#didn’t plan on writing all this but the latest stuff in the fandom about Kai’s Paris trip…

[jonginnation]

I’ve come to realize one of the recent things I don’t enjoy about idol/kpop fandom is this fixation on the brand deals and ambassadorships an idol gets and focusing on the business aspect of their career as stanning fodder. Like I’m happy for them and I look forward to seeing the ad cause it’ll have their photo or a clip of them. But this fixation on how these deals are a measure of their popularity and wealth and the fixation on the internal business mechanics of it all is just…. So uninteresting and even though I know this will sound snobby… I think it’s all so vulgar.

I guess it’s because this kinda fixation isn’t focused on stanning the idol as an artist. I like stanning an artist and following their art/craft so focusing on music, dancing, the drama or movie they acted in, if it’s an ad then focus on the creative aspects of the modeling, makeup, and styling. Not the business aspect of it. I stan an artist, not a business plan, not a contract, not a marketing strategy.

Can we focus on the art? The artist and what they’ve put out as their creative work into the world? Hell… talk about their friendships or brotherhood or personality or some funny things they did or said if you want to because that is a big part of fandom too, just stupid fun stuff. At least it’s something that can make you feel and it’s about connection to something or someone.

Focusing on what the brand’s pr team is doing, what other professionals behind the scenes are doing, the revenue supposedly gained by the company from these ads, the ad engagement numbers, gaging the idols popularity with the gp based on number of ads and brand deals blah blah blah 😖😖😖 this shit is so fcking mind numbing!

Like you’re gonna go up to him and be like “im such a fan and admire your number of IG/Twitter engagements on that one ad!” ..???? Is this what being a fan is now because it wasn’t like this not that long ago? Why are we talking about some multinational company’s pr team because of some IG post? 😖😵‍💫🫠

This kind of stanning is really widespread in Kai fandom and some other fandoms too. Call me dramatic, but I think it treats him like a commodity (an economic good/product) instead of an artist talking about him/his career that way. And I guess some smart person can argue all idols are commodities or whatever and that we treat them that way already and I’d probably reblog that shit 🙄 but whatever…. And I also realize it’s not like someone can’t talk about that, imo useless stuff as far as stanning an idol/artist, and talk about the artistic side or fun/silly side too. What I’m saying is that the amount of time and focus on the non-artistic side of things that I just described is way up these days and it makes fandom soulless and unenjoyable.

[pingou7]

A car, two cops and a stardust — a RebelCaptain road trip fic 

by @pingou7 pingou  for @thestarbirdfromtheashes Starbird

(aka the Road trip fic Diego Luna’s filmography made me write)

Notes : I blame the RebelCaptain fandom (especially you, @runakvaed) as well as Diego Luna's movies and his brotherhood with Gael Garcia Bernal, let that be said. This is based on a prompt given by @thestarbirdfromtheashes, so I dedicate this story to her.

Read and enjoy, and please consider leaving me a few words.

Summary:

As the dusty roads criss under Kes Dameron's old car, Cassian Andor lets the wind mess with his hair through the open window. Dust, sunshine, laughter, its easy to recapture the taste of days long gone.

(...)

At a gas station near Corpus Chirsti, when they climb back after taking a piss, both jump out of their skins as a random brunette, eyes thunderous, hisses dangerously from the backseat :

"Just pretend I'm not here."

More on AO3  (or under the cut)

Part 1

As the dusty roads criss under Kes Dameron's old car, Cassian Andor lets the wind mess with his hair through the open window. Dust, sunshine, laughter, its easy to recapture the taste of days long gone.

Kes is singing slightly out of tune "Quiero qué me quieras", his fingers tapping the stirring wheel rhythmically and it's easy to forget the decade and half that has passed since their first road trip, freshly eighteen in the mountains of Mexico. Only there's less cigarettes and better booze — if quite the same amount of junk food.

Shara didn't want to go with them, so they were told to have their Buddy time, since she couldn't handle them getting all cranky and shit, her son being enough already. So Cassian handed his life's keys to Kay, and both kissed her goodbye before they hit the road.

At a gas station near Corpus Chirsti, when they climb back after taking a piss, both jump out of their skins as a random brunette, eyes thunderous, hisses dangerously from the backseat :

"Just pretend I'm not here."

