#reylo packs

[brightsunsmeanshello]

Recently realized that my friend and I have the same favorite Star Wars quote but from very different contexts

The absolute devastation thinking we’ve been quoting the same thing only to just now realize 😫

[xwisegirlx]

(via "Ao3 Tags - Sticker Pack" Sticker for Sale by xWiseGirl)

[daftmooncretin]

rip to rian johnson but star wars sequels would be way better if ben solo was just kinda cowardly and han solo coded so he defected from the jedi and went to be a fun swashbuckling anarchist space cowboy instead

and finn and poe have to find him and try to convince him to come back to the rebellion but hes afraid who he is and what he could become

also instead of luke trying to kill his nephew for NO REASON (so insanely out of character it boils my blood) he just realises after ben dips thats hes not cut out for teaching. and is living on a mandalorian colony as rebellion liason/ambassador with chewie and sometimes lando i guess (din djarin is there) he aids the rebellion (because of course he would fuck that plotline) but he wont stay on the rebel base because he doesnt like all the chosen one clout and mandalorians are very chill and mind their own business

han and leia are still together and play active parts in the rebellion because fuck that plotline too although they do disagree about the ben situation (leia is annoyed and han is understanding) poe and ben childhood friends and for what.

in this au, rey is raised in the empire and is a sith lord but she has doubts and isnt as abjectly disgusting as kylo ren because of course not. (appears slightly too interested in the rebellion when poe is captured and maybe??? possibly lets finn and poe escape but thats up for debate.) rey gets more evil over course of movies before turning to light for plot drama and a satisfying zuko arc.

force awakens timeline

prophecy that a new jedi will rise and take down the dark side. rey and sith lord (dk who but fuck snoke im writing him out) assume it is the missing ben solo (its finn and rey tho fr) and are intent on finding him. movie opens on rey being evil probably and capturing poe. also finn as a character actully needs no real changes hes great. and then next scene space pirate ben solo doing his thing (but without identity revealed so we dont know who he is yet he may go by kylo because funny)

instead of luke poe has a lead on missing almost-jedi before he dipped ben solo and is searching for him on leias orders.(rebellion also believe the prophecy is about him. but nuh uh) torture scene and escape scene doesnt need to change but show reys nuances and how lost she is.

in the interest of narrative poe and finn still crash on tatooine but finn manages to pull poe out of the crash. (finn still gets the jacket at some point because i say so) poe is too injured to fly so they seek out help and and meet ben solo who saves them from pirates or something idk. (but neither know who the other is)

finn and poe convince ben solo to be their pilot still thinking hes a random smuggler named kylo. they get along very well, especially finn and ben. rey by this point is tracking their whereabouts

they end up on that lightsaber planet and ben gets the weird darth vader nightmare and freaks out, (hes afraid of being evil or something idk) poe is getting suspicious now also finn feels the force and takes up the lightsaber. rey comes and finn trys to hold her off. finn get hurt and drops lightsaber. ben is forced to take it up and his identity is revealed as rebel reeforcements led by han and leia arrive and they see him fighting. rey and ben have a weird charged moment (yes i guess i am still making reylo a thing but its reyben now and its woke so shh) and in a dramatic desperate effort he manages to knock her lightsaber away with the force. poe crawls into a plane at somepoint and blows up reys ship. the rebels destroy the stormtroopers but rey captures finn and escapes in a stolen ship.

ben has a oh-shit-i-said-id-never-use-the-force-again related existential crisis which makes him freak out and leaves. a distraught finn-less poe calls him a coward. poe picks up the discarded lightsaber and the jackettm and sadly packs them up. leia tells him about the starkiller and poe volunteers to go on the starkiller and save finn. han and leia have a sweet moment and han decides to go with poe on the suicide mission, chewie goes too.(chewie arrived at somepoint i guess)

mid hostage situation finn blocks reys force attempt and shes shook up. he sees something in her (finn is a beautiful sweetheart) and he trys to appeal to her. she force chokes him and books it out of there. but it is clear she fears him a little. he escapes with mind tricks and runs into han poe and chewie on the deck. finnpoe moment fr. poe gives him his jacket back in order to get the keep it it looks good on you line.

meanwhile ben is back on his ship(i guess its the falcon?) and he thinks about finn and his mom and luke or something.. a dream maybe?? idk something emotional and motivational for his arc. and he goes to a box under the floor in his ship and pulls out a green lightsaber. he turns the ship around.

on the ship poe finn han and chewie are planting the bombs and escaping when they get stopped by stormtroopers ordered by rey. poe is about to be shot by a big droid thing when it is cut in half by ben wow big reveal hes here oooo ah. rey is shot in the shoulder by chewie and angrily orders more stormtroopers. they cant take them all. han sacrifices himself by blowing up the bridge. he tells finn and poe to find luke in the mandolorian colony ben is distraught him and han have an emotional goodbye he tells him to tell leia he’s sorry and that he loves him and he proud of him then he makes chewy get ben out of there and he blows himself up. leia senses it v sad rip man but he had to die to intensify plot drama

rey chases them onto the ice planet and another weird charged moment. mind link established??? this time ben is too angry and grieving though so its not a good match and she wounds him real bad all over hes v scarred now. poe shoots at rey and throws lightsaber at finn. he gets ben onto the ship and finn and rey have the big force awakens show down. finn uses the force v powerful all that jazz the good guys get away. on the ship finn mentions how he felt a connection with rey to poe and claims he sees good in her

movie ends with meeting luke on mandolore. ben is very traumatised wont really speak to finn or poe and avoiding luke. finn returns lukes lightsaber and rey has doubts movie over. movies ends with ominous rey ben mind link

final notes (on first movie and overarching rewrite plans)

finn

finn is the protagonist of this movie so it would be much more character heavy on him them the original. more in depth on his stormtrooper trauma, how he always chooses the people he loves over the cause and his reluctance to join the rebellion. his friendship with poe and the han/leia parallel’s especially. relationships with han and ben important for his character exposition and he plays a key role in supporting both rey and bens character progression. possesses the strong sense of mercy and kindness at the heart of the star wars franchise.

rey

rey is raised in the first empire and does not know anything different. when she meets finn who was able to rebel and escape from the same system she is trapped in she becomes plagued by doubts and projects all of her hatred and resentment onto finn to compensate, but it is clear she fears him. to escape from her doubts she fixates on finding and capturing ben solo imagining him to be a frightening and terrible adversary. however when she meets him they see eachothers minds, and she sees how plagued by doubt and fear he is, how he runs from everything and he sees her too. they connect and develop a strange mutual fascination/understanding. this is put askew by finns appearance at the end of the movie in defence of ben. reys fear of finn increases when she sees the true extent of his power. she fears and hates equally finns strength of character and easy goodness and by extension hates ben for his alliance with finn. she blames finn for “taking” ben from her.

