#me: or i could finish that one vader kidnaps luke fic

[foiblepnoteworthy]

Damn i feel like writing sth (*daydreams an entire fic in my head, pausing to make sure the plot makes sense and the themes track well*) shame i have no ideas

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Star Wars Wednesday

(Returning to the "Luke and Mara Accidentally Kidnapped Darth Vader" series. Last time, Luke fixed Vader's prosthetics and Vader got a surprise when he learned the kid's name)

"Ah." Mara's face wrinkled in a combination of anxiety and distaste. "He found us."

Luke finished helping the "prisoner" reattach his legs and hopped up. "Why didn't we know he was coming?" he asked, "Usually their heebie-jeebies precede them!"

Mara backed away from the door as the tip of a lightsaber melted through the center. "Luke," she gulped, "I don't think the Ninth Brother is here for us."

Vader readjusted his oxygen mask, marveling at how much more mobility he had now, and made a decision. He could let the Inquisitor find them, but better to draw them all further in, where there was no escape. He stood, adjusted his balance, and opened the hidden door Vanee often used. The children both jumped in surprise.

"How'd you know there was a door there?" Mara asked.

"I have been here for a very long time," Vader answered dryly. "I've seen it used often enough."

Luke couldn't say that he found the dark passageway particularly inviting. But this whole castle had what he and Mara liked to call "bad vibes", and that made it very hard to guess whether there was any particular danger down the secret tunnel. For all he knew, there were automated turrets, or droids in there. And one of them was unarmed!

Luke unholstered his blaster and handed it to the man they'd pulled from the bacta tank. It looked like a child's toy in his hand. "Just in case. I've got some other weapons if everything goes sideways, so you hang on to that."

Vader could guess what "other weapons" the boy meant. He'd glimpsed, just for a moment, a familiar shape in the boy's inner jacket pocket. Unless he'd stolen the blade, it suggested that he had received at least a modicum of training. Vader suspected he would know who had taught him and whether they yet lived once he saw the blade itself. They did tend to be unique to each Jedi.

[[MORE]]

What if the boy spoke the truth? Not just what he believed was the truth, what if he truly was-

No, it was impossible. The child had died.

Hadn't they?

Had they?

An uncomfortable doubt began to pick at him, and he resolved to have the boy tested as soon as this "Ninth Brother" was dealt with. An Inquisitor having the gall to break into Darth Vader's fortress and start cutting through doors was unusual enough to be considered a problem. Vader suspected this was probably an assassination attempt, unwittingly foiled by a pair of young teenagers who apparently got a kick out of exploring forbidden places.

"You have a lightsaber?" he asked Luke bluntly. They'd already used the Force in front of each other. There was no point in wasting time on pretenses.

"Um..."

"It will be of more use to me than your blaster, should we encounter hostiles," he reasoned.

Luke knew he was right, but he didn't like the idea of handing it over. There were so few pieces of his home he'd been able to save from the fire. Even though Uncle Owen had regretted letting Old Ben give him the blade on his birthday, it had saved Luke's life more than once.

Reluctantly, he took it from the hidden pocket and held it up. "Please be careful with it," he warned, "It was my father's. It's all I have of him."

Vader knew that hilt. He knew every plate and seam of it. And when he ignited the blade, it glowed the same blue he had wielded all through the Clone Wars. Confusion and anger twisted through his mind. The last time he'd seen this blade, it had been on this very planet. When Obi-wan Kenobi took it and walked away, leaving him to burn.

"Where did you get this lightsaber? Who gave it to you?" he hissed, even as they crowded into the tunnel.

"A hermit?" Luke seemed more concerned about the Inquisitor, who was nearly through the door now. "He was a friend of my father's. Or, he used to be, I guess. I'm not sure if he's alive still. Not a lot of humans survive the Jundland Wastes long."

Kenobi.

It had to be Kenobi.

