May the 4th Be With You 2019

[lucymonster]

Reylo-adjacent requests | Kylo Ren requests | Cardinal requests | Phasma requests | Qi'ra requests | Family gen

Dear Yoda,

Thank you so much for writing for me! I love every fandom, character and ship I've requested and will be unreservedly thrilled to match on any of them. 

 

Other than my handful of DNWs, I'm open to anything. I've written some prompts to get the ball rolling, but I'm honestly not married to anything and am totally happy for you to use as much or as little as you like: adapt or subvert or branch off with any of my ideas, or scrap them and use your own. Go where your heart tells you to go, and please feel free to include past/background ships, opt-in kinks, unhappy endings if that's how you roll - seriously, go wild!

 

I've requested some solo characters as well as both / and & pairings, and I have no strong views on the line between them, so please don't worry about being too shippy or not shippy enough. I love it all, from genfic to romance to darkfic to smut.

 

AU-wise, anything on my AU likes list is blanket welcome, and I've included some specific AU prompts in the relevant fandom sections. 

 

If you're looking for me elsewhere, I'm on ao3 and occasionally tumblr. 

 

Thank you again, and happy writing!
 

Do Not Want

- underage smut (<18 - ageing up, tactful handwaving or fade-to-black is fine)

- parent-child incest

- extreme gore, graphic internal/organ damage

- genital bleeding, cutting or tearing (but pain, bruising and feeling like something might tear are welcome)

- unrequested AUs (including trope AUs: please no a/b/o, soulmates etc)

- pure fluff

- scat, emetophilia, vore, bestiality, lactation kink
- graphic depictions of needles, injections, transfusions or blood-drinking

- issuefic, character/ship bashing

- unwarned major character death (if it's not a canon death, please flag it in tags or author's notes so I'm ready).

GENERAL LIKES

Story likes

- anything with a strong character focus

- characters who are flawed and abrasive and challenging to love

- worldbuilding, incidental details

- difficult or dysfunctional relationships

- dark/gritty/moody aesthetics

- romantic tension, unrequited feelings, love triangles

- ensemble casts, background characters

- outsider or observer POVs

- banter, snark, gallows humour
- hurt/comfort (the more hurt, the better!)

- descriptions of food, characters eating or sharing food, food as comfort

- military kink: uniforms, weapons, 'sir' (including and especially to address women)

- enemies to lovers

- stranded together, huddling for warmth

- harsh environments, survival/adventure stories

- redemption arcs (or failed redemption arcs)

- subversions, pastiches, crack treated seriously

- first times (sexual or non-sexual).

 

General smut likes

- character-driven smut

- orgasm delay/denial, sexual frustration, begging

- coming too quickly, loss of control, getting overwhelmed

- crying after sex

- rough sex, hate sex, power imbalances

- humiliation, verbal insults, gendered slurs

- frottage, dry humping, clothed sex

- sex pollen, aphrodisiacs, drugged sex, fuck-or-die

- different erogenous zones, being sensitive in non-genital places

- anal sex (het or slash), double or multiple penetration

- sounding, watersports, forced wetting

- public use, gangbangs

- loss of virginity, inexperience, clumsy sex

- praise kink

- scar worship

- uncomfortable, consensual-but-unpleasant type sex

- under-negotiated kinks

- any level of complex, problematic or questionable consent.

 

Darker likes

- creepy, uncomfortable, 'something's off here' vibes

- self-sacrifice, suicide for a good cause

- 'ugly' mental illness: violence, paranoia, warped thinking

- noncon/dubcon

- grey morality, antiheroes

- villain-centred morality

- coercion, blackmail, abuse of power

- victim-blaming

- mind rape, violation, psychological torture

- imprisonment

- physical or sexual torture.

 

AU likes

- canon-divergent AUs, especially when the change is to an on-screen canon event

- 'for want of a nail' AUs exploring the flow-on effects of a single small change

- bad guys win, good guys turn bad, good guys were really bad all along

- mirrorverse, including verse crossovers where characters get sucked into each other's worlds

- always a girl, especially if it turns a ship into femslash

- these weirdly specific modern AUs: pornstars, figure skating, metal (or heavy alternative) bands, pro gaming.

