riverviewlogs | ( open ) slow i'm getting up

Entry tags:

( open ) slow i'm getting up

who: Cassian Andor + open!
what: rebel spy poorly adjusts to civilian life
when: mid september?? whatever is convenient
where: various! multi-choice.
warnings: will edit as necessary!

i. perimeter guard

[cassian has gone beyond the wall a handful of times by now, but he has yet to stay more than one night. when he's at the headquarters, he hangs out in the hangar, poking around at the transit, or with the maps, pouring over them very meticulously. sometimes he's hunched over his own map, adding details or working on a copy to keep. survey work is easy enough, because surveillance is key to being a spy. he's got a very good memory.]

[other times he's sorting through a haul of old scraps and pieces of technology he managed to pull in, figuring out what can be fixed, what needs to be tossed, and what can be reused. it's all sorted into three distinct piles, and once in a while he tinkers with some of it, trying to make it work again.]

K2, what do you - [oh. no. wait. it's instinct to just ask his droid for technical opinions, but he cuts himself off and his entire expression darkens while he turns his screwdriver a little too aggressively.]

ii. perimeter guard redux

[he's very prepared for monsters in the sense of combat experience. most of his life, however, has been spent fighting people not beasts. cassian is meant for stealth; he's a sniper, an assassin, an informant, and his kills tend to happen quickly and quietly.]

[of course this one happens when he's alone, having separated for about an hour from jyn to cover more ground, though he hasn't gone too far from the wall. he'd shot it from afar and knocked it out, but it hadn't been alone; the companion zeroes in on cassian's location as he switches his blaster from stun to kill, any sense of invisibility lost when he fired the gun the first time. great good monster times all around.]

iii. how do you food

[grocery shopping is bizarre. cassian has lived essentially his whole life off rations or basic levels of food (sometimes even whatever he could snag on the streets). he was fed appropriately enough, but the Rebellion hadn't exactly been brimming with fine cuisine. the stores here sometime feel like too many options. he spends more time staring at the choices before picking the least flashy, unable to break the habit. he also piles his basket with enough food for two people, a habit he's picked up in the month or so he's been here.]

[he's keeping a very cool and collected facade, but there are probably little signs of uncertainty that should not belong to someone who's just browsing through a grocery store. frowning at perishable packages and the rainbow of juices, squinting at labels warily. he may also have an obscene amount of water bottles. you can never have too much!]

[he's perpetually grumpy at nearly every box he picks up to read over ingredients.] These percentages are far too precise. How is this necessary?

iv. how do you escape hypercompetency

[the perimeter guard keeps him busy, but cassian hasn't stopped reflecting on what jyn said weeks ago, how he doesn't have to be a spy here anymore. there is no one to report to, no war on his heels, but the habits don't die out even when he tries to remind himself otherwise.]

[he goes to the library and tries to find books for leisure, but ends up looking between the shelves to see who else is there, skimming the titles belonging to the person sitting next to him. he takes out too many because this is a luxury at least he can share, and some of the books he picks aren't really leisure.]

[every time he turns a corner inside a building or out on the street, he looks around in a very calculative way. he steps around people and weaves through crowds too easily, turning over his shoulder to make sure none of them noticed him. paranoia doesn't sit well with civilian life.]

[he often goes for a run in the mornings, stretching it further each day to keep testing the strength of his leg and spine. sometimes it becomes too much and he has to rest on a bench, practically chugging his water as he watches the people slip by him. he catalogues them without realizing, huffing out a sigh.]

[he really doesn't know how to turn it off.]

Maybe I need a hobby. [muttering to himself is not a good hobby.]

v. wildcard!

[make up your own or hit me up: communism @ plurk, romanitas#5368 @ discord, pm this journal.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he still can't decide how much to trust or believe her, so he does decide to keep jyn out of the conversation for now as another person from the same galaxy. if it does go bad, her existence here will still be off the radar.]

I have not been to Jakku. [and he never will be.] But I have seen quite a number of outer rim planets.

There are a strange number of people here who come from places where life exists on only one planet. With how vast the galaxy is, it's surprising.

[Trust is earn and not freely given. Rey isn't sure if she should trust this individual either. There was something about him, something...heavy. As though he had survived something, but she didn't know what. Or maybe she was reading too much into things. Maybe he came from a labor intense planet like her.]

