( open ) slow i'm getting up

[evasives]

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.]

Comments

[talentedscavenger]

[There's a nod of her head.] I did. Found this .. [A small, but sad smile comes over her lips.] This garbage of a ship that Plutt had and to escape Stormtroopers, hijacked it with a friend. First time flying and it was to out run Troopers.

[The memory was funny in hind sight, telling Finn to stop grabbing her hand and not knowing they were aboard the legendary Falcon. Then meeting Han...]

They're nothing but fodder, yes, just bodies with no identity of their own. [At least that's how Finn made it seem to be.]

I am...I'm very proud of Finn. He was a Stromtrooper for a while and he defected. He was brave enough to leave on his own and make it out alive.

[evasives]

[he doesn't smile, but he almost could, and that's a very new feeling.] Even a garbage ship is a good ship if it does the job. I've flown quite a few terrible ones in a pinch.

[he lets out a tiny sigh.] There are always more bodies. Even those in power are expendable to a certain extent. Replaceable, save for the Emperor himself.

[that's very curious though. he's never heard of a stormtrooper defecting before. they're so indoctrinated, and he's killed so many without thought.] He left all on his own? No recruitment?

[talentedscavenger]

[There is a smile that comes over her lips. Yes. The 'garbage' was a great ship, even if she didn't know how 'good' of a ship it was at the time.] It was a good ship, one of the best I ever flew. Come to find out it was stolen more or less.

[The smile disappears into a line as she nods her head.] The number of people who have died for the Empire's beliefs...it's like they didn't matter. They're expandable, like you said. Just canon fodder.

[Another nod of her head.] He did. We never got into the story of it, other than he said that it was the right thing to do.

[evasives]

[there's a lightness to his tone.] The Alliance relied on a great number of stolen ships. I could not tell you how many I've flown that were not mine. [even the last one he ever flew in was stolen! :'D]

[HE ALWAYS HAS TIME TO SHITTALK THE EMPIRE.] Fanatical belief can be weaponized, just like the bodies. I have seen the Empire raze planets without a thought for the people on them, even when they were devoted to the Imperial cause.

[strangely, the story of her defector friend is a hopeful one. it reminds him so much of bodhi, and his chest hurts. maybe they died, but the future looks brighter if people can still make good choices.] My friend, the pilot, believed similarly. He listened to what was in his heart, decided to make things right. He was not a stormtrooper, but there are many out there who will always be swayed by the right thing to do.

[belatedly, he realizes he called bodhi his friend, and that makes his chest hurt even more.]

[talentedscavenger]

I'm guessing at least 10. [There's a faint smile on her lips, imaging Cassian stealing a ship or two to help with the Rebellion.] Anything good at least? A TIE Fighter, maybe?

[Her eyes go wide at what he tells her. She should've known the Empire would reach those levels. After all the First Order, and what they did to the planets that were part of the New Republic...it was deathly.] They hold nothing scared, do they?

[His story of his friend makes her miss Finn. She hopes he's doing okay. She hopes the rest of the Resistance is doing well, and that the path she was on now wouldn't cause the First Order to win.] Did he want to join the Rebellion at first? Your friend?

[evasives]

[he doesn't quite smile, but talking about stolen ships is oddly easy to talk about.] Higher, probably. I have blown up TIEs but have never flown one. [TIE fighters are not exactly subtle and cassian does his best to be subtle even if he's sabotaging a hangar.]

The resources take priority over the populace, whether's it's minerals or crops. They take what they want and leave the planet to die. [or blow it up, thanks to the death star.]

I don't think he set out to join. But he knew what he needed to do, knew the Rebellion could help him, and he made himself a part of it anyway.

[talentedscavenger]

[It's easier to talk about ships rather than her own past, or the time frame she comes from. ] In the hundreds, or thousands? [The smile on her lips grows, picturing him stealing ships, destroying them all in the name of the Rebellion. Which begs the question of how long he's been with them.]

Mm, they made that much obvious, and those who follow in their shadow hold the same principles. [Drain a planet for its resources, or create a planet like Star Killer base to destroy other worlds...nothing was scared, and anyone could be disposed of.]

