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talkfastwalkfaster · 2 months

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Serenity ~ Ben Kenobi x Reader

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

A/N: this is set about 5 years after rots. reader is about 27 & obi-wan is 43. i was going to make a valentine anakin fic but that plan moved so enjoy my other love, hermit obi-wan. this is my first time writing smut so it might not be the best. also, if you have any feedback, it's welcomed & appreciated :)♡ WC: 3,041 Warnings: MDNI, smut, some angst

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

Tatooine was known for its extremely warm temperatures, but today was worse than ever. Ben was drenched in sweat the entire day, making him wish they could afford a cooling system to install within their home.

He noticed you never seemed to sweat as extensively as he did. He assumed it was because you were a native of the planet.

“(y/n), are you certain that our animals will survive this weather?" Ben called out from the entrance of your home. His thoughts were consumed by his trusted stead, Eopie may have been able to sustain this weather in previous times, but that didn't ease his worries.

Ben headed into your house and over to the kitchen where you had been for the past few minutes.

He rested his hand on your lower back and peered over your shoulder to watch you chop up some vegetables for dinner. If he was honest, he was a little envious that this heat was seemingly not affecting you as it was him.

Your mouth formed into a small smile as you continued cutting vegetables, “I’m certain, Ben, they’ve survived hotter weather than this before. They’ll be fine.”

He exhaled, his shoulders deflating as he continued to gaze at you. He knew his worries were futile, yet his concerns wouldn’t falter. “I know, I know. I just can’t help but worry for them.”

This was his life now, he had accepted becoming a farmer ages ago, but there was still a lot more that he would have to come to terms with; he was still haunted by memories of the war, watching Anakin fall to the dark side, watching Qui-Gon die, watching Satine die, watching his beloved Commander and battalion turn against him in the blink of an eye…

He rubbed the back of his neck, attempting to shake the weight that always seemed to be weighing him down. “I suppose it’s just the heat getting on my nerves. It feels as though the heat of a hundred suns is shining down. I don’t know how you’re acting all nonchalant, I feel like I might as well be burning and yet you’ve barely broken a sweat.”

You glanced over your shoulder to look at him, “Well I have lived here all my life, I’m used to the heat.” The truth was that the heat always did manage to bother you a little, but you had grown up in the scalding temperatures, you were, unfortunately, accustomed to them. It made no sense for you to complain about it.

“I don’t know how you do it if it’s not the heat that’s unbearable, it’s the awful sandstorms that are always passing through here,” Ben complained. Despite having lived on Tatooine for a while now, it seemed as though no matter what he did, he could never get used to the heat. His mind digressed toward Anakin and his hatred toward this planet, and he finally seemed to understand his point of view. But Ben quickly pushed that thought away as his heart ached each time his mind brought up his former student.

He was brought out of his trance by the sound of your voice. “You’ll get used to them. Sure, they might not be ideal but Tatooine isn’t as bad as it could be. I mean the war never came here and the Empire has little interest in this planet. The weather may not be perfect and there are always things that could be improved here, but i can’t think of living anywhere else,” You mused. You knew that Ben got stuck in his head easily and you’ve known him long enough to see the signs of it.

His brow always started to furrow and he stroked his beard, seemingly without even realizing it. You’ve figured out that the best way to bring him back to the present was to talk about where you are. Even though you’re not necessarily fond of praising Tatooine, he needs it, and that’s all that matters to you.

“I wish I had as much patience as you do, my dear,” he sighed, taking in another deep breath.

It all seemed so normal, this was a conversation that any couple could have. To any outsiders, you two would be seen as a regular husband and wife, like any other married couple in the galaxy. Ben was slowly starting to feel content with his life here, he could almost forget everything that happened five years prior. He could almost pretend that he did not come to Tatooine because of his failure, that he didn’t have to go into hiding, and that his life didn’t completely spiral because of one order.

Your face softened, knowing how difficult it’s been for Ben. It always seemed as though he was unable to completely move forward, despite his best attempts, because of whatever happened in his past. “Well, you've only been here what, 5 years? You have to give yourself time to adjust, sweetheart."

A faint smile stretched across his lips when you called him ‘sweetheart’. It was the most endearing pet name you had ever given him and he felt a warmness throughout his chest whenever you used it. It made him feel normal, he didn’t have to worry about his former life as Jedi Master and General Obi-Wan Kenobi anymore, he could just be Ben, your husband.

He chuckled softly, watching as you began to cook the vegetables before wrapping his arms around your waist from behind. “I know, darling, I know…” he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck and sighed, breathing in the scent of you, something that always relaxed him.

As you cooked, your mind briefly wandered to Coruscant, Ben had once mentioned that he was born and lived most of his life there. You wondered if the planet was anything similar to Tatooine or if it was the complete opposite. You had always wanted to ask him more about his past, what he was like before you met him 3 years ago, and yet, for some reason, you could never bring yourself to give in to those desires.

However, as the two of you stood in the kitchen, you believed that now would be a better time than any to ask him, seeing as this was the first time in a while that he was truly beginning to relax. You hummed softly, attempting to keep the peaceful environment that had been created, “You said you were from Coruscant right? Is it very different from here?”

Ben stiffened slightly from his position behind you before forcing himself to relax, he knew you had no ill intent with your question. If this was any other time, he would have avoided your prodding, but for once, he decided to indulge you, even if only slightly. “It’s very different from here, my dear.” he held you tighter and kept his head resting in the crook of your neck, your familiar scent had always given him a sense of peace and calmness, something which he craved, wishing he could forever be engulfed in it.

“Coruscant makes Tatooine look like a ghost town. It’s full of large buildings and many different levels. You could always hear the buzzing of speeders and people clamoring to numerous places,” Ben paused for a second, wondering how much more he should tell you, before ultimately deciding it’s best to keep it brief, “Let’s just say there was never a dull moment there, my love.”

You decided to push your luck, desperately wanting to know more about your husband. You murmured, as if trying not to startle Ben with your next question, “Do you ever miss it?”

His heart immediately constricted at the thought, though he quickly dismissed it. There was no reason for him to start dwelling on what-ifs, this was his life now, and there was no changing the past. “My life there? No, not at all,” he replied quickly, the lie coming out easy.

This has become a type of dance for him, every once in a while you would try to inquire about his past and he would always find ways to avoid giving too much detail. He would only ever respond vaguely enough to not make you suspicious while also satisfying your curiosity. He couldn’t bring himself to tell you what his past life actually entailed, it was still too raw, too painful. He didn’t want you to worry either. He knew that he couldn’t hide who he once was from you forever, but he couldn’t tell you today, not now.

Ben rested his chin on your shoulder and muttered “I wouldn’t want to go back.” A half-truth, he’s not as fond of the planet as he used to be, but it still holds some sentimental value to him. It’s not that he would never want to go back to Coruscant, it’s that he can’t. If he ever tried he knew the Empire would be on him as soon as he was even remotely close to the planet’s atmosphere.

You finished cooking the vegetables and raised your eyebrows slightly surprised, not expecting that answer from him. “Never?” you inquired, feeling slightly bewildered. “You’d really never want to go back? Was it that bad?”

Ben held you tighter and exhaled, that part of him died years ago. To him, Obi-Wan died the moment he left Anakin to die on Mustafar — he had been, in a way, reborn as Ben. He was just Ben Kenobi, a simple farmer, and your husband. Nothing more, nothing less. “It was fine, nothing particularly interesting happened to me when I lived there,” he lied again, giving you a soft kiss on the side of your neck hoping that this topic of discussion would die out soon.

You sighed at his words and murmured, “Dinner’s ready.” You decided to let the topic drop, knowing that he wasn’t exactly telling you the truth, but you hoped that one day he would trust you enough to let you completely in.

The two of you ate dinner in silence, both of you seemingly lost in your thoughts. Ben had intrigued you from the start. You had met him at a market in Mos Espa, and he immediately stood out to you. From the way that he held himself to the way he talked. He looked like someone who had seen the galaxy, who had actually experienced life, something you had always wished to do but never had the luxury. His eyes — his beautiful, entrancing sapphire grey eyes that were like pools of sorrow. They showed a variety of complex emotions, something that made you want nothing more than to break down his highly built-walls and see who he truly was.

Ben was never one to speak much while eating, he felt there was no need to fill the silence with meaningless chatter — he wanted to just enjoy being with you, you were everything to him.

He had never thought that he would be able to have this, that he’d be able to feel happy again. For the first two years that he had lived on Tatooine, he had expected that he would be alone forever, that he had deserved to live a life of isolation. But then you came along and completely wrecked all those painful thoughts.

Ben hadn’t realized that he was being completely quiet, he was still processing that he was married and a farmer — he never thought this was how his life would turn out. “Thank you for the dinner dear,” he remarked appreciatively.

The corners of your mouth turned upward and your eyes brightened ever so slightly at his gratitude, “You’re welcome. I’m sorry though, I know it’s not much-”

He interrupted, “Don’t worry yourself, it’s perfect… You’re the best, you know that?”

You held back a smile, unable to resist teasing him a little. “Am I now?”

Ben brought your hand up to his lips and kissed the palm gently, “You certainly are, my dear. You are the best thing to happen to me in years and I wouldn’t have it any other way."

You leaned forward and kissed him, deciding that no words would be able to encapsulate how you felt towards him.

His heart fluttered as you kissed him, it was so tender and he was more than willing to return it. Your lips were soft and inviting, and he couldn’t resist pulling you into his lap, his hands gently caressing your face. In response, you wrapped your arms around his neck, desperately wanting to be closer to him.

You couldn’t help but moan softly into the kiss, your body was reacting to his and you were so comfortable being in his arms. He was all you needed in life, there wasn’t anything else that mattered. His hands slowly drifted down and began rubbing small circles on the small of your back.

Your heartbeat quickened as the two of you pulled apart, the feeling of kissing him was intoxicating. You started to subtly grind your hips down, desperate for any type of friction.

Ben gasped softly at your ministrations and quickly connected your lips again. The kiss between the two of you was full of love and passion. Your hands were everywhere, one wrapped behind his neck and your other around his shoulder, as if you were trying to entangle yourself with him.

Ben deepened the kiss, his tongue darting out and exploring your mouth. He couldn’t take it anymore and picked you up, heading straight for your shared bedroom. Your arms were tightly wrapped around his neck and you kissed all over his face and neck as he took you to the room.

Once you reached the bedroom he gently laid you down on the bed and slowly made his way on top of you, wanting to savor each moment. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at you with an expression that could only be described as pure, devoted love before lowering himself and kissing you again, this time slower and more intimate than he had previously.

Without breaking the kiss, he started to tenderly remove your tunic from your body, revealing your naked top to his gaze. The rest of your clothes were quickly removed and thrown off the bed as Ben began to kiss you everywhere — your neck, your shoulders, your chest, anywhere he could get his lips on. His hands slowly made their way down your chest, squeezing and massaging your breasts before finally heading towards your neglected pussy. You were completely entranced by his touch, his hands were sending shivers throughout your entire body, making you tremble with anticipation.

You whimpered in pleasure as his hands moved downward and he inserted one finger into your dripping folds while lightly rubbing circles on your clit with his thumb. You hastily tugged on his own tunic, stripping him until both of you were naked on the bed. You grasped his shoulders and spread your legs open wider, inviting him to come closer. Ben slotted himself in between your thighs and hovered on top of you, his arms caging you in.

Ben shifted slightly, slipping one hand in between your bodies to grasp his cock. He dragged the tip of it through your folds a couple of times before finally sinking into you. You moaned as he pressed himself closer to you, wrapping your legs around his waist as you adjusted to the size of his cock.

You gripped his shoulders tighter, nails digging into his skin as you begged, “Ben, please, move.”

He slowly began to rock his hips, not wanting to rush this moment. The love between the two of you was palpable, your bodies fit together perfectly as if you were made for each other. He moved his head to your neck, pressing soft kisses into the crook of it. He knew right then that everything he went through was worth it if this was his fate. All of his struggles and hardships faded away as if all that mattered was you and him.

Your moans grew louder as he gradually picked up his pace, the wet squelching sounds of your skin meeting filled the room. Your nails raked down his back, pleasure completely filling your senses, the only thought on your mind was Ben.

As your lips met again, the kiss was tender yet rough, a juxtaposition that seemed to also perfectly describe your husband. You could feel your orgasm looming, squeezing his cock and pulling him deeper into you. He moaned into the kiss, his hips stuttered, spilling inside of you, coating your insides with his cum. His orgasm triggered your own, whining loudly as you spasmed around him, your whole body trembling as you rode out your high.

The two of you laid there for a while, basking in each other’s presence before he slowly pulled out of you, the mixture of your cum slowly running down your pussy and thighs.

You leaned up and gently kissed the side of his mouth, “I love you, Ben.”

A soft smile grew on his lips, his heart was overflowing with his love for you. He had never felt like this with anyone but you — you were his person and he was yours, you were perfectly suited. He had no doubt in his mind that you were his soulmate, and he’d thank the Maker that the Force led him to you. “I love you too, my dear.”

You looked up at him lovingly, knowing that this was where you were meant to be, everything seemed right, everything made sense, when you were with him and you wouldn’t have it any other way. You knew in the back of your mind that you still had ways to go with Ben, but in this moment, none of that mattered, you’d have him in any way you could.

He exhaled and pressed his forehead against your shoulder — leaning against you in this way felt very nice. His body, mind, and soul felt rejuvenated just by being in your presence.

The two of you shifted so that you were laying your head on his chest and your legs were intertwined. Slowly you and Ben drifted asleep, your bodies, minds, and souls forever entwined.

#nat's tales #obi-wan kenobi #obi wan #ben kenobi #ben kenobi x reader #⋆obi-wan⋆#obi wan x reader #ben kenobi x you #obi wan kenobi x you #obi wan kenobi x reader

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beehachu · 2 years

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The masquerade

Prompt: After moving to Empires for one season along with your friend Gem, you missed your boyfriends. Not as much as when a couples masquerade was announced.

Pairing: Poly!Reader x Scar x Mumbo x Grian

Warnings: None !

Word Count: 1403

A/N: Listen, some prompts have me in a CHOKEHOLD. This is one of them.

You slowly and rhythmically tapped your fingers against the desk. It’s not that you didn’t like ruling your empire, the meetings could just be so extremely boring. The advisor from some other place was just rambling on, and you couldn’t find it in yourself to care about whatever trade routes they were talking about. It didn’t even include you yet, anyway.

Luckily, it was over before you knew it. Your own advisor did most of the talking, and all you had to do was just take notes and nod occasionally. The breeze from the beach had you smiling as it hit you in the face when you stepped out of the foreign building. With a quick wave to your advisor and guards, you flew off. They knew you had somewhere to be anyway.

Landing at Crystal Cliffs, you took off your elytra and placed it into your inventory. “Oh Geemm!” Calling out, you made your way to find your fellow Hermit. It didn’t take long before the redhead poked her head out. “Y/N! Hello, darling! What can I help you with?” You pulled out your cross-server communicator, and grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t gotten the heart to tell Jimmy that this isn’t a normal com.. fWhip managed to fix it, though I was wondering if you remembered the code to get back to the Hermitcraft server?”

The wizard hummed. “I’m not sure, to be honest. You might need to ask Pix or Sausage.” “But they don’t know the code! They’ve never been on Hermitcraft!” You huffed. Gem thought for a second, before reaching out to the communicator. “Leave it with me, I’ll do my best, alright? I completely get that it sucks.” Handing her the device, you thanked her profusely, before getting invited in for some tea.

—

You loved your fellow Hermits, so it wasn’t unexpected that you’d get homesick. The feeling was something you and Gem could both agree on. What made it worse, however, was the fact that your boyfriends were so far away. And now that your cross-server comms were broken, it left you feeling more and more alone.

Looking out the window, watching your people go about their life, all you could do was sigh. You weren’t able to properly put your thoughts into words, and the pile of crumpled up papers behind you clearly showed that. With a hum, you picked up your pen again.

My dearest ones,

I wish to send my deepest apologies for the fact I have been neglecting to contact you.

Screw that, I hate writing formal letters.

First of all, I’m SUPER sorry for not contacting you. Jimmy broke my cross-server communicator by accident, and I don’t have the heart to tell him. He still thinks it’s my normal one, and I can’t stand to make him feel even more guilty. fWhip fixed it, and Gem is trying to get it back onto the Hermit servers.

Second of all, how are you lot? I’m doing alright, ruling over an empire is surprisingly boring at certain times.

There is so much to talk about, but my hand is cramping from writing so many drafts. Get back to me, yeah? I’ll be waiting for your response.

Yours forever,

Y/N.

—

The sound of your name being called pulled you out of your slumber, and before you knew it, a pink haired queen was in your room. “Oh, did I wake you up? I’m so sorry! I was just going to check if you got an invite to the masquerade too.” You rubbed your eyes sleepily and hummed. “I think so, yeah. Is it the one Katherine is hosting?” The Ocean queen nodded quickly.

“Mhm! The dress code is fantasy-esque. She also told me to go around and tell everyone that it’s a couples event, since all of us rulers have a partner! There’ll also be some other people of importance, but it’ll mostly be just us.” Your heart sank. A couples event. It made sense, Pix recently announced he found someone, Lizzie and Joel just got married.. But you couldn’t get your boys over here.

Lizzie must’ve seen your face drop, as she visibly sympathized with you. “Oh, I forgot.. I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m sure it’ll work out, yeah?” You bit your lip and nodded, letting yourself be pulled into a hug from the axolotl hybrid. “I’m sure it will. Thanks, Liz.”

—

Gem has been acting weird the whole day. You were sitting in your bedroom, getting ready as Gem did her makeup. “Okay, I need your opinion. Does gold or silver go better with my outfit?” The wizard turned towards you and hummed, looking at your navy blue outfit. “I’d say gold.. Is that Mumbo’s pocket watch?” Gem gasped, smirking at you. “I have to include them somehow, you know? I’ve got something for Scar and Grian too.”

