#damnit it's always the side characters that are hot with deep voice that are evil :( WHY

[otomesiren]

Okay Scar, tone it down a little okay?

[spooky-luvur]

Could y'all write an Arthur fic with the reader being a fan and got sucked into the game and kinda mouthed off to colm and gets himself captured :O

This was really fun lol

———

“Well,”

You turn in circles, putting your hands on your hips. “At least I don’t have to worry about taxes.”

The people in town stare, obviously, and whisper, but they don’t point and they don’t yell or do something else mean someone from modern day Detroit would do. You’re not exactly blending in with your current clothes.

But really...what the fuck? Last thing you remember is turning the gaming console off, taking a shower, then you think you hit your head when you stumbled but it definitely wasn’t hard enough to send you through time???

You reach the edge of the dusty town and pause, looking over the vast land. Nice fields. No factories in sight. You try to remember every little detail...sat on the left side of the couch...used the controller to turn the console on...picked the game-

...

Oh shit.

Of course.

You were playing the second Red Dead Redemption.

Balls, how in the-!

It’s fine, it’s fine. This is cool, actually.

You don’t bother to hide your grin and unbelieving laugh, raking your hands through your hair. This is cool as shit! You were so interested in the 19-20th century anyway and to be *living* in it?! Damn. But we’re you just in the century, or was I in the game too?

You turn back to the small town and take a good look around, eyes falling onto a large white parlor house. It’s Rhodes! Incredible. Excited like a little kid on Christmas, you hurriedly make your way back into town, taking everything in and spinning in circles like some lunatic.

The general store, the gun shop with that guy locked in the basement- wait a minute.

When in the game was it? If you were magically set in Rhodes wouldn’t that mean the gang was at the camp by the lake? What’s it called, Clemens Point? Clement? But you didn’t really know how to get there from here, and even if you did somehow manage to find it, you’d likely be shot on sight. But you’re inside your favorite game. It only makes sense you’d want to meet and bond with the main characters.

With a stomach full of butterflies, you set off onto the road leading out of town, hoping to stumble upon something- or someone.

———

God, it was hot. Why was it so hot? Damn sun, making me all sweaty and gross. Don’t you have better things to do?

Pulling at your collar, you stop to rest for a few minutes, surrounded by the tall trees. Okay, there’s the water, the stones, old dilapidated church or whatever that is, the sound of a gun cocking, the nice breeze- wait.

“Put your hands up, boy.”

Great. Great. Great. You put your hands up by your head, mentally cursing yourself and everyone who’s ever existed. You didn’t know that voice and that voice didn’t know you.

“You got any cash? Jewelry? Guns?”

“No, I don’t. I got nothing.”

“Bullshit, turn around!”

Slowly turning, you’re met with the barrel of a gun and a very rowdy-looking man. Two other men with guns also pointed at you are a few feet behind him.

“I know you got somethin, your clothes are reeeeeal fancy mister.”

“You can check, but I ain’t got nothin, mister.” Yeah. That’s right. You tried to make yourself sound more cowboy-y, and by the looks of it, he bought it. He did look kinda dumb. No offense, cowboy. Or whatever you were.

The dirty man scoffs. “You ain’t-“

“Come on now boy, it wouldn’t be smart to hide things from us now would it?”

Another guy? Damn, was he hot at least- ohhhhhh. Ohhhhh shit. Oh shit oh shit.

Colm O’Driscoll stares you right in the face, a small, evil smirk on his own. Ugly fucker.

“We’ll ask you again, friend. Do you got anything?”

“I said no damnit! God do your looks match your brain?? Horrible?? Well that wasn’t a very good insult but damn you fugly!!”

The men glance at each other white you babble on.

“My grandpa looks finer than you and he’s dust! Ha! Musty motherfucker- you look like my foot!”

“Enough outta you!”

Colm O’Dick grabs you by the front of your collar and yanks you forward, pushing you onto the dirt.

“Tie him up and bring him back. Maybe we’ll cut out that dirty little tongue of his.”

Damn.

———

Ugh, shit.

The throbbing in your head blurs your vision for several moments. When you finally blink it away, you whine and hang your head from the numerous spots of pain blooming all over your body. Hanging from your bloodied worth’s in just your underwear, feet barley brushing the dirt-covered floor. You remember what happened last night. They beat you, burned you, poked and prodded, nearly poisoned you if Colm hadn’t stopped them, saying something like “it would kill him too quick.”

