#it’s making me think about tros again :/

[bpdlottiematthews]

I had a dream about Reylo last night because I’ve been doing a re-read of The Love Hypothesis and god I miss Reylo so fucking much

[pickingupmymercedes]

Let it happen - Lewis Hamilton

Part of 1K Jukebox Event

song: Let it happen - Gracie Abrams - @alessandrahamilton

pairing: Lewis Hamilton x Reader!

genre: angst with hints of fluff (because apparently that's a favorite around here)

wordcount: +2k

As always, I'm open for feedback, come say hi!

______________________________________________________________

The morning light filtered through the curtains, soft and golden, the kind of light that makes you forget the world can be sharp and unkind.

I blinked, rubbing the last traces of sleep from my eyes, before the familiarity of the room tugged me back to reality.

His room. His LA house.

You’d think I’d be smarter by now. But here I am, in his bed, heart in hand, ready to offer it up like a fool for the hundredth time.

I shifted under the weight of the sheets, the scent of him clinging to the air—cologne, something clean and woodsy, mixed with that hint of soap I’ve come to know too well.

We’re really doing this again, aren’t we?

I pushed myself upright, trying not to think about how easily I fell back into the shape of his life, like I never really left.

I caught sight of his sweater thrown over by the stool, my shoes kicked off somewhere near the door, evidence of another night spent tiptoeing through familiar, dangerous territory.

The house was quiet, just the faint hum of LA outside, muffled by the walls.

Maybe I should go back to sleep and hope to wake up in the right bed this time. Maybe I should grab my stuff and sneak out before he sees me. Save myself the trouble of figuring out what this is all over again.

But I pulled on his sweater without a second thought—apparently, I wasn’t done making bad decisions.

I tiptoe my way toward the kitchen, half-expecting to find him there, making one of those post-workout protein shakes he pretends taste good. But the space is empty—spotless countertops, gleaming appliances, and a bowl of perfectly arranged avocados I’m sure he didn’t buy himself.

What am I doing here?

And it’s a good question, one I’ve asked myself a million times. What the hell am I doing, letting myself get caught up in this again?

I know how this ends. We’ve been here before. Me standing in his kitchen, wearing his clothes, convincing myself that I can handle whatever this is without losing my mind.

The house still smelled like it always did, fresh coffee and the faint scent of whatever aroma he insists on using in his humidifier.

My eyes catching on little things as I passed. Roscoe’s leash on the counter, a half-read book on the couch, my own scarf tossed carelessly over the armrest. The one from the last time I was in this house.

A reminder of the life we’d built, the one we let slip through our fingers. The one I’m trying to convince myself we can build again.

Because of course, I’m always hoping, always diving back in, like there’s some magical version of reality that won’t end with both of us in pieces.

Like I can out-stubborn heartbreak this time.

I reached the sliding door to the porch, my hand hesitating over the handle. I can see him sitting on the steps, Roscoe curled up beside him, the morning sun painting him like this ethereal soul. Peaceful. At ease.

Like he wasn’t wrestling with the same mess that tangled inside me.

His hand moved absently scratching behind Roscoe’s ears, and the sight made my chest feel too tight, too full. All at once.

I hate how much I’ve missed this. Him. Us. It’s ridiculous, really.

I should have learned by now that this is what we always do. Like we’re some kind of tragic romantic who never learn when to walk away.

I slid the door open, trying to keep quiet, but the wheels rattled against the track, betraying me.

He glanced over his shoulder, and a slow smile curved his lips when he saw me. I felt my chest squeeze at the sight, and I swear I try to ignore it.

“Hey,” he says softly, like he’s afraid of breaking the quiet. “Didn’t hear you get up.”

“Yeah, well, you were busy this handsome.” I nod towards Roscoe, who’s already trotting over to me, his body dancing like we’re old friends.

I crouch down to give him a scratch behind the ears, trying to ignore the way my chest tightens when Lewis just keeps watching me, his expression open and unguarded in a way that makes me feel like I’m on the verge of falling apart.

“You want some coffee?” he offers, lifting his mug like it’s some peace offering. “There’s more inside.”

I shrug, trying to keep my voice casual. “I’ll get some in a minute.”

He nods and looks back out at the horizon, like he’s giving me space to settle into the morning. But I don’t move. I just stand there, feeling like an outsider in a place I used to know so well.

And the worst part, I’m not even sure which of us is to blame for that.

All countless nights I spent lying awake, wondering if I’d made a mistake in letting him go. Wondering if I should’ve fought harder, stayed longer, done something other than walk away before he could hurt me.

“You okay?” His voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I look up to find him softly watching me.

It’s a loaded question, and we both know it, but he says it like he’s genuinely hoping for a real answer.

I swallow hard, trying to find the right words. “Yeah, I’m—yeah. Just...thinking.”

He nodded, like he understood—like he always did. His gaze back to the yard, to the stretch of green that separated the house from the rest of LA, and I watched him in the quiet, studying the lines of his face in the early light.

The very ones I’d memorized, the ones I’d convinced myself I could forget.

But that would be too easy, wouldn’t it? To forget?

Because, here I am, standing on his porch in borrowed clothes, like I’m hoping that somehow, being in his space will help me figure out if this is worth the inevitable heartbreak I know is lurking, waiting for any crack.

And it’s never really been about him hurting me, has it? It’s about me letting it happen. It’s about me choosing this—choosing him—over and over again, knowing full well how the story goes.

And … I can’t seem to stop.

It would be so much easier to walk away. To pack up my things, leave before we can fall into the same patterns that broke us the first time.

To save myself from the way he looks at me like I’m the only thing that matters, only to feel it slip away when reality catches up.

But there’s something about him—about us—that keeps pulling me back. Like there’s a part of me that believes, against all logic and reason, that maybe this time will be different.

Lewis’s voice broke through my thoughts, low and even. “You know, you think too much.”

I let out a scoff that came out too breathy, too light. “Thanks for the insight, Dr. Hamilton. Real helpful.”

He chuckled, and it was the kind of sound that used to unravel me, back when we still believed we had time.

The kind that still does, deep down.

“It’s true, though. I can practically hear you thinking all the way over here.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” I shot back, trying for a smirk, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes.

He just hummed, and the sound settled between us, comfortable, like we’d slipped back into an old rhythm. “I know. But you don’t have to figure everything out right now.”

And there it was, that knowing tone. It dug under my skin, pricking at all the places I’d tried to keep hidden.

Because of course he’d see right through me—he always did. And that’s what terrified me the most. He knew me, maybe even better than I knew myself, and that, that made it so much harder to walk away.

I found myself crossing the porch, sinking down next to Lewis. Our shoulders brushed, a familiar pull that had a hold on me, no matter how many times I tried to tell myself I was over that.

Over him.

I glanced sideways at him, catching the way the morning light softened the edges of his face. And for a moment, I let myself wonder what he saw when he looked at me.

If he saw the same girl he fell for the first time around, or just the mess I’d become since.

“What makes you think I’m trying to figure anything out?”

He shrugged, but there was a gentle smile tugging at his lips, like he didn’t need to say it. Because he could see right through my deflection.

“I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re overthinking everything. And I know that look on your face. The one when you were convinced the whole world is falling apart.”

I let out a huff, pulling my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them. The porch creaked under my movement, and I found myself focusing on the sound, anything to distract from the way he was looking at me, like I was something fragile and precious. “Yeah, well, sometimes my world feels like it’s falling apart.”

He didn’t look away, and his silence made my skin itch, like he was waiting for me to say something more. When I didn’t, he finally spoke, voice soft, but steady. “You think I don’t get it? That I haven’t replayed all the ways we could’ve made it work if we’d just... tried?”

I swallowed, the words cutting through me. “And what makes you think trying again will be any different?”

Lewis leaned back, his shoulders brushing against the wooden steps as he considered my question. His hand drifted back to Roscoe, absently scratching behind his ears.

It was a moment before he answered, his voice rough around the edges, like he’d thought about this more times than he’d ever admit. “Maybe I don’t. Maybe I don’t think it’ll be different.”

I blinked, caught off guard by his honesty. He wasn’t making promises, wasn’t offering some fairy-tale ending. He just looked at me with those steady eyes, the ones that always seemed to see right through me, right down to the parts of myself I tried to hide.

“But I do know something” he continued, and there was a weight to his words, like he was choosing them carefully. “Every time you walk away, I keep thinking, ‘What if?’ What if we just got it wrong, and we could get it right if we gave ourselves the chance?”

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to ignore the hope that his words stirred up in me. “And what if we just keep hurting each other all over again? What if we’re both just too stubborn to admit that it’s time to let go?”

Lewis turned to look at me then, his expression softer than I expected. “That’s what makes it worth trying to me. Neither of us seems to know how to really give up. Not on us. Not completely.”

I let out a shaky breath, my fingers tracing the hem of his sweater on my lap. It felt like there was a storm building in my chest, all those feelings I’d kept locked up threatening to spill out.

I didn’t know what to do with them, how to make sense of this thing between us that felt so much like a second chance and a ticking time bomb all at once.

He reached out then, his hand brushing against mine, a gentle touch that was almost like a challenge. “I’m not asking you to forget the past. I’m not even asking you to believe that we won’t mess this up again. But I am asking you to stop pretending like you don’t want this. That you don’t want me.”

And I couldn’t. Because he was right.

As much as a part of me would argue that I could, should, walk away, that I’d be better off if I just left before the inevitable hurt came crashing down, I still wanted him. Ached for him.

