[ Poe has no idea where she's going with this, but hey, he's on board. Despite knowing a fair amount about her past, maybe so much that it might be awkward to tell her, no one in the Rebellion really knew her. At least not anyone who didn't die with her, and it's not like her personality would have really made it into the records anyway, though what comments he did find made for a vivid impression.
So he offers her his hands, palms up and open. ]
Only if that's something you're curious to see anyway.
[ He's not shy, but somehow it would feel weird at this point if she was clinically inspecting a nude picture of him. Even if it's probably nothing she hasn't seen before. ]
[ jyn eyes him, which is notable not because she is looking him over but because she hasn't really looked at him yet. he's all disheveled curls and a dusting of stubble and little wrinkles by his eyes because he probably smiles a lot and, kark, he is really handsome.
she abruptly looks down, sliding the loops over his hands and twisting the tail of the sash between them to pull the loops taut around his wrists. he shouldn't be able to get out but the whole knot comes apart easily with a single tug of one of the dangling ends so maybe he will figure it out. ]
Test if they're secure?
[ without the ribbon of fabric to distract her hands, her fingers knit together in her lap. ]
Stripping in the hallway is probably frowned open, don't worry.
[ He sees it coming once she starts sliding those loops over his hands, though why is still up in the air, and while a somewhat more skeptical reaction might be to have some concern over the apparent restriction he's clearly not. It's not just about knowing who she is, he's just been tied up before, he's confident that he can manage just fine despite it. When he needs his hands free he'll fiddle with that knot, otherwise he wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway.
He will tug his hands apart to test the hold though, his lips twitching into a smile as he looks back up at her, eyebrows arched slightly in a 'well you've got me, now what?' kind of look. ]
Is it? Somehow I've got a feeling that no one around here would be surprised.
[ He still has his hands somewhat outstretched toward her, his shoulders hunched slightly. ]
But if you've got me tied up and naked people will definitely start getting ideas about what's going on here.
[ even sitting jyn can tell there is a height difference, generally aware of how she fits in relation to others, but he also looks well fed. jyn might be a small block of muscle, but she's been ignoring hunger pangs since she was 16 and she isn't foolish enough to ignore his advantages.
even if she isn't intending to start a fight. ]
You're barely tied up, [ she counters, a flicker of a smile touching her lips. ] And it would be silly to tie you up before getting your shirt off so you're safe from any nakedness.
[ Of all the supplies the Resistance has been running critically low on, rations aren't one of them, that's true. He may be nearly permanently exhausted but at least he's eating. ]
Well that's a relief.
[ Clearly. ]
I don't have any credits on me either, so if you were planning on going through my pockets you'll probably be disappointed. [ As if they would do anyone any good this far from their galaxy anyway. ] But I guess you already know that falling in with Rebels isn't exactly lucrative business.
I was only a rebel for a day. Maybe two, I don't really remember.
[ she gives the ribbon a tug and the knot unfurls, slipping away from his wrists to puddle in her waiting hands and despite it being such a simple little thing, she looks satisfied with her success. ]
Besides. [ she shifts her knee to nudge him, surprisingly friendly. she is but a capricious loth-cat, it takes her a while to open up but she is tactile and affectionate underneath it all and starving for touch, even if she is unwilling to admit it. ] I was in prison for counterfeiting. I don't need your credits, I can make my own.
[ He figures that the prevailing sentiment at the time was probably that throwing in your lot with the Rebellion was just about the worst move a person could make. Not too different from the idea of someone joining the Resistance now.
The nudge is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. He's quick enough to return it with one of his own, he's always taken easily to tactile, expressive gestures himself, and he doesn't even try to hide it. ]
Not the worst thing you could have been doing. Still. We could get you set up with something less likely to get you thrown into one prison or another. I can tell you from personal experience that they haven't improved over the last couple of decades.
[ she's dead and she is fully aware of that fact, expression creasing with sympathy. it isn't for herself, but for poe. (it is for herself, but while jyn is self-aware, she is also the most emotionally incompetent turnip in the galaxy. a whole idiot.) ]
[ She did what she had to do. If the anomaly can deposit them all here, he doesn't see why she's limited to only going back to her own time. Most of them want to go back to where they were taken, but there's nothing for her there now. ]
That you died a hero, basically. That's a long list of names, and no one knows every single one of them, but everyone who was in the Rebellion, and who's in the Resistance now, knows that we wouldn't have gotten this far without them.
[ the sigh she huffs out is tinged with no lack of bitterness. ]
We weren't... heroes. [ she stumbles over the word like there is no way she can apply it to herself. ] Bodhi was, but the rest of us, we were just tired. The Alliance acted like there was a choice but the choice was tyranny or freedom and that isn't a choice.
[ despite the bitter edge to jyn's exhausted words, there is no mistaking the voice of the girl whose desperate plea to act spread across the galaxy, she isn't far enough removed to simply be okay with it. ]
We were soldiers fighting a war the whole galaxy ignored. It wasn't heroism, it was... [ another sigh, shaking her shoulders out like she can shake off the residual discomfort. ] I didn't volunteer, Poe. They dragged me out of prison because I was useful. So don't, don't look at me like some kind of martyr, okay? Please?
