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ktulaReach Out and Touch Faith is a canonverse pre-TFA kylux fic cowritten with forautumn , and currently being posted on ao3!
Chapter three just went up, and below the cut, there's a spoiler-riffic interview with me about it! So, please--read the chapter prior to expanding the below interview!
Phew. So, they did that! Good for them.
1. What are the logical loopholes that Kylo is going through to justify losing his purity?
Ha, what aren't the logical loopholes Kylo is going through? Like, let's put it this way--if a loophole exists, Kylo is gunning for it really hard right now. After all, he wanted to do this, and if he wanted to do this, obviously it was Right, and if it was Right, then it was the will of the Force, and indoctrination is a hell of a thing, you know?
He's very much been raised in a very Force-as-religion mindset, and I don't really feel that Snoke has moved him away from that mindset at all, so much as just told Kylo things he already knew--ie, that Skywalker's method of teaching was substandard, that nobody recognized Kylo's powers, that Kylo deserves more than what he was getting, etcetera. And we can see this really fascinating shift that Kylo is going through as he gets closer and closer to Hux--first, he thinks of this as a test, and it's obviously a test that he's going to pass with flying colours. And then, once he decides that he doesn't want to pass the test anymore--well, he moves the goal posts. It's not hurting his ability to connect with the Force, ergo, what Snoke and Luke and everyone else told him must be wrong, ergo, he gets to have this! Haha! He's all-powerful now! Yay sex!
(Except, by the morning after, we can see that he's already worried about over-indulging. So it's not like this stuff is instantly solved just by having one (1) good experience. It's a Process.)
2. From Hux's POV--when did he realize Ren was attracted to him? Was it gradual, or was there a sudden turning point?
I think, for Hux, it's both! There's a way that Hux thought this would go in his head--ie, Ren would lurch his way into the command tent, he'd be shitty about the perceived failures of Hux's troopers, Hux would be snitty about Ren's bullshit mission, and Hux's mandatory inclusion in said mission, which Ren couldn't even manage to engage with properly, and it would be a right fight--and then, in Hux's mind, the conclusion of the argument is probably Hux in the sleeping bag, and Ren standing in the corner like some kind of a droid or something, just, like, looming over Hux and watching him in his sleep.
Ren ruined that pretty much immediately by a) undressing, and b) refusing to allow any troopers in the command tent, which they both damn well know is not an official First Order regulation. But Hux allowed it, and then it was a gradual breaking down of barriers from there on. Every time something escalated, Hux kept telling himself that this is all he gets, so he'd better enjoy it and not wish for anything more...and then things escalated again.
3. I love Kylo using the Will of the Force as justification, and would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Kylo has, up to this point, been extremely hardcore about his chastity--far more hardcore than anyone else in his life has ever required that he be, to be perfectly honest. When we were building up the backstory for RO&TF, we discussed how Luke likely wasn't teaching chastity, but rather, was teaching control and caution--and Kylo was right there, going 'that's not the correct interpretation of the texts'. (It's so easy to imagine Luke gently explaining, 'look, here's the place in the texts, and here's how the old masters interpreted it, and here's what we can take from this as an alternative path', and Kylo just sitting there scowling because he knows that what Luke is teaching is wrong. Everybody else is going to make out and act like it doesn't matter? Kylo refuses to do any of that. Everybody else is going to touch themselves and pretend that it's fine? Obviously it's against the texts, it isn't happening. Kylo won't just be good at chastity--he'll be better than everybody else at chastity, he'll be a paragon of virtue, he'll demonstrate just by existing that he's stronger than everyone else, that everyone else is weak, that he is more powerful than them, etcetera.)
But the thing is--I don't think, at the root of it, that Kylo actually wants any of this. I think, if you scratch away at the surface, Kylo is lonely, and isolated, and probably a little bitter that he's ended up this way. So he needs to jump through all these hoops to justify why he's so alone--which is why he's really stressing about the Will of the Force in this chapter. In chapter one, he didn't need to worry about the Will of the Force--he came into his first meeting with Hux with all of these hopes, and the hopes were dashed to the ground pretty quickly, and we can infer that neither Hux nor Kylo really got over that first bad meeting--but now, Hux is behaving differently than Kylo expects, and Kylo, in turn, is letting his guard down--so whether or not it is Right or Correct to Pursue Intimacy is suddenly very, very important, in a way that it really wasn't prior to now, because Achieving Intimacy with Someone wasn't a real thing for Kylo till, like. Now.
4. So, what was the light that Kylo felt?
It was Rey! And, like Kylo had guessed, it became harder to detect once she was sleeping.
Honestly, he should have been a little more suspicious about that whole thing--a scavenger just happens to show up the next day, and she just happens to have all the parts that you need, and then she bolts the hell out of there without even getting paid? She's obviously Force-sensitive, dude.
It's just that, post-Hux intimacy, Kylo has completely ceased to care. He'll go back to Snoke and get yelled at for how badly he's botched this mission. He doesn't give a fuck.
Armitage Hux touched his dick, and everything else is basically irrelevant.
(From a writing perspective? We knew that we wanted some good cameos in this story, and here we go with the first one. It was super fun to write interactions between Kylo, Hux, and Rey without any of them realizing what role the others might play in the their futures. Plus, it's really nice to explore the butterfly effect--that's a hell of a lot of food that Rey just scammed the First Order out of (and with Hux's implicit consent, at that), and that's really going to change her life in a lot of ways, both big and small.)