ben solo

kylo ren is a disgusting blight on the star wars names so ben solo is being completely reclaimed by me into a different character because i fucking hate that stupid pretentious eboy. instead ben solo is an incredibly han solo coded character with a heart of gold and deep love and loyalty to his friends and family. his main weakness as a character in this rewrite is his fear and lack of self belief. ben is terrified of being a jedi and of his own power. he fears his own nature and was so afraid he would become his grandfather that he ran from the jedi altogether. ben solo is a runner that wont face his problems, he runs from the jedi and from his parents to avoid failing or becoming something terrible. finn and ben recognise the need to run in eachother (although important distinction finn runs because he doesn’t want to fight for a cause. and ben runs because hes afraid he will be the reason the cause fails) and ultimately encourage eachother to break the cycle and stand their ground (well finn motivated ben in this movie, finns not fixed yet.) Bens arc in these movies is about learning to live with his own nature and fighting for what he believes in despite his fear. also dealing with mommy issues (ben is kind of jealous of poe and leias relationship the son she wanted or something blah blah blah etc) and being a malewife to his murder girlfriend. his job is kind of to support and fight with finn and later rey and help them save the world

finnpoe (will be a gay couple)

their friendship will be front and centre in these movies because they represent duty vs personal loyalty. poe puts the cause above all else and values his own life and personal relationships little. finn on the other hand is disillusioned with establishment cause of stormtrooper trauma and wants to protect himself and others from it. poe is the first person that finn truly bonds with and loves. he puts poe above everything, including being a jedi and the rebellion. this leads to a lot of fighting and discord between finn and poe as finn doesn’t understand how important the rebellion is to poe and poe doesnt get why finn is trying to protect him from it. ultimately though poe teaches finn faith and belief and finn teaches poe to accept love and value himself. (also many hanleia parallels) the two of them are the harbingers of a new age. poe as future leader of the new republic and finn as the jedi messiah or whatever. in terms of romance, im thinking slowburn. baity first movie, kiss at the end of the second and established relationship by the halfway mark of the third.

also when rey eventually joins the light in the beginning she refuses to talk to ben (cause of romantic drama i havent thought of yet but centres around some sort or betrayal in the second movie) or finn (because hes her narrative foil and slow burn best friend forever) so her first friend is poe and she kind of follows him around in her first few months before she eventually bonds with finn 4eva. her poe shadowing has lots of cute friend moments where they fly together and he tries to talk her down about finn and the ben drama but also more importantly it foreshadows her leadership ability and tactical mind as she gives him advice and aids him with the rebellion behind the scenes (also leads to leia taking rey under her wing probably because poe is her surrogate son and mirror) which will eventually lead to her and poe leading the republic together because in my mind rey is a jedi but actively a member of republic government because ben can’t do politics and finn won’t but shes great at it so she’d be a perfect jedi liason and vice president to poe. meanwhile finn and ben lead the jedi. finn as a knight travelling across the galaxy and ben as a teacher. (luke is happy in retirement rn on mandalore but leia is still probably an advisor in the republic because retirement is definitely not for her) and everyone is happy the end. force ghost han solo is clapping.

[mfshipbracket]

gd'afternoon. just updated the spreadsheet standings. delighted to announce that currently hanleia is sweeping reylo the hardest in an act of what can only be called Community Enforced Poetic Justice. they're still not quite at shrekiona's 97.1% level though...

also, these are the polls ranked by most votes, leading the pack due to controversy, popularity, or a spicy combination of both. what do YOU think got these ships to the top? send in your answers now!

[bookishbethanyerin]

• arc review: not another love song •

Hello, ‘tis I, here to not so much review, but rave over Julie Soto’s Not Another Love Song.

Because I *loved* this.

The story follows Gwen, an orphan raised by her grandfather who began violin lessons at the age of 11 and plays professionally in the Manhattan Pops orchestra, and Xander Thorne, a rockstar of a cellist who joins the Manhattan Pops and has no idea Gwen exists – until she has to suddenly play the cello at a wedding he’s in.

To say he’s obsessed (and a little threatened by her) is an understatement, but things get complicated when Gwen is promoted to first chair violin of the orchestra – a position *he* wanted because, of course, it turns out he’s actually a violin prodigy who has been casually moonlighting as a cellist because he can.

So there’s a rivals vibe here, as well as a grumpy x sunshine situation, but mostly the chemistry between Gwen and Xander is off the damn charts. And Julie Soto’s writing is both a ton of banter-filled, easy-reading fun and gloriously beautiful as she masterfully weaves in musical terms – even in (especially in) spicy scenes.

If you are a Reylo person, the dynamics and backstories here will likely seem very familiar (😉), wonderfully reimagined for a contemporary setting, and perfectly executed, and if you read Forget Me Not, then you’ll be very very delighted by a few cameos in this book. But if you have no idea what a Reylo or Forget Me Not is, then no worries at all, you will not be lost!

I absolutely loved this book – it’s an extremely satisfying romance read that’s packed with emotion and a but if angst, that sizzles with delicious tension, and that absolutely delivers on all fronts.

🎻An enormous thank you to Forever and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy!💕

[toxicanonymity]

Aisle 39. Ben's Hardware

5250 words / Ben Solo x Rey

Warnings: I8+ mdni. Sexual tension, dubcon (via uninformed use of force connection but she wants it), dry humping. I 🖤 Dry Humping. Hardware Store AU but more than meets the eye.

A/N: posting my first fic in any fandom since I never posted it on Tumblr aside from the AO3 link and Tumblr is home now 🖤. I'm resisting the urge to improve it 😅 I'm not even gonna reread before posting. It was originally reader insert but @dark-scape translated to reylo. Lmk if you want the reader insert version instead and that can be arranged.

Rey visually undresses him.  He inhales through his strong nose, meets her gaze, and cocks an eyebrow: “Now that’s an idea."   He sinks all the way back into the cushions, his huge palms on his thighs, as if to take in the moment with a subtle, satisfied smile.  He then abruptly sits back up and starts unbuttoning his shirt.  As if on command.

Rey drives through the streets of Jakku. It's a chilly day, but bright for mid December. The sun is in her eyes, but the drive isn't long enough to commit to finding her sunglasses. As she turns into a parking lot, she sees the cafe next door is open and realizes it will be the perfect day to grab her favorite nutmeg butternut squash soup with their signature green tea bread if she can make it out of the hardware store before the lunch rush really picks up. This is a rare opportunity because the cafe's hours are aligned to typical office job hours when she’s normally across town.

Rumor has it the hardware store is locally-owned now, and she wonders how much it’s changed. She's taken a vacation day to finish some holiday shopping and errands, and thought of an easy home improvement project last night to spruce up Finn and Poe’s house while she housesits and takes care of their cat Bebe. She wants to fix the dimmer for the light above their kitchen table. The knob has been missing for awhile now, and even when you twist the naked peg, the lights don't dim, so she assumes the bulbs aren’t the right kind. She figures she can fix this with a new plastic knob, a 4-pack of dimmable LED lights, and five minutes of labor. She can finish it off with a little red bow on the new dial. This will be a nice surprise and will also give her an excuse to procrastinate her other errands.

Turns out, not much has changed. She clip-clops through the sliding doors in her warmest boots and still sees orange aprons with names hand-written in sharpie. She immediately locates the light bulbs and spends a few minutes longer than necessary deciding which pack to get. She looks at her phone and sees she has about ten minutes until the lunch rush, so it's time to find the other item she needs, the knob.

She looks up and sees a worker. He's wearing a dark gray jacket over his apron, and what looks like a lighter gray hoodie under it. It isn’t that cold in here, she thinks . She almost leaves him alone, but something on his apron catches her eye. She can't see the name, but barely sees the edge of an expertly doodled death star. Bold choice.  

He's got a nice head of dark hair, chin length, tapered around his face, but out of the way enough to see his eyes are brown. He runs his hand through his hair over the top of his crown as though slicking it back, then some of the strands fall back down. His face is a mix of heart and square shaped with a masculine jaw and strong nose. He has the stubble of a mustache and soul patch but no beard.