She is dirty, has a split lip that is still oozing blood, but her green eyes are burning with the wilderness of desperation. Kes frowns, but before the guys can say anything, people pass in front of them — three men who have a few nasty bruises on their faces, one with a baseball bat, a female cashier and a cop — and inside she has crouched down between the seats.

The group looks like they're going out for blood — hers perhaps — so when Cassian signals silently to Kes to start the car and get out of here, he does.

Several minutes pass in silence, until Cassian tells the intruder that the coast is clear. Kes tells her to put on the seatbelt or get out (fatherhood made him a bit stricter on security rules) and they hear the telling click in return. Outside the world is still moving but you could cut the air with a knife, until Cassian feels more than she hears her exhaling her thanks. Eventually curiosity gets the best of Dameron, and he addresses the stranger as the car goes on the highway up to San Diego as if she didn't disrupt their plan:

"Even if you're not highjacking our car and just want to hide from law, you might have chosen a better one."

No acknowledgement from the backseat at all, but he sees her looking at them from the review mirror, so Cassian elaborates, much to his brother's amusement:

"For starters, the thing is a shit, Dameron here is only keeping it running for sentimental value. Also, his wife kept the proper car."

"You're the one to talk, you left your decrepit convertible under Kay's custody," Kes grumbles.

"I didn't have much choice," the woman snaps guardedly, their usual banter doing nothing to put her at ease.

"I suppose not, but then you didn't know we're both cops, did you?"

"Shit, stop the car, I gotta go," the woman panics, the hand already on the handle.

Cassian doesn't know why he turns to her, reaching out across the seat to touch her wrist. From the corner of his eye, he sees Kes rising an eyebrow, but there's a tingling feeling that makes the skin of his arm dance.

"Listen here, we're cops, but we're also going on vacation. If you're on the run, we won't report you. We'll leave you in San Diego if you wish, no question asked."

"You will?" she asks dubiously, freeing her arm from his grasp.

"We will?" Kes echoes in Spanish.

"Yes," Cassian replies sharply, glaring at his so called best friend until he nods. "C'mon, she needs help. How many girls have you known to pop up in your backseat?"

"Usually, they're relatively undressed. And far more eager to please than this one."

"Don't let Shara hear of that, Cabrón, or Poe's gonna be an only child for sure."

"Who says she's not aware already? I may be married, but you're the one living like a monk. At one time you knew how to use the restricted space of a backseat."

"Not with each other I hope," the girl chimes in dryly, while Cassian feels the tips of his ears go hot with rising blood.

"Sorry to disappoint," Kes replies with a smirk, "but we're brothers in all but blood, no that you have any business knowing that, Miss Pretend-I-don't-exist."

She purses her lips, and tries to get comfortable. Not the talkative type then. Cassian lets the radio fill the silence and tries to shut his brain off. Surely they ought to hear more about her, gather information? They are bloody detectives, for Fuck's sake.

He offers her a tissue from the glovebox and a bottle of lukewarm water for her to clean herself. She takes them, and their fingers touch slightly. The sensation is still far too potent considering the briefness of the contact, and reflexively he stares at her face, looking for an hint in her green eyes freckled with gold, but finding none. There's blood on her puffing knuckles too.

"So, did you get in a brawl with the guys there?"

"Would you believe me if I said I have nothing to do with them?"

Neither cops dignify that with an answer and she sighs. A few seconds pass once more as Kes takes a turn, then her voice graces their ears again:

"Look. D'you have a phone I can borrow before you drop me off? Sorry to bother you, but I'd like to call somebody. It's important."

A boyfriend? The possibility struck Cassian like a thunderbolt, and he feels numb from the force of it. Not because he'd care about her romantic status, but because usually he's not one to jump to conclusions. Her bruised fingers may sport no rings, it doesn't mean she's unattached though.

He hands his phone, reasoning he should have her contact in the phone memory just in case. She dials a number and Cassian doesn't even pretend he's not eavesdropping as he turns down the volume of the latest bachata tune. Kes really has a shitty taste, but it's a rule that the driver picks the music, and besides, it's not the point.

"Bodhi, it's me."

"Jyn! Jyn, where are you, are you okay? Jyn, talk to me please, tell me you're fine."

The hysteria of the man carries up to them and even sunny Kes frowns back at the woman in the rearview mirror. Cassian feels in his guts like something is really wrong, this is no hitchhiking business, or someone who stole some stuff at the gas station and didn't wish to be caught.

