#* v. i am a jedi like my father before me // main.

[chosesun]

@skywalker-sister cont from here

he doesn't mean to be so obvious. in fact, he sort of wishes he'd been able to hide his emotions so as to not worry his aunt. instead, she followed him out here and found him struggling within himself. it wasn't some big controversy, he's just . . . sad. he smiles a little- it wavers as he looks at her and then looks away, back to looking up at the stars. he watches as ships fly off in the distance, disappearing like distance wishing stars. he wonders if he could make a wish on one of those, too, if it would have the same effect it had back on Tatooine. "i was just thinking about my aunt Beru and my uncle Owen," he tells her, shifting his legs a little as he speaks. "i hope they're proud of me wherever they are. i know they didn't want this life for me- they didn't want me to follow the same path my father did. do you think they'd be proud?"

[chosesun]

Luke allows himself to be pulled to his feet and dusts himself off once he does so. he's wearing a black tunic, resembling that of his father. perhaps, in a way he had done that on purpose - a sort of homage to whom he respected more than anyone. his love for his father, while known wildly throughout the galaxy back home, was strong enough to rival the power of the force, though he would hardly ever admit to that. the force had allowed him to be here, after all; it gave him a chance to meet his father and for that, he was grateful.

he follows Noa quietly, only speaking when he'd mentioned her hand and watches the emotions flitter across her face. he frowns deeply, knowing he had disturbed her in a way, so he's quick to make do with it, waving his own hand to dismiss it. "you don't have to explain, i was just curious, that's all. my father cut my hand off during a duel. it didn't hurt, but it was a moment i would never forget. he made sure of that." it sounds abusive now that he thinks about it, but he didn't know how else to explain what happened. back then, his father had allowed the darkness to swarm him, he didn't really know what he was doing, so Luke didn't entirely blame him for it.

when the wolf speaks, Luke blinks slowly and looks down at her, surprise littered across his face. "i'm sorry ? did your wolf just speak?" well, that certainly wasn't something he was expecting.

Noa smiled at him as she pulled him up, beginning to walk back to where the base was located. Trixie didn't seem to mind the new friend's movement, as she would simply walk beside both of them with light steps.

When Luke asked her about her cybernetic, she stopped for a moment to look at him. Not because she was offended or anything, but because she was showing she was actively listening. Although... she would've been lying if she said him questioning it didn't make her feel slightly bad.

"Oh, this?" She asked as she looked down at her glove. She knew she couldn't hide it - after all, it went to about halfway up her forearm, so it would've been difficult to hide. Still, the hand being the center of attention made her feel uneasy.

"Master..." a voice that would be revealed to be from Trixie spoke gently as the wolf nudged her master's flesh hand with her nose.

[chosesun]

[ @hoovedrycal ]

Luke's mission was simple: get in, grab the intel, get out with minimal fighting possible. there isn't supposed to be any stormtroopers here, but things don't always go according to plan- the sight of an aircraft crash landing on the planet catches his attention, though it doesn't seem to look imperial. that being said, his first thought is to make sure anyone on board was okay and hope to the force that there isn't an enemy out there waiting to ambush him for his generosity. steering in the direction of the craft, it doesn't take him very long to get there, finding it smoking. he calls outwards, hand resting on his saber just in case. "is anyone there? are you hurt?"

[chosesun]

amusement flickers across Luke's face at her comment. she's not the first person to say something like that- Han has said something very similar to him in the past, and it continues to amuse him even now. "it's not really a 'thing'. it's more of . . . a feeling," he tells her, inhaling deeply as he tries to explain just what the force is to him. "it's like a sigh of relief, i would say. it's hope in the darkness. does that make sense ? that's how it makes me feel."

@starsbuilt cont from here

[chosesun]

"That’s the risk I have to take." ~ Tycho

Luke is quiet for a moment as he looks at Tycho, trying to come up with something to say. they take risks every day- being in the rebel alliance, risks are just a part of their day-to-day lives. Luke has, in fact, taken many risks himself and somehow ended up still alive. after blowing up the death star, he'd nearly gotten himself killed in the process. but everyone takes risks like that, every day, and Tycho is no exception.

he chuckles a little as he crosses his arms across his chest, leaning forward towards the other. "yeah, but you don't have to take this risk," he reminds him, looking down at the drink that's sat in front of him. "you know, they're just messing with you. i don't think drinking this is such a good idea. i have no idea what they put in it and neither do you." leave it to the other pilots to want to play a betting game- they're always doing things like this during their downtime. still, taking a whiff of the drink, Luke's mouth twists. "are you sure you're okay drinking that?" just then, the rest of the squadron appears behind Luke and Luke realizes his efforts to stop Tycho are probably in vain.

@red-flight

[chosesun]

laughter is the true medicine to a broken heart. it may not cure it, but it helps ease the pain just a little. he smiles, lowering his hands and folding them together. he's wearing his glove over his prosthetic - always something he wears now these days, though there's hardly a reason for it. perhaps it's to make himself look cooler or perhaps it helps ease the pain of what had happened. either way, he's never seen without his glove on. he tightens his grip at the thought before casting his eyes back towards her.

his smile is still present when he speaks, leaning back against the cool wall as he does so. "they wanted to protect me from a lot more than just this," he says with a sigh. "unfortunately, i can't explain to you what it is that they were trying to protect me from. you wouldn't understand. i can't tell anyone." it hurts his heart to speak of it, the truth that he keeps shoved down as far as he could. he's Vader's son and there's nothing he can do to change that, but to speak it out lout to someone . . . he just couldn't. everyone knows him as the son of Anakin Skywalker and he wanted to keep that legacy alive. he didn't want to tarnish what Anakin left behind because of what he became. it just didn't seem fair.

he shakes his head to clear it, his smile falling away. "the empire killed them. if it hadn't been for that, i wouldn't be here. i'd still be on the farm. i'm not better for it, but if it meant they were still alive, maybe i'd consider a different path." expect he doesn't think there is another one - all he has his is this one. either way, it would have lead him here.

Lifting her shoulders in a nonchalant Shrug Alena gave the jedi a smile of her own, that warm, genuine smile that she usually had no matter how dire the situation may seem. " Sometimes you need a laugh, " And it seemed like he might have needed one just then. Even if she couldn't think of anything particularly clever she hoped it was at least distraction enough from whatever was troubling his mind. After all, she was no stranger to lost and grief.

Humming thoughtful she tilted her head. " You know, I used to run away too, " Though perhaps for different reasons. Still, her smile grew for a moment. " They wanted to protect you from all of this. For what it may be worth i don't think she thought you were a brat. Children are born free, it's word that is unkind. "She softly spoke, taking a deep breath of the night air. Though she was too young for Children of her own, growing up on the streets Alena had taken on the role of looking after the other Children. Now that she was older, some of the habits she had picked up still lingered. " I think she wanted to give you the stars too. "

[kissingarthurclaus]

HI I’VE BEEN MEANING TO SEND THIS BUT I’VE BEEN ON THE ROAD: I was watching Bluey every morning at my hotel & thinking of you & Rex!! I can definitely see him being like Dad if he ever had kids :’) Even if he doesn’t, he’s like my main parental f/o: he just can’t stop adopting younger folks in need of fatherly guidance 😭💀

P.S. as a major Swifite, the convo you’re having w Thunder about Rex listening to Tay is giving me LIFE!!! I have all those songs in the playlist for my main romantic f/o, I actually proposed to him using Ours (I changed the bridge to fit him, not John Mayer lmao) + an Echosmith song 🥺

ALSO I just learned Anakin is your bff?!? HE’S MY BF ASKFLSKFLGL ARE WE SISTERS NOW?! I ship w him & Hunter (I have separate versions of my TCW insert for each). Ezra Bridger used to be my main f/o a few years ago (using my third & fave SW s/i haha), but then I got old & he didn’t… plus I found my husband f/o, so all is well 💗 He’s Thunder’s now haha.

Love from another Jedi girlie 💕😘

I AM STARING AT U SO AUTISTICALLY HELLO HI ● v ● HOW HAVE I NEVER INTERACTED W YOU BEFORE!! I just followed u from my main blog @wembleysfraggle and I'M SO EXCITED!!

First of all Bluey is my comfort show and I'm screaming cause me and Rex DO have kids and sometimes I watch it and imagine us in the same scenarios the family gets into!! 🥺💖💖 and it's so sweet that you see Rex as a father figure like honestly he's just dad inside no matter who he's with ajfjf

ALSO YES IT DOES MAKE US SISTERS OMG!! Also good choice with Hunter hehe, I would LOVE to know all about both s/is and their relationships cause now we're besties and I tell you embarrassing stories about when me and Ani were kids, it's my solemn duty as the bff!! Pls feel free to hop into my DMs any time!! :3

[silvereddaye]

In Born a Sith, how would Vader react if another Vampire (not Palpatine) tried to hurt/ kill/ kidnap/ harm Luke?

Vader sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The Archives were useless. He had hoped to find something, anything, that might help him with Luke. But there was nothing about Sith children. There were pages full of how a Sith should wait until a prospective apprentice is older before they took the vow and were turned. But nothing about if a child was turn. He found it hard to believe it had never happened before.

He carried his books back to the front desk.

“No luck?”

Vader only glared at Jocasta Nu. She had been a Jedi, a holy knight and sworn enemy of the Sith. She should be dead like the rest of her filth, but she had turned traitor before Vader had slaughtered the knights. So she was not at the temple during the massacre. She had been spared and turned. He hadn’t bothered to remember her Sith name.

“I have a theory,” she said smoothly. “That perhaps changing a child is too dangerous and ends in death. Your son survived because his change was started in the womb. He was born already half Sith.”

Vader gave her a curt nod and was about to leave, but she spoke up again.

“I am not one for gossip, Lord Vader,” she said. “But I saw Darth Liveed flying out towards your palace at the noon bell—“

He didn’t wait to hear what else she had to say. He was storming out of the Archives. It was nothing. A coincidence. Liveed was merely flying that direction … There was nothing else in that direction. Vader’s palace was on the other side of the mountains from Coruscant. It sat next to the mouth of the Metellos River where it met the sea. The Empire’s main military and naval base was located there which Vader oversaw and commanded. And Liveed was not a Sith under Vader’s command. He was not associated with the military. So why was he …

Devastator wasn’t rules when Vader arrived at the dragon barn. Vader strokes her about to soothe her while the attendants saddled her up. She could sense his anger and irritation. She was ready to fight. When the attendants were done, Vader climbed on and they took off. Vader did not need to give any command to make haste to his palace. Devastator already knew.

— — — —

Luke sat at his small desk in his father’s study. Father was currently away at the capital but should return before night. Perhaps if Luke made good progress, he could ask if Father would take him to see the dragons. It had been some time since Luke had seen the dragons. It was one of his few joys he found here. 

He heard the sound of heavy boots marching down the hallway. Luke perked up to look like he was deep in thought, but he wasn’t actually reading the words in his book. A chill ran up his back and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. There was a tightness in his chest. Why was he feeling this? 

 The steps were approaching, and that was when Luke realized the steps weren’t . . . right. He knew the sound of his father’s boots. These steps were too close together. Not heavy enough. Luke turned in his seat just in time to see a figure enter the study. It was not his father. 

It was a man. He was tall and lean with black hair and odd dull tan skin. He wore black leather tunics that were layered across his chest in a V-shape. A silver sword hilt with no blade hung on his belt. A crooked smile grew slowly on his lips as he looked at Luke. 

“Well, well. Here is the little Vader brat. I was expecting something more, but I see now. You’re just a small scrawny rat,” the man said. 

Luke slowly stood up. The man walked to the room, or it was more like he slinked into the room like a predator. Golden eyes flickered in the candlelight. His smile showed off two pointed fangs. He was a Sith. He had never met another Sith before. 

The Sith stopped a small distance from Luke. Luke pressed himself against his desk. The wooden edge digging into his back. The Sith was still smiling as he loomed over the boy. Then quick as a viper, his hand snatched out and grabbed Luke’s chin. His cold fingers dug into the skin. It hurt, and so Luke tried to pull away. The fingers dug deeper into his skin. 

