#books on baze

[morganstuart]

Among the films listed by Collider as the “10 Best Western Movies Made Outside America” is Jiang Wen’s Let the Bullets Fly from 2010.

[merrysithmas]

cassian andor being like a vague acquaintance to all star wars' on-screen gays is so funny to me for some reason

[r1-jw-lover]

Guys I finally got to read the Guardians of the Whills novel and OH MY GOD I absolutely love the depiction of Chirrut and Baze's respective grief and anger manifesting in different yet similar ways throughout the book.

How Baze's anger started and grew from the injustices caused by the Empire and fueled his desire to fight back but also hid a deep, strong grief for what's left of his home to the point that he lost his faith in the Force entirely. Meanwhile, Chirrut's sorrow for Jedha's suffering made him even more determined to ease that suffering and keep holding onto his faith in the Force, but he was also angry at himself for being powerless and unable to stop the escalation of violence and war on his homeworld.

There is a whole paragraph from Chirrut's pov describing how the word "no" embodied Baze's cynicism nowadays and how pained he felt about Baze's lack of faith, but there's also Baze noticing the pain behind Chirrut's smile and mentioning that he couldn't remember the last time Chirrut being happy.

Both Chirrut and Baze had their differences and were stubborn in their own ways and they argued and fought, but that only makes their whole relationship and the complete understanding and sheer trust between each other all the more beautiful. They both had a shared conviction towards their cause of protecting the people of Jedha and Chirrut found Baze's presence reassuring and Baze only laughed at Chirrut's jokes. There are even more details I've didn't cover but the devotion and commitment is just undeniable between the two.

[tinkerpeller]

[dramyhsturgis]

In my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast, I discuss Guardians of the Whills, Andor, and local resistance in Star Wars.

[nightlist]

i dont think i can explain thiz but here u go

[humbug220]

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

AU ask: the Rogue One crew in a doomed (or not) nineteenth-century Arctic exploration story...

oh my god???? YOUR MIND! no joke, can someone write this, please?

Bodhi as the scientist kicking the whole thing off (Bodhi must always be The Catalyst this is a rule)

Jyn as a geologist - her parents set heaven and hell in motion to send her to university. Geology was her mother's special interest, too, and they used to spend a lot of time together with Jyn's books.

Also, her father was a scientist and the one to originally plan this mission. He went to Lord Krennic (House of Lords) for government funding, the mission got infinitely more dangerous because they added some kind of land claim for the Crown to it.

Bodhi fell ill at the last moment - he was Galen's best student and supposed to go on the expedition - and Galen's crew disappeared into the Arctic, never to be seen again.

Bodhi and Jyn are half wanting to complete his work, half trying to find out what happened to him

Cassian as the captain, obviously. He resents this whole idea from the get-go, but he needs the money and he secretly thinks these green idiots need all the help they can get. Also, this could prove that Lord Krennic and Lord Tarkin are corrupt and sent Galen Erso to his death to further their own means, and Cpt. Andor may or may not be part of a group who has been trying to prove this and other machinations like it for probably a decade...

Melshi as first mate, Chirrut as one of the sailors (I feel strongly about this), Baze as the ship's cook, Kay as the ship physician (we're going a little Master and Commander on this now)

Cassian and Co. are initially very apprehensive about Jyn and Bodhi - a bourgeoise young lady and a university student who never goes outside, they won't last the week! - but it turns out that - Jyn spent a lot of time after her father's disappearance with "uncle" Saw, a US Navy captain always sailing *dangerously* close to, uh, piracy - Bodhi is trying his best and his best is actually very helpful - he also turns out to be a very talented navigator in his own right

things get *grim*. I could never do this fic justice because I know nothing about ships, geography, the navy, or the Arctic, but there must be storms on the high seas, the ship getting stuck in the ice, some undercurrent of political intrigue (please note here that I have no idea when to set this and therefore can't give examples. Maybe mid- to late 1800s. I feel strongly about it NOT being the 1830s simply because that fashion is Not It for this scenario)

several crew members have to die tbh, maybe main crew members

at least one of the extended crew was paid off by Krennic, actively trying to sabotage the mission (so they don't find out what happened to Galen)

at some point, I want them to be Doomed and all the long-time sailors completely giving in to their fate, only to have Science and Modern Thinking by Jyn and Bodhi save the day (it's a very old trope but it's period-appropriate!)