"Bodhi, for Heaven's sake, calm down, it'll do me no good to have you panicking over nothing. I'm fine, I got out okay, you hear me?"

"You're safe?" the man — apparently named Bodhi — asks in a tiny voice, almost childish, which puzzles Cassian a bit.

"For now I am, they're not going after me. I got a drive to San Diego, I'll search for help there, and I'm going to get you next."

"No! No it's too soon, you gotta stay under the radar, they'll be looking for you, just, just keep on moving. Just for a bit, please, don't, don't stop to San Diego or anywhere yet, just drive around, drive so they won't find you —"

Even without the speaker on, the panicked rant and the hyperventilation that seems to go with it is plainly audible in the car. The nagging feeling is back full force and Captain Andor and Sergeant Dameron look at each other over the console, knowing they've already heard too many things to retain any semblance of frivolity.

"Wait, what do you mean, drive around? I can't just stay on the move for the sake of it, I have to go and see you at some point!"

She's clearly aggravated now but a different voice, gruffier, older, calmer, feels the line suddenly, and the sound of it seems to relax the fugitive.

"Little sister, Bodhi will be okay, Chirrut and I are looking after him. It's you that needs to be careful. They are looking for your father."

That piece of information gave her an unexplainable sense of dread, clearly echoed on her features, and Cassian gets the urge to hold her hand again, to show support or something. Kes has stopped the car completely, pulled it over for now, and all his attention is focused on her distressed face too.

"It's ridiculous, I don't even know what he's up to, let alone where he is!"

"We know that, and Bodhi told them as much, but still. Stay hidden until we can pick you up, not the other way around."

Then the woman — Jyn, his mind supplies automatically — get hung upon, having received all the instruction she needed, or so the man on the other side of the line thought. Jyn is deeply troubled as she hands him the phone back and her scowl doesn't mask her shining eyes.

"I can tell the phone call hasn't gone as well as you expected then... Jyn."

"Obviously, good cop, or whatever your name is. There's not much privacy in that old piece of junk, is it?"

"Hey, I resent that!" Kes exclaims.

"Beg your pardon, it's true that beggars can't be choosers... Does fine specimen of vintage car sounds more respectful?"

Kes snorts as he turns the contact again, resuming their trip, but even as her blatant sarcasm brought a fleeting smile to Cassian's mouth, his best friend clarifies:

"You mistake my meaning, my car is a piece of junk but I'm offended because you thought Cassian was the good cop. Usually that's me! Not to mention I've driven you around so far, I think this is pretty nice of me."

"True," Jyn concedes with a nod, "and it you seems like good enough blokes, as far as cops go, but soon I'll be out of your hair. I must get going, find other ways to move further than San Diego for a few days. I guess you already knew that from my conversation, right?"

"Ignore him," Cassian says pointedly, searching for her conflicted gaze. "Whatever threat you're under, I’d be happy to help, if you think it's necessary. You're also welcome to join us, if you're put in a higher danger when traveling alone."

"Don't you mind him, he's got a hero complex. And he's paranoid," Kes interrupts at her surprised expression.

"I can tell," she mumbles, swiftly putting it back against her full lips — to hide a smile?

Cassian feels offended but doesn't say so, knowing it would just give Kes a topic to rant about, likely revealing a few intimate details to their ungrateful guest in the process. He had just wanted to do the right thing and somehow he's the one being criticized, yet again.

Dameron sees him brooding and after a heartbeat or two of uncomfortable silence, it's him who asks:

"So do you agree? Whoever is chasing you would never catch you as long as you're with us. We're rooting in a tiny village near Mexico City for a week, if you're on the run until someone reaches out, it's a sound plan."

"What would you get from it? For all you know, I might be a criminal, a thief or a murderer."

"We already know you're not above borrowing cars and getting into fistfights. And that someone likely dangerous is looking for your father. We know the name you use, your physical description, the phone number of someone named Bodhi and if needed, there's blood on the tissue. I'd say we're all better off sticking together then, keeping an eye on you, don't you think?"

Kay would have been horrified by Cassian's bluntness, disclosing the assets at their disposal like this, but he trusts Jyn and Kes isn't overly concerned either. Finally Jyn must have thought the offer worthwhile, because she nods, leaning back on her seat and reaching out to a bag of crisps next to her.

"So, where are we headed?"

"Bernal, a pueblo magico three hours away from Mexico City."