Cassian needs to stop asking her questions because she just keeps giving him more reasons to arrest her. He can imagine the look on Bodhi's face, him coming to the station with Jyn in handcuffs.
But that fits into the pattern too, because none of them have died, and they're all too skittish about what happened. If it's unconnected assaults, there's no reason for the targets to be suspicious. People out in the city have started to notice too despite that, little one off comments he gets from his contacts or detainees.
"Because you use your fists, not guns." He drops his eyes down and grabs her wrist, lightly enough that she can yank it out. He just wants to look at her bruised knuckles. He looks back up at her face, abruptly remembering just how close they still are, but he doesn't drop her hand or move yet anyway. "This makes your job difficult, I'm sure."
Of course knows what she does for a living. Bodhi is a chatterbox.
"I don't like guns," Jyn agrees, following his gaze to where his large hand is curled around her thin, pale wrist. It takes her a moment to look back up at him, finding him already looking at her, and she breathes out sharply.
"God, he never shuts up, does he?" It's doesn't inject the levity it could, too much tension still swirling around them as Jyn waits for Cassian to remember he needs to arrest her. But she's compelled for some reason she doesn't understand to keep answering him. It's not like she wanted so much to keep it a secret, she simply wanted to keep it a secret from Bodhi and then it turned out Bodhi was her only friend.
"Yeah, it does. It's worth it though. They need to know they're not untouchable."
That's fair. Cassian doesn't like them much either, but he's comfortable enough using them. Not that he's proud of that fact, but he can't blame her.
He meets her gaze and finds himself locked in. "Some people just like to talk." Bodhi is one of them. And so is Jyn with him, apparently, spilling her secrets like a fountain.
They need to know they're not untouchable. He agrees, instantly. He shouldn't, but he does, because for so long he watched them walk around like they owned the city, and even joining the force, Cassian couldn't do as much as he wanted. Not like Jyn is doing.
He has no reason to keep hold on her wrist. But any sort of reason seems to be getting thrown out the window today, and it's entirely Jyn's doing for hell knows what reason. His breath feels uneven.
Jyn sighs, almost breathing out a bitter laugh as she shakes her head, looking down at the table as she seems to sort of deflate.
"Saw used to say 'one fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day'," Jyn starts, realizing again that maybe Saw gave her a childhood that was a little too far from typical. "But my stick's not sharp enough."
She looks up again, settling on his warm eyes, even though she assumes she's just going to see disappointment there. She imagines Saw would be disappointed, her parents would no doubt be disappointed with what their daughter had become, what's one more disappointment to add to the list? "I don't think it's working, no. I have to try."
The way she sinks in on herself has him wanting to reassure her, which is stupid and dangerous because he shouldn't be encouraging assault.
He doesn't look disappointed in her. He looks grimly decisive and maybe a little unhappy, but he's still holding onto her and there are zero signs of arrest. He wants to be the good guy, but that can't always mean following the law at this point, can it?
"I think you have them spooked." Goddamnit, Cassian. "I think half the department is scrambling to cover it up and the other half is wondering why no one else has noticed the pattern." He looks down again at her bruised knuckles and thinks she should probably ice them. "Maybe not sharp. But your stick is not broken. I think it's working more than you realize."
Jyn had been moderately prepared for arrest since she found Cassian at the door. Now he knows the truth and not only is she still not arrested, he's holding her wrist like he'd rather hold her hand were it not messed up and he's telling her that all the highly illegal assaults are working.
She wouldn't say he's outright condoning it, but...
"Are you saying I should. Not stop?" This is too confusing. He's supposed to be the lawful voice of reason, but she feels suddenly like reality has been upended.
"I have no say in what you do or don't do." That's kind of a lie, because he can still arrest her. He just doesn't want to, but he definitely can't tell her to go beat up some more corrupt politicians either. He has no control over her choices would be the better way to phrase it.
She looks as confused as he feels about the whole thing.
Relief comes in increments, tempered by a wariness like he might change his mind at any moment.
"You're off the record here, Andor." She would like to know why he is not arresting her but she doesn't know how to ask without the possibility of him changing his mind and deciding that no, she would look too cute in orange to pass up the chance of seeing her in a jumpsuit of that particular shade.
He knows what she's asking, but he honestly doesn't have an answer. Cassian is very good at trusting his instincts as well as being logical - so of course his instincts are telling him to be illogical.
"I don't want to be someone that helps Tarkin and his ilk."
Arresting Jyn would feed into their image of power, wouldn't it?
