Saga - Legends [UDC VIII] Florilegium galacticum

Author: Findswoman
Title: Florilegium galacticum
Era: Mainly Saga-PT and OT, though there may be occasional forays into other eras.
Characters: Various—mostly OCs but not all.
Genre: A little of this, a little of that, but all drabbles.
Summary: Tiny glimpses into various corners of the GFFA, both inside and outside of my usual fanfic universe.
Notes: This is my entry in the Ultimate Drabble Challenge VIII. We’ll see how I actually do on this; at very least it might help me get back into the hang of writing regularly.

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Index

Week 1 (Valor; Honor; Sacrifice; Defeat; Victory)
Week 2 (Name; Title; Number; Date; Legacy)
Week 3 (Helpless; Satisfied; Enough; Nonstop; Burn)

 

Week 1

1. Valor

“And remember, troops,” concluded the ginger-bearded, rose-cheeked, parka-wrapped Human Jedi. “Being brave doesn’t mean not being afraid at all. It just means that you... um... know what to do about your fear. You, er, acknowledge it and keep on, er, doing what you need to do.”

Cavernous silence filled the AT-TE, as it always seemed to after these little pep talks. General Hinrisch thur Mohlen sighed inwardly. Why in the Force’s name, he wondered, was he talking about things like valor to men who had never even known what fear was? Can’t really have one without the other, after all…

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2. Honor

“He is your Findsmaster, and you shall render him all due honor and obedience. When he instructs you, you shall heed. When he commands you, you shall comply. When he rebukes you, you shall accept it humbly, without complaint. Your will shall accede to his in all things.

“And she is your student, whom you shall teach diligently in the ways of the Sacred Trade. You shall treat her at all times with patience and compassion, as befits an honorable Findsman toward those weaker than he.”

The senior apprentice bowed his head, the junior apprentice hers. “Yes, Your Mystical Honor.”

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3. Sacrifice

“Headmother Mora-Una?”

“Yes, Kiri-Aki?”

“May I please take my evening meal with me?”

“Why, child? Food is not permitted in the dormitory.”

“I wasn’t going to eat it, Headmother. I wanted to… sacrifice it.”

“Sacrifice it?”

“Yeah. To Am-Shak. On his altar upstairs in the temple. Like they do when Ruul is full.”

“Kiri-Aki, child, that is not the kind of sacrifice Am-Shak desires from us. Remember: ‘Not the blood of your livestock, but the thunder of your drum and the corpses of your enemies.’”

“But I don’t have any enemies!”

“You have a hand drum.”

“Hmm… I guess so.”

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4. Defeat

“PAH!” A grimace of disgust contorted the Falleen’s finely chiseled features as he slammed his cards onto the table. “Blast you, Calrissian, and blast your pure sabacc!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” smiled his opponent, laying down his own hand. “Now, the datacard, if you please…”

Grumbling, the Falleen rummaged in his pocket. Meanwhile, the brindle-haired, eyepatched female Wookiee beside him gave a chuckling grunt.

“What’s that about, Fenrriri? I thought your kind was supposed to pull people’s arms out of their sockets when you lose!”

The Wookiee just winked, tapping the computer spike that shone in her bandolier.

---

5. Victory

Luke opened the canopy of his X-wing to hear deafening cheers filling the hangar bay. He had barely made it down the ladder when Leia rushed up and threw her arms around him; a few steps more, and Han thumped him raucously on the back. At every step his Rebel comrades clustered around him, congratulating him, shaking his hands. There was talk of promotions, medals, ceremonies…

He glanced over to where Wedge and Keyan were climbing out of their starfighters. All the stalls in the hangar around them were empty.

And just then Luke realized exactly how tired he was.

---

Spoiler: Notes

1. Hinrisch thur Mohlen is an OC who was the master of another Jedi OC of mine, Wym Sternenkranz; he is first mentioned in “There is no death!”

2. Patterned after the end of chapter 15 of The Book of Gand. These certainly could be those very same characters.

3. Kiri-Aki (female Weequay) is an OC who appears in several of my Fragments & Miscellanea stories. In “In Search of a Hutt’s Dinner Music” it is established that she received her education in a nunnery on her home planet of Sriluur, and that they did indeed play the drums there. Am-Shak is the Weequay god of thunder, and Ruul is one of the moons of Sriluur.