[eggdrawsthings]

commission for @/dianmz. Dian's designs of young Baze and Chirrut will forever be canon to me, idc what they said in the book 😌 (1/2)

[morganstuart]

Eddie Peng Discusses Jiang Wen

“Jiang Wen is one of my favourite directors. I always wanted to work with him. I learnt so much from him on set. Prepping for the role, I had to transform myself for the role. It’s set at the time of the Republic of China, in the 1920s. It’s based on a novel. I read the book first and then went to audition with Jiang Wen. The main character needs to speak with a Beijing accent. It’s not the Beijing accent of today, it’s the Beijing accent of the 1920s. I had to spend a lot of time trying to get that accent. It’s not something I love to do. It’s a tough one because Jiang Wen is an actor himself. Then for the choreography, I spent two weeks with Jackie Chan’s stunt team. I had to train hard and then diet to achieve the physical transformation to become the character. Jiang is more like an artist; he treats his craft very seriously. On set, since he’s an actor himself, you can’t fool him. He can understand immediately if you’re in the zone or not. He will wait until you’re there, until you’re ready. If the weather isn’t good, he’s ready to wait a whole week for the sun to come out! We went to Baltimore to shoot part of the movie. We shot the entire movie with natural light, isn’t it crazy? You have to give credit to him. We live in this fast-paced world obsessed with making money, but some people are still able to do what they really love. That’s something that inspired me. I loved working with him.”

[andorerso]

Rebelcaptain Trees for @luciechat: Winter/Holiday AU (bonus oblivious pining and friends teasing them)

“Merry Christmas,” Jyn said, almost aggressively as she shoved the clumsily wrapped gift into his hands.

“Oh,” Cassian blinked clearly, a little taken aback by her defensive posture and wary gaze.

She just... she didn’t do gifts, okay? For so long, she had no one to celebrate things like birthdays or Christmases with, and now that she had a family she might call her own, everything was new and big and scary.

Did she overdo it? Was it too much? Too little? Was she supposed to leave it under the tree or give it to him directly? Maybe she should have just gotten a mug or something, or maybe she should have bought three more large packages to shove into his hands like in the movies. Never mind that she probably couldn’t afford that.

Or maybe he wasn’t the gifting type at all, and he was just going to stand there awkwardly because he hadn’t gotten her anything, and then he’d feel bad, which was the last thing she wanted. It was all so confusing; families should really come with a rulebook.

But deep down, she knew there was a bit more to this than inexperience. After all, she hadn’t felt so unsure when she gave Bodhi his gift. His eyes had lit up, a bright smile on his face, and he’d even politely asked her if he could hug her before pulling her into his arms. Then he’d produced his own package that was meant for her and excitedly watched as she tore the wrapping paper to reveal a brown leather jacket that incidentally ended up matching his gift for Cassian.

(Jyn gave him a look when she saw later, and he just shrugged innocently.

“You know Cassian loves jackets, and I thought it’d look good on you too,’ he said and she glowered. If this was what it was like to have a family, it was damn annoying.

She loved it.)

Chirrut gave her a dream journal, Baze gifted her new fingerless gloves (her old one was starting to wear away), and Kay bought her a book. Cooking for Dummies. Even his present was rude, but she loved it all the more for that because it was so essentially Kay.

Only Cassian was left.

She knew the nerves in her stomach were present now because it was Cassian. And the way she felt about him had always been a little... different.

Jyn watched with growing apprehension as he unwrapped his gift, far more carefully than she would have. She tried to ignore the stares of the others on the back of her head, wishing the peanut gallery would turn around and stop treating them like a free show. That was probably a bit harsh as she’d also watched them exchange their gifts, but she knew what they thought about the relationship between her and Cassian, had listened to their playful teasing remarks for hours on end, and she really didn’t need the audience or the smug smiles now when she was already on edge.

