#x-tober

[gotham-at-nightfall]

Magneto (X-tober '24)

By Justin Peterson

[wwprice1]

X-Cellent X-Tober pieces by artist artofsvs! Check them out on Instagram!

https://instagram.com/artofsvs?utm_medium=copy_link

[silvereddaye]

Day 7: Skeleton

Summary: Vader has come to Tatooine and found something extremely precious.

– - – - – - – - – - – - –

Darth Vader stepped up to the crib. It was made of mismatched metal probably found in a junkyard, but it was sound and well built. To his surprise the baby was awake. It was wrapped up in a soft white swaddle blanket to keep it warm and snug in the cold of the desert night. It kicked its legs, wiggled, and cooed.

Vader thought his heart had melted when he first saw the baby, his baby, but now it was truly liquid. How could this small precious thing be alive? He slowly lowered his hand, but stopped just above the baby. Both of his hands were now prosthetics and gloved. He wouldn't be able to feel his baby, at least not here, but perhaps back on his ship.

His hand came down and with one fingertip he brushed the baby's light blonde hair to the side. The baby wiggled, but didn't whine or cry out in fear. Gently, slowly, and a bit cautiously, Vader pulled at the swaddle. Two chubby little arms popped up. At once the small hands reached for Vader.

He was completely still as a small hand wrapped around his index finger.

His prosthetics barely registered the pressure, but he could see it through the red-tint of his lenses. The baby was holding his finger. His baby. His son.

Read the rest on AO3 // FF.net

@angstober // @x-tober

[starr234]

Angstober Day 2 - Stolen

“Don’t come any closer,” Luke gasped, holding his lightsaber up in a shaking grip.  His face was pale and drawn and he pressed the ruin of his right hand into his chest, but still Vader approached.

“Luke, you do not understand.”

“I understand enough,” he cried.  “You killed my father, you killed Ben, and now you want me to betray everything they stood for?”

“I only want--”

“I won’t do it,” Luke exclaimed.  “I won’t.  You’ve taken everything from me, and I--”

“I have taken nothing,” Vader snarled.  It was Obi Wan who stole everything from me.  He destroyed your family, child.  Not me.”

Luke’s grip on his lightsaber faltered.  “What do you mean? I don’t--you’re lying.”

“Am I?” Vader’s voice was smooth and sinister as ice.  It twisted into Luke’s gut.

“I...”

Vader took one slow step forward, then moved so quickly Luke couldn’t react.  He tried to raise his saber blade, but his left-handed grip was shaky with fear and pain.  Vader ducked sideways, around the blue blade, and closed one large hand around Luke’s grip on the saber, one around Luke’s left wrist.  He deactivated the blade and twisted his grip on Luke’s wrist until the hilt clattered to the floor.

They stood like that for a moment, Vader holding fast to Luke’s left wrist and hand, Luke staring up at him with his heart hammering in his ears.

“Tell me again, Luke,” Vader said softly, pulling Luke closer to him.  “Am I lying?”

He wasn’t.  Luke didn’t know how, but he could feel it.

“No.”

“Do you want to know what happened to your father?”

No.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Vader’s grip on his wrist tightened, but it wasn’t necessary.  Luke was frozen in place by the heat of Vader’s gaze.

“Obi Wan mutilated him and left him for dead in a river of lava, then stole you at birth and hid you away.  Your father spent the next two decades believing you had died with your mother.”

“I don’t understand.”  

Vader reached up and rested his hand on Luke’s cheek.  The soft, almost gentle touch was a stark counterpoint to how tightly he still held Luke’s wrist in his other hand.  “You understand perfectly.”

“But...why?”

“Obi Wan’s treachery ran deep.  But now his failure is complete.  I have you back, and I will never let you be taken from me again.”

Luke closed his eyes.  He didn’t know what to think or how to respond.  There was a scream somewhere inside him, and it was all he could do to keep it contained.

Vader brushed his thumb softly against Luke’s cheekbone, then pushed Luke’s sweat-damp hair off his forehead.

He never once loosened his grip on Luke’s wrist.

[x-tober]

FAQ:

What is X-tober:

Whumptober, Flufftober, Angstober, … Great challenges, but you can’t possibly manage all of them! And why commit to just one, where you can have variety! This is where X-tober comes in: pick and choose your prompts from any October challenge you like.

How do I take part?

Choose a daily prompt from any October challenge. Follow the specific participation and tagging rules for each prompt’s challenge, just add #x-tober2021 to the tags. 

With 10 or more finished prompts, you become an event completionist and will be tagged in a masterpost with a link to your works shortly after the end of the month.