That this child claiming to be his son suspected Kenobi was dead was interesting. Even more so was the mention of Tatooine. Darth Vader quickened his pace, leading his would-be rescuers toward the secondary chamber where his armor was kept. The sooner he had his suit and his lightsaber, the better.

Darth Vader wanted answers, and the Ninth Brother apparently trying to kill him was getting in the way.

[atamascolily]

A Natural History of Tatooine, part 23/?

Luke and Callista discuss marriage and children in a scene that is a direct response to a particularly infuriating section of Darksaber. Also, daily life at the Jedi Academy.

(People who have read my other fics will know that making the characters happy right before everything goes to hell is one of my favorite literary tropes.)

(Previous installments)

"Did you ever want to have children?" Luke asked Callista one day. They stood on the balcony of Luke's quarters on the upper level of the main temple, watching the sunset and waiting for the bell to ring for evening meditation.

"I mean, yes. Someday. It just never seemed like the right time. And then the Clone Wars came and everything was in disarray, it <i>definitely</i> wasn't the right time. And then, just as things startled to settle down--"

"The Empire," Luke finished.

"Yes. And after that--having children was the last thing on my mind." She played with a tendril of passionvine intent on tangling its way across the railing.

"So now...?" Luke prompted after a long pause.

"I don't know," Callista said at last. "I don't know--if they'd be mine or Cray's."

"Genetically speaking, probably Cray's. But who knows? Your hair is coming back in the old color, and your voice is different from her--and so are your eyes. Given how your spirit shines through her body, I suppose there's only one way to find out."

"Try it and see what happens?" she said, with a gleam in her eye. She turned away to look out at the view. "Well, I have to admit that scares me."

"Why?"

A very long pause. "I'm afraid any children I have would inherit my Force blindness?"

"So what?" Luke repeated. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Shouldn't the first Jedi Master of the new order have Jedi children?"

"I don't think I have to personally spawn the new order myself," he said carefully. "In fact, Yoda and Ben would probably hate it if I did. They didn't think that Jedi should marry and have children. My father Anakin defied the Order to marry my mother in secret. He probably would have been happier with Djinn Altis's group," he added as an afterthought.  

"Perhaps," she agreed, though she still wouldn't meet his gaze. "But I just--"

"Anyway, Leia's children are Force-sensitive, and Han is not, so who's to say they would be Force blind? And Cray was Force-sensitive, so if you are genetically Cray, then there's no reason to assume--"

"I guess you're right," she said, turning to face him at last. "Put that way, it sounds so cold. So clinical. So... Imperial. As if we were building a dynasty."

"I mean, I'm not averse to the idea, but I'm also not wedded to it--" Luke started, as he leaned over to embrace her. He stopped abruptly as an idea occurred to him. "Should we get married?" he asked after a moment.

"I don't know," she said. "I want to--Luke, truly, I do, I just--too much has happened. Too fast. I'm still getting used to it all. Let's take it slow."

"All right," he agreed, though he couldn't deny his disappointment. Still, there was no point in rushing her. "I can do slow. After all, a Jedi is very.... very... patient."

They both dissolved into giggles and the tension passed.

***

The days quickly settled into a routine. Luke and Callista rose at dawn, slipping on their robes and sandals in silence, threading their way through ancient stone corridors and the early morning haze to the meditation hall with the rest of the community. They sat cross-legged next to each other on dark cushions for an hour, stepping aside from the endless river of their thoughts to listen to the sound of their breathing and the squawking clamor of the pikka birds as they announced the return of the sun.

After breakfast, the community gathered in the central courtyard for morning announcements before splitting off for training. Since his return to Yavin, Luke had spent most of his time with Kirana Ti, coaching her as she strengthened her considerable Force powers, and answering her questions as best he could. A frequent debate was how best to adapt the Academy model to Dathomiri society when it was time for her to return to her home planet, and how to nip potential problems in the bud.