Cassian pulled out the red and white sweater she’d knitted him, letting it unfold as he lifted it for inspection. Jyn held her breath, resisting the urge to fidget with her hands. His face was indecipherable, or perhaps she was just too anxious to be able to properly read him now. Either way, the moments ticking by in silence felt like torture.

“I made it,” she explained when he still said nothing, a slight waver in her voice betraying her nerves, “like the others.”

Bodhi got gloves, Chirrut got a scarf, Baze got a hat, and Kay got socks.

Cassian got a sweater.

He finally took his gaze off the sweater to look at her, his eyes shining with an emotion she couldn’t name.

“You really made this?” he asked, something akin to awe in his voice.

“Well, I know how much you like jackets,” she fumbled to explain, “thought you might like a sweater.”

They were both outwear, were they not? It made sense to her in theory.

But maybe she’d miscalculated. Maybe it really was too much. A scarf would have been safer...

Before she could spiral too far, Cassian’s lips lifted into a rare and beautiful smile, and Jyn exhaled a sigh of relief. He was playing on her heartstrings, being as aloof and hard to read as he was. It was really unfair sometimes.

“It’s amazing. Thank you so much.”

“It’s not perfect but...” She hadn’t been knitting that long, and it was her first time trying for a sweater. It probably showed too, the patterns a little uneven and wonky, one sleeve a bit longer than the other, but it was the thought that counted, right?

“No, no, I love it. Seriously. It’s wonderful. I can’t wait to wear it.” He sounded earnest, so Jyn allowed a shy smile to grace her lips. She didn’t want to think about him wearing it, because the image might be a little too much for her poor heart. “I only feel bad now because my gift isn’t nearly as good,” he continued, somewhat sheepish.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said, grateful to change the subject from her hand-knitted sweater. It felt too much like a confession, and she wasn’t prepared for that kind of vulnerability yet, especially not in front of everyone.

Cassian reached for a package, much smaller than her own, though that didn’t mean much. He didn’t quite meet her eyes as he handed it over, muttering a quiet “here” under his breath.

Clearly, she wasn’t the only one plagued by nerves. The thought made her a bit calmer.

Unwrapping her gift, Jyn came face to face with a small wooden box. She chanced another look at Cassian who nodded at her to continue, so she opened the lid and her eyes went wide.

Inside on a red velvet cushion lay a gorgeous wavy-edged dagger. Its hilt was golden, molded into the shape of tangling leaves, and held together by an exquisite green stone in the center. Jyn reached for it tentatively, almost reverently, like she was somehow afraid to taint it with her hands. As she lifted it up for closer inspection, the light reflected off the edges of the blade, razor-sharp. She hardly dared lift a single finger to press against it, hissing when it immediately drew blood.

“Careful,” Cassian frowned. He’d been watching her closely the whole time, his gaze burning on her skin. “The purpose of this gift is not to hurt someone with it.”

His words carried a hint of humor, though it was true. Her dagger collection was one of the only indulgences she’d ever allowed herself. It started out as a reward system when she thought she deserved it or a birthday present from herself when no one else was around to give her anything. But the collection grew over the years, and now she proudly displayed it in a glass case on the wall, one of the few precious belongings she had that was worth anything.

But this though... This was...

“This couldn’t have been cheap,” Jyn finally said when she found her voice.

Cassian shrugged, though it wasn’t as nonchalant as he wanted her to think. “I saw it in a window of a shop and couldn’t resist. I was looking for a gift for you anyway. Golden opportunity.”

“Well, I...” Jyn looked down at the dagger she was still clutching, at a loss for words. Which wasn’t unusual for her anyway, but now she really had no idea how to tell him how much this meant to her.

Carefully placing the dagger back in its box, she closed the lid and finally raised her gaze back to Cassian. For a moment, she just looked at him. This complicated, messy, unrelenting, passionate, wonderful man who’d come into her life so suddenly and shaken her to her marrow.