Your friend sighed, pulling you into a hug. “I’ve almost got it working, don’t worry. You’ll be able to talk to them soon enough.” With a soft smile, you pulled away. “Thanks, Gem. You’re the best.”

Joel yelling at you two to get down to leave snapped you out of the moment, and with a quick check to see if the feather was still on the necklace, you grabbed your crown and sprinted downstairs with a laugh alongside Gem.

—

The masquerade was beautiful. Katherine had really outdone herself with the decorations, and everyone looked stunning. The music was slow and soft as everyone arrived. Shrub came over to talk to you, and soon enough the actual music set in. With a wave to the gnome, you watched her toddle off to dance with her partner.

The drinks table was your best friend at the moment, and you silently readjusted your mask. It felt bittersweet to watch everyone, though you couldn’t help the fond smile on your face. The happiness was radiating from everyone and felt contagious.

You hadn’t noticed the latecomers, though. A soft tapping on your shoulder startled you. You turned around, being met by a masked man with brown hair. You were surprised, as you thought for a split second that it was Scar. Over the music, his voice was barely audible, though you heard what he said. “Hello there, your highness. You look lonely, so could I offer you a dance?”

With an awkward chuckle, you shake your head. “No, I’m sorry. I’m taken, though my partners aren’t here. I apologize.” The man was about to reply, before you felt two arms wrap around your waist. About to snap around and punch the person behind you in the face, you paused as you felt feathers tickle your neck. What was going on?

“Come on, darling. Let’s dance!” The brunette chuckled, holding out his hand. You were so confused, until it finally clicked when another voice spoke up. “Stop teasing their majesty, love. Be clear.” Everything went silent. You couldn’t hear the music anymore, and the redstoners voice felt like coming home. Swerving around, you were met with the masked face of your favorite avian.

“Hi, pretty bird.” The huge grin on your face didn’t seem to leave, and you pressed a soft kiss onto his forehead. Turning back to the brunette, you chuckled. “I knew the scars looked familiar. How’re the other Hermits?” Opening your other arm for Mumbo to slot into, you felt Grian still holding onto your back.

“Everyone’s doing good! It’s super chaotic, but we can all agree we miss you two.” The elf ruffled your hair, knocking your crown slightly off-balance. Grian softly chirped as he held you tighter once you tried to put your glass down. “He’s been complaining about missing you during the whole trip here. Scratch that, he started complaining when we got your letter.” You laughed at Mumbo, pulling the mustached man into a proper kiss.

“Alright, pretty bird. Want to dance? We can catch up with Gem later.” The avian nodded right away, and after admiring your lovers’ outfits, he pulled you towards the other couples. He was rusty, that was clear, though you didn’t mind. Gem caught your eye and winked with a knowing smirk, and you couldn’t help but think she had something to do with this. As Grian twirled you around softly, you saw Scar trying to teach Mumbo what to do.

It was unexpected, but you haven’t felt your heart full with this much love in a while.

#beehachu #mcyt x reader #x reader #x reader fanfic #empires smp x reader #hermitcraft x reader #grian x reader #mumbo jumbo x reader #goodtimeswithscar x reader #geminitay x reader #rose ash and thorns

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themattress · 1 month

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Dragon Ball Retcons: The Lucky Streak

When the late, great Akira Toriyama first began work on Dragon Ball, it was a gag-flavored spoof on the legend of the classic Japanese novel Journey to the West. It was only toward the end of that initial story arc that Toriyama began to add an element of seriousness with Goku's transformation into an Oozaru. After this event, Oolong asks "So is Goku some kind of alien or something?", setting the stage for perhaps the luckiest streak of retcons from a writer who is clearly just making everything up as he goes along ever. By which I mean, retcons that were clearly never a pre-planned intention and yet somehow fit in so seamlessly that you could swear otherwise. Obviously, Toriyama eventually decided to retcon that Goku was, in fact, an alien. But with that throwaway line from Oolong, it now feels long foreshadowed!

The other examples:

- The Red Ribbon Army was the first serious villainous force that Goku faced, being full of dangerous high-tech gadgetry and robotics. However, the joke twist ended up being that its leader, Commander Red, was just some rich idiot with a Napoleon complex who wanted to use the Dragon Balls to wish himself taller and then go on to conquer the world, as opposed to simply using the Dragon Balls to wish for world domination. At the time, all of those technological threats were just a means to an end, a build-up to a punchline, and nothing more. But later, Toriyama decided that it was a super genius named Dr. Gero who was behind all of that stuff, and since Goku brought it all down he'd have more reason than anyone else in the Red Ribbon Army to hate him, causing him to seek vengeance through the creation of the Androids and Cell. And it totally tracks! The reason an organization led by a joke villain still felt so serious as a threat was because its weaponry was engineered by a serious villain, and that villain returning to ultimately cost Goku his life via a creation that blends the cells of Goku, his friends and his foes feels like a natural full circle accumulation for the story.

- Mercenary Tao actually managed to defeat Goku with a technique called the Dodonpa. At the time, it was just a cool and unexpected way to finish a fight and cement Tao as a formidable opponent. But later, Toriyama decided to bring in the Crane Hermit school of martial arts which lends its teachings to the mercenary lifestyle, which is how we get Tienshinhan. Now it looks like Tao was deliberate foreshadowing of this new three-eyed foe turned mainstay ally of Goku's even though Toriyama hadn't thought him up back then.

- Piccolo and Kami were both green with pointy ears and antennas, looking more like aliens than demon and deity respectively. And per Toriyama's own admission, he hadn't planned them as aliens until it came time for them to face off in the 23rd Budokai. That's when he decided they were actually aliens and decided to foreshadow it with a talk between them spoken entirely in an unknown language, which turned out to be the native language of the Namekians - something that would become a pivotal plot point during the Freeza Saga.

- The Saiyans (Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta) all wore a distinct spiked battle armor, had energy scouters over their eyes, and traveled in spherical space pods. Later, Toriyama retconned it so that these motifs were all part of Freeza's empire and not the Saiyans. This would not have felt natural....had Toriyama not also made the pivotal change in plans of leaving Vegeta alive at the end of his battle with Goku on Earth. Because the Saiyans' leader is still in the story, we get to clearly see his interactions and dynamics with Freeza and his empire, totally selling us the notion that this was how it always was; that he and his comrades were always serving in that empire while also scheming to overthrow it someday. It made perfect sense.

- Similarly, the remark Raditz gave about the Saiyans' home planet being destroyed by a comet was later retconned into being a lie by Freeza, who actually destroyed the planet. Once again this ended up feeling perfectly natural, because so much of Freeza's character via the still living Vegeta was the tight grip he preferred to have on the Saiyans lest they become a threat to him. So it tracks that he would decide to reduce the number of Saiyans in existence to make this easier and hopefully make a Super Saiyan arising less likely.

- Vegeta in general was pure happenstance somehow producing one of the best developed characters in the series. Instead of the throwaway arc villain he was created to be, he survived to be a great secondary villain turned ally through necessity in the Freeza Saga, where he met his tear-jerking demise....except even that wasn't to last despite originally being the intention, as his popularity caused Toriyama to resurrect him after Goku had become a Super Saiyan, creating the perfect segue into him shifting into more of a rival whose primary objective was to surpass Goku in strength. Selfish, but not villainous. And it just kept going from there, to the point where in the chapter where the decision to spare Vegeta in-universe and out of it was made, Krillin's vocal disbelief of the notion Vegeta will ever turn over a new leaf like Piccolo ends up feeling like foreshadowing that he would.

- There's also the whole Super Saiyan concept and how it seamlessly plays into the way Goku has always come back stronger after every defeat. The way his transformation happens is also steeped in dramatic irony that makes sense for the story: it isn't his strength or love for fighting that does it, but his Earth-bred compassion for his human friend Krillin.

- On that note, Gohan's hidden power. This was set up early into Gohan's time as a character, but it wasn't supposed to be specifically tied to anything. But in the Android Saga, Gohan ends up as the one most likely to fully transcend the level of Super Saiyan due to that hidden power of his. It now feels like this was always the logical end route for that plot thread even when Toriyama hadn't even thought up regular Super Saiyans yet when he started it.

- Last but not least, the Android Saga in general. This whole story was Toriyama and his editors winging it from beginning to end, and the finished product is something that flows so smoothly you'd swear it was pre-planned. Of course Androids 19 and 20 weren't the actual Androids that Trunks warned about! Of course Androids 17 and 18 were ultimately going to be redeemed villains! Of course Cell was designed to transform through the absorption of 17 and 18! Of course past elements like Dende, the Budokai tournament and Bulma being a tech genius were going to be incredibly important! Of course the story would end with the flaws Cell exploited in others being exploited in him, Gohan's power to be as much of a hindrance as a help, Goku sacrificing his life, Cell coming back even more powerful, Vegeta finally displaying actual love and humility and self-reflection, and Gohan defeating Cell by blasting him with the most powerful Kamehameha ever...one-handed! It all feels so organic both in itself and in context to the wider series! Yet Toriyama totally stumbled his way into it.

It really was impressive. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Toriyama never really captured that same magic afterward. Most of the retcons made in the Buu Saga, all of Dragon Ball Super, and the canonically licensed video games just feel so much more obvious and clunky. Some of them still feel sensible - Hercule's development and connection made to Goku's family, the existence of the Kaioshins, a space between time where one can intersect with the unlimited timelines...those all make sense given what has come before. But stuff like new Super Saiyan forms from Super Saiyan 3 and onward, Goten and Trunks being prodigious enough to master Super Saiyan and (when fused) Super Saiyan 3 as children, the kind of increasingly nonsensical abilities that Buu has, Beerus being the one to commission the destruction of Planet Vegeta, all of these parallel universes, Goku Black, Future Mai, Zeno, Broly and Paragus, randomly existing relatives of Commander Red and Dr. Gero, much of what goes on in the Super manga and Dragon Ball Heroes game...it's all a bunch of nonsense that truly feels as pulled out of Toriyama and his collaborators' asses as it is.

I still love the Dragon Ball franchise and even have fun with the stuff I just listed, but man, that period between when it started and when the Android Saga ended can't be topped.

#Dragon Ball #Akira Toriyama #Analysis

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dmwrites · 1 year

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He’s coming

Wake up

He’s coming back

I know you can sense it

Danger

Watch out

He’s coming

Keralis-

xB jolted up in his bed, gasping and panting like he’d run a mile. He felt woozy, and his small room was swimming before him. He felt for his bedside table, something, anything to hold onto so he knew this was real. It felt real, he could feel the smooth wood eating into his hand, but something was very wrong. Like something was trying to drag him back under, back to somewhere, but he didn’t want to go, no more-

“Hola, xB! Wake up, fish boy!”

The wood xB had been gripping onto was now pliable, squishy and firm. Skin. xB gasped and opened his eyes, looking into the bearded face of Sausage.

“Oh my god, Sausage! Wha- what are you doing- Empires?”

“Yes, yes, we are both in the old Empires world, or so you tell me. Are you enjoying feeling up my muscles, xB?” Sausage giggled, and xB released Sausage’s bicep with a snort.

“What are you doing here, Sausage? What am I? I was just waking up in Hermitcraft. I don’t want- why am I back?” xB asked. He looked around- yes, he’d been in the same field he’d fallen asleep in just moments ago. He had learned to keep close track of such things, when dimension hopping like he did each time he fell asleep. Sausage had taught him that, in the times they had met in this world.

“I am so sorry. I’ve been dimension-hopping a lot recently, and I got some whispers about the rift.” Sausage said. “I wanted to tell you- Keralis is coming back to Hermitcraft. He’s been missing you. And I know you’ve missed him too. He is very handsome and talented, after all. I’d miss him too.”

“Oh god, I hope you haven’t been stroking his ego like that this whole time, have you? He’ll be unbearable.” xB muttered, although his heart was skipping with joy. Keralis, back again?

“Oh I’ve been stroking things, alright.” Sausage said slyly, but xB hit him before he could continue. “Okay, okay, listen, I came here to tell you that, but also that the rift is… dangerous. From what I can gather from the whispers, travel is not as stable as it once was when your hermits came through the first time. I fear for Keralis. I don’t know how strong he is, but the rift is… well, I’m not quite sure.”

“I’ll go by the rift and wait.” xB said firmly.

“Do you hear the whispers?” Sausage asked, and xB could, a swarm of hushed voices, all saying the same things.

Rift. Keralis. Hurry. Danger. He’s coming.

“I do. But I believe in Keralis.” xB said. “I have to go now. Goodbye, Sausage.”

He closed his eyes, and as he drifted off to sleep in Sausage’s lap, he could have sworn a tear landed on his nose.

When xB woke up this time, it was abrupt, but clear. xB sat up and reached for his hoodie. The whispers were gone now, but xB had heard them for so long, even before Sausage had pulled him back, that he knew what they had said.

He flew through the morning air, the land still and calm under him. Keralis was coming. The rift was unstable. Keralis was powerful, an ancient eldritch being with wide eyes, but the rift was a force all its own. Keralis was in danger if he did not hurry.

xB landed on the gravel floor of Grian’s basement. Grumbot beeped and booped a greeting, but xB’s eyes were fixed on the rift- was it… smaller then last time? xB approached it, breathing in time with the portal’s whooshes. All he could hope was that Keralis would appear there, smiling at him.

xB waited.

And waited.

And then, there was a surge of magic, knocking xB over, and Keralis appeared in the portal.

“KERALIS!” xB scrambled over to the man, hugging him tight.

“Ah! Princess!” Keralis rumbled back, hugging him back. “You’re here!”

“I heard whispers.” xB said, offering no other explanation.

“Ah, you missed me!” Keralis cried in joy.

“Maybe.” xB pulled back, giggling. He didn’t have to care about the rift anymore, now that Keralis was back. He took Keralis by the arm, already promising to show the man what he’d done while he was away.

#December 22 2022 #fic #hc9 #xbcrafted #keralis #long post #thinking about xB and his dimension bopping and the whispers

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wuxiaphoenix · 2 years

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Worldbuilding: History Shinies

When you’re building a fictional world, a lot of the building blocks should come from what you’re personally excited by; that way the passion you feel for it can get into your writing. So what’s your favorite part of history and why?

I have several, most spawned by odd bits of art, fiction, or weird facts I’ve run across. Let me run down a few.

Egypt! You can go waaaaay back to some of the first traces of agriculture, ever, with various tubers and seeds. Even if you stick to the “land of the pharaohs” before Alexander powered through, there’s a few thousand years of history to play with. Before the pyramids? After the pyramids? When the Sphinx of Giza had been around so long an Egyptian prince actually did some of the first archaeology trying to figure out when it’d originally been made and whose face it had? Tomb paintings and various papyri discovered over the years have given us insight into medicine, jokes, tomb robbing, court cases, and the fact that people have been looking for baldness cures a very long time.

The Megalithic period leading into the Celtic Iron Age. There’s some interesting speculation about what forms Stonehenge took before the final version we see today; an earlier structure looks like it was possibly measuring the about 18.6 year moon cycle instead. Plus, woad, iron swords, gold torqs, redheads, and everything. You can dig into how much influence Rome had on the Celtic areas before and after the Empire fell, and those of a theological bent might find it intriguing to examine the path Celtic Christianity headed down that saw the Church of Rome bent on sending in more priests to drag them back closer to orthodoxy. (The hermit versus monastery split was a serious thing.)

Late 1500s-early 1600s... well, just about everywhere. This is the time “globalization” of trade was really kicking in, for example Spain sending Mexican silver to Manila for Chinese silk. It was also a major section of the Little Ice Age, which made things interesting in the old Chinese curse sense. You could find Japanese samurai in Mexico, Italians in China, even a few Dutch guys in Korea. (They were lost, okay? Very, very lost.) If you want to write about an oddball adventuring party composed of people from across the Known World, this is the time to look at.

And of course Early Modern Japan, more commonly called the Tokugawa Era. Besides the samurai, geisha, and tea ceremonies, there’s also a bunch of interesting ecological stuff that went on during those three centuries, from deliberate reforestation to ever-increasing marine resource exploitation. Also if you dig in a bit you find some of the supposedly hard boundaries on what class you belonged to and what countries Japanese traded with had... some exceptions. (Start looking at Tsushima Island if you’re interested; among other things, it has the most northern coral reef in the world!)

Last but certainly not least, the 1920s-1930s. Everyone was picking up the pieces from WWI, the Spanish Flu, and the Great Depression. Phones were appearing. Cabs were plentiful, because people either didn’t have a car or didn’t know how to drive yet. Determined women were getting into the police forces, and other places, even if they ended up doing most of the paperwork. Aaaand things were gradually, then not so gradually, building up to the second World War, and ouch.

(Also ouch to your head if you spend a lot of time trying to untangle just what set everything off, outside of “people gonna people, and too many of them thought Science could make humans Perfect - and then the Perfect wouldn’t have to tolerate anyone else”.)

Sometimes you need to dig for the human elements, but never forget history is the story of people. It’s awesome. Get that awesome into your world!

#creative writing #worldbuilding #history

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single-malt-scotch · 1 year

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w the last of the episodes for the crossover rolling in i just wanted to write a mega long blog about my thoughts from the past two months of it!

well the last two months has certainly been a Lot more than i expected, after thinking i wasnt going to follow the crossover too hard. but i guess it was hard to avoid if i wanted to watch any new content from the people i typically watch so.... yeah, i mean i dont regret that nor did i dislike doing that-- the Empires server was certainly not my type of thing but i managed to find people i enjoyed watching, and has people got more comfortable i was more eager to see them play together anyways.

it seemed like the last two months were a bit chaotic in many ways though- its a shame some folk didnt get videos out due to being sick, but there was so much happening anyways i think i would have felt even more overwhelmed if there was much more happening already.

but anyways... on the specific sides of the crossover and what my take away has been...