Callista's mornings were far more varied. In the beginning, she rotated between Luke, Kam, Tionne, and Mara, working one on one with them as they tried everything they could think of to restore her connection to the Force. Luke was nervous the first time Callista and Mara worked together, but it seemed to go well; Callista reported that Mara was polite enough, if a bit standoffish. He realized later that he was disappointed that two of the most important people in his life were never going to be friends.

Callista only tried to work with Corran once; it didn't go well. Of all the students who had trained at the Academy thus far, only Dorsk 81 and Nichos had ever had the temperament to mesh well with Corran. He was far more powerful than Tionne, but much worse at teaching--Corran admitted as much--but until they had more instructors, they were stuck with him.

After a few weeks, at Tionne's suggestion and with Luke's blessing, Callista began to offer her own classes for the students and teachers alike. She drawing on her considerable memories of Jedi history and lore, much of which she had personally experienced. She couldn't personally assist the students in carrying out the exercises she described, but under her guidance, Luke saw the quality of instruction at the academy blossom and expand beyond his wildest dreams. It didn't bring back her connection with the Force, but it made her feel appreciated and valued, and Luke was grateful for it.

After lunch, the community would meet again for the work assignments and chores necessary to keep everything running, from cleaning the bathhouse and guest rooms to tending the grounds to assisting the Head Cook and the kitchen droids with meal preparations. Callista threw herself eagerly into every assignment she was given. Since Force powers were rarely helpful in these sorts of work, she was more or less on even footing with the rest of the community and was rarely reminded of her loss.

Luke spent the work periods in his office, answering his messages and checking the accounts, though Mara was responsible for most of the day-to-day operations of the resort portion of the business. Corran, down the hall, managed vetting the guests and overall security, but Luke made a point to look over his shoulder now and again to know who and what to expect wandering the grounds and soaking in the baths. With several kidnapping attempts against Leia's children, it was best to be cautious.

After the work period ended, it was time for recreation. Luke spent most of those late afternoons wandering on foot with Callista or taking his airspeeder out for a spin over the treetops. She was particularly fascinated by the complex architecture of the temple complex, and they spent many hours exploring above and below ground, marveling at the sophisticated art of a vanished civilization.

Having spent her childhood on a raft-community on one of the vast oceans of Chad, Callista never failed to marvel at the vast forest stretching out in every direction, just as Luke had done since his first visit to Yavin when it served as headquarters for the Rebellion. Her unfailing zest for life, her laughter, her sense of humor and the absurd and the ridiculous had survived her resurrection more or less intact, and meshed neatly with his own.

"If you don't have a sense of humor, you're dead," she told him one afternoon as they made their way back to the temple, exhausted and covered in mud, but happy.

"<i>You</i> had a sense of humor when you were dead," he teased.

"Not <i>quite</i> dead," she corrected, laughing even as she said it.

Some days, they sparred in the dojo under Traitakh's watchful eye and the blank-eyed stares of the ysalamiri on their nutrient frames. Luke was nervous about sparring with her with open lightsabers, but he shouldn't have been. Callista had been training in sword-forms since she was twelve; she could easily best him if he was careless, especially when he couldn't draw on the Force for help. She knew many things he didn't, and under her careful tutelage, Luke found himself improving by leaps and bounds.  

"Your style is so... rough," Callista said, after the first session. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was 'unpolished'. Like a jewel pulled directly from the earth."

"That's because I didn't really have a teacher," Luke explained. "Yoda and I never studied combat. I just... did what I had to do."

"You fought Darth Vader and <i>lived</i>. How many people can claim that?"

"I'm still not sure how I survived, to be honest. It helped that he probably wasn't trying to kill me, even at the very end."

"I suppose so. But that doesn't make your form any less impressive under the circumstances," Callista said, stopping to stroke the rough pebbled back of a ysalamir. "Tionne doesn't like these big lizards, but I think they're cute. I've been helping Traitakh take care of them during work period sometimes, since no one else wants to do it."

