ohnofeelstho | the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time.

[ ...totally counts as historical, dwi. ]

Jyn paces back and forth in the blistering sun, fidgeting in her long skirt and tugging her wide brimmed hat more securely on her hair. She wishes Bodhi hadn't convinced her to dress like a lady, she wishes even more that he wasn't right that they would catch more flies with honey.

She doesn't much enjoy being the honey.

"What's taking him so long!" She whines for probably the hundredth time since they'd left the scruffy man to clean up, enough that Bodhi doesn't even acknowledge it from his spot sitting on their luggage and popping grapes into his mouth. It's fine, Jyn doesn't need a response to continue being cross about everything all on her own. They'd just paid to have him not killed the least he could do is be quick about the clean up. She'd ask Bodhi how long it takes to shave, but it's taken him months to get his baby beard, he'd only make that sad face at her.

"Piszkos állat."

That makes Bodhi's head snap up. His sister swears, sure, but that's just mean and he looks at her like he's about to ground her. "Jyn! You did steal from him. I think we can give him a little longer to prepare himself for dealing with you again."

"I meant the camel!" She gestures helplessly at a camel not very near by, but near enough. Bodhi makes a face at her, knowing she's lying. Why is her brother such a sweet soul, it makes her look bad. He straightens up and strides over to her, taking her hand fondly. It's not at all because he sees Cassian coming and knows he might have to restrain his younger sister, even as she continues complaining. "And he shouldn't have left it lying about like that."

In his personal belongings.

Cassian feels like he hasn't shaved in months, but it's definitely been at least a few weeks. Not that he tends to keep himself completely clean shaven, but too much time in prison and pubs made all of his hair much too long that he's grateful for the time to clean up. And he takes his time. These people might have bought his way out of a hanging, but only because he's agreed to take them to a place he swore he'd never return. He's allowed a few extra minutes to feel like a human being again. It's good to be back to shorter stubble and a shorter haircut, especially in the hot desert air. He even got to shower and erase the stench of prison.

The clothes they gave him are a little stiff and itchy, but he can deal.

Even if they weren't exactly where they said they'd be, he doesn't think it'd be hard to find them, not with the way the woman is pacing and irritated until her brother grabs her, which kind of annoys him because the whole rush to get back to the city is in general it's own kind of irritating.

He almost misses being a spy, even if he doesn't miss the war.

"I'm not sure my bags and pockets would qualify it as laying around."

He heard that.

"Captain Andor!"

Jyn leaps at the sound of his voice, startling herself right back against Bodhi's chest. He seems used to this sort of thing, hands going to her forearms to settle her before he gently deposits her to the side and reaches out to take Cassian's hand with his ever friendly smile.

"Hello Captain Andor. I apologize for my sister." Jyn bristles behind Bodhi, offended. "She's really something of a sweet girl."

"Bodhi," Jyn hisses, annoyed even though there was nothing patronizing about his tone. He actually meant it, Jyn can be very sweet. He doesn't seem to realize she is only sweet to him.

The look he gives them both is nothing short of complete disbelief at the word 'sweet' being applied to Jyn. She might be all dressed up right now, but he remembers very well the woman who stole from him. Still, he reaches out to shake Bodhi's hand, grip very firm and palm very calloused.

"She can apologize for herself for stealing my things."

Cassian hauls his bag up a little more comfortably on his shoulder, taking a better stock of the two of them now that he's not five minutes from execution. Bodhi is more spindly, and even through the dress he can see Jyn is far more muscular - and far less friendly, though civility one way or the other doesn't seem to be a concern.

"I will not!" Her lips purse as she bristles, drawing up to her full height of nothing at all. "It was already stolen."

Which is not untrue, because it should still be in the same somewhere or in the Cairo Museum, but it doesn't make Jyn's casual theft anymore wrong. And it is a little hypocritical coming from archaeologists, really. As much as they try to keep the artifacts where they're meant to be they don't usually stay there.

With that, though, she whirls on her heel and grabs her and Bodhi's luggage and stomps grumpily onto the riverboat while Bodhi stands there helplessly, glancing at Cassian. "She's only cross because this was our parents dream. She's not this rude to people she doesn't like, then she would just be indifferent."

There is a small part of him, probably about as small as she is, that wants to respond just because she's being so grumpy, but she storms off before he even gets the chance. Probably for the best.

"I'm getting the impression she is cross all the time," he says, but his tone is still careless. No matter what Bodhi tries to reassure him, he gets the sense Jyn is made of rudeness, and he's very good at reading people. "She better not try to steal anything else from me."

And with that, he makes his way up onto the boat too while Bodhi scrambles after him, catching up quickly enough to Jyn.

Ugh she hates people with long legs and she huffs a sigh when Cassian catches up to her. She doesn't look at him.

"You'll be staying with Bodhi, in the cabin next to mine." Her chin tips up imperiously and only when Bodhi yanks the suitcase out of her hand does she relinquish carrying the both of them. "This way, Captain Andor."

