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ohgodmyeyes · 3 years ago

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Your writing kind of uh disturbs me? I know ‚don’t like don’t read‘ and normally I would do exactly that,

But

Rape? Incest?? I haven’t looked more into your writings because I was puking when I saw the luke/anakin stuff

„My new favorite ship“ no what the fuck

Who in their right mind ships that??

I was going to delete this the other night, partly because that's what I'd usually do, and partly because I'm actually not sure if you're serious— my sarcasm detector is broken, and I'm a bit incredulous to the idea that anything I've ever written is enough to shock or upset anybody in the year 2021. You didn't call me any nasty names, though (thanks!), and I don't feel like writing anything for real right now... so I'll indulge us both by answering your ask.

First of all, yes, rape is horrifying— that's the way I write it, because that's the way I see it, and I'm honestly kind of glad you see it that way, too. Some rape stories are meant to be read like porn (which is also just fine, by the way), but mine aren't: If you picked up on that, even just through skimming 'Ani', then I feel artistically validated, and owe you a big thanks.

Anidala, as presented to us in canon, says more about mental illness and domestic abuse than I think it intends. People have been using that ship to explore and depict heavy topics for well over a decade now; we wouldn't still be doing it if it weren't a worthwhile pursuit.

It's been said before, but it's always worth saying again— Star Wars is, first and foremost, a story about people who love each other. They love each other for better or for worse, taking all of their damage and trauma and weird conditioning with them. There's only so much that can be explored in canon without rendering the franchise inaccessible to its original intended audience (I get it— my own kid is in the next room watching Lego Star Wars right now), and that's where fanworks come into play. We have complete freedom to look at whatever we want, solely through our own creative power.

Which, I guess, brings me to the incest! I was, at one point, pretty nervous about sharing it; needless to say, I don't feel that way anymore. Mark Hamill and Hayden Christensen are two attractive, completely unrelated men who play two sexy, interesting characters. I like imagining Luke and Anakin together romantically because it's fascinating... and, yes, extremely aesthetically pleasing to me.

Darth Vader is a sad, angry shell of a man for years and years before Luke Skywalker comes into his life. When they 'meet' in the trench on the surface of the Death Star, he feels something he hasn't felt in a long time. He doesn't know Luke is his son at that point, or anything else— all he knows then is that the kid is absolutely bursting with Force energy. He's fascinated, confused, curious, and scared. Those feelings escalate and change enough over the time that passes between ANH and ESB that I totally believe Vader might end up finding himself helplessly infatuated (in his own weird, obsessive way) with young Luke before he knows better.

Their relationship culminates with them claiming an emotional connection which, in my eyes, is unrivalled by anything else either of them ever achieves for themselves. It's a very special bond, and because I'm a mushy horny old lady, I readily read romance into it. I can understand why some people wouldn't, but I can't help the impression I get. Human ingenuity has gifted me a perfectly safe and ethical way to revel in the warm fuzzies I have for these fictional men— and it's not just me, if the infallibly kind response of other ao3 readers is any indication.

Luke and Anakin are both such three-dimensional, relatable, interesting people. There is an endless number of scenarios I can imagine that involve them interacting romantically. Some of those situations are whimsically unrealistic and unabashedly sexy; some of them are deeply disturbing, and very sadly conceivable. Some of them are somewhere in-between, but all of them are entirely imaginary, and you can always count on me to label them accurately.

I'm not bound by real-life ethics or morals when I'm writing fanfiction for free, and neither is anyone else. There are some stories I can't bring myself to read either, and that's alright— those kinds of preferences are both unique to individual people, and endlessly variable. Something I love about stories is that they only take an author to bring them to life; that author can depict essentially whatever they want without having involved anyone but themselves in the production of their work. That's magical! Written language is a man-made miracle, and restricting its use has, historically, never really ended well.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk about some of my favourite people, and why I love writing the things I write about them. I'm largely out-of-touch with what other fans like and dislike, both about my own work and in fandom more generally. I don't know what anyone thinks of anything until they tell me, so I appreciate you doing just that without getting rude about it. :)

#thanks anon #fanfiction #luke x anakin #anakin x padme #star wars fanfiction #i never claimed to be in my right mind #shipping

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twilightofthe · 4 years ago

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What was your opinion of the Clovis arc? People I know either love it or hate it, no in between. I generally liked it but found it waayyy ooc.

Hey anon, thanks for the ask!!!!

AHSJFLSLALK OK SO UH. Wow. Clovis arc. Yiiiiiiikes ok so. I totally agree with you on the fandom divide and I also totally agree that everyone involved in it is rather OOC for my taste. That being said, that case of OOC is exactly why I personally do not like the arc that much at all.

(Please note that my following words are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS, and that anyone is free to disagree, in fact I welcome the discussion, and even if this is your favorite arc, please consider yourself welcome on my blog I hold nothing against those who might like it)

Part of me was gonna make a short and sweet point about how I don’t like that TCW has had both of its main female characters have unwanted kisses forced on them, and instead of teaching young girls watching to tell those kinds of people to fuck off and respect their bodies, we get: 1. Just let it happen, you both must kinda like each other anyway or 2. Stay still then sit back while your boyfriend beats him half to death

But actually turns out I wanted to spend all day writing an essay so now you get this. So far I’m gonna hit four points:

the show’s constant need for Vader foreshadowing sometimes tending to completely override Anakin’s current mindset and personality he should have at this point in the timeline as well as his preestablished characterization

the way TCW gave Anakin a giant dosage of toxic masculinity to try and please the pissy movie critics who didn’t like that he cried

the role of Padmé and how TCW tries to portray her as a “strong woman” by just having her constantly be irritated by and sometimes even look like she actively dislikes her husband while simultaneously have her act OOC so they can blame HER and her actions for Anakin’s reactions and anger and overall Fall

How I think this arc is not irredeemable and that with some fixes it could be done decently— decently, not well, because a lot of this arc’s problems are also due to preexisting writing choices throughout the show

(Ok whoops this turned into a half Clovis arc rant half entire TCW Anidala commentary)

So firstly I wanna start that yes, I am fully aware that TCW is meant to fill in the gaps between AOTC and ROTS and help explain why Anakin’s mindset in the final movie is what it is and justify his Fall. Of course we need to show some Vader foreshadowing throughout the series, and in some places it is executed very well, notably the Mortis arc, the Bad Batch arc, the Wrong Jedi arc, as well as others that I can’t cite off the top of my head currently because I might have a mild touch of heat exhaustion wooo I need to get off the beach.

But it also has some rather hamfisted Vader foreshadowing stuff too. Like, y’all know the fandom joke where it’s like “Anakin: *Accidentally Leaves The Toilet Seat Up*. The Background Music: *BLASTS the Imperial March*” but like, they actually really do that. Like the time where they have Anakin take out a terrorist about to blow up an entire ship full of people and then play the Imperial March afterwards and imply he’s a “cold-blooded killer” just to defend the moral purity of the two people who were gonna stand there and let the ship blow in the name of idealism.

I’m getting off topic but yeah, sometimes the show’s Vader foreshadowing makes sense, sometimes it’s pretty forced, and the Clovis arc DEFINITELY leans towards the forced side, and when they try to force more of Darth Vader into Anakin at a point where he shouldn’t quite be there yet, it screws with his entire character.

This is particularly shown in the majority of the show’s takes on Anakin’s relationship with Padmé. Namely, they tend to forget nearly the entirety of AOTC with the exception of the Tusken murder scene, then forget even more of ROTS up until the point where Anakin strangles her on Mustafar. Basically, they take the truth that it was Anakin’s unhealthy attachment to Padmé that sparked his Fall, but then they decide to run with it where almost every single interaction he has with her in the damn show is him being a toxic overbearing dick to her and her acting like she mildly tolerates him at most and definitely doesnt respect him as like, I guess a way of showing what happened on Mustafar is in character for them???? Ugh, I’ll explain further.

So with Anakin’s aggressive possessiveness towards her. We know Anakin has possession and attachment issues. We know he’s a clingy needy whiny anxious mess who’s constantly afraid of losing or driving away the few people he has pinned his entire happiness on. We know he leans unhealthily on Padmé to provide the majority of his emotional support. We know he’s convinced himself he can’t live without her. But never, NEVER is it seen in the movies where his possessiveness turns into outward aggression towards her or this douchey pushiness. Never does he treat her like his property, like she belongs to him.

Not until Mustafar.

Not until he’s raving, half out of his mind with the warring emotions over the atrocities he’s just committed, until he’s begging her to understand where he was coming from, begging her and the child to stay with him and justify his decision, until he sees Obi Wan and sees her backing away from him, leaving him, and he PANICS because oh no no no you can’t abandon me, I need you, doN’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME. And he lashes out and tries to force her to stay, punish her for leaving and doubting him, and he puts that hand around her throat.

And that is supposed to be when we know he’s crossed the line, when we’re supposed to be horrified, where we know he’s lost himself, because he has NEVER ACTED LIKE THAT BEFORE.

Now how does Anakin act before? In the movies? He’s deferential to Padmé in almost every other scene they’re in together.

In AOTC, yeah he stares at her a bit creepily from a distance, he says awkward things and does goofy stuff to impress her, but he does Not get in her face. The few times he does invade her space, she flat out tells him: stand back. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t say that. Don’t interrupt me. And Anakin always, always backs off, respects her wishes. He follows her lead and lets her call the shots both on Naboo when he’s supposed to be protecting her and when she organizes the Geonosis rescue and once they arrive where she flat out tells him “I’m a Senator, I’ll handle this, just back me up”, and he’s all but just “ok yes queen”.

