as a dron writer, i’ve never felt the need to explain romione’s failure in depth. most of the time, it’s cleaner to treat the split as a given:

•    the story isn’t about romione

• overexplaining risks bashing the canon love interest

but romione writers have challenged me to ask why they’d break up, and what that rupture might mean for ron’s arc moving forward.

so here’s where i landed:

hermione: principled, radical, uncompromising

hermione enters the post-war era believing shacklebolt’s government will fix everything—creature rights, ministry reform, accountability for collaborators. but when change stalls, she’s radicalized.

•    she’s a muggleborn who’s endured hogwarts’ casual bigotry, the apathy that met her fight for creature rights, and the institutional violence of the registration commission.

•    she refuses to work within corrupt systems, choosing instead to become a solicitor and push for change from the outside

•    her ethics are principled, urgent, and shaped by lived trauma

she expects ron to feel the same. when he doesn’t, it feels like betrayal.

ron: relational, loyal, pragmatic

ron sees the same rot hermione does—but he draws a different conclusion.

•    his ethics are relational, not ideological

•    he believes institutions are flawed, but abandoning them only hands power to worse actors

•    his loyalty leads him to stay—not to endorse the ministry’s failures, but to help steer it toward something better

ron’s realism and desire for post-war stability make him sympathetic but ultimately incompatible with hermione’s radicalism.

why romione fails

they don’t stop loving each other. they just stop being able to walk the same path.

•    hermione demands a partner who will burn with her

•    ron offers one who will rebuild

both are ethical. both are right. but they can’t bend without breaking something essential in themselves.

why dron works

draco’s realism is born from terror. he was conscripted into voldemort’s regime as a teenager—tasked with murder, branded with the dark mark, and forced to watch his home become a prison and execution chamber.

•    he doesn’t want revolution—he wants survival

•    he believes someone will always hold power, and hopes it’s someone decent

•    ron’s quiet stewardship, his belief that institutions can be redeemed from within, feels safe to draco

There is something deeply heart-wrenching about how Cha-young reacts to Vincenzo's declarations in episode 19 and 20.

By staying in Korea instead of going to Italy to help his family, Vincenzo has finally acknowledged what Cha-young really means to him and how he wants her to be in his life. The same man who struggled to reciprocate the hug in the underpass, who couldn't even look at Cha-young when Cha-young was hugging him a second time, who joked about there being a kissing "scene" rather than recognizing the realness of what happened at the art gallery, is now openly declaring his interest and affection for Cha-young at every possible moment. Expressing jealousy, promising to come back, stroking her hair, stating that they were similar to the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, outright confessing that she's always been on his mind since he left A YEAR AGO.

He is finally comfortable in his feelings. He's ready to move forward in his relationship with Cha-young.

But Cha-young isn't.

Here’s the prompts for Phase 4:

Classic Trope Prompt: Prank wars Tag: #prank wars

AU/Crack Prompt:  Enemies to … AU Tag: #enemies au

Shippy (or not) Prompt: Bed sharing and/or pretending to be married Tag: #bed sharing

Standard Fine Print:

You may submit at any time, but we’ll have a two-week creating window before sharing. This gives slower folks a chance to sit on their ideas without someone else filling the prompt before them.  We also encourage you to share teasers and snippets during this period (please tag with “#kanera2k17″ and “#teaser”. Or better yet, tag us in the body of it to be sure we see it and reblog it)

We will begin releasing the posts from the queue on Friday, July 21.

REMINDER: We’re accepting Phase 1-3  fanworks between now and Season 4 premiere! We haven’t gotten any for Phase 3 but I know they would be appreciated so don’t be shy.

ALL of the prompts can be interpreted as your muse desires:  shippy or not, cracky or not, colleagues or more, set in any time period you want (pre-show, S1, etc.).

These prompts are just that - points to jump off from. We encourage you to interpret as you feel moved. Adhere to the spirit/tradition of it or take it in the exact opposite direction.

Use any creative medium you’d like to explore the prompts. This is not just for fics!

Recently, I’ve seen all kinds of posts about Saw and Galen as father figures in Jyn’s life. Some praise one or the other, or none. So, here are my 2 cents no one asked for or wants.

First of all, I think Saw did play a big role in Jyn's life and was closest thing to father figure she had in that time. And I don't have sliver of doubt he loved her, as he could.

So did Galen.

