Sketch Week!

Inspired in spirit by @husborth’s painfully satisfying AU Mustard Gas and Roses, which is a sheer delight to chew on and still surprises me with new details I didn’t notice every time I re-chew through it.

luke’s scene in rotj where he throws down his lightsaber and says, “I’ll never turn to the dark side. you failed, your highness. i am a jedi, like my father before me,” makes me more and more emotional each time i see it. it’s such a triumph and it’s such a brave stand—not only because luke is literally facing down death with no real expectations of escaping the death star ii, which on its own has such impact—but because he is more or less declaring himself a heretic. the only two jedi left alive do not believe vader can be saved. vader himself believes he is far past saving. palpatine is so poised for victory, so assured in his complete control over not only luke’s fall but also his control over vader, that he is happy to torture luke in front of vader, absolutely convinced that vader will do nothing to stop it. in light of the prequel trilogy, it’s made even more powerful: the jedi disavowed having children as an extension of attachments, a matter of course for the old jedi order. but when luke is in his moment of greatest need, he calls out to his father, and his father answers. ultimately, it’s their forbidden familial relationship that defines them as jedi—luke becomes a jedi in honor of his father, and his father turns back from the dark side (a feat thought impossible until that very instance) and recalls the jedi knight anakin skywalker, all for his son. and that’s all in defiance of what the jedi were told to be, what obi-wan and yoda believed, what palpatine never thought possible! luke redefines what a jedi is when he throws down his weapon. he trusts in the power of his connection to his father, their attachment to each other, and when he does that? luke skywalker topples the empire.

Some adventures in attempting to sculpt Togrutakin from scratch

Ok, so, for a while now I've been inhaling husborth's fics, and a few weeks ago it reached the quantum stage where so much fic had entered my brain, art had to come out.

This is a bit of a collage of my favourite scenes from Mythology, a fic series I cannot recommend enough if you want to have MASSIVE FEELINGS, and read about complicated family reunions and the aftermath of highly dubious medical procedures. There's something in the looped patterns in which themes move in those fics that made me want to work in circles. Little phrases and ideas return over and over, taking the story back and forth until it reaches the end and I think that was great.

@husborth thanks so much for writing these fantastic stories and for sharing them with us all. They've given me a fuck ton of hours of happiness and lit up my art brain like a little bonfire ^ ^

More gen (non-romantic) fic recs for @genuaryficrecs! Fandom: DC, batfam. Focus: Dysfunctional Batfam Type of gen relationships: parental and/or siblings This trope is kinda close to the Bad Bruce one but it's not quite the same; a Bad Bruce often is a manipulative bastard in control of everything, or just uncaring, while to qualify for this trope Bruce (or another family member) has to genuinely try and still be objectively terrible - and not just comically bad at communicating either; it usually references the several canon instances where Bruce knowingly inflicted severe physical injury to Jason, or beat his kids (or the various assassination attempts between siblings); usually also involves complex siblings dynamics. And they fucked up, and they still love each other so much but they don't really know how not to hurt each other and they're trying so very very hard and they're learning.

(… maybe don't read all of them in a row though, I don't think that could be good for anyone)

to the red planet Mars, by r_astra (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27613958) 6/6 Chapters, 36,912 words Not Rated, Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Main Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, the rest of the batfam

Official summary: Tim doesn’t notice the Batmobile roaring into the cave until the tires squeal as it skids to a halt. He starts, splashing long-cooled coffee across his lap as he lurches upright. Bruce is practically throwing himself out of the driver’s seat. He stalks around to the back of the car and Tim stares, confused. The trunk? He calls out. “Mask?” Bruce grunts a negative. Tim circles the car in time to see Bruce haul something—someone out. They’re big, but not quite as tall as Bruce, clad in black Kevlar and brown leather, wrists cuffed. Tim stops in his tracks when he recognizes the man. It’s Jason Todd.

Why I love it: This is about Bruce and Jason's relationship. This is someone going hey. Look at those canon events. If you stop and think about it, that's fucked up. And I love fics that look close like that at canon. And the characters in there are Not Okay - it's a story about abuse - but it's never hopeless. Because they're trying so hard to make it right and they've fucked up a whole lot, but they (the whole family) love each other and they're trying.

Excerpt: “We’re going to the cave.” Hood jerks his head up. “Hell, no.” Bruce starts walking towards the Batmobile. “No,” Hood repeats. “No way. I’m not allowed in Gotham, remember?” “Hn.” Bruce keeps walking, the pressure in his head building and then easing as Hood must start following. Hood doesn’t respond, but Bruce can hear him swearing under his breath in one long, continuous stream. When they reach the Batmobile, Bruce pulls out a pair of cuffs. “Seriously?” Hood sighs. He holds his wrists out anyway. Bruce slaps the cuffs on and checks to make sure they adjusted themselves correctly, then grabs Hood by the elbow and starts dragging him towards the back of the vehicle. Hood must be processing slowly, because he doesn’t start fighting until they get within a yard of the trunk. Bruce wins.

