#never written Ahsoka before so that's fun

[charmwasjess]

time travel DO write it!!!!! 👀👀👀👀

I'm sorry this is so late, Boli. I went to grab a snippet of Time Travel (Not Writing It) Fic and accidentally, uhh, started writing it again.

Teenaged Dooku and Sifo-Dyas touch the wrong artifact and get plopped into the end of the Clone Wars where they make an escalating series of predictably horrible choices! :D Here's Sifo-Dyas making some now:

“What do you mean mine?” Sifo-Dyas’s voice rose in an alarming way. 

Dooku sensed the movement coming in the Force before he even did it: the odd, loud crash of feathers against air, a bird burst into startled flight. 

–And then Sifo-Dyas was shoving past Master Kenobi, almost knocking him over, and running for it.

“Hey!” Master Skywalker grabbed for the young seer, but Sifo-Dyas dodged and opened his long body into a sprint. A flash of color as the Togruta Padawan took off in pursuit, and Dooku found himself running too, chasing them both and yelling pointless, desperate things.

“Sifo-Dyas! Stop!”

Panic thudded in his chest as he watched him tear off down the corridor into the depths of the huge ship, his dark Padawan braid whipping behind him. If Sifo-Dyas was trying to truly escape, he appeared to be headed in the wrong direction from The Negotiator’s massive hanger bay. 

…why was his whole stupid life running after Sifo-Dyas?

“Don’t chase him, it will just make him run further! I’ll get him!” Dooku yelled to the girl. 

She shot him a very defiant look for a Padawan his junior in age who should, technically, be following his lead. 

“He’ll come to me! He’s my best friend!” 

The Torgruta still didn’t seem precisely convinced, but the words “best friend” seemed to decide something for her. She peeled off the chase; Dooku ran on. He touched the Force to accelerate his speed. Sifo-Dyas might be quicker than him, but he had the endurance. 

At a Y in the corridor, Sifo-Dyas hesitated between options just long enough. Dooku turned his run into a slide, crashing into his legs and bringing him toppling down. They rolled together, scrabbling around on the metal floor to see who would come up on top.

“Sifo-Dyas! Stop!” 

“Let go of me!” 

Dooku straddled him, and Sifo-Dyas drummed blows on his chest and stomach. Retaliating without thinking, Dooku smashed the heel of his palm into his nose. A yelp, a spray of fine blood, and Sifo-Dyas's body, his answering crash against him. They fell to fighting in practiced silence. 

Sifo-Dyas’s teeth closed down on the thin skin of his wrist. Dooku jerked back, more startled than hurt. That was all the opening needed. His knee wedged up into the new space between his body and Dooku’s chest and he kicked himself free.  

Sifo-Dyas leapt up, blood flowing from his nose, stumbled, regained his footing, and threw himself forward again. Not far. Through a swishing doorway. Dooku lunged after him, closing the distance.  

They spilled out onto an observation platform, looking down into a huge bay. Dooku seized him, but Sifo-Dyas didn't struggle this time. He stood was frozen, staring. He sank to his knees. 

Dooku raised his head to see what he had seen. 

Sifo-Dyas hadn’t been running away. He had been running to them. 

“Mine…” he breathed through the blood, his eyes traveling down row after row of identical men in their identical white armor. Black eyes, huge and wide, brimming over with either love or agony. Unbearable love. Unbearable agony. 

Dooku wrapped both arms around him, holding his shaking body hard. He didn’t know if he was trying to restrain him, to offer him comfort, or simply squeeze him until everything made sense again. Until Sifo-Dyas dreamed the galaxy back into proper order.

“Mine,” Sifo-Dyas stammered again, and bent to throw up.

[panic-in-the-multiverse]

Being Ahsoka Tano’s best friend would include

Pairings: Ahsoka Tano x reader

Imagine: being Obi-Wan’s padawan and Ahsoka’s best friend

Warnings: idk, Ahsoka leaving the order (I swear I can’t watch those episodes bc I cry every damn time, not because she’s leaving the order but bc she leaves people who care for her)

A/N I love Ahsoka and it’s a wonder I haven’t written anything for her before, but here I am writing for my fav girl so I hope someone out there will enjoy this <3

Becoming friends as soon as you both met, which was when you were still in training to become a padawan, which means you grew up with each other

You’d study with eachother

Hype eachother up if one of you is feeling sad or stressed, literally just helping eachother with emotions and anything in general

Ahsoka running to you filled with excitement to tell you she’s becoming a padawan and her master will be the one and only Anakin Skywalker

You doing the same to Ahsoka when you found out your master will be the one and only Obi-Wan Kenobi

Gossiping with each other

Getting in trouble together

Pranking people together with Fives, Waxer, Boil and a few others, you tried once to prank Cody, lesson learned you will never prank Cody again, he wasn’t to happy to have his helmet filled with blue and orange glitter (he still can find glitter to this day)

Obi-Wan now has to deal with three children (you, Anakin and Ahsoka) while Cody has to deal with more than five children (You, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, Waxer, Boil…)

Did I mention getting in trouble together

Being another headache for the Jedi council and those who tries to protect you both and those trying to keep you out of trouble

Training your lightsaber skills with each other, being an excellent match because you always end up even because by know you know every move the other will make

Calling each other names that you hate just for the fun of it

If anyone else were to call either you or Ahsoka those names you would both go into protective mood, no one gets to call you two that but you two

Always defending and protecting each other, if it is when you get in trouble with the council or when you fight for example General Grievous doesn’t matter

I hate to write it down but sadly I think I need too after all it is a big part of Ahsoka’s life. When Ahsoka gets accused of the bombing I believe you would 100% side with her, you’re best fiends siblings after all and you always have each others backs. You try to help her prove her innocence but it didn’t go exactly as planned. We all know what happens and so when she decided to leave you were heartbroken, you couldn’t care less about the order you only cared about Ahsoka. You knew it was what she wanted so you let her go but you were still sad over it, and selfishly tried to convince her to stay because you didn’t want to be without her, after all you were practically siblings and grew up with each other. In the end she told you it was for the best and that she didn’t trust the order anymore, she’d always trust you and she did try to keep in contact with you but it was hard with the ongoing war

Then comes the times in the order without Ahsoka, and if I’m being honest I think you would kinda mope around when you thought no one was looking becasue you missed your best friend so much, your bad days become even worse because you didn’t have Ahsoka to cheer you up, but you managed as did Ahsoka who missed you as much as you missed her

I believe Obi-Wan would do his best to comfort you even though he knew as well as you that it would never be the same as Ahsoka comforting you and cheering you up, but he did his best, and that’s all you could of asked for

Anakin and you probably talked about Ahsoka a lot with eachother or avoided the topic all together

However Plo Koon talked to you about Ahsoka all the time

Skip to Ahsoka coming back with Bo-Katan to save Mandalore from Maul (why does autocorrect keep wanting to change his name to Mail), you convinced your master to let you come with Ahsoka, and so a new adventure started for the two of you

Then there’s order 66 and you, Ahsoka and Rex barely escaped

You and Ahsoka stuck together after that never leaving each other sides scared you would lose eachother again let’s not forget you got frequent calls from Rex and Obi-Wan talked to you sometimes through the force (but not much he was in hiding after all and so were you)

[timelesslords]

fic writer twenty questions!!!

I got tagged by the beautiful lovely gorgeous @tapemonkey21 who has written some of my fav star wars fics to date and who got me on the cody/obi-wan/satine train without which my current wip would not exist <333

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

2. What's your AO3 word count?

812,034 😵‍💫

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Rn only star wars with Ahsoka in it, but I've written for TLOU and PJO too!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Under Freezing Stars

have my back, yeah, every day

Violent Heart

invisible string

For Real This Time

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yesssss!!! I honestly love responding to comments just as much as reading them. I like chatting with people and hearing their thoughts and their theories and what they want to happen next!! I think it makes it more fun for everyone but especially for me hehe

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

and the waves come crashing down for sure. I'm really not an angsty ending kind of person except with that fic lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Roman Holiday has the cheesiest mushiest most ridiculous holiday fluff ending ever <3

8. Do you get hate on fics?

haha yea 😭 messed up some niche details in my star wars fic and got absolutely lambasted in the comments lmao i never wanted to post sw again 😭 but then i realized i just needed to find the gay people and it all worked out lol

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I would say I'm retired from smut writing lmao 😭 but idk maybe something will change. i am not typing out the gory details of everything ive written on here I have no desire to get cancelled again

10. Do you write cross overs? What's the craziest one you've written?

No but I do write AU fusions <3 my favorite stupid insane one was a James Potter/Lily Evans Batman universe fusion fic it lowkey ate but I had to hide it because I was embarrassed at the quality and the very just-took-sociology-101 level of social commentary 😭

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so???? back in the day maybe lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I have had a few podfics of my fics made and that is my absolute most favorite thing ever ever 🥹

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes with my wonderful beautiful brilliant best friend forever who shares half of my brain @captain-jackson

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

all-time...,, whew. rn it's definitely Codywan. Idk if I have an all-time transcendent one that I always come back to tbh. I'm really more into platonic relationship dynamics than ships tbh

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever wilI?