She wondered if he even knew. The impact he had on her.

“Thank you,” she said at last. It didn’t seem enough, but it was the only thing she had, and she hoped her tone, her expression, her smile conveyed what her words could not.

It means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.

Cassian returned her smile, his voice as soft as she’d ever heard it. “You’re welcome.”

I feel the same.

(“He was lying, you know,” Kay said to her later when they found themselves alone for a second.

Jyn frowned at him, unsure what he was talking about. “Who?”

“He did not see it in a window.” Kay rolled his eyes like the mere thought was ridiculous. “He specifically went out of his way to look for it.”

“That’s — I —” Jyn spluttered like she’d been stabbed, unable to comprehend.

Kay went on, unbothered, delivering the killing blow. “He said the stone reminded him of your eyes.”

Cassian was going to kill Kay, that was for sure. But not before she killed him for lying to her.

Just after she kissed him senseless, of course.)

[gffa]

Hi!  This is an interesting question because there has been a fair amount of Jedha lore being expanded on in The High Republic, but the era that's doing it is set 350 years before the prequels (382 BBY, so almost 400 years if you're going by when the Republic fell and the Empire rose) and it's really contained to a handful of sources.  I would say the main ones exploring it are: - The Battle of Jedha audiobook - The High Republic 2022 ongoing comic book (issue #6 came out just this week, it's still pretty new) That's really about it for that era and the other book I would suggest if you want to catch up on things yourself is Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka, which is set not too long before Rogue One and has Baze and Chirrut running missions on Jedha and showing them trying to protect the people of the city while the Empire encroaches on more and more of them. Which means there's not a ton about it yet, most of which is just setting the stage and introducing various religious groups and their basic dynamics--which is pretty much "the Jedi are still the big kids on the playground, some love them, some resent them, but generally they try to do their best to respect everyone and let people do their thing, it's just that by dint of being the strongest Force-users in the galaxy, they're always going to be in the position of being the big kids on the playground", while other groups tend to squabble a lot, sometimes with, sometimes against the Jedi, and none of them have really stood out yet. You've got the Church of the Force, but it's just one group among many and they're probably the second biggest group, but they haven't really done much yet. Then there's the Path of the Open Hand which were introduced in Path of Deceit (the opening novel for this era of the High Republic) but all you really need to know is that they're benevolent seeming and their mission is that the Force must be "free" (ie, no one can use it) because their belief is, if you use the Force to save a person here, then over there the Force kills someone else, to bring "balance".  So they reeeeeeeeeally hate the Jedi, who actively use the Force, and they're lead by the Mother who is being set up to be a villain, who we don't know her full motivations yet, but likely she wants to grow them as a cult and give her all the power.  In The Battle for Jedha, they stir up chaos and then go help people by creating an alms house to heal them, get people to "safety", etc.  So, they look like heroes, their members genuinely believe in their cause, they seem very nice, but ultimately no good is going to come from there. They've recently arrived on Jedha (in the High Republic ongoing comic) and are demanding a seat at the Convocation of the Force's table, to be part of their Council, but they've been denied so far and are making a big racket about how they're being shunned just for ~dissenting~. The other major players so far are the Guardians of the Whills, which seem to be in their prime here.  It's not super clear what they believe or how they operate, they don't seem to be able to use the Force much (other groups do have Force abilities, but don't seem especially strong, either) and are kind of more like guardian monks who keep order on Jedha and protect it. Sometime previous to the set-up of this era, the Jedi were fully in charge of Jedha, but no longer are.  Whether they chose to step down, were asked to step down, others stepped up, or what, I'm not sure if we know yet, only that the Jedi used to rule the place, but haven't in some time and some people are fine with it, some seem like they might resent it.  (Par for the course with the Jedi, some love them, some resent them.) Ultimately, the set up is "a bunch of Force religions create a council to facilitate interactions between the different groups and organize festivals for everyone to come to" and there's some squabbling, but also some good work being done, the Jedi can't help but be the biggest player (in part because this is Star Wars and they're our main characters, but also because of their sheer history and ability) even as they deliberately try to step back. There's a large gap of history between the High Republic era and what Jedha looked like by the time of the Empire rising, but my impression is that it had been falling out of favor for awhile, that the Rogue One visual dictionary still described it as a place of pilgrimage and holy to a lot of religions, it still had a bustling city, but it wasn't the same central hub of religious organizations in the galaxy and hadn't been for a long time. A lot of interesting stuff is happening on Jedha at this time period (and you could probably just Google for where to find the 2022/2023 High Republic comics, that should tell you almost everything you might want to know) or just scroll through the "Sites of Interest" section on Wookieepedia to see if any of them sound like places Ahsoka might want to mention--as a Jedi, I think she'd probably know of a lot of the places, you can decide if she'd have visited at some point (Jedi did take their initiates on field trips, after all), and might want to visit the Kyber Mirrors, which held a lot of significance for Force-sensitives, even if the Empire had probably mined it for kyber by then. But you'd also be fine just ignoring all of it, because most of this is from 400 years before and would be interesting history, more than a direct involvement!  I would say the Guardians of the Whills book tells you more about the status of the planet in that era, but you can basically guess, it's a lot of orphanages because a lot of parents are dead and everyone is poor and struggling to eat or get medicine, even the local orphanage struggles despite Baze and Chirrut's help, because the Empire sucks. Other than that, it's mostly introductory stuff so far, so a skim over Wookieepedia or some judicious Googling should cover it!