“Look at me,” the Sith hissed. Luke did. The black in the eyes were like slits. “You . . . You are the prince? Third in line to the throne? You?” The fingers were digging in deeper. Luke could feel his skin being sliced open. The smell of blood instantly filled the air. “How pathetic,” he spat. 

His hand ripped away and Luke’s hand jerked to the side. Luke whimpered and brought a hand up to his face and gently pressed his fingers against the new weeping wounds. His fingers were wet with his blood. 

The Sith let out a sharp laugh that sounded like a bark. “It is a shame the others didn’t join me. They would have loved to see this . . . THIS child! Maybe I should take you back to the capital? Hmmm? You’ve never seen the throne you have a claim to? Shall we go see it?” 

Luke tried to move away, but the Sith grabbed his arm. Luke yelped as the grip tightened. 

“I will enjoy throwing you at the feet of our Emperor and watch as his face contorts into sweet disappointment. No wonder Vader has been hiding you. Now come.” 

The Sith pulled Luke out of the room and down the hall. The boy looked around for guards, for a servant, for anyone or anything. But there was no one. The Sith’s grip was iron tight and cold. He recognized the path they were taken. They were going to the dragons. Tears built up in his eyes. He didn’t like this. 

The door blew open without the Sith even touching it. He could use the Force. The wind was cold and sharp as they walked onto the balcony. Luke could see the stone bridge that connected the palace to the dragon caves. However, there was a dragon already on the balcony. It was already saddled and let out a screech as they approached. The dragon looked odd. It looked like a TIE dragon, but it a bit smaller and more of a light grey than the ones he was used to seeing. Luke tried to pull away, tried to wiggle free, but like his father, the Sith held tight. They had just reached the dragon when a loud screech filled the air. 

A shadow fell over them. There was the flapping of wings. The Sith’s dragon pulled away from them. It’s head reared back and hissing as another, much larger dragon descended upon it. Teeth and claws dug into the smaller dragon. Red blood spilled on the stone tile. 

“Liveed!” a voice shouted. 

Luke looked up to see a figure descending from the heavens. His father landed with a solid thump, his sword in hand and already the blade was burning red. His teeth were bared and his fangs were long. 

“Vader!” the Sith said as he pulled out his own hilt. A red blade hummed out of it. “I came to meet the little prince! Little is an apt description.” 

Vader’s eyes lingered on Luke. Then they darted up to Liveed. He growled, “I will you give this one chance. Let my son go.” 

Liveed threw Luke aside, and the boy fell to the ground. Vader wasted no time. He charged forward, his blade swinging, and Liveed’s blade met it. The blades hummed and hissed as they struck against it. Luke crawled away towards the palace. He grabbed at the thick door and pulled himself up. He twisted around just in time to see his father pushing his red blade into Liveed’s chest. The other Sith was wide-eyed with terror as the blade went deeper and deeper. 

The body slunk to the floor, and Liveed’s blade flickered out. The hilt fell from his hand and clinked against the tile. Vader barely paused as he pulled the blade out and stomped over to Luke. Luke whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel his father’s rage. It burned but it was cold. A sharp searing cold that grew closer and closer. 

“Luke,” Vader said. His voice the same as always. Deep and booming. “Luke. Look at me.” 

Luke curled up in a tight ball. He felt a hand on his back. A hand grabbed his arm. But it wasn’t the tight steel he was used to. It was gentle as Vader pulled Luke to him. Large arms wrapped around him, but Vader’s body was still tense. Still hard. 

“It’s ok, Luke,” Vader said softly. “It’s ok.”

[brandonjg227]

Top 10 Star Wars Movies

There have been few media franchises as popular as Star Wars but how have the movies fared with critics? Here are my 10 best Star Wars Films

#10) Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Nevertheless, for all its blemishes, the movie pushed the series further into the future and beyond the technological limitations of the time, creating a launchpad into the universe's 'Clone Wars' side which has spun off into its own thing. 

#9) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

I understand why people say The Phantom Menace gets a whole lot wrong. There's Jake Lloyd's unfortunatley annoying performance as Anakin (but still cute); there are multiple alien designs that are vaguely racist caricatures; Jar-Jar Binks exists. Yet, there are also some really great elements to Episode 1 that should not be overlooked.

Regardless of your feelings towards the Gungans, Naboo's verdant rainforests, Atlantean underwater cities, and utopian palaces serve as gorgeous backdrops that expand the Star Wars universe. The podracing scene is a fun take on Ben-Hur's timeless chariot race. And the grand finale lightsaber duel is phenomenal. Darth Maul and his double-bladed lightsaber versus Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan is easily one of the greatest fight scenes in the entire series.

#8) Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

The last Star Wars movie and one of the more generally divisive, The Rise of Skywalker brought the sequel trilogy to a messy conclusion that satisfied some fans while leaving others wanting.

Despite the typically brilliant work done on effects and design, the movie's celebration of the franchise itself ultimately wasn't enough to enthuse those who felt it was either a step backward from the previous installment or too far gone into a more generic Hollywood formula.

#7) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The first spinoff of Disney's reign of Star Wars, Rogue One was, while still not without its own controversies, a much bigger hit at the box office than Solo.

Critics seem to agree that, while more a fun detour in the franchise's history than anything else, its origin story for the events of the original movie is more entertaining than its gloomy aesthetic suggests.

#6) Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

After the mixed results of the prequel trilogy, both fans and critics were overjoyed with J.J. Abrams' first Star Wars movie.

Essentially a remake of the original movie, The Force Awakens was a light and frothy action spectacle that may come to be viewed in a harsher light over time but nonetheless delivered on what audiences really wanted from the franchise at that moment.

#5) Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

The most generally well-received entry in the prequel trilogy with both fans and critics alike, Revenge of the Sith brought George Lucas' vision for Star Wars full circle in an ambitious and impactful way. Knowing exactly how most of the main characters end up made the story no less tragic and Lucas' political commentary, whilst heavy-handed, wasn't without its relevance.

#4) Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

The finale of the original trilogy certainly has its faults, as reflected by its position in the critical rankings, but, like Attack of the Clones, it was a fittingly big technological step forward for both the franchise and movies in general.

Even if you're not a fan of the infamous Ewoks, Return of the Jedi delivers a satisfying conclusion to the long-running feud between hero Luke Skywalker and villain Darth Vader, which has only improved over time in the face of future movies undermining its impact.

#3) Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

As much a remake of Empire Strikes Back as The Force Awakens is to the original movie, Rian Johnson's take on the franchise's core elements also added its fair share of ideas to the mix and that's perhaps part of the reason why there ended up being such a huge divide between one very enthusiastic side made up of critics and fans and one vitriolically hateful side made up of a faction of other fans.

At any rate, the movie sits with the most widely loved entries in the franchise as the debate surrounding it rages on, and, like The Force Awakens again, its evaluation over time will be fascinating to watch.

#2) Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

The original classic is one of the few movies in existence that truthfully has had all that can be said about it already said.

The movie that would eventually come to be known as A New Hope remains one of cinematic history's biggest landmarks and an essentially perfect adventure story. If you've still never seen it then fans and a vast majority of critics agree that you're missing out on a monumental experience.

#1) Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

It's easy to see why Empire Strikes Back is so often floated as the best movie of the franchise, with its darker and more haunting tone that's emphasized by its striking look. Virtually flawless. This is the Star Wars equivalent of Casablanca. Directed by Irvine Kirshner, produced by Gary Kurtz with a screenplay in part by Lawrence Kasdan (in other words, not George Lucas), this has the best dialogue, the deepest characterisation, the most compelling story and the best individual moments of the lot: the Millennium Falcon flying into the asteroid field, Han being frozen in carbonite, Luke and Darth Vader fighting amid the industrial gloom of the freezing chamber with the iconic line “I am your father!”, Chewbacca roaring at Vader (a big deal). As well as the main plot twist, which need not be repeated here, there is also the sight of Vader kneeling before the previously unseen Emperor (also a big deal). And it has Boba Fett.

Honorable Mentions: Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Well, that’s it for today’s post, thanks for reading! And don’t forget to tell me your favorite comebacks so far and/or if you like any of these films. May the Force be with you.

[chosesun]

he supposes he's known grief since the moment he was born. losing his mother immediately after his birth, despite having no memory of it, left an impact on him that is still standing today. with his connection to the force, he's certain that he felt it, the feeling of that loss. he can tell that Bail felt it, too. maybe not in the same way and certainly not the same length, but he felt it, too.

and he knows he must be thinking of his own family, his planet and its destruction, caused by the hands of Luke's own father. how can Bail look at him and not see that man now ? does he know what Luke knows ? does he know that Anakin is Darth Vader ? and despite everything, Luke still sees the good.

he offers a smile in return. "i lost my aunt and uncle not that long ago. they were my only family for a very long time. but i know they're still with me, even if it's just in spirit." now he has a new family of sorts . . . Han Solo, Leia, Chewie . . . he smiles at the thought of them. his own band of misfits. his home.

HE'S GLAD to hear that luke knows padmé would have loved him . bail doesn't know how to express just how much , though . doesn't know how to tell luke that she would have loved him , and leia , more than anything else in her life .

love doesn't end when a life does . he can't stop himself from thinking about his home , about BREHA . he breathes slowly to manage his grief .

❝ no - i suppose you're right , ❞ he agrees quietly . then he offers luke a small , if sad , smile . ❝ how wise you are , young luke . ❞

[chosesun]

it's been a while since he saw Han. with all his traveling and jedi duties, he's been away from home for a while. but coming home to seeing Han there- that was the best thing he could have possibly hoped for. oh, he's already seen his sister, and they had a good talk, spent some time together, but now it was his time to be with Han. of course, Chewie noticed him first and got excited, shaking Han, trying to get his attention.

Luke laughs as approaches them, hands in his pockets. "it's okay, Chewie, you don't need to rip his arm off." when Han finally turns around to face Luke, a smile breaks out across Luke's face- it puts the stars to shame as he opens his arms and throws himself at Han, not even giving him a chance to think twice.

"i missed you."

@kessel12run gets a random starter <3

[shakingthestars]

To the Antis who “hate Reylo”: Disney/LF will teach us that love (of all kind) is the answer to hate

I. Why “Reylo hate” is non sense in the context of a Disney fairytale

I must admit that until very recently I hadn't realized how much some part of the fandom is so strongly against Reylo and against Kylo's redemption in general. I never really got interested in knowing how other people than openly Reylos see Kylo Ren and his relationship with Rey. But since the release of the trailer, I became interested in people's opinion and I find it incredible to see on tumblr so many people stating "I hate Reylo"  as if hate was the proper answer to their frustration regarding where the story is headed. If I could do one thing to prove you  that hating Reylo ain't a proper answer, I would recommend you to read this wonderful post by @acekyloren:

Anakin, Luke, Rey, Kylo Ren & Balancing the Force: Why Love is the Answer, Not Hate http://acekyloren.tumblr.com/post/166633462695/anakin-luke-rey-kylo-ren-balancing-the-force Seriously, I consider this is the best post I have ever read in the fandom until now because this is exactly the lesson that we - Reylo, Antis, GA - wil be teached by Disney/LF with the ST. Until now, the idea was that the LS and the DS were incompatible and thus balancing the Force for the Jedi meant any trace of the DS. War was always the answer to that mutual "hate" between the LS and the DS.Visceral Antis fail to see that for the time in the main SW franchise, we have two people caught in the middle of this eternal war beteen the DSand the LS like Romeo and Juliet caught in the middle of the war between their families or Tony and Maria from WSS caught in the middle of the war between their clans.

What do visceral Antis want by hating Reylo: that Kylo and Rey kill each other and this eternal war keep going? That Kylo and Rey end up as star-crossed lovers victims of this eternal war?

No way that things end up like this because the ST is a Disney fairytale. And what do Disney fairytale teach the GA?

