Hornblower Ficlet: Gambler's Fallacy
May. 21st, 2026 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanguinityThere was a fun list of number-themed writing prompts going around tumblr the other day. (69 words of smut, 101 words about a dog, etc.) A friend over there has an affection for the game-theory passage in my Hornblower novel, Until Death or England Do Us Part.* Wanting to know if I have any other mathematical ideas up my sleeve, they prompted:
It's never been a big enough thing to hang a whole story on, but a 314-word ficlet? No problem.
Once again, it pleased me to let Bush be correct about the math. I know canon makes much of Hornblower's mathematical brilliance and Bush being a mathematical also-ran, but I would like to point out: one of these gentlemen passed his lieutenant's exam, and the other one famously did not. Bush may not be mathematically gifted, but I argue that he is competent. So there.
* For a discussion of the game theory bit of "Until Death or England", please see my DVD commentary, On Game Theory and The Final Problem. As advertised, it also discusses Sherlock Holmes.
Write a 314-word fic that contains a mathematical concept.Well. It just so happens that there's a bit of mathematical trivia about Hornblower that has burning a hole in the back of my brain for YEARS. Namely: the canonical fact that Hornblower, alleged mathematical genius who sometimes makes his living off of gambling, believes in the Gambler's Fallacy. (gifset of the relevant scene in the episode "Loyalty", but be assured, it comes straight from the novel.)
It's never been a big enough thing to hang a whole story on, but a 314-word ficlet? No problem.
Once again, it pleased me to let Bush be correct about the math. I know canon makes much of Hornblower's mathematical brilliance and Bush being a mathematical also-ran, but I would like to point out: one of these gentlemen passed his lieutenant's exam, and the other one famously did not. Bush may not be mathematically gifted, but I argue that he is competent. So there.
Gambler's Fallacy bysanguinity
Hornblower novels; Hornblower TV
Horatio Hornblower, William Bush
Mathematics, Ficlet
Hornblower may be the alleged genius, but Bush's mathematical instincts are as good as anyone's.
* For a discussion of the game theory bit of "Until Death or England", please see my DVD commentary, On Game Theory and The Final Problem. As advertised, it also discusses Sherlock Holmes.
Umineko Episode 2: Turn of the Golden Witch
May. 21st, 2026 11:52 pmalias_sqbrMasterlist.
My Episode 1 post is pretty dry and full of details, because I mostly engaged with it as a murder mystery puzzle and world setup. Episode 2 has more about characters and feelings, and is where I got more attached to those aspects. It's also where things start to get Surprisingly Weird.
Halfway through writing this post I had an EPIPHANY and now have a THEORY. I have written it upo in my Theory Post, which will come after I have written up Episodes 1-5 since it draws on all of them.
I just finished Episode 5, and kind of want to finish writing everything up before Episode 6 throws all my ideas out the window, but also I want to see what happens next!!
( Read more... )
My Episode 1 post is pretty dry and full of details, because I mostly engaged with it as a murder mystery puzzle and world setup. Episode 2 has more about characters and feelings, and is where I got more attached to those aspects. It's also where things start to get Surprisingly Weird.
Halfway through writing this post I had an EPIPHANY and now have a THEORY. I have written it upo in my Theory Post, which will come after I have written up Episodes 1-5 since it draws on all of them.
I just finished Episode 5, and kind of want to finish writing everything up before Episode 6 throws all my ideas out the window, but also I want to see what happens next!!
( Read more... )
Horror (and horror-adjacent) movies watched
May. 21st, 2026 09:02 pmlucymonsterTwo of these are classic horror movies. One is ??? probably horror but no one's saying it with their chests. One is a biographical crime drama that's not actually horror at all, but it's about a female serial killer, so for the purposes of this post it squeaks in.
The Lighthouse (2019): Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are 19th century lighthouse keepers who go nuts while keeping their lighthouse. This is a critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning movie, and I am sorry to say that I heartily disliked it; imo it was one of those works of art that is so busy being clever and referential, it forgets to actually say a single word for itself. The production was gorgeous, though. It was shot in black and white with an unusual squarish ratio and the soundtrack was absolutely exquisite: grinding, ominious music; long silences; the endless beating of the sea and the violent, maddening blare of the lighthouse's foghorn. Enjoyable aesthetic experience. Plot-wise, fuck no.
Monster (2003): This is a biopic about Aileen Wuornos, an American serial killer who was executed in 2002 for the murders of seven men who picked her up for sex along highways in Florida. Possibly one of the most harrowing, heartstring-tugging things I have ever watched? Charlize Theron plays Wuornos with a desperately traumatised intensity as she pins all her hopes for love and salvation on her girlfriend Selby, who expects her to support them both through sex work while turning a blind eye both to the terrifying sexual violence Wuornos faces out on the streets and to the brutality of the solution she has found for her own safety. (Selby has her own issues: she's a young lesbian from an extremely strict, repressive middle-class Christian family. She is hopelessly naive and sheltered, completely unequipped to support herself alone but forced to leave her whole support network behind due to their homophobia.)
It doesn't feel right to have ~opinions on something that is true crime based, with families of victims still living. So all I'll say is that I can't actually imagine a version of the Aileen Wuornos story that wouldn't leave me feeling a high degree of heartache for her, whether she killed all those men because they tried to rape her (as she claimed) or out of pure hatred and greed. I daresay I'd be consumed by hate too if I'd led Wuornos' life.
The Fog (1980): On a small US coastal town's one hundredth anniversary, a mysterious supernatural fog rolls in to wreak vengeance for the sins of the founders. This is a fun, silly ghost story with a likeable main cast and some immaculate spooky vibes. I don't have much to say. The villains are ( SPOILER ) and I switched my brain off and enjoyed.
The Exorcist (1973): Twelve-year-old Regan gets possessed by a demon; her desperate mother, tired of endless rounds of agonising medical tests and psychiatric appointments that lead nowhere, finally enlists a Catholic priest to exorcise her. Father Karras has been suffering a crisis of faith, but helping Regan reignites the spark of his vocation. This is a wonderful, psychologically rich and nuanced film with a cast who are all impressively well developed; a lot is going on in their lives, and the plot is a little slow to start because of the time we spend getting to know them first, but I definitely don't think it was time wasted. Father Karras had an electric screen presence; every second he was on screen, my eyes were glued to him. (He was also a sad man with floppy dark hair who could throw a punch, so consider this parenthesis to be my legally mandated disclosure of bias. I am probably not eligible to serve on this jury.) I also loved Regan's mother Chris, and everything about the portrayal of Chris and Regan's mother-daughter relationship: Chris is a single mum with a busy career as a successful actress who relies on a great deal of hired help for childcare and home maintenance, but she is also shown to be a devoted mother. She and Regan deeply love, trust and moreover clearly like each other, and the movie manifested exactly none of the Oh No Working Mothers handwringing I was braced for when she was first introduced.
I did not, regrettably, find The Exorcist very scary, and am metaphorically pouring one out for it and all the other trailblazing movies that get so unfairly eclipsed by later, lesser movies rolling their flashy cars down that nice pre-blazed trail. I've seen all these scares before, and I haven't even been watching horror for that long. It has been too influential and as a sad result I'm too desensitised to fully enter into its intended atmosphere of supernatural terror. But even with all the shock value stripped away, it's still a genuinely excellent film that I'm glad to have watched and can see myself watching again. (And okay, fine, the crucifix masturbation scene did give me one decent-sized scare.)
The Lighthouse (2019): Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are 19th century lighthouse keepers who go nuts while keeping their lighthouse. This is a critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning movie, and I am sorry to say that I heartily disliked it; imo it was one of those works of art that is so busy being clever and referential, it forgets to actually say a single word for itself. The production was gorgeous, though. It was shot in black and white with an unusual squarish ratio and the soundtrack was absolutely exquisite: grinding, ominious music; long silences; the endless beating of the sea and the violent, maddening blare of the lighthouse's foghorn. Enjoyable aesthetic experience. Plot-wise, fuck no.
Monster (2003): This is a biopic about Aileen Wuornos, an American serial killer who was executed in 2002 for the murders of seven men who picked her up for sex along highways in Florida. Possibly one of the most harrowing, heartstring-tugging things I have ever watched? Charlize Theron plays Wuornos with a desperately traumatised intensity as she pins all her hopes for love and salvation on her girlfriend Selby, who expects her to support them both through sex work while turning a blind eye both to the terrifying sexual violence Wuornos faces out on the streets and to the brutality of the solution she has found for her own safety. (Selby has her own issues: she's a young lesbian from an extremely strict, repressive middle-class Christian family. She is hopelessly naive and sheltered, completely unequipped to support herself alone but forced to leave her whole support network behind due to their homophobia.)
It doesn't feel right to have ~opinions on something that is true crime based, with families of victims still living. So all I'll say is that I can't actually imagine a version of the Aileen Wuornos story that wouldn't leave me feeling a high degree of heartache for her, whether she killed all those men because they tried to rape her (as she claimed) or out of pure hatred and greed. I daresay I'd be consumed by hate too if I'd led Wuornos' life.
The Fog (1980): On a small US coastal town's one hundredth anniversary, a mysterious supernatural fog rolls in to wreak vengeance for the sins of the founders. This is a fun, silly ghost story with a likeable main cast and some immaculate spooky vibes. I don't have much to say. The villains are ( SPOILER ) and I switched my brain off and enjoyed.
The Exorcist (1973): Twelve-year-old Regan gets possessed by a demon; her desperate mother, tired of endless rounds of agonising medical tests and psychiatric appointments that lead nowhere, finally enlists a Catholic priest to exorcise her. Father Karras has been suffering a crisis of faith, but helping Regan reignites the spark of his vocation. This is a wonderful, psychologically rich and nuanced film with a cast who are all impressively well developed; a lot is going on in their lives, and the plot is a little slow to start because of the time we spend getting to know them first, but I definitely don't think it was time wasted. Father Karras had an electric screen presence; every second he was on screen, my eyes were glued to him. (He was also a sad man with floppy dark hair who could throw a punch, so consider this parenthesis to be my legally mandated disclosure of bias. I am probably not eligible to serve on this jury.) I also loved Regan's mother Chris, and everything about the portrayal of Chris and Regan's mother-daughter relationship: Chris is a single mum with a busy career as a successful actress who relies on a great deal of hired help for childcare and home maintenance, but she is also shown to be a devoted mother. She and Regan deeply love, trust and moreover clearly like each other, and the movie manifested exactly none of the Oh No Working Mothers handwringing I was braced for when she was first introduced.
I did not, regrettably, find The Exorcist very scary, and am metaphorically pouring one out for it and all the other trailblazing movies that get so unfairly eclipsed by later, lesser movies rolling their flashy cars down that nice pre-blazed trail. I've seen all these scares before, and I haven't even been watching horror for that long. It has been too influential and as a sad result I'm too desensitised to fully enter into its intended atmosphere of supernatural terror. But even with all the shock value stripped away, it's still a genuinely excellent film that I'm glad to have watched and can see myself watching again. (And okay, fine, the crucifix masturbation scene did give me one decent-sized scare.)
fandom stuff
May. 20th, 2026 08:19 pmsnickfic- There are FOUR movies coming out this weekend that I am at last mildly interested in seeing, two probably only in theaters for a week. We'll see how many I manage to hit. The one I'd most like to support is Saccharine, a horror movie directed by an Australian woman, but it's also the one least convenient for me in terms of location/showtime. There are two other horror movies, Passenger and Corporate Retreat, and the new Boots Riley movie.
-summerofhorrorexchange noms close tomorrow. My co-mod apologized that I've had to do most of the nom approvals this round, but honestly I'd felt like I was hogging them because I've so badly needed a fannish distraction. Anyway lots of good things in the tagset! Many new items on my read/watch lists! I can't wait to see what people request.
- So many nice Oasis tidbits from the last month and a half. I hope to compile them into a post here soon.
- I haven't written anything since I posted that Oasis fic a month and a half ago. I'm really hoping SoH gets my creative juices going again. I miss writing.
- Yesterday at Goodwill I found a whole stack of things, ranging from a DVD boxset of schlocky mid/late 00s horror to a SIGNED British hardcover edition of The Scar by China Mieville. For $4. Okay!!
-
summerofhorrorexchange noms close tomorrow. My co-mod apologized that I've had to do most of the nom approvals this round, but honestly I'd felt like I was hogging them because I've so badly needed a fannish distraction. Anyway lots of good things in the tagset! Many new items on my read/watch lists! I can't wait to see what people request.- So many nice Oasis tidbits from the last month and a half. I hope to compile them into a post here soon.
- I haven't written anything since I posted that Oasis fic a month and a half ago. I'm really hoping SoH gets my creative juices going again. I miss writing.
- Yesterday at Goodwill I found a whole stack of things, ranging from a DVD boxset of schlocky mid/late 00s horror to a SIGNED British hardcover edition of The Scar by China Mieville. For $4. Okay!!
