lrthreads, she/her, over 30, queer, casual multi-shipping (but Finnrey and Rebelcaptain are my faves), open-minded about Rey's origin; multi-shipper haters and exclusionists, kindly don't interact
hi hi hi! so happy to finally come off anon and let you know your RCSS gift is up! it was a blast to write and I appreciate you so much for basically giving me free rein to write the nichest fic of my life. I hope you are having a lovely start to the new year!
I was so excited to get that email from ao3!
Knowing that you had fun writing it is like getting a second present
And niche fics are some of my favorites, thank you so much!
I have been lucky and been able to take some time to relax at the end of last year and beginning of this one. I hope 2026 is treating you well!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
@scruffyhappaboreherder happy solstice and new year!!!
I give you... the opera AU.
I know this is a gift for you but let me just say YOU are the one who has given ME the gift in the form of free rein to write the goofiest, most domain-specific-knowledge fic of my life. I hope you have a wonderful start to 2026 and please enjoy!
thank you to @therebelcaptainnetwork for organizing, this was my first year of writing fic and my first fandom event ever and it was a blast!
hello hello! it's your RCSS buddy. I hope you had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate, and a lovely ordinary day if you don't! just popping in to let you know my posting day is next Friday, and I must admit the fic exploded a bit on me, so I hope you're ready! wishing you a calm end to this year and the best start to the next!
Written for 2025's rebelcaptain solstice swap, run by @therebelcaptainnetwork
—
Orson Krennic has developed a new technology that will throttle electronic communications. Jyn Erso wants to stop him. It's too much for her to do on her own. But fortunately, there are people who want to help—including a member of Congress from Kansas and her superpowered son.
Five Times Secrets Came Out: A Smallville × Rogue One fusion
1. Landing
It was a cool crisp afternoon when the impact shook the house. Marta stared in the direction of the sound and ran toward it. She could see Jonathan in the distance running toward her.
It was like she was suddenly one of the actors in an Air Disasters re-creation. When she looked cautiously at the metal contraption, it hissed open. She jumped backwards, and Jonathan's arms went around her.
"There are no things like this," Marta whispered, part of her mind befuddled by the strange devices, the rest of her staring at the child inside. It was a baby. A toddler? Hesitantly, Marta pulled away from Jonathan and reached inside. "Heavy for such a tiny thing," Martha said in surprise, ignoring Jonathan's panicked yelp. The baby snuggled against her. "Aren't you sweet like a candy bar," Marta said. "I'm calling you Clark."
"Marta, we can't just—" Jonathan stammered "—name babies we find in fields." He looked at the baby; the baby looked solemnly at him. "We should call someone. In case the kid's hurt."
"We can't just keep him," he added weakly, eyeing the child clinging to Marta. "And you can't name a person after a candy bar."
They couldn't just keep him. It was a long process of looking for missing children matching his description, becoming certified as foster parents, being granted guardianship, and finally adoption. Jonathan had argued Marta out of calling him Clark, and they'd picked Cassian from a baby name web site instead. They never told anyone about the ship hidden under the barn, until Cassian was old enough to know about it.
—
2. Whoosh
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Cassian was used to hearing birds, planes, drones, helicopters, missile launches. Even in Smallville, which was quieter than a lot of places. Over the last few months, the whoosh noise had been bothering him whenever he heard it. It was new, and it gave him a headache. Finally, the next time he heard one and could sneak away, he did.
A satellite. Huh.
Dozens of them.
When he tried to get closer, the headache intensified. He shook his head to clear it and touched down outside the barn back in Smallville.
He needed to know what those satellites were for.
He unearthed the ship that had carried him to Smallville, then paused. Maybe there was a better way to find out what they were. His mother was a member of Congress, after all.
—
3. Crystal
Bodhi held out the phone. "It's unlocked, and it has access to the control systems. Don't turn on the wireless, or let it connect to a cell tower, or anything. There are some photos and screenshots of documents too." He looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. It's the most we could get."