Not many go there to visit. There's nothing there, unless you have business with Unkar Plutt. [Like trading parts, ships or information.]

Which ones? [She's curious. She's heard talk of other planets in the outer rim, but never thought she would leave Jakku until she she helped a BB droid.]

It is very surprising. More surprising that they haven't traveled light speed yet. [Or didn't have the technology for it....but if he was from her world, then ...when? Before the Empire? Before the First Order...did she dare ask?] Have you..heard of Luke Skywalker?

[A somewhat safe topic, although his reaction would tell her if he might be friend or foe.]

[it should be something far more interesting in theory to find another person from the same galaxy, but it just sort of makes him feel weird instead, trying to figure out who she is, what she knows. he's curious, of course, but still just as wary, because wariness is his backbone.]

I don't keep a list of them all. [which is true! he could probably name a few he's been to but he still doesn't want to.]

Space travel is a foreign concept to many here. It never even occurred to me that it would be odd. [his brow furrows slightly. the way she says the name implies some level of celebrity cassian doesn't recognize.] No. The name means nothing to me.

[Rey let out a small chuckle. It was worth a shot to know if he visited any other planets in the outer rim, or even those in the inner rim. She was curious to know more about him, assuming he was willing to share.]

Me too. I spoke to someone about droids and they ad no idea what they were. [Which was odd considering Tony had a robot and it seemed like he was a few steps away from creating a droid of his own.

So..he hasn't heard of Luke Skywalker. It would, more or less, place him in the same period with Obi-Wan. He never heard of him either. Then again, most people assumed Luke Skywalker to be a myth. Maybe he was from the future then? The notion of people being from different periods was more or less frustrating.]

What about the Jedi? [Another safe question..] According to someone, they're around and during my lifetime they haven't.

[he takes the laugh as a good sign, because at least for this conversation he'd like to stay on her good side.] It's just as hard to imagine someone not knowing what a droid is when they are so ingrained.

[but thinking about droids makes him think about k2 which makes him kind of?? sad?? feelings are really stupid.]

The jedi are gone. If any of them are even left, they are hiding away.

Trying to explain one was a bit difficult, not unless you have pictures or blueprints of one. Considering how many are around, it's difficult to talk about only one. [And that makes her think of BB-8. Her excitement drops a little, missing her friend. She hope he's okay, along with Finn, Chewie and R2D2.]

They're a myth from where I'm from. [or should she say 'when?' Time paradoxes are so confusing. So perhaps they are from the time frame? There's more that she wants to ask, but is this the right setting? Was she bothering him by asking so many questions and just talking to him?]

Robot seems to be a good equivalent word. [it doesn't really feel totally apt to him, but it seems to get a better image across than most else.]

[talking about this feels like giving away Too Much, but cassian has a compulsive need to just keep asking questions, to investigate, and he wants to know more about this girl and whatever time of the galaxy she is apparently from.]

The jedi are quite real. Just gone. Not as all powerful as the stories would have you think.

I forgot the term and droid are synonymous with one another, but robot doesn't exactly convey the same idea as droid.

[It doesn't feel apt to her either, especially considering robot could have so many different meanings to those who came from other worlds.

Rey briefly looked down, nodding her head as memories of Jakku danced through her mind.] They weren't talked about much, not by those who visited Jakku. Usually it was talk of which trade routes were being blocked, or which gang was causing more trouble. [Or if the First Order was doing something, the same with the Resistance.

She wants to keep asking questions, and better to ask now than to continue a conversation in the middle of a grocery store.]

Do you think we could talk about this some more? Not here, but elsewhere?

The word droid feels more sentient. [he agrees, basically.]

[he also agrees that a grocery store is a terrible place for a conversation like this. it's been pretty surface level so far, but if cassian wants more, he knows it'll be betters some place quieter. less eavesdroppers.]

We can. [he runs through a handful of possible locations. he still wants something more public, but nothing drowning in people.] There are plenty of parks or similar to choose from.

Do you have a name?

Droid...it has a better connection to home. [Their world, the place they're from. Not to Jakku, but to their overall universe. Something that keeps them grounded and separated from everyone else.]

A park would be fine. I'm still exploring this place. I arrived not too long ago. [And how odd it is for her to say that without feeling...weird about it. Like she's slowly adapting to this place and coming to terms with the entire thing. Like, arriving here was normal when clearly it wasn't.]

