#hux can be a badass sometimes lol

[thethespacecoyote]

Another Bad Things Happen Bingo! This time “hair matted with blood” and I wanted to give Kylo a little pain and Hux the chance to be a bit of a badass when they get stranded on a jungle moon. Enjoy!Hux regains consciousness to the sound of rain. Hux regains consciousness to the sound of rain. 

Hux regains consciousness to the sound of rain.

He flutters his eyelids, groaning as he palms his forehead and tries to sit up. Somethings wrapped tight around his chest, holding him in place, and it takes a moment for him to figure out they’re security belts.

Memories come back to him slowly as his vision swims back to clarity, revealing the small cockpit around him. Right.

Hux had been traveling back from a brief overview of an outpost on Va’art. The ship is a small Chi-class shuttle, meant only for scouting and short-distance interplanetary travel. It held only two seats and a small cargo hold, with no room at all for additional troops. Hux hadn’t think they’d needed them, as the mission that’d been interrupted had been one of negligible danger that only required his and Ren’s presence. Considering his co-commander’s strength and Hux’s skill with his own personal arms, he’d figured they didn’t need anything more.

Hux isn’t about to admit that he’d underestimated the danger, however—as no one, not even a sorcerer like Ren, could have predicted the sudden failure of the shuttle’s engines and the ensuing emergency descent right into a swath of trees.

So much for Ren’s expert piloting skills.

Smugness rises in Hux’s face, before it’s abruptly replaced with fear.

Wait—Ren.

Hux jerks in his seat, eyes falling upon the man sitting besides him. Ren hangs forward, held to his seat only by the belts strapped over his shoulders and criss-crossed over his chest. His arms limply sit in his lap, and when Hux grabs him by the shoulder and tries to sit him up properly his head lolls back to reveal a thick trail of blood streaming down his temple from the edge of his matted hairline.

Hux swallows and brushes away the stiff locks stuck to Ren’s head, uncovering a nasty wound on his scalp. It looks deep and filled with welling blood, probably sustained during the chaos of the crash.

He feels for a pulse in Ren’s neck, his own hammering in his ears as he presses his fingers firmly into his skin. He finds a soft throb, but Ren doesn’t stir when Hux lightly pats his cheek or shakes his shoulder.

“Ren,” Hux cries, voice hoarse from disuse. “Wake up. Answer me.”

When he stays silent Hux claws at the belt strapping him to the seat, nails smarting as he forces himself to stop for the sake of his racing heartbeat. He shuts his eyes tight and tries to breathe, to focus, to think of a plan rather than working himself into a frenzy.

Thankfully the control panel hadn’t been too badly damaged in the crash. At the very least, Hux can still access the emergency distress signal, so hopefully that means help will arrive sooner rather than later. Hux busies himself with that, leaving Ren alone for the time being, before taking stock of the damage to the ship.

The transparisteel shield ensconcing the cockpit has been badly warped in the crash, now unable to complete close and seal the interior off. Hux supposed he should count his stars that the moon they’d landed upon had a hospitable atmosphere, or else it would have already leached inside and suffocated them both.

He’s not sure he could get the shuttle off the ground, even if he knew how to pilot the damn thing. If Ren was awake, perhaps he could help after jibing at Hux’s lack of skill, but there’s nothing to be done about it now. He’d sent out the relief signal but beyond that there isn’t much to do but sit and wait and pray Ren doesn’t die of his injuries in the meantime.

Hux drags a hand over his chin, trying to take the deep breaths needed to slow his racing heartbeat. It’s not so simple, as his chest and stomach smart from where the safety belts had dug into his skin, stressing him further. Surely they’ll be bruised when medical takes a look at them later on, when both he and Ren are safely back aboard the Finalizer. Hux isn’t exactly happy with the idea, but at least he hadn’t sustained worse injuries. At least they weren’t both unconscious, neither able to send out a proper distress signal.

The blood on Ren’s head is still flowing, so Hux grabs the end of his cape from where it drapes over the end of the seat and, with a bit of effort, manages to rip two long strips from it. He balls one up in his fist, pressing it to the side of Ren’s head. He flinches as Hux jostles the wound, but doesn’t wake even as the general clumsily ties the other strip around his head, securing the makeshift bandage in place.

It’s an utter hack-job, but it’s the best Hux can do until help arrives, so he checks Ren’s pulse one more time and settles back in his seat to inspect where they’ve crash-landed.

Outside he can’t see much, the only proper illumination that of Va’art teal-ish glow and the distant background of stars managing to perforate through the rainclouds. He can vaguely make out the uncultivated tops of vegetation, like they’ve landed in the midst of some large forest. One of the planet’s moons, perhaps? Hux vaguely remembers reading that the largest of them is mostly open wilderness.

