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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Beyond - Legends I'll Come With You

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by ThreadSketch, Aug 9, 2014.

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  1. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Ooookay, I'm all caught up again (you say you're bad at updating regularly, but I'm even worse at reading and reviewing :p I hope your RL issues are sorting themselves out btw.)

    First things first, that VagabondX drawing. I'm going to thank Jedi_Lover too for sponsoring it. The drawing really captures the mood of that breakfast scene -- beyond the fact that Mara has sleeves ;) (of course she needs them for that holdout blaster, d'oh!) the contrast between the sour look on her face and Luke laughing his head off is simply perfect. I loved it!

    Like everyone else, I found that the opening paragraphs of your 13.04.2015 entry were extraordinarily well-written -- and this is you we're talking about, so that's saying a lot. It's a real tour de force to convey the irregular rhythm of smuggler life in just a few lines of text [face_love] And I also appreciated the fact that it's not just a piece of literary flourish, but it actually connects to the timing of her call in the next entry.

    Then there was the melty-melt factor of the concert invitation, but I love how you counterbalance the gooey mush of a perfect romantic, gentlemanly invitation with what I can only describe as post-adolescent awkwardness in the following scene -- that dialogue was great! I truly enjoy how you take your time and have them progress in managing each other, step by tiny step. I had to re-read that bit twice, because every single word carries a lot of subtext in that passage.

    (On a completely different note, your comment in one of your replies that "Sheev is such a sheevhole" had me laughing out loud. Writers and reviewers on these boards are really trying to outdo each other in declining the word 'Sheev' (on my thread I got 'Sheeverino', 'His Sheeviness The Palpster' and 'the sheeviest sheever who ever sheeved a sheeve'.) Maybe we should start a thread just to compile those? [face_laugh])

    Now I'm looking forward to Mara's trip to Yavin IV. I think it won't be what either of them expects.
     
  2. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    YOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU RANG

    [​IMG]

    Then I'll just take even longer to update so we can keep pace, LOL. [face_laugh]

    That sketch is everything. :D It's their relationship in a snapshot, bwah.

    [​IMG]

    That call is like a record scratch interrupting her nice, routine life, lol. She's expecting it but at the same time she's like, "GAH NO." Kind of like an upcoming dental appointment, LOL.

    YES THERE IS ALWAYS SUBTEXT SO SQUEE THAT YOU THINK SO. [face_dancing] Honestly, most of the time I write with the intention that there's a lot of information deliberately left off the page and it's okay if readers don't really notice or consider it, but it tickles me if someone picks up on it. I feel like it's more...realistic? Or something. For the characters to talk and think about things in a way where not all the parts are presented to the audience because it would seem awkward or forced, too much telling instead of showing, whereas the characters have already lived with these experiences for a long time so they're not going to think about them all at once or with all the details at that given moment...sorry, that's kind of incoherent, but...yeah. [face_blush] It's also because I don't want certain things to become apparent right away; they'll unravel slowly across the story.

    A great deal of the awkwardness between them - besides Luke being a dork, lolz - stems from the fact that, sometimes, it just feels weird to start dating your BFF. :p Everything they've done (well, in this headcanon anyway) up to then has been in the "bro" fashion; they've never done anything remotely romantic, and it actually feels quite forced [pun may or may not be intended, heh]. But doing something different is fun and exciting as well.

    CALLING SHEEV NAMES IS VERY MUCH A THING AND THIS MEME SHOULD NEVER DIE. [face_rofl] Honestly, I have to hand this one to Disney - "Sheev" is so terrible it boomerang-ed all the way back around to awesome for all the name-calling humor that exploded out of it. I've speculated that it may be the real reason he became the baddest Sith Lord ever, to counteract the profound lameness of this name. :p

    Indeed. [face_mischief]
     
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  3. JadeLotus

    JadeLotus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2005
    [​IMG]

    So...update? [face_batting]:p
     
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  4. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    [face_batting] [face_dancing] [face_dancing] Yup, I'm ready for dorky Luke [face_laugh] [face_love]
     
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  5. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    AND DORKY HAN, BWAH.