But they aren’t married then. Fine, take ROTS. It’s a movie all about Anakin’s issues but even then, when he’s worried about Padmé dying, he tells her he’s worried and that he can’t lose her, but he still keeps a distance. He doesn’t constantly hover and loom over her. If anything, Padmé, both in ROTS and AOTC is always the one to approach Anakin and close the distance when there’s conflict. When Anakin is upset, he averts his eyes and distances himself, tries to draw in on himself and brood silently, and we’ve seen it in Palpatine sometimes (of course with bad motives but he still does), but Obi Wan and Padmé both especially needing to be the ones to come over, turn his face to them and be like “hey, look at me, I care about you, what’s wrong”. Padmé SAYS in ROTS when he’s feeling specifically conflicted about losing Padmé, “don’t shut me out” and has to come over to him because he’s retreated into a corner of the room to scowl angstily out the window. Anakin does NOT get overbearing and possessive of her or get in her face, not once in the films.

In the fucking show? The Clovis arc, while perhaps the worst offender, isn’t even close to being the first time Anakin has been overly pushy and aggressive with Padmé, or acting like she’s something he owns, From that time in the Senate Hostage ep where he’s bugging her about ditching work and all but acting like incels texting like “awww but babe my dick hurts :(”, from the FIRST Clovis disaster ep where he’s childishly trying to screw up Padmé’s mission, to the Clovis arc in season 6

And this is where they just roll right in with their “oh so Anakin’s an overbearing, entitled douche” bit with the interaction he has with Pads and he’s trying to talk her out of taking the Clovis assignment and he says something along the lines of “as your husband, I demand you don’t do this”.

Hwat. The Fuck.

What kind of caveman-esque, 1800’s-ass man of the house whom my wife must obediently serve kinda entitled-ass BULLSHIT?!?!?!?

Like, I’m sorry, I really am, but that is just completely out of left field and not like Anakin at all. I mean to the point that when he’s an evil Sith Lord trying to talk her into taking over the galaxy with him, EVEN THEN he does not include “Padmé you must join me because I’m your husband and you do as I say” sort of domineering assholerly.

Anakin does not push Padmé around. He does not TRY to assert authority over her or try and force her to do shit. Not only because she doesn’t put up with that kinda shit for a second, but because Anakin respects Padmé; he will treat her with respect. He always has, and sometimes like in this arc it really doesn’t feel like he does.

Now of course Padmé’s response to the “I own you” declaration is “fuck you, asshole, I do what I want” and doubling down on her decision, and then decides to go even harder on the mission if only to spite her douche husband (and we’ll get to Padmé’s characterization in a bit) which is a very different kind of Anidala conversation we see in the show as opposed to the movies (also discussed later).

Now, the reason for Anakin’s overbearing douchery ties directly into an overarching problem in TCW— honestly, one of the very few issues I have with this show, but the problem is that it touches nearly the entire thing —and that is they almost completely reworked Anakin’s personality to be more hyper-masculine alpha male.

This is a topic I’ve discussed on my blog before, but the gist is that in the movies, Anakin was not the typical male heroic protagonist and DEFINITELY not what people expected from Future Darth Vader The Masked Brutish Male Power Fantasy. He was awkward, he was shy, he was soft spoken, he was clumsy around the girl he liked, he was very openly romantic, he liked frolicking in fields and candlelit dinners and snuggling. Two of the most important people in his life were soft, feminine women and he openly loved them very dearly and very gently— and he deferred to them when he felt it was right, as I’ve mentioned before. He CRIED when he was upset and was messy and emotional. And fanboys hated this with a burning passion. They couldn’t project their power fantasy onto this!!!! The Anakin critics were a HUGE part of the mob who crucified the prequels to the point of chasing both Anakin actors practically out of the movie industry in general.

The Clone Wars writers were obviously petrified of this happening again. So their solution, as has always been Star Wars’s solution to hateful fans being upset about an innocent character, is to completely rework them, hide or retcon all the undesirable qualities, and act like everything was all fixed. Now don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of TCW Anakin that I adore. As I’ve also mentioned before, they got his humor, his cleverness, his eagerness to do the right thing, to help people, his relationship with Obi Wan and Ahsoka and his men, they got that all perfectly. But the rest??? TCW’s solution to the criticism of Movie!Anakin was to turn him into an agressive, dominant, violent shadow of everything “soft” he was in the movie

Now, he speaks loudly and more deeply. Now, he’s cocky and overconfident and while yes he was arrogant in the movies, now it’s dialed up to like an 11. He never cries, never even THINKS to show a negative emotion that’s not Manly Rage And Aggression(TM). And then there’s the way he is around the women in his life. No more awkwardness or shyness, now he makes jokes about being a “ladies man” and does whatever the fuck flirting he does with Miraj Scintel even though the Anakin from the movies would have needed like every scrap of his self control just to look at her without insta-murdering her face. And then there’s how he is with Ahsoka and Padmé. He is muuuuch more of a loud brash dudebro around them who pushes his weight and is kind of controlling and their solution is just to have the both of them be Strong Women(TM) who Fight Back whenever he tries it too hard with them.

With Ahsoka, it’s not too bad because it’s a brand new dynamic and she’s a rather agressive firecracker personality herself when we first meet her, so the constant Snips n’ Skyguy snipefest works for them. For Padmé? It just means that in far too many episodes they’re in there’s a point where Anakin says something Eh and Padmé gets mildly irritated to actually annoyed with him for it and she’ll talk down to him and then there’s an argument between them because he’s bullheaded and she’s a Strong Woman. Why do I consider these out of character?

In the movies, despite the flaws, Anidala is a couple who actually tries to communicate. Anakin feels open to speak about his troubles to Padmé and her to him (for the most part, she definitely has a savior complex and a tendency to squash her own shit so she can help deal with both Anakin’s and the galaxy’s at large) when they’re worried or concerned about something and they want to talk it out, so they’ll talk it out!

The problem with Anidala isn’t that they don’t communicate, it’s that they try but also only do it by halves because they hate fighting. They’ll talk, Anakin will say something that Padmé might disagree with— the fascism discussion in the Naboo field in AOTC, the question of whether the Republic is just or not in TPM —and she’ll try and correct him if she feels he’ll listen, but if he doubles down, she’ll go “ok you know what, agree to disagree, let’s not fight” and she subtly changes the subject because she hates fighting with him. If Pads says something Ani doesn’t like— telling Obi Wan about them in ROTS, some emotional advice she tries to give in both movies —he’ll flat out shut down and be like “I don’t want to talk about this, let’s drop it” and then seek out cuddles or affection as a distraction.

And that brings us back to the Clovis arc. The scene where the “as your husband” line occurs. Anakin is trying to talk Padmé out of doing this not because he’s jealous. Maybe he was jealous the first time he met Clovis and saw Padmé being all cute n’ fond with her old flame, but this time it seems almost entirely because last time ended in catastrophe and he’s genuinely worried for Padmé and feels she’s not thinking wisely, that she’s putting herself in danger.

However, Anakin is deciding to voice these concerns in Possessive Dudebro Pushing because of the aforementioned misguided Vader Foreshadowing and Toxic Masculinity. Padmé? Is not even CONSIDERING what he has to say, is just breezing on through and shutting him down at every turn and generally acting like he’s a dumbass who doesn’t have a clue about anything.

Now, it is very in character for Padmé Amidala to be all “I’m right, you’re wrong, fuck you don’t get in my way”. HOWEVER, they aren’t framing this as solely Padmé having a goal and bulldozing her way through the situation. That’s not how they frame this.

They frame this as: Padmé is embarrassed that she misjudged the situation wrong the last time and embarrassed even further that Anakin had to step in and get her out of trouble— which he brings up —and probably remembers that he made fun of her while he did it—

(Timing out to say that THAT scene was also OOC; they once more wanted a Vader parallel what with Anakin’s silhouette when he opens her cell door and the way Padmé’s sleeping pose is identical to Leia’s in ANH. But Anakin basically steps in and gives her this condescending-ass “awww the little wife’s gotten in over her head like I SAID she would, good thing I’m here to rescue her!” bit that’s really just MEAN. It’s not like him and Obi Wan’s/Ahsoka’s teasing snark whenever they have to pull each out of trouble, he’s just kicking her while she’s already down. Really, Anakin’s reaction should have been a lot less humorous and a lot more pissy; she didn’t listen to him, didn’t trust him, and ended up in danger because of it. It’d be a surly and upset “I told you so”, not an amused one.)

—and now it seems much more like Padmé is solely taking this assignment to spite Anakin for being a dick and to pettily prove that she knows what she’s doing rather than any sense or urge to do the right thing. And....... childish pettiness????? Is not Padmé. And yet, she has the entire immature “don’t tell me what to DO, Anakin” attitude this whole arc that amounts to WAY more than just the normal response she would have to his overcontrolling dickishness

And once again, it’s because she, like everyone else in the episode, seems to think the problem Anakin has is that he’s jealous of Clovis. He’s not, not really. He’s insecure, yes, but he also knows Clovis is a bag of dicks as well, and trusts that Padmé knows she’s better than that. His problem isn’t fears he’ll lose Padmé, it is entirely that Padmé isn’t listening to his concerns, doesn’t trust him, is going into a situation they both know is unwise, and he is frustrated he’s not in a position where he can look out for her since he feels she’s not looking out for herself. And, he’s not entirely wrong. Padmé IS being reckless and kind of irrational solely to prove a point. He just goes about it pretty much entirely the wrong way, which is what you can really say is the cause and effect formula for any problem Anakin Skywalker encounters and subsequently makes worse.

And then there’s That Scene. The one where Clovis tries to force a kiss on Padmé and Anakin freaks and almost kills him for it. I’ll start off by quoting another Tumblr user on that very scene by saying in regards to Clovis: “that bitch deserved that”. The almost murder? Maybe not that far, but the initial hitting for disrespecting someone’s “no”? Yep, that was deserved.

