jannat al-ma'wa [OTA]

[candor1]

WHO: Cassian, Jyn, K-2SO, Revan, OTA
WHERE: Neojedha in Maurtia Falls
WHEN: huh? continuity? (your choice)
WHAT: The dojo opens (multithreads welcome)
WARNINGS: facepalmingly pompous mun!wish-fulfillment re: community service and indie start-ups; any of the reasons someone might need a shelter situation; PTSD sublimation; TL;DRing up the tauntaun. 1 and 2 are kinda infodumps. 3 (knowing us) could did get smutty. 4's accessibly friendly!

P.S. on taking cultural references from karking everywhere (title: Arabic, passcode: Sanskrit, setting: Americanization of Japanese, characters: none of these…) Cassian's trying to avoid cultural appropriation without even knowing the term; I'm stomping carelessly through the tulips. Hopefully not to conflate any of the cultures or schools of thought. Thinking more of The Cloisters: a museum Frankensteined from many different religious sites and relics, exploring the differences and finding underlying agreements, resulting in a space that feels secularly holy.


1. Neojedha: the dojo (attn. Jyn Erso, K-2SO, Revan, OTAnyone who wants to stop in while the place is active)
2. Haven: the safehouse (closed to Jyn, Kay, Revan)
3. The Bridge: between them (closed to Jyn Erso)
4. Outside: the street, the back alley, the fire escape, the roof, etc (OTA - WHAT a proper prompt)
5. The world: NPC neighbors and friends (if you ever come while they're closed and ask the neighbors about the dojo's staff, this is the info you'll get)



[+ image references: Colleen Wing's Chikara Dojo from "Iron Fist" …babeh]

Comments

1. Neojedha (OTA)

[candor1]

Here's what we're doing…

Each of them—Jyn, Revan, and Cassian—had one or two times a week to teach whatever they wanted re: physical discipline or self-defense. Jyn and Revan could be as pre-planned or spontaneous as they wanted. Cassian's would probably change session to session, each focusing on whichever elements of his unarmed combat—cribbed from so many sources, including his Separatist and Alliance trainers who themselves had patchworked them—he could thematically link. All that was guaranteed at any session was the start time, the end time, and which instructor would be there.

Some of Jyn and Cassian's class times, they co-taught, or assisted one another, and their sparring was so immediately popular that they set aside another timeslot for them just to give demonstrations.

Kaytoo hadn't been tapped as an instructor. (If he wanted to be one, that would be an intriguing prospect and a conversation worth having.) He would be called upon very frequently to help with demonstrations, spot-check and supervise students' self-directed and/or group practices, and just about anything else he wanted that fulfilled his long-neglected combat progamming, as long as nobody got hurt. Which Cassian knew with certainty was also something Kay was fully capable of.



Cassian came to many of Jyn's and Revan's classes. Not as any kind of "supervisor"—now that the place was running they were all of equal rank—though he had mentioned that if Jyn ever taught her baton fighting, Cassian wanted to learn it; and if anyone was going to instruct in meditation, for which there was demand, Revan was the likeliest candidate. The Force knew neither Jyn nor Cassian were talented in anything approaching it.

—Also: batons or blunt staffs were the only kind of weapons that would be permitted inside.

It was all just magnetic to him. It… seemed to be working. For Jyn, Kay, and Cassian: skills they had been programmed with for war, seeming to give people a much-needed level—or no less valuable moment—of peace. For Revan, if Cassian's understanding of the Jedi was remotely accurate—hopefully as they'd been part of his inspiration for this—"martial arts" as a way toward peacekeeping, externally and in oneself, wouldn't be such a difficult or astonishing reconciliation.



Something Jyn had said, in suggestion or in passing, raised the question if they could add elements that weren't combat-based. He'd said to Jyn at the outset, Nobody would say going to the dojo had solved their problems, but it seemed to help. But… Jyn, Kay and Revan had skills that were applicable to some specific issues—like obstacles to formal education and job opportunities. …Beyond the underlying premise of help other kids not be abused or used. Give them a space to feel confident, powerful, and safe. Help them look for options where it may feel like they don't have any.