BBC Sherlock part 2
May. 20th, 2026 09:47 pmkingstokenAlrighty, I finished season 2 of BBC's Sherlock and I'm still really enjoying it. I have some mixed feelings about the Irene Alder episode, I wasn't really a fan of the ending. I do love that she used Sherlock to get to Mycroft, but I didn't love the villain woman undid by love for a man thing. Also, her damsel-in-distress ending was disappointing, like no way, Irene is no one's damsel, Anyways, those issues aside, it was a fun ride.
The Hound episode was fun, it didn't go where I expected it, and it felt like a fun little interlude between the two juggernaut episodes.
Now, Reichenbach, the fans must have gone feral for this back in 2012. Moriarty was very good in this. I love his level of machinations.
Funny thing, if you haven't watched the Rathbone films you might not see it, but there were a couple of references to those films: Moriarty trying to steal the crown jewels, him going to Baker St and stepping on the squeaky stair as Sherlock plays the violin, they're definite nods, and I only got them because I watched the Rathbone films recently.
The conversation between Sherlock and John at the end, and the graveside visit, was heartbreaking, poor John. To know you're on the phone with someone and to think you're watching them take their own life, that would screw him up way more than he already was.
I really wish there had been a scene between Sherlock and Mycroft in this episode, I really do. It really felt like it was missing in this episode, and god, John never told Sherlock that Mycroft said he was sorry! Sad sigh.
Anyways, I think I'll take a bit of break before starting season 3, and yes I have been warned repeatedly that season 3 is not good and season 4 sucks, so I am prepared for that.
On the fandom side of things I've started reading fics, because of course I have, Don't worry I'm trying to read older stuff so I won't be too spoiled (but I've kind of been spoiled for a lot of things just by Holmes fandom osmosis anyways.) I ended up reading a Mystrade fic, and god dammit it, it sold me on the pair. I haven't really fallen for side pairing in while, but I knew it would happen again at some point. Don't get me wrong, I ship Sherlock/John, I ship pretty much every iteration of Holmes/Watson, but that is not where interest is really pointing at the moment. So if you have any good Mystrade recs, especially if they take place after Reichenbach, and deal with the fall out of all that, send them my way please.
(crossposted to Tumblr)
The Hound episode was fun, it didn't go where I expected it, and it felt like a fun little interlude between the two juggernaut episodes.
Now, Reichenbach, the fans must have gone feral for this back in 2012. Moriarty was very good in this. I love his level of machinations.
Funny thing, if you haven't watched the Rathbone films you might not see it, but there were a couple of references to those films: Moriarty trying to steal the crown jewels, him going to Baker St and stepping on the squeaky stair as Sherlock plays the violin, they're definite nods, and I only got them because I watched the Rathbone films recently.
The conversation between Sherlock and John at the end, and the graveside visit, was heartbreaking, poor John. To know you're on the phone with someone and to think you're watching them take their own life, that would screw him up way more than he already was.
I really wish there had been a scene between Sherlock and Mycroft in this episode, I really do. It really felt like it was missing in this episode, and god, John never told Sherlock that Mycroft said he was sorry! Sad sigh.
Anyways, I think I'll take a bit of break before starting season 3, and yes I have been warned repeatedly that season 3 is not good and season 4 sucks, so I am prepared for that.
On the fandom side of things I've started reading fics, because of course I have, Don't worry I'm trying to read older stuff so I won't be too spoiled (but I've kind of been spoiled for a lot of things just by Holmes fandom osmosis anyways.) I ended up reading a Mystrade fic, and god dammit it, it sold me on the pair. I haven't really fallen for side pairing in while, but I knew it would happen again at some point. Don't get me wrong, I ship Sherlock/John, I ship pretty much every iteration of Holmes/Watson, but that is not where interest is really pointing at the moment. So if you have any good Mystrade recs, especially if they take place after Reichenbach, and deal with the fall out of all that, send them my way please.
(crossposted to Tumblr)
Noms closing soon!
May. 20th, 2026 06:45 pmsummerofhorrorexchangeNominations close in about 22 hours: May 21 at 8pm EDT). Get your noms in! Nomination guidelines are here.
After nominations close, we will put up another nomination clarifications post.
After nominations close, we will put up another nomination clarifications post.
meme time!
May. 19th, 2026 07:32 pmsenmutPick a year from 1975 to 2026. I'll tell you a favorite song, TV show, book, or movie from that year and why. (You can pick your media or leave it to me.)
Umineko: Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch
May. 19th, 2026 03:23 pmalias_sqbrMasterlist.
I started writing a "short summary" for people who haven't played and to get my thoughts in order, then realised it was (a) getting long and (b) would be easier if I looked up a plot summary to remind myself. So lets go episode by episode until I finish or get bored haha. You can also just read the wiki page I referenced yourself but mine is shorter, if you can believe it, and has a few extra thoughts.
I mostly go through the mystery stuff, there's a bunch of humour and character moments which aren't captured in this summary. I'll avoid anything that significantly spoils later Episodes until a later post, but will not be super strict when it feels more logical to mention things now, or if I have current speculation that I either did or could have come up with at the time.
Please do not leave any comments which spoil past episode 1! I have played up to partway through Episode 5 but some people reading might not have.
( Spoilers for Episode 1 )
I started writing a "short summary" for people who haven't played and to get my thoughts in order, then realised it was (a) getting long and (b) would be easier if I looked up a plot summary to remind myself. So lets go episode by episode until I finish or get bored haha. You can also just read the wiki page I referenced yourself but mine is shorter, if you can believe it, and has a few extra thoughts.
I mostly go through the mystery stuff, there's a bunch of humour and character moments which aren't captured in this summary. I'll avoid anything that significantly spoils later Episodes until a later post, but will not be super strict when it feels more logical to mention things now, or if I have current speculation that I either did or could have come up with at the time.
Please do not leave any comments which spoil past episode 1! I have played up to partway through Episode 5 but some people reading might not have.
( Spoilers for Episode 1 )
Today is the 30th anniversary of FK's LK
May. 18th, 2026 06:01 pmbrightknightieI've released the gameplay post for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fkficfest 2026, the annual Forever Knight (1992-1996) fanfiction event. Promotional posts to the usual DW communities will follow, one every few days, until all are notified. As you like, please do promote the celebration in your own journal(s) and anywhere off DW.
Today, May 18, 2026, happens to be the 30th anniversary of the first airing of "Last Knight," FK's notorious finale (give or take local syndication schedules). I don't feel precisely the same about the show or the fandom as I did all those years ago, of course; I wouldn't expect anyone to. But I do still treasure both. ♥
fkficfest 2026, the annual Forever Knight (1992-1996) fanfiction event. Promotional posts to the usual DW communities will follow, one every few days, until all are notified. As you like, please do promote the celebration in your own journal(s) and anywhere off DW.Today, May 18, 2026, happens to be the 30th anniversary of the first airing of "Last Knight," FK's notorious finale (give or take local syndication schedules). I don't feel precisely the same about the show or the fandom as I did all those years ago, of course; I wouldn't expect anyone to. But I do still treasure both. ♥
Star Wars Time Travel: Leia to the Clone Wars
May. 18th, 2026 07:48 pmsenmutAO3 Link | Save Us (5590 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars [2008] - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Leia Organa, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda, Plo Koon, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Time Travel Fix-It
Summary:
Shortly after Bespin
In the course of trying to hold up her part of leading the Rebellion, hunting for leads on Han, and being hope for the survivors of Alderaan, Leia rarely had time to herself. One too many people trying to extend sympathy on a major Alderaanian holiday had her demanding time to herself.
Luke was gone with R2-D2, C-3PO had been co-opted by Intel, and who knew what trouble Chewbacca had found with Lando. She checked out a speeder bike, logged a course to go survey the moon they were on, and just let herself escape.
She had a blaster, survival gear, and too many emotions to escape. The speeder bike became an extension of who she was, as she navigated by the seat of her pants, enjoying the rush of air around her.
"Commander Organa, there is an anomaly building near where you logged your exploration," came across her comm in the helmet. She didn't sigh; no, this was a greater invitation to escape while still being the consummate Rebel.
"Understood. Will get eyes on and report back, Control."
She'd have to find out who had been on duty, and be nice to them for remembering her rank instead of her title.
Not much past that, she could see the anomaly, a swirl of energy with the false illusion of a dark place limned in murderously red lighting. She pulled up far short of it, bringing out binocs to see it better.
The device only showed the energy swirl.
Putting it down, Leia moved forward slightly on the bike, ignoring its protest at idling and barely throttled motion. The illusory place looked as if a barrier was dropping, and almost ghostly figures exchanging blows with proscribed lightsabers.
"Why isn't Luke here," she muttered rhetorically, using one hand to rub at both eyes, before peering into the swirl again.
One ghostly figure remained, seated in meditative pose, looking almost like no one Leia had ever seen.
Almost. Memories of her father's study, a woman in a cloak and armor, the hood tented high above her sparkling blue eyes, and the impish smile when she looked directly at Leia's hiding spot came back. Leia remembered orange-toned hands clasping her father's, and the sheer presence of the person when they moved past to leave.
The presence had easily been as imposing as she would learn Vader's was, but with the warm promise of a sun-drenched hike in the plains as opposed to the slicing cut of desert-burning winds.
Leia knew that memory had a name, one that came to be applied to key intel agents that could buy great strides forward, or open full populations to the Rebel Alliance.
Fulcrum.
As if the ghostly one could touch her thoughts, that illusion opened her eyes, and looked directly at Leia across the distance.
"Save us."
Two words preceded the anomaly spiraling out at a rate Leia could not have outran even if the speeder bike had been at full throttle… and the galaxy ceased to exist as Leia had known it her whole life.
After Felucia & Wasskah
Anakin rested his hands on Ahsoka's slim shoulders a moment longer, then gave a lopsided grin at her. "I know I just got you back, but we won't be leaving right away for the Resolute. Thought you might appreciate a day and night in the calm of the Temple before we go rescue Rex and the Admiral from plotting campaigns without us."
She looked at him in that skeptical way she had, before giving him a sly grin in turn. He half-wondered if she was seeing through the excuse, and chose to believe she just had mischief of her own to get into.
"Alright Skyguy. I'll be at our ship when you comm me tomorrow."
"Try not to get in trouble?"
"Right back at ya."
They turned to part, with Anakin going to acquire a speeder, and Ahsoka — after considering her options — going to one of the meditation rooms she preferred.
Leia felt as if she had been turned inside out, twisted like a wet rag, rung out, and then laid out to dry by the time the anomaly stopped reshaping the galaxy. She managed to bring herself to her hands and knees — apparently the speeder bike had not come with her — and fight the roiling nausea down. Opening her eyes was a mistake, and she shut them swiftly, before depending on her other senses.
Moist, plant-and-soil rich air, sounds contained as if in a smaller room, and… a voice talking to her like she was a scared anooba pup? She tried harder to make her ears focus, to understand the soft, calming words.
"…kay, you're going to be okay, just stay still."
"Not moving," Leia managed to say. "World's still spinning opposite the galactic spiral."
"Given I just saw you appear from nowhere, I'm kind of not surprised."
The voice sounded young, but with a sort of confidence that Leia recognized from herself, or Winter. That kind came from being tested by life.
"Where am I?" she asked, since the owner of the voice seemed to be handling her sudden appearance with aplomb, worrying more of getting Leia settled down than the weirdness of it.
"The Jedi Temple. Which means someone's likely to come check on us, given that was a massive Force ripple."
The Jedi Temple?! But that was imposs — no. Wait.
Save us.
"Luke, when I get my hands on you! The Force things are supposed to be your problem, not mine!"
"Hmm, I don't know that name. And I don't recognize your uniform… sort of like the Alderaanian guards? But not quite."
Alderaan. If Leia was in the Jedi Temple, and she had to believe it with the way her day had gone so far, Alderaan survived. The Republic was still whole, but…
"Don't think I am insane for the question I am about to ask," Leis said quietly, measuring the cadence like a speech in the Senate, "but what year is it?"
"Nine seventy-nine, Ruusan Reformation calendar. Not really up on translating that to Huttese or anything other than Shili's world system," the other person said. "I dimmed the lights a bit, in case you want to try opening your eyes?"
Leia shifted onto her butt first, folding her legs in front of her, an unconscious mirror of the ghostly Fulcrum, and tried that. She was looking at a … small version of the woman that had been her father's friend? Same species, anyway, maybe a relative, given the markings.
Two full years before Empire Day. She wanted to hyperventilate, but the strength of will she'd found in resisting the torture probe on the Death Star helped her hold that at bay.
"My name is Leia Organa — yes that family — and before I got caught in an anomaly I was scouting, I was on a moon, far far away from this world, and a full generation in the future."
The girl tipped her head curiously, then nodded. "I am Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan. I'm only here tonight and part of tomorrow, because my Master is being kind enough to let us both have a rest from the war.
