properly. “It doesn’t seem like you’re very good at taking your own advice.”

She wants to say more, to tell him that she sees so much good in him still. That she can feel his light, in constant conflict with the darkness, and all he needs to do is listen—

But then he’s gone.

—

everything circles back around to its beginning by the end.

—

Kylo once heard a folk tale about a princess in a coffin. She ate some poisoned fruit—an apple or a pomegranate, he thinks—and it took a prince’s kiss to wake her from her living death.

Rey is far from a sleeping damsel, and he’s never been a prince, despite his royal mother, but that old story comes back to him nonetheless. Rey has delivered herself to him, and as he looks down at her in that escape pod, all he can think of is the princess in the coffin, waiting to be saved.

As soon as they’re alone, he asks, “Why did you come here?”

“Because,” she says, “you’re worth my hope.”

—

some infinities are smaller than others, but they go on endlessly all the same. or: the briefest moment cradles a lifetime of what-ifs within it.

—

#reylo #reylo fic #reylo fanfiction #reylo fanfic #force bond #force skype #gift fic #prompt fill #my fanfiction #lochtayboatsong #IVF #when you leave the sun goes #gofundme

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two-halves-of-reylo · 6 years

Text

A night of reflection

Submission by: @til-lyanae

His hands rested against the smooth and cold metal that surrounded him like a cage. His arms, stretched to the extreme, were shaking slightly by dint of pushing against a wall that would not move. His head remained stubbornly downward, for he knew that raising his eyes would mean seeing his shadow. A shadow trapped between his own fingers. A mind torn by his choices. He wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t want to face the inevitable now. So, he kept his eyelids closed and rounded up even more the shoulders and back.

Five minutes more. Just five short minutes to pretend that nothing had importance or consequence. Five unfortunate minutes of respite to forget the pain and horror of what he had done and continued to do. Forget everything except the almost boiling water that flowed abundantly along his body, without being able to relax his muscles, or wash his mistakes.

There, without anybody to judge him, he could pretend that what was flowing on his cheeks was not tears. That he was just taking a shower after an intensive training. That he didn’t care to be more alone than ever. That he didn’t lose everything by thinking to take it all. That the sweet face with wild eyes that obsessed him didn’t matter. That his mother wasn’t dead. That he had not killed his father.

Elsewhere, somewhere in the unfathomable abyss that was become his heart, there had no war. Snoke had never existed. His family wasn’t torn apart. The girl from nowhere had not rejected him. And he was still a little anxious man, sometimes too serious, but very sweet, smiling, and terribly desperate to be understood and loved, without feeling any shame.

Nobody was afraid of his powers. Nobody was trying to manipulate him. Nobody had chosen to abandon him. He was trusted. There was still hope…

He opened his eyes sharply, shocked that his thoughts had drifted so far away. He had not let his imagination to express itself since that famous night at the Temple. When his life was become a hell of which he had naively thought he could accommodate himself.

Jaw tight on the sob that he repressed, he left the shower with a cloud of steam, took a towel barely long enough to go around his waist. While he wiped his face and the rest of his body, his footsteps mechanically guided him to what he now feared as much as his nightmares.

The mirror.

It was just, however, a banal polished surface made to reflect light and objects, not an open door to the Darkness, their sibylline voices and unsatisfactory answers. It was not what the Scavenger had faced without fear.

No.

However, he feared more than anything he would see. What he saw for many years but never fully realized before the disappearance of his Master.

At this moment, in the mirror, naked, without artifice or protection, he saw himself. Him. Only him. Not Kylo Ren. Not Ben Solo. No Darkness. No Light. Just him. A massive body made for fight.

A weapon. An empty shell with old eyes.

A broken thing that had neither the desire nor the strength to rebuild itself. Not anymore.

Lost. He felt completely lost. For the first time in his entire life, he was free to think for himself. There was no more perfidious voice to push him to act. To comfort him in his actions. He was the only master of his choices and should face every consequence. Alone. He should have been relieved now that he was accountable only to himself. He thought he was relieved.

But the mirror, cruel and without clemency, sent him back all he was and everything he would never be. And that destroyed him.

He clenched his fists, so strong that it was painful.

Before, he would have already reduced to rubble his reflection. Tonight, he was unable to do that. Again. The silence in his head had become deafening. He was no more than doubt, confusion and apprehension. The only thing he was certain to know, is that he was a monster.

A monster without real purpose, relieved of its substance. Even the force and his constant solicitations was quiet. His double in the mirror would send back a pathetic picture. He was paler than usual and his features were pulled by anxiety. Lately, he felt constantly falling into the gaping hole that Snoke had left in his mind. A hole he nearly could see when he was a student his face in the glass.

Since he became Supreme Leader he was doing everything by automatism. Eating had become secondary. Sleep was a horrible temptation he avoided at all costs. He had become a wreck and a part of him knew that he deserved it. Because he had blood on his hands. His own blood.

The mirror was saying that he would never have peace. He knew it.

He closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. One. Two. Three seconds. Then, with a thrill of resolution, he again crossed her reflection in the mirror. This time though he concentrated on the one thing that made him forget his sufferings. A paradoxical fact, that he would keep all his life. The thing that prevented him to destroy the mirror.

The scar.

He raised his hand, slowly followed the path traced on his skin by the Lightsaber of his grandfather. Unlike the empty shell that he had become, this, this was real. Palpable. Too gentle punishment for his many crimes, and a constant reminder that there was someone in the vastness of the universe that was like him. His equal in strength. In all.

Rey.

She had put her mark on his body and his mind. In many ways she had taken possession of him. Somehow, this face was now a little of her. But not like the thousands of brands that were digging the walls of his AT-AT. No. Count the days had quickly ceased to be its main goal. Mark the wall had become a habit, a ritual, perhaps for proved she was still there and would not abandon. He had walked in her memories and thought he knew exactly what she was thinking in these moments there. But what of this scar ? He knew that she saw the monster in first, when she watched him. Before the Bond… And now ? He was unable to interpret the last look she gave to him and couldn’t read her mind without indulging himself in her judgment.

He had the impression to see her clearly, while remaining blind to what she really was. He wanted to understand her… because he had the impression that understanding her would help him to understand himself.