That love of all kind is always the answer to war:

1) Pocahontas

Pocahontas: "Look around you! This is where the path of hatred have brought us! [Love] is the path I choose"

Pohatam"My daughter speaks with the wisdom of hundred years. We've all come here with anger in our heart! She comes with courage and understanding"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dNqclpMBwQ

2) Lion King 2

Kiara: "A wise king once told me "we are one". I didn't understand? Now, I do!"

Simba: "But they..."

Kiara: "Them? Us! Look at them! They are us! What difference do you see?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJdmSsXvT

3) TLJ teaser

Luke: "What do you see?" Rey: "Light [Rey’s theme in the background]...Darkness [Kylo’sthemein the background]...A balance..." Luke: "It's so much bigger!"

In a Disney fairytale, love, compassion and understanding  is always  the answer to the eternal war between the Dark side and the Light side. And Disney/LF will teach us this lesson with the ST.

II. Not convinced that Star Wars is a Disney fairytale?  

J.J. Abrams: “You’re going to have a castle, a Prince and a Princess if you look at a fairytale “

There are always three key characters in a Disney fairytale:

- A villain

- A Princess

- A Prince

In a Disney fairytale, the villain is generally a old manipulative mother/father figure who targets a Princess from birth with an evil purpose and achieves her evil plan no matter how the royal family tries to protect her. The villain uses manipulation/trick to make the Princess fall in a trap or keep her under his grip.

Guess who is the Prince(ss)  targeted from birth by a  manipulative villain?

Not convinced?

From the TFA novelization:

He met her eyes steadily. “We’ve lost our son, forever.”

Leia bit her lower lip, refusing to concede. “No. It was Snoke.”

Han drew back slightly. “Snoke ?”

She nodded. “He knew our child would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil.”

[...]

He had trouble believing what he was hearing. “So Snoke was watching our son.”

“Always,” she told him. “From the shadows, in the beginning, even before I realized what was happening, he was manipulating everything, pulling our son toward the dark side.

Doesn’t that remind you of a Disney fairytale ? 

A Princess cursed from birth by an evil witch, sent away by her family to protect her and falling into her trap despite all attempts to protect her ?

Merryweather: “ Sweet princess, if through this wicked witch's trick, a spindle should your finger prick... a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep. And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss, the spell shall break. 

Once you understand that in that story Snoke is  actually  the real vilain, Kylo is actually the Princess who nees to be saved from the “spell” and Rey the Prince who represents the ray of hope , things become more clearer. Then, you understand that Kylo may not be the villain you though he is. He is actually some dark version of Princess Aurora. 

Not convinced? 

Han to Ben: “Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you!”

Earlier in the movie...

Admiral Ackbar: How is it possible to power a weapon of this size (= Snoke)?

Finn: It uses the power of the sun (= Ben). As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears.

In which fairytale did we see that?

Rapunzel to Gothel: “I’ve spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power when I should have been hiding from you”

In Tangled: a story of a Princess targeted by a witch named Mother Gothel because her hair have healing power coming from the Sun. For which purpose? To maintain herself young forever!

The relationship between Gothel and Rapunzel is based is  an intimate and exclusive mother/daughter relationship based on manipulation.

In TFA novelization:

When next Snoke spoke, there was an intimacy in his voice, a familiary that stood in sharp contrast with the commanding  tone he hadused with Hux:

“I have never had a student with such promise - before you. The finest sculptor cannot fashion a masterpiece from poor materials. He must have something pure, something strong, something unbreakable, with which to work. I have - you.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeoVFSCzlSY

Call me crazy folks! But I think that the real love triangle isn’t between Kylo/Rey/Finn but between Snoke/Kylo/Rey because Rey is the ray of hope who represents a threat for whatever evil plan Snoke intends to achieve with Ben.You don’t spend 30 years fashioning a masterpiece just for a random reason. Whatever Snoke’s reasons are, he certainly has creepy intentions

And by the way, alot of people consider the interrogation scene as the proof that Reylo is an abusive ship. May I point these parallels:

Friendly reminder that this is how the relationship between the two characters evolved:

Still not convinced that Ben is the Prince(ss) targeted by the evil villain in that story ?

Lor San Tekka (about Princess Leia): “Oh! The General! To me, she is royalty!“

Poe Dameron: “Yes! She certainly is!”

“Once upon a time, in deep winter, a queen was admiring the falling snow, when she saw a rose blooming in defiance of the cold. Reaching for it she pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell.

And because the red seemed so alive against the white she thought, "If only I had a child as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven's wings, and all with the strength of that rose."

Soon after a daughter was born to the queen and was named Snow White”

Wasn’t Snow White also  targeted by Evil Queen who gave her a poisoned apple?

Another parallel to prove that Snoke is the evil villain manipulating/hypnotizing the cursed Prince(ss):

One last thing for those who think that Kylo won’t be redeemed because of  the patricide:

Which Disney fairytale was based on Hamlet?

Bonus:

Scar: “Tell them who is responsible for Mufasa’s death?”

Simba: “I am...”

Scar : “You see! He admits it! Murderer!“

Simba: “No! It was an accident [...] I am no murderer!”

Later...

Scar: “Here is  my little secret! I killed Mufasa!”

In Disney fairytales, the villain and his evil purpose are  always introduced to the GA at the beginning so that there can’t be any mistake. Had J.J.Abrams kept these lines from the TFA novel in the movie and showed more evidences that Snoke is a SW version of Maleficient, Gothel, Evil Queen, Scar or Frollo, the GA would have certainly interpreted both  the interrogation scene and the patricide scene differently

Until now, Snoke’s purpose remain unclear and it is clear that he hasn’t achieved yet what he intends to do with Ben . To me, it is absolutely clear that he wants something specific from Ben. He has been working with this “pure, strong unbreakable, material “ for 30 years in order to achieve a masterpiece. And we know that he is interested in  Ben’s power made from both the DS and the LS.

You really want the last and only Skywalker heir to pay for his crime and die unredeemed ? Fine! May your wish come true, maybe sooner than you expect because nothing can prevent a Disney villain from achieving his evil plan. If Snoke really wants something from Ben related to his raw power, nothing will prevent him from achieving his evil purpose despite all attempts. Since TLJ is the middle film of the trilogy, the lowest point shall logically happen there. And if you want my opinion, I think that Han’s line may be a foreshadowing for what could potentially happen to Ben by the end of TLJ.

Han : Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you!

What does it means if this happens ?

That Leia who begun her life losing her mother would end her life losing her only son, who by the way share some parallels with his Grandma, not only with his Grandpa

III. Not convinced that Rey represents a “ray of hope” for the Skywalker family?

J.J. Abrams: “In this scene, [Rey] is drawn to this place like Cinderella”

So Rey is set up as a Disney Princess. A lot of people think that her heroin’s consist in finding her family and that her family are the Skywalker. Since she is the heroine, she should  be either Luke’s or Leia’s daughter, right?

If there is one single dialogue to pay attention in regard to Rey’s origins, it is the dialogue she has with Maz Kanata after she found the Skywalker lightsaber.

The whole dialogue hands on a plate her storyarc:

Maz: “Dear child! I see your eyes! You already know the truth! Whomever (her family) you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back”

Who is Rey is waiting for on Jakku? Her birth family! And they never ever coming back for Force’s sake, which mean that she will never ever see them again because they’re most probably dead. If not, why does Maz seems so sorry for her and Rey end up crying like this?

And what did J.J. said about this?

J.J. Abrams: “Rey’s parents are not in TFA!“

Maz: The belonging (family) you seek is not behind (past) you! It is ahead (future)!

 What is the belonging Rey seeks? Her family!

And here comes my point : why do people keep believing that family refers automatically to birth family and not future family ?

If Rey’s birth family is dead, how the fuck is she supposed to find the belonging she seeks?

Because the point of the most important part of her character’s journey isn’t to be reunited with her belonging behind  but to find her belonging ahead

In other words, she may not  have the opportunity to reunite with her birth family but she can still  find a future family.

Who is the main family in the SW franchise?

Some people have problem with the heroin not being a Skywalker:  Who told us that the heroine should be a Skywalker by birth ? In real life, your family is where you come from (birth family) but also where you go (future family). And indeed, you become part of your stepfamily by finding a belonging in your partner.So if the Skywalkers aren’t Rey’s birth family, they can still become her step family.

Maz: “Whomever  you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back but there is someone who still could. The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead”

So if I follow the reasoning that whomever is referring to  Rey’s birth family, then the someone Maz is referring isn’t part of her birth family. And that someone is the belonging she that will allow her to find a family but not the way she expected

Make what you want from this dear Antis but I doubt that such a young  girl like Rey would find in Luke the belonging that will allow her to become part of the  Skywalker family.

Maz: “Dear child [...]I am no Jedi but I know the Force! It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes! Feel it! The light! It’s always been there! It will guide you! The saber, take it! 

This piece of dialogue reminds of this dialogue in a Disney fairytale:

Pocahontas: But Grandmother Willow, what is my path ? How am I gonna find it?

Grandmother Willow: All around you are spirits, child! They live in the earth, in the water, in the stones! If you listen, they will guide you! [...]

Later...

Pocahontas: “[The wind] says something is coming! Strange clouds?

Grandmother Willow: What do you see?

Pocahontas: Clouds! Strange clouds...

You will tell me. Rey is a Skywalker since the Skywalker lightsaber calls to her in Maz’s castle and in the forest

Allright! Then I am coming with this answer!

Maz: “That lightsaber was Luke’s..and his father before him! “

And once again, here an interesting parallel with the Disney fairytale Pocahontas:

Pocahontas: “I have been having a dream [...] I am running into the woods! In front of me there is a arrow! It starts to spin! It spin faster, faster and faster until it stops

Grandmother Willow: “Seems to me that this spinning arrow is pointing down to your path! “

Later...

Pocahontas: “Spinning arrow...

Grandmother Willow: “It is the arrow from your dream!”

Pocahontas: “I was right! It was pointing to him! “

Friendly reminder that the compass belongs to John Smith. You will tell me: but in Pocahontas 2, Pocahontas fall in love with another man!

It dooesn’t matter.  J.J. also refers to Rey as Cinderella and  the same scheme applies very well.

Cinderella running away from the castle without her shoe vs. Rey running away from the castle without the Skywalker lightsaber

One last thing from the canon serie Clone Wars:

Anakin to Padme: “To me, there is nothing more important than the way I feel about you [...] You don’t believe me? I’ll prove it [...]  When I finished constructing my lightsaber, Obi-Wan said to me “Anakin! This weapon is your life!”This weapon is my life! [...] It is yours! Believe me now?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX7T1BAV7M

IV. Still a doubt about the identity of the Prince?

J.J. Abrams about the unmasking :

“You see Adam Driver and he looks like a Prince”

J.J. Abrams about Kylo and Rey’s meeting:

“ And this moment where she is about to, for the first time, be confronted by Kylo Ren, a character who she’s going to have a very interesting relationship with moving forward. […] 

Both J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson refer to Kylo and Rey as “two disparate pieces coming together” and “two halves of the Dark and the Light”.

Rey: “I need someone to show me my place in all of this”

Kylo: I can show you the ways of the Force!

J. J Abrams: “So there was a very powerful idea that what she desperately wanted was belonging (=family) , which she’ll get, but just not how she expects.”

Make what you want from this but I have never seen a Disney fairytale in which the Prince and the Princess are siblings or cousins for Force’s sake! Once you understand that Snoke has the role of the villain, Kylo of the “Princess” and Rey of the “Prince”, things become clearer.

So to all of us - especially the Anti who "hate Reylo" - I hope LF/Disney will teach us the lesson with the ST that love of all kinds not hate  are the answer. And obviously, this lesson  is needed given how the war and hate between the different Star Wars ships has been going for two years. Ship whatever you want and respect the others

[kevindrakewriter]

Chibi-masshuu’s Questionnaire 2017

Where do you currently live?

Sayre, PA. Yeah I know. It’s nowhere.

Where would you prefer to live if given the option, and why? 

Someplace where I could be around museums, creatives, gay people, and other people of color. This place is crushing my soul if it hasn’t already.

