Title: I Don't Call them "Honey"!
Author: VeryBusy
Timeframe: LotF (after Bloodlines)
Characters: Mara, OC
Genre: humor
Keywords: response to the Mara Jade Skywalker Character Discussion board Interview challenge on TF.N
Summary: The reason why Esa Atwmgkbhs (Established SF Author, Asked to write Mara getting killed by her son.) is going to change the plot for her new SW book
Disclaimer: This is not written in order to make any money with it. I do not own anything belonging into the Star Wars Universe.
Response to the challenge: Write a vignette in which Mara is interviewed. It can be on any subject at any time in her life, but must address at least one public misconception about her
Notes:
1. The two possible plots I have tried to outline have nothing to do with how the Profic might continue.
If anyone wants to use them for another story, please feel free to do so, but I promise I am not going to read anything related to the first one, since this is the most horrible scenario I could imagine in the Profics.
2. I do not know anything about how an Author is chosen do be allowed to write a SW Profic and how much of the plot is already outlined by that time. So this is just my weird imagination as well and I apologize if I am totally wrong.
Esa Atwmgkbhs: Mrs. Skywalker, I feel honored that you found the time to meet me for a caf and chat about how I should outline your character in the next Star Wars book, I got permission to write.
Mara: My pleasure, Mrs Atwm…gulps I must say your request is rather unusual these days. Normally authors do not consult me or my family before starting to write. Isn't there anything in your contract prohibiting this?
Esa Atwmgkbhs: Well yes, I might break a few rules here, and I have to trust you that this is going to stay just between you and me, but I though it might be a good idea, since I feel unsure about the general outline of the plot provided by Lucas Arts and DelRey.
So, Mrs. Skywalker I wanted to ask you about your opinion on this.
Mara: Please call me Mara! I must admit I haven't heard about the plot so far. Like I said it, is not common to let the characters know what is going to happen to us before the book is finally published. Can you tell me more about what is happening to me, Esa?
By the way, am I allowed to ask about your surname? It does not sound very common for someone speaking Basic?
Esa Atwmgkbhs: Of course, well about Atwm…. gulping as well it is just a screen name, with which we are exactly at the point I wanted to ask you about. About the book I am supposed to write, I got the instruction to let you get killed by your son Ben.
Mara: Huh…. So they finally decided that my time has come? Never mind, I knew this would happen one day. What gets me worried though is… Did you get any chance to talk to Ben about this? You know I love my son dearly and I don't want to imagine what this is going to do to his character in the end. Especially when thinking about his relationship to his father.
Esa: Of course, I did NOT try to contact your son; he is still a teenager after all and right now, I am terribly worried about the damage I would cause to his character when I do this wrong, or when telling him about this before having the plot outlined correctly.
Mara: Thanks, I guess you did not try to contact my husband about this until now, either? He and Ben are just on their way to establish a normal father/son relationship again, something that did not seem to be possible due to the recent story plots we had to suffer through.
Anyway, do you have an idea already, how Ben should accomplish this task and – even more important – what are the circumstances that will force him into such a situation?
Esa: Well, not exactly…. From the basic plot I got provided and which I am supposed to follow right now, the Jedi order is going to through Jacen out due to his behavior, but while Luke tries to get Ben away from him, you decide to prevent this and leave your husband and the Jedi Order as well, to make sure Jacen is not going to loose control over your son.
Mara: closing her eyes in and shaking her head in disbelieve Oh my goodness…. And I already thought it could not get any worse after the last installment where they made me call Luke and Ben 'honey', all the time. Oh well…. sighs …. I do not really want to imagine right now, but how are you supposed to make Ben killing me then?
Esa: Ben finally suspects that Jacen's recent actions have something to do with him getting involved with the Sith, but together with Lumiya, Jacen is able to start an intrigue so that Ben believes you have gained some Sith power by now and that it is you who is controlling Jacen.
Mara: … but what is about Luke? Isn't he able to prevent this? I am so happy at the moment that Ben has started trusting him again and that he comes to him for advice. Luke should tell him about Lumiya being back and he should help him to find out the truth….
Esa: I fear this is not planned. As far as the story line goes, after you leave him, Luke is forced to leave Coruscant together with Jaina, because Jacen threatened to let her get killed. By the time Ben and you have to face each other in a fight for life, the rest of the family will be more or less held captive on Correllia unable to break through the Alliance blockade.
