looseleafteeaves

[looseleafteeaves]

Random linguistic worldbuilding: A language with six sets of pronouns, which are set by one's current state of existence. There's a separate pronoun for people who are alive, people who are dead, and potential future people who are yet to be born, and the ambiguous ones of "may or may not be alive or aleady dead", "may or may not have even been born yet", and the ultimate general/ambiguous all-covering one that covers all ambiguous states.

The culture has a specific defined term for that tragic span of time when a widow keeps accidentally referring to their spouse with living pronouns. New parents-to-be dropping the happy surprise news of a pregnancy by referring to their future child with the "is yet to be born" pronoun instead of a more ambiguous one and waiting for the "wait what did you just say?" reactions.

Someone jokingly referring to themselves with the dead person pronouns just to highlight how horrible their current hangover is. A notorious aspiring ladies' man who keeps trying to pursue women in their 20s despite of approaching middle age fails to notice the insult when someone asks him when he's planning to get married, and uses the pronoun that implies that his ideal future bride may not even be born yet.

A mother whose young adult child just moved away from home for the first time, who continues to dramatically refer to their child with "may or may not be already dead" until the aforementioned child replies to her on facebook like "ma stop telling people I'm dead" and having her respond with "well how could I possibly know that when you don't even write to us? >:,C"

[looseleafteeaves]

Anti-Jedi sentiment & the One Moral Culture at a Time Framework

Having been quite anti Jedi myself at one point, I quite sincerely believe that a significant part of anti Jedi and “Jedi are flawed” talk comes from a genuine desire to doubt institutions of power and look at systematic issues.

Problem being, Star Wars is fundamentally shit for looking at systematic issues. It was designed that way. Star Wars makes the fate of the world hang on the power of individual moral choices to emphasise their importance, and routinely makes concessions about systematic issues to deliver that message.

This is fine, in itself, but by putting Star Wars on a pedestal due to its writing successes and long running popularity, the assumption is created that Star Wars must contain the answers to some of the systematic problems it poses (much like Shakespeare’s Othello is occasionally supposed to have been some bastion against racism).

It does not. Whilst in theory, “everyone becoming unselfish and actively pursuing good via Jedi philosophy” would help a lot of systemic issues, it (a) is not going to happen, and (b) would not immediately make every freshly unselfish person aware of actual productive solutions to complex systematic problems. It is a deliberate choice, not a flaw that Star Wars simplifies matters, but it is a limitation.

True or not, the assumption that Star Wars must contain solutions has effects, one of which is the frequency with which its fandom and fanfiction makes use of a “one moral culture at a time” framework. Often, rather than getting rid of the “one culture (Jedi) is representative of the right course of action” Framework, another culture within Star Wars is selected or created by fans—Mandalorians, Sith, Naboo, etc—to be the incarnation of moral action. This necessitates denigrating the other cultures within Star Wars, Jedi and otherwise.

(An interesting exception to this in many ways is the Amavikka Tatooine slave culture, which was created very deliberately to exist in opposition to enslavement specifically; as corollary, the anti Jedi sentiment tied to it by its original creator—much as I still don’t enjoy it—actually does work productively as a story element. And because of deliberation put into its creation, the morality of the Amavikka response to slavery is not challenged by the elevation of or comparison to another culture within one story. This is deeply unlike stories where the other example cultures are elevated in comparison to the Jedi.)

My point being, this haphazard elevation of one culture at a time is not a complicating narrative. It remains within the exact Framework of the original work, only with typically less deliberate thought—and more rule of cool—put into which culture is selected. It is transformative—it selects elements of the original work to focus on and modify—but it is not an examination of or solution to systemic issues in any way. Which of course is not to say one shouldn’t have fun with the framework as a trope—this is fandom after all, it’s deeply unserious—but if the goal is to use media to examine systemic issues on a productive level, I very seriously recommend going elsewhere, because you’re going to have to tear up a lot of the Star Wars you love to get anywhere close.

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I was going to say that if Sandry met Ozorne the entire Immortals War would be over in 0.5 seconds but actually if Rosethorn met Ozorne the war would be over in zero seconds.