"But if you're really from the future, you know things that could change history, and that means I really need — "
Her words cut off as the door to the room opened, and a small non-human of a species unlike anything Leia had ever seen walked in, using a small staff to help support him.
"— a Jedi Master." Ahsoka smiled brightly. "Master Yoda, we have a Force puzzle. Her name is Leia Organa."
"Hmm, find such, often, my line does." He walked over to be beside Ahsoka, and then settled himself to a sitting pose as well. "Strange, moves the Force. To you, padawan, the Force has brought this piece. Wisdom, yes, wisdom is needed."
Leia caught the slight eyeroll and sense of Ahsoka knowing she didn't have that trait. It actually made her want to smile, but … how could she? She didn't know anything of this era, other than one burning fact.
The so-called Chancellor was prepping the galaxy to transform it into an Empire, and there were no Jedi in her time. Well, except Kenobi, so briefly, and Luke, fumbling his way forward.
"Master Anakin said we were heading back to our unit tomorrow, but now you're here to help her!" Ahsoka said with bright cheerfulness.
Anakin.
"Skywalker?" Leia hesitantly asked.
"Yes!" Ahsoka answered, even as Yoda's ear tip twitched a bit.
"Right. I am certain now that the energy field meant to grab Luke. And he wasn't even on planet!" Leia muttered.
"Hmm?" Yoda inquired.
"My friend Luke, he's the only Jedi I know. And his father was Anakin Skywalker."
"Uh-oh," Ahsoka said, skin flushing a deeper orange. Yoda merely sighed, shaking his head, before looking at the padawan beside him.
"With you, she stays, this night. Decide tomorrow, shall we. Now, care given; needed it is."
"Yes, Master Yoda." Ahsoka bounced to her feet, and then offered a slim hand down to help Leia up, doing so with … a refreshing surge of energy? Leia had half-felt something like that from Luke, when he was worried she was running herself into the ground.
"I… thank you. Both of you. I need to not go near the Senate, but at least part of my assistance will require a meeting with my… with the Senator of Alderaan."
"In the morning," Yoda promised, but made no move to rise again, staying as the other pair left.
Ahsoka frowned at the condition of the apartment. It really didn't help that Obi-Wan still lived here, that none of the three of them were even in the Temple all that often. But the state of the place really showed that as she opened the door and brought Leia inside.
"I got sent to my Master in the field, and he and his Master have been in the field since mine was Knighted, so… there's technically three of us living here, when it should only be two. I could probably find a set of quarters that are empty for you?
"Or you can take the couch and I will crash in my Master's room. He won't mind. And the couch is comfortable, for all it's now on at least the fourth person living here and sleeping on it."
Leia had to smile, to cover for her horror that this kid — how could she be anything else — was in an active war zone. Yes, Rebels had a lot of younger members, but the war… wasn't like anything her older Rebels had said the Clone Wars were.
"I can take the couch. I… is there a datapad I could use, to make my notes, prepare for talking to the Senator and others?"
Ahsoka grinned. "You're a politician; I have seen Senator Amidala using her spare time to work out what to say like that."
Amidala. The woman that both Leia's father and her mentor called the Mother of the Rebellion, despite dying on Empire Day. And this girl knew her.
Ahsoka was moving to a small box of odds and ends, came up with a data pad. From the flick of fingers over it, she was backing it up elsewhere, checking the power, and finally she handed it over.
"Basic connection to the Holo Net, ready for you to set up a password! While you do that, are you hungry? I need to eat something. Any food preferences? There's probably teas. Water of course. Won't be any milk currently; I made sure to clear out things like that my last trip back."
"No dietary restrictions, if it's a little spicy, that's good, and I'll trust your choice on the tea." Leia settled on the couch, removing her belt with the blaster and various pouches. Oddly enough, despite knowing the Emperor was on this world, she did feel safe.
Ahsoka vanished into the kitchenette, and Leia got to work.
Anakin had made it back earlier than he'd intended, due to Padmé having an early committee meeting. He slipped in, hearing voices in the eating area, spaced it out because Snips was a lot better than he was at making friends, and headed that way. He found himself pulling up short, though, as the stranger sitting at the table with Snips looked so much like Padmé just before Geonosis.
He knew that was impossible.
"Snips, who's your friend?" he asked, hoping he'd managed casual.
"Hey, Skyguy." Ahsoka grinned over at him. "I guess the Force decided I needed a new friend, huh?"
"That is an interesting way to look at it," the stranger said, smiling, and that only intensified the familiarity.
"Anyway, this is Leia Organa — yes that family as she told me — and we have to meet with Master Yoda in not quite half an hour, along with the Alderaanian senator, and whoever else Master Yoda chose. Force things, in a big way."
"Huh."
Okay so that wasn't the best response to the info-dump, and now that he focused on the Force, something he tried not to do, it was… expectant? Humming? Anticipating something?
"Anakin Skywalker, as she might have remembered to tell you," he did make himself say, before continuing into the kitchen to zap a meal for himself. "Am I supposed to be at this meeting?"
"I didn't volunteer you, and set a timed message to warn you that was where I was. But you weren't not invited either," Ahsoka answered. Her words made him remember why he didn't pay close attention to the Force on Coruscant; it started clanging discordantly.
"If it's all the same, Snips, mind if I go check the Twilight over and let you handle this?" Anakin said, once the Force stopped thrumming at him that he should not go.
"I don't mind; I kind of feel responsible until I know Leia is in good hands with what she has to say."
"Good."
"I… after you explained about Jedi not actually being part of families, I have to say thank you for keeping that meeting calm," Leia said quietly as she walked with Ahsoka toward the meeting room. "I can't see any of Luke in that man, other than… the pressure? The feeling of something innate to him?"
"That's the Force, and yeah, my Master has a lot. I bet a kid of his would radiate it." Ahsoka caught Leia's hand and squeezed. "Pretty sure when the war is over, Skyguy will probably retire from the Order, because it doesn't fit. He might go Altisian; they do allow families."
Leia grimaced, but was glad for the hand, because Ahsoka had reacted, during their discussion of possible futures, with flat out refusal to allow it to come to pass. Apparently the clones were not the enemy? And the Jedi were stretched very thin commanding them? Leia was looking forward to winning her father's trust enough to get a better picture of it all.
"Don't worry. The Force sent you here to help. We'll find the right path to kick the Sith in their teeth and protect people," Ahsoka assured her with all the confidence of youth. Leia even remembered being a little like that… but it was tempered by remembering the woman named Fulcrum, whose every smile had held grief.
The longer she was near Ahsoka, the more she suspected Fulcrum was this Togruta grown up. She didn't know why that stayed with her, any more than how she was more aware of the pressure — the Force, Ahsoka said — all around her.
"I mean to make that happen, even if I have to figure out a big enough distraction to get close enough with a blaster," Leia muttered.
Ahsoka gave her a grin for that, before she straightened herself up at a door, and led Leia inside.
Leia saw her father — so much younger! — next to the one called Master Yoda, and there was a large being of a species Leia didn't recognize. She was beginning to curse, even more fully than ever before, that the Empire had gone so fully human-centric. The other being present, that Leia dimly recalled from her father's holo collection, was the Pantoran Senator of this era. Leia could have sworn that Ahsoka seemed even lighter in spirit for that reason, and she was really starting to wonder if Luke's Jedi weirdness was contagious.
"Master Yoda. Master Plo Koon. Senator Bail Organa, and Senator Riyo Chuchi," Ahsoka began, having shifted to focus on Leia, gestures made in each direction. "This is Leia Organa, and I truly did watch her just appear out of thin air, with the Force swirling all around her."
"Organa?" Bail questioned, and Leia watched him take in the uniform as well as her braids.
"Yes," Leia answered him firmly. "I was adopted, have known that all my life, but I was raised by you and mother to live up to your stations and the expectations for all people."
He smiled at that, nodding. "Spoken as a true daughter of our houses," he agreed.
"Padawan Tano, as the one present at her advent, do you mean to stay for this meeting?" Master Koon asked in a gentle voice. "We are aware of your recent brush with death and the trials entailed on that world, and would excuse you."
Ahsoka centered, and the impression of a youth almost vanished, giving Leia a better glimpse of that woman from her father's study. "Masters, Senators. The Force brought Leia to me, specifically, and I feel it is my duty to stand by her for that, as well as to be the ears of the Vod'e to this meeting, since none are present."
The way the ancient one almost softened in his eyes and ears, and the fact that the tall Jedi Master literally straightened with pride told Leia that Ahsoka had made a good impression. She saw her father's faint worry; he hated seeing the young take on terrible burdens. And the other Senator, one of his allies all the way back to this time, just smiled, as if expecting no less.
"Harm, certain knowledge of future events, can bring," Yoda began. "Ask Master Koon, I did. Gifts of his people, make private our words, hmm? Help to cloak knowledge, prevent theft of it by others, he can. Agree to this, do you, young Organa?"
Leia wondered, eyes going to her father who gave a slight nod, before Ahsoka rested a hand on her arm.
"Master Koon is a Kel Dor, who are natively telepathic. He is also a Baran Do Sage, in addition to being a Jedi, and can help your mind's protections," she explained more fully. Leia had the impression that her father approved of it being put in plainer words, and neither Jedi objected.
"I don't think anyone in this room is going to care for what I share, but even though I will miss every connection I held dear in my life, I want to prevent the death, the destruction, and the collapse of everything my father told me of the galaxy before I was born." Leia squared her shoulders, and looked at the Kel Dor Jedi. "If you would, Master. And I'll try not to regret that the Rebellion never had such protections."
"We are all certain that the portents must be terrible, for the Force to have acted in this fashion," Riyo said firmly, "and we will do all we can to both use the knowledge for the better of all, as well as to take care in not leading to worse."
The Senator's words, coming from someone who didn't look much older than Ahsoka herself, were met with avowals from the others, before Master Koon gathered their minds into a private meeting.
After having her mind buttressed, and with a promise to join them soon from Plo Koon, Ahsoka had dutifully left with a mission. It had been drawn out by Leia being unaware of the men existing in her time, the general impression that the men had been considered the evil of the war presaging the end of the Republic, and the awareness of where the real Sith threat sat in the chain of command.
She would sift through her connections with the men, and try to determine how their blinding loyalty to the Republic, and their devotion to those Jedi that they cared for, could possibly lead to an end game with the Sith in charge.
Bail had openly embraced Leia, promising her that he would maneuver the Senate more subtly, and begin investigations to nibble at the web of corruption in that body enabling the Sith. Master Yoda had gone to his meditations, while Senator Chuchi left with Leia's father.
That left her alone with Plo Koon, whose paternal worry over these men she had to meet had done him no harm at all in her eyes.
"You could have handed me off to Ahsoka, but didn't. Why?" she asked, just to get a better feel for the nebulous threat at something in her young friend's life because of who the Sith was.
"The Chancellor was keen to foster a deep relationship with the boy who saved his homeworld, over a decade ago," Plo told her. "Ahsoka can guard her knowledge, look for ways to mitigate that until I can arrive and convince the young man to allow me to help him, alongside her investigation into the men themselves.
"But you might well trigger a failsafe, if you were to ever state clearly who the Sith is in his hearing."
Leia's eyes went wide as she realized what Plo was saying, and she had to take a deep breath. "So… Anakin Skywalker is both at risk and possibly a risk in himself, without knowing it?"
"Yes. As we never, ever had reason to suspect."
"Right, far better for me to aid you and your unit. I'm no pilot, but I do understand tactical command, and I am a decent shot."
Plo inclined his head. "And, if you wish, we can begin opening the nascent Force ability I sense in you. You are older, but strike me as someone who grasps all tools to move forward for the better of all."
"Me? No, Luke is the one with the Force," Leia protested, and yet…
… she'd known he needed her. She'd found him. She had been aware of the mood of people around her…
"It is part of you, possibly sublimated by outside persons to protect you, given the murder of the Jedi in your history."
Leia took a deep breath. "Alright, but I don't want to use a lightsaber. I like my blaster."
Plo chuckled. "My Commander will quite like that attitude."
Leia was not to mention the truth of the Sith, and she was fine with that, understanding the necessity of secrecy. She couldn't do nothing, though, not when she had been primed for politics or battle by life. Politics was barred, even as a new aide to her father because of what she knew, and joining Plo as an Alderaanian volunteer soldier was her safest way to keep helping.
Wolffe was suspicious of her from the first meeting, while he reminded her very strongly of several die-hard military men that had found the Rebellion as their haven against the Empire's destruction of individual system militias.
Their first battle, a combined ground and space assault saw the suspicions thaw gradually, as Leia ably handled the tactical display and telemetry, allowing Wolffe to divert another officer directly into ground support.
"Commander," Wolffe said, after the hours of managing from the flight deck had come to an end. "You have a good eye for seeing the holes in a net maneuver. Wasn't certain of your call with Squad Delta, but you cut fatalities by at least ten percent."
