#Jyn: I’m gonna fuck him even harder now

[andorerso]

Oh boy, there's so many good ones in that prompt list! I'll limit myself to three: #1 with Jyn and Cassian (trying to) have a lazy weekend; #28 and then Jyn proceeds to beat the crap out of her captor herself; or #127.

Hey! I went with #28 “Take one more step and I snap her pretty little neck.” Prepare for some angst :)

Cassian steps into the seedy motel room cautiously, his eyes trained on the man holding a blaster to Jyn’s face. He’s a human in his forties, his hair short and spiky, his clothes worn and tattered. There’s something unsavory in his eyes that would have set Cassian on edge even if he wasn’t holding his partner hostage. This is not a man to play around with, Cassian decides, because he will shoot.

“There you are,” the man says, his voice delighted as if they were old friends meeting again. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

This is about him, then. A bounty hunter? Someone out for revenge?

Cassian’s eyes sweep the room, looking for opportunities, but he doesn’t make any hasty movements, much too aware of the blaster pressed against Jyn’s temple. Stay calm, stay collected, stay professional. He’s always been good at compartmentalizing, and now all he focuses on is the stranger watching him with a greedy grin. There’s a syringe on the table but Cassian ignores that for now. Could they escape through the window?

“Drop your weapons,” the man tells him, and Cassian obeys, slowly putting down his blaster and removing two vibroblades from his breast pocket and his pants. He kicks them in the man’s direction.

“All of them,” the man says, and Cassian gets rid of another two blades from his boots.

“That’s all of them,” he speaks at last, even though he does have one more vibro-shiv tucked inside his right sleeve.

“Good. Now stand up. Careful. Take one more step and I snap her pretty little neck.”

Cassian keeps himself from grimacing, unwilling to give this man an ounce of leverage. It was only a small step forward, disguised as him straightening up, but the man is clearly not a rookie who wouldn’t pick up on it. He had to be careful here.

“Let her go,” Cassian says, his voice even. It’s a long shot but he has to try.

Jyn hasn’t said a thing yet and he tries not to look at her face. He thinks if he did look, she’d be more pissed than scared. Of course she would be, his fearless Jyn. But he couldn’t look at her – he had to be in control.

“Yeah, sure. As soon as I have you.” A nasty grin lights up his face; Cassian could see his yellowing teeth. “You’re gonna make me rich, rebel scum.”

A bounty hunter then. It isn’t Cassian’s first time dealing with one – but it’s the first time they try to use someone else against him. It’s the first time he cares about anyone enough that it might work.

“There’s a syringe on the table, it’ll knock you out for a few hours,” the man tells him, nodding with his head. “Go and inject yourself with it. No sudden movements,” he emphasizes, pressing the blaster harder against Jyn’s temple. His eyes catch hers for a second, – she looks murderous – and then he’s looking away.

He hesitates. Even if he does what the guy wants, there’s no guarantee he’d keep Jyn alive afterward. In fact, the chances of him not wanting to risk Jyn coming after them – and she would, Cassian knows this as he knows his own name – are rather high. He’s going to shoot her anyway.

He has to get her out of this somehow.

“Let her go first, and I swear I’ll go willingly.”

“Cassian,” Jyn speaks up for the first time, her voice a warning and a plea at the same time. She’s begging him not to do it, but he can’t risk her life.

“Do you think I’m dumb?” the guy asks, and unfortunately no, Cassian doesn’t. It would be easier if he was.

“Do you think I am? You’ll kill her as soon as I’m unconscious.”

“Just fucking do it or I blow out her brains now,” the man growls, his grip on Jyn’s arm tightening. Cassian wants to tear his arm off for even daring to touch her, but instead, he clenches his jaw and steps towards the table.

He eyes the syringe. Injecting yourself with an unknown substance is the most idiotic mistake he could think of. No sane person would even consider it. But the alternative is Jyn dying and that… is not acceptable.

“Cassian, don’t,” Jyn begs him again, her voice holding a hint of desperation now, and he’s sorry, so fucking sorry, but he presses the needle to his arm and pushes it into his vein anyway.

It could be poison, he muses, but he doubts it. An intelligence officer is useless dead. They’d want to question him first. It’s most likely just a sedative that’ll knock him out for a few hours while the bounty hunter hands him over to the authorities.

Briefly, he thinks about the small pill hidden in his breast pocket. Not yet. He isn’t ready to give up yet, not with Jyn watching.

As soon as the syringe is empty, Cassian feels his limbs becoming heavier. Jyn. Force. I’m so sorry. He stumbles a bit, grabbing the edge of the table for support before falling to his knees. His eyes find Jyn’s at last, and she’s watching him in fear, her face filled with sorrow. Please let her go.

“Jyn,” he gasps, voice weak, and it seems to trigger her anger as she turns her head towards her captor, hissing in his face.

“I’ll find you, you hear me? I won’t stop until I find you no matter what you do, no matter where you go – you won’t have a moment of peace! I’ll hunt you down!”

Stop it, he thinks, his brain fuzzy and his vision blurring. Don’t make him kill you.

He can see the man’s eyes clouding with anger, his grip loosening on her arm as he takes a step closer and waves the blaster in her face, and that’s all it takes.

Jyn takes a wild chance by slamming her elbow into his stomach, but it works – he doubles over and she catches his blaster. Her fingers are on the trigger in a millisecond, and she aims for the head. The man falls to the floor with a thud, and Cassian can see blood splatter on Jyn’s face through his blurry vision.

She runs to him without stopping to wipe it off, gathering him up in her arms. He thinks he’s going to pass out soon but he gathers up enough energy to breathe out her name as she checks his pulse and strokes his hair.

“We have to go. There could be others,” she murmurs to him, voice gentle and still so terrified.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, then everything goes black.

Cassian wakes up lying on his cot in hyperspace, long gone from that cursed planet they left behind. He doesn’t question how Jyn managed to get him back to the ship by herself; she was nothing if not determined and resourceful. She would have carried him back herself is she had to.

Cassian stands up slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. Whatever was in his system, it leaves him still weak in the legs, his head pounding like a hammer. The mission is a bust – it might have been from the start if his informant is the one who sold him out to that bounty hunter – but he strangely doesn’t care about that right now. There’ll be time to care later when they’re back on base. Now he just wants to find Jyn.

On unsteady legs, he makes his way to the cockpit where Jyn is sitting, idly watching the stars outside. She’s not the greatest pilot in the world but he taught her just enough to be able to get herself back to base, if he was ever not with her or otherwise incapacitated. With their luck, he knew it would come in handy someday, and now it has.

She turns to look at him when she hears his footsteps, clumsier than usual, and he gives her a soft smile. “Hey.”

She stares in silence, then looks away.

“Hey. We’re still four hours away from base. You’ve been out for ten. Are you okay?” She says all this in a monotone tone that almost reminds him of himself. He watches her face before answering, noting the taut line of her jaw, the tension in her shoulders, the straight line of her lips.

“My head is pounding,” he answers honestly. They have a deal about being honest with injuries. “And my legs feel a little shaky. I think I’m fine otherwise.”

She nods once, her voice still very even. “Good.”

He sits down next to her, watching her face as she watches the stars. He can’t get a feel of why she’s angry yet. At him for injecting himself? At the bounty hunter who outplayed them both? At herself for – in her mind – failing him? He decides to prod her a bit.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

He’s silent for a moment, deciding his best approach. “What happened?” he asks in the end, choosing not to push her just yet.

Her eyes close briefly and her mouth twists – a small sign of anger.

“He was waiting in the room. Caught me off-guard. He was lucky, nothing more.”

So she is angry at herself. He could hear it in her voice; the frustration and contempt. She believes it was her mistake, that she shouldn’t have been overpowered like that. But they’re all just human and they all make mistakes.

“Somehow, he knew he could use me against you,” she adds after a second, her voice quieter and… sorrowful. Cassian frowns. “And you let him.”

There it is. Her words are an accusation, and he’s not too surprised. She’s angry at him too. He takes a deep breath, looking out the window for a second. Trying to compose himself and his thoughts.

“We’re fine now,” he says simply. Jyn’s head snaps towards him and he turns back to her. She’s furious, a fire in her eyes as she glares at him. He looks back at her calmly, unintimidated.

“You injected yourself with something we don’t even know and then you weren’t waking up –”

“There was a bigger chance of him letting you go if I complied –”

“So I’m your weakness now?” she cuts in, her voice rising in indignation and disbelief. “I don’t want to be used against you, ever.”