(Inspired by an @dr-dendritic-trees post)

[looseleafteeaves]

nobody will ever speak ill of my son ever again he volunteers at the HOSPITAL bless him

also one step closer to dr damian wayne bc i think there’s beautiful writing in ra’s going from a doctor to an assassin raising his grandchild to be an assassin but damian wants to be a healer 😔

put that boy in med school

[looseleafteeaves]

@two-turtleducks

Use this one trick to instantly fix all childhood trauma (Jedi Masters don’t want you to know this)!!!!!

That is what every “if Obi-Wan had just— *adds one extra scene to canon* —then Anakin would’ve had perfect mental health and never listened to Palpatine at all,” sounds like to me. Look I am not an expert on any kind of psychology at all let alone early childhood development but,

It is possible to do your very best to help or raise someone and still have bad or imperfect outcomes, especially when you have someone actively, secretly working against you (cough cough Sith Lord of the month cough), (for many reasons, but in this case particularly), because unravelling the mindset built in early childhood is hard, actually.

Coming at this from the “raised in a safe and loving environment” side of things, it took me years to figure out and internalize that my friends whose parents weren’t as great as mine were functioning in an entirely different landscape when it came to their interactions with adults.

Many years ago when I was in middle school a friend (acquaintance? idk I think most people thought I was annoying) told me that her ankle kept giving out and causing her pain. I asked if she'd told her parents so she could rest or go to the doctor. She told me she had, but her mother either hadn't listened or refused to help. My (approximate) responses?

"So it's not actually that bad then?"

"You should tell her again."

"Are you sure you explained it right?"

The only explanation I could comprehend at the time was that there must have been some unclear communication about the situation or its severity--if her mother had understood she was in pain, she couldn't possibly have just not done anything about it? Adults are responsible, caring, etcetera! They wouldn't do that?!

With more experience, I've come to understand better, and learned to respond in kinder, more helpful ways, but the shift in mindset was not and is not intuitive.

And I had the luxury of figuring all that out whilst being safe myself. Coming from the other direction, being in danger and trying to figure out why other people act like the world is safe? I can't say for sure, but I imagine it’s a lot more complicated.

Point with regard to Star Wars being, it really is harder for Anakin, coming in later, to acclimate to the Jedi ways and thought processes than it is for his peers who grew up in the safe environment of the Temple. And whatever arguments people want to have about how much psychology and therapy exist in the Star Wars universe, or how much “Jedi just do cognitive behavioral therapy” (not totally inaccurate, but reductive on several levels), no matter what the answers to those questions, it will still be harder for Anakin.

There is a reason the council changes its mind on training him only after he is suddenly famous and the Sith are proven to be back. When Anakin was not in significant danger of being snatched up by someone else, it was genuinely probably the easier and safer option—for him and everyone else—for him to live a different life.

The Jedi are not necessarily fully prepared for a child with Anakin's history, and, there is nothing bad about living an ordinary life. Anakin would not have been somehow unforgivably robbed by living life as a mechanic or an engineer or something, rather than being a Jedi.

Anakin is a victim of many things in his life—Sidious, Watto, Gardulla, Tatooine’s everything, his own conscious choices—but he is not a victim of malice, incompetence, or idiocy by the Jedi just because they couldn't—in only a decade or so—help him fully and perfectly unravel the mindset he developed in his early childhood. If there was any lack of qualification on their part, it was one they were aware of—but which was outweighed by the danger of little Anakin getting kidnapped out of normal-kid elementary school.

Being brought up in and around slavery absolutely made him more vulnerable to Sidous and became the basis of their dynamic as master and apprentice. Acting like the trauma that affects his mindset and actions for his entire life can be obliterated just by making minimal changes to the plot is wild to me.

And don’t get me wrong, fics and headcanons can do whatever they want, not everyone wants or is trying to write a deep psychological character study (also fanfic and even fiction in general cannot and should not be held to any standard of realism if it's not serving the story and the author)—simple fix-it’s (my love) are fun and an excellent short-cut to other things like happiness and fluff (my other loves)—but don’t act serious about the idea that adding one conversation about his feelings or one extra explanation about Jedi philosophy would automatically lead to Anakin having perfect mental health outcomes and always making good decisions.