[ He reaches out to give her shoulder a squeeze, acceptance permeating through both the gesture and his tone, probably way more acute than it would have been if they weren't literally connected through alien technology. It's a little weird to shift his perspective on this, but he already knew that from her standpoint she just went on this mission. He knows that Rogue One struck out on their own against orders, and only once they were already knee-deep in it did the Alliance actually step in to back them, and arguably only then because they had no real choice once it started.
He understands those politics now in a way he couldn't have back when he was begging his parents to tell him war stories. He's also got a whole different perspective on heroes than he used to. ]
I can't just ignore what you did, you deserve better than that, you all do, but I also know that you were just doing the best you could with what you had dealt to you. That's what we're doing too. They might call us heroes or they might say we were deluded, I don't know yet, either way it doesn't actually change who we are.
[ despite her gut reaction to argue she deserves nothing, jyn presses her lips in a line and keeps quiet, lets him finish speaking. and then finds herself with nothing to say. he's right, they were doing what they could. jyn didn't set out trying to be some heroic martyr, she never wanted to be the tragedy that saw said the galaxy needed before they took notice — though she does also hope they were it, that they were enough, that the empire didn't have to destroy other planets the way it did jedha and scarif before the rest of the galaxy fought back.
they were just trying to make right by themselves. do one good thing when the rest of their lives were a lot of bad things.
[ Somewhat selfishly, Poe's glad that he did get to meet her now, versus the way it would have been before the war, when she probably would have found him to be utterly obnoxious. She might still think he's annoying under different circumstances — but then again, they probably have similar attitudes about facing things head on with action rather than trying to talk everything to death in a committee.
He can tell when someone's not used to having attention at all, let alone of the level that she's gotten herself into with what she did. So he won't dwell on it. Instead he leans back slightly, smile reemerging. ]
Would you rather I look at you like a thief?
[ As if he's seriously going to judge her for doing what she had to in order to survive. ]
[ loud, a little too loud, especially compared to her quiet before. but yes she would absolutely rather he look at her like a thief. despite her qualms with what her father sacrificed for her life and what she actually did with her life, jyn isn't ashamed of being a thief.
she has loads of other things to be ashamed of. ]
I was good. I never would have been caught for those counterfeit credits, they were perfect. They had to sell me out. [ a beat, starting to knot the fabric all over again. ] I was so good the Empire didn't even know they had Jyn Erso in custody. They thought I was called Liana Hallik.
[ cassian figured it out though and she makes a mental note to ask him how. ]
[ Poe has to laugh at her outburst, he thought she would agree but the amount of enthusiasm is unexpected. That's what she's used to, not being looked at as if she's done anything that deserves respect, which she definitely has, it's not an experience that he's gone through himself but it's easy to see how she feels about all of this. And all things considered? Yeah, being a thief isn't that bad. ]
It's a good thing you were too sharp for them. I don't think they would have just shipped you off to any old prison if they'd known who you really were.
[ Exactly what they would have done with her, he has no idea. It would have been the end of the Rebellion though, that's for sure. ]
[ she grins, however brief, thinking about it and it's as if all the years and stresses leave her with a solemn mouth and pinched expression are wiped away and she looks her age finally and young. the rebellion was built on orphaned babies. ]
It's like a puzzle, I liked getting all the details right. And then sometimes you have to do it on the fly, I could dupe flight clearance codes in five seconds flat.
[ local rebel hero is actually just a nerd who would absolutely kill candy crush ]
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So he offers her his hands, palms up and open. ]
Only if that's something you're curious to see anyway.
[ He's not shy, but somehow it would feel weird at this point if she was clinically inspecting a nude picture of him. Even if it's probably nothing she hasn't seen before. ]
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she abruptly looks down, sliding the loops over his hands and twisting the tail of the sash between them to pull the loops taut around his wrists. he shouldn't be able to get out but the whole knot comes apart easily with a single tug of one of the dangling ends so maybe he will figure it out. ]
Test if they're secure?
[ without the ribbon of fabric to distract her hands, her fingers knit together in her lap. ]
Stripping in the hallway is probably frowned open, don't worry.
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He will tug his hands apart to test the hold though, his lips twitching into a smile as he looks back up at her, eyebrows arched slightly in a 'well you've got me, now what?' kind of look. ]
Is it? Somehow I've got a feeling that no one around here would be surprised.
[ He still has his hands somewhat outstretched toward her, his shoulders hunched slightly. ]
But if you've got me tied up and naked people will definitely start getting ideas about what's going on here.
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even if she isn't intending to start a fight. ]
You're barely tied up, [ she counters, a flicker of a smile touching her lips. ] And it would be silly to tie you up before getting your shirt off so you're safe from any nakedness.
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Well that's a relief.
[ Clearly. ]
I don't have any credits on me either, so if you were planning on going through my pockets you'll probably be disappointed. [ As if they would do anyone any good this far from their galaxy anyway. ] But I guess you already know that falling in with Rebels isn't exactly lucrative business.
