#baze talks

[therebelcaptain]

happy rogue one-niversary, gang!

so wild to think that this movie was released six years ago, but it’s safe to say that it changed my life (in the sense that it has made more and more unhinged over the years, diego really wasn’t kidding about it being a cult lmao)

here’s to many more years of being unhinged about this movie and its cast!

[radiosummons]

Sat down with a friend @odetoretribution to watch Rogue One again just so we both could reminisce about our fave Jedha Temple Guardian husbands--

--only to have our hearts completely obliterated the second we finally remembered that Rogue One is, indeed, an extremely depressing movie 😭 😭 😭 😭

Needless to say, neither of us is remotely okay in the fucking slightest.

[colleybri]

My very basic first thoughts about the D23 Andor trailer… (in combination with the earlier leaked one from over a year ago!)

Mon’s hand gripping the edge of the Senate pod rail – I think she’s about to denounce the Emperor and the Ghorman Massacre. Does she know she’s going to be rescued, or does she think this is suicide?

Cassian and Bix - battle couple? Looks like she’s going to be a fully fledged rebel. Love the detail that she’s wearing braids again, as if to symbolise order returning out of the chaos . Not sure if it’s definitely her Cassian is talking to but it makes sense… “You’ll never feel right unless you’re doing what you can to stop them”. Kicking Imperial butt as a great therapy for what she went through? Hope she gets to take out Gorst. Mind you, that line could also apply to a lot of people. Great recruitment line, in fact.

Oh my, Cassian is “weaponised handsomeness” personified with that eyeliner and fabulous outfit. Woof!!! Sorry – I know that’s not very articulate. More seriously, doesn’t that line in the paragraph above contrast so brilliantly with “ I’m here to win and walk away”. He knows that’s not going to work anymore. For him or anyone else. And who is this character, a new recruit? Or Bix? (Fighter pilot Cassian too?)

Syril watching the TIE fly over… is it starting to dawn on him that perhaps he’s on the wrong side? That the order, justice and beauty he craves is not provided by this fascist regime after all.?

Luthen saying “little sister”… The tenderness of that makes me think immediately of Baze calling Jyn this in Rogue One so I don’t think it’s literally Cassian’s sister. Maybe Bix again or a new character . Unexpectedly moving though. Sounds like there’s love in the old boy yet.

Edit - I could well be wrong about that. It could just as easily be “what else is there?” and tbh that makes more sense for a sizzle reel… far less spoiler-y! Give us a decent trailer with proper sound quality please, Disney!

I never thought I would well up at the sight of a robot that isn’t B2EMO. But Kaytoo … oh, it’s so great to see you again. And Melshi!!! Remember - he has Syril’s gun. Will that come into to play again?

The farm planet is likely Dantooine, site of the first rebel base. Filmed in Oxfordshire. The previously leaked photos of the sets looked amazing. 

And this is a bit more niche, but I’m so looking forward to seeing Thierry Godard in this, as he’s such a fantastic (French) actor. Engrenages (Spiral) is one of my favourite shows of all time, Gilroy is a fan of “A French Village” and it probably led to his being cast for Andor.

And finally – it’s not even finished footage, but the special effects are looking incredible already.

And now, I need a little lie down.

[iracundiias]

BAZE MALBUS "Well?" Chirrut asked. "For a man who preaches patience, you could stand to learn some more," Baze said. "I already told you, that's the ship. You're the one who doesn't believe me." "Chirrut," Baze said. "Baze?" "Stop talking now." - STAR WARS: GUARDIANS OF THE WHILLS

[milieumarch]

It felt like a shame to let Rebelcaptain week go by and not post anything, now that I've rediscovered the ability to write, but I unfortunately do not have anything complete. So enjoy a sneak peek at the (unedited) beginning of the RC fic I'm working on.

///////

Jyn was almost finished with the last tumbler when she heard footsteps in the hall outside the room.  At last, the lock clicked under her fingertips, and she yanked the safe open.  She grabbed her quarry, a gold statuette, and shoved it into the satchel at her hip.  Then, she jumped up to her feet and snuck over to the door.

Stopping for a second to listen, she heard a voice on the other side say “Intruder located on first floor.  Send back-up.”

“E chu ta,” Jyn muttered and pressed herself up against the wall next to the closed door.

The door flew open, and a guard pushed through.  Jyn jumped at him, kneeing in the stomach as she brought her baton down on his back.  With a couple hits, he was down, and Jyn stepped over him to face the second guard who had come running up.

With a quick baton to the stomach and a swipe of her leg against his, she brought the second guard to the floor.

Jyn ran to the door at the end of the hallway, the way she’d come in, but heard more footsteps from that direction before she even touched the handle.  She spun around and raced to the other end.  She wrapped her hand around the handle and jerked, but the door only wobbled in its frame.

Locked, fucking hell, she griped to herself.

The door on the other end burst open with a kick from a guard, and two more guards jumped in behind him.

Jyn dove to her left and caught the window clasp.  With a twist of her fingers, the window was unlatched, and Jyn heaved the window open.

Cassian is going to be so mad, she thought as she eyed the ground ten feet below her.

Then, she jumped.

*~*~*

“One of these days, you’re going to have to learn how to take a fall, little sister,” Baze joked, as he moved his fingers across the brace around her left wrist.

“One of these days, she’s going to learn to take back-up in these kinds of situations,” Cassian snapped.

Jyn took a gulp from her drink and patted Cassian’s shoulder playfully.  “I got the job done, Captain Andor.  The precious statue is reunited with its owner.”  She would never understand why someone would pay thousands of credits for the return of a trinket no bigger than her forearm, but she wasn’t known to question transfers that cleared.

“You’re going to be down an arm for at least a week,” Cassian replied.  He reached across the table and pulled her injured arm towards him, curling and uncurling the fingers with one hand.

“Nah, give it a couple days,” Jyn said flippantly and hoped Cassian missed the wince as he pressed her thumb.  He didn’t, karking spy.  “Besides, I won’t need it for a week, as we’ve now got enough to kick back on some beach planet with fruity little drinks.”

“You want a fruity little drink?” Kay asked skeptically, inclining his head towards her current drink, which could strip paint off a speeder.

“We’ll leave you on the ship,” Jyn spat.

“It, it would be nice to go somewhere less, less rainy,” Bodhi piped in, his eyes gazing towards the water-streaked window of the cantina.

Jyn lifted her drink in toast to him.

“Kay, we need a list of parts that need replacing on Stardust.  Can you split it into must—”

“No, absolutely not, Andor,” Jyn interrupted.  “Work talk tomorrow.  Tonight we celebrate a successful job and see if I can finally outdrink Baze.”

“I wouldn’t try, little sister,” Baze replied, right as Chirrut commented, “I have faith in Jyn.”

“Are we, are we shipping out tomorrow?” Bodhi asked.

“Nah, we’ll go the day after tomorrow.  Cassian and Kay can make their list and see what we can find while we’re somewhere close to civilization.”

“We’d find better-quality parts on a core world, if you didn’t insist—” Kay started.

“Absolutely not,” Jyn growled.  Cassian laid a placating hand on her shoulder and rubbed his thumb across her collarbone.  Jyn turned to give him a smile, just in time to see two men in jumpsuits step up behind Cassian.

“Captain Andor?” a stern voice asked from one of the men.

“What’s it to you?” Jyn responded icily.

“Captain Andor, you need to come with us,” the man said again, this time not a question.

Jyn started to rise out of her seat, but Cassian moved his hand from her shoulder to her thigh to still her.  “There’s no trouble, gentlemen.”  He rose from his seat and surreptitiously tapped his first two fingers twice where they lay against Jyn’s thigh.

As Cassian followed the two men to a hallway at the back of the cantina, Chirrut remarked, “I don’t think we’ll be getting that beach vacation you were hoping for.”

[andorerso]

☔️ please? 🫶

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

I always wanted to write a "Jyn freaks out and leaves the rebellion" AU but with my own twist on it. thinking the other is dead is one of my favorite tropes ever, and also something I always wanted to write, so why not combine? so I think they're kind of together in the beginning, but in the undefined we mean a lot to each other and we sleep together (literally and figuratively) and I'd die for you but we never talk about it kind of way, until something happens that spooks Jyn and she runs. leaves before she can be left. we follow Jyn on her own as she realizes that maybe that was a mistake after all and tries to make up the courage to go back and make things right (not just with Cassian but also with the rest of Rogue One). eventually she does, maybe 2-3 months later, but when she shows up back on base, Baze looks kinda sad, Chirrut seems wistful, and Bodhi kinda can't look her in the eye and Cassian is nowhere to be found. she's not too surprised, figuring that he's angry and hurt and just avoiding her, until Kay bluntly blurts out that actually, he was killed on a mission not too long after she left...

anyway, it sounds nice in theory, but it'd take a lot of emotions and introspection, from Jyn figuring out she wants to go back and take the risk, to trying to deal with her grief and guilt when he's dead, to when he's actually not dead but clearly been through an ordeal and still upset with her, to the two of them finally making up and finding a way to trust each other again... it's a lot, and I'm not sure I have it in me

[r1-jw-lover]

There's something that hits differently about Jedha being utterly destroyed in Rogue One. The Empire didn't just blow up Jedha, they literally ripped it apart. Even before the Death Star, the Empire had been occupying the Holy City and mining its kyber crystals for years, fueling the very weapon that had killed millions of people on the moon. An entire population and culture had been wiped away just like that without a care.

The three known survivors of Jedha's destruction are very different individuals. Chirrut is a Force-believing monk who keeps holding onto his faith in spite of the suffering around him. Baze is a freelance assassin who's jaded and angry at the state of the world yet still fights against the Empire. Bodhi is an Imperial pilot who defected because he is brave and is inspired to do the right thing. And now, they are just the last living people of a homeworld they could never return to because it's gone.