My first criticism is that Anakin shouldn’t have even had time to attack him because why the fuck wasn’t Padmé instantly kneeing him in the balls?!?! Like Padmé is not prone to violence immediately, no, but she can will and does defend herself immediately when she needs to— her right punch knocked someone tf out once when she was pissed —and she already gave him a warning that his advances were not welcomed.

Now, I am absolutely not victim blaming. I am NOT saying it is the fault of a woman (I’d be a hypocrite if I did and that’s all I’ll say on THAT), or of anyone when faced with sexual harassment, if they don’t fight back for whatever reason, no matter how capable of doing so they may be. What I’m saying is that considering her previous behavior and personality and the fact that the show NEVER goes deep enough into explaining heavy stuff like why victims might freeze or NOT fight back when faced with harassment, I feel like showing her not attempting to defend herself at all is kinda strange.

Now, Padmé’s utter passiveness to the situation aside, we’re going back into toxic masculinity and misunderstood interpretations of how Anakin displays possession. While I’ll repeat that Clovis deserved consequences for the forced kiss, Anakin going full caveman defending his property jealous rage just. Doesn’t feel right to me. Again, I think Anakin would probs hit him and put the fear of living god into him, maybe even I’d buy the attempted murder if they framed it as Anakin doing it because he hates those who force their will on others and disrespect women, but the whole that’s MY wife and you’re touching her shite just once more feels alpha male aggressive ridiculousness. Like again, I understand Anakin is possessive of Padmé, but not like this. I’m sorry, but I just cannot see that, him fighting over her like she’s a scrap of meat.

Like, I completely think she’s in the right tho to put them on a break after he does it though. That’s well within her right.

But then onto the FINAL part where after Clovis goofs and fucks them all over and then dies, she forgives him and blames herself for everything and apologizes. And like, that part I do see as in canon and character for her and for Anakin. He doesn’t like to admit his mistakes, her mistakes weigh on her and when she fails to fix or save someone, she falls into depression and upset and self-blame.

But the fact that Clovis died because Anakin dropped him? Anakin Skywalker, who scaled an entire elevator shaft carrying two people over his back who combined probs weighed more than Padmé and Clovis. Anakin Skywalker, who’s used the Force to lift tons of debris, who’s used it to hold back explosions, Anakin Skywalker, MOST POWERFUL FORCE USER IN HISTORY WHO TENDS TO RELY ON BRUTE STRENGTH FOR MOST SHIT ANYWAY. That Anakin couldn’t pull two people over a ledge?!?!?!?!? This has always bothered me.

Like to be honest; I feel this entire episode could have been so fixable too. Like keep Anakin’s obsessive worry over Padmé making a mistake, keep the best part of the arc which is his talk with Obi Wan where Obi Wan tries to connect with him and explain that he’s not alone, all Jedi have emotional struggles and have loved, if perhaps he wants to TALK to someone about it, Obi Wan is here for him, like that? That’s okay!

Just ugh ffs, get rid of the nasty Anakin treating Padmé like a naughty dog who won’t obey him and the Padmé purposely acting unwisely to spite Anakin plot. Have the entire conflict be both of them being upset that the other doesn’t trust them, doesn’t believe in their advice, keep Padmé’s speech about how marriages NEED trust and compromise to survive, take all of Anakin’s aggression towards Padmé and transfer it to aggression towards Clovis, like make the conflict him menacing the guy if he hurts Padmé again just because he’s being overprotective and “if you won’t look out for yourself I will” and Anakin getting constantly checked for not being able to control his emotions, Padmé can tell him off for being overprotective instead of overaggressive and his possessiveness can instead show through him arguing that he needs to keep her safe at all costs. THAT can be the argument.

And if they want the Vader foreshadowing? Like real, in-character Vader foreshadowing??? Tbh, drop the Clovis beatdown, drop the machoness towards Padmé, and just have Anakin blatantly DROP the douchebag at the end of the episode instead of his hand slipping. Make him choose to ACTIVELY kill Clovis. Like THAT, Anakin taking the law into his own hands and deciding that he knows best and this guy is dangerous and has fucked up one too many times, there being an opportunity where there’s an chance to save Clovis when they’re alone without Pads, “be a Jedi, Padmé wouldn’t want this, do the right thing” Clovis might say, and we can see Anakin’s face considering, and then he just “Long Live The King”s him and lets him fall and die, THAT is an in-character Vader foreshadowing.

Then at the end of the episode, we can have Anakin lie to her, say Clovis slipped, say it was too late, and Padmé can believe him, thank him for trying. Then there’s the same thing where Padmé apologizes, and we can have a callback to the convo about trust and she adds that she’s sorry that she didn’t trust him, and when she says that, we zoom in on Anakin’s guilty face.

There. That’s how I’d fix these episodes

And THERE, I think I’ve complained about everything, I am SO sorry for the gigantic ass post and response, I’ll add a read more once I’m on my laptop and not on the beach on mobile.

But yeah anon, I hope that satisfies your question xD

Once again, I welcome discussion if y’all either agree with me or if you have any differing opinions, I know my takes are far from hot for several people and I’m curious to see what others think!

#i’m SO sorry i got carried away but yeah this arc and one or two others (one in particular) are the only arcs that kiiinda set me off tbh #long post #ask #anon #one (1) hot mess #queen of my heart #star-crossed lovers #sw the clone wars #anidala #the clone wars

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dettiot · 5 years ago

Text

Fic: Bench Trial

Title: Bench Trial Author: dettiot Rating: T

Summary: Padmé Amidala is one of the youngest judges ever appointed to the Washington, D.C. bench. Anakin Skywalker, a Marine veteran, is now a private investigator. They might not have ever met, if Padmé’s friend Satine and Anakin’s foster brother Ben weren’t a couple.

Notes: Written for Anidala Week 2020 for Day 4: Modern AU or Fusion/Alternate Fandom. I kinda adore modern Anidala AUs, and when I had the idea to include Anakin and Padmé in my Obitine lawyers AU, I took the opportunity and ran with it!

This is set in the future of Opposing Counsel, my Obi-Wan/Satine modern lawyers AU, so if you’d like to check it out, it’s available on Tumblr or AO3. Thanks for reading!

Bench trial: A trial without a jury, in which the judge serves as the fact-finder.

XXX

Padmé took her seat, setting her briefcase down by her chair and crossing her legs. As much as she supported anything to bring more women into the legal profession, and liked being able to socialize and interact with her coworkers, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to stay awake during tonight’s seminar. Her workload as a judge was much more extreme than before, when she had been a defense attorney. It was like there weren’t enough hours in the day. And the only way to get through all her work was to cut back on her sleep.

A tall, imposing blonde woman sat in the chair beside Padmé, speaking softly on her cell phone. From the tone of her voice, it was someone she cared about. “Of course Anakin’s welcome to stay. We’ve got plenty of room and besides, it’s better when there’s someone around to remind you to eat and keep you from falling asleep on top of your legal pads.” She paused, listening, then laughed softly. “Me, too. I’ll see you at home. Bye.”

She hung up and looked at Padmé with a not-at-all-sheepish smile. “Men. So helpless without us.”

Chuckling softly, Padmé nodded. “I agree.” The blonde looked familiar to Padmé, but she still held her hand out. “Hi, I’m Padmé Amidala.”

“Satine Kryze,” the blonde said with a firm, no-nonsense handshake. “You’re the judge who was appointed recently, yes?”

“Just about a year ago,” Padmé confirmed. “I think I’ve seen you at other events . . .?”

“Yes!” Satine’s eyes lit up. “I was on the affirmative side in our Equal Rights Amendment debate.”

Padmé nodded as she remembered. “You were amazing. Of course, it’s hard for any woman to argue against the ERA, but I thought you supported your position in a very innovative way.”

“Thanks,” Satine said with a smile. “I had some help from the other side.”

Before Padmé could ask for more, the speaker was introduced and she leaned back in her chair, doing her best to push down her yawn. While the topic was interesting, it quickly became clear the speaker was not very talented at presenting her argument, and it was all Padmé could do not to nod off.

After a half hour, she felt a hard elbow in her side and jerked her head up, looking around. She saw Satine smirking a little and couldn’t help a small laugh.

“You want to get out of here?” Satine whispered.

She took in the glazed eyes of the other listeners and the bumbling words of the speaker, then looked back to Satine and nodded.

Without any shame, Satine rose to her feet and stepped past Padmé into the aisle. Scrambling a bit to grab her briefcase and follow Satine, it took her a few moments to catch up to the blonde.

Once they were out of the room, Satine said, “Normally, I’m more willing to give the benefit of the doubt, but I just couldn’t take any more of that speaker.”

“I know,” Padmé admitted with a smile. “Thank you for the rescue.”

“How about a drink?” Satine said. “My place is just a few blocks away, and my boyfriend has a weakness for very good Scotch and very crappy beer.” She grinned encouragingly at Padmé.

There were a dozen briefs in her briefcase, waiting for her to read them. Not to mention the stack of legal journals at home, besides the laundry she should have done last night and other chores.

But Satine’s smile was so welcoming and Padmé couldn’t deny she would like a break. So with a smile of her own, she nodded. “All right.”

“Excellent,” Satine said. “Let’s go. We can order some dinner, too. This way!”

Padmé walked with Satine, feeling a jaunty spring in her step. “Have you and your boyfriend been dating long?”

“About a year,” Satine said easily. “We dated in law school, but then we broke up rather acrimoniously and didn’t reconnect until after I moved to D.C.”

“How lucky that you could start over,” Padmé said, feeling a slight flutter of envy. Not that she had any boyfriends in her past that she’d want to date again, but it was nice to think that you could get a second chance at love.

Satine nodded. “It was hard to get here, but it was all worth it. You probably know of him--Ben Kenobi, from the prosecution office?”

“You’re dating a prosecutor?” Padmé asked with a blink. Because unless she missed her guess, Satine was a defense attorney.

