I'm sad that I didn't have the brain power to write anything new for the Rebelcaptain fix-it week prompts, but on the bright side, my ... uhhhh oeuvre of Jyn/Cassian fics does include fics that would fit the prompts if I were writing them now. So in honor of the post-Andor kudos/comments extravaganza I've been a beneficiary of, here are the old fics of mine that best match the week's prompts:
1— How they escape Scarif
I did this one a bunch of times, but the one that is the most about the mechanics of escaping Scarif and how that, too, could go wrong is unquestionably per ardua ad astra, the AU where Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi escape Scarif in an Imperial shuttle only to get caught in the Death Star's tractor beam.
Wildly, she looked around the shuttle. There had to be something she could do. Some last hope. The mission couldn’t end this way.
Cassian said quietly, “Jyn.”
“No!” She hated the calm on his face, shattering the mask of pain. Had he never expected to live?
A suspicion crept on her, near to certainty: he wasn’t going to live, with or without the Empire. At his side, blood soaked her bandage. Every breath he took whistled and shuddered. She hadn’t even begun to look at whatever he might have done to his legs, under those Imperial trousers.
Imperial trousers. Imperial officer’s trousers.
Jyn turned to look at the cockpit, knowing what she’d see. A slim man in the uniform of an Imperial pilot. Even part of an Imperial droid.
One last chance.
2— How they finally admit their feelings
I actually didn't write the actual declaration that often (partly because of eternal WIP-itis), but more often fics when they have already done so or are cautiously maneuvering around it. However, like a storm in the desert does have it:
I love you, she thought, easy and painless. It wasn’t a revelation, exactly; she’d understood it for a long time. Before the Alderaanian missions, probably before Scarif, however improbably.
What everyone else had seen, it was wrong. But it also wasn’t wrong, and she hadn’t understood that.
“You know,” he whispered, one hand cupping her cheek again. “Don’t you?”
Jyn brushed his hair from his face, triumph radiating through her at the streaks she’d left over his face, at the heavy gaze reflected back at her.
“Yes,” she said. “I know.”
3— How they fare on Hoth
Imagining Jyn/Cassian on Hoth inspired my first RO fic altogether, but my personal favorite of my fics with them there is the words are all escaping, which is entirely about the post-ANH evolution of their relationship. It's set in a longer series, but really all you need to know is that Jyn and Cassian are the only ones who escaped Scarif and they formally got together soon thereafter.
“You also asked me if you were a cyborg,” she said, giving up on the chair and the chilly temperature of their quarters at night. Worse than chilly. Even Jyn got cold on Hoth.
After the galaxy’s quickest change of clothes, she grabbed the datapad and one of the blasters she’d discarded with her holster, and climbed into bed. Shivering, Jyn tried to find some opening in the tangled mass of blankets, with no effect until they gave a dramatic twitch and lifted.
She crawled under, stowing the blaster under her pillow. Cassian didn’t do that, but he was painfully careless—except about organization—when he felt safe. Jyn never felt safe. Not completely, and certainly not with the Empire combing the galaxy for them. Fine, it didn’t seem like Imperial spies ever managed … anything, given their total failure to find Alliance bases over twenty years, but you could never be sure. And Jyn had good reason to know that Rebels sometimes defected, if very rarely; they just didn’t tend to live long afterwards.
(Cassian tried to keep her from those missions, at first. Jyn, whose qualms about murder did not extend to traitors, simply packed as usual and slipped into the ship before he arrived. When he found her in the co-pilot’s chair, he opened his mouth to say something stupid and unnecessary, so Jyn just propped her boots up on the panel—which he hated—and stared at him. They never exchanged a word about it, but after the fourth time, he gave up altogether and Jyn kept her feet on the floor.)
4— How they work together on missions
I'm pretty sure my only real missionfic in the usual sense (aka not ad astra, in which the "mission" is survival and involuntary) is probably also like a storm in the desert, which does have a chapter revolving around Jyn and Cassian's nesting dolls of Fake Dating:
Zara, at any rate, was the sort of narrowly good-natured woman who disliked death and suffering, but talked vaguely about the rule of law and dismissed the rest as Rebel propaganda. Major Lannan prided himself on the precision of his conduct while happily remote from actual warfare; he served on a quiet backwater planet that had seen no real change between the Republic and the Empire.
Lieutenant Erso and Commander Andor of the Rebellion heartily disliked them both. But the higher officers of Major Lannan’s sector had been summoned to a gathering (otherwise known as a five-day party) with the local brass. Normally, the Rebellion took little interest in such a peaceful region, but the gathering happened to be taking place at Elis Place, which incidentally stored the sector’s personnel records. Draven wanted them for unknowable Draven reasons, so Jyn and Cassian buried themselves into Zara and Lannan and endured.
On top of that, the Lannans were, obviously, married. The Alliance operatives stuck inside them were, back in the Rebellion, just as obviously lovers. But packed inside them were Jyn and Cassian, and they were nothing of the kind.
