Now Playing: III-VI, The New Way Of Things

Now playing: III-XII. Rude Awakenings

In which Ahsoka bids farewell to Shili, Vader proceeds with his plan to dechip the clones, and Piett puts one and one and one and one together and makes four.

A Tale of Three Antivirus Programs

Aka, I somehow have three different antivirus programs vying for the privilege of protecting my computer? My laptop: *fan running loudly nonstop because it's probably been... a month? since I last restarted it.* Me: Oh, you poor thing! *restarts it.* My antivirus software, next time I open my laptop: Hey, so we're going to need you to restart your device so we can install this new update. Me: Well, should have thought of this sooner, Bitdefender, because I literally just did that, and it is not happening again until things get buggy. See ya' next month. Note: Chances are that Bitdefender will do the same exact thing next time I restart. Even if I restart on a weekly basis instead of monthly, it does this. It's like anytime I decide to restart, it wants to update. Why. Bitdefender, when my laptop connects to wifi: This is your home network, yes? Me: No. Bitdefender next time the laptop connects to that same wifi: This is your work network, yes? Me: No. Bitdefender, third time connecting to that wifi: This is your home network, yes? Me: *facepalm*  why are you like this. Also Bitdefender: OMG you're on an unprotected network, turn on your VPN! The network: *is private, password-protected* The VPN: *is an extra, offered by Bitdefender, which I don't subscribe to* Me: *is suspicious that this is just a ploy to pull in more money* The OTHER antivirus software that my computer came with, and still hangs out occasionally, just to be a pest (yes, McAfee, looking at you): Hi!  Turn on web protection! Me: Are you seriously trying to get me to use two antivirus programs at once?  Do you really think that's a good idea?  Or even remotely necessary? The THIRD??? antivirus software, which my computer also came with:  *shyly knocks on the door, by which I mean pops up a humble little notification when I first turn the computer on*  Hey, would you... maybe... like to... consider turning on Microsoft Defender? Me: *wishes I could post a "No thanks" sticky note on my OS like I can on my front door* Go away. To be fair, I could probably uninstall the McAfee thing.  But at the same time, it's kind of funny having these three competing programs, even if what they're competing for seems to be the title of Most Irritating Hypervigilent Software.

Yellow is an interesting color choice for Sith eyes. Red eyes are quite common for fictitious "bad guys," but I don't think I've seen yellow much, except for Sith. It's cool for two reasons:

One is that yellow links nicely to the whole "fear-anger-hatred" thing because of the classic association between the color yellow and cowardice.

What my nerd brain finds is cooler, though, is that yellow can also mean danger in the natural world. Like bees, wasps, etc. So Sith are following a sort of Müllerian mimicry: looks like something that can hurt you, and it will. Sith are totally the yellowjackets of the Force user world. (Either that, or yellowjackets are the Sith of the wasp world....)

Where to begin?

Fortune's Rule. It's an appropriate title in more ways than one.

Two years ago, I would have laughed myself silly at the very notion that I might ever write a Star Wars fanfic.  Or maybe just looked askance at whoever had made such an appalling suggestion.  Then I saw Clone Wars.  And now, almost seventy thousand words later, I've finally achieved a secret wish of over ten years' duration—to write a novel's worth of continuous story.  (A novel's worth, not a novel, because ye gods, this thing is far from complete!)

It's really weird.

Anyway, before I start posting about writing and anything else that strikes my fancy, I just wanted to say thank you ever so much!! to all the AO3 users who have read/kudo'd/commented on/subscribed to/bookmarked this pet project of mine, as well as to my brother and my mom/moral support/editor/typo sieve.  Fortune's Rule is by far the longest, most detailed, most in-depth story I have ever written, and there's no way in the world that it would have come this far without all of you! So, thank you!!!

So, I've got a question. In an AU where Padmé survives, fakes her death, and goes into hiding, are she and Vader still legally married? Or was that dissolved upon the registration of her death? Or, since her death certificate was falsified, would that mean that all her legal contracts would remain intact? Or would it be a legal question that would have all the experts perplexed because there's simply no precedent, and would result in a lengthy court battle? (Or a not-so-lengthy one, depending on the state of Vader's temper.) Would it even matter anyway, since she apparently didn't marry under her own name? Since neither of them married under their legal names, is it even a valid legal contract in the first place?

I'm probably going to have to end up BS-ing the legal stuff for Fortune's Rule, but if anyone knows if there's a canon answer (or Legends) to the question of whether they would still be married after she faked her death, that would be lovely.

Edit: The closest real-world example I can find is Enoch Arden laws, and while the Republic/Empire probably has something similar, those don't quite fit the situation, since they have to do with someone being missing, not faking their death.

That second drawing! 😂😂😂

When your friends have little legs and can't keep up with you.

Bonus :

🎁 Gift Reveal! 🎁

I'm also excited to share the artwork I created for @artmelody as part of the 2024 Vaderkin Creative Exchange! 🌟 I had a fantastic time working on this pieces and hope it brings as much joy and inspiration to you as it did to me.