Aside from Luke, Traitakh was the only member of the community whom Callista was close to. It pained Luke that her only friend was the one non-Force sensitive person at the academy, but he held his tongue. All of the students or instructors were polite to her, but none of them--even Tionne--had tried to get close. He didn't know how to bridge the gap.

After the exercise period, it was time to bathe. Callista loved the hot springs and the bathhouse, and they went every day in the late afternoon when the sun was level in the sky next to the fiery orb of the Yavin gas giant, but the shadows in the bathhouse were cool. They split up to enter the bathhouse, each washing on the side of their respective gender, only to meet up a short while later in the private teacher's pool, which they usually had to themselves. Then it was time for dinner, after which those who had foregone the afternoon work period assisted with the guests' dinner and with the meal clean-up, and then it was back to the meditation hall for another hour of silence and stillness before bed.

In theory, Callista had inherited Cray and Nichos's quarters, but in practice, she spent her nights with Luke. It was good not to be alone again, good to have someone to share his days with, a friend and ally he could count on. And no matter how restless his sleep, it was good not to be alone at night.

[benperorsolo]

Don't do the first one I messed up lmao okay so heisaki and zutara for 001, ben solo for 002 and for 003 zuko, aang, sokka, katara, toph

001. (heisaki)

when I started shipping it if I did:

I honestly don’t even remember. I usually don’t start shipping couples as I watch a show, but after when I’m looking for fanfic to distract me from my schoolwork. So sometime after finishing S1.

my thoughts:

Heisaki pretty much caters to every grossly trash thing I like in ships: enemies to lovers, preferably with some kickass woman and some super-evil looking masked dude with Secret Depths and Softness™ (I know I’m garbage okay I’ve made my peace), where Sad Angry Scary Dude is shown affection from someone who believes in their goodness more than they’re disgusted by their evil, and Strong But Soft Woman discovers tenderness and support in the unlikeliest of  places.

What makes me happy about them:

All of the above, and also the way they cycle through various identities with each other in canon, the way canon teases them as people who would make an amazing team if they weren’t pawns for organizations bigger than themselves. The way both of them are uncompromising in their work but have secret private vulnerabilities. The way both of them love the stars. 

What makes me sad about them:

The way canon bastardized Misaki in the second season into being obsessed with catching Hei because of her weird unresolved feelings for him. But not in a cool or respectful way; just in a way that made Misaki into a lovesick waif whose personality completely went out the window. 

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Mostly when Hei becomes to emotional or emotionally honest with Misaki without a lot of buildup, considering he’s been emotionally constipated for going on a decade now and for reasons that involved not dying. Likewise when Misaki turns into a damsel to be saved.

things I look for in fanfic:

Some sort of clear ideological friction between the two of them; Misaki’s discovery of the Black Reaper’s identity and/or interacting with the Black Reaper in person. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No one? Hei’s other options are Amber, a ship which I find interesting as something in Hei’s past but not one I would endgame bc abusive, and Yin, who is mentally basically a child and it feels like pedophilia.

My happily ever after for them:

Haaaa the grossly indulgent Office AU. Hei becomes a contractor working with Section 4, develops a little friend/family unit with Section 4 and astronomics; he and Misaki get married; Hei reconnects with his family in China; Hei and Misaki have a little girl named Seiko and it’s gr9. Everything is beautiful and occasionally hurts but never, y’know, forever.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Hei, probably. But it could vary. They’re just about equal in height so there’s no reason one should be the big spoon over the other.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Stargazing.

001. zutara

when I started shipping it if I did:

Don’t even remember. Sometime after finishing Book 3, I think. 

my thoughts:

Gold standard ship. The ship I keep shipping in other fandoms, just in different iterations. The ying-yang, ‘you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun’ way they complement each other, and yet at their cores are so similar: highly driven, compassionate, passionate people who are proven in battle to make a great team.