    I'm hoping to make headway on the next chunk this weekend because I have an extra day off for Memorial Day. :)
     
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  6. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    [Story removed.]
     
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  7. Gemma

    Gemma Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 25, 2013
    I like the idea of him building a ship for Mara - I thought it was one of the sweetest things in the EU. Bravo!
     
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  8. Demendora

    Demendora Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Apr 9, 2010
    I love LukeHan bromance.I always say that Han Solo was the chosen one.The chosen one to look after Skywalker's twins.
     
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  9. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Oh, oh. If there is one thing I adore more than your Luke, it's Han!!!!! Wonderful, confiding, bantering tones here. =D= =D= Han's inner musings were spot-on. He's right about Mara. The Fire was something she was most attached to but mostly for what it represented. Being able to come out amongst the stars at your own whim/will is what matters. @};- (And baby, the ship she's gonna get is pure diamond!) :cool:
     
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  10. JadeLotus

    JadeLotus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2005
    The broiest bros who ever broed indeed. Luke listening to core drive music! (Makes so much sense, and hehe) Bacta nappy jokes! Bro banter! Luke working on the Sabre schematics! Aunt Millie! (ROFL). Protective Han! (Awww)

    This chapter was a joy.
     
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  11. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    And I'm amazed that it was never covered, either in "canon" or in fic (well, if it has, I haven't found it yet!) - it was like, "Woop, there it is." :p I figured getting a brand-new custom ship made is Kind of a Big Deal, so I wanted to make it a major plot point because it was rather uncharted territory.


    THESE NERDS WERE ALL MADE FOR EACH OTHER. :D

    No, seriously, reams of meta have been written about how the OT3 fits together so perfectly - these kiddos needed someone to look out for them, and in turn they inspired Han to be the best person he could be and restored his faith that there are good people in the galaxy you can trust. They basically all saved each other. AND CHEWIE IS THEIR MOM. [face_love] So it's actually an OT4, lol.

    ...well, okay, an OT6 with the droids. ;)

    Honestly, the discussions about Han Solo's characterization on Tumblr are making it a lot easier for me to write him. I used to be terrified of writing him, lol.

    That's the subtle background thing here - how much Han and Mara have in common. Aside from the smuggler factor, they're both deeply wounded people who have had to deal with a metric ton of betrayal and hard living and manage to grow out of it and learn to trust again. He can easily relate to her on that level.

    LOL I was like, "Oh my gosh, quit spending so much time on this, no one's really going to notice it" :p but DANGIT MARK SAID IT IN THAT KINGSMAN INTERVIEW AND I WAS GONNA USE IT SOMEWHERE AHAHA. [face_laugh] For anyone who hasn't seen it, an interviewer asked Mark Hamill what band he thought Luke Skywalker might listen to and he replied, "The Kinks!" And, um...the "core drive" genre was frankly the least ridiculous GFFA music style that could be an analogue for rock music. The SW.com blog had a cheesy but pretty interesting 2-part article about in-universe music (starting here and ending here) that was a helpful resource. So I named one of Luke's favorite Galactic Civil War-era bands Preservation Society after one of The Kinks' early albums.

    I figured it wasn't that fair of me to highlight Mara's love of classical music without including details about some of the other characters' musical tastes. ;)

    This post was basically my shout-out to Tumblr and all the hysterical meta I've come across - the underwear stuff is a nod to the family's hijinks in apartment sharing post-ROTJ and Luke and Han being total dudes who don't care about clothes :p, and personally I think Han, Leia and Chewie (and let's be honest, probably all of Rogue Squadron, bwah) having seen Luke in bacta skivvies are always ready to deflate him anytime fangirls drool over him. [face_laugh] "Aunt Millie" is indeed the Falcon's Tumblr nickname. And the financial talk was inspired by the fic I linked above the post, which provided a theoretical backstory for how Luke could be independently wealthy after Endor. Even though it's a bit tongue-in-cheek, I could totally see it happening. The reason for Luke's discomfort in using his father's accounts to get the Sabre built, though, will become more apparent later...
     
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  12. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    You really have a talent for picking out those little themes and details that make the characters come to life. Luke's concern about the ship, and him taking that to Han, and Han's answer -- all excellent! [face_dancing]

    They're such children. :p Or at least they know how to cut loose and act like it with friends, which is a great thing.
     
