#But in Far Beyond The Stars I had NO idea his character was him until the second rewatch and that was after someone had pointed it out 🤣

[walkingstackofbooks]

Watching Enterprise and suddenly - is that ODO??? It is!! Rene Auberjonois, what are you doing in the 22nd century?!

[petit-etoile]

*meekly raises hand* I'd had an idea for a drabble prompt. That hug Astarion gets? What if it also led to him kissing Tav, really kissing them for the first time? Like one that he is able to put his heart into without the fear of being used and tossed aside?

wave after wave (like a transparent star)

pairing: astarion/tav wordcount: 762 content warnings: none other tags: canon compliant, introspection, character study, kissing, gender neutral tav, human!tav if you squint archiveofourown: here. .

tag list: @azrielshadows1nger, @pandimoostuff, @faevi, @microskies, @foreverthemaraudersera, @queenofthespacesquids, @claryvoyantfray, @6doodlaang14, @anne-isnotokay, @itshimbotime, @yeeteth-the-raven, @sessils, be added to the taglist here

summary: What if the hug also led to him kissing Tav, really kissing them for the first time?

‘I want,’ you say with the slightest shake of your head, ‘I want. I want  —  ’

This, is what you would say if you had the words to speak. Instead, you stare at Astarion with a sense of unrelenting urgency between the two of you. It’s as though you are frozen in time with your palm resting flat against his, both of his hands framing yours protectively, his skin, his fingers, his everything laid bare against your silly little hand.

Astarion collides with you like a star racing across an ocean. He is a tide that overcomes you and threatens to take you out to sea. You wrap your arms around his thin frame to keep yourself grounded. The dark depths of the ocean swirls around you, but you hold onto Astarion and he holds onto you, your arms wrapped around his waist, his hand gently cradling the back of your head as he desperately presses his forehead against yours with a shuddering breath as he fights that urge to consume.

And just like that, a supernova creates itself in the middle of camp in the dark. You tilt your chin at just the right time to catch his mouth as he crashes into you. Astarion kisses you so passionately that you have no choice but to seek purchase on his shoulders to avoid toppling over. There’s hysteria in his tongue, in the way his lips tremble, but all you can smell is rosemary, bergamot, and brandy, and tears, yours and his together.

This might’ve been how he would have kissed his highborn lover back in Baldur’s Gate before everything. Before mindflayer and tadpole, before Cazador and the attack, before you and your frightening humanity.  This is a kiss a magistrate would have given to a recently courted lover in private away from prying eyes. You almost feel as though you’re being swept off your feet, like you’re being properly romanced instead of hunted in the woods, and it does something to the pit of your stomach. You swoon.

‘I think,’ Astarion says thickly, ‘I know what I’m feeling for you.’

‘I know,’ you say, nuzzling his jaw. ‘I know you love me.’

His eyes soften and then, well, it really is a collision this time. Somehow, Astarion kisses you roughly and tenderly all at once. His nose presses sharply into your cheek, and you clutch his elbows like at any moment, if he chooses to let go, you’ll be stranded at sea. It’s a different kiss from all those you’ve experienced from him before. From the kiss during sunset, the kiss when he first drank your blood, and the shyest kiss from right after his confession. This is something else entirely. A fire let loose in the wood.

He kisses you like a man who has only known hunger. Astarion takes and he takes and he takes until you’re almost certain he’s hunting for your soul from your lips, and you would give it to him if you knew where to look for it. This is a kiss  —  a real and genuine kiss  —  from a man who has only known desperation, nails scraping against the grain, seeking something far beyond himself. You would feel scandalized by the passion if it were anyone else.

And when he’s done fervently kissing you, Astarion cradles your cheek in his hand and runs his thumb over the curve of your cheekbone as if you were the most precious idol he could have laid his hands on.

There’s something different about the gleam in his eye, a glossiness that you’ve never seen before, not really. Beneath all the vitriol and discomfort, there is a young man who wants nothing more than freedom.

He presses his forehead against yours and sighs, and the sound is relief composed as a symphony by the saddest souls. You return the favor, your fingers sliding across the familiar harsh lines of his face, and decide to show him the purest of emotions so that he knows.

‘I don’t know what comes next,’ Astarion says, his tone a touch agonized. ‘But wherever this leads, I know that I want it to be you.’

For once, his words are honest and match his intentions. It’s something you come to cherish. You’re the only one he’ll ever show this side to; this kind devotion belongs to you and you alone. This is the part of Astarion that Cazador can never touch. There is still hope in his skeletal frame.

You kiss his cheek softly.

There’s no other place you’d rather be than at Astarion’s side.

[amywritesthings]

hiii! for the hallosleepover, can I get jean x reader + enemies to lovers who unintentionally wear a couple’s costume to a Halloween party? 🥺

hallo-sleepover '24!

hello, anon! thank you for sending this in. i've never written jean as a main character before, so let's see how this goes, yeah?

saving horses, matching costumes.

pairing: jean kirstein x f!reader word count: 1.1k+ warnings: halloween party mishaps, miscommunication, enemies to kinda lovers, fluffy, banter, jean is a cowboy bc of the s4 mullet i dont make the rules credit: dividers by @saradika-graphics

read on ao3.

“Oh, you have to be joking.”

The complaint comes out of your mouth faster than you can stop it.

As much as you hate that your eyes lock onto Jean Kirstein every time he walks into a room (a sixth sense, if you will, after putting up with him throughout college and beyond) you’re glad it’s you who spotted him first.

You’d never hear the end of it if it’d been Sasha, who’s busy shoveling yet another candy apple in her mouth like she’s discovered the wonders of life — while dressed in a cozy yet outrageous inflatable cow costume.

Be friends! she says. 

(As fucking if.)

He likes you, but he thinks you hate him! she claims.

(False. He hated you first, so you hated him second.)

This year’s costume had been a panicked choice when Sasha reminded you of Mikasa’s costume party a mere twelve hours ago.

Scrambling through your closet before work, the outfit basically built itself: a pink hat, some old cowboy boots, jeans and a denim vest and ta-da—

A cowgirl!

To be fair, you thought Sasha changed her outfit to a silly cow to match you when you texted her the outfit a few hours before the party.

The foreboding dots, however, are connecting in real time:

Jean walks into the house with a bandana tied around his neck, a deep brown hat, a half-buttoned white shirt, and fringed chaps. 

He holds the door open, waiting for someone else.

Behind him waddles in Connie, dressed identically to Sasha as an inflatable cow. He sandwiches the puffy middle through the door before jumping out like a bursting star to greet the people mingling at the front of the house.

This?

This was an ambush.

“Whassajo?” Sasha slurs, cheeks puffed with food. She turns on a heel towards you, not in the least aware of her bulky surroundings.

But before you can answer, she recognizes the two walking through the front door, lights up and flings a hand to the sky. 

“Connie!”

Sharing the same brain cell, the man in question pauses, posing in his cow costume, before pointing at his wonder twin. He lets out a battle cry and rushes over the best an inflatable costumed-person can.

Of course that gets Jean’s attention, his eyes searching the crowd until they land on you, and the drop of his smile confronts the uncomfortable truth:

You’re the only cowgirl at the party, and as far as you can see, he’s the only cowboy.

God.

Damn.

It.

“Yoooo, you matched us!” Connie yelps, slinging a puffy arm around Sasha.

“For the record I didn’t try to, but I also didn’t know you both had matching cow costumes,” you state, trying to make it abundantly clear that this? Not your idea.

“Oh, these ol’ things were a last minute thing,” Sasha states once she’s swallowed her food, grinning ear to ear. “And they were on sale at Spirit, so—”

Jean cautiously makes his way over to your little corner of the party with his hands shoved into his jean pockets.

Either the lighting is making his face red as a tomato or he’s genuinely as embarrassed to be wearing a matching costume with you.

He mumbles a greeting, keeping his chin down.

The Monster Mash plays for the fourth time from the speakers — no doubt a takeover from Yeager, wherever he’s hiding at this party.

Connie pipes up after a minute, letting go of his partner in crime. “Where’d you get one of those, anyway? I want apples.”

“Kitchen,” Sasha states, looping her inflatable arm around his. “C’mon, to the promise land we go.”

Like clockwork, they leave.

They fucking leave you — and Jean, for that matter, because he still stands across from you with his head down and hands in his pockets. His mullet is neatly combed under the hat, stubble grown out for the occasion.

(He looks good, but you don’t have to admit it.)

“...so.” Jean speaks, though it’s barely audible. “This is a thing.”

“Yep.”

“Designed for us to get along?”

“Probably.”

“Sasha told me to go as a cowboy.”

“Probably after I told her I was going as a cowgirl.”

“At least we’re not wearing the same colored hat and stuff, right?” he tries to joke, shuffling his boot to poke at one of the plastic pumpkins lining the room. “Because that would’ve been really damn freaky.”

After acknowledging his statement with a grunt, silence meets you.

For a moment, you wonder if maybe that’s the end of the conversation.

This presumed couple’s costume will be a mere coincidence and no one will think otherwise and the night will go on its merry drunken little—

“Sorry.”

The word surprises you to the point of looking his way, but before you can, he’s already sliding closer to talk directly to you.

“Okay. Hear me out, alright?”

Your brows slide up your forehead. “Hear you… out?”

“It…”

Trailing off, Jean scrunches his nose and takes the hat off his head to smooth back his hair.

“Ah, fuck, just let me get this out one time and one time only and if it’s a shitty idea? We’ll pretend it never happened.”

“Uh—”

“What if tonight’s a truce?” he interrupts, gesturing between your denim-and-pleather-clad bodies. “Whatever beef we have with each other could be fixed or something.”

You open your mouth to speak, but Jean keeps going.

“Because I don’t hate you. Connie says you think I hate you, or something, and I don’t really know why you would ever think I—”

“I thought it because you hated me… first,” you try to remind him, tilting your head in confusion. “You literally declared it freshman year in front of—”

“I didn’t actually hate you!” he whisper-shouts over the mouth, conveying his emotion without the outburst. “I didn’t. Seriously. I said some stupid shit to get Yeager off my damn back about you and I regretted it as soon as I said it—”

“What?”

“I just want a chance, okay?”

Finally, with his hands flexed before you, Jean seems to get to the point of his ramble.

Squeezing his eyes shut for a brief second, he exhales and softens in defeat.

“One chance — to show you I’m not some sort of douchebag because I got tongue-tied years ago. I’m not that moron anymore. Just… let me get you a drink or water or something, and I’ll fix it. And if I still suck to you, then at least I’ll have said my peace.”

For what feels like ages, you simply stare at him.

He stares back as the party lights twinkle like a halo over his cowboy hat, eyes rounded and pleading.

As much as you hate to say it, you’re intrigued.

Jean’s right: it’s been years.

Why hold an arbitrary grudge if it was genuinely an accident?

“...fine,” you relent. “But just one.”

Relief floods his expression, and he sheepishly tips his hat to you. “Yes, ma’am, just one.”

[flight0fthenavigat0r]

A Goodbye to The Bad Batch

I don’t even know what to say first. Because this is goodbye, but it is also everything but. But I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Just a couple of years ago I found my love for Star Wars. My entire life, as far back as I can remember, my dad has tried to get me into the fandom. Now, he’s not a fan the exact same way some of us are, he’d only watched the saga and the Mandalorian, funnily enough I was the one to introduce him to The Clone Wars and beyond, but it’s been a joy in his life for a very long time. I was never interested in it when I was little, but then I got a little older and Star Wars started to capture my interest.

One random weekend, I believe in 2021 or 2022, I decided that I was going to watch all nine saga movies in those forty-eight hours, and then start on my goal to watch every show and the additional movies.

This is, without a shred of doubt, one of the greatest decisions I have ever made, and one that I will never regret. I would not be the person I am had I not given Star Wars a chance.

It would sound ridiculous to anyone anywhere else, but this has become such a safe place for me that I know I can be honest.