Jyn's mouth opens in a small o of surprise. It wasn't that she thought he was the type of person to support the kind of politician who uses their power to oppress the people under them, he'd always struck her as the kind of detective that took protect and serve seriously, but it feels almost like he's... supporting her?
Maybe she's reading too much into it, but he's still carefully holding her wrist, too.
"I could maybe put a personal nurse on my payroll if you want to continue being someone that doesn't help them." This isn't the first time she's coming home needing medical attention, if would be easier if she had her own 911 service. "Your bedside manner sucks, but I kinda like it."
He's not supporting her!! That would be illegal!! Even though that's almost exactly what he's doing by not arresting her, by the words he's tried to soothe her with. Those are not the actions born from zero support.
"That's why Bodhi is in the medical profession, not me." She didn't even want his help, she doesn't get nice bedside manner. He isn't sure he likes the idea of being attached to her so readily with this endeavor, but at the same time he'd rather her not bleed to death. At the very least Bodhi would be sad. "I only know basic first aid, not much more than what I handled today."
"I don't want Bodhi involved," she says, shaking her head before she finally draws her hand back to herself and waving her hand dismissively. "There isn't actually a payroll anyway."
No loss on either of their parts.
"Please don't tell him. He's a good person, he'd want to help and I can't-- Just don't tell him, okay?" Bodhi is too good, he just wants to do the best he can and make up for working for those guys, Jyn refuses to get him involved with actively fighting them from the shadows.
"I'm just saying bedside manner has never been the most important for me." Urgency tends to take precedence. Bodhi is better at it.
Oh. Part of him wishes she hadn't pulled her hand back, but he supposes he was already holding it for an unnecessarily long amount of time. "I'm not going to tell him. That's not my choice to make." Cassian cares very much about Bodhi too, and he definitely factored into the decision not to arrest Jyn.
"Unless you give me no choice." Aka unless she gets too injured, so let's be a bit careful, shall we? Don't make him have to call in a legit medical expert.
"So we should probably find another excuse for you to be here." Aside from the cake which is a perfectly acceptable excuse, honestly, but how long can they really press cake? It's still in her lap, but it'll be gone in two hours when Bodhi is done with his shift, if not in twenty minutes when she decides to start eating it again.
Cassian needs another reason to stay. Which might be Jyn's way of asking him to stay. Maybe.
She's...asking him to stay? He doesn't want to know how he knows this, so he focuses on wondering after why she does. Not that he disagrees, because he finds he wants to stay too.
Today has been full of far more uncertainty than Cassian likes, all of which seems wrapped up in Jyn Erso.
"We can order takeout. Bodhi doesn't need to know the exact time I got here."
"We can watch a movie," Jyn suggests, adding to their little plan to deceive her brother. She leans forward on the table, curling her fingers around the edge of it, careful to keep the cake box in her lap.
"TV out here is broken though."
Is it? Is it really broken, Jyn Erso, or as evidenced by the wince when the box presses into her ribs, maybe she just wants to lay down and the couch is not conducive to that kind of laying. But the television is actually broken -- it plays sound but no picture.
Cassian leans forward when she does without thinking and doesn't move back once he realizes. His eyes drop briefly to her mouth, which is super dumb? Back to her face!
"Is there another TV?"
Back to her face just in time to see her wince, and he frowns, looking at the general area of her injury with concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, edge of the box is all." Anyone would wince if the edge of a box poked them, especially if they had a bruise and a small cut. Small cut is her story and she's sticking to it.
"There's a playstation in the guest room that's got Netflix on it. Bodhi moved it there because you can't actually play games on it, but the Netflix still works fine." So it's out of the way of his newer game system but not gathering dust somewhere since it's still useless. Jyn was eventually going to move it to her bedroom but she's lazy.
He believes her, and maybe part of why is because she's very distracting this close. So he nods briefly, even if it's a reminder to be mindful.
It's basically an offer to netflix and chill on the upfront, but Cassian gets the sense Jyn wouldn't feel the need to be so roundabout, so he's probably reading into it. Which begs the question of why his brain went there??
"And is there a movie Bodhi would believe us to be watching?"
"Something foreign and pretentious," Jyn offers, half smile lifting her lips. "I wanted him to see a documentary with me once so now I only watch that critically acclaimed garbage to make a point."
Plus she likes the subtitles.
She sets aside the cake finally, scooting forward to the very edge of the table, legs unfolding to fall in front of her, knees brushing against Cassian's thighs in a way that makes her stomach flip flop. "I usually don't pay attention."