I met his gaze, letting him see the uncertainty, the fear, the hope that I couldn’t quite bury.

He held my gaze, unwavering. “Let’s be afraid together. One more time. Let’s make a mess of it, and figure it out as we go. Because I’m tired, too. Of pretending like I don’t want you here. Tired of acting like I don’t see a future where we get it right.”

And I knew, even if I tried to deny it, that for him, I’d hand him my life.

______________________________________________________________

TAGLIST - @saturnssunflower @xoscar03 @chocolatediplomatdreamerzonk @itsmrshamilton @vicurious28

@0710khj @thecubanator2 @neilakk @bigratbitchsworld @adriswrld

@fearfam69691 @cmleitora @goldenroutledge @timmychalametsstuff @jpgnsf

@priopp123 @strqirlhrts @hmmmmm-01 @bisexual-babygirl-mj @bebesobrielo

@hiireadstuff @f1-football-fiend

If you’d like to be added to my taglist you can leave a comment or send me a dm/ask.

[melosliving]

kelvin Harrison jr x neighbor!reader

neighbor!reader who is so so happy to move in her new apartment, happily going boxes after boxes, even though they’re heavy as hell.

neighbor!kelvin who actually wakes up from his afternoon nap and sees you going to your car every 10 minutes, wondering who you were. But then he thinks about actually helping you since you seemed to be alone.

neighbor!kelvin who opens his door only to find you trying to juggle your keys and the voluminous box you had in your hands. You looked ridiculous girl.

"Do you need help with this ?" he would ask you, leaning against the door. He looked at you trying to enter the key in your front door.

"actually no thanks, let me handle this. I’m a big girl." You would answer, struggle audible in your voice. He would only chuckle but let you and your big girl business alone.

neigbor!kelvin who opens his door again only to come face to face with you, who has a big smile on your face.

"Actually neighbor, I could use the help. Please." You say, pinching your lips together. Raising his eyebrows, kelvin looked at you, finally taking in your appearance. Dressed comfortably like a person that was moving, you wore grey sweats and a matching grey top.

you were really pretty.

"Sure, neighbor." He would say, waiting for you to lead the way to you car.

neighbor!kelvin who is your knight in shining armor, carrying boxes like it was nothing to him. You were so grateful he had accepted to help you even despite refusing.

neighbor!kelvin who can’t help but look around your apartment, taking in how you’ve already decorated it a bit. And it matched your aesthetic.

neighbor!reader who looks at how he carries the boxes, letting warmth creeping in her cheeks as she pays attention to his muscles flexing.

"I still don’t know your name, neighbor." You would say, after carrying the last box of yours in the kitchen. "Oh, it’s kelvin, and you are, pretty neighbor ?" He would ask.

"❁."

neighbor!kelvin who smiles at the sound of your name between your lips, making sure not to forget it. Pretty, just like you.

neighbor!kelvin who has to go after some time but makes you promise to always come to him if you needed something.

neighbor!kelvin who cannot stop thinking about you. From your glistening skin, your faint perfume to your real pretty face. You just couldn’t escape his mind.

"she’s really hot." he would explain to one of his close relatives.

"Not you crushing on your new neighbor."

"fuck that, I think I’m in love, cousin."

neighbor!kelvin who smiles at you each time you would bump into him, wanting to help anytime you would have groceries.

neighbor!kelvin who after some weeks gets closer to you and actually becomes your friend.

"Actually, come over tonight, please." You say, looking at him.

"What ?" He would frown. He knew you were quite spontaneous but this was forward.

"I want to do something nice to thank you for everything you’ve been doing for me." You explain, hands behind your back.

"Ok, so you basically want me in your bed, ❁. You just could have said that." He would joke.

"Boy, you need to redo your braids, and I can braid it for you if you want."

neighbor!kelvin who find you so cute and thoughtful. He then finds himself in your pretty apartment, sitting on your floor and between your legs, letting you brush his hair.

"Your hair is so beautiful, kel" You would mumble, starting to braid his hair. And if at first he was scared it would hurt, your hand was actually so gentle with him.

"Do you have other skills up your sleeve, pretty ?"

"You’ll have to find them." You would answer, smiling softly at him.

neighbor!kelvin who falls asleep on your thigh while you finish braiding his hair, his arm circling your leg. When finishing you would put on his green durag on for him, not before taking a quick picture of his sleepy frown.

neighbor!reader who gently shakes kelvin awake, softly smiling at him as he emerges. he looked troubled as to where he was but when he looked back at you he was relieved.

neighbor!kelvin who thanks you a hundred times but never lift himself up the floor, wanting to remain close to you as possible.

neighbor!reader who stands up to go in the kitchen only to come back with a glass of water for him.

neighbor!kelvin who can’t help himself but follow your sight, observing the way your pyjamas were clinging to your body.

"you can sleep here if you want, you seem really tired." You say, playing with your nails.

neighbor!kelvin who finds himself on your couch, your back to his front and watching tv with you since he swore he wasn’t tired, but really he just wanted to be able to witness your face getting sleepy.

"❁, I know you’re sleeping." He would say after you swore he would be the first to fall asleep.

"M’ not," you would answer, but actually betray yourself when you turned in his arms, putting your face in his neck and making yourself comfortable.

neighbor!kelvin who would hold you in his arms, feeling you falling asleep. It was the most precious sight ever.

neighbor!kelvin who after this swore he would not let you go.

@ melosliving 2025

[webslingingslasher]

i’m seated for some sneak peaks of things you have in the drafts hehe

here's a blurb for munch frat!peter:

'hand this card to the last person to eat pussy.'

tarrent has a gleam in his eye as he proudly pushes it into peter's chest. 'drink up, bro.'

you're not watching, the content of your cup is more interesting. but you're listening to see exactly how peter plays this one off because he hasn't even tried- let alone offered to go down on you.

peter hands the card back. 'nah, i don't do that.' he says it like it's a joke and his friends laugh with him, like he's too humble to accept the crown title of carpet muncher.

---

here's a blurb for hockey!peter fighting for his life over a jersey

'hey, can i have a kiss?' the audacity. you cross your arms again and look to the side, 'no.' peter frowns, you lean away when you feel his lips on your cheek.

'no? not even after i just won?'

'you didn't deserve it.' you grumble it from the side of your mouth, peter catches it and feels offended. 'don't get pouty and tell me i deserved to lose.'

you turn to him, your eyes screamed fire at him. 'don't humilate me and demand a kiss then.'

---

here's a blurb for cherry!peter who's doing the best he can to make cherry's sex dream come to life

'i've been so good, haven't i been so good for you?' peter can sense a little bit of a praise kink in you, it's fitting. 'you're always good for me. you're my good girl, aren't you?'

a whimper, it's so much better when it's real. 'i'm your good girl.' a harsh grind, you clutch peter's forearm while you throw your head back. 'yeah? that feels good?'

'call me your pretty baby.' peter doesn't know where the direction is coming from but he likes it. 'does my pretty baby feel good?' an audible moan, he's fucking perfect at this.

---

here's a blurb for bf!frat!peter with a girlfriend who should always come first

peter is totally saving you for last and you're about to go nuts on him. sure, there might be a line of people and sure, you might be the one in the least danger but you're owed some sort of urgency.

'hello?' you call it out, you sound impatient. 'spider-man?' you are impatient. you call for him again, he holds up a hand and you gasp. 'oh you little- spider-man, you better come help me right now or i swear to god i'll...' you have no real threat. 'just don't tempt me!'

peter doesn't come help you, he's still helping an older woman and you're about to throw yourself into a fire for some attention. 'excuse me? i'm looking for my boyfriend, have you seen him?'

---

here's a blurb from that blurb... you know... the one where peter has hooked up with trouble's friend?

if peter was a brat, he'd say that you're not supposed to be talking to him. instead, he extends his hand out and watches heavy footing beat up the staircase. the second his door slams, his best friend is asking what the fuck happened with his eyes.

'she's mad at me.' his door swings open, you shout down to him. 'i'm not mad! we're broken up!' another slam. ethan's expecting a lot more from peter than a shrug. 'no we're not.'

his door hits the wall, another scream, 'yes we are!' a third slam, this time, he's got two friends coming out of their rooms and glancing between his bedroom door and the lower level where peter had crossed arms.

'what's going-' peter flails his arms around, trying to stop the impending question and what he knows is all you need to give him a round two, but worse because now you're no longer in public.

a sheepish grin crosses over a brother's face when his door explodes open, peter thinks there might be a hole behind his door where the handle matches up perfectly.

---

here's a blurb where ethan walks in on sexy time :(

'liar! he saw me from behind!' you know he did, it was all on show. everything's ruined. peter's trying his best to be soothing. 'hey, even if he did, he won't say anything. it's ethan, you know ethan.'

you do. that's why it's so bad. the reminder makes you cry harder, peter connects the dots. 'oh jeez, trouble. here, come give me a hug.' it's a pathetic reach, you want nothing more than to be locked away in his hold, hidden and secret from the outside world.

'he-' you suck in air, curling in even closer to peter as if you weren't on his lap already. 'he saw me having sex.' you pull peter's arms tighter around you, it almost hurts it's so tight. it's what you need.

'i know, baby. i'm so sorry.' at least he's being honest.

'how much did he see?' peter doesn't know either, he was a little busy underneath you. he just knows the second he saw his door open, his instinct was to protect you.