"It's all right. Get out of here, and stay safe."
"You too," he said quietly, pretending not to notice her hand gripping the crystal around her neck.
She had snuck it into the Planet's CMS and set it to publish the next day. Somehow, in the middle of the night, she'd been taken from her apartment and woken up in the sleeping compartment of a semi's cab. Her stirring on air mattress had activated a motion censor. An unctuous male voice told her that she had quit her job at the Planet after the shock of having to turn her father and her childhood friend in for mishandling classified information, deciding to explore life in a smaller town—Smallville—and that if she wanted everyone she cared about to stay alive and safe, she had better stick to that story.
She seethed. Everyone had adjusted remarkably rapidly to the idea that she would move to middle America and write puff pieces. And that she would burn sources.
Well, fuck it. She wasn't in jail. She had the means to make a living and a place to live, because whoever had put her in Smallville hadn't been willing to just disappear her. So she could be used as leverage against her father, probably, she thought bitterly.
"Whoever"—it had to have been Krennic. She sunk down to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. His fucking network of transmission-controlling satellites was still up there, and she was down here, with no one listening and no way to get anyone to listen.
She grabbed a copy of the Smallville weekly she'd picked up and bared her teeth at it. The cover story was a picture of Representative Marta Kent and her son Cassian. Marta, the article said as an aside, enjoyed visiting the farmers markets in the district.
She sat up and grabbed her phone, looking for Marta's local office number. She was supposed to be embedded in farm country? Well, she could act the part, and start networking at the same time.
Fifteen minutes later, she had an appointment to chat with Marta Kent at the weekend farmers market. She slapped the weekly paper down on the table, and started making notes on her phone.
—
4. Coffee
"Ma! You're not going to believe this," he yelled.
"I always believe you, honey," Ma said mildly. "But Ms. Erso just moved here from Metropolis and I'm getting to know my newest hometown constituent."
"I'm only here because it was this or prison," Jyn Erso snapped. "Representative Kent, please just give me a quote about the farmers markets in the district and I'll leave you alone."
Cassian watched his mother's eyebrows rise.
"Oh, honey," she said. "Why don't you let me get you a tea or a coffee from Baze and Chirrut's. I can tell you haven't had enough caffeine yet. Cassian, come with."
He looked imploringly at his mother. He couldn't say this in front of a reporter, even a deranged and discredited one. Especially a deranged and discredited one.
Well, he couldn't say it at the farmers market, either. He followed them, and ended up carrying the drinks container as he followed them, bemused, back to his mother's car.
"Leia Organa tells me you can be trusted," Ma said to Erso. "I have a story for you. Cassian, tell her what you've been keeping under your hat ever since you interrupted our chat."
He looked at her doubtfully, and she nodded at him.
"They activated the satellites," he said finally. "But they aren't fully operational yet. We have a way to disrupt them."
"How do you know?" Erso demanded.
"Ma is a member of Congress. We have sources." He was glad she couldn't hear his heartbeat she way he could hear hers. The sources in this case were him hearing the launches, and Leia Organa agreeing that there was something going on but that she couldn't find out what, even as a member of subcommittees related to defense and space spending. He had been listening for the sound of the satellites activating ever since.
"What's your plan?"
He pressed his lips together.
"You wouldn't have invited me here if you weren't going to tell me what it was." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you're planning to confine me here. Are you part of it? Are you—"
"No, no," Ma said hurriedly. "We want you to be a witness. To tell the story."
Erso's eyes narrowed. "What story?"
"We have a way to get to orbit and dismantle the satellites," said Cassian, since Ma seemed determined to tell her.
"Oh yeah? How?"
"Come back to the farm with us," said Ma. "We'll show you."
—
5. Splashdown
Jyn wondered why she was doing this. Letting the space alien son of a member of Congress launch her into space. So she could watch and record as he destroyed the satellites that Krennic had installed to limit and control all electronic transmissions.