"A little too much experience running battles as the under-gunned, under-manned side of things," Leia said. "I could use more formal training than what I've picked up, Commander Wolffe."
"Once we're in hyperspace again, I'll work with you on that. I'd like a few pointers on the guerrilla tactics you brought to bear in the space battle."
She held her hand out to him, and he shook it, sealing their choice to be allies more firmly.
Meeting up with the 501st — Leia was trying desperately not to think on that unit designation from her own era, and who led it — let Ahsoka catch up with Leia while the two senior Jedi had a talk that was going to be difficult at best. Leia noticed Ahsoka was holding herself in almost a listening pose every time they paused in their tour of the Resolute, all the way back to Ahsoka's quarters.
Leia noticed it was a dual cabin, showing the Jedi shared living space even on campaign.
"What's eating at you?" Leia finally asked. "Did you make progress on your mission? I haven't been able, as an outsider, to figure anything out, even if Wolffe has been re-mediating my military theory."
"If Wolffe's gone that far, you won't be an outsider long," Ahsoka said before shaking her head. "I have a theory, but I need for my Master to be brought up to speed to be able to prove it, because I'm going to have to get away from GAR medical equipment with a man or two.
"I'm positive they cannot volunteer for what we need done, and that hurts, but I know my brothers. They would if they could. So, I will make that choice for them, and then we'll know."
She'd kept her voice low, even though they were definitely private. Leia approved, and felt a twinge, remembering being the teenager who had to be very careful in what she said and where.
"So what were you listening for?"
"The men," Ahsoka said. "I know why Master Plo is here, and I was trying to make sure my men are as calm as they can be right now, because at least some of them are going to react when the Force storm breaks on them.
"It's part of why I, and Master Plo, were convinced that somehow the Sith will use them for the murder of the Order. They're so deeply imprinted on us, and that would be very Sithly, to use that against both the vod'e and the Jedi."
Leia nodded. "I see the bond between Plo and his men. It's … breathtaking, in many ways."
"Yeah. And we just want to get as many of them alive as possible to the other side of the war, see them learn to just be people with their own goals," Ahsoka said sadly. "Every loss… especially now, knowing what you lived through, it — "
She cut herself off abruptly as the Force pressed in all around them both, full of fear and anger and rejection, swirling and cutting like desert sand caught in a simoom. Ahsoka looked unerringly in the direction of where Plo and Anakin were, before a sheen of white covered her eyes, and Leia knew this was the apparition that had chosen her. The warm sun-drenched plains ghosted along every nerve Leia had, as Ahsoka focused her will, channeled the Force to contain and hold the simoom away from them all.
Leia didn't speak, didn't do anything but lock her own focus on Ahsoka, throwing her will into the padawan's efforts to shield both units from the destruction.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the anger and rage gave way to hope and grief, then even that faded, and Ahsoka wavered, falling heavily back into the cushions of the couch they shared, the white gone from her eyes, the blues of her lekku distinctly faded.
"Oh Skyguy, you better be alright," the girl said softly, before weakly lifting a hand and floating a nutri-paste pack over to handle her immediate need for fuel.
"Can you tell what… anything?" Leia asked. Maybe it was just being on a ship of the 501st, but the rage had felt so much like Vader.
"I think he chose healing, but it was very close. My poor master. Whatever the Sith has done to him… it's at least half as nasty as what's planned for my brothers."
Maybe… maybe Leia's imagination wasn't so far off. But if that was the case —
— oh she was glad Luke would never know that. And she would ask Plo to help her truly see Anakin Skywalker as someone separate from Darth Vader.
Leia waited until they were into hyperspace, then slipped into Plo's outer chamber, the one he used as an office. She hadn't wanted to ask questions, as they had actually had a campaign to see to. The absolute ferocity of Anakin and his people had been well-directed at least, and the campaign short.
"I know you can't tell me things that are Skywalker's to protect, but… is Ahsoka and their unit safe now?"
"From the manipulations on that boy? Yes. All removed. We are shuffling battle plans to keep them at the front and away from Coruscant for now," Plo said.
"Ahsoka said she had a working theory about the men," Leia offered. "In case she didn't get a chance to tell you that."
"I knew it would be in safe hands with her. But you have something else you need of me; the Force is heavy with it."
Leia looked down at her hands, gathering her thoughts together. She looked up with a firm jaw and a steel spine. "I believe I knew Anakin Skywalker, the Sith version, in my time. And it was not … good. I need to know how to separate those pieces, to be more fair to a man that my friend so obviously respects."
"Ahh, I see. I will gladly meditate with you, and help you reinforce the boundary between the man he will not become and the one that he is, my young friend." Plo tipped his head. "Do you wish aid in… the not good part?"
Leia drug in a deep breath, then nodded once, decisively. "It's not pretty," she warned.
"I had no doubt."
The first indication that Ahsoka, and Anakin, had solved the mystery of the clones was when most of the unit reported a headache after a full briefing from Open Circle's High General. Leia glanced at Plo, who nodded briefly to her.
It was technological, a monstrosity that could have stripped them to nothing but following orders. There is no need to burden them with the knowledge just yet.
Wolffe didn't complain of one. It was still odd to think her conversation at the man she saw as a teacher and mentor in her growing ability to use the Force to measure a situation.
The device was destroyed, in the actions that led to his cybernetic eye.
What now?
Ahsoka, a detachment of her men who do know the truth, are coming for you. Skywalker and Kenobi will be bringing the proof needed to a full Senate meeting. She, you, and the squadron of men will be on hand to provide support. Others will also be present.
Leia let her satisfaction with this plan seep through. She would ensconce herself in her father's party, most likely, unless Ahsoka had different ideas.
And she would see the Emperor unmasked… hopefully dead… all because she investigated a Force anomaly. Privately, she was just as glad it had been her, not Luke, with the turns this had taken.
Epilogue
"Your mother is very eager to meet you, even if you are closer in age to us than a daughter could be," Bail said happily. "All of your effort, bringing a viewpoint we needed to restructure the Senate and the courts has been marvelous. But I feel ashamed that it's taken two years to get to a point where I could take you home."
Leia smiled brightly, having been fully in her element after Palpatine came crashing down, serving Alderaan and the galaxy by advising her father. She had paid attention to those former Separatists — not that she had known them as such — in the Rebellion, had listened to Mon Mothma debate the old ways with such people.
That it could make for a better Republic helped her lay to rest the ghosts of a future that could never be.
"We've had so much work, and I would not have been happy to put it aside for a short time. Now I can focus on learning my place in our family now." She accepted the hug he offered her then.
"Word came from my friend Amidala," Bail said as they walked to his waiting ship. "She had twins. She said that she was so struck by your calm and resolve that she chose to name them Leia and Luke, in your honor."
Leia paused, the Force running over her spine in knowledge of that moment. "I have a feeling, Father, that those names were meant to be," she finally said, a gleam in her eye for knowing just who the father was, even if that wasn't open knowledge yet, not with the Order doing its own reorganization. Bail tipped his head, considered, and then breathed out.
"I think… you are correct. I would certainly have stepped up for a child of hers, had things gone so poorly."
"Well, the galaxy will just have to deal with two of me in time," Leia said firmly. She thought she almost heard Fulcrum laughing softly in her mind, as she looked forward to a future shaped for the better.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars [2008] - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Leia Organa, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda, Plo Koon, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Time Travel Fix-It
Summary:
Leia just needed some time to herself. A Force Anomaly gives her a different type of time to deal with.
Save Us
In the course of trying to hold up her part of leading the Rebellion, hunting for leads on Han, and being hope for the survivors of Alderaan, Leia rarely had time to herself. One too many people trying to extend sympathy on a major Alderaanian holiday had her demanding time to herself.
Luke was gone with R2-D2, C-3PO had been co-opted by Intel, and who knew what trouble Chewbacca had found with Lando. She checked out a speeder bike, logged a course to go survey the moon they were on, and just let herself escape.
She had a blaster, survival gear, and too many emotions to escape. The speeder bike became an extension of who she was, as she navigated by the seat of her pants, enjoying the rush of air around her.
"Commander Organa, there is an anomaly building near where you logged your exploration," came across her comm in the helmet. She didn't sigh; no, this was a greater invitation to escape while still being the consummate Rebel.
"Understood. Will get eyes on and report back, Control."
She'd have to find out who had been on duty, and be nice to them for remembering her rank instead of her title.
Not much past that, she could see the anomaly, a swirl of energy with the false illusion of a dark place limned in murderously red lighting. She pulled up far short of it, bringing out binocs to see it better.
The device only showed the energy swirl.
Putting it down, Leia moved forward slightly on the bike, ignoring its protest at idling and barely throttled motion. The illusory place looked as if a barrier was dropping, and almost ghostly figures exchanging blows with proscribed lightsabers.
"Why isn't Luke here," she muttered rhetorically, using one hand to rub at both eyes, before peering into the swirl again.
One ghostly figure remained, seated in meditative pose, looking almost like no one Leia had ever seen.
Almost. Memories of her father's study, a woman in a cloak and armor, the hood tented high above her sparkling blue eyes, and the impish smile when she looked directly at Leia's hiding spot came back. Leia remembered orange-toned hands clasping her father's, and the sheer presence of the person when they moved past to leave.
The presence had easily been as imposing as she would learn Vader's was, but with the warm promise of a sun-drenched hike in the plains as opposed to the slicing cut of desert-burning winds.
Leia knew that memory had a name, one that came to be applied to key intel agents that could buy great strides forward, or open full populations to the Rebel Alliance.
Fulcrum.
As if the ghostly one could touch her thoughts, that illusion opened her eyes, and looked directly at Leia across the distance.
"Save us."
Two words preceded the anomaly spiraling out at a rate Leia could not have outran even if the speeder bike had been at full throttle… and the galaxy ceased to exist as Leia had known it her whole life.
Anakin rested his hands on Ahsoka's slim shoulders a moment longer, then gave a lopsided grin at her. "I know I just got you back, but we won't be leaving right away for the Resolute. Thought you might appreciate a day and night in the calm of the Temple before we go rescue Rex and the Admiral from plotting campaigns without us."
She looked at him in that skeptical way she had, before giving him a sly grin in turn. He half-wondered if she was seeing through the excuse, and chose to believe she just had mischief of her own to get into.
"Alright Skyguy. I'll be at our ship when you comm me tomorrow."
"Try not to get in trouble?"
"Right back at ya."
They turned to part, with Anakin going to acquire a speeder, and Ahsoka — after considering her options — going to one of the meditation rooms she preferred.
Leia felt as if she had been turned inside out, twisted like a wet rag, rung out, and then laid out to dry by the time the anomaly stopped reshaping the galaxy. She managed to bring herself to her hands and knees — apparently the speeder bike had not come with her — and fight the roiling nausea down. Opening her eyes was a mistake, and she shut them swiftly, before depending on her other senses.
Moist, plant-and-soil rich air, sounds contained as if in a smaller room, and… a voice talking to her like she was a scared anooba pup? She tried harder to make her ears focus, to understand the soft, calming words.
"…kay, you're going to be okay, just stay still."
"Not moving," Leia managed to say. "World's still spinning opposite the galactic spiral."
"Given I just saw you appear from nowhere, I'm kind of not surprised."
The voice sounded young, but with a sort of confidence that Leia recognized from herself, or Winter. That kind came from being tested by life.
"Where am I?" she asked, since the owner of the voice seemed to be handling her sudden appearance with aplomb, worrying more of getting Leia settled down than the weirdness of it.
"The Jedi Temple. Which means someone's likely to come check on us, given that was a massive Force ripple."
The Jedi Temple?! But that was imposs — no. Wait.
Save us.
"Luke, when I get my hands on you! The Force things are supposed to be your problem, not mine!"
"Hmm, I don't know that name. And I don't recognize your uniform… sort of like the Alderaanian guards? But not quite."
Alderaan. If Leia was in the Jedi Temple, and she had to believe it with the way her day had gone so far, Alderaan survived. The Republic was still whole, but…
"Don't think I am insane for the question I am about to ask," Leis said quietly, measuring the cadence like a speech in the Senate, "but what year is it?"
"Nine seventy-nine, Ruusan Reformation calendar. Not really up on translating that to Huttese or anything other than Shili's world system," the other person said. "I dimmed the lights a bit, in case you want to try opening your eyes?"
Leia shifted onto her butt first, folding her legs in front of her, an unconscious mirror of the ghostly Fulcrum, and tried that. She was looking at a … small version of the woman that had been her father's friend? Same species, anyway, maybe a relative, given the markings.
Two full years before Empire Day. She wanted to hyperventilate, but the strength of will she'd found in resisting the torture probe on the Death Star helped her hold that at bay.
"My name is Leia Organa — yes that family — and before I got caught in an anomaly I was scouting, I was on a moon, far far away from this world, and a full generation in the future."