Anyways, free Palestine. Don't stop talking about Palestine. Don't forget your daily clicks. Donate if you can. We cannot condone a genocide that's happening in front of our eyes. 🇵🇸🍉

[sokayisaidiot]

Siblinghood, Platonic Soulmates, or Romance

Analyzing the Relationship Between Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren

In this post, I will continue from my previous one, having offered a simplified overview but delving into one of the most common criticizing talking points. Please remember that this analysis is from a writing perspective and my own experiences as I am an amateur writer. I welcome comments and reblogs with your thoughts.

For context:

1. Relationships in Star Wars 2. Explanation of These Three Types of Relationships 3. Female Characters in Relationships 4. Ideals and Themes in Star Wars Rebels 5. Ezra and Sabine's Relationship 6. Conclusion

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Relationships in Star Wars

Critics sometimes claim that certain types of relationships are overrepresented in Star Wars, but it's essential to remember that the franchise features a variety of relationship dynamics. Here are some well-known examples:

Siblinghood:

- Luke and Leia (twins) - Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker (no blood) - Garazeb Orrelios and Ezra Bridger (no blood) - The Son and Daughter (literal Force beings) - Sabine and Tristan Wren (blood relatives) - Maul, Savage Opress, and Feral (same planet)

Platonic Soulmates:

- Han and Chewbacca - R2-D2 and C-3PO - Boba Fett & Fennec Shand - Din Djarin & Bo Katan Kryze - Chirrut Imwe & Baze Malbus

Romantic:

- Han Solo & Princess Leia - Anakin Skywalker & Padme Amidala - Obi-Wan Kenobi & Satine Kryze - Kanan Jarrus & Hera Syndulla - Bail & Breha Organa

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Each relationship explained and how to write it

Siblinghood

Definition A sibling is a term used to describe a brother or sister, which means they share at least one biological or adoptive parent. Siblings are individuals who are part of the same family and are connected through their familial relationships.

Writing points

Individuality: Portray each sibling as a unique individual with distinct traits.

Birth Order: Consider birth order dynamics and how it affects their roles.

Conflict and Love: Explore both rivalry and support in their relationship.

Shared Memories: Use shared childhood memories to deepen their connection.

Complex Emotions: Show a range of emotions, from love to resentment.

Character Development: Use their relationship to drive character growth.

Realistic Dialogue: Make their interactions and dialogues authentic.

Backstory: Develop a backstory with shared and separate experiences.

Conflict Resolution: Show how they handle conflicts within the relationship.

Evolution: Depict how their relationship changes over time.

External Influences: Consider how outside factors impact their dynamic.

Platonic Soulmates

Definition The term "Platonic soulmates" combines two concepts: "Platonic" and "soulmates."

Platonic: In the context of relationships, "Platonic" refers to a non-romantic or non-sexual connection.

Soulmates: It's a belief that there is a special, deep, and sometimes predestined connection between two people that goes beyond ordinary friendship or partnership.

When you combine these concepts, "Platonic soulmates" refers to two individuals who share an exceptionally close, deep, and meaningful non-romantic or non-sexual bond. They may have a connection that feels almost destined, as if their souls are deeply intertwined, but it doesn't involve romantic or sexual attraction.

Writing points

Unique Bond: Highlight the exceptional and non-romantic connection they share.

Common Values: Emphasize shared values, interests, and life goals that deepen their bond.

Unconditional Support: Show their unwavering support, trust, and emotional safety.

Enduring Relationship: Illustrate how their bond withstands time and challenges.

Conflict Resolution: Explore how they handle disagreements with maturity and empathy.

Growth Inspiration: Demonstrate how they inspire personal growth in each other.

Non-Romantic Nature: Clarify that their connection is platonic, not romantic.

Emotional Depth: Dive into their deep emotional connection and comfort.

Shared Moments: Highlight significant life experiences they've shared.

Respectful Boundaries: Show how they respect each other's boundaries.

External Influences: Consider how external factors affect their connection.

Remember that platonic soulmate relationships are diverse and can manifest in various ways. They provide an opportunity to explore deep emotional connections and the profound impact such connections can have on individuals' lives.

Romantic

Definition In everyday conversation, "romantic" is often used to describe anything related to love, affection, or relationships. It can refer to someone who is inclined towards love and affection or to something that evokes feelings of love and beauty. The exact meaning of "romantic" can vary depending on the context in which it is used.

Romantic Love: Deep emotional affection, attraction, and passion between two individuals, forming the basis for relationships like dating, courtship, and marriage.

Romantic Relationship: A partnership based on romantic love, including dating, committed relationships, or marriage, characterized by emotional closeness and physical affection.

Romantic Gestures: Actions expressing love, affection, and admiration in romantic contexts, such as giving flowers, writing love letters, or planning surprise dates.

Romanticism: A cultural movement originating in the late 18th century, emphasizing emotions, individualism, and the sublime in literature, art, and philosophy, often celebrating nature, imagination, and powerful emotions.

Writing points

Chemistry and Attraction: Establish a strong attraction between the partners.

Character Development: Use the relationship to develop and evolve the characters.

Conflict and Tension: Introduce challenges to make the relationship engaging.

Communication: Show effective communication and miscommunication between partners.

Shared Moments: Highlight meaningful experiences they share.

Individual Lives: Balance their personal lives with the relationship.

Trust and Vulnerability: Explore trust and emotional openness.

Intimacy: Address physical and emotional intimacy.

External Influences: Include the impact of outside factors.

Conflict Resolution: Demonstrate how they handle conflicts.

Long-Term Compatibility: Consider their compatibility for the future.

Realistic Challenges: Create believable obstacles.

Romantic Gestures: Showcase meaningful acts of love.

Character Flaws: Develop imperfections in the characters.

Resolution: Provide a satisfying conclusion to their relationship arc.

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Girls in Relationships:

This section explores how certain female characters in Star Wars maintain their own identities while being involved in romantic relationships.

Padmé Amidala

Character: It might be considered a bold choice, but as Dave Filoni is known as the TCW and SWR guru, I genuinely appreciate Padmé's character. She embodies the spirit of self-reliance, often adopting the motto, "I'll handle it myself," when she witnesses suffering. As a compassionate and principled member of the Senate, she values diplomacy over violence, serving as a commendable role model by prioritizing dialogue and care for others. Her character shines brightest in episodes where she grapples with political conflicts.

Romance: Transitioning to the subject of her romantic involvement, Padmé and Anakin's relationship has sparked numerous discussions. Despite the uncertainty and occasional turbulence, there is genuine love between them. She envisions a future with him, refusing to give up on him even in the face of his inner struggles. Padmé recognizes Anakin's mental anguish and does her utmost to support him, though the complexities of their circumstances often double their challenges.

Ahsoka Tano

Character: Ahsoka stands as one of the most well-crafted female characters in Star Wars lore, undergoing significant growth and development throughout The Clone Wars (TCW). She evolves from an overconfident and naive child into a mature, thoughtful, and highly respected adult. Her journey is marked by substantial mistakes and profound realizations.

Romance: While Ahsoka experiences various connections throughout TCW, the most notable is with Lux. However, this romance primarily serves as a vehicle for her character development. Lux provides her with insights into the Separatists' perspective on the war and later the Death Watch. While Ahsoka does express interest in him, it's not in a deeply romantic sense. Instead, she's appreciative of the knowledge and experiences gained from their interactions.

Leia Organa

Character: Leia, our first main character introduction, immediately captivates with her compelling beginning. She's taken captive but never succumbs to fear, displaying strength and resolve. Her resilience shines through as she becomes one of the Rebellion's leaders, commanding respect from all quarters. She remains unyielding in her role, displaying a fiery temperament and quick wit reminiscent of her father, while proving to be even more resolute than her brother, a Jedi.

Romance: The iconic romance between Leia and Han Solo portrays the smuggler and the princess in a refreshing light. Instead of conforming to outdated stereotypes, Leia wears the metaphorical pants in their relationship, with Han providing unwavering support. He respects her position and authority, saving personal matters for their private moments. The dynamic is built on trust and mutual respect, avoiding the cliché of a one-sided romance. Notably, this is evident in Return of the Jedi (ROTJ), where Leia gets shot, and Han's caring demeanor is juxtaposed with his trademark smirk as she reveals her weapon. He's the one to express his love, illustrating the mutual affection and growth of both characters.

Hera

Character: Hera serves as the capable captain of the Ghost and its crew, supported by her right-hand man, Kanan, and the astromech droid, Chopper. Despite being a mother, she remains a crucial figure in the New Republic, leading missions and flight teams. Hera defies convention by maintaining her position of power while nurturing a romantic relationship with Kanan.

Romance: In contrast to traditional depictions where women are often portrayed as pining and emotional while men are serious, Hera and Kanan's dynamic reverses these roles. Kanan actively pursues the relationship, while Hera takes on a more serious and authoritative role. This unconventional approach adds depth to their relationship and challenges traditional gender norms.

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The Ideals of Rebels' Story and Its Setup Points:

Both the Star Wars Prequels and the Original Trilogy are anchored in the theme of battling oppressive regimes striving for absolute control. The Prequels delve into how this oppression came to be, forming a pivotal narrative standpoint. In contrast, The Clone Wars (TCW) primarily focuses on world-building, offering in-depth explorations of various factions and societies within the galaxy. While TCW provides a comprehensive view of the galaxy during a civil war, it doesn't follow a single large crew's story.

On the other hand, Star Wars Rebels (SWR) places a character-driven focus at its core. Unlike some other Star Wars media, such as movies, series, or shorts, SWR doesn't extensively explore different locations or delve into background storytelling. Instead, it prioritizes character development and episodic narratives.