Well, maybe something of the kind. But certainly not—not—
Jyn opened her eyes in the near-dark, letting her gaze drift down the line of Cassian’s sleeping (maybe sleeping) body. The Lannans’ bed was easily twice the size of their own; where Jyn had considered Cassian’s commander’s quarters palatial, by her standards, these apartments were the real deal. Yet sleeping in this one, a good foot apart, felt more intimate, more dangerous.
5— Follow to the ends of the galaxy
Since I've never written them on Endor, I contemplated the alternative prompt, and I'm pretty sure the closest for me is the final chapter of my f!Cassian/Jyn AU, whatever we deny or embrace:
“Baze said we were practically married already,” she replied, readily enough. “He didn’t know he was saying it, but still. And I thought that—it’d be good to have things clear.”
Cassia looked particularly inscrutable. “To me?”
“To everyone,” said Jyn. “No misunderstandings.”
Again, Cassia’s eyes widened. Her grip loosened, and Jyn had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
“You want,” Cassia began, then broke off. “You’re proposing that we swear to … to this, to staying together forever, because now we’ll probably live long enough for it to matter?”
She could be very concise sometimes, without sacrificing meaning. It was one of Jyn’s favorite things about her.
“Yes,” said Jyn.
“And because you want us sworn before the entire galaxy?” she pressed.
“Yes.”
Cassia released Jyn’s hands, which for one terrible moment, threw all of her conclusions into doubt. Then Cassia stepped even nearer than they already stood, almost as near as they could get, and cupped Jyn’s cheek with one hand, the other dropping to her hip.
“Jyn,” she said.
6— How they live after the war
I did write one short fic centered around this idea, one wave short of a shipwreck.
They all knew the end of the war would be difficult for Cassian, and none knew it better than K-2SO, in his own estimation. All of them had certain inconvenient adaptations to make, of course, but none possessed quite the same disadvantages as Cassian.
After all, the Guardians of the Whills and Bodhi Rook had functioned in civilian status for longer periods of their respective existences than not, and in any case typically served in non-combat capacities; Jyn Erso spent years of her early maturity as a petty thief, with few aspirations beyond the convenience of the moment; K-2SO’s own security systems were not specifically programmed for war, however useful his contributions. But Cassian retained no alternate data.
“If you are considering a return to Coruscant,” he informed Jyn—who, by this point, K-2SO classified as a) an occasional threat to his decisions, b) a frequent co-conspirator, and c) generally the organic counterpart to himself—“then the probability of assimilation to human-typical behaviour may be elevated, but—”
“We’re not typical,” she said in her abrupt way, “and I’m thinking of something quieter.”
With more relief than he cared to articulate, K-2SO said, “I concur.”
7— Free day!
It didn't really fit for any of the other themes, but one of my favorites of my fics is life, like a swinging vine, which is a one-shot following the first year after Scarif.
Everyone knew that Jyn and Cassian were sleeping together. Everyone, even if they couldn’t decide whether he’d seduced her for the cause or she’d seduced him for her mission. Nobody outside their team seemed to consider that they might have fallen into bed because, say, they found each other attractive and likable (they hadn’t, but did people always have to assume the worst?).
Meanwhile, in the real galaxy, Jyn’s skin sparked like a bad circuit when their arms or hands brushed; Cassian hid his answering jolt, or—among the small, strange family they’d accumulated—didn’t bother hiding it at all, his eyes wide and his hand unsteady but close. If they felt particularly daring, they would exchange lingering glances and nervous smiles, before discovering an urgent need to analyze Imperial data protection (Jyn, at least, considered it an achievement to stay in the same room).
She didn’t feel afraid, and she doubted that Cassian did either; they’d just never had the chance for this, the trust or time for shyness, uncertainty, the thrill of anticipation crackling beneath, for—well, for being young and in love, and a little stupid with it.
Everything was so much, after lives of so little; for now, they soaked up touch, and for now, that seemed like enough.
Okay okay now the question for the script au would be: is the script being written by the sbi or is the universe writing it
Cause if the sbi are writing it, it makes everything so funny cause like Wilbur is probably the one who writes the most and he’s probably banging his head in frustration from how much Tommy goes off script
But also imagine it’s like, the universe giving the, the scripts. So like, a week or so before any event they get the script for that so they have time to rehearse it and shit. Wilbur had his script pages appear neatly in a big stack of papers, techno’s appears in a folder with the arcs separated, Phil’s idk lmao and Tommy just gets loose pages that fly around his void so when he tries to actually follow the script, he just gets a random page
So whenever Tommy remembers to rehearse/remembers the script exists, it ends up kinda like this:
Tommy: Wilbur what you’re doing is wrong! L’manberg is our home
Tubbo (who has no clue about the script) staring at Tommy weirdly: Tommy we’re talking about your exile?
