( closed ) scouting the wall

[winscenario]

who: Jim Kirk, Beverly Crusher, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, Chyler Silva, Hana Song, Emma Swan (+ anyone else who's still interested! feel free to PM me, no worries)
what: team mission
when: February 7th - 17th
where: along the wall of the Abandoned City
warnings: monster fighting & consequent injuries at most

With the prospect of more power in the near future, the Government of Riverview is looking for multiple teams of people to take a survey of the wall surrounding the Abandoned City and note all structural damage and areas where the integrity of the wall is compromised. The objective is to note the location and nature of any structural damage or interference with the tech components (laser emitters, etc.) that is compromising the integrity of the outer wall.

The team assembled by Jim Kirk will head out on the shuttle, making the trip at least far quicker, although long stretches of the wall are done by foot, in smaller groups or pairs. No one is advised to be out there on their own. Everyone will be given a handheld scanning device to study the wall, and a device similar to a tablet where they can store all the data, complete with detailed instructions on how to use both. The shuttle will be available to pick people up and drop them off at different points of the wall as needed, to try and make the trip as quick as possible.


[ ooc: this will work as a mingle log, so everyone is free to write up their own top levels and/or tag around as much as they like. ]

Comments

[realists]

All of the above, [ jyn decides absently, finally touching the blade to his cheek. it slides down easily and brings with it some of the excess scruff. more than some.

she might have overestimated her ability to trim.

she says nothing, simply continues with the same pressure so at least it will be even when she is done. even and clean shaven, but there's still a faint shadow left behind, a dusting of grey against his jaw so she doesn't think it will stay clean shaven for very long. he'll survive. ]

[evasives]

You're cutting too close. [how can he tell?? it's a mystery, or maybe just familiarity with his face. good thing hair grows back.]

[he considers her question as she shaves though, feeling weirdly comfortable with the whole thing. the more she does it, the easier he feels.]

I would get sent on errands the first few years after the Alliance recruited me. Information drop offs, exchanges, packages I did not know the contents of. It was very similar to what I had been doing since I was a child on Fest.

Group probably ties into first official. It was a supply run. We raided an imperial storage facility. There were four of us. I was the youngest, fourteen or so. I found the inventory data doing some technical work, so they put me on board the mission itself.

[realists]

I can't change it now, you'd be lopsided. [ they're all just going to have to deal with him looking like a baby for a little bit. she wipes the razor off on the washcloth every so often, chewing on her lip in concentration as she continues across his cheeks and jaw. ]

You bought your way in with information. [ there's something amused in her tone, and unsurprised. ]

[evasives]

I told you I do not like it that close. [it's more of a mumble, the closest cassian has ever come to whining at her, but he knows he's stuck with it now.]

[he bites the side of his cheek to keep himself from smiling, but it doesn't hide it entirely. clever even as a stupid teenage boy.] I was very determined to get out there more. Do real work. They recruited me, it was the least they could do.

[how naive he was.]

[realists]

[ she doesn't like it this close either, bucko, but there is no turning back now. instead of snapping back at him she simply purses her lips and ignores it. she can't very well fix it, though she's already decided she won't do this again. next time he hurts his hand, she is dealing with a beard. ]

Especially since you were so bold and clever. [ maybe speaking from her own experience, who knows. ]

[evasives]

[he doesn't like being clean shaven because imperials tend to keep their faces smooth, though he supposes that's not... as big a deal here. even if he still doesn't like it!!]

But not reckless. [oh yeah he noticed that. and he is definitely teasing her while she has a razor to his face. self preservation and jyn never do seem to go hand in hand.]

The first time I went undercover I was seventeen. My first solo mission was about a year before that.

[realists]

Reckless doesn't suit you, [ jyn murmurs as if she has considered the trait in relation to cassian. siding with her, not his finest moment. but she likes the calculative way his mind works, the way he can see all the ways a plan can fail and plans for the failures. it complements her recklessness. ]

Who were you the first time?