4. The characters and scenario of this one are purely ad-hoc, though I’ll admit that the Falleen perhaps has echoes of Xinatra in Raissa Baiard ’s In the Cards.

5. After the Death Star is destroyed in ANH, two X-wings and one Y-wing can be seen flying back to the Yavin IV base. The X-wings are those of Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles, of course; in the game Star Wars: X-Wing (LucasArts, 1993) the pilot of the surviving Y-wing is identified as Keyan Farlander.

 

Yay, you have given this a go. So glad about it.

Valor: Hinrisch thur Mohlen is very, very sincere. I can see how he was a good master for somebody like Wym.

Honor: Not much to say here, other than...nice missing scene.

Sacrifice: Was Kiri-Aki trying to smuggle food and eat in bed? This one was so much fun!

Defeat: As far as I'm concerned, this IS Xinatra and he totally deserves it.

Victory: The emotion nobody mentioned before creeps in here - Luke's fatigue, both physical and emotional. Also, always happy to see Keyan!

 

Liked all of these, especially Valor and Victory. The bit at the end, when Luke realizes just how empty the hangar is...

 

You did it! So glad to see these posted!

Valor: this one is both humorous and profound. I like the idea of a stammering Jedi master trying to engage his stoic Clone troops (he reminds me a bit of Taide in "The Jewels of…WHAT?" ) But his Jedi wisdom is spot-on: bravery isn't the absence of fear, it's continuing even when you are afraid. He's absolutely right that one doesn't exist without the other.

Honor: What a lovely scene here, you really evoke the feel of sacred scripture and ritual in this little vignette!

Sacrifice: Oh dear, Kiri-Aki! So serious and literal in her understanding! Love how the Headmother gently redirects her to something more appropriate.

Defeat: Okay, as far as I'm concerned, this is Xinatra! He deserves to lose to Lando, and pretty much anyone, actually He seems to have cleaned up his language a bit, at least . Love the Wookiee's name (after Fenrir, the wolf at the Rangnarok?)

Victory: what a great look at the two sides of victory. On one hand, the joyous celebration because they've won, and on the other realization of what the victory has cost, and the sudden tiredness that comes after the adrenaline rush. Bravo!

Great first batch, looking forward to seeing more!

 

nice to see your characters in them and the last one with Luke was touching

 

Thank you all for reading and taking a chance on these. I've sure enjoyed taking a chance on this project!

Thanks, I'm really glad I did too, and thanks for all your encouragement along the way! These are more fun than I expected.

Yes, indeed, on both counts. Sincerity of that sort is something I have alwasy admired very much—though I could see where it could fall flat on the clone troopers, with their very different values and very different kind of upbringing. Even before Order 66, there always seemed to be a disconnect in the ways the Jedi and Clones related to each other—and I sometimes wonder if that was [hl=black]a deliberate first step on the part of Palpatine and co., to set up the correct atmosphere of disharmony necessary for Order 66[/hl].

The funny thing is, it's not really totally missing... the end of BOG chapter 15 really does have [hl=black]them being introduced to each other in a similar manner as master and student[/hl]. So what this is is kind of [hl=black]a variant version of the scene that's there[/hl], written in such a way that it fits more specifically with the "Honor" prompt.

My idea here was that this was genuine juvenile religious fervor on her part—she really and truly does want to do something special for her god, though she still has a good bit to learn about what really is appropriate for that, and when. But fortunately that’s what Headmothers are for! (That’s a fanon term, by the way—I don’t think anything’s been officially established about how these Weequay monastic houses are organized, etc.)

Couldn't have happened to a better guy!

Yes indeed—true victories don’t usually come without a lot of hard work, and although most people don’t like to talk about it, that exhausted, where's-the-fireworks feeling is very often part of the package too. Of course, the film doesn’t show that much at all—it’s the unexciting, unpicturesque part of victory.

And I like Keyan too, especially now thatI know him by name (I wondered for a long time who that one Y-wing pilot was).

Thanks so much for reading! Again, other than the shot of the three starfighters flying back, there’s almost nothing in the film that acknowledges the huge loss there actually was—and the scene with all the cheering and everyone greeting Luke is a little bit misleading, in a way, because the place seems much, much fuller there than it really must have been. So I wanted to juxtapose that appearance of fullness with the emptiness that probably went along with it, I guess, if that makes sense.