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  13. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    And the thing is, while Luke is a good mechanic and a natural with machines like his father, getting an entire, large, state-of-the-art ship built from the ground up is something he's never done before. Cobbling old parts together or repairing a completed vessel comes easily to him, but this is a totally different beast. Although a professional corporation will be doing the work for him, he wants to be able to get the thing designed first, and in the most practical way possible - he'll throw money around if he has to, but Outer Rim farmboy that he is, he refuses to be ripped off or make unnecessary expenditures. He wants quality at the best price. (And then, of course, he also knows he'd need to make modifications afterwards that aren't exactly legal, heh. :p That's where guys like Han and Lando come in... [face_whistling])

    They may grow old but they will never grow UP. [face_laugh]
     
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  14. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Sounds like an excellent plan. :p
     
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  15. Annia Piet

    Annia Piet Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2015
    Bacta Nappies?!!! Oh God, I'd never thought of that aspect of bacta treatment. Now I can't scrub it from my mind. Nooooooo!!

    Ahem. ;)

    Great chapter, love the Han and Luke interaction and the attention to all those little details. I need to go and read that fic about Luke's financial situation now, as that's something that's always bothered me in the EU - where does he get the money for everything from?! And the moral conundrum of whether to use it for something personal like this is so very Luke. Well done. :)
     
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  16. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    One they're all particularly good at. ;)


    Well, I mean, come on, those white bacta tank undies are like the most unsexy thing ever. :p (I recall reading a little drabble-ish fic about Wes and Hobbie taking markers and drawing the outline of a tuxedo on the tank while Luke was floating in it on Hoth, LOL. I could see that becoming a recurring prank... [face_laugh])

    That's why I linked it! Go forth, read and enjoy! :D
     
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  17. taramidala

    taramidala Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 1999
    A totally realistic use of Daddy's money!! Plus, headcanons ahoy! It's amusing to see how much you've gleaned from elsewhere and dropped it in here. I love it! Lovely bro moments in this bit. :)
     
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  18. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    Because I'm a shameless, greedy, plagaristic potato. :p
     
  19. taramidala

    taramidala Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 1999
    *thwack* That's not what I meant and you know it. :p
     
  20. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    I know, that's what I think of me-self! [face_laugh]

    I mean it, though - I never actually originate anything creative, lol. I just palm everyone else's good ideas. Even if other fans are okay with or totally enjoy people taking their headcanons and running off with them, it does kind of weigh on me eventually that I have to rely on everyone else being smarter and more insightful than me to pull off a decent story. [face_blush] I don't want to hog credit, but even when I don't and make sure I've documented where something came from...it still feels just a tiny bit rude and lame.
     
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  21. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Well, personally I think that you invent a lot of excellent things. So there. :) Take that, insecurities. :p
     
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  22. JadeLotus

    JadeLotus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2005
    Look at it this way, so did Shakespeare!

    (Although I do think you come up with some awesome creative stuff!)
     
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  23. Annia Piet

    Annia Piet Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2015
    Just read the meta-fic - that was awesome! And explains so much. Firmly in my head canon now.

    It's made me realise that the whole thing where Mara looses her ship and Luke just buys her a new one always bothered me slightly. I mean it's a really sweet gesture from Luke and all, sure (and I can't remember how it's introduced in NJO, it's so long since I read them, so I may be being unfair), but it always seemed like the point of the Fire was that good ships are very expensive and her ship was hard won - hence a great sacrifice. Luke just buying her a new one slightly undermined that. So I really like both the financial explanation and also the thought process Luke is going through here about whether he even should. Although this story is AU, I think something like this scene is going in my head cannon too now! :)
     
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  24. ThreadSketch

    ThreadSketch Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2013
    If I do, I haven't kept track. :p


    Now whose headcanons did Shakespeare steal? [face_laugh] Some make a headcanon-ing Shakespeare meta meme now plz.