Thank you @artmelody for being a wonderful match. Check out the final artwork below and let me know your thoughts!

Happy exchanging! 🎨✨

So, I wasn't going to do a second illustration for the most recent chapter of Fortune's Rule, but it demanded to be done, and consequently I ended up doing it anyway.

Used the same technique as last time with an even base layer and then colored pencil over it, but this time the base layer was watercolor, instead of marker. Wasn't sure I had enough ink left in my grey marker for Vader. The background was also done in watercolor this time, and then I added pencil to enhance. No pen lines in the background this time, because I realised that the background pen lines are one of the things I don't like so much about the Ahsoka drawing; they make it look too busy and choppy, or something, the horizon line in particular.

I originally used a reference pic of Obi-Wan fighting Dooku, substituting Vader for Dooku, but ditched that because the stance didn't look aggressive enough for Vader. The perspective/angles aren't perfect; arms seem a little wonky, still not sure I got Obi-Wan's legs right, and his head looks a little too big?

The pencil worked really nicely for the flames, which just looked extremely blobby when I only used paint. Pencil also gave the smoke a nice opacity that I wasn't sure how to achieve with watercolor.

And my favorite thing about the whole process.... After finishing up and taking a pic, I realised that behind Obi-Wan, there's a shielded fortress, while behind Vader, there's a flaming wreck; kind of some fun parallelism going on there. And the way the building is on elevated ground, while the wreck is at the bottom of an embankment, also makes for a nice little "Mustafar-reference-if-you-squint." All the symbolism works out super nicely. It was also super unintentional. 😂

From a Certain Point of View

Or, how Ben Kenobi’s boldfaced lie prevarication saved the Galaxy (but not in the way he thought it would).

(See Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four)

Part Five: Epilogue

When Sidious dies, Jedi and other Force Sensitives across the galaxy sense it, even if they don’t all know precisely what it is that they’re feeling. The Force reverberates with the death of so powerful a being – with the shattering of so many significant shatterpoints. A heavy, oppressive cloud has lifted. The Force hasn’t felt this way since… longer than some of them even remember. The older among them do remember the days when the Force was lighter and their foresight clearer, but even they hadn’t realized how bad things had gotten until the fog of the Dark was gone.

Padme, with her low midichlorian count, is not particularly attuned to the Force, but she feels it too. Somewhere deep in her bones, she knows that something has changed. And Padme has always trusted her instincts.

So when Anakin bursts into her office in the Senate and announces that he just killed Chancellor Palpatine – oh, and that Palpatine was a Sith Lord who orchestrated the entire war, by the way – she isn’t quite as shocked as she probably should be.

(Which is not, of course, the same thing as not being shocked at all. Because Palpatine? A Sith Lord? She’d been concerned about the executive powers he was accruing and the policies he was putting into place, of course, but…)

“Are you all right?” he asks, dropping to his knees in front of her chair.

“Me?” she says. “I’m fine, Ani. I’m not the one who just fought a Sith! We need to get you to a medic.”

“Only if you get looked over too,” he says. He hesitates then adds, “Is there anything you, uh, wanted to tell me?”

He gestures awkwardly in her direction with his flesh hand.

Padme stares at him.

“I’m sorry?” she says, eyeing him worriedly.

Who knows what kind of damage he might have sustained in his encounter with Palpatine.

“You know,” he says. “Any, um, family news?”

“My family is fine, last I heard,” she says slowly. “Ani, what’s going on?”

He takes a deep breath.

“Padme, how is the baby doing?”

She stares at him. 

“What baby?”

There is a choking sound near the door.

…which, she realizes in retrospect, they never closed after Anakin barged in like a gundark. 

“An excellent question. Is there anything,” a particularly exhausted-looking Obi-Wan Kenobi says dryly, one eyebrow arched, “that the two of you would like to tell me?”

Keep reading

Now playing: III-II. Division

In which Padmé sends the twins to Tatooine, Starkiller makes progress, Piett begins to get in over his head, and a conversation is had which has been a long time coming.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a Senator survived. A Jedi did not forsake society. Two siblings were never separated. Nor were two Commanders. And a Rogue found comrades.

The Empire has risen, but the embers of the Republic yet glow in the hearts of the just. The stage is set for rebellion, and both within the Rebel Alliance and outside of it, many fates shall interweave, for the luck of the Disaster Lineage and its associates has ever flowed in a peculiar current. And if that current is stirred, from time to time, by the enterprising Pirate… well, not for nothing has it been said that Fortune rules life.

Aka, Padmé lives. The fractured Chaos Clan begins to reunite. Tarkin suffers a raging case of Hondo-induced identity theft. Vader dials the wrong number and ends up connecting to the commlink of a Rebel agent called Revenant. Add in some youngling hijinks, and all of this is slowly building to a massive headache for one Sheev Palpatine.