Beyond - Legends Delusions of Grandeur: Threadsketch's flash fics - IT'S ALIIIIIIIVE!!! New ficlet 5/23/15

ThreadSketch: I wanted to give your work a quick look, and some more in-depth replies.

First - as an overall reply: You're an excellent writer, IMHO. There's depth, description, and a humanity to the characters that was missing all too often in the post-TUF novels, and you balance it very well.

Now, to details:

* Luke, Leia: Excellent, thought-provoking bit here. He's starting to grow up into the confident-but-not-too-cocky Commander Skywalker of ESB.

And, Leia's very well-balanced. Few people might blame her for being wrathful, given what she suffered, but she's not Vader-esque in her perspectives. She's also acknowledging Luke's losses, and your ability to paint their unconscious connection with words is superb.

* Luke, Ben, Mara: A positive, well-thought-out bit of fluff and seriousness - and one that was sorely needed in the dysfunction of canon. Ben's reactions are believable, while Luke's wise without being condescending. (And Mara's response is perfect.

* Mara: You've humanized her by emphasizing her history, and her practical personality - in short, this is the best kind of exploratory 'fic, IMHO, that builds off of character traits established in canon.

- Onderon1

 

Wow, I love all of these! Your characterisation is wonderful and love the moments you've chosen to explore.

Casualties of War - This is my favourite, my headcanon Luke always has a massive sense of guilt over the Death Star, even though it was a necesarry evil. I mean, how could he not, and you've captured it beautifully here. The "how many" conversation is something I firmly believe would happen (and even plan to use myself someday). I especially love the turn of phrase - Knowing an exact number isn't going to make the medal any less heavy from having oceans of blood forged into its gold and His dirtball of origin is still orbiting its stars and her paradise is gone. Lovely.


Fathers and Sons, or, A Lesson in Love - First of all, I love Luke and Being playing together, so sweet! And a very moving conversation - little Ben is adorable.


Woven Together - Lovely description of the clip and the meaning behind it. I can see Mara being fond of such things - a sharp hair pin can be used as a weapon after all!

 

Yup. There are so many interesting futuristic clothing designs out there that aren't outrageous or unwearable. I stumbled across one designer, Gareth Pugh, who makes some very interesting jackets and coats. A lot of them are over the top, but some, like this number, I could see Mara wearing.

Thank you so much for your detailed thoughts, and I greatly appreciate them coming from another excellent writer.

The line "His dirtball of origin is still orbiting its stars and her paradise is gone" is a reversed reference to a better short fic, Words, written by deaka. The opposite happens here, though the common factors of grief, alcohol, Luke and Leia are involved. Credit where credit is due.

And yes, it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye from Mara's hair stick!

 

Ooh, I hadn't seen a lot of those old RPG illustrations; they did a great job. Too bad those costume designs went by the wayside; they look more interesting.

Nice seeing Mara's thoughts on her new life, now that she has some downtime. The significance of the ship and the simple hair accessory is nicely linked, and her thoughts on both are poignant. I liked that Luke thought of the Qom Jha when designing it. It's a great look into a quiet moment in the middle of big changes.

 

Yes, indeedy. It's such a drastic difference to the "Modern Mara" we have now. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that once Teh Catsuit was drawn, that she'd wind up stuck in it - other characters suffered from lack of costume diversity. Somehow we're supposed to swallow that years and years later Han still wears that same white shirt/black vest combo and Luke is forever trapped in that black uniform with Teh Glove?

I really wanted to make something that would encapsulate just how thoughtful and incredibly corny Luke can be at the same time, lol. His own sense of humor can be very dry too, so a gift that would make them both smirk at each other all the time would be up his alley. Offpage, I'd have had him coming across a market on a planet where he was called to do some Jedi consular business and noticing a wood-carving vendor who he'd ask to custom-make this barrette. I toyed with it being an anniversary present, but decided to just make it a random, spur-of-the-moment one, since early after their marriage Luke and Mara didn't spend that much time together.

On a side note for everyone, I'm pausing for a bit on this thread while I work a slightly longer fic (not too much longer, just by a few pages), but I still have a bit of material up my sleeve here.

 

O HAI, Y'ALL, I HAZ A NEW FICLET. Just because.

It's not actually new, just hidden within the recovered material from my ancient USB drive. I don't even remember if it was ever posted on the old boards or not, or what made me write it, because it's silly as heck, lol. But fluff is popular, so why not?