God, I have one re-writing the Zygerria arc where Ahsoka sneaks onto the mission instead of being incorporated into it that i want to finish SO BAD. when the ties that bind is done I'm really going to hammer it out because I do love it but its kind of a monster.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm good with dialogue and characterization and, on occasion, plot twists.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I hate writing filler. I can't do it for the life of me, which means I also tend to have pretty poor pacing. im also bad at ending scenes which is why many times my chapters will end with my characters falling asleep 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

jesus fucking christ it's so hard. doing it for Mando'a is hard and it's not even a real language. Usually I just go for the itallics but sometimes it's nice to have the immersion (which only works if you do it perfectly lol)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I did not stake out the username "timelesslords" back in 2013 for the answer to this question to NOT be Doctor Who

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

cheating and doing my fav from my three main fandoms:

Under Freezing Stars because it was the first long piece of fiction I ever finished, and without it I would not have made three of my best friends in the whole world so its very special and important to me

if you never bleed you're never gonna grow is one where I feel like I did something interesting and innovative with form and perspective and I'm really proud of it. I feel like a lot of times as a fic writer you can feel like what you're doing is repetitive and this one felt really unique to me!

The Ties That Bind is still a WIP but I honestly really love it and have been loving the process of writing it a lot. it's the first WIP I started posting without having at least 75% of the fic completed and it's been really interesting to see what a different process it is pre-writing vs writing as you go! Also, I love the plot contrivance that makes up the premise, I love working out all the little butterfly effects of that decision, I love making it gay and poly and I love writing a million different perspectives!!!

this was so super fun I miss doing tag games like this hehe :3 low pressure tags @bbyannabeth @lena-hills @bookishjules @captain-jackson & anyone else who wants to consider urself tagged by me :3

[david-talks-sw]

any new Star Wars essays in the making, or are you moving on?

I don't know, honestly.

Part of it is "life gets in the way," I'm working a lot and so whatever time I have left is spent just messing around or meeting with my loved ones.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my drafts. I don't mind sharing it here, most recent to oldest:

Sort of a joke post of me pointing out how stressful being George Lucas' producer must've been, like this guy really DIDN'T WANT to write his fucking scripts, did he? Poor Rick McCallum. Abandoned because who gives a crap.

'Ask' reply on how EU-fueled fandom perception of the Jedi was flipped by the prequels.

'Ask' reply about the themes in Ahsoka and why the show doesn't know what it's about. Problem is, I go about it starting from the basics, so nobody's gonna sit through reading a tematic breakdown of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, The Batman and the original six Star Wars films before I even get to the show at hand.

"Part II" post about what Ahsoka, Rebels and TCW get right about lightsaber duels, which the Prequels never did.

Quote collection & analysis on just how complex the Prequels were meant to be (in the late 80s, Lucas intimated that the Sequels were the story that was supposed to have gray morality, not the Prequels)

Quote collection on how the themes and principles of Star Wars align with Lucas' own opinions and philosophies.

Quote collection on Lucas defining Anakin's flaws.

Quote collection on Lucas talking about the fact that we need to be more proactive, which aligns with what Lumi points out sometimes about the Jedi: they should've been more politically engaged because we all should be.

Why I approach Lucas as "word of god".

Personal life/joke-y post dating from the time of the WGA strike about how Jack Black's School of Rock lyrics "In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due!" applied to me. Abandoned because I didn't wanna bum everyone out.

Correcting the notion that Dark Times-era Jedi such as Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka represent what Jedi were supposed to be.

A comprehensive end-all outlook on how Anakin's flaws all tie together. I've written this one twice and I don't know how to differentiate it from my other posts.

A secret "Part 3" to my TLJ Luke post, in which I point out that RJ's being too "indie", while being a strong point for a big chunk of the film, hampers the film's ability to make Luke feel as badass as he does on paper. I want to illustrate a storyboard for this one, but that takes time.

The evolution of Star Wars' approach to transmedia.

Debunking Star Wars myths: a (very) comprehensive outlook on children in the Jedi Order.

Problem is that only like 2/3rds of these are fully-written... and I still need to find the relevant clips, turn them into GIFs, etc etc.

There's many other interesting Asks in my inbox btw. But I'm already behind on all these, so I haven't begun to touch them.

Then there's the drawings.

I wanna draw a comic of the meeting between Yoda and Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. I wanna finish the comic fight between Maul and Ben. I wanna draw Mace, Shaak Ti, I've got a Luminara fan-art that was supposed to be ready for Jedi June 2022 and an Anakin drawing that looks weird. No time, nor am I skilled enough. (Like, I trace, that's what I do, it's not a secret I've said so before... but it takes me a long while to do so. I'm not fast at drawing, let alone coloring.) I could commission some of these, but there are obvious obstacles there.

There's fun tidbits I've discovered here and there but nobody will care about them and I usually try to not drown my blog with bs posts.

Then there's the bigger problem.

All the things I've listed above? I'm not 100% motivated to finish. But a lot of the new stuff I wanna write about is hella negative.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say about Ahsoka. But it wasn't all good. It was mostly me bitching, be it about the show or the fandom's reactions to it.

I've also got more stuff to say about Filoni's take on Star Wars, but I've talked about why it's inaccurate like 8 times already, and I don't actually dislike the guy, like there's plenty of things he knows and does that I think are awesome but also people won't stop putting him and his takes on a pedestal and--

oh shit, there's Acolyte too, I forgot about that, gray morality galore, here we come. But here too, like... I've talked a couple of times about why this entire gray morality thing is actually just the gen X-ers trying to make the prequels "cool" and "complex". but I've never explored properly, with quotes and research and shit. but i've talked about it so many times that at this point it'd end up like the Filoni rants, redundant. "we get it already." as if this show didn't have haters lined round the block for absolutely sexist reasons.

Don't get me started on the mountain of lies and/or idiocy that is the YouTuber Star Wars Theory.

And yet he said one thing a few months ago which struck a chord within me and it's the fact that Andor is awesome, excels on all levels because it's treated seriously, like a proper show, not a Disney Plus one... why wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why wasn't Book of Boba Fett? And I've already established multiple times that I enjoyed Kenobi (yes, including the Reva parts) and I've established that I know what they were going for in Fett and I've established that this is mainly a "Disney Plus didn't know how to structure a fucking show pre-WGA strike" issue more than anything else... but when I think about how these could've been treated instead? When I look at the characterizations and emotional stakes of like Fargo Season 5? It's infuriating. Because it's not bad (talking about Kenobi, BOBF is awful)... but it could've been EXCELLENT and instead it was just "okay" to "good".

I just miss live action lightsaber duels, man. Like, good ones.

and i dunno. maybe I should just let it rip on all this. "go off, king!"

but I think there's so much negativity re: Star Wars that adding my thoughts on these subjects, no matter how structured and reason, will just blend into a wave of needless, un-constructive hate.

maybe I should finish the writings in the drafts and just post them with no gifs, maybe just still images?

but doing any of that feels like a step back.

So that's where I'm at right now.

[femmefighter]

I'll be greedy and ask 2, 6, 17 and 18 for the Fic Writer Asks 😘

Alright, I'm loving @btwxsixesandsevens 's idea of using these as a 'writing warm-up', so let's see how this goes!

2. Do you read/reread your own fics? Yes, very much so. It sounds conceited perhaps, but when I started my WIP, there was next to no Sokabine content whatsoever. So I literally went, "stuff it, I'll do it myself". I'm writing the story/stories I want to read, so yes I reread my own work. It's also great to come across horrible spelling or grammar mistakes and be like, "SHIIIIIIIIT" *RACES FOR EDIT BUTTON*. 🤣

6. Are there many fics you reread all the time? You bet there are! I especially read WIPs over and over, either when a new chapter is up to double-check what was going before moving on with the story, or just because I'm loving where the author is going with the piece; I love cheering them on with comments and I want to keep reliving it and wonder where the adventure's going next. I don't reread the completed multi-fics so much (but I do sometimes!), but I do love rereading some one shots! (I feel less guilty doing so coz they're shorter!)