But did either of them do right by her? No. They did the best they could or perhaps, the best they thought they could. They were not perfect fathers, but that is the harshness of reality - there are very few parents who are, especially during a wartime. Even Lyra, who painfully and wisely self-sacrifced to take herself as a tool out of Krennic's equation, ultimately abandoned Jyn in her 8 year old's eyes.

Someone once said out Saw said "there wasn't a day that I didn't think of" while saying that Galen admitted he didn't think of her as a proof how much of bad father Galen was. That's not true - his words were "I only think of you when I am strong", the rest explaining it is too hard to think when he is weak.

It might sound like a cowardly thing to do and something no one loving his daughter would do that. But as someone who suffers from depressions and anxieties, I know how wrecking it is to think of worst possibilities when you are already barely holding on. It destroys your last resolve and Galen needed his resolve (even if we can ultimately question the reason why).

On top of that, Saw knew that not only Jyn had survived to the age of 16, but he had also taught her self-defense in a way only a separatist can. Galen did not have these privileges, when he thought of Jyn, he had to wonder if she survived at 8, at 10 - at any other age, really.  If anyone truly taught to fend for herself in cruel galaxy and if she possesses the fire of his late wife that will make her burn her way through life. (It is more than me metaing, to me it was clearly implied in his holovid.)

Saw knew all of this, felt rightfully guilty about abandoning Jyn, but he had a reason to hope she would get by. Yes, he was visibly relieved to see her there, to know she really had pulled through, which is understandable. And I think Jyn was truly shocked and hurt when he stayed behind to die. (It is one of first scenes we see her actually get really emotional and shout.)

What I hope happens in Ep 19 & 20 of Vincenzo: 1. Vincenzo initiates the next big romantic gesture.  His affection for Cha-young is clearly present in the way he treats Cha-young (his attentiveness, his frequent touching, etc), but Cha-young so far has done all the first Big Romantic Steps. I think, from Cha-young’s perspective, that she still has some level of insecurity regarding Vincenzo’s romantic feelings towards her -- Vincenzo’s responses to her “testing of the waters” have been, overall, relatively equivocal from her perspective (even the Kiss got undercut by the (hilariously awkward) hahaha-there-was-a-kissing-scene-in-our-acting-ha...ha...ha...sweetie discussion in the car). So the next hug/kiss/confession?  I want it to be from Vincenzo.

1b. I know I'm Always By Your Side will probably play during the next romantic scene, but if Adrenaline could also play one last time but instead of it happening when someone is looking at Vincenzo, it's when Vincenzo is looking at Cha-young... please and thank you. 2. I want Cha-young to complete her character arc towards "noble” villainy by killing Jang Han-seok or Choi Myung-hee herself. She’s gone from we-can’t-hurt-people to openly allowing Vincenzo to use more violent methods in his schemes to Cha-young herself actively torturing people (the car exhaust scenes) and approving their murders away from her (same people) to Cha-young basically ordering Vincenzo to torture/kill someone (his mom’s killer) to accepting the murder of someone in front of her eyes (her dad’s killer).  Her final step would be to kill someone herself, and the ones that would get the “honor” to fit her arc would be either Han-seok or Myung-hee.

Who is the Black King? Vincenzo Cassano or Hong Cha-young?

How do we interpret Vincenzo's actions at the end of episode 19 in the show's chess analogy?

(Please note: I have no knowledge of chess theory. This is me using a beginner's level of understanding of chess. Please don't take this too seriously. I know it's full of holes and contradicts itself (^-^;;;) I'm just babbling and having fun)

(GIF Source: reylukeanakins)

[rebelcaptain appreciation week official post]

the elevator scene is my favorite rebelcaptain for two main reasons:

it is romantic as fuck

her, desperately memorizing his face

him, entranced by her presence

her arm over his shoulders

considering he’s the one who needs to be physically propped up, there is literally no fucking reason for that arm to be on top of his shoulders unless there was kissing/face-touching involved

THE MUSIC

mainly, however, it’s because this is really the only moment of stillness, of timelessness that either experiences the entire movie

at the start of the film, both jyn and cassian are awaiting. they’re waiting for their death (jyn); they’re waiting for news (cassian).

and then - after wobani, after kafrene - they’re just CONSTANTLY ON. 