Just create a master list of your completed prompts (with links to the actual works so people can find them). Add #x-tober2021 to the masterpost tags, and send us a link!

Example: Your final X-tober post may look something like this:

Day 01 [Angstober]: “I did it for you” <link to your work> Day 02 [Flufftober]: Comfort <link to your work> Day 03 [Whumtober]: My way or the highway <link to your work> Day 07 [Angstober]: Skeleton <link to your work>

… and so on

Feel free to add your works to the 2021 X-tober collection on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/xtober2021 And here is the 2020 collection for your enjoyment: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/xtober2020 Happy creating!

[spell-cleaver]

Swords & Starflowers, Day 3

Spell’s Writing Aims

DAY 3: FLUFFTOBER: “But you said...” @flufftober

Set in the Swords and Starflowers AU

“I am not going to teach you how to duel.”

Luke scowled and kicked the ground. “You promised you’d teach me magic!”

“I will teach you magic. But you have no excellent track record of challenging appropriate opponents, young one.” Vader crossed his arms menacingly, but he seemed to have forgotten that in their sparring matches, he didn’t wear his helmet; the impression he was going for was greatly reduced without it. “I do not want to encourage you running off into danger without adequate teaching.”

“I already did run off into danger without adequate teaching,” Luke shot back. He was aware that he came off as whiny, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “You wanna improve on that inadequate teaching before I do it again?”

He watched his father’s egg-pale face drop into a scowl so deep he could see canyons in the furrows. “So you admit that Obi-Wan’s teachings were inadequate,” he observed, but his fury was spent on: “And you must promise me that you will never do such a foolish thing again. You almost got yourself killed.”

“I promise that I won’t challenge a partner too powerful for me to handle,” Luke said dutifully. Then he added, “So long as you train me, so I can challenge people who aren’t too powerful, and so I can work up to it.”

“I would rather that you did not engage in mage duels whatsoever.”

“Father, this is war.” Luke found himself sobering as he said it. “That’s not going to happen.”

Vader’s beheld him for a moment, blue eyes piercing. Luke tried not to shift under that gaze.

“I concede the point,” he growled. “Perhaps this is a necessity. But only so long as you behave responsibility—I have the right to revoke my teachings at any moment.”

“Yes, sir!”

That almost got a smile out of him.

“Now,” he said. “Show me your battle stance.”

[severnlight]

Day 10 [Flufftober]: “Once upon a time”

(To no one’s surprise, 1) I am behind on prompts, and 2) this takes place in the Swords and Starflowers AU)

⚔️ 💮 ⚔️ 

“Once upon a time…”

Faded leaves and petals spilled from between the pages of the book, and rained down on the polished floorboards. The words failed him. His fingers dug into the leather cover, knuckles turning white. Here lay her favorite hydrangeas, and over there — a scattering of peonies, roses, and colorful tree leaves. White magnolia blossoms, too - one of them landing next to Luke’s chair. A painting of broken memories.

Once upon a time… She’d told him with star-lit eyes under the scented veil of these same magnolias that he was to be a father, and he’d held her close, drunk on happiness. Their fragrance still haunted him at night. He’d tried to save them  — her beloved trees — when he’d decided to rebuild the manor. But their bare branches and shriveled roots were too far gone. Not a single offshoot had taken, even in the best of soils.

Once upon a time, he’d spared no effort in bringing this rare shade of hydrangea all the way back from Spinnaker. He had helped her plant them, in her chosen spot in the garden. Once upon a time, he’d known how to make her happy, and he’d been the happiest of men.

She was more than halfway into her pregnancy when they’d taken that long walk to collect the leaves. Maple, oak, birch, aspen… She had a design in her mind and was after particular shapes and colors. He plucked any leaf she pointed to that she couldn’t reach. To her delight, not even the highest branches were safe from magic. They’d walked for hours, and he’d been worried that she was overexerting herself. It had been just a few months before…

“Father?…”

Once upon a time, he’d known her love, and her trust. He had not deserved them. He had never deserved her.

Someone nudged his arm gently.

“Father? Are you alright?”

Read more on AO3. ⚔️ 💮 ⚔️ @flufftober @x-tober

[the-slow-arrow]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Qui-Gon runs hot.

He knows this, even without Obi-Wan wrestling his way out of his arms every morning because he’s too sweaty.

Because of this, he prefers to be in as little clothing as possible. As soon as he returns to his quarters, either in temple or not, he strips to his bare bones, much prefering the freedom granted by the open air than the constricting stiflement of jedi robes.

Or, Qui-Gon likes to get naked and Obi-Wan can't cope.

-

For the flufftober 2020 day 7 prompt “stop hogging the blankets”.