He has beauty marks, so many. How many? Are they just on his face or all over? He has an enviously clear complexion and looks like he tans easily. He's kind of tall, but not looming, maybe because his head is bowed slightly as he lifts a crate of lightbulb boxes and begins to unpack it. He seems athletic, hard to tell with what he's wearing. He has a youthful vibe but isn't exactly boyish.

He carries himself like he knows more or less what he's doing, but doesn't take the job too seriously. Rey imagines he wouldn't be the best candidate to tell her how to do a project, but he must know the aisles at least. She doesn't like to be a bother, but hopes it's an easy enough question, and he's standing right there. He can tell she’s about to ask him something and looks up. The whites of his eyes are clear and sparkly. Rey wonders if hers would be like that if she blinked more, which leads to her unintentionally fluttering her lashes.

She finally says, close to a whisper, “Can I ask you something?” I asked… if I can ask him something. She groans inwardly.

She isn’t prepared for the gentle baritone voice he responds with, "Yeah. Sure."

"Uh, where can I find the light switches and dimmers?"

"AISLE 39. I think. Here, I'll show you." He sounds about twice as old as he looks. Those few words he speaks are enough to flip a switch in Rey.  Her heart is melting at the same time her mind is racing. She can't tell for sure because he’s so bundled up, but she imagines he has strong arms and is in great shape based on the vascularity of his hands as he holds his barcode reader. He's working in the middle of the school day so he's got to be at least 18, not that he looks any younger, but Rey tends to think in worst case scenarios. Realistically, she would peg him for mid-twenties, but his voice sounds at least two decades older.

He walks her to aisle 39 and stops. She thanks him for his help, and as she turns to walk in the direction he pointed, she realizes she’s slightly blushing and she’s been silent. She doesn't want her shyness to come off as cold, so she makes eye contact and lets a little smile sprout from the left corner of her mouth across her lips, small but beaming. She hopes it doesn't come off as a smirk or make him self conscious. She can't tell whether he's the self conscious type.

She figures she can find the item herself from here, and doesn't think to ask him about the specific product. She wanders nearly all the way down the aisle, but after several minutes of searching (albeit distractedly), Rey is relieved to see him come back with another customer. He's helping a man find a specific thing, not a whole aisle. She’s jealous, even though it was her own fault not to ask. She hopes he sticks around and asks her if she found everything okay, but when he's done with the other customer it seems like he's about to leave.

She quickly approaches him. “Can I- can I ask for your help again?” Asking to ask again. Do I always sound this ridiculous? She tells him about the dimmer she’s looking for, which is apparently called a rotary switch.

To her surprise and delight, he talks far more than he needs to about rotary switches. His dark velvet voice is lulling Rey half into a fantasy while she struggles to continue listening to his words. He repeats almost every word she says back to him coolly and casually. And these aren't complicated concepts. She isn’t sure if he's practicing an active listening technique from sales training or is simply aware of his effect on women. Or his effect on her. She stands inches from him and looks into his eyes. She wonders to what extent her white cheeks have bloomed into roses under her freckles and given her away.

"You need a dimmer?" He looks her in the eyes, but she’s transfixed on every flex of his jaw and twitch of his lip as he talks.

"Yes, but just the knob, not the whole thing,” she says.

He nods thoughtfully then confirms, "So you just need the plastic part?"

“Right, there’s still a stick you can use to turn it, but it’s naked,” Rey confirms. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket to show him what kind of set-up the panel has and what part she needs.

"So on the panel there's an up-down switch, and a rotary dimmer."

“Yeah." She shows him the knob on the store's app and says, "I think the dimmer part is in stock.”

He replies "Oh, it says aisle 2?" He looks in that direction like he’s trying to remember what’s in aisle 2. He must be new.

"No, we’re in the right aisle. It's wrong on the preview page, but if you click into it you can see," she explains.

"Oh, ok. This is what you need though?" He locks eyes with Rey.

Just like that, she’s imagining him taking off his apron and hoodie at the end of the day, revealing meaty biceps that want to burst out of a black, soft washed t-shirt. Running his large hand through his hair. Flexing those beautiful arms as he peels off the shirt. A smooth torso with hard pecs, scant chest hair. At the thought of this, the left half of her bottom lip starts to creep under her left front teeth, and he cracks a smile for the first time, from the right side of his mouth, almost like a mirror image to Rey’s. His teeth are pretty but unassuming. They're close to white and not overly straight.

Her cheeks grow warmer and she looks away, responding to his question with a slight nod, which she hopes doesn’t read as hesitant, before resuming eye contact. “Yeah,” she quietly confirms.

"But you don't need the regular switch, right?" He speaks with a relaxed beat, not rushing the conversation to its end.

"Uh-huh."

He's speaking low and soft and looks back and forth between Rey’s eyes, not at the screen they’re both supposedly studying. "You just need the dimmer."

"Yeah." She feels like this is being drawn out to the point of overkill, but she’s not complaining.

"And you only need the plastic part." Every time he speaks is like music.

"Yeah," she confirms, barely audible, with a smile.

He continues to search her eyes and she repeats, "Yeah."

For a brief moment, he seems to gaze at Rey as lustily as she knows she is looking at him before he gathers his thoughts. She feels self conscious and suspects by the amount that he’s talking he must know the spellbinding effect his voice has on her. But if that's the case, she supposes there’s no harm that could come from him knowing it.

"Okay, let’s go over here," he says as he leads her back to where she started at the front of the aisle. "I think I see it.” He crouches down to get something from the bottom shelf.

"That’s it!" Rey says with a grin.

She feels bad for not crouching down with him. She’s always self conscious of making people do too much work, but then she also doesn’t want to make it awkward by taking over. So it's not that she expects him to serve her, she’s just frozen. He starts to pull the small product off the metal rods. It's the exact one she’d shown him on her phone, but she notices a better color next to it. Rey squats down and as she looks at the package to the right of the one he's holding, he almost looks disappointed that he didn't pick the exact unit she needed.

She says, "This one is even better, it'll match the old yellowed white." As she slides the package toward her, her right thumb almost imperceptibly brushes his left hand which is still holding the other package. She hasn’t even thought about his package yet, but the lightest brush of his skin is enough to short Rey’s circuits. She gets nervous and stands up, thanks him twice with a genuine smile and that's all she can do.

"No problem," he says, and that's all. As Rey watches him walk away, she feels an odd desperation to hear his voice again. She thinks about making up another question and recording him with an app. Is that creepy? It’s a little creepy, but not full-blown creepy, right? It isn't an option to never hear his voice again. She briefly glances around and he's nowhere in sight. She gets a hold of herself and makes her way to the self checkout line and pays.

Scanning the parking lot as she leaves, Rey wonders which car is his. When she gets to her car, she realizes she doesn’t have her keys. She sheepishly walks back inside and grabs her keys and receipt from the self-checkout terminal she just used. She looks at the receipt - “Ben’s Hardware”. So it did change ownership. She feels someone watching her from the aisle straight ahead, but tries to play it cool. She smiles and shakes her head in disbelief as she turns around and leaves, heart pounding.

Rey forgets all about the soup she was going to get and drives on autopilot to the house to install the dimmer and bulbs. What was that back there? When did I become so shy? It’s been a long time since she’s felt a visceral longing for someone, too. She can feel the animal inside of her awakening from a years-long slumber. She isn’t worried about it, she welcomes it. It’s tame. She has the maturity and experience to stay in control.

