#clockworktea

Instead of reblogging that post endlessly, thought I’d collect my replies here.

@bookwyrmie said: I remember the ask about including Mara in the DAV AU, looks like that turned into yet another thing that was not going to be written and then happened anyway.

Is there anyone that Anakin hasn’t adopted yet? There is the Free Droid Network with Kaydee and friends, the nicer imperial officers and the OBV-Squad, Leia once she becomes a senator, and he is probably keeping an eye on Pooja as well. Now here is a young force-sensitive child, who desperately needs someone to help her learn how to be a person without alerting the Inquisitors. Guess it’s about time he adopted an actual child as well.

Ha ha yeah, I was just waiting for someone to comment about that lol. It’s true I once said I wasn’t going to write Mara in DAV, but three things happened to change that:

1. I promised @astudyinimagination a pick-me-up fic and I knew Sky really wanted a fic about Mara. So I was damn well gonna write one! (The moral here is that you should always make friends with your writers, because then we will happily write you things by request!)

2. I’d been thinking for a while that I needed to somehow address the question of what happened to a Force sensitive kid who was picked up by the Inquisitors before Anakin became a double agent.

3. I’ve said a couple of times that I’ve always liked the concept of Mara, but I’ve always hesitated to write her because I dislike and discard the vast majority of Expanded Universe material and I didn’t particularly want to deal with the inevitable hate I’d get if I wrote my own version of Mara, since she’d essentially be an OC. But eventually I just decided that I get enough hate for not using EU canon anyway, so I might as well just fully embrace my multiverse theory of Star Wars canon and do what I want.

So there you have it! :)

@aeneasoftroy said:# DAV Anakin is a mix of mysterious old wizard and troll dad humor  # and it suits him so well

This is one of my favorite things about writing OT Anakin. Not that he can’t be a troll in PT AUs, too, but just...there’s a kind of settledness to his character in the OT, partly a result of everything he’s lived through but also partly just because of the fact that he’s older now. Though there’s also a bit of tragedy to the fact that he can and absolutely does carry off the Mysterious Old Wizard trope in a fic in which he is (although Mara doesn’t know it) only 32 years old.

@hyratel said: #I am Nobody is CLASSIC   #and delivered perfectly

It is indeed classical. ;)

@elf-kid2 said: This is beautiful and excellent and fantastic, and I love it. Thank You for writing this. 

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

@katharkness said: I like this very much, and would love to see it added to the Double Agent Vader series. I also wouldn’t worry too much about your Mara not fitting with the Legends Mara, because everything the rebooted EU has added, the Inquisitors and such, doesn’t really fit with the original Legends Mara. I suppose this is more like a rebooted Mara.

Thanks! I’m not so much worried about Legends canon, though, since I never am lol. I’m more worried about people who do like and care about Legends being unhappy with the ways I’m...basically beating up the EU in a back alley and rifling through its pockets for loose change. But you make a good point about this take actually kind of working as a rebooted Mara!

I mean, tbqh I actually don’t think the Inquisitors fit in with film canon at all. But I’m working on the multiverse theory here, and they do work really well with the story I’m telling in DAV, so I’ve basically borrowed them from Filoni ‘verse and created my own canon. So I suppose borrowing Mara isn’t a step much further.

@shadaras said: I always forget how much I love Mara as a character  she's the best EU character and so much of that is because her arc is just   'I was brainwashed and then Luke's refusal to believe I wasn't a person made me able to be a person and I chose good once I could'  this AU version is delightful because it stays true to all the essential aspects of her character   it just places them in some new-EU elements (because yes that's what the shows are tbh)  and also within a great AU context that is already all about what Mara's arc always was  it just changes the Skywalker who saves her from the Emperor's brainwashing   and that isn't a big change at all really  anyway the intro implies there will be more of this eventually and that delights me  because that last line is FANTASTIC and so true to the kind of story this is  excellent job perfect story   

Yeah, that bare bones essential aspect of her character arc is why I’ve always really liked the idea of Mara Jade - she basically hits all of my trope buttons. And the themes of her story when distilled like that are a perfect fit with the themes of DAV.

Also I’m delighted that you recognize Filoni ‘verse as EU because it absolutely is!