Shoe size? 

10 1/2

Can you fall asleep on your back? 

Yes, but I wake myself up snoring or choking.

Is there a movie/book/show/game you’re looking forward to? What about it has you most excited? 

The Last Jedi, because Star Wars. But Anthem looks great too, but that’s not happening for a year (and probably 6 months after that). If Anthem lives up to the hype this game looks like great fun and a great co-op gaming experience. But video games and their hype have been disappointing people lately, and this is another BioWare game so let’s hope for not another Andromeda. Oh and finishing Twin Peaks The Return, I’m on episode 8 and I look forward to a new season of Legion.

Wine or hard liquor? What is one of your preferred drinks?

Hard Cider. Down East is to die for as far as hard cider is concern. Liquor, straight up Whiskey; a nice shot of Jameson will burn the sin out of you. Moscow Mules for a nice outdoor patio summer gathering.

What was the last song you listened to? 

What’s the Frequency Kenneth by R.E.M. I’ve been listening to all of R.E.M. albums for the past couple of days. I’m old.

Do you have any thoughts on ‪Nick Jonas‬? 

Who?

Oh the gay bait guy. Whatever. A body to oggle if you like that kind of thing, I guess. Not my kind of guy though.

Water or Silicone based? 

Lifeforms? Seriously my first thought was that Star Trek episode where they come across the silicon life form in the mining colony that leave people as piles of chemicals. I am just now realizing what you actually meant by asking this. I haven’t has sex in almost 10 years, but I think I use to use water based lube.

The most illicit controlled substance you’ve partaken in? 

I think I has a joint that was laced with X or MNDA. It probably was X because I remember being very horny and thirsty. Like literal thirst but sexually thirsty too.

If you could get your friends/family to watch one specific gay movie, which one would it be? 

Gang Bang Cowboys 17. No wait! Like an actual movie.

I have done this back in the 90s when I came out. I had my mom watch Beautiful Thing and then gave her Double Happiness chaser (which isn’t gay but does have Sandra Oh being ostracized by her family for her love life.) Beautiful Thing, though British, was a movie I thought my mom could relate to because, though I had a father he was largely absent from my life because he was always working, and thus mom was my main parental figure and Beautiful Thing has a similar family dynamic.

Do you listen to Podcasts? If so do you listen to them while you’re doing something else? 

I use to before the Podcast market got flooded and everyone followed the same formula. But there were at one point 11 to 15 podcasts I subscribed too. Now if I’m baking or cooking something I’ll pop on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and listen to just that. Sometimes I won’t even finish and I’ll skip the repeats and clip shows.

What do you do on a Sunday? 

Nothing, if I’m not working. Tumblr or Video gaming most likely. I should really be more constructive.

Birth sign, and zodiac? What do you like most about both, what do you like least. If you could pick which would you prefer? 

Since this was meant to be Chinese Zodiac and Western Astrology - Libra Dragon.

I don’t know; when I read the descriptions I like that both seem to indicate I’m artsy and intelligent and sexy. Who wouldn’t want to be that! But then I guess I have anger issues, so I guess that’s true though I don’t like it. Really they seem the same. But I like Dragon because who doesn’t want to be a muthafucking Dragon!

In front of my salad? 

Like my toppings? Oh you mean that meme.

I mean why are you eating salad in front of me and a guy having sex. It’s my apartment, go outside. The salad is dry anyway. Get some dressing. Take your dry ass salad outside and go to the store and get yourself a nice vinaigrette to go with your jealous tears.

Last book or comic you enjoyed?

I really enjoyed Fraction and Aja’s Hawkeye. But I haven’t read anything book or comic in a over a year. That’s how powerful my mental unhealth has been.

A kink or fetish you have, can you explain how it became one for you? 

Son, just having someone think I’m attractive and make me blush is all I need. I don’t need my sex complicated. I’m beginning to think I don’t need sex at all.

Supply the link to either an image or video you think will bring a chuckle to those following you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5UqgizM268&list=FL7t2SURMQ6L7LSvXMBZp4TQ&index=2

oldie but a goodie.

Ok bye!

[chosesun]

the mission was meant to be simple. there'd been rumors of imperial scum running amuck and it had been Luke and Han's job to investigate the claims, to see if there was any truth to it. of course, as of yet, Luke has yet to believe that this is the case- he's seen suspicious folks and people that would definitely try to do them harm if they knew what they were up to, but imperial ? he's not so sure about that one. he hasn't seen any evidence to back it up just yet, but he hasn't seen any evidence to the contrary either, so it's hard to say whether this was worth while or not. they might just get one day to relax without someone aiming a blaster in their faces- as long as they don't do anything to otherwise upset anyone here, that is. and with Luke's attention solely on Han, it's obvious he's trying to play it cool by pretending like he doesn't know he's being watched. of course, those watching him could just be sizing him up - nothing more than backwater scum trying to start a fight. Luke hopes that's the case, though he'd rather not get into a fight at all. no, he'd much rather watch the confusion flit across Han's face as he stares him down.

amusement twists at his mouth as he stares back, waiting for Han to speak. while Luke didn't find this mission to be all fun and games, he clearly enjoys the time spent with his friend. he's quite pleased that he agreed to go on this mission with him in the first place, albeit ( probably ) reluctantly. when Luke was initially given the mission by Leia, he'd suggested Han come along because he believes they're able to construct a semblance of friendship that wouldn't get overlooked by any passerby. they could play the card of just two friends going out for a drink after a long day doing whatever it is normal people do- probably work or something.

needless to say, Luke was correct in his assumption, because as of yet, they haven't been targeted by anyone who might recognize him as the kid that blew up the death star. they've gone mostly unnoticed, outside of the steely gaze of the suspects sitting to their left, though from what Luke can deduce, they're most likely not imperial. it gives Luke a chance to exhale slowly, a smile on his face as he gazes intently at Han, resuming his task of drinking the alcoholic beverage he'd ordered; takes too big of a drink and ends up coughing, his chill mask slipping as he tries to remember how to breathe.

he places the glass back down and that's when Han decided to finally speak, leaning over to inspect his drink as if he were concerned over its contents.

"i'dunno," he admits at the question, clearing his throat, glad his voice doesn't squeak when he speaks. "i asked them to just make me something. i didn't know what to order." given he doesn't drink alcohol very often, it's not surprising he doesn't know what he's doing- wet behind the ears indeed.

then Han lifts his head up and suddenly he's so close that Luke can feel his breath on his face. it's alarming in a way that causes a flush to ascend across his face, though with Han's accusation, he could probably blame it on the alcohol as he stares back at him. "i'm just teasin' ya, Han. no, i'm not drunk. i have a surprisingly high tolerance, you'd be surprised." his smile becomes weary as he slowly leans back away, the awkward moment hanging in the air as no one jumps to acknowledge it. "what do you usually order when you go out ? i usually don't drink, but i figured i'd play the part." if that had given Han whiplash, his sudden genuinity isn't going to help much.

              𝙰𝚂  𝙻𝚄𝙺𝙴  𝙰𝙳𝙹𝚄𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙳  𝙷𝙸𝙼𝚂𝙴𝙻𝙵  𝙸𝙽  𝚃𝙷𝙴  𝙱𝙾𝙾𝚃𝙷 ,   presumably angling his body to both gain a better vantage point and offer his undivided attention, solo couldn’t shake the suspicion that this was more than just an innocent maneuver and maybe the kid harbored some twisted personal vendetta that was only now coming to a head.

 no fun?   han curbed the impulse to scowl, the echo of luke’s disappointment still ping-ponging around in his head like a childish taunt questioning why the hell he had ever agreed to this mission when there were a million and one better things he could be doing right about now.  he could be tackling the endless list of neglected repairs on the ’falcon, or finally installing those much-needed, long-overdue upgrades.  hell, he could think of a dozen more productive ways to have spent the past two years instead of getting tangled up with the rebel alliance—like negotiating with jabba to settle his debt once and for all, and finally live life without the constant threat of having his head blown off!

since when did an undercover mission become a time for fun ’n games, anyway?!

it was only after luke lowered his drink, mischief twinkling in those endless blue eyes and curling at the corners of his generous mouth, that han realized the kid’s attitude had taken yet another sharp turn, and the abruptness of the shift nearly sent the smuggler tumbling out of the booth.  he caught himself though, his instincts kicking in like an automatic defense mechanism, and quickly masked his revelation with a wry grin as his gaze skittered off to the side in mild disbelief.

all right.  so, the kid wasn’t as hopeless as he’d initially pegged him.  sure, luke was still green in ways that’d get you blasted in less forgiving corners of the galaxy—naïve to the sort of nuances that could end with a smoking hole in your chest, but this steadfast commitment to acting like nothing was wrong, despite a multitude of signs pointing to the contrary, was the kind of brazen denial han could respect.  it was a classic move, one he’d perfected himself over the years.  at least, that’s what han damned well hoped was the case—because the alternative probably couldn’t get much worse.

under the saturated, almost comically intimate glow of the overhead lights, han threw a quick, surreptitious glance at the barkeep, then at the persistent suspects still skulking around in the back, before leaning in to inspect luke’s drink.               ❝what’d you order this time?❞ han asked while examining the glass as though he could determine the entirety of its contents by sight alone.  hazel eyes narrowed into a squint before he peered up—and suddenly their faces were so close their noses almost touched.  too close — close enough that jerking away would’ve been both a bad look and a concession of something han wasn’t about to admit.

               ❝you sure you ain’t already drunk?  ’cause you’re giving me whiplash here, kid.❞

[mercy-thompson-fanfiction]

Fanfic ask meme question Q

I have a ton of unfinished or scrapped material for one reason or another. Some were characters I decided against, some were storylines that didn’t make sense. I have a version of Porsche running away from before Porsche existed. In that story, the long run was her ending up with Samuel’s son. ******heres some stuff for your perusal********

Hormones were a very unfortunate thing.

Hormones were what left the tiny, redhead girl even more uncomfortable in an upsetting situation. She had been helping a customer at a small tech shop she had recently been hired by when she was snapped at.

Most customers entered cautiously. It was common knowledge the shop hired wolves, though they weren’t required to give out the information of who was what. They had partnerships with all the major companies: Samsung, Sony, Asus, Dell, and Apple to name a few. That meant they got a variety of customers with a wide scope of problems.

The redhead had been on desk duty, and was thoroughly enjoying being more customer-facing, when a woman approached her.

“Hey, hun, how can I help you?” She smiled warmly.

“First of all, I am forty years old so don’t call me ‘hun.’” New York was vicious, but Victoria still winced. She was born in the south, though she was between upstate New York and Maine. Her colloquialisms tended to be gentle, though she’d long lost any southern twang.

“What’s your name?” She changed her tactic severely. This woman wouldn’t play nice. Victoria’s voice was flat now, void. The woman looked taken aback. She knew she was probably around the same age as the woman, she hadn’t been Changed that long ago by most standards, but a plus to being a werewolf was graceful aging.

“Linda.” The other woman replied, quickly gathering herself.

“Ok, doll, why don’t you go take a seat over at that table.” The redhead woman found herself pointing to the furthest table with the most monotonous voice. She didn’t want to have to deal with this, not today. She wished she had been put on data recovery.

But there was a man beside her, a wolf beside her in fact, and she knew it. He had been casually watching her while working with someone else. He was young, but there was no telling how old he was, and unassuming. He was dressed in casual, traditional, boyfriend cut jeans paired with a fitted black v-neck. The shirt was long sleeves, but they were rolled up just below his elbows and boots adorned his feet. His eyes, watching her unnervingly, were a dead giveaway that she had no idea who he was or when he was from. They shone out from behind thick-framed glasses that he evidently didn’t need and messy blonde hair.

He didn’t feel like power, but she didn’t argue when he called her outside. She didn’t know how he handled her employers, but he spoke to them like he was using some sort of Jedi mind trick. They didn’t question her need to converse with the man.

“Victoria McLaughlin?” His tone held a question, but he already knew his answer. “I normally send my son to do this sort of thing, but since your complaint has warranted some work before he gets here, I’ve decided to take a look into matters if only temporarily.”