She pulls into the broken driveway and parks under the carport. Bebe runs to greet her and Rey bends down to pet her when she opens the car door. This should be an easy but impactful little project. She enters the kitchen, and takes the rotary dial out, dismissing a ridiculous passing thought that she should have bought the white one, too, because he touched it.  She tears the packaging open and holds the off-white plastic rotary dial in her hand, smiling as she remembers all the ways he described it.  

She raises the cream plastic dial to the light switch panel and glances at its underside, confirming it’s compatible.  The unsheathed rotary peg juts out from the panel in anticipation. She holds the dial by its outer edge, aligning its hole with the peg, and gently eases the peg inside.  The dial slides all the way on and snaps into place. It sticks out a little far from the wall, but it works.  Then she unscrews the light bulbs in the cheap chandelier one by one and replaces them with the dimmable ones she bought. 

Finally, the moment of truth - she presses the rotary dial, which turns on the lights, but when she rotates the dimmer, it dims nothing. The dimmer wiring itself might not be LED compatible. Of course. It looks like she’ll have to go back to the store, but not today. She does her shopping and begrudgingly runs errands, and finishes off her day with a warm cup of rooibos.

When she gets in bed, her mind drifts back to Him. She’s dying to hear his voice again. He was so calm, aloof, but somehow radiating power. She interprets it as sexual energy, but she wonders if she’s just seeing what she wants to see. To keep his voice in her mind, she imagines him narrating, “So. This is your bed… we’re going to use an extra blanket tonight, because it’s cold.” She feels ridiculous. But when she drifts off to sleep, there he is.

*** 

Rey is in a living room, but not hers.  It’s a subtle mid-century style with huge windows and modern touches.  It’s dimly lit with a fire roaring behind a glass.  He’s slouched on a stool at a wet bar, drinking something on the rocks.  He’s wearing black slacks, a form-fitting charcoal button-up shirt, untucked, with the cuffs unbuttoned.  He has one foot on a rung of the stool and another with its heel on the ground as he looks at his glass. 

He looks at Rey and puts down the glass.  “Drink?” he asks, standing up to go around the other side of the bar.  Rey watches him.  “Whisky? Wine? Water?” he asks, while filling a glass of water.   “I’m fine,” she replies.  He puts the glass of water down on the smooth granite in front of a second stool that’s still tucked under the bar.  As he walks out from behind the bar, he lets his fingers graze the leather seat of the closest stool.  Rey notices he’s shoeless, wearing black and gray argyle socks.  Why is he so quiet? 

Right on cue, he says, “Well, you’re here.  What do you want to do?” It’s so vivid.  Rey is frozen and says nothing.  Her heartbeat quickens.  He paces patiently.  There’s a teal sectional facing the fireplace.  The living room has soft carpet that feels new under her bare feet.  He walks across the living room, crossing into It a breakfast nook with an oak table.  Behind the kitchen table, he reaches for the wall and lightly touches a conspicuously cheap looking dial that dims the room further.   He comes back toward Rey, and pauses between the breakfast nook and living room. There’s a cabinet separating the spaces, about the same height as the kitchen table.  It has a record player and a box of records sitting on top of it.  

He approaches the record cabinet, which is about hip height to him.  He’s facing Rey, with the cabinet and the entire living room in between them.  With a casual stretch of one leg, he spreads his feet to lower himself a little and look at the records. He rolls up his sleeves, glancing up at her with his tan forearms flexing.  He thumbs through the vinyl records, which appear to have no words on the covers.  He has his head down, his hair has fallen slightly in his face, and he’s glancing up at Rey every few seconds as he thumbs through the box. 

He starts reading out the names of records, and her butterflies intensify at the low rumble of his voice. “Led Zeppelin III,” “Some Girls,” “Get Behind Me Satan,” “Ocean’s 11,” “Travis” “John Wick 2”  The foliage outside rustles gently against the window.  The next time he looks up at her, he doesn't look back down.  It’s an expectant gaze as though to see if the sound of his voice was effective.  She squirms a little and blushes.  He holds her gaze, squints slightly, and smiles a little.  He’s finished going through the records.  He doesn’t put anything on the record player, but a song she likes starts playing anyway.  Think, by Kaleida.  

He gives Rey a mischievous, inquisitive look, and runs his hand through his hair as he walks over to the sectional. He takes a seat and hinges forward at the hip, putting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together.  She admires the shape of his forearms.  He raises his clasped hands upright and sets his chin on them playfully, his biceps straining his sleeves as he meets her eyes.  He says, “Well, here we are at my place,” which she doubts.  Rey doesn’t know what she expects his place is like in reality, but it isn’t this refined.  He chuckles, removing his elbows from his knees and resuming a more grown-up posture. With arched brows and an otherwise straight face, he says, “Really.” His brows relax again.  “What do you feel like doing?”  His voice floods every inch of her body with a yearning to be touched.  

She doesn’t know how to answer him.  She doesn’t know how she got there or what’s going on, but the combination of his voice, eye contact, and arms are enough for Rey to begin visually undressing him.  He inhales through his strong nose, meets her gaze, and cocks an eyebrow: “Now that’s an idea."   He sinks all the way back into the cushions, his palms on his thighs, as if to take in the moment with a subtle, satisfied smile.  He then abruptly sits back up and starts unbuttoning his shirt.  As if on command. . . Holy shit, Rey thinks.  She realizes this is a dream. She’s lucid.  It’s like a 5-d game where she can feel everything.    In theory, she can do whatever she wants.  What she really wants at this moment is to straddle him.   

He glances down between his legs and coolly says, “sit anywhere you want.”  She feels observed, even though he isn’t real.  She walks over to the sectional and perches next to him on the edge of its velvet cushion. She feel herself getting wet.  She’s wearing a gray stretch miniskirt–something she wouldn’t have picked out for herself–black leggings, and a green cardigan with no undershirt.  He finishes unbuttoning his shirt and discards it on the floor.  She sees exactly what she’d pictured earlier - a strong physique, his lightly bronzed arms straining against a soft washed t-shirt.  “What’s your name,” he asks, and she feel a warmth growing between her legs.     She tells him, “Rey.”  “Rey,” he repeats, and she fruitlessly responds, “What’s yours?” 

He sighs and gazes around wistfully, “Her name is Rey.”  Then his eyes are back on her.  He places a large hand softly on her knee.  Electrified, she reciprocates.   It’s not real, she reminds herself.  She can do anything.  The guy from the store will never know.  She dares to run her hand a few inches up his quad and give his muscle a light squeeze.  He exhales with the slightest little groan,  “yeah,” and moves his hand to the small of back to urge her closer.  She’s sitting next to him but facing him now, left leg folded under her, working her right hand up his quad. 

The expanse of his thigh dwarfs her pale fingers on his black pants as she leans forward and lets her heel nestle between her legs to relieve some tension.  A tsunami of tingling deep inside her spreads through her breasts.  She grips his thigh for support, and lifts herself just barely,  intending to bring the inner crook of one knee up over his closest leg in a cuddly way while remaining seated on the couch.  A tent in his pants catches her eye and her skin starts to burn with urgency.  If she moves too quickly, she wonders if she could startle herself awake.  