I have come away from Empires with a few new subscriptions- primarily i expect to check in w people like fwhip and pixlriffs, i enjoyed their styles and the way they leaned a little less on in character banter and their live streams were things i popped into during all this. there are people i dont think ill watch consistently but i enjoyed their personalities a lot- mythicalsausage being one for sure, and there were definitely others i found very funny alongside other players too. overall it was great exposure, even if i dont expect myself to watch loads of new people now, i do look forward to potential collaborations.

For the first half of the crossover i really loved the concept of the hermit tower, and a giant collab between everyone was really great to see- my only gripe is that i wish we actually got to see some of the planning and discussion around the conclusion they came out. i think early on i mentioned collabs, and how in old smp i loved the live building/planning together. while i get a lot of that is cut for videos, i think wished we'd seen a bit of it in streams or something- most streams i watched (and i did catch a lot) had people on their lonesome when adding to the tower. despite that- its not to say it was a bad idea, it was fun see everyone make that monstrosity. Everyone meshed pretty well with the RPing side of the empires in a way that wasnt unnatural, and i liked seeing some folk get more into it as well. i know i tend to say i dont like "RP" in mcyt, but it just has to do w the audience intended, or their style. Empires has a variety of tone.... some ppl are very aimed at children, some not as much. so it just depends on who I want to deal with lol.

the timing of going back to HC was well timed because i was definitely at the point of wanting to see normal HC again. and while it felt shorter (even though it wasnt, exactly- maybe by a week) i have probably enjoyed it far more just because its the casual meta kind of smp i am used to. i liked that pretty much every empires person was able to drop the hard RP stuff during this period too- mostly lol. i mean in the sense that, even those who did were still very casual overall.

i think the second phase still suffered a bit from... lack of actual content regarding the village being built (which yes again, i know of the stuff that was on stream. but that still wasnt all of it), but coming to to xmas i can see many ppl are not able to squeeze in videos right now either. i feel the timing was good and bad-- fun holiday stuff to do in game, but also lots of IRL stuff, and also sick season...

regardless its been a wild two months to follow- it was exciting getting exposed to so much stuff i wouldnt normally look into. and i could just tell how much fun everyone was having, which made it all the more enjoyable.

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elis-corner · 2 years

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Hey, if your requests are open I'd like to send in a request.

Would it be possible for you to do some Yandere Evil X with a sprinkle of angst? Maybe where it started well but EX was so worried that, like everything else, the reader would get taken away from him by someone that he gained those yandere tendancies?

If this is too much feel free to delete if, if it isn't and you can take this on, thank you very much!

I wish I'd gotten to this sooner so that I could have posted in time for his "birthday", but it can't be helped. A bit late is better than never! And in a bit of a rant, X read out my comment last stream on EX being April Fools but he disagreed and said "Wasn't it for the episode milestone?" and it was both, turned out. It was an April Fool's trick under the guise of a milestone. I only remembered this after the stream ended, so guess who's going to have to try and live with knowing I technically got something more accurate than X without him knowing?

Whatever it Takes

It always feels like someone is watching you. That's something you’ve had to grow accustomed to when living in the dark deepslate halls known as the Evil Empire. With its looming rooms, streaks of light barely reaching through the windows, it makes sense that you’d find it unsettling. Except it wasn’t that. It was him. The way he never leaves your side, the way he forces people away from you, the way he drowns you in compliments. It was kind, yes, but how close the usually distant person is, you find… unsettling. You had to leave–you haven’t seen anyone other than him in so long. Quietly, you creep towards the only unlocked window you could find. You reach out, hand touching your pathway to freedom, when you are made aware of a daunting presence.

‘Where are you going, (y/n)? Leaving, are we?’ Evil X tugged you roughly, pulling you into his arms. A gloved hand guides your head to an upwards tilt, forcing you to look up at him; his other hand is wrapped tightly around your waist with his fingers digging into you, and you can’t stop yourself from wincing. ‘You know I can’t let you do that. They could find you, take you away from me–we can’t be having that, now, can we?’

EX couldn’t grasp the idea that you would want to leave. He was yours, you were his. You were safe here; leaving would break that. You were perfect, and he was sure he wasn’t the only person to see it. What if one of the other Hermits tried to take you from him? What if He took you away? Love is a weakness, and the only way to fortify it is to make sure you never leave his side, whatever that takes.

'You are not leaving me, (y/n),' His voice slowly gets louder as he speaks, the ferocity causing you to recoil, 'even if it means I have to kill everyone on this server, and I swear, no one will be spared.'

#evil xisuma x reader #evil x x reader #ex x reader #hermitcraft x reader #tw angst #tw possessiveness #my writing #anon ask

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redwinterroses · 3 years

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Had an idea for a fic I’m never going to write. So Empires SMP has a bad ending for the rulers, and Gem and Pearl decide to move on without their memories and end up in Hermitcraft. They’re at peace but weighed down by something they don’t know. And then Gem sees Fwip. Maximum angst potential of either her remembering everything right then or remembering nothing and Fwip trying to convince her they know each other. “Do I know you?”’s are always heartbreaking

You did this to me. XD

Disclaimers: I don't know how to write fWhip yet, so he's prolly at least a little OCC. Also, we're gonna pretend that timelines are ours to do as we please with, and say that Empires has ended several months prior to MCC17. Just. Because. Wibbly-wobbly.

Anyway here, have some Whizbang sibs content. :D

____________________

Sometimes it was little things. Sometimes the little things didn’t feel so… little.

Like when Gem held the Tegg in her hands, the void-dark shell rough and cold under her fingers, and was unsettled by how… lifeless it felt. It would hatch if put in the right circumstances, she knew, the egg wasn’t dead. But something in her heart quickened with undefined panic at the idea that it might not hatch, and something else… mourned? That she couldn’t feel the life inside?

She shook her head and set the egg down with hands that only trembled a little.

She knew why these phantom feelings were chasing her heart, she just didn’t know what lay underneath that foggy surface of hidden memories.

And she didn’t want to.

They’d agreed.

So she hid the Tegg, and she laughed when it was found, and the idea that there ought to be anything more to a dragon’s egg slowly faded into the back of her mind, gathering dust on the shelves of other forgotten things.

Sometimes it was the big things. Things that shouldn’t have seemed so inconsequential.

Like when she fell while mining and died with her items scattered across the bottom of a ravine, and she woke with a gasp in her own bed.

And when it happened again, on a day when she missed seeing a creeper until too late. And again, falling from the top of her build. And death just… didn’t matter much. Or enough. Or at all. It felt like it should matter, somehow — she knew it didn’t, she knew respawn was waiting, she knew there were no real consequences in this world for death.

And yet on some level each respawn felt like a failure. Her bones ached with the sense that she’d missed something, some detail that would have saved them all—

But they didn’t need saving. The hermits were fine. It was fine. This wasn’t a defeat, or a loss, or a reason for an ally to potentially lose something as well, or for an enemy to claim victory over you. There were no enemies here. No allies, either, really. They were all friends.

It was fine.

And with each respawn, it hurt a little less, and felt a little bit more like freedom.

~*~

The MCC lobby was brilliantly-colored and smelled of junk food, hot concrete, and salty wind from the sea that swirled somewhere miles below them. fWhip took in a deep breath and his face split into a grin — a grin that had been a little… lacking, recently. He’d done a lot to distance himself from the darkness they’d fled, but…

Well. A day playing insane games with friends and strangers alike would be just the thing. A much-needed break.

He paced back and forth just inside the main gates, watching the other competitors bounce around and shout back and forth — insults, greetings, questions, challenges — it was a cacophony of noise and color, and its sandpaper-rough edges of chaos smoothed away another layer of the angry burrs in his mind.

He caught a glimpse of something bright green through the crowd, and stood on tiptoe to see — yes! Another one of his teammates, finally heading over to their agreed meeting point. He lost them in the crowd for a moment, but then saw the ginger hair (so much like his own) and a smiling face beneath small, dainty antlers.

Gem.

He didn’t expect the dagger of pain that went through him at the sight of her face, nor that the way her eyes lit up when she spotted him would sooth away some of that same pain.

“Gem!” he shouted. “Hey — over here!”

She waved, and dodged a gaggle of cyan- and red-clad players shoving each other goodnaturedly across the courtyard.

“Hey, fWhip!” she called as she neared him. She looked… happy, he thought. He didn’t see the shadows under her eyes that he’d expected, and she was freckled and tanned instead of the pale, cloaked figure he remembered.

“Hermitcraft’s been good to you,” he said, grabbing her in a one-armed shoulder hug.

To his surprise, she tensed a little — as if surprised — before returning the hug.

“Yeah, yeah,” she agreed. “The hermits are great.” Then, stepping back, she tilted her head at him. “So — long time, no see. What’ve you been up to?”

He shrugged, leaning back against the bright-red concrete wall. “Oh. You know. Lots of building, some exploring… been thinkin’ about checking out one of those new snapshots people are talking about.” He examined her. “You, ah… heard from any of the others lately?”

Something like a shadow chased across her face, but Gem gave him a slightly confused smile. “The others?”

“Scott, or Sausage, or Katherine…” There was no comprehension in her expression, and fWhip’s heart constricted. “I mean, you haven’t even messaged me in months.”

“I… I didn’t realize I should have…?” Gem crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing at her upper arm as if she’d gotten a chill. “I mean, we haven’t chatted much since XLife — I was glad to see a familiar face for my first MCC, but it’s not like we’re… ya know. Besties or anything — no offense, of course.”

If she’d tossed him off the edge of the lobby island into the void, it might have shocked him less.

“Gem, I—” he shook his head. “You were my… I was your brother? I know that’s not the same as ‘besties’ but… that kinda hurts, I won’t lie.”

Now she did go pale. And still.

“I…” she stopped, her voice dying away amidst the chaos. “fWhip, I don’t… know what you’re talking about.”

fWhip froze. “You what?” He stepped forward and gripped her by the shoulders. “Gem, are you okay? Did they — did the hermits do something to you?”

“What? No — don’t be ridiculous.” She tugged out of his grasp but didn’t move away. “The hermits are amazing and would never do anything to hurt me. Not like—” Gem’s eyes snapped up to lock on his, and she frowned, distressed. “fWhip… what’s going on?”

She’d forgotten. He didn’t know how — repressing the trauma? Magic? Knowing Gem, it was probably the latter… because of the former.

“We — Empires,” he said, fumbling for words. “You and I were allies. Siblings, even. And there was a demon, and the dragon egg—”

Gem grabbed his arm. “The egg!” she exclaimed. “I knew there was something—”

He could see the moment she remembered. And then the moment she chose not to.

“There’s something sad there,” she said, her voice nearly lost in the noise of the crowd. Her gaze flicked back and forth between his eyes, pleading. “Something… lost. And I don’t want to be lost, fWhip.”

He started to argue with her, and then paused.

What good did remembering do any of them? What good had it done him? What was the point of the sleepless nights, wondering what he could have done differently? The nightmares where he relived every mistake and had to watch their failures and defeat over and over again? The fact that he still shied away from shadows, and that the MCC world was the safest he’d felt in months?

“No,” he said slowly, even though it felt like he was letting a piece of himself slip away. He’d missed having a sister. But what were brothers for, if not for things like this? “No, you don’t need to be lost, Gem. If you ever want to come back, I’ll be here but… it’s okay if it’s not today. Or—” he swallowed, but pushed the words out anyway. “Or ever.”

A glint of something that could have been gratitude or could have been a tear glittered in her gaze for just a moment — and then there were other voices, and the boisterous greeting of Jimmy and Quig, and they stepped apart, each plastering a grin on their faces to welcome their teammates.

fWhip couldn’t help but glance at Gem as she greeted Jimmy, but there was no recognition of the Codfather on her face, and Jimmy, he knew, was content to let the past lie. It didn’t take away the sting of loss — or the slight bitterness that tanged in the back of his throat, that Gem could forget and move on, and he… he couldn’t. Not yet.

But she seemed happy. Wasn’t that enough?

It could be. For now. For today.

A voice over the PA system urged them to head into the starting area, and fWhip followed his team up the path, merging with the other players. He almost didn’t notice Gem slipping her hand into his, until she squeezed it gently.

He looked down at her, and she offered him a smile.

“We’ll talk later, maybe?” she said.

It was a start.

“Sure,” he said. “But first, we gotta win this thing. Grab you a win for your first MCC, right?”

Gem laughed. “Sure, wFhip,” she said. “Sure.”

#redwinterwrites #tbh i forgot jimmy was on lime until the last second or i might have given him a bit more screentime #but this was getting long enough as it is #mcc17 #fwhip #geminitay #empires smp

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janeaustentextposts · 3 years

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As someone from a postcolonial country, am I the only one who dislikes Colonel Brandon because he is literally a coloniser?? Idk if I am unreasonable or extreme but Colonel Brandon canonically perpetuated the exploitation of my people. This is one of the few JA blogs out there that critically analyses Colonel Brandon as a character so I wanted to know your thoughts on this.

Yeah, the reality of Britain’s colonial past looms large where there are military characters. Given the Napoleonic wars, generally-speaking the Army and Navy characters are thought of as simply fighting against the French during that very specific engagement (and shows like Sharpe haven’t much helped push back against this idea,) but the British Empire was putting down its roots globally long before Napoleon had come into any kind of power, and Sense and Sensibility in particular was written in the late 1700s so there’s no reason to suppose Colonel Brandon’s engagement overseas was ‘protecting’ any home interests, but rather colonizing other nations. (Really makes ‘the air is full of spices’ line from the 1995 film feel less ~cool~ and more creepy exoticizing of a place that was absolutely exploited for the spice-trade, among other things. The genteel British people don’t really question this, and I wouldn’t expect most of them to, being products of their times, and Orientalism was even fashionable at the time, which is why the spice line is meant to show how worldly and interesting the Colonel is supposed to be, compared to the idea of a dull do-nothing landowner. But doesn’t stand up to deeper scrutiny when you consider the larger implications of what the army he was with was DOING in the places he visited. He wasn’t backpacking on a gap year, and even backpacker culture is its own can of worms, but I digress.)

Even my favourite, Captain Wentworth, isn’t exempt from this criticism. There’s obviously more heavy Napoleonic engagement within the recent scope of his career given the later time-period of the novel’s setting, BUT during less tumultuous times, his work would take him beyond conflicts between European powers to the places where European powers were carving up chunks of the known world for their own exploitation, and the Navy was a vital part of protecting those imperialist/capitalist interests.

The 1999 Mansfield Park adaptation is the only one I know of that even attempts to address British imperialism, specifically the slave trade, and it’s not neatly resolved, and that’s both realistic and frustrating to modern viewers. I don’t know if they had enough time and space to devote to even trying to unpack the hugeness of that issue, and if that was the aim, they failed; BUT a more charitable interpretation is that they were aware there was no tidy easy answer that would make everyone feel good about themselves, so the ambiguity was left in and the story moved on. Sir Thomas is a monster and Fanny knows it, but he has a very weak change of heart and seems to feel some shame at being found out, but it’s way too big a thing to dissect in what’s left of the film. Maybe it’s a commentary on the moral compromises some people feel forced to make in order to survive--as Edmund says, ‘we all live off the profits, including you,’ to Fanny, who is THE most dependent on Sir Thomas’ money, and in the least powerful position to push back against Sir Thomas’ horrific actions as a slaveowner. But as we know, there are very few parts of the British upper classes which were NOT tied to these abuses and exploitation, at the time.

We have only to scratch the surface of discussions of history coming out of the anger around monuments and street-names in major British cities and towns after major historical figures who had been previously seen as great philanthropists and change-makers in British history, who had known involvement in the slave-trade and other such despicable practices. These people were embedded in the whole society Austen was writing about, so the darker implications of Britain’s actions in the wider world will always find their way into the setting of the stories. Austen herself was in this society, and to some extent perpetuating the culture, because it would not have occurred to her to question it. Her novels don’t directly address politics, but certainly they’re informed by them, because the political is personal. Figures like Brandon and Sir Thomas Bertram are probably the easiest examples to make as their involvement in atrocities is easily presumed from their contexts, but really anybody in the novels would have to be living as a hermit under a bridge to avoid some second-hand consequence from the broader imperialist structure of society taking hold at this time.

#Ask Me Anything Austen-Adjacent #AMAAA #Jane Austen #Colonel Brandon #Sense and Sensibility #Persuasion #Frederick Wentworth #Mansfield Park #Sir Thomas Bertram

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

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another chapter of the ‘we summoned Tommy and now we found out Grian’s family” fic. this chapter is very long.

also warning, there are some references to sui//cide, but it’s never directly mentioned by name.

Phil tried to ignore the way his chest hurt at the name that had been said. Sure, biologically Grian was his son, but it had been years since they had seen each other, and he had grown up with different people who became a new family for him. And he understood that, but it still hurt that the avian thought of someone else as his dad.

“Er, not quite.”

“Oh, okay,” Grian spoke, matter of factly. The two of them stayed quiet for a few moments before he spoke again. “You found me ‘gain.”

“That I did.”

“You didn’t stop lookin’”

“Nope.” Phil replied, though he knew it was a lie. Of course he always wanted to find his son again, but he had given up actually looking a number of years ago. It wasn’t worth focusing on one child and ignoring the others. But he supposed that’s sort of what happened anyway with him and Tommy.

“That’s what I thought. It kept me goin’ on th’ really bad days.”

“Am I allowed to know what those bad days were?”

Grian was silent before shaking his head. “Hurts too much…”

“That’s alright mate. How about you talk about some other stuff.”

