( open ) we live, we die

[evasives]

who: cassian + you
what: another one for the memory sharing flood
when: mid october
where: dreams! or elsewhere in public spaces
warnings: spy things, death, murder, spoilers for rogue one, etc



( vision / flash ) i. the droid

[it's tanned hands, working on what looks like a very large robot: a black kx security droid, powered down. cassian tampers with the programming, fiddling with wires and hooking up the droid into his datapad. there's a brief reflection of his face in the black metal of the droid; he's younger, only a teenager, probably no older than fifteen with a prickly, patchy beard and less sallow eyes.]

[ten seconds pass, and he mutters something in fest to himself. then at last, he flicks the power back on. the droid's eyes light up, and he hobbles to his feet. it stands almost seven feet tall, and the angle suggests cassian is looking up from about a foot and a half lower.]

[i am k-2so. are you my reprogrammer?]

( vision / flash ) ii. the horizon

[there's a beach. the water is tinted with warm colors instead of blues, and out along the horizon is a giant sun. only it's not a sun at all, and there are puffs of air and explosions along the edges to prove it. the rest of the area around them is singing like a battlefield.]

[cassian walks weakly along the sand, upright only because of jyn beside him. his clothes are filthy and bloody as he looks down at them, his legs stumbling. as they reach the edge of the water, he collapses and she sets him down gently. he sinks into the sand, looking out at the very bright and damning fake sunset. each second that passes, it seems to grow closer. she reaches for his hand, and he looks down as he takes it.]

( dreamscape ) iii. the shot

[ visual. ]

[it's a very urban area, littered with people and voices and shops in all kinds of languages. cassian rushes through the streets, looking over his shoulder carefully. he moves like a shadow, breaking into a run when he finally ducks down an empty alleyway. there's a man waiting for him in a corner, his arm broken and pacing nervously about.

"news from jedha?" the man tells him about a defector imperial pilot who brings news about the empire building a weapon. a planetkiller. the message is from a man named galen erso. the conversation gets more frantic, nervous. "there's spies everywhere!" the man hisses.]

[the meeting is broken up by the arrival of stormtroopers. they ask for IDs. cassian jokes, laughs, plays it off, then shoots both troopers without hesitation. his informant starts to panic. "i'll never climb out of here with my arm!"

[cassian comes up behind him with a smile and a comforting voice. "calm down, we'll be all right."

[and then he shoots him. the body falls. cassian swallows, steadies himself against the murder, then leaps to climb up the wall's piping to escape.]

( dreamscape ) iv. the fall

[cassian is clinging to the edge of a data vault tower. above him is jyn, and even higher on the opposite wall, a door slides open. "jyn! he yells out, firing his blaster and initiating a quick round of firefight between a man in white and several stormtroopers.]

[one of the returning shots hits him, and his grip slips. he falls from the vault tower. his back slams into a metal beam, his arms briefly scramble for purchase on another, but he keeps falling, falling until he lands hard on a platform, his entire body limp and broken.]

[from above, there's an anxious quick yell of his name, "cassian!" but he doesn't move.]

( closed dreamscape ) v. the youth

[it's snowing outside. fest is a very cold planet, and even when you're small and aware of the dangers, the snow always has a level of adventure. twenty years ago, cassian was six years old. he's running through the snowy streets outside, scampering quickly as curfew approaches.]

[six year old cassian stomps back into the house, jumping on the floormat to shake the snow from his boots. there's a message sticking out of his pocket that he yells out is for his father, because even at six he's already running messages for the festian resistance. his mother comes over with a smile and helps him out of his coat, trading him a cup of something warm and steaming for his fluffy jacket. his father laughs in the kitchen, and cassian reaches for his mother's hand to pull her towards the sound.]

[he tells his mother excitedly about the other kids, how some of them were clonetroopers and they lost the big battle. his father beams down at him and ruffles his hair, but there is a fatigue to his eyes that the adult cassian shares. cassian just crawls into his lap and hands over the message, asking if he's allowed to read it too.]

[no, not this one. maybe next time. cassian shrugs it off, diving back immediately into his mug while his mother threatens to steal it for herself.]

[prose or brackets is fine; feel free to have a vision or a flash or both!]