REYLO-ADJACENT REQUESTS

Character: Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

My favourite flavour of Kylo Ren is evil but sympathetic: I love seeing him at his worst. I love seeing him make awful decisions, I love seeing him suffer for his mistakes, I love the tease of how he could do so much better but somehow doesn't. I love his inner conflict and his lack of self-control. I also love awkward, painful redemption stories where his battered conscience finally asserts itself and forces him face-to-face with the worst parts of his personality.

 

I'm a huge fan of virgin/inexperienced Kylo Ren headcanons, where for whatever reason (religious beliefs, self-esteem issues, time constraints) sex just hasn't factored much into his life. Sexual frustration, hangups, elaborate fantasies and weird fixations ensue.

 

- Ben's younger life, growing up on Chandrila as the son of two legendary Resistance heroes who (he feels) are more interested in their careers than in him. Conflict with his parents. Experiments with his powers. Early signs that he was going off the rails.

- What exactly is Kylo's role in the First Order? What does he do on a day-to-day basis?

- I'm very into the dangers of space travel, and would love any kind of story about Kylo Ren's adventures in a region so desolate and hazardous that no one's ever even bothered to map it. Has he come in contact with unknown civilisations in the course of his work with the Order? Has he encountered any strange species or unfamiliar Force phenomena? Weird alien planets, harsh environments and survival stories are forever my jam. 

Character: Rey

She's the scrappy, resilient scavenger who grew up surrounded by the dregs of humanity without ever letting it affect her own standards. She's got such strong moral conviction, but she's also not afraid of flirting with the darkness and I love that about her.

The more tidbits canon gives us about Rey's life on Jakku, the more desperately I love her. She's self-made, self-sufficient, even completely self-educated. I want more about her grinding daily struggle for survival, more about the life she built for herself alone out there in the desert, more about the amazing skillset she built up salvaging junk from old warships. 

 

Does Rey ever go back to Jakku once she's left? Maybe, with Kylo's words about her parents jangling under her skin, she turns her new Force-wielding resources to tracking down that pauper's grave? Or does she ever go looking for what's left of the Church of the Force? I wonder if the Resistance ever needs to look back at the Tuanul massacre - Rey, being from nearby, is an obvious choice for a mission like that.

Rey / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I'm here for absolutely any variation of Kylo and Rey having fraught, dangerous chemistry that overrules their better judgement - bright and hopeful, dark and hate-fueled or anywhere in between! They make such fantastic foils for each other, and their relationship is so ill-advised and yet so compelling.

 

I'm especially fond of any kind of Force bond weirdness. Bodyswap where they're forced to share more than just each other's thoughts? Force bond sex in a public place, with one of them desperately trying to pretend nothing untoward is going on? Force-fueled sex pollen or magic?

 

Armitage Hux / Rey / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
I love how unapologetically awful Hux is, and how his unflinching commitment to Being A Villain clashes with Kylo's moody conflictedness. I love the deep and petty personal pleasure he takes in not only defeating his enemies, but hurting and humiliating them - see Finn and Rose's capture, see every time he so much as mentions the word 'Republic'. 

- Dark (or pragmatically grey, or light-but-ruthless) Rey uses Kylo and Hux's attraction to her for her own ends. Does she force them to play nice together? Pit them against each other? Is there a pre-existing spark between them that she takes advantage of?
- The First Order takes Rey prisoner. Between Kylo and Hux, her interrogation quickly takes a turn for the depraved.
- Further down the line, a redeemed Ben comes face to face with his former First Order frenemy. Maybe they used to be lovers? Or maybe the attraction Ben feels is new - a kind of self-destructive nostalgia for this flesh-and-blood reminder of his dark past? Either way, Rey has her work cut out maintaining the balance between them.


Finn / Rey / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Banter. Love-hate. Competitive one-upmanship. I love how different and how alike these three are, how badly they've hurt each other and how much worse they still could. Does a freak incident force Finn and Rey to cooperate with their enemy? Does Ben Solo defect to the Resistance? Or maybe it's Finn who doesn't defect from the First Order, and Rey gets captured / turns dark and joins them / becomes an unlikely point of shared fixation that supersedes the wide gulf of rank between them?


Poe Dameron / Rey / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
I've requested both Kylo/Rey and Kylo/Poe as standalone ships, and I'm also into the Poe/Rey dynamic here: their warm first meeting at the end of TLJ, their growing bond in the comics (torture buddies!) and their shared proclivity for going off half-cocked on reckless missions with the slimmest margins for survival. Each duo has a really interesting dynamic and I'd love to see how that plays out when you combine them as a trio.