He had not seen her since Crait. Almost a week. Just felt echoes of her mood through the Bond. Anger. Determination. Joy. Sadness. And something more. Something he couldn’t not to completely grasp, understand. An intense, strange, almost pure emotion. Also strong as the desire to wait for the return of parents who did not think about her anymore for a long time. Also bitter as all the nights she had spent alone in not being able to sleep. Also burning and ruthless as Jakku desert. Also delicious as the simple pleasure of discovering the vegetation of Takodana. Also fresh as the contact of the rain on her skin. Also new and mysterious than to see the ocean for the first time without knowing what lies beneath the surface.

He felt troubled by this strange swirl of sensations and memories. When she was overwhelmed by this sense of fragile balance, her presence in the Force and his head was so strong that he could think of nothing else than their hands together outside of space and time, their perfect union against the Praetorian Guard. And confidence, the exhilarating realization that they would never have to be alone again…

A deep sigh escaped him while he let fall his hand along his body. She had chosen. She was gone. What she felt was not his problem. This complex and indescribable thing that lit up her side of the Bond didn’t even have a name for her. So, it didn’t have a name for him either. He would seek no answer to fill the void.

And because he had forgotten what it was to love, or because it was too painful to remember what it was, he refused to dwell on his own feelings. He constantly resisted her discreet calls, that he considered involuntary. He was struggling against the furious desire to see her, even for a second, appear before him by a whim of the Force.

Resolutely, he prepared himself for the night and left the bathroom. He did not really understand why his scars please him. Why Rey had become the center of his universe, even while he should hate her to having left him for dead.

He lay down in his vast bed, the face turned to the vastness of space. He didn’t want to sleep. He was running away from the sleep since Crait. He was afraid to see his father’s face, and the rest. This fear of dreaming about ghosts gnawed at him from inside. So, generally, he was content to observe the stars an hour or two, without ever doze off, before returning to practice training.

But not tonight.

Tonight, he felt the pleasant presence of Rey at the other end of the Bond. She was exhausted but serene. He could not resist the urge to soak up her soft Light, and before he could realize it, he was asleep.

When Ben appeared beside her on the bed, Rey was so surprised that she nearly hit him with the book she had just closed. She stopped herself in time, shared between the relief to see him finally and anger of not being able to pour all her bitterness on him.

He had disappointed her terribly, and the fact that she felt his torment through the Bond, in the rare moments where she had time for her, arranged nothing. With a resigned sigh, she put the book into the drawer of her bedside table. Jedi texts not brought her anything she didn’t already know, but she was beginning to understand the choice of Luke. Even if killing this knowledge was not the best solution, she recognized willingly that apply the Code without any reflection would be a mistake. The Galaxy needed something new. But what ? That was the question.

She focused on Ben, mechanically rubbed the wound inflicted by the Praetorian. The brand, two snakes trying to bite, or two hands extended towards each other, was gently pulsing on her arm. Even healed, the pain remained sharp. In his head. In his heart. She had other scars of course, most impressive and bleached by time, but this one had a special meaning. And it would stay red. As the throne room before the fire. As the armors of Praetorians. As the blood of Ben on the snow. As his lightsaber.

She felt a wave of sadness invade her and quickly drove back the tears. She was not the one who had betrayed him. Not really…

She looked at his face, strangely calm. She knew that he wasn’t sleeping much. Not at all even. She felt him constantly fussing from his side of the Bond, despite his efforts to don’t give her access to his moods. But the fact was that he couldn’t hide much thing to her. They could lie to themselves, but not to each other. Which, in the current context was a certain disability.

Rey thought that not seeing him was enough to give him some protection. However, it was quite the opposite. Feel Ben’s emotions as if they were hers, guessing that it was mutual, had something of very destabilizing. Especially when they had not yet had the opportunity to talk about the events of Crait. Whether it was possible to discuss it.

For now, she allowed herself to be captivated by the presence, in his bed, one of human beings the most feared of the Galaxy. She was not afraid of him. Not since their first fight. Part of her didn’t wants to worry about what he might become. But she couldn’t help herself. Just like Ben couldn’t help but be interested in her.

Without a sound, she changed her position to be able to look him better. As she was sitting to his right, she had plenty of time to study his most impressive scar. Her brand. She wouldn’t apologize for it, never. Regret such a thing would be insulted all those for who she had fought him on Starkiller, in the snow and cold. Ben himself would not ask her to do such a thing, nor would blame her for his injury. They were warriors. No matter the link which bound them together now, traded shots would not be resumed.

This didn’t prevent Rey to have compassion for him, as well as some curiosity. Ben was complex, at least as introverted as she. He was massive, strong, capable of anything. And, something she never imagined to thinking about him, he was handsome man, more courteous than herself in a moment of anger, and is eyes were more mesmerizing than anything she had ever known. In many ways, Ben Solo was the most fascinating being that either she had met.

See him so deeply asleep was added to the list of reasons why she regretted so bitterly that a war separates them. She wanted to share moments as peaceful as this one without feeling guilty. She was hungry for the feeling of fullness that only Ben brought to her.

She cast a quick glance in the direction of the door, hit the lock with the Force. Nobody would bother her. She had the Bond open just for her. Nothing could stop her to enjoy this moment.

When her attention went back to Ben, he had moved. His face was turned towards her and his hair fell over his brow, hiding his eyes a little. His shirtless, discovered to the navel, heaved to the rhythm of a quiet breath. He was breathtaking. And he didn’t know that she was there. Also, like when she was discovering a flower still alive in the desert, she was seized by an irresistible desire to touch him.

She didn’t know where exactly this intense desire came from. She didn’t understand why it had to be Ben and nobody else. She knew only one thing. She desperately wanted to touch him. Why she always wanted to touch him ? Her dreams were only made with moments during which, for some reason that was, she plunged a hand into his ebony hair, while the other relished the contact of his skin. A skin marked by hardship of a fight, but whose touch was neither rough nor unpleasant, just sweet.

Would it be the same as the first time, on Ahch-To, or as in her fantasies ?

She needed this contact to find out. Her fingers were already close to redraw the contours of the scar of Ben, her body leaning toward his, anticipating the encounter from their skins.