This time when she stomps off, at least she expects them to follow. "There are plenty of soldiers on board, you'll fit right in." Jyn meanwhile, stands out like a sore thumb, catching the eye of literally every man on board except the two she is with.

She didn't even need to tell him there were other soldiers on board. Almost everywhere he looks, he can see it in their faces and postures, but it's not really a surprise to find them here considering what the war did to almost a whole generation. It'll be nice to blend, at least.

He follows, not because he wants to so much as he has to, and he cases the entire path they take, memorizing it and watching for anything suspicious. Which - there are a lot of suspicious things, but nothing immediately threatening.

"Hopefully they don't all have the same idea," he mutters, only loud enough to maybe carry to the pair of siblings. Cassian may not be staring at Jyn, but he notices everyone else who is and really hopes that doesn't turn out to be an issue. She'd punch them, probably, which could end up another whole issue.

"They can't all be looking for Hamunaptra," Jyn protests mildly, oblivious to the looks because men are garbage and she is used to being underestimated in a line of work dominated by men. Also she spends all her time with Bodhi so the idea of men checking her out is as foreign as her accent in Egypt. Actually no, that's quite common...

Oh well.

"Here we are. You're right next door." She gestures to the next room as she pauses by her door, seeming to steal herself for her next statement. "I'm not sorry I stole, I'm sorry it was from you."

"Let's not advertise that we're looking for it either, shall we?" He immediately looks around to make sure no one heard her say it, but all the glances still seem to be focused on the fact that she's a woman.

Bodhi opens the door to their room while they all stop in place. Jyn pauses, so Cassian does too, recognizing she's readying herself to say something. It's an apology, which startles him a bit, but his surprise doesn't show anywhere on his face. "I'd guarantee most of the people on board this ship are thieves the same as you, but don't steal from me again."

It's not an 'it's okay,' just more of an acknowledgment that she said sorry. The entire field of archaeology is basically mass scale theft. He hesitates for a second too, looking at Bodhi as well as Jyn. "Thank you, for saving me."

Bodhi mumbles something like no problem before he ducks into their shared room, leaving Jyn to accept his gratitude. "Bodhi doesn't care for death, not after our parents and..."

She lets it trail off before she puffs up defensively, preemptively hyping herself up to defend her innocent brother. "He's very sweet and he saw too much in the war." She steps closer, voice pitching even lower as her chin tips up defiantly. "If you hurt him, I'll make mummification seem gentle."

It's not Cassian as a person. She threatens a lot of people.

Honestly it's a good threatening form and words, but Cassian has heard worse. Maybe not always with the same real sense of follow up, because he has no doubt Jyn would do more than hurt people who hurt Bodhi, but he isn't particularly intimidated.

He's very tall over her, and his posture keeps still and stiff as it's been the whole time. "I have absolutely no reason to hurt him or you. I don't think anyone really cares for death. We all saw too much in the war."

"Alright, perfect." She nods sharply, but her tone is slightly distracted because, well, he smells quite nice after bathing. Like spicy jasmine shaving soap and gardenia, her favorite flower. She takes a jerking step back.

"Well. I. Thank you." She backs into her door like a bumbling idiot, searching her hand behind her for the latch and sanity. She finds the latter quick enough. "I'll see you for dinner. I'll be looking at the maps until then, but I'll be happy to come out if you need me."

There's still absolutely no real reaction from him. He's almost too stiff, but old habits die hard.

Until she says thank you, and his nose wrinkles, just a little bit. It's like a complete flip from her attempt to be intimidating to fumbling with the door, and it's clearly his fault but it's hard to pinpoint why. "We really only need the one map." A beat. "But we should plan more later anyway too."

He takes a much smoother step towards his own door, still wide open and reminding him that Bodhi is probably listening. He opens Bodhi knows his way around weapons as much as he assumes Jyn does.

"Right. Good day." She shoves herself into her room, immediately scolding herself to get a grip once the door is closed. Unlike proper ladies, Jyn doesn't unpack her stuff because she is still used to bouncing from place to place and she and Bodhi may look the parts, but it wasn't like their parents left them anything when they died.

They need Bodhi's job.

Instead she pulls out her books and maps and spreads them out on the table and takes very careful inventory of her mother's toolkit and tries not to panic about impending failure. It's just an all around great time in Jyn's room. For sure.

Cassian is lucky he gets Bodhi's easy banter and gentle explanation of why his sister is a basket case because for some reason she took on the older sibling role when their parents were killed in front of her, it's fine, and so she worries about him because he's all she has left and she probably won't actually mummify him because she doesn't like the smell of formaldehyde!

Bodhi is easy enough to talk to, clearly a chatterbox through both nerves or friendliness, and Cassian assumes just about anything. He can't relate, but it does let him pick apart more pieces of the life his two suicidal adventurers lead. He's never really had anyone like that, that kind of to the death camaraderie.

He doesn't bother unpacking his things either, settling his bag by the foot of the bed with ease of access. His jacket is on the chair, also with ease of access and full of weapons. Just like the bag. He did not come unprepared. Bodhi drags him to dinner and carries most of the conversation between the three of them before excusing himself under the guise of needing to take his own inventory.