Rey / Luke Skywalker / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

This ship is ripe for all the love triangle angst: Luke is wracked by the guilt of his past failures and desperate to make things right now that he's once again responsible for training a powerful young Force user. Kylo has the world's largest Luke-shaped chip on his shoulder, his need to prove himself the stronger man clashing with his need for approval. Rey - I love that line from Daisy Ridley about Kylo nurturing her the way Rey can't. There's so much to play with there. I'm very much fine with all the paired elements of this ship, but would also love it as a proper triad where they're all three equally invested - honestly, whatever configuration you like is fine!

 

- AU where Ben never turned, and he and Rey are students together at the temple. Are they rivals for their teacher's praise? Friends? Lovers? Secret lovers who Luke catches in the act?

- Luke (or ghost!Luke, maybe?) gets in on some of that Force Bond action. Or just generally hangs around after TLJ, mentoring his former students from beyond and guiding/interfering with their burgeoning enemy romance.

- While Rey is on Ahch-To training with Luke, Kylo fumes. It's like there's nothing Luke won't try to take from him.

- Rey finds out about the guilty secret between Luke and his nephew.

 

Rose Tico / Rey / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
I tend not to request Rey/Rose as a standalone pairing, but I'm deeply fond of their relationship: two resourceful, mechanically gifted young women with childhoods full of deprivation and hearts full of lofty ideals. I like how forcefully both of them reject the self-serving extremism that the First Order tries to offer, and how that inner strength of theirs clashes with Kylo's catastrophically shitty mental and moral health.

And on a smutty note, I really like the idea of them ganging up on Ben in the bedroom.
 
 

Snoke / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren / Rey
Snoke leaches off the Force bond and lives their frivolous human romance by proxy. I'm here for all the intrusive creepiness, and maybe some fridge Ben Solo horror/whump: Rey gets her first taste of having Snoke invade her mind and it's awful, but for Kylo these days it's just business as usual.

Dark Rey claims her place at Snoke's right hand by overpowering his last apprentice. Or maybe the two of them have to job share, and there's bitter rivalry over Snoke's approval, made complex by their unwanted but ever-growing attraction to each other?

Noncon: Snoke makes them do it. Snoke makes Kylo hurt Rey. Snoke makes Kylo hurt Rey and then joins in. Snoke lingers in the afterlife and whispers all kinds of cruelties and compulsions to them from beyond the grave. 

KYLO REN REQUESTS

Armitage Hux / Dopheld Mitaka / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Power play, hostility and mindfuck are my watchwords for this pairing. Poor Mitaka makes a great reluctant straight man in the trashfire dark comedy that is Hux and Kylo's working relationship. He's kind of a blank slate, motivation-wise: is he a cunning and ambitious junior officer, using whatever footholds he can find to scale the First Order hierarchy? Or is he genuinely as timid and hapless as we see him on screen?

I really love 'day in the life of an evil bureaucracy' fic (cf my Kylo/Snoke requests). I'm also very much here for dark, consent-iffy PWP or straight-up noncon.


Ben Solo | Kylo Ren /& Amilyn Holdo
It seems I have a bit of a thing for Kylo/Ben being humbled and pushed around by older, more naturally dominant women. I'm very fond of Amilyn's relationship with Leia and would love to know more about her involvement in Ben's younger life: was she an honorary aunt? A second mother? An object of his awkward teenage infatuations?

Or maybe they meet (again) when he's older. Maybe her suicide run on the Supremacy fails, and she's taken into First Order custody instead. Maybe she survived Crait and is there to see Kylo change heart mid-galactic domination and come home in search of forgiveness.

I'd also be into an AU where Ben doesn't turn, but instead ends up following his mother's footsteps into the political world. Maybe, as a favour to the family, Amilyn takes on into her office?


Ben Solo | Kylo Ren /& Rose Tico

I'm really into the ethical clash between these two: Kylo with his love of power and his violent authoritarian leanings, Rose with her sense of justice and compassion for the underdog. I'd love to see the two of them build a relationship of some kind, either with Kylo in full First Order meltdown mode or redeemed Ben Solo cooperating with the Resistance afterwards.

