Suffice to say he kind of understands that. If the situations were reversed, he'd be irritated about sharing his room with a complete stranger. If he were truly here to simply complete his studies, he thinks he wouldn't even be spending time in the house except to sleep.
But he is here to spend time with Jyn.
He settles his own things on the floor by his bed, two bags and a smaller backpack, but decides he'll unpack later. "I do rather like being alive," he says idly, unaffected by her apparent carelessness to leave him to death. "Choice or otherwise, I can still be grateful. I do not intend to step on any more toes than I already am."
She frowns at her own decision to sit down. Now she has to stay sitting instead of just walking out, otherwise it would be rude and her father had politely requested she'd not be rude to this stranger. Papa gave her as much as he could, she always tried to be a good girl for him, to keep the lie going. She can be good for this, too.
It's just going to take some effort.
"I met the Organas when I was little, before we left for Lah'mu. There was a little boy with Leia that was rude to me." She squints at him, studying him again, unspoken question plain as day. Did you pull her pigtails, Cassian Andor, because she will bite you again. Though the truth of the matter is more like four year old Jyn was rude to the little boy, as she often is to boys, so any hair pulling was completely fair.
He resists the urge to look down at his own feet. Average sized, he thinks, for someone of his height and gait. He feels off standing while she's sitting, and since she's carrying on the conversation, Cassian deems it proper to sit on his own bed, under the guise of testing it out. He bounces on it twice.
"I seem to recall a little girl who was quite rude to me first." He thinks he was about eight or nine at the time, and he was still hurting from losing his father, no matter how much love Bail offered him. He was a very angry child for a lot of reasons who hadn't quite learned to mask his emotions, and a four year old biting him hadn't helped in the slightest. Of course he pulled her hair! "I hope you've at least grown out of the biting."
It is entirely an innocuous statement. Like 99.9%.
Jyn glances up slowly, eyes clear and cool. "I haven't."
Except now she's a grown adult woman instead of a precocious tiny human so the biting is for a different reason, presumably. What's it to you, Andor? She decides that, since he is in her room for the foreseeable future, she is going to openly study him.
He lets himself look amused, the smallest hint of a grin on his face. It's not hard to fake. "Should I be worried after all these years?"
Well! If she's going to study him, he's going to do the same thing right back. He takes in her posture against her room and the intrusion of a guest and prepares himself for a stream of questions she's sure to have. Once she asks them, he'll have ideas on what to ask her in turn.
His gradwork though is fake fake fake but they did keep it relevant to things he already knows. "Cultural poetry as it relates to migration in the age of Empire. The Coruscant library will be a tremendous help."
He speaks a lot of languages and has recruited so many different species and people, especially those displaced from their homes.
Her shoulders sag, that is a terrible topic of study and sound incredibly useless and Jyn doesn't have time for useless when she's constantly trying to make sure her father won't be murdered for lying to his best friend for seventeen years. She's a little stressed out, it's fine, everyone always thinks it's because of how much of an overachiever she is.
She can't hide looking half horrified at his answer though, forehead wrinkling in mild distaste. So he's that kind of academic. "Why?"
It really shouldn't amuse him more, and yet. She's grumpy and judgmental, neither of which surprises him.
"Hearing what people have to say about their experiences in this current climate is quite important, even if some may not think so."
The some is mostly the Empire, though maybe a little at Jyn too. Imperial poetry is nothing but propaganda, but Cassian needs to listen to people's life stories. He needs to know the best ways to lure them into the Rebellion.
"Why do you study rocks?"
He absolutely says rocks instead of geology on purpose. Cassian is feeling defensive of his imaginary work.
She is about to rethink her stance on biting for pain.
"My mother was a geologist." Her dead mother. She has a real answer, of course, she can wax poetic about how any kind of civil engineering can't be successful without a fundamental understanding of geology and the way a planet's basic composition and structure can affect the buildings planned on top of it, but mentioning her mother usually shuts people up.
She does continue, however, after a briefly withering stare. "The people you study, part of their experience is molded by the planet they were raised on -- their basic life revolved around the actual climate of their home world. Someone from Alpinn's poetry would be dominated by white caves and bioluminescent flowers and seeing the day lit world through goggles, while someone from Lah'mu would write about rain and mist and black sands."