Everyone finds that one thing that makes them happy like nothing else. A person, a hobby, a place, a fandom. Mine is the galaxy far, far away that lets me escape from my life whenever I need to.

The Star Wars fandom has its faults, and there is so much hatred.

But more than anything, there is love like no love I have ever experienced before. The love between fans and our love for these movies and shows is something I never expected to have in my life. But somehow, for some reason, it has all found a permanent place in my heart, and I couldn’t be happier.

At this time, the first season of The Bad Batch had just been released. I was branching out, watching The Clone Wars and then jumping to The Book of Boba Fett, though I’m not sure why I chose to watch everything in such a completely random order.

But then I started The Bad Batch.

I had no idea what Crosshair, Tech, Wrecker, Hunter, Echo, and Omega would come to mean to me.

I have dealt with a lot in the last few years. Nothing compared to others, but depression finds a way to wedge into your life. I love to be alone, but I don’t like to be lonely, and I have managed to isolate myself to a point of misery.

I found more comfort in The Bad Batch than anything else in my life, and I will never forget the joy The Bad Batch brought me in these last few years.

I began to write when I found Star Wars, and I was inspired to do so by The Bad Batch. Before, I had never felt so compelled by any one piece of media to add my own part of it to the world, until this. Writing has become another escape, one that gives me an outlet to continue the stories of characters left behind.

What I already knew has been reaffirmed, the lessons I have learned remain with me, and will even after this is over.

That it’s okay to feel afraid, because everyone does, and to make mistakes, provided you learn from them.

That feeling out of place for one reason or another does not make you unworthy of love, and having limitations with affection isn’t something you need to apologize for.

That being goofy, having fun, finding joy in the dark places, is just as vital a part of life as anything else, if not what we need more than anything.

That taking time for yourself, to make sure you don’t fall apart, even while taking care of others, is important.

That our worst moments can be one of two things, what consumes us, or what we grow from.

That being a young woman is not a detriment to your worth, intelligence, talent, or any other aspect of life, but is in fact what makes you strongest.

That what makes us unique and our faults are a part of who we are, but they do not define us, and we are so much more than the ideas people have of us.

My only regret is not making friends when I had the chance. I’m bad at that, opening up and putting myself out there, and I shy away from talking to new people because it makes me uncomfortable. But I wish I had been able to put that aside before it was too late and found people who love The Bad Batch the way I do to continue talking to, even after the show ends.

But to all the people who have supported me and who I have supported, thank you for being part of my Bad Batch experience.

It's very difficult to believe that this is it.

Though The Bad Batch has not been around long, it feels like it has, because as long as I have been watching Star Wars, The Bad Batch has been in its active run, and I’m so grateful I got to be here when it was.

I know that even when the credits roll for the final time, when the greater fandom forgets the show that they never really understood the way we have, I’ll be here, and hopefully, so will all of you. I think that the family brought together by The Bad Batch will endure, even if we go quiet for a while.

We’ll stick around, for the day the Batch comes back. Because I know they will.

Thank you Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch fandom, Dee Bradley Baker, Michelle Ang, the Kiners, and everybody who played a part in telling this story.

The impact The Bad Batch has had on my life has been profound, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. It’s been a wild ride, and I have enjoyed every second of it. It has been a privilege to be a part of this piece in the ever growing history that makes up Star Wars.

Goodbye, Bad Batch. Until next time.

“Change takes getting used to. You’ll see. Just give it time.”

[rallentando1011]

Rise Donnie x Plus Sized/Curvy gn Reader Ideas

Content: brief mention of insecurity in oneself, cuddles, intentionally bad flirting, cute fluff

Word Count: 1026

As a man of science and just an overall sensible, thoughtful person, he acknowledges that attraction obviously goes far beyond anything material

Personality, sense of humor, how well the participants click with each other being just a few of the numerous qualifications

However, having established that fact, that was not to say physique was completely nongermane from the topic of attraction

No, certainly not

Physical appearance is the cover of the book; while the best material is inside of the novel, and you shan’t judge a book by its outside, an enticing cover can definitely be admired and appreciated

Especially when that cover has curves like yours

Not to be crass in any regard, but the first thing he gawked at respectfully observed when meeting you was your stunning physicality overall

Your comely smile, your confident stature, those hips, your nice posture, stuff like that

(but seriously he was drinking in your movie star-like looks so adamantly that Mikey had to wave a hand in front of his face, Raph had to yell, and Leo had to bonk him on the head before he was back on this plane of reality)

(Leo was whacked right back, but that’s beside the point)

The point was, by Humboldt, he was not prepared for the Reuleaux triangle that was your waist

Eventually, after seeing you a few times, he managed to externally contain how whipped he was (because, in all honesty, he still admires you and your looks)

However, getting to indulge in learning your personality, reading into you, definitely beats the already auspicious initial impression he had of you

Oh, Galileo, you have a nice demeanor and genuinely enjoyable character?

Yes, please sign him up

Once you two are together, certainly expect him to randomly say the nicest compliments ever, how cool you are, how enjoyable your company is, how much he appreciates you

No prompting, no build up, just the softest, gushiest comments out of the blue

Just sharing the thoughts as they come to mind

He’s definitely the type to drop the worst pick up lines/puns to ever exist, sardonically, of course

But you parry that blade right back

Once while he was tinkering in his lab with you sitting beside him, he abruptly asked if you were Copper and Tellurium

You were puzzled until you pieced together the chemical symbols of those elements respectively - CuTe. That one was bad

You deadpanned before grinning mischievously back at him, asking if he was from Tennessee

Puzzled, he stuttered for a moment before you interjected with “Because you’re the only ten-I-see”

Both of you physically tensed as you said the line, but the awkwardness quickly dissolved into laughter and the exchange of more similar sayings

It was safe to say the pick up line war that ensued meant not much productivity occurred in the lab that day

On Halloween, absolutely expect to have the crème de la crème of costumes

Whether you two are dressing up together or wearing your own attire

Oh, you’re customizing your costume? Are you talking enamel pins, sewing, 3D printing? Whichever or whatever it is he is SO on board and will absolutely volunteer his assistance

That being said, don’t enlist his help unless you’re prepared for it to get needlessly complex, e.x. possibly some mechanics, so many intricate details

It’ll be a project, but the fun times along the way and the killer final product will be worth it

Trust that during the cold months of the year that cuddles will be abundant (insulation in the sewers of New York City shockingly has quite a steep price, so calling you over is easier)

Movie nights, sitting with an arm slung around you, bundled up with your knees ever so slightly resting on his

Working on blueprints or small tweaks in the lab with you swished beside him on his desk chair (Is it a little cramped? Yes. Would he ignore the slight inconvenience of his workspace and ability being hampered for your company? Also yes.)

Sleepovers and late-night cuddles with your back pressed to his plastron, your legs curled with his practically adhered to the back of yours, his arms wrapped loosely around your abdomen, his thumbs soothingly tapping your sides, his chin tucked onto your shoulder

However, cuddles that thorough would only occur on nights where he’s feeling really lonely or tired, like after a long fight, or a mind-melting project, or if it’s been a long time since you’ve seen each other or shown affection like that

Snuggles outside of that domain normally consisted of laying with your sides pressed to each other and that’s it

Or, another typical means of cuddling, both of you curled up on your sides, facing inward, knees and foreheads gently pressed together as you feel each other’s featherlight breaths, soft reminders that the other’s still there

No matter which way you ended up cuddling in, it never failed to send a wave of warm relaxation crashing peacefully over you

Until he fell asleep

Snoring, drooling, kicking, if you name it, he did it in his slumber

Some nights you would wake up to being shoved unceremoniously off of the bed by an innocently sleeping Donatello

Other nights, instead of pushing you away, he pulled you even tighter to him, wrapping you up in each and every limb

His sleeping habits were not suitable for having a companion at his side

You assumed it was because of his dreams or the temperature or something, but all you knew for sure was that every time you slept beside him was its own unique adventure

If you have insecurities or any self-consciousness, whether it be physical or mental, he just doesn’t understand it at first

How could someone so incredible in his eyes not see themself the same way?

But then he considers his own mentality, his own insecurities and doubts, and comforts you any way you need

Words of affirmation? He’s got you

Hugs? He can manage that

Just need him to be there for you? He will be

Bottom line, whatever your size or build may be, he fully embraces and supports you

[david-talks-sw]

An argument I hear from time to time is the following:

"I don't care that this novel is considered Legends, if it was canon when George Lucas was in charge of Lucasfilm, it's still canon to me now. Whatever George says is what counts, I don't care what Disney says."

Putting the Expanded Universe's Star Wars and George Lucas' Star Wars in the same basket. And that's, uh... inaccurate.

So without further ado, let's explore:

George Lucas’ involvement in the Expanded Universe

Early years of the EU...

When the first bit of EU content came out in the form of the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Lucas was too busy working on the films, so Alan Dean Foster wrote it by himself (which explains why Luke and Leia's relationship plays out romantically).

After the movies came out, when new material was going to be created, George told Lucas Licensing and other authors that the Prequel era was off-limits to write about, because he might tell that story one day.

Beyond that, they could go to town and write sequels, for instance. After all, part of why Star Wars was created was to let people's imagination run wild and George was happy to let other artists play in the sandbox he created.

That said, things were very clear from the get-go.

These weren't his stories.

The Thrawn books, Dark Empire, all this material was explicitly just Tom Veitch and Timothy Zahn and whoever else's creation. Not George's, who was described by Lucas Licensing's Lucy Autrey Wilson as "not very involved".

The most he did was answers "OK/Not OK" questionnaires about what the EU writers could or couldn't write.

Telling Yoda's backstory? Not OK.

Telling Han's backstory, between the Prequel and Ep. 4? OK.

Having someone wear Vader's suit after his death? Not OK.

The Emperor returning in a clone body? OK.

So that's it. That was his involvement in the 90s.

Him saying "don't write something set during this/that period".

"OK/Not OK" questionnaires.

It's also worth mentioning he didn't approve of Mara Jade, Luke's wife in the EU. In his mind, "Jedi don't marry".

Rather, the character herself wasn't an issue... until she married Luke. When Timothy Zahn asked for Luke and Mara to be married or engaged, back in 1993, Lucasfilm initially vetoed the idea.

According to Brian Jay Jones (author of "A Life", George Lucas' biography), in 1995 George convened a 'Star Wars Summit' wherein he gathered licensees and international agents to Skywalker Ranch to reinforce "the need for him to maintain quality control, especially in the areas of publishing, where some characters—such as Luke Skywalker, who’d been given a love interest in a fiery smuggler named Mara Jade—were living lives far beyond the ones he had written for them in the original trilogy".

Sources:

During the Prequels...

George Lucas was writing and directing three movies with large themes, shot almost back-to-back, commuting between Australia and California. That's hard enough as it is.

Also, in the 90s, most movies were still shot on film. During the making of Phantom Menace, Lucas shot parts of the film by combining prototype digital Sony cameras and using them in combination with videotapes, rather than shooting on film.

For Attack of the Clones, George worked with Panavision and Sony to develop fully digital cameras, which eventually became the standard.

As if that wasn't enough, by making the Prequels, Lucas and ILM were also creating fully-digitized worlds (Coruscant, Geonosis) and characters (Jar Jar, Yoda) and laying the groundwork for the CGI technology that has now become essential for today's blockbusters.

Having established all this...

Do you really think he had the time or the patience to read through a bunch of novels and guidebooks?!

Simply put: George Lucas was too busy revolutionizing cinema to be involved in the development of the EU.

So if you ask George who Tahl or Vitiate are, or what the Stark Hyperspace War or a vapor manifold are, if you ask him to recite you the Sith Code... he'll grumble and say "heck if I know".

He outright admitted that fans know more Star Wars lore than him.

Because SOMEBODY ELSE wrote that stuff.