Hux steals a look out of the corner of his eyes, but Ren’s position hasn’t changed. He still slumps back in his seat, blood on his face trailed all the way down to his chin. The makeshift bandage clapped to his skull already glistens red. Hux sighs tensely.

If Ren isn’t going to wake up any time soon then he hopes rescue arrives promptly. Hux feels he might be driven mad if he has to sit here any longer, listening to the patter of rain on the hull and the chatter of wildlife in the distance.

Just as Hux feels himself start to properly calm down, a screech echoes from the outside of the shuttle. He jolts in his seat, spine painfully straight as his heart surges once more, hammering in anxiety. Just as the first cry fades away another joins it, and another, and another, until the air outside roils with a cacophony of noise.

Hux brushes his fingers against the transparisteel, almost afraid of what he might find looking back at him from the outside in.

Through the veins of rain trickling against the shield he can see shapes prowling out of the thick of the forest, nothing distinct but ominous enough to make Hux shiver. Pinpricks of orange glow like distant torches, moving in pairs about the clearing as they slowly encroach upon the shuttle.

Hux swallows down his fear, brain grasping for a plan. He can’t tell what the creatures are at this distance nor how much a threat they pose to him, but he’s not going to be caught underestimating the situation and putting himself and Ren in further danger.

With the cockpit’s shield damaged there’s nothing much separating them from the creatures circling outside. Hux reasons if they’re ravenous enough they can easily pry open the mangled transparisteel and get at them, as if they were a meal already vacuum sealed in convenient packaging.

But perhaps if Hux can scare them off—

He grabs his blaster from his belt and warms it up, stealing one last look at Ren’s unconscious body before he grips the edge of the crumpled shield and pries it open, the sound of wrenching durasteel cutting across the clearing.

Hux leans partially out of the cockpit, blaster raised. Through the worsening rain he can see the creatures prowling closer, yellow eyes glowing like flares. He swallows down his fear, aims, and fires at the feet of the closest beast.

It yowls as the bright red blaster bolt sizzles into the ground, missing by a hair but Hux hopes it’s enough to scare them off.

“Stay back!” He shouts, summoning all his oratorial power as he prepares to fire another shot should his voice not intimidate them. The creature he missed skulks about the torched grass, already wet with the rain, its large furry tail flicking behind it. It seems the largest of the pack, leading by default of its size. Hux trains the blaster between its orange eyes, trying not to let the rain soaking through his coat distract him. He sees it tense, even at a distance, even through the dark mist creeping down around them.

Hux instantaneously tracks the creature as it leaps through the air towards him, sniping it in the chest with his blaster before it gets too close. It screeches as the bright red bolt buries into its chest and through the heart, killing it outright.

But any exhilaration Hux may feel at the perfect shot quickly bleeds out of him.

The creature’s corpse sails through the air and slams against the side of the shuttle, sending shudders through the entire thing. Hux yelps and falters, losing grip on his blaster as he grabs at the mangled transparisteel, struggling to keep upright. Unfortunately the ragged edges slice at the fingers of his glove, blood slicking his grasp and causing him to fall forward, out of the shuttle and onto the muddy ground below.

Hux gasps at the impact as it rattles through his chest, temporarily knocking the wind from his lungs. Dazed, he struggles to push himself up on his knees, bracing one hand back against the hull of the shuttle. Through his swimming vision he can see the yellow eyes of the creatures stalking closer, apparently undaunted by the death of their fellow, chattering reaching a clamorous volume.

This close, he can see what they are—panthacs, creatures Hux knows only from the Empire’s old holorecords. Prolific breeders and vicious hunters, traits that make them especially disastrous to the local fauna of any planets they’ve been introduced to. As well as any humanoids that might cross them.

Hux’s hand curls around the phantom grip of his blaster, cursing himself for losing hold of it. If only he knew how to work Ren’s blasted saber—but he’d rather not press the wrong button or swing it wrong and risk the whole thing blowing up in his face. He can’t decide which is a worse fate—ripped apart by rapacious beasts on an uncharted moon, or burnt to ash by Ren’s unstable weapon.

Hux squints against the rain and the residual blurriness in his sight, pushing himself up to his full height. He pants, watching the panthacs, their grinning fangs and claws kneading into the wet earth. Looking almost triumphant, if mindless beasts could even have such emotions, now that they’ve finally stripped their prey of his last defenses.

Hux smirks to himself, raising his hand out to the side.

Even without his blaster, he’s not that helpless.  

He flicks the vibroblade out of his sleeve, flipping it once before gripping the handle tight. He levels the tip right at the closest of the panthacs, body tensing in anticipation. It tilts its head, orange eyes narrowing as its long tail whips behind it.

Hux’s combat skills concern mostly humanoid opponents, with focus on disarming and deflection. He doesn’t know how to apply that to defense against beasts like the ones stalking him now, but there’s only one way to learn—quickly.

