open ✧ the time to fight is now

[realists]

☒ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ☒ ᴘʀᴏsᴇ ☒ ᴘɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ☒ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ☒ ᴏᴠᴇʀғʟᴏᴡ

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[realists]

There is a long moment where Jyn doesn't move and it seems like maybe she is not strong enough, then she hooks one arm beneath his good leg, idly grateful that her fucked up shoulder is on the same side as his fucked up leg so she doesn't even have to think about stretching that arm back. She gives him a little bounce to heft him up to a more comfortable position for her, using her free hand to coax his arms around his neck. He's so warm and solid part of her wonders how she could have been afraid of hurting him further when they'd first arrived on the planet.

She sets off with little struggle, arm firm around his good leg, hand curled around one of his wrists. She's slower than her usual too quick to be casual stride, but that's the only sign she's being slowed down by the hundred plus pounds of extra weight. Her ease in the water translates to an ease in the wet sand. Jyn is just better outside, always. She is meant to be in nature.

"You know you owe me one of these now." And she will make him pay up eventually, when he least expects it.

[evasives]

It's a very odd sensation to be conscious and carried. Cassian can count on one hand the number of times that happened, and all of them were when he was far younger. When she doesn't move, he considers just climbing down, but Jyn settles herself soon enough and she's off, leaving him pleasantly surprised but also not surprised at all.

He tucks his arms comfortably around her shoulders and neck and tries not to think about how it feels to be pressed against her like this. They're still wet from the dip in the lake, and he can feel the way her muscles move as she walks.

When she speaks up, he smiles and feels lucky she can't see it. "I didn't even ask for mine though."

[realists]

Jyn's been carried before but it's usually... away. Kicking and screaming. Bodily picked up and dragged away so she wouldn't deck someone. She doesn't actually mind being small most of the time, being underestimated works to her advantage, but it sucks when she is small enough to just be picked up and moved if need be. The fact that that happened on more than one occasion probably says something bad about her temper.

Anyway, she grunts a (not really) disagreeable noise. "You never would. 's why I offered." She didn't even offer though, she just made it a forgone conclusion so Cassian would have to argue with her if he wanted to say no. Her chin tucks down to nudge his arm, cold lips briefly touching his damp skin before she straightens up again, licking her lips. She hums before murmuring, "You taste salty."

[evasives]

He could lift her easily, he knows. The harder part is always envisioned as keeping her in his grip, because Jyn probably wouldn't take kindly to it even if she couldn't walk.

He's still glad she can't see his smile, because she's right. He never would ask. If anyone else had offered other than Jyn, he doesn't think he'd be on their back right now.

But then her lips touch his skin and he stiffens, briefly, wishing he wasn't pressed against her because she definitely felt it. "You may have noticed we were just swimming in mineral water. I'm sure it's the same for you."

[realists]

She definitely feels it and definitely feels like it's a sign she's done something wrong. Maybe that was too much or too soon or too idly affectionate that it's not allowed in their nebulous Thing she doesn't want to talk about again because it was scary enough an hour ago. She silently resolves to not do that again and continues plodding forward up the small dunes and across the grass to get to the front door.

"You're probably right."

[evasives]

It isn't that she's done something wrong; it's just surprise. It doesn't take long for him to relax again against her, and he gets an impulse that he could very easily shut down, but he chooses not to. He wants to be right out loud.

He tilts his head, leaning in closer to hers, and brushes his lips against a patch of wet skin right above her jaw, half on her cheek. His stubble probably scratches at her in the process, oops. There's a pause before he says, "I am right."

Only after does he have a moment of hoping he didn't cross any boundaries. It startled him when she did it in the first place, and Jyn's far more skittish than he is.

[realists]

He kisses her cheek, his beard stings across the only soft skin she's if left on her body, he says he's right about the taste of her and her stomach does a backflip. The next moment she missteps into one of the furrows she had dug for planting and goes flying with an undignified yelp of surprise.

The problem with faceplanting whilst giving someone a piggy back ride is that she trip forward and just takes Cassian with her.

And now they are in the mud, Jyn groaning unhappily.

[evasives]

He had half expected some kind of reaction, whether good or bad, just something far less - obvious. But she literally trips and falls, and Cassian doesn't know whether to feel sorry or feel smug.

Pain, probably, considering the landing. Jyn breaks his fall, but his knees still hit the ground on either side of her, and he winces as it shoots through his bad leg.

"Are you okay?" She's groaning and he's dead weight who needs a moment before he can move, all right?? On top of that, their limbs are still kind of tangled from the fall.

[realists]

"'m... fine."

She squirms to free herself from the mud, releasing her grip on his arms and leg and trying to turn to look up at him. She is absolutely coated in dirt and mud. It was unlucky that Cassian was fully clothed in the water, but she's finding herself more than a little jealous now that chilly sticky mud is all over her legs and arms with a glob on her chin.

A sigh finds its way past her lips. "Nothing broken but my dignity."

[evasives]

As soon as her grip loosens, Cassian shifts his weight, trying to take the worst of it off her and onto mostly his arms. It looks like she went for a swim in the mud instead of the water, and some of it transfers to his own clothes when she turns around under him, though she's clearly still winning in comparison.

He thinks about apologizing, but he has no idea if that'll make it worse, so he avoids that for now. "Mud is not so hard to clean."

[realists]

"You're going to have to hose me off."

