Characters Keep Getting Ideas And Running With Them.

✧₊⁺⋆.˚₊✩∘ Through time and into darkness ∘✩₊˚.⋆⁺₊✧

An artwork inspired by a prompt by @wendingways through an event by @vaderkin-is-a-lightning-rod yay! Hope you like it and the adjacent writer does too

Crossposted on ao3

Kind of random: this cool, analytical article on the Papyrus font!

So, I had no idea that Papyrus is apparently a hated font? I thought it was pretty cool-looking when I was a kid. Trying to use it now, though, yeah, there's something just not quite right about it. Thought this article was fascinating because of its in-depth analysis of the font. Knowing nothing beforehand about font construction, it was really neat to see all the considerations that can go into font design.

In an nutshell: Papyrus, unlike Comic Sans, is actually a pretty well-structured/balanced font. The flaw is that it's too perfect: intended to look "handmade," yet every letter is identical the other letters of its kind, and so it comes off looking fake.

Design for Hackers

In Defense of Papyrus: Avatar Uses the World's Second-Most-Hated Font to Signal the Downfall of Civilization

The same reason you hate Papyrus is the reason it's the perfect font for the movie Avatar.

ROTS Padmé time travels to AOTC AU

AU where Padmé dies at the end of ROTS and wakes up in 22 BBY, on the night of Zam Wesell's assassination attempt.

Padmé wakes up, rolls over, and realises she hasn’t been able to do that this easily for months. Remembers everything that happened in the past couple of days. And realises her babies are nowhere in sight.  And it’s dark, but this looks a hell of a lot like her room in the senate apartment complex.  And oh shit, what’s that shadow moving along the wall?

She doesn’t know how she got back here, or where her children are, but she does know the galaxy is not a safe place for her right now, and shadow-skulkers are rarely up to any good.  So, she grabs her blaster from under her pillow and shoots. Voila, dead assassin bugs.

Anakin predictably comes running (and Obi-Wan too).  Padmé turns the blaster on him.  But he’s very young.  Obi-Wan is also very young.  And Padmé is very confused.

Anakin is like, “Hey, what are you pointing that thing at me for?  I’m supposed to be protecting you!”

And then her eyes focus on the long braid hanging over his shoulder.  Short hair. 

I hold that finding Padmé aiming a blaster at him would make Anakin a little less prone to AOTC-type creepiness.

And then it all starts to maybe-kind of-sort of make sense.  No kids.  Young Anakin.  The dead bugs on the floor.  Is it really possible that the Force sent her back in time as she died?

Obi-Wan still goes out the window after the droid.  Anakin stays behind, however, because Padmé’s Force presence feels distinctly rattled, and she still looks frazzled, and he’s not at all sure she should be left alone.

Padmé, alone with Anakin and not exactly comfortable with it, tries for humor.  She points to the bugs.  “Want a midnight snack?”  Anakin just stares at her.  Oh, right.  She hasn’t found out about that particular dietary habit of his yet, in this timeline.

Anakin is a little perplexed as to why there’s the slight ring of an inside joke to her words?

They clean up the bug carcasses, he returns to the living room, and she goes back to bed and has a long cry.

She hears a clattering from the kitchen, and a little later, Anakin knocks on her door.  “You okay?  I thought… I brought you tea?  Obi-Wan always says this one’s good for when you’re feeling… uh… unsettled.”

Padmé is torn between equally strong desires to deal him a good, hard slap and to bury her face in his tunic and pretend the next three years haven’t already happened.  Neither of which is appropriate at this juncture, so she compromises, and graciously accepts the tea.

She still goes into refuge.

Debates not even trying to show up for MCA vote, because she knows clones are already there, on Kamino.  She knows Palpatine will weasel his way into getting an army even if the majority votes against MCA.  And hell, she knows the vote will fail.  So what’s the point?

But decides the point is to strengthen her faction and demonstrate her position.  She needs to build her coalition.  The good news is she already knows who she’ll be able to trust, so she can get them together faster, and then focus on recruiting more difficult allies.

She wears much more sensible clothes for refugeeing.

On the way to Naboo, she asks Anakin if he’s heard from Shmi lately.  A perfectly normal conversation topic.

“No.  I’ve been having dreams, though.  Of Mom, she’s hurt, she’s dying, and—Obi-Wan says it’s nothing, but I just… they feel real.”

“I have a friend who’s spent time on Tatooine,” Padmé said.  “I’ll ask her if she can get in touch with your mom, if that will give you some peace of mind.”

“Really?  You would do that?”

“Of course. 

Then she calls Sabé, and she’s like, “Hey, I need you to meet me and a friend in Mos Espa, and pretend that you found out that Shmi Skywalker was freed by and married Cliegg Lars, and lives on his moisture farm near Anchorhead.”