Damn, if this was how it was always gonna be, you wanted to go back home.

You didn’t know what time it was. Or if it was any more than just a day. You were in some kind of cracked stone walled, rat shit covered basement. A single candle is lit on the blood stained table with a variety of things that make you go ‘ouch.’

Using nearly all your strength to lift your head, you try to find a door or something else you could crawl through. There’s a moldy door in front of you. Seemingly unlocked.

“God, I can’t get down,” you mumble, nearly out of hope. This was supposed to be your story! Your special adventure! Filled with love and drama and literally anything but you getting tortured by men who stink like piss!

The door suddenly starts clicking, and you squeeze your eyes shut the best you can. Was it the dirty men? Or your hero? Heroine? A crazy hermit? The door swings aside, making you cautiously crack your heavy eyes open. Oh please be hot please be hot please be-

“Hey! They got someone!”

Hot.

Your jaw nearly embarrassingly falls open as a man in a pretty blue shirt puts his gun down and pulls out a knife. Hot murder man? Yes please-

“You a prisoner?”

“Sure,” is all you manage.

The man comes closer to cut the ropes suspending you and yes, like in the movies, you can’t really hold yourself up therefore fall forward again the chest of the wow you’re buff.

“You alright, boy?”

Call me that again please.

“Fine, fine.”

Hands gripping the sleeves of the pretty blue shirt, your lift your head to see your hunk of a hero, only to come face-to-face the Arthur fucking Morgan.

Of course, that’s when you pass out.

———

“Is he dead?”

“What? No Jack, he ain’t dead.”

“But he’s all bloody.”

“Damn O’Driscoll’s. He’s just a boy. Lenny’s age.”

You’re like, 23 thank you very much.

“What’re we supposed to do with him?”

“He’s nearly dead, we gotta keep him here for now. Now shoo! All you got chores! Get!”

Something warm and wet yet scratchy is dabbed onto your forehead and a few spots around your face, making you sigh lightly.

Your eyes felt like heavy weights, but you eventually got them open. You wanted to see what was going on really badly.

A Susan Grimshaw. In your face.

Your eyes widen only barely and a very unattractive noise sounding like a confused cat escaped your mouth. The old woman’s brow furrows.

“Hush, boy. I ain’t hurting you.”

Blinking, you look around without moving your head. You were in a tent, on a cot, in your underwear, a random shirt that went past your butt, I’m keeping this forever, and your body hurt very much.

“I’m alright, ma’am,” you look into Grimshaw’s pretty eyes.

She huffs. “Like hell. But fine, you can get up. Nothings broken.”

She leaves the tent, making you slowly swing your bare legs over the side and hoist yourself up, staggering out as well.

“Ugh,” shielding your eyes from the harsh sun, you take a deep breath that makes your chest ache. Welcome to the 19th century, (M/n).

“You’re awake, my boy. How are you feeling?”

It’s too early for this shi-

Never mind it’s never too early for Dutch Van der Linde.

You nod, blinking up at the raven-haired man.

“Just fine, sir. Thank you for saving me. I thought I was a goner.”

“No thanks needed, my boy. I got a sayin’: we shoot fellers as need shooting, save fellers as need saving, and feed ‘em as need feeding. I’m sure we all know, just what you need.”

You really just heard that.

“Oh, I have an idea.”

Dutch laughs, patting your shoulder. “Mr. Pearson! Get this fine boy some food! What’s your name, son?”

“(M/n). (M/n) (L/n).”

“Well Mr. (L/n), do you mind telling us what you were doing all bloody and bruised in Colm O’Driscoll’s basement?” He uses the hand on your shoulder to guide you further to the center of camp.

“I got captured once they realized I didn’t have any money. They beat me good.”

“Yes, well, let’s hope nothing of the sort ever happens again.”

Pearson comes over and places a hot bowl of stew in your shaky hands, nodding at you before heading off.

“Ladies! Would you please help (M/n) get some food in his belly, he’s not too good right now,”

Mary-Beth hurries over, cupping your hands around the bowl to keep it from falling. “Course, Dutch. Come along now...”

———

“Okay, you can do this, come on. You know everything about him! Everything...about...them...”

You shake your head to get rid of the negative thoughts, straightening your back. “Okay, let’s go.”

