Please tell us more about "So glad we almost made it" (& is this from the line from "everybody wants to rule the world" or just a coincidence?)
YES absolutely! I loooove this verse:
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad we had to fade it
(peak angst)
anyway! I had this wip for YEARS (uh), it's all over the place scenes half finished here and there. Basically Cassian is presumed KIA until he's not. Jyn learns that he's been (allegedly) captured while undercover and sent to a mining asteroid. Nobody knows who he is there.
Now for context it's the thick of the war and politics are just ~shit~ for the Alliance, stealing content from Mr Freed where they have to buy the freedom of slaves from terrible people etc. Anyway. A rescue mission is underway, keep in mind they aren't sure Cassian is actually alive. And Jyn obviously joins in (after threatening Melshi).
The diplomatic way isn't fast enough for her so she infiltrates the prison herself, finds Cassian who's dying from septicemia and tries her hardest to get him out. spoiler alert, it does not end well.
angsty preview 🔥 (in case you need more whump, cw: injury etc)
“I'm looking for the Starbreaker's crew,” she asked around, briefly kneeling beside strangers. “Heard anything?”
Empty faces shook their heads silently as Jyn went through the groups of prisoners sitting on the dusty ground. “Starbreaker's crew? No?”
She attracted curious stares, but no one found the courage to inquire on the matter. Those people had been here for weeks, months maybe, they had no energy to spare for an obsessive woman asking questions about a lost ship.
Moving towards the back of the underground prison, Jyn caught the profile of a man that seemed painfully familiar in the oppressive darkness. “Cassian?” she called with sickening hope, only to let her hand fall back when she realized it wasn't him.
Jyn stood up and scanned the dark room, asphyxiated by her internal fears. What if he wasn't here? What then? What will she do now that she was locked up with a bunch of prisoners in this shithole of a planet? Talk about a flawed plan…
Barely keeping her brain from freezing in panic, Jyn didn't notice the person following her—until a young voice startled her from her existential dread. “You're looking for Cassian?”
Jyn flung around. “Yes,” she said, facing a dark-haired boy that couldn't be much older than twelve. “You've seen him?”
The boy nodded and Jyn forgot all of her following questions, her face suddenly burning from anxiety. Cassian's here. He’s alive.
She quickly walked into the footsteps of this stranger as he gestured for her to follow.
Behind a curved wall, laying on the ground under a dirty rag, Jyn discovered the silhouette of an unconscious man. She kneeled in a hurry, her mind trying to reconcile her memories of him with the brutal reality. For a shameful amount of seconds, she wanted to say: no, that's not him. But it was. Ish’ka… it was.
Jyn cupped his face between shaky hands, feeling the burn of a feverish skin under her touch. His eyes were rimmed by dark circles, the hollow of his cheeks eaten away by a full-grown beard. She could barely tell if he was breathing and, when she checked, found that his pulse was weak and shallow.
Cassian looked beyond miserable. He looked like a dying man.
“Cassian,” she called in vain, “can you hear me?”
“Careful,” the boy told her with a protective stance. Jyn decided to pay him some more attention for his tone alone. When she looked at him with a questioning gaze, he pointed toward Cassian’s legs. “He’s got a bad injury.”
Jyn had seen plenty of bad.
It didn't even begin to describe the horror of what she discovered under that smelling sheet. Blood drained from her face with a gush of nausea. She tried her best not to gag at the sight of the wound, fear in her guts. She could only imagine; Cassian had taken a blaster shot to the lower leg, or maybe caught the explosion of a mine—not a direct impact, a bursting of heat that caused the skin to implode.
It would have taken long enough to heal, had he been able to access medicare immediately. The non-treatment only led to an infection of the damaged tissues, coloring the surrounding skin with a contrasting dark color, and inviting more bacteria to feast on the scene. Jyn could almost smell it over the putrid odor of that place. She feared the infection had passed into his bloodstream already.
“I tried to clean it,” the boy said with a shy voice, “but here…”
Jyn tried to focus her mind on him long enough to reply. Although she knew nothing about him, he seemed genuinely distraught by Cassian’s condition, which pierced through the walls of blind terror surrounding Jyn's heart.
“I'm sure you did your best,” she said and touched his arm. “What's your name?”
“Horizon, ma'am. People call me Hoz.”
“Thank you, Hoz.”
The boy lowered his voice hesitantly, glancing around with a frown as if he was about to deliver sensitive intel. “Are you… Jyn?”