'very little.' you feel kisses over your head, 'please stop crying.'

---

here's a blurb where nerdy!peter has no filter when he's drunk

'hi, honey.' you hold his arm tightly, 'don't lean over.' bending at the waist you reach for the keys, peter groans and shouts an exaggerated 'oh my god!'

you fly up, the metal tucked between your fingers. 'what?' you look around, peter's busy staring down your skirt while his teeth sink into his bottom lip. 'your ass is so nice.'

you suck in a deep breath and ignore the flush of warmth covering your chest. 'thank you, petey.' you ignore the slight shake in your hand when you shove the key in.

peter's door gets stuck a lot and you have to shove your shoulder into it a little. while you're doing your best to raid the door, a hand slides up the back of your thigh and gives you a tight squeeze. you jump and yelp, your hand reaching back to throw his off.

'peter!' he giggles and turns his head like you wouldn't be able to see him anymore. 'i just wanted to touch it a little.' peter's fingertips lightly drag up your thigh, you slap it away again. he giggles harder, the sound bubbles out of him.

'i'm trying to get us inside, leave my butt alone.' you have his promise, and you nudge the door a little, a sharp smack has you wipping around to face him. peter shoots his hands up, 'last one, i promise! that was the last one!'

[piglet26]

Reylo Scenes: TROS Part 2

After a failed attempt at killing Rey and Rey slashing Ren's fighter. He's relieved he didn't kill her. She's relieved she didn't kill him. He emerges looking fucking glorious while Rey tried to stop a ship from flying off cause she thinks Chewie is on board. What the hell are they doing putting a mask on him at this point?!

In the novel from Kylo's perspective, "But his impulse to kill Key had almost ruined everything he had been planning..... but his deepest desire, the thing he wanted most (Rey) would require planning and patience."

"It didn't matter what or who was inside that transport that made desperate to prevent it's escape, he was not going to let her have it. He reached out, felt the massive machinery in his mind, yanked it towards himself."

What's interesting in this scene is Kylo Ren is pushing her and Rey ultimately pulls from anger to best him and keep chewing. That's what always been interesting about Rey is she's the Jedi, but often times she fights with anger, fear and aggression. In the novelization it's revealed that over the course of that year she's been hearing voices. It looks pretty and it's a good shot, but I kept thinking didn't we already see this? Force wise... they're pretty even. While it doesn't hit as hard as the tug-o-war in the TLJ it does serve a purpose. Rey is a Palpatine after all.

In the movie, as per usual, this next bit doesn't make any sense. Ren seems stunned and just let's Rey, Finn and Poe run off. In the novel it makes more sense.

"Kylo Ren watched the freighter rise into the sky, Rey inside it. She had beaten him again (she thought she killed her friend not really a win but you're emo) and yet, he was filled with triumph. He'd been right to push her. She had just demonstrated unbelievable, mind blowing power. Dark power. Sith Power. The scavenger was almost ready to turn. And when she did, they would both kill their light, embrace their darkness, then the star destroyer fleet and the Sith throne would be theirs."

Kylo Ren is a Reylo and is trying to make power couple goals happen and we have to appreciate that.

This is concept art from "The Rise of Skywalker" notice how their costumes mirror each other.

The chemistry between Rey and Kylo is electric whenever they share the same space, so much so that sometimes it feels like we, the audience, are intruding on a private moment between the two.

On board Ochi's ship Rey confesses she has sex dreams about Kylo Ren. Let's be honest they both do and she confesses she's had visions of her and Kylo Ren on top the Sith throne.

Next scene is them in Kijimi. Ren is looking for his future Queen who is trying to find the sithway finder or whatever. Arriving in his pretty cool ship.

In the novel per Zorii, "As the black clad man approached the squads officer snap to attention, "Supreme leader".... the man standing below with his gang od butchers was Kylo Ren himself.....The supreme leader said his voice was tight and calm, but Zorii got the feeling he was barely containing his rage. He looked around almost as if he were sniffing the air. "We have a perimeter around the city." The lieutenant began, but Kylo Ren cut him off, "We're too late, the scavenger is gone." Zorri goes onto describe Kylo Ren having a moment whipping his lightsaber out and going beast mode.

In the movie through the force it's implied that that's how Rey knows Chewie is onboard Ren's destroyer, but in the novel it's different. He interrogated Chewie forcefully (wink wink ha ha ha) to get information on Rey. Rey was able to link mind with Kylo Ren and that's how she knew Chewie was onboard. They should've shown them linking minds more.

Then Rey was in his room, or excuse me, private quarters. Anyone else surprised his room was so white and pretty, if no impersonal. Where's his bed? I saw it in the first movie I think.

"Rey. Wherever you are, you are hard to find."

I'm wondering if at this point that can connect to one another more voluntarily. Rey is always swinging first. Like always. This scene can only really be described as exposition scenes, but there is a nice aspect to it. It's nice to see what they see from one another's viewpoint when they force bond. They just see each other. The dyad is increasing in power, not only can they now touch through the force, they can fight and their spaces even blend. They were together and yet separate. Kylo Ren also seems to be very excited his girl is in quarters and wants to lock down that ship.

In their next scene, again, Kylo tells her the plot of The Rise of Skywalker while wearing that damn mask. I have questions when did Kylo Ren find out they were a dyad?! Why were denied this scene? Obviously they instinctually know they are connected, they just never knew the word to put to it, but were is the exact scene? The thing about Kylo Ren is he uses information to twist it like a knife. He's going to use the truth that they are Dyad, that she is a Palpatine and ultimately the attraction she feels for him to seduce her to the dark side. From Rey's perspective, "He extended his black gloved hand to her, she looked at it, remembered. The last time he extended a hand had been in the wreckage of Snoke's throne room. Their combined power had defeated him. It was true. That together they could do such incredible things. Suddenly, she sensed a weight at her back and along with it... Finn. His presence a bright beacon of light piercing the dark." Ren pulling some MJ Smooth Criminal moves there.

After Rey flees with her crew, in the novel it's gives Kylo Ren's reaction. Her surveys the damage left from The Falcon's engine wash. "Kylo considered it a small price to pay to encounter Rey again. To provoke her into a rage. To say the word Dyad and watch the truth of it wash over her lovely face......he hardly paid attention, he kept seeing her face. The way her lips had parted with surprise. The way her body had canted (leaned) toward him. If the Millennial falcon hadn't appeared she might have come to him. Taken his hand. Kylo really hated that ship.... he'd been so very close, but now she knew the truth. She would accept it."

Yeah, they're horny. It's the first time Kylo described her in such detail and really let us as the reader or audience know..... he wants power, but he wants Rey more. If Ren had the world in his hand it wouldn't mean as much without Rey. This is the first scene in the movie where Rey acknowledges how much she wants to be with him. Interesting, Finn again is really her solid base on the good side of the force.

Side note: Dark Rey is hot.

The lightsaber fight onboard the death star wreckage. I've heard criticism that this fight while beautiful is pointless. I disagree. It's actually a scene that pushes them forward. Rey said, "give it to me" and Ren giving this shudder like he just came in his pants. hmmhmm! Ren likes feral, passionate Rey. He's pushing her and pushing her when she's already at the edge. Interesting enough, Ben can take whatever Rey has to give. All the anger and the fury she's had to hide from everyone else she can express to him. The fight is really about their likeness and yet difference, their passion, how Rey has grown in her lightsaber fighting and fixing the end of The Force Awakens. Ren is fighting at full force capacity, he's not injured and he's not emotional.

The way he is in love

“He sent the thought directly into her mind: I know you. No one does, she shot back. But I do.” WHY WASN'T THIS IN THE MOVIE?!

They fight until Rey is exhausted and when it looks like Kylo Ren might strike the killing blow, Leia reaches out through the force before she passes. In a fit of rage Rey stabs Kylo Ren, but snaps out of it when she feels Leia's passing. She begins to heal the wound she created.

How did she heal? Oh, you know those books she had in the beginning of the movie? Those book were the sacred Jedi text from Acht-to. She smuggled them onboard the falcon. So they never were actually set fire. Turns out Yoda that they actually were useful.

Rey showing him compassion, healing him, believing in him almost doggedly is so empowering for Ben Solo to return. His parents might be gone, but he still has someone to return home to. This movie has flawed writing but sometimes almost accidentally that land on something that works. The line where she admits she wanted to take his hand is a great line. It's declaration of love for Ben, not a rejection of Kylo Ren. It's her saying, "I didn't reject you. I wanted the best version of you"

After the unconditional love offered by both parents and the selfless, sacrificial love offered by Rey...... Kylo Ren becomes Ben Solo again. We just don't see him for the next 20 minutes as Rey processes her identity crisis and then goes off to fight to Palpatine..... without a plan.

There's also something purely adolescent about Reylo. Even in TLJ, these two throw themselves into one another. Like Rey having a vision of their future together so she goes alone to an enemy ship based purely on belief in him. Now we have Ben Solo, in a moment of pure adolescent "I gotta get to my girl" just needs to be with her on exegol as she faces down Palpatine.

From Adam Driver, "and the thing that we started with for "Who is Ben, then? There's no ambiguity about what it is that he has to do. There's no more seesaw that's happening. For the first time, someone who has never had the answer now finally knows his purpose or destiny. But I don't know that he entirely is sure of what's going to happen from there, nor do I think he cares. I think it's so long as he is with her, he's on the right path. " Adam driver is a Reylo.