As far as I can see it, it is not planned that Ben and Luke are going to see each other again for the next few years. After Ben finds out that everything has just been an intrigue, he is unable to face his father again, but decides that his path to the dark side as been laid out already as well and so he will become officially Jacen's apprentice.
Mara: Right now I wished you had not told me…and there is nothing you can change about this? I mean the book is not written so far? Or are you just sitting here expecting me to decide if I'd rather get killed by a lightsaber or if I'd prefer a blaster?
Esa: No, I know this is difficult to understand, right at the moment, but I did not even write a single word! I just wanted to get to know you first.
If I am going to write anything at all, this might most probably be the plot, but watching your reaction now I am beginning to doubt ….. So tell me what is the thing that is bothering you the most?
Mara: I do not even know where to start: It was already incredible painful for me to have this arguments with Luke about leaving Ben with Jacen during the last episode.
I mean, I am surely right about his actions being influenced by a bad love affair, but why do I never try to find out what is behind this. Why do I never care about who it is? … And then, even if I am correct that Luke is probably not the right choice as a Master for Ben, why do I only see Jacen as an alternative? Why do I never try to talk to Ben about what is happening to Jacen?
I am just standing there doing nothing, because I am glad my baby is acting like a grown up? Great!.. But why do I never treat him like one then, and tell him the truth even risking that he would not believe me at first?
Esa: Oh my… I did not know…and there was no way for you to prevent yourself from acting like this?
Mara: No, like I already told you, we GFFA characters usually never get to know what is going to happen with us and how we are going to behave before the books are already published.
It is sad, but by the time you get used to it and somehow it helps to know that I am not the only one who is suffering at times.
Esa: Tell me more, which were the other situations?
Mara: like I already said, I do not even know where to start…. Maybe…. Okay … let's start with the most obvious: do you really think it had taken Luke and me 10 years to decide that we belong to each other if we had had a choice?
Esa: Umm …. I always thought there were too many things going on. First, the incident with the reborn Empire – I can perfectly understand that you did not follow Luke at that point - , then his relationship with Callista, then his permanent dabbing into the dark side, and as far as I have followed your way of life, you had your duties as well, which did not leave any space for a relationship with the Jedi Master.
Mara: Come one, do you really think Luke was happy about all those things happening? I admit the experience with Palpanine's Clone was probably really something he had to make, but when talking about Callista, you don't think he really went for someone like her, who had no reservations to take over another body who does not resemble her at all, and who willingly accepts another person to die in this process?
Esa: It always looked like as he was deeply in love with her….
Mara: Hmmm, he was certainly intrigued by her personality when she was still a ghost trapped in the ship's computer, but later on…. What do you think why he got his depressions? He just could not stand being involved with her and even after she left, he still felt disgusted by himself, and then to make it even worse, this incident with the Crystal Star…. Han told me at one time, they had all feared Luke would never recover from how they forced him to act back then.
Esa: Okay I understand, but what is about you? Like I said you always looked quite busy with other things and never found the time to help him getting over this. You were traveling around with Lando Callrissian in order to find this guy – what was his name – Cardas?
Mara: Don't get started on this again, it should be common knowledge by now that my relationship to Lando was nothing but window dressing….
Esa: Yeah, I know…. But why did you never care about being honest to Luke here?
Mara: I wished I could have. Whenever a new book came out, I was hoping that they would finally give me the opportunity to speak to him openly again, like we did right in the beginning, but they never gave me a chance.
Do you know how much it has hurt when I had to see myself facing Han and Leia wearing this damned silver jumpsuit? Or do you know how I felt when seeing myself talking to Han over a holo com connection while dressed in Lando's shirt? By the way for Han it was nearly the same, he had liked nothing more than asking me about this right away, but you know, the plot prevented it.
Esa: You say Han Solo was a victim of these plotlines as well?
Mara: I would say at first things went fairly okay for him, leaving those times when he was not allowed to tell what he really thought, aside. His suffering time came later when they made him a drinker for a short time during the beginning of the NJO series.
Esa: Yes, I can remember now, I have to admit I found this rather disturbing myself when I had to read this. I am sure, the pain he felt when Chewie died must have been overwhelming, but in all his grief I had expected him to rather seek the closeness of his family instead of backing away.
Mara: I can tell you… this was a hard time for all of us. Not only the fact that Han was driven away from the family during the story time, but in the end, we were not really sure about how to comfort him in the times in between. He felt so ashamed not knowing what the readers would think about him and how he could ever make it up for them.
Esa: I think I get the idea… where there others suffering besides Luke, Han and you?
