what's left to protect [personal prompts + OTA]

[candor1]

WHO: Cassian, Veronica, Kay, Jyn, and YOU!
WHERE: De Chima [closed] + Maurtia Falls [OTA]
WHEN: Over a week, in this order for Cassian, but whenever's best for you!
WHAT: Catch-all log, and 'cause I'm me and have to have a theme, this one is: transitioning from HOPE to Haven.
WARNINGS:

1. exposition: Maurtia Falls [images + full descriptions for setting of #5]

2. De Chima 003 [closed to Veronica Sawyer]

3. De Chima 003 backyard [closed to K-2SO]

4. De Chima woods [closed to Jyn Erso]

5. Maurtia Falls, sidewalk [multithread OTA!]

Comments

1. Exposition - Maurtia Falls (not intended as prompt but if you can make it one go for it!)

[candor1]

A parent of one of the HOPE students cryptically sent him an address. Cassian followed it to a poor part of Maurtia Falls—far more Kafrene than Coruscant—and a row of mid-height buildings. The ground floors on either side were shops. Looking through the metal grate over the glass front, Cassian could see an open space: exposed beams, padded and rope-bound columns, wall-length mirrors, empty racks, grab bars, benches, a few punching bags, and light streaming in from smaller bar-grated windows at the back. Even without the sign on its door, it had obviously been vacant for some time.

The residential door between this space and the grocery store opened. A couple came out, turning to the store to unlock its grate. They looked over at him warily. Cassian took his hands out of his pockets to hang (visibly empty) at his sides. He nodded to the empty space. "What is this place?"

"That was the dojo," the woman called back.

"I don't know that word."

The man and woman looked at each other; did that kind of subtelepathic conferring that could happen between people who'd cohabited for a long time. The man came over to point through the window toward a wall hanging, inscribed in either abstract art or an alphabet Cassian didn't know. "A training center. Martial arts. Got in teens, mostly. They learned self-defense. But was also… dunno, a spiritual thing. Dojos are, what, part of temples? Next to temples? Not here, obviously, but…"

Chirrut and Baze swirl into mind. "Why is it empty?"

The woman finished pushing aside the grating, locking it into its open position. "The old sensei—teacher," she translated, "died or moved away… we're not sure, we didn't speak much. It's a shame, though, we liked having it next door. Made us feel safer too. Brought some business. And just… I don't know. Was good for people."

The man nodded agreement, joining her to help move some of the sidewalk displays out from where they'd been behind the grating. "A lot of local kids used to come here."

"Was nice," said the woman; "helped, I think, to have someplace for them that wasn't part of the… trap."

Cassian thought about Kafrene. About Jelucan. About Maurtia Falls's own underside. The various ways people could get used. Who was always most vulnerable.

He glanced back through the window. Got the momentary sensation he'd had discovering a deactivated KX droid in lockdown. "Who owns this building?"

"Same landlord as ours," said the man, getting an encouraging look from the woman. "You want the number?"