Aw, thanks! I’m glad I managed them in the end; I wasn’t sure I would. But I owe a lot to your encouragement, so thank you too.

It’s ironic that some of the most eloquent people I’ve known in my life are the ones who said things in the plainest, most sincere, most no-frills way, without high-flung rhetorical embellishments of any kind, and in a way my poor stammering Hinrisch is by way of a tribute to them. Like him, such folks aren’t always immediately appreciated by those around them—but if given a chance, they have much to teach and can make a lasting difference. Now, I kind of leave it up to my readers whether that will happen in this particular case, though given how things went in the Clone Wars…

Thank you. This is, again, a sort of alternate version of a scene in The Book of Gand, where of course ritual and the sacred are of course a pervading theme there. In that world even something as simple as a “this is your teacher, this is your student” introduction is bound up in ritual and hierarchy—but that need not mean it lacks feeling or even a hint of tenderness.

It’s a stage that I’m sure all kids growing up in, well, pretty much any religious tradition in any galaxy go through—“gee, I really want to show that I’m doing the right thing for my God and my tradition and I’ll go to any lengths to do so.” For example, my Findsboy was very keen to skip breakfast last year for Yom Kippur, even though he doesn’t technically have to skip any meals till he’s 13 (as I recall, he didn’t actually make it, but I appreciate that he tried). But at the same time, part of a good religious education is teaching when and what kind of devotional expression is appropriate when. “To everything there is a season”: those food-offerings are best left for the formal ritual conducted when Ruul is full, but the drum is good for almost anytime. (Almost!)

Yep, again, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, could it? Thanks for letting me sort-of-kind-of borrow him here. Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking of for the name of the Wookiee—except that I have just learned something new, because all I knew before was that Fenrir was a wolf name from some kind of lore or mythology,

Just a side note about Fenrriri: her gesture at the end, [hl=black]toward the computer spike, is supposed to imply that she hacked/sliced the datacard that the Xinatra-like Falleen now has to surrender to Lando. So the Falleen may have lost, but Lando still had better watch out[/hl]!

Victory: what a great look at the two sides of victory. On one hand, the joyous celebration because they've won, and on the other realization of what the victory has cost, and the sudden tiredness that comes after the adrenaline rush. Bravo![/quote]

Thanks! There, too, the one feeling almost can never come without the other, and adrenaline rushes of that magnitude will indeed do that to one.

Again, thanks so much for your encouragement, and I’m hoping that more will indeed be around the corner soon!

Thanks so much for being here and reading, earlybird—glad you enjoyed these. I am very proud of the last one with Luke, because I haven't really written about him much, so I am glad it came off well. For me, as noted above, it filled a bit of an omission in the ANH film, where all those lost pilots are barely acknowledged.

Well, thank you, Mira, I very much appreciate that, and it means a lot to me that you dove into these “cold,” so to speak. I am of course glad to answer any questions you may have about anyone in any of these.

Yes, Wym Sternenkranz is a padawan at this point, and Hinrisch thur Mohlen, the Jedi who’s speaking in this, is his Master. (I guess I didn’t specify whether or not Wym actually is present or not during this scene—well, I guess I’ll let y’all decide that for yourselves ). But although a Master, Hinrisch is new to this whole business of mustering and morale-boosting large quantities of hard-boiled soldiers who were literally born to be hard-boiled soldeiers and nothing else. It’s a very different matter from, say, encouraging an individual padawan, and again, his way of going about it isn’t going to be appreciated by all his men at this point. But the content is indeed there.

Thanks, and it is indeed all part and parcel of the bigger ritual and spiritual order I devised for The Book of Gand. In that story pretty much everything I have my Gand Findsmen say and do is in some way ritual, though, again, I don’t believe for a moment that that nixes things like sincerity and tenderness.

Thanks. That Headmother Mora-Una has probably seen it all in terms of awkward juvenile expressions of religious fervor, and thanks to her guidance Kiri-Aki will sometime be able to proudly say, “I played my drum for him, I played my best for him."

Thanks! The “Wookiees pulling people’s arms out of their sockets when they lose” business was kind of the impetus for this drabble—one of the first things that sprang to mind when I saw the “Defeat” prompt. But, as mentioned above, she does have [hl=black]something up her sleeve (!)[/hl]...

