[video]

[candor1]

[He's had plenty of time to toy with this gizmo (all technical terms, thank you mental projection of Kay that's moved back into his brain now that it's not too painful because there's a real Kay again, shush), but still hasn't put himself on it for more than a brief response to Catelyn Stark.

For all his well-[founded?]-honed mistrust of open networks, it has chastened him that he could have found Jyn and Kay much more quickly if he'd used it from the start. For all the research he does, it's unignorable that he's wasting a huge amount of this powerful resource by relegating himself to observer, not participant.

…And there's one or two other imPorts he's learned about that… have caught his attention. He's wondering if he'll catch theirs.

So, network, hello: months after his arrival (albeit a good percent of them spent unconscious): Human. Male. Age hard to tell: either in his thirties-forties or face prematurely hollowed and lined. Hair: dark, cut as if by himself with a tool not meant for such use and no mirror. Eyes: several galaxies' worth. Shirt doesn't look like anything specific to those who wouldn't know the style, instantly recognizable as Corellian to those who would.

Then he smiles—in a way that seems entirely effortless, genuine, and engaged—and some of the agedness falls away. The eyes crinkle and sparkle. He seems approachable and warm. Even the haircut is transformed into seeming less unloved and more boyish. It gives this stranger the face of a friend.

His accent, when he speaks, sounds Hispanic to Earth American ears.]

I was wondering, if you're willing to share—

[on an open network, though that's not necessarily a good barometer of the network itself]

Are you still in the job you were assigned? Yes or no, how is it going for you?

I've read the introductory material on this. I'm wondering about personal experiences.

[He's tried to go beyond the official literature, including as much of the backlog as he could find or slice. Which is also why he doesn't repeat Godric's question (to which the answers were exceedingly helpful—and a few that sent a shiver up his spine. But pull it together, don't apply superstitious thought to the superstitious thoughts: that's what common cosmological models do).


As if in afterthought, and as if with self-conscious awkwardness, he adds]

…and hello. My name's Cassian.

Comments

video

[prostheticbody]

[The woman staring back at him has purple hair and red eyes, with the unmarred appearance of someone in their 20's. Her voice, however, sounds somewhat older and more experienced.]

I quit a long time ago. The jobs they assign seem like jokes for most of us, like they choose fields almost in our area of expertise, but far below our skill level or interest.

[candor1]

[Her coloration doesn't seem to strike him as anything unusual at all. The fact that she's humanoid is familiar enough.]

Mine is… utterly outside any of my areas of expertise.

[And he has quite a few to choose from. Some that would have surprised anyone who ever knew him, and he'd made sure they wouldn't find out. (And we're not talking covert ops. We're talking… ball room dancing and babysitting. Being a military aide for an Imperial Admiral had involved a lot more running interference with Grendreef's family than had been advertised.) But working with food in any capacity, let alone a creative one, is definitively not one of them. Cassian's lack of interest in feeding himself properly has several times crossed the line into actual medical issue.]

I have some med leave left before I'm meant to start. I wonder if I'm supposed to get lessons before official training.

Have there been any negative repercussions for splitting off on your own?

[prostheticbody]

[She lifts an eyebrow slightly. She can't say she's run into many people who were assigned a job completely outside their ability, though it doesn't surprise her that much.]

That's interesting. Most people seem to end up with a demeaning version of something they're used to. What's the job?

There aren't really any repercussions, except that the government won't help you find a new job.

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[h2no]

Hey bro! Good ta see you doin' better than on the beach.

[archie's still not entirely convinced cassian just wasn't really high.]

I kept mine! I'm a swimmin' teacher and my class is on the up and up!

[candor1]

[Cassian wouldn't try to convince him otherwise. But his memories are unhampered, at least, and he smiles.]

Hey. I'm sorry I never got your name, but it's good to see you again. Thank you.

I found her, by the way.

…Swimming teacher—is that related to anything you did last life?

[h2no]

It's okay. I think you were, uh. A bit sick. Ya know, like... [he points to his forehead.] upstairs. My name's Archie.

[he grins happily.]

That's good. I'm glad ya did. And it kinda is, yeah. What did you get?

[drizzle]

No, I'm not in the job I was assigned to. At the very least, I don't think so. [Since she has no memory of her first time having arrived to this world, and she can't find the previous file of her data neither.] Right now, I'm doing well at my new job though. It took a lot to get used to, but I was given a lot of useful advice to go on about it that I now feel comfortable doing it. Feels less like a chore to do.

Oh, and it's nice to meet you, Cassian. My name is Nike. Did you just arrived?

[candor1]

I'm glad you were able to transition successfully. Did you find the new job yourself, or request reassignment…?

Hello, Nike. Thank you. I've been here a little while on medical leave. I have a little of it left before I'm meant to start my new job.

[drizzle]

Neither. I was offered the job, actually. You see, I used to work somewhere else, and I guess my previous job was doing a special holiday event. I got my weather forecasting job after someone from the television station in Heropa realize my weather predictions I announce after my shift were more accurate than the ones they gave on tv. I was given an offer before the new year came around.

[That's the story she's been told about it. She doesn't particularly have any memory of the chain of events, but it sounded about right.

With a small smile.]