Her eyebrows draw higher with careful hesitation. She considered the surprising possibility that Cassian had made friends with the boy—which was somewhat out of character... or telling her everything she needed to know about Hoz.
“Did he tell you about me?”
The boy shrugged. “He didn't tell your name at first… only that he needed to go home. But sometimes, he calls for a Jyn, so I figured…”
She felt like someone had punched her in the guts. “How long since you last talked with him?”
“It's been… a couple of days, ma'am. Are you here to get us free? The… Alliance?”
“I’m going to get you out.” Jyn promised. She lowered her face so she could whisper to Cassian in turn: “I'm going to get you home. It's almost over. Stay with me.”
Rebelcaptain Trees for @antifandor and @imsfire2: Peace and Post-War (inspired by this lovely fanart by @pfirsichspritzer)
The lights are off in their little cottage by the time Cassian steps through the front door, bag in hand. It’s nearly two in the morning, but his longing is not for sleep. Silence greets him, the snow owls hooting outside the only sound in the house, but he stops for a second, squinting into the darkness as he listens for any rustling that suggests his arrival had woken someone.
Nothing.
He told Jyn not to wait up. His ship was disappointingly but unsurprisingly delayed, the downside of public transport, and there was no point in keeping her up when he wasn’t sure he’d even make it home that night. But selfishly, he still lingers, hoping for the click of the light switch or tiny feet padding down the hall towards him. He hasn’t seen them in three weeks while he was off-world aiding Leia and the New Republic as an unofficial adviser for the Senate, and he’s annoyed that things like delays and sleep keep them from him yet again.
A tinge of disappointment crawls up his spine. His yearning for them is visceral, driving him to irrationality. No one should be awake at this hour, least of all their kids, but he misses them like a man dying of thirst in the desert. He wants to wrap Jyn in a hug and kiss her forehead, he wants to sit Lu on his lap and braid her hair or tickle her feet and hear her squeal, he wants to pick up Sammi and sing to him until he falls asleep or make those silly faces that always puts a wide grin on his face.
Sleep be damned, he wants nothing but his family. He could cook them something they loved and pull out a board game, something Lu could play as well. Or they could go sledding on the hill, build a snowman, make snow angels. They could cuddle up on the couch and watch a holo. Anything as long as they’re by his side.
He’s already making plans of waking up early tomorrow to surprise them with breakfast and hot chocolate when he finally reaches their bedroom and falters at the doorway. His heart finally eases. He wanted to put down his bag and check on the kids before settling in beside Jyn, but there’s no need. They’re here, all three of them, sleeping peacefully in the double bed he shares with Jyn.
She’s on her side of the bed, her hair fanning out around her, her breathing even. The white shirt she’s wearing, peeking out of the blankets, is his. Their son, only six months old, slumbers on her chest, a pacifier in his mouth. Jyn’s got a protective arm wrapped around him, his tiny hand fisting her shirt. Already, he looks older, hair thicker than he remembers, and Cassian mourns each and every second he missed with him during his three-week absence. On the other side of the bed is Luisa, clutching her favorite bantha plushie in one hand and holding Jyn’s in the other. They try not to make a habit out of letting her sleep with them, unless she has a nightmare, but he isn’t surprised Jyn allowed her into their bed while he was away. She likes to keep her loved ones close where she can keep an eye on them.
Cassian’s heart squeezes, his love for them choking the air from his lungs. He’s missed them all so dearly, and although he can’t wait to hear Luisa’s laugh and Sammi’s babbling and Jyn’s tender welcome, this, standing here in front of them and watching, is enough for now.
He doesn’t move for so long that Jyn peeks an eye open, her voice quiet and sleepy. “Are you getting in or not?”
She’s awake, of course she is. His arrival had woken her because no matter how many years pass, they would always be the people who catalog every exit route when entering a new location and wake to the tiniest of noises in the middle of the night. Sleeping through a stranger entering your home is the kind of mistake that gets you killed, and he knows they would both sooner die than let anything happen to their kids.
They’re still so young and innocent, knowing nothing of fear and pain and hunger, living the kind of childhood they deserve to have. At Lu’s age, he was already an orphan, and Jyn was already on the run with her parents. But their kids will never experience that kind of desolation, and he’d fight another war, sacrifice his life and soul just to keep it that way.
All those years he spent giving away tiny pieces of himself for the cause, all those times he nearly lost hope, unsure of what they were fighting for… This is it. The peace he feels when looking at his family. The future he can give to his children who will grow up better than they did. It was worth every injury, every loss, every atrocity he committed. It was worth the lifetime of sorrow he’d lived just to get here.