Rey knew she should not push her luck. It was not right to take advantage of the sleep of Ben. Neither for him. Neither for her. Because he would have never let her to do that if he had been awake, and she would not have dared even think to try. Besides, she had a little afraid to receive another vision of the Force, or that a shock as powerful as that felt on Ahch-To does wake Ben if she put a hand on him. He could attack.

But Rey of Jakku had not survived this long time without taking risks. She was acting and responding only by instinct. Ben had said that he be able to take what he wants from her, but never did it. Partly. She never had that kind of consideration. In the desert. Not when she was so thirsty that her throat seemed burned. Not now, when her body begged her to reach the man for who the Resistance could considered her like a traitor.

She trembled with excitement, preparing for the worst and the best. Attracted by Ben like a plant need water, she bent again, held her breath, and finally laid fingers on his cheek, his scar.

No vision. No abrupt and violent awakening. Nothing for disturbed the silence. The Force had simply hummed between them. Calmly. And if there was no big shock, Rey felt a heat wave rise up along her arm, and take possession of her body. It was good. Nice. Ben was here with her, and her loneliness had vanished. She does not smile, in case he would finally open his eyes, but her heart danced with joy in her chest.

Confident, she followed the drawing of the scar until the torso sturdy and firm of Ben. And it was better than anything her mind could imagine. Her hand was back and forth between his face and his abdomen. It was almost like cuddling a Porg. A strange thought, that made her almost laugh. She couldn’t believe what she was doing, it was like a dream. A very dangerous dream.

At a such late hour, while she felt sleepy, she no longer saw Kylo Ren nor Ben Solo lying near her, just a man exhausted, plagued by anxiety, who, in his sleep, no longer seemed inhabited by the conflict. Under her gaze, this man was a quiet strength, a torrent that rumbled slowly. The calm before the storm. He seemed ready to wake at the slightest noise. She knew that he would be able to melt on her in less than a second if necessary. Like a predator on his prey. However, despite all the threat that Ben could represent, that night, he seemed incredibly vulnerable. Soft. Almost in demand of caresses. Of care.

And no one, other than she, had seen him like that for a long time. Since Luke.

If only she had known him earlier. Things might have been different.

Rey frowned, it was useless to rehashing the Past. Not when the Future was so close to take a radical turn. Not when the Present showed Ben to her as she had never seen him before. With him by her side, it was so easy to forget everything. She was so thankful to have him for her tonight. So eager to embrace this scar which meant that he was alive, that he could still change.

Her hand met Ben’s hair. Gently, she disengaged his eyes, his forehead. He seemed so young, as young as she. Was it the sleep effect ? A consequence to the absence of negative emotions ? Both?

Before she could find a satisfactory answer, Ben awoke, seized her wrist to keep her hand away from his face. He didn’t hurt her, but she felt he would bite her if she tried to escape.

A full minute passed without that nothing happens. Then, finally, Ben let her go and she brought her hand close to her stomach.

“ You haunt me at night now, Scavenger ? ”

His stentor voice was more deep and sensual that she remembered. His eyes was still veiled by the haze of sleep. Rey was not optimistic enough to think one second that he thought dream. But she implored the Force for this to be the case. So, she shrugged off falsely flippant manner, to pretend that the situation was normal. And, despite the common sense, she allowed herself to settle more comfortably near him, hip against hip, while she crossed legs. In response, Ben growled by massaging his face.

“ You shouldn’t be here. ”

Where ? In his dream ? In his room ? The border between the two seemed so thin.

“ I know Ben, but I can’t do anything about it, you neither. ”

He sighed in frustration. The conflict was back. She could feel him relieved to see her again, a little angry, and he didn’t know what attitude to adopt.

“ You have chosen… I have chosen… we can’t go back… ”

Rey cashed his words like a slap. This was painful, really painful, to hear a beginning of sobbing in his voice, to saw only despair and defeat in his eyes, to have compassion for a man who no longer seemed to care, to realize that he was right and that she wanted to give him wrong. Before Ahch-To, before the Bond, he could say anything, that would not have hurt her. But now, with her soul screaming every night because she feels empty and alone without him, Ben’s words were a blow in the heart.

And thus, the sadness that she had turned away earlier returned. With one tear. A single tear on her right cheek, in reflection of the scar of Ben.

She believed hear him thinking that he wanted to delete this. Gently. Because her tear was a plea, answering a question that none of them had dared posed.

Why not being able to be with you is so painful ?

She saw Ben’s hand get close to her face. All also unconsciously that did hers when she had not resisted the temptation to touch his skin. He was so close to the touch her when she slightly opened lips. For take a deep breath. A breath that she would only release once his gesture is complete. She was waiting for he touches her, wanted it more than anything. But she was a little afraid that her dreams become real. Too real.

Ben seemed to understand, so he turned his attention back to the wound that was marking her shoulder. And that would probably stay red.

“ Does it hurt ? ”

He brushed her gently, and to gesture tender, in addition to surprise her, made her shiver of well-being.

“ Not anymore… ”

He nodded and intensified his caress. She let him do so, aware that moment of delusion may never happen again. The attention he gave to her, gave her some hope. However, she didn’t want to rush things, suffer. She needed him as much as he needed her. Obvious that none of them could accept it. Not when everything remained to be done. Not at the expense of a war. She was not ready. Ben either. But she wanted to believe that he would be able to change before it’s too late.

He had to catch her feeling, because his face contracted in a resigned expression. Again.

“ I’m a monster … the mirror shows it, you think it … and you’re right. ”

“ Well we distort the reality. You are a monster yes, for those who are satisfied with only one truth. You’ve always been more than that, you’ve become more than that, Ben, for me, you are… ”

What is he for me ? What are we?

“ Nothing. Don’t say something you’ll regret. Don’t try to save me. My actions speak for me, I know what I’m… ”

“ What you are is not who you are Ben. Why don’t you want to see it ? ”

He stopped touching her, put his hand on his chest. She thought she saw the shadow of a smile blossom on his beautiful face, while she moaned at the loss of his contact. But it didn’t last.