As Rey raises her leg, he brings his far hand to it, gently coaxing her to move all the way onto his lap.  Her skirt rides up over her ass as she follows his lead.  He seizes one buttock in each hand, gives them a gentle squeeze, and takes a deep breath.  She is overcome with arousal and takes her own deep breath, shuddering and blinking slowly as she exhales. Her legs are now spread wide open straddling his lap, but she’s hovering and hasn’t put her weight on him yet.  Her head is a little higher than his in this position.  He bows his head and nuzzles his nose into her cardigan between her breasts, closing his eyes and taking in her scent.  

Rey’s modest chest is heaving against his face and he cradles her with both arms as she breathes.  She places her hands gently on his shoulders, and slowly moves them inward to fondle the hair at the nape of his neck.  She twirls a lock around her finger contemplatively, but she’s still hovering.  His arms are under hers with his face still in her sweater.  He drags his nose up to her neck and she feels her cardigan unbutton, exposing a lace bra, which is fastened in the front.  He looks up at her and reiterates in an intimate whisper, “you can sit anywhere you want.”  

Rey could tell from his breathing what would await her in his lap.  Her leggings were already soaked.  One by one, she scooted her knees closer to the back of the couch on either side of his expansive torso and let her weight down.  She is now truly straddling him, her inner thighs and the intimate seam of her warm, moist leggings fully embracing his arousal.  Her wetness spread through her leggings and into his pants.  His lumber swells against her, pulsing into her aching nub.  “Yeah,” he breathes.  “Right here.” She leans forward to feel his full length, which spans from her privates to her belly button as he thrusts against her. 

Over the course of a few blissful seconds, she feels his erection press harder against her, slide upward, then come back down, and repeat.  His mouth finds her neck, then her mouth.  She accept his lips hungrily and grinds back in rhythm.  Her lips pull away as pleasure shoots through her gut and breasts.  She leans her head back and gasps.  He moves his way back down to her heart, nuzzling his nose along her neck then planting a kiss on her collar bone, another kiss on her breast.   

Then his teeth lightly pinch her skin as they find the front of her bra.  He looks up at her as the clasp flies open and her breasts are free.  Her hard nipples are framed loosely by her dangling bra and the top half of her cardigan which is still buttoned, only at the bottom.  She’s still wearing leggings, but his cock feels too good to leave it for even one moment to undress further.  She continues to slowly grind against him as he moves one hand to her breast, keeping the other behind her for support.  He palms one breast, lightly at first, grazing her nipple with the heel of his palm, then softly cups the whole breast, enveloping it in his large hand as he continues to slowly thrust into her warmth  He uses his free hand to bring her close enough to kiss her other breast. 

Rey is burning up now.  He undoes the last two buttons of her cardigan and she lets it fall off her shoulders, discarding her bra at the same time.  She reaches down to the hem of his shirt and slides four curled fingers underneath it.  He helps her take it off, and she takes in the sight of his shredded torso.  His right pec has a scar.  She traces it with her thumb.  His pecs are so hard.  As she explores him, they continue grinding, then he gives a more emphatic thrust, like his cock cannot physically get close enough to her.  She reaches between their loins and strokes his arousal through his pants, tracing the outline of his cock in detail.  His pants are damp and shiny from her leggings and with a wetter spot of his own.  

Rey needs him badly.  He isn’t wearing a belt.  She frantically searches for his button and zipper and carefully frees him. She holds, and beholds, the glorious, veiny shaft that lands in her hand.  She savors the feeling of its soft skin as it throbs in her hand.  “You. . . are a vision,” he murmurs into her chest, which is exactly what she was thinking about his package.  She moves her thumb to the head of his cock, collects a bead of precum, and swirls around the head affectionately.  Her brows furrow with want.   He holds her tighter, closing the gap between them.  He begins thrusting again, hard and slow.  Rey grinds her throbbing warmth against his lower shaft while her hand is still in between them.  

She feels the spine of her groin twitching and knows she’s close.  She takes a deep breath and lets a sharper pleasure overtake her chest and groin.  Her breath quickens as she nears her peak.  She still has her leggings on. He reaches his broad hands into the back of her leggings, taking one buttcheek in each hand and moves her up and down against him.  “I need you,” he breathes. They look into each other’s eyes and there’s something wild in his pupils, something dark, like a warm, black hole, drawing her in.  “Take me,” she says.  He reaches a hand behind her neck to cradle her head, and they gaze at each other, breathing, grinding.  Then he pulls her face decisively to his.  

Rey inhales through her nose as their lips meet hungrily. He kisses her hard, too messily to  seal their mouths together, leaving his lower lip between her lips as he draws in a deep breath through his mouth.   He then closes his lips on her upper lip, his teeth and tongue slightly grazing it.  Half his mouth opens into hers, the other halves of their mouths still breathing heavily. 

He shifts her slightly upward, wraps her around his waist, and she feels the head of his rock hard cock aggressively nuzzling her clit, up and down.  His tongue finds hers and she lets it brush against her teeth.  When she pulls away for a moment, he looks her in the eyes. They’re both moving faster now, and  as they’re about to come, she folds herself into him, sliding her lips down his chin to his neck and opening her mouth, breathing against his skin. 

His thumb finds her most sensitive place and one touch sends her over the edge.  The pleasure is almost too much to bear.  Her ass clenches as ecstacy blooms from her groin, her nipples, her ears, and deep within her gut.  Muscles she didn’t even know she had shudder in release, and he wraps his arms tight around her, thrusting to the beat of her orgasm.  She rides wave after wave, pulsating against his cock, and as another wave swells he groans, and she feels his cock begin its own contractions, intensifying hers.  

Rey’s mouth is open against his neck and she’s breathing into his skin and as he unleashes a huge lode of cum, between them, soaking through her leggings, and gluing their clothes together.  Her canines dig harmlessly into the side of his neck – she can’t resist –  then she brings her lips to the flesh and seals it with a kiss.   She collapses into him, loosely hugging him with her legs, and the two of them just breathe.  Then he tightens his arms around her in a hug, and she looks up. She sees the mark of her teeth on his neck, and remembers no one else will see it.  This isn’t real.  

She nuzzles her head into her mark and blinks her eyelashes against his skin.   He sighs slowly through his nose, then she feel the vibrations of his voice against her face as he says, “You are… remarkable.”  She lies there breathing for a few minutes and he wraps them both in a cream, cable-knit throw.  She falls asleep in his arms and wakes up in her own bed, marveling at how a dream can make one feel like they’ve experienced someone so intimately.  She hadn’t had a lucid dream in years.  She absently scratches an itch between her breasts and wonders how she can be sure to dream of him again tonight.  Was it the rooibos, or the sheer will of her want?

[skaruresonic]

I mean I can totally get, getting very pissed if people make porn out of my child characters, I might threaten with copyright too

The child characters I made are based on actual kids in my family. It reminds me of that interview with Miyazaki where he complains about the otaku culture making porn out of Kiki and Chihiro. Especially the latter one, since Chihiro was based on a child family member.

I might threaten with copyright too

Well, for starters, I doubt you'd get very far because that's not technically your jurisdiction as a creator. As far as I understand it as a layperson, copyright is not there to curtail "gross" fan content, but to protect your rights as a creator to capitalize on your intellectual property. Meaning people can't claim your characters as their own and sell their work for profit.

Fanfic and fanart, on the other hand, are protected under the umbrella of transformative work. The nuances are different and hair-splitty for each, but IIRC, fanfic is allowed to exist on the basis that it isn't monetized. Can't remember what the stipulations are for fanart.