[ he knows so much about her, at least through her file and information about her parents and saw, surface things admittedly, but she still knows so little about him. ]

[evasives]

It does not go well with intelligence work. [he had to be cool and collected under pressure. clever and bold, but in a smart way. jyn is reckless, but cassian is figuring out how to channel her impulsiveness. they're a good team. they were from the start.]

[much like the blade on his skin goes against everything he abides by, talking about himself does too. but he does it anyway. he's never gotten to just... talk about himself before.] His name was Avin Vendar. I got a job using some Alliance contacts in an imperial mining facility.

[realists]

[ she cleans up one side with the washcloth, studying her work, catching a few stray hairs and correcting, before she turns his face the other direction, offering a brief smile for the moment they're looking at each other. she tamps it down quickly as she starts in on the otherside with the same steady pressure. she is exceedingly careful but there is an ease that speaks to just how many times she's been sat in front of someone with a razor in hand.

it also becomes clear that when she is done with both sides cassian will briefly have a goatee before she takes care of that as well. ]

On what planet? [ she knows of very few mining operations frankly, but she remembers a handful that idryssa told them about, vague memories of nari and her mother deep in discussion while has entertained her by his joyful study of the contents of her backpack. lack of knowledge doesn't temper her curious nature. ]

Maybe we could have run into each other. [ as if she frequented mining planets. ]

[evasives]

[however brief, he hoards it and offers one in return. she's already finished one side; the way she turns his face feels like she's been doing this for him for years while still being so new. which is probably their entire relationship, if he's being honest.]

Alabash. Very volcanic. The Empire used it to mine alantium, a component used in starship hulls.

[she's very careful, and even if she went closer than he likes, she also very much knows what she's doing. her fingers are cold on his skin, but they're always cold. the chill up his spine is clearly just a result of the actual chill, nothing else.]

[briefly, he wonders how many planets they could have run into each other on. there are so many out there, too many, it's an impossible scenario, but it doesn't stop him from being drawn into the idea regardless.] I have been to many others. Sabotaging mines or stirring unrest in miners is quite easy, granted you arrive at the right moment.

[realists]

Sometimes stirring unrest only makes them sink their heads down further.

[ she remembers akshaya refusing to believe the empire would ever come for a tiny planet like theirs, ignoring the unrest like if she pretended it wasn't there it would simply go away on its own.

it didn't. ]

Some people refuse to accept a war is coming until the destroyers are overhead and even then... [ her shoulders lift in a shrug. she's heard the phrase ignorance is bliss but she hasn't been that privileged since she was a little girl. ]

[evasives]

It depends on the planet.

Intelligence would often send in agents to assess the situation. Some people are ready to fight back, they just don't have a means. Maybe they cannot organize. Maybe they don't have resources.

[he did a lot of recruiting that way. he would bring people into the cause, whether it was simply a means of becoming a channel to the larger movement or through various levels of manipulation. but he certainly helped plan a lot of acts of resistance among ground organizations. he's had plenty of experience in smaller cells.]

And yes, sometimes they would rather keep their head down and stay alive. There's no telling until we had eyes on the ground. If we needed a facility taken out, we would do so even without local assistance.

There is no blanket strategy for it.

[realists]

[ she hums thoughtfully, seemingly content to just listen to him talk for a while. she'd always enjoyed sitting in the corner when people would come see saw to talk about their options. ]

You blew up mines? [ she pauses, mouth slanted in a faint smirk. how many of those explosions, she wonders, were blamed on saw? how many did he happily take credit for regardless? the world will never know.

anyway talk dirty to her, cassian. ]

[evasives]

[her smirk does funny things to his chest, though there are tons of other factors at play that probably don't help, like her hands all over his face. but also, of fucking course she hones in on the more explosive sabotage.]

[he huffs out a very quiet and quick laugh.] On occasion. Sometimes personally, sometimes I just... pushed the miners to do it themselves.