Automatically, her hand stretches out to brush against his leg, soft as her hand flattens across the outside of his thigh, worry knitting her eyebrows together. She's fine, bruised ego aside, but he's recovering to begin with and she knows he must have landed with some of his weight on his injury. "How's your leg?"

If she's hurt him more...

[evasives]

He almost grins. "You could just go step quickly again into the water too."

He pointedly does not startle when she touches his leg, and the flash of pain from the fall is already slowly fading back into the dull ache from the swim. It's nothing lasting. "It's fine," he's quick to reassure. "I'll move in a moment, I just need a second."

And a second to figure out if it's at all possible for him to get to his feet without suffering the same muddy consequence.

[realists]

"You need a second?" Her eyebrows jump up, mouth slanting into a brief smirk because of their sort of compromised position. It blossoms quickly into a smile as her free hand lifts to touch her fingers to his cheek, leaving a swipe of cold mud across the same stubble that had tickled her own cheek when he had kissed her.

"You need to be hosed off too, now."

[evasives]

He is far too easily distracted by the smirk turned into a smile, but it's not like he would have been able to move fast enough to avoid her hand.

There's a faint snort of a laugh as he grins down at her, amused. He also throws any concern about getting muddy out the window, because Jyn.

"For deadly minerals and mud alike." A beat. "It looks better on you."

[realists]

"Mud? Maybe I should move to one of those planets that's just swamps and mud flats then."

Using her good arm -- so she doesn't accidentally knee him and because her shoulder is a little more sore than she'd expected -- she pushes herself out from underneath him, feeling kind of grossed out at the squishy feeling of the mud. This was a lot less gross when she was seven.

"If you come with me."

[evasives]

He does his best to avoid falling while she wriggles out and he shifts to help her along, but once she moves enough, he drops down on his good knee to balance more of his weight. He sinks a little. It's too squishy. He does not want to live on a mud planet.

"I'm not coming with you to a mud planet," he says out loud too, tone light. "But I would come with you to most others."

[realists]

"Most?" Her eyebrow arches up, defiant in a teasing way as she shoves herself to her feet, leaning down to help him to his feet so he can loom over her once more. That is the sign of true love, she will willingly let him be taller than her.

"What happened to being with me all the way? I didn't realize it was 'all the way except for mud'." She sounds like she's judging him, like she's imply he is afraid of mud.

[evasives]

"If I am going to live somewhere with you," in this teasing hypothetical move, "I would prefer we pick a place that suits both of us. We can make sure there's some mud for you, don't worry."

He takes her hand, grabs her arm with the other, and pulls himself up, putting most of his weight on his good leg. Once he's upright, he doesn't let go of her arm, and his grip is a little tight for a second while he regains his posture and balance. There's the tiniest of grimaces, but he still tries to look amused.

[realists]

Once he's upright, Jyn easily extracts her arm only to loop the same one around his waist. She's not going to attempt the piggy back ride across the field again now that she knows it's too soft. At least the plants are getting enough water, so there's that.

"What would suit you?" If he says desert then she'll just have to knock him in the head a couple of times until he realizes that he is wrong. She sets off again, easily acting as a cane for Cassian without prompting.

[evasives]

Cassian barely even thinks about the way he adjusts, settling his arm easily over her shoulders when she slides hers at his waist. It's easier, he thinks, less odd than hanging off her feeling too big. He moves when she does, keeping in step as they walk, also without really thinking about it beyond watching for the wetter looking mud patches.

He has a little bit of a limp though, even if it's mostly being offset by her support. "Something temperate. Busy enough to keep from going bored, but avoiding the bustle of a place like Coruscant might be nice."

[realists]

"It didn't feel so busy when I was small," she offers, even as she's already admitted she doesn't remember much of it. The playgrounds and Galen's office were her number one memories, but she spend the most time there so it's not surprising.

"I'd like somewhere with a lot of unspoiled land." Much like Lah'mu. Jyn just loves nature so much and she hasn't had an abundance of time to soak it in in the past fifteen years.

[evasives]

"The top and bottoms levels have different kinds of busyness. I'm sure it feels quite different to a child too." It felt different even when he went there for the first time as a teenager.

Something almost like a smile slips onto his face. "Does the kind of land matter?"

[realists]

"I'd rather die than live on a desert planet." Literally death would be better than a desert. SHE WILL DIVORCE YOU, CASSIAN ANDOR. "Or snow, I've never been particularly fond of the cold so I wouldn't like to live on a cold, icy planet."

Neither of their birthplaces for her, thank you.

"Or a cold desert because the idea of that is stupid." Stupid weather! It offends her on principle because it doesn't make any sense. "I don't like sand all that much."

[evasives]

Cassian laughs, a little. "Deserts are not so interesting. I don't want to worry about keeping hydrated either." No divorce concerns here, Jyn. "The cold ones are worse, worrying about water and hypothermia."

He makes a thoughtful noise. "I might like to visit Fest one day. I don't want to live there, but I don't remember much either. Temperate still sounds like our best bet, for both of us."

[realists]

Her nose scrunches up at the mention of his home planet, because snow, but she relents because love. "If we don't stay long."

She can't say she wants to ever visit Vallt. Maybe Coruscant, once the war is over, but Vallt was never really anything she ever considered home, even if it is where she took her first wailing breaths. She has absolutely zero memory of it.