Disclaimer (if the ones throughout weren't enough) : please go forth and do whatever you want. the moral of this post is actually just that (1) you won’t convince me, (2) I wanted to talk about this, (3) the clickbait title was too funny not to post, (4) i literally can't open my mouth without phrasing things like i'm in the middle of a heated debate, and (5) i continue to not be an expert in early childhood development—my evidence is very literally anecdotal

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Full on cackling here 😂

An entity called Fox News exists in Star Wars but it’s just a segment of the Coruscant Guard’s local radio station run by a couple of shiny troopers (they rotate in new ones from Kamino/other battalions to keep them fresh) who stalk Commander Fox on his daily activities (he knows: could these shiny’s get any more obvious?!), and then narrate them to the rest of the guard in their 20 minute segment

[looseleafteeaves]

I have to say, I love the idea of the Clones slowly creating their own culture by interacting with their trainers on Kamino, with their Jedi Generals during the war and by just talking with the people they save from the Seppies, instead of just using the Mandalorian culture of Jango.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like when authors integrate Mando things in fanfictions or fanarts, I basically learned Mandalorian by how many fanfictions I read with it in it. 

But at the same time the idea of a Clone unique culture is more appealing, and I really wish fancreators would toy with it more, it has so many possibilities!

Imagine:

A Twi’lek trainer is in charge of a class of cadets, he is an ex-bounty hunter who can’t stand his old job anymore, not after one of his failed assignments killed his son for revenge.

And now he is here, on a secret planet, being tasked to train little perfect child soldiers, who look at him with such wide and curious eyes just like his boy. But his mind is plagued by the sight of his son’s body, and the last conversation he had with him: the meaning of the Kalikori. 

It always felt like a cruel destiny that the last thing he would talk to his son about was the Totem of his family history, where there were also his parents and his wife's deaths depicted on it.

And now his boy too.

It was on the day of his Death Anniversary that he had this conversation again, but with a different boy this time. A cadet had come to search for him, because he was late for the morning lesson, unaware that his trainer had drunk so much that he could barely stand on his feet, let alone teach. 

And it was probably because of his drunken state that he decided to just talk to this boy, identical to all the others, with no real name, that possessed nothing but the clothes on his back, his brothers and the knowledge that was taught to him, knowledge about war and nothing else.

And so he talked to him, and gave him the last lesson he would ever teach on that planet, a lesson not about war but love:

He talked about the Kalikori, about its meaning, how it works and why it is made. 

Every time he indicates a segment he talks about what it represents: his marriage, the birth of his son, his first job as a bounty hunter, the death of his parents, the death of his wife’s parents and so on… until his finger lands on the last one, his son's death. 

“It’s a way to remember your loved ones” he says, looking into the dark and curious eyes of the cadet, so so similar to his eyes.

“so that even if you’re gone, if no one who knew them is still alive, whoever will see this, they’ll know that they must have been special to someone, and that they were loved, like nothing else in this universe. It’s a testament of your love for them, eyan bou. So that they may be remembered until the stars break.”

He was never seen again.

Some say that Jango himself threw him out of the planet after discovering his drinking tendencies, some say he just leaved on his own because he missed his home.

But there is a story of an older cadet who saw him on the platform outside, standing on the limit, looking at the waves below, and the moment the cadet looked away, and then turned back to the trainer… he was nowhere to be seen. 

All his things were thrown away, including the Kalikori, and then a new trainer replaced him just a few days after, and everybody forgot about him.

But not the little cadet, he remembered his last lesson, and so he talked about it to his batchmates, and they talked about it to their friends, and by the time of the start of the war every single clone knew about it, about the testament of love, the one used to make the memory of your loved ones eternal.

After the start of the war this knowledge transformed itself into something new: in the little side pouch of every clone there was now a beaded cord, and on every bead there was a different drawing, sometimes a number, sometimes the initial of a name, or a symbol. 

No cord was ever left behind, there were multiple clones who risked their life or lost it to retrieve it, to bring on the memory of their brothers. Some symbols were familiar to them, and some were not, some were for the soldiers who died by their side, and some were for those who never got out of Kamino, clones that no one cared about and were taught to forget they ever existed, but they just couldn’t.

It was not rare to have cords full of strangers, or to attach your own cord to that of a fallen Vod, or to have more than one bead dedicated to the same clone.

And it was not rare to die surrounded by droids while clutching the cord, and not the blaster, because the presence of those fallen brothers just made them feel safer and more invincible than any weapon they could ever have.

[looseleafteeaves]

So you guys know how the Jedi Order is filled with people from pretty much every world and species? Think about all the unique cultural things the Jedi would practice simply because the Order is basically a giant melting pot.