She looks upset but clearly still holding back from feeling her true emotions – which was not anger but fear. Cassian fights the urge to take her into his arms and soothe all her worries with touch alone; he needs to say this, she needs to hear it.

“Jyn,” he begins slowly, his tone serious, “loving you is not a weakness. It never could be.”

“It was today,” she breathes out, her shoulders sagging as a cloudy expression overtakes her face. Cassian can’t help himself anymore. He pulls her into his arms and she goes willingly. She buries her face in his shoulder, her breathing shaky as she finally lets herself go. A few minutes pass in silence, Cassian gently rubbing her back just to let her know that he’s here.

“I was scared,” she admits once she gets her breathing under control, her voice barely audible. “I didn’t want to be the reason you were captured.”

“He had a blaster to your head,” Cassian says, the memory of it seared into his brain. He didn’t want to dwell on it too much then, but now that it’s over, he knows the sight will haunt him for a while to come. “I’m always gonna choose you.”

He pulls away to look at her, carding his fingers through her hair as she stares up at him with sad green eyes.

“Maybe that’s a weakness in a way.” He strokes a finger down her cheek, flicking her chin with a gentle smile. It earns him a tiny quirk of her lips and he’ll take that as a win. “But it’s also my strength.”

She looks at him for a while, contemplating, her big green eyes seeing right through his soul. Eventually, she puts her head back on his chest, her arms wrapping around his waist as she clings to him like a loth-cat. He holds her just as tightly, his chin falling on her shoulder.

“You’ll always be my strength, Jyn.”

[rockcandyshrike]

28 & 29 (Pride and Children) w/ Spiritassassin!

Jordan I love you and can always rely on you to give me the energy and inspo to write cute shit. Have 1302 words I spat out in between work (which is the reason this took me 2 weeks to fill bc clients are emotional vampires). I’m gonna throw this up on AO3 too after i figure out a fucking title

--

Baze had wept at the first Naming.

He would grumble into his sage’s beard that he was “too old to cry like a babe” whenever Chirrut brought it up, but on that bright Taungsday morning when Hegu and B’asia Vanwi pressed a tiny bundle of hopes and dreams and newborn wrinkles into his arms with a shy, “We named him Baze...”

Baze the Elder had teared up faster than a busted sprinkler and Baze the Younger, a sympathetic crier like his namesake, followed suit with a piercing squall that could shatter the heavens. Chirrut remembers the Force singing around them brighter than winter skies as B’asia took the cantankerous infant back, Baze turning his face to hide his sniffles into Chirrut’s shoulder as he wrapped an arm around his verklempt husband and teased the Vanwis about naming the next one after him.

Chirrut chuckles at the memory while he leans against the kitchen counter, rubbing green camphor balm onto his creaking joints. The weather on Ilthon, the small Outer Rim planet where the Jedhan survivors had settled and established Little Jedha, isn’t as harsh as it was on Jedha, but age is catching up with him and his body complains more than it used to—though not as much as Baze’s. He tilts his head and listens through the open lace-curtained window to his husband teaching Baze Vanwi the difference between weeds and borro shoots. A gaggle of neighborhood children that the two Guardians frequently babysit are playing Jedi on the other side of the backyard, clacking sticks against each other sharply and shouting “vvoom vvoom! Force push!” in loud, excited voices. Chirrut smiles with the purest happiness in the universe.

Hegu and B’asia had indeed named their next child after Chirrut, a healthy bouncing baby girl who had shot out of her mother so quickly, B’asia had nearly delivered her in the hospital reception room. Somehow, it had set off a trend amongst the other survivors, and now, almost a decade and a half after the founding of the New Republic, there are seven Bazes and six Chirruts causing havoc in Little Jedha, not including the originals. There’s also a Chirze and a Barrut, but they prefer to be called Qi and Bear. Most of the children go by nicknames, so when a person talks about Chirrut and/or Baze in Little Jedha, it’s generally assumed they’re referring to the Guardians who had helped lead and shape their enclave into what it was today. But Chirrut (Jaesa) Vanwi, AKA CJ, is indisputably the leader of the pack whacking each other with sticks at the moment; Chirrut can hear her hollering commands like a certain princess-general.

Baze comes inside for a drink, leaving Zee, Ace, Flori (not her twin sister Tori) Rook and CJ’s older brother Bao to theoretically “tend” the garden; though really, Zee is making triple-tier mud cakes, Flori is overwatering the tulips, Bao is preoccupied with counting seeds, and Ace is dueling snails with Della Gimm.

“Working hard or hardly working?” Chirrut playfully gibes his husband as he brushes past him to the sink, dropping a kiss to Chirrut’s temple as he snags his empty mug to refill with tea like the thoughtful, wonderful Force-blessing that he is.

“What are you smiling like a dope for?” Baze retorts, shuffling through the pantry for his favorite tin of tea. 

Chirrut quirks a brow, but his shit-eating grin doesn’t budge an inch.  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” 

Baze snorts at him, equal parts exasperation and fondness as always, and Chirrut turns his ear towards it out of instinct, an instinct carved into his soul since their first meeting. “To answer your question, herding these children is harder than any duan trial I've ever endured. Leru tried to shove a rock up xer nose twice, and Bunny almost stabbed Ruto with a trowel after she threw some grass at her.”

“Ah, young love,” Chirrut reminisces, “I remember it well.”

“Hardly,” Baze scoffs in faux derision pouring the electric kettle into the Ewok mug Jyn had gifted him as a joke. “One of these days, she’s going to break Ruto’s nose.”

“She’s Vobati, darling, they don’t have noses."

“One of these days, she’s going to break whatever Ruto has that’s analogous to a nose," Baze corrects himself while he hands a steaming mug to Chirrut, settling next to him against the counter.

Chirrut laughs at his husband’s obstinance and lightly shoves him in the shoulder with his own. “They’re not so different from us, and you and I have been together for over 50 years."

“I have tolerated you for over 50 years,” Baze grouses behind his mug, but Chirrut can feel the gravitational presence of his husband’s dark eyes focused upon him, his aura in the Force going softer than powdered sugar on kiss-puffed lips, wrapping around him the way clouds embrace mountain peaks.

“And you will into eternity,” he chirps gaily and quaffs an obnoxious slurp of his tea.

Baze opens his mouth to respond but is cut off by an unholy blood-curdling screech from the backyard. Their heads whip around towards the sound on high alert, hands going to where their weapons would rest, but relax when they hear CJ yell, “I’M OKAY!”

“That child…” Baze mutters under his breath, soothing his racing heart with a sip of first flush silverio.

Chirrut laughs again, a wry tinge to the upswing as he rubs his husband’s back. “She's a weapons-grade firecracker.”

“Of course she is, she was cursed with your name.”

"I have the medkit right here for the inevitable bloodshed." Chirrut taps the recycled cookie tin next to him. “Stocked full of X-wing bandaids and tooth-rotting suckers.”

Baze takes another sip and sighs deep enough to open up a sinkhole beneath them. “I’m too old to be chasing after an entire legion of Chirruts.”

Light dances like a flurry of snow in Chirrut’s eyes as he trails a hand up Baze’s neck to his weathered face, drawing worshipful fingers along the aged crisscrossing lines, his sagging jowls pockmarked by shrapnel scars from shielding Chirrut with his body on Scarif, before giving him a gentle patronizing pat on the cheek. “I’m more concerned about the little pride of Bazes outside. If we’re not careful, they might just eat up all the dirt.”

“It’s part of a healthy diet,” Baze snarks on cue and Chirrut cracks up.

He’s caught slightly off-guard when Baze catches his chin in one hand and swallows his laughter with a kiss that resonates through his bones sharp and brilliant as kyber, a kiss that would have set him aflame when they were younger; Chirrut yields to it blissfully, the only thing in the universe he’ll surrender for.

A chorus of “Eeeeeeeewwww!” shrills behind them and Chirrut snickers as Baze drops his head to sigh into his shoulder, beleaguered yet amused. Chirrut hands him his mug and he takes it readily.

Chirrut gives him one more kiss, then flips his staff into his hand and turns with a roar, “Foolish little Jedi, your power cannot match a Sith’s!”

The children shriek delightedly as Chirrut stomps into the backyard with his shirt pulled over his head like a fool and Baze watches from the doorway, content as can be.

