So that last scene on the beach, with Jyn and Cassian holding each other as the wave of the Death Star’s blast rolls in…
I have some thoughts about this.
Specifically, I noticed that, even though they could have just leaned into each other and held hands or touched foreheads or even just had their shoulders to the blast, they didn’t. Jyn is holding Cassian tight to her, looking directly over his shoulder into the wave of oncoming light, and he looks back over hers, away from the water.
And, see, throughout the first two thirds of the movie, prior to Jyn rallying to the Alliance cause after her father’s death, the thing that distinguishes her from the other characters is that she’s willing to close her eyes to the threat, to not look up at the Imperial flags. Cassian, on the other hand, is entirely defined by the fact that, to be blunt, he’ll look at the war head-on and do the dirty work, he’ll spy and kill and manipulate because it has to be done.
And I think it says a lot that, upon their deaths, they fly in the face of those character traits. With Cassian at her side, Jyn has the strength and pride in herself to look straight into the blast wave bringing her death and smile. And with Jyn beside him, Cassian can look away and close his eyes and pretend that everything will be okay.
For @littlestartopaz: What would have happened if Leia was sent to
Tatooine and Luke to Alderaan?
This sounds like an excuse for my very favorite thing:
blatantly strong-in-the-Force Jedi Leia.
I was gonna do headcanons but instead HERE is the first scene of Leia
Skywalker of Tatooine finding some old asshole in a brown robe. *backflips out*
Leia scowled at the old man—Ben Kenobi, her ass—and the droid at her knee warbled happily.
“You lied,” Leia said. The sweet-faced boy draped in white robes on
the recording had asked for an Obi-wan,
but Kenobi’s aren’t exactly a dime a dozen since the old homestead was
annihilated by the Tuskens. She can do
the math.
“From a certain point of view,” Kenobi said
with a shrug, smiling down at the droid.
“The boy on the recording–”
[Prince Luke Organa of Alderaan]
the droid offered.
“—very helpful, thanks, Prince Luke said you
were his only hope,” Leia said, prowling forward. “What exactly qualifies you for that, old man?”
Kenobi looked up at her with a start at that,
blinking pale blue eyes at her, and gave a brittle half-laugh. “You’re very much like your father, when I
knew him,” he said distantly. And then
he launched into an epic tale about Jedi and her father and Leia stood, feeling
shock shiver through her. She had known
that her father was a general, but a Jedi?
We read the wind and the sky when the sun is high. We sail the length of the seas on the ocean breeze. At night we name every star - we know where we are, we know who we are.
We set a course to find a brand new island everywhere we roam. We keep our island in our mind and when it’s time to find home, we know the way. We are explorers reading every sign. We tell the stories of our elders in a never ending chain.
"Then when G-d asks [Cain], ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ he arrogantly responds, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’
In essence, the entire Bible is written as an affirmative response to this question."
— Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy (via mermaideleh)
skymurdock asked: pssssst talk to me about Schuyler sisters in reincarnation AU. or more Alex/John whatever. rolls away.
The Schuyler sisters! My queens! The rest of the AU is here!
Alicia Laramie is seven years old when she remembers. Her parents bring home a little girl, and she
looks different from the olive-wood skin and tumbling black curls of Alicia and
her parents and her little sister Maggie—this girl all gold-tinged ivory skin
and silky dark hair framing solemn black eyes.
She’s a year younger than Alicia and her parents haven’t even gotten out
“This is Lisa Tian” before she’s rushing forward to enfold the girl in her
arms.
“Eliza,” Angelica whispers into the girl’s long dark hair. Bemused, the girl hugs her back, and Angelica
says, “I’ll take care of you, Eliza. You’re
the best thing in my life, I’ll choose your happiness every time.” The girl is confused when Angelica stands
back, but she gives a smile, the same sweet smile Angelica remembers, and it’s
good.