And so Grian did. Talking with Phil about some of the things he had done over the years. Eventually, Stress arrived and helped out, getting the bots up there with Grian and Phil. At that point the stories stopped and Grian focused on his kids, who were glad for all the attention. Mumbo returned with Tommy shortly, also bringing Tubbo along, and soon Grian’s nest was filled, making him quite happy.

“He’s looking better.”

“Yeah, I think it was your admin who gave me the gist of things. He was tired and using his Watcher stuff which made him loopy.”

“Yeah, that would do it.” Mumbo shook his head.

“Hey, you know what that means?” Tommy asked, smirking and focusing his gaze on the bots. Jrumbot smiled and pulled out some pumpkin seeds, which Grian quickly pounced on and started eating. “That part of the bird stuff is great.”

“And what part isn’t so great?” Philza asked, though for a moment he regretted it, thinking the teen wouldn’t respond and just stay quiet or get angry.

But instead he just crossed his arms and gave an over-exaggerated pouting face. “When he gets all mother hen or whatever and is super overbearing. The other shit is fine.”

“Tommy!” Mumbo huffed but the teen just waved him off.

“Oh come on, they’ve heard me say it loads of times. Jrum won’t risk saying anything cause you’ll just take some of his diamonds away.”

“Yeah! I won’t say stuff like that!” Jrum agreed, before suddenly Phil jumped and looked to see a few of his remaining feathers now in the small robot’s hands. “How much would I get for these Tommy?”

“I’m sure if you meet the right people you can get plenty for those. He’s like, trillions of years old, and not many people have them.”

“I’m not that old!” Phil complained, trying to grab the feathers back. He managed to pull one out of Jrumbot’s hand, but the rest ended up disappearing into whatever the kid had for an inventory.

“You’re right. You’re older.” Tommy taunted. “Old as shit. Dinosaurs are younger than you and they’re all dead.”

Philza glared at Tommy before his gaze fell on Grian. The other avian was still out of it, but getting better. Then he looked at Mumbo before rolling his eyes. “Alright Tommy, maybe so. But it means I’ve got more experience.”

Tommy paused, not used to the hardcore player agreeing with him about something like this. He looked over at the bots, who shrugged. It wasn’t like they had grown up with him. “Says the guy who let two mobs get the best of him.”

“Hey that was one time! And that was also years ago!”

“I’m gonna ‘gree, that’s pretty lame.” Grian spoke up, giggling a bit still. “I’m still alive af’er uhhh…” He started counting on his fingers. “I dunno! Lotta years with Sam!”

Mumbo, Tommy and the bots immediately froze up, looking between each other nervously. Tommy moved a little closer to Grian to make sure he had the avian’s attention. “Hey G? You sure that’s okay to talk about? I know normally you-”

“Pfft, it’s fine! Not like I died! ‘Stead I just hurt a lot, killed some pipul, selled some drugs, stuff like that!” Grian looked over to Philza, who was starting to regret staying around when everyone else arrived. “Ya know, almost didn’ make it. But I didn’ wanna disappoint you by giving up. Mmm… plus Gareth freaked me out too much ‘n I didn’ wanna be like him.”

“Okay Grian! I think you should really get to sleep now! We can talk about this more later! But don’t you want to uh…” Mumbo trailed off.

“I can get the jukebox once you’ve slept!” Tommy continued for Grian who seemed to really like that idea. He finally laid down and before long he fell asleep.

It was still quiet for a bit, no one sure how to react to all of that at first. Phil and Tubbo were the quietest since they had little to no context. Because of that, they easily jumped when Tommy finally shouted and broke the silence. “Okay Mumboli, when the fuck were you going to tell me about that part of all that shit?!”

“First off, that would be something Grian would need to tell you, not me! Second off, I didn’t even know about that!” The anger on Mumbo’s face quickly turned to some sort of melancholy. “He didn’t even tell me. I mean, he had made some jokes, but I assumed that it was just from the situation. It does make sense he would think of… but…” The redstoner became quiet, his normally pale face much paler than before.

“Daddy?” Grumbot spoke up, making Mumbo look at the bots. Jrum was shaking a bit and Grum didn’t look quite so well himself. “I think Jrum and I should leave.”

“R-Right. Let me help you down.” The redstoner picked Jrum up to help him down the ladder, Grum still well enough to go down it himself. Before he left the platform though, he got Tommy’s attention and nodded towards Tubbo and Philza. “Try to fill them in. If Grian wakes up before I’m back, tell him what he did. He deserves to know.”

Tommy nodded, waiting for Mumbo to leave before saying anything. “So… Grian kinda got stuck in a fucked up place for a number of years. He’s told Mumbo a lot of stories and me some as well, but not everything of course. Basically, he had two friends. If he was me, one of them was like you Tubbo. But uh… the other guy was like Dream. Like, Dream’s an admin and all that, but this other guy was for the most part just a fucking normal guy around my age but he went off the deep end. G and the other friend escaped, but not for a long time. That place was a hardcore world, but they didn’t have potions or healing or whatever the fuck. I mean, there weren’t any mobs either, so death wasn’t at every corner. I mean I guess it was for G because the one guy was a psycho and murderer, but whatever.”

“Wait, are you telling me that this guy just lived with someone potentially worse than Dream for years?!” Tubbo asked while Philza was trying to comprehend it all.

“Uh, well they didn’t live with each other all the time, but yeah. But ‘cause it’s probably good for you guys to know, his main triggers are wearing blue as well as rabbits. If someone else is wearing blue, it’s fine, but if he’s wearing blue it freaks him out. With the rabbits thing, some of them being around are fine, but white rabbits especially freak him out ‘cause the guy was a hybrid.”

“Alright, noted.”

“One of the people most frustrated about it is Grumbot because, well you know how he just suddenly knew who you were, right Phil? They kinda first built him to help with the election here- long story, talk about it another time- and he’s able to look into a lot of stuff, but only based on political stuff. There wasn’t really anything like that with G’s first world. I mean, he gets fragments since Grian’s been a campaign manager before, but all that really comes up is empire stuff.”

“Uh, he had an empire? Was it anything like-” Tubbo timidly asked, glancing to the unconscious avian.

“Nah, basically he just built a big thing in the middle of the ocean and decided he would become the Grian Empire. The only other member was his friend- the good one- but he went off and made his own place pretty quickly. The worst he did is the TNT there was really volatile. If you so much as touched it after placing it, it would explode. He’s told the TNT shop story a number of times where he built the shop out of it and made the stock the walls of the shop.”

“Was that the first time he did something like that, or did it never go anywhere?”

“No that’s the thing!” Tommy started laughing. “He did it so many fucking times and someone still fell for it! That’s why it’s such a great story.”

From there, Tommy continued to mostly tell lighthearted stories Grian had shared with him. He talked about the prank war and following civil war from the Hermits’ previous world. The hippies against area 77, the time machine, the build height battle. After that he brought up the head games, which freaked Phil and Tubbo out when he suddenly pulled out what at first appeared to be a severed head but was actually a very accurate mask. From there the election was talked about like Tommy had promised, and then the following turf war and its minigame battle.

“I showed up right after the turf war which I’m really glad about because it freaked me out enough just hearing about it. I can’t imagine having to learn what wars here were actually like while in the middle of it all. Instead when Grian visited me when I was holed up in his old place, he just kept talking about the mole people. Around then’s when I really started opening up, especially when Zed showed up.”

“Who’s that?”

“Sheep hybrid that makes contraptions instead of redstone. He made me a bed that just kills me instead of what it should.” Grian spoke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He was still slightly groggy from just waking up, but the three SMP members could tell he looked rested and more lucid than earlier. “Where’s Mumbo and the kids?”

“He had to take them away.” Tommy answered, covering Tubbo and Phil’s mouths before they could say anything, even though they weren’t going to. “Grian, you were like, super out of it earlier.”

“Oh oof, how bad was it?”

“Well,” Philza pulled Tommy’s hand away from his mouth. “You mistook me for some person named Martin and asked me to swear loyalty to your empire. Then you called me some name resembling your admin’s name.”

“X eye sooma void?”

“Exactly.”

Grian laughed a little. “Yeah, a number of the hermits call him some variation of his name so I took it to the next level when I first showed up.”

Tommy put a hand on Grian’s knee and the avian looked over, smile falling from his face when he noticed the serious look on the teen. He immediately sat up straighter, worried for his brother. “Tommy what’s wrong?”

Tommy noticed the way Grian’s hand moved like it wanted to grab a weapon, something he had seen constantly when the two of them were alone at night and the avian was being overprotective of him when he could take care of himself. Well okay there was the factor that all the mobs here seemed to be stronger, but that wasn’t too bad. Grian asking Tommy’s name again pulled him from his thoughts and he immediately stopped Grian who was now actually reaching for a weapon. “No! No it’s nothing that bad! You’re going to freak out Big T if you do that!”

“Then what’s going on?!” Grian huffed, crossing his arms, mainly so he wouldn’t try that again.

“When you were really out of it, you said some things. Specifically from your high school stories.”

Grian looked a bit uncomfortable from that, but didn’t look too worried. “Okay. I- was I screaming? Did I scare the boys from that?”

Tommy shook his head. “No. You said something new. It- god G, not even Mumbo knew about it at first.”

Now Grian looked worried, eyes flicking between Tommy and the other two and he pulled his knees up to his chest. “Wh-which thing did I say?”

Tommy stood up, being the only one standing adding to his already tall height. “You mean there’s more shit you haven’t fuckin’ told anyone about?! Grian what the fuck?!”

Tubbo tried to pull Tommy back down, but the blonde teen resisted for a bit before falling back to the ground. “Tommy please. If it’s been this long and he doesn’t want to talk, it's obviously really bad.”

“No, you don’t know some of the shit Grian’s talked about. There’s nothing that could be that bad!”

“Tommy that’s enough.” Philza spoke coldly, making him and Tubbo freeze. “Grian’s not you. He decides what he’s going to talk about. Maybe to most people the stuff he talks about is worse than the stuff he hides, but obviously it’s different for him. So you’re not going to fucking yell at him and make him even worse.”

Tommy frowned angrily, but stayed quiet and slumped back. Tubbo tried to help calm Tommy down while Phil did his best to do the same with Grian. “So… can you tell me what I said? Grian tentatively spoke up, looking to Tommy, but Phil answered instead.

“You mentioned someone named Gareth and not wanting to be like him. Obviously Tommy and Mumbo knew what you were talking about, but me and probably also Tubbo don’t know anything and are still pretty clueless. We just know that it’s something bad.”

Grian let out a quiet ‘oh’ as he pulled his knees even closer to himself. “Um, after I disappeared, I ended up in a different world and made friends with some people named Sam and Taurtis.” Philza tried not to react as he recognized the second name. “At some point in high school I moved in with them, but before that it was just the two of them. They had a teacher named Gareth. He um… his wife was found killed and a lot of people thought he did it. He… got fed up with it and uh..” Grian shook his head. “The classroom was closed up when people found his, uh, body. They took that away but left… left behind what he used. There was one time I snuck in and thought about… you know. But his ghost showed up and freaked me out so I ran.”

After that, it was quiet, no one really knowing how to respond to that. Grian just ended up letting his feathers puff up and he hid in his wings, Tommy being able to wriggle his way in there. The wings ended up muffling a conversation the two had in whispers, though Tubbo and Phil could both hear a few curses from Tommy. Mumbo finally came up the ladder while they were doing this and was greeted by the two SMP members with a finger to their lips. The redstoner wasn’t planning to be loud since he didn’t know if Grian was awake again or not, but he still of course complied. He moved closer to the avian before putting a hand on one wing, Grian moving said wing out of the way to see who was there.

“Mumbo. A- How are the bots?”

“They’ve gone to bed. They seem like they’ll be fine.” Mumbo replied in a soft voice. “You can go back to what you were doing, I just wanted to let you know so you weren’t worried.”

“N-no, it’s fine. I… Hey Tommy, why don’t you show off your base.” When Tommy looked like he might refuse, Grian spoke again. “Please?”

“Alright, but not my fault if a war starts up!”

That earned a smile from the avian. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. Remember to bring scaffolding with you. I’m sure you can find some in the chests in the basement.”

“You mean the storage system, or the fucking chest monster.” Grian smirked an evil little grin. “Fuck you. Alright come on you two. You gotta see Cobble Tower.”

The two other SMP members each gave Grian a look of sympathy before going down the ladder behind Tommy. He led them down to the fireplace that was centering the main hall, but specifically to one side of it. “Alright, this is the quick way up and down.” The teen opened some trap doors revealing some sort of donut-shaped object. “There’s one on the other side, but this is the elevator or whatever the heck Zed called it. You sort of lie down in it like this.” Tommy climbed in, lying down in the small structure. “Then you just hit that button and-“

Redstone activated and suddenly Tommy was lowering out of view. He quickly pointed towards the other side of the fireplace before pulling his arm in so it didn’t get crushed. It took a few moments, but an identical mechanism appeared there, ready for Tubbo or Phil to get into. Tubbo was the first to get in and was soon following behind Tommy. Philza, on the other hand, took more time getting situated, trying to be careful of his wings so they wouldn’t get caught or pinched on anything. He was mostly sure it would be fine since this was Grian’s place and he was an avian, but at the same time, the hardcore player could never be too sure.

When he reached the bottom, Tubbo was busy freaking out over all the items filling the chests. And there were plenty of them. There seemed to be a storage system lining the room, but also plenty of extra chests strewn about. “Hey, Philza Minecraft! Help us look for scaffolding, or at the very least some bamboo and string!”

The avian rolled his eyes before helping the pair, the three of them gathering enough for each of them to have at least two stacks. From there he led them out of the mansion’s basement and around the back of it in the direction of his own base. “Okay, so I haven’t been here as long as the other guys, so my tower is still in progress, but it’s got a couple floors. I mainly stay at the hobbit hole that’s back the other way.”

Both of the SMP members expected to just see a pillar made of cobble, but instead, standing tall in the distance, was a mostly completed tower that looked like it belonged to part of a larger castle that was nowhere in sight.

“Mate what the fuck is that?” Phil stared at the tower. There was no way that was Tommy’s. Or at the very least, he hadn’t built it. He had been close to Grian and they had all just been at Grian’s mansion which was a feat on it’s own. Obviously the avian had been building this for Tommy.

“I said we were going to my tower. And that’s it.” Tommy gestured to the tower before he continued talking. “I gathered all the cobble myself but bought a lot of the wood. Yeah some of it I got myself and I got gifts here and there, but I got a pretty good business venture so paying for it is easy.”

“Business venture?” Tubbo asked.

“Yeah. Speaking of which, I think Bdubs said the shop was empty so I’ll need to refill. Once I show you guys around, I’ll probably fly over to do that.”

“Could I come with you?”

Tommy paused to look at his friend. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Big T. Everyone’s at the shopping district like all the time, and they fly everywhere too. They aren’t all avians like Phil and Big G, and they don’t use tridents all that often, so instead it’s elytra, and those use fireworks to work. I don’t know how you’ve been since I left, but I’m guessing you and fireworks still aren’t on the best of terms.”

Tubbo crossed their arms. “I can use fireworks when I need to. You know that.”

“Yeah, you can use them fine, but you get jumpy when other people use them.”

Before Tubbo could respond, a voice from further ahead piped up. “Hey Tommy my man! Who’re your friends?”

“Hey Ren!” Tommy ran over to his neighbor. “This is my dad and my friend Tubbo. They’re sort of visiting.”

“Nice to hear.” Ren lowered his sunglasses slightly to look at the visitors. “I’m sure X knows about them?”

“Yeah, I sorta got half kidnapped while hanging with Grian and they followed us back.”

Ren inhaled sharply with a wince, his ears folding back as well. “Oof, how bad did Grian scare them?”

“Phil got freaked out cause he did some shit to piss off Watchers in the past.” Tommy smirked while Philza rolled his eyes. “He kinda tried taking me back again as well as the bots. I seriously thought Grian might kill him until Grum kinda shouted at us.”

“Yikes, how bad did it get for him to do that?”

“We kinda kept interrupting him while he was trying to tell us something important.” Ren winced again from that comment. “Fortunately it helped calm things down a little in the violence department.”

“And in the other departments?”

Tommy pulled Phil over closer to Ren. “So Phil isn’t just my dad.”

Ren nodded. “Yeah, you said you had some brothers.”

“Yeah, he’s also Grian’s dad.”

Again, Ren nodded. “Okay, yeah that-” the wolf hybrid completely froze. “Grian’s dad?! But he’s your dad!”

“Yup.”

“But also Grian’s?!”

“Yeah.”

“So the two of you are-”

“Brothers, yup.”

“You know this explains so much my dude.” Ren ran his fingers through his hair as he stared at the avian with his new knowledge. “Who else knows?”

“Right now, Xisuma and Mumbo. Haven’t really gotten the chance to tell many others.”

Ren nodded in understanding. “Does this mean you two aren’t coming to triple H?”

At this point Tubbo finally spoke up. “What’s that? And also it’s nice to meet you. Tommy said your name was Ren?”

“Yup, Ren Diggity Dawg at your service. And it’s Hermits Helping Hermits. We try to meet up once a week to help out one hermit.”

“You say that, but we haven’t even done it once yet Ren.” Tommy piped up, making Ren frown.

“Well that’s how it’s going to work. Hey, if you want, these two could come along.”

“I dunno. There would probably be lots of flying.” Tommy shrugged before slightly gesturing towards Tubbo.

“Tommy! I don’t need you acting so concerned for me! A few fireworks aren’t going to freak me out! Plus aren’t there unlimited lives here? Even if I do die I’ll just come back!”

Before Tommy could say anything in response, Tubbo took the elytra that were on Tommy’s back and put them on their own back. Ren seemed to be on Tubbo’s side, because he handed them some blank fireworks. He immediately lit one, which made them flinch just a little, but the next one didn’t cause them to have the same reaction. The only problem was while he was using the fireworks, he wasn’t getting into the air at all. “Uh, how exactly do these work?”