"All English films could be considered foreign to me." A smile teases at his mouth, threatening to fight it's way free. "No wonder he complains about his netflix recommendations."
Cassian finds himself shifting, leaning into the way her knees brush against him. His stomach rolls over from the feel of his legs pressing steadily into hers. He settles one hand on the counter beside her.
She shrugs, noncommittal. She's doing other stuff. Cassian's cute, but he doesn't get to know what she does with her quiet time yet. Which is stupid, it's all reading or playing the piano app on her tablet or carefully fiddling with some old watch or clock radio of her father's.
"We could watch something in French or Turkish... Finnish?" Languages she doesn't think either of them will know, Finnish is just silly, finding his almost smile is contagious and tugs at her own mouth.
He doesn't press after the shrug. He might be in her space for god knows what reason, but he's not going to pry that much into her life. Beyond injury related circumstances, of course.
"Finnish." He definitely doesn't know that one, raising an eyebrow in amusement.
Her smile just makes his grow deeper, like a contagion. It's odd how much he does find himself wanting to stay in her company far longer than originally intended. And she called him Cassian. Not Detective, or Andor. "It looks that way. I'd like to see this Finnish documentary."
Jyn slides off the table without giving Cassian time to back up which puts her directly in front of him, pressed against him, chin tipped to keep her eyes on him. After a moment she breathes out and steps to the side, turning to pad down the hall to the guest bedroom.
She looks over her shoulder, smile still flirting at her mouth, "Come on then. I'll introduce you to Finland."
There is a very real temptation to settle his hands at her waist and keep her in against him. He meets her eyes evenly and just waits, sighing a little when she steps back though he's not sure if it's in relief or disappointment.
He's still smiling though too, despite it. He follows after her into the bedroom without issue. "You're making it sound like I've never heard of it before. My expectations are getting high."
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ohnofeelstho2017-06-22 01:24 am
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But that fits into the pattern too, because none of them have died, and they're all too skittish about what happened. If it's unconnected assaults, there's no reason for the targets to be suspicious. People out in the city have started to notice too despite that, little one off comments he gets from his contacts or detainees.
"Because you use your fists, not guns." He drops his eyes down and grabs her wrist, lightly enough that she can yank it out. He just wants to look at her bruised knuckles. He looks back up at her face, abruptly remembering just how close they still are, but he doesn't drop her hand or move yet anyway. "This makes your job difficult, I'm sure."
Of course knows what she does for a living. Bodhi is a chatterbox.
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"God, he never shuts up, does he?" It's doesn't inject the levity it could, too much tension still swirling around them as Jyn waits for Cassian to remember he needs to arrest her. But she's compelled for some reason she doesn't understand to keep answering him. It's not like she wanted so much to keep it a secret, she simply wanted to keep it a secret from Bodhi and then it turned out Bodhi was her only friend.
"Yeah, it does. It's worth it though. They need to know they're not untouchable."
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He meets her gaze and finds himself locked in. "Some people just like to talk." Bodhi is one of them. And so is Jyn with him, apparently, spilling her secrets like a fountain.
They need to know they're not untouchable. He agrees, instantly. He shouldn't, but he does, because for so long he watched them walk around like they owned the city, and even joining the force, Cassian couldn't do as much as he wanted. Not like Jyn is doing.
He has no reason to keep hold on her wrist. But any sort of reason seems to be getting thrown out the window today, and it's entirely Jyn's doing for hell knows what reason. His breath feels uneven.
"Do you think it's working?"
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"Saw used to say 'one fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day'," Jyn starts, realizing again that maybe Saw gave her a childhood that was a little too far from typical. "But my stick's not sharp enough."
She looks up again, settling on his warm eyes, even though she assumes she's just going to see disappointment there. She imagines Saw would be disappointed, her parents would no doubt be disappointed with what their daughter had become, what's one more disappointment to add to the list? "I don't think it's working, no. I have to try."
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He doesn't look disappointed in her. He looks grimly decisive and maybe a little unhappy, but he's still holding onto her and there are zero signs of arrest. He wants to be the good guy, but that can't always mean following the law at this point, can it?
"I think you have them spooked." Goddamnit, Cassian. "I think half the department is scrambling to cover it up and the other half is wondering why no one else has noticed the pattern." He looks down again at her bruised knuckles and thinks she should probably ice them. "Maybe not sharp. But your stick is not broken. I think it's working more than you realize."
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She wouldn't say he's outright condoning it, but...
