𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 ✧ 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠

[realists]

who: jyn erso, cassian andor, cullen rutherford, finn, rey, & jim kirk
what: jumanji: welcome to the forest
when: mid-june; prior to kidnappings
where: outside the wall, near the amusement park
warnings: pg-13 level monster fights & swearing

---

The woods don't seem incredibly sinister anymore, what with the Amusement Park of the Old City being nearly fully open next to it now. As night falls however, the faint, tinny noise of rides and games becomes almost eerie in the planet-light of the Capital World. The mission is simple, Jyn wants to find out if the copse of interconnected trees really are sentient and if it would be safe to move them to a different spot so the encroaching Amusement Park won't cause them any damage. It's supposed to be easy. Sure.

Comments

[winscenario]

Yeah, he does strike me as an attention seeker. [ He chuckles a bit. Good-natured, really. The little droid is pretty cute. ]

Oh— she's Victor's daughter. [ He has a picture of them on his desk, but sometimes he forgets who knows about Lucy and who doesn't. It's not like he made it a point to go around the Quarantine telling everyone he knows. ] Sort of. She's adopted.

[bythehand]

[ Finn has a habit of hanging with friends and people he'd die for without ending up learning a lot of facts about them for a while. There's at least shared responsibility on this one. ]

Don't worry, I don't split hairs about what counts. [ The beauty of found family and having no idea what even happened to his biological family, let alone who they were. ] It's good that they have each other. Maybe good that you've got a porg. I might split hairs on that later.

[happiertimes]

[Cullen's been trained to fight and lead since he joined the Templars at eighteen. And since he's been leading for over a decade, it's hard not to slip back into that role. It is, after all, just who he is.

Being responsible for leagues of men and women and their welfare doesn't just stop because he's here. And, well, Finn might not be Thedosian, but that hasn't stopped Cullen a day in his life either. He is a team mate and someone he feels responsible for.

Which means he's going to call the man on any rash behavior that might get him killed.]

I'm used to leading others before I cam here. It's a period of adjustment still.

[talentedscavenger]

[He isn't...bad company. Rey didn't like being told what to do by someone who she didn't know. Granted, his intentions were good--even though it was carried out poorly. Least they were kind of coming to an agreement. They could stay up and keep each other company.]

Fine by me. [Though, they should get some sleep...eventually.]

I'm Rey. [No surname to give him, but they now knew the other was.] You look familiar....Are you with the Guard?

[talentedscavenger]

What?

[Sorry, Rey is a bit confused about this. Jim was in a happy relationship. one that she could only assume would go on for quite a while. He also has one kid with Victor, wouldn't they want another? Wasn't that how relationships sort of worked? Another child for them to raise? Or, was she entirely over stepping bounds?

Yes, yes she was.]

So, you don't view her as your family? [Did she misread things there?] You could look into adopting her, if you want.

Besides, I mean, you're in a happy relationship. Victor has a daughter, I would've thought you'd want another one. [She shrugs. Hey, growing up on Jakku didn't give her the best example of what families were supposed to be like.]

[bythehand]

[ That gets a brief grin out of him. It puts a better perspective in place. Some habits and tendencies, Finn can attest, have a way of sticking. As evidenced by his "what's stealth good for" approach. ]

Don't-- don't worry about adjusting too much or anything. You've got a point. About the shield. [ He lifts the shield up a little to indicate it. ] I'm not really used to working with the, uh. Intestines type.

[winscenario]

[ Well, better late than never. Jim wouldn't have wanted to make it some sort of official announcement, anyway. Not that there's any reason for it. She's Victor's kid, but it feels a little odd to think of himself as an adoptive parent to her, too. ]

I had a chicken, before. Up until about half a year ago. She was a pretty great pet, surprisingly. [ He shrugs. ] A porg isn't that much weirder.

[winscenario]

[ She was indeed overstepping bounds a little, but she also was his friend, and Jim didn't actually mind her getting that personal. If he seemed awkward or uncomfortable it was only because he wasn't entirely sure of what to give her as an answer. ]

No— that's not what I meant. I do care about her. It's just complicated, is all. She has Victor, and she sees him as a parent. It's different, with me.

[ He's more like 'Papa's boyfriend' than anything else at this point. Which, admittedly, is a step up from 'potential evil stepfather'. ]

That's not how things work. Not always, anyway. Victor and I didn't exactly go through the conventional steps in a relationship. We sort of... skipped ahead in a lot of things. But a kid is a lot of responsibility, and it takes time, and commitment, and... [ And hell, he doesn't even know if he'll choose to stay here, if one day he's given the chance to go home. ] It's just complicated, is all. I don't think we're ready for that.

[happiertimes]

[Look, he's trying. It's just difficult. And, honestly, he's not much for stealth either. But he's lived to nearly thirty-one by going about things a bit smarter than just charging in head first.