Mud and moss flies as the closest panthac leaps at Hux, giving him only a split second to react. He lunges forward on one leg and strikes out, weapon held sideways in his hand. He nearly loses his grip on the handle as the blade sinks into the creature’s striped flank, slicing its flesh down the ribs. He lets his body follow the momentum of the strike, spinning around to face the panthac as it stumbles to the ground, bleeding heavily from the side besides the other member of its pack Hux had killed.

He spits a little rainwater out of his mouth, keeping an eye on the other panthacs in his periphery as he kicks the injured beast, crushing its damaged flank inwards and finishing it off.

Adrenaline aroused and tingling out from his core down to his fingertips, Hux turns towards the remnants of the pack. Hux anticipates more hesitancy now that they’re down two of their numbers but they only slink closer. He counts four, five of them through the slants of rain, hears their grating cries double in volume through the heavy patter of the rain. A  slightly crazed smile flitters over his lips, even as he meets certain death head on.

He wonders if this is what Ren feels like.

Before Hux can blink two of the creatures are sprinting towards him, rain flying off their bristling fur. Hux thrusts the vibroblade through the palate of the first as it tries to bite a chunk out of his arm, though he doesn’t move quick enough to avoid the fang that scrapes his wrist as its jaw shudders in its death throes. He falls back against the hull of the shuttle as he shoves the corpse aside, only for the creature behind it to launch itself at him.

Hux snaps his arm up and out, spearing the beast’s throat on the vibroblade—but not before its claws slash in a sharp diagonal, slicing four long lines across Hux’s chest.

The general collapses along with the creature, back sliding against the hull as his legs give out beneath him. The vibroblade falls from his fingers to sink into the earth beneath him as he tips over on his side, one arm limply dropping over his torso.

Hux coughs, blood spattering over his lips. Even the heavy rain can’t wash it away, nor can it obscure the deep rends carving up his chest. The long claws of the beast have torn right through his uniform, leaving it in red, raggedy strips that reveal the mangled flesh beneath. He presses his hand to his chest in a fruitless attempt to stem the tide, wincing at the awful pain.

Hux is used to bruises and cuts, broken bones and sprains. Deep, ruinous wounds that cut the body to the quick and spill blood like the endless outpouring of rain are new.

Wounds like those he’d found Ren with when he’d dragged him from the collapsing Starkiller Base, the  devastating fissure splitting his body from his cheek to his chest. Though it’s covered now in reddened flesh and metallic film, worn like a mark of adversity.

Of course, there won’t be time for Hux’s wounds to heal over into links of pink upon his chest, lines Ren could trace with a smirk as he makes some remark on Hux’s bravery, on how the steely general had put himself in such danger to save the life of a man he’d always claimed to hate.

Darkness bleeds in the edges of Hux’s vision, making the world around him somehow colder and more terrifying than before. He can still make out the cruel orange eyes of the remaining panthacs as they advance upon him, captivated by the spill of his blood.

Stars, he’s going to die here, isn’t he? Ripped apart and eaten by the whole pack of these things. And once they’ve finished desecrated him, they’ll move onto Ren and kill him too, if he hasn’t died already. Unless rescue arrives while they’re gnawing on Hux he’ll be dragged from the cockpit and down onto the muddied earth, or simply eaten where he lies, strapped unconscious into his seat. The two greatest commanders in the Order, now nothing more a bloody feast for mindless monsters.

Hux’s chest hitches as he tries to breath in, only for sharp pain to cut through the effort as he hacks violently, feeling something solid dislodge in his throat.

This has all been for naught.

Through the pound of the rain Hux hears the circling clomp of the creatures’ paws, their shrill calls as they no doubt size up how they’d prefer to eat him. His eyelids flutter, cold spreading through his extremities. He can only hope that he’ll die of his wounds or suffocate in blood before they rip him apart.

Something weighty thumps to the ground right in front of him, sinking deep into the mud. Hux pants heavily and raises his head, trying to meet his death with some last shred of dignity. He can’t see any glistening jaws or looming orange eyes but he still hears the yelps of the panthacs, though they’ve stopped growing louder and instead sound distressed.

The last thing Hux sees before he blacks out is a column of bright, deadly red kindling into life through the rain. Distantly he recognizes the sound of plasma igniting, the warlike growl that cuts above the screaming creatures—but then he knows no more.

——

“General.”

Hux feels fingers brush over his forehead as he starts to wake, though they quickly retreat as soon as he musters his eyes open. He tries to sit up, only for the same fingers to return, firmer, on his shoulder to keep him down.

“You’re healing. Remain still.”

Hux glances in the direction of the voice, heart leaping and—sure enough, Ren sits at his side, so close he almost looms over him. Alive. Just like Hux is.