“I know, I know,” Satine said, rolling her eyes. “I’m working on Ben, though. We’ve talked about opening our own law firm in a year or two, once we have enough capital.”

The rest of the walk passed quickly as Padmé and Satine exchanged information about local law firms and their client bases.

Soon, they arrived at a modest-looking brownstone on a side street off Dupont Circle. Satine climbed the steps and opened the front door, stepping inside. “Ben? Are you here?”

“Coming, my dear!” came a distinguished-sounding voice, and within a few moments, an auburn-haired man with a beard and a twinkle in his blue-gray eyes appeared in the hall.

“Hello, my love,” Satine said, smiling brightly at Ben before kissing him softly.

He was enthusiastic in his response and Padmé looked away, feeling her cheeks flush.

Satine smiled a bit apologetically at Padmé when Ben finished kissing her, while the man in question looked at Padmé and smiled. “Good evening.”

“Ben, this is Padmé Amidala. We snuck out of a very boring presentation, and I invited her over for a drink.”

“Welcome to our home, Padmé,” Ben said, shaking her hand. “I’m afraid neither Satine nor I are much in the way of cooking, but we do have a fully-stocked bar. What can I offer you?”

She couldn’t help but be charmed by Ben. With a smile, she said, “I would love a martini, if it’s not too much trouble. That should tide me over until we decide what we’re ordering for dinner.”

“Brilliant,” Satine said. “Make it two.” She kissed Ben’s cheek, then turned to Padmé. “The menus are in the kitchen.”

“Sounds good,” Padmé said, taking a step to follow Satine.

There was the sound of a door opening, and Ben said in exasperation, “Anakin, really?”

“You said Satine was out!” said another man--Anakin, Padmé supposed--as both she and Satine turned around.

And then Padmé’s eyes nearly fell out of her head.

Because she was not expecting to see a tall, handsome, practically naked and dripping wet man in Satine’s hallway.

XXX

He was going to kill Ben. It didn’t matter that he was his foster brother--his father in some ways--the man who had helped him get off drugs, the one who had changed his life.

No, he was going to kill Ben for letting him step out of the first-floor bathroom wearing just a towel, in front of Ben’s scarily intimidating girlfriend and a complete and total stranger.

A really hot complete and total stranger.

Anakin gripped his towel tighter with his flesh hand, feeling grateful his new prosthetic arm could stay on when he showered. He was already embarrassed enough, he didn’t want to deal with explaining why he was missing his right hand and forearm, too.

Especially with how the really hot complete and total stranger was staring at him.

Doing his best to smile, he said, “Hey, Satine. Sorry about this.”

“Oh, no, don’t apologize. This is incredibly entertaining,” Satine said, her arms folded across her chest and a wide smile on her face.

“Cool, I guess,” he said, glancing at the stranger again. She was beautiful: long brown hair put up in a twist, big brown eyes, and delicate features. Her whole face looked like something out of an old painting: expressive and regal. Like a queen.

“Anakin, perhaps you might go back in the bathroom and get dressed?” Ben suggested, his face impassive but his eyes dancing with amusement. “Then you can meet Padmé properly.”

Padmé. He’d never met anyone named that. Just like he’d never met anyone with his name. And . . . he was staring at her now. Anakin was sure his blush went halfway down his chest, but he wasn’t about to look down and see.

“Right, yeah--good idea,” Anakin said, stumbling a little. “See you in a bit.” He couldn’t help meeting Padmé’s eyes one more time before he turned and went back into the bathroom.

He leaned his ear against the door, trying to hear if they were saying anything--if Padmé was saying anything about him--but all he heard was footsteps. Blowing out a breath, Anakin took his towel and finished drying off quickly. He pulled on his jeans and a faded black t-shirt, then ran his hands through his hair, looking at himself in the mirror.

The same blue eyes with a scar cutting across his right eyebrow, straight nose and pronounced jawline greeted him. Anakin wasn’t vain and he didn’t worry too much about his looks, but in this moment, he wondered if maybe Padmé had liked what she had seen.

Acting like a damn fool was nothing new to Anakin Skywalker. Especially in front of an amazingly beautiful woman. Hopefully, he could go and talk to Padmé and make her forget just how big an idiot he had acted.

Anakin stepped out of the bathroom and heard voices coming from the kitchen. When he stepped into the kitchen, which was open to the dining and living rooms, he found Ben at center stage, making cocktails, flirting with Satine, and joking with Padmé. The sight of a smile on Padmé’s face, the sparkle in her eyes, made Anakin want to be the one making her look like that.

“Hey,” he said, giving everyone an embarrassed smile.

Satine gave him an evil grin. “Hi, Anakin.”

Rolling his eyes, he looked at Padmé and smiled, holding out his hand. “Hi. I’m Anakin Skywalker. I’m Ben’s foster brother.”

“Hello,” Padmé said, taking his hand and shaking it, her palm soft and cool against his. “Padmé Amidala. I met Satine at a lecture tonight, and she invited me over.”

He nodded and smiled at her. “Nice to meet you.”

Her small nod and smile, before turning to talk to Satine, made Anakin’s heart fall. He waited a moment to see if he could join their conversation, but since he was the only one in the room who wasn’t a lawyer, it quickly became clear that he couldn’t add much to a discussion of some weird old law.

With a sigh, he went over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. He took a long swallow as he tried to readjust his outlook. Sometimes an embarrassingly, sexually-charged meet-cute didn’t go anywhere.

“Okay there?” Ben asked quietly, mirroring Anakin’s lean against the countertop.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Anakin said with a sigh. “I just let myself get carried away, again.”

Ben gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s one of your best qualities, Anakin: how you meet people and immediately connect with them. I envy you for that quality.”

It had to be some kind of witchcraft, how Ben could settle him down. Ever since they had first met, when Ben was serious and too mature at sixteen, and Anakin was a rambunctious and grieving nine-year-old, it had been like that. Although the death of his mother would always be the worst thing that had ever happened to him, having Ben drift out of his life was up there.

Anakin was grateful they had reconnected ten years ago. And he was glad that Ben had gotten back together with Satine, because he had never seen his foster brother so happy as he was now. He just . . . he wanted some of that happiness for himself.

“I just . . .” Anakin said softly, glancing over at Padmé. “She’s amazing, and I don’t even know her. So how much more amazing would she be if I did get to know her?”

Giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder, Ben smiled. “Let me see what I can do.”

“What? Ben, no--” Anakin hissed, but it was too late. Ben was already crossing over to stand in front of the counter where Padmé and Satine were sitting and talking quietly.

XXX

She knew Satine wanted to rib her about her reaction to Anakin. Even though Padmé has just met her, it’s blatantly obvious. But all it took was a look from Ben as they sat down, and Satine drew Padmé into conversation about other things.

But it was still pretty clear how amused Satine was by Padmé’s gawking.

Amusement was the last thing Padmé feels about her reaction to Ben’s foster brother. Because . . . she didn’t know she could react to a man like that. With an immediate, complete, and total surge of lust and desire and want.

Even as she kept up her end of the conversation with Satine and laughed at Ben’s jokes as he made their martinis, Padmé was trying to analyze just what happened in the hallway. Why the sight of Ben’s foster brother, dripping wet, wearing just a towel, was just so . . . inspiring.

Padmé crossed her legs and mentally stuck her tongue out at herself. Because there was an easy answer to why she’s feeling like this.

Anakin was incredibly, beautifully, hot.

Tall and lean? Check. Broad shoulders tapering to defined abs and a narrow waist? Check. Strong, athletic legs? Check.

And that was even before she got to his face. That jawline--those lips--and his eyes. Padmé always thought blue eyes were cold, remote. But Anakin’s were warm and intense and so alive.

It was his eyes, and the scar crossing by one of them, that kept him from being too pretty, too perfect. And she wondered what his story was.

Being in foster care must have made for a difficult childhood. But there was such warmth and affection between Ben and Anakin. So she wondered . . .

At that moment, Anakin stepped into the kitchen and Padmé almost groaned. How could he be just as hot in clothes? It was only a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, but with bare feet and damp hair, he was gorgeous.

“Hey,” he said, smiling apologetically at all of them, but his eyes seemed to linger on Padmé.

Now that both of them were in the same room, Satine seemed even more excited to cause mischief. Anakin ignored her and held his hand out to Padmé, introducing himself.

When she touched his hand, she nearly sighed at how warm his skin was. How nice it felt. It was like sinking into a bubble bath at the end of a long day.

What was wrong with her?

She had to turn away and start talking to Satine to keep her composure. She could see, out of the corner of her eye, how Anakin deflated a bit before going to the other end of the kitchen.

“You know, Anakin’s single,” Satine said quietly. “And I tease him, since he’s Ben’s younger brother and he’s easy to tease, but he’s a good man.”

“I don’t have time for dating,” Padmé said emphatically, because it was the truth. She hadn’t even really had the time for the seminar tonight, but had told herself that it might be worthwhile down the line. This? Spending time with Satine, hanging out at her house? How could that be worthwhile?

A tiny voice inside her said, “Worth isn’t a value in friendship,” but Padmé tried to ignore the voice.

“And I thought that, too, when I moved here,” Satine said. “But then my sister got stationed at Quantico, and I buried the hatchet with Ben and started dating him. And I met Anakin, and his foster sister Ahsoka, and . . .” She shrugged her shoulders. “Sometimes, you meet people that make you rebalance your whole life so you can spend time with them.”

Padmé took a healthy swallow from her martini. “I know. But . . . I have a duty to the court, to justice. I want to be on the Supreme Court someday. And that means working as hard as I can to achieve that.”

“All right,” Satine said, smiling a bit sadly. “I like you, Padmé, and I don’t have a lot of friends here in D.C. So I hope this isn’t the only time we can do this. Because our jobs are hard and it’s nice to have some support.”