"Are you saying I should. Not stop?" This is too confusing. He's supposed to be the lawful voice of reason, but she feels suddenly like reality has been upended.
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She looks as confused as he feels about the whole thing.
"But I'm not arresting you tonight."
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Relief comes in increments, tempered by a wariness like he might change his mind at any moment.
"You're off the record here, Andor." She would like to know why he is not arresting her but she doesn't know how to ask without the possibility of him changing his mind and deciding that no, she would look too cute in orange to pass up the chance of seeing her in a jumpsuit of that particular shade.
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He knows what she's asking, but he honestly doesn't have an answer. Cassian is very good at trusting his instincts as well as being logical - so of course his instincts are telling him to be illogical.
"I don't want to be someone that helps Tarkin and his ilk."
Arresting Jyn would feed into their image of power, wouldn't it?
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Maybe she's reading too much into it, but he's still carefully holding her wrist, too.
"I could maybe put a personal nurse on my payroll if you want to continue being someone that doesn't help them." This isn't the first time she's coming home needing medical attention, if would be easier if she had her own 911 service. "Your bedside manner sucks, but I kinda like it."
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"That's why Bodhi is in the medical profession, not me." She didn't even want his help, she doesn't get nice bedside manner. He isn't sure he likes the idea of being attached to her so readily with this endeavor, but at the same time he'd rather her not bleed to death. At the very least Bodhi would be sad. "I only know basic first aid, not much more than what I handled today."
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No loss on either of their parts.
"Please don't tell him. He's a good person, he'd want to help and I can't-- Just don't tell him, okay?" Bodhi is too good, he just wants to do the best he can and make up for working for those guys, Jyn refuses to get him involved with actively fighting them from the shadows.
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Oh. Part of him wishes she hadn't pulled her hand back, but he supposes he was already holding it for an unnecessarily long amount of time. "I'm not going to tell him. That's not my choice to make." Cassian cares very much about Bodhi too, and he definitely factored into the decision not to arrest Jyn.
"Unless you give me no choice." Aka unless she gets too injured, so let's be a bit careful, shall we? Don't make him have to call in a legit medical expert.
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Cassian needs another reason to stay. Which might be Jyn's way of asking him to stay. Maybe.
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Today has been full of far more uncertainty than Cassian likes, all of which seems wrapped up in Jyn Erso.
"We can order takeout. Bodhi doesn't need to know the exact time I got here."
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"TV out here is broken though."
Is it? Is it really broken, Jyn Erso, or as evidenced by the wince when the box presses into her ribs, maybe she just wants to lay down and the couch is not conducive to that kind of laying. But the television is actually broken -- it plays sound but no picture.
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"Is there another TV?"
Back to her face just in time to see her wince, and he frowns, looking at the general area of her injury with concern. "Are you okay?"
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"There's a playstation in the guest room that's got Netflix on it. Bodhi moved it there because you can't actually play games on it, but the Netflix still works fine." So it's out of the way of his newer game system but not gathering dust somewhere since it's still useless. Jyn was eventually going to move it to her bedroom but she's lazy.
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It's basically an offer to netflix and chill on the upfront, but Cassian gets the sense Jyn wouldn't feel the need to be so roundabout, so he's probably reading into it. Which begs the question of why his brain went there??
"And is there a movie Bodhi would believe us to be watching?"
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Plus she likes the subtitles.
She sets aside the cake finally, scooting forward to the very edge of the table, legs unfolding to fall in front of her, knees brushing against Cassian's thighs in a way that makes her stomach flip flop. "I usually don't pay attention."
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Cassian finds himself shifting, leaning into the way her knees brush against him. His stomach rolls over from the feel of his legs pressing steadily into hers. He settles one hand on the counter beside her.
"What are you doing instead then?"
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"We could watch something in French or Turkish... Finnish?" Languages she doesn't think either of them will know, Finnish is just silly, finding his almost smile is contagious and tugs at her own mouth.
"Does that mean you're staying, Cassian?"
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"Finnish." He definitely doesn't know that one, raising an eyebrow in amusement.
Her smile just makes his grow deeper, like a contagion. It's odd how much he does find himself wanting to stay in her company far longer than originally intended. And she called him Cassian. Not Detective, or Andor. "It looks that way. I'd like to see this Finnish documentary."
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She looks over her shoulder, smile still flirting at her mouth, "Come on then. I'll introduce you to Finland."
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He's still smiling though too, despite it. He follows after her into the bedroom without issue. "You're making it sound like I've never heard of it before. My expectations are getting high."
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