“ Rey, that’s the problem… I can see it now. ”

He looked at her scar in pronouncing his words, just as she contemplated his. Silence fell between them, each enjoying each other’s company without being able to admit. Here and now, by a miracle of the Force, they were nobody. No one for the Galaxy, but all one for the other. They were again on Ahch-To, into the stone hut, near the fire, where only the Present could exist. Comforted by this memory, Rey gave way to the desire to lie down with Ben. They barely touched each other, but it was like the Force melted them into each other. They were calm. In peace. No Darkness. No Light. Just the balance.

#reylo #reylo fanfiction #reyloweeklychallenge #submission #the right mix of angst and sweetness #long post #longpost

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til-lyanae · 6 years

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A night of reflection - "Scars" Challenge

His hands rested against the smooth and cold metal that surrounded him like a cage. His arms, stretched to the extreme, were shaking slightly by dint of pushing against a wall that would not move. His head remained stubbornly downward, for he knew that raising his eyes would mean seeing his shadow. A shadow trapped between his own fingers. A mind torn by his choices. He wasn't ready yet. He didn't want to face the inevitable now. So, he kept his eyelids closed and rounded up even more the shoulders and back.

There, without anybody to judge him, he could pretend that what was flowing on his cheeks was not tears. That he was just taking a shower after an intensive training. That he didn't care to be more alone than ever. That he didn't lose everything by thinking to take it all. That the sweet face with wild eyes that obsessed him didn't matter. That his mother wasn't dead. That he had not killed his father.

Elsewhere, somewhere in the unfathomable abyss that was become his heart, there had no war. Snoke had never existed. His family wasn't torn apart. The girl from nowhere had not rejected him. And he was still a little anxious man, sometimes too serious, but very sweet, smiling, and terribly desperate to be understood and loved, without feeling any shame.

Nobody was afraid of his powers. Nobody was trying to manipulate him. Nobody had chosen to abandon him. He was trusted. There was still hope...

The mirror.

No.

However, he feared more than anything he would see. What he saw for many years but never fully realized before the disappearance of his Master.

At this moment, in the mirror, naked, without artifice or protection, he saw himself. Him. Only him. Not Kylo Ren. Not Ben Solo. No Darkness. No Light. Just him. A massive body made for fight.

A weapon. An empty shell with old eyes.

A broken thing that had neither the desire nor the strength to rebuild itself. Not anymore.

But the mirror, cruel and without clemency, sent him back all he was and everything he would never be. And that destroyed him.

He clenched his fists, so strong that it was painful.

The mirror was saying that he would never have peace. He knew it.

The scar.

Rey.

She had put her mark on his body and his mind. In many ways she had taken possession of him. Somehow, this face was now a little of her. But not like the thousands of brands that were digging the walls of his AT-AT. No. Count the days had quickly ceased to be its main goal. Mark the wall had become a habit, a ritual, perhaps for proved she was still there and would not abandon. He had walked in her memories and thought he knew exactly what she was thinking in these moments there. But what of this scar ? He knew that she saw the monster in first, when she watched him. Before the Bond... And now ? He was unable to interpret the last look she gave to him and couldn't read her mind without indulging himself in her judgment.

He had the impression to see her clearly, while remaining blind to what she really was. He wanted to understand her... because he had the impression that understanding her would help him to understand himself.

He had not seen her since Crait. Almost a week. Just felt echoes of her mood through the Bond. Anger. Determination. Joy. Sadness. And something more. Something he couldn't not to completely grasp, understand. An intense, strange, almost pure emotion. Also strong as the desire to wait for the return of parents who did not think about her anymore for a long time. Also bitter as all the nights she had spent alone in not being able to sleep. Also burning and ruthless as Jakku desert. Also delicious as the simple pleasure of discovering the vegetation of Takodana. Also fresh as the contact of the rain on her skin. Also new and mysterious than to see the ocean for the first time without knowing what lies beneath the surface.

A deep sigh escaped him while he let fall his hand along his body. She had chosen. She was gone. What she felt was not his problem. This complex and indescribable thing that lit up her side of the Bond didn't even have a name for her. So, it didn't have a name for him either. He would seek no answer to fill the void.

He lay down in his vast bed, the face turned to the vastness of space. He didn't want to sleep. He was running away from the sleep since Crait. He was afraid to see his father's face, and the rest. This fear of dreaming about ghosts gnawed at him from inside. So, generally, he was content to observe the stars an hour or two, without ever doze off, before returning to practice training.

But not tonight.

He had disappointed her terribly, and the fact that she felt his torment through the Bond, in the rare moments where she had time for her, arranged nothing. With a resigned sigh, she put the book into the drawer of her bedside table. Jedi texts not brought her anything she didn't already know, but she was beginning to understand the choice of Luke. Even if killing this knowledge was not the best solution, she recognized willingly that apply the Code without any reflection would be a mistake. The Galaxy needed something new. But what ? That was the question.

She felt a wave of sadness invade her and quickly drove back the tears. She was not the one who had betrayed him. Not really…

She looked at his face, strangely calm. She knew that he wasn't sleeping much. Not at all even. She felt him constantly fussing from his side of the Bond, despite his efforts to don't give her access to his moods. But the fact was that he couldn't hide much thing to her. They could lie to themselves, but not to each other. Which, in the current context was a certain disability.

Rey thought that not seeing him was enough to give him some protection. However, it was quite the opposite. Feel Ben's emotions as if they were hers, guessing that it was mutual, had something of very destabilizing. Especially when they had not yet had the opportunity to talk about the events of Crait. Whether it was possible to discuss it.

For now, she allowed herself to be captivated by the presence, in his bed, one of human beings the most feared of the Galaxy. She was not afraid of him. Not since their first fight. Part of her didn’t wants to worry about what he might become. But she couldn't help herself. Just like Ben couldn't help but be interested in her.

Without a sound, she changed her position to be able to look him better. As she was sitting to his right, she had plenty of time to study his most impressive scar. Her brand. She wouldn't apologize for it, never. Regret such a thing would be insulted all those for who she had fought him on Starkiller, in the snow and cold. Ben himself would not ask her to do such a thing, nor would blame her for his injury. They were warriors. No matter the link which bound them together now, traded shots would not be resumed.