Sabé is like, “Ohhh… kaayyy….”

“I’ll tell you the whole story,” Padmé says, “but later, in person.  First, there’s something I need you to help me with.”

A couple days into their trip, Padmé tells Anakin that Sabé reported Shmi is no longer with Watto, but she was able to find out where she went.

And Padmé’s like, “You know… we could always go to Tatooine instead.  I’d probably be safer there than on Naboo, really.  No one will think to look for a spoiled Mid-Rimmer on that dustball.”

Padmé and Anakin arrive in Mos Espa, and Sabé takes them straight to the Lars farm.

Padmé praying that a few extra days will buy them enough time to save Shmi.  She knows she should be grateful for the chance she was given, but damn it, why couldn't the Force have dropped her even just a little farther back in time?

When Anakin heads out to go to Tusken camp, Padmé is like, "We're coming with you.”

He protests, because she needs to stay safe, but she’s like, “If you want to talk about unsafe, how about running off without backup?  Sabé was a queen’s bodyguard, don’t forget, and I have the same training.”  And three years more practical experience.

Anakin relents, mostly because no way he’s going to out-stubborn both Padmé and Sabé. 

Padmé gets water, maybe other med things, blanket?  And then she and Sabé head out with Anakin.  She’s determined that there will be no slaughter today.

They get there, Shmi’s not good.

Padmé her hand on Anakin’s shoulder as they approach.  Steady.  I’m here.  Sabé is here.  You’re not alone.  Shmi’s going to be okay.  I hope.  If she isn’t, Sabé has orders to shoot Anakin with a stun bolt while Padmé distracts him.  After that… Padmé supposes she would have to call the Jedi, and she and Sabé would just have to keep stunning Anakin until one of the Order arrives to deal with him.  Tough love.  She prays it won’t come to that.

“Sabé, stand guard.  Anakin, help me get your mother loose.  Give her a little of the water.”  She needs to keep him focused on being useful, and not on thoughts of bloody vengeance. Has she always been this unrattled in a crisis, or is she keeping her cool only through her determination to change the future?  Padmé doesn’t even know.

Man, if Anakin fell in love with Padmé before, he really will now that she's helped save his mom.

She has a bit of euphoria from averting disaster, and then she sees Anakin staring moodily out, saber in hand.  Oh, no.

“I hate them.”

“I know.”

“Jedi aren’t supposed to hate, but I want them to hurt.  Like they hurt her.”

“I know.  I've hated the Neimoidians ever since they invaded my planet.  Hating those who harm us is a natural reaction.  Just... it doesn't mean we have to act on it, you know?  Because then we aren't acting any better than the people we hate."

She places one hand over his, and with the other gently tugs on the lightsaber.  “Let me keep this for you.  Just until you’ve got some distance from all of this.  I don’t want you to do something you might regret, Ani.”

He lets go, and she hooks the saber to her own belt.

“Come on.  Let’s get your mom home.”

He gives a jerky nod.  “Okay.”

Padmé tries to draw Anakin out, have actual conversations instead of terrible flirting, and give him options so he doesn't feel that he's stuck in the Jedi Order.

"Anakin... I know, years ago, Master Jinn said you would be a Jedi one day, and I know you wanted to then, but... people change, you know?  And there's nothing wrong with that.  I just want to make sure... that you know you aren't trapped, if you find it's not for you.  I have lots of connections, if you ever need them, or even if your family does."

She takes a moment, lies down, stretched out in the sun, on the sand.  Just being.

Anakin wanders over.  "What the kriff are you doing?"

"I'm enjoying being alive.  It's something I didn't appreciate often enough, before I... before now, I guess."  Teasingly, she adds, "Why don't you come join me, Ani?"

His nose wrinkles in disgust.  “No thank you.  I hate sand.  It’s coarse, and rough, and irritating—and it gets everywhere.”

“If you say so.”

She gets up, and proceeds to shake sand out of her clothes.  And hair.  Anakin gives her an I-told-you-so look, as Beru tells her not to track sand inside because it gets everywhere and she just cleaned the floors.  And then a wounded look, as he dodges a handful of sand she tosses at him.

“Sorry,” she tells him, only half meaning it.  “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

“A long time?”

Oh, kriff.

“Yes.  Five minutes feels like forever when you’re waiting to throw sand at someone.”

Padmé tells Sabé everything?  And then she's not keeping secrets from her like before.

"You're not getting together with that idiot Jedi again."

"Not right away."

"Not ever, you hear me, Padmé Amidala?  I will fight you, knock you out cold, and carry you away to some hidden corner of the galaxy before I let you throw your life away like that."