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[ she gives the ribbon a tug and the knot unfurls, slipping away from his wrists to puddle in her waiting hands and despite it being such a simple little thing, she looks satisfied with her success. ]
Besides. [ she shifts her knee to nudge him, surprisingly friendly. she is but a capricious loth-cat, it takes her a while to open up but she is tactile and affectionate underneath it all and starving for touch, even if she is unwilling to admit it. ] I was in prison for counterfeiting. I don't need your credits, I can make my own.
no subject
[ He figures that the prevailing sentiment at the time was probably that throwing in your lot with the Rebellion was just about the worst move a person could make. Not too different from the idea of someone joining the Resistance now.
The nudge is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. He's quick enough to return it with one of his own, he's always taken easily to tactile, expressive gestures himself, and he doesn't even try to hide it. ]
Not the worst thing you could have been doing. Still. We could get you set up with something less likely to get you thrown into one prison or another. I can tell you from personal experience that they haven't improved over the last couple of decades.
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[ she's dead and she is fully aware of that fact, expression creasing with sympathy. it isn't for herself, but for poe. (it is for herself, but while jyn is self-aware, she is also the most emotionally incompetent turnip in the galaxy. a whole idiot.) ]
What did the rebellion say about me, exactly?
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[ She did what she had to do. If the anomaly can deposit them all here, he doesn't see why she's limited to only going back to her own time. Most of them want to go back to where they were taken, but there's nothing for her there now. ]
That you died a hero, basically. That's a long list of names, and no one knows every single one of them, but everyone who was in the Rebellion, and who's in the Resistance now, knows that we wouldn't have gotten this far without them.
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We weren't... heroes. [ she stumbles over the word like there is no way she can apply it to herself. ] Bodhi was, but the rest of us, we were just tired. The Alliance acted like there was a choice but the choice was tyranny or freedom and that isn't a choice.
[ despite the bitter edge to jyn's exhausted words, there is no mistaking the voice of the girl whose desperate plea to act spread across the galaxy, she isn't far enough removed to simply be okay with it. ]
We were soldiers fighting a war the whole galaxy ignored. It wasn't heroism, it was... [ another sigh, shaking her shoulders out like she can shake off the residual discomfort. ] I didn't volunteer, Poe. They dragged me out of prison because I was useful. So don't, don't look at me like some kind of martyr, okay? Please?
no subject
[ He reaches out to give her shoulder a squeeze, acceptance permeating through both the gesture and his tone, probably way more acute than it would have been if they weren't literally connected through alien technology. It's a little weird to shift his perspective on this, but he already knew that from her standpoint she just went on this mission. He knows that Rogue One struck out on their own against orders, and only once they were already knee-deep in it did the Alliance actually step in to back them, and arguably only then because they had no real choice once it started.
He understands those politics now in a way he couldn't have back when he was begging his parents to tell him war stories. He's also got a whole different perspective on heroes than he used to. ]
I can't just ignore what you did, you deserve better than that, you all do, but I also know that you were just doing the best you could with what you had dealt to you. That's what we're doing too. They might call us heroes or they might say we were deluded, I don't know yet, either way it doesn't actually change who we are.
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they were just trying to make right by themselves. do one good thing when the rest of their lives were a lot of bad things.
eventually, quietly, she murmurs, ] Yeah.
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He can tell when someone's not used to having attention at all, let alone of the level that she's gotten herself into with what she did. So he won't dwell on it. Instead he leans back slightly, smile reemerging. ]
Would you rather I look at you like a thief?
[ As if he's seriously going to judge her for doing what she had to in order to survive. ]
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[ loud, a little too loud, especially compared to her quiet before. but yes she would absolutely rather he look at her like a thief. despite her qualms with what her father sacrificed for her life and what she actually did with her life, jyn isn't ashamed of being a thief.
she has loads of other things to be ashamed of. ]
I was good. I never would have been caught for those counterfeit credits, they were perfect. They had to sell me out. [ a beat, starting to knot the fabric all over again. ] I was so good the Empire didn't even know they had Jyn Erso in custody. They thought I was called Liana Hallik.
[ cassian figured it out though and she makes a mental note to ask him how. ]
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[ Poe has to laugh at her outburst, he thought she would agree but the amount of enthusiasm is unexpected. That's what she's used to, not being looked at as if she's done anything that deserves respect, which she definitely has, it's not an experience that he's gone through himself but it's easy to see how she feels about all of this. And all things considered? Yeah, being a thief isn't that bad. ]
It's a good thing you were too sharp for them. I don't think they would have just shipped you off to any old prison if they'd known who you really were.
[ Exactly what they would have done with her, he has no idea. It would have been the end of the Rebellion though, that's for sure. ]
Did you like it? The counterfeiting.
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[ she grins, however brief, thinking about it and it's as if all the years and stresses leave her with a solemn mouth and pinched expression are wiped away and she looks her age finally and young. the rebellion was built on orphaned babies. ]
It's like a puzzle, I liked getting all the details right. And then sometimes you have to do it on the fly, I could dupe flight clearance codes in five seconds flat.
[ local rebel hero is actually just a nerd who would absolutely kill candy crush ]