“Yeah, in a moment,” he tells Jyn, mirroring her tone. There’s just enough space for him between the three of them. It’ll be a tight fit, but he doesn’t mind. “I’ll take a quick shower and get changed.”
“Okay.” Jyn’s eyes flutter close again, adjusting her grip on Sammi. Her voice is nothing more than a quiet sigh when she says, “Welcome home, Cass.”
Not trying to push you in any way, but I just want you to know that I dream of translating Ad astra in French one day, should it ever be finished (if you'd let me, of course)
Oh, wow, thank you! That would be very cool as far as I'm concerned, honestly. And I genuinely hope that someday I'll be in a space to do it, since it was so near to a real conclusion. I was really close to the end of my outline, but not quite there, and I'd very much like to wrap my original plans up at the very least.
In general, btw, I'm okay with translations of any of my fics as long as I'm credited for the original fic and told about the translation (so I can go check it out!).
imsfire2 replied:
If that inspiration ever does strike, know that there are readers who will be very happy to see it and to learn how you wind the story up!
Thank you very much! It's really nice to know that people still care about it in this age when fandoms come and go so quickly.
About the Rebelcaptain Holiday Trees - what a lovely idea! - can I ask, will you be reblogging all the wish-lists so they can be found in one place? I don't know if tag searches work properly on mobile but I'm on desktop and they are pretty wonky there, so I'm not sure I'll be able to find people's wish-lists if that's the system.
Hi there! Exactly, we'll be reblogging all the wish-lists to the blog. Given tumblr's tag system can be a little tricky, we recommend everyone who participates to @ the blog as well, so it's (even more) likely we'll see it.
If any participant has tagged their wish list properly and @ the blog, but your post hasn't been reblogged yet, feel free to send us as an ask with the link to said post, and we'll reblog it ASAP.
@leralynne / katsumi: sadly, they deleted my absolute favourite so I can’t link to it... but you were my new home is a very close second
@imsfire2 / imsfire: I had to choose Out of darkness not just because it’s a beautifully sensuous fixit for a minuscule fandom (less than 5 stories), but also because these days I read it for the vicarious travel to Spain 😭
@andromeda3116: let it be tomorrow is excellently summed up by the author’s tag “two very very competent people inadvertently making their jobs harder by being too good at them” (also, things get 🔥)
[ send me three fic writers and I’ll share my favourite stories by each ]
My laptop died, eleven days ago, and I’ve been shut out of pretty much everything ever since. Don’t know if anyone’s missed me, but that’s what’s been going on, if you have.
It turned out it had shortcircuited and the damage was irreparable. I’ve now gritted my teeth and bought a reconditioned Dell; collected that today (after data recovery from the old machine) and I’m just starting to get used to it. Finally had to accept the arrival of Windows 10!
One irritating thing: I can’t get into Discord, which doesn’t recognise my user id and password. So please would someone from the rebelcaptain server be kind and contact me sometime to see if I can get a new invite to join it?
Tagged by @imsfire2 - thank you for the tag and I’m sorry it’s taken me about two years to respond!
Rules: Cite the final line of five of your fics – your favorites, or the most recent ones. Tag five writers who should do this next.
1) Sometimes I still see a tall guy in a cap, chewing gum from across the street and I wonder, did he really die? But either way he’s never come back to me with an explanation.
From ‘I was in the Neighbourhood’ A Jimmy Dalton One Shot (of which this was part 2 - so much for one shot...) https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295339/chapters/66849511#workskin
2) Anyway, now that was over their real fun could begin.
From ‘The Night Before The Disney Expo’ https://archiveofourown.org/works/25808953
3) Leaving Cassie to wonder what the fuck she’d done and how she could possibly get him to do that to her again.
From ‘You Captured Me Like Armed Robbery’ Chapter 1 - still one of the stories I’m most proud of - you can read it here https://archiveofourown.org/works/25803559/chapters/62676946
4) Finally remembering that there was someone in this world he cared about.
From ‘Circle The Drain: A Jimmy Quidd One Shot’ https://archiveofourown.org/works/25806799
5) They ran as fast as they could amidst the bricks and metal framework that had fallen onto the ground floor, but they didn’t quite make it.
From ‘Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire’ https://archiveofourown.org/works/16664638/chapters/43498235#workskin
I tag @ladyviolethummingbird, @holdhertightandsayhername @missclairebelle @badcircuit (although Ims already tagged you in this so if you already did it then don’t worry) and @spectralarchers