And he let them do it because:

It made money. A lot of money, especially after TPM came out. Money that could fund his next films. You don't mess with licensing. Hell, it's why he was so cool with there being all those Star Wars parodies.

He didn't see those stories as canon anyway, so it couldn't hurt. He saw them as a separate universe, an alternate timeline wherein the films happened ALONG with all these other tales.

So associating the EU content with Lucas is unreasonable. He was too busy, so he just let Howard Roffman, Lucy Autrey Wilson, Sue Rostoni and Lucas Licensing do their thing and crank out new stories and transmedia content for the fans.

It was a one-way relationship. The licensing parallel universe needed to have some internal consistency AND adhere to what Lucas established in the new films movies (which was difficult because they weren't involved in the production process), but he didn't need to be in line or consistent with anything they established.

Now, George did set some guidelines/boundaries and there were obviously do's and don'ts. But once those boundaries were set and the brief was established, the authors had a lot of freedom and, like, 99% of their interaction was with their editors from the respective publishing houses (Scholastic, Del Rey, Dark Horse) and the folks at Lucas Licensing.

George was only really brought in to sign off on, like, some of the major plot points only once in a blue moon. Stuff like:

"Let's make a Maul novel". George would go "fine, just keep him mysterious."

"What species should Plagueis be?" George: "he could be a Muun, here's concept art."

Nothing more than that. Again: the Expanded Universe was other storyteller's interpretation of what Lucas had created.

Sometimes, it was spot on and it aligned with George's vision.

Other times, this additional lore was created by writers who didn't know what he was doing with the Prequels, so they were in the dark regarding certain plot points.

And then you have the authors who absolutely disagreed with George's vision of the Prequels, or of Star Wars, in general, but wanted to engage with the material nonetheless.

Which is why, whilst sometimes the EU fixed some plot-holes, sometimes the EU had inconsistencies.

Inconsistencies such as Ki-Adi Mundi being a Knight on the Council, who is married and has kids (when the Jedi being prohibited from marrying is a major plot point in the Prequels)...

… or the Jedi being essentially superhuman (when one of the narrative reasons Qui-Gon is killed is to show that the Jedi are mortals, not supermen)…

... or other stuff like Mace having a blue lightsaber for a period (because who the hell knew purple was an option?!) or some Jedi having red lightsabers, or Sith Lords being able to become ghosts after death, when that's a feat you can only achieve by being selfless.

It's also why you get conflicting definitions of what the Jedi call "attachment" or conflicting narratives trying to reframe midi-chlorians as a cold, intentionally-flawed way of seeing the Force (when they're meant to be a beautiful metaphor for symbiosis and how the Force works).

And it makes sense that some of this stuff wouldn't track, considering how Lucas stated multiple times that he didn't have anything to do with it, that it was a separate universe from his own...

Safe to say that if George had any involvement in the EU, it was so minimal that he, himself, didn't count it as "involvement".

Additional sources:

Later years of the EU...

After the Prequels were over and done with, Lucas created The Clone Wars with Dave Filoni. At first, he'd just suggest a few storylines, but he quickly got VERY involved in the whole process. Far more involved than he ever was with EU content.

And y'know... Dave Filoni is a massive Star Wars fan and an avid EU reader. So, from time to time, Filoni would bring up EU material for Lucas to consider during the story conferences, and they'd look at what was out there together.

But it's important to note that George's stance toward the EU didn't change and became a rule for everyone on the writing staff: the EU content was nothing more than a pool of "fun what-if ideas" that they could draw inspiration from.

If they could, they'd try to not mess with continuity... but if the story called for it, they could retcon anything without batting an eye. Because it wasn't canon to them.

It's why author Karen Traviss quit working with Lucasfilm after the Mandalorians were retconned into pacifists in The Clone Wars.

The only things that were truly canon were:

George Lucas' own word.

The movies.

Previously established The Clone Wars lore.

And that's it.

Everything else was somebody's else's concern. Not George's.

Sources:

This way of seeing the EU continued all the way to the time shortly before George sold the company to Disney as his drafts for the Sequels featured:

no Jacen, Jaina or Anakin Solo (Han and Leia's kids from the EU),

a still-alive Chewbacca (who died, later in the EU),

no "New Jedi Order".

Every version of George's Sequels ignored the EU.

Which would explain why the EU reboot was planned in the summer of 2012 (when Lucas was in charge)!

I'll repeat: the EU reboot was planned months BEFORE George Lucas sold the company to Disney.

Because of course it was! It's a natural result of 30 years' worth of content that's so intermeshed that it would stop future artists - namely George himself - from creating anything else.

Sources:

Exceptions to the rule:

1. Comics (kinda)

He did read the comics. Or at least, he gave them a glance.

Aside from the fact that he grew up reading comics, understand that George Lucas is a visual artist, first and foremost.

That's what he's about and that's what he loves, that's what speaks to him. There's a reason his upcoming Museum of Narrative Art will feature comic panels and pages of all kind.

During pre-production on Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Lucas had the art team draw concept art before a script had ever been written so he'd have ideas for set-pieces.

Later on, J.W. Rinzler pitched him the idea of adapting his early drafts for Star Wars into comic form. Lucas' initial reaction was going "hell no". Rinzler had concept art made…

… and George took one look and was on board.

So it's not a stretch to assume that a book telling a story through beautiful drawings would catch his attention more than a novel.

Case in point: He knew who Quinlan Vos was and was enamored with the character. He knew Aayla enough to put her in Attack of the Clones after seeing a cover of Republic by John Forster featuring her (below, left).

(although, it's worth pointing out that he doesn't call her out by name a single time, in the director's commentary of the Attack of the Clones, she's just the "Twi'Lek Jedi" and her inclusion was done mainly to add more diversity to the Jedi fighting in the arena)

Over a decade later, when the comic Star Wars #7 came out in 2015, Lucasfilm acquired artist Simone Bianchi's original 20 pages and cover art for George, so he could feature it in his the Museum of Narrative Art:

So at the very least, he looked at the comics and admired the visuals.

Whether he actually read the comics in detail or just skimmed through most of them because he liked the pretty pictures (likelier, imo) is an entirely different matter.

Sources:

2. Video-Games (kinda)

Lucas would periodically check in on the status of LucasArts games, lending creative input and advice.

Sometimes, his advice ranged from "weird" to "he's gotta be fucking with us, right?"

Apparently, he advised the team developing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that they dub Starkiller "Darth Insanius" or "Darth Icky".

And you know what? I have no trouble believing it.

Firstly because if you're going by the idea that he gave no fucks about the EU, then of course he'll come up with "meh" names. But also, this is the same guy who created "Winkie" in 2012/2013, the character who'd go on to be named "Rey".

He also told the team creating Star Wars: 1313 that he wanted a fresh face as the main character, then only weeks before the game was announced he went "let's make it Boba Fett".

Finally... the cancelled Darth Maul game by Red Fly.

Codenamed “Damage”, then “Battle of the Sith Lords”. Think Batman: Arkham City meets Star Wars.

Red Fly pitched it as a coming of age story where we see Maul be kidnapped, tortured, eventually joining the Dark Side, and ending in TPM. Then they had interactions with LucasArts and found out Maul survived his fight with Obi-Wan.

The game went through several iterations, partly because the people at Red Fly were kept in the dark about the developments in The Clone Wars (Season 4 wasn't out yet), and even when some tidbits came out and they knew characters like Savage Oppress and Death Watch would be included, they didn't get more details.

Whatever. They do their best to make something from what they're told. Then they have a meeting with George. As this GameInformer article explains:

“A friendly George Lucas entered the room and was eager to hear the pitch from Red Fly’s creatives. “Before they could finish their spiel, Lucas cut them off, stood up, walked over to [two Sideshow Collectibles statues of Darth Maul and Darth Talon], rotated them to be facing the same direction, pushed them together, and said ‘They’re friends!’” adds the source. “He wanted these characters to be friends, and to play off of each other. […] The problem with the idea of Maul and Talon teaming up for a buddy cop-like experience was that they were separated by over 170 years […] When this vast time divide was brought up to Lucas’ attention, he brushed off the notion of it not working, and said that it could instead be a descendant of Darth Maul or a clone of him.”

So now the game is about a descendant of Maul, guided by his ancestor and fighting a redesigned Darth Krayt, etc?

The game was eventually cancelled when George sold the company.

Worth pointing out that this was circa 2010/2011... around the time that George started working on his Sequels, according to Jett Lucas. And we know that the treatment for the Sequels that Lucas presented to Bob Iger featured old man Maul and Darth Talon as the villains of the trilogy... take from that what you will.

3. The Prequel novelizations (kinda)

They were all given a copy of Lucas' screenplay.

While most of their work was with Sue Rostoni, Lucy Autrey Wilson, and Howard Roffman on the Lucasfilm team (like some of the other authors), Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore and Matthew Stover all spent a bit of time with George before writing their respective novels.

George told Terry Brooks to write some additional material for Anakin Skywalker because there wasn't enough of that in the movie. He was shown rushes from the set, they "opened the safe" for him. When Terry had further questions re: midi-chlorians and the history of the Sith, George goes on a 30-minute monologue about all that.

R.A. Salvatore had a 45-minute interview with him that turned into a 3-hour chat. He was able to go back to the Ranch a few times during the writing process, and one of those times George chatted with him and his wife during lunch. He was shown various cuts of the film and concept art.

Matthew Stover and George talked for a whole afternoon (I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume he was also shown the other stuff like some cuts/deleted scenes, concept art, etc etc).

Was there a line-edit of the ROTS novel from Lucas? Regarding the Revenge of the Sith novelization, some people bring up the idea that George Lucas did a line-edit on the book because Stover wrote this statement on theforce.net:

That said...

Stover, also stated that Lucas told him to write whatever he wanted as long as it was good,

he also said he didn't actually see Lucas type the edits,

an anonymous Del Rey editor stated on theforce.net that the notion that George edited the novel himself is "extremely incorrect".

There's enough "reasonable doubt" for the argument to be made that the Revenge of the Sith novelization was edited the same way as any other Star Wars novel, rather than by George himself.

The fact remains, though, that it was a novel written by someone who understood the source material, as it was explained to him in detail by George Lucas himself (a luxury many SW authors never got).

Lucas' backstory for the Sith in the TPM novel: If Pablo Hidalgo is to be believed, the backstory of the Sith, as detailed in the Phantom Menace novelization, came from Lucas.

(Obviously, I'd allow for the very likely possibility that there was some embellishment by Terry Brooks)

20 years later, however, it seems George decided to stick to the idea that there was no war between the Jedi and the Sith.

Final thought:

A lot of people will insist that George was involved in spite of all the above-posted evidence. Saying stuff like:

"But [X person] said that it was canon..."

Sometimes, they’ll link you to this whole website collecting quotes of other people saying "the EU was canon" (never George Lucas except for, like, one/two quotes where he acknowledges the existence of Sequel books which MUST mean he saw them as canon, right?) and...

On the one hand... of course they'll all vaguely say he's "involved" and tip-toe around the subject; it's technically true and, again, they're trying to make money. It's a business, folks.

On the other... yeah? Duh. Of course it was canon to Lucas Licensing and the authors who wrote for the EU. But it wasn't canon to George. And I just gave you a whole bunch of quotes directly from him and/or the same people quoted on that website, all confirming that he didn't see them as canon and he wasn't involved (or barely was).

Other times, we're straight-up approaching "burying head in the sand/lalalala I'm not listening!" levels of justifications.

Like, we just talked about the Sith's origins, right?

I remember a while ago, this Star Wars YouTuber was reviewing this quote from Lucas, in The Star Wars Archives: 1999-1995:

The YouTuber's reaction the second after reading the quote is saying:

"And of course, what George is referring to, here, is the Battle of Ruusan and the Brotherhood of Darkness using the Thought Bomb created by Lord Khan to kill the Jedi Lord Hoth and…"

My guy! You read a whole excerpt that started with "there was never a war between the Jedi and the Sith" and the words "Ruusan" or "Thought Bomb" never being mentioned once in the passage (or in the TPM novelization)... and concluded that George was referring to the Jedi/Sith Battle of Ruusan? And all that other EU stuff?