Ben solo is back and he's glorious. He's likeable, charismatic, he's funny and he shoots backwards like his dad. People appreciated Adam Driver in an all new way with these scenes. He doesn't say a word except "oh, but you know he's shifted from Kylo Ren to Ben Solo. His physical acting is so strong. The subtlety showed his talented and not many actors can say that.

It such a beautiful moment when finally Ben Solo and Rey connect instead. In the novel and in the film especially so because she reaches for her connection to Ben right before she's going to kill Palpatine.

He acknowledged her and Rey’s lips parted in surprise. The connection was… right. Good. Like coming home. They wasted a precious moment reveling in this new sharing. This is how it should have been all along. A true dyad.

Rey lowered the lightsaber behind her back, as if readying for a massive blow. She reached for the Force. The effort made tears sting in her eyes. [...] She raised her hand ... which was now empty. She had projected her weapon away. [...] The moment Ben felt the grip of Luke’s lightsaber in his palm, he knew it belonged to him, an extension of his very own self. He raised it slowly, relishing the feel of it. ”

It's a beautiful moment where Rey and now Ben Solo have a redo of The Last Jedi. Rey looks at Ben with such love, joy and relief. Ben looks at Rey with such confidence, determination and love. It's the "Are you with me? "Yes, I'm with" Now with them both in blue light.

Finally Ben Solo and Rey are united. These soulmates separate by so much over the course of two movies are finally as they were suppose to be. Palpatine and Skywalker standing together. What it should have been is act of love, redemption and hope defeating evil. It should have been Ben Solo confronting his demons with the woman he loves and fought to be with. It should have been is Rey belonging; a redeemed Ben was supposed to become her new home and/ fulfill her need for a family. It should have been a power couple fighting evil with the Force.

But no. Somehow the two of them coming together empowered the devil. Their power like a source of life itself. Then Ben Solo is chucked off a cliff after draining their energy. Why? Ben Solo should have faced his grandfather's and father's enemy, or his clone. Palpatine confirms all the voices he's been hearing in his head has been Palpatine. He literally made irrelevant to something he is very relevant to.

They fail together, but she succeeds alone after the spirits of the Jedi aiding her?! I hate all this. Then she dies after her energy being drained, or she clutches the lightsaber too hard, I'm not sure it's not described. It's annoying. Ben drags himself up broken ribs and all to get to Rey. He crawls to her when he realizes she's passed. It's a horrible moment where you feel how alone Ben feels.

"He could see her now, collapsed on the floor, and the pain in his chest was suddenly so much worse than that of a couple broken ribs."

Ben initially mourns her until he realizes there might be a chance to save. He heals her like she healed him. Oh also none of the films go into the fact that because of their bond they were able to learn the force, including fighting moves, from one another. "Ben poured everything into her. He found reservoirs he didn’t even know he had. He gave her his whole self"

Then Rey finally takes his hand! She's back! Ben is so relieve that she's there. In the novel, "She was glad to see him. Glad to be with him in this moment. It was the greatest gift she could have given him. His heart was full as Rey reached for his face, let her fingers linger against his cheek. And then, wonder of wonders, she leaned forward and kissed him."

Reylos! We finally get our kiss, they smile at one another, look they're so happy! Probably the happiest they've ever been. A celebration!

Anddddddd he's gone. Seriously. Rey mourns him in the novel like we never see her do in the film. "The girl who had felt alone for all those years on Jakku had been part of a dyad the whole time. And just when she'd discovered that precious connection, that incredible oneness, it was ripped away. A voice came to her through the Force, clear and strong. I will always be with you, Ben said."

It's tragic because there's so much to Ben Solo we just don't see as an audience after 3 films!!!!!! He doesn't have any lines.

This movie was edited until literally the week before the films release. The recall of the artbook, the last-minute editing, Adam Driver recording new dialogue in his closet..... I'm wondering if the original idea for TROS Reylo was, well, this. We know from the editor, they didn't know for sure if they wanted them to kiss until post-production. Much of the movie wasn't decided until post-production.

And then we get to the ending. Rey Skywalker. How are you not Rey Solo after the man you felt kinship with and the man you were in love with?! Like da fuq?!

Moving forward to this Rey 2025 movie. I'd like it to do well. I hope it does well. It probably won't unless Ben Solo returns. Reylo might be controversial (whatever) but it's currently one of the biggest draws this franchise has. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is the most popular character out of the sequel trilogy. We deserve it and I'd pay to see it.

sigh the ending we should have gotten

This post took me like 4 days

[seros-chaotic-scribbles]

Ranking the TDB Boys' Ability to be a Housewife PT 1

hi everyone! my wonderful guild gave me this idea! we had a short discussion about who would make a good housewife out of the boys and that spawned this little brain rot! enjoy! :3

okay so as i was writing this I hated how long it was getting so this will be multiple parts! let me know what you think!! <3

ALSO THE NEW CHAPTER???? BRO I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A HAKU FIC AND NOW ALL I CAN THINK OF IS THE NEW SILLIES

Frostheim & Vagastrom below the cut!

Frostheim:

Jin Kamurai:

When i tell you that this man might be the best and worse housewife. he has the money to spoil you and he will but if you expect him to do ANY chores… yeah no. he would hire someone else to do it for him. laundry? done. dishes? clean. But was he responsible for any of it? nah. now if you two had kids i could see him being a detached but good father, it would take him a bit (he would have to go to therapy for his own trauma) before he could properly bond with the kiddos but once thats happened? I imagine the two would be attached at the hip! Overall solid 7/10.

Tohma Ishibashi:

okay as much as i was originally on the fence i think Tohma would actually make a pretty decent housewife. hed be amazing at running the household, scheduling everything is a breeze for him and hed definitely keep all the finances in order. like Jin, i imagine hed hire people to keep the place spotless but unlike Jin i can see him taking a more active role in keeping things comfortable for you. Like i imagine him to be the type to ensure you’re not overworking yourself by preparing everything for a vacation and making your boss give you time off. if you two had kids, i could see him joining the school board, maybe a bit of a helicopter parent (in a good way! maybe.), just involved in managing the school and your child’s education as a whole. he would absolutely be a bit of a control freak so i give him a 6/10

Lucas Errant:

it is my humble belief that Lucas would be one of the best housewife candidates. this man would have everything taken care of on top of anything extra. hes the type to have a warm bath ready for you when you get home and extra comfy pjs laid out for afterwards. he might get a little confused from time to time on what you may want (for example you need to be direct with this man. hints will absolutely go over his head) but know he always has your best interests at heart. if you have kids just know they will be united in their love for you and he will be raising them to be little gentle souls. they’d be the type of kiddos to sit there and hold the door for EVERYONE if you went out to eat. be prepared for their combined efforts to take care of you. 10/10 no questions.

Kaito Fuji:

Kaito (I love my wife) Fuji would be another great housewife. he may not be the best when it comes to a confrontation but just know that his love for you is unrivaled. your boss bothering you at work? nope. that isn’t something his beloved should have to deal with! hed often be angry on your behalf and if you’re not careful he may or may not show up to your work. speaking of work, you would have new flowers on your desk every week with the sweetest, fluffiest notes that you could imagine. this man cannot believe that you are his wife and would be the type to be thankful for your very existence. Only hiccup might be if you two have kids. don’t get him wrong!! he adores his kids!!! but he still wants to be the one to cuddle you when you get home. he might end up feeling a bit lonely until you smile at him and he bursts into tears because of how silly he is to be jealous. 9/10. just for his little jealous habits

Vagastrom:

Alan Mido: 

Oh goodness, Alan would be a great housewife. a scary one. but a wonderful one. just be careful when it comes to contacting him while at work. He will send the most ominous messages out of the blue (ex the package has arrived or it happened again) with NO elaboration. but thats not his fault!! he was just having trouble with his phone ;-; i imagine he would keep the house fairly clean (on weekends the two of you would deep clean together) but most of all he would treat you like you were the most precious thing to exist. hed be a very domestic housewife. i can kinda see him in a similar position to Tatsu in Way of the Househusband. If you two had kids expect some of the sweetest moments. at first he would be terrified of hurting them, theyre so tiny and his strength is ungodly, but with reassurance from you he would gently start to hold them and feed them. some nights youd wake up to him standing by the baby’s crib, softly talking to them and letting them hold his hand as they slept. Hes a bit rough around the edges but that just adds to his charm so 9/10! 

Leo Kurosagi:

bestie. why did you marry this man. Leo would make a terrible househusband. hed avoid doing chores and unlike some of the other ghouls, he would not hire anyone to handle it for him. i imagine he’d be somewhat of a dead weight besides the money that he makes off of social media. and don’t get me started on the way he tends to involve you in his content. he’d be a completely different person while fiming, all smiles and sweetness in order to fool his fans into believing you two have a perfect marriage. don’t even get me started on if you two have children. dude would be an ipad parent. any sign of distress from your kiddos and boom. screentime on overdrive.  0/10. Divorce babe, divorce. 

Sho Haizono:

okay okay, Sho might actually be a perfect housewife. i don’t mean this as a joke but if food is your love language you’d be in heaven. Each morning you’d see a lunch already packed for you (i don’t see Sho as a morning person so no breakfast for you :3) and inside would be the cutest lunch. He would make sure that theres a mix of healthy and sweet in order to keep you fufilled for dinner! Speaking of dinner, whenever you’d get home there would be a hot meal waiting for you! not only would he make your favorites but he would have you be his tester for new recipes. The sweetest night spent between the two of you involve a dessert and movie. He does his best to keep the house clean but don’t be suprised if he forgets a few things here or there (except the kitchen. that is always sparkling!). if you two had kids it would be over for the culinary world. you would walk in on Sho teaching your child how to cook, calm instructions as your kid is a bit too close to the stove or wielding a particularly sharp knife. it wouldn’t be suprising to me if your kiddo ended up on various cooking shows at an early age! Sho gets a 10/10 because a girls gotta eat!