And since we're here, might as well do some special shout outs: WIPs: Heart of a leader, soul of a rebel  by @halepo ; Crimson Dusk, Cerulean Dawn by @loevawrites ; Splintered Realities by @calyxborealis and Dreams and Madness by CarboniteCass Multi-chaptered fics: chaos, yet harmony by rain_sleet_snow ; Rid'alor by albedobrave

One-shots: what strange dreams have we shared by October_sky ; In Her Mouth an Amethyst by @ambiguityisnoonesfriend ; Love So Alike by @tatooinesun2121 ; Ka'rta Ve'vut by @kanskje-kaffe and never know what to say (but you get it anyway) by lostresidentevilpotter 

Decadent smut fics for dessert: Mesh'la by @machinerismsx ; ni kar'tayli gar darasuum (i will know you forever) by @augustfiction and pretty much anything written by @armoralor but especially Homecoming, Built to Wreck and Here & Now 

17. What's something you learned about while doing research for a fic? Well, my favourite concept (from Legends) was about Togruta blushing through the darkening of the stripes on their montrals and lekku! So the fact that Ahsoka blushes blue just makes me 😍 But I think the most interesting thing I've discovered is Operation Cinder, the world-killing revenge mission for Imperial remnants after the Emperor dies - and even though I haven't found anything to confirm it yet, I reckon Mandalore was victim to this operation. 18. What's one of your favourite lines you've written in a fic? Ugh, that's a hard one. The title of my WIP, Reach Out and Feel Me, is probably my favourite line to slip in. Maybe that's a cop-out. Fine, lemme think... Alright. A paragraph from Ch 18 of RO&FM, Sabine talking to Ahsoka: "The person I wanted to learn how to wield a lightsaber from I thought was dead. I resented Kanan because he wasn’t you, and I was horrible because of it.” ~~~ I dunno, I love that whole chapter of the first time Sabine has a lesson with Ahsoka in lightsaber sparring.

Well that was fun! Sorry for the avalanche. Guess I'm well warmed up now! Thanks for the ask 😘

[jessicas-pi]

i present a highlights collection of The Sequel Trilogy But Better (Or Maybe Worse) by my kid sister

here's a few fun facts:

Okay, so, the highlight of the ENTIRE fic is that the Knights of Ren are a squad of. like. really hot beefy women. and Kylo is their bratty kid brother figure. They bully him constantly. One of them is named Izmai and she's, like, the OG Katka / Zhaya character. I'm fairly certain her adopted sister Shyla (also a KoR) was supposed to be Ahsoka Tano's daughter, but Makenna has refused to confirm this, and she never wrote the whole fic so we'll never know.

The stormtrooper who died in the beginning of TFA & left the bloody handprint on Finn's helmet is given a full character here. She was constantly dragging Finn into trouble and her death is a big part of HIS character motivation. And before you think "oh, this might actually be a decent, fleshed-out character," she was also Captain Phasma's secret daughter and Poe's eventual love interest (because she didn't actually die in the beginning).

Kylo/Ben got redeemed halfway through part 3 (there were four parts) and spent the rest of the time getting nonstop roasted by Poe.

It was written in first person in size 12 comic sans. Sometimes the POV jumped halfway through a scene with no warning and you just had to figure it out. And the grammar was either perfect or there was no punctuation whatsoever.

There were actually like three really good plot points that she said I could use in my MandaloREYan AU since she was never going to finish writing this one.

And some of the (in my opinion) funny snippets beneath the cut:

[ladylucksrogue]

Such cute prompts with children! May I ask for #3 with Rex and Ahsoka and #13 with Tech and Phee, please, if you feel inspired!

I've never written Tech and Phee before but this was so fun. We all need a little happiness that they lived happily ever after right? For the prompt teaching a child something, one doing it in a completely academic way, while the other is more playful is totally perfect for these too. That would be their parenting style to a T. This one is a bit more holiday themed, with baking :)

There was flour everywhere. Literally everywhere. The counters. The floor. In Sunny’s wild curls, sticking to the wispy flyaways around her face. What had started as a simple task had devolved into utter chaos. And Tech, standing in the middle of it all, wasn’t quite sure where he’d gone wrong.

Baking was supposed to be straightforward, a science. The recipe had been clear. The ingredients were carefully measured. Yet the introduction of a three year old bundle of energy into the mix had sent his plans spiraling.

“That one, Daddy?” Sunny asked, pointing a flour covered finger at one of the bowls.

“No, not yet,” Tech said, adjusting his goggles with one hand while attempting to dab at the streak of flour on her face with the other. Her wide amber eyes were mischievous as she giggled, dodging his attempts.

“That one?” she repeated, her little hands diving into the flour pile on the counter, sending a fresh cloud into the air.

He bit back a sigh. “Sunny, baking is a precise science. The ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients must be exact to ensure the proper chemical reactions occur.”

“Chem...cal?” she asked, tilting her head, wide-eyed.

“Yes,” he said with an approving nod.

She scrunched up her nose, but the giggles bubbling up broke through the seriousness.

“We can now add the binding agent, the eggs,” Tech told her, lifting one of them carefully. “Observe closely. Precision is crucial.”

He cracked the egg cleanly into the bowl. Sunny’s face lit up as though he’d performed a magic trick.

“Would you like to try?”

She nodded, reaching for an egg with determination. Tech handed it to her, carefully, but  as soon as the egg was in her hands, she smashed it against the bowl’s edge with all the grace of a rancor in a pottery shop. The yolk splattered, fragments of shell oozed into the dough.

“Well,” Tech said. “That is... certainly one method.”

Sunny clapped her hands, squishing them into the dough with glee. His mind was already running through potential salvage options for the batter, calculating lost flour and the implications of added eggshells when a soft snicker from the doorway interrupted his thoughts.

“Looks like you’re in over your head, there.”

Tech straightened, brushing flour from his vest. “I am simply attempting to teach her the principles of baking. However, her affinity for chaos is… complicating matters.”

“Affinity for chaos,” Phee said in disbelief, “Alright, step aside professor.  You’re done.”   She scooped Sunny into her arms.

 “Mommy!”  the little girl squealed as she gave Phee a flour streaked kiss to the cheek. “She’s three, Tech. The only thing she cares about is making a mess and having fun while doing it.”

Phee set Sunny back down and grabbed the mixing spoon. “All right, Sunny-girl, you want to make cookies, huh?”

“Yes!” Sunny said, clapping her sticky hands together.

Tech took a step back, watching as Phee took over and somehow, through the chaos, they managed to throw a new batch together, sans eggshells.  Tech tried to butt in a couple of times, muttering about how winging certain ingredients was just asking for disaster, but Phee wasn’t having it.

“It’s not all science.  Sometimes it’s about love and feeling.”

Tech shook his head, but he did help as they scooped the cookies onto the baking tray.

By the time the second tray was in the oven, they were seated on the couch. Sunny’s face was smeared with chocolate and she was already fading between them, completely worn out from baking and devouring two cookies.

Phee broke off a piece of one of the still warm cookies and waved it in front of his face.  He let her feed him the cookie with amusement.

“Acceptable…”

“Damn right,”  Phee smiled, leaning in for a kiss.

Tech glanced down at Sunny, who had wiggled closer, her hand resting on his arm. Despite the streaks of chocolate and flour smeared across her cheeks, she looked peaceful, content.

Sunny had a way of bringing light into every corner of his life, even the parts he preferred to keep orderly. She was unpredictable, a variable he had never accounted for, her and Phee both.  But they brought something he hadn’t realized he needed, a reason to slow down, to embrace imperfection, to see the value in simply being present.

Phee smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. Sunny’s breathing had evened out completely now.

Tech was beginning to realize the most important things in his life weren’t planned or precise. They were messy, spontaneous, unpredictable. And that was... acceptable. No, it was more than acceptable. It was extraordinary.

Tech pressed a soft kiss to Phee’s hair, his hand resting protectively on Sunny’s back.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, though whether it was meant for Phee, Sunny, or the universe itself, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Phee looked up at him, her brow raised, but before she could ask, Sunny stirred slightly between them, and he simply shook his head, offering her a rare and genuine smile.

Some things didn’t need an explanation.

[thenotebookwizard]

I promised! (writing update)

No. No, I have not caught up on Tumblr yet. I want to, but - writing. And work. And writing. Lots of writing.

Which -

I promised an update on my writing, for those of you who pay attention to that sort of thing. Or have been asking me about it over the last few months of updates, since I stopped adding writing updates under the cut with each Defiance update. I stopped, because I thought I was annoying people, but since that appears not to be true...

A big update. Because I am not good at writing small or short things. (You may have noticed.)

Most of this under the cut so I don't clutter dashboards.

First off, news I thought I would never get to write: I finally hit a long time writing goal and have written a total more than one million words this year.

(Yes, I obsessively track my writing.)

I am very excited by this accomplishment. I've been working up to this level for years now.

So. Writing.

I will start with She-Ra since, that's most of what y'all read me for!

Red Crème Fizz

Installment five (currently otherwise untitled) is started, but moving at a glacial pace.

Hard to get into the fluffy mindset I need for that series at the moment. I'll get there. I always do. It's either going to be shorter than the last two installments or a two chapter fic. Not sure which yet.