 

- Kylo thinks Rose's morals are naive. She's too young and idealistic to correctly process the trauma of her upbringing and embrace totalitarianism as the natural solution to all the galaxy's problems.

- Redeemed, conflicted Ben needs someone to lean on as he sorts out what the hell he's doing in a post-Evil Meltdown world. Rose is there - to listen? To argue political philosophy? To smack him back into shape?

- Neither of them can stand each other, but somehow they keep ending up in bed when the beers and bad decisions come out.

- A stray plot device strands the two of them on a hostile planet where they're forced to work together for survival. 

Finn / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
I love every flavour of this ship - commander and subordinate, enemies with benefits, post-redemption, anything. I'm fascinated by Finn's stormtrooper background and love any fic that sheds light on their shared FO history / common ground as defectors / intensely personal baggage as enemies. I'd also be super into a captive scenario in either direction: one of them is taken prisoner by the other, and airing of grievances / heartfelt argument / sadistic revenge ensues. 

Finn / Poe Dameron / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I love the idea of Finn and Poe as an established couple, and Kylo (redeemed Ben Solo?) looking on with longing and self-loathing. Maybe they team up on purpose to seduce him. Maybe they're his reluctant orientation buddies after he surrenders and joins the Resistance, and they end up getting more involved than they mean to.

 

Alternatively: maybe Finn and Kylo have some FO-era history, and it's Poe who's on the outside pining to join them. Or maybe there's a tug-of-war between Kylo (who has known Finn for years, thank you) and Poe (who saved him from the First Order, thank you) with Finn caught awkwardly in the middle. Threesome, triangle, mutual ill-defined clusterfuck - I'm into whatever direction you take this.
 

Kaydel Ko Connix / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Billie Lourde is gorgeous and I really enjoyed her appearances in TLJ. Kylo ... well, he's my little black dress and I think he'd look great on her.

 

Connix is a bit of a blank slate, backstory-wise, so I'm totally happy for you to make up anything that fits. Maybe she knew Ben before he turned to the dark side? Maybe he was the hot older senator's son back when Connix was starting out as a Navy cadet, while the cold war was still cooling and the truth about Leia's parentage was still a secret? I don't imagine Ben has been particularly suave at any point in his life, but perhaps at that age Connix thinks he's very suave and mature and mysterious and all that.

 

Or maybe we're picking up their story after Ben turns (or after he turns again and defects from the First Order). Connix, by this stage in her life a hardened and devoted freedom fighter, is forced to confront her younger self's appalling taste in men ... only to realise that maybe that taste hasn't changed so much after all?

Poe Dameron / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I love the idea that there's more between these two than simple enemy combatants. Maybe Poe knew Ben Solo pre-fall, and despite the different paths they've taken, they can't let go of their feelings for each other. Maybe they meet after Kylo defects back to the light side, but he's still not good, exactly, and the relationship quickly takes a dangerous turn. 

 

Or maybe Poe falls back into First Order captivity, and Kylo takes a very personal interest in interrogating the man who spent most of their last torture session calmly and defiantly sassing him. 

 

Poe Dameron / Luke Skywalker / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I absolutely love this ship when combined with the 'Ben and Poe as childhood friends' headcanon. They're on different paths now, with Ben's Jedi training and all, but I like to think they might have bonded over their shared love of fast ships and reckless piloting maneuvers. I imagine Luke would have his hands plenty full trying to manage both of them at once, if he was involved in their younger lives. 

 

Or maybe Luke and Poe don't meet till much later, after Ben has become Kylo Ren, and they're two of the last people in the galaxy with the motive and determination to try and bring him back?

 

Snoke & / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

My favourite take on this relationship is 'vulnerable asshole gets in way over his head with a much bigger, badder asshole'. I'm intrigued by Kylo's volatility towards Snoke: the brainwashed hero-worship, the seething resentment, the willingness to turn on a dime and gorily murder him. I also have a weakness for cracky stories about big scary villains being secret failboats, so would welcome something darkly funny about their student/mentor relationship or the inner workings of the First Order bureaucracy.

 

I'm also totally here for Snoke the super-creep using sex as a tool of control and a way to reward/punish/manipulate Kylo. Or some one-sided pining from Kylo: maybe there's a sexual/romantic element to his worship, or a simple longing for affection in whatever form it takes?
 