Tommy looked like he wanted to shout, but Ren spoke up before the teen could. “Elytra wings open up on descent, so you have to jump first. I’d say we get you some platform to test with before you try launching from the ground itself. Not even every hermit can do that right since you need to hit the sweet spot. Tommy’s pretty good at it though, but he’s got a good teacher.”

Tommy just rolled his eyes when Tubbo and Ren looked over at him. “Grian doesn’t use elytra, he uses his fucking wings.”

“He had to relearn how to fly in season six when he was still hiding his wings.” Ren pointed out and Tommy rolled his eyes again, though the sentence had caught Phil’s attention.

“Why was he hiding his wings?”

“Someone’s in parent mode.” Ren chuckled, which caught Phil slightly off guard. “I’ve heard that same tone plenty of times from X. Usually around the full moon.”

“Wait, so are you-”

“Werewolf, yeah. I know, most people just assume hybrid, and I kinda am. Anyway, to answer your question, he had apparently already gotten used to it in his older worlds. Even hanging around other hybrids didn’t help. He just had them hidden for so long that his standard was no wings. Iskall was the one to really get him with his wings out.”

“Iskall is Mumbo’s sibling, right?”

“Nah, unless we have another case of a surprise family connection. They had a business venture with Grian and Mumbo last season and the three have been really close ever since. They’re not officially related, but at this point they’re essentially all family.”

“I see, well what did he do?”

“They made a shop for hiring them as a hitman since they did that in the past. Someone ordered one on Grian and he got a plan ready and everything, but it involved outflying Iskall.”

“Good to know. I’ll have to meet with them at some point.” Phil nodded and Ren gave a barely noticeable wink at the avian correcting himself.

“Well, I’m sure I've held you guys up enough. If Tommy gives you any more trouble with flying, just shoot me a message.” Ren looked at Tubbo with his second comment, then he waved goodbye and headed off the other way.

Over the course of the next hour and a half, Tommy briefly showed off his tower, but for the most part it was Tubbo learning how to fly with elytra. Tommy was giving out pointers, but mostly was just freaking out whenever Tubbo did something that seemed even slightly concerning. Phil was doing his best to give tips, but wasn’t completely sure how elytra worked seeing as how he was used to just his own wings and hadn’t had access to elytra since they had been damaged.

By the end of the hour, Tubbo was flying pretty well, and Tommy was following nearby. When he had first gotten into the air, it had made Tubbo jolt, but before long, he had gotten acclimated to the firework’s initial sound with no following explosion. Tommy also ended up getting out a third pair of elytra for Philza to try. It wasn’t enchanted like the ones Tubbo wore or the backups on Tommy’s back, but it would do fine for a quick trip to the shopping district.

“Alright, you can explore the place as much as you want as long as you don’t go stealing anything. Otherwise I’ll have to pay for it.”

“You? Telling us not to steal?”

Tommy crossed his arms. “Yeah, no one does that here. I did a bit at the start, but you don’t really fucking need to. Even if you could just pay for shit at the shops, if you really need something, someone’s gonna show up to help you out.”

“Got it.” And with that the three of them flew over the ocean and to the island in the middle of it all. The place was littered with builds that surprised Phil and Tubbo. “These are all just shops?!”

“Yeah. You saw how big Big G’s mansion is. Just about everyone works at that scale. Even if they don’t fucking need to. You get used to it after a bit, it’s why my place is so big. You’d lose your minds if you saw Cub’s place.”

“I don’t even want to know mate.” Phil replied as they landed, sounding slightly exasperated at the thought.

“Right, well that’s my place over there.” Tommy pointed to a shop that looked more like a skyscraper and was near a number of similar buildings. “Most of the land in the actual shopping district is claimed, but Aquwu town still has lots of property.”

“What the fuck did you just say?”

“Aquowo.”

“Stop.”

“Aquwayway.”

“What’s the place actually called?” Tubbo piped up, making Tommy stop the joke.

“Just Aqua Town, but no one pronounces it like that. Even Scar, and he built the place. He normally calls it Aque Town.”

“I’ll be using that.”

“Suit yourself.” Tommy then walked towards his building. “You guys take the diamonds out and I’ll restock the place, okay? You can even keep a few of the diamonds.”

There were some nods of agreement and the trio went inside. Tommy put down his shulker boxes filled with stock as Tubbo opened the first chest, eyes going wide at the amount of diamonds in them. “There’s twenty-seven diamonds in this chest!”

Phil looked up surprised before looking in another chest. “This one too.”

“Well they said the place was all sold out.” Tommy responded as he opened up one of the shulkers and started pulling stacks of cobble out of it.

The avian noticed just what Tommy was grabbing and stared at it. “Mate, are you actually selling cobble for diamonds?”

Tubbo’s head whipped around to look away from the chest where he too saw Tommy pulling out cobble. “Not just cobble. There’s that, normal stone, andesite and granite.”

“And they buy that?”

“Yeah, at first I thought it was out of pity, until one day I got there to stock up and Bdubs was in there and was happy I was there. They all like building, but when they mine, none of the hermits bother to pick up all the stone since they normally fill their inventories with anything else and let the rest disappear. I make sure to go down with plenty of chests and put everything away, so when they need stone and shit, I’m the one they buy from.”

From there, Tommy and the other two stocked the shop. No hermits showed while they stocked, but one did show up just as they were leaving, Tubbo jumping back a little as the two of them nearly ran into each other, the wide eyed look of the hermit adding to the surprise. “Hey Keralis. Just stocked up so you’re good to go.”

��Why spank you Tommy. Who are your friends?”

“Tubbo and my dad Phil.”

“Will they be staying long?”

“Yeah, but Big G’s got them covered with housing.”

“Ah, Brian does have a good place indeed. But if they need a place to stay, I have plenty of room.”

“Almost too much. They’d be like me the first time I saw your place.”

“All the more reason for them to visit!”

“Right, see ya later.” Tommy followed behind Tubbo and Phil who had already slowly gotten ahead. He pulled out his comm and sent a message to Grian and Mumbo about where they were and where they were heading. Mumbo sent a reply that they would be coming over there soon with the bots, and Tommy put his comm away again. “Alright, I have a bit of land on a different part of the island, but it’s not really a shop. It’s more something I sort of brought over from the SMP.”

Tommy led them through the roads before they reached another area near the shore. Sand had terraformed the nearby land and various tables and chairs and other items were all over the place. But right next to the shoreline was a familiar piece of furniture that had Tubbo tearing up just a little. “You built the bench.”

“Yeah. Made it feel more like home sometimes. The rest of it is based on the beach party I held back in exile.”

Tubbo flinched slightly and looked down at the ground. Tommy was slightly confused and looked at Philza, who just gave a slight nod and wandered off. Once he was gone, Tommy led his friend over to the bench. “What’s up Big T?”

“Your… Your beach party. I- I’m sure you had fun.”

“Not really. Didn’t go the way I planned. Especially since you weren’t there.”

“I didn’t think you wanted me there. I never-”

“I sent an invitation, Tubbo. Ghostbur was supposed to give everyone in L’Manberg an invitation. But no one came. I thought it was cause you all fucking hated me. I mean, I did kinda ruin everything. I remember how mad you were.”

“Tommy…”

“I still thought that when I got here. Starting making friends out of spite instead of because I needed them. But then they made me realize some things. I don’t… Ghostbur wasn’t the most reliable, so I thought maybe he just didn’t manage to get the invitations out. But Grian said since Dream was messing with me the whole time I was there, he probably did something. Made sure you didn’t come.”

“Really? He’s been helping out. With you gone he’s become an ally to L’manberg.”

Tommy essentially growled in response to those words. “He’s not a fucking ally to anyone. He plays mind games and fucks everything up. He lies and tries to make you trust him so he can stab you in the back later. He was trying to make it so I’d only trust him. Unless you’re saying he told the truth when you immediately burned your compass for me.”

Tubbo’s hand immediately moved to hold where he had kept his compass, but it stopped midway there. “I… No. I kept it with me all the time.”

“Kept?”

Tubbo started tearing up a little before forcing the tear back. “I sort of got killed by a creeper and the explosion or something destroyed it. Tommy… I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to lose it. I didn’t want to lose you. But-”

Tubbo was cut off from Tommy hugging him. “It’s fine Big T. We lived in a fucked up place, and now we don’t have to. It’ll be you and me again. I’ll build you a tower for yourself. I’ll-”

A loud sound suddenly rang out along with an explosion. A second and third pair of the noises quickly followed. Tommy and Tubbo jumped up from the bench and looked towards the source of the noises to find three withers in the middle of the shopping district.

“What the fuck?! Why are those there?!” Tommy was immediately pulling out his comm and sending a message in the main chat.

Tubbo, on the other hand, squinted as something that seemed to be standing behind the boss monsters. They quickly shot open as he realized what he was seeing. “Technoblade?”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #grian #watcher!grian #avian!Grian #grian xelqua #tommyinnit #philza #tubbo #rendog #mumbo jumbo #grumbot #jrumbot #YHS #tw suicide

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capriciouswriter207 · 2 years

Note

“I will elaborate more if asked” I am asking that sounds like such a cool concept 👀

-🦊

Well, thank you for asking, I will elaborate here. I had the plot all figured out, too, so it’s a shame I’m not writing it anymore (except for this summary). Strap in, it's gonna be a long post.

3L!Jimmy somehow ends up on Hermitcraft at spawn right after MCC (nonspecified edition) and is found by Joe and Cleo. He asks to be kept a secret, he's just passing by, and Joe and Cleo initially agree to it.

He doesn't tell them about the portal he gound, which is subsequently used by the Red Army (minus Joel and Ren). They set up a base in the desert, built by their magically mind-controlled workers, previously enemies, color of their eyes showing gow much autonomy they have. All are red eyes, 3L!Impulse's are yellow. Skizz tries to get him to shut up stop shouting, but 3L!Impulse just wants to be free, not bound by magic. 3L!Etho and Bigb go on a recon mission and return with information about the Hermits, but they haven't found Jimmy. They also dwell on Ren's location.

Of course it doesn't go unnoticed. Martyn speaks to the Hermits that came to investigate and promises to leave when they get Jimmy. He doesn't seem as friendly as he used to. Xisuma goes off-world for a while and it turns out these guys are completely different people; Jimmy is safely with Scott on Empires, so these guys are not their friends. Jimmy reveals himself and explains a little - there was a cruel king, the Red King, and Jimmy and friends almost succeeded in taking him down. He only did what he thought was right, and now the King's hand pursues him. The Hermits believe him and decide to defend him. Jimmy is grateful.

Then follows a night-time assault. The Red Army descends on Boatem, and Skizz goes after Impulse. He asks his friend's counterpart "how many", is pissed when Impulse won't share and threatens violence to get Impulse to run to safety to cub's canyon. The rest of Boatem is captured but without a fight (except for Mumbo, who surrendered almost immediately and is confused about 3L!Etho's involvement).

Martyn comes with a new threat: they will kill a random Boatem member every day until they get Jimmy. Jimmy himself doesn't want anyone to die for him, but the Hermits don't think about it too much - if the threat is death, there's always respawn.

And then they learn cultures are very different. In Jimmy's world, everyone can only respawn twice, so they have three lives. Jimmy isn’t sure how many lives he has left, because it’s possible he died when unconscious once and wouldn’t know if he’d died and respawned or was just passed out. Boatem was also specifically targeted for Impulse, Scar and Grian, who were in the plot against the Red King, Impulse even as a mole. Jimmy also names Cleo, Bdubs, Tango and Etho as present in that world - he doesn't name Ren, because he hasn't met his Hermit counterpart yet and thus isn’t aware of his existence.

Boatem escapes, using respawn mechanics in their favor and confusing the Red Army - are they really willing to throw one of their lives away to escape? And finally, Joel comes to join them as well, handing the Red King's crown to Martyn, proclaiming that Ren fought hard, but lost the fight against death and wanted Martyn to continue. The objective changes.

3L!Etho gives Ren and Doc a false sense of security before drugging both and kidnapping Ren. They don't want to waste time, as Martyn attempts some blood magic in a bid to bring the Red King back and put hom in Ren's body. Due to negligence on Skizz's part, Ren can escape, but the ritual must go on. The Red King rises in Martyn's body and one of the first things he does is shut 3L!Impulse up permanently, they have enough mind-controlled workers anyway.

Ren returns to the other Hermits, talks about what he’s learned, and Jimmy comes clean. He’s the one that dealt the killing blow to the Red King (and is very much on edge around Ren) and fled, leaving his friends behind while they died around him. The Red King will try to strike, so the Hermits decide to be prepared for any attack.

And eventually, it gets to a confrontation, where the mind-controlled workers are now the Red Army as well. It’s weird to fight against these people, especially because they look like their friends. Skizz defects when he sees 3L!Etho target Impulse specifically, and they fight. Etho loses a life, Skizz walks away from the battlefield.

Jimmy faces Scott, who briefly breaks through the mind-control to ask him to destroy the crown. Jimmy obliges, but needs to come close to the Red King to do so. He sacrifices one life by coming close, snatching the crown and throwing it to some Hermit (this wasn’t really thought through) who then destroys the artefact. Big energy wave, the magic is undone, the mind-controlled workers break free and turn on the Red Army - some just drop dead because that magic also worked on corpses. The Red King dies, and Martyn briefly returns to feel himself dying, too. He doesn’t want to admit defeat, however, and dies in a last attempt to fix the crown. The Red Army is killed, except for 3L!Etho who snuck away and it probably back home.

Jimmy, as it turns out, is fine. Scott thanks them on behalf on everyone the Red Army brought here and Jimmy will show them the way back home. Skizz and Impulse have one last conversation before he returns to be brought to justice for what he’s done, claiming the blood magic the Red king was known for was also used to keep his generals under control. He’s just glad to still be alive.

And that’s about it. Life just about gets back to normal. Dogwarts has fallen, and the Crastle take over as the main rulers of the area. Skizz is locked up in a cell and Etho’s disappeared. Jimmy, in the end, is fine.

So, yeah, that's the elaboration. That's the story that was scrapped.

#3rd life smp #hermitcraft #not tagging all characters #A story I'll never write #because other fics have priority #Which is such a shame #capricious writings

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vagrantblvrd · 3 years

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Obi-Wan raises Luke instead of Owen and Beru, please.

Oooh, nice.

Because I am That Person I want to do the Satine lives AU (I haven’t finished Clone Wars yet, but one of my friends has Strong Opinions about similar AUs).

Obi-Wan doesn’t leave the Jedi Order to be with her,because Duty, and all that with the war, but perhaps once the war is over he can?

But then Anakin falls to the Dark Side and it’s decided to separate the twins. Leia goes to Bail and Breha, and Obi-Wan is supposed to take Luke to Tatooine to be raised by his aunt and uncle, but.

Obi-Wan’s in his ship leaving Coruscant after losing Anakin the way he did and it isn’t a conscious decision really, that has him putting in the coordinates for Mandlore, doesn’t even register until his droid is like ??? and he sees what he’s done, and has this moment of oh, I didn’t mean to do that, did I?

He means to fix it, input the coordinates for Tatooine, a weavin winding path in case he’s followed, but stops to think about it.

It makes sense to take Luke there, no one would think to look for him, but the thought of leaving Luke, one of the last pieces of Anakin left to him to be raised by people who wouldn’t understand him leaves him with a bad taste in his mouth.

Regret, guilt, for failing Anakin so completely, and it’s like. Anakin has ties to Tatooine that someone smart enough might look into, might find Luke, but Mandalore? That complicated mess is all Obi-Wan’s now.

And it’s selfish, he’s being selfish, not wanting to give Luke up, thinks about the Order and attachments, but look where it got them in the end, you know? (His foundations have been rocked, shattered beneath his feet but if he thinks on it there were cracks, fault-lines long before that.)

So.

He calculates s winding, weaving course to Mandalore and goes to Satine where they raise Luke as their foundling, right?

They keep the whole...Jedi thing on the down-low, because ancient enemies but Obi-Wan and Satine’s inner circle know, because how couldn’t they?

Obi-Wan may go by a different name these days, but it’s close enough to his real name it wouldn’t take much thought to connect the two. Also, his face???

And Luke okay. Obi-Wan teaches him to control his Jedi abilities and such from an early age, but he couches it in games and play and all Mr. Miyagi with his wax on, wax off schtick kid of deal to keep Luke from accidentally giving away the fact he’s strong in the Force and so on.)

Meanwhile there’s an effort to dial back the animosity towards the Jedi, which meets with mixed results, because people. Also, also, over the years Obi-Wan encourages Satine to mend the rift between her followers and those exiled to Concordia.

Also, with mixed results, but with the Empire’s numbers growing it seems like a mistake to allow Mandalore to be divided.

They reach some kind of understanding, not entirely reconciled, but better than things were before.

In another meanwhile, Luke is being raised as a Mandalorian, and like Obi-Wan earns a set of armor.

But then!

The Purge happens, and in the chaos Luke is separated from Obi-Wan and Satine, the other Mandalorians.

He has his armor and a ship and the lightsaber that belonged to his father Obi-Wan shoved into his hands before they were separated.

Has to hide from the Empire because one thing Obi-Wan made sure he knew from a young age is that he couldn’t all ow himself to be captured by them, that they’d be looking for him.

(And on some lonely nights after the Purge when his nightmares seem more real than usual, some part of him wonders if the Purge happened because Mandalore refused to join with the Empire, or if someone found out about him?)

Anyway.

Mandalorians and the reputation for being fierce fighters and skilled bounty hunters and Luke is truly alone for the first time in his life. Little money to his name and his ship can only get so far before it runs out of fuel, and he needs ammunition and food to eat, and it’s just.

He finds work s a bounty hunter, and the first few bounties are part of a learning process. Thank goodness for his armor or he’d have been dead dozen times over the first month.