He'd talk to them all, see if they thought it was ridiculous, for a place like this, people like them, to incorporate things like… perhaps… Jyn teaching computer programming or technical writing; Kay, statistics or logic; Revan, robotics or ethics… anything else they would offer. It was hard for Cassian to see any of his own noncombat skills as positive, but hosting sessions for the kids to choose their own topic of discussion, and then simply moderate, couldn't be harder than trying to keep a council meeting remotely productive. (…There we go, re: Cassian's skills: playing the structure of conversation without affecting the content.)



As regulars amassed, more sessions could be added, striated for age or level of advancement. Though still relatively easy to proceed instinctively, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the room, not to exploit or defeat but to choose the matter of the day.



People still referred to Neojedha as a "dojo". Including Cassian by now, though his inclination had been to remove themselves from that term. None of their styles matched the origins or expectations of it… and if it wasn't a covery identity then Cassian didn't like doing things under a banner he wasn't going to adhere to and didn't properly understand. But their usage was apparently compatible with how the imported (…ha) term could manifest in this country; it was already their nickname; and the continuity didn't seem to disappoint. Might even feel like a restoration.

He still didn't take the original wall hangings out of the chest he'd stored them in. The students were told about them if any of them wanted to do something with them.

In their place, whoever (out of Kay, Jyn, and Revan) wanted to, had helped paint a few words on the front window and the walls, in Basic English and (no matter that they mainly aimed to serve those without the powers, protections, and visibility afforded imPorts) Aurebesh.

Out front, of course: Neojedha.

Over where the training and exercise equipment was kept: by Malbus.

Over where the floor was padded for meditation: Îm Way.

Over the residential apartment cum first aid station cum office door: Rookery.

2. Haven (closed to Kay, Revan, Jyn)

[candor1]

Of course an imPort business also had a secret identity.

Though Haven was more… a protocol.

If any of their students—or any of their friends or family, or anyone else they saw fit to tell the password—needed somewhere to regroup, catch their breath, find their feet… be hidden and/or defended.

(One didn't need a war to create such need. And this part of Maurtia Falls wasn't so removed from things Cassian had seen on Kafrene, on Jelucan, even Coruscant—on an organizational level. What could happen domestically was… literally… universal.)

The two tiny residential apartments (…compartments, really, for size) were for the staff to nap, bathe, or eat between sessions. But Jyn, Kay, Revan, and Cassian all had other homes to go back to. So those rooms could become safehouses. Not long-term, they were only big enough comfortably for two people each. But perhaps long enough for the instructors to try to help.

And considering the instructors were two former child soldiers, a security droid, and a Jedi… between them, they suspected they could keep someone well defended and well-advised.

Indeed, part of a Haven invocation would include at least one of them (Kay by default) moving into Neojedha to act as security for as long as necessary.

What Cassian didn't know how to do, but Kay, Jyn, and Revan, separately or together, certainly would…

"I don't want someone to have to be here at all times," he said. "But is there a way to make Haven available all the time? For instance…" He pulled out his imPort-issue compad. "None of them have one of these. The devices they have can't access our network. But could we set up a console by the entrance that could reach one of our private channels with the right access code?" Something that could also be passed by word of mouth. Probably start with Fulcrum.

[reexamined]

Kay gives a shrug.

"Technically, I could repurpose my communication features originally intended to hone in on Imperial frequencies. If someone entered the right code, it could ping me specifically for a faster response, as long as I'm not recharging."

He just hopes it isn't something used too often. At the same time, he's probably a better bet on not being asleep, and getting here faster than the others. Oh well. It's the trade off he's accepted, since quitting his previous job.

[candor1]

"That's definitely more elegant," said Cassian. "Doesn't necessarily require you to be the one to respond, but lets you be the gatekeeper as to what's passed on to any of the rest of us." Though he'd emphasize the importance of believing. There would unfortunately be some profiling going on. "Are you all right with it?"

[reexamined]

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't alright with it." As much as he's good at predicting people, and future potential outcomes, his default is more defensive than anything, and to be more suspicious of others than trusting. So might need to learn a few examples of what to look for in people he can trust, rather than let him gatekeep right out the getgo.