See what I mean, folks?

Now, look, I grew up with these stories (heck, I grew up with these stories in three different languages). So I get it. I know they're awesome.

And, yes, there is a difference between the kind of content we used to get and the content we're getting now (for one, lightsabers used to be lightsabers, in video-games, not baseball bats).

But if you're trying to prop up the EU, the facts show that the "George Lucas signed off on them" authority argument isn't a valid one. Because he clearly wasn't very interested or involved in it.

And why would you want to use this authority argument, anyway?

You shouldn't need to say "this came from Lucas" to like those stories. They don't need to be George Lucas Approved™ to matter and to be validated as "worthy of appreciation". They're valid on their own, they're great stories. And if you like them better than the Sequels, go to town. I know I do.

The only thing you can't do (with a straight face, at least) is hold them up as "the True Lucas-Approved Canon™ as opposed to the Disney Trash" in a rant, because you'd be wrong and/or lying. Neither had Lucas' hand in them in any meaningful way.

Finally... I was devastated when the EU was officially made non-canon, in 2014. And for a few years, I saw the new Star Wars continuity through this lens:

"Any EU content is still canon unless it's directly retconned...!"

Trust me, when I say that only pain lies that way. Because that's not how a lot of Star Wars creators, including the Flanelled One himself, see it. The way they saw/see it is:

"Unless it's been shown in a movie or TCW... it's a legend, it might have happened."

This line of thought seems to be increasingly applied to the new Disney canon too, by the way. "If it's not shown on a screen, then it's probably canon yet also up for grabs to be retconned."

And the sooner you accept that this is how it's being treated, the sooner you accept that the EU was never canon to Lucas or Filoni...

... the less painful it'll be when, I dunno, you watch The Acolyte and it's nothing like the Darth Plagueis novel or Plagueis himself is absent, or he's there, but as an Ithorian instead of a Muun.

(note how I didn't use the word "painless")

[raifuujin]

M27 Spoilers

Okay, so. My thoughts.

First off, the cousins thing. I'll be honest, I fully thought the movie was going to go with a common ancestor route instead of the more direct dad's being brothers. Obviously that didn't turn out, but considering they also brought in Okita and his face, it would have made a lot more sense to just go further back and also leave explanation for the other same-face Gosho boys that are scattered around. But I guess that wouldn't have been dramatic enough, so oh well.

I'd still probably ship KaiShin. The cousins thing really doesn't bother me when they don't even know (because nobody in this series talks about any family until it has maximum audience whammy). I see some people who are lamenting, because it makes things uncomfortable for them, and that's fair. I don't see it quite as bad as like. Leia and Luke from Star Wars, or the more personal Layton and Descole from PL, both pairs being direct siblings instead of first cousins, but plenty of people still probably view it as too close. Also, if anyone is familiar with the hiimdaisy Ace Attorney comic with Apollo and Trucy and Phoenix is supposed to tell them they're related and Does Not time it well. -finger guns- It would make a great parody comic idea for this KaiShin situation. (I might do it myself if no one else does, but would Not be soon.)

Other people bring up that Gosho mentioned much, much earlier that there was a reason Kaito and Shinichi look alike. Which I did remember, but the thing about that is. That I don't trust Gosho in the slightest. Like, did he actually plan out Yuusaku and Toichi's separated twins backstory at that time, or did he have a general idea that he'd be making them familial related somewhere in their tree? Some people truly thought Kaito and Shinichi could be the brothers, with the Kuroba's adopting for some various fandom-created reasons. Or other, far more dramatic direct relation. Could Gosho's comment have just been him making a joke that the 'reason' was him thinking about them having the same inspiration? How serious was he meant to be taken 20 years ago?

Many people saying 'of course they're related, they look exactly alike':

1) Sameface syndrome with characters goes well beyond Kaito and Shinichi. There were so many protoypes of characters, or just matching looks to character types, of course not everyone is gonna hop on the 'well duh, they must be related' train. It's nice to feel vindication for headcanoning them as family, but don't make it sound like people are stupid for being upset. There's very little to tell what's lampshading and teasing vs 'no, really, they're gonna be related to each other'.

2) The common ancestor explanation would have worked perfectly fine, and honestly, the fact that Toichi and Yuusaku are twin brothers separated through divorce who happen to both have stayed in the Tokyo area (mostly) while both being internationally famous and maintaining contact with each other and sending gifts even when one of them is publicly dead. Sounds goddamn stupid. (The brothers idea would probably have been fine and plausible, it was all that Extra that pushed it into 'okay just stop, this sounds like a load of contrived bullshit'. How did no one during the 'reveal' of that go 'um, I know this is how you want this connection to go, but can we make it sound more plausible/real?')

Because, Gosho clearly didn't plan on them being related all along. That's probably what actually bothers be about the contrived connection (since the real impact to KaiShin is relatively small). It's very obvious that he just drew his male protags for quite a few stories looking very similar. (Usually in his image, to an extent, though that's usually just mentioned for Kaito, specifically.) It was also clear that when he had Kid make a surprise appearance in DC, there really wasn't supposed to be a connection. Did he come up with it on his own? Only after people asked about it? Did he go 'you know, I might could connect the two for fun'? I don't know. I don't trust a man who created Sera's concept based on a cool female detective and wrapped her up with Akai and made the whole stupid family thing, and who changed Amuro's planned role as a bad guy on a whim because he was too cool to be bad, to have actually planned out this family connection all along.

And even with all that, there's also the issue of revealing this information in a movie. People have had arguments about movie canonicity for years, and yet this all gets mentioned for cinema shock value. I don't mind the using extra characters, or making things more action packed than the manga would allow, or even stupid things like Kidnichi 200 times. But this? This is asking for chaos. It feels like a big clusterfuck of yes, no, maybe, for how important this is going to be going forward, because we don't even know if Gosho means to make use of this info for the mangas at all, or if it's going to remain background information from a movie that may or may not even be relevant to know. Except as a wink to the audience and a middle finger to shippers, I guess.

(There are pluses to this, which is general thinking about the implications of this family dynamic and how chaotic things could actually get or how things got to be how they are already. I'd like to know what exactly Yuusaku knows about his brother's status and if his 'friend from interpol' could be used to connect to Toichi's whole. Legally died but is still alive and being an a-hole to his son by letting him go into the profession that was trying to kill him.) ((Yes, we're still gonna murder Toi, especially since his amnesia out is clearly off the table. We don't know enough about what Yuusaku knows, but I can't even say he's on thin ice because the chances of him knowing a lot about Kaito's situation is too damn high to let him off the hook.))

...Anyway, that's obviously the main drama, but side note that I'm also mad because movie being canon or not aside (I adopt movies as canon, especially newer ones, but people can also ignore them without loosing manga compliance really), the issue I have is the further blurring of MK and DC connection. At this point, it literally is just Akako being the crux of the 'are they the same universe or aren't they' argument, and it's literally never gonna get answered because Gosho refuses to even let her show up in DC for anything. You truly can argue either way when she's just not shown. And even though it won't happen, it's to a point where they feel so obviously the same universe that I hope Gosho just let's Akako do a cameo at the end of DC just to mess with people. But regardless, making MK only characters directly related to DC characters is. Maddening for that whole argument. (Sure, Toichi has appeared in DC before, however, the movie goes out of the way to add that extra 'fuck you' to the audience by revealing not just Toichi being alive and texting Yuusaku casually, but the reveal is in his fucking. Corbeau outfit. Which. Corbeau is 1000% MK only knowledge, so there's not getting around that no one would know that character unless they've read MK.)

And last note, the one other spoiler I've seen mentioned is the failed Heizuha confession and just. The reasons for failing get dumber and dumber and just add to the mess of spoilers coming from this movie. Oh no, Iori, the former government agent dude working for the rich girl love rival for Heiji's affection, dropped a flashbomb at the exact time Heiji confessed, so Kazuha never heard it. I don't think the spoilers I saw ever clarified if he was doing something and it was coincidence, or if it was intentional, but. God the fails being turned into elaborate jokes is getting. Ridiculous. I don't even care if they get together in canon, I'm not super invested in the ship, but I feel like even if I did want them to get together, there's. Literally zero hope for any build ups at this point. You can't keep leading up to it and pulling it away, people are gonna stop caring. At this point, half the people invested are just going to give an exasperated 'finally' when it happens, instead of actually being excited at this point, it's just tiring.

I hope the rest of the movie is at least entertaining. Fun action packed eye-candy fluff to help numb the stupid 'important' scenes. Spoilers might feel ick, but it's in a vacuum of reading words about scenes on their own. (Which probably won't change the Yuusaku scene at all, but Heiji's confession is. Probably an 'okay, here we go, what happens this time' thing that's better if you're already just there for entertainment.)

Edit: Someone has now basically confirmed with their own watch that the movie is fun, and the bombshell of lore is at the very end.

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 2

Propaganda why Charlie Morningstar is insufferable:

"Her entire personality was rewritten to be insufferable. She behaved like an idiot who didn't understand anyone or the problems they had. Her ideas were shit and so were her dramas."

"She was insufferable in the the Masquerade episode. It infanticided her so much, it ruined any enjoyment I might have had in her. She is supposed to be an adult woman trying to safe sinners meanwhile she acts and is treated like a toddler??"

"I know her whole character is naive and innocent. I even liked her at first. But with every rewatch I find her more annoying. She is waaay too naive and doesn't listen to anyone else's concerns like Vaggie's or Lucifer's, instead just believing everyone will listen to her. I might be alone in this, I just hate this archetype of naivety and innocence to this degree."

"Rich girl who doesn't consider other people's needs and boundaries until it gets too far. Literally builds an entire hotel to get sinners to heaven WITHOUT first seeing if her theory is actually possible. She tells Heaven AFTER it was built if they could offer some help or support instead of before it. Toxic to her girlfriend. Literally complains about having daddy issues when there's no issues to be found. Her father is depressed and although he doesn't like her hotel concept he never shoots her down for it. She acts like the world revolves around her rainbow ideas when literally noone cares. You being a princess means nothing to most people. Get off your high horse and learn what it means to be anything but princess of hell. The narrative wants us to sympathize with Charlie but gives us no reason to beyond Quirky™ and 'oh she's so nice' SHUT UP you're literally lying to the audience about Charlie. For all she claims to be, Charlie sure is a self-centered brat trying to live out some heroic fantasy with unwilling co-stars she forces to bend to her will."

Propaganda why Dean Winchester is insufferable:

"This man is racist against anyone other than humans and abused the people he was supposed to love the most. He literally abandons Castiel at his most vulnerable and never lets Sam leave the whole hunting monsters thing. Worst part is that the fandom will get behind him and defend him because what, he’s pretty? Pretty much a terrible person, more like. I sympathize with his backstory but Dean has ZERO character development during the course of 15 whole seasons. When he DOES have development it involves abusing someone. Sam tries to be a normal person and always gets punished for it. The only hint we have that Dean might’ve been trying to change is a piece of paper in the final episode AFTER HE DIES. then guess what? Sam lives out his whole life and has a family 😭 that’s very, very telling."