He glances at the calendar by the wall-chrono and smiles when he remembers what’s planned for next weekend. Althin had almost exploded with joy when he asked them to attend the Naming of his first child, the young man standing even taller than Baze but fidgeting like he was eight years old again when he handed them the invitation. Althin’s partner is also Rodian, but Baze has a gut feeling they won’t be giving their firstborn a traditional Rodian name.

Baze leaves himself a reminder to bring tissues.

[moonprincess92]

OOOKAY YOU WANT A PROMPT YOU GET A PROMPT JORDAN - Gym AU sounds like it could be fun (or hot. or both. That is up to you ^^)

ok this is 100% not a gym au bc i tried i really absolutely did, so I instead present to you for consideration: a sailing au! (read on ao3) 

The first time they meet, she’s 16 and ready to destroy.

(He’s 17 and was forced into this).

“Jyn’s small, the two of you can go together,” Draven suggests literallyminutes before the two of them are apparently attempting to rig a lasertogether, whatever that means. The breeze is at least warm. The sun shines downthrough the clouds and he honestly has to shield his eyes from the glare offthe boat. Or maybe that’s the girl he’s been paired up with. She moves withutter confidence, pulling this and tying that, and his utter incompetencebecomes rather obvious very quickly in comparison. Eventually, the tiny girlputs her hands on her hips and exclaims,

“You don’t put the tiller on until you’re in the water.”

“Sorry,” Cassian hastily drops the contraption onto the rough sand undertheir feet, which naturally only makes the girl seethe more.

“YOU DON’T JUST DROP IT–”

“Sorry! I don’t know what I’m doing!” Cassian holds up his hands as Jyndives down to pick up said tiller and place it gently back into the hull of theboat. “I’ve never sailed before!”

“I can tell, you suck at this.” 

“Hey!”

“I’ve been sailing since I was four,” Jyn lifts her nose a little, herblack hair tucked underneath the official ‘Yavin Junior Yacht Squadron’ cap.“You’re one of the kids from the home, right? Like, no parents and stuff?”

He nods. Cassian isn’t dumb. He knows how this works, understands thathe doesn’t really belong here. He’s been living in the foster home ever sincehe was six and this is just another activity that his carers are trying out inthe hopes of giving all the children equal opportunities in life. Last year itwas rock climbing (he’d actually gotten pretty good) and the year before it wasa pottery making class (his looked like shrunken heads, but he’d at leasttried) and this year it is apparently sailing. Every Saturday for theentire summer, he is going to be forced down to the Yavin Yacht Club and theinstructors are going to attempt to teach him how to sail without fuckingdestroying something… to be fair, he hadn’t counted on the tiny partner.

Jyn’s supposed to be telling him what to do, but she ends up rigging theentire boat herself and honestly, it’s probably for the best. If Cassian had toattempt any of the ridiculous knots she’s doing, they’d probably drown outthere. The wind shakes the trees as they all work, the lake-side beach dottedwith about twelve to fifteen small boats all manned by kids literally anywhereas young as eight. Jesus. They actually let kids do this? Theeldest is probably Ben, who lives in the home with Cassian and is 17 too, butwhen he glances over at him Ben at least looks like he is enjoying learning howto make these boats safe enough to go out on the water.

Cassian, on the other hand, is just praying that he doesn’t dietoday. 

“So uhh, what happens if we get hit by a water-skier?” he asks.

Jyn barely glances up. “The skiers are in a different part of the lake.”

“Ok, but what if we crash into another boat?”

“These boats are all donated,” Jyn shrugs. “They’ll probably break andwe’ll get yelled at.”

“Are you seriously not even scared of drowning?”

“We have life-jackets and Draven’s always out there in the chase boat,”Jyn rolls her eyes. “Blimey, calm down, mate.”

“What if the boat tips over?”

“Look,” Jyn slams her hands down onto the side of the now fully-riggedLaser. “I win every summer regatta, and I’m not having you mess up my record!Just do what I tell you and we’ll be fine.”

He decides to take her word for it. She certainly sounds confidentenough.

“I am so fucking dead,” he mutters as they push the boat towards thewater.

He’s still not used to the terminology, so when Jyn says it’s a landstart he just assumes that they’ll push the boat out and start racing straightaway, which thankfully turns out to be right. What turns out to be harder,however, is throwing himself up into a boat that’s already caught the wind andis barely big enough for two people. “Where am I supposed to go?!” he yells.

“Just stay up front and keep your head down!” Jyn calls over the wind.She has no problems leaping gracefully into the boat. Cassian, on the otherhand, jumps in what he assumes is a fucking spectacular salmon impression. Hedoes as he’s told, clambering to the front of the boat, but still manages toaccidentally hit himself on something as he lies on his back. His legs are toolong and end up hanging over the side and he rather feels like screwing up hiseyes and hoping for the best… but he finds it in him to remember that he’s apart of this race, like it or not. He glances up at the sail full of air, thenup at Jyn.

Boy, that was a mistake.

She’s perched up on the side of the boat, the wooden tiller in one handand a blue rope that seems to be attached to the sail in the other. Her cap isclipped to her t-shirt and she’s wearing a swimsuit underneath so that all hecan notice is her bare legs resting not even inches away from his face. Heswallows anxiously before hastily turning to see where in the hell they’resupposed to go.

Was the boat really supposed to go this fast?

“What are we aiming for?” he calls up to her.

“That yellow buoy over there!” She points with her foot, which nearlygives him a heart attack. “We have to go around it to port, then down to thebottom mark, then back up, then back to the shore.”

“I didn’t understand a word of that.”

“It’s just a windward-leeward!”

“Are you even speaking English?”

“For god’s sake – TACKING!” she suddenly yells out and before he canthink, a giant metal pole is heading straight for his face. He yelps, duckingdown so quickly that he slams his ass against a cleat of some kind and Jynlaughs, already gracefully perched on the other side of the boat.

“I told you to keep your head down.” 

“You didn’t say when!”

“I thought you’d at least know what a tack is – move so your head is uphere!” 

It’s a mission to manoeuvre his body in the tiny boat, but he somehowmanages it and honestly, it’s a lot less terrifying when his head is away fromthe water. A gust of wind, however, makes the boat tip even more and he feelshis heart ram through his throat. Jyn is thankfully non-phased and simply letsout a little of the blue rope she’s holding, which seems to stabilise the boatonce more.

“Ok, clearly I have overestimated your sailing knowledge,” she says.“Let me give you a crash course.”

“Not exactly the phrasing one would like to hear when on a boat in themiddle of a lake.”

She rolls her eyes and if he isn’t mistaken, it sounds likeshe snickers a little too. “Sailing 101!” she says. “You can’t saildirectly into the wind, so if that’s the direction you want to go, you have tozig-zag. Every time the bow – the front – of the boat moves across the wind tothe other side is called a tack. The boom is this thing–” She leans so she canslam a hand down onto the metal pole that had nearly taken him out earlier.“–and every time we tack it’s gonna swing to the other side, so you have towatch out.”

“Right.”

“This is the tiller, it’s basically the steering wheel,” Jyn carries on,indicating the wooden handle she’s holding. “Except if you want to go left, youmove it right, and if you want to go right, you move it left.”

“Perfect.”

“This is the mainsheet!” She holds up the rope in her other hand. “Itcontrols the sail. The mainsail technically, but I’m not even going to mentionjibs at this point. If you’re going upwind you pull it tight, if you’re goingdownwind you let it out.”

“Great! I understand none of this!”

Jyn makes an exasperated noise. “REPEAT AFTER ME: IF IN DOUBT, LET ITOUT.”

“IF IN DOUBT, LET IT OUT!” Cassian yells back, although what he’ssupposed to let out he’s still not entirely sure.

“TACKING!”

God, he is going to have no ass by the end of this.

Honestly, they manage to do quite well until about halfway through. Ithelps that Jyn is the one who’s sailing, because he’s seriously still justalong for the ride here, despite the amount of times Jyn has tried to explain whatshe’s doing. However, just as they are approaching the first mark (and pullingahead of several other people, he might add, which has Jyn cheering) Dravenpulls up alongside them in the chase boat.

“JYN. STOP DOING ALL THE WORK, LET THE KID HAVE A GO TOO.”

It’s a miracle he can even be heard over the wind and the sound of thehull crashing into the waves, but apparently these people were well trained indeciphering loud voices over decent distances. Jyn groans and Cassian holds upa hand hastily.

“No, it’s fine, I really think it’s best you just do it anyway–” hebegins.