"If you tried to fight me, you’d lose.  I've had more practical experience than you at this point, Sabe.  But I'll be careful, I promise.  I'll only do it if I see that I can trust him.  And only once Palpatine is out of the way.  I, we've, already kept Anakin from the first step toward the Sith.  We can do the rest.  Shorten the war.  Save the Republic."

A few days later, Anakin finds Padmé in the kitchen, reading from her datapad.

“I just wanted to say—thank you, Padmé.  You… you really are an angel.  If you hadn’t suggested calling Sabé, and if you hadn’t been there tonight—well, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I know.  It’s terribly cliché, but that’s what friends are for.”

“Friends?”

She can see the disappointment he tries to hide.

“Yes, Ani.  I hope I can call you my friend.”

“It’s just… I thought, maybe…”

She lays the datapad aside and gestures for him to join her at the table.

“I was in a whirlwind romance once.  It ended very badly.  I can’t do that again.  I won’t.  I… I like you very much.  But I need you to give me time, and space.”

Geonosis happens.  Padmé tells Anakin to be careful before they part and he fights Dooku.

“Be careful, Ani.  Try to come back in one piece, okay?”

And Anakin, being in a much more balanced frame of mind than he was in the original timeline, actually heeds her and isn’t quite so arrogant when it comes to fighting Dooku.

As the war goes on, Padmé builds an anti-war, anti-Palpatine coalition.  It goes faster this time, because she knows who she should reach out to and what arguments to use

Gives them all more time to spend on recruiting other senators to the cause.

She also does some work to dig up dirt on Palpatine.

Has the Handmaidens quietly investigate his estate, financial affairs, or whatever on Naboo, too?

Padmé gets closer to the Jedi Order, spends more time with Ahsoka when she can, and gets Ahsoka to introduce her to Barriss.

Tells Barriss if she ever needs a confidante outside the Order, she’s here.

Consequently, Barriss goes to Padmé when she’s struggling, and Padmé talks to Anakin and Obi-Wan about getting her transferred out of active service.

Becomes either involved in Senate duties, working with Padmé’s coalition, or healing

Padmé also finds some way to minimize the damage from the Rako Hardeen incident.

She invites Satine to Coruscant for a political meeting of some sort, just before she would be imprisoned/Maul would appear

Maybe she and Anakin are a little matchmakery with Satine and Obi-Wan.

The war ends, maybe a little ahead of schedule or maybe not.  Palpatine is outed as a Sith.  Anakin has a bit of a struggle with that, but not nearly as much, and he’s able to do his Chosen One thing and help defeat him.

The Jedi look at the closeness of the crew, Barriss shares how she was floundering until Padmé stepped in.  The Jedi review their stances on attachment, etc.

Padmé and Anakin, who’ve been building a close relationship over the course of the war, marry.  Not secretly.  Shmi gets to be there.  And Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Rex and the rest of the 501st, and the Naberrie family.  Probably Satine, as well.

And let’s say Luke and Leia are just fated to exist, because it’s hard to imagine a SW universe without them.

I’m posting this as a bullet point AU, because frankly, I’ve been getting what seems like a crap ton of plot ideas lately, and there’s just no way I’m going to be able to write fics for them all.

If anyone wants to pick this up and run with it, flesh it out, make a oneshot or a multichapter fic or whatever, be my guest! (Please just make sure to notify and credit me!)

Now playing: III-XVI. Desperate Measures

In which Padmé makes her desperate call, Luke and Leia are having a grand old time, and circumstance forces Vader to return to Tatooine.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33008734/chapters/163911436

Inspired by a "redraw this as your ship" screenshot I saw on Pinterest, and while I wouldn't exactly call this my ship, I thought it would make for a fun, dramatic scene!

And I'm discovering that I be slightly addicted to drawing Rebel graffiti in aurebesh.

Aurebesh font files downloaded from AurekFonts, Boba Fonts, and Pixel Sagas on fontspace.com

Typical day for Cody and Rex

Based on THIS post

Present, Past, and Future

For @mina-jamsin-derulo, based on "Eyes on the future." Thank you for the lovely prompt art!

A little vignette with Anakin and Ahsoka watching the twins spar on Naboo.

Sending this your way .. about Nur and how horrific it is… tie in to your reference about Nur in Fortunes Rule and how Vader has a lot to explain and atone for when it comes to the whole torturing and entombing

Jedi esp younglings 🤯

Hey, thanks! That little bit about the entry point and the security will definitely come in handy, as I am planning to have a Nur chapter at some point down the line.

Honestly, I may have gotten myself in a bit over my head with the whole Nur thing. I didn't realise just how nasty it is when I mentioned it back in Part II, so, uh... yeah, that's going to be fun to figure out. Fortunately, it will be a while before that arc, so there's some time to figure out how to approach it.

Vaderkin Creative Exchange 2024!