Red Crème Fizz stories are like that for me. I plan, I start to write, and then things I didn't plan happen. It's the one series I'm a discovery writing with.

Kinda fun. Also kinda scary. (I like planning things. I'm very good at planning things. Stories that don't go according to plan are scary.)

Defiance

Defiance continues. I am writing away at it. And the side-stories.

That is the word count of the entire document, counting side stories and slush, but - it's a lot of words y'all, and it's only going to get bigger. Long longfic will be long.

We have 2-3 chapters left (depending on when this actually get posted) of the Sea Hawk sequence, with a chapter of transition.

Then we are deep into Adora's story for a good long while.

As of my writing this (Nov 21 2024), I have about 12-15 chapters of buffer written, and am deep into the next arc of the story, post Adora leaving the Horde. (And really, that's not a spoiler; we all knew that was inevitable!) I'm writing at a good place.

I do have some more side-stories coming up. One at the end of the Sea Hawk sequence, and a couple more before the end of the arc, and one between arcs.

There may be a week break at the end of the arc for one of the side stories, but I haven't decided on that yet.

One of those side stories has run away with itself - and me - and will likely be several chapters long (3-5, I reckon) and is the first side story I have regretted pulling out of the main fic. That story will cover some of Akrash's and Catra's past, and the writing on it has been really quite good.

I know some of my commenters have been concerned about typos in previous chapters, and while I'm not normally fussed about those things, as we come towards the major events in the next dozen or so chapters, I will probably - a chapter or two at a time - editing for typos and what not. This does not mean I want or need folk pointing things out. This is merely to say 'yeah, I know they're there, and I will get to them at some point. Probably.'

Typos happen.

Other Writing

I mean, such as it is. Defiance owns a lot of my words right now.

I am working in the background on a Star Wars: the Clone Wars fic - Barriss Offee/Ahsoka Tano, and it's a bit more than 100k and promises to be quite long. Not sure when I'll start posting it, but sometime in 2025 seem likely?

I have finished and sent my first Babylon 5 fic to beta, and am waiting to hear back on if I nailed what I wanted or if I am going back the drawing board.

I have a few more stories planned, here and there. A couple of things in Star Trek - one Next Generation and one Deep Space Nine, but nothing longfic or as substantive as Defiance or the Star Wars fic.

I have a longer Zoids fanfic planned and a fair bit written on that, but it's a very niche fandom that only some of you are aware of. Early to mid 2025. (I think)

I will probably have a CageBlade fic finished sometime after the start of the year, and I will probably have a few SWTOR (Star Wars the Old Republic) stories at some point. (Because that game won't let my brain go. Makes sense, I suppose. It's the only game I play.)

I am still working on the pre-emptive second draft (*cough*rewrite*cough*) of my first (and never published) She-Ra longfic called For Honor and I reckon I will end up talking about that more as I work on it more and assuming I remember to tumblr things.

Other concepts percolating in my brain are pretty much 'no plot, just vibes' right now and include (but are not limited to):

Trucker Catra/van-lifer Adora AU (canon species, with magic)

Adora as a veterinarian at an animal shelter Catra helps run. Lots of city politics in that one. Some social media influencer stuff, too.

There has been some discussion of me finally finishing an old Castle fic. (I did some great writing for this one, but I lost the thread of it after my fiancé passed. I hope I can get the same pace, cadence, and flow again.)

I have promised to (eventually) write an MCU story. It's started. The writing is solid. I just need time to plot and plan that one a bit better before I work on it more. I know the ships in that one one won't be terribly popular, but that's par for the course with me. Alas!

There is a Star Trek Tos beta-canon novel duopoly by Diane Carey I have always loved and wanted to write fic for, so I will probably be writing a longer fic for that at some point in the future. [Dreadnought! & Battlestations!]

Figure on more DS9 randomness for me throughout the next year. I have some somewhat random-ass things I want to poke at in that universe, but I have no idea exactly what those stories will look like yet.

Possible Babylon 5 side-character story nonsense and, as @derangedhyena would say - shitposting.

Recently, the r/fanfiction Discord server I help mod had our first FicWriMo event -replacing NaNoWriMo after the betrayals and shitty comments and AI endorsements of these past few years (if you don't know about any of this, then go look it up! Lots of very smart, very erudite people have told that tale in full - I do not want to rehash it here) and I did a bunch of writing about writing for that event. Some of the folks on the server found my writing helpful, so I have started the process of collating that into a PDF.

So that's something that will appear at some point in the next couple or three months.

(If anyone is interested in joining that server, it is a pan-fandom server focusing on being a supportive environment where writers can grow without fear of being bashed, having their fandoms or their ships bashed, and can talk about the things that make them happy. Our first rule is 'no bashing' - not fandoms, not ships, not media, not yourself, not each other, not everyone else's work. We do adhere to Discord's ToS, so. - no underage sex, no under 18 writers in the smut channels, etc. It's a great place.)

So, as always, thank y'all for reading - whichever of my (many and varied) fandoms you read.

Q&A

As to a question posed to me in one of the Discord servers I'm on. I was asked to answer it on Tumblr, so I am answering it in this post, because I am talking about my writing.

The question was - given that I am devastated by and terrified of the election results, and given that I am disabled, work with the the neurodiverse and disabled communities, and am an advocate, how will this affect my writing.

Fairly easy. I'm going keep voting, keep talking, and keep working. I will continue to be a voice in the digital wilderness when and where I can - as long as it is appropriate for me to do so. Which means, you'll see reblogs from me here on tumblr, for sure. But most of what I do and am involved in, most people will never hear about or know about. At least, on this platform. This isn't the place for me to discuss those things. There are a lot of reasons for that, not the least of which is that most of what I do is working with people on an individual basis, and thus most of what I do is particular that those people. And I am not going to share their stories or their lives without their express and direct permission.

Nor do I believe I am going to convince anyone of anything here. I will always reblog things that vibe with who I am now, and I will support those causes important to me, and I will continue to do my best work for my students and their families.

I am also going to throw myself into gratuitous escapism. To echo @paganaidd, I am moving to Etheria for the next fours years. I'll take some road trips to a galaxy far, far away, the United Federation of Planets, or the Interstellar Alliance. I'll go to Zi on safari, but I think I'm going to end up back on Etheria for awhile. I have a lot of Catradora stories I want to tell (two long fics, my current one-shot series, and at least one other series in development).

But how I am going to write those stories is what is going to be affected most of all.

While Defiance has more than its share of angst, it also has hope and love built into the foundations of the story. Red Crème Fizz is a fluffy canon divergent 'what if' - and a lot of what I write over the next four years will be built around the idea there are heroes who want to be heroes, that good guys can and should win, and that evil should get shitkicked, curbstomped, and beat down.

Another friend (thank you @dei2dei) sent me this:

That sentiment appeals to me on a very deep level. (Aside from not being able to write comedy to save my life or anyone else's life.) But the sentiment is one I intend to carry over.

I've said before I am a noblebright writer, and I am. So my stories will not be devoid of angst or challenges, but - hope and love and happy endings are going to become strong themes, because I think the world needs more of that. But with hope, you have to have meaning - you have to have something to make purpose and hope and happy endings matter.

As a friend and I discussed recently, meaning is also more immediate - and I hope to show that through my stories. I also think that through meaning comes hope that isn't blind, and the ability to work for meaningful, lasting change.

Argue with me if you want to about 'realism' or whatever. I won't engage with you on it. I'll just keep writing what I want to write.

And so should you - no matter what it is. Another good friend created this for me some time back for the r/fanfiction discord server, and I toss it out like a party favor.

So I give this to each and every writer and creator out there who needs the reminder -

What we write matters. What we create matters. And you should write what you want, how you want, and fuck anyone who says otherwise.

(Y'all, I have some amazing friends. I really do.)

[kanerallels]

🍓🌵🧃🧩

🍓: How did you get into writing fan fiction? *clears throat* *Dr. Doofenshmirtz voice* It all started the day I finished season two of Agent Carter. I really loved the main couple, but they didn't stay together (thanks for nothing, Endgame). So I decided to write how they got engaged! It was a lot of fun, though it probably isn't the best written thing in the world. (I also wrote a story about a made up Warrior Cats clan years ago, if that counts!) And then when I started SWR it took over my brain, and there was this one headcanon about Hera being an amazing singer that really stuck with me. Hence, my first SWR fic!