“I would,” Jyn rubs her forehead. “except I’m kinda on Draven’s hitlist. Doesn’t like me… you know, for some reason.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

It just comes out and he cringes at the look she gives him. However,instead of being blasted to pieces by her laser eyes, she almost seems takenaback. Like she didn’t realise that he had it in him. She beckons him closerand says, “Come up here.”

“Up there?” Cassian indicates where she’s sitting right on theedge of the boat, sometimes even leaning out right over the water when the windgets strong. He seriously hopes his voice didn’t squeak just then. He coughsquickly before adding, “But the boom will kill me!”

“Not if you do it right, come on – your weight will at least save mefrom having to counter all the time,” She reaches out and grabs him by thelifejacket, practically hauling him up. He moves until he’s by her side,wind slaming into his face and making his eyes water. Any second nowthey’re going to hit a wave and he’ll be thrown overboard, or they will tackagain and he’ll be knocked out cold… but for a second, he sits there and feelssomething like adrenaline run through him. His skin is prickling but herealises he’s smiling and he turns back to face Jyn.

“See, this isn’t so bad is it?” she points out. Then, she’s handing himthe blue rope and that’s about when the panic sinks in again. “Hold that, pullit when I tell you to and remember: if in doubt, let it out.”

“IF IN DOUBT, LET IT OUT.”

“You don’t have to scream that every time.”

“Sorry, I’m a little on edge.”

Jyn rolls her eyes, but they’re coming up on the yellow buoy bobbingaround in the water and she shifts a little. “Right, we’re going to tack aroundthe mark – BODHI!” she suddenly screams across the water to another boatnearby. “BEAR THE FUCK OFF, MATE!”

“Is he going to crash into us?” Cassian fights to keep calm. The kid whoapparently went by the name of Bodhi was getting rather dangerously close tothem as they approached the mark and Jyn threw up her middle finger at him.

“Nah,” Jyn rolled her eyes. “He’s just got right of way, so the bastardis purposefully trying to push us down so we don’t make it round the mark–”

“Honestly, you’re still speaking a lot of boat lingo here and I don’t–”

“Tacking!”

“Jesus Christ–”

They literally only just make it around the mark. Bodhi’s laser zipspast with a laugh, mainly because Cassian’s attempt to clamber to the otherside of the boat meant that he didn’t let out the rope in his hands as theymoved to the downwind leg. Their loss of power slows them down considerably,until of course Jyn screams, “LET IT OUT!” and he lets go of the ropecompletely.

“Bloody hell…” Jyn rubs her forehead, their sail now flapping uselesslyand kind of terrifyingly in the wind. She yanks at the mainsheet, pulling it inenough that they start to get momentum again before shoving it back into hishands.

“I told you putting me in charge of anything was a bad idea,” Cassiansays, weakly.

She doesn’t even answer that time, which he is a little grateful for.Thankfully, he discovers that there’s a significantly lesser threat of tippingover going downwind. Naturally, they had to be going what seemed to be evenfaster, but for a while at least he’s able to just sit there without having tomove very much. Other boats, he notices, are zipping past them, but Jynapparently doesn’t seem to care much anymore. After several minutes oflistening to nothing but the rush of air, Jyn suddenly turns to ask,

“So what’s the story?”

He glances back at her. “What do you mean?”

She’s completely unabashed and it throws him a little. “We’re gonna bestuck on this boat for at least another hour together, we might as well get toknow each other. Why are you here?”

If anyone else asked him like that, he would’ve said to fuck off. Buthis life is literally in this girl’s hands, and the way she looks at him makeshim get a niggly feeling that she has a story too somewhere, underneath the hatand lifejacket.

“Every summer, the foster home chooses something for us all to do,”Cassian explains, casually. “Something to keep us occupied, out of trouble,exposing us to the world’s endless opportunities… or some shit like that.”

“And they chose sailing this summer?”

“I’ve been dreading it ever since school got let out.”

“What year are you?”

“It’s gonna be my last year in September,” Cassian answers. He’sactually been trying not to think about it too much. “You?”

“Same. I’m young in my year, my birthday’s in August.”

“And you’ve really been sailing since you were four?”

“My parents used to sail,” Jyn shrugs. “I’ve been on boats as long as Ican remember, four was just the first time I was officially allowed to join theclasses at the club.”

“And you’ve… always liked it?”

She glances at him with something like a smirk. “Are you trying to askif I’ve ever been scared?”

“Well, I have to admit that I haven’t been able to breathe properly eversince we arrived at the club and it would be reassuring to know if that feelingwill ever go away.”

Jyn lets out a snort of laughter, which at least sounds promising.“Sailing shouldn’t be terrifying,” she says. “It can be dangerous if you don’tknow what you’re doing, but honestly it’s fun. Especially when the wind isdecent like this,” She holds out her spare arm then, flinging it up into theair. The wind tosses her ponytail up from behind her and she practically soarsover the water.

She could’ve been flying.

He swallows a little with difficulty before asking, “And if the wind iscrap?”

“Then you’re literally floating on a hunk of fibreglass in the middle ofa lake,” she catches his look and adds, “… it’s a real hit or miss kind ofhobby.”

He smiles a little. In their downwind interlude, it seems that they’vefinally caught up with the main group of boats, although the downside appearsto be that they are approaching yet another mark. Jyn shifts a little as theywatch the buoy grow bigger and bigger as they get closer.

“Right,” she says. “Now at the bottom mark you have to gybe aroundinstead of tack. That means instead of crossing the wind with the bow of theboat, you’re going to use the stern. It can be a bit harder than tackingbecause the wind catches suddenly, so you have to control it–” 

“I appreciate the lesson,” Cassian says, desperately. “but maybe justtell me exactly what to do–”

“Ok, fine, swap places!” She suddenly crouches forward, gesturingquickly that he should scoot further towards the back of the boat and replaceher hand that had been holding the tiller. While quite happy to hand over themainsheet, Cassian realises that he’s now in charge of steering the boat andhonestly, it might be even more of a nerve-wracking job.

“When I tell you,” Jyn calls from her new place on his other side,reaching up with a gloved hand and holding onto the elaborate pulley system ofropes that controlled the sail. “you’re going to push the tiller away from you,ok?”

“Ok.”

“You can sound a bit more confident,” she throws back with a slighttease.

That’s news to him, but he doesn’t have time to dwell on the way she looksat him in that moment. The buoy is floating right in front of him and hefreezes until Jyn yells, “Now!” He pushes, and their Laser suddenly swingsaround at a rather alarming speed. Jyn swears spectacularly as the ropes areliterally ripped from her hands, the boom slamming across the boat so quicklythat it’s a miracle that Cassian ducked in time. Before he can think, she slamsa hand on top of his on the tiller and she’s pulling it just a fraction, enoughthat they thankfully come under control once more.

“Jesus Christ,” she exclaims. “I said push away you, I didn’t sayyank it!”

“I didn’t know how hard I was supposed to push!”

“I might be going out on a limb here, but can we at least try and haveno more heart attacks for the rest of the race?”

“Oh, I don’t know…”

She laughs.

The second upwind leg unfortunately goes a little rougher than thefirst. The wind’s certainly picked up, and the two of them are forced to sitright on the edge of the boat to keep it balanced. Jyn insists on swapping placesagain and his heart is slamming somewhere in his throat every time they have tolean back over the water. “On the plus side,” he says at one point. “I thinkI’m getting the hang of this–”

Naturally, as soon as the words are out of his mouth a strong gustsuddenly slams into their sail. The small Laser keels dangerously over and hestruggles to let the mainsheet out fast enough. The last thing he hears beforethey spectacularly capsize is Jyn shrieking and a loud splash.

Then, he hits the water.

“SHIT, that’s cold!” he yelps once his head breaks the surface.

Jyn’s next to him, spluttering a little and pushing back her fringe. Herhat is bobbing along next to her in the water, still attached to her shirtthanks to the tie. Their Laser is flopped forlornly onto its side, the sailbeing the only thing keeping it upright, although Cassian is certain that itwon’t take long for the water to pull it under. He catches Jyn’s eye andsuddenly, she’s swimming over to him and apparently laughing her ass off.

“You made me capsize in the first race of the season!” She hits him onthe shoulder once she’s close enough. “Good god, I’m never living this onedown.”

“I tried to let it out, I really did–”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” she shakes her head, grinning. “C’mon, let’sjust get the fucking boat back up.”