[birdylion]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

@beatrice-otter tagged me, thanks!

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

28, of which 11 are in German, 17 in English. Of the English fics, 2 are podfics and 1 is filk (for the lyrics someone else wrote). I should re-record that last one, I've become a much better singer since then.

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

55,059 words

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Various, and rarely a lot in one fandom these days. Mass Effect and Rivers of London are my current go-to fandoms.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

What we're made of (Harry Potter: trans Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball with Hermione)

Sleepless Night (Good Omens: hurt/comfort double drabble about insomnia)

The Darkest Prison (Rogue One: pre-canon Baze/Chirrut fic about the early days of Imperial occupation and Baze's loss of faith in the Force)

Breathe, breathe in the air (Rivers of London: see my anwer to the smut question, Peter/Beverley and Peter/Old Beverley)

Bintumani (Rivers of London: Elsie Winstanley & Peter's mom have an adventure in Sierra Leone)

The first 3 are no surprise because they're all in rather big fandoms. The first one was for the "Trans Wizard Tournament" so it got lots of readers from there. The next two contain popular ships of their fandoms. The last two are a bit of a surprise, but they haven't that many kudos overall, just more than the others, and they are both from Yuletide and probably get some of their readers from there. The rest of what I write is either in niche fandoms or very niche within a bigger fandom or not in English.

5. do you respond to comments?

Yep, although I can take a while.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Under the burning sun (Mass Effect: Kaidan and Shepard go back to Virmire to grieve Ashley)

A fic about two survivors of a mission grieving their colleague who died on said mission. One feels responsible because he made the decision who to leave behind, the other feels guilty because he was saved while his colleague was left to die. Doesn't get any angstier than that in my book.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Phew hard to say, perhaps it's "Spürst du die Funken" (see my answer to the translation question)

8. do you get hate on fics?

Never got any hate mail, but then I don't have much of an audience either so the chances are slim.

9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I started recently, as in, over the last 1.5 years or so. There's one unpublished and unfinished fic that was actually the first, which only consists of a series of sexual fantasies so far but will lead to inadvisable undernegociated kinky sex between two characters who suck at communication and have loads of emotional baggage between them. There's another one that I actually published, a ... kind of weird metaphysical sex scene in which two characters have sex in the real world but also one of them has sex with the other's metaphysical alter ego on another plane of existence.

10. do you write crossovers?