Title: Taking the Plunge
Timeframe: NJO
Characters: Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, and implied Ben Skywalker
Genre: Family fluff
Summary: That first step's always a doozy...


"Luke, I don't think I can do this."

"Mara, love, no matter what happens, I'm here with you. You know that."

"Well, I don't exactly see you volunteering for the job yourself."

"Ah...don't you remember that proverb of the Qom Qae? How many vines woven together are stronger than those apart?"

"Can the philosophy, Skywalker. Doesn't get rid of the problem."

"...Touché."

“What, you’re throwing in the towel already? What happened to my stubborn, earnest Jedi Master?”

“I do have my failings, Mara.”

“Oh, now you tell me...”

“Look...after all we’ve been through...we’ve faced trials we didn’t think we could survive, let alone win. But we overcame them, and we’re still here. We have each other now. What one of us can’t do alone, the two of us can confront.”

“...I...I made a vow eight years ago to take on anything that challenged us, with every bit of responsibility that you would share. We are one, Luke, so...”

“We can do this, Mara. Just like every momentous point in our lives, it can’t take place with either one of us. And it’s not going to go away and take care of itself, as much as we’d like it to.”

“I can only wish.”

“Now, now...courage, love.”

“I should be telling you the same thing. And here I thought women and politics were the limit of your fears...”

“I think one of those has been taken care of by now, dear.”

“Fair enough.”

“So...let’s take care of this. Together. All right?”

“Deal. But first...inventory review.”

“Affirmative.”

“Cleaning solution?”

“Check.”

“Towelettes?”

“Check.”

“Powder?”

“Check.”

“Diaper?”

“Check.”

“Okay...I think we’re good to go.”

“No time like the first time, eh?”

“It’s all the same to me, farmboy. It’s all downhill from here. The dream has been shattered.”

“But it was good while it lasted.”

“Now that I’ll concede. Oh, and one more thing...”

“Yes?”

“That whole speech about togetherness was beautiful, trust me, but hear me now--we’re taking turns.”

 

Bwah! Baby's first diaper change - I love it!

 

It's kind of a big deal.

Man, I don't care what kind of Big Damn Heroes they are - if there's anything that will make anyone quake in their boots, it's baby poo, LOL.

 

This is great! I love dialogue-only fics, and Luke and Mara's voices are each clearly distinguishable.

@ the "inventory review"

 

Perfect! As a lover of dialogue and slice of life blended with fluff, this was gold.

 

It's a MISSION, just like any other. SERIOUS BUSINESS.

I wonder if I wrote this ages ago for some dialogue-challenge reason. It's just fun to see them exaggerate something way out of proportion, lol.

 

hahahahahaha!! Awww, this takes me back. You never think you're going to miss changing diapers until you don't have a diaper to change. My little one is 4 going on 24, but I miss her being a teeny little peanut. Of course, Luke and Mara have a bigger challenge here, I think, changing a boy. Unplanned showers happen that way!!

 

Yeah, I thought you'd find this especially lolz-y.

 

I loved the fic with the hair sliders and this last one was soooo cute!!

 

Brilliant ficlet reading is what I needed tonight, and brilliant ficlet reading is what I got You've really got your L/M down pat. All of it, but especially this:

 

Heroes or not, reality or fiction, this is generally the universal reaction to diaper changing:

 

THREAD NECROMANCY +1

Well, I did start this thread for a reason. I just haven't had much time to write anything else other than ICWY, but this popped up in one night and it's definitely short, so here ya go, y'all.

Title: with a heart for any fate
Timeframe: VotF - unknown
Characters: Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker
Genre: Introspective angsty mush
Summary: The most intimate sound isn't always a comfort.
Author's Notes: The title is taken from a line within the poem A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. There are also a lot of random blink-and-you'll-miss them references in here, so if something seems confusing, feel free to ask and I'll be totes happy to explain it.



The first time Mara Jade ever hears her husband’s - myfiancémylovemybestfriendkriffithe’salreadymyhusband - heart, they’re aboard one of the Chiss’ long-range fighters they managed to steal from the Hand of Thrawn’s hangar. Cold, sore, and exhausted, they’ve mutually decided the best way to start celebrating their new relationship and accidental discovery of the Caamas Document is to take a nice, long, unapologetic nap. The pilot couches in the ship’s aft are too narrow to sleep side-by-side, and between the lingering hypothermia and their tentative elation Mara doesn’t care about piling herself right on top of him.