Jyn is very much Galen's daughter, reluctant to open up and studious, but she is every ounce her mother's daughter, wanting to fight literally all the time and in love with every world. "How are you meant to have any context for the stories you study if you know nothing about the worlds that grew them?"
Lyra Erso. The dead mother. Cassian knows all about dead parents, and he's not about to start shit over that as much as he wants to. "Perhaps I am following what my father would have wanted too."
He feels prickly, and it's not an act. His head lifts up, and he fixes her with his own hard stare. He is, in a way, following in his parents footsteps, just not necessarily in the academic sense.
"You assume I have not been to any of these planets, and you assume I don't know how to do my own work." He says this coolly, any amusement gone from his face. "Not that I need to explain myself to you, but I do not dive in blind on context for the works I choose to study. There are themes I focus on, homeworld similarities, and the circumstances of displacement - all of which I would never dream of ignoring."
"Then don't call my major rocks." You piece of shit.
This was a great idea, on the part of their fathers. Put the two most stubborn humans in the same room together for an indeterminate number of weeks or months and expect them not to fight.
Galen, of all people, should know better. His daughter didn't inherit his pacifist nature.
"I asked why and you asked why I studied rocks." Admittedly, she looked disgusted by his pretentious field of study, reasonably considering the type of people she goes to school with, but he could have swayed the unspoken distaste from her expression and he followed it up with being a dick so he forfeited that right. Fuck him, he started it.
Quickly, she stands and yanks the curtain between them, blocking him from her view before she grumpily starts shoving clothes in drawers and clearing off her bed.
Cassian knows he should let it go, especially when she does the equivalent of a door slam. Instead he just takes in a breath and counts to five to stop himself from spitting out some hot reply. At the very least he needs to be her friend, not create a foe.
He's never been more annoyed with Bail though.
"You asked me why with derision." He keeps his voice calm, though he's not sure it'll help. "Anyone would have gotten defensive."
She doesn't answer. Not just for a long time, but at all, the only sound that of her moving around and opening and closing drawers. Just because he's right doesn't mean she has to admit it, because she refuses.
Eventually, the silence is broken by Galen calling out from the hall as he makes his way toward their newly shared room. "Stardust, Stardust..." When he comes into the doorway and sees the curtain already shut there is a fleeting flash of something like regret on his expression, the knowledge that this is a terrible mistake, but then Jyn pokes her head around the curtain, pushing it back to step forward, and his expression immediately softens. It's obvious there is nothing he loves more in the galaxy than his headstrong and rude daughter and he will do anything to protect her, even if it makes her unhappy.
"Stardust, take Mr Andor to dinner in the city."
Her forehead wrinkles, confusion rippling across her face. "But Papa... we were--"
"Jyn. The city, please." He cups Jyn's cheek, kisses her forehead. "Orson is coming to go over some of the plans. Please take our guest to the city for dinner."
He's not surprised she doesn't answer him, based on the minute impressions he's already getting. With a quiet sigh, he starts to unpack himself, putting away his clothes and locking away his blaster. And his knives. Just because he's here on a less deadly mission doesn't mean he won't be armed ok. In the awkward silence, he settles on the bed with his datapad and skims through newsfeeds and encrypted files.
When he hears Galen, Cassian listens in. It's not like the curtain is a sound blocker. He hears the name Orson and immediately follows it with Krennic and knows he does not want to ever be here when that man is. His living here is perfectly legitimate in the eyes of the Empire but - it still puts him on edge. He's going to have to factor that in to his time here and keep away whenever Krennic shows, just in case.
He steps out from his side of the curtain and shoots Galen a grateful look. Jyn clearly doesn't want to do this, but his need to leave the house is strong, so he voices his agreement. "I haven't eaten much of anything substantial since I left Alderaan, and I think it's finally catching up with me."
"Papa," Jyn hisses, vibrating with indignation even under Galen's soft touch. "I hate it when he comes here."