To clarify my previous statement, SWR serves as a bridge between Episode 3 and Episode 4 of the Star Wars saga. It fills in the gaps, revealing the journey and sacrifices necessary to achieve freedom. The series commences with Ezra, a newly-minted Jedi Padawan, in a galaxy where Jedi are hunted down. He joins the nascent rebellion, which is just beginning to take shape. Ezra represents a glimmer of hope in a desolate world, even as forces of darkness attempt to extinguish that light.

This underscores the significance of SWR. Episode 4 depicted the Rebellion in its full-fledged form, with a substantial crew and support from multiple fronts. However, SWR sheds light on the challenges and sacrifices that made such achievements possible. It demonstrates that what was accomplished required immense personal sacrifice.

The Jedi aspect is exemplified through Kanan, who embodies the essence of a true Jedi. Ezra, too, matures into this role over time. Kanan's journey is unique; he was in the midst of his Padawan training when Order 66 unfolded. He never completed his training in the traditional sense and couldn't fully embrace the Jedi rules and traditions, which often felt restrictive and suffocating. Unbeknownst to him, his love for, attachment to, and bond with his lover, Padawan, and the rest of the crew went against traditional Jedi norms. However, this deviation allowed him to learn things the Jedi should have known centuries ago. Kanan eventually felt the full embrace of the Force, despite his past mistakes and moments of foolishness. He ultimately met his end as a true Jedi Knight.

As for Sabine, her character's growth and journey revolve around taking responsibility for her past mistakes and evolving into a stronger individual. Her journey includes abandoning the Imperial Academy, which produced weapons harmful to her people. This decision placed her family in jeopardy, with the majority of Mandalorians harboring animosity towards her. Despite these challenges, she emerged stronger with the support of those around her and a willingness to confront her past without forgetting or ignoring it.

The relationship between Ezra and Sabine in SWR was intentionally left ambiguous, making it challenging to definitively categorize. While the series provides hints through Ezra's statements, it remains open to interpretation. The internet, as expected, has embraced the ambiguity and given rise to various interpretations, showcasing the power of fan engagement and ship culture.

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Ezra and Sabine, Examined from Every Angle:

This section breaks down how each of these interpretations aligns with the characteristics of these relationship types.

Siblinghood

Individuality: With Siblings, there come different personalities. One can be chaotic and the other calm. That’s what we see in that case what can be considered normal in a family. You have the artistic child with her younger brother being more traditional and following his father.

Birth Order: This being one of the strongest arguments with this relationship. It’s for many great to see nonblood people considering each other as found family, where in situation where one lost their family or their family was not good, there are still others that are as close as those you share blood with.

Conflict and Love: This is more of a thing that can be seen with the training of the dark saber, in which the one sibling, who is good at something, that they consider their specialty, having to have share it with the other, as they see it being taken away or provoking the other as they think they are better at something.

Shared Memories: Both have abandonment issues over their family, and they share a lot of missions together.

Complex Emotions: Once again going back to the dark saber training, you could interpret that scene where Ezra is saying that Sabine at least still has family, while he has only one family left, that she is not respecting

Character Development: This can be interpretation for the end of rebels

Realistic Dialogue: A lot of people regard them bickering as sibling bickering

Backstory: In the start, it is implied that with Zeb, she is one that takes him under her wing as a older sister role

Conflict Resolution: They talk to each other

Evolution: It can be them growing older and seeing each other as equals

External Influences: within the ghost crew, they consider each other as family. Hera especially, so its easy to take this as it can be seen that every member implies it for themselves.

Platonic Soulmates

Unique Bond: They are not really romantically nor as siblings introduced in season 3 and 4

Common Values: Both want to free their respective people, destroy the empire and find a place in the galaxy.

Unconditional Support: Within the end, Sabine never states to be romantically involved but she does stay on Lothal, keeps his memorable things in check and waits from him to return.

Enduring Relationship: Both are willing to entrust each other to a lot of things and giving each other the chance to make things happen.

Conflict Resolution: They talk.

Growth Inspiration: Within the season 1 and 2 where Ezra constantly flirts openly to Season 3 and 4 where it is not seen as a romantic way.

Non-Romantic Nature: Barely Romantic gestures of touch in the traditional sense or talking about the feeling to each other, but in a respectable comrade way.

Emotional Depth: Their connection through their past and need to make better of their mistakes while helping each other out of those.

Shared Moments: Their missions

Respectful Boundaries: With Ezra stopping the flirting to concentrate and help Sabine

External Influences: The ghost crew being a close family through common goals and connection gives them a more bigger leeway

Romantic

Chemistry and Attraction: It is clear that Ezra still has an crush on Sabine, with him meeting her for the first time, being enamored with her beauty. Their chemistry is working and expendable. Sabine later is more open for more.

Character Development: From the young kid who has a crush with no real idea to an jedi that keeps it low to fulfill his duty, Ezra evolves within 4 seasons to a more mature way of admiring Sabine while having respect for her. Within the episode where Kanan and Sabine 

Conflict and Tension: From the end of rebels, where Ezra sacrifices himself to keep his loved one self but leaving Sabine alone and confused to Sabine not listening to him when he tells her to or when she does not give him a lot of decision power over her.

Communication: Sabine not being able to trust anyone really to her getting the closest to Ezra for even supporting him on way to dangerous missions and Ezra 

Shared Moments: From the intimate closeness of holding him by his waist to fly to safety, to him keeping her steady on the loath wolves and both refusing to let the other get hurt.

Individual Lives: When it comes to Krownest, Sabine splits up for a little while, when Ezra takes on other missions. They know when they have to do something alone and they have their own bigger problems in the end.

Trust and Vulnerability: Within the later seasons (3 and 4) Sabine opens up to Ezra about her own Demons and gives her full trust to him. Both can depend each other’s live on the other. But when it comes to

Intimacy: Sabine has no problem holding Ezra closer while Ezra still gets flustered a bit(speaking escape Jetpack scene). But other than that they have no problem being closer.

External Influences: Both Chopper and Zeb have been making fun of Ezra and Kanan is aware to some known extend as he has to be the done calming Ezra down, when Sabine is in a Dangerous situation.

Conflict Resolution: On the battlefield its Sabine being the aggressor and Ezra the shield. With other conflicts, it is that Sabine needs time to herself and Ezra worrying but respecting her needs.

Long-Term Compatibility: Sabine cannot imagine a life without Ezra in it and Ezra has stated that he wants to come home to her (as well as the others).

Realistic Challenges: Sabine knowing that 10 years have gone by since Ezra disappeared and still being ever so loyal to him. Ezra, while knowing Sabines competence, still often not wanting her on solo missions.

Romantic Gestures: The Birthday gift from Sabine. The consistent support of Ezra. 

Character Flaws: The way they cannot see other one in pain and taking full front and lying in front of the other.

Resolution: They give each other full trust on the final mission with Sabine on her way towards him.

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Endcut:

In summary, this post aims to offer multiple perspectives on the dynamic between Ezra and Sabine, emphasizing that all three interpretations are valid based on the available knowledge.

Please note that this is a complex analysis, and the nature of their relationship remains open to interpretation.

[hollywoodxwhore]

Mine | Chapter Two

Colson x Original Female Character

I got such a good response on chapter one yesterday! Y'all are too good to a girl who just wanted to relieve some stress by writing silly little stories about a hot dude. Love y'all so much!

Synopsis: Presley may look sinful on the outside, but deep down, she's innocent, guarded, and terrified of intimacy. Colson, on the other hand, is living up to his womanizer reputation as a way to cope with heartbreak. When his new guitarist invites his twin sister to join them on tour, Colson discovers that he's actually capable of feeling. Will Presley and Colson be able to push past all of the barriers trying to prevent them from happening?

Warnings/Content: swearing, alcohol & marijuana usage, little tiny mention of smut, discussions of virginity (which is a social construct but I like it as a storyline sry), masturbation, col talking about his dick (he does that a lot in this fic, NOT sry)

Presley

After an hour or so of hanging out backstage, we all climb onto the tour bus and my eyes widen. Holy shit, this is nice. I look around as the guys find places to sit and grab drinks from the fridge. I’m the only girl here right now, and I find myself wishing Sadie could’ve come with me, but I had a security guy walk her to her car after the show. 

“Presley, drink?” Baze, the bass player asks.

“Um, what do you have?” I ask, taking a seat in an empty recliner.

“PBR, Jack Daniel’s, I think Kells has some wine—”

“Anything without alcohol?” I ask.

Baze looks over at me in surprise. “Oh. Sure. Coke, Monster, Mountain Dew—”

“Mountain Dew is perfect,” I reply. Baze hands me the can and I thank him, cracking it open. 

“Not really a drinker?” Baze asks as he has a seat, pouring some whiskey into a red cup.

I shake my head. “No. I much prefer smoking,” I say.

“By all means, girl, light up,” he says.

“I was just about to smoke a joint,” Rook says as he appears from the bunk area. “Want to share?”

“Sure,” I say, already feeling my anxiety ease knowing I’m going to smoke. 

Cash is in the shower and Justin sits on the couch on his phone. Slim climbs onto the bus and looks around. “We good to go? Where’s Kells?” Rook shrugs and Baze mutters that he doesn’t know. Slim sighs. “Can someone go look for him? I gotta get some more shit packed up.”

No one offers. Justin is now talking on the phone, and Rook and Baze are already well on their way to enjoying their night. I won’t deny a chance to see Colson. A second alone would be cool. “I’ll check,” I say.

“Thanks, Presley,” Slim says with a smile, then disappears off the bus. 

I get to my feet and weave through the bunk area, stopping for a second when I see my bags and pillow have found their way to a bunk. I push a button and a door slides open, leading to an area with two bathrooms and some other room. The bathroom Cash isn’t showering in is unoccupied and I frown, thinking he isn’t on the bus when I hear something creak in the room at the back.