[candor1]

Cassian gave Kay a slight smile of you know me. Cassian always insisted on full articulation of consent. Especially from those made used to having their cooperation taken for granted as long as they didn't dissent.

Some things could go unsaid and be understood, though… like that trust issue. His smile turned… grimmer, somehow. "I guess we should do some roleplaying. So you can understand what to look for."

Despite his own argument that he'd never had a domestic life himself, Cassian's uncommonly broad experience and skills at analyzing and recreating the experiences of others (and yes applicability of some of his own) meant he was very qualified to give Kay accurate simulations. His attitude toward this particular branch of his travels, embeddings, and education was quite obvious.

The sort of subject he'd preferred to keep Kay away from in the past. Now, though it could be—

there are more ways to fight, and doesn't have to be galactic overhaul in order to be—

worth it.

[reexamined]

Kay huffs with a roll of his photoreceptors, but yeah, I knows, "I fully consent to allowing myself to being pinged by our doorbell."

At this, though, Kay pauses. Maybe Cassian can accurately pretend to roleplay this, but Kay actually has very little data on observing civilians who needed shelter. It's not something he's ever had to encounter one-on-one, or had any relevance to the missions.

This could go badly.

"Alright."

3. The bridge (closed to Jyn Erso)

[candor1]

Cassian had talked to Jyn about a habitable back room with hopes of later expansion, for a second, into the vacant space next door. Less than a week after opening, the landlord of the block surprised Cassian with a grant to some of that footage. The siblings who owned the shop on the other side had been spreading the word and the whole community were so happy to have the dojo reopen—the neighborhood had changed so much without it—they'd collected the money as an opening gift. So between finishing the place for opening and then launching into the next phase of the work, mostly singlehanded (unless/except when Kay or Jyn or any other volunteer swung by), Cassian hadn't been returning to De Chima almost at all.

He had no intent of moving out of 003, nor of suggesting Kay or Jyn do so. He liked their house, he liked Veronica, he liked the woods.

But it was already very useful, having one finished living quarters—a workstation, also a small basic 'fresher, food appliances, and a bed—for him to use during the conversion; and for any of them to use once the place was up and running, not to have to Port to another state to take a shower or a rest between classes, or overnight. The idea that he, Jyn, and Kay could all stay there at once if they wanted, in their own separate spaces, was reassuring.

And it made the most sense for them to have separate spaces, for their own wellbeing and possible protection, and so the dojo apartments could be turned into a shelter for anyone else as needed. If one of their students or any of their friends or family ever needed somewhere safe to hide, find their feet, or catch their breath.

…There wasn't a specific deadline to finish that back room. It wouldn't interfere with the rest of the facility. It was mainly that Cassian needed something to throw himself into, beyond the operational hours of the dojo itself, to get his head back on.

He hadn't kept a secret, from Jyn or Kay, what had happened to him and Han. They may not have needed him to find a way to articulate, beyond the level at which he'd been able, why it had shaken him worse than far more serious fights had done in the past. They probably understood it at least as well as he did, and better because they were less likely to muddy the issue with the kind of self-recrimination Cassian excelled at.

The fact remained that it had been a month and he was still having trouble meeting eyes or being touched. …Even by Jyn. Except when she held him when he broke into tremors in the night and tried to help him get back to sleep.

He hadn't been avoiding her by staying in Maurtia Falls.

…Though the dojo had been up and running for two weeks, now, going extremely well. And he was still spending more nights there than in De Chima. —And not actually sleeping. (If he was sleeping, he'd definitely be doing so with Jyn.) Just still, trying to sublimate, working on that other room.

He doesn't seem to be around, though, when Jyn comes into the finished quarters—theirs… with the once-joked though still hovering possible nickname of the Rookery, just as the exercise and combat equipped area was by Malbus and the meditation area was Îm Way.

(Though when he'd told her he'd soundproofed it all—rationale: Haven—he may not have specified that included the wall between the sleeping area of the apartment and the fresher. So she wouldn't hear if the shower was on.)