I have 1 crossover WIP that I haven't touched in a long time, Rivers of London x The Old Guard, re:immortality. I tend to be intimidated by them because doing the different sources materials justice within one work sounds more challenging than if it's just one on its own.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but there's a half finished translation into English of one of my German fics, a HP Dean/Seamus getting together story with gray-aromantic bi Dean and gay Seamus.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, with @shakespearerants, but it's not published yet.

Also, the vast majority of my writing output (easily 20-30k words a year, used to be as high as 50k) is for a forum-based, long-form text writing RPG, which may count as co-writing and may count as fic.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

I once wrote a 70k Harry Potter fanfic in German, a schoolgirl romance between Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout (with my own character backgrounds for them). It would need much editing to be in any way presentable - the text is missing the character arcs I intended to put in it, I decided to change one of the characters' age and school year halfway in, and the ending would need a lot more preparation to be satisfying. And while I'm proud to have written 70k words of fanfic, I cannot overstate how little interest I have in connecting with others over Harry Potter these days, and I wouldn't enjoy interacting with readers about it. So I'm never going to share it and it's never going to be anything else than a first draft.

Edit: I just noticed I read the question wrong (I was very tired yesterday), but I'll keep my answer that way because the point stands: I'd like to have finished it because more satisfying than having written a 70k fic would be having it polished and published, but for aforementioned reason that's not going to happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Writing distinct character voices, I think. At least in German.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue! It always takes a lot of editing work to make it lively.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Ohh, lots. Basically the question is "what are you trying to achieve"? Why would the character do it? If you write dialogue in another language, which of the characters understands it, and do you want your readers to understand it? If two characters switch languages, why not say "[...] she said in French"?

The one fic in which I put the most thought about how to convey language is probably "What we're made of", the trans Viktor Krum fic, which is written from his perspective, but I elected not to add a orthographic representation of his accent, because he wouldn't be aware of it. I did give him some grammatical errors that I thought native speakers of Bulgarian might make in English - but just in direct speech and not in his internal monologue (all errors are mine there) because I assume his internal monologue to be in Bulgarian.

I did use some cyrillic, namely I used the spelling of "Hermione" from the Bulgarian HP4, from the scene in which Hermione tells him how to pronounce her name, because he would think about the pronounciation by way of the cyrillic spelling.

Also there's this sentence: "She pronounced his name ‘Victor’, as if it was English. A short i, the o as a short a, almost like ъ, and the r in that strange way English people pronounced their r, with bared front teeth." (ъ being the Bulgarian cyrillic letter for a schwa sound)

I haven't had any good opportunities to actually write dialogue in another language. One reason would be if the character was code switching, but then I'd want to be sure (in most cases) that readers who don't speak the language could still follow, so I probably wouldn't put the whole dialogue in another language, just a phrase or two, and have another character react to that. It could be fun as an easter egg for readers who speak both.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The first story for which I tried writing a continuation was some horse book set in Cornwall with Endurance riding.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Always the one I finished last? I don't know. I'm always proud that they're finished, and they all scratch an itch.

I'm tagging @freizusein, @astronicht, @hermitknut, @weatheredlaw, @shakespearerants, @evolutionsbedingt, @perching-owl

[wangmiao]

Thanks to @godotismissingx for tagging me!!!

3 Ships You Like: shi qiang/wang miao from three-body (lol i know i'm predictable); cheng fengtai/shang xirui from winter begonia; baze/chirrut from rogue one...i honestly realized that i'm all about old chinese men lol

First Ship Ever: joseph chander/emerson kent from whitechapel

Last Song You Heard: an epic instrumental piece, audiomachine - pillars of the earth

Favourite Childhood Book: the satanic mill (aka krabat), a german novel about black magic. i learned finger snapping because of novel lol.

Currently Reading: i'm re-reading the dark forest

Currently watching: mostly western shows like the masters or the air, constellation, and season 2 of trigger point...nothing good in k/cdramas. i might start another zhang luyi show, the red, but i'm honestly so tired of republican era spy dramas...sigh...i already watched three of them because of zhang luyi lol...all i want is for tibetan sea flower to air!!!