🌵: Share the link to a playlist you love. Oh-ho-ho GLADLY!! Dang okay so I have a lot of good ones, but I'm gonna go with... my generic Star Wars Rebels (ft. the Ahsoka show!) playlist! It's a fun one

🧃: Share some personal lore you never posted about before. Hmmm good question, let's think. Personal lore... oh my gosh okay here's a super specific one. When I was like... ten? Eleven? My family was going through a rough time that I shall not go into specifics of because privacy. But during that time, one of the main things that really helped us was this Newsboys concert that someone had given us-- recorded on both DVD and CD! It's one of the most nostalgic things in the world for me, and I'm pretty sure we still have the DVD somewhere. (I also found the whole concert on both YouTube and Spotify, to my own great JOY)

🧩: What will make you click away from a fan fic immediately? Well, smut or NFSW stuff is the immediate answer. I can also be a little picky about if the author has a good grasp on the character's voice. Sometimes I can stick it out or it isn't too bad, but other times? It's a big nope

Truth or dare writing ask game!

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars Ahsoka: "The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord" - Review

Ahsoka closes out in a fun, frustrating, and occasionally beautiful finale.

With little time remaining before Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his jump back to the known galaxy, Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra race against time to stop the start of an apocalyptic war.

It becomes clear early on that "The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord" isn't going to provide Ahsoka viewers much in the way of closure. To some degree, this is expected. We know that there are plenty of stories to come in the Mandoverse, including a feature film written and directed by series showrunner Dave Filoni. It makes sense that there will be dangling plot threads and cliffhangers, but I don't think most viewers expected to be left hanging with so many questions left to carry.

Much of this comes down to the somewhat truncated focus of Ahsoka's finale. Despite our expansive ensemble of characters and competing motivations, "The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord" comes down to a fast paced mission of our three central Jedi attempting to stop Thrawn's escape. Emotionally or thematically, Filoni wants this to be a story about the master-apprentice relationship between Sabine and Ahsoka and it's here where the episode both triumphs and fumbles most dramatically.

After six long weeks of confusion and guessing, we finally get some answer regarding what happened between these two women. Huyang tells Ezra and us that Ahsoka abandoned Sabine after the destruction of Mandalore and her family, fearing that training her apprentice further would risk her falling to the Dark Side. There's some interesting symmetry here where you can read Ahsoka's decision as being motivated by the trauma of Anakin's fall, but this is, once again, mostly conjecture.

There's still a lot about Sabine's Jedi training and eventual status as a Jedi that feels cloudy. It appears as if Dave Filoni's script is trying to do away with any purely genetic requirements regarding Force Sensitivity and that is something that feels thematically welcome and does away with a lot of the icky talk about bloodlines that plagues this franchise so much. If this is the case however and Ahsoka is making the case that, with the right training, anyone can be a Jedi, it's not actually communicated clearly in the narrative itself. Much of this comes down to the circumstances and motivations behind Ahsoka's decision to train Sabine in the first place. It's a strange plot set up that the series wants us to take for granted, but never quite congealed in a way that allowed the viewer to understand this on either an emotional or narrative level. The persistent vagueness concerning Ahsoka's recent history is ultimately this season's original and cardinal sin and ends up tanking much of what this story tries to offer.

Speaking of Sabine, as nice as it is to see her begin to embrace her Jedi status and ultimately make a selfless decision to rescue her friend, the much foreshadowed confrontation between her and Ezra regarding the role she played in Thrawn's potential escape never materializes. It simply never comes up in conversation. Ezra just seems to accept that suddenly, at the same time that his surrogate sister and Ahsoka arrive on planet, Thrawn has also gained the ability to leave the galaxy he's been trapped in for a decade. It's a strange move made all the stranger given how much attention was paid to Sabine purposefully not telling Ezra in the two episodes prior.

That all being said, there is something inherently thrilling and exciting in seeing our three heroes ride into battle together against Thrawn's forces. And given the animosity and frustration that defined their relationship at the show's start, it is somewhat satisfying to watch the playfulness and serenity that takes over the two women at our story's center.

Also, there's just a lot of fun dumb spectacle. While the execution and choreography sometimes left something to be desired, I kind of loved that we finally get to see some zombie Stormtroopers. It's silly, pulpy fantasy fun and there's a fun creepiness to seeing the groaning corpses of Imperial troopers rise from the ground to fight once again. I'm particularly a fan of the zombified Deathtroopers (now true twice over) and how they actually snap and snarl like Walking Dead style infected.

Equally fun is Ahsoka's fast and flashy duel against Morgan Elsbeth. While Morgan never really felt like a character that came into her own, the lore nerd inside me really enjoyed getting to see her initiation into becoming a full Nightsister and having the Three Mothers bestow upon her the sword of Talzin (!!!). Also just having a sword glow with green flame is kind of badass and it makes for an flashy counter to Ahsoka's twin white blades. Here, the saber choreography finally matches up to the masterful work we saw back in "Fallen Jedi" and we are treated to a nasty and fast moving showdown between witch and Jedi. There's not much in the way of stakes or emotional weight here, but it sure as hell looks cool. I guess that kind of defines much of my thoughts about this finale in general? It's a damn fun time to watch, but I'm not sure if most of this will end up sticking in my mind.

The one exception to this is the extended denouement that takes up the closing minutes of this season (maybe the series?) of Ahsoka. Kevin Kiner and his talented family treat us to a haunting and quietly sad instrumental track that shows just where all of our many cast members are left. Thrawn and his new Nightsister allies arrive over the red skies of Dathomir, their vengeance in sight. A lost and dejected Shin wanders in a Howler to a camp of Peridea's bandits, announcing herself as an ally and new potential leader. Baylan Skoll (this series' most interesting character which makes the passing of Ray Stevenson all the more tragic) travels closer to his mysterious goal, gazing out at a fiery mountain in the distance while perched atop giant statues of the Mortis gods. (I guess there might be truth to those Abeloth theories after all?) Ezra is reunited with Hera in a moment that is emotional, but not quite as hard hitting as it could have been. And Sabine and Ahsoka settle into their new lives on a barren world, separated from everyone they knew, but resolved in their trust in one another and whatever future journey they face. The spirit of Anakin Skywalker watches them from afar, proud of how far his apprentice has come.

It's a moving ending even if a lot of it comes down to strong direction by Rick Famuyiwa and the Kiners' dependably great musical score. It leaves Ahsoka slightly better off than where it began, but still a frustrating series. While it undeniably showed more flashes of inspiration and promise than any Lucasfilm's live action shows with the exception of Andor, Ahsoka remains a fascinatingly clunky series. In a way, Dave Filoni has finally followed in the footsteps of his own master, creating an intriguing, often visually exciting, and sometimes beautiful space fantasy that's ultimately undone by its awkward plotting and stilted characterization. The mantle really has been passed on. For better and for worse, the apprentice has become the master.

Score: B-

[fancy-a-dance-brigadier]

For the ask game: Voyager and SNW

Feel free to do Ahsoka as a bonus! :)

Thank you for the ask friend! And OF COURSE I am going to do Ahsoka as a bonus because my obsession with that show knows no bounds.

Voyager

Favourite character: I am one of the 0.0000009% of the earth’s population whose favourite Voyager character is Kes. She stood out to me from the very start, and that VOICE my god. She’s the perfect blend of kind and gentle and good but also she can boil your blood with her brain and she eats bugs and reads autopsy reports for fun. Nobody does it like her, and I really wished the show had leaned into some of her more horrific qualities (which obviously they never would because this is 90s Star Trek we’re talking about). But she’s a monstrous woman to me and I love her for it.

Second favourite character: B’Elanna! So many of her focus episodes just hit different - she’s easily one of the most complex characters in the cast, and not only that but the writers actually gave her material that makes the most of that complexity. They do such a good job of exploring her inner conflicts and her complicated relationship to her identity right from the get go (I’m thinking about that season 1 episode ‘Faces’. They really wasted no time in making her so interesting). B’Elanna’s episodes seldom ever miss basically. Also I just love her attitude.

Least favourite character: uhh Q 😂 I know he only has three guest episodes in the whole show, but he makes me want to set things on fire. I do not know why he’s so popular, I do not find him charming at all! Even in TNG!!

The character I’m most like: Idk, I always struggle with questions like this, but maybe Harry? Idk a few weeks ago someone in the uni department I work in said I wasn’t a staff member even though I’m literally on the payroll as a staff member and it just felt like I was living the Ensign Kim fantasy.

Favourite pairing: What a surprise! My favourite pairing is between my favourite character and my second favourite character! Kes/B’Elanna truthers if you’re out there, we can’t let their lack of screentime win.

Least favourite pairing: uhh Kes/Neelix because I honestly think a chaotic sibling-type relationship would’ve suited them so much better. Just let them be adventurous spacefaring besties together, it would’ve made things so much less awkward!

Favourite moment: Ok this is hyper specific and I think I’ve mentioned it before, but you know the ending of ‘The Thaw’? Where Janeway literally kills fear itself and there’s that really striking visual of Fear fading into the darkness and you can only see the parts of his face that are painted white? Yeah, that lives in my head rent free forever.