Indeed so—just as valor can’t exist without fear, it’s probably the case that true, lasting victory can’t exist without loss and sacrifice. (Which is where I compliment you on this excellent group of prompts, which fit together so holistically with each other! )

Well, thank you once again! I can’t wait either, because I honestly don’t where it will decide to go next—but it has been, so far, a mighty fun ride!

 

Now I hope you keep coming up with the good stuff for the next 2x5 set of drabbles.

Because this is really enjoyable. OCs like Hinrisch thur Mohlen are gorgeous and thoughtful alike. (Auch wenn du den Namen Hinrich total lustig schreibst! )

 

Week 1.

Valor: It's a truth - one can't experience valor without experiencing fear. It's the level of fear that defines the depth of valor. I am not familiar with the character but I feel for him. A pep talk to a stoic audience is a tough crowd.

Honor: I really, REALLY REALLY have to read your Findswoman stories. Just the glimpses I've seen set up a lyrical, fairy tale setting with grit and drama. This is so elegant and in a way, sweet. It's the start of their journey as teacher and student. How fitting that it be built around honor.

Sacrifice: I like that you went with an alternative meaning for sacrifice (the noun instead of the verb). Reading your notes in the replies above, it made me think of my childhood going to parochial school. How I used to baptize the cats in the sink so that they would be with me in Heaven. Little kids do take their religious instruction so seriously!

Defeat: What an interesting assortment of characters! That Wookiee, Fenrrir - that's a lady with a story to tell.

Victory is my favorite. There were only three survivors of the trench run. Of course, having narrowly escaped death and having just destroyed the Death Star, the mood is celebratory, but when Luke glances over and sees all those empty bays, which just a little while ago held ships with pilots who had their lives ahead of them... it makes you realize the great cost that victory came at.

Excellent job!

Spoiler

Edit: What an amazing name for your drabbles, "Florilegium Galacticum." I had to look it up (contrary to popular belief I do not, in fact, know everything - yet) and I learned that a florilegium is a collection of writings from here and there. The original Latin source words mean "a gathering of flowers." A gathering of flowers from across the galaxy. Wow.

 

Thank you both for reading and commenting!

Thanks, Azure—I hope so too! I just have to see how I do, but it's been fun so far.

I'm glad you enjoyed him. As I said before, I am fond of characters who are sincere in that no-frills sort of way.

Ja, das gebe ich zu! Ich habe es aber bewusst gemacht, sodass der Name nicht allzu viel an RL-Deutsch ähneln würde.

Spoiler: Translation for those who are curious

Yes, I admit that! But I did it on purpose, so that the name wouldn't resemble RL German too much.

Oh, he's just an OC of mine who's mentioned in passing in another story; this is my first time really writing about him in particular. But, yep, he's got a tough task trying to pep-talk these clone troopers, who are of course coming at this whole war thing with a totally different mindset. They would probably argue that they don't need pep talks—but if they're smart they'll take his words to heart.

I of course would love to have you as a reader on those whemever you're able (and indeed I'm told an ebook is on its way soon, if that helps). So glad you enjoyed this little glimpse into that world; it just seemed to be the right place to explore the "Honor" prompt, as verb and noun alike.

Hah, I love that! I can only imagine how the cats reacted—though I'm glad to know I wasn't the only person who felt the need to do things like that as a kid. It does seem to be a frequent sort of thing for kids growing up with religious instruction—and opens the way for a lot of learning experiences.

Thanks! I don't often end up writing about this kind of underworld sector of the GFFA, but it can be fun now and then. Fenrriri was invented basically just for this drabble, but who knows, she may come up again—she did come out pretty interesting, if I do say so myself (an eyepatched female Wookiee slicer!)...

One of the greatest sadnesses in this world (and I'm guessing in that one too) is that big victories don't usually come without an equally big sacrifice. All of those fallen pilots were promising young folks he had at very least seen around the Yavin base—and some of them were good friends of his (Biggs, for example). I could see Luke, for just a moment, asking himself what good his "one in a million" shot even did if it couldn't bring back Biggs or Dutch or Porkins or any of them. (Alas, the film doesn't touch this at all—but hey, that's why there's fanfic!)

And "bays," that's the word I'd been looking for, thanks! I'm not quite sure what I was thinking of with "stalls."