[f4ggydog]

You have no clue. Watch the trial. We took Amber Heard seriously until we learned the facts. There are tons of evidence in the case because they taped their conversations and took pictures. Amber Heard said she wasn’t punching JD, she was just hitting him and he should stop being a baby when he said that he had to leave because she got physical again. She mocked him for being an adult and not fighting with her. Amber Heard told JD that no one will believe him. Not a judge or jury will believe him when he says he was a victim of DV. You know why? Because she weighed 115 lbs. that was her argument. Who ended up in the hospital? Johnny Depp did. Amber Heard said herself she didn’t need medical attention when the doctor and nurse came to her house. There is a tape where she is hysterical because she knows she had cut Johnny Depp’s finger off and she was afraid their relationship was over. The doctor is on tape saying that is the guilt talking because she knew what she had done. I have watched Medusone’s things. She is in denial and wants Amber to be a victim. She can’t look at the facts objectively. She needs the beautiful woman to be innocent. When you watch the trial and study what was going on you will understand why Amber Heard did abuse Johnny Depp. She even said to him on tape, she got the TRO because she was afraid she would be evicted from her Appartement after 3 weeks. The layer supposedly told her if she said that he had hit her, she could stay in the apartment longer. She made a career out of being a “survivor “. She got $30.000 for giving a speech. She has Histrionic PD and doesn’t feel good when she isn’t the center of attention . She also has impulsive BPD. She has at least 8 of 9 symptoms. You only need 5 to meet the diagnosis. If you would read the research on BPD you would understand her better. I did and I wrote a paper about BPD and on the treatment of BPD. You really need to inform yourself before you take sides and talk as if you knew stuff. The next time it could be you who gets accused of DV without the person knowing the facts. Imagine how it feels to be called an abuser when you are not. It’s irresponsible to put stuff like this out when you obviously know nothing about the case except the names and appearance of the involved people.

the fact that you think u can come up in my fucking inbox and spread lies about an abuse victim without consequences is abhorrent. first of all, slit your wrists tonight and make sure you bleed out until you die cause ur a worthless twat. secondly, let’s review the facts shall we? (idiotic fucking cunt)

number one: you are already not to be trusted because you demonize ppl with hpd and bpd. both of these personality disorders do not make you a bad individual. they are neutral just like any other mental disorder. if you think Amber can’t be a victim just because she “supposedly” has hpd and bpd, you believe in pseudoscience and pop psychology and your paper means nothing.

secondly, let’s review some stuff shall we since you claim all the evidence is on Johnny’s side.

we have an audio proving that Johnny has head butted Amber. we have transcripts from a conversation where Johnny says he wants to drown Amber and then rape her corpse.

we have Johnny ON TAPE admitting to cutting his finger off so that’s how I know ur full of shit and are just pulling lies out of your smelly arsehole. when Johnny said that Amber cut off his finger by throwing a vodka bottle at it, a hand surgeon said that this would be impossible and that there was no glass found in the wound.

we have an audio of Johnny bringing a knife to a meeting with Amber and telling her to cut him or else he’ll do it himself. he even had his plane assistant send out an apology to Amber because she was literally kicked.

Johnny’s former business managers testify that Johnny has gotten extremely violent with Amber.

you want some more facts because I got plenty more to pull up. don’t come at me with ur bullshit and act like I’m the bad guy here I hope u get beaten to death in the streets u pig

[david-talks-sw]

An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

[d3sertdream3r]

I really don't know how to feel about the ROP finale... I feel like we shippers got baited a bit and I really don't like that. Like did he even actually care about galadriel at all? And WTF was up with the heal yourself line? What does that even mean? I want to like the episode but I don't know it felt off to me like it wasn't emotional enough.

I think we all have personal preferences that are influenced by our own experiences, so it's perfectly normal to like something others don't or not like something that others do. It's ok if you didn't enjoy the finale as much as you were hoping to. You don't have to try and force yourself to like it, and it's totally valid to feel upset and baited if you were hoping for things to go differently.

That being said, I enjoyed the finale! I personally didn't feel baited at all, but I was expecting it to be like this. I find it interesting because I saw a lot of people nervous the end of season 2 would be too much like the end of season 1, and now a lot of those same people are upset that it wasn't enough like the end of season 1.

From my perspective, Sauron made it clear that "not all of it" was an illusion, and he wanted to place a crown on her head and make the world worship her. And honestly, the scene where Sauron turns into Halbrand and Galadriel instantly drops her battle stance made me cry. Especially with Halbrand's theme in the background... curse you, Bear McCreary!!! (In a good way, lol). I feel like Halbrand was the closest to pre-evil Mairon we've seen in an adaptation. Definitely more depressed and prickly than Mairon would've been, but I think he was still just as snarky and charming before his corruption by Morgoth. I feel like Galadriel saw Mairon inside of Halbrand (unknowingly) and that's who she developed feelings for. For me, Halbrand's theme is Mairon's theme before he went to the dark side. So from my perceptive, it was really emotional to see what he could've been and what the two of them could've had.

Ironically, Sauron was trying to show her exactly that; what they could've had. But what he doesn't understand is what Galadriel truly wanted was his light self all along. It reminds me of the scene in TROS between Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo when he asks her why she didn't take his hand when she wanted to. She says she wanted to take Ben's hand, not Kylo's. Galadriel wanted to take Halbrand/Pre-Darkness Mairon's hand, not Sauron's.

However, that doesn't mean that she isn't drawn to Sauron in all his dark glory at all. She was absolutely tempted to become his evil queen at the end of season 1. I just think what she ultimately wanted was his light, even when she's drawn to his darkness. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it does to me!

The "heal yourself" line was something I loved, though it looks like most people weren't as fond of it as I am. I love the idea that for Sauron to truly be able to achieve his goal of healing the world, he has to heal himself first. He literally can't heal the world until he himself is healed, he isn't capable of it. All he has in his soul to draw from right now is poison, so that's all he can give the world. I've seen a theory floating around about Sauron one day being redeemed during Dagor Dagorath and helping the good guys defeat Morgoth, and I'm obsessed with it! Helping them fight his old master could help him find the light again and become Mairon the Admirable once more. Only then could he truly heal Middle Earth.

[that-one-kiddo-in-the-back]

Star Wars needs more silliness... because the jokes are good enough.

Once again, if you don't know, I'm what Lily would refer to as a Star Wars weeb. I live breath and shit Star Wars. You got it good. Let's dig in.

Not even a minute in before Lily starts complaining about how Star Wars is diving deeper into the lore of how the galaxy works. Even though she says she likes Star Wars, I never understood people who say they like something but don't want to know more about said thing.

She brings up that all the characters in the new Star Wars are basically the same character from older movies, which is kinda true, but that's also taking away the characters' motivation and story line she's uses Rey as an example saying "what if Anakin was a girl and a big dork." Which is kinda cute but completely ignores the fact that Rey and Anakin are nothing alike.

Now, I do agree with how Rey is a pretty refreshing character (and her video was made before TROS), but she's not as refreshing as she thinks Rey is. She even hit us with the "she's not like other girls," saying, "There is no mystery behind her origins. She wasn't linked to any characters of the past movie/books. She's just a force sensitive person who happened to get caught up in the war by circumstances." But then goes onto saying that no one liked that and that everyone wanted another, Luke. I am your father (which she called stupid)

She goes on a tangent about her complaints about TROS, which is valid. The last Star Wars movie was a big disappointment to anyone who liked the sequel. (I didn't like the sequels because I thought Finn would have made a better main character and the idea of a fascist soldier who was born into the army, learning that he was on the wrong side and worked to make up for his sins more interesting, also for what they did to Luke, Leia, Han, and everyone else from the original.)

After that, she brings up that everyone called Rey a Mary Sue, which is also dumb. She brings up the fact that Rey's force sensitive and uses Luke, Anakin, and Revan as examples of being overpowered, saying Luke had perfect had and Anakin had the reflexes of a god (idk much about Revahn so I'm skipping him) then mocks the people who cried over Rey not having any lightsaber training. But Luke and Anakin already had training in their own way. In the novelization of a new hope and even in the movie, it's stated that Luke would use wamp rats for target practice. Anakin was a slave who was bullied and probably beaten a lot, so he had to train himself to react faster. Anyone who's even been in a situation where you can't fight back will know that dodging and getting fast reflexes will help make sure you don't get hurt. Now, she uses her examples to explain that Rey would be able to beat Kylo in a fight because he's just a wimp. The nephew of Luke, who has been trained in the ways of the force since he was a child, is labeled as wimp. Technically speaking by Lily’s own logic, Kylo would have killed Rey in their first fight.

Okay, for those of you who care, I kinda write the blog post while watching the video, so I'm not even halfway done with this bullshit and I've already written 5 paragraphs of her video and she has yet to bring up why star wars needs more silliness... on to 6.