She hates everything about Krennic, admittedly, his presence just brings it all up to the surface. He still refuses to address her by her name. She's always Galen's daughter or the Erso girl. She doesn't get to be Jyn, no matter how many times her father corrects him.
"I know, Jyn." Her releases her, nodding at Cassian. "Leave quickly."
Breathing out a sigh, her head jerks in a nod, as she moves past him out into the hall. She still has to grab her shoes, but they're at the front door so it's on the way. "Come on, Andor. If you get lost because you're too slow I'm leaving you to get mugged."
Jyn hates Krennic. Another unsurprising thing, but good to file away. After Galen nods at him, Cassian ducks into his room quickly just to get his blaster and tuck it into the holster in his (leather) jacket (of moral ambiguity), which he also tugs on.
"K2," he calls out, because he's not about to leave his droid here either. K2 clangs out of the kitchen, muttering something about insufficient nourishment.
He follows Jyn towards the doorway, antsy despite how swiftly he's gotten himself ready to walk out. "I won't have trouble keeping pace."
Jyn tugs her boots on, cute but serviceable, and yanks a black coat on before sweeping a purple scarf around her neck, the only pop of color in her all black outfit. The looks the picture of Imperial 1%, aside from her unhappy expression. Shoving the door open, she veers right down the hall, opposite the direction Galen had brought Cassian up. They're taking the turbo lift in the back.
Under her breath she mutters, "Tell your droid not to stomp." If his lumbering droid somehow makes Krennic notice them and she has to speak to that man, she will melt him down.
She glances behind them once, reaching up to curl her fingers against the sleeve of his jacket, nudging him to turn once they reach the end of the hall. It's only once they've reached the lift that she lets go to basically punch the call button. She really doesn't want to see Krennic.
She looks so Imperial right now that Cassian almost bristles. Fortunately time and experience are on his side and there's no sign of it. If there's any good impression he's gotten about Jyn, it's that she might have been raised under the Imperial thumb but she doesn't seem to care for them.
K2 answers her first, dropping his voice like he's trying to be quiet. "I do not stomp."
He looks at her sharply when she grabs his sleeve, but doesn't yank away. It'd be too much of a scene. "Listen to her, K2. Walk quietly."
The droid does his best, which is enough to get them to the lift unnoticed. Cassian is almost too still while they wait for the doors to open, but he moves like lightening when the lift arrives, pushing both K2 and Jyn in the elevator first.
He presses the door close button quickly and thinks he's really going to need to talk to Galen about knowing exactly when Krennic usually shows. If he's learned anything about the Empire, it's their obsessive scheduling tends to be mostly predictive.
Jyn relaxes once they get into the elevator, leaning against the wall. It's not glass like the one in the front and it shudders before it starts moving slowly down.
"There's no cameras or bugs in this one," she mentions softly. "An oversight." Oversight sounds like a lie and she looks up at Cassian carefully. Does he know that she and her father are still often surveilled because Krennic is a creep? Now he does. "Krennic doesn't trust me because I'm too much like my mother."
Her chin tips up, defiant and proud. Damn right she is too much like her mother, fury and loss brimming in her bright eyes still after all these years. She has forgiven her father for bringing her here, she understands that, but she will never forgive Krennic for murdering her mother. She's not exactly subtle about how much she hates him, either. "And now Papa's taken in a student from the Organas home."
Every single thing she says in this elevator is a very good sign, but Cassian has only just got here and he's not about to burst at the seams with his secrets. Bail seems to trust Galen and by extension Jyn. Cassian has kept himself alive by being more cautious.
"Everything I have heard of this man leaves me wary about meeting him." Or staying in his company for extended periods of time. Still, he wants this from Jyn's perspective. She might not like him much right now, but it doesn't mean she won't be a useful ally in avoiding Krennic. "How often does he come by? Do you usually have time to prepare?"
K2's eyes make a whirring sound, but the droid keeps stationary as the lift moves downward.
"I'm not particularly interested in discussing my work with the man."
Just because she said it's not bugged or watched doesn't mean he's going to be anything less than the Model Student. At least until he feels confident enough in the security.