Thank you so much. And thank you for your most excellent and very much-appreciated comments!

Spoiler

That's absolutely right, and that was exactly my thinking. I debated with myself a bit about whether to use that title—I wondered if it might come off as too pretentious—so it was very gratifying for me to read that you liked it.

Thanks again to all—next batch coming right up!

 

Week 2

6. Name

One wing of the Great Temple of Gand is occupied by the vast crystalline archive-array of holocubes where the destined names of all Gand are recorded. (Some will earn theirs; many never do.) The holocubes are accessed partly by a computerized retrieval system and partly by meditative contact with the Mists. The former guides one to the correct location within the array; the latter reveals the name hidden within the cube.

Three ruetsavii entered. One sat at the console and guided the retrieval carriage to a broken, flickering cube far in a corner. Then she closed her eyes and waited—

---

7. Title

“Good evening, is this Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Dr. Chelli, my name is Sarielle Dinks. I’m calling on behalf of the University of Bar’leth Alumni Association. How are you tonight?”

“Dr. Chelli”? And I thought *I* sounded silly with that “Mr. Lord Vader” business... “Doing all right, Mistress Sarielle. You?”

“That’s so good to hear, Doctor. I’m calling to ask if you would consider a donation to the University's Centennial Fund.”

“Thanks so much for asking, Mistress. For that, I suggest you ask either Chelli or Dr. Aphra. Dr. Chelli already paid her tuition.”

Silence, then click.

---

8. Number

“All together now, younglings!” warbled Madame Nu.

“One! One Force, within, without, and all around!

“Two! Two Sith, Master and Learner,
One Force, within, without, and all around!

“Three! Three our Order’s pillars,
Two Sith, Master and Learner,
One Force, within, without, and all around!

“Four! Four our Temple’s founders,
Three our Order’s pillars…”

To the window Yoda went. His least favorite children’s Feast Day song this was. Only up to twelve it went, and yet forever it seemed to go on.

And yet, the only reason he knew how many battles of Ruusan there had been, it was. (Seven.)

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9. Date

Luke pursed his lips as he tasted the mushlike cereal-meal before him. “You sure about this milk, Wes?”

“Yes!” Wes threw up his hands. “I saw them unload it myself! Cold-packed and everything… not that it needs it on this iceball. And don’t worry, it’s not that tauntaun stuff!”

“Yeah, well, it’s customary to check the ‘use by’ date,” chimed in Hobbie.

Wes shrugged. “It was, like, yesterday or something… look, why’s this—LUKE! WHAT THE—!”

They all looked. Luke had dropped his spoon and now sat bolt-upright with a dazed look in his eyes.

“Green… pastures… grazing… bovids…”

---

10. Legacy

On days like these Gleebaloola was sorely tempted to pull down her window sign reading WE BUYS ULTRAFINE ESTATES, YOU BET!

Sure, Lord Vader had once visited her shop; he’d even bought a Korribanian Sith sarcophagus there (89,000 credits). But how could Gleebaloola have guessed that she, of all beings—a humble Squib antiquarian in CoCoTown—would end up saddled with all the boring, black-gray furniture from his Mustafar hidey-hole? Supreme Galactic warlord-type fellow, and he couldn’t be bothered to dispose of his property in a civilized manner?

Or was there just no next-of-kin to inherit all this junk? Probably.

---

Spoiler: Notes

6. I am sure it comes as an IMMENSE SURPRISE to EVERYONE OUT THERE that I chose to go with a Gand theme for “Name.” The ruetsavii are the Gand ritual examiners who determine individuals’ worthiness to earn names; in my fanon understanding, they are typically chosen from high-ranking Findsmen and thus are fully acquainted with all of the Findsmen’s meditative practices. The archive-array of names and the retrieval system are both purely fanon.

7. This is my first attempt at writing Dr. Aphra, so please be gentle. The University of Bar’leth is indeed her alma mater, and you’ll see the “Mr. Lord Vader” quote (also involving title confusion) at the beginning of her own Wookieepedia article. I based the scenario on a similar experience I once had where a charity caller, much to my annoyance, kept addressing me either as “Dr. [Firstname]” or just “Doctor.” (I would have preferred either “Dr. [Lastname]” or just plain old “[Firstname].”)