[kestreldawn]

Patience had always been something with which she struggled. It wasn't that she didn't respect other people's spaces, or paces, or whatever it might be - it was always more that her mind was often working a double or triple the speed of most other people in certain capacities - such as, solving puzzles, forging shipping codes and scandocs, running through rote equations as a means of meditation, etc. But she knows the value of the virtue. Knows its importance. And she's seemed to have tapped into a much larger reserve than she ever thought possible since arriving in De Chima.

When Cassian had returned from his night out with Han, shaking and unable to look her in the eye, her mind hadn't wandered to thoughts of infidelity (not like they had an official "title" of any kind, nor did they really need one to understand what they had with each other) or anything of the sort. She knew from the thousand-yard-stare that it had been something war-related, something that had dragged him back into the role and life he'd been trying so desperately to leave behind. She hadn't said much while he hugged himself and went statuesque on the staircase (an alarming sight, to say the least), muttering things that didn't quite make sense or weren't quite words. He spoke to himself in Yaval more than Basic, and it was another clue that told Jyn that, whatever had happened, it'd hit him in his core.

So, she'd tapped into her patience. Her love. She held him until he'd told her what had happened. She kept her twitching fingers at her sides in the moments that touch was too much, too intimate, too intense. She tucked her burning lips underneath her teeth whenever he subtly drew himself away from her. And when she woke in the middle of the night - sometimes because of natural sleeping rhythms, other times because of her own nightmares - and reached her arm out to feel the cold side of his bed, she grabbed his pillow and curled her body around it - letting the lingering scent of him fill her and remind her: patience.

The dojo was greater than anything she could've anticipated - not only for the hard work and labor that Cassian had put into it, but for the joyous reception of the community. She'd spent the weeks since its opening breezing through her work (now not as focused on detracting from her average time as she was hovering around 30 minutes) and heading over almost immediately afterwards. Sometimes to observe, other times to teach, other times still to coordinate and organize. She hadn't really had much of a chance to investigate the backroom Cassian had mentioned, but on this particular day, she had the extra time and the spark of curiosity.

She slips in, shutting the door behind her, and meanders around its perimeter slowly - hands clasped behind her back like an officer inspecting the barracks, purpose in her steps - though the softness and warmth on her face would set her apart from any likeness of any sort of high-ranking official. She can't help but admire the hard work he's put into it; it's truly quite an extraordinary space. She eventually finds her way over towards the bed, perching herself down on the edge of it, before allowing herself to flop back with a huff of air.

[candor1]

The fresher door opened, releasing a puff of steam—which was interesting: he usually kept the water too cold, now that he didn't have to—and Cassian emerged into the apartment proper. Still very damp, stark naked, and, one of the rarest of rare instances, totally blind to his surroundings (and Jyn's presence) from being in the middle of towelling off his hair.

[kestreldawn]

In the time between Jyn collapsing down on the bed and Cassian (unbeknownst to Jyn) emerging from the shower, she must've dozed off and floated in the strange purgatory between fully restorative sleep and the waking world. The sound of the fresher door stirs her slightly, eyes still sticking together until she manages to groggily and lethargically peel them apart in response to the noise she can't quite place. She begins to yawn and rub at one of her eyes when she scans her surroundings, subconsciously searching for whatever the noise had been that had woken her, when she's greeted with the .. startling (but not at all unwelcome) sight of Cassian's naked form (which she knows in the fraction of a second from sight alone).

"It's a good thing I'm not prone to getting flustered," she murmurs lightheartedly, voice still thick and scratchy with lingering sleep.

[candor1]

He's abruptly in a more defensible stance, towel in hand as if he could weaponize it. (…and… yeah, he could.)

Though he relaxes, subtly but sheepishly, at the sight of her. …For all his distance has, as damnably usual, not been about her, it's probably nice to see (and it's nice for him to feel) an easy warm smile on his face at seeing her.

"Did you remember the key code, or break in?" he asked, with gentle teasing. In honor of her being more than capable of both. Wrapping the towel unhurriedly around his waist as he crossed toward her.