Beneath the slow rush of his breath and the odd gurgle from his empty stomach, she hears and feels its steady beat, and it does not entirely comfort her. It’s surreal to think that she once lived to cease its rhythm, that some mornings the only reason she was able to rise and fight another day was the thought of killing him. And here once more he lies within her grasp, vulnerable and trusting, and she can’t imagine a day in which this heart, this life, wouldn’t continue.

Her head shifts, and she catches a glimpse of his eyes, now open, gazing back at her, brimming with comfort and understanding. He draws his slackened arms more tightly around her, and presses a kiss to the crown of her head.

*​

The last time Mara Jade ever hears her husband’s heart, all the years that have silvered their heads and graced their lives with a sprawling, cantankerous, beautiful mob of a family somehow still seem compacted into a single day, for as much as their bodies fail them now their memory never does. They’ve already been preparing, every year and every day, the moment those words escaped his lips and that cord of jerba wound around their wrists as they uttered their vows, each and every glance of fear and encouragement before battle, fingers caressing cheeks and lips brushing promises, that they know what they’re doing and there is no death there is the Force but stangit you better come back to me farmboy/my love-

-I didn’t know it was a competition, she still remarks, a hint of melancholy bitterness in her flippancy, and Luke just smiles. I’ll be at the finish line, he quips, just as he did oh so long ago on Garqi when they raced through the forest like fools. He has given too much of himself, the scars of his victories and sacrifices, visible and invisible, finally claiming his body, but not his soul.

He speaks no more; he doesn’t need to. She lays her head upon his chest and listens to the heart that had welcomed her, had cherished her, had never given up on her - the one heart she had failed to destroy. And when it falls silent when her own continues, when all that is left of him is soft homespun robes to clutch to her breast, she knows that while luminous beings are we, she would not call this crude matter.

 

This is really beautiful and warming - made me heartfelt for both of them.

 

OMG! OMG! ThreadSketch - you've rendered me incoherent with typing Oh, gorgeous! Poignant! So utterly them, first moment and last! Gave me happy, heart-touched chills!

 

Obviously this takes place in an AU where Mara wasn't killed and they both lived to be a super-old butt-kicking OTP. Still plenty of near-brushes with death and crazy adventures and challenges, but I would have much preferred the future Zahn hinted for them in Mara's brief semi-vision at the end of, well, Vision of the Future. (He said children, authors. Plural. ) But anyway. I just thought it'd be interesting to have a way to summarize the entire span of their lives together connected by one simple, intimate thing.

 

You know I love this - it's so beautifully written, and that last line slays me.

I love seeing the concept of first and lasts explored in fic, and Luke's heartbeat is so intimate and perfect, to see the love there grow and deepen is just so lovely.

 

I also kinda-sorta-but-not-really meant to buck the trope that this aspect of intimacy is always, well, fluffy. It actually creeps Mara out a little the first time, because it just winds up reminding her of how they met and what their relationship used to be like - there's always going to be that slight awkwardness that comes from being In Love with the Mark (no pun intended haaaaaaaar). She's thinking, What if I really had killed him? I'd have had no idea what I'd done, what I'd be missing now. Now that they're this close, the fact that she once hated him so deeply is sobering. The idea that she can really love him still hasn't finished sinking in yet, even though she does. And that turmoil in her head is what wakes him up and makes him want to reassure her.

 

Wow. This is an amazing take on the "listening to heartbeat" thing. Love that it's at a point of change both times. The "while luminous beings are we, she would not call this crude matter" is a fantastic line.

 

That last line is a subtle nod to an old WIP-probably-never-to-be-finished of mine, lol, in which Luke and Mara have a conversation about death and the Force. She asks him how that Jedi platitude is supposed to provide any practical consolation to the living, and he replies, "It's the crude matter that hurts." But he goes on to muse that he's hard-pressed to call things crude matter, as he sees so much beauty and complexity in the material world - a sunrise, the stars at night, blooming flora in spring, the laughter of children...and his wife, of course. Mara knows he's being schmaltzy to lighten the morbid topic, but she's also glad that he feels that way; she doesn't like the idea of being dismissive of tangible things. Things grow old and decay and pass away, and the idea of eternity is a distant, abstract comfort, but the body and soul are both important and valuable to her.

 

Beautiful!! And I'm trying not to ugly cry here, so I'll back out and find some tissues.