8. The song is a GFFAification of a RL cumulative Passover song, “Echad mi yodea” (Who Knows One). The three pillars of the Jedi Order are the Force, knowledge, and self-discipline; the four temple founders are the Four Masters who founded the Corsucant temple. And, indeed, in Legends lore, Ruusan was the site of seven battles between the Jedi and the Sith.

9. This drabble homages and references the Dear DAIRY Challenge series, and particularly Briannakin ’s “Milk Men,” which does indeed feature the Rogues tasting (and feeling the effects of) tauntaun milk. My own contribution to that series, “The White Stuff,” features Luke experiencing a trippy Force vision after drinking some particularly good milk.

10. Gleebaloola is one of the main characters in my story Sai-perimetry at Gleebaloola’s, You Bet!, and Vader does indeed purchase a Korribanian Sith sarcophagus from her in that story. Vader’s “Mustafar hidey-hole” is, of course, the castle that we saw in Rogue One. The appearance of the furniture there is just a guess, based on Sithy décor elsewhere in the lore.

 

These are all great, but that last one.... I like Gleebaloola, you bet!

 

Your writing is always frank, but fun. I like your PCs as much as your use of Canon characters.

 

Love your funny take on this set with Nu as always boring

 

Thank you folks so much for reading and commenting.

Thanks! I'm glad you have been enjoying her so much; she's been fun to write (and the fanfic realm needs more Squibs, you bet!).

Thank you for that compliment, and I'm glad you're enjoying both kinds of character here. In a way I have less experience writing about canon characters, but the drabble format has been a really dun exercise in that, and it's been fun to mix it up a bit.

Thanks so much! Oh, Nu, gosh yes... isn't she just the quintessential old mother avian sometimes? And yet the younglings are lovin' it... which is the case with the RL version of this song, too, as long and repetitive as it is.

Again, thanks to all for reading and keeping up with these!

 

Name: Lovely, lovely fanon. And executed masterfully, if I may add.

Title: This had me laughing out loud. Of course that the holomarketers and other call-by-commbook types have no idea which part of the name is the last name and of course that they had to pick somebody with a long name, who's not in the mood for it. Aphra, send Triple Zero after them!

Number: Aww, poor Yoda.T hree more verses, he needs to listen to. But that actually this method effective is, I think. Through poetry and sing-alongs, history, the Jedi younglings will learn. And to become Padawans, that is what they will need.

Date: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA. That's a great tie-in to the Dear DAIRY Challenge. And Luke's "vision" is priceless. GREEN STUFF. OMG, WHERE THEY HAVE GREEN IN SUCH AMOUNTS? Of course, Mara's eyes!1!1!!!

No, seriously, great tie-in with Rey's motif, whether you wanted it or not.

Legacy: Oh, twistasista, if you only knew some thingylingies...about the next of kin. And that's got to be some Gothic-looking furniture. Nice to see Gleebaloola again.

Great set of drabbles.

 

Yea! I'm glad you decided to participate in the drabbles. They give a wonderful insight into your characters. I, like others, really found Victory to be poignant. In week 2, it's a tie between Name and Legacy for my favorite. The mysticism in identifying and giving names in Gand culture is lovely and fits. Gleebaloola sounds like she might be a friend of Dex's. I'm curious now as to how she came into possession of Lord Vader's things. Was the castle plundered or do you imagine that some admin somewhere has the job of closing out the affairs of the top ranking officials when they are killed in the line of duty?

 

OMG. I want to read this.

 

Thanks, as always, for reading and commenting, folks.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I basically came up with this fanon specifically for this drabble—sort of a mysticized version of the archival retrieval system we see in Rogue One and in some RL libraries (like this one)—and I like it, if I do say so myself, so I'll keep it.

Hah! That would be no less than Sarielle deserves, for sure. And those holomarketers and call-by-commbook people do the very same things in real life, as I can attest. (And even with names where it's clearer what's first and what's last.) I hadn't the presence of mind to say anything like this to the caller that I experienced this with, but I was really kinda thinking it.

Eight more verses—there are twelve in all (and the RL basis for the song has thirteen). And very effective this method is, as I can vouch for from the RL version of the song. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like song as an aid to memory (and I believe that's been scientifically shown).