She then states that despite all her complaints about the movies (because she doesn't want to sound like a naiz), she really loves Rey and how... (this pissed me the fuck off) it brought life into Luke, Han, and Leia saying they were dull as crap. BITCH! I fucking love the original gang (they were my bi awakening) and when I heard they were bringing back the characters for the sequels I was very hesitant and I was right to be. The sequels did the gang so dirty, making Luke (the one who wanted to save his father, the man that chopped off his hand and killed millions of people and Jedi because he still had faith that his father was in there.) A mad man who tried to kill nephew because he had a scary dream of going to the dark side. They made Han (a badass who is a loving father and husband) a fucking deadbeat who lives in his van with his best friend. And they didn’t do shit for Leia she's not her sassy self or anything. She's just there for fan service.

She gets to her main problem with Star Wars saying, "They just rehash the same plot but with different seasoning. They all follow the exact same story: plucky underdog, every man rebels fighting against the evil empire." But the thing is that while sure Star Wars is just the same story over and over, it's the characters that I think is what makes it feel like it's something new. Seeing how different characters react to certain things. Luke wanted to be more than a farmer with fate, helping him become one of the strongest Jedi. Ezra only focused on keeping himself alive and not caring about anyone else to then becoming a strong leader with willing to risk his life for others. You aren't watching the same story with the copy and paste characters. You are seeing characters in the same situation dealing with it differently.

At the end of the video, she talks about her shity Star Wars fanfic and how that's how she would have written the sequels, which now that I realize what she had in mind with writing it explains why it's so fucking boring. why in the only 3 chapters I had read, nothing had happened. Thank god no one with a brain would ever leave her in charge of anything.

And of course, she can't make a video without insulting people for having a different definition of fun than her. Lily, for most people in the Star Wars exploring the lore and wondering how the rebels got the death star plans is fun for them, and most of us want to branch out from the force users to see how people in the galaxy deal with the empire. You know world building something Lily isn't good at.

Okay, this video really hurt to watch, and I completely hated it, and she didn't even explain why Star Wars needs more silliness she's just complaining about Star Wars even though she claims to love it.

[surrealisticduvet]

Album Review: The Newer Stuff (1989)

Leave it to Michael to casually divide up his remarkable music catalog into “the newer stuff” and “the older stuff," especially after his long track record of giving albums such strange and creative names. These two compilation albums were released in ‘89 and ‘91 respectively in an attempt to - I don’t know, consolidate his work? Archive recent tracks to keep them from being lost to time? Or maybe he just wanted to give his fans something nice; between the Monkees reunion in ‘86 and the wide variety of production enterprises he was involved with, I understand why he didn’t have the time to devote to an entirely new and themed album. As much as I would have loved a fully ‘80s fluff, pop, and rock album from him, I’m content with the knowledge that he was at least trying to take a break from something he’d done so consistently for a decade and a half. 

“The Older Stuff” is nothing we haven’t heard before, with him scouring his first five albums for the biggest hits and laying them down in order so that you can listen to him evolve from pre-1970 to 1974 in just over an hour. I won’t be reviewing those again. However, “The Newer Stuff” includes several songs, some featured in Television Parts, which never made it onto an official release. Since this is a compilation album, it’s hard to critique the overarching sound and themes of songs that were written and recorded at vastly different times, but I can walk through each track and provide my unsolicited opinions, which is all I ever do here.

“Total Control” speaks to me directly (although maybe I shouldn’t be proud of that.) The lyrics are snappy, the bass and guitar of the verses economical and focused. What doesn’t particularly suit my taste are the chorus harmonies, but that’s okay. Here, finally, we see his strange singing/speaking emphasis being used for good. I suppose in a sense, as an innovator, his subconscious had just realized he was to go on to make an array of tongue-in-cheek tunes where this style was necessary, and his songwriting had yet to catch up; it’s just a shame he was doing it on the tail end of The Prison. Altogether, “Total Control” is one of my favorites and it’s the perfect closing song for the Television Parts: Home Companion 

The Newer Stuff is a little disjointed, unsurprisingly - on an album where every song is in the same vein, I think I would’ve loved “Tanya.” Like Tropical Campfires was to the early ‘90s, songs from The Newer Stuff shine as a product of their time - the ‘80s. This song is okay, if a bit on the predictable side. I wish I knew where the song was going - Tanya’s name is mentioned again in “Formosa Diner,” so there must have been some overarching plotline he had in mind that I wish we could see fully fleshed out. I think the lyrics are good, and the sound is nice. That being said, my manager’s name is Tanya and I’m just annoyed that he didn’t name this song after me instead. 

“I’ll Remember You” is not necessarily my favorite song in terms of composition or execution, but I love the idea behind it so much that nearly everything can be forgiven - particularly the “floating Beatle heads in the sky” part of the music video… everything but the bits where he desperately tries to fit George and Ringo into the song when there are just not enough syllables in the line to do it. Whatever - the heart behind it, and the story of having wanted to show this song to John, but not feeling like it was complete enough until, well, it was too late? “John, my friend,” and all ills are forgiven. And the music itself is good, letting the lyrics shine as they deserve to. 

“Formosa Diner” goes shockingly hard for its subject matter - relistening always has me stunned despite not initially remembering this as a personal hit. I honestly don’t have much to say about this except for the fact that I think it’s nice how obsessed with diners he was around this time. 

Though I haven’t covered either album yet, if you crossed Tropical Campfires with The Garden in the effort to produce one single and send it back in time as a predecessor, you would probably get something like “Dreamer.” I pity its treatment - it definitely deserved a place on a full album, which we sadly didn’t get in the ‘80s. Too busy with movies, and that dumb reunion tour…!

“Eldorado to the Moon” is a brilliant little song that never fails to please. Former Monkee songwriter Bill Martin wrote it, so the lyrics are cheesy in a fun way, and the music video, which was designed in parallel, is excellent. There’s even a tasteful little bit of cold war propaganda thrown in there for spice!

Listening to “Tahiti Condo” is rather like watching a car crash. I don’t like it but I can't look away. I’m pretty sure, at least, that he had fun recording it - that’s enough for me, I guess?

“Chow Mein & Bowling” does always sound just lovely. I’m hot and cold with this one - sometimes I love the lyrics and the premise, and sometimes I don’t. It’s a really good crooner to listen to though, and I always love when he coughs as a gimmick in a song - sue me! I think the Television Parts version is better than the album release since it goes on for three more minutes with increasing dramatics but I understand why they faded it out early here.

“Magic,” “Cruisin’,” “Light,” and “Carioca” - objectively the shortlist of Infinite Rider songs you should listen to, these are positioned after the newest of the new on “The Newer Stuff.” “Carioca” (along with “Cruisin’”) was remastered for this album, and I really think it makes the song twice as good. A very subtle and sensual heaviness was added as an undertone in a way that perfectly suits the scene set by the song, and the percussion and vocal echoes are reined in a bit so that they enhance the song rather than smothering it - every instrument has the chance to shine, though none as much as Michael’s own voice. (As a side note - serious critics please look away - the way his voice dips at the end of “on a beach by a palm tree” - helloo!)

“Rio” and “Casablanca Moonlight” - I think it’s a disservice to Radio Engine to, by omission, say that the other songs did not deserve a rerelease, but to fit the late 80s sound of this album i understand why they unthematic slashed songs that were ~12 years old. Still, it’s a shame. 

Conclusion:

“The Newer Stuff” was a strategic move for Michael in the late ‘80s, and an appreciated method of compiling songs that you might miss out on otherwise, had you not been watching his movements in the video-sphere. It is very interesting to me that it was released, not in tandem with, but two years before “The Older Stuff” – he really wanted to promote his new image and show off what he was proud of now, well into his forties, with perhaps new and wildly different musical ideas on the horizon, instead of shelling out another release of music from his twenties and thirties that didn’t even do very well during its time. Eighties Michael is a difficult beast to understand - but these songs are fresh and fun and it’s a joy, as always, to listen to them.

[thebenriksai]

Training. (short fic about Benrey's siblings)

It's a fairly bright and colorful day. The whole family got out of the house to the stadium nearby, just to breathe oxygen, eat in a cafe, but, most importantly, to continue teaching Lee how to levitate! Benrey has been trying for several days to teach the youngest to fly, but so far she has no progress in that. It seems that things have taken a serious turn. All three were near the audience seats. Alex sat in the fourth row and watched Lee warm up on the treadmill, and Benrey stood in front of her. Cheerfully slurping the soda she bought along with a funny cap and a straw, Alex then watched the children nearby who were playing baseball. Her gaze swept over the entire city in which they lived, including the blue blue sky without clouds. What a beauty!

"Are you ready?" brother said, who was already tired in advance, knowing that this would take a long time.

"Wait wait.." Lee grabbed her leg behind her back and bent over until it crunched. Sighing contentedly, she straightened up and stretched "That's it! Ready!!"

"Great.." without taking his eyes off Lee, Benrey replied, "Do you remember the theory?"

"Uh.." Lee looked away and put her finger to her lips "..concentrate, let go of all thoughts, feel the lightness in your muscles, breathe properly and keep your balance!"

"And enjoy~" Alex sang from her seat, looking up from the delicious pepsi.

"Yeah!!" Lee jumped with joy and determination, agreeing with her sister.

"OK, at least you remember something.." Brother scratched his neck "You can start."

Lee ignored her brother's taunt and concentrated. She tried to make sure that there were no thoughts in her head from the word at all! But it didn't work out. She strained, curled up, and puffed out her cheeks, making her face turn a funny red.

