notallofus | (no subject)

One area of the old Temple Kanan had rarely thought back on was the library. It had never been his favorite place – he had only ever gone there when he had to, when some assigned reading was waiting for him, and Master Nu had little patience for those younglings who obviously didn't want to be there.

But this place, enclosed entirely in one large and dusty room, isn't much like the tall, glittering shelves he remembered from the Temple. Much like the rest of Akiva, it has a damp, musty smell throughout it. It's especially noticeable in here, maybe because of the long, narrow openings cut in to the floor to drain away flood waters – most other buildings in the city of Myrra seemed simply built to be flooded time and again. Bright orange sunlight drifts through smudged windows, and where there are shelves of glittery digital records, it looks as though they've been partially ransacked. Long sections of the shelves are simply left empty, yet unlike much of the library, those spots hadn't yet started to collect dust.

Despite its humble appearance, Kanan already feels more comfortable in this library than he had in the Temple's. Where the Temple's library had an enforced quiet, the others milling around this one talk openly as they look through texts on antique datapads or watch the holorecordings they've pulled down from the shelves. At a cluttered desk along one wall, a Besalisk librarian uses two hands to sort through datatapes, while the other two help a young Ihtorian girl with a search on their computer. Along another wall, Imperial recruiting posters that have been pasted one after another are ripped and defaced, goofy eyes painted onto Stormtrooper helmets and rude jokes in various alphabets scrawled over TIE fighters.

Hera had insisted they arrive early to scope out exits and possible surveillance. It's very quickly apparent that no cameras or surveillance droids are snooping around this place. They count off the three exits together, before separating, wandering through the shelves and careful to appear as though looking, rather than waiting.

After a second loop around, Kanan turns to see that Hera has stopped at a short shelf that rises to just below one of the round windows. It looks as though it's been placed to catch the sunlight along the covers of its handful of paper books. A sign beside the shelf announces that these books may not be removed from the library. There had been a massive room of paper volumes in the Temple, and Kanan had never seen anyone in there aside from Master Nu and her droids.

Hera slowly reaches out, and runs her finger along the faded red spine of one of the covers, and Kanan realizes then, suddenly certain, that she hasn't touched a paper book before. Deciding that's a reasonable distraction, Kanan looks away, and focuses his own attention on watching out for their contact.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Walk normally, the door isn't obviously to the catacombs. The one for the tourists is in a different part of town. They don't have any reason to be looking for us in particular and we don't give them one."

Cassian starts down the street again at a normal walking pace, but angled towards a side street that's up about a block and a half.

Kanan exchanges another look with Hera, then tucks one hand in his pocket and follows Cassian.

He can feel the skin between his shoulders prickling. It's not an uncommon sensation.

Hera also follows at a casual pace.

She has that down easy, though she lets her lekku tense somewhat. Stormtroopers rarely notice that.

As they reach the crossing side street, the 'troopers are visible on the main street.

Cassian nods towards a door in the side street with a fading skull painted on it. As they pass, one of the 'troopers turns their way and Cassian pauses to see how they're approached.

Edited 2019-09-24 01:24 (UTC)

"You there," says the stormtrooper, voice gruff and only slightly distorted by its journey through the enclosed helmet, "keep your eyes to yourself."

The 'trooper's hand is tight on his blaster rifle, but at least he hasn't raised it to point at anyone.

Kanan's step slows for a moment, even as he nods. Who's to say which of them the man is talking to, anyway?

Hera folds her hands, her head turning down with a familiar obedience

It's a practiced response, though that doesn't show.

Cassian turns his head away with a raised hand as he says, leaning on his accent,

"Yes, of course, just going in here."

Then walks up to the catacomb door.

Edited 2019-09-25 02:57 (UTC)

Does the 'trooper narrow his eyes behind his helmet? Who can say?

Kanan just keeps his head down as he moves to follow Cassian. Sometimes that's what works.

Hera moves in after him.

And while she might not have eyes in the back of her head, her lekku are enough to let her know that they aren't followed.

Cassian doesn't turn around until he's past the door and taken a turn that gets them out of sight of the street. Then he waits in the shadows to see that Hera and Kanan have followed him. Once he sees them, then he begins to go farther, following a path that leads down and around.

Partway down, he lights a small lantern and stops to pull out a comm, "We should be safe to listen here."

Kanan is quiet for a moment, extending his senses to make sure they're alone down here.

He flicks a glance and Hera and nods, very slightly. He agrees with Cassian's assessment.

Her eyes flicker from Kanan to Cassian as she steps into the light from the lamp.

Her mouth quirks into a small smile. "Come here often?"

Half of Cassian's mouth goes up in a partial smile, "Often enough."

He turns on the comm and starts flipping through to find the right channel, "Unconfirmed reports of rebel activity near the city center."

"Are we waiting for them to be confirmed?"

It seems unlikely, but they also can't go chasing after every rumor in the area.

"I think we're hoping they decide there's nothing to find," Hera says, looking up as if she could see the street above them.

"How bad do Imperial raids tend to be here?"

"No, but we want to know where they're searching. It depends on who they've sent out, Oli keeps to the letter of the law, Pilan will do as much as he can get away with."

The comm is quiet before there's another crackle, "Confirm them, Pilan out."

Cassian frowns as he shuts off the comm, "We need to move fast."

Edited 2019-10-01 01:49 (UTC)

"We also need the plan for getting them out," Kanan says, shifting on the balls of his feet, "if the situation on the ground has changed."

"Might change again by the time we get there."

Hera takes a step forward, then nearly hops back as she feels her foot kicking at something. Her quick movement keeps it to only a few soft sounds, and she dips briefly down into the darkness.

She returns to the light with a dead-eyed B1 battle droid head. "And watch your step?" she suggests, her eyes still on the head.

"There used to be a droid factory down here during the Clone Wars. We can move underground, that will keep our interaction with 'troopers down. These catacombs connect everywhere,"

Cassian moves a droid body out of the way with his foot as he keeps walking forward.

"Yeah," Kanan says, coming to a stop next to Hera.

He, too, is looking at the droid.

"That was probably really useful for that factory."

He's not remembering. He isn't. They've got more things to do right now.

Hera moves to follow Cassian, though she holds on to the droid head she'd picked up. She's not sure why, it's useless to her, and clearly dead beyond anything she could repair. She has no fondness for battle droids. And yet there's a sense of familiarity to it.

"I used to strip these for movement processors and photoreceptors," she says quietly, as they walk. "And sometimes tried to tap their com signals."

"Always easier to hide when you can go underground. I used to hide in mine entrances from patrols,"

He glances over at Kanan, he's never spoken about the Clone Wars with a Jedi, no Jedi came to Fest just clone troopers. Easier to talk around it then go into details. That's what he did with Anakin in the garage.

"Find a dirty enough alley and almost no one will follow you in," Kanan offers.

It's an excellent measure of desperation, too, sometimes.

"Not that I'm saying we should try that now."

The smell lingers.

"Not while we have a better alternative."

By comparison, maybe, she thinks, with one last glance at the droid head before she returns it to the ground.

"And this is an alternative for now,"

Considering they're underground, the smell isn't too bad and since the catacombs are older, they're fairly sturdy.