Mara: Of course I think most of us got caught sooner or later. Do you remember Wedge Antilles having to start this relationship with the "blue bird" Qwi Xux? I can tell you after he got to know what he was doing there, he wanted to resign from his GFFA duties immediately, and he surely had if there had been any possibility at all.
In the end the only one who was treated fairly okay was Corran Horn.
Esa: …but I can remember him having to endure a lot of pain in the beginning of the NJO?
Mara: Sure, but there was nothing he had to feel ashamed about, because it did not fit to his character.
You have to understand, we all know that we are not immortal and that bad things and death can happen to us all the time. Like I said in the beginning, I am well aware of the fact that, at one point I will have to die by writer's hand, and that is okay. The only thing I am hoping for is that it will be "in character" for me by then.
Esa: How do you feel about the other character's death so far? I mean how was it for you when Chewie died and then Anakin Solo?
Mara: Well, it was terribly sad at both times, we all felt a lot of pain, but anyway, I would say Chewie's dead was more or less okay once that the first shock subsided and after we all had our time to grief. I think this is just the way things go in your life as well. You never wish someone close to go, but you know it is going to happen at one point.
Anakin is something totally different, though. I am still not sure if it was a good idea to create him at all, during the time of the "Reborn Empire", and then I don't know if it is really this realistic to give a boy like him this much power, but then and again he was there and we all loved him.
Esa: I felt Anakin was quite an important character for all of you, wasn't he?
Mara: Yes he was! I would even go this far to say that most of our actions revolved around him during his teenage years. This is what it makes it so difficult to deal with his dead.
At that point when the writer let him die, he was so important to everyone that this death was not only leaving a hole in the GFFA that we will probably never be able to mend, but due to the suddenness of his disappearance many of the characters had to be changed as well in a way they will never be able to recover from.
Esa: You are talking about Tahiri, Jaina and Jacen?
Mara: Yes those were the ones who suffered the most. Well, I guess Tahiri came out okay in the end even if it took a long time.
For Jaina, I have to say she will probably never loose her edge of sadness, she is not even happy anymore even when an author wrote some great situations and gives her the opportunity to feel loved in a book.
You know, normally when a book ends and there is an Happy Ending for one of us, that person usually spends the time cheering the others up until the next book comes out, but with her it never works. She did not even want to spend the time with Jag Fell between the end of NJO and Dark Nests although she had have had every opportunity during those 5 years and we all knew she loved him.
Esa: ..But Jacen is the worst, isn't he?
Mara: you know he is, but in his case you cannot even blame the Authors who had to write him after Anakin's death. Something like this had to happen…. But now, I think people are starting again to let us all suffer in an unbearable way instead of giving us the chance to stick together and fight against the power he wielded and is misusing now.
Esa: This brings us back to the original topic: your death being caused by one of Jacen's intrigues….
Mara: sighs you know, I really do not want to die at this point. I have a son who is still a teenager and a husband who needs me badly at these times, the same as I need him…. But if I really have to….
Esa: Let's step back for a moment and say we had the possibility to alter the plot. What would you like to do?
Mara: I definitely would not leave Luke, maybe now that Ben seems to want to talk to him again, we could convince him to search together with us for Jacen's bad love affair.
I have some suspicions there already, anyway, and maybe… okay I am dreaming, Jacen is probably too far gone already…
Esa: So, and if you could not save Jacen?
Mara: I would try to save Ben at least. Even if Luke cannot get through to him these days, maybe I can. I need to find out what is going on, I know there are many things he does not tell us … but there must be a way around Jacen in order to find out, and I think I was able to handle more difficult tasks in the past anyway.
By the way, if we really had to leave Coruscant in order to save Jaina, I'd make sure Ben would be with us. Even when we had to drag him away from Jacen 'kicking and screaming….' Although …. I think I could talk sense into him anyway. He is no little child anymore finally.
Esa: Sounds good! I have to admit I like this much more than the original plot… so let me see what I can do.
Mara: hopeful do you really think this would be possible?
Esa: I promise, you won't have to die in my book! If they refuse to let me alter the plot, I won't write anything at all.
Mara: But that means they will find another one who is going to write it.
Esa: Yeah… but hopefully this will take some time and then I just wish that you will find the opportunity to spend some more time with your husband and you son, and give them all the love and support they need.
Well and then and again, I could still talk to the next Author as soon as I know who it will be. Maybe I could even send him or her to meet you for a caf one afternoon. You never know what will happen then….
Fin