Tommy: oh shit I was reading the pogtopia page give me a second *bunch of papers appear from thin air* AHA! Tubbo—
LMAOOOOO
I also like the idea of wilbur being a script editor? the universe recognized him as a drama queen and dedicated trickster (of all the gods, he's the one you fear the most. at least the other 3 make your death quick) at the moment of his creation and thus deemed him fit to be the one to edit the script as he wished. sometimes wilbur changes the script, most of the time he doesn't. mostly it depends on how petty he's feeling. for example, originally in the script tommy was supposed to kill schlatt but wilbur was feeling bitter that day after tommy called him "uglier than an anteater" and rewrote it so that schlatt died of a fucking heart attack instead. the universe really wants tommy to be a cool anime protagonist but wilbur edits out every moment of competence or writes dream to be one step ahead because he can't handle the thought of his brother being "cool." the universe actually wanted wilbur to be the protagonist for all of season one but he thought it would be boring so he made himself the villain. nobody is CERTAIN he's the one doing the changes but phil has a hunch and techno doesnt care as long as he gets the script. tommy has no idea and just thinks the universe hates his guts. really it's just wilbur giggling as he takes wite-out made from the fabric of the universe and writes down jack stealing tommy's hotel in the place of whatever was supposed to happen before
Fic authors self-rec! ✨ When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers (if you would like to)!
Oh hey, thanks! This is a really nice meme.
I immediately started making up rules for myself because I'm that kind of person, so I'm excluding a) fics that I've never put on AO3 and b) fics that I'm not very far into actually writing (I was tempted to include Love, Pride & Delicacy but no, it's early days). Also, my faves are not perfectly consistent over time. BUT at this moment, in no particular order:
per ardua ad astra: Jyn/Cassian Star Wars AU where Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi escape Scarif in an Imperial shuttle only to get caught in the Death Star's tractor beam and forced to pass themselves off as Imperials. Mostly but not quite finished & on hiatus, and uneven in points, but a true labor of love <3
First Impressions: m!Elizabeth/f!Darcy retelling of P&P. Complete! I had to wrap it up very quickly at the end for the exchange it was part of, but it's still my baby.
The Jedi and the Sith Lord: the third fic in my f!Luke Skywalker series, The Adventures of Lucy Skywalker, and easily my favorite part of it; apart from a few localized changes in the first two fics, they were mostly glued to the rails of canon to set up the "real" story of TJATSL (and its outlined but unwritten sequel). This one starts with Lucy being taken captive at Cloud City by Vader to turn her to the Dark Side before the Emperor/patriarchy can strike her down, and follows their perspectives during her direct captivity. Technically completed but in a setting-up-the-sequel way.
the gift of men: a fic about Eldarion’s youthful marriage to one of Faramir and Éowyn’s daughters/a sort of guided tour through the early Fourth Age in Gondor as seen by Eldarion. This is easily my least popular fic on this list for some predictable reasons, but I really enjoyed writing it (over several years, though it’s only 1k!).
in tongues and quiet sighs: back to SW! This is a companion piece to my now you’re the future series about Jyn and Cassian (and only Jyn and Cassian) making it off Scarif and being active in the OT era. I’m fond of the other fics, but I think this is my favorite one—it’s the one about the dynamic between Leia, Cassian, and Alderaanian/space Spanish.
@marycontraire, I hope you don’t mind me starting a new post, but I did want to respond!
per ardua ad astra by @anghraine (Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso) picks up right where canon left off (with an obvious alteration) and is an utterly fantastic read. It’s an “undercover on the Death Star” fic that is remarkable for tight plotting and fascinating characterization – and the way those two elements work together is truly masterful. Although it’s marked as unfinished, it’s currently left off at a place that feels relatively resolved, so don’t let the WiP status deter you.
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One of the fun things about the expanse of the Star Wars universe is it leaves transformative works a lot of room to play with crossover. The result is delightful fics like @angel-deux-writes’s A Proud, Unpleasant Sort of Man, a hilariously sweet tale of misunderstanding, and @anghraine‘s wandering inside this night, a character study of Cassian Andor from Han Solo’s perspective that says quite as much about Han as it does about Cassian. I love this!
Oh, thank you so much about per ardua ad astra and wandering inside this night! It was so much fun to write ad astra even though I ran out of steam at the end, and it’s very gratifying to hear that it works as it is (I have a half-finished chapter that lingers in my drafts and on my conscience...). And wandering inside this night was one of my very first RO fic ideas, so I appreciate that it’s still enjoyable, too :)
@anghraine seriously such a huge fan of your writing in general and your characterization of Cassian in particular. Also, remind me, are you the one who came up with Alderaanian-diaspora-as-Spanish-speaking-diaspora? Because that is my headcanon forever now.
Oh gosh, I’m super flattered! Cassian is my RO fave and one of my peak SW faves ever, so... <3
The idea of Space Spanish as a reasonably widespread thing was common well before I used it, but tbh I thought a lot of fandom was going for ~sexy Latino stereotypes more than thinking it through the way they thought through world-building for the white characters’ backgrounds. I was like ... okay, but if space Spanish is cropping up on different planets, then that probably implies colonialism of some kind, and where would it originate? Perhaps Alderaan itself.
So I wrote a fic where Alderaan was a colonial power at some point before its disarmament and this drove the spread of space Spanish/Alderaanian, which in turn impacts the dynamic between Cassian (from a planet colonized by Alderaan) and Leia (after Alderaan’s destruction). Other people took the idea and ran with it; I especially like @melyzard’s takes.