Second... Nah, man. The solution to your discomfort with people sexualizing your characters over the internet is to draw a boundary, which is not something you impose on others, but an action you take to protect yourself and your best interests.

State in clear terms: "I am not comfortable with seeing this kind of content, please don't send it to me; emails and the like containing such content will be deleted," and leave it at that. You don't call for censorship or witch hunts or threaten people with copyright strikes that don't fall within your legal purview.

As a creator, you bear responsibilities not to abuse your power over fandom. Accepting that Rules 34 ("if it exists, there is porn of it") and 35 ("if no porn of it exists, porn will be made") exist is one of them.

...Frankly, I find it a more relevant social hazard that creators forge intense parasocial relationships with their fandoms and proceed to weaponize them against their enemies. Because in those instances, real people are being manipulated for selfish gain, and it's depressingly common to see. Fandom is often comprised of vulnerable groups without much external support to begin with, and it's skeevy as hell to sic them like a pack of dogs on people just so you can win a Twitter debate.

(Besides, for as much as antis gripe about "Reylo will groom you into thinking toxic relationships are romantic!" and shit, they certainly don't preach much on the dangers of predatory parasocial relationships.)

But, back to the topic at hand: I've heard enough antis conflate pixels on a screen with irl children to know that calls for censorship never go well. While it's perfectly valid to be uncomfortable with sexualization of child characters, you also have to kind of grow up a little and realize that no one is inherently harming children by making Tails porn. No one sexualizes your childhood just by sexualizing pixels. That's why the Back button exists.

If they are hurting real children, then the offender must be charged appropriately. Nine times out of ten, however, trying to control the art people make under the guise of "protect the children" is authoritative and does shit-all to protect real children from harm.

To wit, it's within Miyazaki's right to complain about porn of Chihiro, but Miyazaki can't actually go around telling people they can't make that kind of art upon pain of cease-and-desist.

Also, just speaking for myself, aside from stuffing my characters with trauma, I haven't modelled them after real people. I made them to be abused, to be placed in fucked-up scenarios, to be sexualized, even, if folks want to. Why do you think Arthur has an assassination kink.

That is to say, not all creators share the same mindset, and frankly, fandoms shouldn't have to live in fear of pissing off the Almighty Creator(tm) anyway.

[chromisomi]

lifebuoy, a reylo fic | ch 16 is up!

Nine months ago

Summer was by far Ben’s least favorite season. The sun was always bare and bright and stinging, and the tourists crowded the streets, adding on to the already insane amount of Los Angeles traffic. A sheen of sweat kept his dress shirt stuck to his back as he made his way around his office, searching for anything that might be of use in his time away.

His laptop and charger were already tucked away safely in his bag. But he eyed the shelf of memoirs and personal development books, a handful of them still left unfinished. His luggage was already nearing the 50-pound weight limit for the flight, so there was no hope in adding a few reads.

His backpack, though. That could take one book, he supposed.

“You’re leaving, then?”

Ben paused, pushing away the wave of unease that always came with his director’s presence. He glanced over at the wrinkled man, who was leaning against the doorframe and eyeing Ben with that old, beady gaze.

They’d already had this conversation months ago, when Ben mentioned an offer from the east coast university. But Alfred Snoke was nothing if not relentless, always prodding and observing, waiting for a lie to surface in Ben’s responses.

“It will only be two years,” Ben reminded him, turning back to grab a random book from the shelf, too focused on steeling his composure to notice which one he picked. “My absence will not be a permanent one.”

“It is an absence, nonetheless.” Snoke smiled but his eyes were flat. “Mitaka can only do so much without your guidance. The company was doing so well when you were… staying put.”

His voice hadn’t risen, but there was a threat in his words. A message in the words he didn’t say.

“I assume I’ll be under surveillance. You’ll see that this is only me pursuing further education.” Ben’s lips thinned as he packed the book in his bag, his back facing Snoke. “We also haven’t created any political connections in DC. It could help us in the long-term, when we’re planning our next relocation.” He was grasping for anything at this point. “My only priority is the First Order.”

“Hm.” Snoke’s voice croaked closer from the doorframe. “Do your best to remember what happened to Enric Pryde, my young apprentice. Perhaps it will help you focus on what’s best for our company.”

Flashes of the older man’s scent came to Ben then.

Decayed and rotten and punished beyond saving.

Pryde was the only one who managed to get away from Snoke’s hold, though he didn’t make it very far. That was a particularly difficult cover-up for Ben, as the news and media caught word of the father’s disappearance.

“All my priorities lie with the First Order,” was all Ben said.

“As they should be.”

Snoke stood in the office, silently observing Ben as he packed what more he could into his backpack. His stare was heavy on Ben’s nape, a threat in and of itself. It wasn’t until a low ringtone broke the silence when Ben finally took a breath. He gave his director a curt nod and briskly left the office.

Snoke’s voice followed him down the hall from his office, though. His words were low and rushed. He was taking a call.

“Prepare my room, boy. I’ve been gone long enough…”

One of his house servants, Ben assumed as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. His phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down to find an Instagram notification. His breath caught at her username – she posted again.

Only two more months now, until they might cross paths again.

He won’t pursue her, he’s promised himself that. But he’s in need of that distraction again, in need of some rush to his monotonous days. Maybe he’ll find her in the campus yards snapping another photo, or maybe they’ll bump into each other at a coffee shop.

Two more months, it was a vow that repeated in his head as he entered the elevator, two more months until I can see you again.

read the rest of the chapter on ao3!

start from chapter one here!

[nenyabusiness]

Writer Asks

Tagged by @myfavouritelunatic and @cliffdivingsblog, thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3? 24 on one account, 43 on another. (I'm telling you, I'm juggling two hyperfixations.)

What's your total AO3 words count? 201,385 on my reylo/haladriel account, 123,964 (100k redacted because of a fic-turned-novel publishing deal) on my Final Fantasy/JRPG/anime account.

What fandoms do you write for? Currently, Tolkien (Rings of Power with touches of Silmarillion) and Final Fantasy XIII (fine, @shadowmeowth, accept that we're more or less co-writing now, FINE).

What are your top five fics by kudos? - A reluctant compromise (reylo, force bond smut) - Whatever It Takes (reylo, WIP that will probably never be finished, I'm so sorry) - The Wolf (reylo, post TLJ-smut) - You'll Be Mine (reylo, force bond smut) - se vis pacem, para bellum (haladriel, John Wick AU) I was on a roll with the reylo force bond smut there for a while.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I didn't use to until about half a year ago. Until then, I didn't see writing fanfiction as being a part of a community the same way I do now. I recognize most of my commenters now, so it feels more natural to turn the comment section into a place for dialogue. (Yes, anyone-who-have-commented-on-a-fic-more-than-a-handful-of-times, I do remember you and I'm always happy to see you come back!)

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? This made me laugh, because in a different lifetime in a different fandom (okay I'm talking hope/light 2012), I was called "the Queen of Angst". I was still struggling a little with writing in English, so I relied a lot on the same kind of writing that you guys see from me today in my ficlets. Short, straight to the point, and packed with emotion. Easy way of getting around that little issue of, you know, not being able to describe things. It's hard to choose from those, but I remember people being really upset about this one: - The nameless soldier In this fandom, most of my ficlets are pretty angsty, but I think this one might be one of the most tragic: - but still the door is closed

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I think Four Hours a Day wins the race here, even if se vis pacem, para bellum is a close second. Four Hours a Day might be the only fic I've written that's pure feel-good.