I step closer and peer past the flimsy curtain that shields the room. The first thing I realize is that it’s a bedroom with a huge bed.

The second thing I realize is that Colson is on the bed. Deep inside a woman.

My eyes widen when they lock with Colson’s and I hurry from the room, squeaking out an apology as my cheeks burn. I don’t want to go out and face the others, so I lock myself in a bathroom to calm down. Fuck. My heart races.

I couldn’t see anything graphic, but I did see Colson behind that girl, one big hand flat on her lower back, hips moving in a way that made his abdomen ripple. His mouth hanging slightly open with pleasure, hair messy and eyes glassy. Shit, I did not need to know what that man looks like when he’s having sex. I squeeze my eyes closed. 

I’m in the bathroom so long that I’m sure someone’s going to start wondering. At that thought, my phone pings with a text from Cash. Found Kells! You good?

Yeah. I found him, too. I wash my hands and exit the bathroom, taking a deep breath before picking my way back to the main area of the bus.

Everyone’s there now, including Colson, but I don’t even look at him. I can’t bear to. I’m humiliated. I pick up my Mountain Dew and am immensely grateful when Rook passes me the joint. I take two huge puffs, cough, and settle back into the chair, praying the embarrassment and anxiety fade soon.

It does slightly, but all night, there’s a pinch of shame lingering within me. I can feel Colson trying to meet my eyes, but I refuse. I steal glances at him when he’s not looking, but I’m very careful not to meet his eyes. 

I’m irritated and a little disappointed. I thought he was flirting with me, but I guess I was stupid for thinking that. The woman is nowhere to be found, so she was probably just a fan he picked up for a one night stand. Why does that bother me so much?

Finally, I can’t take it anymore. I get up and go over to Cash, sitting next to him on the couch. “I’m gonna go to bed. I’m exhausted,” I lie.

“Alright,” Cash says. “Need anything?”

I shake my head. “Thanks. Night, everyone,” I say.

“Aw, you’re going to bed already?” Rook says.

“Party’s just begun,” Slim adds.

“Tomorrow, I promise. I’m just really tired,” I explain.

“Ight, fair. Tomorrow, then,” Rook says with a smile, and I smile back before disappearing into the bunk area. I fish through my suitcase for my bathroom bag and lock myself in the bathroom to remove my makeup, do my skincare, and brush my teeth. I change into a big t-shirt and some shorts and leave the bathroom, crashing right into someone’s bare chest.

Colson.

I look up at him, feeling my cheeks burn, and he stumbles backwards. “Shit, sorry,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It’s okay,” I say, looking away.

“Hey,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’m really sorry for earlier. I didn’t mean for you to see—”

“No, I’m sorry,” I say quickly, shaking my head. “My fault.” I push past him and he lets me, but I feel his eyes on me all the way back to the bunk area. I climb into my bunk and slide the door shut, letting out a breath once I’m finally alone. Shit. 

I curl up under the blankets and try to let the gentle rumble of the bus on the road lull me to sleep. But every time I close my eyes, all I can see is Colson behind that girl. 

I’m not sure if it makes me angry, sick, turned on, or a combination of all three. But I don’t like that it makes me feel anything at all.

XX

I have another confession to make. I’m a virgin.

No one knows. Not my closest girlfriends, not the guys I’ve tried to date, no one. I guess you could say I have intimacy issues.

I actually dated quite a bit in high school. I had a date for every school dance, including the two times I went to prom. I just never did anything with any of them. We never even got to the boyfriend-girlfriend stage. We made out, of course, but we never went further. 

For some reason, my biggest fear in the world is letting someone see me naked.

I can be in a skimpy bikini. A tiny dress, shorts so short they basically show my asscheeks. But I hate being seen in underwear, and no one other than family has seen me naked. I almost chickened out of getting my nipples pierced because I was so uncomfortable, but I pushed through. The longer I go without anyone seeing me, the worse it gets. 

I have no idea where the fear comes from. Nothing traumatic happened to me. In fact, my parents have a great marriage and I had a good experience in high school. All through school, actually. There should be no reason why I’m so afraid. But I am, and it gets worse the older I get. 

Even if Colson was flirting with me, what the hell am I going to do about it? He’s the type of guy that fucks random girls. He doesn’t settle down. He doesn’t date. There’s no way he’d see me and decide he wants to date me, and even if somehow he did, he would get tired of waiting to do things other than kissing. It would never, ever happen. I’m actually pretty resolved to being alone forever. 

I barely slept last night. I was awake all night stewing about what I’d walked into. I’m jealous of the girl, and not because she was having sex with Colson. How is she so comfortable in herself that she’d let a stranger get her naked? Touch her? Make her moan? I envy that level of confidence. So many women seem to have it but not me. 

Guys have tried. It’s not that no one wants me because I know they do. I don’t know if it’s the tattoos, the fact that I’m a piercer, or the fact that I play guitar and sing, but I’ve had many, many guys try to pursue me. Every time, I turn them down. I’ve gone on a few dates and ghosted them all, too afraid to open up. It’s exhausting and embarrassing and I say no whenever anyone asks for a date now. I just can’t do it. 

I feel better when I realize Colson will never get anywhere with me. He’ll give up fast. That means I don’t even need to worry about him. I can continue with this harmless little crush, enjoy my time on tour, and go back to normal life when this is all over.

It’s going to be totally fine. 

Colson

Do I feel like a total asshole for what happened with Presley? Of course I do.

The whole point of fucking that girl was to get Presley off my mind. I didn’t expect her to walk in and catch us. Of course I feel like a total dick. 

I feel even worse when she doesn’t even look at me for the rest of the night. I’m sure it made her uncomfortable. Fuck, I feel uncomfortable. I don’t give a fuck if the boys walk in on me. It’s happened more times than I can count on two hands. I’m a bit of an exhibitionist, I’ll admit. But no girl has ever walked in on me with someone until now, and it sucks.

I don’t sleep until we arrive at the hotel, and by now, the sun is coming up. But my stomach is too knotted for me to be able to relax. All I can think about is Presley in her bunk. Part of me wants to be the one to let her know we’ve made it to the hotel, but she made it clear that she can’t even look at me, so I slink off the bus and keep my head down as I walk into the hotel lobby.

Ten minutes later, I’m finally showering. The tour bus showers are too small for me, the shower head hitting below my shoulder, so there’s no point in even trying to shower on the bus unless I absolutely have to. I let my head hang down as the warm water streams over my hair, and I sigh. Why do I care so much about what this girl thinks? Cash told me to stay away from her, and I can’t risk fucking anything up with him. The band needs him. He’s amazing. 

As if I don’t already feel bad enough, I can’t keep her out of my fucking head, can’t stop picturing her in that short, leather skirt that fit her perfectly. Those legs. Jesus Christ. I huff softly in annoyance as my cock starts to fill. Never have I ever felt guilty about wanting a girl before. This shit sucks. 

I feel like a teenager as I get myself off to nothing but thoughts of a girl I’ve only ever seen fully clothed and have never touched. It doesn’t take long; in fact, it’s embarrassingly quick. I’m glad I’m alone.

After Presley walked in on us, I didn’t finish. I immediately got dressed and walked the girl off the bus. It only occurs to me now as I turn off the shower that I never even got her name. That’s low, even for me. 

Feeling like utter shit, I brush my teeth, moisturize my face, and crawl into bed naked, hoping I can just pass the fuck out. No such luck. After an hour of tossing and turning, I throw the blankets off with a curse and get dressed. I need to find some coffee and quick.

In the hallway, I find Rook leaving his room, too. He looks just as exhausted as I feel. “Can’t sleep?” I ask him.

“Nah,” Rook says, shaking his head. 

“I was gonna find some coffee,” I say. “Wanna join me?”

“Sure.”

I text Reed, letting him know that Rook and I are grabbing coffee, and he meets us in the lobby. There’s a coffee shop nearby and we walk there in silence. It’s barely seven in the morning on a Sunday, so the place is pretty deserted. Rook and I both get gigantic iced coffees and tuck ourselves into a booth in the back of the shop. Reed finds a table nearby and pulls out his phone. 

“You look like shit,” Rook says.

I give him a sour look and chug down some coffee. “Thanks, bro. Appreciate it,” I mumble.

Rook flicks his braids out of his face. “I mean you look upset,” he says. 

I sigh and twist my straw, watching the ice cubes move around. I trust Rook. But I don’t talk about my feelings with fucking anyone. Only in my songs. “I’m fine,” I say. “I just feel like a dick.”

“Why?” Rook asks, taking a bite of the muffin he purchased.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache start to throb behind my eyes. “Cash’s sister walked in on me and that girl last night.”

“What?” Rook hisses, eyes widening. “You serious? Does Cash know?”

“Fuck no!” I reply, shaking my head. “And I hope she doesn’t tell him. It was an accident.”

Rook considers this as he sips some more coffee. “Wait, why are you so upset about this?” He asks. “Shit, I myself have walked in on you at least ten times.”

He’s not wrong. “I dunno,” I admit with a shrug. “Just feel like shit. She’s not just a random person. She’s Cash’s sister, you know? Don’t want to make her uncomfortable while she’s here with us.”

I meet Rook’s eyes for a moment and there’s a weird glow about them. Like he’s speculating. I don’t like it. “What?” I ask defensively. 

“You into her?” Rook asks me.

“Fuck, dude,” I huff, looking away from him. “She’s Cash’s sister.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Doesn’t matter if I am or not,” I say after a moment. “Cash told us she’s off-limits.”

Rook shrugs, then nods. “How long is she with us?”

I shrug, too. “I don’t know. I told Cash it didn’t matter how long she wanted to stay.”

Rook shakes his head. “I haven’t seen you like this since—”

“Enough,” I say firmly, jaw clenching as I lock eyes with him.

Rook holds up his hands in surrender. “Sorry,” he says quietly. “Sorry.”