Though the keycode was a long and alien (Terran-specific) one: b o d h i s a t t v a

[kestreldawn]

Jyn's body tenses in immediate reflex at his shift to defense. She isn't afraid of him hurting or attacking her - not by any stretch of the imagination - but the ingrained movement towards self-protection is a very hard thing to shatter. Almost as quickly, whatever tightness of muscle that might've lurked evaporates, rendering her into a puddle as soft as the light in her eyes at the sight of him. She has no preference as to whether he's clothed or not, so long as it's him and it's her in the same room.

Of course, she isn't going to be hurrying and urging him to toss on his clothes, either.

"Mm, thought about the latter," she replies, matching his teasing, but with a hint of seriousness in her voice. "Mostly to see how possible it would be and if it would be a security concern down the line. But since it's my first time to the flat," she explains as she flips onto her side and props herself up on a bent elbow, "I thought I should enter properly."

4. Outside (OTA)

[candor1]

At any point throughout the weeks before and after opening. Random hours. Cassian will be in and around Neojedha—out front, in the back alley, on the fire escape, on the roof… doing security and maintenance checks, upgrading or repairing something, talking to the neighboring shopkeepers, just stretching his legs…

The fire escape

[stretchy_girl]

Time had passed since Gemini's first encounter with Cassian Andor, and while other tasks for the Constellation had taken up her time she had certainly not forgotten him. Keeping her ear to the ground as she did, it hadn't taken Gemini long to hear about the opening of a dojo, and a combination of late-night boredom and continuing curiosity had made her decide to take a look for herself to see what tall dark and handsome was up to.

So it was that a small black bat flitted through the close night air, winging it's way towards a particular rooftop, chiropteric eyes narrowing as it noticed the figure on the fire escape. Seeing an opportunity, the bat descended, flapping past the man's head and landing in the shadows, a faint oddly viscous sound then followed by a long silence.

"Isn't it a little late to be out checking the fire escape?" The voice came from the shadowy figure one story up, the voice clearly female to go with the figure, although how she'd gotten there was anyone's guess.

[candor1]

Cassian always went to liminal spaces. Though Neojedha was proving to be one of the rare enclosed, definitive sites he could spend a lot of time in without feeling stifled, he still wound up in the boundaries on breaks.

He'd come out to close his eyes and feel the wind on his face, as he used to climbing up the Massassi Temple on Yavin 4. The gridwork of the escape itself was very good for grabbing to stretch out his shoulders and neck.

He reflexively ducked to avoid the bat; wasn't bothered by it… until the impression he got so strongly was that the bat had directly turned into the human now above him. And he had to shake the fanciful thought away.

"Sorry if I bothered you," he answered, looking up. He'd thought the apartments directly above Neojedha were vacant. (Though he'd soundproofed the whole place in the event that changed.) She may have climbed down or over from another. "I won't stay out long."

[stretchy_girl]

Moving through the shadows almost as if one with them, Gemini moved languidly to the fire escape's guard rail and swung her legs over it and sat herself down on the edge feet dangling into nothingness, seemingly uncaring about the several story drop.

"Won't you?" She commented softly, a glint of teeth showing what might be an amused smile, black hair as dark as the surrounding shadows hiding the rest of her face from his view.

[candor1]

He raised an eyebrow. Okay… instant tone shift. He leans back slightly on the rail, to what looks like a more relaxed posture but is actually a preparation for any number of moves. "Can I help you with something?"

[stretchy_girl]

"Not necessarily." She shrugs, glancing at Cassian before turning her attention to the night sky, her body language even more languid than his.

"Although I am curious what you're up to here."

5. NPC neighbors

[candor1]

The grocery store next to Neojedha is owned by 이은지 / Lee Eun-ji and 이정희 / Lee Jeong-Hui, an elderly (by their own standards) sister and brother. They like their neighbors, say hi to all of them whenever they see him, sometimes donate soft drinks or snacks for their classes; but can't be bothered or are too amused to call them by their real names. Eun-ji calls them "Cash, Jane, Reagan, and Bucket"; Jeong-Hui calls them "Andy, Joan, Ravi, and Robocop".