Comments

2

[talentedscavenger]

[When Rey receives the vision, it comes out of nowhere. She was in her room, preparing to head out. She hadn't been meditating. She hadn't heard anything, nor was she touching Luke's lightsaber. Suddenly, it feels like she's pulled into a different area and then she sees it. Sand...water..Two people she knows, or knows of.

This vision, it's not painful, but it is filled with many mixed emotions. It's hard to name each one, but looking at Cassian, and then the sky...she knows what's about to happen. Knows the seconds seem endless, but it'll soon be over. His exhaustion is her own, and when the vision is over, Rey is on her bed, heart pounding and knees shaking.

Death. That's what she was about to witness. His...Jyn's... She knew, knew the Rebellion had a high body count, but was it naive of her to think that they would've stayed alive to see what they accomplished? The Empire gone...but that wasn't the case. It took Rey more than an hour to recover from that vision before she takes out her phone and texts Cassian.]

Do you have a moment? I'd like to talk.

iii

[spellslots]

[They're back on this bullshit, huh?

Taako has been trying to cut down his sleep as much as possible, hoping it would help, but he still finds himself slipping into someone else's memories now and then. At least this one isn't his own.

He watches this dream Cassian make his way through the crowded street, moving like a rogue, and looks over to find the real one beside him.]

What're we in for, bubbale?

[He should start up a rating system.]

v.

[realists]

[ the downside of sharing a bed with cassian is that jyn gets decent sleep. it's a downside because it makes all these dreams and visions that much more bright and vibrant. (she has attempted to sleep on her own, thinking the restless sleep would keep her from other peoples dreams. it didn't, it only made her more cranky once she'd woken up.

this dream is freezing and her hands come up to rub at her arms while she watches the scrawny little boy run down the street. he has a familiar run, familiar dimples, and jyn can feel cassian's gaze on her back before she looks away from his younger self. ]

You couldn't dream of the beach?

[ she shouldn't have said the beach. scarif was the beach. she knows they both dream of that. she wanted cassian to dream of a beach, someplace warm instead of frozen. ]

[evasives]

[his gut tells him on receiving the text that this isn't a conversation he's going to like, and cassian even goes so far as debating the merits of pretending he never got it. it seems like a very jyn-like strategy.]

[he gives it about fifteen minutes before he replies, because he knows it'll grate on him otherwise.]

About what? Do you need to speak in person?

[evasives]

[all things considered, if there had to be a memory of a shitty thing cassian has done, this one isn't the worst! it's just one of the newest, which means the guilt is still fresh.]

[he frowns as he watches himself move through the streets, knowing what's coming. cassian spares a glance at taako.]

This is the Ring of Kafrene. Trading Post. I am meeting an informant.

[and it'd be really fucking SWELL if they could just wake up and leave before he does find the guy.]

[talentedscavenger]

[Rey has patience. She was waiting on Jakku for all of her life for her family to return, and she was certain she could wait to hear back from Cassian. For all she knew, he was at his own job, or running errands. She wasn't expecting a text back...and it gave her time to think about what she saw.

When she sees there's a text message on her phone, it takes her a few minutes to get a reply crafted.]

I would prefer to speak in person. I had a vision, and it involved you.

[This had to be something with Riverview and not a Force vision, thank goodness.]

[evasives]

[decent sleep! what a novel concept! he noticed immediately when she tried to sleep on the couch and didn't like it, regardless of what it meant for the dreams.]

[cassian watches his tiny self run with a vague sense of fondness, but when he notices jyn is there too, he feels a little - weird? he can't remember the last time he talked about his childhood to anyone.]

[his nose wrinkles a little when she says beach, but he chooses to ignore it. he doesn't need to talk about the beach, they both dream it all the time.]

This is Fest. I told you it was snowy.

[his dreams are the only time he sees his house in one piece anymore, and he watches as they all get closer to it. his little self kicks at some snow, sending a shower of it flying up in the air with a laugh.]

[spellslots]

Never heard of it, we must've skipped this one.

[They went to a lot of worlds, but he doesn't remember anything quite like this. There were worlds that were busy, but not crowded, like this feels.]