I finish off my coffee way too quickly and push to my feet. Rook isn’t done yet, but he wraps up his muffin, grabs his coffee, and follows my lead. I stalk back to the hotel, not talking to him or Reed. I need to be alone. I don’t like how well Rook can read me. 

Locked in my hotel room once again, I lay on my back in bed, staring at the ceiling. The coffee churns in my empty stomach, which isn’t helping the anxiety already aching there. I know what I have to do to survive while Presley is on tour with us. I need to just keep getting laid. I just can’t let her catch me again. 

Also, I could just be her friend. That’s what I’m supposed to do anyway. And that has to start with an apology. 

XX

When we get to the venue, I wait for Presley and Cash to get out of their car. Cash, who’s basically a golden retriever, is distracted by his excitement to get inside, and he leaves Presley behind. 

My heart stutters a little when I see her. She wears jeans today, but they fit her like a dream, and the black top she wears hints at a gorgeous pair of tits. Platform Nikes on her feet complete the look and such a simple outfit shouldn’t turn me on so goddamn much. This friendship thing is going to be more difficult than I anticipated.

“Hey, Presley,” I say, intercepting her as she walks towards the door. She adjusts her purse on her shoulder, and I can tell instantly that she’s uncomfortable. She chews that plush bottom lip and avoids my eyes. 

“Listen, I’m really sorry about last night,” I say. She continues to look past me. “Shit. Will you please. Just. Look at me?” I sound like I’m begging. God. Finally, her eyes lift to mine. I swallow hard. “It was totally an accident. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” she finally says, her perfect brows furrowing together. “I’m the one who walked in on you.”

I shrug. “It’s all good,” I assure her. “I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me. I’m glad you’re here. It makes Cash happy and I’m excited for us all to get to know you.”

She seems to relax, even just slightly, but it’s everything to me. She nods and smiles softly. “Okay. Thanks for talking to me,” she says. “We’re good.”

“Okay. Cool,” I say. “Let’s go inside.”

We walk side by side. “This is crazy,” Presley says.

“How do you mean?” I ask, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans. 

She shrugs, looking up at the venue. “Just going backstage in a huge venue like this. I never imagined I’d be here. Let alone Cash.”

“Cash says you play in a few bands?” I ask.

Presley nods, tucking a piece of black hair behind her ear, revealing tons of piercings. “Yeah, just a few local bands. It’s nothing too serious.”

“You play…guitar?” I ask.

“And sing,” Presley says. “I’m alright. Cash, though. I mean, I don’t have to tell you. You know how talented he is.”

I nod. “Yeah. He’s unreal,” I agree. “I swear I learn something from him every time we play together.”

Presley smiles warmly, eyes crinkling. “Yeah. I’m so proud of him. This is just wild,” she says thoughtfully. “Thank you.” She looks up at me. “Thank you for noticing him and giving him this chance.”

“Shit, we should be thanking him,” I say. “I can’t wait to start recording our next album with him. We can be so much more dynamic with his guitar skills.”

She nods and smiles. I open the door for her and do my very best not to check out her ass as she walks inside, but I’m only human, and that thing is too perfect not to notice. 

“I have to head to sound check, but there’s always food backstage. Drinks. Help yourself to anything, alright?” I tell her.

“Thanks, Colson,” she says, and I like the way my name sounds on her lips. I wave and head off towards the stage. I’m not as anxious anymore, thank god. This is going to be just fine.

[galaxylover06]

BRO I WILL CRY BC YOUR PFP MADE MY DAY LOOK AT THE LITTLE SILVER I NEED TO PROTECT HIIIMMM OMGGGGGGGGG

PFFFFT THANK YOU!

I've actually been meaning to share this with my Tumblr for the unaware!

This little Silver actually has some lore!

His name is "Silbor" and his creation was through drawme, a site let that's you share anonymous drawings!

Originally used to just mess with FerretFresh on Twitter

However when scrolling through my TL I kept coming across more and more people asking for anonymous drawings, and at some point decided I wanted to hit every single one, using the phrase

" Get Silbored "

(there's a ton more of these btw lmao)

I thought this was just a meaningless prank. I assumed it would give a quick laugh and then be forgotten about

But oh I was SO unprepared

That next morning I woke up to find that a public case was opened in a group effort to figure out who the "anonymous Silborer" was, with the first guess being me!

This made sense, I had left many hints, liking A LOT of the Silbor tweets, doodles in recent artwork, I knew I couldn't keep this up any longer.

So a couple hours later I made a public announcement confessing to being the one behind Silbor! People laughed, I had some fun discussions, and that's where the story should end.

here's where the amazing stuff happens.

First off, I didn't Silbor only my fellow mutuals, I did it to anyone I could find and more importantly, I Silbored some far larger creators that I freaking ADORED

so you can only begin to imagine my shock when I check and find that artists I have admired for a couple years at this point had actually begun to follow me

and it's really weird to say it now as I kinda considered myself friends with alot of them now.

Eventually, I see my follower count rise, and begin to tweet about it ofc, and to my surprise I got ALOT of support.

Soon I tweeted out that if I hit 1k, I'll change my pfp to Silbor...

And that is how a goofy throwaway meme had me thrown into the sonic community spotlight for a hot minute, made me connections with huge creators, and took me from 600 followers to 1k+ overnight.

And as promised I changed all my pfps to Silbor!

This goofy idea has actually grown into a full on AU, lovingly named the "Sobic AU"

and so far, the cast is made up of

Sobic, Shabow, Silbor, Bouges, Aby, Baze, Tikol, Knockles, Baos!

And yes, MANY shit-post have been created through this

(sorry for such a long answer, I just wanted an excuse to talk but this thing lmao)

[marvelstars]

The force as part of all living beings always has been part of Star Wars canon

About the discourse with Sabine and Ahsoka and Ahsoka supposely breaking previous canon by training Sabine, I believe it´s best to look at the facts of the previous trilogies first to get a balanced view about this.

The force always has been part of every living being since the original trilogy, Yoda and Obi-Wan talk about it as a force field that keeps united all living beings in the galaxy, that helps them see the past or the future, how to avoid trouble and how to connect with all living beings around the people using it, this is the original description of what the force is and this didn´t change in the series, Ahsoka is just recognizing this fact to train Sabine in the Jedi arts.

The level of force sensitivity is the thing at question here, not the force itself, on the battle over the first death star all rebel pilots had the force because all of them were living beings but Luke was stronger in the force than the other pilots and so Vader could detect this, he didn´t say "He is force sensitive" or "He has the force" , he said "The force is STRONG in this one".

Sabine as a living being with mandalorian training can perfectly learn and practice the Jedi arts even if the intensity of the force in her isn´t as strong as Jedi trained by the Jedi Order, like Kanan, Ahsoka, Anakin or Obi-Wan, she still can learn and become someone like Chirrut Iwe from Rogue One, who certainly was using the force in his daily life and practiced his martial arts trusting it to protect him.

In fact I could go as far as saying that most of the Rogue One crew, Jyn Erso, Andor, Baze, Chirrut, despite not being jedi or strong in the force, still trusted it to help them steal the death star plans and the only one in the Empire who noticed was Vader, hence his comment about the force being stronger than the Death Star. It doesn´t need to be obvious or impressive, it just needs to allow certain events to happen at the right time.

The force always had faith elements to it since the original trilogy and even not strong force sensitives can use it sometimes. Vader knows this for a fact because as a child he knew exactly what to do to protect himself or win the podraces his owner keep putting him expecting him to die at any moment. This is the force acting despite no training and that´s how it acts in most beings.

Even the strongest force sensitives by sheer potential in the series: Anakin, Palpatine, Yoda, Luke and Leia needed traning to truly access that level of conection and control over the force because they may have been the beings with the most potential but this didn´t mean they didn´t need to learn discipline and method to develop their potential.

Ahsoka and Luke are another example, Luke definitely has more force potential than Ahsoka, as Anakin´s Son "the force is STRONG in my family" , most of it already developed but Ahsoka knows way more about the force(at least at the time the Ahsoka series is happening) than Luke does, for her sheer training and experience.

So what Ahsoka is doing is traning in the Jedi ways someone who would not have been called or accepted at the temple but who nonetheless can learn to practice the force to help her in battle like Chirrut did or to get a stronger connection with all force sensitives around her and thats not wrong at all, neither does it contradicts any previous trilogy or canon.

Also, at this point, Ahsoka isn´t acting on behalf of the Jedi Order, in fact she still has conflicts over it, hence why she has not tried to help Luke more in the rebuilding of the school and my guess is because she´s trying to develop a variant of what the Order believed just involving people with different levels of potential while Luke is trying to rebuilt the school in the classical training of the old Jedi Order, at least in current canon, we don´t know if he will keep that path.

They could either go their own two ways or get to an agreetment over how best to rebuilt the Order but only time can tell and both have reason to want to make this slighty different to the way the old Order managed their training even if they really want to keep the traditions.

[jynrso]

not without me / not without you

.....hi everyone!! it's been a full year since i've written anything but lately i've been in a rebelcaptain mood (honestly i have to thank rifle for this, their fics are amazing and have definitely inspired me to write) and thought i'd whip something small up!

this is self-indulgent and fun, and i've got a few other oneshots i'm working on, so i hope you enjoy!

read it on ao3!

“Whoever does it first wins, then.”

Baze reaches out to shake Jyn’s hand gruffly, nodding. “It’s a bet.”

“What’s a bet?”

She spins around at the sound of Cassian’s voice, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. Ignoring the way her stomach flips at the sight of him  –– not that she'll ever tell him but he looks unfairly good in that blue parka of his –– she quickly attends to redirect the flow of the conversation, despite knowing her efforts are likely futile. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in a briefing right now?” she asks suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. 