They’ve both made it through.

“Are…” Hux breathes, trying not to cringe at the crack of his own voice, “are we aboard the Finalizer?”

Ren nods. There’s a large bacta patch plasters above his brow, skin around it slightly yellowed from bruising. His hair is tied up off his face which makes him look strange, more exposed than is usual. The concern in his expression is oddly naked, as if Ren hasn’t the strength or care to hold it back.

“Ah. That’s good. Very good.” Hux half closes his eyes, relieved to finally be back aboard his beloved vessel.

His chest twinges with each falling breath, like when the medics fixed him up they accidentally made his lungs too small. But it’s better, Hux has to admit, than bleeding out on the grass on some savage jungle moon.

“I assume you killed all the creatures?” Hux recalls Ren’s lightsaber from the dark of his memory. “Must’ve been…far easier for you.”

“Easier, because you depleted half their ranks.” Hux looks up at the compliment, a little surprised. Never before has Ren praised his methods, nor much else about him. But the man genuinely looks a bit pleased at Hux’s body count, as if the act of bloody, hands-on killing has brought a new kinship between them.

“I never knew. I always thought your combat experience was…purely theoretical.”

“It is,” Hux scoffs. “Well. Mostly.” He’d gotten into his fair share of deadly scraps at the Academy but—Ren doesn’t need to know about those right now.

“Not anymore, I suppose.” Ren rests his hand against Hux’s wrist, where a bacta patch wraps around the wound left by the panthac’s fang. “You could use further teaching.”

Hux snorts.

“I think I’ll leave the fighting to you next time.” To his surprise, he permits Ren to continue stroking his forearm, touch full of an odd reverence. “Not that it wasn’t affirming, to be the one rescuing you, but I’d rather not have my chest rent open again.”

“A one-time miracle, then.”

“Ah. And you would know about miracles, wouldn’t you Ren? You damn mystic.” Hux smiles, amused to have earned a fraction of his co-commander’s respect. He never thought Ren would regard him with anything but contempt and grudging cooperation. This is entirely new territory, yet Hux isn’t thinking to shun it. It feels good.

Ren stays by him well beyond the point where they stop speaking, absently stroking Hux’s forearm as if to lull him back to sleep. It works surprisingly well

Perhaps once Hux is fully healed, he and Ren will merely return to the way things were before. Nothing necessarily has to change between them thanks to a little life-threatening experience—but Hux might like to command a little more of Ren’s regard, if it makes their relationship somewhat less tiresome.  

And if he’d like to continue touching Hux in that strangely tender, curious way of his—well, he might not complain about that either.

[monocytogenes]

Interview with a Fic Writer

Tagged by @sleepswithvillains :)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Apparently I'm up to 12 at this point lol

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 14554 (Think they're all one shots, though I do currently have something longer I'm working on)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? So, I wrote Making Use as a fic prompt response not long after The Force Awakens came out, and I think it must've been one of a small number of Reyux fics at that time because that thing TOOK OFF. It's got 441 kudos on it and still accumulates some here and there periodically. Like, I don't even like it that much but I'm glad it makes people happy, haha.

That's followed by A Certain Comfort (Phasma/Hux, 127) and a few Batman universe fics (Locard's Principle, 86; Metaphorically, 76; Mistakes, 70.)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yeah, I try to respond to all of my commenters, though I haven't always in the past. If they leave something really excited sometimes I let it sit for a bit so I can properly match their energy.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I write a lot of angsty stuff but don't usually leave it on that note. Looking at ending alone, probably Mistakes; it's a Crane/Harley fic I wrote some years back about her coming to stay with him while still in an abusive relationship with Joker. Lots of unrequited pining there; very hurt/no comfort.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? ...This is making me realize that I don't write a lot of fics that end happily vs. things have slightly improved, I guess. I suppose Better to Be Wrecked, my SW/Quinn fic, is technically rather optimistic because it's basically a meditation on him contemplating suicide over the years and then getting treated mercifully by the woman he loves at the end, haha. Some of the stuff I wrote for Gotham (before that show went off the rails, woof) is kind of positive in outlook too.

7. Do you write crossovers? Nah, I'm more into exploring characters in the context of their own settings.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Nah, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've done text RP for years, and written a fair amount of smut collaboratively, but up until more recently I haven't really considered putting it into fic, lol (as @nirikeehan is wont to say--be the smut you want to see in the world!) There's the implication of it in Better to Be Wrecked and I've got something more explicit with that ship in my WIPs at the moment.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No. Fwiw, if you want to reference my OCs or worldbuilding stuff or whatever, feel free to ask.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Don't think so. Someone recorded a read of Mistakes once, which was pretty cool.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope, but I've beta'd for Niri and I wrote a scene that's part of the backstory of her fic The Force's Will (which like, if you like Hux being smart and calculating and capable, Reylo, Poe being a badass, or at all want a take on the future after TLJ that's infinitely better than whatever the hell TROS was--read it. It's great.)