--

An Aquarium of Nameless Things, by husborth (https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308171) 4/4 chapters, 14.120 words (has a very good second work in the series at 45k more, with a wider batfam sample; the second work is technically unfinished but stops at a satisfying place) T, No Archive Warnings Apply

Main Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson

Official summary: After a difficult case, Jason learns a few things about Bruce, and deals with them about as well as Jason deals with anything.

Why I love it: I like this interpretation of Jason and the Pit, with Jason trying really hard to keep a lid on it but also being emotionally 15 (I know nothing about emotional development I just once read the phrase "emotions too big for his body" and liked it), and swinging between actually dangerous/hurtful and siblingly petty. And them all being in over their heads and Bruce not healed yet (never healing) from Jason's death and a Dick, over-protective of Bruce, who never really knew Jason before, and the crushing weight of responsibility. They just feel so strongly.

Excerpts: “You’re an annoying prick who didn’t even eat all of my ravioli, which you stole,” Jason said into the phone. “[…] Also my carpet smells like mildew, so if you want to come shampoo my carpet in apology for your whole everything, that’d be great.” - “No,” Dick admitted. “But it’s my turn. Bruce almost died of an oxycontin overdose in front of me. Did you know that?” Jason’s face turned red and hot and got tight—liar, liar, liar, pants on fire, the fire licking at his legs in just the millennium he lay there dying, sucking air through bloody lungs. A lie. A sham. He’d been tricked, Bruce had tricked him, Bruce had made him think he cared but this was a lie, these were all lies. He would die, he would pass in a storm before him, and Jason would be left to root through the garbage, he’d be—the dogs were barking loud and they tore his heels bloody. “No,” Jason choked out. “I didn’t.”

--

never be the first to believe, by ohnomydear (https://archiveofourown.org/works/17967926) 15/15 chapters, 98.132 words T, No Archive Warnings Apply

Main Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Ric Grayson

Official Summary: If Bruce 'made up' with Jason at the diner following the events at Sanctuary, the Red Hood shouldn't be reluctant to ask Bruce for permission to be in Gotham for a necessary surgery. Instead, Jason kidnaps Tim and asks him to make sure Bruce doesn't know he's in Gotham. Yeah, nothing about this sounds like they've forgiven each other.

Why I love it: That one is ostensibly about Jason and Bruce, and the aftermath of the big fight where Bruce beats Jason all to hell. But it's also (more so, imo) about each of the siblings' relationships with Jason, and with Bruce. Yay for Robins banding together against Bruce. People talking past each other, contradicting POVs, and what forgiveness means/looks like. Also this one has an amnesiac Ric, which creates fun character dynamics.

Excerpt: “How did you get me this far?” And whose car was this? “The truth, or would you like a face-saving lie that we can both pretend to believe?” Tim groaned and reached for the coffee. “Which board room did I fall asleep in?” “Your office. For once. But intern Jared noticed and called the car company, which showed up in record time.” Jason gestured with one hand at the car around them. “And then they ‘took you home.’” “Why not just wake me up?” Tim hissed. “And don’t even get me started on how I don’t have an intern Jared and I’m really suspicious that he and the car company driver look astonishingly similar.” “Guilty. And as Bruce has always said, if Tim falls asleep on patrol, it’s because he made poor decisions about how much sleep he needed.” Tim gaped at him. “He—he doesn’t say that.” “No, he doesn’t.” Jason grinned. “But let’s say that I say it. Now, to business. Sorry I didn’t get the copies of the agenda printed first, but I was busy finding a wheelchair to get you out of the building.” Tim dropped his head into his left hand, groaning. “You realize I do have to go back there, right? And explain what that all was?” “That doesn’t sound like intern Jared’s or Driver Ulysses’ problem. Both of them are more concerned with finding their respective missing twin brothers – and solving the terrible murder of their mother, which took place ten sad, sad years ago.” Great. He’d made up backstories for covers with a four second half-life. Tim took a sip of the coffee and found it passable. “The agenda?” “You know I’m not allowed in Gotham.” Jason’s voice had gone flat, as if the humor had just dropped out of it.

--

How Far Love Goes, by BeatriceEagle (@flybynightwing) (https://archiveofourown.org/works/31871722) 11/11 chapters, 99.549 words T, Graphic Depictions of Violence

Main Characters: the whole batfam

Official summary: Plenty of family reunions end in fighting. Not that many end in explosions. A mass Arkham breakout brings all of Bruce's children home, and with them, all the drama, secrets, and anger they've been keeping for years. Amidst rising tensions and a mysterious new threat in Gotham, the family has to work together to round up the rogues—and confront their feelings about each other.