"misogynistic scumbag. theres also a few different times that dean finds teenagers sexy with the most recent and prominent example that i can recall being the scooby doo crossover episode in season 13 where hes super into daphne who in the version they chose for the episode is 15-16 and is interacting with her as if shes a real person cause they got magicked into the episode. he treats everyone around him like shit and the only time the narrative agrees that thats a bad thing is when he has the mark of cain put on him and hes acting no differently than he does usually its just now acknowledged that hes treating others like shit. ive been rewatching the show for shits and giggles with a friend and wow he really does not treat anyone well but i wanna focus on how he treats sam for a second cause dude's hobby seems to be ignoring what his brother wants and lying to sam about doing stuff that directly concerns him the demon blood and souless things are reasonable cause those were both Bad for sam but theyre still part of a wider pattern and the most prominent example of this being when dean tricks sam into letting gadreel possess him and actually gaslights sam about it with the whole ordeal ending when its revealed gadreel lied about who he was and while possessing sam murders a friend of theirs. his voice is just also stupid as fuck im sorry this is just petty but he just sounds like hes trying so hard to be gruff n intimidating but he just sounds like a kid pretending to be batman"

"Dean’s list of sins is crazy long because of how long the show ran, but the key thing for me is that post-locking Sam in the bunker (season 4 I think?), I just can’t enjoy their relationship anymore. I normally love their sibling dynamic, but Dean’s ultimate worst past-the-point-of-no-return moment for me was demonizing (pun intended) his little brother for being “addicted” to demon blood, which only happened because of a series of events that were either Dean’s or someone else’s fault, not Sam’s. I also really dislike how the fandom treats Dean like this angel (pun intended) who has done no wrong and even tries to justify the MULTIPLE times he’s beaten up and otherwise abused his little brother. Canon Dean is like the polar opposite of fanon Dean: he’s homophobic and racist (jokes about a Black man being sexually assaulted in prison), misogynistic (take a shot every time he calls a woman a slur and you’ll die of alcohol poisoning), and abusive."

"Misogynistic asshole and too many of the things he does get treated as not actually bad or even good by both fans and the show when he violates peoples autonomy and is incredibly abusive to the people he loves the most. And it wouldn't be as annoying if people didn't justify so many of his behaviors or if he ever changed or even just was seen as a bad guy in the show more than he is."

">Was a misogynist (loved to call women skanks, bitches, hoes)

>Used gay as an insult multiple time during the show's run (idc if he's gay an homophobic, that's still insulting)

>Beat up his brother for being possessed

>Beat up his brother for losing his soul (not his brother's fault)

>Used dubious consent to get his brother possessed in a different unrelated possession incident after possession was being used (badly...this is supernatural after all) as a metaphor for SA

>Threatened to murder his brother when he was hallucinating (yay we aren't ableist)

>Locked a child up in a box

>Threatened to kill the child he locked up in a box

>Made a creepy, sexual comment about a barely-legal high school girl

>Got the woman and kid he was living with memory-wiped"

"Really mean to Cas (called him a child, zero respect for him, calls him family and casts him out when the angels are looking for him), and an absolute dick to Jack (threatening to kill him CONSTANTLY)"

[lihikainanea]

I know you have had a little writers block and not much time to write but in case this can inspire more tiger and Bill hear goes. So Bill is working on a movie that is a mess. He took the job because because he really loved the director, but lets so with rewrites and other politics that director quit. Bill was still in a contracted he could not easily get out out and he did not want to quit something he had already put work into.

Filming finally started back up with a new script and he was doing his best to make his character believable. But his neppo-baby co-star was not helping. Of course he was also considered a neppo-baby by the US press but he did not think he was not a brat like this woman. She wanted to change things in the script. She wanted special foods and no one could talk to her unless she was officially on set. He could not even get her to go over lines or how he could respectfully touch her during scenes since they were playing a couple.

He of course talked though things with Tiger as much as he thought he could but this was a very tough shoot. He would come home late and only get about 6 hours before having to be back on set.

His mind is wheeling one night when he has to do a love scene with this awful girl the next day. Tiger calms him enough for him to fall asleep. His brain has other ideas to fix the thoughts he has about the next day. He dreams of actually having an affair with awful girl. And the sex is just....he wakes in cold sweat. He was moaning in his sleep and he can not even look at Tiger. And boy does he not want to go to work that day either.

Ohhhhh I like this.

Look, I mean, with how many films actors do--every once in awhile, they must work with fellow castmates that they just hate. Abhor. Their hatred is so thinly veiled that it's incredibly palpable to the crew onset, but thankfully things rarely ever make it to the press because of NDAs and big ass scary lawyers and the like. But every once in awhile--we, the ever little-seeing public--we get wind of it. Think Don't Worry Darling. The drama surrounding that production, for the so many reasons it seems to entail, was just--unf, chef kiss to those of us that still love the thrill of a little celebrity drama.

And I'm sure Bill, in all of his perfectionist nature, was also hated on a few sets. His perfectionist nature. His insistence on trying the scene 100 different ways, for 100 different takes, until he was satisfied. Not everyone performs to that calibre nor do they hold themselves accountable to such lofty expectations as that big swedish talking tree, but that's just who he is. That's how he works.

But y'know, I'd even venture to say that it's quite rare that Bill actually likes his castmates and fellows actors he works with. That's not to say that he hates their guts--not at all. But rather he's just pretty...ambivalent about the whole thing. Neutral. He's the Switzerland of film sets. He's a pretty private person in general, a pretty guarded individual, and for him this is a job. Onscreen chemistry is far more important than actual chemistry in this line of work, and he's able to separate the two. He can have great onscreen chemistry with someone that he's not super friendly with, and he doesn't feel any inclination to add the to the inner workings of his closest social circle. Beers after a long day on set is one thing, the occasional celebratory dinner, gifts for the make up and costume crew. Getting to know everyone on a first name basis. But beyond that, Bill is more than happy to go back to his trailer between takes, or go back to his apartment at the end of the day, and cook dinner with tiger or have drinks with some of his friends who flew out to spend a few days with him.

And on that note, he's probably had to work with a lot of actors that he really doesn't like. People who either take themselves way too seriously (Bill thinks method acting is the most ridiculous fucking thing anyone could ever do), or the opposite--people who don't take this seriously at all. And if you call Bill a nepo baby to his face you'll likely be tackled violently from stage left by tiger--but it's also why he's ultra sensitive about those nepo baby actors who don't have any talent, and don't even have the work ethic to build it up.

It's still like pulling teeth to get Bill to admit that his laast name opened up a few doors for him, but he'll also be the first to admit that his initial acting jobs weren't....uh, they weren't great. But he worked at it, he honed his craft, he worked his ass off, and now nobody can say the opportunities he's gotten have been handed to him.

But y'know, the thought of nepotism--well, it doesn't really bother some people.

And maybe on a recent film set, Bill is living in his version of hell. His love interest in the film is a girl in her young to mid-twenties, the type who grew up with two famous parents and all of a sudden decided she wanted to act--so roles were handed to her. Bill's not quite sure how she even got the job given how their chemistry read went, with Bill nearly glaring daggers at her the whole time. She's just the type of person he can't stand. She's loud about everything. She comes with an entourage to everything. It's always over the top, all the time. She never learns her lines. She doesn't give him anything to work with in a scene, reciting her lines like a robot and not leaving anything to improv, natural reactions. She needs a million takes for one scene--not because she's a perfectionist--but because she forgot her lines, or didn't listen to the notes the director gave her. Bill is pretty convinced this entire film could have shot in half the time if she'd just be a little bit of a fucking professional about it.

The whole thing irks him at first, then just pisses him right the hell off shortly after. She's late for the call time, when the other actors are sitting in the transport car well before the ass crack of dawn waiting for her to come out her house. She comes into the makeup trailer blasting her music and yelling along with her entourage, while Bill is reviewing his scene changes and trying to get his head into his character for the day--they knock over his coffee, get in everyone's way, and just never shut the fuck up. Her friends--and her--are all filming all the time, and Bill spends most of his time between takes trying to dodge ending up on someone's instagram or tiktok.

But y'know, it's just so pitifully ironic that the only scene this girl is keen to rehearse--a little too keen, actually--are any of the kissing scenes, or the sex scenes. And with one scheduled in just a few days time, this little nepo baby has been all over Bill trying to find proper times--evenings, of course, with a little wine to loosen up--for them to uh, practice. Bill's gag reflex has been barely contained.

And like, tiger bears the brunt of his rants at the end of every filming day. Whether it's 2AM or 2AM or anywhere in between, he always FaceTimes her when he wraps the day and tiger always thinks that vein in his neck is real damn close to bursting.

"She just...she doesn't get it tiger," he rants, pausing to take a drag of his cigarette, "This is a fucking joke to her. This is my job, my profession, and it's a fucking joke to her."

"Has anyone told her?" she asks, "Maybe she needs to be called out on it."

"Her dad's studio is partially funding this one," Bill exhales, the camera shaking as he continues to walk.

"You're fucked then," tiger smiles sadly. Bill just makes a frustrated noise before continuing to rant for the next hour.

And like, maybe tiger goes to visit him on set right? And she's not it before, the whole rehearsing an upcoming steamy scene with him--but wait wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

So, tiger visits him on set and sees firsthand what a fucking nightmare this girl is. Tiger spends most of her time in his trailer but somehow, she still has to dodge what feels like a million cameras all linked to a hundred different kinds of social media, all from her entourage. They ain't shy about questions that are none of their damn business either--shit like who she is, how she knows Bill, what she's doing there.

"I'm his bodyguard," she cracks, except tiger is kind of scary when she's pissed off and she's not really blinking so suddenly the gaggle of girls don't really know what to think.

In any case, tiger can definitely see why Bill has been so pissed off lately. Everything is a joke to this girl, she doesn't take anything seriously, and suddenly she's just real excited about the scenes coming up in a few days.

"We should practice tonight!" she says gleefully, as both her and Bill are sitting in the makeup trailer getting all un-done after the day. Tiger quirks a brow from the back of the room where she's playing with one of the other actor's dogs.

"No thanks," Bill says immediately.

"You can come by, I'll get some wine, we can loosen up."

"No," he says again.

"We need to rehearse," she continues, "We need to practice."

"I've had enough practice."

And thankfully one of the make up artists--tiger makes a note to give her a big hug after--one of the make up artists sees every single hair on Bill's neck stand up.

"Bill, sorry--can you stop talking? It's getting the make up caught in the creases and making it hard to remove," she says kindly. Bill gives her a wide smile.

"Sure, sorry," he says softly.

And that's the end of that.

But like, look. It's plain as day. Bill is chainsmoking. He didn't sleep that night, he just rants and rants at how repulsed he is, and how much he's dreading the next 1.5 weeks worth of scenes. Tiger does her best to distract him--keeps his whisky glass full, hell she even gets him in the sauna and sucks his soul out from his dick just to try and get his mind off it. But the sun rises the next morning as much as we sometimes wish it wouldn't, and Bill has to go to work.

I'll be waiting for you in your trailer bud," tiger says reassuringly, "Remember, you can take as many breaks as you need."

But y'know, here's the thing. Bill is getting through it, because he's a goddamned professional. Is he having fun? No. Does he hate every second of it? Yes. But it's not that. It doesn't take him long to figure out that this girl...she's purposely fucking up the scenes, just so they have to do them again. And again. And again. The scene where he has to push her up again a wall, rip her shirt open, and kiss the hell out of her? Somehow, that scene took the entire day to shoot. 57 takes.

The actual sex scene, him on top of her, both of them wearing nothing but tiny little pasties? Somehow, that took two entire days to shoot. More than 100 takes.

On any set that Bill has been on, things like that could usually be shot in anywhere from 4-6 takes--maybe half a day, depending on lighting and equipment needs.

Bill was livid. He drew the line initially and demanded a closed set, after she brought her entire entourage to watch that day. It took a lot of negotiating, but Bill wasn't budging on it.

And every single day that Bill went to set and have to film that, when he'd get home--man, he took it out on tiger. The poor girl was ravaged. Bill just needed her, needed to completely wreck her, just to get the taste and feel and everything of that other pain in the ass as far away from him as possible.

But y'know, Bill's mind is a cruel place.

And maybe its triggered by something small. He has a long day on set so tiger goes shopping, and when he comes back to his rented apartment she has some stuff strewn everywhere and Bill spots a shirt on the bed. His blood boils.

"What the fuck is this?" he marches over to it, holding it up.

"It's....my new shirt?" tiger says cautiously, "I thought it was cute."

