#then i remember that everything i do is for my demented self-satisfaction and that everyone else is along for my ride

[yellowocaballero]

i know u n ur thing w roleswaps, but have u ever done something like role rotations? i did it to my trio ocs n its been rlly fun haha, n i got 2 thank u for the rabbit hole ive gone that is swapping changing n or flipping about roles

Always happy to spread the roleswap gospel. I think I always enjoy it because it lets me separate who a character truly is from their place in the story, and it gives you a lot of flexibility in creating a new character who is still grounded in their setting. A lot of AUs change the setting without actually changing the character - and oftentimes it's honestly just taking a character and chopping off parts of them until they fit in a specific handful of roles - but a roleswap demands that you look at how different circumstances change a character. I find that when I'm not doing AUs like that, I'm doing AUs where I'm basically doing that and offering no justification or explanation for it. Which confuses people. Look, guys, you welcomed yourself to my twisted mind when you clicked on the link, just go along with the ride.

I think also The Magnus Archives was uniquely suited for really good roleswaps, because that mostly entails changing which Entity a character is affiliated with. And that's just taking the same character and magnifying a specific aspect of who they are, looking at them from a different perspective. I'm glad you're giving it a shot, 'cause it is also just a good writing exercise in general for figuring out the innate vs situational characteristics of a character.

Re: role rotations - yes, that's definitely what I'm doing with the Naruto roleswap thing! Naruto works in groups of 3, so by nature you're shuffling character traits to the left. This actually becomes difficult when one of these characters has nothing going on, so it's actually difficult as fuck to figure out, but it lets me get pretty creative.

[psykertroll-blog]

Que Sera Sera

FFN AO3

Summary Ch 2 Ch 3

Chapter 1 - Remember Then

Tython Jedi Temple, 3642 BBY

Arthur hated younglings.

He hated the way they would run around the temple, tripping everyone up in their path. He hated their smarmy, impertinent questions, and the way they would poke and prod and pester at everything there was to see. He hated their annoyingly loud voices, their painful arrogance, and their naive optimism.

All this was true, and more. Even with the bright, peaceful air of Tython easing into his skin, Arthur was in a sour, bitter mood the very moment he stepped off his ship three hours ago.

The Jedi grumpily shuffled down the hallways, glaring balefully at any who passed him by. He was heading straight for the archives, as he was on assignment to study strange phenomena in the Force. This planet was filled with it, and while normally he would have been ecstatic to come to such an ancient place, today was an exception.

It was eleven years to this day that the Sacking of Coruscant took place. Eleven years since his former apprentice betrayed him.

Arthur had thought that Alfred was dead for a year, only to find him standing there, mask slashed open by his lightsaber…

Alfred’s once-blue eyes gleamed yellow in the hazy smoke. His voice was crooning, and full of treacherous affection as he spoke, “Master… are you pleased to see me?”

No. He shouldn’t think of it. He shouldn’t even meditate on it. It was too evil a thought to continue. In either case, the Alfred he knew had faded away long ago, and the Sith mockery in his place had no right to occupy his mind.

Arthur shrugged off his memories, and took another step forward. Unfortunately, it was right in the way of the frog.

“Ohonhonhon! Well, if it isn’t my old friend! Why don’t you come give big brother a hug, hmm?”

Ah yes. As if he didn’t already have enough trouble, Francis was here to ruin the rest of his day. Perfect.

Arthur scowled deeply, causing his eyebrows to scrunch together. “You’re not my brother, frog. Get out of my way. Unlike you, I have work to do.”

In the face of Arthur’s dour expression, Francis only became more emboldened. “Why must you be so rude, Arthur? I haven’t seen you in forever-” He slung his arm around Arthur’s shoulders.

“It’s been two weeks since you last accosted me-” Arthur fumed, struggling to escape the frog’s grip.

Francis ignored his fury, “-and I only wish you gift you with my handsome presence. Is that not what a good friend should do?”

“Frog. If you don’t cease your invasion of my personal space, I will do it for you.” Arthur ground his teeth, but Francis only tightened his embrace.

“Ah, but Arthur, I worry for you, you know? You are much ruder than you usually are. Is it your ugliness? Do not be saddened by this, my friend. I know it is upsetting for you, but not everyone can be as pretty as I!”

Francis stuck his nose high in the air, and his nasal laughter rang down the halls. Five seconds later, he was violently shoved off of Arthur.

“Shut up! You are being entirely undignified! Jedi are meant to be self composed, and yet you throw yourself around as if it is no concern of yours! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find you running naked in the temple. No more, I say, no more! Now you leave me be, you hear?”

Still laughing, Francis waved him away. “Yes, yes, I hear you clearly, Arthur. You wish to cocoon yourself in the archives, when it is such a magnificent day-”

Arthur was inches away from murdering the frog right here and now. “I came here on assignment. The call was straight from the Jedi Council. You are stopping me from finishing what I was sent here to do. I suggest you end it-”

“Oh please, I am no fool Arthur. Don’t treat this as a chore. You usually enjoy it here on Tython. The only reason why you are so disagreeable is because it’s that day again. I really don’t see why you obsess over it so, you and I both know that Alf-”

Immediately, Arthur loomed ominously over Francis. His teasing voice squeaked into nothingness as Arthur’s green eyes bored into his head.