13. What’s your all time favourite ship? I can never pick one favorite, lol--honestly it's easier for me to express what ships I really don't like. For instance, having spent a lot of time in the fandom for the new trilogy, I really have zero interest in Kylux--I see their relationship as more of a complicated platonic/vaguely familial thing. (Weirdly, the ship I was probably most into with Hux was when I RPed him with a younger Leia, because they were a really incredible intellectual match for each other. I can also get behind several m/f ships with him and Hux/Poe, haha.)

I'm currently neck-deep in SWTOR and Quinn/SW is sitting in my 'favorite' slot right now, lol.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? I have a lot of WIPs kicking around for Quinn/SW that I may or may not finish but I'd like to. There's definitely a lot of things I've got from different fandoms that I start and never complete, and I'm trying to get better about that.

15. What are your writing strengths? /checks the comments on my stuff, lol

I've been told I'm good at characterization (which like, good, because when I get into a character I'm inundating poor Niri with paragraphs of speculation about their inner lives, lol.) Honestly, the most treasured comment I got back when I was doing online RP was when I was playing a setting-native OC and was told 'he's so well-developed that I keep forgetting he's not actually part of canon'. Especially as someone who remembers a time when OCs were constantly being accused of being Mary Sues or whatever, that meant a lot.

I also think I'm pretty good at connecting ideas through the course of a fic; in one shots, I love starting with a simple notion (sometimes from the first line, e.g. "Hux was not afraid of him"; "Quinn had grown accustomed to contemplating his own death") and deconstructing/reconstructing it in different ways. A lot of the fics that influenced me early on were highly thematic and downright lyrical, so that influenced my writing quite a bit.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? As I've been writing a longer, more actiony WIP lately (my upcoming Imperial Agent fic), I've been struggling at times to find a good balance in terms of how descriptive I want to be--like, where to really move the action and where to let the characters talk and breathe. The plot's hashed out; it's just a matter of figuring out how to get from A to B, scene to scene, in part because I haven't written something super lengthy in years.

I get really particular and perfectionistic with dialogue too, sometimes; if you struggle with that as well, I find that voice-acting it to myself helps (like, literally when proofing that fic I've been doing the British accents to get the cadence right; sometimes I crack myself up when they're just perfectly sassy.)

And, you know, actually finishing stuff is a challenge, lol.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I think if it's an actual language and you're not fluent, it's best to run it past someone who is since Google Translate is Not Great much of the time. Usually I'll just indicate that the characters are speaking another language and try to represent when something comes up that doesn't have an English equivalent; you don't want to distract the reader to the point that they have to dig for footnotes but you also don't want to totally erase some of that contextual information.

I've seen this done well with an untranslatable word here or there (that, again, you can mostly deduce from context clues) and with short, subtle remarks that a character is using a familiar form of address or something. And yeah, in sci fi/fantasy stuff, I'll either do those things or repurpose slang on occasion to keep the immersion going (e.g. my Star Wars characters say the likes of 'stars forbid' or 'bantha shit' a lot as a 'they're from a different place with different belief systems' nod.)

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Lol I was writing like, shitty Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic back in elementary school and such so I guess that counts? My earliest stuff on ao3 is Batman fic; I got super into the Nolan movies years back and kind of entered the larger fandom from there.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet, but want to? Well, I've got like two different unfinished projects with Imperial Agent/Shara Jenn so I hope to grace the world with those two, lol. (She's so gooooood.)

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written? There's a special place in my heart for The Incarnation of Failure. Like, there's no romance in it, it doesn't make my top 5 for hits or kudos, but it's effectively a humanizing love letter to Hux and Phasma and the First Order in general in the aftermath of TFA. I'm still sad about how their potential was squandered by the canon, but in my own mind, this fic is part of my canon.

[ladyjenise]

My Last Jedi Thoughts (SPOILER WARNINGS SO SCROLL YOUR ASS AWAY IF YOU’RE ON MOBILE)

And if you’re not on mobile, congrats! Click to after the cut:

Ok, so I think I have to do this in point form:

-the beginning with Poe was fucking amazing. I do love space battles and this was a really good one. But I also laughed my ass off at Hux

-Hux was a little bitch throughout the movie but when he tries to step up to Kylo and Kylo just force chokes him, my friend and I just turned to each other and said “what a little bitch”. Basically, I loved snivelling, jealous Hux.

-Finn was good. I loved Rose. She had some really great moments. There were times when I was like “I love her”. I was so sad her sister died. :(

-LUKE. Oh Luke. The green milk scene tho... I was Rey (I think we all were tbh... when she makes that “oh god I made eye contact” face I was like dying)

-Despite being hardcore Kylo and Rey, I think I enjoyed Luke’s arc in the movie the most. The ending was super sad tho. I know why it had to be that way but...