Currently consuming: does fanfic counts...just a ton of shiwang fanfics and shiwang inspired au fics with yhw and zly's other characters...

Currently craving: spicy noodle soup

anyone wants to do this can consider yourself tagged. not going to tag anyone specifically because i'm in the self loathing mode on tumblr...i feel like i'm so annoying. and i'm so cringe for loving shiwang so much lol...

[firstelevens]

aaand 27 for Jyn/Cassian, if I may 📚💙

27. I’ve read all the books beside your bed

Of all the things that Cassian expects to encounter when he comes home, a board game the size of the kitchen table complete with a play-doh mountain range is not one of them.

“Jyn?” he calls out hesitantly. He can’t see her anywhere in the kitchen or family room, but in fairness, there’s enough crafting supplies out that she could be hidden behind one of the piles and he wouldn’t notice.

“Out here!” comes her voice, drifting in from an open window. 

He pivots to the backdoor and opens it to find her holding a paint sprayer, goggles down as she covers a few dozen tiny foam pine trees in green paint. She moves a little, adds some coverage to a cluster on the left, then sets the sprayer down, pushing her goggles up.

“Did you leave work early?” she asks. “I thought you had that budget meeting.”

“I did,” he says. She’s been wearing the goggles long enough for them to leave an imprint; odds are that she lost track of time. “It’s almost six; I had to stay a little late to wrap it up.”

“Six? Already?” Jyn stretches her arms over her head, rolling her shoulders. 

There’s green paint on the sleeve of her Indigo Girls t-shirt and a little bit smudged on her jaw as well. Whatever is happening here should be concerning, but Cassian isn’t above admitting that there’s something very attractive about Jyn when she’s totally focused on something.

“So I see you’ve been busy,” he says, because he’s not sure how else to broach the subject of the spray painted trees or the model mountain range on their kitchen table.

Jyn’s face lights up. “Yes! Yes, I have.”

“I thought you said you wanted a low-key week before you started the new job?”

“I did! I did some woodwork with Baze on Monday, and yesterday, I finished Ted Lasso, and then today I realized I’ve read all the books you keep on the bedside table, so I went to the library.”

He furrows his eyebrows. “And that led to this?”

“Well, I was in the nature section, and I realized all of the pamphlets are so old and so dense. I can’t imagine anyone reading them, which sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?”

Cassian makes a vague noise of agreement.

“And then I was thinking of how Saw used to teach survival skills, where he would just take us into the woods and have us defend ourselves against the elements, and that would probably end in the Parks department getting sued if you did that in real life, but what if it was a board game?”

He feels his jaw drop slightly.

“It’s very simple,” says Jyn, and proceeds to explain a complex four to six person game involving dice, two decks of cards (“One deck for supplies and advantages, one for unexpected interventions from nature,”) and a token system (“Because when you treat nature with respect, it benefits you in the long run.”)

“You finished this in eight hours?” asks Cassian, flipping through the card decks.

“It’s not done yet,” she replies, adjusting the placement of a park ranger’s cabin on the board. “I still need to add the Yavin-based expansion. That one has cards for squirrel swarms and sinkholes.”

“And do those replace the bear attack cards from this stack?” he asks. “Or the bear-steals-your-food cards? Or the- Jyn, are all of these just about bears?”

“Of course not,” she says, waving a hand. “At least three of them are about wolves.”

Cassian snorts, pulling Jyn close so he can kiss the side of her head. She maintains an admirably steady grip on the game pieces while he does it. 

“Waffles for dinner?” he asks. “Since the table is out of commission?”

“You really will take any excuse,” laughs Jyn. She lets go of the miniature cabin and turns her head to kiss Cassian’s cheek. “I’ll go change.”

He doesn’t say, ‘Please don’t,’ because he knows he’d be teased mercilessly for it, but it’s a near thing.

[nightlist]

i love it when horror iz beautiful and beauty iz horrific and to create zomething new you muzt change everything old and even when you kill the monzter you can never truly ezcape itz world and AAAAAAA

i need to read the book immediately