The girl tipped her head curiously, then nodded. "I am Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Padawan. I'm only here tonight and part of tomorrow, because my Master is being kind enough to let us both have a rest from the war.
"But if you're really from the future, you know things that could change history, and that means I really need — "
Her words cut off as the door to the room opened, and a small non-human of a species unlike anything Leia had ever seen walked in, using a small staff to help support him.
"— a Jedi Master." Ahsoka smiled brightly. "Master Yoda, we have a Force puzzle. Her name is Leia Organa."
"Hmm, find such, often, my line does." He walked over to be beside Ahsoka, and then settled himself to a sitting pose as well. "Strange, moves the Force. To you, padawan, the Force has brought this piece. Wisdom, yes, wisdom is needed."
Leia caught the slight eyeroll and sense of Ahsoka knowing she didn't have that trait. It actually made her want to smile, but … how could she? She didn't know anything of this era, other than one burning fact.
The so-called Chancellor was prepping the galaxy to transform it into an Empire, and there were no Jedi in her time. Well, except Kenobi, so briefly, and Luke, fumbling his way forward.
"Master Anakin said we were heading back to our unit tomorrow, but now you're here to help her!" Ahsoka said with bright cheerfulness.
Anakin.
"Skywalker?" Leia hesitantly asked.
"Yes!" Ahsoka answered, even as Yoda's ear tip twitched a bit.
"Right. I am certain now that the energy field meant to grab Luke. And he wasn't even on planet!" Leia muttered.
"Hmm?" Yoda inquired.
"My friend Luke, he's the only Jedi I know. And his father was Anakin Skywalker."
"Uh-oh," Ahsoka said, skin flushing a deeper orange. Yoda merely sighed, shaking his head, before looking at the padawan beside him.
"With you, she stays, this night. Decide tomorrow, shall we. Now, care given; needed it is."
"Yes, Master Yoda." Ahsoka bounced to her feet, and then offered a slim hand down to help Leia up, doing so with … a refreshing surge of energy? Leia had half-felt something like that from Luke, when he was worried she was running herself into the ground.
"I… thank you. Both of you. I need to not go near the Senate, but at least part of my assistance will require a meeting with my… with the Senator of Alderaan."
"In the morning," Yoda promised, but made no move to rise again, staying as the other pair left.
Ahsoka frowned at the condition of the apartment. It really didn't help that Obi-Wan still lived here, that none of the three of them were even in the Temple all that often. But the state of the place really showed that as she opened the door and brought Leia inside.
"I got sent to my Master in the field, and he and his Master have been in the field since mine was Knighted, so… there's technically three of us living here, when it should only be two. I could probably find a set of quarters that are empty for you?
"Or you can take the couch and I will crash in my Master's room. He won't mind. And the couch is comfortable, for all it's now on at least the fourth person living here and sleeping on it."
Leia had to smile, to cover for her horror that this kid — how could she be anything else — was in an active war zone. Yes, Rebels had a lot of younger members, but the war… wasn't like anything her older Rebels had said the Clone Wars were.
"I can take the couch. I… is there a datapad I could use, to make my notes, prepare for talking to the Senator and others?"
Ahsoka grinned. "You're a politician; I have seen Senator Amidala using her spare time to work out what to say like that."
Amidala. The woman that both Leia's father and her mentor called the Mother of the Rebellion, despite dying on Empire Day. And this girl knew her.
Ahsoka was moving to a small box of odds and ends, came up with a data pad. From the flick of fingers over it, she was backing it up elsewhere, checking the power, and finally she handed it over.
"Basic connection to the Holo Net, ready for you to set up a password! While you do that, are you hungry? I need to eat something. Any food preferences? There's probably teas. Water of course. Won't be any milk currently; I made sure to clear out things like that my last trip back."
"No dietary restrictions, if it's a little spicy, that's good, and I'll trust your choice on the tea." Leia settled on the couch, removing her belt with the blaster and various pouches. Oddly enough, despite knowing the Emperor was on this world, she did feel safe.
Ahsoka vanished into the kitchenette, and Leia got to work.
Anakin had made it back earlier than he'd intended, due to Padmé having an early committee meeting. He slipped in, hearing voices in the eating area, spaced it out because Snips was a lot better than he was at making friends, and headed that way. He found himself pulling up short, though, as the stranger sitting at the table with Snips looked so much like Padmé just before Geonosis.
He knew that was impossible.
"Snips, who's your friend?" he asked, hoping he'd managed casual.
"Hey, Skyguy." Ahsoka grinned over at him. "I guess the Force decided I needed a new friend, huh?"
"That is an interesting way to look at it," the stranger said, smiling, and that only intensified the familiarity.
"Anyway, this is Leia Organa — yes that family as she told me — and we have to meet with Master Yoda in not quite half an hour, along with the Alderaanian senator, and whoever else Master Yoda chose. Force things, in a big way."
"Huh."
Okay so that wasn't the best response to the info-dump, and now that he focused on the Force, something he tried not to do, it was… expectant? Humming? Anticipating something?
"Anakin Skywalker, as she might have remembered to tell you," he did make himself say, before continuing into the kitchen to zap a meal for himself. "Am I supposed to be at this meeting?"
"I didn't volunteer you, and set a timed message to warn you that was where I was. But you weren't not invited either," Ahsoka answered. Her words made him remember why he didn't pay close attention to the Force on Coruscant; it started clanging discordantly.
"If it's all the same, Snips, mind if I go check the Twilight over and let you handle this?" Anakin said, once the Force stopped thrumming at him that he should not go.
"I don't mind; I kind of feel responsible until I know Leia is in good hands with what she has to say."
"Good."
"I… after you explained about Jedi not actually being part of families, I have to say thank you for keeping that meeting calm," Leia said quietly as she walked with Ahsoka toward the meeting room. "I can't see any of Luke in that man, other than… the pressure? The feeling of something innate to him?"
"That's the Force, and yeah, my Master has a lot. I bet a kid of his would radiate it." Ahsoka caught Leia's hand and squeezed. "Pretty sure when the war is over, Skyguy will probably retire from the Order, because it doesn't fit. He might go Altisian; they do allow families."
Leia grimaced, but was glad for the hand, because Ahsoka had reacted, during their discussion of possible futures, with flat out refusal to allow it to come to pass. Apparently the clones were not the enemy? And the Jedi were stretched very thin commanding them? Leia was looking forward to winning her father's trust enough to get a better picture of it all.
"Don't worry. The Force sent you here to help. We'll find the right path to kick the Sith in their teeth and protect people," Ahsoka assured her with all the confidence of youth. Leia even remembered being a little like that… but it was tempered by remembering the woman named Fulcrum, whose every smile had held grief.
The longer she was near Ahsoka, the more she suspected Fulcrum was this Togruta grown up. She didn't know why that stayed with her, any more than how she was more aware of the pressure — the Force, Ahsoka said — all around her.
"I mean to make that happen, even if I have to figure out a big enough distraction to get close enough with a blaster," Leia muttered.
Ahsoka gave her a grin for that, before she straightened herself up at a door, and led Leia inside.
Leia saw her father — so much younger! — next to the one called Master Yoda, and there was a large being of a species Leia didn't recognize. She was beginning to curse, even more fully than ever before, that the Empire had gone so fully human-centric. The other being present, that Leia dimly recalled from her father's holo collection, was the Pantoran Senator of this era. Leia could have sworn that Ahsoka seemed even lighter in spirit for that reason, and she was really starting to wonder if Luke's Jedi weirdness was contagious.
"Master Yoda. Master Plo Koon. Senator Bail Organa, and Senator Riyo Chuchi," Ahsoka began, having shifted to focus on Leia, gestures made in each direction. "This is Leia Organa, and I truly did watch her just appear out of thin air, with the Force swirling all around her."
"Organa?" Bail questioned, and Leia watched him take in the uniform as well as her braids.
"Yes," Leia answered him firmly. "I was adopted, have known that all my life, but I was raised by you and mother to live up to your stations and the expectations for all people."
He smiled at that, nodding. "Spoken as a true daughter of our houses," he agreed.
"Padawan Tano, as the one present at her advent, do you mean to stay for this meeting?" Master Koon asked in a gentle voice. "We are aware of your recent brush with death and the trials entailed on that world, and would excuse you."
Ahsoka centered, and the impression of a youth almost vanished, giving Leia a better glimpse of that woman from her father's study. "Masters, Senators. The Force brought Leia to me, specifically, and I feel it is my duty to stand by her for that, as well as to be the ears of the Vod'e to this meeting, since none are present."
The way the ancient one almost softened in his eyes and ears, and the fact that the tall Jedi Master literally straightened with pride told Leia that Ahsoka had made a good impression. She saw her father's faint worry; he hated seeing the young take on terrible burdens. And the other Senator, one of his allies all the way back to this time, just smiled, as if expecting no less.
"Harm, certain knowledge of future events, can bring," Yoda began. "Ask Master Koon, I did. Gifts of his people, make private our words, hmm? Help to cloak knowledge, prevent theft of it by others, he can. Agree to this, do you, young Organa?"
Leia wondered, eyes going to her father who gave a slight nod, before Ahsoka rested a hand on her arm.
"Master Koon is a Kel Dor, who are natively telepathic. He is also a Baran Do Sage, in addition to being a Jedi, and can help your mind's protections," she explained more fully. Leia had the impression that her father approved of it being put in plainer words, and neither Jedi objected.
"I don't think anyone in this room is going to care for what I share, but even though I will miss every connection I held dear in my life, I want to prevent the death, the destruction, and the collapse of everything my father told me of the galaxy before I was born." Leia squared her shoulders, and looked at the Kel Dor Jedi. "If you would, Master. And I'll try not to regret that the Rebellion never had such protections."
"We are all certain that the portents must be terrible, for the Force to have acted in this fashion," Riyo said firmly, "and we will do all we can to both use the knowledge for the better of all, as well as to take care in not leading to worse."
The Senator's words, coming from someone who didn't look much older than Ahsoka herself, were met with avowals from the others, before Master Koon gathered their minds into a private meeting.
After having her mind buttressed, and with a promise to join them soon from Plo Koon, Ahsoka had dutifully left with a mission. It had been drawn out by Leia being unaware of the men existing in her time, the general impression that the men had been considered the evil of the war presaging the end of the Republic, and the awareness of where the real Sith threat sat in the chain of command.
She would sift through her connections with the men, and try to determine how their blinding loyalty to the Republic, and their devotion to those Jedi that they cared for, could possibly lead to an end game with the Sith in charge.
Bail had openly embraced Leia, promising her that he would maneuver the Senate more subtly, and begin investigations to nibble at the web of corruption in that body enabling the Sith. Master Yoda had gone to his meditations, while Senator Chuchi left with Leia's father.
That left her alone with Plo Koon, whose paternal worry over these men she had to meet had done him no harm at all in her eyes.
"You could have handed me off to Ahsoka, but didn't. Why?" she asked, just to get a better feel for the nebulous threat at something in her young friend's life because of who the Sith was.
"The Chancellor was keen to foster a deep relationship with the boy who saved his homeworld, over a decade ago," Plo told her. "Ahsoka can guard her knowledge, look for ways to mitigate that until I can arrive and convince the young man to allow me to help him, alongside her investigation into the men themselves.
"But you might well trigger a failsafe, if you were to ever state clearly who the Sith is in his hearing."
Leia's eyes went wide as she realized what Plo was saying, and she had to take a deep breath. "So… Anakin Skywalker is both at risk and possibly a risk in himself, without knowing it?"
"Yes. As we never, ever had reason to suspect."
"Right, far better for me to aid you and your unit. I'm no pilot, but I do understand tactical command, and I am a decent shot."
Plo inclined his head. "And, if you wish, we can begin opening the nascent Force ability I sense in you. You are older, but strike me as someone who grasps all tools to move forward for the better of all."
"Me? No, Luke is the one with the Force," Leia protested, and yet…
… she'd known he needed her. She'd found him. She had been aware of the mood of people around her…
"It is part of you, possibly sublimated by outside persons to protect you, given the murder of the Jedi in your history."
Leia took a deep breath. "Alright, but I don't want to use a lightsaber. I like my blaster."
Plo chuckled. "My Commander will quite like that attitude."
Leia was not to mention the truth of the Sith, and she was fine with that, understanding the necessity of secrecy. She couldn't do nothing, though, not when she had been primed for politics or battle by life. Politics was barred, even as a new aide to her father because of what she knew, and joining Plo as an Alderaanian volunteer soldier was her safest way to keep helping.
Wolffe was suspicious of her from the first meeting, while he reminded her very strongly of several die-hard military men that had found the Rebellion as their haven against the Empire's destruction of individual system militias.
Their first battle, a combined ground and space assault saw the suspicions thaw gradually, as Leia ably handled the tactical display and telemetry, allowing Wolffe to divert another officer directly into ground support.