Seems like here are either real good or real shitty, and while normally I'd be hoping for the good kinda memory, I think I'm gonna have to vote for shitty. There's only a certain kinda good you get in alleys like this.

[Taako!!!!

(He's trying to lighten the mood)]

[realists]

You didn't tell me it was freezing, [ she grouses, hugging herself tighter. she is dressed for sleep, she is not dressed for spying on a very tiny cassian, a very tiny and delightfully unburdened cassian.

she frowns, unhappy that she has to be not only a voyeur on rey's terrible memory of childhood but now a bystander to cassian's childhood. she was not invited, this isn't given willingly. it doesn't seem fair. ]

You were quite adorable.

[ were, past tense. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. ]

[evasives]

[he was afraid of that. he considers, again, pulling a jyn and ignoring the texts. but it won't settle him. there are a lot of awful things rey could have seen and cassian needs to know which in order to figure out how to interact with her from here on out.]

Yes, I would prefer this in person as well. I am not particularly keen on doing so in a public space either. Are you in communal housing?

[talentedscavenger]

[If he was expecting pity from her, she wouldn't give it. If he expected her to feel grief...then she did. She lived those moments through his eyes and it was hard to shake off.]

I would prefer a private area too. I'm on Floor 12 if you want to talk in my room.

[evasives]

It's a planet. We don't have to have all the same ones.

[kafrene is very urban, but it's not even the most crowded planet out there. the streets thin out the closer cassian gets to tivik and his movements get faster, more urgent; it's strange to see it all happening again, the moments that lead to discovering the death star in the first place. so much for waking up sooner rather than later.]

[he recognizes this is taako's attempt at making things easier, but it kind falls flat for him.]

Shitty. [dryly:] Forgive me if I don't ruin the surprise.

[evasives]

Did you not assume cold when I said snow? [he raises an eyebrow, expression almost amused. it is very cold, but he's letting himself be amused by her suffering because he doesn't like thinking about his youth™.]

[his house comes completely into view, his little self clearly rushing towards it. it's small, one story, very heavily insulated like most of the others.]

I was six. Most children could probably fall under that category.

[realists]

Freezing, [ she corrects, shooting him a scathing look that doesn't quite have the right amount of heat to it. (read: any.)

it's a small house, like the one on lah'mu, except not built into the ground like her childhood home was. selfishly, she hopes cassian will never get to see the dark sandy beaches of lah'mu, never gets to feel the briny air. ]

What's inside?

[ he's obviously going inside and anxiety spikes. he was six. he's been fighting since he was six years old. if this is some terrible moment for him, the moment he loses his parents, or a family pet... jyn doesn't know if she can handle that. she can barely handle her own grief. ]

[spellslots]

You never know, I've met a couple thugs from Legato here.

[That was a singularly odd experience, and he'd lied through his teeth about what happened there, but he figures it's not too unlikely to get some crossover between realities, considering how many he's been to.

He's also not dumb enough to miss that Cassian is unhappy about the whole scene here, but there's not... really a whole lot he can do.]

If you're about to kick a puppy I'd like a warning, can't say I give a shit about anything else.

[evasives]

[he was going to offer his own apartment, but he sort of appreciates it on her end more. it gives him more control of the situation; he can leave if he wants to, whenever he wants to.]

I am right below you. Is fifteen minutes okay?

[it gives him time to prepare himself! excessively.]

[evasives]

Legato is not a planet in my universe either.

[cassian takes a moment or two, pushing himself into a much more neutral posture, a calmer face. it's almost too still, but at least any sign of unhappiness is gone now! honestly he might even believe that taako won't give a shit about what's to come, but cassian still doesn't like his dirty laundry on display.] No animals.

[tivik appears, pacing nervously as the dream!cassian finally stumbles into the right alley. i came as fast as i could, is almost breezy. there's familiarity between them, tempered by urgency on both their ends. the information exchange quickly becomes clear; secretive, hurried, dangerous. talk about a planet called jedha.]

[blandly:] He's going to die. [that's the warning, he guesses.]

[evasives]

[his mouth twitches, like he wants to grin.] That's why we wear jackets.

[are all his many jackets holdovers from fest?? we just don't know.]