Although she doubted Satine was trying to make her feel guilty, Padmé looked away in regret. Because she liked Satine, too, and she definitely didn’t have friends in D.C. Her parents still lived in Connecticut, and while Padmé loved her sister and brother-in-law and nieces, getting out to Houston to visit them was nearly impossible.

Maybe . . . maybe she was looking at this in the wrong way. Maybe instead of the law seminars and professional organizations, she . . . just needed to make a friend. Someone who was also in the legal profession, so she understood the challenges, but more than that, Satine just seemed fun.

“You’re right,” Padmé said. “I . . . I’m sorry if I was rude. I didn’t mean to be. And I’d like us to be friends.”

Satine smiled brightly and lifted her glass. “Cheers to that!”

They clinked, Padmé smiling back, as they both finished their martinis.

“Ladies! I have an idea.”

“Oh?” Satine asked, smirking at her boyfriend.

Padmé grinned a little in embarrassment at the answering smirk Ben sent Satine, before he looked at her.

“Actually, I thought we could send Anakin and Padmé over to the Thai place to pick up some food for all of us,” Ben said. “They don’t deliver, but the food is simply amazing and well worth the walk.”

With Ben being shorter than Anakin, it was easy for Padmé to see Anakin’s flushed face and eyes that looked anywhere but at her. And . . . something twisted inside her, something soft and silent, that made her want to listen to her heart instead of her head.

“Sounds good to me,” Padmé said. “I love Thai food.”

Anakin’s head jerked up, his eyes immediately meeting hers. Then he smiled brightly. “Thai is awesome.”

Smiling back at him, Padmé hopped off her stool. “What do you guys want?” she asked, looking at Ben and Satine and nearly giggling at their matching confused looks.

“Chicken pad thai,” Ben said after a moment’s hesitation and a look at Satine.

“Tom kha soup with tofu and an order of basil fried rice for me,” Satine said, grinning at Padmé.

“All right,” Padmé said, grabbing her purse and turning to Anakin. “Ready?”

He nodded and smiled even wider. “Ready.”

XXX

As they stepped out of Ben and Satine’s place, heading towards the Thai place thanks to the GPS on Padmé’s phone, Anakin couldn’t help looking at Padmé.

Because . . . something had changed with her. She was smiling, looking at him . . . acting so much more open.

It made all his hopes roar back to life.

“So . . .” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “What do you do?”

“I’m a judge,” Padmé said, her voice even, looking at him with a slightly-raised eyebrow.

He had dated enough to know when a woman was giving him a test, but he wasn’t about to hold back his honest opinion.

“Wow,” he said, looking at her with even more respect. “That’s amazing.”

Padmé’s smile was so warm and dazzling, he felt a little dazed. “Thanks. I’m really happy in my job--the only bad thing is how much time it takes.”

“I know what you mean. Well, not exactly,” Anakin said, feeling a flicker of self-doubt. “I mean, my job isn’t a normal nine-to-five, so . . .”

“What do you do?” she asked, sounding interested.

“I’m a P.I.,” he said. “Ben helped me get into it after I got out of the Marines.”

Her head tilted and then she smiled. “I thought you seemed to have a military bearing to you.”

He wondered if that was why she had stared at him when they first met--she thought he stood like a soldier. And not because she was checking him out.

Giving his head a shake, Anakin tried to focus. “And now you’re friends with Satine. Because believe me, if she meets you and she likes you, she will adopt you. That’s how it was with me.”

Padmé let out a soft, beautiful laugh. “Yeah, I’m getting that. But . . . it’s nice. To have someone who knows themself and doesn’t have to spend hours deciding something.”

“It sounds like you speak from experience,” Anakin said, grinning at her.

Her answering grin made her look so fucking adorable, it was all he could do not to beep her nose or kiss her senseless.

“I just might,” she said, and Anakin made himself keep the conversation going as they walked towards the Thai place.

“I am not a thinker,” he said as he held open the door of the restaurant for her. “I just . . . do stuff. Whenever I get the idea.”

“Oh?” she asked, stepping under his arm. “That sounds scary. But also . . . freeing.”

Anakin shrugged and grinned as he followed her. “You should try it. Like . . . in this situation, would you spend fifteen minutes deliberating over what you’d get?” He gestured up towards the menu board.

“Not . . . not that long . . .” she said awkwardly.

Lifting an eyebrow, Anakin smirked at her. Padmé flushed a little, but then half-heartedly shoved at his shoulder.

“You want to be more impulsive? Just look at the board and order something,” Anakin suggested.

Padmé craned her head back and took in the menu, her lips pursing a little. Then she sighed. “I can’t . . . partly because everything looks good, but also because . . . what if I make the wrong choice?”

He nudged her shoulder with his own. “It’s Thai food, not a murder trial.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she said, “Okay, then let’s put the shoe on the other foot for you. Look at the board and order for me.”

Oh, she was . . . she was a little bit evil. Because . . . what if he made the wrong choice?

Ankin took a look at the menu board, then looked back at her, seeing how she had folded her arms over her chest. Her whole air was downright smug, and he felt himself rise to the challenge.

“Okay, it’s on. But, because I’m a nice guy: how spicy do you like your food?”

“Thank you for asking,” Padmé said with a grin. “Mild, please.”

With a nod, Anakin took in the board. After about a minute, he nodded and stepped up to the counter.

“What? You’ve decided?” Padmé said, sounding a bit panicked.

“Trust me,” he said, before smiling at the clerk. “Hi, we’d like a chicken pad thai, tom kha soup with tofu, an order of basil fried rice, pad prik king as hot as you’ll make it, and--” He paused and looked at Padmé. “Are you a vegetarian?”

She shook her head, looking up at him as she gnawed a little on her lower lip. Anakin grinned and turned back to the clerk. “And a chicken green curry, please. That’ll be to-go, thank you.”

The clerk nodded and put the order in, giving Anakin the total. He pulled out his wallet, then gently nudged away the outstretched twenty Padmé was offering him. “I’ve got this.”

“All right,” she said, putting away her money and watching him. He could feel her eyes on him, which made Anakin stand up a bit straighter. With that taken care of, they both stepped away from the counter, waiting for the food to be ready.

“You made that look so easy,” she said, gazing up at him.

Anakin shrugged. “I know what I like, but I also like to take a chance. What’s the worst that will happen? I’ll have to eat Ben’s bland old chicken pad thai? Oh, well.”

Padmé smiled a little, but she was still thinking things over. He could practically see the gears turning in her head. Which was incredibly attractive, honestly. He hadn’t ever dated women that were necessarily intellectual--they were smart, but Padmé was a whole different level. And as he watched her think, he wondered if she had any idea how beautiful she was.

“So . . . are you like that with everything? Just make a decision and go?”

“Most of the time, yeah,” Anakin said. “Because . . . I guess you could say I know, all too well, why you shouldn’t hold back. You never know when you’ll get another chance. I’m not gonna go skydiving or anything like that, but . . . life is meant to be lived. To be experienced. If you don’t do that--what’s the point?”

He felt his cheeks flush a little as he finished speaking. Not just for opening himself up like this, giving her the opportunity to ask more about his past--some details of which would make any woman hesitate to pursue him. But also, because of the look she was giving him. There was something going on inside her head . . .

She nodded slowly. “That makes sense. I--I really hope this works out.”

“What--” Anakin started to ask, before Padmé reached up, clearly going up on her toes with the height difference between them, and slid a hand into his hair. He gaped at her for a moment. But when she pulled his head towards her, Ankin was more than ready to meet her lips with his own.

And he found himself feeling very, very, very grateful that Padmé was using kissing him as a way to try out being impulsive.

End.

#anidalaweek2020 #anidala #obitine #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #obi-wan kenobi #satine kryze #star wars #opposing counsel

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strrne · 6 years ago

Text

Give Me a Signal, Ch.7

Chapters: 6/?

Word count (so far): 18880

AO3 Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6

Summary: When Padmé Amidala is unable to contact Coruscant while negotiating a loan on Scipio, the Senate suspects trouble, and sends Anakin Skywalker to go check on her. Of course, the resourceful senator isn’t really in any trouble – don’t flatter yourself, Rush Clovis – but there’s definitely some brewing.

(or; rewrite of the tcw S6 Clovis arc; anidala + gen)

Anakin had not wanted to punch Clovis. He had wanted to kill him. It was as plain as that. Most of the time, he just hated the man. But at that moment, for whatever reason, he had wanted to end him.

If he had not sensed Padmé coming and snapped out of whatever episode he'd hurtled into, who knows what could have happened. He couldn't recall half his actions, or a quarter of Clovis' words – all he remembered was the blind fury.

And at what? Anakin stopped to consider for a while, trying to think through his enduring anger. The man had done plenty of things, and didn't seem to know what was good for him, but what had he done so far that merited... death? This wasn't two years ago, and thank the heavens of Iego, the rage Anakin felt now could not remotely compare to – did he really want to go there?

A punch he could have maybe justified to himself, maybe even to Padmé, if he hadn't known what he had meant to do.

Or did he know? The worst part was that he didn't – and wouldn't ever. He was already too far removed from the situation – that was mostly blank to him now anyway – still vaguely angry, but no longer bathing and reveling in the sensation.

He wasn't even sure if he was more or less ashamed now that Padmé wasn't here. As soon as she'd appeared, he'd truly and genuinely regretted his actions – or rather, been forced to acknowledge the regret. And once she'd gone, he'd wanted to keep on regretting, so as to make sure he'd never snap like that again. But now he wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore. It was certainly unpleasant, but he couldn't quite place it.

Anakin felt like he shouldn't have needed Padmé for this, but he was already a little confused whether the Jedi dogma dictated one try to identify their feelings and then ignore them, or just ignore them, and... feel harmony instead, or something.

”It's that Jedi Knight, isn't it?”

