#cinlat

you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

Paging @theherocomplex. She'll help me figure out an alibi and probably a really creative way to dispose of the body

give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

This is a rough one. I think having some sort of item on you that allows you to jot down ideas at anytime is really important. Either a small notebook, or even an app on your phone. So that way, if you do manage to come up with an idea, you're able to capture it

I also really love @theherocomplex's idea of 'no thank you helpings' when it comes to writing. Maybe you really want to write but you're not in the right mindspace. Start writing (I like 23 minute sprints) and then after that, if you're still not feeling it, say 'no thank you' and move on with your day. But a lot of times, if you just start, once that timer ends, you'll want to keep going!

what made you choose your username?

Secret Santa gift fic for @cinlat! I thought long and hard about what a perfect Life Day celebration would look like for a Mandalorian, and this is what I came up with.

I hope I managed to get Fynta (and Aric) right, thank you for letting me have fun with them. Just let me now if there is anything you want changed, it's no problem. Happy Life Day!

~~~

A time of joy, this is. Of friendship. Of family. - Master Yoda

~~~

Fynta landed a punch square in the bounty hunter's face. As he went down behind the counter, his nose made a satisfying sound. It was followed by a Wookiee's battlecry, several glass bottles breaking and an alarm starting off in the distance.

Within seconds the whole cantina erupted into chaos. Droids screeched, patrons dropped their cards and gathered their credit chips, stuffing them into their pockets. A table was flipped over and all the drinks spilled on the floor. Everybody who was not ready to join the fighting scrambled for the exit.

“You have to let go” | barbed wire | bound for Sasusaka (did I do that right? I'll never get used to combining names)

“Why are you here?” Sasuke fought to keep emotion from his voice, gripping the exasperation that crept up spine. Sakura didn’t answer, didn’t look up from the ground where she’d been thrown ten minutes earlier. The iron scent of her blood filled the air, but Sasuke caught the undertones of home at the same time. He blew out a breath and tried a different approach. “How did you find us?”

“I’ll always find you,” Sakura answered, bringing those brilliant green eyes up for the first time since Sasuke entered the holding cell. “No matter where you go, I will always look for you.”

Something shifted in Sasuke’s chest, but he couldn’t focus on that. The confusion of pain and hope was too raw and exposed to be examined. “It’s time to grow up.”

Drawing a kunai, Sasuke knelt. Sakura cringed away from the shine of the blade as he slid it through the rough straps that bound the girl’s hand behind her back. Frowning, she massaged life back into her wrists. He dropped the kunai between them, wondering if the woman would go for it, wondering what he’d do if she did.

Sakura’s tongue darted across her lips, but when her hands moved it was to brush across the gashes on her legs. The fabric of her pants was ripped and spotted with blood. Sasuke arched one eyebrow at the green glow that encircled the girl’s palm. She chuckled humorlessly. “I’ve learned a few tricks as well.”

The deep gashes along Sakura’s ankles knit back together as she moved her hand over them. Shaking her head, she tugged her pants leg down. “Using razor-edged barbed wire to protect your hideout, really?”

Sasuke raised one shoulder in a careless shrug. “Shinobi are more likely to miss common traps because they’re busy searching for jutsu.”

The light around Sakura’s hands faded, and the sudden darkness threw shadows across her face. It wasn’t fast enough to disguise the pain that flashed through her eyes. Sasuke forced himself to ignore it. “Why are you here, really?”

“To kill you.” Sakura didn’t move, didn’t put action behind the words. Sasuke almost wished that she would; things would be so much easier that way. Self defense was a hell of a lot better than premeditation or cold blood. Sakura’s voice trembled when she continued, “to save you.”

The last words hurt more than they should have, but Sasuke hardened his heart against them. He couldn’t turn away from the path that Konoha had set him on. He couldn’t erase the damage done, but he could avenge it. “I don’t want you to save me,” he answered.

That should have been the end of it. Sakura should have lashed out with fists and jutsu, but her tears were more effective. He wondered if she knew. Clenching his jaw tight enough to make his teeth grind, Sasuke turned away. Sakura shuffled two steps forward, close enough for the swirl of pink hair and green eyes to fill his vision. “This isn’t who you are.”

“You always thought you knew me better than you did.” In the months with Orochimaru, Sasuke had perfected the condescending tone that the Sannin used. He deployed it with devastating effectiveness.

Sakura flinched as his words struck home, but she didn’t back down. She’d found some courage in their months apart, at least. “And you always tried to be tougher than you were.”

