- Why T'nell's POV? We've heard from Qui and Bail so far this season, and so one might expect we'd turn to Obi next. As you can see from the preview, Obi is coming soon. (No pun intended.) T'nell, however, is in the unique position of having access to all the QAJ characters. He's fucked almost everybody, and he's welcome everywhere. He's a great character to tie together several story lines, because it's plausible that he could be peripherally involved in all of them. T'nell's been absent for a while and he's missed quite a bit of the recent story line. As a result, he can play the role of the outsider, and so he can provide an external perspective on Qui/Xan and Obi/Bail that we won't get elsewhere. T'nell isn't completely emotionally uninvolved, but he's sort of flighty, so it's easy to have him slip into bed with Qui and Xan in the morning and then go home with Obi and Bail that night. With any other character (even Siri), you'd never buy it, but with T'nell, it works.
- We get to see more of T'nell's master! We have several people in mind for the role of Faelin, for example Rosalind Chao and Michelle Yeoh. I think I'm leaning more towards Michelle Yeoh myself. I can so see her as a Jedi Master! (See the cast page for pics of these two.)
- T'nell's experience on Dahlia was quite influenced by Jedi Rita's Penumbra, in case that isn't obvious. During the beta process for that story, I thought a lot about what kind of horror Jedi must see and began to wonder how they might deal with the trauma. I'm not one for weepy Jedi going to soul healers, to be honest, so I wondered how T'nell would deal with the aftermath of a mission gone wrong.
- T'nell's reaction to Qui/Xan is intense and jealous, but that's mostly because he's feeling vulnerable. He really needed a friend that night, and his immediate worry was that Xan (and Qui as well) would no longer be available to him. In addition, he's barely seen Obi in weeks, as his friend has been pretty occupied with Bail. That seems to leave T'nell with no one to turn to, and so he feels sorry for himself as a result. He's being selfish and childish in this scene (standing in the doorway, watching Xan and Qui sleep), but he's so distraught that he doesn't care. There was much petting of T'nell during the beta process! We love the boy so much.
- I love writing threesome scenes because there are so many possibilities for emotional entanglements. The odds of somebody feeling sidelined are high, and that can be fun to play with. The logistics of three people in a bed are a bit challenging as well. Note that in the Qui/T'nell/Xan scene, Qui's goal was to fuck Xan -- nice and slow, the way Xan never wants him to -- and he manipulates T'nell into helping him, to an extent. T'nell picks up on the tension between them and pushes Xan a bit, not realizing that this has been an issue between them. Does Qui know about Xan's years of fantasizing about him, or has T'nell just revealed Xan's biggest secret?
- The no-dialogue comfort scene between Xan and T'nell over breakfast was a challenge for me to write. After the first draft, Helens commented that she thought the lack of dialogue there was a good effect, and I realized that she was right. I didn't write dialogue for several reasons -- to break up all of the talking that came before and was going to come after that scene, and to avoid re-telling the part of the story that the readers already had heard. But moreover, I was unable to find the words to convey the emotions and the tone needed for that scene. I was afraid it would sound horribly trite, so I decided to describe the scene instead of explicitly writing it. Looking at it now, a few weeks later, it strikes me that it conveys several things I didn't originally intend to convey: you feel T'nell's exhaustion acutely -- he's so tired of talking and thinking about Dahlia, but he pushes himself to do it one more time; you feel Xan's reaction to the story, and you see how it pulls him back into his own dark memories; and the fact that there are no words specified actually helps to create the illusion of a cleansing, meaningful conversation. I'm pretty happy with that scene, overall. I like the implication that this is something Jedi just learn to live with, and that they ;earn to deal with death and trauma without losing their respect for life.
- Anybody recognize the story that Xan told? Remember the scenario he presented in his first seminar meeting in Aperture? That was the story, one of his worst memories ever. I wonder if I'll ever write that fic?
- After his morning absolution, T'nell struts into Rising like he owns the place! Remember that episode in the first season of QAF where Emmett bursts into Babylon after he topped that guy he met online? He looks amazing, with his shirt hanging open, chest muscles rippling, and he has this incredible strut, and everybody watches him walk by with their mouths hanging open... Damn, that was great! (Why couldn't Emmett hang on to a little of that?) T'nell is essentially based on that version of Emmett, that fleeting moment when Emmett was this studly, confident, hot guy. That's T'nell! Oh, and anybody recognize the drink he ordered at the bar? Rita did...
- T'nell's reflection about Obi/Bail is yet another attempt to clarify the whole no-attachments-for-padawans situation. Does it make sense? We know what we're going for, but it's hard to explain the policy sometimes. Does T'nell's relief at seeing Obi and Bail out clubbing make sense? Rita and Helens made me rewrite that scene several times, and I'm still not sure that T'nell's change of heart over the episode is clear.
- Errie's fake accent irks T'nell, but it's meant to be sweet. I was in South Africa recently, and met a young woman who had gone to university in the US. She overheard my husband and I talking to someone and introduced herself and told us all about her experience in NC. She had a pretty good American accent, I thought, but our South African friend rolled her eyes after the girl left. She'd found the accent really fake and embarrassing. I actually thought it was sweet! Errie's attempt at a Coruscanti accent is a little nod to that South African girl who was so excited to talk to Americans that she tried to use our accent.
- And yes, there's a touch a femslash and some het thrown in here! We at QAJ don't discriminate against any sexual orientation... :^P
But seriously, I'm always a bit nervous about throwing het into a story that I know is mostly read by a slash-reading audience. I like well-written het (and I attempt to write it myself), but there doesn't seem to be much of it out there. The serious lack of females in the SW universe doesn't help either, of course. But here's the question I'd really like to have answered: did the oral sex scene between T'nell and Errie (him on her) bother anyone? I rewrote that scene a few times, and ended up adding in some humor to defuse any potential squickiness ...though I'm not sure why a description of cunnilingus should squick any woman. *grin*
- The tension between Obi and Bail over Errie is quite intentional, as is probably obvious after we accidentally left in an editorial comment about this on 2.02! Obi knows Bail isn't slack, but he hasn't had to deal with it before. Now that they're attempting an open relationship, he's realizing that Bail might want something he doesn't.
- I can't wait to see what happens back at the Jinn-Kenobi quarters! I found a lovely stopping point and handed the story off to Helens, round robin style -- I can't wait to see where she takes it! Will Bail really go through with it? What will Obi think about watching his boyfriend with someone else? Tune in next time to find out!
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