For once, Anakin really wanted her to say yes – in public. In front of the Chancellor, all the politicians, Republic representatives – and… banking enthusiasts? – that had gathered at the spaceport to see Clovis off back to Scipio. In the earshot of Bail Organa and another senator Anakin didn't recognize, who had somehow missed Clovis's whispered words that he could hear crystal clear from a distance. Just in time to see him arriving, give him a warm smile, take his hand and pull him into a kiss. In front of all these people.

Wow, his fantasies had gotten tame these days. And yet, it was still the wildest, most surreal thing Anakin could imagine. Especially when reality played out quite differently.

”Anakin!” Padmé exclaimed as she first saw him coming, too surprised to greet a 'Master Jedi' or 'General Skywalker'. Clovis whirled around – the rest of the crowd did too – but it was Clovis's face that Anakin was gauging; his intentions, his sensations that he was assessing through the Force. The man was not afraid of him. He believed Anakin to be a raving lunatic and completely unfit for his chosen profession – and a part of him washalf-expecting to get hit again, on the spot – but he was not afraid, for whatever reason.

Good? Bad? Anakin didn't know – he was used to being feared, or at least respected, on the sliding scale from 'ever the Jedi, so mysterious' to awe-induced fear and envy. And he took that respect as a half-given from all his enemies – the lack of it was always something of a personal insult. So to have this man still scoffing at him, after he'd introduced him to forces from within less mystical than the one with a capital forn… bad?

Then again… maybe that just meant Anakin had not been quite as close to snuffing the Living Force out of him as he'd thought. Maybe he had just punched him, taken a punch, and the control table had imploded on its own. It wasn't as though he had found that many black tufts of hair while cleaning up the table. So... good?

”Master Jedi,” Clovis greeted, and Anakin had to give him credit for putting up a masterful faux diplomat face. And whereas Obi-Wan had lately pointed out that he owned a pair of eyes, the Senators apparently didn't – many of them seemed delighted at the General's surprise appearance, for whatever reason. Especially the Chancellor, but he was always happy to see Anakin. ”We didn't expect the honor.”

Padmé's expression altered between confused and hopeful as Anakin returned the greeting with a nod, then stopped before Clovis and held out his hand. Clovis took it, as though out of some ambassadorial reflex. Anakin had half a mind to keep and keep shaking it and involve his other hand too, like Clovis had been doing to his wife for weeks, but he was already disgusted enough with himself.

There was nothing he actually wanted to say to this slime pile of a man – so he didn't – but if Clovis could make grand public displays in the name of whatever, so could he.

Clovis, a little puzzled at Anakin's wordless gesture, nodded in response and said, ”And thank you for all your assistance, Master Skywalker… on Scipio.”

That last addition prompted a few snickers and awkward looks. Either the politicians were not as discreet and subtle as they prided themselves in being, or Anakin just sensed their amusement through the Force. His plight on Scipio had been widely holovised, named as a problematic factor in the now-moot loan negotiations and used as a political argument, so of course that was hilarious. At least now everyone's eyes had been opened. There was about as much diplomacy and cordiality in the air as in a droid fight ring in some dank cave on Tatooine.

After the incident, Padmé had decided to step down from her role as negotiator for a new loan contract and recommended her friend Bail instead, to a disappointed but understanding Chancellor Palpatine. She had cited her personal history with Clovis as being an interfering factor and (in her professional and cautious politician's language) alluded ever so subtly to Clovis's inappropriate advances, probably making it seem like the blame was on her and her inability to reconcile with their last encounter. The Chancellor had then appointed Senator Organa and an assisting junior Senator to go to Scipio for a fresh round of negotiations and an extended diplomatic visit instead, while Padmé would still be hailed as one of the two heroes who discovered the data needed for the Five's conviction. And also suspected, alongside Clovis, of providing false data and potentially soon leading the Republic to ruin. The world of war finances was scary and complicated.

Anakin knew that the personal part of this ordeal could've by now been over. That is, if he hadn't developed an obsession with Scipio's holo tower and almost taken the opportunity to stow away on this very ship.

Not yet. He wanted all of his tools in prime condition, and for once, he needed to make one of those 'actual plans' that Obi-Wan was always nagging him about. He wondered what his Master would say if he knew he was going to make this rare exception for the sake of, technically, committing a crime.

Unceremoniously, his worst enemy was shortly packed into a ship and shipped off to Scipio. As they started to head back, Anakin sensed that Padmé wanted to talk, but Senator Chuchi apparently required Padmé's attention with greater urgency, and the Supreme Chancellor, in turn, wanted a word with Anakin.

”What a lovely gesture, Anakin,” he praised, placing a wrinkly hand on his shoulder. They were trailing behind the rest of the party, as the elderly Chancellor's movements were slow. ”I know you're not fond of the man. And when you consider the circumstances of his acquisition of the data file… oh, I myself worry whether he is to be trusted. But do not we all want to believe in second chances, hm?”

Anakin's handshake, to be sure, had not been for the sake of giving Clovis a second chance – more along the lines of pettiness, feeling superior, and maybe impressing Padmé, or at least making the handshake the last interaction she'd witness between the two men.

”Yes… we'll see,” Anakin muttered. Maybe the gesture had been a little too public for his taste.

”Please don't mistake my public endorsement of Clovis for my private confidence in him,” the Chancellor clarified, sliding his hand from Anakin's shoulder along the side of his arm, and giving a smile. ”I pray for this success and continued redemption, but between you and I, should any slip-ups transpire… ” He tutted and wagged his finger while still smiling. ”We will not hesitate to take drastic action.”

Anakin was inclined to agree.

”What was that all about, Anakin? Earlier today?” Padmé finally inquired. Somehow, between her busy schedule and the demands of his job, they had not found a private moment until this late at night at her apartment. Anakin wasn't quite sure whether she sounded appreciative – of the handshake, or his entering through the balcony, or what he was (not) wearing at the moment in a hopeful spirit – but he'd soon find out.

”I… felt bad,” he lied – or did he? ”And I guess… I wanted to provide him one last opportunity to… you know… spill the beans on me. I didn't want to hide like some coward.”

”They would have never believed him over you,” Padmé scoffed, now walking his way, looking his way, and certainly looking at his relative lack of attire, but very deliberately pulling a shawl over her shoulder-exposing nightdress. Anakin made a pout. ”He's a traitor, you're a war hero; he shrewdly maneuvered his way to the top; you were wrongfully imprisoned…”

Anakin was starting to deeply regret the handshake. The gesture in itself had done nothing but soiled his hand with treachery and smugness, but to have it generate this many prolonged conversations over Clovis, who was finally gone from their lives forever – except...

For a moment, he reconsidered his plan to go to Scipio. Why go closer, when he could be farther? In a rare moment, he remembered one of Obi-Wan's lessons, and a boring one at that, which was to look inward in a moment of agitation and ask the Force for an answer. Even as Padmé's tone gradually softened and she made a few concessions – still a nice gesture, perhaps you meant well – Anakin instead turned away for a moment, closed his eyes, and listened.

Obi-Wan's Force signature was especially bright tonight – worried, but… different somehow. Anakin wasn't quite sure, because he'd often been accused of making everything about himself – but it felt like his Master was thinking about him. About... him and Padmé? But Anakin had no time to dwell on what juicy secrets Obi-Wan believed he'd learned.

But the Force didn't seem intent on giving answers… and Anakin never been much good at meditating. He only saw the reception tower. But that was not the Force – that was a man-made, unmystical, different kind of Galaxy-wide connective tissue. Mechanical, more grounded. Sure, he was great at both, but the two had little to do with each other. One couldn't use the Force to fix the reception and no matter how good the signal, its capacity was insignificant compared to the power of the Force.

At least, what he saw didn't feel like a Force vision. But if he was already obsessing about something, could he even recognize a vision if it woke him up at night and bit him in the nose?

With his human senses, Anakin had actually heard most of what Padmé had said, as he slid back into reality, without the more mystical kinds of answers. She still loved him, needlessly apologized for something – still found something to criticize him for – and was now staring at his bare chest and swallowing.

Without wanting to, Padmé – or rather Senator Amidala – found herself contacting Director Clovis through her holoprojector in two days' time. She half-expected the message to not go through, but it did – of course it did, because Anakin was still the best at what he did even when he couldn't do his best.

”Padmé!” a flickering blue figure greeted her, his voice many things at a time – surprised, tired, elated, caught off-guard.

”Hello, Clovis,” she said, a little too coldly. ”I thought it polite to inquire – in a professional and cordial spirit – whether the negotiations are progressing smoothly?”

She had briefly holo'ed with Bail yesterday, the signal a little more unstable at the time. He had informed her that he and the junior Senator were only just settling in.

”Uh,” Clovis uttered, eyes tracing circles on the floor, hand scratching his neck. ”T-to be determined.” He gave an awkward laughter, still not meeting her eyes. A faint hum of interference seeped into the signal.

”Clovis, is everything alright there?”

He gave a brave smile.

”I… I do wish you were here, Padmé.”

Padmé sighed. Technically, she had officially pulled out of the professional side of things, and this was the reason. She had called Clovis of her own volition, against her better judgment, and if this is what he wanted to reward her with, if this what he wanted to have a discussion about, then so be it.

”Clovis, we talked about this. Your behavior during your stay here was inappropriate. I apologize for leading you on and for using you in the past, but frankly that is all the more reason not to bother with me, and instead focus on the demands of your new position. I almost filed a complaint on you, but I–”

He laughed again – now hollowly, snidely.

”And you would have been believed.”

Padmé tilted her head defensively.

”This was a mistake, Clovis. Good night.”

”No, wait!” he suddenly pleaded.

Padmé inclined her head, almost startled, wondering just how many moodswings this man would undergo in the space of a few minutes. But as he hesitated, opening his mouth to speak several times only to back down, Padmé had to take the opportunity to instead make her message clear once and for all.