Cassian has seen the man's inventory. It's very lacking of digging tools as well as weaponry. He looks up at Jyn across the table and tries to figure out if he needs a valid excuse for himself to leave too.

"Does he know how to use any sort of gun? Knife? Anything?"

Well that's not an excuse.

Jyn pokes at the remains of her dinner, eyeing Bodhi's unfinished plate briefly and deciding if she wants to scavenge from it when Cassian speaks again.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, he can, he just prefers not to." A beat, she skewers a hunk of potato on her fork, nibbling it slowly. "When we were young, against the norm--" She makes the norm sound terrible, frankly. "--I learned to fight so Bodhi wouldn't have to. That didn't stop the war and I couldn't follow him there, of course, but I did my best."

She continues to do her best trying to protect her gentle brother.

He doesn't think he's actually known many people who prefer to fight, just large quantities of necessity. For about two seconds, he wonders what it must be like to have another person like that, someone at your back, someone who would learn whatever it took to protect you.

But that involves trusting someone enough, and Cassian has never been afforded that luxury.

"Where we're going is dangerous, as I have warned you many times. Even if he doesn't like it, I suggest making sure he's armed the same as we are."

Cassian already knows she's got weapons stockpiled on her. He eats another bite of his own potatoes, then sets his fork over his plate like he's finished. "If he doesn't have any with him now, I can find him some."

"He'll be ready." She appreciates his offer to arm Bodhi, but she has got her brother covered. She should probably say thank you, she stabs another potato from Bodhi's plate.

Instead of expressing her gratitude, she points her fork and potato at Cassian. "Do you have siblings?"

He sort of nods, even if he isn't sure he quite believes it fully. He'll still get some stuff for Bodhi, because even if he doesn't need it, someone in their disaster crew might.

"No." It's not a secret. Cassian doesn't really have anyone, much less any siblings. He came very close to dying in that jail, because who out there even knew he was locked up? It's probably the only occasion he might have regretted the whole 'work alone forever' thing. "None that I know, which is as good as none regardless."

"Well, far warning. If it comes to any of us or Bodhi, I will always choose Bodhi." Straight up she will leave herself and Cassian to be buried to death in sand if it meant Bodhi would escape unscathed. Bodhi would not make the same decision, but he is a better person than his younger sister.

It seems fair to tell Cassian that anyway.

It doesn't surprise him. Jyn already as good as admitted she puts Bodhi above herself. He shrugs, because it's not like anyone's ever chosen him first anyway. He's only here because they need a guide.

"I intend to keep myself alive. It would be a shame if my bailout went to waste and I died anyway."

Which is his way of saying he's putting himself first, regardless of these siblings saving his neck from the noose. "Hamunaptra may very well test that promise of yours."

"It won't," she reaffirms stubbornly, settling her cutlery down finally. Nothing will test her promise to protect her brother. Nothing. "I am glad, however, that we're on the same page, Captain Andor."

Too bad Bodhi is not Jyn and will demand they try to protect Cassian at every turn but that is irrelevant. She stands, smoothing her skirt down with some discomfort, and purses her lips trying to think of something dismissive to say but she finally settles on: "Goodnight, Captain."

He doesn't really doubt it, even if he has a hard time imagining someone being that selfless. But Hamunaptra is a pile of shit and death traps.

Cassian notes her discomfort in the skirt, another bullet point on his list of things he's observing about her and Bodhi both. He sits back and crosses his arms. "Sleep while you can."

He should do the same, but he's definitely going to check out the rest of the ship first, as well as the rest of the passengers.

Jyn goes back to her room and paces in agitation for a good ten minutes, though she can't pinpoint why she is so fussy. It's not like she is unused to people telling her what to do and she knows, she does!, that Cassian wasn't ordering her to get some sleep, he was just offering his own version of a goodnight.

Part of her wants to check on Bodhi but she fights off the urge so she can continue avoiding Cassian. Instead she changes into her nightdress, paces some more, pulls her hair out of the simple updo that Bodhi had done for her, letting her long hair tumble down her back. She paces more.

She's brushing her teeth when she sees the man in the reflection of the glass and before she launches herself at him, she makes the wise decision to scream bloody murder.

He finishes up his meal, scarfing down what he can, but he doesn't go back to his room right away. He meanders around the ship, taking in more of it, taking in the others and making note of where the other passengers are off to.

But there are watery footprints on the deck as he walks back towards his room. They immediately set off alarms in his head and he follows the trail, worry churning over in his gut.

Which is about when he hears the scream, the screech sounding very much like Jyn, and Cassian rushes that last bit of distance to their rooms without even thinking. He flies around the corner and slams open her door gun raised, only to find her battling it out already with her would be attacker.

From the corner of his eye, he spots a man peering in her little window, and Cassian immediately fires.

the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time.

anastacia

My darling girl, when Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You are a catastrophe!

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