My name is Rey. [No surname, no affiliation to anyone. At least, not yet. Not unless she had found Luke and he agreed to train her...but now she'll never know.]

You?

They don't seem to exist in the same capacity elsewhere. [it's such a small difference, robots vs droids, but he feels like k2 would scoff at being called a simple robot.]

Even the people who have been here long are always seeming to find new things. [good job being vague as fuck in that, cassian. at least it implies he's been here a little longer than her.]

[there's the briefest of pause over his name, because even now he still finds it strange to be free to give it.] Cassian. I would like to finish my shopping first, but it should not take much longer.

Yes, I've noticed that.

[Robot was too simple. A droid could do so much more than mere simple tasks. BB-8 would happily beep to that.]

Which means a lot of people don't understand binary. [Which would be interesting if a droid ever wound up here, how people would react to it.

She does notice the hesitation over to give his name. It makes her wonder if his name carries some danger to it, or some other sort of weight. Cassian. She tries to remember recalling of that name, but nothing comes to mind.]

No, I didn't mean to interrupt. I could meet you at the park in an hour? Or two? [She needed to finish her shopping too, and not get distracted by the different things they have here.]

Even back home, binary was not the most common outside droids. [cassian understands little bits and pieces, but he always had k2 around to translate.]

[names are a tool more often than not; he's slowly getting used to the idea of only being himself, without worry of blowing a cover.]

An hour is fine. [it gives him enough time to finish without giving him an abundance of time to deliberate between more choices.] There's a park near the communal housing that may work.

It's helpful to know, just in case. [Helpful to know a lot of other languages, to know if you're being swindled or not. It was an advantage that came in handy for Rey.

There's a nod of her head. She knows which park he's referring to. It gave them enough time to complete their shopping and return home to put their groceries away.]

I'll meet you there.

[Rey grabs one last item and starts to pull away.] I'll see you soon, Cassian.

[There's a small nod of her head rather than a wave or a smile as she moves away from him to check out and head back to the communal housing.

It wouldn't be long until their hour was up and she was waiting around the park.]

[he doesn't really say his own vocal goodbye, just nods both agreement to the meeting and as a short farewell as she slips away.]

[the time limit allows him to make quicker decisions about food, piling the basket full and making his way back to his apartment. he drops the groceries off and briefly wakes up jyn from a nap to tell her he's going out again to meet someone, then leaves before she can breach consciousness enough to question him.]

[once the hour passes, he makes his way to the park too, fairly quickly finding rey loitering. instead of calling out or waving, he just starts walking over in her line of sight so she can see him coming. he does a quick scan of the area in habit, but he'd already cased the area enough to know it the very first time he was here.]

[cassian does, at least, nod at her once they make eye contact.]

[Rey wouldn't say she was loitering around. Rather, it was either stand by a tree, wander around, or attempt to sit on a bench or on the grass. She felt the need to keep moving, something she was so used to from her old life. Always on the move, scavenging for parts, then cleaning them, and possibly repairing them before taking them to Unkar Plutt. There was some stability and comfort in her old routine, and now she didn't have that.

What she would have, hopefully, would be the chance to talk to someone else from her world. Someone who either was closer to her time or maybe sooner? It didn't seem like he was from the same period as Obi-Wan, who claimed the Jedi to still be around during his time...really, the notion was a bit confusing, but it leaves her mind when he steps into her line of vision. There's a nod of acknowledgment from her, the staff she had was still slung over one shoulder.

It didn't matter to her if it was a full hour or not. She was simply glad he was here.]

Where do you want to begin?

[Where they were from--or when? What they knew or what they were willing to share?]

[he takes note of her staff, sparing a passing moment to the blaster tucked inside his own clothes. he rarely goes anywhere unarmed, and it seems apparent rey is the same way.]

It's almost difficult to pick a place.

[there's a lot he wants to know and ask, but firstly, as cassian, he wants to figure out for sure whether she's friend or foe. he's leaning towards the former, at least in the sense of getting zero imperial vibes.]

Do you know what a stormtrooper is?

[there. that's potentially good question to get a wide range of answers from!]

[For a moment, Rey just stares at Cassian. Her eyes blinking once then twice. It's such a simple question. Really, it was, but it spoke volumes.]