Still.

He’s been raised as a Mandalorian his whole life, maybe saw himself as an outsider because his Force abilities and the secrets Obi-Wan kept even from him, but he’s been training as a warrior his whole life.

(Pacifists, yes, but the galaxy is a dangerous place and perhaps more so for someone like Luke, so.)

Between the regular weapons and hand-to-hand and whatnot and Obi-Wan’s instruction with his Force abilities and his father’s lightsaber he’s quite the dangerous individual.

He keeps running into this Corellian smuggler and his Wookie co-pilot, and sometimes he turns a blind eye to their antics if he’s tracking someone else. (In return Han’s willing to let information slip to Luke, for the price of a drink or a meal, and of course he’d never say no to an outright gift of credits, so.)

There’s a miscommunication on a job, once. Luke after a bail jumper and this other Mandalorian with a silver helmet who wants the pilot Luke’s bounty hired.

There’s a bit of a fight, nothing serious before it occurs to Luke that the aforementioned pilot looked a little too panicky at the sight of the other Mandalorian to be fully innocent. (Also, it’s Mos Eisley. Innocent people are exceedingly rare here.)

It’s the first time Luke’s worked with another Mandalorian on a bounty, and it’s actually kind of nice. (Although he suspects the other Mandalorian may have ties to The Tribe, but it’s the least of his problems at the moment and the man makes for good company.)

Anyway, anyway, at some point Luke runs into Ahsoka - and he knows her. Obi-Wan and his secrets and she’s safe, she can help him.

At first she’s reluctant, because look what happened to Anakin, what if she’s resposnsible for the same happening to Luke? But he finds a way to convince her - stubborn like Anakin, if not worse - and she takes up his training where Obi-Wan left off.

She’ll lave from time to time because Rebellion shenaigans, and sometimes Luke goes along to help.

And then word through Luke or Ahsoka’s contacts about Leia being taken prisoner and important plans and they’re so far out they might not make it in time.

“I know someone who might help?” Luke offers, because he and Han are hardly friends (they kind of are though), and the Falcon is one of the fastest ships out there even if she doesn’t look like it.

So, side trip to Tatooine and Han is just “Oh, come on, you too? What is with today?” because Greedo and Luke being a bounty hunter and Ahsoka is super unimpressed.

Once Luke explains what he needs, Han is like “NO,” but Luke convinces him and Han reluctantly agrees (but then Jabba and that whole mess and it’s kind of a disaster getting off Tatooine but they make it so everything’s fine.

Before they leave though, there’s this weird hermit they run into and emotional reunions because Obi-Wan and he thought Luke was dead and what has he been doing? Also it’s very nice to see you again, Ahsoka, you look well.

Luke going up to the cockpit to give them privacy for their part of the reunion and sharing information and all that.

And then rescuing Leia and Luke in his beskar getting between Obi-Wan and Vader even though both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are incredibly not happy about that, but some people there were just going to let the sith lord kill them, and Luke is just how about no???

(Satine would never forgive Obi-Wan something like that Luke’s sure, and according to Obi-Wan she’s back on Tatooine still, so.)

Leia gets rescued and the Rebellion’s down a few pilots and oh, hey, Luke’s kind of not bad at that whole deal?

Obi-Wan’s needed as a strategist - and honestly, no one wants him out of sight after the whole thing on the Death Star - and Ahsoka with her Rebellion Thing.

Han comes back to save Luke’s life and Luke destroys the Death Star and happy ending for now?

But Luke knows there’s something about Vader and Luke himself that has Obi-Wan and Ahsoka deeply worried. (When he thinks about it there are a few reasons why that might be, but he does his best not to dwell on it.)

Anyway.

The usual Star Wars shenanigans but with Mandalorian!Luke with his armor and whatnot.

Confrontations between Luke and Vader go a little differently because of Luke’s armor? But the hand thing still happens because parallels or some nonsense, idk.

(Anakin’s not the only one who has to remove their helmet on the second Death Star and so on.)

Leia has mixed feelings about the whole Boba Fett putting Han in carbonite because Luke’s used the same method on some of his bounties in the past. (The violent dangerous ones that posed a risk to him transporting them the guild, though, but it doesn’t matter to Leia at the time.)

After the destruction of the second Death Star there’s talk, idle, unsure about forming a school to teach the next generation of Jedi?

Because Force-sensitive kids and there must be a better way, a balance between the ole Jedi Order and a new one.

Until then, Luke is curious about the whole Jedi thing, goes looking for relics and whatnot. (Maybe does some bounty hunting every so often, because why not.)

Satine wants to go back to Mandalore, help her people if she can and Obi-Wan goes with her because not a lot of reason to stick around Tatooine otherwise.

And then!

This call for help through the Force and Luke following it to an Imperial light cruiser and Din being very, very confused at seeing a Mandalorian with a lightsaber?

Is it like Bo-Katan’s Darksaber? Will one of them have to change? So confused. (Also though, possible concussion from his fight with the Dark Trooper, but yes.)

“Are you a Jedi?” Din asks, feeling that it’s a valid question because Mandalorians and Jedis and ancient enemies????

And yet.

Luke is like, hey, it’s you! Because silver helmet and remember that time we got into a fight on Tatooine? But also, also, hello Aunt Bo-Katan and friends.

Mainly though, Grogu who is kind of losing his tiny little mind because Mandalorian? But also Jedi? But Mandalorian???

And then shenanigans in which Luke is like, huh, about the Darksaber and poor Din who wants nothing to do with it. His adopted mother who wants to help her people but afraid they won’t listen to her after what the Empire’s done them and is like.

Strangely convenient, but he’ll take it.

They stop by the closest New Republic planet or outpost to hand Gideon and whatever other Imperials are still on board over and then head to Mandalore.

Din is still so very confused, but it doesn’t seem like Luke plans to take Grogu away and he’ll take what he can get. (So sure Luke will take Grogu far away at some point, but tries not to think too hard about that.)

And then the whole working at calling Mandalorians home - Din is super unsure about being the new ruler of Mandalore, but once Bo-Katan and Satine have a chat about the fure of their world they’re like, “He’s perfect for the role.”

Just needs a little help, and with them and Obi-Wan and other trusted people to help him, something great could come of it.

Luke stays on Mandalore - his home more than anywhere else in the galaxy - and he and Obi-Wan train Grogu. Ahsoka too, when she visits.

Once Mandalore and its people are more settled there’s talk of joining the New Republic, right?

Leia as the New Republic’s representative, and Obi-Wan one of Din’s advisors, negotiators and it seems as though good things will happen there too.

But!

Also!

Luke who grew up on Mandalore helping introduce Din to it? Teach him about this world he’s never seen, but is important in its own way more than ever now.

And little Grogu and all that.

Keldabe kisses in a courtyard on a night when Luke’s meditating outside, Din restless after tucking Grogu in and happens across Luke.

Understands that Luke doesn’t follow the Creed the way Din does, but he was raised as a Mandalorian and Din’s seen him in his helmet more often than not and anyway.

Luke meditating in the moonlight and while Din was worried he might have interrupted, Luke opens his eyes and smiles, something about it drawing Din closer.

And it’s.

There’s been so much Pining, but this is Luke, and anyway, keldabe kisses, and Luke laughing at Din being so flustered by it, but Luke’s laughter is shaky, breathless and really, the man’s a hypocrite.

Still, the two of them stay like that for a little while longer.

#star wars nonsense #dinluke #anon #not!fic prompt #prompt fills #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #mandalorian!luke #but like with a ~twist #long post #Anonymous

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madmiriam · 3 years

Text

New Rexsoka fanfic idea: Pocahontas/Star Wars AU

OK so.. The basic principle is, this story will follow the plot of Disney's Pocahontas (yes I am aware that this movie is very controversial these days, what with the racial stereotypes and blatant disregard for historical accuracy. However I shall always have a place in my heart for this movie and the joy it gave me as a child, plos no need to go for historical accuracy with star wars 😁) but while using the characters from star wars the clone wars. In this AU the native Americans will be the Jedi living in peace on the planet/system Dagobah. And the English vagina company will be the clones, who are being "led" by empor Palpatine, in search or gold and a place for the clones to settle. So basically the jedi never joined the Republic and chose to live a life of peace on a planet that had yet to be decovered by others. There for leaving the said Republic now empire, to consider them to be nothing but primative "Savages" as they know nothing of the jedi exsept for what the Chancellor/emperor (secret sith Lord) has told them. The clones are slightly more indifferent. They just want to find a planet they can settle down on, as the war they were made for is now over. But at the same time they to only know what the emperor has told them.

Character list:

Ahsoka as pocahontas

Rex as John Smith

Palpatine as governor Radcliffe

Anakin as Chief Powhatan

Obiwan Kanobi as Kekata

Yoda as grandmother willow 😂

Barise Offee as Nakoma

Lux Bonteri as kocoum

Tup as Thomas

Fives and Echo as Ben and Lon

Tarkin as Wiggins (cus he's a suck up and I want to humiliat him)

So the clones of coruscant are on an expedition to find gold, crystals and other pressures metals, and create a new clone settlement on the new found planet in the Dagobah system. A planet inhabited by the mysterious jedi. They are being led by the greedy emperor Palpatine. (we're gonna protend Palps does more than just sits in his swivel chair drumming his fingers together, while cackling maniacally) though most of the leading is deing done by the clone Captain Rex, who is exsited to explore the new world.

The jedi, who are currently being led by the chosen one Anakin Skywalker. (who with the help of his old master and adviser Obiwan Kanobi, manged to abolish the old ban on attachments) who is grieving for the death of his late wife Padme who died a year prior. All he has left of her, is his children, Luke, Leia and padawan Ahsoka Tano, who Padme and he considered as their first child.

As an alliance plan for their nabouring temple, Anakin wants to marry Ahsoka to the non force sensative son of the grandmaster of the said temple, Lux Bonteri. Ahsoka, who is a free spirited young woman, isn't so sure of the match. Lux had once been a good childhood friend of hers but since the death of his mother (who had been great friends with Padme) they had both grown apart and he had become far more serious and stoic than he once was. (I know this is a bit out of character for Lux, but in all honesty the only character that seemed to fit Kocoum character was Mace Windu, and that just didn't scene right to even surgest that Ahsoka marry Windu...soooo.....Sorry Windu)

As a gift Anakin give Ahsoka the necklace he had carved Padme when they had meet, saying it was Padme's dream to see Ahsoka wear it at her own wedding.

Ahsoka, still in two minds about this arrangement, goes to visit her Great great (bout 3-4 greats) grandmaster Yoda who lives as a hermit in the hollow of a willow tree. Telling him of her troubles. Together they meditate on it, and the Forse tells them something is come. Opon hearing this, Ahsoka climbs Yoda's tree and looks up at the sky, only to see ships coming down from the sky (it had been generations since anyone had come to or left the planet, so ahsoka has never seen a battle ship before)

Opon arriving on the new planet, the clones are ordered to start digging for treasure strait away. Captain Rex on the other hand choses to (scout the terrain) explore the new land.

Whilst exploring, Rex then comes across Ahsoka. At first he hides behind a water fall, ready to Shoot at the "savage" jedi before they can attack him, but is shocked to see a beautiful young Togrutan woman, insted of the deadly force welding witch that he had been exsepting. After a while of just staring at each other, Rex puts away his DCs and slowly trys to make his way towards her. Ahsoka on the other hand is having non of it and choses to run away from the strange hardskinned (she's refusing to his armour) man. At which point he gives chase, wanting to know more about, the strange jedi woman.

After a breaf differculty with the language barrier (the force helps them understand one another. I know, I never got that bit of the movie eather) and an unfortunate chose of words on Rex's part, that courses Ahsoka great offence on behalf of herself and her people, Ahsoka goes one to showing Rex the ways of the galaxy though the jedi's point of view.

Meanwhile, the other jedi after a deadly encounter with the clone army, are now even more weary off their arrival. After meditating with the council on this, Anakin choses to forbid anyone from going near the new settlement until they know more about the visiters. Calls upon the other jedi temples to lend aid should, the worst come to the worst.

Ahsoka and Rex continue to meet up in secret graduly developing feelings for each other. Ahsoka eventually introduces Rex to Yoda, who fermly believes them to be the key to developing peace between the jedi and the rest of the galaxy.

They chose to go to Ahsoka's master to talk about a peace treaty. Unfortunately unbeknownst to them they are being watched, by both Lux and Tup. When seeing Rex and Ahsoka kiss, Lux flys into a jealous rage and attacks Rex. Tup seeing the "jedi savage" attack his big bother rases his blaster and shots Lux dead. Horrified Rex tells Tup to run as the jedi come down on them, having heird the blaster shot. Thinking it was Rex who killed Lux, they tear him away from Ahsoka and take him away to Aniken, who sentences rex to death at dawn the next day, declering war on the clones.

Ahsoka's friend Barise, when seeing how upset Ahsoka was, manges to get ahsoka and rex time to say goodbye. Where they admit their feelings for each other.

Tup meanwhile, runs back to the other clones and tells them about the attack and how Rex was going to be killed if they didn't do something. Overhearing this, Palpatine choses this moment to rally the men into, marching on the jedi. (just as he had been planing all along)

Ahsoka goes to Yoda in greaf. Not knowing what to do. With his help, she finds the strength to run and try and stop the fighting.

The jedi drag Rex up onto a stone atop of a cliff, preparing him for exicution. And the clones march towards them to attack. Anakin rases his lightsaber ready to bring it down on Rex's head, only to stop midway when Ahsoka charges forth and throws herself on Rex, shielding him from harm. Ahsoka tells her master if he wants to kill Rex, he'll have to kill her too. Gives a heartfelt speach about peace and understanding. When seeing the love she had for the clone in her eyes, love that he had once seen in Padme's eyes for him, this moves Aniken to release Rex, stating that if there was to be more killing it would not start with the jedi.

Palpatine trys to rally the clones to attack, but after see what the jedi girl did to protect their bother, they refuse. Outraged, the emperor force pushes the clones aside, leaps onto to cliff, pulls out his own blood red saber and goes to stab Anakin in the back with it. But Rex seeing this come, pushed Aniken out of the way, getting stabbed in the side him self.

With the combined force of both the clones and the jedi, they kill Palpatine, riding the galaxy of the last known sith lord. Rex now fatality injured now lying in the arms of his jedi, surrounded by brothers, he trys to say goodbye, but fall short when, darkens overtakes him.

Ahsoka refusing to exsept this, uses to the Forse to heal him. Aniken and Obiwan try talking her out of it, saying she would die if she didn't stop, but she refuses, saying she'd rather die than live without him. She falls unconscious as rex wakes up. Upon seeing what she had done for him, Rex holds Ahsoka, beging her not to leave him. Obiwan tells him he needs to take her to the temple to bask in the force for her to survive. He cares her all the way there, refusing to let anyone else take her form him. He lays with her in the temple, whilst the other jedi, pray to the force to revive her. And as they do this, the clone army, position themselves on guard outside the temple, ready to diffend it if need be.

Ahsoka eventually wakes up, much the the relief of her family and celebrations of the clones. Both she and Rex are married that same day, and the clones are all welcomed as family. This was now their home for as long as they wanted it.

So what do you guys think, would this be a fanfiction you'd want to read, or should I just leave it at this? Let me know. And if you have any ideas let me know xxxxxx

#Rexsoka #clone wars #captain rex #ahsoka tano #star wars #Pocahontas AU #star wars au

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ariainstars · 4 years

Text

Thank You, Disney Lucasfilm… For Destroying My Dreams

Warning: longer post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So… I watched The Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ a few weeks ago. Again.

Sigh.

I guess it has its good sides. But professional critics tend to dislike it and even the general audience doesn’t go crazy for it. I wonder why?

The Fantasy

When his saga became a groundbreaking pop phenomenon in the 1970es, George Lucas reportedly said that he wanted to tell fairy tales again in world that no longer seemed to offer young people a chance to grow up with them. The fact that his saga was met with such unabashed, international enthusiasm proves that he was right: people long for fairy tales no matter how old they are and what culture they belong to.

“Young people today don’t have a fantasy life anymore, not the way we did… All they’ve got is Kojak and Dirty Harry. All the films they see are movies of disasters and insecurity and realistic violence.” (George Lucas)

I’ve been a Star Wars fan for more than thirty years. I love the Original Trilogy but honestly it did not make me dream much, perhaps because when I saw it the trilogy was already complete. The Prequel Trilogy also did not inspire my fantasy.

The Last Jedi accomplished something that no TV show, book or film had managed in years: it made me dream. The richness of colorful characters, multifaceted themes, unexpected developments, intriguing relationships was something I had not come across in a long time: it fascinated me. I felt like a giddy teenager reading up meta’s, writing my own and imagining all sorts of beautiful endings for the saga for almost two years.

So if there’s something The Rise of Skywalker can pride itself on for me, it’s that it crushed almost every dream I had about it. The few things I had figured out – Rey’s fall to the Dark, Ben Solo’s redemption, the connection between them - did not even make me happy because they were tainted by the flatness of the storytelling reducing the Force to a superpower again (like the general audience seems to believe it is), and its deliberate ignoring of almost all messages of The Last Jedi.

Many fans of the Original Trilogy also were disillusioned by the saga over the decades and ranted at the studios for “destroying their childhood”. Now we, the fans of the sequels and in particular of The Last Jedi, are in the same situation… but the thought doesn’t make the pill much easier to swallow. What grates on my nerves is the feeling that someone trampled on my just newly found dreams like a naughty child kicking a doll’s house apart. Why give us something to dream of in the first place, then? To a certain extent I can understand that many fans would angrily assume that Disney Lucasfilm made the Sequel Trilogy for the purpose of destroying their idea of the saga. The point is that they had their happy ending, while every dream the fans of the Sequel Trilogy may have had was shattered with this unexpectedly flat and hollow final note.