"Get rid of it tiger," he snaps. He grabs his lighter from his pocket, flicking it open and holding it to the shirt.

"Okay whoa," tiger jumps, grabbing the shirt from him, "Easy bud. What's going on."

"She has this shirt," he seethes, "I don't ever want to see it on you."

"Ah," tiger says, "Right. You won't see it again bud."

"Promise?" he puts the lighter away.

"Promise.

But it's enough to just...kickstart some part of Bill's brain that should have stayed dormant. And that night, he drifts off to sleep with tiger in his arms and his thumb in her mouth--except he dreams of her. And it's ~spicy~. A stupid ass, unreasonable sex dream that felt really good. Amazing sex, actually, and from the noises he was making tiger wasn't sure if he was in pain or having the time of his life but the piece of plywood digging in to her back gave her a small inclination.

That is, until he woke up and all but shoved her away with enough force that she almost went tumbling off the bed.

"Bill!" she shrieked, but he was already scratching at his skin and lightly smacking his own face.

"No no no no no," he muttered, "No no no god fuck no."

"Bud?"

His eyes snap to hers and they're wild, pupils huge, his hair sticking up all over the place and his chest heaving.

"You," he says, out of breath, "Here. Now."

"What--"

"Now."

And tiger doesn't have time to do anything before two long arms wrap around her waist and haul her up with force, slamming her into his chest.

"Fuck me," he growls into her neck.

"What?" tiger's still trying to get her wits about her because a second ago she was asleep and comfy and now this wild ass enraged beast has his hands all over her and she can't quite keep up.

A hard spank lands on her ass and she squeals a little, but then he has his fist balled in her hair and his teeth biting at her neck.

"Fuck me," he growls again, "Fuck me into next fucking week."

"Bill, what the hell is going--"

But then suddenly she's in the air, and then she's pinned under his body as he looms--big and scary and totally wild--above her.

"Tiger, I just had a dream about her," he snaps, "And now you need to get it the fuck out of my head so that I never have to see it again. So I'm only going to ask you one more time."

He yanks her head back, licking up her neck before biting down hard on her earlobe. His other hand cups her harshly through her panties and she gasps.

"Fuck me," he growls.

Tiger is all too happy to oblige.

[starlightsearches]

STAR MY DARLIN!! CONGRATS ON 2K! I love the idea of a mixtape celebration just generally, and love all the songs on there (how does it feel to you know your music taste is top tier??? I would be jealous if I wasn’t already taking notes)

For the prompt request: #11 with Eddie Munson and Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II: Mountains beyond Mountains” or “The Suburbs”

Someone Please Cut the Lights

Track 11 - Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen: Pick a character and tell me your favorite song, and I'll write a short blurb or headcanons based on it.

Eddie Munson x GN! Reader

thanks so much for the request, E! and for all the nice words uwu 💖 i hope you like this one!!

📼✨ mixtape milestone ✨📼

Warnings: this is all just fluff! i'm finally getting back into these and I haven't been feeling my best so comments, reblogs and likes would be much appreciated 💖

Eddie never struck you as an outdoorsy guy, but he's always been full of surprises.

This just isn't one of them.

There's crickets chirping somewhere in the low grasses like they're summoning the stars while Eddie wrestles with the tent poles, swearing every time his fingers get caught in the hinges.

Stumbling around on his long legs, glowing in the sunset. Your heart thuds a little harder just watching him.

Eddie looks at you, a little embarrassment in his smile, probably hearing the same echoes you are—don't worry about it babe. I can set up a tent. No problem.

You slide your hips to the edge of the carpeted trunk, leaning out to warn him. You've got to grip at the bumper to stay in place. Eddie's got his own field of gravity, got your stomach flipping like you're hanging out the open door of a plane, fingers itching to let go.

"Come here."

Your command isn't loud, but he hears. Eddie stumbles in your direction, dropping one tent pole and tripping over another--hands outstretched, always ready to hold you.

"Okay," he mumbles, conceding to any criticism before you've even given it, "maybe I underestimated the tent as an opponent."

Eddie lets out an addictive little laugh when he cups your cheeks and even if you had been mad at him for the tent, you could never stay that way. Your feet curl around the backs of his knees, nudging until he buckles into you.

His chest hits yours, eyes all big and mouth soft with surprise. It's not cold, but he still shivers when you brush your fingers up around his neck.

"I don't care about the tent, Eds."

He swallows whatever comment he was gonna make, scrambling on to you when your lips meet his in a sweet and lingering kiss. Letting the stubble on his upper lip catch against your mouth while he presses into you, cupping the backs of your thighs in his hands to protect your skin from the rough carpet as he slides you further into the privacy of the van.

Not that you need it. There's nobody around for miles. As far as you're concerned, you're the only two people in the world.

Eddie pulls back just enough to talk, lips still traveling over your skin. "It's not that I don't appreciate the affection, sweetheart, but where we gonna sleep without a tent?"

You grumble, frustrated that he'd take his kisses away for such an irrelevant question.

"Why not in here?"

Eddie quirks a brow you can't see—his face is buried in the crook of your neck—but you hear it in his voice.

"Not very comfy." He raps his knuckles against the bottom of the trunk to emphasize his point. "How about we make out for a while and then head back to the trailer?"

It's a tempting offer. You smile up at Eddie, bite your lip like you might even agree.

So his totally caught off guard when you smack a pillow down over the back of his head, taking advantage of his surprise to crawl out from under him.

There's a pile of all the camping gear you could scrounge together in the back seat. You grab the sleeping pad, heaving it into the back, untying the rope it'd been secured with.

Eddie's watching your movements, chivalrously holding back the pillow his stolen from you until he knows you're equally armed.

"Help me with this, would you?"

It takes a few shots to the head, the van full of giggles and muffled cries while you wack each other with anything relatively soft and in your reach, but you eventually tire him out, laying in a pile of blankets, the breeze and glimmering stars peeking in through the open back doors.

You've never been more content, Eddie's arm cupped around your waist, warm chest to your back. He's still breathing heavy, strands of his hair out of place and tickling at your nose, your eyelids. You watch the sun sliver burn out behind the horizon line.

"Wish it could always be like this."

Eddie murmurs your own thoughts against the back of your head, hand brushing absently against your arm. Not to pull you closer, like he had over and over again before a thousand different times, in a thousand ways.

But there is nothing closer than this.

"Maybe it could be," you answer.

Eddie's quiet for a long moment, long enough you turn to look at him. His eyes are rimmed with a wet shine, lips parted.

"Do you really mean that?" Eddie asks, and there's something raw hidden in the words. Something timid and afraid and ready to be abandoned waiting inside him.

You've always loved the rawest parts of Eddie. You nod, curling your fingers around his. "Yeah, Eds. I'd go anywhere with you."

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

Can you tell us a little more about the Garden of Sorrow?

The garden of sorrow was actually created for a completely different magical girl project i had in mind back in 2018-2019, which would be two webcomics running concurrently titled Kirby Hermes and the Power of Hope & Anthea Patel and the Game of Life. It'd start as them being very distinct in tone and style, with KHatPoH being a precure, kid cosmic, sailor moon style kids power fantasy full of adventure, and APatGoL would be a bit more grim and for an older demographic. The twist would be that they werent just running at the same time but would be in the same universe, happening cocurrently, until the storylines converged. If you've retained anything ive mentioned to you about the labor of making comics you understand why this is an insane prospect and its better for me that its dropped.

In the story, there were two forces that gave magical girls their power: Mother Star and the Garden of Sorrow. Mother Star represented the hopes and dreams of everyone in the Cosmos, and was a slumbering dragon at the heart of the milky way, connecting to people who dared to imagine the kind of hero they wanted to be. (she had a son named the star prince, who isnt too relevant here but he was like if wheatley was made of banana pudding.) Her chosen warriors were the Starlight Knights. The other power at play was the Garden of Sorrow, which governed the magic of all life on earth-- the cycle of life and death, evolutionary paths, the will to live and reproduce and persevere. It thought bigger picture, often allowing harm to happen in order for life to flourish in the aftermath (think of how flash fires are necessary for the health of eucalyptus forests, or how volcanic ash makes better soil for things to grow.) The Garden of Sorrow's chosen agents in this were Earth Witches. You can see how a few of these ideas got recycled. (It was really difficult to conceive of a story where Anthea was the direct protagonist, because part of her shtick is being a bit hard to get to know, so experiencing her from the POV of other characters usually works to her benefit.)

in Carousel Waltz's first draft, the Garden of Sorrow is an alternate dimension/Power that Be that picked the Dancers on its behalf for the sake of helping protect life on earth as well. It also had six servants, the Sovereigns of Life which oversaw the six kingdoms of life-- Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Archaea, and Bacteria, who were in danger of being killed by a rogue agent of the Garden of Life: Araceli Levin, a renegade Dancer, who was trying to use the powers of the Sovereigns of Life (and ultimately the Garden of Sorrow) to create a new universe.

In the current draft of Carousel Waltz the Garden of Sorrow surrounds the town of Potter's Fields, Washington. It's not really a physical location, but if you try to leave town, eventually you'll walk into it, and unless you turn around that's all there will be for as long as you walk: a half-wild, overgrown garden full of the remains of civilization. What's beyond the Garden of Sorrow is beyond the protagonists. For all the townspeople know, whatever's going on out THERE will make them WISH they were back in here. (The logistics of how the town self-sustains on matters of food and power need not be discussed. The Garden is a metaphor, in the end.) It's goal: to prevent Midas Schiller from escaping Potter's Fields and remaking the world.

Midas seeks immortality, but it's not enough to simply defy death; he wants to master it, to control it, and control every part of the world and make it his perfect image. If he could preserve it all in gold, he would. He wants to remake the world he remembers having once, and is willing to do anything to do so. The Garden of Sorrow has thus sort of quarantined him, and is sending magical girl monsters as antibodies against his virus. So far he's evaded death by employing the Garden of Sorrow's own magic against it, bestowing small amounts of magic upon willing actors: Dancers, who operate on the understanding that they are protecting their town and one of its only figureheads from being senselessly murdered by a magical forest that no one quite understands or can communicate with.

The Garden of Sorrow I think is like. I dunno how best to describe it. It's the fear of death. It's the fear of living after having wanted to die. It's the grim looming dread of the future after spending your entire life, your whole childhood, assuming you were going to die by the time you were 17, 18, 19 years old and now you're 24, you're 35, you're 47 and you're still alive and now you have to figure out what that means and it turns out that theres no one answer. The Garden of Sorrow is the fact that life will always find a way, and that the way may be ugly and weird and brutal and bloody but it is still a way. It's the fact that nature reclaims everything, we are a part of our ecosystem, the reminder that we are animals alongside other animals and plants and fungi and extremophile single-celled organisms. It's your immune system. It's me nearly drowning under a kayak when I was thirteen and someone coming by in time to pull me out of the water. it's a mountain goats song. it's watching utena when you're 16 and you dont think youre ready for it yet so you wait a couple years and try again when you know some more things about yourself and you want to die a little less. It's the promise that you don't have to die cisgender. It's being able to make peace with death from a young age to the point where it doesn't scare you anymore. It's the special kind of insanity you get when driven mad by grief. it's the garden of eden. it's your animal crossing town. it's the Unknown. it's ohtori academy. it's neverland. it's alternia. it's having a psychotic break or being in love or both and only briefly touching upon something you know is bigger than you and us and god and that you might never touch it again. it's a merry go round. it's an excuse for me to use all these plant and flower assets i have in clip studio paint.

[themattress]

Damn it, this movie just won’t leave me alone!