Rating out of 10: Solid 8/10. Highly entertaining, but I’m not feral about it.

Strange New Worlds

Favourite character: Ortegas! Which is incredibly unfortunate for me because the writers just refuse to let her do anything. It’s been two seasons, where is my Ortegas focus episode??? She’s my favourite character based purely on vibes alone, so imagine how much more there will be to love when they. Y’know. Actually develop her backstory and personality.

Second favourite character: Ok this is really bad but I honestly don’t feel strongly enough about any other members of the SNW cast to have a character that stands out as my second favourite 🙈 They’re all lovely! I do generally like them all! But I just struggle to get invested in them the way I do with other Star Trek characters, idk what it is.

Least favourite character: Chapel 🙈 I think I’m mostly just frustrated by the way she’s written - I think the intention was to make her a stronger character than she was in TOS, but I can’t think of a single aspect of her storyline that isn’t directly connected to one of the men in her life. It’s more like she’s an accessory to Spock and M’Benga’s storylines rather than a character in her own right. She had so much potential, because I remember her being kind of goofy and fun and chaotic and unique in the very first episode, and that was great! But I think a lot of that has got lost amongst the pining for Spock and the wartime M’Benga angst.

The character I’m most like: Hmm Uhura maybe?? Just with the whole struggling to make meaningful connections to people thing. Also I too miss Hemmer.

Favourite pairing: I don’t really have any ships for SNW, but let’s just say Ortegas/Una in the Elysian Kingdom because that was immense.

Least favourite pairing: Spock and Chapel, but mostly for the same reasons why I’m frustrated with Chapel’s character in general. I think there are moments where it does work, and I’m not opposed to them existing as a couple. I just wish they could give Chapel more interiority so they could flesh it out a bit more. As it stands, the whole Spock/T’Pring/Chapel thing reads very much like a generic YA love triangle romance. Maybe polyamory could fix them idk.

Favourite moment: The ending of ‘The Elysian Kingdom’ just gets me man. It hits on similar themes as the DS9 episode ‘Far Beyond the Stars’ in that it really centres on the power of storytelling, and I just love how nicely those two episodes fit together (I mean the Elysian Kingdom book was literally written by Benny Russell!! Hello????)

Rating out of 10: 7/10. It’s a good show and I do enjoy it, but I just struggle to connect with it in the same way that I can with shows that I really love.

Ok I’m going to put the Ahsoka stuff under a read more because I don’t want to spoil anything for you!

Ahsoka

Favourite character: This is so hard because I love them all!! But I think I have to choose Ahsoka because she’s just. She’s so good in this. I know a lot of people think she’s out of character, but I couldn’t disagree more. She’s seen some shit! She’s gone through hell! Of course she’s going to be more subdued as an adult than she was as a teenager! She brings such a presence and a gravitas to the show that really elevates it. Basically I’m love her.

Second favourite character: Shin Hati my disaster daughter. I’m fully convinced that Baylan found her in a trashcan somewhere and was like “I want that one” because she just has this slightly feral energy that I’m honestly obsessed with. I’m really excited to see if the show expands on her character, because she’s mostly been running around doing Baylan’s bidding and getting into very hot lightsaber fights with Sabine. Give my girl some development let’s GOOOOO. (Also honourable mention to Anakin because that’s my GUY that’s my BOY)

Least favourite character: I honestly can’t think of one, I love everyone in this show to pieces. Maybe that Empire sympathiser dude that Ahsoka and Hera met in episode 2. Yeah, him.

The character I’m most like: Ummm Sabine because I too am very fond of cats and creatures that look like cats.

Favourite pairing: Does Shin/Sabine have a ship name? Idk if they do, but either way I feel very normal about them. Mostly because of the vibes, since they haven’t done much beyond beating the crap out of each other. I’m hoping they’ll actually get to have a conversation in the next few episodes, especially after what went down in episode 4!

Least favourite pairing: I don’t think I have an answer for this one? Idk I’m not quite deep enough in the fandom side of things yet to know what else people are shipping from this show.

Favourite moment: Because I am a very basic Prequel era/Clone Wars girlie I have no choice but to choose the entire section of episode 5 with Ahsoka and Anakin. Number one television event that makes me want to bite things, I’m still not over it, I’ll never be over it. It’s fan service but it serves a purpose in the story. Anakin was better than he’s ever been in anything ever. Temuera Morrison was there. I have no choice but to go insane about every single second of these scenes. And don’t even get me started on teenage Ahsoka that was HEARTBREAKING.

Rating out of 10: 10/10. It’s perfect. Star Wars hasn’t been this good in ages. I’m actually actively looking forward to each new episode as they release, which is very rare for me.

[tavdraws]

TEN CHARACTERS

rules: pick 10 characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people!

Thank you @justporo for the tag! I am so sorry I have practically written as essay for these characters but this was fun!

1.) Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3

Honestly is anyone surprised? I’m not saying this list is in order, but I love his character so much. The balance of feminine and masculine, the trauma without it being his only personality trait, the nuance is just superb writing (and acting) that I’ve never seen in media before.

Plus BG3 has got me back on tumblr, drawing for pleasure again, and I’ve made a bunch of wonderful friends - so I have a lot to thank the pasty elf for.

2.) Renee Walker from 24

Okay so this is a super niche one but Renee Walker got me through some of my darkest teenage years. Whilst I don’t agree with everything in 24, I love her character (another complex character with trauma), I love Annie Wersching (Gods rest her soul), and this character is the first I think of when someone says ‘favourites’.

3.) Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars

I know the point of this post is characters I love, but omg do I love Ahsoka! Her development is some top tier writing, and she’s the first strong female lead I ever remember recognising in Star Wars.

4.) Dr James Wilson from House MD

I relate to Wilson more than I should. He cares so much it gets him hurt, he’s the eternal optimist, and, he sees the good in people even when it’s not there. He’s also self sacrificing, relentless, and occasionally, a complete dumbass. (I’m also in love with Robert Sean Leonard so that definitely helps).

5.) Chin Ho Kelly from Hawaii Five O

I don’t have much to say about this one. He’s cool. He rides a motorcycle and has a shotgun. Daniel Dae Kim is gorgeous. Chin Ho is just a cool guy. (He’s also complex but I fear I am starting to sound like a broken record).

6.) Amy Santiago from Brooklyn Nine Nine

This is another case of James Wilson. I have changed a lot since then but mannn if I wasn’t an Amy in University! (Wanted to be a Rosa, was absolutely an Amy) Honestly though, it was nice to see a Type A, more than likely neurodivergent, but still strong and respected female lead. She is rarely the butt of the joke and I appreciate that about B99.

7.) Anna from Frozen

I know this makes me look like a Disney Adult but it’s so nice to see a kind, emotionally available, independent woman, in a loving and equal relationship, in popular media. She also deals with heavy grief in a way that both hurts and heals me.

8.) Ice Bear from We Bare Bears

I love this show. It is my background comfort show and Ice Bear is just the best. Nothing more to it than that.

9.) Sara Lance from Arrow

Okay so I ran a Thea Queen fan account when I was a teen, but Sara Lance was the first queer woman I ever saw on TV and it changed my life. I told my friends about my girlfriend (at the time) because of her. She made me feel seen when there was very little queer pop culture rep.

10.) Leonard Snart from The Flash

Ending in a cyclical manner - with a white haired, morally grey, traumatised, soft-for-the-right-person, queer thief. I am a woman of simple, and apparently identical tastes.

I’m tagging @mushy6902 @tatterings @sunserenade @bearhugsandshrugs @megs-98 @bloodlessbhaalbabe @azaani-art @novarunestone @minibabymel @weatherbane3 only if you all want to though! 😁💕

[ipreferfiction]

20 questions for fic writers

@spyscrapper tagged me (shocking for everyone, i'm sure). thanks beloved

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

337,006 (a chunk of which is cowritten)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

posted, i have star wars (totj, kotor, swtor, prequels, and tcw), lockwood & co., and asoiaf. i've also written hotd-era asoiaf fics, a couple of unfinished mdzs fics, and something for grimm floating around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Bond Between: fic i wrote for a tcw zine, Ahsoka & Obi-Wan. 137 kudos.

(note: technically the second fic is one that got hit by the kudos bot, so i am taking it out of the ranking because i cannot trust its numbers)

How Far We've Come: Lockwood & Co., written and set right after TCS. Kipps and the crew. 62 kudos.

Wasteland: prequels/tcw/original trilogy, Obi-Wan on Tatooine having a truly questionable time. 60 kudos.