The girl exhaled a shaky breath then unhooked the band of red that held her hair from her face. The leaf symbol caught the flickering light of a torch, dancing in the dim light. The reminder of Sasuke’s former allegiance sent a wave of nausea through his body. Sasuke wasn’t sure what he felt most: anger, resentment, or longing. Sakura knelt and reached for the kunai still on the ground. She rested the tip of the blade against the smooth metal.

Sasuke moved without conscious thought, catching Sakura’s wrist before it could scratch through the leaf symbol. “Don’t,” he cautioned, pain swelling like a wave that threatened to crush his lungs. “You can’t go back from that.”

“I don’t want to go back.” Sakura’s whisper was tentative, but the words were deadly as any weapon at her disposal. “I want to be with you.”

It would have been a simple thing, letting Sakura throw Konoha away. They could lose themselves; the world was big enough that nobody would ever find them unless they wanted to be found. But, everything about the woman screamed loyalty to the village she’d left behind. Hell, she wore the jonin uniform now; Sasuke should have noticed that earlier. Sakura’s parents were there, her family and friends. He had nothing to draw him back to the Land of Fire, nothing except Sakura.

The tears shining in Sakura’s eyes were almost enough reason to cross the line, but there were too many things left to do. Konoha and its leadership had to pay for the crimes they’d committed, for Itachi, for Sasuke’s family, for the Uchiha clan. He drew a breath and held onto the pain like a physical barrier. “I don’t want—”

Sakura’s lips brushed Sasuke’s mid word, stunning him into silence. “You’re lying,” she breathed, close enough for him to taste the words. “You don’t have to be alone as some kind of penance for what happened.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sasuke pulled away, drawing strength from the fact that Sakura didn’t understand as much as she thought. Small blessings were the only thing he had going for him these days. “You have to let me go.”

“I love you.” The confession felt like a sucker punch, even though Sasuke had known it was true for years. A stupid crush had developed into something more, something that would make a logical person to track down a rogue ninja without any backup. He’d checked before approaching the cell. Unaware, Sakura continued. “We could just leave together. I won’t be a burden any longer.”

Even the slightest waver and Sasuke would have been lost. He dropped his hands to Sakura’s shoulders and pushed her back. “You need to go.”

“Please,” Sakura began.

50 Types of Kisses - Writing Prompts

This is less giving them a artifical height difference and more making their heights close to the same because I totally head cannon Noara as being a bit shorter than Torian, enough that she had to tilt her head up to see his face. I wrote this thinking of Courting Disaster, where Torian and Noara often met up on Nar Shaddaa when they need time together and away from the insanity of thier lives.

Torian smiled as he watched Noara climb the stairs ahead of him. Her steps were weaving back and forth, proof the drinks she had earlier were having an effect. He made sure to keep no less than three steps between them, wanting to be close enough to catch her if she lost her balance.

Despite his worries about her safety, Torian loved seeing her like this. Not drunk, but with her hair down, open and relaxed. It was such a change from the stiff way she held herself while striving to be the "perfect" Jedi. It was rare that she let all those walls down and was just herself, like she had done tonight, and it was always a treat to see her so relaxed.

Less than a dozen steps away from the floor their hotel room was on, Noara stopped suddenly and spun around to face him. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks rosy, but she was smiling. "Hey Torian," she started before her eyes widened. "I'm taller than you."

Torian had stopped when she did, leaving him a few steps below her. Far enough down to put them at the same eye level. Noara leaved forward, catching herself on his shoulders. The way she was leaning, from the higher step to reach him made him nervous and he grabbed her hips to help support her body.

"I like this," Noara said, her words clear even though this close he could easily see the glaze over her eyes. "Being able to look right at you I mean."

Smiling, Torian leaned his head forward so their foreheads touched. "I like it too, as long as you don't fall and hurt yourself."

"Oh Torian, you'd never let me fall."

Before Torian could respond to her heartfelt words, her trust in him making him feel like he could fly, she shifted just enough to press her lips against his. It wasn't a carnal kiss, little more than her lips caressing his with soft, small movements. It wasn't a kiss meant to arouse him but one that spoke of the trust and love she felt for him and he poured his own feelings back as he returned the kiss.

With a content sigh, Noara pulled back just far enough to smile as she met his gaze. "I love you Torian."

A feather could have knocked Torian over at that moment. That was the first time Noara had said she loved him. He thought she did, that her actions spoke of her affection, and his people didn't traditionally say those words so he never imagined how much they could mean to him. He stared at her in wonder, watching as he cheeks flushed further as her tipsy brain caught up to her mouth.

It was hearing other people in the stairwell, detoured around the broken lift that sent them up the stairs earlier, that broke the spell holding Torian in place. In one swift move he stepped up another stair and wrapped his arms around Noara, pulling her against his torso. She gasped in surprise, wrapping her legs and arms around him as he started to climb the stairs quickly.

