safe (in your warm, warm arms)
A Gunslinger’s Paean AU
Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan rescue Bane from Dooku.
Rated: T
636 words
No warnings apply.
Read it on AO3.
Weirdlet's Oddities
Damnit, I just got used to LiveJournal, and now everybody's switched. 37, and not entirely sure how I got this far. Generally baffled.
as long as you pay me
✅ Complete
No Archive Warnings Apply
Rated: Explicit
Pairing: Cad Bane/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Chapters: 6/6
Words: 9,736
Tags: Post-Order 66, Pre-Ep01s01 Obi-Wan Kenobi Series, Sex Work, Brothels, Crack Treated Seriously, (surprisingly few sex scenes for a hooker au), Alien Biology, Duros Species, Intersex Cad Bane, Enemies to Friends, Minor Violence, Loneliness, Trust Issues, Bittersweet Ending
Series: Part 4 of Cad Bane AnthologySummary:
Cad Bane’s motto has always been that he’ll do anything for the right price. This is put to the test after the Republic falls and the Empire comes into power, and he finds himself on Emperor Palpatine’s shit list. Now no one will hire him for fear of pissing off the wrong people. But a man’s gotta eat—and anything means anything, right? So he accepts an offer to work at a subsidiary brothel owned by Jabba’s palace in Anchorhead. Just until things die down.
Fast forward a few years and we arrive at the present, where he’s preparing to receive his last ‘guest’ for the night. And who should walk in but a ghost: Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, looking equally down on his luck.
It is really gorgeous out. The leaves are gold against blue and brown and grey, and it’s warm enough to be comfortable but scented with rain. Now, the next couple days we’re gonna drop into a proper frost, but before then, I think I’ll get in a silly little walk.
One under-appreciated breed of fic writer are the ones who hyperfocus on logistics to the exclusion of all canon shortcuts, and thus usually strike upon an awesome way to flesh out the worldbuilding or characters.
Like, I’m not necessarily talking realism here since often it’s still pretty far from realistic, but more like, “someone has to be running spies in this fantasy kingdom, and we’ve seen the whole royal court, so which background character is it? How does that change these three major interactions?” Or “real life historical nobility did in fact have some things to do that were like jobs, how does this human disaster cope with running an estate?” Or “there’s no reason for a sci-fi robot detective to know how to whitewater kayak, where’d she learn?” Or “if this guy is serving the emperor directly he has to be way high up in the space empire servant hierarchy, why is he doing this menial task for someone else? What’s his motive? Does he perhaps have the secret space telepathy?”
Anyway I’m always DELIGHTED to find a fic or writer who asks these questions because the fics themselves are universally bangers.
person who knows how logistical things works has picked up the cannon, hefted it thoughtfully, and put a single chalk mark precisely on the problem.
Being asexual is like yeah I’m ace. Except for my one intense kink that my asexuality doesn’t apply to.
The first couple of captain america movies were good. I know. I know. I hate the mcu too but the first couple of captain america movies were good I’m Sorry. I have to speak my truth
The mcu wasn’t ALWAYS completely soulless. Like it was never high art or anything it’s always been kinda silly action movies but the first couple of em were good. I’m not gonna let the first avenger + winter soldier get memory hole’d Never forget what we once had. Me & like three other people are left standing in the stucky trenches in 2023. I am cringe but I am right. Remember what we believed in
I’ll happily go farther than that: Winter Soldier is a great movie. The dialogue is good, the pacing is good, each supporting actor gets a solid arc which means for once Natasha and Fury are written well and Anthony Mackie gets to show off his range, the fight choreography is snappy and well thought-out, and the Bucky reveal is timed and acted impeccably.
Also, not to soapbox about this again like it’s 2014 lol, but while I’m on the fence about how intentional it was, they really did go ahead and say “the core of US military imperialism is white supremacy and it’s irredeemable, the only thing to do with it is expose it and burn it down” and they said it cogently and impactfully.
Wasn’t aware that people were saying that these movies were bad? But this is a hill I’m perfectly willing to die on even 9 years later. Of course taste is subjective but I’m with OP, I’m speaking my truth and Winter Soldier was awesome.
part of HOW the MCU got bad wasn’t just the soullessness of the quips and refusal to entertain emotional sincerity- it was because it completely failed to live up to or fulfill the promise of how good the first couple Captain America movies were. Exquisite setup for a big villain- wasted. In Civil War, technically the story is about Cap’s going rogue over Bucky and the Accords- but we barely feel anything about him. His characterization is sort of offscreen, and the movie is all about Tony’s feelings. And of course, in the end, they had to completely destroy the emotional core and throughline of the whole franchise because the love (platonic, whatever) between Bucky and Steve was too sincere to be allowed. If you acknowledged it, you’d have to move the characters by reaction, not by plot, which is apparently too much work for a collection with this many moving parts.