"Papa tries to warn me, but sometimes he comes to see me after class. As Papa's friend." Jyn's loathing is plain. It begs the question if she can keep it from Krennic himself, but she also hasn't liked him since she was baby so maybe he is just used to her disgust by now.
Her head tips back against the wall, eyes closing. "Just take your time in the fresher when he shows up. You'll turning into a wrinkle, but it's better than talking to him, trust me. Papa always distracts him with work and they go back to the office."
Any warning is better than none, and Cassian knows he's quick on his feet. There's already a running list of reasons to keep out of Krennic's way should he be there when the man stops by. He likes to imagine a world where they don't exist in the same space, but the galaxy is not that kind.
Like he understands entirely more than what the surface conversation carries, his tone is dry: "I suppose he is checking up on just how his dear friend's daughter is doing."
She is so openly disgusted by Krennic. Cassian approves. "There's always feigning a nap as well."
"Especially now that we share a room, you might not sleep well with someone else in there. Naps could be necessary." At the very least, a reasonable ploy.
Eyes fluttering open, she turns her head to look at him, sadness creeping in to dispel some of the anger. Krennic always puts her in a bad mood because she can't help but think about losing her mother. It always feels like he's rubbing it in, gloating. "I know why I don't like Director Krennic, but why don't you like him? Most people that I've met are jealous that I know him. They want an introduction. You want the opposite."
He likes conspiring with her to avoid Krennic way more than arguing with her over a fake thesis. He can sleep in a shared room, but he's not about to counter that. "And research is conducted at all hours. A regular sleep pattern tends to be unattainable with grad work."
K2 is surprisingly silent, and Cassian hopes that maybe he's taken the warning to be seen and not heard far better than anticipated. It's a stupid hope, but it's great right now.
"He is not so fond of my adopted father." It's true enough, even if that's not the complete reason why he hates Krennic. Imperial reasons is why. But Jyn looks as sad as she does angry with the question, and he feels like he can use that to smooth things over.
It's not a very nice thought, but it is a spy thought. "Bail as good as raised me as his own. I'm not about to make friends with a man who hates Organa."
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But he is here to spend time with Jyn.
He settles his own things on the floor by his bed, two bags and a smaller backpack, but decides he'll unpack later. "I do rather like being alive," he says idly, unaffected by her apparent carelessness to leave him to death. "Choice or otherwise, I can still be grateful. I do not intend to step on any more toes than I already am."
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She frowns at her own decision to sit down. Now she has to stay sitting instead of just walking out, otherwise it would be rude and her father had politely requested she'd not be rude to this stranger. Papa gave her as much as he could, she always tried to be a good girl for him, to keep the lie going. She can be good for this, too.
It's just going to take some effort.
"I met the Organas when I was little, before we left for Lah'mu. There was a little boy with Leia that was rude to me." She squints at him, studying him again, unspoken question plain as day. Did you pull her pigtails, Cassian Andor, because she will bite you again. Though the truth of the matter is more like four year old Jyn was rude to the little boy, as she often is to boys, so any hair pulling was completely fair.
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"I seem to recall a little girl who was quite rude to me first." He thinks he was about eight or nine at the time, and he was still hurting from losing his father, no matter how much love Bail offered him. He was a very angry child for a lot of reasons who hadn't quite learned to mask his emotions, and a four year old biting him hadn't helped in the slightest. Of course he pulled her hair! "I hope you've at least grown out of the biting."
It is entirely an innocuous statement. Like 99.9%.
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Except now she's a grown adult woman instead of a precocious tiny human so the biting is for a different reason, presumably. What's it to you, Andor? She decides that, since he is in her room for the foreseeable future, she is going to openly study him.
And borderline interrogate him.
"What are your studying?"
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Well! If she's going to study him, he's going to do the same thing right back. He takes in her posture against her room and the intrusion of a guest and prepares himself for a stream of questions she's sure to have. Once she asks them, he'll have ideas on what to ask her in turn.
His gradwork though is fake fake fake but they did keep it relevant to things he already knows. "Cultural poetry as it relates to migration in the age of Empire. The Coruscant library will be a tremendous help."
He speaks a lot of languages and has recruited so many different species and people, especially those displaced from their homes.