EDITED to add: My apologies, this would have been showing up buried in your reading pane because I forgot to update the date of the entry when I made it public! That's been corrected now.
forautumn , and currently being posted on ao3!Chapter three just went up, and below the cut, there's a spoiler-riffic interview with me about it! So, please--read the chapter prior to expanding the below interview!
Phew. So, they did that! Good for them.
1. What are the logical loopholes that Kylo is going through to justify losing his purity?
Ha, what aren't the logical loopholes Kylo is going through? Like, let's put it this way--if a loophole exists, Kylo is gunning for it really hard right now. After all, he wanted to do this, and if he wanted to do this, obviously it was Right, and if it was Right, then it was the will of the Force, and indoctrination is a hell of a thing, you know?
He's very much been raised in a very Force-as-religion mindset, and I don't really feel that Snoke has moved him away from that mindset at all, so much as just told Kylo things he already knew--ie, that Skywalker's method of teaching was substandard, that nobody recognized Kylo's powers, that Kylo deserves more than what he was getting, etcetera. And we can see this really fascinating shift that Kylo is going through as he gets closer and closer to Hux--first, he thinks of this as a test, and it's obviously a test that he's going to pass with flying colours. And then, once he decides that he doesn't want to pass the test anymore--well, he moves the goal posts. It's not hurting his ability to connect with the Force, ergo, what Snoke and Luke and everyone else told him must be wrong, ergo, he gets to have this! Haha! He's all-powerful now! Yay sex!
(Except, by the morning after, we can see that he's already worried about over-indulging. So it's not like this stuff is instantly solved just by having one (1) good experience. It's a Process.)
2. From Hux's POV--when did he realize Ren was attracted to him? Was it gradual, or was there a sudden turning point?
I think, for Hux, it's both! There's a way that Hux thought this would go in his head--ie, Ren would lurch his way into the command tent, he'd be shitty about the perceived failures of Hux's troopers, Hux would be snitty about Ren's bullshit mission, and Hux's mandatory inclusion in said mission, which Ren couldn't even manage to engage with properly, and it would be a right fight--and then, in Hux's mind, the conclusion of the argument is probably Hux in the sleeping bag, and Ren standing in the corner like some kind of a droid or something, just, like, looming over Hux and watching him in his sleep.
Ren ruined that pretty much immediately by a) undressing, and b) refusing to allow any troopers in the command tent, which they both damn well know is not an official First Order regulation. But Hux allowed it, and then it was a gradual breaking down of barriers from there on. Every time something escalated, Hux kept telling himself that this is all he gets, so he'd better enjoy it and not wish for anything more...and then things escalated again.
3. I love Kylo using the Will of the Force as justification, and would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Kylo has, up to this point, been extremely hardcore about his chastity--far more hardcore than anyone else in his life has ever required that he be, to be perfectly honest. When we were building up the backstory for RO&TF, we discussed how Luke likely wasn't teaching chastity, but rather, was teaching control and caution--and Kylo was right there, going 'that's not the correct interpretation of the texts'. (It's so easy to imagine Luke gently explaining, 'look, here's the place in the texts, and here's how the old masters interpreted it, and here's what we can take from this as an alternative path', and Kylo just sitting there scowling because he knows that what Luke is teaching is wrong. Everybody else is going to make out and act like it doesn't matter? Kylo refuses to do any of that. Everybody else is going to touch themselves and pretend that it's fine? Obviously it's against the texts, it isn't happening. Kylo won't just be good at chastity--he'll be better than everybody else at chastity, he'll be a paragon of virtue, he'll demonstrate just by existing that he's stronger than everyone else, that everyone else is weak, that he is more powerful than them, etcetera.)
But the thing is--I don't think, at the root of it, that Kylo actually wants any of this. I think, if you scratch away at the surface, Kylo is lonely, and isolated, and probably a little bitter that he's ended up this way. So he needs to jump through all these hoops to justify why he's so alone--which is why he's really stressing about the Will of the Force in this chapter. In chapter one, he didn't need to worry about the Will of the Force--he came into his first meeting with Hux with all of these hopes, and the hopes were dashed to the ground pretty quickly, and we can infer that neither Hux nor Kylo really got over that first bad meeting--but now, Hux is behaving differently than Kylo expects, and Kylo, in turn, is letting his guard down--so whether or not it is Right or Correct to Pursue Intimacy is suddenly very, very important, in a way that it really wasn't prior to now, because Achieving Intimacy with Someone wasn't a real thing for Kylo till, like. Now.
4. So, what was the light that Kylo felt?
It was Rey! And, like Kylo had guessed, it became harder to detect once she was sleeping.
Honestly, he should have been a little more suspicious about that whole thing--a scavenger just happens to show up the next day, and she just happens to have all the parts that you need, and then she bolts the hell out of there without even getting paid? She's obviously Force-sensitive, dude.
It's just that, post-Hux intimacy, Kylo has completely ceased to care. He'll go back to Snoke and get yelled at for how badly he's botched this mission. He doesn't give a fuck.
Armitage Hux touched his dick, and everything else is basically irrelevant.
(From a writing perspective? We knew that we wanted some good cameos in this story, and here we go with the first one. It was super fun to write interactions between Kylo, Hux, and Rey without any of them realizing what role the others might play in the their futures. Plus, it's really nice to explore the butterfly effect--that's a hell of a lot of food that Rey just scammed the First Order out of (and with Hux's implicit consent, at that), and that's really going to change her life in a lot of ways, both big and small.)
EDITED to add: My apologies, this would have been showing up buried in your reading pane because I forgot to update the date of the entry when I made it public! That's been corrected now.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-31 07:20 pm (UTC)