Dragon's Rise: asoiaf, post-series. Dany, Jon, Tyrion, and Arya go to Old Valyria so Dany can break the Doom and rebuild the Valyrian Freehold. i hate several things i did with characters here, truly, and i am never going to finish it; i'm keeping it up so i can see comments and kudos, because it got a lot of engagement (posted right after the show ended), but i would change so many things now. 54 kudos.

tremble for yourself, my man (you know that you have seen this all before): kotor - Cassus Fett dies on Malachor and wakes up six years in the past, with the knowledge that something is manipulating the war. he kidnaps Revan and Alek right off Dantooine at one point to help him. extremely full of torture! also the cousin of found family, sibling acquisition via kidnapping. 50 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to, but i haven't been great at it for a while. so occasionally it takes me a few months, lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

posted? probably my mando wars novelization. none of the really angsty stuff is finished, and i also tend to shy away from bitter endings because they make me depressed. and i do mean depressed, i have depression and i tend to get a little too into my characters' heads, which is not great when they're having bad times.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uh. um. the... ahsoka and obi-wan one maybe??

8. Do you get hate on fic?

the only ones that actually hurt me were on a years-old asoiaf fic. i've gotten two or three in recent years when i've been writing star wars stuff, but they're so out of pocket they're absolutely hilarious to me. i make fun of them with my friends. shoutout to the person who told me not to use bitch because it was a slur against women when the context was literally a man calling his long hair a bitch to deal with. i am NEVER getting over that, it's so funny.

9. Do you write smut?

periodically, yeah. it's fun, i just am also horribly embarrassed trying to write it lol. i have very little posted, but i've got a handful of half-finished ones in docs.

10. Do you write crossovers?

nnnnnnot really? i toss them around for some of my OCs and original works (between each other), but i don't really write them or post them. now, fusions? yeah, i write those. the hp au is the only one i've posted, and also is my favorite. read the main fic before you read the oneshot, though, because besides being utterly awful (affectionate) it also makes no sense without context. not that the series has given basically any of that context yet, but, yk. it's coming. eventually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know. there's less theft in really niche communities like the stuff i tend to write.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

yes!! @spyscrapper (i keep typing revanchxst as your url beloved when will you change it back) is my coauthor for the hp au and for our big swtor novelization, plus a couple of totj fics.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

frankly, a couple of my ocs who live rent-free in my head at all times, from one of my original works. 1920s monster hunters, secret government organization, repressed queer people (person. the others are not at all repressed he's just a dumbass about emotions), constant threats of violence, morally grey pov characters, murder. i am literally insane about them. also a different set of ocs from fic that developed their own original work as well: magic university, depressed gay people, Plots, the usual. i am constantly chewing on them. in fandom, knight/scourge and cassus/ultimate, probably.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but probably won't?

most of my asoiaf stuff, tbh

16. What are your writing strengths?

prose. give me a good several paragraphs and i will give you gorgeous prose. flowing, poetic, great imagery, the works. i am not afraid to say that's what i'm good at

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

FUCKING dialogue. i hate dialogue so much. no more talking society has progressed past the need for talking. i can do a sentence or two, but full conversations? evil.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I'll throw in a word or two without translating, because single words are easy to remember and write a glossary for at the end of the chapter. full sentences, though? They're either in italics (if the fic is generally speaking one language and this is another), or unmarked except by dialogue tags (much rarer, generally only do it if the pov character would mostly be speaking another language and so marking it as unusual doesn't make sense. e.g., Cassus talking to other Mandalorians isn't gonna be italicized because it being in Mando'a is expected.)

19. First fandom that you wrote for?

sherlock, i think? i wrote an OC fic that has now evolved into its own original universe because i ended up hating sherlock after season 4, and also the fandom was so fucking annoying. i was writing doctor who and supernatural OC fics around the same time, but i'm pretty sure sherlock was first.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

tremble for yourself, my man (linked above) or start a war, for posted fics. for unposted stuff, a cassus wip i will eventually. eventually finish

tags: @zaolat, @hermitmoss, yeah that's all i've got lee got all the other people i know lol

[acourtofquestions]

The Assassin and the Desert

— (thoughts while doing my first read) —

Is Ansel the person referenced in Crown of Midnight? The one who taught Celaena about the witches? Does that mean SHE will be the betrayer??? … is this the same person she said “she’d kill” if she ever saw again?!? (These are rhetorical thoughts; more theory than question😂).

The entire time Celaena is talking about these shoes shoes (and really it’s written like poetry; when she compares them to calligraphy👌👌👌) but all I am picturing is green Elf style curly shoes🤣🤦‍♀️… then again those would make a statement sooo…

“and why Arobynn had thought he'd need three seasoned assassins to restrain him that day.” — YEAH I THINK ABOUT THAT TOO CELAENA (Sam🥹😭… ugh this angsty/pining true-soulmate childhood love trope is going to BREAK MEEEE🖤)

Wait… is this where we learn the Asterion Mare tale?!

“Saying that she was sorry didn't feel adequate. She knew what this sort of loss was like, and words didn't do anything at all. ‘Where do men find it in themselves to do such monstrous things? How do they find it acceptable’” — The way Sarah writes sisterhood & female friendship is very special; honestly one of my favorite parts of her books & writing style. She hits the nail on the head 👏EVERY🥹DAM🥰TIME😭 — (not me crying cause Celaena isn’t under the stars sad and alone this time) … this is why Nehemia mattered so much😭

— also if I had a nickel for every time she said “silver lined eyes”🤣

Celaena taking the blame for Ansel because she thinks she doesn’t have a purpose but Ansel does🖤

Every time Celaena flinches I both want to hug her, hug Sarah, hug younger me, (kill Arobynn… I’m with ya Sam😅) and then thank all of them for the trauma representation; heartbreaking as it may be it’s pretty real for a fantasy series, and their is comfort in shared trauma through that lens.❤️‍🩹

EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE (giving me Ruin & Rising levels of fear here Sarah😬) — “but I’ve seen this episode and still loved the show”

It’s lovely to see Celaena be young & normal-ish; like she’s still a teenage girl in this book, she’s mortified over her first kiss, obsessed with shoes, making new friends, recklessly having fun… smiling for once… there’s an innocent joy in this book; one we never see in the post-Assassin’s Blade series…

… I think reading it post-Crown of Midnight (when I am) is especially perfect because you understand her & the books better (including tiny references like the Ironteeth witches & Asterion mares) … There’s also a sense of grief seeing her before it all “ended”, you already understand her now & now you do then too; which makes her make EVEN MORE sense; its not quite a “lost humanity”, but a grieving of lost innocence. — Despite all she had already been through, there were still these little pieces of life kept for herself back then; and something preciously heartbreakingly accurate to girlhood within them.

Despite having never been in love and not known much love Celaena seems to understand it better than most… there’s a special thing to that within her character; her joys resilience, drive for love, and draw toward goodness.

She finally feels safe… at peace🥹 (if only Sam were there… it would be home🥹😭💔)

Oh NO; normal teenage girl drama fight, meets highly trained traumatized assassins; this feels dangerous!!!

NOT FAERIE WINE AGAIN🤦‍♀️… wow if only Celaena had a nickel everytime someone tried TO POISON HER😅😱🫥

THE STOLEN RING DETAIL/CLUE

Celaena is giving Ahsoka vibes

THAT damned gloriella AGAIN

Her, seeing The Master trying desperately to save his son; doing what a good father should. Meanwhile in opposition her “father figure” Arobynn who was the one to first draw blood

“Wincing as blood from her face dripped to his white clothes” — “A pang of guilt at the sight of her blood staining Arobynn’s exquisite red carpet” — One my heart broke at these lines; she literally feels sorry for bleeding! Two the difference within the Master in white (unstained, untouched, pure) clothes and the Master with red (already red like blood) RED carpet; that she still feels sorry to bleed onto… it’s ALREADY red—he’s the one who drew blood—& yet she’s the one who feels guilty.

Is the foreign language he reads & speaks Wyrd?

SHE WAS NOT AFRAID!

… don’t tell me she gets back and Sam is a Courtesan (or some form of indenture) that’s going to require her gold & stop her from leaving😅PLEASE😅I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS😬

The note of the silent Master’s footsteps & lack of cruel punishment, in comparison to Arobynn’s fear invoking silence & unjust cruelty… the fear she feels just standing in front of him once again, feeling little again within minutes of coming back from months of near-freedom… barely a few pages in to The Assassin and the Underworld and I can tell it’s going to crush my heart — isn’t it?!

