Can I just say that I loved this whole exchange almost as much as the chapter itself. Which was a fuckton.
You really did just run with the unspoken implications of the toasting scene, didn’t you? The mirrored aspects of their experiences, the acknowledgment of losses and surviving them, the need to acknowledge (just once) all they owe to Luthen as well as the high price they’ve paid in his orbit. You play nicely here with Draven’s reactions to Vel’s insight and empathy vs. what we as readers/viewers know and infer about how she got there.
I adore everything this story is doing with the unseen thrashing about that makes Yavin a reality, and absolutely believe that the Aldhani money is critical (sorry, Bail Organa is not funding them on that scale). Bonus kudos for your invented and piggybacked explanations.
I share your obsession with the “thing itself” scene, and it’s so cool to get a Draven version of that - his immediate understanding that Cassian is both a prize and a pain in the ass, an assessment that gets some nuance this time around but isn’t going away anytime soon.
ha, yay! gladly seizing on the opportunity to ramble and shall do it a bit more lol
all they owe to Luthen as well as the high price they’ve paid in his orbit. Things I will never be normal about: Cassian having the heartfelt "he's dead" convo with Wilmon entirely separate from the "does it matter what he did to us along the way?" convo with Vel. That's insane. Where to even start trying to pick all that apart. WILMON. Madness.
I adore everything this story is doing with the unseen thrashing about that makes Yavin a reality, and absolutely believe that the Aldhani money is critical (sorry, Bail Organa is not funding them on that scale). Bonus kudos for your invented and piggybacked explanations. oh my GOD though trying to like. tease all this out without getting bogged down in it. Every scene after maybe the initial Vel introduction had a "where is this going?" version and then a "trying to do too much" version before finally landing where it landed but the trying to do too much version about the money had like... details about how Luthen has contacts within Bail's own fundraising networks who have been padding the Dantooine coffers ever since Aldhani unbeknownst to Bail and like... a whole spiel from Vel or Cassian about the scheme to use the chaos of a bunch of groups descending to slip in money and supplies and casually lose track of what came from where and 'whoops bookkeeping what can you do' and it was just. like. It was too much for *them* and their concerns and the scope of this snapshot. But if you'd like the outtake lol:
“Do you know the secret of hiding the injection of ten million credits into a crowded operation, sir?”
“Do enlighten me, please.”
“You don’t. You spread it out. You confuse the political funding streams and slip extra cargo shipments into the hundreds that will be arriving from a dozen different places and lose track of who hauled out what and blame manifest mistakes, and then everybody knows that something’s not quite on the level but no one can figure out where to point the finger. And then no one’s pride suffers because somebody else had the gall to rob a garrison and the few people who do know it was Luthen won’t admit to it because half the people coming for this conversation would balk at the idea that an alliance owes him so much as a single credit.”
BUT genuinely, Cassian's whole "does anyone in this room have any idea how much you owe him?" and Wilmon all "this wouldn't be here without Luthen" I guess I just... surely a chunk of the Aldhani money somehow found its way to building everything up? Surely? (...I could really use a tie-in novel between arcs 2-3 is, I think, the moral of the story, I really needed this whole everything more spoonfed to me.)
I share your obsession with the “thing itself” scene AHH that scene though that line. There was so much angst about this season but I'm over in my corner like. The Cassian Luthen of it all hooked me in s1 and I am well-fed "you're the thing itself" I didn't risk my ass for the starpath I came for *you* and then IT'S THE STARPATH DEDRA HAULS OUT IN EP 10 and Luthen just stares at it like did he ever *realize* did he ever realize how much he really should have listened to Cassian about not leaving it behind was he thinking about Cassian in that moment did he *realize* did he send one last hopeful fleeting something out into the universe that Cassian would come back one last time and help Kleya get the word out -
Comment on Still Some Bridges
neifile7 on Chapter 2 Wed 11 Jun 2025 11:06PM UTC
Comment Actions
Face_of_Poe on Chapter 2 Thu 12 Jun 2025 02:29AM UTC
Comment Actions