Do you get hate on fics? Back in the FFXIII fandom in 2012, that was just your everyday morning news. The shipping wars were ruthless. Pretty intense from time to time with reylo too. I've only gotten hate twice in the haladriel fandom, and one of them made me laugh so hard because the thing they decided to dunk on was actually taken straight from John Wick.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, yes I do. It used to be limited to M+ territory, but I managed to cross the threshold into proper E with Four Hours a Day. I've always been more intrigued by sexual tension and buildup rather than the actual mechanics, but I'm in an experimenting phase.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written? Do I even have to say it? I'm going to say it: se vis pacem, para bellum. John Wick x Rings of Power x some Silmarillion. When I first got the idea, I thought it was so bizarre that I would probably be its only reader. I was proven wrong. Good times.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes. A lot of FFXIII fics were scraped and reuploaded on a different site a couple of years ago, but we managed to get them removed.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yep! The fic that I later rewrote into an original work was translated into German and French, and one of my reylo works have been translated into Russian.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have. I wrote a scene together with @youwearfinethingswellwriter a couple of months ago, and I'm currently in some kind of symbiotic writing relationship with @shadowmeowth.

What's your all time favourite ship? I can't choose between haladriel and hope/light. I just can't. I've got two hyperfixations and neither seem to be willing to let me go. (And one of them has had a hold over me for 13 damn years.)

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Definitely Whatever It Takes. I didn't have an outline when I started, and then the project just grew too big. I knew, ish, where I wanted it to go, but I didn't know how to get it there. I'm really sorry about abandoning it though, because I had so many lovely followers. (Fun fact: I actually got to apologize for that, 7 years later, when one of those followers started commenting on my haladriel fics. The reylo/haladriel venn diagram is a circle.)

What are your writing strengths? Thanks to the editors I worked with when I got my novel published, I learned a lot about writing action scenes and how to control the pacing. I'd like to think that at least some of it stuck. I'm also good at writing short. It's not necessarily an altogether positive thing, but I do know how to get something across with as few words as possible. (Oh, the things you do to avoid describing things when you're writing in your second language.)

What are your writing weaknesses? Second. Language. Writer. My prose is efficient, but it will never be pretty or effortless. And I'm really, really slow.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Unpopular opinion? It's a pet peeve. If it's already established that a conversation is held in a certain language but written in English, there's no need to add phrases from that language to the dialogue. For me, it just makes it look like the characters were speaking English all along. Just... pick one. Full translation or plain English.

First fandom you wrote for? Final Fantasy XIII. Never left.

Favourite fic you've ever written? It's a tie between se vis pacem, para bellum and Four Hours a Day. Para bellum was a four month commitment. I followed an outline from start to finish with barely any alterations at all, and it turned out exactly as planned. 4h/d was the complete opposite. I got an idea, and then I wrote the whole 12k monster of a one shot in like two days. It reawakened my love for music, and I still reread it sometimes when I need to get a music kick. Damn. That was a lot. My usual suspects seem to have been tagged already, so I'm leaving that open. Thanks again!

[xtaketwox]

Fic Masterlist

For this master list, I'm only including fics that I posted here on tumblr. You can find my Reylo fics at both Musickat18 and Darkcat18 on AO3.

Fics that are still in progress will have an asterisk next to their name.

Elain x Lucien

I'm Betting It All On You - Lucien is tired of living in limbo. He has a proposition for Elain. One kiss and if she still doesn't want him, he'll leave her alone forever.

Push Me Up Against The Wall - It's been 6 months since Elain's world was turned upside down by Graysen's cheating. Vassa knows just the thing to help Elain move on: Lucien

*I Can't Make You Love Me - Everyone is born with an arrow on their hand that points toward their soulmate on their eighteenth birthday. When Lucien comes to find Elain after the arrow on her hand led Graysen to dump her on her birthday, she tells him to leave and not contact her again. Nine years later, their paths cross once more and Lucien makes it his mission to woo Elain.

*Lily In A Twilight Place - The Archerons are new to London society. The rumors go that Viscount Archeron brought his daughters to London after the death of their mother in the south of France. Lucien is struck by the beauty of Elain Archeron from the first moment he sees her, but little does he know the Archeron family is hiding a secret that may just get him killed.

Fates Intertwined - Sometimes life is incredibly unfair. Other times, you realize that fate really does exist.

Feyre x Rhysand

Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of - Everyone is born with an arrow on their hand. When you turn eighteen, your arrow points in the direction of your soulmate. When Feyre's arrow pointed away from her boyfriend, ending in a messy breakup, she swore she wanted nothing to do with soulmates, which was just as well since he never bothered to find her either.

Nesta x Cassian

It Looks As Though You're Letting Go - Everyone is born with an arrow on the back of their hand which points to their soulmate at midnight on their eighteenth birthday. After her parents' disastrous marriage and her father's subsequent depression following her mother's death, Nesta realized a soulmate is nothing more than guaranteed heartache and ruination. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she packs up her car and leaves her family and life behind forever. What she doesn't count on, however, is having a soulmate like Cassian, who may be the one to prove to her that a soulmate is what she needs.

[narcopharmacist]

Ever since I discovered Reylo from Star Wars Sequel Trilogy back in the first 3 days of March 2024, I noticed I moved on really quickly from the stagnant state I was in with Dramione. My entire focus shifted to these 2 characters, because 1) they were the highlight of the movies, 2) they interacted for real and the interactions were significant to the story (vs dramione, not even canon), 3) there's just a lot of content about them (edits on Tiktok, video essays on Youtube). I was being fed so good.

I also happened to move on from Draco pretty quickly 😫🫠 Whenever I look at the actor now, I cannot see Draco anymore. It's worse for me because back then I really had a difficult time separating the actor from Draco. I prefer him looking like Draco. Otherwise, the adult version would be Coriolanus Snow.

Now Kylo Ren. Lord jesus take the wheel. See, this time, I was able to separate Adam from his character. I had no trouble watching interviews, random press conferences, even his SNL skits as Kylo Ren. I didn't cringe. I could try to watch his other movies, like The Last Duel, and just stare at him - because he's so fcking hot.

Adam looks so hot with the beard AND without; with short, mid, AND long hair.

---

Here's another catch.

For Dramione, the actors are so good friends in real life. They have pictures together from various events; they even hang out! But Draco and Hermione don't have canon content at all, because in the end, there's nothing between them, and Draco is not a significant character 😭

As for Reylo, the movies revolve around them. We got scene packs about them. Merch, posters, etc. The actors, however, don't even go to interviews together with just the 2 of them. Other sequel trilogy actors participate in those "games" we see on Youtube, like "guess what's in the box" or "things people google the most about this actor/character," meanwhile the 2 most important characters never get to even have 1 interview, or skit, or anything together 😭 Daisy is always being paired off with John or Oscar during the conferences, and she usually sits with them. Adam sits with the directors, or god knows who else, EXCEPT Daisy.

I've seen comments on Tiktok/Twitter/Youtube about how Daisy, like, stopped interacting/liking Reylo fanart, because of "SW" fans bashing, or saying smth bad.

I'm confused about the hate on Reylo, because in every trilogy, I noticed that there's always romance. The sequel may have been the first to showcase the enemies-to-lovers trope. But no. How utterly disappointing.

They killed off the last REAL Skywalker, and had someone else take the name. What makes it worse is that that someone is said to be a descendant of Palpatine. Sooo all those past 6 movies for what? 🤬☠️

---

Here's a palate cleanser.