-Yoda cameo was fucking hilarious. When Luke has his “Imma burn this shit” moment, then decides not to, and Yoda’s like “lol watch this bitch” and sets the fire anyway and laughs, I lost it.  I am Yoda. BURN IT ALL!

-Luke again: his fight with Kylo was lit af. Kylo, pure power, can’t land a hit. And I’m like “lol he’s distracting you, idiot”

-When Luke is training Rey for the first time and he’s like “reach out” and she literally does. Then he slaps her hand for being a fuckin’ dumbass. XD

_Benicio Del Toro’s character, DJ, needed more screen time.

-Holdo’s end was great. I love her. She was totally representing the honourable sacrifice. I mean, so did Paige (Rose’s sister) and Finn almost kinda did (but not really, as Rose explains). Bless those characters and RIP.

-Holdo warping that fucking ship right through that damn First Order ship lol

-Rose, to Finn: when she says they shouldn’t fight the things they hate, but fight for the things they love... I feel like that’s foreshadowing, not specifically on anyone but on the series and life in general. But also a nice transition into what’s been discussed as the main event...

-Rey and Kylo... together, on their own, I love them. I actually kinda felt their relationship progressed too fast, but well, I’ll take it.

-Rey: her parentage reveal wasn’t a total surprise. After reading some decent meta, I became firmly placed in the camp that believed her parents were just nobodies. But I didn’t realize they’d go where they went with it. And there’s a few aspects I want to talk about related to it:

1. Rey always struck me as an unreliable narrator in her own story. This is because that, although she would describe herself as “no one” and “just a scavenger”, her actions always spoke to a certain level of pride and a Marty McFly-esque level of “if you say I can’t do it then I am totally going to do it just because you told me not to”, which totally points to a nature that is much less humble than she tries to act. I’m not shitting on Rey, btw. I love her to bits and this character building is excellent. It shows how damaged and flawed her thinking is. However, Kylo is still a huge asshole for talking to her the way he did (more on that later)

2. Rey’s parents being drunk assholes really struck me for two reasons. Firstly, I’ve worked for 9 years for an organization that works with children living in poverty. A LOT of kids come from really rough backgrounds. Many stories of parents abandoning them, alcohol sometimes being a factor in abuse and abandonment. They’re hard stories to process, especially when there are so many. Rey isn’t real, but her background is a very real reality for so many children in the world. Poverty is a very cruel thing to live with, and punishes many. Secondly, I’ve got a few alcoholics in my family who have made some very poor decisions that have hurt others. My grandfather died homeless and alone because of it. It’s a very sad thing. I can get into this aspect of Rey’s character a bit too personally, and it’s fucking sad.

-Rey has a lot of great scenes in this movie. When she slices the rocks off the ledge and onto the wheelbarrow of those caretakers, I was like lol. Also when she says about the caretakers “I don’t think they like me”, like no shit, hun. Stop breaking shit. Rey is a bit of a walking disaster lol

-When Rey falls headfirst into the whole and in the water, I have totally been on a waterslide like that. It probably isn’t that high of a fall, but it’s pretty terrifying.

-I don’t get the part with the multiple Reys, but when she wanted to see her parents I was like “oh cool it’s the Mirror of Erised” but then it got weird. Again, I don’t get it. I’ll need someone smarter than me to explain it. I trust the director enough that it should have been there. It was nice it gave her something to chat about with Kylo lol “Durr, and then I fell into the water and it was fucking cold. Weird huh?”

-Speaking of Harry Potter shit, when Rey could hear voices leading her to the tree in island Mordor, it sounded like the snake language from Harry Potter and I was like “oh dank, Rey is a parsletongue”

-When Rey shoots at Kylo’s image and you think for a moment that Luke seems Kylo too but he’s asking what the hell happened to the wall in the hut that the caretakers are now frantically patching, and Rey’s like “oh i was uh... cleaning my blaster”. Ok, Melanie Hamilton lol

-Before I get to Kylo, I swear to fucking god there was a Spaceballs reference when DJ slices into the system to get a weakness in the shields and that guy’s screen blips and he’s touching it. I was waiting for the guy to call over Hux or something. “There’s something wrong with the radar, sir”

-Some of the interactions with Hux and Kylo were very Spaceballs-esque, too. I just really like Spaceballs. It was one of my favourite movies as a kid and I saw it long before i ever saw Star Wars.

-Kylo... Oh Kylo. First of all, you need to learn to talk to women. I mean, you were doing ok, and then you FUCKED IT UP. If you’re trying to propose to a woman, telling her she comes from garbage and how you’re her best option is so, so not the way to go about it.