Leaving the pack unattended was nothing Bran had ever meant to do. He promised himself he would return before Charles even left Aspen Creek, so that there wasn’t a moment unmonitored.

This New York City issue had been brought to his direct attention, however, and he hoped that blood was not a necessary response to the diplomacy he thought could intervene here.

Too many people, too many wolves, too many wolves per pack, but too many packs.

“You’re the Marrok?” As soon as she said it, she clapped her hands over her mouth. Stupid.

He gave her a sideways grin for a moment that could have fooled her, but he was immediately back to business. “Is there any place we can talk?”

She took him back inside to a closet customers shouldn’t be in, but she knew she wouldn’t get in trouble.

Victoria was made painfully aware, in the tight space, that Bran Cornick was in no way unattractive. It made it difficult, especially knowing he had a mate, when she was trying to keep herself from blushing when he even glanced her way.

He kept the smirk off his face, but she knew he was amused.

“About business.” He added, to add insult to injury. She was already humiliated, he knew it. It was a continuation of his previous statement, before she took him to the cable closet.

_____________________

“Survival is the goal of the state, not power.” Porsche mumbled under her breath in the rear of the room. Ben glanced sideways at her with an eyebrow raised. They’d situated themselves in the shadows of a meeting that the young woman had manipulated them into.

She wasn’t quiet enough, her father had certainly heard her, but he was also keeping an ear out for anything she might let slip. This was a meeting amongst some of the highest ranking alphas in the country, and it was in regards to a new issue arising in the south where several packs were trying to separate out from the Marrok’s hold.
Porsche certainly should not have been sitting in, but she was also her mother’s daughter and was not about to step outside of the meeting.

“Yes, Miss Hauptman?” She recognized an alpha from Chicago, but she’d always been poor with names. His voice wasn’t intentionally condescending, she didn’t think, but she couldn’t help but take it that way.

“Power plays like this are just meant to scare us into submission so that they don’t have to fear for their survival.” She shrugged. “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. I’d say someone is in trouble.”

Ben’s hand gripped her wrist, there wasn’t much he could do here. He may have risen within his own pack, but he was only in the room because Porsche had taken her with him and stubbornly argued her way in.

“You going to just stop there?” Charles wasn’t often obviously amused, and now was no exception. There was still something there.

“I think someone is scared. I don’t know why, or who’s made them feel scared, but I suspect this is just a ‘grab for power’ in that they’re trying to defend themselves and seem scarier to someone else. A third party. Maybe there are some dealings we don’t know about.”

Her father hid a smile behind his hand, but it was still there in his eyes. She had inherited her mother’s mind and interest in history, at one point considering a career as a lawyer (something her grandmother was rooting for out of spite).

***

“You’re going to give me a heart attack.” Ben snipped as he drove. Porsche rolled her eyes.
“You, my father, and Charles were all there. As if you were going to let me get hurt?” She scoffed, drumming her fingers on the window.

“I’m letting you fend for yourself in that one.” He shook his head, pulling onto her street. “If you piss off some of the highest ranking wolves in the country, I’m not helping you. You always say I need to stop defending you because you ‘can do it [yourself].’” His voice was mocking and there was a playful shimmer in his eyes.

“Because I can.” She agreed. “Doesn’t mean none of y'all are going to jump in anyways.”

________________

Anyone who had spoken to the Marrok recently wouldn’t even know it, but he had been under a lot of pressure. An underground problem had gotten some attention recently when a woman had been Changed near to his own pack’s hunting grounds.

She had been Changed against her will and she had been left alone.

“Da,” Charles, his son, had already been at the seen of the carnage. Nothing too serious because, this time, it was only deer. Next time, they would hope to be so lucky. “She’s changed back. She doesn’t know what’s happened to her, but she’s handling this all very calmly.” His voice dropped lower, “Anna is with her.”

If he knew anything about his son, he knew that he was not the man to leave his mate unattended with a strange wolf if he thought she was too dangerous. Bran nodded stiffly.

“Are you ok?” Charles asked quietly. His son had been careful to keep Anna near him recently. A series of unfortunate events had ended in the Marrok’s former mate committing suicide.

The Beast was old, he was fortunate he bent to Anna so well.

There were unspoken words. Bran knew Charles suspected him of having Changed the woman, leaving her alone so that he didn’t have to come to terms with it. Bran, on the other hand, had surprisingly few memory holes.

There were a few that gave him a suspicion that it may have been him, but he also didn’t trust himself to have not eaten her.

_________________

“What are you doing here?” She hadn’t quite snuck up behind the man in front of her now. He had known she was coming. She had spotted him from across the street and it had taken everything in her not to completely run away.

“They don’t know I’m here.” The blonde man turned around to face her, amused that she had chosen to approach him after all. He had been tailing her for days, it was a wonder she hadn’t seen him. “They think I’m in Paris, visiting an old friend.”

"What, not visiting home?” She snorted.

“They’d catch that lie, I’m not allowed.” He smirked, raising an eyebrow. “What are you doing here, sweetcheeks?”

“I–How did you find me?” She demanded, eyes flashing.

“You told me where you were going, Tala.” The man laughed, pulling her to the side of the walk when people gave them angry glances. They had stopped in the middle of the street, they were speaking the wrong language, and now they looked like tourists. “‘Somewhere even the Marrok couldn’t get you back from.’”

It wasn’t entirely true, and they both knew that. If the Marrok wanted something, he could get it. He had already called in favours though, over Artemis’ mother years before. The Marrok’s connection in Prague was shrouded in mystery and wasn’t so much a friendship as a “we need to play nice” circumstance.

“You aren’t supposed to be here–”

“They’re still trying to catch up and see what name you’ve disappeared under. You did well for yourself, who got you your papers?” He was her father’s wolf and she didn’t trust him, especially since he had followed her across the world. “You left the US under Branson–not very clever, and you are hardly the Marrok’s son–and arrived here and took my name.”

“I didn’t think you’d even find Branson.” She muttered under her breath, pulling him by the arm through the side streets until they came upon a small building. He knew what this was, he had seen her hurrying in and out of it several times a day. This was the building she was living in. “I usually use the patronymic, I don’t so much but travel with your name.”

“I’m surprised you used any part of your real name, much riskier.” He flashed her a grin. “Pleasure to meet you, Vasilisa Adamovna Shaw.”

“I couldn’t very well use Smith.” She growled. She said something hurriedly in a language Ben didn’t recognize to the woman at the desk and all but dragged him upstairs. “I didn’t know what to use. I’d have kept Branson except that I didn’t want to be a prize to be won. They only ask for my patronymic anyways.”

“You were practically begging for me to find you.” He rolled his eyes and ducked into the room she guided him to. She again said something to someone, in a language he still didn’t know, but he couldn’t recognize anyone outside her door. There was no scent, no sound, no… “You talk to ghosts?”

Tala froze and turned around.

“I try to avoid it, but she lives here.” She mumbled, stepping through the door and closing it quickly behind her. It opened to a small, one-room apartment. The only doors other than the front door led to the small corner-closet and the arguably smaller bathroom. There was no kitchen. Tala tucked her hair behind her hair only to heave a frustrated sigh and pull it into a ponytail. Ben snorted at her and strolled around the small room.

“The kitchen is pretty much communal.” She explained, her voice starting to soften from its initially hostile tone. “It’s a small place, wasn’t meant to have rooms rented though they’ve turned it into a sort of bed and breakfast. The woman downstairs is someone’s mate. They let me live here because I didn’t want to live above the bakery.”

“Remind you too much of your mom’s kitchen?” He turned to her. “Homesick?”

“Any homesickness has gone.” She was silent for a moment. “It’s been three months.”

“I hear the Marrok called.” He sat down on her bed, there wasn’t a couch in the room. “Is it true?”

“I don’t know.” She admitted quietly. “He hasn’t come here, if he knows.”

“But you didn’t know I was coming either.” Ben pointed out. “I’ve been here for three days.” He gauged her reaction, watched her eyes flash. It made him smirk, she hadn’t known. “How do you do it? Your father has his own security company. Your grandfather even, at least he rules North America in secret. You really downgraded to an alpha who bakes?”

“He doesn’t try to control my every decision.” She spat. He held up both arms, still grinning from ear to ear.

“Daddy issues?”

"Shut the fuck up.” Tala Hauptman didn’t curse when she was home. She would’ve been in trouble. Ben wasn’t sure how to react.

So he started laughing.

She muttered something under her breath and turned to open the window. It was pure luck that found her with a pack mate who had an extra master bedroom, but she was absolutely thankful for it.

“He knows.” She finally admitted, turning back to him. “My grandfather knows. I was there when he called. Charles hasn’t found my paper trail quite like you did. I think grandpa just knew like he always seems to.” She was fidgeting with a bracelet the man hadn’t noticed at first. “He asked if Tala had come to visit. Libor said that no one who calls herself Tala had made any contact with his pack in the past three months. My granddad is anything but stupid.”

Ben nodded thoughtfully before stretching backwards. His face wasn’t his if he wasn’t wearing a smirk, and there it was. He nodded to her.

“Who gave you that?” Her face flushed pink as her hand flew to her neck. “If your father or grandfather finds you, they’ll absolutely murder you.” It was true, but he was laughing at her, teasing. His eyes hadn’t stopped twinkling since he’d first started to get under her skin.

“Just some dude, it’s nothing.” She wasn’t lying. She had let herself indulge in pretend normalcy for a night with some new friends she had made within the pack. Werewolves couldn’t get drunk very easily, but she had enjoyed herself at least a little. “I didn’t run away. I’m legally an adult.” He shrugged, wouldn’t disagree with her. She had only just turned nineteen and had run away before that birthday, but she was legally an adult.

Her subject change wasn’t fruitful, though. It brought up more tension.

“You’re not going to school?” Ben asked casually. She frowned at him. “You are? Who’s paying?”

“Me.” Her hands were on her hips. He had been tailing her for days, he knew she was working. The Prague alpha wasn’t going to let her struggle to support herself. He had employed her himself, something he did for many of his wolves.

It was also the reason she smelled like sugar and butter.

“I’m not going to drop out of school.” Her stubborn facade dropped for a moment. “The language is the hardest part. I don’t know much of anything and while what little I know in Russian is convenient, I don’t think people appreciate it.”

“Well, Churchill screwed them back before Yalta, so I’m not surprised.” He agreed. “I didn’t know you spoke any Russian and you seem to be doing fine.”

“Elizaveta,” She wasn’t sure what to say about her father’s pack’s late witch. “She insisted I learn when I was younger. I never got very good at it. I can’t hold a whole conversation. Three months here, though. I’m learning Czech. So long as I’m in the city, I can usually get by in English. Old people speak German or Russian…a lot of the wolves are older.”

The room fell silent again for a little while. There was some chatter outside as teenagers who had taken their time getting home from their Friday evening adventures walked down the block. The girl who went by Vasilisa pulled her hair out of her ponytail absentmindedly. She had wandered closer to the window again and was watching the street below as she pulled her hair into a loose braid.

It only took her a few minutes and then she nervously pulled it apart again.

“You were asking me to follow you.” He finally said. Her eyebrows knit together, but she didn’t turn to face him. “You don’t run from wolves.”

“I didn’t ask for anything.” She disagreed and he snorted.

“You used my name—”

“It was familiar—” She cut him off in protest. This wasn’t the conversation she wanted to have.

“It’s mine.” It came out as a growl and surprised even him. She didn’t want to spin around. She didn’t want to see his face or catch his wolf lurking behind his eyes.

“You’re just like the rest of them.” She mumbled, shaking her head. “I needed a name to live under. I’m not that creative, you already identified that. I took something I knew.” There was a pause and she took a deep breath. “No one is going to look for me under that name, Ben.”

He couldn’t disagree with her, because she wasn’t wrong. No one would make the assumption that she would live under his name. There was no reason to suspect she’d steal it for herself when she left.