I hadn't thought of it tying in with Rey, but it does, and I guess it does in my Dear DAIRY Challenge story, too. And yes, it does rather match with the green-star-green-leaf motif in Raissa Baiard 's recent portrayals of Luke, too... so it all fits! INTERTEXTUALITY YAY!!1!

Indeed, if she only knew! I bet they wouldn't want to inherit a palaceful of angular, Gothic, Sithy furniture either. I couldn't resist going for this more literal interpretation of "legacy" here, precisely because it allowed me to pull in my ultrafine Squib antiquarian once again. Hey, if Vader had all those hidey-holes, he most certainly had stuff in them that needed to be disposed of after his death! Plus, the more figurative meaning of "legacy" is already all over the place in the SW saga anyway.

Thanks so much—glad you enjoyed.

Thanks, and I'm glad I did too—I've been having a ball, and thanks for checking them out. I pretty mch couldn't resist going with a Gand theme for name, and given the importance of names in their culture and the way they must be earned, I figured there must be some kind of mystical component to it, as well as (just practically speaking) someplace where they're all recorded. As for Gleebaloola, she's an OC who first appears in my three-chapter story "Sai-perimetry at Gleebaloola's, You Bet!," which I wrote for one of the Fanon Thread challenges, and of course an ultrafine shop like hers would buy ultrafine estates, you bet. As for how she got Vader's furniture, I was thinking along the lines of your second possibility... just some bureaucrat was tasked with getting rid of it somehow, and knew that Vader had been to this one shop on Coruscant before, and why not just take it there?

The best I can say right now is that I can keep it under consideration. (Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies, bunnies, bunnies... )

Thanks again, everyone!

 

Late again...and of course everyone's already said what I would say

NAME: Love, and lovely. Reminded me a little of DEATH'S library in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, with all the hourglasses that he keeps an eye on. And of course we are left to wonder whose cube is broken...

TITLE: LOVE! Too, true, and the call no doubt came right in the middle of dinner preparation (that's when they always call me). I haven't read much of the Dr. Aphra series, but the snarkiness seems pretty in character.

NUMBER: Love, it's like the Christmas song (not the partridge, a different medieval one which escapes me but you'll know exactly what I mean). It was a fun game back in the days of no television, but now it's simply a torture device that young children inflict on their Elders. Still, in my personal Before the Saga fanon, I always knew that Teaching Songs were an important part of study at the Jedi Temple, so this works beautifully!

DATE: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!!! (etc. ad nauseum). And such a fun call back to a wonderful story. The Rogues aren't going to let Luke near milk of any kind, at this rate! ("It's Whyren's, put it on your cereal. Yeah, it IS alcoholic, but the way you zone out when you drink milk, this stuff is safer, trust us.")

LEGACY: LOVE LOVE LOVE! Someone will end up saddled with the stuff...if Gleeba can hold on for 30 years, a whiny, dark haired guy named Ren might scoop up the lot. I need to read the original, now...

 

Thank you so much for reading and commenting—I'm glad you are enjoying these.

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying glancing into that world, and of course I would love to have you as a reader on BOG whenever that works for you (and again, an ebook is in preparation now).

Oh yes, clueless call center employees are a galactic universal, I'm sure! I'm new to Dr. Aphra too, but I'm glad she comes off all right here; the character does seem really intriguing and I hope to be able to carve out time to read her official adventures sometime.

Thanks. It was a rather fun exercise to reshape and "Jedify" the RL song on which this one is based, and I was going on the fact that it too is the reason I remember certain tidbits about my own religious tradition (e.g., 6 books of the Mishnah, 11 stars in Joseph's dream). Plus, Passover begins tonight, so it just seemed right to get in the spirit a bit early.

Thanks! I'm very indebted here to Briannakin 's hilarious story in the dairy challenge; this drabble sort of worked out to be a mashup of her story for that challenge and mine (and it was my first piece of writing featuring the Rogues—drabbles are great for encouraging branching out!).

Indeed, if only she did knew! I figured that at this point—like, right after Vader dies—it's not yet common knowledge that Luke and Leia are his children (and that whoever on the Imperial end is managing his estate doesn't even know about them either). And yet—see Mistress_Renata 's very interesting conjecture below...

Ooh, now I'm thinking I should reread the few Pratchett books, because what a cool image that is! I must also have had in mind the prophecies room in the Ministry of Magic in the fifth Harry Potter book (where of course the prophecies seep away if their container is broken). As for the broken cube—I have indeed, in my own mind, established whose it is.