[ljbrary]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @anxiety-banana HEY AB ILY I'M SORRY I KNOW YOU TAGGED ME IN THIS A MONTH AGO SO THIS IS SO LATE BUT STILL

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

22

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

101,550

3. What fandoms do you write for?

right now ive been writing for the last of us but most of my fics are star wars (specifically most of them are the clone wars) and i have one six of crows fic

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

all of them are star wars fics

lean on me (but let me laugh, first)

don't fix it if it's not broken (but broken's only a point of view)

fill the hollow space with silence (and other words of comfort that aren't so comforting)

it's a process (you wouldn't understand)

it's not good grief (but it's better)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i think i get to most of them and i seriously try my best to but like i struggle with replying to even my texts irl and i have no concept of time at all (the adhd is adhd-ing unfortunately) but every single one literally makes my life

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i think either the love only lasts so long (the grief lasts longer, the guilt never leaves) or this silence hurts worse than the truth (if only you would tell it) which are quite literally the same exact situation just from different povs because i have never had an original thought in my life. it's post-mortis arc in the clone wars with anakin and ahsoka and the transparently trauma-shaped elephant in the room between them.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i honestly have no idea? so im just going to say my tlou fic statistically significant because although its bittersweet it ends with joel and ellie together and thats literally all i need to be happy at this point in my life.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

no, but i probably should.

(that was a joke. but like if i did its fine bc i have 3 brothers who've already found my ao3 and bullied me for it so the hater would prob need to get real creative after all that lmao.)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

no

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no i dont have the executive functioning skills necessary to plan one of those out but they sound interesting.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

guys my fics aren't that good. if someone stole it they'd just return it no worries.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no i haven't but that would be sick.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

like ab said in her post, ab, ash, and i tried but it just never came to fruition but it was a fun attempt

also my older brother and i when we were younger tried to write a percy jackson fic together.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

i like found family more than romantic stuff, but if i have to choose definitely percabeth because they are the reason i have unrealistic expectations in life.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ALL OF THEM IM SO BAD AT FINISHING THEM

16. What are your writing strengths?

thats so funny lmfao

okay but self deprecation aside idk maybe like imagery or metaphors sometimes? also apparently writing emotion ig? my english teacher in high school told me i was good at the psychological aspect of understanding a character and their actions/emotions but i don't know man

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

for starters, starting. im supremely bad at starting things. i always struggle with intros/the beginning of writing pieces. and i struggle with plotting/planning things. i also am incapable of writing genuine dialogue, every conversation i write sounds so disjointed and awkward. i also tend to focus too much on the introspective aspect of characters and forget about that irrelevant little thing called a "plot."

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i made up my own language for a few star wars fics and it was so atrocious that i can't even bring myself to reread them again so i think i'll be staying away from that one for a little while.

however if i was smart or savvy enough to pull it off i would totally do it that would be sick.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

percy jackson when i was 10 years old on wattpad. my older brother and i co-wrote the fic and then i made my friend at school edit it on the computers in the library. still have yet to live that one down.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

weighted words hurt more than loaded fists (if you know how to use them) i have a soft spot for it even though it's one of my least popular fics in terms of like hits and kudos. its just a found family (shocker, i know) modern/foster care au with rex and ahsoka. i like the imagery, metaphors, and just the vibes overall.

okay leaving this open to anyone who wants to do it!!

[smokeybrandreviews]

Upward and Onward

I finally sat down and watched Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I took in that entire two and a half hour run time, in one sitting. Now, i like the Indy films. I can't say they're my favorites but they are more than enjoyable. Crusade is, obviously, the best of the bunch, but i have a soft spot for Skull. What i don't have a soft spot for, is the goddamn vitriol Dial has gotten. It's weird to say but thus film didn't suck near as bad as everyone made it out to be. Now, take that with a grain of salt because, and i have to be honest here, Indiana Jones films are not top tier cinema. They are nostalgic love letters to the serial George and Steven watched as children. That's it. They were never supposed to be high brow cinema. Indiana Jones is never going to win any Oscars. It's weird as f*ck to me that, because Fleabag is in this one, every one lost their collective sh*t about it. Dial is a perfectly serviceable Indiana Jones film that is, arguably, the third best of the five. Dial is definitely better than Skull and i think more entertaining than Temple. It hits all the beats an Indy film should and Mangold directed his ass off to get that cohesion. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny does not suck. It is good. It is a decent Indiana Jones film. There is nothing wrong with this perfectly serviceable entry into the franchise. Watching this movie, and having a pretty solid time with it, really put into perspective all of the noise fandom has been making lately.

I got a hint of this, too, while Ahsoka was airing. Sure, those first few episodes dragged a little more than they should have but, once it started picking up steam, it really went places. I've written essay after essay about episode five and the ramifications it had in terms of the mythos. As a fan of Star Wars, you couldn't help but love that action and yet, so much discourse. So much whining. So much forced vitriol. Ahsoka was good. It was fun. it was the closest thing to Star Wars we've gotten since the first season of Mando. Why all the f*cking hate? Because Kathleen Kennedy has poisoned the well. I can't stand what that dizzy, egotistical, arrogant, fraud has done to my darling Skywalkers either but her reign is at an end. Dave Filoni is now in charge of all things creative at Lucasfilm, as he should have bee in the very beginning. That needs hit me like a ton of bricks I rejoiced because we were about to get a ton of good content, in terms of narrative, going forward. Was the Fandom Menace happy? Of course not. Bro, when we all realized Kennedy was f*cking sh*t up on purpose, Filoni was who we wanted in charge. It was the only option, outside of Lucas, which made sense. Now that he is, y'all still have a problem? Really? See, now, this sh*t just sounds like a grift rather than a proper rebellion.

In all honesty, Lucas film has mad nothing one would consider great cinema. Star Wars, Willow, and Indiana Jones aren't winning awards outside of technical or costuming. You're not getting Academy Award winning performances out of a galaxy far, far, away. Being upset because there's politics in a franchise called Star Wars or that Fleabag is riding shotgun with Indiana Jones, is f*cking dumb. Being upset because there is mad disrespect to the content which came before, or that the quality of writing has fallen considerably, or that character development went out the window in favor of hamfisted virtue signaling, are things one should get the pitchforks out for. A disillusioned Luke is an interesting take on the character. Not exploring why he was disillusioned in favor of assassinating his character to "develop" Rei, was the critical misstep in that film. From what i heard about Dial's production, something similar was to happen to Indy but Iger nipped that sh*t in the bud. Obviously, sabotage the last of Kennedy's projects on principal but sitting here pretending that Dial was the worst Indiana Jones film when Crystal Skull exists, or that Ahsoka was the best thing out of Disney Star Wares since Rogue One, or that Filoni taking over the reins of Creative at Lucasfilm isn't exactly what everyone wanted, is both damaging to the cause and disingenuous to out intent.

The problem was never the woke. Marvel was chock full of that sh*t from the very beginning. It was the gender and race bending that ruined our beloved franchises. It was poor writing and Corpo greed. it was Marvel and Star Wars expected to prop up Disney plus. It was Kathleen Kennedy upset she never got undue credit for her contributions to Star Wars. No one cares that Rei is the lead of the sequels. We were upset because none of that sh*t was earned. She was a poorly written character who was increasingly unlikable as her set of films progressed. Lightyear and Strange Worlds failed, not because they were gay, but because they were a boring watch. You can write Woke sh*t and have it be recognized as brilliant. Look at everything Jordan Peele has made. Black Panther. You can have strong female leads with no problem. Promising Young Female comes to mind. Everything Everywhere All at Once. You can even do the Rei thing correctly, which Filoni already did, with Ahsoka. Go back and watch those early appearance in Clone Wars then juxtapose them against that last season. Tell me Ahsoka Tano isn't one of, if not the most developed character in all of canon Star Wars. All of this started with strong writing and purposeful character development, sh*t Corpo Disney and Kathleen Kennedy couldn't be bothered with even attempting. The MCU used to have that, too, but because they were supposed to drop forty TV shows and six movies a year just to prop up Pixar and Lucasfilm's failings, sh*t took a tun with quality anything over there.

It's wild to me that we, as fans, finally get exactly what we want. Kennedy is banished off to the Shadow Zone. Filoni is in charge of Lucasfilm Creative. Iger has decreed that the MCU is to pull back on TV shows and focus on two or three films a year, with the option for small screen adaption a few years down the line. Budgets are being reined in all over the company and people are being held accountable. These are all things we've wanted since the Mouse House punched out with Endgame. The tide has turned in Hollywood, overall, and sh*t is looking like there will be a return emphasis on creating dope sh*t rather than pandering to shareholders, yet, i still hear cats denigrating our favorite franchises because "muh culture war". Bro, when fans get everything they want, when Corpo Hollywood has to acquiesce to Creative Hollywood, When every issue we had is addressed, cats should, at the very least, take a wait-and-see posture going forward. I am. Ahsoka was a step in the right direction. The talk of Doom taking over as the big bad of Phase Five is the right direction. Kathleen Kennedy and her ridiculous cancer being completely cut out of Lucasfilm is the right direction. Loki si arguably the best thing the MCU has made since Infinity War. A focus on writing quality scripts and turning a eye toward detail rather than stock price, is the right direction. We are trending upward. It's a goddamn shame a very vocal minority keeps trying to shout that progress down.