“Did you eat?” He asked suddenly. That was when she turned around, confused. She cocked her head to the side and he shrugged. He had sat up, probably in his frustration with her. Now, he was slowly leaning himself back down against her pillows with his arms crossed behind his head. “Dinner, did you eat?”

“I grabbed something before I came home.” She took his appearance in. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I got something while you worked.” He admitted. She patiently waited with crossed arms, operating under the assumption that he would leave now there was nothing to do. He had completed his mission. He found her, he could live with his smug face knowing that he had discovered her hiding place before even the Marrok. He raised his eyebrows at her.

“I’m sorry, are you staying the night?”

“Well, since you’ve extended an invite…” He grinned at her. She frowned and crossed to the door to call downstairs. He realized he was going to have to get used to her speaking something other than English to people. He assumed she was telling them that he was staying, so that the owners of the home weren’t startled by the man being there in the morning.

He was just happy to know she was safe. They had been searching for her for the entirety of three months. For one of those, he knew where she was but had to come up with an excuse to travel. Now, as he waved her off when she asked if he wanted something to change into, he could be content. He had helped to babysit her as she grew up.

The way she curled up against him when she fell asleep harkened back to those days.

The pack was lucky that their alpha hadn’t torn the house to bits. His second daughter, his youngest, had gone missing. Only proving to make the situation worse, there was no evidence that she had been taken. In fact, all clues pointed to her leaving on her own accord.

“I’m calling in favours.” Ben promised him, pulling up items on his computer that he shouldn’t have access to. “She’s been planning this for a long time, though.”

“Her accounts are empty.” Mercy, Tala’s mother, had opened the bank statements that had been mailed to the house. “All I can see is that they’ve been empty for a month.”

“Six months,” Adam corrected, pacing. Stress and anger rolled off him in heated waves. Ben had already pulled up the girl’s banking statements online. She had stupidly left her phone with the password saved in it. “The last purchase on her debit card was a cellphone.”

He had crushed the old phone in his hand, causing small shards of glass to break skin. The cuts were superficial, quick to heal. She had left it so they couldn’t track her.

“She emptied both her accounts on her own.” Ben admitted. “All cash, several transactions. I can’t trace where she put it because of the cash bit. There are no other accounts anywhere in her name.”

Mercy was watching over his shoulder. She didn’t care to ask how he had gotten into systems he shouldn’t be able to look at. She didn’t want to know, then she’d have to tell someone. The rest of the pack was out looking, but if she had disappeared over night she had a decent head start.

“She cashed bonds.” Adam growled. Mercy reached her hand back to place it soothingly on his chest. “I don’t even understand how, but she’s been planning this for at least half a year, Mercy.”

Bran’s first question had been whether or not she had eloped. All of them knowing Tala, it wouldn’t have been a horrible surprise—except that she had never had a boyfriend. She was the type to stubbornly run off and marry someone her father maybe didn’t approve of. It didn’t seem to be the case.

“I want to know who she’s been talking to.” Mercy winced as she heard skin pass through the drywall.

“It wasn’t on her phone, you’d have seen it. It wasn’t on your home phone either.” Ben turned around. “Boss, I can’t find her. It’s going to take way more, and I don’t have any other connections. Charles will need to look into it.”
 They all knew that the Marrok’s own youngest was already on the job. They also knew it would take time. The stifling fear was that time might be something they didn’t have. The girl they were searching for was young—she was eighteen—she was a werewolf, and she was the granddaughter of Coyote.

Trouble was essentially her middle name.

“Is there anything she said last night?” The girl’s father was frantically searching his memory for anything that could help them find her. There was nothing he could possibly think of that told him where she was going.

They had argued the night before, he and his daughter. She had gotten upset when he asked he where she had gone after school. She felt she was old enough to walk home without being questioned like a prisoner.

He didn’t disagree, not deep down, but the world was dangerous. He wouldn’t ever let himself forget that. When her older sister had walked home alone one day, she had been ganged up on by some local boys.

It was only one instance of many he’d had to handle, between his daughters and his wife. He had only gotten more obscenely overprotective as the years had gone by. His stomach sank to think he might’ve been the one to make her want to leave. He hadn’t taken the Marrok’s words to heart, that she had too much of her mother in her. She was going to run if you tried to hold her down.

She had run and now he didn’t know how to bring her back.

Mercy did, he supposed. If they could find Tala safe and sound, her mother would no doubt be the one able to bring her home. It wouldn’t be a matter of if though. It was a matter of when and when couldn’t possibly come soon enough. Not, at least, soon enough to soothe his growing anxiety. As soon as Ben had told him that she had been planning this for at least a few months, he knew they were going to have some difficulty.

“She didn’t say anything.” Mercy’s voice dulled the sense of panic, but didn’t cancel it out altogether. It was still humming in his mind, just less crazily. His wolf was just as unsettled as he was.

“She broke all ties to the pack,” And that was it, his voice broke. He couldn’t pretend to be angry anymore. It was straight panic. “Mercy, we can’t find her ourselves.”

She took his hands in hers and squeezed.

“Adam, she’ll stir up enough trouble that we’ll find her.”

The phone rang, but his wife beat him to it. Phone calls weren’t private in a house of werewolves, the Marrok knew it. He greeted the alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack and his mate calmly and Adam told him Ben was in the room, too.

“Charles found her name on a ticket to Los Angeles. We’ve attempted to get into contact with the alpha there already, but he hasn’t heard anything about her or seen her. He’s been made aware now.” There was something he wasn’t saying, Mercy felt, but for once she didn’t push. She would trust Bran on this one. She knew he genuinely cared about her daughter almost as much as she and Adam did.

If he wasn’t saying something, there was a reason for it. She would have to trust him.

“We have all the Southern California Packs on watch for her. Charles is flying out to help there.” There was a pause on his line, but not even Mercy could hear what possibly caused it. “We’ll get her home, Mercy.” That was all, he hung up and the call ended.

Without further prodding, Ben was already looking at outgoing flights from LAX. If the local alphas hadn’t noted a female wolf running around, she wasn’t there. She must have connected.

“Tell me if you find anything about her anywhere.” Adam was defeated. He was going upstairs and he was going to make phone calls himself. His daughter wasn’t stupid, that meant maybe she hadn’t flown at all. They had already contacted Emerald City, he’d go ahead and start contacting others.

Ben watched him go and glanced at Mercy. She was obviously worried, had her fingers fidgeting nervously. They knew they would find her, but they weren’t sure where to look anymore.

Bran Cornick hung up the phone. He had just received word that his granddaughter was missing. Worse, that she had likely taken off on her own. He had painstakingly kept his voice level and calm when he was made aware.

He didn’t want Adam Hauptman to know that, as much as he trusted him and genuinely liked him, the Marrok was going to blame him for this one.

Tala Vasilisa Hauptman was like her mother in that she addressed her problems. She was headstrong, she was sarcastic, she was witty, and she knew when to be serious and when she could light heartedly torture someone until they let her have her own way. She had her father’s temper though, with a level breaking point.

And she wasn’t easy to trap.

He had known about their father-daughter arguments for years. He agreed, it was something all children did growing up (in his opinion, especially girls and especially one related to Mercy). The Marrok had still suggested she live in Montana for a little, just until they could level her out. It had done Mercy good in the end. His youngest son was already on his way, he knew that. There was no time for cellphones when something like this happened. He had to be sure she had left on her own accord. Bags packed or not, she could have been forced.

Where would you run, little wolf? It was a stray thought and he wasn’t sure it was purposed for her, even when he thought it. He knew where she would run because she knew it was the furthest place she could get from her father’s reach.

Because even Bran wasn’t sure he could reach her there.

He glanced at the clock. She had seemingly disappeared overnight, but they all suspected she had left before nightfall. She had stormed out of her home after a heated argument with a bag slung over her shoulder to spend the night at a friends.

Bran wondered if that was exactly how she had phrased it.

She was a little stealthier than her parents in that she more often made omissions with what she was doing. He would chalk it up to her being a teenager living with werewolves, but that wasn’t it. Mercy had grown up surrounded by them and…

Maybe as a young teenager, it made a little sense.

Her mother had definitely grown out of it by this age, though.

He figured she went to a friend’s, Adam was hunting them down no doubt. Her friend gave her a ride to…

“Check flights out.” He turned just as his son entered the home. “To anywhere. See if we can find her.”

If she’d gone where he thought she did, they’d need proof.

In all, in took nearly three months. Bran had gotten tired of waiting for sufficient proof that his granddaughter had chosen to travel abroad. His wolves couldn’t find her, that was proof enough to him that she wasn’t active in North America any longer. Her birthday had come and gone and no one had heard from her.

They hadn’t found any flights out of LAX under her name, which meant she had changed it. That meant she had help, forging passports wasn’t easy unless you had connections to the government. Any connections on the US side had been exhausted, they would have found her by now. To the Marrok, it was reason enough to make the phone call he was trying to politely avoid.

“Libor.” He had to focus very hard on his control, something he didn’t need to be so conscious about in a long time.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” He could picture a smirk on the other man’s face, but tried to shake the image out of his head.

“Did your pack take in a new wolf?”

“We’ve had a couple in the past few months.” The Czech man asked smartly. Bran was careful not to show his hand. “What is their name?”

“Tala Vasilisa Hauptman.” The Marrok answered. “Or Thompson-Hauptman.” He thought that he might try to cover his bases.

There was a sound on the other end that, for a moment, made Bran’s heart stop. It might have been his granddaughter, but it wasn’t pronounced enough. He couldn’t decipher exactly who it was or if she has said something. He would have sworn by it, except that he had to be enough of a politician.

He couldn’t accuse the other alpha of lying when he said that no one that called themselves Tala Vasilisa Hauptman had joined his pack recently. Bran had to take the man’s words as if they were honest, because he wouldn’t lie about it.

Libor knew that the Marrok had taken his son to the US though.

He decided, then, that he could spare a week to check it out if he could get permission to land. This was the reason his granddaughter, no doubt, had chosen her destination particularly for who what there. He had Libor had their problems, would always have their differences. He had trusted the other man’s good faith before when Mercy had escaped the Master of Milan. Bran wasn’t so sure he could convince the alpha of Prague to give back his granddaughter.

He wasn’t sure he could even convince the other man to allow him to visit.

There were few other people he could send, however. When it was Mercy, he could have sent Adam alone. He didn’t, not when he could get away with going with the younger man, but it would have worked. Tala didn’t have a mate and, according to her parents, hadn’t taken an interest in anyone anyways—man or wolf.

He could send one of her childhood babysitters. He knew Adam and Mercy had often entrusted her to a certain Warren Smith or Benjamin Shaw. Both men had taken to her kindly, protected her from everything including wandering eyes.

In hindsight, maybe that was why she hadn’t taken to anyone.

He wasn’t sure it was entirely true. For a little while, he had wondered if the young woman had begun to fall for Ben. He never voiced it, just watched it unfold. It was safe and childish enough, because the much older man had never shown any interest in her other than a platonic one. It was the reason Bran never worried enough to point it out.

“Your honesty is…” The most dominant wolf in North America couldn’t keep up the niceties for much longer. He had been slowly unraveling the past few months.

The pause was just long enough for the alpha on the other end to cut in. It was an action that very much tested Bran’s patience.

“If you find her and need to come, you are welcome to it.” The obvious challenge in his voice becoming if Bran could find her. He would need to prove that his granddaughter had even traveled through Prague at the very least, if she hadn’t settled there.

They hung up on polite terms before Bran picked up the phone to call Adam. The younger wolf had been much less controlled over the past quarter year. Mercy was probably the only real thing holding him together at this point, her and his eldest daughter.

Bran was grateful that he was the one to pick up the phone in this moment. He had been passing the responsibility to his wolves and his wife, probably trying to avoid getting his hopes up about any news.

“She’s changed her name.” The Marrok told him. He was scribbling a note to Charles who was already at the computer now. They had known Branson, they had found her flight to Los Angeles easily because it had stuck out to them on the first look.

“Sir,” Adam’s voice was tight, “You’re suggesting she flew out of LA with forged papers. They definitely would have caught that.”