Sounds like he was good and brave friend. It takes a lot to walk away from the Empire, much less change sides... You can't help but wonder if there were others like your friend, or Finn, who know what they're doing is wrong, but don't have the courage to leave.

[evasives]

Probably not quite in the hundreds. [but he has been working against the empire for essentially his whole life. some of the ships ended up abandoned, some made it back to the rebels.]

It's why they must be stopped. [always of the utmost importance.]

I have met those I swayed to help the Rebellion, whether they realized it or otherwise. [sometimes nicely! with friendship! but mostly with bribes! or by ruining their lives! it's the whole spectrum. the people he's pulled from the empire always tended to die faster than regular people.] The choice to walk away is almost unheard of. Building the Alliance has been a long and difficult road.

[talentedscavenger]

Would imagine it would be in the hundred, or in the hundred range.

[There was a slow nod of her head. Yes, the Empire, the First Order had to be stopped. No matter what. They couldn't rule the galaxy and force people to do whatever they wanted.]

Swayed? [Rey can't help but raise an eyebrow at him at that. She could read between the lines. Either he changed their minds by force or with reason. Or maybe he used other methods, she wasn't going to judge.]

I can only imagine. The Alliance had so many things stacked against it, but they still took down the Empire. [It was a miracle really. Though there was one question that popped into her mind.] How long were you with the Alliance? Since it was first started?

[evasives]

At least a hundred, over the years. Some were abandoned, some destroyed, some taken for the Rebellion. [depends on the ship! depends on the escape!]

I have been fighting the Empire in various forms since even before the Alliance was made official. [cassian helped build it, really, as a recruiter. pulling people in and growing the numbers.] Part of that has involved recruiting people to the cause. [hence the "swaying."]

[talentedscavenger]

Really? Anything good? For the Rebellion I mean. [She was curious as she had knowledge of old Imperial ships and their inner workings. Plus, hearing a story about his heroic past missions would help piece together those missing pages in history.]

Oh? Then... [She maybe taking a gamble here. Considering how many people were part of the Rebellion and the ranks and such..he may not have been in contact with her.] Did you meet Ge--Princess Leia?

[Or did he end up helping to recruit the former Princess turned General?]

[evasives]

Our supplies were not always great or well stocked. Anything could be good if reused properly. The early Rebels stole quite a bit beyond ships. [what a ragtag bunch of needy nerds. they really did use every scrap they could.]

I met her a long time ago. Her father has been vital to the running of the Rebellion, however quietly. [leia is still very much involved, but with her family's position in the galaxy, their less than lawful activities are kept under wraps.] I have mostly seen her in passing over the years.

[talentedscavenger]

[There's a nod of her head. When you're starting something to fight against the Empire, anything and everything was needed. They had to survive by any means necessary. Rey could sort of picture it, she had been in that position before where she had to keep working in order to survive.

As for Leia...]

She's still alive. She was a Senator for a while. I've only met her once, but she was the one who got the message about the Death Star. It's.. [There's a faint smile on her lips, recalling what she knows.] Quite the story..

[But maybe they should end things where they are. They have been talking for quite a while.]

If you need anything, or just want to talk, I wouldn't mind.

[evasives]

[that's a very strange thought. the princess leia, getting the transmitted plans. it's so utterly bizarre to imagine her of all people waiting above scarif, knowing jyn pulled down on the lever and sent the plans through. on the flipside, it's nice to know someone survives it all. he's not surprised it was her.]

I would not mind either, talking more and hearing that story. I am curious still, but you have given me a lot to consider already first. I do not want to keep you.

[he also wants to get home and tell jyn all he's learned. to disseminate it all with her, figure out what else they want to know.]

[talentedscavenger]

[If Cassian thought that was bizzare, he might want to wait until he hears the Princess became a Senator and then a General.]

It's a story I wouldn't mind telling, but I've heard different versions of it. Either way the Death Star is destroyed. [Different versions being who did what first, or how things were 'supposedly' carried out, but the ending is all that matters.]

No, it's fine. I should go and make dinner anyway. I'll see you around.