-The part when he takes off his cloak to rush Snoke in the beginning was hot. Him getting shot with lightning immediately after was also hot, but in a literal, burning sort of way. I enjoyed both, and it was a great set up for what happened later.

-Kylo lying to Hux saying that Rey killed Snoke was LOL

-Kylo killing Snoke was A++  I legit did not think they’d just straight up have Kylo basically choose Rey over Snoke but it was right there. Love it.

-Kylo and Rey in the throne room fight was pure sex.

-Kylo and Rey FORCE BOND.

-Kylo and Rey in the elevator.

-Kylo and Rey in the hut. Luke with the cockblock lol

-Rey calling Kylo a snake and yelling at him about his dad. ;.; I imagined them having that EXACT conversation at some point. It’s basically Rey saying Kylo was spoiled and didn’t appreciate his dad and Kylo saying Rey has dad issues and keeps chasing after men to be her surrogate father figure. Again, Kylo, you need to work on your courtship skills because they are subpar, at best.

-When Kylo says “please” in the most pathetic voice ever. That’s when I knew he was completely, totally, helplessly in love with her and that is going to be the only thing that’s going to save him. And let me be VERY clear: I don’t think she will save him. I think he will change to be the man she deserves (somehow, and oh god I don’t know how they’re gonna do it).

-Any time Kylo and Rey touch hands

-Going back to the throne room fight, when Kylo keeps an eye on Rey during the fight to make sure she’s ok.

-That part when Rey drops the lightsaber to kill that one guard. I was like “THAT IS THE MOST BADASS MOVE I HAVE EVER SEEN” and then right after she throws the saber to Kylo and then he pulls off THE NEXT MOST BADASS MOVE I HAVE EVER SEEN

-When Kylo orders them to just shoot the shit out of Luke and afterwards Hux is like “you think you got him?”  XD

-And finally, THE OFFER. I was waiting for him to just yell “TAKE MY DAMN HAND ALREADY, WOMAN!” cause he looked like that’s what he wanted to say but that’s the Kylo in him talking. The Ben in him is saying “maybe if I wait a lilllllllltle longer she’ll come around”

[wanderingbards]

A Star Wars AU

**I will try to keep this spoiler free, but to avoid any and all spoilers I might accidentally give out please skip this**

So I just saw The Last Jedi. I absolutely LOVED IT!!! It had some badass moments and a lot of humor in it, and I recommend everyone goes and sees it.

But you all didn’t come to see me be a huge fan of geeky shit. You came to see what I would HC the Sanders Sides + Thomas and other various characters of his in the Star Wars Universe. I am basing this all off of character traits, and there mayyy be spoilers. I just want to reiterate this for anyone who didn’t heed my warning.

Rey: Virgil This may be a stretch, but hear me out for a moment. Rey may seem confident and cool, especially near the end of Episode VIII, but she starts out as someone who is scared. She keeps waiting for her parents to return, wishing for things to go back to how they were. Later on, she is constantly questioning where she belongs in this whole scheme of things, and doesn’t feel like a true part of the resistance. Virgil himself is like this in the beginning. He is now confident and more sure of himself, but he started out questioning himself, doubting himself, sometimes wondering where his place is in the world.

Finn: Thomas Finn is a person that was brainwashed from a young age to think and act a certain way. When he was finally freed, he was confused for the longest time on where he wanted his place to be, what he wanted his story to be about. He cares a lot about his friends, and will literally die for them. He is concerned about all of his friends, 

Poe: Roman Poe Dameron is reckless, willing to fight anything and anyone to keep his friends safe. He is steadfast and strong, oftentimes impulsive or hotheaded. Poe shows his strengths through his quick maneuvers and sharp tongue. and I hope this makes it clear how similar he is to Roman. Roman is seen being hotheaded as well, willing to fight any dragon witch threatening his friends. He is loyal and brave, but also reckless. 

Rose: Patton Rose is a sweet badass with a big heart. She is featured in TLJ, so avoid this portion if you want to avoid spoilers.  Anyways, Rose has come from the ground up in the rebellion, fighting adversity at every turn and still managing to have hope. She loves animals, freeing many of them in a fit of rebellion against the First Order. I relate her to Patton due to their shared love for animals, and their compassion for what’s right. They both try to have a positive outlook, and have a bit of faith in everyone they meet.

Leia: Logan Leia Organa is fearless. She is analytical, brilliant, and constantly sure of herself and what she knows is right. She plays for wins, and not necessarily caring about how people feel. She can sometimes ignore what others have to say, due to her believing what she thinks is right, but in the end she works with the rebellion to win. Logan is also an analytical mind, not necessarily considerate of feelings in his quest for what’s right. In this way, I can relate these two characters, even if it’s a bit of a stretch.