Sometimes we had to make it look like an accident. Sometimes we let Gerrera take the credit. Accidents were more common though, especially if we were trying to avoid an Imperial crackdown.

[realists]

You're welcome on Saw's behalf, [ jyn tells him, shifting her grip on his chin to make sure she's gotten everything on that cheek. he is now sporting a cute little goatee and she bites down on her lip to keep from smiling at the sight. she will get to the in a second but she is going to deal with his neck first.

the danger zone.

she taps his chin to tilt it up. ] Look up.

[evasives]

[he rolls his eyes, but it's very fond. of jyn, obviously.]

[it's the alarms blaring danger zone. it's one thing to have a blade to his face, but it's another to let her put it to his throat. all his survival instincts go into overdrive and give him several different methods to remove himself from the situation.]

[instead he just looks up, as asked. he swallows once with nerves that aren't born out of feeling unsafe. it's a very very blatant display of trust, the kind he's had in jyn that goes against all his usual walls of self preservation. but here he is anyway, exposed under her fingertips.]

[it's fine.]

[realists]

[ jyn's quiet this time, careful with the delicate skin of his throat and the curve of his jaw. she doesn't go any faster or slower, keeping the same steady pace, but a little wrinkle of concentration sprouts between her eyebrows as she works.

she's nearly done when a twitch of her finger causes the razor to slip and she nicks him on the jawline, dropping the blade immediately with a tiny gasp and a whispered: ]

Fuck!

[ immediately she grabs the washcloth to press to his face even though there is barely even the hint of blood. ]

[evasives]

[the quiet is kind of welcome, because he doesn't really know if he'd trust himself to talk while she's at his neck anyway. he watches the way her eyebrows crinkle up instead of thinking about the press of the blade to his skin.]

[in all honesty he barely even feels it; there's just a tiny little sting, something he's done hundreds of times. still, he lets her fret. mostly. it's... kind of nice? like being cared for.]

Don't cut me open. [yeah great choice, tease her after she's already nicked him.] I'm fine.

[realists]

Maybe that's a sign from the Force, [ she muses, peeling back the washcloth to see... that she barely nicked him. she presses the cloth back regardless, for a little longer. ] To stop while I'm ahead.

[ and leave the goatee obviously. ]

[evasives]

[he fights a smile, something she can probably see and even feel.]

The Force would not want me to have uneven facial hair. [he's not going to complain about the towel, even if it's unnecessary, just because he likes that feeling of concern.] Finish, please. I trust you.

[he... isn't sure he's ever said so aloud before? but it's something he's always made clear that it feels like he must have. she must know, at least, just from the way he is with her.]

[realists]

I think it most certainly would.

[ she taps her mother's necklace like BITCH I WOULD KNOW but she does lower the washcloth and breathe out a slow breath before she starts over, shaving down the goatee carefully. ]

[evasives]

[she is... so close... to his mouth. he feels like he needs to stay perfectly still and not because she's got a blade to his skin.]

[when she's almost finished, he speaks up again. his voice is quiet, because he doesn't move his mouth, at least not very significantly.]

I appreciate your efforts to go against the will of the Force.

[realists]

It always goes against me. Seems a fair turnaround.

[ her voice is just as quiet, only because she is concentrating so hard to not cut his face up. goodbye goatee, goodbye mustache. the washcloth lifts again to wipe off the excess soap before she pulls back to study her work. ]

You look so young.

[evasives]

I cannot say I have ever been a real fan of it myself.

[he doesn't fidget under her scrutiny, but he feels very still in an usual way. she gets a wry, sort of self deprecating small smile.]

I am not that old.

[realists]

[ not that old and yet they'd met the end of their lives so really they should have been having midlife crises when they were eleven and thirteen. she takes a moment to think about how she felt when she was eleven, struggling to come to terms with her father being a traitor -- yeah, it tracks. ]

You look like a teenager, [ she corrects, sitting back on her feet briefly before she slips to the side and sits directly on the ground, looking up at him. ]