“Not if they were professionally done.”

“You think someone lied to us?” The younger man meant to ask if one of their connections to the US government would have lied about being able to find any fake documentation. It was a difficult task to sift through passport applications and what was done in the past year when one didn’t even have a name to target. It wouldn’t have been lying if any one of their people couldn’t find it, it was a needle in a haystack.

It also wasn’t what Bran was suggesting.

“I think she had help from someone abroad.” Bran pointed at something on Charles’ screen and his son paused. Smiling like a cat that caught the canary, he focused back on the phone. “Has your British wolf gone home recently?”

“Ben’s not allowed, but he went to see an old school friend in France.” Adam slowed. “Why?”

“We’re driving to you now.” He swiftly hung up and turned back to the screen. Charles had, more that a little illegally, exhumed old flight records for someone who seemed to be a certain granddaughter of Coyote.

“She has a Czech passport.” His son’s statement was flat, unamused. “We couldn’t find her all this time.”

“I should have thought he’d help her.” Bran shook his head, but he was still smiling.

“Who goes?” Mercy’s first words as the Marrok entered her home. He gave her a look that told her he was there to talk their options over first. “You really think Libor took her?”

“The Marrok took me.” Zach said quietly. He had been at the house when Bran’s call had come through. He had chosen to stay until the Marrok made it there a little after midnight. “It wasn’t against my will, naturally, as I suspect it wasn’t against hers.”

It was the first time any of the pack in the Tri-Cities had actually heard him speak about his circumstances coming to the United States, and it brought the conversation to a short stop. Adam was the first to bring it up again.

“How are we doing this?”

“I’m going.” Bran’s voice was light, but it was final. “It was an invitation extended to me and I will take it. I have the proof I need in order to. I am here because we need to talk about what she does beyond this.”

“Beyond what?” The younger alpha was tensed again. As a former soldier, he would take orders and Bran trusted that. Still, he didn’t need to like what he was told to do.

“Assuming I can convince her to come home, assuming your wolf hasn’t already succeeded, where do we put her next?” Bran was focused on him directly. “She obviously can’t stay here.”

“What makes you think Ben knows where she is?” Mercy chose to change the topic before someone got hurt. “What makes you think he figured it out before Charles even?”

He pulled the backpack to his side and sifted through papers before coming across the print out of the passenger list from a flight out of LAX almost three months prior. One name was highlighted amongst the dozens.

“So she did elope.” It wasn’t intentional sarcasm on Mercy’s part, it was something she did because she was nervous. It was followed by a sharp, uncomfortable laugh that made Adam wince.

There was no question it that it hadn’t happened. They had all watched Tala’s little, school girl crush grow. They knew what Ben thought of her, too. You couldn’t lie to a wolf, but none of them had even approached the topic.

Noses were hard to fool and Ben’s self-control was either much better than they all would assume or the man was very much uninterested in the girl he had practically helped raise. Given the young, blonde man’s own background, most assumed the latter.

“I can’t imagine it’s not her.” Adam sighed, running his hands over his face and into his hair. It wasn’t as short as it normally was, Bran noted, maybe the stress of losing a daughter was showing itself. “She’s playing a dangerous game.”

“She knows her politics.” Mercy agreed.

“She’s also playing prey.” Adam inserted. “But I’m not interested. Every single one of us knows if Ben figured it out, he’s there and nothing will happen. I want to know why I’m expected to give up my own daughter.”

The focus had been shifted back as the Marrok had hoped it would. The implication wasn’t meant to target Adam and Mercy as terrible parents. Adam had raised a daughter before, Mercy had helped. They were perfectly fit, but it was becoming evident that growing up in her father’s pack wasn’t working for Tala the way they had expected. Bran didn’t want running away to become something normal for her.

“She can stay in Aspen Creek—“

Mercy snorted, arms crossed. Both men turned to look at her.

“You think she wants to live with either of you?” Her tone was flat and serious now. “She ran away because she doesn’t want to deal with you. If she wasn’t concerned that she would be stuck with one or the other if she was found, she wouldn’t have travelled so far.”

It was something Bran had genuinely not thought about. That much, at least, was evident. He had been surprised, caught off guard by Mercy’s comment. Adam was, too, but he was more hurt by it than anything.

“Adam, she’s hurting. You put a lot more pressure on her than you did Jesse, all of us know that.” She edited lightly. “She’s still a werewolf, she can’t keep holding and holding and holding, she’s going to explode. It’s dangerous.”

“We know what alphas have safe packs for her to live in.” It wasn’t an offer from the Marrok, it was a statement that this was going to happen.

“Does she get to factor in a choice?” Mercy pressed.

“She can choose off the list.” Both Bran and Adam would much rather the girl choose to stay with either of them. Their names would certainly make that list.

Ben had woken up first, thankfully. Checking his phone gave him the advanced notice he would need in order to prepare Tala for her worst nightmare. It also let him cancel his own flight and train ride home. The Marrok had found his granddaughter. As soon as it had been sorted, the same people the girl lying on the bed was trying to keep from were coming to find her.

Ben estimated at least two days.

“Do you have class?” He asked when he recognized her shifting in the bed behind him was her slowly waking.

“It’s Saturday.” She groaned, no doubt stretching. He turned around to see her arms over her head and stiff. “I don’t have school, I have work.”

He nodded and tucked his phone into his jeans. Tala curled back into her covers and let out a whine that he chose to ignore.

“You wanted to be an adult, get up. What time do you have to be there?” The light outside the window told him it was maybe nine in the morning. He realized from years of holiday outside of London and from having spent a few days in the city of Prague that nothing opened very early. “Ten?”

She made a muffled noise of agreement and he laughed, pulling the covers away.

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” She groaned loudly and he just shook his head with an amused smile. “I don’t wanna go.”

“Do you do this every morning you have work? Because that’s sad, love.”

She glared at him and huffed, getting herself out of bed and moving into the bathroom. His gaze didn’t follow her, instead dropping back down to his phone when he heard a buzz. It was instinct, mostly, and it took a few seconds to realize it wasn’t his.

The shower was running, so Tala wasn’t going to answer it. He listened carefully to confirm she stepped in a moment or two later. He hadn’t thought until now to check her phone number, to send it back home to those looking for her. He would do it now in his moment of opportunity.

The text on the screen was from a name that he couldn’t read. It wasn’t in English and he wasn’t familiar with any names written in Cyrillic. He ignored it other than to note that the text was in English and asked if Tala wanted to go for dinner later. He smirked to himself, wondering at the least if this was a woman or a man texting her.

He knew her passcode without even thinking about it. It was her name, clever way to keep something safe, in their corresponding numbers. Ben had teased her for it before on multiple occasions. Now, he was thankful it was so simple.

He typed the phone number into his own device and returned hers to it’s place. He couldn’t hide that he had touched it (though plastic didn’t hold scent as well as paper did, for instance). She would know too by the way the notification had disappeared. He could hide it by turning the phone onto Do Not Disturb, but he didn’t care enough.

He would take the blame.

Quickly, he sent a text back home to give them a running number to work with. Anything that helped them find where they were was useful, especially because Ben could only do so much. If they separated at all, his own phone would be useless.

“You had to check my phone?” Tala was still drying her hair. He watched her as she pulled it into a braid while it was still wet—something he knew wasn’t brilliant, but he wouldn’t comment. “Thanks, Snoopy.”

“I wanted to know who was texting you.”

“She’s a packmate,” Tala frowned, responding quickly. “And she’s offered me a place to live where I won’t be intruding on a mated pair.”

He shrugged, Ben could care less except now he didn’t get to tease her about it.

“What has you so proud of yourself?” She muttered, texting her packmate back and grabbing her key to the home. “You found me, big deal.”

“I’m going to go. I’ll try and bump into you later.” He got up, too. He hadn’t changed the night before and he’d survive his walk back to the hotel room. He would much rather not stay in a home with a strange wolf and their human mate when he didn’t even understand the language.

He followed her closely all the way to the bakery, he didn’t need to hide now that she knew he was there. It had been dangerous, in hindsight, traveling to another pack’s territory. Ben hadn’t really considered the issues that could have arisen until now.

He was going to be in some trouble, but that was secondary.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your look inside the bin! :p Maybe I’ll continue some of these some day and you’ll get to see them completed

[jayne-hecate-writer]

My Star Wars DVDs...

Hello there my Darlings, I have asked you here today so that we can discuss something that is rather close to my heart, so much so, that rather than just write this blog as I think it up, like I usually do, I have actually researched this one. Now before we get going, I will assume that you have all seen Star Wars...

Oh fuck yeah! I am going to talk about Star Wars and so now all of you nerds reading this are no doubt are sharpening your Wolverine claws, in readiness to tear me a new one for mixing up the basic facts. If that were not bad enough, you purists are then going to bite my head off for coming out and saying proudly that Jar Jar Binks was really not that bad and I actually quite liked him! Go on hate me.

If you are still reading this, then be warned, what I am about to discuss may contain spoilers, particularly if you have not seen all of the Star Wars content available.

However, before we get there; this blog is not me trying to work out the story of episodes eight or nine, nor is it me looking for hidden meanings in the stories. Instead, this piece is about my love of Star Wars, my personal journey both with and within the franchise and how I discovered some surprising things about myself and the world, as I explored the Star Wars universe.

My first real memory of Star Wars was seeing The Empire Strikes Back, upon its release, when I was probably no more than eight or nine, which would have been around 1982. The memory is hazy and to make matters more interesting, I saw the film in a British Army cinema while living in Germany, so it is anyone's guess how long after official release that was. Upon release of this movie, I can recall utterly falling in love with the Empire and in particular the AT-AT walker. The nerds among you will now be wondering if I call these great beasts at-ats or Aye Tee Aye Tees. This is by itself a complex question and one that I believe both Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo have given ambiguous answers too, so I can hardly give an opinion, can I?

With the release of Return of the Jedi; I was again in a foreign country and I did not see this movie until it was shown on television! This is almost a blasphemy, but in my defence in lived in a country that was not English speaking and I do not know if the army cinema was still going at that point.  

My Dad did of course show us all of the movies when they came out on VHS, but these were rentals rather than bought movies when back in the days of our youth, we rented the movies that we wanted to see, rather than collected vast sets of tapes, like we do now with DVD.

The next step for me came when I met another Star Wars fan and we house shared for a few years. At least once a month, we would go through the movies, starting with good old VHS and then moving into DVD when they became more common. My friend at the time also introduced me to the idea of collecting real movie props and well made replica props. Genuine prop blasters used in the Star Wars films were made from real guns, modified with added on parts. I seem to recall that the Storm Troopers used blasters modelled on the Stirling SMG, a gun I recognised because my Father was issued one while in the Army. My friend had a plastic replica toy, full sized and painted white with a bright orange tip. I was super impressed by this gun, even more so because it had Star Wars printed on the side in the the iconic logo font. These days I would be less impressed by such a toy, but this is only because I am now familiar with the replica props made by many You Tube users, that look screen ready.

In 1999 I got my first really good job on an activity centre in North Wales, working as a climbing instructor. On my first day on the job, I stood in my very first staff meeting and in front of a group of about twenty people, none of whom I knew, I laid my nerd credentials on the table for all to see. In my strong and determined voice, I informed my new team that I very much needed a day off in the middle of the summer season to go and see the new Star Wars movie: Episode One - The Phantom Menace. There was a lot of laughter from my new colleagues, but their laughter quickly faded until the summer and the movie came up in conversation once again, on the day it was released. My manager had forgotten that he had agreed, months in advance, for me to have the day off to see the movie; until I reminded him of his decision of course.

There was a lot of concerned faces and then a few happy grins as our conversation was remembered. My manager and I then set out in the company Land Rover, with half of the other instructors along for the ride to the cinema in Bangor just to see a brand new Star Wars film. The prequels came out over the next few years, but that first film remains strong in my mind for the memories it brings. Especially as a few days after seeing it for the first time, the Boss and I escaped again to watch the movie for the

second time. Yes, I know that many of you disliked this movie, but I enjoyed it and I actually thought that little Jake Lloyd was rather cute as Anakin.