NOTE*

[kestreldawn]

*I, May, am Korean American. This set up was discussed with Cassian's writer in a brainstorming session on Plurk. I'm drawing on my own knowledge of Korean culture and its people to give voice to 이은지 (who, in my head, is more of an ahjumma than a halmoni) and her brother, 이정희 (also more of an ahjussi than a haraboji). Given that I've determined 이은지 to be more of an ahjumma, she'll be written as such - lovingly, with affection, with admiration and respect - with some of the lovable traits that make ahjummas who they are. She will feed you all of the food and then tell you you're getting fat. She does daily exercises in the park with her ahjumma friends and calisthenics in the morning. She is far too gossipy and judge-y on everyone's life choices but her own. She is not a woman you want to mess with.

[kestreldawn]

"Morning, Ms. Lee. Mr. Lee," Jyn says as she arrives at Neojedha, holding a hand up in greeting. Jeong-Hui is busy sweeping the sidewalk outside of their tiny shop, while Eun-Ji is simply observing - and judging - the stragglers that happen to pass by. It's still morning, so there aren't all that many wandering the streets at this hour - which is only fuel for Eun-Ji's scorn of those who are probably just on their way to work.

"Oh, Jane!" Eun-Ji exclaims.

"Joan," Jeong-Hui corrects.

"Aishhh, it's Jane."

"Is it Joan or Jane?" Jeong-Hui asks, turning towards Jyn. This is a conversation she's had many, many times over - but no matter how often she tells them that it's neither Jane nor Joan but Jyn instead, it never seems to stick.

"It's .. neither, Mr. Lee." The two siblings look shocked. "It's Jyn. J-Y-N."

"Right, that's what I said. Jane," Eun-Ji declares triumphantly. Her brother decides the argument isn't worth it, shoving away the argument with a push of his hands in the air as he and his broom head back inside of the store. Eun-Ji wanders over a bit closer to where Jyn is standing. It's a good thing she isn't scheduled to teach anything for another hour, she thinks; otherwise, she'd never make it in time.

"Are you wearing sunscreen, Jane?"

".. No, Ms. Lee. I'm not. Like I've told you before, I'm not entirely sure what that is." Eun-Ji tsks Jyn's answer away, but fails to explain what sunscreen is. Again.

"Aigoo! You have such nice skin! You have to protect it! You should wear visor, like I have," she says, tapping the translucent, purple brim sticking out of her curly hair, somewhere above her forehead. "Otherwise, you'll wrinkle and look very old."

"All right, Ms. Lee," Jyn says, defaulting to the same voice and type of placating response she'd give her parents when she was a kid.

"How old are you, Jane?"

"It's Jyn. And I'm, uh - 22? Or so."

"Ah! You should be getting married soon! 25 is old for marriage! You have to be having babies! Having family!"

"Uh, I don't think that--"

"You don't want to be old maid! Living with cats and empty house!"

".. Okay, Ms. Lee. I'll .. I'll, uh, get right on that."

"Good. Come by shop later, I'll give you visor," Eun-Ji calls over her shoulder as she waltzes her way back through the doorway of her shop, waving a hand in the air.

Jyn smiles a bit at the darkened doorway before turning back towards Neojedha with a sigh.

[candor1]

The reason Eun-Ji had pointedly raised her voice on the words marriage and babies is standing in the dojo's doorway. Cassian had heard them and come out to greet Jyn. He's now looking after Eun-Ji.

okay a tag before bed and now i must really scurry

[kestreldawn]

Jyn had been so focused on the Jane-Joan-Jyn conversation and the need to placate this overwhelmingly motherly figure who'd sort of just inserted herself into Jyn's life (she had wondered on numerous occasions if these were the sorts of conversations she'd be having with her own mother, had she lived) that she hadn't heard Cassian's exit from the dojo. The sight of him startles her for a brief second at the shock of seeing somewhere where she hadn't expected anyone, but she smiles at realizing it's him.

Until .. she isn't. Because of the expression on his face.

"Ms. Lee is going to give me one of her visors," she says, trying to stay light-hearted. "And won't tell me what sunscreen is for some reason, though she consistently insists I wear it."

[candor1]

Cassian shifted his eyes to Jyn and slightly smiled. Shutting away the cavernous gaze.

"She doesn't talk to me that way," he said. "Why, do you think… age difference, gender construct, or she likes you more?"