You keep your eyes locked on Arthur, your target, as you march over to where he’s sitting on his bed, nose buried in his journal. Wow this is really happening-

“Excuse me?”

Way to sound like a 14 year old girl (M/n). Your heart nearly stops once the burly man looks up, blue-green eyes meeting your own. He doesn’t say anything, only stares at you expectingly. You wrong to hands nervously.

“Um...I just wanted to say thank you. For helping me, you know.”

He nods. “You’re welcome.”

You panic, not wanting to lose his attention.

“Dutch said I could stay! With you...er, with the gang! Dutch said I could stay with the gang, they don’t really see me as a threat, so...” your voice trails off.

“Well, that’s great. They’re good people, don’t mess it up.”

“Of course! I’m very grateful, I just...was hoping I could see more of you...?”

No, you definitely weren’t asking him out. Yet.

Arthur looks at you weirdly, before quietly chuckling and turning back to his journal.

“Sure, kid.”

I’m in love.

———

That night, the gang is celebrating a new edition. You weren’t like Kieran. You weren’t nothing bad, neither. Most of them actually trust you already. Thankfully. Those who don’t, weren’t celebrating. Or it was all just an excuse to get blackout drunk

You believed it to be the latter when you left the log by the fire and no one noticed. Everyone kept singing and ‘celebrating.’ Pausing by one of the tents, you slightly duck back behind it. The radio in Dutch’s tent was quietly singing an opera song, and Dutch and Miss Molly O’Shea we’re gently dancing along, gazing into each other’s eyes with the look of the lovers. Good for them. They deserve it. It makes you smile sadly.

You retreat and continue looking around all the tents and everything. Where’s Arthur? He wasn’t at the fire. He’s not in his tent either. Or, wagon. Lean-to? Whatever, but you can’t find him. You circle around the edge of camp for a bit until you find him behind the big tree near the horses.

“Arthur?”

He looks away from the sky and at you.

“Hey, (M/n).”

“Hey Arthur,” you take a few steps closer. “Not a party person?”

He shrugs. “Not tonight, I guess.”

“That’s a shame. I was...hoping you’d might care to dance? With me?”

It takes him a few moments to realize just what you said but once he does, he open his mouth in surprise.

“What?”

You hold out a hand, giving him a mischievous grin.

He shakes his head, looking away for a moment before back at you, pushing himself off the tree.

“What the hell.”

When he takes your hand, it feels like it was meant to be. Where you were meant to be. When you were meant to be! Call you crazy, but with this? Dancing to nearly inaudible music with a fictional cowboy on the outskirts of the camp containing the people that saved you from other fictional outlaws? You never wanted anything more.

[tatakatte]

Thoughts on The Last Jedi

Overall: I loved it, but I can very much understand why people won’t. It’s a smorgasbord of plots and characters that doesn’t linger long enough with any of them and completely shatters the cadence of the other trilogies. That being said, it gave a hint as to a different message than we’ve previously felt in the Star Wars movies. One that I find refreshing and intriguing if they have the guts to really thoroughly explore it.

The movie can be divided into three sections. We have the Resistance plot, which focuses mostly on Poe Dameron and Leia. Then the Caper plot, which is Finn and newcomer Rose - easily the most extraneous of the plots and a big part of why I think people will not like this film. Lastly is the Jedi/Force plot, the major one that deals with Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren.

Rebellion Plot:

The plot device used here - the slow chase to inexorable death via depleted fuel - always has the potential to cast a feeling of dread and defeat. There’s nothing they can do to get more fuel, and if they are caught, they will die. This is used effectively, and is devastating. It’s hard to watch the resistance get beaten and beaten and crushed by inevitability. It was also a good device to use, since it was so slow, versus the quick pace of the battle scenes and the Caper plot.

Poe Dameron was the star of this plotline. We get to see him really shine here, under tutelage from Leia, while still being his own infuriating person. He seems a mix of the Han Solo and Leia archetypes. He’s brash and reactive, but he’s also calculating and deeply loyal. I don’t think he can ever be the diplomat Leia is, but he can certainly get close. For all that they didn’t give him in TFA, Oscar Isaac kills it. He’s cocky, but not destructive. Yes, his first instinct is to blow things up, but he learns several times that sometimes he has to find a different way, that he has to rely on other peoples’ knowledge, especially those more experienced than him. I like that he fucked up a few times, because it takes time for people to learn from their mistakes. Don’t even get me started on his relationship with BB-8, which is adorable, nor his constant admiration for Finn, which should make Stormpilot fans happy.