Why I love it: A main plot peppered by tasty flashbacks (that inform our understanding of the present) of batfam interactions through twelve years, ranging from cute to heartrending. Complex relationships web that actually includes the girls too (Babs and Steph and Cass!).

Excerpts: “How about Nightwing?” said a voice from above, and then Nightwing somersaulted from the branches of a nearby tree, landing lightly on the ground beside Cass. Batman pivoted half a degree to face him. “Oracle called you too?” “Of course she did, B, there was an Arkham breakout.” “It’s handled.” Nightwing crossed his arms. “Handled like it was last time?” Batman mirrored Nightwing’s stance. “It’s handled.” “Excuse me, but I don’t feel like standing by and watching you get your back broken ag—” “Go back to Blüdhaven. They need you there.” Batman spun around and stalked away. Nightwing stared after him, his body leaning in the direction Batman had gone, like he was about to run after him. Then he slumped backward. “Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.” He turned to Cass. As always, his body language screamed awkwardness when he spoke to her. Even facing her, he angled his shoulders away, like he didn’t want to be in this conversation. “Is he letting you help him?” Cass shrugged one shoulder, deciding that was better than trying to put the mess of hers, Barbara’s, and Batman’s stand-off into words - [flashback from Dick's Robin days] Then, for the first time since they'd begun their stakeout, movement beside him. Dick looked over. Batman's hand stretched out towards him. In his gauntleted palm, a single yellow M&M. Dick looked up. Batman's face was unchanged. But the M&M was obviously for Dick, right? He picked it up gingerly, as if it were explosive. (And given that it had come from within Batman's cape, who was to say it wasn't?) Eyes still on Batman, Dick put the candy in his mouth. Just chocolate. No explosions. Batman's hand withdrew back into his cape. A moment later it emerged with another M&M. Green this time. Dick took it and grinned.

This might be a result of reading too much of @husborth‘s Vader (absolutely recommend it btw), but you know how lots of European monarchs have, like, obsessions with small dogs? I’m thinking of english Queen Victoria and collies or Elizabeth II and corgis. I think it would be really funny if as Emperor, Sidious had a little pug that followed him around and sat beside his throne. I think that would be great. No reason. No reason at all.

(Vader art by https://twitter.com/sirmitchell)

[Image ID: The first image is a stock photo of a pug's head and neck on a white background, in profile, facing right. The second image is of Vader's head and neck on a red background, also in profile and facing to the right. There is a remarkable similarity in the shape of Vader's mask and the pug's head. End ID.]

Red Meat by husborth makes me feel sooooo sick but in a good (?) way. thank you so much @circle-around-again for recommending it to me, my life has been considerably brightened after reading it.

very prosey. i love prosey fics. and so deeply accurate and horribly twisted. truly my dream fic. cried twice of joy and once of unadulterated despair because i just can't write the way husborth does.

phenomenal work. all my mutuals, sick fucks that u are, should read it. much love.

my little sun

[id: it’s a drawing of Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker pre Geonosis. Obi Wan—who is depicted as an Asian man with pale skin and black hair that is styled in his signature mullet—is the main focus of the drawing as Anakin’s—who is depicted as Black with brown skin and shoulder length locs—back is facing the viewer and his form is blurred. Though Obi Wan is the focus, he is gazing fondly at Anakin; he looks at him as if he had hung the stars in the sky. /end id]

"You're a slave?"

I’m a person, and my name is Anakin.

...

"Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth Vader.”

Thank you, my master.

...

“I’ve accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father.”

That name no longer has any meaning for me.

“It´s the name of your true self, you have only forgotten.”

...

(TPM-ROTS-ROTJ)

WIP peek!

Non-chronological selection of pages and concept art from a WIP comic for @husborth, inspired by their Mustard Gas & Roses AU.

im in the midst of crafting a twilight star wars au just so i can rip, word-for-word, the most precious and delightful literary sentence s. meyer ever put to page:

Aro started to laugh. “Ha ha ha,” he chuckled.

and transform it. into this

Palpatine started to laugh. “Ha ha ha,” he chuckled.

there is NOTHING about this line that i do not consider to be mmmm [chefs kiss]

"The inky black presence flicked a forked tongue. So it is, he said. So it is. May a Skywalker always find another by the trail of blood. I will lead."

Comic based off of a lovely passage @husborth wrote about the way Leia interacts with the force

When it comes to Anakin and Palpatine´s relationship, I think we need to remember who they are narratively speaking to each other and to the story to understand what point George Lucas wanted to tell with them.

Anakin was born to be the chosen one whose main directive is to stop the Sith Grand Plan of a 10,000 years of Sith Empire and inmortality.