Finn's comment does get a small, dry chuckle out of Cullen.]

I assure you that without a proper healer, you will want to avoid becoming acquainted with your innards not inside your body.

[happiertimes]

[Cullen has spent far too long telling people what to do and having them listen to his words. It's a hard habit to break and it will take a lot longer than a few months to stop doing it all the time.]

Yes, I'm a member of the Search and Rescue section most of the time. [And the the more specialized RR-1 team, but that's neither here nor there.] I've seen your friend as another member of the Guard, but this is the first time I've had the chance to actually speak to him.

[bythehand]

So you've been a pet person this whole time. [ A chicken. He sounds like Poe. Finn's not even sure why. It just sounds like such a Poe experience. Of course, Poe did grow up on a ranch, so. ]

I didn't meet too many animals before I got here. Never had the chance.

[winscenario]

I know. It surprised me too, actually. [ He never really had a pet before, not even while growing up. He saw a few cows and pigs and horses around the farm, but never really cared much. Petunia was definitely a first. ]

Yeah? No wonder porgs are so weird to you. [ He chuckles, nudging Finn's knee with his own. ]

[bythehand]

Fair enough. [ The First Order didn't... put work into training field medics. Very sink or swim folk. ]

When I think about it, I'm pretty sure I still don't really know any healers. Apart from people who know a few tricks. Got any of those in your back pocket on this mission?

[bythehand]

[ He snorts. ]

Last time I checked back home, we had a dozen people crammed onto one ship and these things, [ Finn gestures to the roasted porg, lacking a live one to gesture to. ] Were busy making nests in the wiring. They're gonna be weird no matter how many I meet. Or eat.

[winscenario]

[ He looks at the roasted porg, brow arching with a smile. ] Maybe they just like warm places.

[ There's a slight frown. ] Actually, that does explain a lot. Oona keeps finding tiny warm corners to hide around the house. If it weren't for John we wouldn't know where she was half the time.

[happiertimes]

[The First Order sounds awful. No retention policy in place then.]

On this mission? No, but I do know a few mages from my world that are in the Quarantine. [Just Hawke and Dorian.] I wouldn't suggest we have a need to rely on them, however.

[bythehand]

I assume you don't mean my commanding officer put a tracker on your porg for you.

Not that he probably wouldn't. If you ever wanted one.

[ John's a ride or die type like that. ]

[bythehand]

[ And no benefits. A true shame. ]

That's-- sort of the plan. I don't know. Pretty much anything big I've managed in the past few months was something I had to improvise. Ended up leaning a little more battlefield tactics than detailed strategy.

[ Run into shit and deal with it on the fly.

Sometimes he's really not surprised that he gets along with Poe as well as he does. ]

[winscenario]

[ Jim laughs at that, and shakes his head. ]

No. I mean my dog, John. Big, dark and fluffy. He's around the Perimeter Guard with me, sometimes.

[ And yes, he did name it after John The Person. ]

[happiertimes]

[You know what that sounds like? The Templar Order. That's why he left that too. And joined the Inquisition. You know, to save the world or something.]

Most of the time, it's the ability to think on your feet that keeps you alive, but planning ahead is never to be scoffed at. Even if it's only to take a shield with you before you charge into battle.

[bythehand]

Oh, that dog. Yeah, haven't introduced myself yet. [ It's like 6 degrees to Kevin Bacon in the Perimeter Guard, only Kevin Bacon is sometimes a dog named John. ]

Kind of nice to go on a mission with you that isn't a last-second emergency, Jim. You make good company.

[winscenario]

You should. He's friendly. Friendlier than John the Person.

[ Not that that's hard. Not because Sheppard's unfriendly, but because dogs are always friendlier than people. ]

Yeah, you too. And this mission's been pretty quiet, but we should definitely go for a drink sometime. Off the clock.

[bythehand]

Well, consider the shield noted.

[ He makes a vague gesture. It's maybe a thanking gesture? Even Finn's not sure. ]

I'll, uh. Hand it back once I'm done not getting gored.

[bythehand]

[ The lift to Finn's eyebrows says he believes that at face value. He hasn't met a ton of dogs, but he's gotten a firm friendliness impression from them. John the Person can be a little unconventionally friendly. Finn thinks.

Finn generally just assumes that Poe is the benchmark of conventional friendliness and works from that. ]

Yeah. Sure. We might be getting around to one of those lulls between everything going wrong. Leaves plenty of space to do something fun.

[happiertimes]

[Cullen will choose to accept it as a thanks. There's no reason not to.]

I would very much appreciate that. It is a little bit of an unique item around here.

[Although, he will be looking into getting more crafted for the rank and file if they'll help.]