This didn't prevent Rey to have compassion for him, as well as some curiosity. Ben was complex, at least as introverted as she. He was massive, strong, capable of anything. And, something she never imagined to thinking about him, he was handsome man, more courteous than herself in a moment of anger, and is eyes were more mesmerizing than anything she had ever known. In many ways, Ben Solo was the most fascinating being that either she had met.

She cast a quick glance in the direction of the door, hit the lock with the Force. Nobody would bother her. She had the Bond open just for her. Nothing could stop her to enjoy this moment.

She didn't know where exactly this intense desire came from. She didn't understand why it had to be Ben and nobody else. She knew only one thing. She desperately wanted to touch him. Why she always wanted to touch him ? Her dreams were only made with moments during which, for some reason that was, she plunged a hand into his ebony hair, while the other relished the contact of his skin. A skin marked by hardship of a fight, but whose touch was neither rough nor unpleasant, just sweet.

Would it be the same as the first time, on Ahch-To, or as in her fantasies ?

She needed this contact to find out. Her fingers were already close to redraw the contours of the scar of Ben, her body leaning toward his, anticipating the encounter from their skins.

She trembled with excitement, preparing for the worst and the best. Attracted by Ben like a plant need water, she bent again, held her breath, and finally laid fingers on his cheek, his scar.

Confident, she followed the drawing of the scar until the torso sturdy and firm of Ben. And it was better than anything her mind could imagine. Her hand was back and forth between his face and his abdomen. It was almost like cuddling a Porg. A strange thought, that made her almost laugh. She couldn't believe what she was doing, it was like a dream. A very dangerous dream.

And no one, other than she, had seen him like that for a long time. Since Luke.

If only she had known him earlier. Things might have been different.

Her hand met Ben's hair. Gently, she disengaged his eyes, his forehead. He seemed so young, as young as she. Was it the sleep effect ? A consequence to the absence of negative emotions ? Both?

Before she could find a satisfactory answer, Ben awoke, seized her wrist to keep her hand away from his face. He didn't hurt her, but she felt he would bite her if she tried to escape.

A full minute passed without that nothing happens. Then, finally, Ben let her go and she brought her hand close to her stomach.

" You haunt me at night now, Scavenger ? "

" You shouldn't be here. "

Where ? In his dream ? In his room ? The border between the two seemed so thin.

" I know Ben, but I can’t do anything about it, you neither. "

He sighed in frustration. The conflict was back. She could feel him relieved to see her again, a little angry, and he didn’t know what attitude to adopt.

" You have chosen... I have chosen... we can't go back... "

And thus, the sadness that she had turned away earlier returned. With one tear. A single tear on her right cheek, in reflection of the scar of Ben.

She believed hear him thinking that he wanted to delete this. Gently. Because her tear was a plea, answering a question that none of them had dared posed.

Why not being able to be with you is so painful ?

She saw Ben's hand get close to her face. All also unconsciously that did hers when she had not resisted the temptation to touch his skin. He was so close to the touch her when she slightly opened lips. For take a deep breath. A breath that she would only release once his gesture is complete. She was waiting for he touches her, wanted it more than anything. But she was a little afraid that her dreams become real. Too real.

Ben seemed to understand, so he turned his attention back to the wound that was marking her shoulder. And that would probably stay red.

" Does it hurt ? "

He brushed her gently, and to gesture tender, in addition to surprise her, made her shiver of well-being.

" Not anymore… "

He nodded and intensified his caress. She let him do so, aware that moment of delusion may never happen again. The attention he gave to her, gave her some hope. However, she didn't want to rush things, suffer. She needed him as much as he needed her. Obvious that none of them could accept it. Not when everything remained to be done. Not at the expense of a war. She was not ready. Ben either. But she wanted to believe that he would be able to change before it's too late.

He had to catch her feeling, because his face contracted in a resigned expression. Again.

" I'm a monster ... the mirror shows it, you think it ... and you're right. "

" Well we distort the reality. You are a monster yes, for those who are satisfied with only one truth. You've always been more than that, you've become more than that, Ben, for me, you are... "

What is he for me ? What are we?

" Nothing. Don't say something you'll regret. Don't try to save me. My actions speak for me, I know what I'm... "

" What you are is not who you are Ben. Why don't you want to see it ? "

He stopped touching her, put his hand on his chest. She thought she saw the shadow of a smile blossom on his beautiful face, while she moaned at the loss of his contact. But it didn't last.

" Rey, that's the problem... I can see it now. "

He looked at her scar in pronouncing his words, just as she contemplated his. Silence fell between them, each enjoying each other's company without being able to admit. Here and now, by a miracle of the Force, they were nobody. No one for the Galaxy, but all one for the other. They were again on Ahch-To, into the stone hut, near the fire, where only the Present could exist. Comforted by this memory, Rey gave way to the desire to lie down with Ben. They barely touched each other, but it was like the Force melted them into each other. They were calm. In peace. No Darkness. No Light. Just the balance.

#ReyloWeeklyChallenge #reylo fiction

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phoenixyfriend · 11 months

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I think I shall go a-hunting for Rey-focused time-travel fics where she hooks up with Anakin after landing in the past

Possibly because Palpatine arranged it for his 'granddaughter'

Like if Grandfather Paradox's Arranged Marriage comedy subplot actually played out

#phoenix talks #star wars #rey palpatine #anakin skywalker #sheev palpatine #time travel

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antireylos · 6 years

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i read all of ur posts abt an idealized tlj and i love it but would u still have luke d** at the end? thats another thing ive seen fans being divisive over

i think the main reason it’s divisive is the same reason luke’s entire character is divisive – it depends on how you view his journey and how you view the message of the movies as a whole.

ignoring the sheer fact that rian ignored the themes of the other films, on paper, a character’s death means the end of their journey. luke, as such an iconic character, must have a death that is satisfying, because his journey is what began the movies. perhaps this is pandering, but luke is the soul of the franchise.

i think they could’ve made luke’s death made sense – perhaps if it hadn’t been filmed in such a bizarre way, or if there was a deeper element of closure, or if the dialogue had been more impactful. the one aspect that i actually like in the current film is that parallel to the two suns – ending the story where it began.