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She can't hide looking half horrified at his answer though, forehead wrinkling in mild distaste. So he's that kind of academic. "Why?"
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"Hearing what people have to say about their experiences in this current climate is quite important, even if some may not think so."
The some is mostly the Empire, though maybe a little at Jyn too. Imperial poetry is nothing but propaganda, but Cassian needs to listen to people's life stories. He needs to know the best ways to lure them into the Rebellion.
"Why do you study rocks?"
He absolutely says rocks instead of geology on purpose. Cassian is feeling defensive of his imaginary work.
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"My mother was a geologist." Her dead mother. She has a real answer, of course, she can wax poetic about how any kind of civil engineering can't be successful without a fundamental understanding of geology and the way a planet's basic composition and structure can affect the buildings planned on top of it, but mentioning her mother usually shuts people up.
She does continue, however, after a briefly withering stare. "The people you study, part of their experience is molded by the planet they were raised on -- their basic life revolved around the actual climate of their home world. Someone from Alpinn's poetry would be dominated by white caves and bioluminescent flowers and seeing the day lit world through goggles, while someone from Lah'mu would write about rain and mist and black sands."
Jyn is very much Galen's daughter, reluctant to open up and studious, but she is every ounce her mother's daughter, wanting to fight literally all the time and in love with every world. "How are you meant to have any context for the stories you study if you know nothing about the worlds that grew them?"
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He feels prickly, and it's not an act. His head lifts up, and he fixes her with his own hard stare. He is, in a way, following in his parents footsteps, just not necessarily in the academic sense.
"You assume I have not been to any of these planets, and you assume I don't know how to do my own work." He says this coolly, any amusement gone from his face. "Not that I need to explain myself to you, but I do not dive in blind on context for the works I choose to study. There are themes I focus on, homeworld similarities, and the circumstances of displacement - all of which I would never dream of ignoring."
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This was a great idea, on the part of their fathers. Put the two most stubborn humans in the same room together for an indeterminate number of weeks or months and expect them not to fight.
Galen, of all people, should know better. His daughter didn't inherit his pacifist nature.
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This is definitely not winning her over, but there is no way he can cave on this. She was an asshole! About his imaginary field of study!
"I would never assume you were ignorant to your field. Don't do it to me."
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Quickly, she stands and yanks the curtain between them, blocking him from her view before she grumpily starts shoving clothes in drawers and clearing off her bed.
He's not even that cute.
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He's never been more annoyed with Bail though.
"You asked me why with derision." He keeps his voice calm, though he's not sure it'll help. "Anyone would have gotten defensive."
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Eventually, the silence is broken by Galen calling out from the hall as he makes his way toward their newly shared room. "Stardust, Stardust..." When he comes into the doorway and sees the curtain already shut there is a fleeting flash of something like regret on his expression, the knowledge that this is a terrible mistake, but then Jyn pokes her head around the curtain, pushing it back to step forward, and his expression immediately softens. It's obvious there is nothing he loves more in the galaxy than his headstrong and rude daughter and he will do anything to protect her, even if it makes her unhappy.
"Stardust, take Mr Andor to dinner in the city."
Her forehead wrinkles, confusion rippling across her face. "But Papa... we were--"
"Jyn. The city, please." He cups Jyn's cheek, kisses her forehead. "Orson is coming to go over some of the plans. Please take our guest to the city for dinner."
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When he hears Galen, Cassian listens in. It's not like the curtain is a sound blocker. He hears the name Orson and immediately follows it with Krennic and knows he does not want to ever be here when that man is. His living here is perfectly legitimate in the eyes of the Empire but - it still puts him on edge. He's going to have to factor that in to his time here and keep away whenever Krennic shows, just in case.
He steps out from his side of the curtain and shoots Galen a grateful look. Jyn clearly doesn't want to do this, but his need to leave the house is strong, so he voices his agreement. "I haven't eaten much of anything substantial since I left Alderaan, and I think it's finally catching up with me."
More like since he left Yavin, but whatever.
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She hates everything about Krennic, admittedly, his presence just brings it all up to the surface. He still refuses to address her by her name. She's always Galen's daughter or the Erso girl. She doesn't get to be Jyn, no matter how many times her father corrects him.
