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[candor1]

Fulcrum; go
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[OOC—update: Just specify in subject line which game!]

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[candor1]

[In instant acquiescence, shorthand:]

G'luck.

[Cassian mutes his transmission, so no background noise on his end will betray Kay.]

[candor1]

[The meeting ended. Cassian waited until all was clear before comming Kay again.]

rendezvous : backyard ?

[They hadn't set many codewords—hoping that needn't be their life any more… but that would indicate not the actual yard, but a clearing in the woods behind #003.]

[reexamined]

[ Kay waits a while, a good while, for Hux to be out of sight, before taking out his communicator to look. ]

Yes. Give me fifteen minutes.

[ The walk should only really take ten at the most, but he's trying to be careful. ]

[action?]

[candor1]

[Being able to go directly, Cassian will be there first. Staring at a plant, either trying to catalog it, or remember that nature is good even if people can be bantha fodder.]

[reexamined]

[He's in the woods as well soon enough, stomping on a few lovely plants along the way unintentionally. Sorry. Those wildflowers are totally dead now.]

Well.

It could have gone worse.

[candor1]

[It's okay about the flowers. They'll grow back.

Something something metaphor.]

You did good, Kay.

Wish I knew more about him personally and the moment in time he's from.

[Or do I… Maybe better to just turn his back…

…but that can also be an invitation to shoot him in it…]

Whose file did he show you?

[reexamined]

[He says nothing on being told he did a good job, but Cassian probably know he's internally preening.]

He's from our future.

...And the file he showed me was yours.

[It's not going to be easy to lie about not knowing anything about Cassian. He could at least have done better at avoiding giving away anything important about anyone else, because no one else has told him anything too deep. But with Cassian, he knows almost everything.]

[candor1]

[He's from our future… Cassian nodded heavily.]

I know. What happens between Luke and Han's to his time is what I wish I knew more about.

[…or perhaps doesn't.

If it's all for nothing…?!

But at Kay's second answer…

Cassian's eyebrows go up. But he doesn't seem… quite… alarmed. Maybe not as much as he should be.

It's almost… affirmation.

Guess I did get under his skin.

Again, maybe not the most strategic of feelings… but given how Hux had made Cassian's fingers curl and skin crawl… Good.

And Cassian would far prefer it being himself to being Jyn.]

What did he have?

[on me?]

[reexamined]

[Kay would laugh, if he, you know, felt the urge to ever do things like that.]

Absolutely nothing of importance. Your name, your username. Your self-confessed allegiance. No doubt he wants me to find out more.

[But then, a bit more seriously-]

I don't think I can pretend I don't have any answers about you.

[candor1]

[Cassian thought about it for a moment, considering Kay and the file and the free molecules between them.

At last…]

I could give you a thesis to stick to, if that would help. I know what idea I'd like to get into Hux's brain.

That our pasts are not relevant here. What drove me back in our universe, anything I did, does not apply in this world. …You know. It's not like I'm going to steal more Death Star plans.


[ooc: steals your own line in the name of retcon ;-) ]

[reexamined]

[ Kay nods, in agreement and in the plan. And, in complete contradiction to his nodding- ]

He's absolutely not going to go for that.

...But it's worth a try.

[ ooc: lmfao perfect, it all circles back! ]

[candor1]

[tight, twisted smile]

No, he won't. But yes, we must try.

[try everything before hostilities first]

So how are you feeling about it?

[reexamined]

[ Or, in Kay's case, try that one solution, and then give up, and resort to hostilities. ]

I feel that my second meeting with him will go a lot less smoothly.

[candor1]

I don't think he'd actually know how, even if he somehow could—

[Cassian's scorn for Hux was clear—so was his protectiveness of Kay]

—but why don't I try to see how much more impossible I could make it for him to switch you off? High ranking officers could well have been given a trick for circumventing normal safeguards.

[He still doubted it. But not worth risking Kay to be overconfident]

I'm past overdue to give you some touch-ups anyway, if you want.

[reexamined]

I'm almost forty years out of date, according to him. If there was a failsafe I have built in to security droids that you're unaware of, but he is- as statistically unlikely as that might be- it's even less likely that, given the time difference, that those failsafes would still apply to me.