Yes, I do. [There's a faint smile on her face because it feels like a step in the right direction. One question that could lead to dozens more, but it could lead to a plethora of answers.]

They're not fun when they're blasting at you. [A small way to let him know she wasn't with them without going into too many details.]

Do you know of the First Order?

[he watches every single part of her response, from her eyes to her shoulders to her words and the tone of them, looking for - anything. he's trying not to go into this with preconceived notions.]

[she knows what stormtroopers are and doesn't seem to be a fan. there's nothing to suggest she's lying, but caution is a friend.]

No. [he doesn't like the sound of it, but his expression keeps neutral through the uncertainty.] But the Empire has their New Order, just like they use their troopers to terrorize the galaxy.

[ok well straight up razing the empire will probably get him more on her thoughts. also he's already dead, fuck the empire who cares.]

[Caution is a friend to both of them. One couldn't just assume anything right off the bat. Yes, she could have faith in people, but she knew better to blindly trust someone. It was about survival, and normally she would be more tight lipped with her answers, but it felt great to meet someone on the same page.

Or...so she thought. Her face falls ever so slightly hearing he didn't know about the First Order. So...he was from the dark days of the Empire. But that was better than being too far into the past. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers in this place.]

Nothing good came from the Empire, but they were defeated.

[She looked straight at Cassian when she told him. Her face and voice filled with confidence. This, she wouldn't lie about. Just...for now, she wouldn't touch upon the First Order.]

[the words would be a comfort if he had any further proof for the truth of them. it's good to think his death meant something, that someone was listening like jyn promised. there's no sign she's lying; rey sounds very sure of her answer, certain that the empire is gone, but it's almost too good to imagine.]

[he bristles, internally. but he has to ask.]

What of the Death Star?

Destroyed.

[The word comes out softly, but strongly. She knows the Empire caused so much havoc and pain in the galaxy. The details of how the Death Star was destroyed were a bit fuzzy. The stories that were told were few and far between, only that Luke Skywalker--the Jedi, had a hand in it. The he, Leia, and Han, helped destroy it.

Rey wants to say more, but, she won't. Cassian doesn't need to know of Star Killer Base--a bigger and deadlier version of the Death Star. She doesn't want to cause him pain, like she did with Obi-Wan. The Jedi...she still had to talk to him, and she would...eventually.]

The war wasn't immediately over after the destruction of the Death Star, but eventually the Empire fell.

[destroyed.]

[oh, how much he wants to believe that. to know for sure that rogue one's mission meant something, that it helped the galaxy. even if he struggles to believe the empire truly gone after such a long fight, knowing the exploitable weakness of the death star makes it's ruin feel more attainable.]

[some of the heaviness seems to fly away from his shoulders.]

Do you know how it happened? To the Death Star. I know the war would not be so easily won with just one battle.

[There's a shake of her head. As badly as she wanted to know, it wasn't like the smugglers, thieves and other scavengers on Jakku were willing to talk more about the Empire. They only told bits and pieces, and Rey wasn't about to ask for more details when she should've been working.]

The bits and pieces I heard were that the Death Star had a weakness that was leaked to the Rebellion, and then it was destroyed. In the destruction of the Death Star, it set the Empire back but them and the Rebellion continued to go at it until the war was eventually won by the Rebellion.

[Only for something else to happen and...yeah. It's still an on going thing.]

Were you part of the Rebellion? [Considering how invested he in this talk, it seemed that way... Or, maybe his home planet had become one of the fighting grounds for the Empire. Jakku was loitered with different Imperial ships from their fight so many years ago.]

[a weakness. it's a good phrase for two things: more proof that rey has zero ties to the empire, because they'd never dare use it, and that the weakness was what allowed the death star's destruction in the first place.]

[it's not a very descriptive how, but exploitable weakness is what the entirety of rogue one gave up their lives for. the rebellion used it. it helps knowing the outcome, even in a vague sense.]

[the way she says were you suggests she wasn't part of the rebellion herself, but at least she's sympathetic towards them.]

Yes. [wowow that's weird to allow admittance to.] How did you come to know so much yourself, if you were not part of it?

[it's a question that could get a lot of other ones answered in one go.]

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..srsly best question ever asked

\8D/

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