After the release of Revenge of the Sith; things on the Star Wars front went quiet for a while. True, there was the Clone Wars cartoon, but the very first season of this was a stylised set of war movie shorts that never really gave us the strong characters whom we knew and loved. Later revamped seasons used a different style of animation that was more story oriented; but I am still trying to gel with the seasons as they are. Sadly and according to the Lead Star Wars Story Group writer, Dave Filoni, the Clone Wars came to an end before he was able to finish the story.

With the Sale of the Star Wars franchise to Disney, things looked bleak. A close friend of mine messaged me via Facebook to inform me that just like him and all of his favourite super heroes; Disney now owned my soul. At the time I felt like it was a sad day indeed. How wrong I was. George Lucas appointed Kathleen Kennedy to head of Lucas Film as he retired and she took the franchise to a whole new level.

Most recently Rogue One came out and for the first time in my adult life, I found myself sat with my girlfriend at a midnight showing, on the opening night of a movie so powerful, I spent most of the final act weeping. As the titles rolled at the end, the audience as one mind stood and they clapped a furious applause. As I wrote at the time, it felt as if I had found my people. 

Which now leads me to this time, when as I write this, I have The Force Awakens playing on Blu-Ray, having worked my way through the whole fucking set set. Some time ago, I discovered within the forums of Star Wars fans that there is a suggested play list for all of the movies. Now obviously, our Great Holy Father Lucas says that we should watch them in numerical order. But if we do this, it leads us to some uncomfortable moments in the story, moments that Star Wars fans like Seth Green used to great effect in his TV show Robot Chicken.

We start with Episode One - The Phantom Menace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMG2PQ7oIr0

Second comes Episode two - Attack of the Clones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DFOE0td1Yw

Third is Episode three - Revenge of the Sith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7FMh3YtK_w

That is the official prequels in all of their slightly hammy goodness and I love them. They do however lead us as intended into the original trilogy.

The fourth movie is Episode Four - A New Hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cizlx6ODhuE

Fifth comes Episode Five - The Empire Strikes Back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMMVrYly73k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE

Sixth in the list is Episode six - Return of the Jedi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfp5l7kgo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qAKXK_aLeA

That is the original child pleasing trilogy with all of the goofiness of stone age technology teddy bears bringing down the vast industrial complex of the empire with just logs on ropes.

Up next is the newest trilogy, only one of which has so far been released.

The seventh movie is Episode Seven - The Force Awakens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaOSCASqLsE

Later this year comes Episode eight - The Last Jedi.

In 2019 we can expect Episode nine – which is as yet still untitled.

Before you even start to think it, I am not here to theorise along lines of

what these movies are going to be about or how the death of our Princess Carrie Fisher will affect them. What I will add though is the thought that the other films and TV shows in the saga have to fit into this story line somehow, but where and when? If we insert them into the time line, we can put The Clone Wars after episode two and then rebels after episode three. At the end of rebels we can insert Rogue one and somewhere in here will be the new Han Solo movie, due out in summer 2018 (forty one years after Han Solo first hit the big screen). When asked if we should watch them in this order, it seems that official opinion is that the main films are in order with the other films and shows can be put in around them, pretty much when you fancy. But this does not work for me, I want see the progression of our characters. I want to see the story arc played fully.

This brings us onto the now famous Ernst Rister order, named after the man who developed it. His playlist puts them in a strange order so that the big reveals can be kept. After all, what good is it learning that Anakin and Padme had children, when the big reveal of episode five is that Luke is Vader's son? So with that in mind, his order goes as follows.

Episodes four and five in order. Flash back to episodes one, two and three in order. We then finish up with Episodes six, seven, eight and nine. Again the other films and shows can be watched when you like without upsetting the basic story too much.

For all of you baby Anakin haters, there is also the Machete Order. A dirty playlist which removes episode one all together, but still puts the rest roughly in the Ernst Rister order. The big difficulty with this dirty playlist is that when you watch the Clone Wars series and then Rebels, some of the plot makes no sense, especially if you are a fan of Maul in those later stories. Seeing the terribly sad closing of Maul's storyline in Series three of Rebels did once again move me to tears. Not bad for what is in effect a kids cartoon show. Don't judge me too harshly though, Father Lucas does get a little freaked out by us hardened Star Wars fans and he does remind us all from time to time that he did make them mainly as kids movies!

Now with the release of the breath taking Rogue One and the fabulous Rebels, I wanted to put them into the time line and the viewing schedule. Oh yeah, did I not say that I was a bit of a Star Wars nerd? Given that I own most of these on DVD now and with my being physically rather broken thanks to illness, I have the means to try to sit down and watch these things  

in one go. I have since discovered much to my consternation that it is no longer possible to do all of Star Wars in a single day. Using an adaptation to the Ernst Rister method, I fitted Rogue one, Rebels and The Clone Wars into the set too and this was the watch order that I experimented with, along with my darling partner and it led to some serious discussion between us over whether it worked.

Jayney's viewing order.

Rebels season 1 - 3.

Rogue One.

Episode Four.

Episode Five.

Episode One.

Episode Two.

The Clone Wars Season 1 - 6.

Episode Three.

Episode Six.

Episode Seven.

I will add episodes eight and nine along with the Han Solo movie to this list as soon as they are released.

So what have I missed out? Well to start with there is the infamous Christmas Special... That horror is available on You Tube (I am not linking to it, if you want to look for it, that is up to you) and I have watched it. Well some of it, well I had to and I can confirm that it is nasty! I can see what Father George has disowned it!

I have also missed out the Ewok Movies. After all, in their day the Ewoks were considered to be as popular as Jar Jar became in the prequels. I have also missed out the animated series Droids, mainly because I don't think that it is considered cannon any more. According to my research it is available on DVD, but some of the less scrupulous cartoon networks on line also have it available. Now that you know this, be warned. If you want to show this series to your kids, the on line experience is likely to expose you and your kids to the sort of hardcore porn that is frankly frightening. This is after all how these unlicensed websites pay for their bandwidth. I have also not included the new animated series of short individual stories, called Forces of Destiny. This because at the time of writing, they are not officially  

out yet out.

My biggest omission by far though is the written word, those stories of the expanded universe (known in Star Wars circles as the EU, probably the only EU half of Britain will allow discussion of!) of star wars, books that introduced us to fabulous characters such as Grand Admiral Thrawn, who later became a central part of Rebels. There are so many books, comics and shorts here, that it is all but impossible to fit them all in, let alone read them all in one lifetime. Unfortunately, The Star Wars Story Group have also stated that many of the original books are no longer considered cannon. They no longer fit into the Star Wars Universe, removed like a bad cutting in a row of vibrant plants.

Finally, I have also ignored the impossible viewing experience of the Time Machine Order, which takes the movies back to how they were when Jedi came out and before father George fiddled with them. My reason for this is simple. Face it people, that time has passed. From now on, Solo shoots second, Young Anakin appears as a Force Ghost in Return and Vader when revealed beneath his helmet, will always have lost his eye brows. So my fellow fans, wipe your tears away and move on. It is not the 1980s any more! More importantly, when I checked my old VHS editions of the original trilogy, it is the widescreen revamped version from the early 2000s. Bugger!

So you may ask, what was like like watching Star Wars in such a complicated and comprehensive way? Did it fulfil my viewing needs? Was the great reveal still a resounding shock? Did it work?

Well, ahhhh… No.

Now I can maybe see the point of viewing them like this if you have never seen them before. As a story teller myself, I can see the benefit in the mechanism of the flashback, I really can, but for me, it made the whole story too much of a mess. Flitting about in the time line made it a pain to follow. It also put some of the more boring elements of the saga right in the middle of the story. Namely following the terrifying end of Empire, where we witness the power of Luke’s failure on Bespin, we dived straight into a low grade trade dispute and encountered the jelly brained Jar Jar Binks. The lesson here is this, do as the Holy Father says, watch them in order.

Now on the subject of Jar Jar, I must say that I was genuinely taken by the theory that he was a secret Sith Lord. The evidence was there for Jar Jar turning out to be on the Dark Side, but it appears that the story was changed following criticism of the character by fans. The only person who knows the truth of what the Holy Father wanted to do with Jar Jar is the Holy Father himself and Lucas has been less than keen to discuss it as fully as I (and many others) would like. Instead, several members of discussion forums and even You Tube have dissected the theory, examined the evidence and stated their conclusions. Maybe Dark Jar Jar would have been an interesting way to go, but when you look at what we have in the story arc, it is Jar Jar who creates the special laws that put Palpatine in place. What bigger hint towards his fall into the darkness is there than that? I like to think of Jar Jar afterwards, once the Jedi are all but gone, with him sat alone in his world of empty rapidly fading power, lamenting on the choices he made. It is so sad and it was this type of thinking that gave me a new sympathy for him as a character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rHyf0FBvt4

Meanwhile another development has occurred in the franchise that also appeals to me and it is something that comes up time and time again. If Anakin was destined to bring balance to the force, how was he to do it if he had to pick a side? By choosing between the light and the dark; he created an imbalance that Luke carried on into episode seven. Maybe this is why the Jedi order collapsed around him and why Ben Solo became Kylo Ren and followed Snoke? Maybe this is what is meant by Luke in the trailer for the new film when he says that the Jedi must end? Sadly I am not going to explore that line of thought. When the new film comes out this winter, I do not want to have spoiled it for myself by concentrating on theories and trying to work out the story. Instead, I prefer to wait and find out. Only then can I discuss it.

However, there is another area for clues that we can discuss and that lies within the story of Kanan Jarrus, in series three of Rebels. After he is blinded during his duel with Maul, Kanan escapes from the Sith temple with the help of Ezra and they take the Sith and Jedi holocrons to the new Rebel Base. It is here that Kanan sits in combined self pity and misery until, that is, until he encounters the fabulously interesting being called The Bendu. The Bendu is neither a creature of the light nor of the dark, but rather something else. He states that he is of the Grey. Thus The Bendu is

balanced in the force, he sees both the light and the dark, the Ashla and the Bogan and I would love to see the story take this arc. This is clearly preferable over the moralistically easier writing of “good over comes evil and everyone lives happily ever after”. As a plot device this vagueness is far more interesting. This is especially so when given that The Bendu is barely understood by Kanan or Esra and is capable of so much more than either Vader on the Sith side and Kanan on the Jedi.

When you look at Rogue One, there are again these moments of grey, acts of good carried out by the Empire and acts of evil carried out the Rebels. Neither Jyn Erso or Cassian Andor have led lives free of the dark side, Cassian pretty much admits as much towards the final act of the film as they prepare to take the Imperial transport. The result is that this film is darker, grittier and more believable. As we see Cassian and Jyn give up everything that they are to make the universe safer, maybe they have moved more into the light? But in doing so, they have walked through an awful lot of dark to get there. It is for this reason that I think that the stories should be viewed in Time line order

Maybe when Yoda states that there is another, when talking to Obi-Wan as he fears for the loss of Luke in episode five, he is referring to Kanan training Ezra? Providing of course that the Rebels of Lothal survive the final season of Rebels as it leads into Rogue one.

Of course, The Bendu is not the only Force wielding being not to follow so blindly the doctrine of the Jedi or the Sith. There is also Ahsoka Tano, Anakin’s former apprentice from the Clone Wars. She leaves the Jedi order and yet still wields the force and a pair of white sabres. Her loss in the Sith Temple was another moment that brought me to tears as I watched Rebels. The same Rebels that appear in Rogue One, with the Ghost appearing in several scenes, Chopper rolling through one scene and a PA call for Hera. Could they make it any more obvious that the Rebels end up in the world of Episode Four?  This is why the Ernst Rister Order does not work for me, it leaves out far too much important detail.

Well there you go. This must be one of the longest posts I have written and it has taken me days of research, days of watching Star Wars and hours of thought to compile my argument. Was it worth it? The answer to that is obvious. I was watching Star Wars, of course it was worth it.