This is sort of a follow-up to this post, where I analyzed that the primary reason critics of the film hated it, beyond getting overtly invested in the culture war surrounding TLJ, was due to them realizing that Disney/Lucasfilm never had a solid plan for the trilogy (not that George Lucas did for his movies either, but still) and no overarching creative vision other than one that was tragically sabotaged by life (make Carrie Fisher / Leia the star of Episode IX and the one who holds the key to resolving the trilogy and whole saga). That’s what leads to them accentuating the negative qualities of the movie while downplaying or flat-out ignoring the positive qualities (and sometimes turning positives into negatives due to their willful lack of understanding or imagination). And they’re entitled to their opinions, though I wish they’d fully own it rather than hold any pretense of objectivity, but what I am coming to realize more and more is that I don’t just disagree; I am the diametric opposite in how I see the whole situation.

Critics and fans were so invested in this idea of a super cohesive trilogy following a planned story, but I wasn't because I knew almost immediately that this wasn't the case. There were different directors attached to each movie and no single screenwriter attached to all of them, plus Kathleen Kennedy was not in a creative oversight position nor did she have anyone else like, say, Dave Filoni filling one. Obviously they were making it up as they went along, so my main concern was on the films individually and whether they created a good Star Wars experience. And TROS is the purest of Star Wars experiences: no quasi-remaking of a previous film or pushing an eccentric auteur-driven agenda, it just has fun and revels in its cheesy goofiness and wholesomeness; it’s what the franchise was literally founded upon.

Critics and fans were invested in the internal lore lining up and making sense; in the usage, behavior and outcomes of certain characters; in the culture war and social ramifications following TLJ, and I was absolutely not. I knew that the lore is Play-Doh prone to being remolded on a whim and that all the finer details in the movies rarely make sense until supplementary material is made to do so; I knew that finding the characters interesting and enjoyable was more of a priority to me than holding firm to any pre-conceived notions; and I fucking hated the culture war and felt like for the most part both sides were making mountains out of molehills. Freed from those burdens, TROS’ creative choices didn’t bother me much.

Critics and fans HATED Palpatine being brought back since he wasn’t anywhere to be found in the previous movies, he brought the trilogy’s conflict back to familiar ground after TLJ started breaking new ground, and he was used as a key puzzle piece to elements such as Rey’s lineage and Kylo Ren’s redemption. But I concur with this post; Palpatine is one of the greatest fictional villains of all time and I am 100% OK with any means of getting to see him and Ian McDiarmid’s pitch-perfect performance as him on screen, and if Disney/Lucasfilm wanted me to buy this new trilogy as the final third of a nine-part “Skywalker Saga”, there was no better way to do it than having its Big Bad be the same one from the previous trilogies. 

Critics and fans just adored TFA and TLJ and I just didn't get it. Not that I don't also like them or think they're bad movies; far from it! But a modern remake of A New Hope and a deliberate attempt to make a new The Empire Strikes Back (in a different way than literally remaking it) just don't strike me as cinematic masterpieces. TROS certainly isn't one either, but it's not trying to be, it's just trying to be a good time. And while critics and fans deem TROS to be a disappointing ending because it didn't meet their expectations, my expectations were low. Barring a complete perversion of Star Wars' core morality come straight out of a bad fanfic or old EU project (so, what Colin Trevorrow's plan was), I was willing to accept any ending, and I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed the one we got as much as I did. It helps that, like J.J Abrams and Chris Terrio, I did my homework on the creation of Star Wars and all the junk it borrowed for inspiration with reckless abandon, so I caught on to what TROS was up to right away; from a purely out-of-universe perspective it’s the perfect way for Star Wars to end!

It really is exactly what this post said, except that I didn’t have to “unlearn what I have learned” because I never let myself learn it to begin with. I just looked at Star Wars with unclouded eyes and took it for all that it is, the good and the bad. That’s why I love TROS.

[reida-book]

The Space Between - A review of "The Circular Valley" by Paul Bowles

“The Circular Valley” is told from the perspective of a creature referred to as “the Atlájala”. The Atlájala is some kind of invisible, shapeless spirit, but it experiences sensation through the possession of other creatures. It spends its days hopping between the bodies of different creatures until the first humans come to the valley where it resides, and build a monastery. When it possesses its first human, the Atlájala is shocked by the complexity that the human mind is capable of compared to the jungle animals. Once the monastery is deserted, it becomes desolate, desperate to recapture the feeling of inhabiting a human. The abandoned monastery is used as a hideout for bandits for a while, then as a camp for soldiers, before it is left alone for another long stretch. 

Then, one day, a tourist couple comes to the valley. The couple is having an illicit affair–the man is pressuring the woman to leave her husband and be with him, but she is afraid of the violent retaliation she may face. The Atlájala enters the man’s body and is overwhelmed by how all-consuming his desire towards the woman is and the suffering he feels knowing he cannot have her. It then slips into the woman’s body and becomes astounded witnessing the beauty of the valley through her eyes, not focusing on the man at all. It wants to keep her nearby so she will come back to the valley again, so it (seemingly) plants the idea in her mind that she should stay in the nearby village, but the man refuses. As the two of them leave, it is implied that the Altájala causes the man’s burrow to slip off the trail and him to fall to his death. 

I thought that the premise of this story was creative and very enjoyable. I love it when writers try to tell stories from non-human perspectives, because it kind of forces the reader to empathize with the mindset of something that is alien to them. In this case, it’s a bit like a horror story from the perspective of the monster. The Atlájala does not possess any knowledge of human concepts of morality that it can ascribe to its actions, so while it does things that would seem monstrous, from its perspective you see that it is more amoral than malicious. 

The best example of this, in my opinion, is the scene where it possesses its first human, a friar. Most of the creatures and people inhabited by the Atlájala seem to be completely unaware of its presence, but he is not—a fun detail, I thought, that since the friars would be the most spiritually inclined characters and already be primed to recognize what they would assume to be demonic possession. 

Possessing the friar, the Atlájala experiences active resistance for the first time: “It was delicious to feel the young man striving to free himself of its presence, and it was immeasurably sweet to remain there.” (Bowles 9) 

The friar is clearly under severe psychological distress, beginning to self-flagellate as penance, or to drive the “demon” out, but the Atlájala stays anyway. And though iit is enjoying the young man’s pain, the story shows that it is not out of sheer sadism, but rather out of fascination this sensation that it has never felt before. 

There’s one particular line that I think beautifully sums up the reason why the Atlájala becomes so fascinated with humanity: “As the friar, it had gone and stood in the window, looking at the sky, seeing for the first time, not the stars, but the space between and beyond them.” (Bowles 8)

I believe that line perfectly sums up what sets humans apart from other animals: the imagination to wonder what lies beyond what we can see, and the drive to go and find out. It’s the same drive that led us to build rockets to land on the moon and cameras to send us images of the far reaches of space. 

That wondrous human imagination is part of the reason why this story works, as well. In your daily life, it’s unlikely you’d ever stop to ask yourself “What if you were an immortal, incorporeal being trapped in a singular valley for countless centuries, with no physical form of your own, only able to experience the world through the possession of others?” But if a question like that were posed to you, like in the form of this story, you could pretty easily say “Well, yeah, I think that would be a pretty dull, lonely existence.” It’s for that reason that the reader can empathize with the Atlájala’s almost childlike desire for exploration and the discovery of new forms of stimulation. 

A part of the story I did not like as much was the transition to modern times, and the introduction of the story of the couple. I did think there was merit to the description of the difference in the man’s perspective vs the woman’s—the man obsessing over his companion’s beauty, while the woman was fully living in the moment and trying to enjoy the sights of the valley and the monastery, making clear the disconnect in their relationship. The man wants the woman to leave her husband so he can have her all to herself, without care for the danger that he would be putting her in, and then is not willing to make any sacrifices for her, which may be why the Atlájala assumes at the end that by killing him, it would be doing her a favor (if that is, indeed, what happened, I thought the ending was a bit vague on that front.)

 However, I did feel that there was almost an element of pedestalization to it, almost. Like, the Atlájala has never possessed a woman before, but when it finally does it’s a rapturous experience, because men are base, worldly creatures while women are all that is good and pure and beautiful. Even if this stereotype about women is not necessarily negative, I still think it can be harmful, because at the end of the day men and women both are all just human beings. Acting like men and women are two different species is a fallacy that can lead to harmful patterns of thinking. 

I had a similar observation about the story’s treatment of indigenous people. There are no indigenous characters in the story besides background mentions of “Indians”, where it is mentioned at the beginning in the time of the friars and then reiterated in the modern day that they refuse to enter the valley. I believe this portrayal unnecessarily leans on dated stereotypes of indigenous people, the “wise shaman” kind of stereotype where they are portrayed as more superstitious or somehow more magically inclined. Though in this instance they are not portrayed as being wrong in their beliefs, and the valley is actually haunted by a spirit, this is still a stereotype which I feel should be addressed. 

Despite these detractions, I did enjoy this story overall, and it was one of my favorites of the stories we’ve read in class so far.

Work Cited:

Bowles, Paul. "The Circular Valley." The Big Book of Modern Fantasy, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, Vintage Books, 2020, pp. 7-12.

[mcrcki]

Was that [JOSEPHINE LANGFORD]? Oh no no, that was just [SELLA PALPATINE], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [STAR WARS]. They are [TWENTY THREE] years old, use [SHE/HER], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here

girl's been here for nearly 3 years now what in the world

what is your character’s job

she is the personal assistant to winter celchu ! she is also a full time student , enrolled the george washington university, but specifically corcoran school of art and design and getting a fine arts degree !! 

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom

she’s pulled right after her brother killed her and the rest of her family. she’s having a ✨terrible time✨

has any magic affected your character

beyond bringing her back to life, no not at all ! she had died back in april 2022 but she’s good, she’s cool now. she also died back in summer of 2023, shoutout to jgy for that driving, but yeah, she’s fine now!

extra information

maig here with another hardheaded brat of a muse !! this time in the form of sella palpatine , sheev’s youngest sister. listen i’m so excited for her chaos you have no idea kldfjgkldf a blanket apology for her now thank u enjoy ( 2023 me coming in to say i still apologize for her and who she is as a person, BUT SELLA STANDS AS THE ONE PERSON TO HIT SHEEV PALPATINE SEVERAL AND LIVE THANK YOU )

the youngest daughter of sarra and cosinga palpatine, and twin sister of sion, she was always the picture perfect child. she saw the way her father threated her eldest brother, the way anyone speaking out against their father would invoke his anger, she spent most of her childhood watching and learning from her siblings, knowing that she would not be following in those same footsteps.

she was always the ‘yes ma’am’ ‘yes sir’ child, listening to anything and everything her father and mother would say, never speaking out against them. she would do everything in her power to be the perfect child. she never once would be at the mercy of her father’s anger.

but that didn’t mean that she ever agreed with her father or the path that he had chosen for her and her siblings. she was just cautious about if and when she spoke against it. if her siblings allowed it, she would rant and rave about wanting to run away, to be anything but a pawn for cosinga, until her voice went hoarse. 

the late night conversations of her, red faced and crying, sitting in sabina’s room, begging to be anything BUT a palpatine, wishing that she could be free of the life she was being forced into was something she will always remember, even if things are different here. that stays with her. 

while she didn’t agree with the way her father treated sheev, she couldn’t help but fear him in the same breath. she was the youngest, only a child for the most of their father’s tyranny, how in the stars was she meant to speak out or help? 

very skilled in her social skills, having put a lot of pride in her ability to have many faces depending on who she was speaking to. but very few people got to see sella for who she was and not what she was supposed to be.

she saw the way her life was headed, the path her father wanted her to take, the arranged marriages for his political gain and was trying to do everything in her power to leave. to get far from their family as possible, but knew it would be a long game.

unfortunately, that plan never truly got off it’s feet as she and the rest of her family were killed by sheev.

being in dc, she’s very excited that she finally gets to have the life that she wanted all along. even if it’s a little different, and she’s been struggling with her identity, with the safety she feels her family is lacking, all of that– she is just happy to be somewhere where she can be just sella.

is currently dating allana solo, and most likely moving in together. they’re happy, she’s living the dream rn and doesn’t really know anything about the whole situation between the plapatines and the solos. to sella, she just thinks that sheev and leia are friends and that’s about it

goes by sella rhuno at work, to minimize the questions about being related to sheev since she knows he likes to keep the family sort of secret. as far as sella knows, he does have enemies in the city, and she was p convinced for a while that the jedi themselves were evil.

she’s doing better with that now, but is still p hesitant around the force and everything. 

but the most important thing to know about sella is that she is the color pink personified, and has her entire family wrapped around her finger. her crying is the most dangerous weapon in the world, and her gf’s scary dog privilege card. if sidious is ready to murder just from his sister tearing up, there’s nothing sella can’t get away with.

also here’s information from when she was unaware

UPDATE AS OF 12/12/23

currently VERY in love with allana solo, full on sapphic space romeo and juliet vibes

is very aware of the fact that she is probably sheev's favorite sibling, even if he won't say it, she's given herself that title, and all the things that come with that.

that being said, it was a big part in a fight that she and sabina had, where she was basically called out for being easily bought and manipulated which... sab is right but sella didn't need the forced self reflection

she is currently struggling with the fight that she and sabina had, that resulted in her sister nearly killing her, and then later on in that same day, sella killed her gf allana, she thought she was a monster in the maze ok-- so rn it's just all around a bad fucking time for sella palpatine and she is closing herself off more than ever before

CONNECTIONS :

✩ co-workers

anyone who works in politics or in the white house !! sella goes around to a lot of meetings with winter and is dropping things off in a ton of different offices so she would easily see people around

✩ friends !!! pls !!!

she’s never really had them and would love to have some now , pls be her friend i promise she’s super fun !!