Really, it’s his interactions with Leia that show his true self. He argues with her, but defers to her when necessary. It’s obvious that Leia has sort of replaced Ben with Poe, mothering in the only way she knows how.

I loved that they had Holdo use the lightspeed to shatter a ship. It’s one of those pet theories that you wanna see, but rarely do. The sacrifice was good - a character we could respect, but nothing too devastating.

The two major battles - space battle at the beginning and red-dirt battle at the end - were well done, typical fancy action shit. I absolutely loved the visual of the white salt being shifted to reveal the red dirt. It was gorgeous and seemed more cinematic than usual. The first battle had the first showing of the humor that would be used in the film, and what I very much dislike. It’s the very meta obvious humor, and while it makes people laugh, it starts to feel inappropriate and too easy. I’m not quite sure how to articulate it. I like my humor to be more subtle, and probably why it rubs me the wrong way.

Leia was underused, but I loved that she used her Force powers. The situation was weird, but damnit if I don’t want Leia to use all the Skywalker powerful shit, just like her brother. It’s always bittersweet with Leia, that Han is gone, her son is gone, and now Luke is gone. She’s all that is left, and she endures. I’m so sad about Carrie Fisher passing, It looked as though she was really enjoying this film.

Caper plot:

Finn and mechanic Rose head to a casino planet to find a hacker to get them into the ship that’s tracking the rebel fleet. Yeah, it sounds convoluted because it is. Fortunately, Finn and Rose are so damn adorable and charismatic that I loved it anyway. Rose in particular came with a strong sense of self and devotion to the rebellion.

The film fails poor Finn. He has no character development and gets a lot of action, but it invariably is pointless. John Boyega is so wonderful, I hope the third film utilizes him appropriately.

Benicio del Toro was more tragically underused than Boyega. His hacker character doesn’t even get a name, has a cute humanizing moment, and then sells out Finn and Rose for a hot dog. Like, what was the point of having such a big actor play him. Maybe we’ll see more in Episode IX, but it was so weird having him do nothing in this one.

I’d like to reiterate this idea for Captain Phasma and the tragedy that is not using Gwendoline Christie. She’s awesome, and has shown to be a versatile actor, and we see her for about ten minutes and three lines. She ‘dies’ but I think they might bring her back for Ep. IX. There was no build up, no backstory or explanation. They have to do something.

Jedi/Force plot:

The meat of the movie. It’s the best part of the whole thing.

We see Luke downtrodden and beaten. He’s failed his sister, his friend, and his nephew. He didn’t train Ben properly, and ended up losing him to the Dark Side. And so Luke has made himself a crotchety hermit that won’t train anyone else. But there’s still that guy inside who brought balance to the Force. The Luke that saved his father, that turned down the Dark Side over and over. Mark Hamill does some of the best acting of his life in this film, giving us so much despair and so much hope. I also feel that Hamill’s career as a villainous voice actor influenced his portrayal of Luke, giving him just a hint of darkness that he didn’t feel like the Golden Child of the original trilogy anymore. I think he came to peace in this film, especially when he accepted that the way he was thinking of the Jedi - as these pristine providers of truth and justice and without flaw - wasn’t a way that could be sustained. And really, that whole ideology started with Luke, when he saw that Darth Vader - the baddest bitch of all - could still have light in him.

Rey was delightful. I do think her training was perfunctory and probably will lead to disaster, her vulnerability with what she saw through the Force and how she connects to it makes her a new sort of Jedi. She isn’t the black and white good or bad Jedi from before, which I think is necessary to the survival of the Jedi. A lot of folk have made talk about her being a Gray Jedi, which I think will happen if not in name, because I think it’s the only way the Jedi can proceed. What they’ve been doing obviously hasn’t been working.

Her Force bond scenes with Kylo Ren - Ben Solo - are amazing. Their connection was heartbreaking and soft and tender and naked in its emotions. I can’t even describe how lovely it was. They were like small children sharing secrets, exposing their deepest parts to each other. You see Kylo actually be a person rather than this whiny bitch, and the scene where they touch hands is one of the most sensual things that has ever happened on screen. A lot of people (especially Reylo shippers, hi) see a sexual component to their Force bond visions, but for me, it was just intimate. It was intimate in a way that was difficult to watch at times. It was a raw emotionality that doesn’t often appear in Star Wars films, and I believe never to this degree.  That’s what I believe will resonate the most with people.