but i disagree with almost everything that rian did with luke. i think he’s on the island because he’s afraid of himself, not kylo, not even the force itself, and i doubt that he would choose to withdraw himself from it. in a rather self-centered way, he blames himself for it, blames himself for what kylo did and what kylo has done. he, selfishly, holes himself up, and he, selfishly, believes he is the whole reason kylo turned, but a part of him also believes that there is some light in him still. luke skywalker, the savior of anakin in his final moments, knows better than to believe that a person can be fully evil.

luke knows what immense power can do. he knows the story of his father, and he knows the story of kylo, and he isolates himself because he knows that he has such power, too, and he is terrified.

so i see luke’s journey in the second film as one of accepting that it is not his fault that kylo turned (because of course he did not attempt murder on a boy, luke was a boy too, luke knows youth and the force and knows the deadly combination of the two), and i see him reaching out to kylo. perhaps slightly for his own sake, his conscience, the part of him that watched darth vader die, but also for kylo. he believes that no one can be purely dark. he knows it.

though i am talking about luke, i believe that in turn rey must be the one who doesn’t believe kylo can become good. she doesn’t understand the force, has not seen what luke has; she has grown up alone and defending herself, so why would she believe that there is good in people like him, people who have tortured and conquered and killed? ironically, she is so full of light that it is that that jolts luke back into the situation, snaps him out of exile, causes him to want to save kylo. thus there is a paradox: rey, full of light, believes that the world is black and white. luke, who is scared and alone, believes that kylo can be saved.

(he is still luke skywalker, after all.)

but because of the fact that kylo does not turn, that he is still kylo ren, that he sees himself in vader and vader in his blood, luke’s journey cannot possibly be over. how could it be that luke would let himself die when he knows that there is still one person he could save?

i am not saying that kylo would get redemption – he can only get redemption in death, and perhaps there would be a note of irony in kylo dying before his uncle just as his grandfather did, he finally got to repeat history in death, and it causes luke to crumble, he knew there was good and he knew that he could’ve been saved but he wasn’t strong enough. there is failure, but that is not the second film, that is the third, the closure to everyone’s story for now. a bookmark. a failure on luke’s part but a shift in perspective, because it won’t be luke’s story anymore.

so no, i wouldn’t have luke die, because his journey is not satisfied. luke skywalker is still stubborn and foolish and longing for that adventure, and he will fight for a fallen jedi because he believes he ought to, because he believes he must. he does not long to be a hero anymore, but he does still see the light.

#tlj critical #tlj spoilers #anonymous #ask

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phoenixyfriend · 2 years

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Fanfic Writer Ask Meme

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

I mean. I have endless weird AUs. People always ask this one and it's like "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh here's a few"

Anakin the Snake

Mimic Spider AU

Mpreg Vader

The Sexbot AU (which is on AO3 as Human Pleasure Droid)

Dimension hopping to an Omegaverse (on AO3 as Bare Your Teeth, Soldier)

Rey and the Grandfather Paradox

Slutty Xanatos

Mandalorian Mamma Mia

Ghost Kitten Clones

In Which Fox Arrests His Boss

Who Gave Ventress the Keys?

Han’s Anti-Force Force-Sensitivity

Ventress Gets Married to Fuck Up Sidious’s Day

#star wars #phoenix answers memes

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phoenixyfriend · 1 year

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1 for the ask meme please?

send an ask: get to know your author

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

SO MANY, but the ones I really considered writing for an event and then discarded for (among other reasons) the amount of needed effort are "Rey and the Grandfather Paradox" and the Quintress Beauty Pageant.

#phoenix answers memes #star wars

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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Rey Gives No F*cks About the Grandfather Paradox

Okay so since nobody’s suggested a fic under these terms, I ended up expanding on this post on discord and things snowballed. We kept to the basics of the entire plot revolving around Rey really hating her grandad and leveraging her blood relation to not be unalived about it.

With contributions by @atagotiak, @dracothulhu, @thepallaspalace, and several others. The title comes from @gelpenss.

The basic thing I absolutely need is this: Rey gets thrown back to the middle of the clone wars, and the subsequent plot leans in really heavily on her being, genetically-via-clone-dad, the daughter of the guy running the entire galaxy.

Nobody knows what to do with her.

The timing is mid-TCW for the past (because I want Ahsoka there) and vaguely between Episodes 8 and 9 because I... never watched E9 and don’t want to worry about the timeline. The only things that matter is that Luke is dead (he can die as he did in canon) and that Rey knows she’s Palp’s granddaughter (not the way she does in canon).

We'll say Luke found out from Anakin's panicked force-ghost and just went "well, fuck, okay, I should tell her this before she ends up in a situation like mine and finds out mid-battle or something."

Luke, prior to time-travel: Okay, so, now that I'm dead I know some things I didn't before. Like who your parents were. In the interest of full disclosure because I was in a very similar situation and I don't want you learning the way I did, I'm just going to come right out and say that your father was a clone was Sheev Palpatine. Rey: ... Luke: Are you okay? Rey: I don't know who that is.

(She grew up on Jakku, the history education was a little subpar.)

Setting The Scene

Imagine Rey showing up during or immediately before the clone wars. There’s this phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater who tells you that if you ran a paternity test, it would probably pop up the Chancellor. She may or may not bring up cloning. She accuses said Chancellor of being a Sith Lord.

Your other phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater, who may not be a teenager anymore but only barely, is very offended by this because Palpatine’s a Very Nice Old Grandfather Figure, but also he’s a little full of side-eye because if the blood test comes back as proof, then Palpatine had a kid and didn’t even know about them, or lied to Anakin, and that’s! Bad! Family’s important!!!

Palpatine hears about this daughter he apparently? Has? And is very confused because the timing doesn’t match up with ANYTHING he was doing, so the kid isn’t natural, and he says as much. (There is an explanation! It’s not a correct explanation, but he does come up with one.)

Finn and Poe and BB-8 all get dragged along because why not have the gang there? Nobody that’s already born, because [handwave] conservation of souls or something, IDK, point is the only person dragged along that’s even remotely close to already existing is Luke’s Force Ghost, who mostly hangs around begging Rey to be less impulsive. Finn is good because he is a nice polite boy, but for actual useful information they need Poe. The unfortunate situation is that the three do not land together. They land at the same time, in completely different corners of the galaxy. This means that nobody is there to curb Rey being her most impulsive self.