“Do not speak of him.”  

At once, Arthur stalked imperiously down the hallway, leaving behind a bewildered frog in his wake.

A few hours later, Tython’s star had long since sunk beneath the horizon, and night brought with it unwanted visions of the past.

He was slaving away down in the archives into the wee hours of the morning, only for him to be promptly kicked out by the supervising droid.

This forced him to wander around the outskirts of the temple, as he didn’t want to go back to his quarters. All the same, the peaceful feeling of the place at that moment calmed him from his agitation.

Arthur remembered many nights like this on Coruscant. The sky was blotted out from the city lights, yet the temple there had much of the same atmosphere.

After a long day of training, he and Alfred would sit by the balcony, going over everything that they needed to work on. It was a time of war, and yet Alfred, who was barely ten years of age then, looked at him with bright, pure blue eyes.

 "Master, Master, when can I start using a lightsaber? They’re so cool! I wanna use one of the ones with the dual blades, they’re called saberstaffs, right?“ His apprentice bounced up and down in his seat. "Anyways, it would be so awesome-”

 Arthur tutted, “Now, now, Alfred, using a lightsaber is a skill that takes many years to develop. Judging by your performance today, I dare say that you haven’t even fully mastered the practice sword, which is but a pinch compared to the saberstaff.”

 Alfred groaned in defeat, “Aww, but that’s so boring! I must have gone over that stupid kata a thousand times over, and you still say it’s not ‘perfect’?”

 Arthur crossed his arms, but his stern countenance was a poor disguise for his amusement. “It is not just a 'stupid kata’, as you call it. Shii-Cho and The Way of the Sarlacc is the primary form of battle. Every Jedi must learn to master it, you know this. Besides, fighting is not all that a Jedi does. We are as much philosophers as we are warriors, Alfred, and it is high time for you to learn this as well. Calm you mind, and meditate on the Code.”

 "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Master. I just want to stop being so useless. All I do is sit around and train, while everyone else is fighting the Sith!“ Alfred stared at the ground, fiddling with the hem of his robe.

 "Training is the most useful thing you can do right at this moment, my apprentice. Do not rush it, or you will truly be of no help to anyone, most of all yourself.” At that, Arthur placed his hand under Alfred’s chin, forcing him to look into his eyes…

 His shadowy, tainted yellow eyes-

He desperately gasped for air, clawing his way out of his torturous memories, “P-Please.” Arthur slid down against the wall, clutching at his head. “I- I don’t want to remember-”

The tall buildings of Coruscant blotted out the night, but instead of city lights, it was blooming pillars of fire burning a wound into the sky.

Two blades struck against each other again and again, one green, the other red. Sith and Jedi, Darkness and Light, both fought with all their might in this never-ending duel of the fates.

Yet, the balance was tipped in the Sith’s favor. The Jedi was eventually brought down to his knees on the balcony floor, and the Sith stood triumphantly over him, pressing his saberstaff into the Jedi’s cheek.

“A-Alfred… wh-why…? Why won’t you kill me? Everyone else is already dead, why am I still alive?” The Jedi croaked, his voice rendered to ash in his grief.

The Sith bent down to his level, gently caressing the left side of the Jedi’s face as he seared the right. The mix of harsh, burning pain and the light touch of the Sith’s hand only made it all the more worse for the Jedi.

“My dear, dear Master… shouldn’t you already know?”

Confused, the Jedi blearily gazed into yellow eyes. The Force had abandoned him, the temple was destroyed, Coruscant invaded, and his apprentice, his dear, dear apprentice who he had mourned over, was a Sith. He was a failure, a complete and utter failure, and he deserved to die for failing the man before him. The Jedi was tired, and waited for death’s inevitable sweet kiss, but it never came.

“Alfred… You have won. My time has come… Stop dragging this out and get it over with- mmph!”

The Sith’s face came closer with every breath. There was a sick gleam in his eyes. At first glance, one would say that it was satisfaction at the defeat of the Jedi. However, if one were to look deeper, the gleam would seem to be of an opposite nature. It was unhinged, yes, but the sight was born of a demented devotion, a mad love that would not cease.

Instead of death, the Jedi’s kiss was stolen by the Sith’s devouring tongue. It twisted and fought with his own, and the Sith’s teeth tore harshly into the Jedi’s mouth. The battle lasted for a scant few seconds, and ended with the Sith breathing heavily over the Jedi, who was shoved to the ground in the frenzy. The saberblade now was pressed into the Jedi’s neck, and the Sith’s right hand cupped the scar left behind on the cheek, manically rubbing back and forth.

“Don’t you see? Don’t you feel it? Search the Force, you know it to be true. I love you, Arthur. I always have and I always will.”

“I- No! Stop it! Stop it now!”

Arthur struggled to wipe the vision out of his mind, but a presence at the other end of the dream soon pressed back in full force.

Yellow eyes on Korriban clung to Arthur, staking it’s claim as it clawed it’s way forth.