"Commander," Wolffe said, after the hours of managing from the flight deck had come to an end. "You have a good eye for seeing the holes in a net maneuver. Wasn't certain of your call with Squad Delta, but you cut fatalities by at least ten percent."
"A little too much experience running battles as the under-gunned, under-manned side of things," Leia said. "I could use more formal training than what I've picked up, Commander Wolffe."
"Once we're in hyperspace again, I'll work with you on that. I'd like a few pointers on the guerrilla tactics you brought to bear in the space battle."
She held her hand out to him, and he shook it, sealing their choice to be allies more firmly.
Meeting up with the 501st — Leia was trying desperately not to think on that unit designation from her own era, and who led it — let Ahsoka catch up with Leia while the two senior Jedi had a talk that was going to be difficult at best. Leia noticed Ahsoka was holding herself in almost a listening pose every time they paused in their tour of the Resolute, all the way back to Ahsoka's quarters.
Leia noticed it was a dual cabin, showing the Jedi shared living space even on campaign.
"What's eating at you?" Leia finally asked. "Did you make progress on your mission? I haven't been able, as an outsider, to figure anything out, even if Wolffe has been re-mediating my military theory."
"If Wolffe's gone that far, you won't be an outsider long," Ahsoka said before shaking her head. "I have a theory, but I need for my Master to be brought up to speed to be able to prove it, because I'm going to have to get away from GAR medical equipment with a man or two.
"I'm positive they cannot volunteer for what we need done, and that hurts, but I know my brothers. They would if they could. So, I will make that choice for them, and then we'll know."
She'd kept her voice low, even though they were definitely private. Leia approved, and felt a twinge, remembering being the teenager who had to be very careful in what she said and where.
"So what were you listening for?"
"The men," Ahsoka said. "I know why Master Plo is here, and I was trying to make sure my men are as calm as they can be right now, because at least some of them are going to react when the Force storm breaks on them.
"It's part of why I, and Master Plo, were convinced that somehow the Sith will use them for the murder of the Order. They're so deeply imprinted on us, and that would be very Sithly, to use that against both the vod'e and the Jedi."
Leia nodded. "I see the bond between Plo and his men. It's … breathtaking, in many ways."
"Yeah. And we just want to get as many of them alive as possible to the other side of the war, see them learn to just be people with their own goals," Ahsoka said sadly. "Every loss… especially now, knowing what you lived through, it — "
She cut herself off abruptly as the Force pressed in all around them both, full of fear and anger and rejection, swirling and cutting like desert sand caught in a simoom. Ahsoka looked unerringly in the direction of where Plo and Anakin were, before a sheen of white covered her eyes, and Leia knew this was the apparition that had chosen her. The warm sun-drenched plains ghosted along every nerve Leia had, as Ahsoka focused her will, channeled the Force to contain and hold the simoom away from them all.
Leia didn't speak, didn't do anything but lock her own focus on Ahsoka, throwing her will into the padawan's efforts to shield both units from the destruction.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the anger and rage gave way to hope and grief, then even that faded, and Ahsoka wavered, falling heavily back into the cushions of the couch they shared, the white gone from her eyes, the blues of her lekku distinctly faded.
"Oh Skyguy, you better be alright," the girl said softly, before weakly lifting a hand and floating a nutri-paste pack over to handle her immediate need for fuel.
"Can you tell what… anything?" Leia asked. Maybe it was just being on a ship of the 501st, but the rage had felt so much like Vader.
"I think he chose healing, but it was very close. My poor master. Whatever the Sith has done to him… it's at least half as nasty as what's planned for my brothers."
Maybe… maybe Leia's imagination wasn't so far off. But if that was the case —
— oh she was glad Luke would never know that. And she would ask Plo to help her truly see Anakin Skywalker as someone separate from Darth Vader.
Leia waited until they were into hyperspace, then slipped into Plo's outer chamber, the one he used as an office. She hadn't wanted to ask questions, as they had actually had a campaign to see to. The absolute ferocity of Anakin and his people had been well-directed at least, and the campaign short.
"I know you can't tell me things that are Skywalker's to protect, but… is Ahsoka and their unit safe now?"
"From the manipulations on that boy? Yes. All removed. We are shuffling battle plans to keep them at the front and away from Coruscant for now," Plo said.
"Ahsoka said she had a working theory about the men," Leia offered. "In case she didn't get a chance to tell you that."
"I knew it would be in safe hands with her. But you have something else you need of me; the Force is heavy with it."
Leia looked down at her hands, gathering her thoughts together. She looked up with a firm jaw and a steel spine. "I believe I knew Anakin Skywalker, the Sith version, in my time. And it was not … good. I need to know how to separate those pieces, to be more fair to a man that my friend so obviously respects."
"Ahh, I see. I will gladly meditate with you, and help you reinforce the boundary between the man he will not become and the one that he is, my young friend." Plo tipped his head. "Do you wish aid in… the not good part?"
Leia drug in a deep breath, then nodded once, decisively. "It's not pretty," she warned.
"I had no doubt."
The first indication that Ahsoka, and Anakin, had solved the mystery of the clones was when most of the unit reported a headache after a full briefing from Open Circle's High General. Leia glanced at Plo, who nodded briefly to her.
It was technological, a monstrosity that could have stripped them to nothing but following orders. There is no need to burden them with the knowledge just yet.
Wolffe didn't complain of one. It was still odd to think her conversation at the man she saw as a teacher and mentor in her growing ability to use the Force to measure a situation.
The device was destroyed, in the actions that led to his cybernetic eye.
What now?
Ahsoka, a detachment of her men who do know the truth, are coming for you. Skywalker and Kenobi will be bringing the proof needed to a full Senate meeting. She, you, and the squadron of men will be on hand to provide support. Others will also be present.
Leia let her satisfaction with this plan seep through. She would ensconce herself in her father's party, most likely, unless Ahsoka had different ideas.
And she would see the Emperor unmasked… hopefully dead… all because she investigated a Force anomaly. Privately, she was just as glad it had been her, not Luke, with the turns this had taken.
"Your mother is very eager to meet you, even if you are closer in age to us than a daughter could be," Bail said happily. "All of your effort, bringing a viewpoint we needed to restructure the Senate and the courts has been marvelous. But I feel ashamed that it's taken two years to get to a point where I could take you home."
Leia smiled brightly, having been fully in her element after Palpatine came crashing down, serving Alderaan and the galaxy by advising her father. She had paid attention to those former Separatists — not that she had known them as such — in the Rebellion, had listened to Mon Mothma debate the old ways with such people.
That it could make for a better Republic helped her lay to rest the ghosts of a future that could never be.
"We've had so much work, and I would not have been happy to put it aside for a short time. Now I can focus on learning my place in our family now." She accepted the hug he offered her then.
"Word came from my friend Amidala," Bail said as they walked to his waiting ship. "She had twins. She said that she was so struck by your calm and resolve that she chose to name them Leia and Luke, in your honor."
Leia paused, the Force running over her spine in knowledge of that moment. "I have a feeling, Father, that those names were meant to be," she finally said, a gleam in her eye for knowing just who the father was, even if that wasn't open knowledge yet, not with the Order doing its own reorganization. Bail tipped his head, considered, and then breathed out.
"I think… you are correct. I would certainly have stepped up for a child of hers, had things gone so poorly."
"Well, the galaxy will just have to deal with two of me in time," Leia said firmly. She thought she almost heard Fulcrum laughing softly in her mind, as she looked forward to a future shaped for the better.
Podfic!
May. 18th, 2026 05:54 pmsenmut[podfic] Looking Forward (25 words) by xia_pods
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lost Boys (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: David (Lost Boys)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: Download
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lost Boys (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: David (Lost Boys)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: Download
Summary:
Audio Length: 1min 6s
David surveys the house, and chooses
Podfic of Looking Forward by Merfilly.
Umineko: When they Cry
May. 19th, 2026 05:48 amalias_sqbrI've been watching a Let's Play of the classic, epic Japanese visual novel "Umineko: When they Cry" by Ryukishi07, and am currently up to Episode 5 of 8. I'm quite enjoying it but it's LONG. The LP is 168 episodes which are 30 minutes to two hours long.
I'll try and write a proper review when I'm finally done, since the story keeps reinventing itself, but so far it's a family drama and murder mystery with supernatural elements, which explores events from different angles in ways which cleverly play around with narrative, both from a storytelling perspective and as a way of exploring how people view the world and each other in different ways.
It's very much worth going into unspoiled if you are interested. But content warnings for violence and gore (mostly just text), suicide, child abuse (well written but harrowing), gender essentialism, male gazey character designs and and "joking" perviness (sometimes condoned by the narrative, though it's better about female characters than you might initially assume)
No unambiguous consent issues so far asides from some rape jokes but it feels like the kind of story where that could definitely be a Thing.
I'm watching Jokrono's let's play, which involves two young male gamers sometimes being thoughtlessly Unfortunate, especially about Japan. I'm sure there's others out there but this is the one I was recced and I'm overall enjoying it.
( Just cut for length, no spoilers )
I'll try and write a proper review when I'm finally done, since the story keeps reinventing itself, but so far it's a family drama and murder mystery with supernatural elements, which explores events from different angles in ways which cleverly play around with narrative, both from a storytelling perspective and as a way of exploring how people view the world and each other in different ways.
It's very much worth going into unspoiled if you are interested. But content warnings for violence and gore (mostly just text), suicide, child abuse (well written but harrowing), gender essentialism, male gazey character designs and and "joking" perviness (sometimes condoned by the narrative, though it's better about female characters than you might initially assume)
No unambiguous consent issues so far asides from some rape jokes but it feels like the kind of story where that could definitely be a Thing.
I'm watching Jokrono's let's play, which involves two young male gamers sometimes being thoughtlessly Unfortunate, especially about Japan. I'm sure there's others out there but this is the one I was recced and I'm overall enjoying it.
( Just cut for length, no spoilers )
Tentative Schedule: Wingfic Ex 2026
May. 18th, 2026 04:12 pmwingficexHello hello! Last year was busy, but your mod has gotten enough information about their summer to be able to present a tentative schedule for this year's Wingfic Exchange!
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE for WINGFIC EX 2026
Noms Open: Sat July 18
Noms Close/Signups Open: Sat July 25
Signups Close: Sat August 1
Assignments Due: Sat Aug 29
Work Reveals: Sat Sept 5
Creator Reveals: Sat Sept 12
(deadlines will probably be like 6pm east coast usa/New York time)
Matching will be on Character, Medium (Fic/Art), and a single Freeform Tag.
As in previous years, the Character nominations will be solo characters only, and the nominated character will be winged if they are the character you creator chose to create a work about (relationships may be mentioned in optional details, but / relationships are not guaranteed).
All Freeform Tags must be wing-related.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE for WINGFIC EX 2026
Noms Open: Sat July 18
Noms Close/Signups Open: Sat July 25
Signups Close: Sat August 1
Assignments Due: Sat Aug 29
Work Reveals: Sat Sept 5
Creator Reveals: Sat Sept 12
(deadlines will probably be like 6pm east coast usa/New York time)
Matching will be on Character, Medium (Fic/Art), and a single Freeform Tag.
As in previous years, the Character nominations will be solo characters only, and the nominated character will be winged if they are the character you creator chose to create a work about (relationships may be mentioned in optional details, but / relationships are not guaranteed).
All Freeform Tags must be wing-related.
Nomination Clarifications #1
May. 18th, 2026 03:41 pmsummerofhorrorexchangeNomination reminders
- We DO NOT accept nominations with "/" ships. All character groupings must be nominated with "&". For example, we will not accept "Timon/Pumbaa (The Lion King 1994)"; please nominate "Timon & Pumbaa (The Lion King 1994)" instead. If you have nominated a "/" ship, please edit it to have "&". (You can still request ships as part of the optional details of your request.)
- Please disambiguate your nominations. This means putting the fandom after your nomination in parentheses, as in the example above.
- If your nominations are lingering, you should also doublecheck the nomination guidelines to be sure you're using the correct format.
Nomination queries
- Yellowjackets: Nominator(s), is there a more specific label you could use for The Team? And can you confirm whether The Wilderness is a character or a form of relationship?
- Any nominations for the following fandoms: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XII, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Nominator(s), if your tags haven't been approved, please edit to specify whether you mean any group of characters (Any & Any) or Solo: Any. If your tags have already been approved, please let us know here, and we can make the change for you to make these either Any & Any or Solo: Any Character.
- Carrier Wave - Solo: Infected (Carrier Wave): Nominator(s), is this Any Infected Character, or is it a group nomination?
- Left 4 Dead - Solo: Special Infected (Left 4 Dead): Nominator(s), is this Any Special Infected Infected Character, or is it a group nomination?
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Solo: Monster of the Week: Nominator, just to check, is this Any Monster of the Week, or is there a specific character known as Monster of the Week?
- Five Nights at Freddy's - Solo: Possessed Animatronics: Nominator, do you want this as a group relationship tag or a solo character nom for Any Possessed Animatronic?
