#very very excited to write the bits of this chapter with han solo 👀👀👀👀

[softnasty]

#wipwednesday again!! sneak peak of chapter 2 of my jyn/cassian politics au! you can already read chapter 1 here on ao3.

Senator Mothma comes back from taping Lando's show with Tay Kolma in tow. In typical Tay Kolma fashion, Kolma is wearing a light blue suit jacket over his white shirt. His pale gray slacks have the faintest checkered pattern on them if you look really closely, which Cassian is. 

In the middle of the bullpen, Cassian is front row to Mothma's chief of staff's motivational speech. It's 12pm on what should have just been a regular, no big fuss workday for all of them. Instead, Cassian has to stare at Kolma's eccentric — but impeccable — fashion choices as he dishes out commonplace after commonplace on chaos and how to keep going and thrive when everything is seemingly falling apart.

[more under the cut because i couldn't resist sharing my entire 1st scene for the chapter hehe]

The words falling apart are a bit too strong for Cassian's liking but what does he know, really. It'd probably be too presumptuous of him anyway to pretend that everything's fine when he's literally an emergency replacement expected to help clean up this mess and ensure a smooth transition like nothing ever happened. So, perhaps Cassian's downplaying things a little, at least to himself, if only to keep his sanity and avoid freaking the fuck out.

When Kolma finishes his speech, Cassian sets himself on a mission to find where Brasso must inevitably be hiding. He's barely turned on his heel when Kolma sidles up to him, clapping a hand to Cassian's shoulder.

"So. Campaign manager? Everything good so far?"

Cassian chuckles weakly.

"I guess. Haven't done much in the 3 hours since my appointment."

It's not even a lie. He's barely made a dent in the pile of folders and emails that have been handed over to him, his calendar has grown twofold in terms of volume of invitations, and his phone hasn't stopped buzzing. Nothing from Jyn. 

The only substantial thing he's accomplished is signing the amendment to his work contract, a task that happened under Kay's supervision because Cassian's day was, at this point, becoming a collection of all his worst fears and dislikes. Jyn is barely out of the door, Cassian's voicemail is unanswered, and Cassian has already signed his name to a two-pager instating him in her position. 

"Well, you need anything, you tell me, alright?" Kolma claps his shoulder again. 

Cassian nods and goes to find Brasso.

****

He doesn't even make it to the hallway.

This is quite literally the worst day of Cassian's life. He thinks of those old-school hidden camera shows, wonders for a delirious second if maybe this is an elaborate set-up to see how long it takes him to crack.

Cassian narrowly avoids crashing straight into Mothma's husband as he steps out of the bullpen, desperate to reach the archives where he knows Brasso will be hiding. Like he doesn't fucking know that Cassian knows all of his hiding spots in the office. Cassian glares at Mothma's husband and asks the stars above, not for the first time, why such a useless piece of a man is even allowed to exist. 

A note, for the blissfully ignorant souls of the galaxy: Tay Kolma, in addition to being a fantastic chief of staff, has been linked to Senator Mothma in numerous scandalous rumors, the most notable one claiming that they were engaged in their early twenties. Each time the rumor crops up, Mothma sends out the same statement on how Kolma has been a friend since childhood and she cherishes the bond they have. The press calls him her work husband. Cassian tries to also stay blissfully unaware, but it's near impossible when anyone remotely involved with galactic politics has such a high affection for gossip. Because Cassian tries his best to stay away from all the office gossip, no one's ever asked him for his opinion but if you did, he would tell you that Mothma deserves better than Perrin. 

"Ah! Cassian Andor, the man of the hour!"

Cassian gives Mothma's real, actual husband the phoniest smile he can muster.

"I really need to get going." Cassian lies as he tries to move past Perrin.

#rebelcaptain #fic i wrote #wip wednesday #rogue one fic #i don't usually write ensemble cast so i'm having SO MUCH FUN with this rn ngl #very very excited to write the bits of this chapter with han solo 👀👀👀👀 #me: i need to go to bed early tonight also me: no sleep until we have sth decent to share for wipwed #make no plans and none can be broken