“Got out early,” he replies breezily, not letting her off the hook. “What’s this about a bet?”  

Baze shifts behind her, expressive neutrally impenetrable. She once again ignores his question entirely; even without his Intelligence training, he knows her far too well for her to be able to lie convincingly to him. “We’re just getting ready to head out.”

He narrows his eyes at her. A beat of scrutinization later, he turns to Bodhi, understanding from past experience that she won’t say a word unless she wants to. “What were they talking about?”

Bodhi opens his mouth, then sends a furtive glance at Jyn. She shakes her head, widening her eyes slightly. They both know there’s no way in hell that Cassian would be okay with the bet. Considering how much Bodhi worries too much about her and Baze’s safety when making impulsive decisions like this one, she’s begrudgingly impressed he’s managed to go this long without saying anything. 

“They were–well, they–”

She grabs Bodhi’s arm before he can spill, and starts dragging him toward his tauntaun. “We don’t have any time to chat,” she calls over her shoulder. “We really need to go check the borders. You know how it is. Lots of Imperial drones floating around these days.”

Baze grunts in agreement, hoisting himself up on his tauntaun. Jyn pushes Bodhi toward his animal before making her way to her own. Cassian stops her before she can. “Jyn, wait. Please tell me you aren’t doing something stupid.”

“When have I ever done something stupid?”

He opens his mouth to respond almost immediately, but she cuts him off, already knowing his answer. “Don’t answer that. We’ll be fine, Cassian. Don’t worry.”

His mouth evens out into a tight line. “I always worry,” he mutters but lets her go. With one foot in the stirrup already, she mounts her tauntaun with ease. “Please be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” she tells him cheekily. In response, he looks at her flatly, not having to say anything, and she rolls her eyes, digging her heels into the side of the tauntaun. It rears up, then starts forward, with Baze at her side and Bodhi trailing behind them. She winks and calls behind her with a wave, “See you in a couple hours!”

--------

“Cassian is going to kill us,” Jyn groans, leaning her head back against the icy wall and closing her eyes. The cold seeps up through the floor and through her thick layers, but she can’t find the energy to stand, not with the way her whole body aches in protest every time she moves. 

“Cassian is going to kill you, little sister,” Baze mumbles from somewhere to her left, slumped in a similar position. “Maybe Bodhi, too. But Chirrut is going to kill me.”

“Nobody’s dying out here,” Bodhi intejects, then adds quickly, “ –– And no one’s getting killed, either.” Jyn cracks open an eye, lazily watching him hover over the two of them. “The tauntauns had all of out medical supplies. And they ran in the–the attack. But. . .” he wrings his hands. “We’re fine. I’m just gotta. . .”

“Don’t you dare comm anyone,” she snaps, trying to lean forward to snatch the device out of his hand, but the movement shoots agony through her side. Still, she persists, her pride winning out over her well-being. (It’s really not that bad.) “Fuck– fuck. Don’t–”

“I don’t want you bleeding out in some cave!” he retorts, worry flashing in his eyes. “Your side, is it. . .?”

“It’s fine,” she grunts, shifting slightly. Thanks to the cold, the bleeding on her side and hip has slowed to a sluggish pace. Pointedly not looking at the pool of red underneath where she sits, she raises her chin definitely and reasserts, “I’m fine, Bodhi.”

“I’m fine too, if anyone’s wondering,” Baze says with a grunt. When she turns toward him, he’s trying to stand, but his movements are shaky. He, too, hadn’t come out of this unscathed; almost as soon as she’d charged the beast, he’d been quick to follow with his repeater cannon. Somewhere in the middle of the fight, he’d gotten knocked back, landing hard against the cave wall.  

“I’m pretty sure you–you have a concussion,” Bodhi says, leveling him with a stare that sends him back to the ground. “I’ll calling Cassian. We need an medical evac.”

As Bodhi busies himself with the comm, Jyn turns to Baze. “So does this mean that Bodhi won the bet?”

Baze shakes his head. “Bodhi was never apart of the bet. It’s still on.”

“Good.”

“No, I, uh, I’m pretty sure I won,” Bodhi interrupts, raising his head to look at them. “I was the first one to kill a wampa so—I won the bet.”

“Dumb luck,” Baze grunts.

“I shot it!”

“You emptied your entire clip into its head after we wore it down for you,” Jyn informs him with a raised eyebrow. “There was no way you could have missed. Besides, you never shook on it.”

Bodhi rolls his eyes, turning away from them and fiddling with the device in his hands. “You two are just jealous that I–Cassian!”

The voice on the comm fades in and out before Cassian's voice comes out clearly, asking, “Bodhi? What’s wrong?”

“Um, we need a medical evac. Jyn and Baze–”

“We’re fine, Cassian,” she cuts in, struggling to push up against the wall and get over to where Bodhi is sitting, but she’s not able to keep the strain out of her voice as she moves. “Don’t worry about us.”

“Jyn? What happened?”

“We’re just. . .” she falters, glances around. The pain makes her sloppy, dredging the depths of her brain for a possible excuse she’d normally have at the ready. “We’re taking a quick break. It’s colder than we thought.”

“The bet was to see who could kill a wampa first,” Bodhi says loudly, speaking over her protests. “So–they both charged it as soon as they found one.”

“We did not charge it,” Jyn hisses.

“You charged it,” Baze tells her. “I only followed.”

“Don’t try–”

Cassian mutters a string of curses under his breath. “I’ll get a team assembed and head out as soon as I can. Send me your coordinates. And Bodhi –– don’t let them move.”

“I’ll do my best,” Bodhi promises, shooting a look at the two of them. “See you soon, Cassian.”

They’re silent for a few moments, the only sound is the wind whistling outside of the cave before Jyn announces, feeling a bit like she’s facing down an Imperial firing squad, “Well. We’re fucked.”

--------

 “Bodhi? Are you there?”

Bodhi scrambles to his feet at the sound of Cassian’s voice at the mouth of the cave. “Yeah! Yeah, we’re all here. Alive.”

Cassian ducks into the cave with a medic at his back, and strides ahead of them. His expression is pinched with worry. At the sight of the two of them propped up against the wall, he rushes to her side, eyes immediately going to the pool of blood underneath her. “Where are you hurt?"

“I’m fine,” she says on instinct as he cups her face, searching her eyes for any pain. His thumb unconsciously strokes a few lines against her cheek, his touch warming her skin even through his gloves. “My side is just a little. . .banged up.”

"Jyn. . ." 

"I'm not lying," she insists but he says nothing. All he can do is stare down at the wound on her side, the lines on his face growing tighter and tighter with worry as the medic begins to cut away part of her clothing to expose her injury. 

He leans in closer, trying to see over her at what the medic's doing. As he does so, the fur of his parka hood brushes against her skin. "Jyn," he says again. "I distinctly recall asking you to be careful.”

“I was careful,” she stresses. Cassian shifts to the side but remains crouched next to her. Combined with the cold, the position must be hell on his back and leg, but he doesn’t move to get up; however, when she turns to tell him that he doesn't need to be so close, the medic pokes at her side hard enough that she flinches, the words dying on her tongue. 

In response to her wince, Cassian reaches for her hand, squeezing it gently. Her wound really isn’t that bad and she really doesn't need him to hold her hand. . . but she doesn’t tell him that. Instead, she squeezes back in what she hopes is a reassuring manner, sinking into the small amount of comfort it provides her. 

“What happened?” he asks tersely, perhaps in an attempt to distract her from the pain as the medic stabilizes her injury enough so it doesn’t worsen on the return to base. 

Ever since Bodhi had called him, she’d been planning on what to say. Before she can even start, though, Bodhi cuts her off. 

“She hopped off her tauntaun without a weapon and charged the wampa,” Bodhi snaps. “Then Baze –– their bet to see who could kill one first––” 

Jyn widens her eyes, her jaw dropping in shock at the uncharacteristic outburst. Bodhi blinks, looking as surprised as her to have said that out loud, then backtracks, perhaps to apologize. “I–”

“No, you’re right, Bodhi,” Cassian says, looking down at where she’s sitting. There’s a crease between his eyebrows that she wants to rub away with her thumb. “Neither of them were careful.”

She sighs heavily, hitting her head against the wall. Baze grunts next to her but keeps silent. The medic stands at her side, breaking the silence that follows. “Sergeant Erso is stable enough to be moved, sir.”

Cassian nods. “Thank you.”

With that, he bends down to sweep her into his arms bridal style. Jyn’s eyes widen, an undignified noise coming out of her mouth before she covers it with a spitted curse. “Cassian––”

“You lost your walking privileges when you charged a wampa,” he mutters, curling her tighter to his chest as he carries her outside the cave. His bad leg drags behind him slightly, making his gait uneven, but he makes no move to set her down. Behind them, the medic assists Baze to his feet, keeping a firm hold on his arm when he mutters something about being able to walk on his own.

She grumbles under her breath but when they emerge from the cave and step out into the biting cold, she buries her face into his coat to hide from the wind. 

He sighs, hitching her up in his arms further. “You can’t be making foolish bets like this, Jyn. Not when you’re risking your life unnecessarily.”

Unable to let it go entirely, she argues weakly, “The bet wasn’t foolish –”

“Yes, it was.”

Cassian’s firm response makes her pause. After a beat of contemplation, she exhales, knowing he’s right; it’s an odd feeling, having someone care about her this much. It isn’t something she’s used to. Navigating these sorts of conversations is like walking blind through a minefield. 

“Okay, fine,” she agrees reluctantly. Remembering the look on his face when he’d rushed into the cave, she adds, “I . . . didn’t mean to worry you.” 

“Just don’t do it again,” he tells her. “No more bets like this.”

"Fine," she says, the pain in her side draining her energy to argue. "No more bets." 

(Since he’s said nothing about it, she assumes that friendly competitions are fine, but doesn’t push the matter any further.)