Time travel Rey knows two things. Luke’s dad ends up evil. Palpatine has always been evil.

She can solve one of these problems by killing the other, yes?

Rey: Ready to Rumble

See, the initial idea was this: Rey tried to break into the senate to kill Palpatine, got arrested, and then used the "he's biologically my father" card to get out of jail free. (Force Ghost Luke follows her like “please take five seconds to think this through.”)

But.

It would be very, very, very funny if The Force just dumps her in a flash of light in the senate building and she just attacks Gramps on sight. Just a shouted "YOU!" and no-hesitation attempted murder.

Palpatine has no idea what's going on.

Rey took maybe two seconds to get identity confirmation and then started swinging.

[Image Description: An individual in a green metal helmet with an eye slit, holding a pistol. In the upper left, upper right, and lower middle are the phrases “I do not know who I am...” “I don’t know why I’m here” and “All I know is that I must kill.” End description.]

Of course, she gets arrested. There are Master Jedi in the Senate. There are Clone Troopers. Palpatine isn’t the weak old man he pretends to be. Of course she’s stopped.

But she isn’t executed in time for Palpatine to stop her from ruining his entire reputation.

Immediately after Rey fails to kill her Shitty Granddad, Luke's ghost shows up and begs her to not talk about the Sith thing because it will completely undermine everything she's trying to do. Pass off the attempted murder as something else!

Rey, panicking: "that fucker left me on a desert planet for 10 years!" "You owe me 19 years of child support you son of a Hutt!"

The Jedi have to do the investigation, because the girl showed up with a laser sword, and the conversation is, uh... interesting. (“Where did you get that lightsaber?” “I got it from a mysterious old pirate lady I never met before. I don't know, I was being shown around by a smuggler and a Wookie.”)

Interviewer: Why did you try to assassinate the Chancellor? Luke: Say it wasn't assassination. Rey: It wasn't assassination. Int: You weren't trying to kill him? Luke: Assassination has to be politically motivated. Rey: This was, um... not political. Assassination is political, right? Int: You mean this was personally motivated? Rey: Yes. Int: I see. What personal motivation? Luke: Jakku! Rey: He's my grandfather. Int: ... Rey: Possibly father. Nobody was very clear on that. Int: ... Luke: Tell them to run a paternity test. Rey: Oh hey, a blood test would tell us which, right? Int: ............ Rey: I spent ten years as an orphaned scrapdealer on Jakku. He's my father. I'm kind of a little angry. Int: ........... Luke: Good job, kid. You bought yourself some time. Int: I'm going to get a medic to see about that parternity test.

Obviously, it comes back positive. Congratulations, Sheev, you’re the father.

Rey comes with a ready-made built-in excuse for hating Palpatine that nobody can question or fault her for!

Rey, pouring Truth into the Force: I didn't even know I was related to the Chancellor until a few months ago, but it's his fault I grew up the way I did, and he should take some responsibility!

The entire thing is mostly kept hush hush but someone leaks it to the press and Palpatine's ratings tank.

"Chancellor, I think we'll need to waive family visitation until she wants you a little less dead." "I would like to find out why she wants me dead, and indeed, where she came from." "...sir, for your own safety--"

Who would win? A master plan years in the making spanning decades of manipulating and work? or One (1) paternity test

"Okay, so, Rey Palpat--" "Ew, no, I don't want his name." "You--okay. Sure, we can understand that. Is there a name you would prefer to put on the paperwork?" Rey, who would have gone by Skywalker in honor of Luke but can't do that when Anakin is right there and all: "Can I think about it?"

Rey: I don't know what I want my last name to be but I know I don't want his, and most of the people I’d want a name from have famous families like you... Luke's ghost, pointing out the Literal Nobody that she cares about a lot: How about Solo? Rey: ...Solo, then.

(A few months later she runs into Poe again and he offers for Finn and Rey to both take his name because honestly they need SOMETHING but at that point she’s already decided on Smuggler Dad.)

Backtrack a bit. We’ve got a bigger cast.

They all arrive separately. Poe, for one, does better than Rey, who is aiming for a murder, but not quite as well as Finn, who is currently being adopted and hidden like a secret cat by a bunch of Alpha Clones on Kamino. He vibes with the names-or-numbers thing. He doesn’t necessarily tell them where and when he’s from, but he’s very sweet and a great liar and they adopt him wholesale anyway.

The Finn situation is just... "Buir Ti, we need you to hide this man, we've decided he's our little brother but if Nala Se finds out she'll make him leave."

Of course, this leads into Shaak Ti teaching Finn how to Jedi.

Maybe consider Finn needing to almost be tricked into learning Jedi things because he willfully forgets it could apply to him. Finn does not like to think of himself as special, which is super valid, but frustrating for Shaak Ti when it comes to, you know, getting him to acquire knowledge. Finn's training at some point is "here, levitate objects with the Force to entertain the tubies." It’s a lot easier to convince him to practice when it involves the babies.

(Everyone on Kamino looked at Finn and went “oh I love him I’m keeping him and teaching him things.”)

(He’s just very lovable.)

Poe, meanwhile, buys the trust of Anakin Skywalker via R2D2 declaring BB-8 the absolute most baby of droids. R2D2 met BB-8 three hours ago but.

"Hey Obi-Wan this is Poe I met him like five days ago but R2D2 says he checks out because his droid is a baby." "That's nice, Anakin, did you know the Chancellor has a daughter who tried to assassinate him in broad daylight yesterday? Because guess who had to stop the Chancellor from getting assassinated by his daughter in broad daylight yesterday."

A summary so far:

Finn, on Kamino: Hey, um, I don't know where this is, but it's not where I was a few minutes ago. Do you think you could get me a comm? What's your name? Poe, on [dice roll] Denon: Oh, hey, you're General Skywalker? Nice to meet you, I'm so sorry about my droid, she's a little excitable and thought your R2 unit looked like a friend of hers-- Rey, on Coruscant: DIE, GRANDFATHER

Finn: [Peacefully vibing on Kamino, unaware of the chaos and bonding with the clones] Poe: [Trying to explain how he knows someone who tried to kill the chancellor and defend Rey] Rey: [Arrested for trying to kill the chancellor]

Just... just...