"What are you doing Torian?" Noara asked.

"Carrying the woman I love the rest of the way to our room," Torian said matter-of-factly, not missing a step as he pushed the door to their floor open. "Is that okay?"

Noara buried her face into the curve of his neck and he could feel her shiver in his arms before hearing her whisper, "yeah, that's more than okay."

Corran has cybernetics implanted along his spine after a fall from a balcony nearly killed him broke his back. Thankfully there was kolto to fix most everything, but the implants keep him from being in pain if he stands up for too long or from re-injuring his back if he turns/jumps/moves wrong (LET OTHER SPECIES HAVE CYBERNETICS, BIOWARE!)

Ellie never slows down. She’s always out and about, still going dancing (though Corey starts watching from the sidelines in their last few years), always outrageous and the life of the party. I lied. She slows down in the six months between when Corran dies and when she joins him in the Force. (brb, sobbing)

Sanna’s hobby is taking apart her sabers, tweaking them, and then putting them back together. It started as a “they have to be as good as possible so I can protect people” and eventually just morphed into something calming, relaxing, almost meditative in and of itself. She can probably take them apart and put them back together in her sleep!

Rinnie is a light sleeper when she’s on a mission, but on a day off/vacation? She sleeps like the dead, curled up with Felix

ALL the questions!! :D

50. The year is somewhere around 2001-ish. The Return of the King is in theatres. 12-year-old Kel and her bestie have taken a running leap into Middle-earth and are completely in love with Legolas Thranduilion. They’ve been left unsupervised on a computer and are scouring the Internet for anything and everything connected to the Lord of the Rings, and find a site (... I want to say Moon Books? Green Books? Something like that?) with a bunch of stories on it that weren’t written by JRR Tolkien/Peter Jackson/anyone else official. The stories are enthralling to two impressionable young would-be-elves (and both of us were shipping Faramir/Eowyn to the MAX. Jawa’s very first OTP!).

Fast forward to late 2008/early 2009. Kel is in Grade 12 (senior year of high school), and having established her reputation as the class introvert, takes to spending her lunch periods in the library on the computers. With Facebook being blocked by the school servers, she idly starts looking for those same LOTR stories. It is then that she learns of the term “fan fiction”, and winds up tripping and falling into FFN’s LOTR archives, and the rest, as they say, is history. (My very first fic wound up being a *le confessional sigh* dread Girl-Falls-Into-Middle-Earth Tenth Walker story. But I think, despite the hardcore Legolas crush, the character started gravitating toward Boromir?)

39. Oooooh. Hmmm. I’ve been told by professors/other grown-up readers that I have a very strong voice, and my writing style tends to be pretty consistent (and one of my sociology profs always got a kick out of reading the dry wit and snark I’d throw into my papers. Like at uni grad she was eager to meet my mum and see just where I had learned to write like that. XD). As far as fic goes, I’ve been told I’m an emotive writer and seem to be good at conveying emotions and feelings and making readers cry! I’m working on the descriptive skills and writing out combat. :D

28. I would probably say Drastic Measures, since that’s my biggest project that’s eating my soul right now. There’s some one-shots that could inspire an artistic mind though -- The Orgus Maneuver and Memento Mori are the ones that come to mind. (It’s not published yet, but @andveryginger and I, with @corey-067‘s help, have been writing out Reanden and Mairen’s wedding, and that’s another one I could see art for!) As for what the art might be -- for Drastic Measures, I’m not sure! I’ve had a WIP on the backburner for aaaages of Theron and Xaja escaping the Spire, but there could be scenes from them fleeing Rishi with Doc, or on Dromund Kaas, or Voss, or something. (Not gonna lie, I would loooooove to see art of Jace punching a hole through Saresh’s desk. >.>)

20. Ooooooh, good question! I gotta think about this for a minute. >.>

Believe it or not, I was not expecting the Theron romance in Shadow of Revan to hit me out of left field like it did. Initially I had played Xaja through that story like “it’s an NPC like the ones on Makeb where you’ll never see them again so meh”, and that lasted until... Manaan? So yeah now Theron/Jedi Knight is my biggest current OTP. XD 

I’ve come to the realization that Jedi Consular/Zenith is a fantastic ship (BIOWARE, LET US ROMANCE ZENITH) and I dig it. :D I also like unconventional pairings -- @kunoichi-ume‘s Jedi Knight/Torian is a delightful ship that I would never have imagined, but I dig (and may have inspired Korin/Kira over in Taerich’verse!).