The Right Bait: Zaknafein's Tale
May. 17th, 2026 09:46 pmsenmutAO3 Link | The Right Bait: Zaknafein's Tale (1800 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Drow Character(s), Guenhwyvar [Legend of Drizzt]
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Rape Aftermath, Ensemble Cast
Summary:
"Zaknafein, father of Drizzt and Vierna, I have a question I may only ask once of you. I swear by the life you gave both of your children, I wish you to know freedom. Will you accept life once more, and help guide us, as well as your grandson?"
The man who had known peace since choosing to die in the place of his son very nearly told the known, and despised, voice to drop into the Abyss. Yet, he was a tactician, a man who had learned to weigh all options, determine the least harmful lie, and build his successes from there.
A grandson? His son and daughter named in the request? And any priestess would of course swear by her own life, being as self-interested as they were, but the phrasing of it was so odd.
"I will."
The room was blissfully dark, only three people near him as Zaknafein fully processed that yes, he lived again.
Four, actually, as he turned his head to see the exhausted face of his daughter on the pillow beside his. She gave a faint smile, then closed her eyes, obviously choosing trust for the others present.
The hat and eye-patch — left eye today — proclaimed his lover as one of those other presences. Opposite him was his son, grown strong and more mature in all of his lines. The young drow, likely just of an age to be schooled, was unknown to him, but a death memory flickered up.
Grandson.
"Can't a man come back to life in privacy?" he managed to say, shifting to get upright, at least sitting that way.
Drizzt was the one that moved to help him do so, putting a bolster behind his back.
"Well, someone had to be on hand to protect your daughter, and keep this pair from spiriting you back to their home among the goodly ones," Jarlaxle proclaimed.
Drizzt snorted. "I'd hardly do so, and Kastan, he's teasing."
"Grandfather would be welcome, Father, but that doesn't keep Aunt protected."
Zaknafein's eyes shot to his son in shock, having presumed it was the elder child that had born progeny. Drizzt gave the barest shake of his head about the subject, and he let go of it.
"So where are we?" he asked instead.
"A fascinating place called Skullport," Jarlaxle said, dropping on the bed at Zak's hip when Drizzt gave ground. "We have acquired a villa, fortified it, and made it a safe haven for your children to share."
"Vierna is on leave from her duties at the Temple of Vhaeraun," Drizzt said. "I was persuaded to bring Kastan over, as he's been training this last year with me or the Sword Mistress. And my sister does need protection while she recovers."
"I am only here a few days," Jarlaxle decreed. "But my outpost here is aware of the villa, and will keep an eye out for any dangers. Your son," and he flourished a hand in Drizzt's direction, "is known to them, and able to work with them, to a degree."
"Hmm." Zak carefully didn't say anything that might tangle him up too quickly in Jarlaxle's plotting; he had a family to re-learn… or just learn anew. "Kastan, is it? Planning to help your father get me back in shape?"
"If you wish me to," Kastan said, his eagerness mostly masked.
"Good." Zak reached a hand out to Jarlaxle then. "Help me up, old friend," and it felt good to not layer that with the nuances they'd had to use to avoid Malice's suspicions, "so my daughter can sleep. I'll get those tales later, since your time is more limited."
"Gladly." Jarlaxle did so, and didn't even tease much as Zak stopped to embrace his son hard, before clasping the young one's shoulder in passing.
Jarlaxle did leave after a few days, and that let Zak focus on what his new life entailed. He was in one corner of the sofa that was the sole piece of furniture in the main room, tucked against a wall, Vierna wrapped in a quilt with her head on his shoulder. He never would have thought this possible, but not only was he savoring it, but she seemed to be as well.
The other two were in the middle of the open space, practicing footwork of a style that Zaknafein did not actually recognize.
"Tell me your tale, Vierna."
"Not much to say. Your death… your words, maybe? Made me brutally aware of the waste of life. I missed Drizzt, for all I did not yet understand that was what I felt. You not being there actively hurt. And the drawn out war with Hun'ett was… just piling up more deaths.
"And I walked away, once I had the whispers of my Lord encouraging me. Jarlaxle found me in the city I was originally staying in to learn my new place. Once he told me Dinin had secured your body in the House fall, I had a goal, and this place was more suitable to gain the experience and lessons I needed." She then sighed. "We did not expect my brother, my Lord and I."
"He is still strange then?"
"Oh, that's one word for it. He likes going out under the skies of the Surface, and he is entirely too good, but he is my brother, my wean-son, and we have decided that our family comes ahead of deities."
"As long as yours remembers not to set you at odds with me," Drizzt said mildly, showing he was paying attention, even as he kept up the steps of this teaching.
"Goes both ways, brother-mine," she sing-songed at him. Zak had to chuckle at them, before tapping out a question on her arm.
"The boy?"
She considered, then tapped her answer back. "They hunted him, using the boy as bait. Neither the mother nor Briza survived it."
Zak winced a bit; he had no doubt that both women had learned the skill of Drizzt's blades in a swift hurry for endangering any child, let alone one he might have suspected as being his own.
"So how did you come to be here, Drizzt?" he asked, slowly stroking Vierna's hair.
"Went above, with help from the svirfneblin maps and gear. Kastan and I found a human family, protected them from danger, but those who came to investigate helped us find drow like ourselves.
"Kastan needed to be safe, somewhere he could learn and grow strong."
"But Father will be quite happy when he can explore the Surface more," Kastan interjected without a mistake in the complex foot shuffle he was practicing. "He does go, now and then, but never for long. And I haven't lacked for anything, from him, since he rescued me from the one who bore me."
"The followers of Eilistraee have a community nearby. They trade here, and learning of my sister's presence, her need for resources as she grew stronger, led to our choice to ally. I only brought Kastan over this time because we knew it would be soon… and he is able to defend himself adequately.
"Which made the journey safer."
"Looking forward to helping make that skill shine."
Drizzt turned, looking at his father. "No need to push, to rush it, or to be more than firm, not now. Neither of the Twins would ask it of our young."
Zaknafein saw something in that need to speak up, to challenge the way Drizzt himself had learned… and he found that he approved strongly.
"No. It will be good, to take time to see how the mistakes happened, work out better habits with practice instead of force," he told his son, and Drizzt relaxed again.
Privately, Zak was damn glad the boy would stand up so firmly to him… proving the strangeness had definitely survived.
A message had come for Drizzt, and though he'd been loathe to leave the rest of them — Kastan just now training, Zaknafein gathering his stamina back, and Vierna recuperating from performing a resurrection — he had not been able to decline the need for his abilities.
"Go on. I don't need stamina to end most threats," Zak pointed out. "Your sister can and will push past this for spellwork. And your son is already better than third year students."
"I'll return, as soon as I am able," Drizzt promised, before gearing up. Zak wanted to ask questions about the tube of long crossbow bolts, and the slightly curved staff, but he would hold them for later.
Kastan watched his father leave, then squared his shoulders and looked at Zak.
"Teach me more?" he asked, the look on his face one that Drizzt wore when he had set on a course and would not be dissuaded.
"Let's practice that elf style he's been working with you on, see how we can better adapt it," Zak offered, and Kastan nodded.
"I just… he won't let himself go be true to himself, not fully, until he's certain I can protect myself."
"Then, grandson, he's going to be holding himself back a long time… because he loves you, and seeing you grow up matters as much to him as it ever did for me. Only he gets the chance to do so.
"Don't rush finding maturity and skill because you think you're holding him back. He wants to be there for you."
Kastan considered those words, took a deep breath, and then smiled. "Right. Then I need to train up to be able to go with him, to the lighter things he should be doing, as a compromise!"
Zak laughed, low and soft, nodding to the reasoning. He'd never want to go above, but if Drizzt ever needed him to, he would. For now, he helped his son the best he could, by helping his grandchild.
Drizzt slipped in quietly, watching as Kastan and Zak sparred, less a teaching moment and more of a joyful testing of skill. He'd only had to be gone five days, as the trouble had been local and magic had delivered him back here for his quick aid.
He knew both were aware of him, proud that it didn't break his son's concentration, and just enjoyed the scene. He didn't mind when Vierna slipped up beside him, just shifting to be her leaning wall, his arms around her waist for added support.
"Not such a terrible life we have now, little brother?" she asked, rather than fuss at him being so protective of her. She was nearly past the drain, after all.
"When I laid eyes on Kastan that first time, I knew everything had to change. But… I never saw this. I never knew we would be a solid family, in ways that matter."
She leaned back against him, head resting on his shoulder, humming quiet contentment.
"We'll keep this strong," she vowed, and he gave a sharp nod, joining her in that intent.
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre, Drizzt Do'Urden, Original Drow Character(s), Guenhwyvar [Legend of Drizzt]
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Rape Aftermath, Ensemble Cast
Summary:
With the right bait, even a deadly predator can be captured... or so they thought. In time, this leads to a fuller family than Drizzt could have dreamed of.
The Right Bait: Zaknakein's Tale
"Zaknafein, father of Drizzt and Vierna, I have a question I may only ask once of you. I swear by the life you gave both of your children, I wish you to know freedom. Will you accept life once more, and help guide us, as well as your grandson?"
The man who had known peace since choosing to die in the place of his son very nearly told the known, and despised, voice to drop into the Abyss. Yet, he was a tactician, a man who had learned to weigh all options, determine the least harmful lie, and build his successes from there.
A grandson? His son and daughter named in the request? And any priestess would of course swear by her own life, being as self-interested as they were, but the phrasing of it was so odd.
"I will."
The room was blissfully dark, only three people near him as Zaknafein fully processed that yes, he lived again.
Four, actually, as he turned his head to see the exhausted face of his daughter on the pillow beside his. She gave a faint smile, then closed her eyes, obviously choosing trust for the others present.
The hat and eye-patch — left eye today — proclaimed his lover as one of those other presences. Opposite him was his son, grown strong and more mature in all of his lines. The young drow, likely just of an age to be schooled, was unknown to him, but a death memory flickered up.
Grandson.
"Can't a man come back to life in privacy?" he managed to say, shifting to get upright, at least sitting that way.
Drizzt was the one that moved to help him do so, putting a bolster behind his back.
"Well, someone had to be on hand to protect your daughter, and keep this pair from spiriting you back to their home among the goodly ones," Jarlaxle proclaimed.
Drizzt snorted. "I'd hardly do so, and Kastan, he's teasing."
"Grandfather would be welcome, Father, but that doesn't keep Aunt protected."
Zaknafein's eyes shot to his son in shock, having presumed it was the elder child that had born progeny. Drizzt gave the barest shake of his head about the subject, and he let go of it.
"So where are we?" he asked instead.
"A fascinating place called Skullport," Jarlaxle said, dropping on the bed at Zak's hip when Drizzt gave ground. "We have acquired a villa, fortified it, and made it a safe haven for your children to share."
"Vierna is on leave from her duties at the Temple of Vhaeraun," Drizzt said. "I was persuaded to bring Kastan over, as he's been training this last year with me or the Sword Mistress. And my sister does need protection while she recovers."
"I am only here a few days," Jarlaxle decreed. "But my outpost here is aware of the villa, and will keep an eye out for any dangers. Your son," and he flourished a hand in Drizzt's direction, "is known to them, and able to work with them, to a degree."
"Hmm." Zak carefully didn't say anything that might tangle him up too quickly in Jarlaxle's plotting; he had a family to re-learn… or just learn anew. "Kastan, is it? Planning to help your father get me back in shape?"
"If you wish me to," Kastan said, his eagerness mostly masked.
"Good." Zak reached a hand out to Jarlaxle then. "Help me up, old friend," and it felt good to not layer that with the nuances they'd had to use to avoid Malice's suspicions, "so my daughter can sleep. I'll get those tales later, since your time is more limited."
"Gladly." Jarlaxle did so, and didn't even tease much as Zak stopped to embrace his son hard, before clasping the young one's shoulder in passing.
Jarlaxle did leave after a few days, and that let Zak focus on what his new life entailed. He was in one corner of the sofa that was the sole piece of furniture in the main room, tucked against a wall, Vierna wrapped in a quilt with her head on his shoulder. He never would have thought this possible, but not only was he savoring it, but she seemed to be as well.
The other two were in the middle of the open space, practicing footwork of a style that Zaknafein did not actually recognize.
"Tell me your tale, Vierna."
"Not much to say. Your death… your words, maybe? Made me brutally aware of the waste of life. I missed Drizzt, for all I did not yet understand that was what I felt. You not being there actively hurt. And the drawn out war with Hun'ett was… just piling up more deaths.
"And I walked away, once I had the whispers of my Lord encouraging me. Jarlaxle found me in the city I was originally staying in to learn my new place. Once he told me Dinin had secured your body in the House fall, I had a goal, and this place was more suitable to gain the experience and lessons I needed." She then sighed. "We did not expect my brother, my Lord and I."
"He is still strange then?"