Palpatine is the Sith master who was able to successfully take over the galaxy and bring down the Jedi Order, the culmination of thousand of years of Sith masters plans. In fact it was because the Sith were going to win the main reason why the force created Anakin to stop them and they knew this.

Palpatine´s Sith master Darth Plagueis, when he became aware of Anakin´s birth, he was completely terrified of what Anakin could do to their plan and Palpatine always put attention to his old master fears, because he respected his power and his hability in the force. For Dath Plagueis Anakin´s propphecy was a certainty while for Sidious is was a possibility and this made all the difference.

Palpatine treated Anakin as an enemy and his prey from the beggining, he wanted to turn Anakin from possible enemy to his own asset, Palpatine was playing mind games with Anakin since we was 9 to make him lose his mind while presenting himself as a trusted father figure, with only one of them being aware the reason behind this was because Anakin was literally born to destroy his plans, so of course he wasn´t going to fail at making him fall, of course he was going to use any opportunity to break Anakin´s will to turn him. Because they are force fated enemies.

This reality, once Anakin became aware of this, sent him to a panic attack in the ROTS novel, because he realized this man he thought as a father, this man he trusted with his deepest secrets, love and ideals, this loved person was the same man behind the cilvil war, the same person he was fated to kill as the chosen one.

This is why I think their relationship was quite different to the one Dooku and Obi-Wan had, Dooku wanted to turn Obi-Wan because he was Qui-Gon´s apprentice and he missed his padawan, so having Obi-Wan around helped with his sadness and convinced him he was doing right in rebelling, creating a civil war and working with the Sith master.

Dooku didn´t want to destroy, reshape and make his everything Obi-Wan was as a person while Palpatine definitely wanted to do this to Anakin and did for many years even after his fall to the darkside, because he was just plain obssessed with seeing how much more he could get from him, the "force´s chosen one"

It gets even worse when we add Darth Plagueis noevel to the equation, Palpatine had a horrible relationship with his father and when he became a Sith he killed him along with the rest of his family, Palpatine was a deeply lonely person whose main comfort was power, so when he saw child Anakin, he proyected on him, he swore he was going to be the father to Anakin he didn´t have, because Anakin was HIS, because Anakin was LIKE him and he trusted his habilities enough to know that he didn´t need to fear him like his master did, he had plenty of time to make Anakin fall and reshape him into what he wanted for him and his Empire.

So Anakin was Palpatine´s victim/prey/slave/enemy/fated murderer/Son/apprentice all in one to the Emperor which actually explains a lot about their relationship because to Anakin Palpatine was Enemy/Sith Master/Father all in one, the difference is that Anakin, even as Vader, could not bring himself to kill him, he still loved him while Palpatine didn´t understand love the way Anakin did, for him love was possesion, so he possesed Vader.

But as George Lucas said, Vader/Anakin was the Chosen one, as a jedi or as a sith so when Palpatine went agaisn´t Luke´s life, when it became obvious a light side Luke wasn´t going to be allowed by his master, when Luke showed without a doubt how good he was, how compassive, how worthy of being called a Jedi he was, Anakin fulfilled the prophecy, destroying his master and himself because them both were Sith so both needed to be destroyed just as it was fated from the beggining.

6.

Good morning!!! hope u are doing good and thank you for the asks 💖 i just combined them i hope that’s ok

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

I’ve been actively avoiding reading anything recently, but i have a couple i reread annually yes! i absolutely adore the series Mustard Gas and Roses by husborth on AO3, i’m about to go leave comments on all of them because their writing is just incredible

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which would you pick?

oh this is a hard question…I’m not sure if any are suitable for something more than fan art/moodboards bc a lot of my work isn’t super plotty, it’s just focused around specific scenes. i think Amaryllis might be cool to adapt into a visual medium though, it’s a very restrictive pov by nature but having it told visually could round out the story in an interesting way and make it more balanced

fanfic writer asks

12, 17, 25? :)

mcyt writer ask game

12. hmmm im not sure. i like keysmash comments they make me giggle

17. sam and dream are an obvious particular favorite as is obvious. also...obviously biased bc i have an (unfinished. whoops) fic centered around them but i also really like writing bad and dream...bad in general is awesome, i love badboyhalo's voice. and writing characters heckling him. and it's funny how i emerged out of this fandom with so many new ships LOL they didn't tend to be my bread and butter before, for sure. and in general, relationships that are kinda fucked up are always fun to write. love those in general

25. going to just throw down a few (sorry for the lack of links), but elmhat (hi ^_^) airrec swordfright kat sparrow ethek chrysalizzm angela and loyal are all definitely authors whose works i've enjoyed recently! definitely a lot more great authors out there, just what comes to mind immediately

i think the fundamental thing people forget about star wars, which would clear up some things for many people, is that luke skywalker is the hero of the story