Because it's the story. Because it's my job. Because it's a way out.
Staring into the black space was fascinating. Watching Cassian Kent fiddling with the satellite was oddly nerve-wracking. It wasn't natural for a person to be in space without a suit, dammit.
It depended on the person, apparently.
Everything seemed fine. It didn't seem unusual that Cassian was moving more slowly as time went on; it was a delicate and difficult task, from what she could see.
But then there was a twin flash of light. One targeted Cassian. The other was headed straight for the ship—the one she was on—and suddenly everything was darkness and fire.
She became aware that she was aware, and then that Cassian was clutching her shoulders and yelling her name. "Jyn! Jyn!"
She groaned. Whatever had happened, she didn't feel great. By the look on Cassian's face, he didn't either.
"We're in a protective bubble I'm using my heat vision to make," he said rapidly. "We aren't going to burn up, or freeze, or anything. But there's a problem. I'm sorry."
"What problem?" Jyn croaked.
"Whatever that satellite hit me with. I can't stop using my powers once I start. I directed us back toward Earth, and we keep picking up speed. I don't know what's going to happen when we get to the ground."
"Oh," said Jyn. "Is that all."
Cassian spluttered. Whatever reaction he'd been expecting, this wasn't it. "I think it's enough!" he hissed.
"Well," said Jyn, "I'm sorry." She grabbed his right shoulder with one hand and fumbled in her shirt for her necklace with the other. She grabbed the crystal tightly, and stabbed him in the left shoulder with it. His eyes rolled back into his head, and they were free-falling.
It was weirdly satisfying for a moment. But she didn't actually want to die right now. She yanked the crystal out of his shoulder and hoped.
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on a beach. Cassian was staring down at her. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.
"I'm not dead, huh," she muttered. "Thanks." She meant it, but he huffed impatiently.
"Asking again, what was—"
"Blue kryptonite," she interrupted, sitting up. "Daughter of a military research scientist, you know? I wore this for years but I never knew what it was until Bodhi Rook came to me with that message. It stops Kryptonian powers. When something isn't working, you unplug it and plug it back in again."
The huffy noise again. "I am not a malfunctioning router!"
"I know," Jyn told him. "I didn't even know if it would work. But it did. And we're alive." She reached for his hand. He let her take it. "And we got a recording of you and the satellite to the ground, before everything blew up. So we have some proof of what Krennic is doing."
He blinked. "We did? We do?"
"We did. Leia Organa has it." She grinned. "No offense, but she has better contacts than your mom. She may be younger, but she's been playing the DC game longer. So with any luck, we've stopped Krennic, my dad and Bodhi will get undisappeared, and—" she hesitated "—I'll get my job back." It seemed smaller than everything else. But her job had brought her here.
Cassian was looking at her. "Back to Metropolis?"
"If I can."
He swallowed. "Do you think—you might visit Smallville sometimes. For a break?" he asked awkwardly.
"That place makes me crazy," she said honestly. "But I never did get to try that coffee your mom mentioned at the farmers market. We could do that."
His eyes lit up. Jyn wondered, prodded by her reporter's curiosity, if that was at all literal. "I'd like that," he hold her, and squeezed her hand. She watched the waves lap at the beach, and leaned against his shoulder—already healed, she noticed—and savored the feeling of soaking up the sun with him.
Hello! It’s your RCSS buddy returning from hibernation ❄️🎁 How are you doing? How has the start to the holidays been for you? I’ve started to plug away at your gift - I don’t have an excerpt for you because I think I want to keep the premise secret for now (sorry not sorry!) but I do have a title: scende all’alma e fa sperar. I hope that gives you something to marinate on! ❤️
I love (good) surprises, feel free to keep it to yourself to heighten the suspense!
Ooh, what a neat title! (I was about half right with my guesses as to word meaning, it seems, and this is why cognates are called the linguist's false friend.)