    The easily-replaceable ship thing was also kind of ehhhh with me too, because...I get it, Luke is a Nice Guy and I can understand him being like, "ANYTHING FOR MY AWESOME WIFE," and them having a super-cool ship together was fun because it's Star Wars c'mon imma firin' mah lazers pew pew :p but yes...it diluted the sacrifice she made just a bit. Like, "Oh, you blew up your ship...welp, here's another one!" It also bothered the heck out of me that there was no introduction. She just already had it in Vector Prime, and even in Survivor's Quest it was already there. Just bam.

    I consider a starship to be Kind of a Big Deal in the GFFA. The way we see Anakin and Padmé traveling incognito in AotC is more than likely how 99% of the galactic population - that even has enough money to buy fare offworld in the first place - travels through space: almost like sentient cargo. That was a surprising moment of realism in the saga. This would rationally imply that owning your own friggin' ship is a major, major thing. You're either wealthy or important or shady enough to pull it off. For someone like Han, who grew up as an abused orphan who had to fight tooth-and-nail for anything he could get his hands on, and gambled his way into ownership of the Falcon, having a ship is priceless. It's everything to him. And over the years through the Rebellion and onwards, it was a space mobile home for him, Leia, Luke, Chewie, the droids, Lando, and then the Solo kids. Bonds and memories were forged on that "piece of junk." Heck, Han and Leia fell in love aboard that thing. I would think the Falcon feels like more of a home to most of them than any world they set down on.

    For someone like Luke...in a way, he's had to develop somewhat of a "ships are disposable" attitude since by this point in his life he's been through who-knows-how-many X-wings over various calamities and adventures ever since the Battle of Yavin, but he was raised a simple farmboy. Owen and Beru would have obviously taught him, by instruction and their example of living, how to be frugal and wise with money. I'm sure he could haggle the pants off any Outer Rim merchant. In this regard, Luke's never really been that naïve. In the real world, I've been trying to research how huge things like sea yachts and commercial airliners are built to get an idea of how massive this undertaking is. It's a months-to-years-long ordeal involving millions of dollars and ginormous hangars and equipment. As much as Luke knows about spacecraft and machinery, it's still a mind-boggling thing for him to tackle, because no matter how accustomed he may get over time to being financially stable and respected throughout the galaxy, ridiculous sums of money will still stagger him and make him feel uncomfortable. The whole squick/irony factor with using Vader's old funds to get the Sabre manufactured is based on a borrowed headcanon about a particularly problematic backstory to Vader and Mara, which will be explored later.

    Thus, TL;DR - while I can definitely see Luke having the desire to give Mara another ship (and let's be honest, he'd surely love to be able to be its co-pilot because old habits die hard ;)), I wanted to depict it as being a more painstaking and meaningful process. While Mara herself admitted that being able to escape from everyone and isolate herself was unhealthy in the long run, the most important thing here is that Luke always wants her to have the comfort and solidarity of a sense of freedom. He's courting her now, but she was and is, first and foremost, one of his best friends. He wants her to feel reassured that she can maintain her independence and have a private space all to herself because it's something she will always need, highly value, and struggle with. This is why I always recommend rthstewart's Home Game as a primer on how significant the Jade's Fire was to Mara, because that story just...gets it. So perfectly. (And I love that Karrde was the one who installed the beckon call on it, because it shows just how well he knows her.) It wasn't just some fancy hot rod she could brag about (although she totally did that, lol). The Fire was her Falcon.

    Ultimately, my story is about letting go. In a reversal of what his father did, Luke starts out wanting to find his way back to marrying Mara, and while he isn't trying to bribe her with the ship at any point, getting it completed and presented to her eventually becomes a literal way for him to say that he's willing to relinquish her, if that's what will make her happiest. Having her content and as a friend means even more to him than having her as a wife, a realization that doesn't come without some pain, but one that he's fully accepting of by the end, because really, she will still always be there for him, and he for her. And seeing him get to that place is what finally allows Mara to embrace the possibility that he can be a friend and a husband.

    And yes, I've pretty much just spoilered the whole thing, but who honestly couldn't see the ending 100 miles away? :p The weird way they get there is what's more interesting, I suppose...
     
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  25. Annia Piet

    Annia Piet Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2015
    I can't like this reply enough :). Your thinking and rationale on all this is just perfect, and I'll enjoy seeing it all play out in-story!
     
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