Oh, undoubtedly it came at the least convenient possible time. This was my first time writing Dr. Aphra, and I haven't had the chance to read her comics and so was going mainly on the quotes shown in Wookieepedia—but yes, the snark does appear to be strong with that one.

Exactly the idea—and in fact there is a Passover numbers song that's just like this, and is likewise didactic in content (one is God in the heavens and earth, two are the tablets of the Law, three are the patriarchs, four are the matriarchs...). I love the idea of Jedi teaching songs and would be curious to know more about your fanon (hint hint: fanon thread! ).

Now the funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that at one point there was an absolutely hilarious story about Luke and/or some other Rogues tripping out on some kind of very high-end wine or spirits or similar, though I can't for the life of me remember any particulars now. But yep, at this point, Whyren's on the cereal is indeed probably a safer bet!

Ah ha, but of course! Speaking of bunnies earlier on... now I feel the urge to look up the usual life expectancy of Squibs!

Thank you both once again. If all goes well, it shouldn't take too long before the next batch is up!

 

I love the different directions these go in, the mix of fanon and canon, OCs and existing characters. Always a treat!

Name: This is beautiful. I love how the name is earned, not given, and to obtain your name (which many never do) you must be part of the physical and the spiritual world. You need both parts for it to happen.

Title: As someone who has sent two kids through college, I hear you. I think the $160,000 I already spent on four-year tuitions for two kids ought to hold you for a while. And as for the name mixup, I get that a lot. My last name is a male first name, so I occasionally get mail to “Mr. Mylastname Myfirstname.”

Number: This is adorable. I can see the littles all chirping to this song, and if it’s as long as you say the original is, Yoda would be rolling his little green eyes about half-way through. But it’s true, though – you learn it if you sing it. School House Rock is the only reason I know the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, and I have to thank the old Disney show Even Stevens for reminding me that “We went to the moon/In 1969…”

Date: Such a funny moment! Who knew milk could be so trippy?


Legacy: What a legacy. All that STUFF had to end up somewhere, I suppose! Now who wants a slightly used Bacta tank? A black meditation sphere? Anyone? Anyone?

Another wonderful, fun set.

 

Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

Thanks! The earning of names in Gand culture is established—everyone is known only as "Gand" until they accomplish something, at which point they earn the use of their family name. If they accomplish even more, they can earn the use of a given name—and yet more can earn them the right to use first-person self-reference. I figured there has to be some repository where those family names and given names are stored, so that they can be retrieved and assigned when needed. Incidentally, the Gand who is operating the retrieval system here isn't the one who's earning the name herself—she's one of the ritual examiners who will be assigning the name to someone else (and to arrive at that rank she had to earn her own name). And the name she's looking for for that person just happens to be in the fractured cube...

That is the sort of thing that has made me, too, chary about donating to either of my alma mater institutions. It's not that I don't like the places—I do very much and have fond memories of both—but maybe some other day instead. And oh yes, the name mixups...even though I have a first name that's clearly a first name and a last name that's clearly... not a first name, it still happens. In the case of the specific incident that inspired this drabble, the organization asking for the donation (which wasn't either of my own schools) did have a sort of weird practice already of addressing people as "[Title] [Firstname]" or just plain "[Title]," so that was partly just their little institutional quirk. (Was still weird, though!)

Yep, that's the power of song, all right! There are numerous things that I know I wouldn't know at all if I didn't know them from a song. I think that may be shaping up to be true of my son, too (who has an incredible memory for songs and texts anyway).

Who knew, indeed! And is it because it's really, really good stuff, or because it's slightly past the expiration date? Hmmm... that's one for my readers to decide.

(crickets, crickets, crickets). Though probably what's next is that Gleebaloola will put out a special catalog (which I've seen some antiquarians do when they acquire someone's library or estate), and the GFFA equivalents of Sotheby's and Christie's will come flocking, and it'll be a huge media circus, but Gleebaloola will finally be able to retire to a villa on [FILL IN PICTURESQUE PLANET HERE]... (NOOOOOO!! No more RASSAFRACKIN' PLOT BUNNIES! )

Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying, and glad to have you as a reader. More incoming momentarily...