”Clovis, despite… everything, I want to support you professionally, and I want you to succeed professionally. But I'm not going to be drawn into some imaginary love triangle when there's barely enough love here for a single one-way line.”

Clovis looked hurt – and maybe something else – scowling silently from under his brows.

Padmé had meant her words – the supportive and the hurtful. She knew that underneath that superiority-inferiority complex and his obsessive tendencies, her old friend possessed many great qualities. But she also knew that even had she not been with Anakin – Anakin. Why was it that the constant mention of her husband – or 'the Jedi Knight' – worried her the most?

To be sure, Anakin's anger issues had given her lots of concern in the past, and recently. But suddenly it struck her that Clovis had, at the very least, hit him back. And if Anakin could not get his obsession under control, Clovis would soon be in a position to hurt him again – more subtly – or vice versa – less subtly. Just what would it take for this man – for any man – to start to embrace their best qualities, instead of the very worst?

#anidala #Anakin Skywalker #Padme Amidala #anidala fanfiction #The Clone Wars #uuuggh again quickest edit ever so i apologize for any errors #and also the very very slow pace we have going #cause i like to... dwell on stuff i guess #i promise this is still going somewhere #kinda starting to hate the title it's kinda cheesy #but even that's gonna play a role #other than the dumbest pun ever #this is such a tonally weird story tho #some comedy there #angst here #yeah anyway thanks for reading everyone!!!! <3 <3<3 #star wars #fanfic

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iabsolutelyresentthiswebsite · 7 years ago

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The Romantic Relationship Development Rebuttal

I received this comment (below) on my post for the second installment of my “Fundamental Misunderstanding of Rian Johnson” webseries and comments are not long enough for what I need to say.

Them: “I think you mistaken that the relationships in TLJ are meant to be explicitly romantic? You basically have a bunch of broken people just trying to connect to one another as they try to figure themselves out/their places (in the often flawed ways people do), which is much more realistic in an imperfect/war torn world than romantic love is. The OT and PT directly romanticizes these unhealthy relationships in Anidala and Han/Leia, but they both fail for lack of substance. On the other hand everything in TLJ is pretty subtle, tho Kylo and Rey have and spark more substantial development in each other than either Anidala and Han/Leia in the OT/PT. Is it romantic? Who knows. Affection doesn’t always have to be. What matters is that these characters and their relationships become the catalyst for growth, romantically or otherwise. Besides this, Rose’s character is there to give a voice to the rebels (in and outside the mobilized resistance) and their motivations. Perhaps the reason it was shown this way will be clearer in IX, as XIII clarified much of XII. TLJ and what Johnson was trying to do seemed pretty clear to me but I understand we all have diff opinions. Anyway, Happy V-Day!“

Because of their respectfulness, I have declined to include their name, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are so wrong on almost everything. Including the episode numbers... (BTW, I electively ignored the comments until someone slid in and agreed with them. This is the only reason I am replying now.)

Never did I say in that video that the relationships were intended to be explicitly romantic. The problem is, nowhere in The Last Jedi, was it ever even implied it was supposed to be something else. I understand the whole “imperfect people trying to find imperfect ways to make sense of things”. I like that concept. I do. But even on that front, both FinnRose and most especially Reylo fail on every account.

Finn and Rose don’t play on each other well, don’t challenge each other in any logical manner, and nor do they find any kind of solace or understanding that the commenter is referring to in one another. Finn is an escaped Stormtrooper, who is extremely conflicted, scared, but brave, however doesn’t know his place outside of the fact he feels semi-indebted to both Poe and Rey for saving him in different ways. Rose’s purpose is still unclear outside of the whole forced romance arc. She is a useless character, aside from the fact the whole purposeless excursion on Canto Bight that should have been between Poe and Finn led to Finn voluntarily aligning himself with the Resistance. But I truly believe, without Canto Bight, that whole alignment arc could have and should have been done much better and more convincingly. Rose’s character did nothing to serve to give the rebels of voice, so I don’t know what you’re talking about. We know that the rebels come from everywhere and have their own reasons for joining and exploring that would have been great and even hearing the little bit of Rose’s backstory was...fine, I guess, but it does not change the fact she handicapped the entire plot- rather, lack thereof. It’s never been necessary to have a poorly-designed side character’s motivations explored in a poorly-constructed environment completely being forced by the plot in a main canon movie. That is exactly what the books are designed to do. Cover information that is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things so that it gives backstory on people we didn’t really think twice about. We saw Rose’s sister die for the Resistance and that was pretty powerful, but we didn’t even seen Rose really grieve over her sister, except lashing out at Finn, whom she was just fawning over. Like...I’m sorry, she was written so badly. She is a detriment to the plot, to the necessary relationship developments, and even to herself.

Moreover, to boldly claim that it wasn’t intended to be explicitly romantic is objectively wrong. This is Disney we’re talking about. To them, love solves everything and for the things it doesn’t solve, it excuses. Rose kissed Finn because they wanted us to see them together romantically, but they gave Rose no personality and therefore, she and Finn have no chemistry. A kiss on the lips is a universal symbol of romantic love and as someone who was very mildly interested in a potential friendship between the two, that even I saw that kiss as romantic 100% of the way (btws, that was the only thing that lead me to that conclusion cinematically), it really says something. Also, cinematically speaking, the moment they kissed, an explosion went off, which is very clearly indicative of the romantic aspect I am so confidently asserting was intended to be in The Last Jedi between these two. They tried to make us see the “spark” by literally showing us them, but failed because of everything else wrong with their dynamic.

Moreover, I explicitly do not see Reylo as romantic at all. They are completely 100% at opposite ends of the spectrum and cannot reconcile at this point. A Reylo endgame is completely asinine with what Rian Johnson did to them, which has always been fine by me. I don’t like/respect/enjoy a Reylo endgame as a narrative concept because it does not make logical sense based on their characters and interactions. It would have been asinine after JJ’s first installment, too. Reylo simply cannot happen, logically-speaking. As TFA began to explain, TLJ solidified that Reylo is DOA- Dead On Arrival.

But the problem is, Rian Johnson basically said he ships Reylo, so we know that’s what he was trying to do. He said he played with the idea of them actually making out in The Last Jedi. That is proof enough he fundamentally misunderstands romantic relationship development, but also fundamentally misunderstands these characters he’s writing! He did not and continues to not understand their real dynamic, which I really don’t get. It’s not that hard.

Again, I concede that how someone might see the whole “imperfect people/imperfect places” thing. It makes more sense than what Rian tried to have happen. Rey and Kylo having this Force bond, which would have been fine under different circumstances, is a thing I was totally down for. Loved the concept. It made sense after what The Force Awakens established their relationship to clearly be, but now...suddenly that is thrown out the window for a shallow, Dues Ex Machina, self-fulfilling prophecy-esque plot device initiated by a person who simply is not powerful enough to make this thing happen. So is the Force-bond genuine or fabricated? No one will ever know.

Kylo is very broken, although clearly not nearly as broken as we were lead to believe considering Rian decided to have him throw his redemption away in favor of the lies and power his now-deceased master promised him in his youth. Kylo knows what he’s doing now. And Rey, completely stripped of her personality, is unrealistically believing every single thing Kylo Ren has to say without consulting Luke Skywalker about anything. I’ve already spoken about how OOC Luke was, so we are not going there right now. Rey, based on her characterization in TFA, would not have done that, especially considering Kylo had just murdered his father in front of her and knew that his father meant something to her. He did it as much for himself as he did to hurt her intentionally. If they were supposed to be “imperfect people finding meaning in imperfect ways”, Kylo would have actually gotten something beneficial out of it, much like Rey. Instead, we have Kylo Ren’s arc assassination and Rey being completely and utterly betrayed by Kylo Ren with no good reason and now the Rebellion is pretty much up shit’s creek without Han, Luke, or Leia. Maybe Rey learned a lesson that she wasn’t supposed to trust Kylo Ren, but why did she in the first place? She literally detested him all of about 18 hours prior. Maybe Kylo Ren learned that people cared about him, but Leia literally telepathically sensed her son and sent him good vibes and Han put his life in jeopardy for his son. He knew that, too.

Moreover and very quickly, Anidala wasn’t really all that unhealthy until Anakin became obsessed with protecting Padme. It was weird to us because Padme was 14 when Anakin was 9 and they got married when he was like 19 and she was 24. But like, it was what it was until Palpatine really started trying to turn Anakin’s heart by playing on his fears of losing Padme. And at really no point in time was Han and Leia’s relationship unhealthy. They fought a lot because they were denying the sexual tension that did exist between them and their personalities were both fairly dominant, so testing the waters was necessary. Couples fight all the time and their bickering really lead to them being able to see each other for who they truly are. Neither relationship was what you assert it was.

I will say, again and a-fucking-gain, nothing in this movie should have logically happened and what happened actually is illogical from the very concept to the way it was executed. Rian Johnson wanted us to see failure, but unfortunately for this franchise, the failure we saw was this God-awful movie.

But like you said, we all have differing opinions. Happy Valentine’s Day.

#anti finnrose #anti reylo #anti rian johnson #the fundamental misunderstanding of rian johnson #Virginia claps back #anti tlj

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alixofagnia · 7 years ago

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Get to know your fellow Reylos meme

This will be fun! Thanks for the tag @emperorren.

Answer these 10 Star Wars related questions, reblog and tag your favorite Reylo blogs to join in!

1) Who is your favorite Star Wars character of the new trilogy (excluding Rey and Kylo)?

Wow, that is so unfair because Rey and Kylo are truly my favorites from the ST so far.

Since TLJ came out, I would say Holdo. I love how she was introduced: you didn’t quite know what her deal was (or if that was all just in Poe’s head), but you gradually understood that there was way more to her than met the eye. Some people think she was a wasted character –because apparently showing up for the first time and then dying in the same movie amounts to a wasted, pointless character (Qui-Gon, hello, is that you? Rogue One squadron, are you there?). But I saw TLJ four times in the theater and every single time people literally gasped into the silence of Holdo’s death.