Thankfully, it’s a fairly simple concept getting the Laser back up theright way. The two of them swim around to where the centre board is sticking upout of the water and pull, pull until the sail finally swings back up out ofthe water… the hard part is apparently getting back in said boat. Jyn hasabsolutely no problems hoisting herself up out of the water, drippingeverywhere as she clambers back in, but admittedly for a second he wonderswhether she’s going to simply set off without him and leave him in the Laser’swake. His throat only clenches for a second however, since she turns andreaches down for him, grabbing him by the lifejacket. His return to the boatisn’t quite so graceful. He perfects his earlier salmon impression, floppingover her lap as he’s hauled up into the boat once more. It’s freezing with thewind slicing against his wet skin and his teeth chatter as he strugglesupright.

But he looks up at Jyn as she still holds onto his lifejacket… and hewonders if it would be in poor taste to compare it to being held by a lifeline.

“Oh, I am fucking TERRIBLE at it,” Cassian practically shouts over themusic that pounds the walls of the clubhouse. “We ended up capsizing so manytimes that we pulled a crack in the hull and the Laser fucking sank.”

“Cassian, I know,” Kay says. “People have been making fun ofyou all evening.”

It turns out that sailors like to party as much as they like to rib eachother. Everyone was polite and formal during the actual prize giving, apartfrom a few ‘fun’ awards that had been handed out, including ‘Best BuoyCollision’, ‘Best Man Overboard’ and ‘Best Sinking of An Entire Boat’… he andJyn had won the latter one amidst a lot of cheers and teasing. Thankfully, oncethe prize giving was over, a disco lightbulb was screwed in and the musicturned up loud, the after party getting well underway. Of course, with amajority of the attendees being under 18, it basically just involved a bunch ofkids jumping around a makeshift dance floor, teens hanging out in clumps andgroups around the edges of the hall while the parents and other adults dranktoo much beer at the bar. Cassian thankfully at least knows Kay and the otherkids from the foster home. The tall, lanky 17-year-old might be his onlyfriend, but Kay has been with him almost as long as they’ve both been in thehome, and though his abruptness might leave most people a little slighted,Cassian honestly appreciates him.

“Just think, though,” Kay says as they eye up the dance floor withtrepidation. “you could’ve been the poor bugger who fell out and their partnersailed off without them.”

“Might I remind you WE SANK THE ENTIRE BOAT?”

“You managed to get it back onto shore again.”

“Yeah,” Cassian shakes his head. “after having to be rescued by the chaseboat! God, Jyn isn’t going to want anything to do with me after this…”

“Why do you care?” Kay asks in genuine confusion.

“Kay, I think your ace-ness is showing,” Cassian snorts. His best friendgives a dawning look before immediately seeking out the girl that Cassian isn’tquite ready to admit that he’d had an eye on all evening. She’s across theclubhouse on the other side of the dance floor, laughing at something someonehas said within the group of friends she stands with. Her hair is no longer tiedback under her cap, but left down to dry around her face and it’s kind of hardto look at, to be honest. Kay glances back at him with an expression thatclearly says, really?

“She’s cute, ok?” Cassian throws up his hands.

“I give it a 28% chance of happening.”

“Thanks for the confidence, man,” Keen to change the subject,Cassian cuts back in again by asking, “So you clearly survived the first raceof the season, then?”

“I didn’t sink the boat, if that’s what you mean,” Kay huffs. “Honestly,turns out sailing isn’t that hard. It’s all just physics, really.”

“Of course,” Cassian says. “Think though, this is going to be our lastsummer excursion. This time next year… we’ll finally be on our own.”

“No teachers or carers anymore.”

“I find it faintly terrifying,” Cassian admits. “You?”

“Oh, no. I’m tired of it all. I’m ready to leave.”

Cassian downs his OJ like it’s beer, wishing not for the first time thatevening that it was. He doesn’t know where Kay’s pragmatism comes from. Hemight be ready to face the world, to go out on his own, get a job, get a life,look after himself, but something in Cassian is hanging on, and he hates it.There’s a heavy weight pushing him down, and it gets stronger whenever heremembers that he’s nearly at the end of the road. He’s supposed to be grown upnow, strong now, he’s called ‘young man’ and reminded daily of how he needs tofocus because he only has one year of school left, this is where he needs tomake all the decisions that will ultimately define his adult life…

He’s never felt more like a child.

He glances at Jyn across the room. His plan had been to avoid her allevening in the hopes that she might have forgotten the Accidental SinkingIncident by this time next week. But she’s young too. She’s young and confidentand everything Cassian isn’t and if this is the last time he gets to spend asummer messing around and forgetting everything important, then…

“Fuck it,” he declares. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

“You what?” Kay says in bewilderment.

“Wish me luck.”

“Luck with what? WAIT – you’re actually serious? – CASSIAN –”

But Cassian is already disappearing into the crowd of partying sailors,leaving his utterly baffled best friend behind. He would figure it outeventually. He forces his legs to keep moving and not stop, because if he stopshe will chicken out, and he can’t chicken out, damn it…

Shit, she’s still with her friends. He doesn’t quite have the guts toreach out directly, so instead he opts for just casually joining the circle,staying quiet and listening to the chatter about how last year’s exam resultshad finally come through, how Kasey and John had apparently hooked up atJeanie’s party last weekend, how Jyn had managed to sink an entire boat in thefirst race of the season –

“Yeah, we’re still on that apparently,” Jyn side-eyes him from where hehad sidled up to her. He blinks, heart racing at the thought that she hadapparently already noticed him.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Again. I didn’t mean to–”

“Nah, don’t even worry about it,” Jyn just waves a hand, turning herback on the rest of the conversation. “I’ll never live it down, but I’m overit.”

“Thanks for having my ass out there, by the way,” Cassian says. “I don’tthink I’ve mentioned that yet, I might’ve drowned if it weren’t for you.”

“Are you always this dramatic?”

“I’m an orphan,” Cassian throws back. “My life is dramatic by default.”

That makes her go quiet for a moment, and he wishes he hadn’t drunk allof his drink just to have something to do other than stare at her. The discolightbulb sends colourful shards across her face as she contemplates him.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a moment. “Did you wanna talk or someshit…?”

“No, no it’s fine,” he said, hastily. “It was a long time ago, I makejokes about it now. Sorry.”

“Oh, thank god,” Jyn cracks a grin. “I thought for a second I was gonnahave to get sentimental.”

“I know I just met you today, but you don’t exactly strike me assentimental, Jyn.”

“That’s the way I like it,” she says, happily. “Now, we’re not allowedto talk about sad shit or sailing shit anymore, the after party’s are supposedto be about having fun and getting fucked up, so you better have some othertopic of conversation to entertain me.”

“Tell me, how are you supposed to get fucked up when you can’t evenaccess the bar?”

Jyn just hands him the innocent juice she’s been drinking the wholeevening. He takes a sip and realises that it’s not just been spiked, it’s beenspiked strong. He coughswithout meaning to and she laughs at him.

“The parents all get plastered at these, so long as you don’t get toodrunk, you’re golden,” she says.

He grins. He smiles, he grimaces, he smirks, but he doesn’t do fucking grinning, and this girl is making him.

What is he getting into?

They honestly don’t drink that much in the end. He really only acceptsenough that he’s not too scared to take her hand and pull her along for adance. Jyn ignores all the little kids giggling as she slings her arms aroundhis neck, moving in time to the latest upbeat pop song of the summer. Her hairis sweaty at the edges and he remembers how her hair was plastered to her headas they hit the water. It’s a very different sensation now. He’s pretty sureshe’s pretending that she doesn’t know the words but she’s humming under herbreath and he can feel the heat rising off her under his hands on her hips. Heremembers that she mentioned her parents earlier in the day and Christ,he hopes that they aren’t somewhere over at the bar right now. Not that they’dhave anything to worry about, because they’re just dancing. He might still betrying to figure out how it happened, but they’re only dancing, andit barely even qualifies as such anyway, rather it’s just jumping up and downto the bass that thundered through the floor of the clubhouse.