CARDINAL REQUESTS

Cardinal / Finn

Cardinal was one of my highlights of the Phasma novel: he's so earnest and principled, a lone paragon of conviction in the self-serving wasteland of the First Order. 

 

I'd love to know what kind of role Cardinal had in Finn's training, and if he saw a bit of himself in his young recruit. Or perhaps they meet later, after Finn and Cardinal have both defected - does Cardinal join the Resistance, and help Finn settle into his new life as a defector? Or is he a freelancer like Vi Moradi, and Finn has to leverage their shared past to get Cardinal's help against the Order?
 

Cardinal / Phasma

Brutality. Resentment. Hatesex. I love all the dark, twisted potential in this ship, with Cardinal's honour and duty pitted against Phasma's survivalist ruthlessness.

 

- First Order worldbuilding. Their daily lives on board a war machine together, fighting for the same cause but for very different reasons.

- Phasma takes advantage of her rank. Maybe Cardinal hates every second of it - or maybe he enjoys it just as much as she does, and hates himself a little for that.

- Phasma defects from the Order (probably for much more self-serving, less ideological reasons than Cardinal). The two of them cross paths somewhere in the civilian galaxy.

PHASMA REQUESTS

Character: Phasma
I love Phasma best at her brutal, selfish worst. On the surface she looks noble, disciplined, a loyal and exemplary warrior - but on the inside, there's nothing except her ruthless need to live and thrive. There's no vow she won't break, no line she won't cross, nobody she won't cut down if they're foolish enough to get between her and her ambitions.

I'd love to see more of Phasma as the First Order's poster girl for military heroism: how does the mantle sit on her shoulders? Does she enjoy the adulation? Does she worry, at all, about being unmasked? I'm interested in her military exploits, her day-to-day manipulations and her dealings with her troops. I'm also curious about how a woman so used to keeping secrets feels about a workplace where more than one of her seniors can literally read minds.

Feel free to include as much or little of her novelised backstory as you like!


[Armitage Hux] / Phasma / Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

I'm here for this equally as a pairing or an OT3. All three of them are difficult, damaged people with competing professional agendas and very different views of what it means to be part of the First Order. I'd love a fic that explores the power struggles between them, and the clash between their need for human intimacy and their need to get one over each other at all times.

 

I'd be really into Phasma Doing What Must Be Done to secure her position. What does she think of Kylo (and Hux) - does she respect them as allies, or look down on them as sheltered brats who've been handed power they don't deserve? Does she grit her teeth when she takes them to bed? Is she using them, or are they using her?

 

Phasma / Rey

Phasma and Rey had similar nightmare childhoods that they've dealt with in totally opposing ways: Phasma has turned out ruthless and power-hungry, while Rey has escaped Jakku full of justice and compassion and the will to make the world a better place. I love this ship in all its dark and conflict-fueled glory, but I'd also melt for Rey showing Phasma some unexpected kindness. I love the vibe of corrupted, cynical darkside warrior and vibrant young optimist who can't help seeing the best in people.

 

- Forced to work together! A journey gone wrong ends with the two of them stranded in some hostile place together, huddling for warmth and sharing whatever food they can scrounge.

- Rey takes mercy on Phasma in the heat of battle.

- Phasma gets captured by the Resistance, and Rey takes charge of interrogating her.

- Rey gets captured by the First Order, and Phasma takes charge of interrogating her.

- Rey takes Kylo's offer and joins the First Order. How does Phasma, who totally survived the Supremacy thanks to reasons, feel about her new Supreme Leader?

Phasma / Rose Tico
I'd love this dark and twisted: Rose falls into First Order captivity? AU where Rose joins the First Order after being radicalised in the other direction by her childhood on Hosnian Prime? Survival story where the two of them get stranded together and are forced to work together?

I also love the idea of Phasma getting out of the Order and having to find a new cause to keep herself afloat. Maybe it ends up being in her interests to defect to the Resistance. Or maybe she survives the war and they run into each other somewhere down the line, once old hostilities have had time to cool and all that's left are half-healed scars.

QI'RA REQUESTS

 

Leia Organa / Qi'ra
Leia was raised as royalty and lost all of it; Qi'ra was born in the gutters and clawed her way up from nothing. Both of them are deeply driven, albeit by clashing goals. Both of them are whip-smart and pragmatic and capable of immense political subtlety. And of course, both of them have loved and lost Han.