"I'm glad you're safe," he murmurs, so quiet she barely hears it over the whistling wind. “You’re not allowed to die, you hear me?” 

Not without me goes unspoken.

Even though her injury hadn't been life-threatening, it could have been so much worse and he hadn't been there with her. He doesn't have to say it, it's clear in his face –– Bodhi's call had scared him. On the beach, she'd been prepared to die in his arms. Now, she can't stand the thought of them being apart when it inevitably happens. 

Instead, she reaches up and grips the label of his jacket. When he looks down, she meets his gaze evenly. "You aren't either."

Not without you goes unspoken.

[astromechs]

💖 for Rebelcaptain :D

continues to keep slowly chipping away at these, don't mind me; just wanted to write something fun and silly before returning to work eats me alive over the next threeish days! here's more from modern au, featuring: the first meeting of jyn and cassian 😌 from this list; also on ao3!

There are a lot of other things that Cassian could be doing with his time right now instead of standing awkwardly by the corner of the bar at this party, awkwardly nursing the same beer he’s been holding for over an hour. The restaurant is closed for New Year’s Eve and will open late on New Year’s Day, sure, but he could be there taking inventory or getting a head start on prep. He could be experimenting for potential new additions to the menu, which is in desperate need of an overhaul, or he could be dodging calls from his sister on purpose — not because he doesn’t want to talk to her, but because she’s had this sad sigh over the phone a lot recently, one that comes too close to pity for his comfort, and he thinks he’s hit his limit on letting it grate on him.

Yet, he’s here, at this party, and there’s no one to blame but Melshi, who can somehow lay a guilt trip on thicker than anyone Cassian has ever seen; he holds this every year, see, and isn’t it insulting that one of his best friends in the entire world has never attended? It hadn’t hurt his case either that, earlier in the day over lunch, he’d leaned over the table and said, with every ounce of seriousness he’d had, “If you don’t come willingly tonight, I’m dragging you there by both of your arms myself. For fuck’s sake, Cass, you need to do something fun for once in your life.”

So far, this isn’t really Cassian’s idea of fun. He’ll concede that maybe he doesn’t really know what that even is at this point in his life, but he’s sure that it isn’t music that’s so loud it’s shredding what nerves he has left, a bar so crowded with mostly unfamiliar people that he still feels like he’s suffocating even standing in the most remote corner of it, and a sense of foreboding panic tightening in his chest more and more the longer this drags on. Going by his phone, there’s still half an hour to midnight — which might as well be an eternity.

He exhales another sigh. Takes another sip of beer that’s long since turned lukewarm.

From the looks of everything around him, he’s the only one with this problem; everyone else seems to have figured out what fun actually means. Karaoke has seen a fairly constant rotation throughout the night, and the current drunken rendition of “You Give Love A Bad Name” going has a crowd cheering around it. Others are laughing; among them is a man he recognizes as Baze Malbus, one of Melshi’s coworkers, as well as a woman close to Cassian’s own age, whom Melshi had identified, with a stupid smirk, as “Jyn Erso, and she’s single” earlier in the night before leaving him to his own devices.

Melshi hasn’t given up the campaign that’s been going for a year straight to set him up with every single person he knows. It’d resulted in just enough humoring for him to try going on a couple of dates, one with a nice enough man and another with a pleasant enough woman — but he’d stopped trying pretty quickly after that, because there just hadn’t been a point. There isn’t much of a point to anything, really. (Except the restaurant; that keeps the staff employed.)

Cassian would be lying, though, if he said his eyes hadn’t drifted toward Jyn Erso’s direction from time to time, and lingered there. And it’s not because she’s attractive (which she is, he’d be lying, again, if he said she wasn’t), but because, maybe — he can’t really explain it. There’s something about how, even from across a crowded bar, she seems to light up everything around her; her smile is bright as she looks to Baze and laughs with him, as they each simultaneously down yet another drink in quick succession. There’s a part of him that wonders what it’d be like, to be the one she’s laughing with.

The rest of him decides that it doesn’t matter, that it’s a thought as stupid as this whole party.

Fishing his phone out of his jeans pocket, he checks the screen again for the time. 11:45 PM. He’d promised Melshi he wouldn’t leave until at least midnight, and he intends to keep that promise, but the next fifteen minutes are going to be excruciating. The lukewarm beer he’s still idly holding in his left hand certainly won’t help that, though, so he sets the bottle down onto the counter with a clink and gives the bartender a silent shake of his head. And —

As he turns his attention back to the rest of the festivities, feels someone bumping into his arm, and then finds himself face to face with Jyn Erso.

It’s not surprising that he hadn’t heard her coming, because it’s hard to hear much of anything over what is now a terrible karaoke rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, but his momentary startle drives him a step backward, until the edge of the counter is digging into his side.

Jyn, though, is regarding him with narrowed eyes as she practically spits at him, “Can’t you fucking watch where you’re going?”

Cassian blinks. What? “I haven’t moved in an hour.”

Because, seriously — what?

That doesn’t move her. In fact, that only seems to narrow her eyes further, only seems to sharpen the line of her clenched jaw as she stalks forward, deliberately stepping into his space. He has at least six inches on her in height, probably more, but it’s as if that difference doesn’t exist, with the forcefulness of her presence, with the way that she seems to command his attention, like a flame lighting up a dark room.

She folds her arms across her chest, and doesn’t blink. “Well, you had to have done something, because you were in my fucking way.”

No, to her, this hadn’t just been some kind of misunderstanding.

The accusation snaps something in him, taking him out of the confusion of the past few minutes and the resigned apathy of the entire night, and toward — well, her. Off-key notes fading into the background so completely that he doesn’t even really hear them anymore, irritation prickles under his skin as he narrows his eyes at her, in turn.

As he tells her, flatly, “Sounds like you were in your own way. I don’t see why this concerns me.”

Whatever she’s had in her mind? This should be the end of it. He doesn’t have the time, nor the fucking patience, to have accusations hurled at him about things he hasn’t even done. Forget his promise; he’s done with this.

He makes a move to turn on his heel, but before he can actually accomplish that, fingers curl, tightly, around the sleeve of his jacket, stopping him.

Jyn’s eyes, boring into this, are harder than ever.

“That’s it?” she demands. “That’s all you’ve got to say for yourself?”

“What else would I have to say for myself?” Cassian scoffs, but somehow, even as stupid as this is, he doesn’t wrench his arm away; he doesn’t even flinch. “You bumped into me.”

She drops her hand from his arm, but she doesn’t otherwise go anywhere. Standing her ground. “You always this much of an asshole?”

Leaning into her space just a little closer now, he lifts a brow. “You always ready to pick a stupid fight for no reason?”

That suddenly, inexplicably, gets a laugh out of her — barely, just a huff of one, but this close, he hears it over the commotion of the bar around them. Sees it, too, in the shift of her face; her jaw softens, her hard eyes brighten, reflecting the light she’d emanated before. All thoughts of leaving, of much of anything at all, disappear as he’s caught in the moment, watching her as she watches him.

This is what it’s like, to be that person she’s laughing with. It’s lighter than anything he’s known in a long time.

Distantly, the crowd begins shouting out a countdown in unison; he catches the last three… two… one….

Midnight.

Before he knows what’s happening, she’s bracketed his face with her hands, and pulled it down to her level to roughly crash her mouth into his.

Since thought has left him, he just acts; there’s barely any hesitation at all before he’s meeting her, melting into her. He follows the muffled sound that escapes her as she parts her lips under his, inviting him in. One hand wraps around her waist, resting at the small of her back, while the other reaches for her face and cups her chin, tilting it up at a better angle.

Fun doesn’t seem like the word to use (he’s still really not sure what that’s supposed to mean), but he’s found something he enjoys, that he wants more of — and it’s kissing her. It’s holding her close, their bodies pressed flush together, the heat of her seeping into him and making the chill of the evening outside a long-forgotten memory. It’s —

A whoop, one that he clearly recognizes as belonging to Melshi, cuts into his peripheral awareness from somewhere in the distance, and, at the same time, they break away.

But they don’t go far; her thumb still tracing his jaw, her breath still warm on his face, she seems as reluctant as he does to end this, no matter the crowd that’s apparently started to gather around them. Cassian doesn’t know how long after midnight this had lasted, and honestly, he doesn’t care, because all he sees is the flush in her cheeks, the light in her eyes.

All he hears is breathless, rasped possibility: “I’m a few blocks away.”

The corners of his mouth quirk into something close to a smile. He tells her, low, so no one else can hear, “I’m around the corner.”

She briefly presses her lips to his again, a confirmation in and of itself, even as she murmurs against them, “Your place it is, then.”

And maybe, he thinks, as his heart skips a beat and his breath is still trying to catch up, there’s a point to something.

[colleybri]

Reading the Rogue One novelisation really brings home the failure of the Rebel “Alliance” in this scene. Unlike in the film, the novel emphasises that this was a meeting that took place over several hours, with presentation of all the available evidence regarding the Death Star … And still the Alliance voted against attempting to steal the plans. No wonder Jyn feels abandoned, as has happened so many times in her life already.

Andor season 2 will hopefully explore the conflicting voices within the disparate rebel cells (the groups Saw scornfully lists as “Lost!”)… the deals and compromises needed to make the Rebel Alliance as well as the cooperation. But I think it's quite telling that the Alliance effectively fails at the moment when it's needed most. In the face of the odds, the consensus is… not to fight. Jyn simply can’t believe her ears when she hears talk of surrender. She had at least thought that the Alliance would do something! Honestly, it’s one of the darkest moments in the entire film. In the entire Star Wars franchise.

The official decision leaves it to Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bhodi, K-2SO, Melshi and a relative handful of other brave volunteers to take Jyn's words to heart. They know that they might well run out of chances. They accept that. They feel they have no choice.