What makes me happy about them:

The way their relationship beautifully unfolded over three seasons of mortal enemies, to maybe-allies (and then would-be-ally and traitor), to allies and friends. The way each season of ATLA ends with a fight between them; the first two against each other, and the last one with each other. The way they are safe places for the other— Katara confiding to him in the crystal caves, and again about her mother in Southern Raiders; Zuko confiding to Katara about his fear of facing his uncle, and Katara’s reassurance, and then the way Zuko took Katara with her to fight Azula because he knew he needed a steadfast ally he could trust.

What makes me sad about them:

The way Bryke have insulted the ship over the years, calling it too ‘dark and mysterious’ for Nick, but then fucked up all of the canon relationships in ATLA by having their kids have extremely dysfunctional relationships with their parents, or just making the relationships straight-up dysfunctional coughMaikocough 

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

When Katara gets the Mary Sue Strong Independent Woman treatment, or when she becomes some helpless crying waif (usually Book 1 kidnapping fics, which can be good, okay, they can), and likewise when Zuko post-redemption is still a jerkass. I mean he can still be a jerk, but he’s not a jerkass.

things I look for in fanfic:

I’ll read almost anything. I like S1 fic (typically Zuko captures Katara, and Katara takes none of his shit, and then TEAMWORK HAPPENS), s2 fic where crotchety I-once-did-something-good-and-gave-myself-a-coma Zuko and Katara are forced to work together in lovehate, and post-s3 Western Air Temple fics where Zuko has to earn Katara’s forgiveness. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No one lmao. I’m not a multishipper.

My happily ever after for them:

Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara rule the Fire Nation in peace and harmony and are happy, the end.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Zuko’s the big spoon.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Sparring.

002. Ben Solo

How I feel about this character:

ALL THE THINGS. I LOVE MY BOYFRIENDSON BEN SKYWALKER-ORGANA-SOLO.

More seriously— I love how he’s desperate for villainy, and yet cannot achieve it no matter how hard he tries. I love that this is a character who has to pray away the Light within him. I love how even after killing his father, the Light still won’t go away. I love that he is the beloved son of one of the most loved couples in cinematic history, related in a significant way to almost everyone in the prequels, OT, and sequels. I love that he effectively flips the conflict of the original films, wherein the fallen father is saved by the goodness of his son, and now it is the fallen son who will be saved (mark my words) by his father. I love the angst inherent in watching this character, who was practically born to be a hero, do everything he can to shirk his destiny and ensure his Darkness, and yet fall short. And most of all, I love the possibility (inevitability) of his redemption. I love the idea of getting to explore what redemption looks like when you don’t die before its completion, like Anakin. I love the idea of Ben realizing that his father did save him after all; of getting to smile at his uncle again;  of getting to hug his mother again; of it hurting so much— the hurt of a healing wound, at last, and not the hurt of the Dark Side. Of Ben getting to reclaim the person he might have been, had Snoke and misfortune and his own hamartia not found him, so that he no longer has to hide behind a false name and a mask, but can finally as himself face the sun, unafraid. Ben Solo means a lot to me. Maybe the hypotheticals of his character more than what we have now. But I honestly think that my strange compassion for this fake person has made me a better person. Because, if I can sit here and rail for his redemption no matter his sins— then what excuse do I have not to try to become a better person myself?

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Rey the bae all the way.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

BenPoe/Knightpilot, especially involving them as childhood friends, and Poe having to come to terms with Ben, who he was, and who he is, after Ben defects back to the Resistance. Some of my favorite character pieces to this end are This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine and Orbital Period. Also the BenPoe fandom are pretty much the nicest people ever?

My unpopular opinion about this character:

The fact that I like him is probably an unpopular opinion. 