STAR WARS crack part V [reylo is strong with this one as it should be]

[writingwife-83]

"Domestic bliss" for Reylo 💍🏠♥️

This was giving modern au to me, so that’s what I went with. I kinda hc that the lead up to this is that Rey and Ben were bickering about reception planning and she wasn’t looking forward to seeing him at the actual event. Not a necessary added hc, but I think that makes it fun hehe! 😏

“Here’s to domestic bliss, I guess,” Rey muttered, slouched in her seat by the dance floor and taking a swig of her fourth champagne as Rose and Finn got up to dance one more song before leaving the reception.

“Want to give it a try?”

Rey’s eyes snapped up and widened as she saw Finn’s old college friend standing there, hand outstretched and towering over her in a way that made her nearly choke on the champagne and her cynical words about marriage.

“Sorry, I meant a dance of course… not necessarily domestic bliss,” Ben clarified with an irritatingly sexy smirk.

Thirty seconds later Rey’s knees were feeling weak, and it had nothing to do with the champagne and everything to do with the dizzying hold this man’s arms had on her as they swayed on the dance floor.

By the end of the night when the DJ packed up and she and Ben finally left the floor, agreeing that late night fast food was needed since the catering was long gone as well… Rey was feeling worlds less cynical.

[fiatluxillustration-portfolio]

REYLO Instant Download Desktop Theme Wallpaper Organizer Media Pack [X]

[typesomesensetome]

Marked

a Reylo AU by TypeSomeSenseToMe

Excerpt:

There was knocking at the door and Rey snapped to attentive stillness. Kylo was still in the bathing room.

Her heart pounded with a tinge of fear because she didn’t know what to do.

She stood and slowly went to the door. The person on the other side did not continue to knock, but they did slip something underneath.

A white square envelope slid quickly across the carpet toward her feet.

“REN” was scrawled on the front of it in thick red ink. It looked entirely forbidding, because all she could think was that the letters could have been written with blood, and she didn’t believe that was at all outside the realm of possibilities.

Rey stared at it, then at the closed door where Kylo was, heart thudding desperately in her chest.

She picked up the envelope and ran her thumb over the letters. Not blood, but a thick-lined quill had been used to write his second name.

The man at the lobby desk had greeted Kylo as Mr. Ren. Did that mean his full name was Kylo Ren? Rey shrugged. She thought her own last name was pretty weird.

At that moment, the door to the bathing room whipped open and steam poofed out, along with a very wet and a very much unclothed Kylo Ren. His glistening chest was built out of two wide, pale slabs of muscle. His flesh was mottled with bruises and scars.

Wide eyed and burning up with embarrassment, Rey was thankful there was a white towel covering the rest of him. She waved the envelope toward his face, averting her eyes over her shoulder and away from him.

“Someone just shoved this under the door,” she squeaked at a pitch not at all like her regular tone of voice.

When the letter left her hand, she scrambled back to the dining table and promptly swallowed half a glass of water. She willed her mind to banish the titillating image of Kylo’s chest from her memory. She had enough to deal with and… that… was just one more thing too many.

She did her best to ignore Kylo for the next several minutes. But curiosity soon dug its claws into her.

He was making several trips back and forth between the closet and the bathroom. Fully dressed now in sleek black dress pants and black button-down shirt, he buttoned up a vest that matched. He brought out a small black cloth pack from the closet and unrolled it on the bed. From it he pulled a knife and strapped it to his lower leg under his sock. He had holsters built into the back of the vest and he stowed two guns, one on the right and the other on the left side. He went back into the closet and spent a few more minutes inside.

What was happening now? Was she supposed to do something? Rey stood and hesitantly shuffled closer to the closet. She peeked inside and saw Kylo methodically counting out bullets and sliding them into several metal sheaths. The letter he’d received was opened and lying on the floor next to his gun case. He finally slipped his arms into a black suit jacket and pocketed the bullets.

Kylo turned and stopped short when he found Rey watching him.

His face had changed. Gone was the man who had been laughing earlier. In his place was the scary assassin whom she’d seen shoot two men at once the day they met. The all black suit lent a quality of mystery and menace to his appearance.

He picked up the letter and put it in the breast pocket of his shirt.

Dark, dark eyes met hers and she held her breath.

“I left the pills for you on the counter. I don’t know how long I’ll be out. Keep the door locked.”

Rey blinked several times, recalling how he’d geared up with all those weapons.

Why was it so hard to breathe all of a sudden?

“But,” she began. “You will come back?”

Kylo’s mouth and his eyes softened for the briefest of moments before his features went hard again. He tipped his black-stubbled chin downward.

And then he was gone.

Read the completed fic here: Marked

[lucky134ever]

Smoking Hot!

Please go read Lion's Roar by MurderOfCrows! You won't regret it!

The Lion's Roar (73448 words) by MurderOfCrowss Chapters: 23/23 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Explicit Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo Characters: Rose Tico, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Finn (Star Wars), Poe Dameron Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Werewolves, Soulmates, Rey has a twin sister, Kidnapping, alpha voice, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Dominant Kylo Ren, Control, Possessive Ben Solo, Breeding Kink, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Submissive Rey/not by choice, pack mentality, Minor Violence, non con drugging, Rape/Non-con Elements, Forced Orgasm, Praise Kink, Not a whole lot of plot., Power Imbalance, kind of beta read. Sorry. Don't hang your hat on it, dark HEA, Dog Fighting mentioned, no dogs die, Negative comments go to train station, Reylo babies in epilogue, Minor Character Death Summary:   Rey's day goes from bad to worse when she meets up with a werewolf to pay off her sister's gambling debt. When a simple encounter goes terribly wrong, she finds herself bound to a man she barely knows. Kylo as his pack calls him, doesn't care if she consents or not to their union. Rey will have to find a way to escape or spend the rest of her life trapped by his side.

[thedarkestgreys]

What fandoms have u been part of? How many of them did you write fic for? Love your works 🫶🏻✨

oh gosh the laundry list is long my dude, hold tight it’s a doozy. are we talking in the last twenty years or more recent? because i’ve been writing fic since like 2002/2003 (i was like.. 12ish?) if we want to get technical. i have a ffnet account still hanging about and ill never reveal the name on it lmao.

an incomplete list of fandoms bex wrote in the 1st decade of her career because she’s sure there’s more than this she just doesn’t remember :

Lizzie McGuire

Life With Derek

Zoey 101

Glee

fandoms bex has wrote for in the 2nd decade of her career that you can find on ao3:

ASOIAF/GoT - primarily sansan, jon x sansa and podrya

teen wolf -stydia

star wars sequel trilogy - reylo

the avengers - one steggy post endgame

marvel’s eternals - drukkari

euphoria - fexi

fandoms bex has most definitely read fic in but never wrote:

twilight - im a wolf pack girl and i always have been 🐺

avatar the last airbender - zutara my beloved

harry potter - dramione & some hinny

star wars - gingerrose & obidala

riverdale - bughead

honestly nonny this is probably just scratching the surface of fandoms ive read fic for in the last twenty years. that’s a long time to remember but these ones stick out for me. there’s definitely fandoms out there that i’ve enjoyed that i’ve never felt the need to read fic for as well, because i don’t always feel the need to fill the gaps you know?

all this to say I’ve been lurking around online fandom spaces for a very long time despite my age lol. i wouldn’t change a thing.

thank you for the kind ask 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