"Oh, that's one word for it. He likes going out under the skies of the Surface, and he is entirely too good, but he is my brother, my wean-son, and we have decided that our family comes ahead of deities."
"As long as yours remembers not to set you at odds with me," Drizzt said mildly, showing he was paying attention, even as he kept up the steps of this teaching.
"Goes both ways, brother-mine," she sing-songed at him. Zak had to chuckle at them, before tapping out a question on her arm.
"The boy?"
She considered, then tapped her answer back. "They hunted him, using the boy as bait. Neither the mother nor Briza survived it."
Zak winced a bit; he had no doubt that both women had learned the skill of Drizzt's blades in a swift hurry for endangering any child, let alone one he might have suspected as being his own.
"So how did you come to be here, Drizzt?" he asked, slowly stroking Vierna's hair.
"Went above, with help from the svirfneblin maps and gear. Kastan and I found a human family, protected them from danger, but those who came to investigate helped us find drow like ourselves.
"Kastan needed to be safe, somewhere he could learn and grow strong."
"But Father will be quite happy when he can explore the Surface more," Kastan interjected without a mistake in the complex foot shuffle he was practicing. "He does go, now and then, but never for long. And I haven't lacked for anything, from him, since he rescued me from the one who bore me."
"The followers of Eilistraee have a community nearby. They trade here, and learning of my sister's presence, her need for resources as she grew stronger, led to our choice to ally. I only brought Kastan over this time because we knew it would be soon… and he is able to defend himself adequately.
"Which made the journey safer."
"Looking forward to helping make that skill shine."
Drizzt turned, looking at his father. "No need to push, to rush it, or to be more than firm, not now. Neither of the Twins would ask it of our young."
Zaknafein saw something in that need to speak up, to challenge the way Drizzt himself had learned… and he found that he approved strongly.
"No. It will be good, to take time to see how the mistakes happened, work out better habits with practice instead of force," he told his son, and Drizzt relaxed again.
Privately, Zak was damn glad the boy would stand up so firmly to him… proving the strangeness had definitely survived.
A message had come for Drizzt, and though he'd been loathe to leave the rest of them — Kastan just now training, Zaknafein gathering his stamina back, and Vierna recuperating from performing a resurrection — he had not been able to decline the need for his abilities.
"Go on. I don't need stamina to end most threats," Zak pointed out. "Your sister can and will push past this for spellwork. And your son is already better than third year students."
"I'll return, as soon as I am able," Drizzt promised, before gearing up. Zak wanted to ask questions about the tube of long crossbow bolts, and the slightly curved staff, but he would hold them for later.
Kastan watched his father leave, then squared his shoulders and looked at Zak.
"Teach me more?" he asked, the look on his face one that Drizzt wore when he had set on a course and would not be dissuaded.
"Let's practice that elf style he's been working with you on, see how we can better adapt it," Zak offered, and Kastan nodded.
"I just… he won't let himself go be true to himself, not fully, until he's certain I can protect myself."
"Then, grandson, he's going to be holding himself back a long time… because he loves you, and seeing you grow up matters as much to him as it ever did for me. Only he gets the chance to do so.
"Don't rush finding maturity and skill because you think you're holding him back. He wants to be there for you."
Kastan considered those words, took a deep breath, and then smiled. "Right. Then I need to train up to be able to go with him, to the lighter things he should be doing, as a compromise!"
Zak laughed, low and soft, nodding to the reasoning. He'd never want to go above, but if Drizzt ever needed him to, he would. For now, he helped his son the best he could, by helping his grandchild.
Drizzt slipped in quietly, watching as Kastan and Zak sparred, less a teaching moment and more of a joyful testing of skill. He'd only had to be gone five days, as the trouble had been local and magic had delivered him back here for his quick aid.
He knew both were aware of him, proud that it didn't break his son's concentration, and just enjoyed the scene. He didn't mind when Vierna slipped up beside him, just shifting to be her leaning wall, his arms around her waist for added support.
"Not such a terrible life we have now, little brother?" she asked, rather than fuss at him being so protective of her. She was nearly past the drain, after all.
"When I laid eyes on Kastan that first time, I knew everything had to change. But… I never saw this. I never knew we would be a solid family, in ways that matter."
She leaned back against him, head resting on his shoulder, humming quiet contentment.
"We'll keep this strong," she vowed, and he gave a sharp nod, joining her in that intent.
(no subject)
May. 17th, 2026 09:31 pmmissizzyGot my first raid today! Another small streamer whom I raided some time back returned the favor. Streaming BG3 both yesterday and today, if only because I'm going to be out of town come next Saturday, I got a few more viewers than I have on my non-Dispatch streams before them. Though I also got accosted by at least one more non-bot scammer, possibly two.
As I close in on one trip, I'm also working on the next. I booked my flights to San Diego and back just now. Ended up going with United, like in previous years, but one thing that made me raise my eyebrows was they had no direct flights going either way, and when we'd always taken those in the past. (I also looked into Southwest, who didn't have any direct flights either, but they often haven't.) Hope there are some good options for lunch in the Chicago airport. A layover there might not be a bad idea for me if there are, since I can't eat on planes.
As I close in on one trip, I'm also working on the next. I booked my flights to San Diego and back just now. Ended up going with United, like in previous years, but one thing that made me raise my eyebrows was they had no direct flights going either way, and when we'd always taken those in the past. (I also looked into Southwest, who didn't have any direct flights either, but they often haven't.) Hope there are some good options for lunch in the Chicago airport. A layover there might not be a bad idea for me if there are, since I can't eat on planes.
books: Patricia McKillip and Livia Llewellyn
May. 17th, 2026 02:50 pmsnickficIn the Forests of Serre (2003) by Patricia McKillip. A tyrannical king of a magical forest engages his recently widowed son to the princess of a neighboring kingdom, whether either of those parties want it. The grieving widower son gets cursed by a Baba Yaga-esque witch. The princess tries her best to protect her kingdom, which happens to include a wizard recovering from a debilitating fight to the death with an ancient monster, which he got involved with because of the thoughtlessness a younger wizard whose aid he came to and who he sends off to protect the princess in her travels. The wizard is being tended by a scribe borrowed from the nearby monastary, who finds himself somewhat unwillingly devoted to the wizard, in all his foibles.
Maybe one of the reasons McKillip's books are famously kind of hard to remember is because there's so much going on in them, character-wise, and yet often relatively little plotwise. That is a lot of characters to pack into 300 pages, especially when the pace of the book is fairly slow and meditative. The actual events of this book are thin on the ground and mostly involve characters traveling or having conversations. Every so often we return to the kingdom of Dacre, where our scribe makes sure the enfeebled wizard is sleeping properly and getting enough to eat.
I've described McKillip's ouvre as what I wanted fairy tales to be like when I was a kid: beautiful, gossamer fantasies, with characters that felt like people. This one really nails that for me. We have some elements lifted directly from folk tails, like the witch Brum and the various quests the prince finds himself going on for talking animals he meets. We have the spectre of the monster, who even in death is casting a pall over those it touched in life. We have characters concerned for each others' health and well-being. We even have a very late, very casual reveal that complicates one of our villains in a way I didn't expect at all, even though maybe I should've.
Overall, a delightful time. Glad I finally got to this one in my McKillip reading.
--
Furnace (2016) by Livia Llewellyn. A collection of short stories, mostly horror or dark fantasy, some erotic, many with a surrealist bent.
I've been meaning to read more of Llewellyn's work after really liking her story "Omphalos" in a collection I read a few years ago, and since I've been on a roll reading short fiction lately, now is when I got around to it. In that review, I wrote, I'm not 100% sure what happens in it, but I don't care. The first half of that continued to be true through most of this collection, but unfortunately after a while I did start to care. I also found that her prose started to bother me after a while; I found a lot of it overheated and overwritten, using too much description to diminishing returns. Her occasional efforts in experimentation, such as the story entirely in lower case or the several stories in second person, also mostly did not work for me.
Llewellyn is definitely saying things around bodily agency, female sexuality, patriarchy, and also some things about toxic female familial relations, often mother-daughter ones. I can't say much of it resonated with me, unfortunately, but I do appreciate the centrality of the female perspective here.
I also really enjoy is that Llewellyn clearly has a relationship with the Pacific Northwest, and most of the stories with an identifiable real-world location are set there. I've never read a horror(?) story set in a Tacoma mall before or in the worker housing at the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. The sense of regional specificity is really neat.
I did like a few stories okay out of the bunch:
"Cinereous." A woman with a menial job at an institute doing horrible human experiments is determined to show them she is worthy of greater involvement in the horrible experiments. A satisfyingly nasty little story with a suitably horrible ending.
"It Feels Better Biting Down." One of the most surrealist of the bunch, a story about codependent twin sisters who get everything they want, more or less. I just enjoyed the incestuousness vibes tbh. Also the body horror.
"Allocthon," the aforementioned story set in Bonneville construction housing, which is also a cosmic-flavored time loop story about a housewife whose prosaic dreams of a tropical vacation morph into an increasing desperation to see something on a mountainside that the time reset prevents her from seeing.
"The Last, Clean, Bright Summer." One of the most straightforward from a narrative perspective, a folk horror piece in the form of diary entries of a fourteen-year-old girl who finally gets to participate in the family reunion. I'm not sure what it says about me or Llewellyn that I often like her best when she's writing about underage rape, although unlike in "Omphalos," the rape here is very weird. I enjoyed the cosmic horror stuff, the weird biology, and the theme of alienation from one's parents (who in this case, it turns out, are literally not even her parents). Would pair really well with Attila Veres' story "The Black Maybe."
Maybe one of the reasons McKillip's books are famously kind of hard to remember is because there's so much going on in them, character-wise, and yet often relatively little plotwise. That is a lot of characters to pack into 300 pages, especially when the pace of the book is fairly slow and meditative. The actual events of this book are thin on the ground and mostly involve characters traveling or having conversations. Every so often we return to the kingdom of Dacre, where our scribe makes sure the enfeebled wizard is sleeping properly and getting enough to eat.
I've described McKillip's ouvre as what I wanted fairy tales to be like when I was a kid: beautiful, gossamer fantasies, with characters that felt like people. This one really nails that for me. We have some elements lifted directly from folk tails, like the witch Brum and the various quests the prince finds himself going on for talking animals he meets. We have the spectre of the monster, who even in death is casting a pall over those it touched in life. We have characters concerned for each others' health and well-being. We even have a very late, very casual reveal that complicates one of our villains in a way I didn't expect at all, even though maybe I should've.
Overall, a delightful time. Glad I finally got to this one in my McKillip reading.
--
Furnace (2016) by Livia Llewellyn. A collection of short stories, mostly horror or dark fantasy, some erotic, many with a surrealist bent.
I've been meaning to read more of Llewellyn's work after really liking her story "Omphalos" in a collection I read a few years ago, and since I've been on a roll reading short fiction lately, now is when I got around to it. In that review, I wrote, I'm not 100% sure what happens in it, but I don't care. The first half of that continued to be true through most of this collection, but unfortunately after a while I did start to care. I also found that her prose started to bother me after a while; I found a lot of it overheated and overwritten, using too much description to diminishing returns. Her occasional efforts in experimentation, such as the story entirely in lower case or the several stories in second person, also mostly did not work for me.
Llewellyn is definitely saying things around bodily agency, female sexuality, patriarchy, and also some things about toxic female familial relations, often mother-daughter ones. I can't say much of it resonated with me, unfortunately, but I do appreciate the centrality of the female perspective here.
I also really enjoy is that Llewellyn clearly has a relationship with the Pacific Northwest, and most of the stories with an identifiable real-world location are set there. I've never read a horror(?) story set in a Tacoma mall before or in the worker housing at the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. The sense of regional specificity is really neat.
I did like a few stories okay out of the bunch:
"Cinereous." A woman with a menial job at an institute doing horrible human experiments is determined to show them she is worthy of greater involvement in the horrible experiments. A satisfyingly nasty little story with a suitably horrible ending.
"It Feels Better Biting Down." One of the most surrealist of the bunch, a story about codependent twin sisters who get everything they want, more or less. I just enjoyed the incestuousness vibes tbh. Also the body horror.
"Allocthon," the aforementioned story set in Bonneville construction housing, which is also a cosmic-flavored time loop story about a housewife whose prosaic dreams of a tropical vacation morph into an increasing desperation to see something on a mountainside that the time reset prevents her from seeing.
"The Last, Clean, Bright Summer." One of the most straightforward from a narrative perspective, a folk horror piece in the form of diary entries of a fourteen-year-old girl who finally gets to participate in the family reunion. I'm not sure what it says about me or Llewellyn that I often like her best when she's writing about underage rape, although unlike in "Omphalos," the rape here is very weird. I enjoyed the cosmic horror stuff, the weird biology, and the theme of alienation from one's parents (who in this case, it turns out, are literally not even her parents). Would pair really well with Attila Veres' story "The Black Maybe."