It’s just dancing, but it feels like something else at the same time. Hisfingers clench a little at her hips and for a moment he lets himself imaginethat he has the guts to pull her closer. He would never dare, but it’s just aswell since she catches his eye and he just knows she’d be the kind of girl totrail her hands down his neck and shoulders, nails scraping a little into hisskin. She would step in as his arms cinched tighter, pressing her hips againsthis. He might pass out a little, but he would let her wrap herself around him,hands skimming up and down his back until eventually, they settle somewherearound his ass…

Jyn pulls away and suddenly, his head is forced to snap back to reality.Feeling a little like his skin is on fire, she tugs on his hand and begins topush themselves through the crowd of raucous sailors. Eventually, they find themselvesoutside. The breeze is still warm enough for t-shirts, and flies dart aroundhis face that he slaps at until Jyn leads him down the deck that lines theoutside of the clubhouse. She leans against the rail and he joins her, themusic just a distant thud in his chest now. Yachts gleam out on their moorings,Lake Yavin rippling gently ahead of them.

Jyn turns to him.

“I love a good party, but sometimes you just need to get out sometimes,”she says.

“I feel you.”

“You know, you’re not half bad, Cassian,” Jyn smirks, glancing away. “Itook you for a baby at first who was going to cry at the first sign of keeling,but I was proven wrong.”

“Oh, don’t worry, the spray from the waves masked my very real tears.”

She laughs, and he’s not sure he’s actually made a girl laugh this muchin one day before. It might be a new record for him. “I guess you got the restof the summer to harden up,” she mentions, lightly.

“Ah, yes,” he nods. “a whole summer before being plunged into impendingadulthood, all while still being forced to take exams.”

“You’ve been given the lecture too, huh?”

“I am all too familiar with the lecture.”

“Finally! Someone who gets it,” Jyn exclaims. “I’m 16, I don’t want tobe making Important Life Decisions right now! I just want to sail boats andmess around, at least while I still can.”

He’s not sure what it is. Maybe it’s the way the moon hits her hairthat’s still hanging around her shoulders, maybe it’s the subtle way she’s leaninginto him, maybe he’s just gone a little crazy. Whatever it is, he throws allcaution to the wind and says,

“Sailing boats I’m a little out of my depth with, but I’d be willing tomess around with you.”

Her eyes snap to his.

“Do you mean that how I think you mean it?” she says.

“It sounded sexier in my head.”

“Everything does.”

Later, at the end of the summer, both of them will say that they kissedthe other first. The reality is that Cassian will never really be sure, onlythat one second he’s staring at her and the next, her fingers are in his hairand her lips are pressed to his. One of his hands splays out, hastily graspingthe deck railing while the other curls up her back, feeling the bikini strings underher t-shirt. His heart is pounding, not unlike being on a Laser going upwind.He’s not sure when he switched to sailing analogies. He’s not sure that hecares. They stand there and kiss the hell out of each other, until eventuallythe clubhouse door opens somewhere behind them. They pull apart hastily asapparently one of the young families leave to make their way home for theevening. There are the giggles of an over-tired 10-year-old and the suddensurge in music until the door swings back closed once more behind the family.

Jyn lets out a long breath.

“YEAH,” she says. “I am absolutely cool with doing that some more. You?”

He tries not to smile too much as he joins her in leaning once moreagainst the deck railing. His lips still tingle.

“Oh, you will definitely see me next week.” 

[theorganasolo]

Polaris - Chapter 3

Well if anyone is reading this here is Chapter 3! 

Thank you to the girls in the gc for all of the support! 

I borrowed some quotes from the movie Balto, but besides that it’s all mine!

January 22, 1925

The mission to prevent an epidemic from wiping out the tiny town of Nome was well underway.  Dr. Rieekan had sent a telegram via the Army Signal Corps, to alert all of the major towns in Alaska as well as Governor Scott C. Bone, in Juneau of a public health crisis.  A second telegram was sent to the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington DC explaining the situation and the need for more diphtheria antitoxin.  While the urgent telegrams were sent out more and more cases made their way to the hospital.  The makeshift diphtheria unit was severely understaffed.  With Shara still grieving, and Leia only working on non-infected people, that left Mara, Mon, and Rieekan to care for the diphtheria patients.  And it was a gruesome sight.  Most of the ill were small children, their little bodies covered in rashes and in severe cases, even ulcers.  They had the most dreadful wet cough, one that rattled the chest and left it’s victims wheezing as the lungs struggled to clear the mucus from the airways.  With no serum at hand the only medicine they had to offer was opium or morphine, and that would only lessen the pain, make them more comfortable while everyone prayed that the inevitable was delayed.

Leia could only stare helplessly behind the door, staring through the glass as she watched Mara and Mon rush back and forth between rooms trying to help everyone they could.  She wanted so badly to be in that room, it was her job, to help the people who needed it.  It drew back from when her parents died in the 1918 Spanish Influenza Epidemic, known as “The Big Sickness,” and all she could do was stand and watch as they deteriorated before her eyes.  From that point on, she decided she wanted to do something in the medical field, so she could try to prevent more deaths like her parents, so she wouldn’t ever feel helpless ever again.

Well so much for that notion.  Leia drew in a deep breath, that promise she made to Han was getting harder and harder to keep, and it had only been one day.  Well maybe if I just slip into the room and give them more supplies, that wouldn’t do any harm would it? Yes! That’s what I’ll do, and it’ll be perfectly harmless.  With that thought she brought her hand up to the door handle and-

“And what do you think you’re doing?”

Leia practically jumped ten feet in the air, whirred around, only to come face to face with a person she hadn’t seen in almost a year.

“Jyn?!”

Jyn Erso smirked, “The one and only.”

Jyn was a few years older than Leia and had worked in the hospital before she moved away with her husband Cassian to Juneau last year, as Cassian had found better job opportunities there.

Leia was practically slack-jawed, “What are you- I mean it’s been so long, I-I can’t believe you’re back, What-”

“Wow I made Leia Organa speechless, if this is what it takes to get you unraveled I should come back to visit more often,” she joked.

“Very funny, and it’s Leia Organa Solo.”

Jyn smiled, “That’s right, I still can’t believe you’re married and have a kid.”

“Erso, I was married and Jaina was already born before you left!”

“I know, doesn’t make it less shocking.”

Leia rolled her eyes, “Oh would you just hug me?”

Jyn smiled before embracing the small woman.

“To answer your question, I’m here because Rieekan sent for me, saying how they need more hands, and most importantly, to keep an eye on you.”

“Me?”

“Yes you, I know you’re itching to help everyone who’s sick but I also know that you’re pregnant and the hospital still needs staff to help those who are injured or have minor illnesses.”

A sigh escaped Leia, “So you’re basically a glorified babysitter?”

Chuckles greeted Leia’s question, “Well someone needs to look out for you!”

“Oh great, I have Han practically smothering me at home, and now you at work.”

“That’s the spirit!  Now come on, bed four has a patient with rectal problems and I’m sure as hell not sticking my hand up in there.”

January 24, 1925

In two more days two more fatalities occurred and 20 more diagnoses were made, while 50 others were at risk.  At this point Jyn was working in the diphtheria unit full time, the crisis too severe to simply stay with Leia.  More and more children, and some adults, filled the hospital beds.  At one point they had to bring in cots from the town school, not that it mattered, school had been canceled with the majority of the students infected, and they didn’t want any more getting sick if they could help it.  With school being canceled, Winter had extended her stay with the Organa-Solo’s to stay home with Jaina while Leia and Han both worked.  And then, it happened.

Jaina woke up the previous morning with a small cough.

“Nothing to worry about I’m sure,” Winter quipped, “It’s probably just a cold.  She hasn’t been around anyone who was sick after all.  It’s most likely some 24 hour bug that will be gone by tomorrow”  And with that Winter shoved Han and Leia out the door so they could get to work.

Except it wasn’t a 24 hour bug.  Jaina woke up the morning of the 24th with her cough worse, a fever, and chills.  But no rash thank God thought Leia as she and Han took Jaina to the hospital.  As they walked in, Rieekan took one look at the little girl being carried in Han’s arms and directed them to the diphtheria unit.  Leia froze, “No.”

“Lelila, it’s just a precaution, maybe she doesn’t have it, but I can’t risk her possibly infecting patients in the other wing.”  And with that, Rieekan took Jaina to an examining room, empty for once, while Han and Leia waited outside the door.

“Leia.”

“Leia.”

He was met with silence.

“Leia would you please look at me?”

Leia slowly turned to look at her husband and Han found himself staring into her pale face with silent tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh sweetheart,” and with that Han took her into his arms, “it’s gonna be okay, whatever it is we’ll face it together, okay? I promise.”

Leia broke free from his arms, “Oh Han, she’s just so- she’s just so small.” She couldn’t even breathe the word diphtheria for fear of it coming true.

“I know sweetheart, I know.”  He laced their hands together and Leia found comfort in Han’s thumb drawing small circles on her hand.