every single aspect of them as human beings is being challenged and pushed and broken and rebuilt. their:

physical capabilities

emotional stability

mental fortitude

philosophies & ideologies

expectations and needs and desires

etc. etc. etc.

and this is happening for - what? a week straight?

a constant, never-ending barrage of DO THIS, DO THAT, SUFFER THIS, SUFFER THAT, FEEL THIS, FEEL THAT, PLAN THIS, PLAN THAT, GO, GO, GO, CLIMB, CLIMB, CLIMB

they are both giving 200% of their all for a week. there is no time to breathe between being recruited/blackmailed, entering a firefight in jedha, getting a concussion, getting captured, finding saw, escaping jedha, jyn’s grief, finding galen, cassian’s guilt, getting another concussion, escaping eadu, jyn’s AND cassian’s grief and consequent argument, arguing fruitlessly against the council, creating a strike team, planning to go rogue, going rogue, infiltrating scarif, coordinating troops, kay dying, jumping the data tower, climbing, getting shot and breaking some part of your back, climbing, nearly falling to your death, nearly getting killed by krennic, and then

the plans are sent. the rebellion can be (is) saved.

the man in white is dying. the monster in the fields made human.

the mission’s complete. whatever happens after - what’s needed to be done has been done. 

Leave it, that’s it, let it go.

and so they enter the elevator. they choose the ground floor. 

the adrenaline crashes.

there is no mission left to complete. there is nothing they can do between the top of the tower and the bottom. no plans they could make, no guns to ready. maybe they’ll be shot when the doors open. maybe bodhi will have a ship ready. the future is there, waiting, but for that single minute - for those two minutes - 

it is just them, and it is finally time for them to take a moment. it is finally time for them to breathe. it is finally time for them to just be.

so they take this fleeting respite and - connect. understand. recognize. acknowledge. 

when the doors open, they will face the outside world. they will see the dead and the dying. they will see whether there’s a last-minute rescue or inescapable death. 

when they collapse on the beach, when they collapse into each other’s arms, they are thinking of absolution, of contentment, of meaning, of victory, of facing death, of wanting more.

mfw i realize that i have been (partially!) misinterpreting baze’s reaction to chirrut’s death scene for months

Chirrut: Look for the Force and you will always find me.

When I first saw the film, my thought process was: “Baze has seen Chirrut accomplish an impossibility through the Force, and Chirrut asks Baze to believe in the Force one more time, and Baze believes, and thus Baze prays.”

And, like... the individual phrases of that are true, but it's just slightly out of order. And I kind of recognized that because I read the novel, and I HIGHLIGHTED (highlighted! meaning I told myself: this is important!) the following two bits (p292-293):

“The Force is with me,” [Baze] repeated. “And I am with the Force.” 

Did he believe the words? Did it matter? Had it ever mattered? [emphasis mine]

and

[Baze] spoke the words, and in them he found not comfort but conviction—or the memory of conviction, as if the words were a key to the forgotten faith of his youth. The unlocked memory strangled him, wracking and intense. He knew again the significance of the Force in every breath and action, knew all he had forsaken in years past; saw the vast gulf between the Guardian he had been and the man he was now, and wept in his heart for both. [emphasis mine]

And YET I STILL DIDN’T MAKE THE CONNECTION. So it is only now, five - FIVE! - months after the movie and inundating myself in RO fandom that I realize:

Baze doesn’t start the partner half of the mantra because he rediscovers his faith, but because the idea of a life - or a death or an afterlife - without Chirrut is so impossible for him to accept that he will pray to a Force that he still doesn’t believe in and has openly mocked for years JUST on the off-chance that he will be reunited with Chirrut in doing so. 

That very first repetition was a “fake it till you make it” attempt.

Baze DOES regain his faith - and ow, ow, ow, what painful inner monologue - but he regains it AFTER he starts praying, not before.

I mean, okay, this is a long-ass post for tiny-ass detail, but this switch from “Baze believes, and thus Baze prays” to “Baze prays, and thus Baze believes” adds a whole additional layer of pain to that scene for me.

Slightly-but-not-really unrelatedly, the Sunset Prayer is placed immediately before the chapter where Chirrut, Baze, and Bodhi die and the Hammerhead Corvette does the suicide run that destroys the shield gate.

In darkness, cold. In light, cold. The old sun brings no heat. But there is heat in breath and life. In life, there is the Force. In the Force, there is life. And the Force is eternal.