[he senses her tension immediately, understands it implicitly. he'd told her, hadn't he? about being six and already in the fight. somehow telling her the truth is another kind of terrifying even though it's much happier than she thinks.]

My parents. [his voice is quiet.] Do you see the thing in my pocket? It's a message, for my father. They are waiting for me to come home. [a beat.] Alive.

[spellslots]

Legato's a school, not a planet, it was on, um... you know what, I do not remember what the planet was called. Doesn't matter, I guess.

[His memory isn't the best, hasn't been since Lucretia stole a century and more from him, but it doesn't really bother him. Minor details are minor details, nothing that he'll really ever miss remembering.

As he watches Cassian talk with Tivik, he frowns a little, trying to work out what the problem here is, and he almost thinks he's got it when Cassian delivers the warning.]

Friend of yours?

[His thought is that this is a bad memory because someone Cassian likes is about to die, not because he's about to do a hit.]

[talentedscavenger]

That's fine. Come by whenever is convenient for you.

[She didn't know about his floor, but hers was relatively quiet. She didn't see much of anyone here, or maybe there weren't people stationed in this area. Regardless, they needed to talk..and give Rey more of a chance to sort out her feelings and thoughts.

This wasn't going to be a fun talk, was it?]

[realists]

[ HE SHOULD HAVE OPENED WITH ALIVE. jyn breathes out a whoosh of relief, able to focus on how adorable he is scampering toward the house now instead of wondering what is inside. his living parents are alive.

she is very selfish to not want to see when he became an orphan, even if cassian had to witness the moment she did become an orphan, even if he had to drag her away from her father's body. ]

Good.

[evasives]

[he hasn't heard of it either way, but it gives him something else to temporarily focus on.] A school for what?

[a pilot defector. talk about a planetkiller. the name galen erso floats by. a man named saw frequents the back and forth. spies, everywhere. the conversation is interrupted by two men in white armor, voices distorted. they ask what's going on and ask for scandocs.]

A contact.

[the dream cassian turns from urgent to airy in a matter of seconds, waving his hands. yeah of course, just, my gloves! he ducks around like he's about to pull out some documents, then quick as a whip he pulls out his blaster instead and shoots the two troopers dead. an alarm sounds in the distance.]

One of my informants from Jedha. [he tried to be kind to tivik when it suited the situation, but he would hesitate to call him a friend. even if tivik himself may have thought so.]

[evasives]

[he thinks too much for the next few minutes, trying to decide what the worst thing she could have seen was. if she wants to talk to him, it can't possible be something like jenoport; he assumes she'd rather just never speak to him again. but it's stressful anyway.]

[exactly fifteen minutes later, cassian makes his way upstairs and knocks at her door, mouth set in grim determination; it's the only sign he's concerned, because the rest of him looks fairly at ease whenever she opens it to see him there.]

[talentedscavenger]

[It's stressful for the two of them, and Rey is thinking it's more stressful for Cassian than her. The Force works in mysterious ways. Goes through her mind, nearly making her scoff. What was the point of her seeing those memories? To become closer to Cassian? To help him in some way? Fat chance.

She's drawn out of her thoughts when she hears that knock on the door. Slowly, she gets up from her bed to open the door. Cassian...is hard to read. Maybe stressed, maybe upset. She doesn't know him well enough to tell the difference. She side steps and invites him inside, gesturing to her bed for him to sit on. The seconds roll in and the room fills with tension. Rey doesn't know what to say, except to ask a single question:]

What was your last mission for the Rebellion?

[Assuming that was his last mission, but the color in the sky...what she was feeling. There was no mistaking what she saw.]

[evasives]

[she definitely wants to talk about something, but cassian doesn't broach it first. he just comes into her apartment and gives it a quick once over. he shakes his head at the offer to sit on her bed, too internally restless to sit down.]

[he doesn't like the silence, but he almost wishes it would come back when rey finally speaks up. he lets the question hang in the air for a few long seconds anyway, giving himself time to figure out how he wants to answer.]

Before coming here? [he doesn't wait for her to specify, running on that assumption. she had a vision, she already knows something presumably about one of his missions. maybe dropping facts will put off actual discussion.] I was part of a team that infiltrated an Imperial base. We stole the plans for the Death Star.