So, yeah, fuck off.

2) What is/are your favorite quote(s) from a Star Wars movie?

The OT movies were my “stay-home-sick” movies when I was a kid – I played the shit out of those VHS tapes, let me tell you. So, there are a lot of quotes from the OT that are just kind of pure nostalgia for me. I’m not a huge fan of the PT and since dialogue is one issue I take with them, I hardly ever quote them except to mock “she’s lost the will to live” because I find that line so problematic, and I just hate it.

It hasn’t been until the ST that certain lines of dialogue have actually resonated with me, probably because I’m seeing them as an adult. There are a lot of terrific quotes from TLJ, but I gotta let them stew a bit longer. So the two I picked are from TFA:

Maz Kanata: The belonging you seek is not behind you. It is ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it… The light… it’s always been there. It will guide you.

My liking this quote probably has a lot to do with Lupita N’yongo’s lovely voice and line delivery, because I remember tearing up in the theater when she started talking about the Force, and I swear to you I was not high. I just think it’s so beautifully spiritual, and when you put it into context with Rey’s journey and Kylo’s journey, or any SW character’s journey, really, it carries this deeply profound message of hope and faith.

The entire bridge scene dialogue, but mostly the moment when Han touches his son’s face:

I know it’s not a quote, but so much is contained in that single gesture.

It wasn’t shock at Han’s skewering that made my breath catch and bring a tear to my eye. It was the utterly heartbreaking grace of his final action. It’s such an unexpectedly visceral reaction and, actually, far more profound than I previously believed Han Solo capable of since he was largely a one-note character over the course of his SW career. This moment has taken on much more depth and meaning since TLJ’s release, in terms of Ben Solo’s arc, and I think it will continue to do so after Episode IX.

3) Do you think Kylo/Ben will survive Episode IX?

I have a lot of thoughts about this. Well, mostly just one.

YES.

As is obvious, Kylo Ren is one of my favorite new characters. That has nothing to do with Adam Driver, whom I had never watched before, and nothing to do with what I knew about the character, which was zero. [Srsly, I was in such an ‘I heart SW’ bubble for TFA that I did not even think about, let alone suspect, his heritage until literally the moment he was talking to Vader’s helmet.].

No, it has everything to do, instead, with the complex villain story-line and Byronic heroes. I love complex villainy. I adore Byronic heroes, with their tortured souls and black clothing. OF COURSE I was going to fall for Kylo/Ben. Just a bit.

But he’s also the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa and I love them, too. So, out of loyalty and like the good SW fan I am, I care about their son and what happens to him, and there’s just no hope to be found in Kylo’s death. There’s no good message in it. Even say that he’s “redeemed” or finds salvation or suffers through atonement, fine, whatever. Death is too simple. Vader was not a complex villain. Maybe in his youth he was supposed to be, but after his fall? No. He made his choice, and he chose the wrath and the Dark every day for 20 years until his son came along to rile up the long-buried conflict in his heart. No one conflicted Ben Solo more than Ben Solo himself. He’s his own worst enemy, as we all can be at some point in our lives.

It’s repeated all the time, so I’ll say it again:

Star Wars is a saga predicated on hope.

The message with a dead Ben Solo at Episode IX’s end is simply that of ‘well, you can find a way back from hell, but only if you die’, and that’s really bleak. Yet, it worked for Vader because, in the OT, he was largely an unsympathetic, “more machine than man” character.

Consider: How was Darth Vader going to find salvation and atonement for 20 years’ worth of galactic terrorism and oppression?

Answer: He wasn’t. His crimes were so great and extensive that 10 minutes of “goodness” couldn’t even begin to ease them. Narratively-speaking, his story was complete and it was time for him to meet his end. Character-wise, fueled as he was on hate and anger, and sustained by machinery for so many years, you have to also wonder if Vader wanted to die, ever since the moment he was told that he’d killed his wife and, by extension, his child[ren].

This greatly contrasts with Kylo Ren.

Consider: How is Kylo Ren going to find salvation and atonement for 6 years’ worth of galactic….wait, what?

Answer: The FO as a military and political threat is fairly new. It was not a fully realized organization during the events of Bloodline, though it was (if I remember correctly) in progress in the far regions of space. Ben, aged 23, was still with Luke at this time; he’s 29 by the start of TFA. So, in the span of 6 years, Kylo Ren canonically

destroyed a temple, killing a handful of classmates

started training under a Dark side master

became the leader of a mystery group

killed an old man from his past for withholding information during war time

ordered the mass killing of a small village during war time

interrogated some prisoners during war time

committed patricide during war time

fired on his mom’s ship during war time

killed his abusive master

led a full-scale yet futile attack during war time

tried to kill a projection of his uncle during war time

all while exhibiting acute internal conflict. It’s important to consider the majority of these crimes strictly within their context of war, primarily because it’s in the damn franchise title, but also because it again contrasts with Anakin’s crimes, which were not always within the context/name of war. It’s such a different villain treatment from OT Vader that I think Kylo not only deserves, but demands an equally different resolution.

Therefore, here’s a much more hopeful message on which to conclude the complex villainy of Kylo/Ben and, thus, the entire Skywalker saga:

You can find a way back from hell, if you live well.

4) What is your favorite scene featuring Rey and Kylo?

Ah, shit.

Well, the throne room battle was amazing and the closest to definitely-on-the-same-page as they’ve ever been to date. But I think I have to say the fourth Force bond scene. Hand making-out aside, this scene truly can be read as merely platonic, which I actually love because it’s another example of how this movie as a whole is so versatile and open for varying interpretations and discourse, for years to come!

AT THE SAME TIME, I personally feel that the hand touch (from the skin-on-skin contact, which the camera lovingly and reverentially sexualizes, to the forbidden connotation of Cock-block Luke) sent these two really rolling on a romantic trajectory. This scene also won over many viewers, whose previous feelings about Reylo were lukewarm at best and are now overwhelmingly positive. And that’s because of one undeniable thing:

This is the most emotionally vulnerable we’ve seen either Rey or Kylo.

It’s a major turning point in both their shared interactions and as individual characters. There’s a lot of amazing meta out there right now about Rey and Kylo, articulated far better than what I can produce. So, what I want to quickly add is that, for me, this scene reveals how utterly unselfish they can be with one another. Born from a place of intense, mutual knowing, they offered one another sincere support and reassurance from opposite sides of a political and ideological war. We later learn that this moment of reaching out yielded a shared vision, one where they saw themselves together.

A key takeaway is that they not only acknowledge this vision as truth, but earnestly –almost desperately– welcome it.

For me, this scene alone transcends the depictions of other cinematic romantic pairings within Star Wars itself, the wider genre of sci-fi, and the scale of big-budget franchises. I know I’m biased, but it’s quite frankly unbelievable how much was established and advanced between Rey and Kylo in two and a half hours of screen time, which they had to share with two other interwoven plot lines. For comparison, we have a good 80-90% of AotC entirely devoted to Anidala, and the most I’ve ever felt for them is a tepid interest because George Lucas and the OT said I had to. Written on paper, the Force connection scenes honestly sound super corny, this one especially. That they’re actually some of the film’s strong points is a testament to the story-telling/directorial abilities of Rian Johnson as well as the chemistry and talent of Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, of course. And the great thing is Reylo isn’t even over! Think how much screen time will be devoted to them in IX and what they could do with that!

This is bound to change upon repeat viewings and/or after IX comes out. But for now, yeah, this is my favorite Rey and Kylo scene.

5) What order did you initially see the saga films in?

I think I was 5 or 6 and I think it was Return of the Jedi first, then A New Hope and Empire (in that order) shortly after. The rest I’ve seen as they’ve been released.

6) If you had a lightsaber, what color would you want it to be?

Maybe like an ice white blue…I’m not much of a lightsaber gal.

7) What are your top 3 favorite Star Wars films?

I’m tentatively going to say Empire, Force Awakens, Last Jedi.

8) Which droid would you most like to own/ have as your sidekick on intergalactic adventures?

What’s that Empire/FO “mouse” droid called? Maybe that one.

9) Which Jedi master would you most like to train under: Luke, Yoda, Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan?

Pfffft. Please. Reylo, obviously.

10) What is your ideal ending for Reylo in Episode IX?

So, I really try not to look at a Reylo ending through rose-tinted glasses. Reylo is a pairing that at this point cannot be taken lightly: it’s dark, it’s deeply complicated, and it’s very imperfect. In other words, it’s an honest, unfeigned pairing and I identify with it so much more because of its mesmerizing humanity.

We inevitably hurt the ones we love; shit happens, people miscommunicate, feelings get hurt. Kylo and now Rey have exercised misguided, even manipulative, behavior toward each other and failed in basic ways to understand and accept one another’s differences despite having shared and attained a powerful moment of clarity in their way forward. People call this ship abusive; I’m not that sorry, but they’re wrong. At worst, it’s unhealthy.

Well, guess what. You can get healthy.

Since I can’t even begin to predict or shape an ending for Reylo, I would just say that I wish for them to be sound in body and sound(er) of mind, and preferably together in some way. I personally want to see that union be romantic, but I will also accept a platonic union. I love and respect these characters so much that, honestly, I just want them to finally find what they’ve been longing and suffering their entire lives for. Now that they’ve at least partially found –and briefly possessed– that, I hope they also find a way to hold on to it in whatever way they can.

So much for not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.

Tagging: @maleficentrox; @crez0le; @reylotea; @adambenkyloren; @paper-radio; @violet-is-maybe; @mooshygirl; @dr-porkchop1; @him-e

#reylo #rey #kylo ren #ben solo #star wars episode ix #can you guess at what i actually wanted to talk about #complex villains #byronic heroes #humanity #meta

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