Anakin: Some guy ended up lost on base yesterday with his droid, how’s your day going? Obi-Wan: I had to stop someone who claims to be the chancellors daughter from murdering the chancellor after she seemingly blinked into existence in the Senate building. Poe: 😐

(Poe: Oh, so that's where Chaos^2 went.)

Poe: In her defense, she is his... well we don't know if she's his daughter or granddaughter, but she's definitely related to him, and she definitely grew up in a shitty situation that was his fault, so...

(Poe is trying very hard to explain this and not get arrested on the military base.)

As you’ve probably guessed, what's especially funny about all of this for me is the fact that Palpatine is fully aware that this girl shouldn't exist, but can't find a single piece of evidence about where she came from. He didn't start any experiments that could result in a female child, and he didn't have sex in that period of time, so where the hell--

Rey spends so much time in jail... BUT they do eventually assign her a Jedi Master. Possibly before she actually proves her evil grandfather is in fact evil. Most votes went to either Plo Koon or Obi-Wan. Plo, because he’s dad-shaped, and Obi...

"Obi-Wan, you already raised one feral desert child with implausible amounts of power, you handle this." Rey in return is very "Sweet, you vaguely remind me of Master Luke," and nobody knows who the hell she's talking about. Obi-Wan is NOT on board with this plan, she'd really be better off with Plo or like........ Mace.

Reunion Tour

What I need out of this is the eventual Finn and Rey reunion scene that is just excited screaming while someone in the background explains to Shaak Ti that yes this is apparently Palpatine's terrifyingly force-sensitive daughter who hates him.

(Finn senses Rey’s approach and just. Gathers the everyone to wait. He’s just :D REY MY FRIEND REY GUYS MY FRIEND REY IS COMING.)

Anakin shows up with Poe--just a guy who signed on to the military, no big deal--and then Poe and Rey are EXCITED and everyone's just like "Cool, how do you know this literal terrorist child?" And Poe has to scramble and "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh she saved my droid from a scrapheap once and BB-8 is basically my child so I owe her one."

Rey knows that Anakin ends up evil so she’s maybe not actively hostile but definitely very “I’m watching you.” That said, she vibes with him on a lot of things that he maybe doesn’t actively notice.

Rey picks up a snake, snaps off the head for venom avoidance, and starts biting off chunks. Obi-Wan's reaction: [undisguised horror] Anakin and Ahsoka: Ooh, where'd you find that? (Obi-Wan: And now I’m up to three feral children.)

What Does Palpatine Even Do?

OBVIOUSLY at a certain point, Palpatine is just phoning up every ally he has to figure out who broke protocol to synthesize a daughter for him.

So of course, Palpatine blame Plagueis.

She'd have been born five or so years before Naboo, just a few years younger than Anakin. It's such an EASY theory to build a conspiracy around. It is ENTIRELY WRONG, but it’s plausible! And anyone who might have been involved to say otherwise is probably dead!

A random bio-kid shows up you can’t possibly have contributed genes to? Maybe it’s the evil bio spark that did it.

Palpatine tries to placate her with the ‘my genes were stolen for an experiment and I didn’t know’ thing. It doesn’t work because her actual main complaint is he’s evil in her future but he tries.

It'd be a struggle to even get access to her, because of the aforementioned “maybe don’t try to talk to the daughter(?) that hates you” thing, but you know who Palpatine does have access to? The Chosen One.

Rey kind of decides on her favorites early on (she gravitates to Dad Energy and Sad Old Men so Plo and Obi-Wan are on her list, and that means decent time around Anakin and Ahsoka). It's really easy to talk Anakin into helping to some degree because "he'd like to connect to a daughter he never knew" and "a child of her power on a planet like that, you'd know her struggle, my dear boy" and so on. Anakin tries to connect! He tries to play up Sheev’s kind political work and how it can’t have really been his fault! It doesn’t work. Rey does not believe a word of it. Mostly she doesn’t even seem to hear him.

Rey's just like "...oh right, you're the melted mask that Kylo Ren was always ranting about," which means absolutely NOTHING to Anakin, but he mentions it to Palps, who loses his goddamn mind trying to figure out what she's talking about, because it also means absolutely nothing to him.

Here’s the thing: Rey’s already decided that Obi-Wan is cool, because Luke said so, and Plo Koon is dad-shaped, and she also gravitates towards earnest kindness in general, like she made friends with Finn real quick, so Ahsoka? Already getting along great.

She doesn’t dislike Anakin, really, he isn’t evil yet, he’s just... meh. She’s a little suspicious and she likes him less than the others but... Anakin.

Rey, to Anakin: You are my least favorite. Anakin, to Palpatine: YOUR DAUGHTER HATES ME???

And he goes from “she’s a lil standoffish” to “she doesn’t like me” to “she hates me” as is normal for Anakin.

It’s just an escalation of this one time Palpatine wants Anakin to not have rifts and trust issues with a person, at least not until later, because he needs information.

Meanwhile, that very moment, Rey is just like "huh, nobody here is listening to me about how make a sixth-hand carburetor work, where's Luke's dad?"

Anakin is venting to Palpatine about how hard it is to talk to Rey, and she's over in the Temple just like "Hey, that guy was useful last time, I should ask him," but also she only ever thinks of him as Luke's Dad.

(At one point, Obi-Wan is having a bit of a break down, and then Anakin starts having a breakdown about that, meanwhile the clones are (badly) trying to hide Finn behind their backs, Rey is watching Ahsoka practice and being like "I want two lightsabers," and Poe is trying to keep R2 from stealing BB-8 and Force Ghost Luke is just face palming in the background.)

(Rey deserved a saber staff, maybe one that can detach and turn into a jar’kai set. Possibly a pike. Mostly I just wish she got more chances to whack things with a big stick.)

#Rey #Finn #Poe Dameron #Sheev Palpatine #Luke Skywalker #Anakin Skywalker #Obi Wan Kenobi #Darth Sidious #Plo Koon #Shaak Ti #Ahsoka Tano #r2d2 #bb 8 #star wars #time travel #Rey and the Grandfather Paradox #Phoenix Posts

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