@figmentera said: I love this fiercely and cannot wait to see the rest! Mara is such a cool character and I love any permutation of her relationship with Vader. I feel like it's barely ever explored but it's such fertile ground. Plus there's some great glimpses at the rest of this universe, I always love that! 

Thank you! I’m having fun exploring their relationship, though because it’s me and this story seems to keep growing, it may be a while before I have it finished. I’m kind of envisioning it as a side story to the main DAV storyline. It’s going to span pretty much the entire timeline, almost from the beginning of Anakin’s double agent career all the way to the death of the Emperor, but Mara’s story line is really running in parallel with the rest, rather than intertwining.

@frostbit-sky said: I still have to catch up, or really I should start again and binge read DAV, but I love 💗  the inclusion of Mara and encourage you to add this to actual fic. 

At this point I’m pretty sure I’ve talked myself into including it, so you will likely get your wish. :)

@clockworktea said: people who care Very Much except they have no idea how to express this even to themselves! finding allies and immediately adopting them as Family! kadee the ex-torture droid turned fiercely overprotective aunt gives me LIFE and ''yes master' she whispered' just OUCH mates the levels of mindscrew (is he her slaveowner or is she his padawan or apprentice) (haha jokes on anakin the answer is up to you as long as it's painful) anyway yes good fia is back MORE ANGSTY GENFIC FOR ME MORE PLATONIC DEEPLY MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS TO ENJOY MORE CHARACTERS WHO ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO GET HEARTBROKEN OVER ...... hang on a second this was all a trap wasn't it 

*Megamind goattee stroking face* You’ve fallen right into my trap!

In all seriousness, though, I’m delighted to see people getting excited about genfic! I still remember the days in fandom when writing genfic was like releasing words into the void.

Damaged people trapped in horrible circumstances and being insistently human to one another in spite of that is kind of my brand at this point, so I’m glad that’s holding up I guess.

2] What was your last inner chuckle about?

I genuinely cannot remember. I’m sure there was something, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. 

7] If a rogue managed to unlock access to the secret chamber of your home/lair/mansion, what would they find?

My secret hoard of puppies.

16] If you were a dragon what would you horde?

(I cheated a bit, and this is actually the third song, because first I had to find a song in English)

I am told they do not

Damn. Well, what’s fic for, if not taking massive creative license in the name of having fun? Because I really, really want to write this fic with an HOA. Because it will be fucking hilarious. 

clockworktea and passive-aggressive-sarcasm:

seconding 'what's an HOA' - also, I dunno if I get what a neighbourhood is in this context either tbh

So in this context, a neighborhood is a collection of houses encompassing a specific geographic area. So, a neighborhood might be as small as one or two streets, or as big as a couple square miles, depending on a number of factors.

An HOA, or homeowner’s association, is a community organization that, in theory, is meant to support homeowners in whatever they need to live in the neighborhood: community resources, housing upkeep/repair services, utilities, etc. In practice, they’re huge pains in the ass.

HOA’s charge you for the privilege of being a part of the HOA. Which would be fine if you had the choice of opting out, but you don’t. If your neighborhood has an HOA and you don’t want to be a part of it, you literally have to move to a different neighborhood. 

HOA’s impose covenants, or rules that you have to obey. Things like: fences can only be a certain height or certain materials, grass must be kept trimmed to a specified height, houses cannot be painted certain colors, etc. If you don’t follow these covenants (and you sign a contract stating tht you will), they’ll fine you.

HOA’s are run by a board. These people may have started out with the best of intentions, full of community spirit and a desire to make their neighborhood the best it can be for the people who live there. This is not generally the group of people you’ll be dealing with when you have to deal with your HOA board. They’re petty, they’re malicious, they’re drunk on the false sense of power they get from making their neighbors’ lives a living hell. 

OMG, YOU HAVE NO MUCH LOVE I HAVE FOR THIS QUESTION!

Okay, I have to admit, there’s a certain appeal in having a dragon big enough to ride on, but for long-term, I’d have to go with a smaller dragon. A kitty-sized dragon, one who can twine around my shoulders, or curl up on my lap, one who rides around on my shoulder whenever I go anywhere, little puffs of smoke coming out of its nostrils when it purrs.