***
When the fifth grade class goes
to the Grange for a field trip, Lisa spends three hours in semi-hysterical sobs,
refusing to go through the front door, and the terrified tour guide calls the
first emergency number on her phone. Twenty
minutes later, a sixth-grader spills out of a cab and swoops down on her like a
hurricane in rose and gold, and Eliza clings to Angelica like the last lifeboat
on a sinking ship.
“It’s okay, Lizzie,” Angelica soothes.
“Angelica, I—I–”
“I know,” Angelica sighs, stroking her hair. “Take a couple deep breaths, ‘Liza, it’ll
pass.”
“I miss him,” Eliza whispers into Angelica’s hip, and the stroking doesn’t
pause.
“I know,” Angelica says. She
gives a small, rueful smile. “That part
won’t pass.”
Eliza laughs a little at that, muffled by Angelica’s jacket, and her
grip tightens.
***
So…when Maggie Laramie is fourteen their house gets robbed. She gets caught and held at gunpoint, and she
barely manages to not say “My father
has gone to raise the Minutemen.”
Instead she steadily states that he’s called the police, and when the
three guys in black scramble like their lives depend on it, she smiles at her
sisters.
“Maggie, that was amazing,” Mrs. Laramie says breathlessly.
“Peggy,” she corrects, and Angelica and Eliza glow.
For just one second. I don’t often make posts directly addressing people on anything more serious than fanfiction, but.
The election. I’m not going to spin you the same explanation everyone else has given about why voting third party is dangerous in this situation–all you have to do is google the Bush-Nader-Gore situation and find many people with much better explanations than I could give. I’m not going to list every law that Hillary Clinton would support and Donald Trump would repeal–I’m too tired to put myself through that panic attack. Rest assured, there are many, and the Supreme Court decision of last year regarding marriage equality is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just. Listen.
I have friends, old friends and new ones, who are observant Muslims. I want to keep those friends, I want them to be safe and happy in their homes and in their faith. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
I have trans friends that I adore. I want them to be at ease in their own bodies, given the right of their own names and their own identities. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
I have cousins adopted from other countries, friends who are exchange students working on a citizenship, friends whose children are natural-born American citizens. I want them free to live where they want, with their family or overseas from them, because they’re people and they deserve that choice. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
I have black friends, black family I love. I want them to be safe, and alive, and goddamn, that’s not a guaranteed thing right now but under a Donald Trump presidency, it would be impossible.
I’m queer–men, women, none of the above, all of the above, I don’t care. I want to be able to marry a woman, if I fall in love with one, just like I would be able to marry a man. I want to feel as safe with a girlfriend in my arms as a boyfriend, without a care in the world for what someone might get away with doing to us. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
I have a history of sexual assault that statistically predisposes me to being a victim of rape. In the event that the worst happens, I want to be able to bring that to court. I want to be able to get an abortion without going to jail. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
I am a woman, for Christ’s sake. We are half the world, and we deserve to be paid equally, treated like adults rather than children, respected as thinkers and dreamers, mothers and scientists, artists and politicians and human beings. Under a Donald Trump presidency, that would not happen.
We are people, us who are under threat from this man. And if your plan is to ‘vote your conscience’ by voting third party, whether as a protest vote or as genuine support, far be it from me to dictate your morals. But let me take this moment to remind you that we are people. If Donald Trump is elected and has the prerogative to appoint judges and select cabinet members and run the country, we are not going to be treated like people. If Donald Trump is elected and we are shafted in the process, and you did not do everything in your power to stop that, you bear some degree of responsibility.
So whether what’s driving you to vote third party or abstain altogether is sincere conviction, arrogant moral superiority, or just a desire to not take either of the two options available, think about that. Take that into your considerations. You might sleep great, knowing you didn’t sell out like the rest of everyone who voted for Hillary Clinton.
How are you going to sleep if Donald Trump wins the election after a split vote and the fallout starts to take lives?