Hello and welcome! This is a gift exchange in four steps, organised by the Vaderkin Community (Vaderkin is a lightning rod discord), to increase interactions between writers and artists and give everyone some time to shine!

✒️ Step 1: Writers write prompts for artists, everyone get matched depending on sign up answers.

🎨 Step 2: Artists have one month to draw one or more works from the prompts they received.

✒️ Step 3: Arts reveal. Writers get assigned one or several art pieces and have two months to write a minimum 500 words story inspired from them.

🎨 Step 4: Fics reveal. Drawing festival, every artist can draw fanart over the new stories created from the event (and be reblogged by this tumblr for it).

Sign up here:

Google Docs

Vaderkin Creative Exchange 2024

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Vaderkin Creative Exchange 2024!! This is a gift exchange in four steps, organised by the Vaderkin Commun

All works (art and fic) from tumblr will be reblogged by the Vader Community and all works (art and fic) from ao3 can be added to the event collection. For this, the works need to be tagged properly with "Vaderkin creative exchange 2024", as well as the tag "explicit" if it is explicit (smut, strong graphic violence) work.

Overall, it’s a typical gift exchange, only writers prompts will be in image rather than words, and everyone is strongly encouraged to have fun and try their hand at sketching during the ’drawing festival’.

Schedule:

Sign up opens: Marsh 28th, 2024

Sign up closes: April 27th, 2024

Artists receive prompts & giftee: May 4th, 2024 (as a little sw gift 😉)

Writers receive prompts & giftee: June 2nd-4th, 2024

Artists Submissions: June 4th, 2024

Writers Submissions: August 4th 2024

Drawing Festival: August 2024

Have fun!!

Rules and FAQ below the cut

RULES

- This is an Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader exchange. This character needs to be one of the main characters, or at least have a very strong presence in the artwork/story. Crossovers are accepted.

- Respect your Giftee's Do Not Want (DNW)

- Do not reveal who your Giftee is before the reveal date (June 4th for artists, August 4th for writers). If you have a question, ask as anon through the Giftee's Tumblr or ask one of the event mods (we will serve as intermediary).

- Do not repost your gift content (especially art!) Mind your giftee’s extra request for AI-scraping protection if there is any. If you can, use the ao3 gift function to link to their profile. Otherwise, mention in your work post that this is a gift, with a mention of your giftee username and a link towards their tumblr/ao3/otherwise page, if they gave one.

- Do not use AI to produce your gift, be it to produce the prompts or to produce your art / written work.

- Avoid character bashing, kinkshaming, and ship wars. If one fits in your DNW (ex: You absolutely do not want Obikin content), mention it politely. This is an event for everyone to have fun! The fandom is wide, and there is space for everyone.

By participating in this exchange, you commit yourself to producing one art piece if you sign up as an artist, one written fic if you sign up as writer, or one artwork and one fic if you sign up as both. If you can't complete your work, you must warn one of the mods at least one week before the deadline.

If any of the above rules is not respected, mods reserve the right to ban you from this and any future Vaderkin Community events.

Please don’t forget to comment on your gift, even a small ’thank you’ to the artist/writer is better than nothing and will make everyone very happy!

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FAQ

Can I draw a comic? Yes, a comic panel will be counted as an art piece.

Can I write a multi chapter story? Sure! Feel free to! But your first chapter must be able to pass as a one shot, and be finished by the writing deadline.

I missed the sign up deadline (27th April), can I still join? No, but you can still join during the Drawing Festival! The final event is open to everyone.

I only joined as an artist/writer but also wanted to participate as the other one. Same answer. The sign up closes in order for us to properly match everyone. But don’t hesitate to join and give gifts for the Drawing Festival!

Someone else also have the same writing prompt/art prompt/giftee as me, is this normal? Yes, this is how we balance the number difference between writers and artists. Prompt interpretation varies from person to person!

Can I do several art/fic works? Sure! In the case of art pieces, it will allow the writer to choose from which picture to draw inspiration from, like receiving several prompts, so several art pieces is highly encouraged!

I cannot finish my work in time, what do I do? Contact us ASAP and tell us your estimated delay. If you are an artist, keep in mind that your gifter cannot begin their writing work before your art piece is published.

I do not wish to participate anymore, what do I do? Contact us ASAP. Please try not to drop out right before the deadline, as we may have to create a work to replace yours.

I'm back to playing through KotOR 2. This is based on a conversation between @for-the-love-of-starwars and I, where she suggested I draw Kreia with a mug saying "#1 bad space mom." I ended up shortening it to "No. 1 Worst Mom."

I see Kreia's relationship with Revan as something of an emotionally abusive parental figure who also can't understand why her successful, adult child wants nothing to do with her.

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[My Ko-Fi] [Patreon]