(Quick note on that: Leia and Qi'ra's shared history with the same man is a big part of what makes this ship interesting me, so I'd prefer a fic that doesn't retcon out either pairing. I'm also not keen on out-and-out infidelity, ie 'I'm doing this in secret and I know you'd feel betrayed if you found out'. But I'm fine with any level of agreed or incidental non-monogamy, timeline changes, breakups/divorces, or however else you prefer to handle their tangled history.)

I love the idea of the two of them first meeting as older women, linked by grief and shared regrets that evolve into something deeper between them. Perhaps Qi'ra has had enough of living in the shadows, and joins forces with the Resistance against the First Order threat?


Phasma / Qi'ra
Two fiery, ruthless survivors who've left behind everything they ever knew and loved to safeguard their futures and secure their ambitions. I'm into this ship for its cutthroat potential, mutual convenience and the chance for these hardened warriors to expose one or two of their deeply buried vulnerabilities - or forcibly expose each other's.

What would an alliance between them look like? Maybe Qi'ra finds her cartel working for the First Order? Or maybe Phasma's luck with the Order runs out, and she enlists with Crimson Dawn for another chance to make a life for herself and put her warrior's skills to use?


Qi'ra / Rey

I'd love to see inexperienced, rough-and-ready young Rey with a smart, ruthless, manipulative older woman. I can picture Qi'ra as a freewheeling criminal agent in a post-First Order takeover world, playing both sides and keeping channels open with the Resistance for shady reasons of her own. I'd especially love anything that touches on her history with Han, or anything that plays up the age gap and Rey's desperate need for a parental/mentor figure.

 

- Dark!Rey took Kylo's offer and joined the First Order. She meets Qi'ra through their shared dark side allegiance.

- Qi'ra hates the First Order as much as anyone, whether for conscience reasons or because they interfere in her business. She's willing to help the Resistance, but there's too much baggage for her and Leia to ever really work together. Rey becomes the go-between.

- Qi'ra sees a lot of herself in this hungry spitfire from bumfuck, Jakku. She courts her to join Crimson Dawn.

Qi'ra & /Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Qi'ra is a smart, ambitious survivor who's willing to use sex and intimacy to get what she wants. Kylo is a handy source of power and also a bottomless pit of easy-to-manipulate emotional needs. I'd love to see virgin Kylo with older woman Qi'ra, or maybe Qi'ra indulging her nurturing side with a younger and more energetic toyboy. Maybe she's using him to get to Snoke, or to keep the First Order out of her private cartel business. Or maybe she sees herself as a mentor figure of sorts, an early exponent of letting the past die and becoming who you were meant to be.

 

I'm heavily into the Oedipal potential here: is Kylo hyper-aware that he's fucking his dad's ex? Is Qi'ra nostalgic for Han? Does it bother either of them that she's old enough to be his mother? Please feel free to lean into the age gap and keep-it-in-the-family vibe as hard as you like.

 

Alternatively: redeemed (ish) Ben Solo walks away from the Order but isn't quite ready to join the Fight Against Evil. Working for Qi'ra is a decent morally grey option.

 
 

FAMILY GEN

Lando Calrissian & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
From 'Unca Wanwo' to estranged best friend of the father Kylo killed in cold blood - there's so much baggage here! I'd love to see the two of them come face to face after Kylo's fall to the dark side, either as enemies sharing recriminations or as the world's most painfully awkward family friends after Ben is redeemed, sharing memories of Han and the life they used to live in happier days.


Leia Organa & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Their relationship makes me want to cry forever. The whole thing is such an avoidable tragedy: the busy mother who did her best and the fragile, high-needs child who felt neglected despite that. All the things they've never said to each other and maybe never will. The fact that even after everything they still love each other, that the last frayed threads of their family bond are still hanging on no matter how hard they pull in opposite directions.

- Supreme Leader Kylo Ren comes to the Resistance to try and broker their surrender so he doesn't have to kill his mother.
- General Leia, leader of the triumphant Resistance, talks to her captive son through the bars of his cell.
- At the eleventh hour, in the heat of battle, Kylo does something recklessly self-sacrificing to save Leia's life.
- One of them is horribly injured, and the other sets aside their enmity to visit their bedside.
- One of them reaches out to talk to the other through the Force.
- They work together on a mission, with redeemed Ben Solo leading the way to a First Order stronghold or asset.