Then a congratulations is in order for getting better. I'm glad they were able to help you and hope everything works out for you. What type of job are you going to start doing after you're release?

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[notyourfathersosborn]

Despite not having the first clue about my job when I got here, I actually stuck with it for a long time. I found I actually really liked being a genealogist.

[Normie glances behind him at his office. It's clear from the expensive looking furniture and the clear views of the De Chima skyline in the large window behind him he's no longer remotely in that line of work.]

I sort of fell into the job I'm in now.

[candor1]

It looks like you're satisfied with the change…?

[Audio]

[prophesiedone]

The jobs don't matter. [His is ridiculous. Balloon sculpting. What even.] Hello, Cassian.

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[candor1]

[ooc: i'm not laughing my ass off at a sith lord's expense, of course not]

Hello.

No survival or acculturation merit? No difference with other alternatives?

Voice

[bindsthedead]

I'm not, but I found it somewhat helpful at the start. It's a way to meet locals and learn about this place.

[candor1]

This seems to be a common theme… perhaps it's only meant as a starting place…?

Thank you for responding.

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[earnedmystripes]

Hey, Cassian. I'm Kotetsu.

I quit the job they gave me in like six months. It was a pain in the ass.

[But he would've kept doing it, if it hadn't been for the Colorado incident. After that, he would've been content with unemployment, but then he got ported out, and a job fell right into his lap when he came back.]

Are you thinking of quitting yours?

[Usually, people don't ask unless they are either unsure or downright displeased with their placement, after all.]

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[candor1]

Hello, Kotetsu.

Not yet… but it's good to know what the options are.

Are you comfortable sharing more details? I know the technical ones, I was interested in peoples' experience—how things actually pan out.

Video

[dun_moch]

[Here's a name and a face that Cassian might or might not recognize from the history of the Clone Wars. Count Dooku's manner in the video is relaxed, if formal, but his voice sounds like it is emanating from the bottom of a cave. A very cultured, British cave.]

Greetings, Cassian. The work we are granted is very often foolish and poorly chosen, in my experience. Still, I made the best of my given assignment for about a year before I decided to embark upon a new path.

[They had made him a singer for a metal band, in some ill-advised joke. But Dooku had seized on it as a chance to influence the media, and through the media, politics.]

Video

[candor1]

[There he is.



Cassian doesn't actually recognize Dooku from the history of the Clone Wars. When it would have been most relevant, Cassian had been a child, and the circles he'd traveled in on the Outer Rim were not so well-resourced (nor disposed) as to do much research. Once in the Alliance… Intelligence operative or not, there were certain subects he'd… benignly neglected. If they weren't useful, memory storage better allocated elsewhere… and if they were going to render him… incapable of…  …There were some he'd been gently advised to leave alone, and, once or twice, had actually taken the advice.

For instance, how insurgent cells like his, despite intention, had actually contributed to the way history played out.

Unless a particular figure or line of record became relevant again, it had been far, far better to move forward, not look (too closely) back.

But Cassian does recognize Dooku. Not from a file, but from a memory.

…And if he's tired of running from something (even memories) that won't stop attacking, then standing and fighting becomes the necessity.

At the very least: turning and facing.


Unlike Dooku's, Cassian's accent is not Core Proper, but his knowledge of correct address is. (And how he knows Dooku's title at all, he leaves hanging.)]

Hello, my lord.

Care to share details?

[devoutish]

Nah, you're fucked, mate; they're gonna fine you if you do badly.

[This is bullshit. He's just screwing with the new guy a little.]

[candor1]

[grins. Too late to the conversation to get him, but someone being comfortable enough to joke about it is a very, very heartening thing. In anything remotely government-related. The better ones could sometimes be the worst spoken-of, because people had the freedom and lack of fear to do so.]

The voice of experience, is this?

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[carbonfrozen]

[Han, looking somewhat haggard and definitely in need of a shave, is pretty clearly broadcasting from the inside of a taxi, and one that's seen better days—there's white stuffing peeking through the seams, for example, and stains on the seats that do not bear thinking about.]

Yeah, and so far it's going great. [By great he means my car broke down again.] I got taxi driver. What did you get?

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[candor1]

[takes that sarcasm and offers back a sympathetically amused smile]

Baker. I don't know a thing about it.

Did you know how to drive these particular vehicles before you started?

[Though there are only so many ways to manipulate any kind of single-operator vessel—when designed for a humanoid operator at least. Other expertise could probably translate]

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[doubleblind]

I kept mine, but it wasn't that different from what I do back home? I needed a lab to do my not work work and the job came with one.

[She makes a sweeping gesture with both arms, showing off the fact that yes, she's sitting in a very nice biology laboratory.]

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[candor1]

[This is not a familiar face [ooc irony given how many of her face are running around!] but he already feels like he knows her. The kind of tech he would have turned to for expertise—across political lines. …Which could be either refreshing or aggravating: that their highest cause was one that wasn't in positions or stances but objective truth, but as such, didn't always care about— … …well, no, the end of that line of thought was rarely fair. Or applicable. Different paradigms. Not always incompatible.

Anyway, her smile invited reflection.]

If I found myself in a similar position I suspect I'd have made the same choice.

"Not work work"?