✩ classmates

she goes to georgetown so could easily run into other students during like core classes / if you’re an art student !!

✩ sw person who tells her the truth

sella currently goes by rhuno everywhere she goes, she knows that she’s supposed to keep her name a secret. but i think it’d be fun for someone to hear her mention palpatine, mention being his sister or something, or just straight up be like ‘yo that guys a dick’

please she’s so sheltered she has no clue who sheev grew up to become i think it’d be funny if someone finally told her who tf sidious is

she knows the basics from her brother but like?? in her head she doesn't actually think sheev was THAT bad. mainly cause sheev doesn't think he was that bad but ya know!! help!!

[oh-phineas]

Saturday, November 11 -- Short and Sweet One-Shot: Write ten short-short stories of no more than a paragraph long (can star one or multiple characters.)

Ten Things That Probably Happened to Fred Flynn

I.

Fred drove off into the sunset, and he didn’t look back. He couldn’t look back. He wanted to, but he knew it would hurt too much, and he had an important mission ahead of him. Such was the life of Fred Flynn, also known as Agent 008, also known as southeastern Illinois’ most notorious secret spy, and today he had a real baddie to take down. Would he be back? He hoped so, but these could be dangerous missions…

II.

Fred went as far as Lake Michigan before he ditched his car. He couldn’t take it with him, not once the ship would arrive to pick him up. Once, Fred (Or Freddie the Fearsome, as he was known back then) had sworn he would leave behind his life of piracy on the Great Lakes, but he couldn’t run forever. The crew found him, and now that they needed his help recovering a precious gemstone only he knew the location of, he knew his family would never know peace until he returned to the Great Lakes. And while his heart broke for the family he left behind, he knew his first love would always be the lakes.

III.

Goddamit! Fred was barely on the Interstate on his way to his business trip when he was suddenly abducted by aliens! They saw the bumper sticker on his car that said he was the proud parent of an honor student, and they took that as a sign that he was a very powerful person. With one zap, Fred was aboard a flying saucer and headed to another galaxy. What a bummer!

IV.

Fred hardly made it around the corner before he pulled over, swapped his regular spectacles for a pair of mirrored shades, and pulled on his leather jacket. Naturally, he couldn’t let anybody know about his secret identity as one of the guys under the helmets in Daft Punk, not even his family. But he couldn’t let the people who drove his private jet know that he was just a regular suburban dad, either. Juggling a secret DJ life was hard, but it was worth it to pursue his art, and Fred was sure he’d be back soon. As long as nobody found out his secret…

V. 

Fred did miss his family a lot, though, wherever he was. He wanted to reach out to them, but there were just so many forces beyond his control. People monitoring his communications. It wasn’t safe. He was trying to send out Morse code signals, so it was a good thing his son was learning it. SOS was probably the one he would use. That was the most important one to learn. Three short taps, three long taps, three short taps. His son knew to watch for it. 

VI. 

Fred woke up one morning and he actually wasn’t Fred at all, he was someone totally different! He’d swapped bodies with Vice President Joe Biden, Freaky Friday-style. It was something that happened sometimes! Now Joe needed to get to DC as quickly as possible, find the real Fred Flynn, and get his own body back before a regular civilian was left to run the Senate! Or who knew… maybe a civilian running the Senate was exactly what it needed! (Either way, he really needed to get to DC. Stat. So he jumped in Fred’s car and drove off).

VII.

The thing about Fred was that, when he picked up a project, it consumed him. All his energy. He went into this state of chaos, where the rest of the world was noise as he created his masterpiece. So, one morning, as he was struck with the idea for an amazing work of art that would rival the Mona Lisa, Fred immediately took off for his secret cabin in the woods where he got all of his inspiration. The only catch… that place was definitely haunted…

VIII.

Fred only meant to drive to the grocery store, but something peculiar happened at the corner of Harrison and Gilbert Street. There was a shimmer in the road ahead, and Fred, assuming that it was just a trick of the light, drove right into it. The next thing he knew, he was on an eerily similar street, but everything was just a little bit… off. Upside-down, maybe. It was like Danville, but different. Was he in an alternate dimension…?

IX.

Maybe Fred just left because he didn’t know how to be a good dad and some people just don’t know how to be good dads. Maybe not everyone’s supposed to be a parent. Maybe he feels bad about it, or maybe he doesn’t, but either way it’s probably time to stop making up crazy stories to explain what’s actually a pretty common thing, something that’s happened for hundreds of years ever since the first caveman decided he didn’t actually like his cave all that much. Maybe he just lives in Champaign now. Or Bloomington. Or Indianapolis. And he’s sitting in his kitchen just like you are right now, scrolling on his phone, eating a Lean Cuisine, and he’s not even thinking about you. Grow up, Phineas Flynn.

X.

Okay, but he probably got abducted by aliens. It’s actually not that unlikely of a thing to happen, there’s a ton of research around it and UFO activity was really high that summer if you really look into it. Look at all these old news articles you got from the library talking about strange weather occurrences that summer. There is so much evidence. Anyone who claims to be Fred Flynn— haven’t you heard that they can imitate real people and take their place? Look it up. It’s real shit. It’s really not that far-fetched.

[aviryllis]

THOUGHTS HEHE

there are two kingdoms (probably more but i dont feel like worldbuilding), ones run by the hinomori lineage and the other is the otoris!!

hinomori kingdom is v magic focused and magic is everywhere—runes used for buildings, spellcasting classes, magic used for performance, etc..—magic is v normalized, but it comes at the price of technological advancement

on the other hand the otori kingdom is focused on progress and innovation. culturally, magic is sort of looked down upon as an unnecessary distraction/impediment to progress (also its more leoni focused but some tidbits abt other characters r here n there)

also the au is witch hat atelier pilled in the way that everyone can use magic (just some might be better than others but)

ichika:

he and saki grew up in the same rural town (outskirts of hinomori kingdom land i think)

ichi was rlly. adventurous and impulsive as a kiddie but this backfired on her and she went too far

girl got lost in the magical forestTM that all the kids r warned Not to go near.

(saki is naturally devastated and assumes ichi is dead)

(i wanted to reference their celestial bodies & ichis is the stars right..) bc of this power ichi didnt get consumed by the forest & managed to escape

other than that i think she just has a pretty good sense of direction aiding her as well

she wasnt rlly sure abt how time was passing in the forest but she emerged around a couple yrs after her initial disappearance.. to her it only felt like a few weeks.

after a few yrs of settling down and coping w the totally non traumatic experience of finding yourself back at home where everythings suddenly different she feels the need to run. And find saki and tsukasa and touya, the people she was once friends w/ (as they no longer reside in the town anymore)

saki!!

grew up w touya, tsukasa, ichi (i think touya likely moved away as well but)

after ichika disappeared she was like girl what the! and spent long days trying to find ichi again :( to no avail ofc. it was a losing battle

overexerting herself like daily combined w her chronic illness sort of spiraled her health negatively. oops.

at first they just had to make long commutes to attain the medical services near the otori kingdom

but after a while they had to move since it got worse.!

tsukasa :). he does a lot of odd jobs trying to support his sister. but then one day he doesnt come back?? cue vine boom sfx. this is horrible for her mental wellbeing haha!!

this is probably around age ~14. she meets honami, though.. and after realizing they both originate from the hinomori kingdom, the two get close rlly quickly!!

at around ~16?? tho, she recovers and is like my dear parents i would like to become a licensed adventurer and try to find my brother and Long lost bestie..and theyre like uh no?? why would we let our daughter just go out into the Dangerous world

eventually i think she convinces them by teaming up w toya, since theyre largely concerned for her safety.

toya is equally concerned about tsukasas whereabouts and wants to find him w her !!

honami

fjhrhe i struggled w her story a lot but i eventually settled on the idea of ""exile"" (not really but ill explain)

i think she came from a humble farming village, her parents wanted to give her better opportunities tho and managed to send her to this prestigious academy in the otori kingdom :)

honas like awesome i am going to be so studious and she is!! shes a really good student. however.. this academy is sort of a microcosm of the citys most polarized cultures

girl did not get the memo that magic was looked down upon and well. quickly made the reputation for herself..!

her only safe haven was this girl who shared her birth region (saki).. both were far from home, but they practiced magic together beyond inner city borders and it was fun for a bit :)

eventually saki must leave though to Adventure . and find the ppl she cares abt so she bids farewell to her. only friend

shes ok for a little until the ostracization is too much to handle and she drops out of the academy only a few months away from graduating

girl goes back home but everythings so different now (again..) bc she essentially was at the acad from. middle to highschool yrs i think.

she spends her days shepherding her dads sheep and helping her mother as an apprentice seamstress but god does she feel awful about it!!

somewhere along the line she meets ena shinonome! honas experience at the school has resulted in her struggling to handle her own magic properly (this is all like. a nod to canonical ena & honami art stories) and shes rlly. nervous abt it (constantly apologizing for her subpar demonstrations of magic, etc)

like even if she returned home she still needs to reclaim what magic is for her and ena sees herself in her. in the way that the criticisms that honas endured have so deeply impacted her that she really cannot do anything related to magic without guilt. and criticism abt her magic is something ena deeply resonates with.

(i just realizrd honas story leans sm on magic sorry i just really like whimsical fantasy magic aus HEJFBDNAK witch hat atelier type stuff)

ok so why do the criticisms resonate so hard? its bc the shinonomes serve the hinomoris :) akito is their knight and ena is the apprentice mage (still pretty darn good of a mage though). the shinonomes dad is hard on them bc hes rlly dutybound towards the hinomoris and like. yknow??!!!

ena stubbornly pursued magic even though she was more "naturally" inclined towards swordsmanship (akito was vice versa, inclined to magic but became a knight)

anyways she offers to tutor honami, stubbornly, cause she feels this inexplicable urge to help this girl who she relates to

honami and ena confide in each other, i think ena is the first one honami will ever spill her academy troubles to, and ena talks abt her frustration w her dad i think, imposter syndrome stuff

honaena is so very real in this i think. tutoring is an excuse from the start, and they progress into being rlly sweet friends :))

theres still shiho and others but i am so tired hwhrjr i will continue tmr

i revamped my celestials au and just made it a medieval & western fantasy au (quintessential au of all project sekai fans ever) hehe :) i have so many thoughts abt them which i will add when i have time hehe