The door swung open as Rieekan walked out, Leia and Han caught bits of his conversation with their daughter,

“Grandpa Rieekan, I’m so cold,” Jaina’s raspy voice croaked out.

“I know you are Jaina, I’ll get Mara to come by with more blankets.”

Rieekan then led Han and Leia to his office and Han was the first one to break the silence.

“Doc, how is she?”

“Exhausted from coughing and her fever is getting worse.”

He took a deep breath before saying his next words and locked eyes with Leia, Leia who has already been dealt too many hands in her life, who didn’t deserve to have this happen to her.

“It looks like diphtheria, she’s the 18th case this week,” Rieekan dropped into his chair putting his head in his hands, “and as you know...I’m out of antitoxin.”

The “Strangling Angel of Children” is what it was so lovingly referred to.  A disease that kills by suffocating from a grey, leathery coating in the back of your throat, a horrible form of asphyxiation.  And now Jaina had it.  Leia couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.  She had witnessed her own parents die from another horrible disease.  And now the same fate seemed to be destined for her baby girl.

Han looked like he had been punched in the gut.  His eyes were downcast, lips pursed, Leia could tell he was holding back his own tears.  She saw him swallow before opening his mouth, “So- so- ah shit- so what do we do Carlist? What do we do?”

Rieekan looked up at the couple standing before him, Leia had crossed over to her husband and held him in her arms.

“We make her comfortable and-”

“No! Now don’t give me that shit!”

“Han! He’s only trying to”

Rieekan interrupted, “Lelila just...let him get it out.”

“Make her comfortable, are you fucking kidding me?  That’s what you say to parents whose kids are about to die, and I’m not about to let that happen to my little girl, I want you to do a lot more than just comfort her for Christ’s sake.”

With that, Han stormed out of Rieekans office, the door slamming behind him in his wake.

“Carlist, I’m so sorry, Han’s just frustrated and worried about Jaina, he didn’t mean to yell.”

“Leia, it’s okay.  Han is absolutely right, we need to be doing more than just comforting people.  I just can’t! Without the medicine there is nothing more for me to do.  That’s why I’m having a meeting with the Board of Health superintendent, to see what we can do to get the medicine here.

Leia felt herself begin to calm a little, Jaina’s case was mild.  If they could get the medicine back in time she should make a full recovery.  Hope. I need to hold onto that, there is still hope.  

“Thank you Rieekan, she made to leave his office and before she walked out, Leia turned to the tired doctor, “Well, I guess my wish about wanting to be in the diphtheria unit will finally come true,” she wryly spat out before heading out.

If one were to enter the Post Office of Nome you would find Board of Health superintendent Mark Summers sending out urgent messages via telegram at a small desk, trying to bring the desperately needed medicine to his town.

Anchorage. Stop. Repeat, urgent request. More diphtheria antitoxin. Stop.  Nome in grave danger. Stop.  Please help. Stop.

These messages were sent to different ports, air and sea while Summers waited on baited breath for a response, and he didn’t have to wait long.  First ones from the sea ports came in:

Nome, pack ice closing in.  Cannot ship antitoxin by sea.  Will try by air.

Then the airports:

Nome, storm at airport.  Planes grounded until storm clears.  Many regrets.

And then finally:

From Juneau, Office of the Governor, We are shipping antitoxin by rail. Stop.  Train line ends at town of Nenana.  Select fastest dogs for sled team to carry antitoxin from Nenana to Nome. Stop.  God willing, train will make it through. Stop.

After receiving the telegrams, Summers went and shared this information with Dr. Rieekan and the town council.  It was agreed that a dog sled relay would be used to retrieve the medicine from the town of Nenana.  The town council decided that two teams would be used.  One would start at Nenana and the other at Nome, meeting at the town of Nulato.  Another aspect agreed on was that Han Solo would be the best choice to make the 630 mile round trip from Nome to Nulato and then back again.  The decision was unanimously voted on and now all that was left to do was actually ask the man himself.  Would he be willing to leave his only daughter, who was sick, to get the antitoxin and prevent an epidemic?  Apparently, yes.

“No.”

“Leia-come on, it’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow. I still have to get the dogs in gear.”

“Oh wow, a few extra days,” Leia choked out.

“Sweetheart-”

“No! You aren’t leaving!  You promised me that you would stay with us, and that we would get through this together, you promised!”

“Leia I want to keep that promise, I do.  But this is how we get through this.  If I go out and get that medicine, Jaina and all of the other kids will get better and we can hopefully avoid an epidemic.  And you can’t stop me from doing this.”

Leia’s expression had turned icy, “Well then I guess you really don’t care about me, this baby, or your daughter.”

Han froze, “Now wait just a second.  I’m doing this for you! Do you think I want to leave you guys? Leia- it’s killing me even thinking about it, but I can’t- I can’t watch out daughter die while we sit and do nothing.”

“She could die while you’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Fuck, Leia, don’t you think I know that?  Don’t you think I’m fucking aware of that possibly happening?  I wouldn’t be leaving if I didn’t think it was the best possible option.

“I - I know Han- I know.” Leia breathed out before bursting into tears, “I’m sorry Han, I’m so sorry for saying those horrible things  to you, I didn’t mean it I just-”

Leia was overwhelmed with the feeling of her husband’s arms around surrounding her, and she buried her face in his chest.

“Shh shh, I know sweetheart.  I’m doing this for Jaina.

“I know,” came Leia’s muffled response before she pulled back.  “I know you care about us, and that’s why you’re doing this, but it still hurts.”

Han tried to smile for her, “Leia I can’t sit back and do nothing.”

“Hmmm sounds like I was saying those same words to you a few days ago so I guess I should just let it happen.”

“Welcome to my world sweetheart,” Han chuckled a little before immediately frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well if telling you was  this hard, how on Earth am I going to tell Jaina?”

Now it was Leia’s turn to envelope her husband in a hug.

“We’ll do it together.”

[movienotesbyzawmer]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

December 14: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

(previous notes: Solo: A Star Wars Story)

Source: Steelbook 3D Blu-ray box set

Gonna change it up a bit and watch this in 3D! Because I can. Typing notes might be harder, but I take comfort in knowing no one will ever read this.

So when I saw this I thoroughly loved it, and I had a hunch it was going to turn out better than the press was reporting. Watching it immediately after Solo. Am excited to press play.

Opening scene has a good, and likely very deliberate, balance of "this is different from other Star Wars movies" choices and "this is very definitely in the Star Wars universe" choices.

Regardless of that, it's a really good opening scene. Sucks you in good.

The look on the first planet, nicely shot, 3D or otherwise.

0:08:40 - There was just a scene that reveals she's in jail; effective use of 3D.

Every scene is on a new planet, and it tells us which planet and it gets confusing. But I guess they had to do something if they were going to have events come in this order.

The funny robot is particularly refreshing in this otherwise bleak story.

0:22:00 - Super pretty imagery of a Destroyer emerging into sunlight plus the "gun" being placed on the Death Star.

And now the first look at CGI Peter Cushing. The CGI is good, but it's also obviously CGI. A little distracting; I'd have just cast a close-enough-looking real actor.

Slightly distracting also is that this planet is called Jeddah. Feels like they didn't know that's the name of a major city in Saudi Arabia; they just think it sounds Star Wars-y. But it's kind of like if they called a planet "Chicago".

Super cool shot of the Destroyer hovering on Jeddah. Looks cool with 3D.

Then cool to see the plateau city that it's hovering above. I wonder if they filmed it in Earth Jeddah.

Hah, the Cantina bullies from Star Wars!

That robot is way funnier than absolutely every other part of this movie.

Love the blind Jedi fight. And he got to be funny and say "are you kidding me, I'm blind" as they were blindfolding him.

I think it's super cool that they use this movie to fix the plot hole from Star Wars about how easy it was to blow up the Death Star.

Very cool looking stuff when the city is blown up by the Death Star and it's like a tidal wave of rock and dirt. And then, wow, it just keeps rising up into space in a way that is awesome to look at.

Compared with Solo this movie struggles a lot more in the area of appealing characters. They're okay, but we're not exactly longing for them to be happy individuals.

Also this movie isn't doing as much as the others in the area of "delightfully inventive vehicle design". It's too busy showing the ones that were introduced in Episodes 4-6 to remind us that we are back in that classic era.

1:12:50 - Cool looking glowy lava planet. Although we are seeing a lot of those over the course of this project.