Candidly this time of year always hits me like a ton of bricks but I'll make it. I hope you had a good hibernation and I wish that was meeeeeeeeeee
It's not all down notes though, yesterday's sunset was unexpectedly poppin
Thanks for checking in, and I hope things are good for you!
hi it’s me your rcss buddy again!!! I hope you’ve had a good week. we got a surprise blizzard in my area today so things are starting to feel real festive (and very cold). I had a couple music related questions for you this week: first, do you have a fav song you associate with rebelcaptain? and second, do you have any particular affinity for or thoughts on classical music lol?
Oh my gosh I'm sorry, the notification for this ask must have been eaten
Okay, the terrible person answer is "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight" by Cutting Crew. But I have an excuse okay! Here it is (tumblr post with embedded video)
I didn't say it was a good excuse but I did immediately think of it.
Serious answer. Um. Um. How about "Return (Coming Home)" by the Crüxshadows? (youtube link here, lyrics here.)
For a somewhat darker or angstier rebelcaptain, "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. maybe. (The video has flashing lights and some light to moderate Christian imagery and other potentially disturbing stuff so maybe just listen at the source of your choice if needed, but the lyrics are here and the video is here.)
... I just started down a rabbit hole about versions of "It's the End of the World as We Know It" (also R.E.M.) but I think that's mostly not relevant so I'm going to leave that out.
Classical music! Yes! Yes! I like it a lot. Every Sunday I listen to Sunday Baroque and it's given me an appreciation of Telemann. Also like the Water Music. Obligatory shoutout to the 1812 Overture for having a part for a cannon. Thank you Mr. Tchaikovsky for your contributions to the canon (pun not initially intended). If you have a favorite composer I didn't list feel free to run with that. (Also feels obligatory to mention: the influence of the Western classical canon on John Williams has been written about and discussed a lot.)
Most opera doesn't do very much for me as a thing to listen to but I enjoy descriptions of it in text.
If you meant something else by classical music please let me know. Or if you were thinking of a period other than the baroque era that is perfectly fine.
Yikes, a blizzard! I hope you've been staying warm!
hello!! this is your rcss buddy checking in again. i hope my last ask made it to you and that all is well!
i noticed you're a fan of the prequels/sequels too - hopefully not too difficult of a question, but which is your favourite sw movie and why?
have a great week!
Rogue One is probably taking the crown today, and I would say that most days it has the edge. (Huge surprise, low-hanging fruit, fork found in silverware drawer, I know.) Fabulous score, introduced me to Michael Giacchino's work, amazing work by an amazing cast, great book tie-ins.
On other days it would be The Force Awakens—while I could scream at the sun for years about how the sequel trilogy failed to be coherent TFA introduced Rey and Finn and Poe, who I'm very fond of.
I answered your previous ask too, btw! (ETA: okay now I've actually hit post on the draft.) I'm sorry I didn't see it until now, and hope you've had a good couple of weeks other than the blizzard.
hello!!! I'm SO excited to be your rc solstice swap buddy this year! just dropping in to say hi and thank you for the very detailed list of no-gos and potential prompts - I have so many ideas brewing! how has your fall been going?
Aaaahhhh I'm so excited to see where your ideas take you! I hope the list wasn't too much.
My fall has been decent—I hope yours has too—and where I am the leaves are colorful right now. 🫶
Done for rivulet027 in the 2021 May the 4th fanworks exchange.
One of my favorite genres of painting is basically A Dramatically Lit Group of People Sit Around a Table During the Dutch and Italian Renaissance (by Caravaggio, by Gerard van Honthorst, and again, by Bartolomeo Manfredi, etc.). I've wanted to attempt one of those in a fanart milieu and luckily your request gave me the chance! The dejarik board was the obvious source for Dramatic Lighting, and once I figured out which characters were playing, who was talking to who, and what the various gestures were, it more-or-less came together.
3D render with a ginormous amount of overpainting.
vaporwave
blakekathryn
theartofmadeline
gummygunk
pixelskylines
andulkaphoto
janainaart