A Kalikori made out of Akul teeth, passed down through a lineage and carved in multiple different styles to represent the cultures of each of the lineage members.

Different Jedi taking inspiration for their cultural face tattoos from their Togruta master's lekku or their friends' facial tattoos or the designs on a Council member's cultural headdress.

Recipes that are fusion foods made of like five different cultural dishes because a group of friends all got drunk together, got the munchies, and fucked around in the kitchen until something tasted good.

Like, just everyone sharing their cultures with each other and then people adapting their cultures based on their lineages and the shared culture in the Order, shared culture being a form of expressing love and adopting someone into the Order/a lineage.

Obviously there would be things that are off limits and permission would have to be given and the Jedi would probably emphasize learning the culture before ever adapting it, but I just think that after thousands of years their would be a lot of shared culture among the Jedi.

Oh, and languages! With how many languages are probably spoken in the Order, I wouldn't be surprised if the Jedi basically spoke bastardized versions of every language mashed together---it'd probably be an always moving/changing/evolving thing that no one but the Jedi can understand because the Jedi use the Force to bridge any gaps there might be in someone's understanding.

A lot of words and phrases would be taken from Dai Bendu, just because it's my personal headcanon that the Jedi still speak it, but then it would branch out from there into Twi'leki and Togruti and Durese and everything else all mixed together.

I just...I love the idea of the Jedi having a mixed culture that reflects the diversity of the Order.

[looseleafteeaves]

thinking of the Jedi's self sufficiency , and specifically about how they sew their own clothes. And I have ideas floating in my head of Anakin using Padme's dress patterns to sew something for Sister, or during the war Obi-Wan making clothes for Cody when he's on shore leave.

Quinlan sewing fox toys for Fox.

Ahsoka's dresses making more sense as she gets older because she made them herself. And as ridiculous as it was, a tube top & skirt was the easiest combo a 14 year old could make.

(In a happier world, thinking about the Jedi teaching their clones how to sew after the war, because while the clones can sew it wasn't for aesthetic purposes. Just for survival. The Kaminoans never really taught them how.

And when the clones are eventually do make their own money, and are granted their rights, refusing gifts from the Jedi when they can and actually buying their work. Because it's good fucking work.)

Imagining hours where the Jedi will sit in silence and just sew and embroidery their work. Sew together, alone.

Sew blankets, sew clothes, sew dolls, sew every and anything. Embroidery when they're done.

Teach sewing as stress relief. Teach their troopers sewing as stress relief. Do it themselves.

And years after the Fall of the Jedi, their embroidery and clothing being put in museums, respected. years of handmade and handsewn art and clothing displayed for all to see.

"Jedi Cloak by Jedi Master Shaak-Ti" "Obi-Wan Kenobi's thimble" "Stuffed Animal for a youngling by Yoda" "Mace Windu's portable sewing kit" "Gift to a trooper by Plo Koon"

etc, things that make me sad

[looseleafteeaves]

@adragonsfriend

Normal people: hey man how's it going

Guy who loves spreadsheets: can I make you a spreadsheet

[looseleafteeaves]

starting a collection

[looseleafteeaves]

Cracking one of these bad bois open & sharing with my mutuals

'Tis the season

[looseleafteeaves]

Thinking about how wild it is that enshittification starts as a way for the rich to squeeze the populace for more money but ends up infecting everything so even luxury products decline in quality. They’ve got more money than fucking God now and for what? Literally they can’t even buy fun nice stuff for themselves because they killed craft.

Anyway this post is about Dhaka muslin but it’s also about everything.

[looseleafteeaves]

Albatross???

You show up for your first day at Copyright-Free Magic School. As you're going through orientation, you're informed that all new students get a school-assigned familiar that they are responsible for housing and maintaining. The staff member assures you that your assigned familiar is appropriately chosen and reflects you in some way.

Spin this to find out yours. (Remember, you are responsible for maintaining this familiar in your dorm room.)

[looseleafteeaves]

one of the clones encounters a doppelgaenger style monster and, rather than being unnerved by the experience, immediately adopts it into the GAR

the doppelgaenger is so confused, but can't complain about the company of millions who look just like them

[looseleafteeaves]

HI YES IMAGINE WICCAN X NIGHTWING.

Thats all have a good night

[looseleafteeaves]

@nittusidhe @two-turtleducks

the most powerful writing tool is actually Brainstorming With The Girls