I know many fans who dislike the Prequel Trilogy heartily. I also prefer the Original Trilogy, but I find the prequels all right in their own way, also since I gave them some thought. However, it can’t be denied that they lack the magic spark which made the Original Trilogy so special. Which makes sense since they are not a fairy tale but ultimately a tragedy, but in my opinion it’s the one of the main reasons why the Prequel Trilogy never was quite so successful, or so beloved.

Same goes for Rogue One, Solo, or Clone Wars. They’re ok in their way, but not magical.

The sequel trilogy started quite satisfyingly with The Force Awakens, but for me, the actual bomb dropped with The Last Jedi. Reason? It was a magical story. It had the spark again that I had missed in the new Star Wars stories for decades! And it was packed full of beautiful messages and promises.

The Force is not a superpower belonging solely to the Jedi Anyone can be a hero. Even the greatest heroes can fail, but they will still be heroes. Hope is like the sun: if you only believe in it when you see it you’ll never make it through the night. Failure is the greatest teacher. It’s more important to save the light than to seem a hero. No one is never truly gone. War is only a machine. Dark Side and Light Side can be unbeatable if they are allies. Save what you love instead of destroying what you hate.

Naively, I assumed the trilogy would continue and end in that same magical way. And then came The Rise of Skywalker… which looks and feels like a Marvel superhero story at best and an over-long videogame at worst.

Chekov’s Gun

“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

(Anton Chekov, 1860 - 1904)

If you show an important looking prop and don’t put it to use, it leaves the audience feeling baffled. There is a huge difference between a story’s setup, and the audience’s feeling of entitlement. E.g. many viewers expected Luke to jump right back into the fray in Episode VIII, because that’s what a hero does, isn’t it? The cavalry comes and saves the day. And instead, we met a disillusioned elderly hermit who is tired of the ways of the Jedi. But there was no actual reason for disappointment: in Episode VII it was very clearly said (through Han, his best friend) that Luke had gone into exile on purpose, feeling responsible for his failure in teaching a new generation of Jedi. It would have been more than stupid to show him as an all-powerful and all-knowing man who kills the bad guys. Sorry but who expected that was a victim to his own prejudice.

A promise left unfulfilled is a different story. The Last Jedi set up a lot of promises that didn’t come true in The Rise of Skywalker: Balance as announced by the Jedi temple mosaic, a new Jedi Order hinted at by Luke on Crait, a good ending for Ben and Rey set up by the hand-touching scene which was opposite to Anakin’s and Padmés wedding scene. Many fans were annoyed about the Canto Bight sequence. I liked it because it felt like the set-up for a lot of important stuff: partnership between Finn and Rose whom we see working together excellently, freedom for the enslaved children (one of whom is Force-sensitive), DJ and Rose expressing what makes wars in general foolish and beside the point. So if we, the fans of Episode VIII, now feel angry and let down, I daresay it’s not due to entitlement. We were announced magical outcomes and not just pew-pew.

The Star Wars saga never repeated itself but always developed and enlarged its themes, so it was to be expected that delving deeper, uncomfortable truths would come out: wars don’t start out of nowhere, and they don’t flare up and continue for decades for the same reason. In order to find Balance, the Jedi’s and the Skywalker family’s myths needed to be dismantled. Which is not necessarily bad as long it is explained how things came to this, and a better alternative is offered. The prequels explained the old political order and the beginnings of the Skywalker family, and announced that the next generation would do better. The sequels hardly explained anything about the 30 years that passed since our heroes won the battle against the Empire, and while The Last Jedi hinted at the future a lot, The Rise of Skywalker seemed to make a point of ignoring all of it.

The Skywalker Family Is Obliterated. Why?

Luke was proven right that his nephew would mean the end of everything he loved. The lineage of the Chosen One is gone. His grandson had begun where Vader had ended - tormented, pale and with sad eyes - and he met the same fate. Luke, Han, Leia, all sacrificed themselves to bring Ben Solo back for nothing. Him being the reincarnation of the Chosen One and getting a new chance should have been meaningful for all of them; instead, he literally left the scepter to Rey who did nothing to deserve it: merely because she killed the Bad Guy does not mean she will do a better job than the family whose name and legacy she proudly takes over.

I do hope there was a good reason if the sequels did not tell “The New Adventures of Luke, Leia and Han” and instead showed us a broken family on the eve of its wipeout. It would have been much easier, and more fun for the audience, to bring the trio back again after a few years and pick up where they had left. Instead we had to watch their son, nephew and heir go his grandfather’s way - born with huge power, branded as Meant to Be Dangerous from the start, tried his best to be a Jedi although he wanted to be a pilot, never felt accepted, abandoned in the moment of his greatest need, went to his abuser because he was the only one to turn to, became a criminal, his own family (in Anakin’s case: Obi-Wan and Yoda) trained the person who was closest to him to kill him, sacrificed himself for this person and died. And in his case, it’s particularly frustrating because Kylo Ren wasn’t half as impressive a villain as Vader, and Ben Solo had a very limited time of heroism and personal fulfilment, contrarily to Anakin when he was young.

The impact of The Rise of Skywalker was traumatic for some viewers. I know of adolescents and adults, victims of family abandonment and abuse, who identified with Ben: they were told that you can never be more than the sum of your abuse and abandonment, and that they’re replaceable if they’re not “good”. Children identifying with Rey were told that their parents might sell them away for “protection”. Rey was not conflicted, she had a few doubts but overall, she was cool about everything she did, so she got everything on a silver platter; that’s why as a viewer, after a while you stopped caring for her. Her antagonist was doomed from birth because he dared to question the choices other people made for him. It seems that in the Star Wars universe, you can only “rise” if you’re either a criminal but cool because you’ve always got a bucket over your head (Vader / the Mandalorian) or are a saint-like figure (Luke / Rey).

One of Obi-Wan’s first actions in A New Hope is cutting off someone’s arm who was only annoying him; Han Solo, ditto. These were no acts of self-defense. The Mandalorian is an outlaw. Yet they are highly popular. Why? Because they always keep their cool, so anything they do seems justified. Young Anakin was hated, Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen attacked for his portrayal. For the same reason many fans feel that Luke is the least important of the original trio although basically the Original Trilogy is his story: it seems the general audience hates nothing more than emotionality in a guy. They want James Bond, Batman or Indiana Jones as the lead. Padmé loved Anakin because she always saw the good little boy he once was in him; his attempts at impressing her with his flirting or his masculinity failed. Kylo tried to impress Rey with his knowledge and power, but she fled from him - she wanted the gentle, emphatic young man who had listened to her when she felt alone. Good message. But both died miserably, and Ben didn’t even get anything but a kiss. Realizing that his “not being as strong as Darth Vader” might actually be a strength of its own would have meant much more.

The heroes of the Original Trilogy had their adventures together and their happy ending; the heroes of the Prequel Trilogy also had good times and accomplishments in their youth, before everything went awry. Rey, Finn and Poe feel like their friendship hardly got started; Rose was almost obliterated from the narrative; and Ben Solo seems to have had only one happy moment in his entire life. Of course it’s terrible that he committed patricide (even if it was under coercion), but Anakin / Vader himself had two happy endings in the Prequel Trilogy before he became the monster we know so well. Not to mention Clone Wars, where he has heroic moments unnumbered.

The Skywalker family is obliterated without Balance in the Force, and the young woman who inherited all doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from all this. The Original Trilogy became a part of pop culture among other things because its ending was satisfying. We can hardly be expected to be satisfied with an ending where our heroes are all dead and the heir of their worst enemy takes over. What good was the happy ending of the Original Trilogy for if they didn’t learn enough from their misadventures to learn how to protect one single person - their son and nephew, their future?

For a long time, I also thought that the saga was about Good vs. Evil. Watching the prequels again, I came to the conclusion that it is rather about Love vs. War. And now, considering as a whole, I believe it to be essentially Jedi against Skywalker. The ending, as it is now, says that both fractions lost: they annihilated one another, leaving a third party in charge, who believes to be both but actually knows very little about them.

Star Wars and Morality

After 9 films and 42 years, it still is not possible to make the general audience accept that it is wrong to divide people between Good and Evil in the first place. The massive rejection of both prequels and sequels, which have moral grey zones galore, shows it.

It is also not possible without being accused of actual blasphemy in the same fandom, to say the plain truth that no Skywalker ever was a Jedi at heart. As their name says, they’re pilots. Luke was the last and strongest of all Jedi because he always was first and foremost himself. Anakin was crushed by the Jedi’s attempts to stifle his feelings. His grandson, too. A Force-sensitive person ought to have the choice whether they want to be a Jedi or not; they ought not to be taught to suppress their emotions and live only on duty, without really caring for other people; and they ought to grow up feeling in a safe and loving environment, not torn away from their families in infancy, indoctrinated and provided with a light sabre (a deadly weapon) while they’re still small. A Jedi order composed of child soldiers or know-it-all’s does not really help anybody.

The original Star Wars saga was about love and friendship; although many viewers did not want to understand that message. The prequels portrayed the Jedi as detached and arrogant and Anakin Skywalker sympathetically, a huge disappointment for who only accepts stories of the “lonesome cowboy” kind. The Last Jedi was so hated that The Rise of Skywalker backpedaled: sorry, of course you’re right, here you have your “hero who knows everything better and fixes everything for you on a silver platter”. The embarrassing antihero, who saves the girl who was the only person showing him some human compassion, can die miserably in the process and is not even mourned.

Honestly: I was doubtful whether it would be adequate to give Ben Solo a happy ending after the patricide. I guess letting him die was the easiest way out for the authors to escape censorship. (I even wrote this in a review on amazon about The Last Jedi, before I delved deeper into the saga’s themes.) The messages we got now are even worse.

Kylo Ren / Ben Solo

A parent can replace a child if they’re not the way they expect them to be. A victim of lifelong psychical and physical abuse can only find escape in death, whether he damns or redeems himself. An introspective, sensitive young man is a loser no matter how hard he tries either way. A whole family can sacrifice itself to save their heir, he dies anyway.

Rey

Self-righteousness is acceptable as long as you find a scapegoat for your own failings. Overconfidence justifies anything you do. You can’t carve your way as a female child of “nobodies”, you have to descend from someone male and powerful even if that someone is the devil incarnate. You are a “strong female” if you choose to be lonely; you need neither a partner nor friends.

In General

Star Wars is not about individual choices, loyalty, friendship and love, it is a classic Western story with a lonesome cowboy (in this case: cowgirl) at its centre. Satisfied?

The father-son-relationship between Vader and Luke mirrors the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, saying that whoever we may want to kill is, in truth, our kin, which makes a clear separation in Good and Evil impossible. The “I am your father” scene is so infamous by now that even non-fans are aware of it; but this relationship between evil guy and good guy, as well as the plot turns where the villain saves the hero and that the hero discards his weapon are looked upon rather as weird narrative quirks instead of a moral.

In an action movie fan, things are simple: good guy vs. bad guy, the good guy (e.g. James Bond may be a murderer and a misogynist, but that’s ok because he’s cool about it) kills the bad guy, ka-boom, end of story. But Star Wars is a parable, an ambitious project told over decades of cinema, and a multilayered story with recurring themes.

A fairy tale ought to have a moral. The moral of both Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy was compassionate love - choose it and you can end a raging conflict, reject it and you will cause it. What was the moral of the Sequel Trilogy? You can be the offspring of the galaxy’s worst terror and display a similar attitude, but pose as a Jedi and kill unnecessarily, and it’s all right; descend from Darth Vader (who himself was a victim long before he became a culprit) and whether you try to become a Jedi trained by Luke Skywalker or a Sith trained by his worst enemy, you will end badly?

Both original and prequel trilogy often showed “good” people making bad choices and the “bad ones” making the right choices. To ensure lasting peace, no Force user ought to be believe that he must choose one side and then stick to it for the rest of his life: both sides need one another. The prequels took 3 films to convey this message, though not saying so openly. The Last Jedi said it out clearly - and the authors almost had their heads ripped off by affronted fans, resulting in The Rise of Skywalker’s fan service. It’s not like Luke, Han and Leia were less heroic in the Sequel Trilogy, on the contrary, they gave everything they had to their respective cause. They were not united, and they were more human than they had once been. Apparently, that’s an affront.

The Jedi are no perfect heroes and know-it-all’s and they never were, the facts are there for everyone to see. Padmé went alone and pregnant to get her husband out of Mustafar - and she almost succeeded - although she knew what he had done and that he was perfectly capable of it (he had told her of the Tusken village massacre himself) because she still saw the good little boy he had been in him; Obi-Wan left him amputated and burning in the lava, although he had raised Anakin like a small brother and the latter had repeatedly saved his life. But Padmé was not a Jedi, so I guess she still had some human decency. Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda lifted a finger for the oppressed populations of the galaxy during the Empire, waiting instead for Anakin’s son to grow up so they could trick him into committing patricide. Neither Luke nor Leia did anything for their own son and nephew while he became the scourge of the galaxy, damning his soul by committing crime after crime. On Exegol, Rey heard the voices of all Jedi encouraging her to fight Palpatine to death. After that, they left her to die alone, and the alleged “bad guy”, who had already saved her soul from giving in to Palpatine’s lures, had to save her life by giving her his own. The Jedi merely know that “their side” has to win, no matter the cost for anyone’s life, sanity, integrity or happiness.

Excuse me, these are simple facts. How anyone can still believe that the Jedi were super-powerful heroes who always win or all-knowing wizards who are always right is beyond me. Luke, the last and strongest of them, like a bright flickering of light before the ultimate end, showed us that the best of men can fail. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. But it is wrong and utterly frustrating when all of the failure never leads to anything better. If Rey means to rebuild the Jedi order to something better than it was, there was no hint at that whatsoever.

And What Now?

The Last Jedi hit theatres only 2 years before The Rise of Skywalker, and I can’t imagine that the responsible authors all have forgotten how to make competent work in the meantime; more so considering that Solo or The Mandalorian are solid work. Episode IX is thematically so painfully flat it seems like they wanted us to give up on the saga on purpose. The last instalment of a 42-year-old saga ought to have been the best and most meaningful. I had heard already decades ago that the saga was supposed to have 9 chapters, so I was not among who protested against the sequels thinking that they had been thought up to make what had come before invalid. I naively assumed a larger purpose. But Episode IX only seems to prove these critics perfectly right.

The last of the flesh and blood of the Chosen One is dead without having “finished what his grandfather started”?

Still no Balance in the Force?

And worst of all, Palpatine’s granddaughter taking over, having proven repeatedly that she is not suited for the task?

Sorry, this “ending” is absurd. I have read fanfiction that was better written and more interesting. And, most of all, less depressing. I was counting on a conclusion that showed that the Force has all colours and nuances, and that it’s not limited to the black-and-white view “we against them”. That’s the ending all of us fans would have deserved, instead of catering the daddy issues of the part of the audience who doesn’t want stories other than those of the “lonesome cowboy” kind. I myself grew up on Japanese anime, maybe that’s one of the reasons why I can’t stand guys like James Bond or Batman and why I think you don’t need “a great hero who fixes the situation” but that group spirit and communication are way more important.

It was absolutely unexpected that Disney, the production company whose trademark are happy endings and family stories, would end this beloved and successful saga after almost half a century on such a hollow note. Why tell first a beautiful fairy tale and then leave the audience on a hook for 35 years to continue first with a tragedy (which at least was expected) and then with another (unexpected one)? And this story is supposed to be for children? Like children would understand all of the subtext, and love sad, cautionary tales. Children, as well as the general audience, first of all want to be entertained! No one wants to watch the legendary Skywalker family be obliterated and a Palpatine take over. The sequels were no fun anymore; we’ve been left with another open ending and hardly an explanation about what happened in the 30 years in between. If you want to tell a cautionary tale, you should better warn the general audience beforehand.

The Original Trilogy is so good because it’s entertaining and offers room for thought for who wants to think about its deeper themes, and also leaves enough space for dreams. Same goes for the first two films of the Sequel Trilogy; but precisely the last, which should have wrapped up the saga, leaves us with a bitter aftertaste and dozens of questions marks.

We as the audience believe that a story, despite the tragic things that happen, must go somewhere; we get invested into the characters, we root for them, we want to see them happy in the end. (The authors of series like Girls, How I Met Your Mother or Game of Thrones ought to be reminded of that, too.) I was in contact with children and teenagers saying that the Sequel Trilogy are “boring”; and many, children or adults, who were devastated by its concluson. There is a difference between wanting to tell a cautionary tale and playing the audience for fools. This trilogy could have become legendary like the Original Trilogy, had it fulfilled its promises instead of “keeping it low” with its last chapter. Who watches a family or fantasy story or a romantic / comedic sitcom wants to escape into another world, not to be hit over his head with a mirror to his own failings, and the ones of the society he’s living in. Messages are all right, but they ought not to go at the cost of the audience’s satisfaction about the about the people and narrative threads they have invested in for years.

This isn’t a family story: but children probably didn’t pester the studios with angry e-mails and twitter messages etc. They simply counted on a redemption arc and happy ending, and they were right, because they’re not as stupid as adults are. I have read and watched many a comment from fans who hate The Last Jedi. Many of these fans couldn’t even pinpoint what their rage was all about, they only proved to be stuck with the original trilogy and unwilling to widen their horizon. But at least their heroes had had their happy ending: The Rise of Skywalker obliterated the successes of all three generations of Skywalkers.

If the film studios wanted to tease us, they’ve excelled. If they expect the general audience to break their heads over the sequels’ metaphysics, they have not learned from the reactions to the prequels that most viewers take these films at face value. Not everybody is elbows-deep in the saga, or willing to research about it for months, and / or insightful enough to see the story’s connections. Which is why many viewers frown at the narrative and believe the Sequel Trilogy was just badly written. This trilogy could have become legendary like the Original Trilogy, had it fulfilled its promises instead of “keeping it low” with its last chapter. As it is now, the whole trilogy is hanging somewhere in the air, with neither a past nor a future to be tied in with.