"I know, Jyn." Her releases her, nodding at Cassian. "Leave quickly."
Breathing out a sigh, her head jerks in a nod, as she moves past him out into the hall. She still has to grab her shoes, but they're at the front door so it's on the way. "Come on, Andor. If you get lost because you're too slow I'm leaving you to get mugged."
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"K2," he calls out, because he's not about to leave his droid here either. K2 clangs out of the kitchen, muttering something about insufficient nourishment.
He follows Jyn towards the doorway, antsy despite how swiftly he's gotten himself ready to walk out. "I won't have trouble keeping pace."
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Under her breath she mutters, "Tell your droid not to stomp." If his lumbering droid somehow makes Krennic notice them and she has to speak to that man, she will melt him down.
She glances behind them once, reaching up to curl her fingers against the sleeve of his jacket, nudging him to turn once they reach the end of the hall. It's only once they've reached the lift that she lets go to basically punch the call button. She really doesn't want to see Krennic.
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K2 answers her first, dropping his voice like he's trying to be quiet. "I do not stomp."
He looks at her sharply when she grabs his sleeve, but doesn't yank away. It'd be too much of a scene. "Listen to her, K2. Walk quietly."
The droid does his best, which is enough to get them to the lift unnoticed. Cassian is almost too still while they wait for the doors to open, but he moves like lightening when the lift arrives, pushing both K2 and Jyn in the elevator first.
He presses the door close button quickly and thinks he's really going to need to talk to Galen about knowing exactly when Krennic usually shows. If he's learned anything about the Empire, it's their obsessive scheduling tends to be mostly predictive.
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"There's no cameras or bugs in this one," she mentions softly. "An oversight." Oversight sounds like a lie and she looks up at Cassian carefully. Does he know that she and her father are still often surveilled because Krennic is a creep? Now he does. "Krennic doesn't trust me because I'm too much like my mother."
Her chin tips up, defiant and proud. Damn right she is too much like her mother, fury and loss brimming in her bright eyes still after all these years. She has forgiven her father for bringing her here, she understands that, but she will never forgive Krennic for murdering her mother. She's not exactly subtle about how much she hates him, either. "And now Papa's taken in a student from the Organas home."
Discuss.
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"Everything I have heard of this man leaves me wary about meeting him." Or staying in his company for extended periods of time. Still, he wants this from Jyn's perspective. She might not like him much right now, but it doesn't mean she won't be a useful ally in avoiding Krennic. "How often does he come by? Do you usually have time to prepare?"
K2's eyes make a whirring sound, but the droid keeps stationary as the lift moves downward.
"I'm not particularly interested in discussing my work with the man."
Just because she said it's not bugged or watched doesn't mean he's going to be anything less than the Model Student. At least until he feels confident enough in the security.
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Her head tips back against the wall, eyes closing. "Just take your time in the fresher when he shows up. You'll turning into a wrinkle, but it's better than talking to him, trust me. Papa always distracts him with work and they go back to the office."
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Like he understands entirely more than what the surface conversation carries, his tone is dry: "I suppose he is checking up on just how his dear friend's daughter is doing."
She is so openly disgusted by Krennic. Cassian approves. "There's always feigning a nap as well."
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Eyes fluttering open, she turns her head to look at him, sadness creeping in to dispel some of the anger. Krennic always puts her in a bad mood because she can't help but think about losing her mother. It always feels like he's rubbing it in, gloating. "I know why I don't like Director Krennic, but why don't you like him? Most people that I've met are jealous that I know him. They want an introduction. You want the opposite."
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K2 is surprisingly silent, and Cassian hopes that maybe he's taken the warning to be seen and not heard far better than anticipated. It's a stupid hope, but it's great right now.
"He is not so fond of my adopted father." It's true enough, even if that's not the complete reason why he hates Krennic. Imperial reasons is why. But Jyn looks as sad as she does angry with the question, and he feels like he can use that to smooth things over.
It's not a very nice thought, but it is a spy thought. "Bail as good as raised me as his own. I'm not about to make friends with a man who hates Organa."
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