Otter's Rock

sedoretuex has revealed, and I can now reveal that I wrote TWO stories! (I have not yet had time to read any stories but my own--I have been really busy this January--but I am planning on making my way through the collection soon.)

A sedoretu is a specific organization of a poly marriage created by Ursula K. Le Guin in her short story "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea" aka "Another Story" available in a 1994 short story collection of the same name. It includes four people and specific arrangements of the relationships inside it. All people have a "moiety" that is considered as inherent as gender; the two moieties are Morning and Evening. Sex with someone of the same moiety is considered incest. The expected relationships within each sedoretu are:
The Morning woman and the Evening man (the “Morning marriage”)
The Evening woman and the Morning man (the “Evening marriage”)
The Morning woman and the Evening woman (the “Day marriage”)
The Morning man and the Evening man (the “Night marriage”)
(i.e. two homosexual and two heterosexual pairings) Here is the Fanlore explanation of it and the E2 explanation.

I like sedoretus because they create such interesting dynamics, one doesn't often see poly arrangements with the more rigid structures and cultural weight that one tends to find in a marriage. And fitting them into the worldbuilding of whatever fandom is always an interesting challenge.

My assignment was a Star Wars Legends Luke/Mara/Han/Leia foursome. I wrote a getting-together story, because that was most obvious; problem is, I've already done a Mara poly getting-together story (though that one was Luke/Mara/Lando), and Mara's character arc was roughly the same in both, and although I like the fic in general I was not thrilled that I couldn't find some other driving force for her. I include a diagram at the end if you have trouble visualizing the structure of the relationship.

Title: Dawning Understanding
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Written For: SassySnowperson in Sedoretu Exchange 2023
Fandom: Star Wars Legends
Betaed by: Shadaras

On Squidgeworld. On AO3. Rebloggable on tumblr and pillowfort.

On Dreamwidth. On AO3. Rebloggable on tumblr and pillowfort.

Mara slogged out of the cave, every step squelching in the mud and sending up noxious gasses. None of it toxic, or they would have been dead long since. Just unpleasant. And the mud. Was. Everywhere.

( Read more... )

I bought a vid at the Vividcon Auction, from the lovely and talented grammarwoman! My music tastes are eclectic and nonstandard (basically, everything BUT modern popular pop/rock and modern country--it's not that I don't like them, it's that it all tends to blend together and sound the same), and I don't vid, which means there are a lot of songs that I think would make AWESOME fanvids that I know nobody will ever make, sigh.  (Okay, some of them might get made.  I'm actually surprised that nobody's done a Spock vid to The Logical Song by Supertramp, or a Goa'uld vid to Jeepers Creepers by Louis Armstrong.  Others ... I might think a werewolf vid to the old Big Band classic "Moonlight Becomes You So" would be hilarious, but I doubt anybody else would think it was funny enough to spend the time and effort to make, particularly given that it's a slow song and most vids are done to upbeat/fast songs.)

Anyway, I have a number vid ideas that will never get made if I don't pay someone else to do it, and so I'm always on the lookout for vid auctions featuring vidders offering those sources that I think would do a creditable job with the idea.  Which is how I bidded on (and ended up winning) grammarwoman's services to make a Star Wars fanvid to that old American Civil War hit, "That's What's the Matter."  And she did a really great job, and the vid is SO FUNNY.  You have to go see.

Title: That's What's the Matter
Source: Star Wars movies (Rogue One, Episodes IV-VII)
Music: "That's What's the Matter", Stephen Foster
Vid Download Link: 183 MB m4v file at Sendspace (If you'd like it in a different format, let me know.)

AO3 link.
DW link.

Summary: The Empire would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling Rebels and incompetent Imperial officers.

Title: Heroes and History
Author: beatrice_otter 
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Princess Leia, Obi-wan Kenobi
Word Count: 1075
Written for: starwarsficfest, July 22, 2008.
Prompt: OT, Leia Organa and Obi-Wan Kenobi: Obi-Wan escapes the Death Star alive - heroes.
AN: I just found this in my WIP files. It is a vignette that was written for the starwarsficfest on Livejournal in summer, 2008. I have no idea why I didn't post it; I must have intended to add something else, but it seems complete as-is, so I am posting it as-is.

Also available on AO3.


( She found him on top of the pyramid, sitting on one of the big stone blocks, watching the sky above )