The prequels already had the flaw of remaining too obscure: most fans are not aware that Anakin had unwillingly killed his wife during the terrible operation that turned him into Darth Vader, sucking her life out of her through the Force: most go by “she died of a broken heart”. So although one scene mirrors the other, it is not likely that most viewers will understand what Rey’s resurrection meant. And: Why did Darth Maul kill Qui-Gon Jinn? What did the Sith want revenge for? Who was behind Shmi’s abduction and torture? Who had placed the order for the production of the clones, and to what purpose? We can imagine or try to reconstruct the answers, but nothing is confirmed by the story itself.

The sequels remained even more in the dark, obfuscating what little explanation we got in The Rise of Skywalker with quick pacing and mind-numbing effects.

Kylo Ren had promised his grandfather that “he would finish what he started”: he did not. Whatever one can say of this last film, it did not bring Balance in the Force. What’s worse, the subject was not even breached. It was hinted at by the mosaic on the floor of the Prime Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, but although Luke and Rey were sitting on its border, they never seemed to see what was right under their noses. It remains inexplicable why it was there for everyone to see in the first place.

We might argue that Ben finished what his grandfather started by killing (or better, causing the death of) the last Jedi, who this one couldn’t kill because he was his own son; but leaving Rey in charge, he helped her finish what her grandfather had started. The irony could hardly be worse.

Episode IX looks like J.J. Abrams simply completed what they started with Episode VII, largely ignoring the next film as if it was always planned to do so. We, the angry and disappointed fans of The Last Jedi, may believe it was due to some of the general audience’s angry backlash, but honestly: the studios aren’t that dumb. They had to know that Episode VIII would be controversial and that many fans would hate it. The furious reactions were largely a disgrace, but no one can make me believe that they were totally unexpected. Nor can anyone convince me that The Rise of Skywalker was merely an answer to the small but very loud part of the audience who hated The Last Jedi: a company with the power and the returns of Disney Lucasfilm does not need to buckle down before some fan’s entitlement and narrowmindedness out of fear of losing money. And if they do, it was foolish to make Rey so perfect that she becomes almost odious, and to let the last of the Skywalker blood die a meaningless death. (Had he saved the Canto Bight children and left them with Rey, at least he would have died with honor; and she, the child left behind by her parents, would have had a task to dedicate herself to.)

The only reason I can find for this odd ending is that it’s meant to prepare the way for Rian Johnson’s new trilogy, which - hopefully - will finally be about Balance. We as the audience don’t know what’s going on behind the doors. Filmmaking is a business like any other, i.e. based on contracts; and I first heard that Rian Johnson had negotiated a trilogy of his own since before Episode VIII hit theatres. Maybe he kept all the rights of intellectual property to his own film, including that he would finish the threads he picked up and close the narrative circles he opened, and only he; and that his alleged working on “something completely different” is deliberately misleading.

Some viewers love the original trilogy, some love the prequels, some like both; but I hardly expect anyone to love the sequel trilogy as a whole. What with the first instalment “letting the past die, killing it if they had to”, the second hinting at a promising future and the third patched on at the very last like some sort of band-aid, it was not coherent. I heard the responsible team for Game of Thrones even dropped their work, producing a dissatisfying, quickly sewn together last season, for this new Star Wars project and thereby disappointing millions of GoT fans; I hope they are aware of the expectations they have loaded upon them. George Lucas’ original trilogy had its faults, but but though there was no social media yet in his time, at least he was still close enough to the audience to give them what they needed, if not necessarily wanted. (Some fans can’t accept that Luke and Leia are siblings to this day, even if honestly, it was the very best plot twist to finish their story in a satisfying way.)

I’m hoping for now that The Last Jedi was not some love bombing directed at the more sentimental viewers but a promise that will be fulfilled. “Wrapping up” a saga by keeping the flattest, least convincing chapter for last is bad form. Star Wars did not become a pop phenomenon by accident, but because the original story was convincing and satisfying. Endings like these will hardly make anyone remember a story fondly, on the contrary, the audience will move to another fandom to forget their disappointment.

On a side note, I like The Mandalorian, exactly for the reason that that is a magical story; not as much as the original trilogy, but at least a little. Of course, I’m glad it was produced. But it’s a small consolation prize after the mess that supposedly wrapped up the original saga after 9 films.

We’re Not Blind, You Know…

- Though Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) has Darth Vader’s stature, his facial features are practically opposite to Vader’s creepy mask. This should have foreshadowed that his life should have gone the other way, instead of more or less repeating itself. - As a villain Kylo was often unconvincing; by all logic he should have been a good father figure. (Besides, Star Wars films or series never work unless there is a strong father or father figure at their center.)

- Like Vader, Kylo Ren was redeemed, but not rehabilitated. Who knows who may find his broken mask somewhere now and, not knowing the truth, promise “I will finish what you started”. - The hand-touching scene on Ahch-To which was visually opposite to Anakin’s and Padmé’s should not have predicted another tragedy but a happy ending for them. - The Canto Bight sequence was announcing reckoning for the weapon industry and freedom for the enslaved children. It also showed how well Finn and Rose fit together. - Rey was a good girl before she started on her adventures. Like Anakin or Luke, she did not need to become a Jedi to be strong or generous or heroic. - Rey summons Palpatine after one year of training. Kylo practically begged for his grandfather’s assistance for years, to no avail. Her potential for darkness is obviously much stronger. - Dark Rey’s light sabre looked like a fork, Kylo’s like a cross. - The last time all Jedi and Sith were obliterated leaving only Luke in charge, things went awry. Now we have a Palpatine masquerading as a Skywalker and believing she’s a Jedi. Rey is a usurper and universally cheered after years of war, like her grandfather. - The broom boy of Canto Bight looked like he was sweeping a stage and announcing “Free the stage, it’s time for us, the children.”

Rey failed in all instances where Luke had proved himself (so much for feminism and her being a Mary Sue): - Luke had forgiven his father despite all the pain he had inflicted on him. She stabbed the „bad guy”, who had repeatedly protected and comforted her, to death. - Luke never asked Vader to help the Rebellion or to turn to the Light Side, he only wanted him back as his father. She assumed that you could make Ben Solo turn, give up the First Order and join the Resistance for her. She thought of her friends and of her own validation, not of him. - Luke had made peace by choosing peace. Rey fought until the bitter end. - Luke had thrown his weapon away before Palpatine. Rey picked up a second weapon. (And both of them weren’t even her own.) - Luke had mourned his dead father. Rey didn’t shed a tear for the man she is bonded to by the Force. - Luke went back to his friends to celebrate the new peace with them. Rey went back letting everyone celebrate her like the one who saved the galaxy on her own, she who were tempted to become the new evil ruler of the galaxy and had to rely on the alleged Bad Guy to save both her soul and her body. - Luke had embodied compassion when Palpatine was all about hatred. Where he chose love and faith in his father, she chose violence and fear. - Luke had briefly fallen prey to the Dark Side but it made him realize that he had no right to judge his father. Rey’s fall to the Dark Side did not make her wiser. - Rey has no change of mind on finding out that she’s Palpatine’s flesh and blood, nor after she has stabbed Kylo. Luke had to face himself on learning that he had almost become a patricide. Rey does not have to face herself: the revelation of her ancestry is cushioned by Luke’s and Leia’s support. Rey is and remains an uncompromising person who hardly learns from her faults.

This is cheating on the audience. And it's not due to feminism or Rey being some sort of “Mary Sue” the way many affronted fans claim. Kylo never was truly a villain, Rey is not a heroine, and this is not a happy ending. The Jedi, with their stuck-up conviction “only we must win”, have failed all over again. The Skywalker family was obliterated leaving their worst enemy in charge. Rey is supposed to be a “modern” heroine which young girls can take as an example? No, thank you. Not after this last film has made of her. Padmé was a much better role model, combining intelligence with strength and goodness and also female grace. The world does not need entitled female brats.

Bonus: What Made The Rise of Skywalker a Farce

- The Force Awakens was an ok film and The Last Jedi (almost) a masterpiece. The Rise of Skywalker was a cartoon. No wonder a lot of the acting felt and looked wooden. - “I will earn your brother’s light sabre.” She’s holding his father’s sabre. - Kylo in The Last Jedi: “Let the past die. Kill it if, you have to.” Beginning with me? - Rey ends up on Tatooine. - The planet both Anakin and Luke ardently wanted to leave. - Luke had promised his nephew that he would be around for him. - Nope. - Rey had told Ben that she had seen his future. What future was that - “you will be a hero for ten minutes, get a kiss and then die? (And they didn’t even get a love theme.) - “The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead.” On a desert planet with a few ghosts. What of the ocean she used to dream about? - Ben and Rey were both introduced as two intensely lonely people searching for belonging. We learn they are a Force dyad, and then they are torn apart again. - Why was Ben named for Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first place, if they have absolutely nothing in common? - The Throne Room battle scene in The Last Jedi was clearly showing that when they are in balance, Light Side and Dark Side are unbeatable. Why did the so-called “Light Side” have to win again, in The Rise of Skywalker, instead of finding balance? - Luke’s scene on Ahch-To was so ridiculously opposite to his attitude in The Last Jedi that by now I believe he was a fantasy conjectured by her. (Like Ben’s vision of his father.) - Anakin’s voice among the other Jedi’s. - He was a renegade, for Force’s sake. - The kiss between two females. - More fan service, to appease those who pretended that not making Poe and Finn a couple was a sign of homophobia. - We see the Knights of Ren, but we learn absolutely nothing about them or Kylo’s connection with them. - Rose Tico’s invalidation. - A shame after what the actress had gone through because for the fans she was “not Star-Wars-y” (chubby and lively instead of wiry and spitfire). - Finn’s and Rose’s relationship. - Ignored without any explanation. - Finn may or may not be Force-sensitive. - If he is: did he abandon the First Order not due to his own free will but because of some higher willpower? Great. - General Hux was simply obliterated. - In The Force Awakens he was an excellent foil to Kylo Ren; no background story, no humanization for him. - Chewie’s and 3PO’s faked deaths. - Useless additional drama. - The Force Awakens was a bow before the classic trilogy. The Rise of Skywalker kicked its remainders to pieces. - The Prequel Trilogy ended with hope, the Original Trilogy with love. The Sequel Trilogy ends on a blank slate. - “We are what they grow beyond.” The characters of the Sequel Trilogy did not grow beyond the heroes of the Original Trilogy. - The Jedi did not learn from their mistakes and were obliterated. The Skywalker family understood the mistakes they had made too late. Now they’re gone, too.

P.S. While I was watching The Rise of Skywalker my husband came in asked me since when I like Marvel movies. I said “That’s not a Marvel movie, it’s Star Wars.” I guess that says enough.

P.P.S. For the next trilogy, please at least let the movies hit theatres in May again instead of December. a) It’s tradition for Star Wars films, b) Whatever happens, at least you won’t ruin anyone’s Christmases. Thank you.

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chaoticevilbean · 3 years

Text

TT SW Fic #2.1

The Trio gets sent back to the CW universe. When this happens affects what happens from there. But, and here's the Big Thing: the three are separated from each other.

They get sent back just after ANH

Luke is currently still new to the whole "rebellion against the tyrannical empire" thing. Han has decided to stay, but not really, because he's been paid, but also he has to or the kid will get himself killed, but then he's leaving, but also not bec- And Leia is busy proving that she is as good a leader in politics as she is in war.

So when they get sent back in time, Luke is at full "Aw Shucks" with a little "Why is everyone staring at me?" thrown in. He wakes up in the middle of an unknown place, likely one that either was just battling or is currently a battlefield. He's very Shook at the sight of a Jedi general fighting alongside several clone troopers against B-style droids.

Leia ends up found by a very strange and very clumsy Gungan. He says he's a representative in the Republic. Leia puts two and two together. Then she calmly begins figuring out the best way to take down Palpatine without raising suspicions. It helps that anyone who sees her with this Gungan seems to assume she has good intentions by virtue of her tolerating him. And he is rather endearing in his amusing clumsy way.

Han wakes up next to Mace Windu in a prison cell. The Jedi has been captured. Han does not know that he's back in time. All he knows is that the Jedi says he magically appeared in the cell. He isn't chained. He helps the escape, wondering how he can get back to his friends and his girl, and Leia, too. Windu is wondering what the Force is up to, besides coming up with a strange way to get him out of prison.

Luke gets fully discovered by troopers, who he tries to befriend and succeeds as much as a random person with a lightsaber can when there was a battle not even ten minutes ago. Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan are brought to meet Luke. They assume he's a rogue Jedi. He does not dispute this, instead too preoccupied by the fact that he doesn't know much about the past and also Leia is gonna kill him.

Leia meets Senator Amidala. She begins her important work while aided by the one her parents always told her about.

Han figures out he's in the past. He does have a brief moment where he internally panics that he just freed an Imperial officer. Then he sees the lightsaber and the not-the-kid attached and finally puts it together. Windu offers to take him back to Coruscant, and expresses that the Council will want to meet him. Han decides that if there's Jedi, the kid'll find him eventually, so he might as well go.

Luke manages to keep the future a secret, but he also tells a lot of stuff that makes everyone take a step back. Like how he lost his entire squadron a short while back, not to mention his mentor, his family, his home, and now he doesn't know where his friends are. Granted, this is given over the course of at least a day, and he does get questions about the whole "fighter squadron" part, but still.

He also scrunches his nose at all the "weird" rules of the Jedi. Anakin mentions the no attachment rule and Luke gives him such a weird look that they manage to drag Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and three different clones into a philosophical debate that ends in "so long as your fear doesn't overwhelm you, attachment is okay." Basically just everything in moderation.

Leia manages to get access to the inhibitor chips. She also takes down several plots to give Palpatine more power. She befriends many senators she'd only heard about, or ones who would one day be as helpful as they could in an Imperial senate. She smirks when she hears about the rogue Jedi who keeps reprogramming droids to have free will, and getting various Separatists to desert through the power of ~friendship~ and ~sunshine~.

Han does not accept Sage Jedi Words. Not without much sass and argument. Every time Windu tries to say something about "A Jedi does not do x" or "Y is the way to z" Han responds with his own experiences. Using attachment as an example again, Han tells Windu that it's stupid.

In a war, attachment is how you remain sane. Yeah, it can make you worry and fearful because there's a kriffin' war going on, but if you learn that fear and worry are natural, learn that they're just like when you're excited or angry, then you learn to live with it. You learn to just take a deep breath and keep going. Also, if you don't properly teach emotional control, you end up with repressed adults who will break at the worst possible moments. This is all said in the most casual way possible, with lots of salt and sass, but still said.

Luke, being peak Sunshine Farmer from Two-Sun Tatooine, manages to give Ventress a headache from his bright, unshielded Force presence. He befriends ALL THE CLONES, and also that Separatist, and those droids over there, and that one feral loth cat, and also that bear. By the time they get to Coruscant, most of the army is willing to die for Luke, who would rather die than let that happen.

Upon arriving on Coruscanat, Anakin decides that he needs to save Luke from a meeting with the Council. He takes the kid to the Senate building, so he can meet Padme's new friend and Anakin can also 'say hello'. Luke enters the building with his father-who-doesn't-know-he's-a-father and goes to meet what he assumes is his mother because Anakin talks about her just like Leia talks about Han. They make it to Senator Amidala's office.

Anakin and Padme suddenly lose their hearing. Luke squeals, legitimately squeals, and rushes to hug Leia. She's not squealing, but she is ecstatic to see her friend. They start babbling to each other, and it sounds very much like a code to the other occupants of the room, but it's just because they're talking about "the Empire" and "Rogue One" and "Vader" and "Death Star". A lot of what they say makes no sense outside of context.

Luke: It's so weird to be away from the Empire but it doesn't feel that way. I nearly thought the clones were stormtroopers!

Leia: I know! And here, the Senate can actually do things, even if it's just as corrupt. But Palpatine's the Chancellor.

Anakin, about to interrupt to ask what that's supposed to mean: Wait just a minute, what's so bad about-

Luke, ignoring his father: At least he can't send Vader after us!

Leia: Yeah, and no Death Star to blow us all up.

Luke: And there's Jedi! They even have a temple! It's so cool!

Leia: You could actually be a real Jedi!

Etc. They talk for awhile.

Han makes it to Coruscant, and actually gets to meet one of his childhood heroes, Obi-Wan "The Negotiator" Kenobi. Who looks alarmingly like- Oh, kriff. Ben. The old spice-using hermit was his childhood idol. Kriff it all.

Ben tells him that the kid was here, but got dragged off by Han's other hero, Anakin "The Hero Without Fear" Skywalker- kriff, that's the kid's dad. He'll have to make a good impression. But apparently the Skywalkers took a trip to visit a senator. Leia's probably there. She was a senator until the whole Death-Star-and-Rebellion stuff.

Ben goes to comm them. Han can hear Luke and Leia in the background. Han snatches the communicator and starts yelling.

Han: WHAT THE KRIFF DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING‽ DO YOU WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN‽ CUZ THAT'S WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN! *insert rant that makes both complete and no sense*

Han: *breathing heavily into the comm*

Luke, a little muffled: Sorry, Han.

Leia, also a little muffled: Didn't know the nerfherder was a Mama Bantha.

Han: Oh, is that how you wanna play? Listen here, you sh-

Anakin, speaking really fast: I'll have them back at the Temple by midnight, they love you, bye!

*comm clicks off*

Ben: ... Want a drink?

Han: Kriff yeah.

Palpatine fails because 1) Leia is a horrible goose 2) Luke is Tatooine's third sun 3) Han has common sense, no filter, and a will to live.

#star wars #star wars au #time travel #tt sw #tt sw 2.1

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