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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3537712" data-attributes="member: 10079">I do love seeing how strong your feelings are on this.Jyren is definitely sullen, but I'm not sure I'd go as far as whiny. He's basically seen everything go wrong over and over and over, much of the time with him doing what he was absolutely sure was the right thing. He basically has no self-confidence and, in his opinion, no reason to have any. Despite that, though, he can't just sit around and watch more things wrong so he'll still try. Its definitely not the kind of heroic that would be expected, but he IS a kid when you get down to it, and he's a kid that's barely stable.The Force thing is really drawn out of that. He felt himself step across a line with Ket. The Dark Side took control of him, and he let it, to protect Marix. For him, there's no excuse for that. The brush with the Dark Side was a wake up call for Jyren, and he was forced to face the fact that he didn't have any kind of control. Rather than step up, like a hero is supposed to do, he was so terrified by it that he tried to push it away to avoid any temptation at all.That is, of course, easier said than done, and Jyren is definitely more capable than I think you give him credit for. Yes, he gets in over his head and gets the crap beat out of him many times. But he does step up and keep going. He does fight through and, one way or another, finds a way to win. Maybe its not by his own power, and maybe its from the help of the Force or others, but what's the problem with that? If there's one thing I've learned its that people fail. People get in over their heads. People screw up constantly. It is not how most stories are written, because that's not the formula, but it is how humans are. And if there's one thing that Jyren has proven to be over and over again, its human. He makes the same mistakes without wanting to accept the truth. He runs from what he's afraid of. He thinks with his heart rather than his brain. And yet, despite all of these things, he makes it out alive and does exactly what he sets out to do: protects people. He sets himself up to take the brunt of the pain so that others don't have to. It leaves him worse for wear every single time, but he keeps doing it because he's seen terrible things and doesn't want anyone to experience them...so, even if he knows he'll fail or knows he isn't as good as he should be, Jyren will stand up and fight it because he feels its right, and he would much rather fight and fail, himself, than send others in his place.To be honest, I go a great deal farther than I should in keeping with how Star Wars usually is. A kiss is about it. Beds barely exist in what we see. To me, especially considering the nature of this place, I don't think anymore is appropriate or really all that necessary.Of course, beyond this is the fact that they're relationship and connection is not focused on the physical. While that is, obviously, there, and to a point, important, they have something between them that is a thousand times stronger than any physical pleasure. Their lives are literally one. Two people that share an existance. There is an extremely strong mental connection that just can't be compared. This is in addition to the fact that Marix is the kind of person who isn't too good with the whole touching thing, even something as simple as a hand on the shoulder. She tries yes, and gets better about it...but some things that we grow up with just don't go away.So yes, the phsyical aspect of their relationship does exist, but a mix of it not being appropriate for this board and, honestly, for the story itself, put it into the background and the world of assumption. Besides, that's important for stories. Spelling every little thing out can ruin it, especially if it isn't the focus. And, to be honest, what Jyren and Marix do behind closed doors isn't the focus of any of this.Jyren said it himself, she was a sister to him. This woman was the first person he truly connected with since Mare died and she cared about him. Not only that, but while Jen had crossed the line into Darkness, she hadn't yet truly acted on it. There was still a chance to save her, to bring her back, and Jyren couldn't kill her with that left. Star Wars is a tale of redemption, and to just kill someone like Jen would be against  that as much as it is Jyren's line of thought.Remember Return of the Jedi. Luke throws his weapon to the side, and refuses to kill Darth Vader, one of the most evil men in the galaxy becaus he is Luke's father and he believes there is still good in him. He goes from winner, to loser in an eyeblink. He nearly gets himself killed because he believes his father will do the right thing. And he was right.Jyren does this almost exactly. He stops his so-called fight with Jen, unable to go through with it and refusing to believe that she is gone. He tries to talk her back. He does everything he can think of to bring her back and, for a moment, it almost works. He almost gets through...but Jen orders the Darkwing to kill him before he can go any farther and maybe, just maybe, succeed.Of course Jyren is taken by surprise. The Darkwing gets the jump on him when he's pretty much at his weakest...and that's the point. He had to be defenseless to bring her back. To show her he wasn't going to fight. That maybe he had grown from his mistakes and wasn't going to make another by just giving up on someone that had saved his life more than once. But she took advantage of what some call weakness, and the Darkwing got the better of him.And yet, despite all of that, he did succeed. The Darkwing tore him to pieces, yes, but the Emperor did the same to Luke. Vader watched his son being killed just as Jen watched her friend behind killed. Luke begged his father to help. Jyren did, too...but he didn't ask for help, he told her that he had a son. That, alone, was a sign that he had changed. Vader stepped in and killed the Emperor, his master, to save his son. Jen stepped in and killed the Darkwing, he creation for revenge, to save Jyren.As for the mechanics side of things, that first hit on Jyren is definitely a critical. It was left vague in the description but the creature had pretty much torn open his stomach. Caught flat-footed, but not only that, trying to talk Jen down. Jen was more important than the Darkwing was, and he was willing to put his life on the line to save her from the Dark Side. if that's being a loser then...well...he's a loser. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Now now, would it be any fun at all if he grew up? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /></blockquote>

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