That, and the battle scene before Snoke, of course. I wasn’t happy with how quickly and abruptly they killed off Snoke. We didn’t learn a thing about him! But in some ways, I‘m glad he was disposed of so early, so that we can move on from Kylo having a dark manipulative master. And the way they did it was wonderful.

Kylo Ren gets A+ treatment in this movie. You can see the conflict in him, and how determined he is to be the antagonist, and how much he hates and how much he longs for his family. Early on, he has a chance to destroy the ship that Leia’s on, but he feels her. And he doesn’t shoot. He seems like a stunted little boy who was betrayed by everyone he loved and now he’s tearing them apart in the way Snoke taught him. He calls himself a monster, and only people who are in deep pain will do something like that. Monsters never think of themselves as such.

Kylo had moments of his usual short temper, throwing fits, being melodramatic crap. And it will always be hilarious about how the peons of the First Order seem to be completely used to him destroying random shit and they just carry on as usual. But I do feel like we saw the pale underbelly of our villain. He’s not cut-out for it, really. His redemption arc in Ep IX is going to be painful and glorious and it will happen.

The thing I liked most about this film, however, isn’t really any specific scene or character. It’s this idea Kylo Ren has, that he has to kill the past. Obviously, he takes it to a literal sense, but I think the motive behind it is intriguing.

After all, here we are again. Rebels vs empire. Separatists vs the Republic. Resistance vs First Order. Have we learned any lesson? Will this keep happening, over and over. Revolution, new government, oppression, revolution, etc. Nothing really gets better. At the end of the film, the entire Resistance fits inside the Millennium Falcon. Like, 30 people maybe. That’s not nearly enough red shirts to last a whole movie.

But there’s hope. We have Poe Dameron, who is in Leia’s position, but not quite like her. We have Finn, someone who broke out of the stormtrooper faceless mold. We have Rey, someone who rejects the Jedi teachings in a way that doesn’t embrace the Dark Side, but rather recognizes that the two sides will always be there, always need balancing. And we have Kylo Ren, this arrogant, whiny, tantrum-throwing abuse survivor, who’s been gaslighted and groomed for who knows how long. He’s not another villain who’s evil for kicks. What do we do with all these people who don’t fit in the Star Wars hero/villain templates?

The old way of doings things hasn’t worked. It’s made monsters and terrible people and killed countless. It never stops, it never truly gets better. That’s particularly emphasized - perhaps unintentionally - on the casino planet.

Finn and Rose have a sort of rollicking adventure, evading the police and getting into/out of trouble. del Toro’s character rather ham-fistedly states that the weapons dealers give to both the First Order and the Resistance (yeah, ok, what unionized friendly weapon-supplier are they supposed to use??), that there’s problems on both sides. However, I think the more poignant moment is when we see the kids being used as slaves, basically. They are tiny and live in the stables and obviously orphaned or sold to take care of the horse-creatures. Even Rose talks about how the children of her planet were used, destroyed by these money-hungry warmongers. The Empire rose, the Empire fell, the Republic rose, the Republic fell, and these poor people stayed in the same place. They are still downtrodden, impoverished, enslaved, used.

The old way doesn’t work. We have to try something new.

I really hope they embrace this idea in Ep IX. It excited me in a way that a lot of media has failed to do. I would love to see the talent behind Star Wars embrace a complete paradigm shift.

--- an aside. I absolutely adored that Rey’s parents were worthless junkers who sold her for drinking money. Really, truly, I feel like that’s in the spirit of what the filmmakers were trying to say. However, we do get this information from Kylo Ren, who isn’t the most reliable of sources, and may have been manipulated by Snoke (what’s new). I would much rather this be the truth.

But. During all their Force Skype scenes, Rey and Kylo felt very much like children bonding. Their interactions had an air of innocence to them. This was juxtaposed with Luke and Leia having their own Force-provided conversations and insights in a parallel that I’m still not sure was intentional. In fact, when Kylo is telling Rey that she knows who her parents are, that she’s always known, I straight-up thought she would say that Leia and Han are her parents. That her and Kylo are twins (are they the same age??? maybe siblings). It felt like a natural lead up, and I wouldn’t have been surprised. Was this just me? Am I the weirdo now?

Oh well.