Kylo Ren: Elliott Kylo Ren is an asshole, but there’s reason for it. He is confused, slightly scared. He was turned on by his jedi master and turned to the dark side for comfort, only to be abused and manipulated. He’s conflicted, torn between two sides. This all can be applied in some way to Elliott, other than the asshole part. Elliott is conflicted between their love for Mitchell and their friend saying it’s not healthy. They may have felt betrayed in the beginning by their friend saying they needed help and trying to help them, thus turning them into a deep spiral of negligence and manipulation from Mitchell. In theory, at least. This is why I can see a relationship between Kylo Ren and Mitchell. 

Phasma: Corbin No one really knows Phasma’s story or character. She has been given very little screen time and/or character. What we do know is she’s a strong leader, persistent in her goals. She seems collected when under pressure, and is willing to fight for her side. Corbin, from what we know, is much the same way. He seems calm, collected, clear-sighted. He has strength in his beliefs in not wanting to go to therapy, but is also able to see there is another side. Unlike Phasma, he accepted the other side and chose to work with his partner Sloane towards a common goal. I think, if given more CHARACTER, Phasma would have acted in a similar way.

Hux: Larry Hux is a general with ambitions, confidence in himself. He is man who can be a bit cowardly at times (looks at starkiller base) but he knows what he’s doing. After Snoke’s *spoilers* demise, he immediately goes to take control and ends up clashing with Kylo. Now I’m not saying that Larry is a bad man in ANY WAY, I just want to point out similarities in the two personality-wise. Both have a strong, dominating personality and are not afraid to talk others down. But where Hux seems to have an authority kink-I mean complex-Larry is able to see reason and talk things through with Dot to form a healthier relationship. ((also anyone who ships kylux as a kinky sex ship, I kinkshame you all lol jk. I in no way endorse the shipping of kylux, and honestly do not ship Kylo with anyone. This has been a PSA))

Snoke: Mitchell And finally, we have the almighty sith lord whose origins are unknown. He is powerful, manipulative, cunning. He knows how to hit people where it hurts, show them their mistakes and use them against someone. Mitchell, while a character we know little about, is similar to Snoke. He is manipulating Elliott into giving Mitchell everything, while they get next to no love in return. He uses Elliott’s emotions against him, much like Snoke does with Kylo Ren. I’m not saying that Mitchell is doing this intentionally, but we know he is not a good person and if he does not change his ways, Elliott will have an army fighting him.

[reyleaux]

rey for the character ask meme?

aaaaaah rey

1: sexuality headcanonbi, bc i headcanon almost every character as bi, especially in space where interspecies romance is a thing. i also just think that like...rey’s total abandon and how easy she is with love means that girl gets crushes all over the place

2: otp

reylo, obviously :)

3: brotp

i feel like brotp is an understatement/misnomer for this, but rey/finn! i’m so so so so into seeing how their relationship plays out in canon, esp the possibility of them having conflict with one another!

but they are each other’s first family and they’re going to have to hold very tight and be very willing to grow as time goes on and they are forced to come to terms with the fact that life will never go back to normal.

4: notp

rey/hux sorry everybody ://////

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

MESSY EATER MESSY EATER probably because i just wrote about it lolalthough close second is that she’s extremely powerful in the force after her “awakening,” to the point where just being around other people can become overwhelming before she learns to quiet it. you can tell i love this one because it shows up in all of my fics. 

6: favorite line from this character

“there’s something else...it’s calling me!” yes hun! get that dick! 

but no, i jest. I really love “I bypassed the compressor” and “that was lucky!” because of how they show her sense of humor and ingenuity, the first of which doesn’t get enough love imho. in a similar vein, her line about BB-8 during the interrogation is great because, to me, it shows that she and Kylo have a really similar way of deadpanning when it suits them while also reminding us all that she’s that kind of badass that doesn’t crack under pressure. 

7: one way in which I relate to this character

god, the loneliness. she’s so isolated in her time on Jakku but even after, emotionally. no one really understands what she’s going through (with the exception of kylo) and I think it’s very likely that she’s misunderstood by the people around her. at the very least, she’s deeply misunderstood by a certain portion of fandom that likes to ignore her pain in favor of her soft and sweet attributes, which is a kind of quiet misogyny that i’ve struggled with in my own life. 

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

her over-eagerness because i’m the same way. rey reads like such an aries to me -- hard-headed and capable, but childish sometimes. and, tbh, this doesn’t give me secondhand embarrassment, really, it just makes me like those things about myself more. if people can love this girl who slingshots between goofball and Prophetic Monstrosity, then they can love me, too. 

if anything, i get secondhand embarrassment in that scene at the end of tfa with luke. yeesh. just, out with it! take him to task! 

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

Eldritch Angel In the Body of a Girl