But I won't turn down security upgrades, if you think you can manage it with the mediocre tools and computers they have here. And I certainly won't turn down touch-ups. It's been a hundred and twenty four days since I last had one.

[candor1]

[Cassian nodded, agreeing with Kay's assessment. But also giving him a sympathetic smile and a light knucklerap on the casing]

Far too many. …I've been meaning to pay Revan a visit. He probably has tools I can borrow.

[Not to mention… if sides were to be drawn, and Hux did have alliances less illusory than his assumptions about Kay… trying to strengthen some of their own…?

Ugh. Cassian doesn't give voice to that one. As if Kay couldn't figure it out himself.

As well as the possibility that Revan, if they decided they could trust him, might well be a much more subtle and adept programmer than learn-just-what-he-needed-to-shortcut-and-jerryrig-the-rest Cassian.]



[ooc: didn't plan either of these! but dovetailing again maybe…???]

[reexamined]

He has apparently been making droids here for some time. I would be surprised if he didn't have at least a few resources we could use or borrow. And he likes me.

[Look, see, he can make friends!! Kay watches Cassian give his usual knucklerap against his casing, and usually he just lets it happen as a means of acknowledging the friendly interaction, but he's never had a way to "return the gesture" so to speak.

Until he recalls something he saw with some frequency in the city.]

Cassian, I have also learned something else recently. It isn't about Hux.

Make a fist with your hand again.

[ooc: works for me!!]

[candor1]

[Cassian knows people can like Kay. He does, after all. Since it's rare, though, it's usually noteworthy, valuable intel in one direction or another. This direction suggests likemindedness in respecting the equal validity of mechanic (vs organic) sentience, not minding brutal honesty, being adaptable to being personally challenged, not having a rigid notion which can be offended of rank/galactic order. For Cassian, it's reassuring, maybe heartening, to know about Revan.

This next makes Cassian raise an eyebrow. Though he does as Kay says—with palpable wariness. Cassian suspends his fist, like pausing holo mid-punch]

[reexamined]

[ Kay also makes a fist with his hand. His hands are much bigger, and so thus the fist size is also big, and he hesitates for a moment. Gently, he bumps his fist to Cassian's. ]

This is aptly named a "fist bump." It's an Earth indication of companionship.

/inspired by My Little Pony, dives for wookieepedia/

[candor1]

[Cassian watched the maneuver with amusement]

Looks like a nerf trying to challenge a kybuck.

[reexamined]

If you mean a metal nerf and a hairless kybuck, then.

[ But he's glad the gesture went over well. ]

[candor1]

I'm not the smelly one? Thanks, Kay.

[Cassian's still smiling as he reflexively works the knuckles of one hand with the other. Kay's fist hadn't hurt him, just made him reflect on its chilliness.]

I don't really favor it over our usual, unless you do. But always good to know local sign language.

[The smile fades a little, thinking back to the main subject of their conversation.]

I suppose we'll wait until your second meeting before deciding if… more strategizing is in order.

[reexamined]

I don't have a nose. Honestly, you probably smell like a field of nerfs, and I just don't know.

I suppose if I don't fistbump you, I could always ruffle your hair.

[ It's right there, at perfect height, and always a mess anyway. ]

... Right. My second meeting.

[ He doesn't imagine he can keep it up for an entire second meeting. ]

[candor1]

Do you feel like you're lacking a countermove?

[He feels guilty or foolish for being surprised at the possibility. He'd assumed that when Cassian slipped into the kind of organic behavior he'd largely excised from himself, with Kay, Kay was just humoring him. Perhaps part of being able to indulge with Kay was the safety of understanding. Kay would either know or fully accept on being told that Cassian wasn't trying to manipulate him, seek further intimacy with him (not that such things were unheard of whether or not it was the droid's intended design, but if Cassian had intended such a course, a touch would be far from sufficient: he'd have to be explicitly clear), or anything else requiring such intuition and decoding. The physical reality really was enough in itself: seeking or offering balance/support, valuing Kay's presence and confirming it was real, expressing connection (approval or appreciation or agreement) in a way that would slip under the notice or understanding of anyone else.]

This been going on long?

[They can deal with the meeting further of either comes up with anything to add.]