Vader emerging! Exciting for fans.

Jyn's character… I get that they think it was enough to give her an arc, and make it believable, that she would have this dysfunctional upbringing with a missing father element, and the father element coming back prompts her to change from pessimistic gutter scum to noble, inspired Rebel warrior. But she talks about the Force, and she has no sense of humor, and she gives impassioned speeches like a pro, and that stuff all seems like a character still under construction by a committee of screenwriters.

That said, this band of Literal Rogues coming together for this cause, we totally buy it.

Scarif has a shield around it, with a gate, and that looks neat!

Oh, they totally skipped a part where the Imperial Troops were ambushed on the ship. Like, they implied that it was about to happen then jumped forward. That seems like a moment of filmmaking sloppiness.

The view from the tower of the Caribbean-looking campus getting splody, super pretty.

This is the only Star Wars movie where I'm noticing handheld camera. I'm not a fan of that. Just sayin'. Just getting that on the record. Note that shit, yo.

1:37:52 - Ooh, POV shot of emerging from light speed into the space battlefield! Awesome! Everything up there looks great. Exciting sequence.

There's also lots of heightened excitement just for people who have nostalgia for the original movie. The sound effects, the OG costumes and set designs, even them saying "red leader" and "gold leader". Totally hits that spot. And of course the music, although that's more anticipated.

I really like that one rebel dude with the huge mouth and the shrill war cry.

And you know who is definitely not a character-still-under-construction? That delightful robot, K-something. This is the best character in this movie.

Things are very serious for the protagonists in this movie, and it's legit exciting.

1:52:40 - The blind Jedi just sacrificed himself all nobly, plus that delightful droid did that, and it's good drama.

Ack, Riz Ahmed just died after just getting the Rebels that important message, geez, it's grim! Then the blind Jedi's friend just sacrificed himself without really getting much good from that.

This part is cool! They disabled power to a Destroyer and they're going to shove it into another Destroyer!

Jyn goes to reset the satellite dish, and the view as she does that is cool in 3D. Mostly there isn't much extra good about seeing this movie in 3D, but that was cool.

The messed up Destroyers are now like a knife that cuts into the shield and that is quite satisfying!

Ooh, the Death Star coming up over the horizon, super cool. I'd have made a different music score choice though.

Jyn and Diego Luna don't know who might have received their transmission. Do they know the Death Star is going to kill them? I think they do. It's sad. But also… the Death Star destroys their own base?

New Destroyer shows up and blocks some of the hyperspace jumps, crashy crashy cool cool!

Vader boarding that ship and Force-fucking those rebels, awesome and intense!

And it ends on that intense note! Good good ending!!!

Having just watched Solo and being surprised by some of its very fine qualities in the first two acts, I find myself more conscious of the flaws of this one. But it ends way better! I'm super stoked now to watch the great Episode IV.

(next: Star Wars)

[wuackitys-has-moved]

I Had A Thought Dear - Bassian Fic

So I wrote this as a first part of a Bassian fic that I’m gonna work on. You can either read it below the cut or on AO3. Let me know what you think!

WARNING for Rape/Non-Con setting. I promise it will get happier.

Bodhi was used to getting stared at. He wasn’t completely oblivious: he knew he was at least somewhat attractive. It was the worst when he was still an Imperial pilot; it wasn’t unusual to be called at by some of the higher ranking officers.

Sometimes it would lead to something. A quick fuck in a storage closet, giving someone a handjob for a few credits. It was just a way of survival.

Even with the Rebellion, he could feel people staring at him almost constantly. Mostly men, just like when he was with the Empire. Some days, he would play into it, and charm a rebel or two out of a couple credits. But it never went anywhere past flirting. Bodhi had somebody else he was eyeing, and he didn’t want to gain the reputation of the Rebellion’s newest good fuck. He was already tagged as the Imperial Pilot, whom most didn’t trust. The less labels, the better.

Despite how well he seemed to react to the constant attention, he was always afraid. Certain people wanted things, things that Bodhi just didn’t want to give them. He had changed since joining the rebellion, and he had told himself that most of his old life was behind him. So he never let it lead anywhere past winking and a few suggestive phrases. His mind always wandered to what would happen if one of these men were to push harder, and want more than just empty promises.

So Bodhi tried to stay away from it all as much as possible. Most afternoons when he wasn’t on a mission, he could be found camped out in his room tinkering with some scrap of machine he was trying to fix. And on the off occasion when he did go out, he was most likely with Cassian or Chirrut and Baze. He was, for lack of a better term, hiding.

But he hid for good reason. Well, at least that was what he told himself. He’d had many a bad encounter while still a part of the Empire. If he never interacted with anybody more than he had to, nothing bad could come of it.

But then something bad did.

It was really just a normal day. He was unloading his ship from a recent mission he had been on. He tried as hard as he could to keep his ship neat. More difficult than it sounds when you’re transporting a bunch of hotheaded rebels across galaxies.

He was carrying a box down from the cockpit when he was approached by a fellow pilot. Ares…. something.

“Hey! Bodhi, right?” Ares Something asked.

Bodhi smiled tautly, “Yeah, that’s me.” He walked past Ares and set the box down by the rest. “Sorry, I’m just a little busy right now. Post-mission work, you know how it-” Bodhi turned to find himself face-to-face with the other pilot, “Is…”

“Hey do you wanna, I don’t know, come back to my room or something?  We could play a round of Sabacc?” His mind flashed back to his old life: gambling, followed by….well, you know how the story goes.  He shook his head, then looked back up at Ares. He had the same look that the Empire pilots did. Desperate, just wanting something, someone to connect with.

“Sorry, I just really have to unload this. Last time I forgot to unload my things I got scolded by K-2SO for a whole week.” He moved past Ares and back into the ship, gathering some more things to bring out.

Deep down, Bodhi knew where this was going. Men like this didn’t stop persisting, at least not until they got what they wanted. And he probably wasn’t prepared to give this man what he wanted.

He felt Ares follow him into the ship, and Bodhi’s mind kept telling him There’s nobody else here. You two are alone. If something happened, nobody would know. You’d be trapped. He tried to shake those thoughts away. “I don’t mind waiting. So, are you really the Imperial pilot who defected? And were you really there on Scarif?”

This was common. The battle on Scarif only happened a couple of months ago. Everyone in their group had had this happen to them at one point or another.

Bodhi grunted as he picked up another heavy box. “Yeah, that’s me. Not really as noble as it seems,” Bodhi could feel a rock starting to form in his stomach. He just wanted the damn guy to leave. He set the box down outside and took a deep breath. Nothing bad is going to happen. You can talk your way out of this. But the rock in his stomach was slowly getting larger. “I just flew the ship. It’s Cassian and Jyn- they’re the real heroes.”

He walked back into the ship, searching for his goggles. Ares was nowhere to be found, which put him a little on edge. Hoping that he had left, Bodhi stopped talking and eventually found his goggles on top of an empty box near the back of the ship. When he turned back to exit, however, he was met with a familiar figure. He jumped, almost bumping into Ares, who was only a few inches from him.

Ares reached his hand up to run it through Bodhi’s hair. Bodhi shuddered, taking a step back. He felt his back hit the cool metal wall of the ship, and his heart almost stopped beating. Nononononono this can’t be happening.

“You’re very attractive, has anyone ever told you that?” Ares put his arms on either side of Bodhi, trapping him. Bodhi swallowed, and the rock in his stomach felt like a boulder at this point.

“I-I’m sorry but I really have to-” Bodhi began, but he was interrupted by Ares forcefully kissing him. He squirmed, trying to break free. He shoved the other man away from him, breathing heavily. Ares eyes immediately darkened, and Bodhi knew he had made a mistake.

His eyes flicked toward the open door of the ship, and he immediately made a dash for it. Ares, unfortunately, was one step ahead of him. He grabbed Bodhi and picked him up like he was nothing, which was probably true. He still hadn’t completely healed since the battle on Scarif, and he never ate enough to begin with.

Bodhi yelled for anyone, but Ares quickly silenced him by slamming him against a wall. Bodhi’s world was spinning, and he was barely aware of his jumpsuit being unzipped. “S-stop…. please…” he groaned, trying his hardest to push the other pilot away. He could feel things happening: his jumpsuit being forced off, being moved farther back into the ship. But nothing registered in his brain.

Any time he was conscious enough, he would try and fight back. But he was just not strong enough. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was Ares’s face looking down at him.