Cassian first made that discovery five years previously, but it's implied that he has been gradually spiritually brow-beaten by the accumulated darkness of what and who he has lost and what he has had to do. Jyn has rekindled the flame in his soul… she’s reminded him of his purpose because when he looks at her, he sees so much of himself. When he volunteers, she says "I'm not used to people sticking around when things go wrong."

His reply is the beautiful "Welcome home". It's as if the union of the Rogue One mission is the family she's been looking for all her life. Cassian’s already proved unswerving loyalty to her by disobeying his order to kill her father. These people have known each other only a few days, and some of the unnamed volunteers now are complete strangers to her. But in giving their lives as individuals, devoting themselves to this their new family, - the true "rebel alliance" as in an alliance of a handful of genuine rebels - will ultimately triumph.

Mon Mothma looked suitably ashamed when she told Jyn "I'm sorry… the odds are too great". She seems aware of the failure of the political method. Thank goodness for the bravery of those who sometimes decide that the right thing to do is to disobey orders. Even if that means paying the ultimate price. 

“Make 10 men feel like 100” is a great line. But honestly… for every 10 men here, there should have been 100.

Rogue One: thank you for your sacrifice….

…A sacrifice that unites them forever.

[whitedatura]

Holy cow, I wrote 200 genuinely new words of Drink Like a Fish this morning.

I'm so mad at myself for not finishing this shit, you have no idea. I have had the last chapter plotted out for I don't even know how long. I have 6000 words of it written. I have more scenes pretty well outlined. I just. I dunno. My writing juices dried the fuck up, not that they've ever been particularly cooperative of me completing long fics. (I don't want to talk about the 70k words of Dragon Age: Inquisition fic that will never see the light of day. Dorian gets a mabari, it was great. ...or the 30k of Baze/Chirrut fix it that will likewise never see the light of day.)

[jyndor]

My guess is that “this is a first for me” now refers to the fact that Cassian’s never been in prison while awaiting execution. He’s been sent to prison for crimes not punishable by death (not that prison wasn’t its own death sentence, at least on Narkina 5) but he’s never been locked in a cell knowing he could get a blaster bolt between the eyes within hours of being locked up. The Partisans were almost certainly planning to execute him, Chirrut and Baze; they just had to clear it with Saw first. As a secondary qualifier, it could also refer to the type of prison; it’s probably the smallest cell he’s ever been in, and it’s in a cave instead of an incarceration facility.

lol okay so i really went in on this as is my mo, not because anything you said is wrong or whatever lol it's your opinion. but it's sparked Discourse in my head rip

i feel like since the show aired i just haven't been explaining myself clearly with this but i'll try: i don't care what headcanon someone uses to handwave a thing that doesn't track 100%. i do it when something just doesn't track to ME or when i feel like telling canon to fuck off lol askdhasjdh but people will use their headcanon explanations to tell folks canon is still consistent. it's NOT lol it's a retconnnnnn

this is why i don't like retcons generally speaking. it just isn't that hard to stick to what canon already says, and while this one isn't really important at all (like it's a comment cassian makes offhandedly and can easily be handwaved like this) i think writers should try to avoid retcons (not always, sometimes things should be retconned because they're trash? but usually yeah retcons are meh). and then when you've got like a relatively small fandom like rogue one's that has been going along with what we all thought was canon until the show aired, it's extremely aggravating to be told that oh actually what we thought was true (even though until a few months ago it was) is not true anymore and aren't we crazy for not seeing that??? not that you have said any of that btw im not talking about you lol.

like i shouldn't have to qualify things to make them make sense with the main piece of media - which rogue one is. andor is a prequel to rogue one. rogue one is not a sequel to andor. andor has the responsibility to track with rogue one because it's supplementary material for rogue one. plus rogue one came out first. i shouldn't have to do mental gymnastics to make little moments in rogue one still make sense. and luckily i can divorce andor from rogue one pretty well and handwave shit and come up with my interpretations like yours and other fans' but we shouldn't HAVE to. it isn't a high bar to meet to be consistent.

when i analyze media, i always start with an out-of-universe (doylist) approach. i look for preconceived notions that might have influenced the writing, i look for motivations and at the history of the writers, etc. and then i can more easily take an in-universe (watsonian) approach. it's just hard for me to ignore inconsistencies, writer biases, real world context etc. probably because i have ocd and i am very literal. that's a personal problem lmfao.

so i can't even get there with things like this because it's obvious to me that tony gilroy, who did not write the film, wanted to tell a great story. he wanted to write what he wanted to write and wasn't super concerned with it lining up 100% with the film in a literal way. and he did. i mean all gripes aside andor is a fabulous show. easily the best thing i've seen all year. but i've still got my gripes lmfao.

in this case i think it's understandable that he'd do that because it actually doesn't make a whole lot of sense that cassian wouldn't have gotten caught by someone at some point. it is more reasonable that he would have. and for someone like the cassian in the show who is certainly anti-imperial, has politics despite what other people in the show say, but is not necessarily radicalized, yeah it makes sense that being sent to prison based on some bullshit xenophobic profiling would radicalize him. that is me doing some in-universe analysis btw.

but let's not kid ourselves. it doesn't fit with that line. before the show aired, not a single viewer thought he was lying or on some obi-wan bullshit with the "certain point of view" thing at that moment. yes, he's a liar. yes, he's a spy.

chirrut, who knows cassian is a captain not because cassian tells him he is but because of the force lol (this is why cassian gives him a weird look like 'how the fuck do you know that???'), takes him at his word and then says 'there is more than one sort of prison' meaning that just because cassian hasn't been literally locked up, it doesn't mean he doesn't have things that hold him back or imprison him metaphorically. that's the whole point of that moment - and lol it's actually kind of a more insulting retcon than I initially thought because chirrut reads cassian extremely well throughout the film with the force. but apparently he doesn't because he takes cassian at his word on jedha.

when cassian is about to go assassinate galen and he's avoiding jyn's eyes and being all shady lol, the camera keeps panning to chirrut looking away from the rest of the group but with a very disgusted expression on his face. he tells jyn that 'the force moves darkly around a creature that is about to kill' when she is like ??? the fuck do you mean by does cassian look like a killer?????

my point is that chirrut has a very good understanding of cassian's vibes in the force. chirrut takes him at his word on jedha but he is visibly disgusted by cassian on eadu. cassian actually being in prison before jedha changes chirrut's connection to the force for me. hmm now i'm mad LOL.

we were not intended to think cassian was lying on jedha. we were however intended to catch how shifty cassian was being on eadu - not making eye contact with jyn in a very overt way, not making a whole lot of sense to anyone, chirrut's callout, baze's deliberate use of "he has the face of a friend" but not that he IS a friend (although he is <333) because again. spy. mask. lying. that's what baze and chirrut call out on eadu, and what makes jyn realize that she fell for cassian's deception. it's really important that chirrut's connection to the force is credible because otherwise lol okay he's just some guy who fights well. he's not that - he's a guardian of the whills and his connection to the force is undeniable if not defined.

cassian's lying on eadu until he has his moment of truth. it's a different feel than his interactions with everyone else on jedha (although when he's talking to jyn about meeting tivik's sister he deliberately doesn't make eye contact).

cassian makes eye contact when he's being honest - the hangar scene, the eadu fight with jyn (which... lol im not even going there right now), definitely on scarif a number of times and most notably in the elevator. when he's lying, he gets avoidant.

that's a deliberate choice by the writers, director and diego ofc. in 2015/2016.

cut to 2020/2021 or whatever and tony gilroy, who did an immense amount of work on rogue one with the reshoots (allegedly mostly in the 3rd act of the film although that first scene with cassian is all him lol - also side note why couldn't he have cut the bor gullet smdh) to the point that he got a screenwriter's credit because of SWG(? the union idk) rules (totally fair of course, but i think a lot of people don't know that he didn't literally write the film or create cassian lol), is writing the best story he can and isn't really worrying about how much it tracks with minutiae from the film or like idk what pablo hidalgo wrote in guidebooks lol (pretty sure that's where the fest thing came from as well as him being 26 and jyn being 22? but also i mean im not sure if that hadn't been decided by the writers of the film).

i mean you'd have to ask him but im sure he'd say as much - that he wanted to tell a great story and as long as it was mostly consistent or could be considered consistent with who cassian will be in rogue one, it's easily handwaved or explained. and yeah that's true for most people but unfortunately for me i'm neurodivergent as hell with a hyperfixation on this dumb film and plus i have severe ocd so i notice discrepancies. and they annoy me.

i wanna be clear: i don't think this is the most egregious retcon of the show. not at all. but i'd like people to acknowledge that it is a retcon and that no, gareth edwards and chris weitz and gary whitta did not intend for cassian to be like "well actually what i meant is that technically, i have been imprisoned but i wasn't sentenced to death" or whatever reason we may now individually use to make it make sense. and i don't see a problem with doing that - i literally make headcanon all the time because canon ends in a way im sad about LOL. but this is headcanon. because canon doesn't track with itself.

also just a note: personally i think it's pretty clear cassian knows that narkina COULD be a death sentence. cassian understands narkina is dangerous as hell from the moment he steps his bare foot onto that metal floor. they fry people. he's smart, to me he knows it's a potential death sentence. but that's just my interpretation of the show.

i think the best way to handwave this retcon is to say cassian hasn't been imprisoned by rebels before or by alleged allies. or maybe in service of the rebellion.

*and cassian recognizes chirrut's force-ishness immediately, which is why he asks if he's a jedi. (it's why im like lol everyone just shut up about cassian not knowing what jedi are, i don't need an explanation for how he learns about them. i don't need them to make a big thing of whether or not cassian knows what jedi are because of course he does, jedi are in fact extremely well known in the galaxy and this is an area where im like tony gilroy stay on your lane XD)