"Relax." Benrey made a remark, expecting such a mistake from Lee. "You are going tro fucking explode or something."

"Oh." Lee tried to relax and let go of her thoughts again.

...

It didn't help. She's thinking about everything again. About the family, about the sweets, about the cafe. It seems that things are good, but Lee pouted and dropped her hands, almost literally.

"Ahh, it's not working!" She whined.

Benrey sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with fatigue. Alex's voice was immediately heard, deciding to support the younger one.

"Lee, don't give up! You can do it!" Alex clapped with a beaming smile.

"I can't do it!!" Lee cast her gaze at her "I can't get rid of my thoughts!"

"Ah, it's nothing, I was like that too!! And Benrey too, I'm sure!!"

"I wasn't like that."

"...ANYWAY," The sister cleared her throat, glaring at her brother, "It's really hard to learn how to fly and walk in the air! But I'm sure you'll master it very soon!"

"How do you do it in general??" the younger one spread her hands.

"Well.." Alex began to remember "..hmm..I learned to fly in space. And then with the conditions of gravity. So it was easier for me, yes.." She looked away.

"So let's go to space! Please?"

"Lee, you know we can't go there now.." Alex took pity and softened her voice.

"I know.." Lee sighed again.

"Lee, let's get back to training. Mkay?" Brother cut in.

"Mkaay.."

***

Try after try. But Lee couldn't do anything. And now, as soon as she rises off the ground, she immediately falls! Benrey tried to watch and stay calm, but it was starting to annoy. Despite his calm appearance, it was seen that he was shaking. Lee got up from the ground, dusted herself off, and looked guiltily at Benrey, hanging her head.

"I'm sorry.."

"'I'm sorry?' Lee, you're not even trying."

Upon hearing this, Alex immediately took off, running through the audience all the way to the treadmill where the two were standing. Standing between them, Alex first looked at Benrey angrily, and then, putting on an 'everything is great!' look, she smiled at Lee.

"Sis, don't you want to take a break from flying around?" She asked with a smile.

"I want to." Worried about brother's condition, Lee said, even though she was trying to hide it.

"Then run a few laps on this track, okay?

"WHAAAAAT?? I thought you were going to let me rest! — Lee whined again.

"Oh, I thought you wanted to be a security guard at Black Mesa..work with me..work with Benrey.." Alex pressed on purpose.

"I... mhhff..I want to!! Of course I want to!!" Lee was energized again.

"But they don't take lazy guards.." Alex purred, 'casually'.

Lee immediately screamed and ran down the treadmill. After waiting for Lee to be far away, Alex grabbed Benrey by the shoulders and bent down to look at his face.

"What are you doing?? Are you crazy?" the woman hissed.

"..."

"You almost hit her here!!...Benrey, answer me! Don't just stand there!!" She shook him.

He slowly escaped her grip and walked away, plopped down on the seat. He covered his face with his hands.

"..I know.." He said with a sigh.

"Benrey, you have to control yourself!!" she came closer and sat down next to him "I know the situation is difficult, we are temporarily trapped on this planet, danger has reappeared, etc., but Lee is not to blame for this! Yes, she's involved, but she definitely doesn't want to hurt us!"

"I know, shut up.."

"Well, remember how I studied! And we didn't even know the passage of time back then. Oh, that was terrible!" She paused temporarily, watching her brother, and then leaned on him. "But you didn't snap at me. Although it was extremely hard for you too. Even harder than it is now."

Benrey looked into her eyes, and after a while, thinking about it, he began to follow Lee with his eyes, who was running somewhere at the other end of the stadium.

"...look, she really goes out of her way to satisfy you."

Benrey looked at Alex again and nodded, after a pause.

"Yeah.."

"And she's only a year old."

"Yes, I know..I'm ashamed, okay?" He looked away "..I'm sorry, okay?"

"Why are you apologizing to me?" Alex raised her eyebrows. "Go give her a big hug, I don't know. She's obviously afraid of you right now. Maybe that's why she can't concentrate?"

"Probably. I'm definitely pushing her, right?.."

"Yes, I won't even lie. It's been a week now."

"Mhf.."

Benrey covered his face with his hands again and wiped it before opening it again. He was watching Lee. After a while, he smiled slightly.

"Hey, those dudes are playing baseball!..And we're messing around here.."

"And we have our own game!" Alex relaxed in the seat.

"Yeah, called 'Life'.."

[barbiiebrat]

"Babe, I'm home."

You look up from washing the dishes from breakfast and see me walk in the door carrying in a few groceries. I set them down on the counter behind you and walk over, slipping one arm around your waist. "I got your birth control prescription," I say, handing you a small box of pills. You don't take it, you just stare at it, confused. "That's not the right box," you say. "The colours are different."

I sigh and point out the writing. "No, try to read it properly." I enounce each syllable slowly and carefully. "No-ri-thin-drone. E-thin-yl Es-tro-di-ol." I pause to give you a moment to process. "The name brand was discontinued so I had them give you the generic. That's all."

You relax a bit and lean against me, relieved, and a little embarrassed. "Oh, that's OK then. I'm sorry I couldn't understand the words," you say.

"That's OK babydoll, you know I'm here to look out for you." I gently grab the back of your hair and turn your head to me. "But you really should trust me better. I think I need to give you 5 spanks tonight," I say with a teasing smile. You blush and try to look away. "Yes sir, I think that would be appropriate." You take the box and open it. "I'll take the first pill right now."

… …

By mid afternoon you feel like something is wrong. You're desperately wet and horny, but you've done nothing all day but clean and do chores (you'd been trying to be a better domestic partner after losing your accounting job; turns out accounting is hard when you're illiterate). You come find me in the home office.

"Sir, are you sure you gave me the right pills. Something feels… off," you say, standing in the doorway nervously. I close my laptop screen and pinch my nose in annoyance. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well…" you pause, too embarrassed to describe how you feel. "Tell me now," I say. "I'm busy."

"Well. It's just that I'm really turned on. Like I'm desperate. And um. I can't stop thinking about cock. And getting railed. I want it so bad."

I roll my eyes. "And that's a problem to you? You don't put out enough as it is." I wave you out dismissively. "We already dealt with this, I read you the active ingredients. And just so we're clear, attitude problems like this are why you're getting 50 spanks tonight. Now get out."

You turn to leave, embarrassed at the scene you just created, but you stop short. "Wait, sir. I think that's wrong. It was 5 spanks, not 50," you say.

I close my laptop again, visibly angry this time. "Are you doing this on purpose? We talked about this not 4 hours ago. You really think I said 5? You really think 5 is enough of a punishment for your attitude today?" I point out the office door. "Get the fuck out and stop being such a stupid, forgetful whore."

… …

Today had not been a good day. After your little fit in my office, you spent the day being the best, most obedient housewife you could be. You made a delicious dinner for us, and did all the household chores. Now it was punishment time, where you could wipe the slate clean and be forgiven for what you did. You were a little excited, not just to be punished but also for the fucking that would come after that you so desperately needed (seriously, what happened to your body? You had to give up on even wearing panties, they just got so soaked).

You were dressed up in lingerie and lying on your stomach in bed, gently swaying your ass back and forth. You hoped I approved. I walk in the bedroom carrying a long case.

"Get over here, get on your knees, and face the mirror," I say sternly. You hesitate; my instructions don't make sense. "Now!" I yell. You scramble over and do as you're told. "Good. Now hands behind your back and present your tits," I say, pulling an oak cane out of the case. "You're not good with numbers so try to stay focused. 150 is a big number."

Your eyes widen. "Wait, sir, no. It was 50 spanks. What's the cane even for?"

I clench my jaw, kneel down, and grab you by your hair. I shake your head violently. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I half yell. "Why can't you remember anything I tell you? We talked about this twice today, which is already once more than should have been necessary." I stand and place myself just behind you. "Sit up straight and present your tits. You're getting 150 strikes with the cane, plus another 50 for being such a stupid cunt and talking back."

You were crying before I even hit you, although the caning didn't help. You watched yourself in the mirror, a stupid, broken, useless whore who couldn't even remember her punishments. You were ashamed, feeling guilty that I tried so hard to guide and correct you and you just couldn't keep up.

By strike 50 you could see the welts and bruises clear as day. You had to find some way to make it up to me. Maybe you could give me your ass? Be an anal whore for me? Maybe you could dress skimpier around the home, be more pleasing to me. God your cunt is just so wet. Maybe if you just played with yourself a little…

By strike 100 you were in incredible pain. You flinched from every hit. You tried to look away; seeing the strike swing before impact, the anticipation of it, was horrible. But I grabbed your head and made you look, made you wait patiently for each strike. You just could not think of how to please me. There must be something you could do. You did always notice how I looked at your friend Hannah. Maybe if you brought her over for me, that might do it. You could just play with... rub yourself, just like you're doing now, while you watched Hannah and I…

By strike 150 you start shaking. You'd given up flinching, and openly fingered yourself. You couldn't stop thinking about Hannah. You knew she'd never go for it, but maybe you could get her drunk, roofie her, hold her down; maybe you could prove how useful you are, maybe I'd compliment you, give you a reward for being such a good girl. God, the pain and pleasure mixed was just too much, you feel like you're about to dissociate…

I wack your hand as your finger yourself. You yelp and pull your hand back, and I take the moment to wack your newly exposed clit, hard. You're brought out of your reverie screaming in pain, collapsing on the floor and sobbing. "What number were we at?" I demand

"I-uh-I-um-I-I-I don't know," you stammer between sobs. "No, no it was 195, please I'm sure, please don't hit my clit again." More sobs heave out of you. "Please sir I just want to cum, let me call Hannah, I'm sure she'll come over just please please I need to cum I can't take anymore please"

"Why the fuck are you talking about Hannah? Get back up and get on your knees, we need to restart." I grab your hair and pull you back into position, shaking and terrified. You can't make it, you're sure you can't make it, you know you deserve it but it's too much. "I swear to god if you fuck this up again I'm grabbing a steel dowel instead."