Okay okay my real unpopular opinion (ESSAY AHOY) is my insistence of Kylo Ren’s true name still being Ben Solo (ofc you know this is a thing with me bc you very diplomatically asked me to talk about ‘Ben Solo’ and not ‘Kylo Ren’ in your ask lmao, and you know I call him ‘Ben’ just like I call Vader ‘Anakin’— practically always, in both cases, because it’s for the same reason). Kylo Ren is a shadow archetype, an alter ego, a mask and a costume— the thing Ben is trying desperately to become and yet never will, not only because he failed so horribly at being a proper villain in TFA (going for Rey instead of the droid; not torturing the bejeezus out of Rey immediately; feeling immediate regret after killing his father, not pushing Rey off a cliff during their fight when he had the chance, and then losing to her), but because it’s just how Star Wars works. It’s the same with Anakin and Vader— as Luke says to Vader in ROTJ, ‘[Anakin] is the name of your true self; you’ve only just forgotten,’ and ultimately Luke is proven right. Throughout canon, the Dark Side is depicted as a corruption of your true self; a warping of who you really are. Your Dark Side is not your authentic self, it’s a gross imitation, and whatever you call yourself under the thrall of the Dark Side is not your true name either. This is how it functioned for Anakin/Vader in the OT; and how it was for Galen Marek/Starkiller in the EU. Your Dark Side name is your slave name. It’s just another mask; a type of verbal disassociation— another way to remove yourself from the reality of what you’re really doing and what you have become. There is also the gross, skeevy observation that Anakin was given the name Vader by Palpatine, the creep who groomed him, and it’s not a difficult leap to assume that Snoke, the creep who groomed Ben in utero, gave Ben the name Kylo Ren. It is canon that Snoke has forbidden the name ‘Ben Solo’ to be spoken by anyone in the First Order, including Ben. But who the hell knows that Kylo Ren is Ben? It’s treated as an extreme secret, and currently I’d say the number is limited to Snoke, Hux, and Ben himself. So who is Snoke really forbidding from saying the name Ben Solo? Ben. He’s forbidding Ben. He’s giving Ben a gag order on his own name— which should immediately ring your bells as being sketchy AF for OBVIOUS REASONS, including but not limited to the fact that you only forbid people from doing things you know they are in danger of doing. If Ben were really completely dead, if he were really Kylo Ren all the way down, then what is Snoke afraid of? All of this to say, it annoys the everlasting and eternal fuck out of me when I see fics or headcanons where a redeemed Ben does not go back to that name, because then to me it represents a person who is still hiding behind the verbal equivalent of a mask. It would be like a redeemed Anakin still going by the name Darth Vader. It’s watching a man stand by the name of his abuse. It stands in literal opposition of everything a true redemption symbolizes, especially in Star Wars, and it’s gross gross gross I hate it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

A REDEMPTION ARC BITCHESSS

my OTP:

Reylo. Okay technically Reyben. But yeah. More recently I’ve become obsessed with the idea of them as parents, because it would be such a beautiful capstone for them both. Rey, lonely, orphan Rey, finally having a family of her own. Rey being terrified of motherhood, because she can’t even remember her mother. Rey feeling that fierce, wolfish upwelling of maternal protectiveness for the first time and knowing she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Ben, terrified of making the mistakes his parents made with him; Ben, terrified of his past poisoning his children’s future. Ben, now a father, realizing the sort of unbreakable love that let his own father walk out on that bridge knowing he might die, and still taking the chance on his child. Ben, looking at the bundle in his arms and knowing he’d do the same. asdfghjkl;

my cross over ship:

Ben Solo x happiness, probably. I know it’s a wild concept.

a headcanon fact:

Ben is naturally good at pazaak and other gambling/card games. It’s one of the few roguish/smugglerish things he has in common with Han. Poe, Finn, and Rey always accuse him of using the Force to cheat, but he never does. During sessions of strip Pazaak (Poe’s idea), Poe, Finn, and Rey will be almost completely naked while Ben sits across the table fully clothed.

003. zuko, aang, katara, sokka, toph

1. zuko

2. aang

3. katara (tied w/ aang but just for overall character arc aang’s affects me more powerfully)

4. sokka

5. toph