Your heart falls. You're going to mess it up. You know you're a stupid whore. How could you do anything else?

mmm godddd this was so hot i got naked and got my vibrator out in the middle of the day

[casp1an-sea]

Rey Rant

I want to preface this with, this is not me hating on Rey. This is me hating on her writing, which I think most can agree is bad, and critiquing her character. But obviously, if you disagree with some of this, you are perfectly entitled to.

I was just watching a TikTok video about how many female characters in Star Wars and other pieces of media that are shown to be strong female characters, are just characters that have received their character development prior to the movie or show and are really just there to help the development of the other male characters in the movie or show

The main examples being Leia and Padme they both know what they’re going to fight for, and are sure of themselves from a young age, and really just act as catalysts for the development of their love interests

Then he explained when they try to write female characters with flaws, they are typically not as well received as male characters who are similarly flawed

Other people were listing examples of this like Hera and Omega and stuff so I was thinking

Rey is a prime example of this in my opinion. I don’t really think she has a huge character flaw in the movies. They Don’t really do a good job of showing her working to achieve the specific goals that could otherwise make her character more dynamic. She learns how to pilot the falcon almost instantly. She learns how to use the force and the light saber with very little training. There’s no reason for her to be able to do any of these things this quickly, but the movies didn’t really give her that chance to struggle with her new powers. She also has a strong, moral compass from the beginning and well that can work because Luke also had that, she loses a lot of that intrigue when she does have the power to go with it. Again, kind of portraying her as this perfect woman. Which in some cases can be fine to a degree if written well, but I think the issue with why she doesn’t work as well as Leia and Padme to me. Is that she is meant to be the protagonist

I think it’s clear that the movies were written in a way that Finn or Kylo could more easily fit the role of protagonist. Specifically Finn. They both have interesting back stories prominent flaws (at least in TFA) and moral dilemmas, that could be developed over the movies. But I’ve always seen Rey as very stagnant. At least till TROS where they didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and threw everything out the window, but that’s a whole other story.

Rey was set up to be one of those Leia or Padme characters but she wasn’t put in the right role to carry out that type of characters job. And I’m not saying that’s what they should’ve done. It’s bad they keep doing this. I’m just saying they suck at writing women no matter how they do it, and they really shot themselves in the foot with her.

They’re too scared to make female characters not perfect. And when they do try to make them flawed, these female characters, get overly criticized by sexists, and Disney likes to listen to the haters more than the real Fans. (Cough acolyte)

anyway, that’s all I got just had to get this off my chest

[gffa]

Hi Lumi! I’m the anon who asked about your thoughts on the sequel trilogy. Thanks for your answer! It made me kind of want to rewatch TROS with this new lens because I do get what you said about the bones of the movie being good. Another thing your post got me thinking about was the concept of “The Chosen One” because I know a lot of people were frustrated that the sequel trilogy seemed to throw Anakin’s last act of bringing balance to the Force out the window. And I got to thinking that nowhere in the originals or prequels does it state that once Anakin brings balance, there will always be balance. Unfortunately, evil rises again. Anakin brought balance and it’s not his fault things became unbalanced again. That doesn’t diminish the moment and impact of his sacrifice. And with Anakin dead and Luke not in a place to answer the Force’s call, the Force needed to find a new Chosen One. And years after the sequel trilogy takes place, there will probably be a new threat that needs a new hero to be called. I kind of like the idea of there being a sort of community of Chosen Ones rather than one person carrying all of that. Anyway, I’ve written a mini essay in your inbox so I’ll sign off now. Thank you for all you do!

Hi again! To be fair, I can't make the movie more polished than it is, it's always going to feel like so much wasted potential, but I do genuinely like the bones of what's there and will always defend that. As for the "Chosen One" thing, that's exactly my view of things, too! Rey being a Chosen One doesn't take away from Anakin being a Chosen One, because, like, what is balance of the Force? It's when there's stability and light in the galaxy. It doesn't mean that the actions of one single Jedi fix all the problems, it means they take the Sith Lord out and the galaxy has to help heal things. Anakin killing Palpatine doesn't mean the Empire suddenly implodes, it means that without the Emperor there, the Rebellion can get to work on establishing the New Republic, it means everyday people can start cleaning up the mess of the Empire. Anakin is the Chosen One meant to destroy the Sith and balance can be restored through that. But what happens when the galaxy gets lazy and the New Republic isn't proactive enough? What happens when people decide to rest on Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa's laurels? Evil rises again. And looking around the world today, that's an incredibly salient message, especially when this movie came out. "Oh, we beat the Nazis in the previous generation, we don't have to pay attention to that anymore!" Yeah, we fucking do. And Luke's not there to be called on to defeat the rise of the First Order, he's cut himself off from the Force. So, the Force chooses a new Chosen One, Rey, and puts her in the position this time, she destroys the Sith, but the galaxy still has to rise up and help her on the bigger stuff. One Jedi cannot defeat the entire oppressive regime, but everyone in the galaxy standing up to fight back against the First Order? That is what balance should be. Rey removes the Sith Lord, so that the rest of the galaxy can help each other again. Because I don't think one Sith Lord can be the sum total of what determines balance. The Force lives in everything, every living thing has the Force moving through it, every living thing contributes to the Force. If the quintillions of people in the galaxy are suffering, if they're angry at the state of what's happening, if they're hurting, then how can that not affect the Force? One Jedi can't fix all that, but if Rey gets rid of the Sith Lord and the rest of the galaxy says, yes, we are going to help this time, we're determined, we're going to hold on to hope, we're going to fight to help others, which they can do because the worst part of the catalyzing of those feelings is gone? Then I really love that as a message. Rey being a Chosen One doesn't take anything away from Anakin being the Chosen One of his time, because they're not the sole determiners of the Force. Everyone has to do their part, no matter how big or small, that fits the theme of "balance" so much better imo.

[kunosoura]

Thoughts about what makes a good villain!

Hello <3 sorry this took so long to answer but I'm in the middle of planning and executing a move to a different country.

I think the only real crime a villain can commit is being boring. They can be contemptible, stupid, cartoonish, completely detached from reality, or they can be brilliant, dangerous, sexy, literally correct; they can be all style or all substance; the only real litmus test is whether they're entertaining.

Some of my favorite fictional villains and why I like them:

Currently, I'm reading the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliot, and Hugh is absolutely one of the most contemptible villains I've ever encountered. The first book was genuinely hard to read because of what a fucking monster he is, and Elliot knows how to draw the most out of it - stretching his comeuppance over 6 books because even though he's fucking despicable, he's also unfailingly polite in most circumstances, and a beautiful man of noble though illegitimate birth and high rank in the clergy, so people have a hard time believing him to be as evil as he is even if they've wronged him before. At the same time, Elliot also does a very good job of making sure you never forget exactly what he is, so even when he returns to the people he's wronged acting contrite, you see through it. The ultimate effect is that even 5 books in, I'm hollering at him to kill himself (usually when driving alone in my car), and I dunno if I've ever been that profoundly affected by a literary antagonist before.

Kuja from Final Fantasy 9. He's spoiled, he's beautiful, he's a babygirl, he's pathetic, he's 24 and should have been at the club. I like how he isn't afraid to spam his most powerful spell whenever he's losing. Honestly whenever you see me rooting hard for a villainous sorceress (or occasional prettyboy sorcerer) it's for similar reasons.

The Obligatory Sasuke mention, which is wild because I think everything that I find compelling about him is something you have to read in direct contradiction to Kishimoto's intentions with the series. In a meta sense, I find it super compelling how he's the sort of villain whose motivations unavoidably invoke the fundamental problems in the setting that the tepid liberalism of its core themes and protagonists cannot address, and how that's subsumed into an emotional arc so he can be the redeemed shonen rival in the end.

Inspector Javert is a favorite because he forces the audience to separate legality from ethics; past that, he's also just a really good examination of the sort of person you'd become if you gutted everything that made you human and replaced it with legalism.

Cersei Lannister from the ASOIAF is a great example of a book letting you into the internality of a villain, showing you they're a complete wreck of a person, and it not doing anything to soften the blow when it comes time for them to ruin things for everyone again.

Death from The Seventh Seal is one of my favorite cinematic depictions of personified death. He isn't gentle or comforting like some depictions - he's underhanded, merciless, and for all his affability, relentlessly pursues Block such that his inevitably end claims the lives of just about everyone he loves, as well. It's nightmarish.

my boy SHEEV. Maybe the purest example of "it's good as long as they're fun". His inclusion in TROS is NONSENSE but I don't mind because I will literally never say no to more palpatine screentime.

Goku Black from Dragon Ball Super is great for the sole purpose that, when he's on the scene, a character you care about will die.

Those are a scattered selection of some of my favorites. I wish I had a more compelling analysis for who was in or out, but it really does boil down to don't bore me and there are a lot of ways for a villain to be compelling. Thank you for the ask ^_^