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120_minutenTeam: Drache
Challenge: Romantik/Intimität - Wortlose Kommunikation (Für's Team)
Fandom: Andor
Charaktere: Luthen, Cassian, Melshi
Sprache: Englisch
Wörter: 1.100
Kommentar: Nicht canon-compliant reunion zwischen Cassian & Melshi :D (Weil die Show uns ja keine geben wollte!!) Mit Luthen als worried dad, äh, handler.
Is he really about to throw his best agent into such a volatile situation?
Handoff
Their contact is late.
It shouldn’t worry him as much as it does. Things happen, people are late. It happens fairly often in his profession to be honest - art collectors aren’t the most punctual of people.
But this isn’t that kind of business meeting, and it gives the thoughts in his head more time to spin. He doesn’t like what he finds there. ‘Unprofessional’ comes to mind, which is right next to ‘reckless’ in his opinion. Is he really about to throw his best agent into such a volatile situation?
He glances to his right. Cassian’s face is impassive, his posture relaxed, but ready. Only one finger tapping on the hilt of his holstered blaster gives him away. When their eyes meet, he raises one wordless eyebrow at Luthen.
“They’ll be here”, he finds himself saying. With every passing minute, he’s reconsidering whether he wants that to be true.
He has to admit it’s a decent meeting spot: a heigh-ceilinged cave just far enough (or close enough) from the nearest town, with enough exits to avoid it becoming a death trap. Still it always pays to be prudent and not hang around forever. If a patrol picks them up, not many legal reasons come to mind to explain their presence here.
Luthen is just about to call the whole thing off when the sound of approaching speeder bikes becomes audible. He watches Cassian close his hand around his blaster, his watchful eyes focused on the other end of the cave.
Three speederbikes appear from a cloud of dust and stutter to a halt. The faces of the drivers are covered by protective shawls and it takes Luthen’s eyes a moment to find the one he’s been expecting.
“You’re late”, he greets her.
“We had to ditch a patrol.” The face of a middle-aged woman appears behind the shawl, blue eyes clear and piercing. “You must be Luthen.”
“I am.”
Her eyes wander over to Cassian, who is more focused on her escort. “This your man?”
“It is.”
She eyes him critically. “I hope he can do all the things you promised.”
Luthen is relieved to see that only a small furrowing of his brows shows Cassian heard her. He’s become more professional, reliable. A valuable asset. Too valuable for this?
“He can do everything I said and more. But he’ll be the one in charge. If he says it’s too risky, he’ll call it off.”
She tilts her head. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“It is now.”
He can see the way she grinds her teeth. No longer young, but still eager, he decides. Perhaps too eager.
“That’s not going to work for me”, she says. “This group trusts me to make the decisions.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to extend some of that trust to us.”
“I’m letting a stranger into my group, that’s plenty of trust. For all I know he could be an ISB spy!”
“I’m handing over one of my best assets to you to help your cause!”
He can feel the situation slip from his grasp. He knows where he picked the wrong words, but it can’t be undone. Who knows, a small voice in his head says, maybe he wanted this situation to turn sour. Has he gotten too attached to play the cards he has? Something to consider, later.
He watches her guards grip their weapons tighter. They’re young, nervous. Exactly what he feared. The third is nestling around with one of the speeder bikes. He’s turning the ignition, but the exhaust only coughs out some weak clouds of dust.
When he glances to the side, Cassian still has his hand on the blaster, but his eyes aren’t where he expected them to be - not seizing up the two armed men, but examining the one working on the bike. Cassian, this is not the moment to think about fixing things, he chastises him quietly. Get your head in the game.
But to his surprise, he watches Cassian’s shoulders relax slowly. “Luthen, it’s alright.”
He shakes his head. “We talked about this.” They didn’t, but these things have a script, and Cassian’s veering off on it.
“Not, it’s fine, really.” To his chagrin and confusion he takes the hand off his blaster and calls out: “Hey Melshi, you gotta clear the filter out first!”
The man working on the bike immediately turns around and pulls the shawl off his face. “Keef, is that you, you son of a bantha?”
Cassian smiles, a wide, honest smile that Luthen has rarely seen him display, but that seems to suit him perfectly. The next moment, the two men are hugging and slapping each other on the back.
“Where’ve you been all this time?”, the man appearantly called Melshi asks after they’ve pulled apart. He still has one hand on Cassian’s shoulder.
“Oh, you know - around”, Cassian says with a mischievous grin. It makes him look younger, more boyish. “I see you haven’t been idle either.”
“Wait til you see the pile o’ work I got for you”, the other man says with a smile.
“Well, it can’t be any worse”, Cassian says cryptically, but Melshi seems to know what he means because they exchange an understanding look.
Luthen takes that chance to ask: “You know him?”
Cassian has the audacity to give him a shrug and an easy smile. “Yeah, I know him.”
Lithen fixes him a serious look. “How well?”
“Well enough”, Cassian says firmly. Then he gives Melshi a sidelong glance. “Although my name’s not Keef.”
“You can’t be serious”, Melshi says, but the man seems more exasperated than anything else.
Luthen fights the urge to press two fingers between his brows to deal with the oncoming headache. His eyes meet her blue ones. It makes him feel better that she looks about as unmoored as he feels.
“Well then”, he says, trying to regain control of the situation. “I guess this is settled.”
She glances over to where the two man are now crowding the speeder, appearantly fully prepared to take apart the exhaust filter right there and then. “Looks like it is. - We’ll send him back in 30 days. That should give us enough time to make use of his expertise. - Your assistance is appreciated”, she adds as an addendum. By the way it sounds, it can’t be coming easy for her.
He nods. “30 days, same time, same place.” He moves to leave, but turns around again once more against his better judgement. “If you get him killed, through carelessness or any other kind of preventable mishap, I will be very - displeased. Do we understand each other?”
“We do”, she replies. He doesn’t like the look of the small smile now playing around her lips.
He leaves the cave in big steps, trying not to dwell on the feeling that he just left something valuable behind.
Challenge: Romantik/Intimität - Wortlose Kommunikation (Für's Team)
Fandom: Andor
Charaktere: Luthen, Cassian, Melshi
Sprache: Englisch
Wörter: 1.100
Kommentar: Nicht canon-compliant reunion zwischen Cassian & Melshi :D (Weil die Show uns ja keine geben wollte!!) Mit Luthen als worried dad, äh, handler.
Is he really about to throw his best agent into such a volatile situation?
Handoff
Their contact is late.
It shouldn’t worry him as much as it does. Things happen, people are late. It happens fairly often in his profession to be honest - art collectors aren’t the most punctual of people.
But this isn’t that kind of business meeting, and it gives the thoughts in his head more time to spin. He doesn’t like what he finds there. ‘Unprofessional’ comes to mind, which is right next to ‘reckless’ in his opinion. Is he really about to throw his best agent into such a volatile situation?
He glances to his right. Cassian’s face is impassive, his posture relaxed, but ready. Only one finger tapping on the hilt of his holstered blaster gives him away. When their eyes meet, he raises one wordless eyebrow at Luthen.
“They’ll be here”, he finds himself saying. With every passing minute, he’s reconsidering whether he wants that to be true.
He has to admit it’s a decent meeting spot: a heigh-ceilinged cave just far enough (or close enough) from the nearest town, with enough exits to avoid it becoming a death trap. Still it always pays to be prudent and not hang around forever. If a patrol picks them up, not many legal reasons come to mind to explain their presence here.
Luthen is just about to call the whole thing off when the sound of approaching speeder bikes becomes audible. He watches Cassian close his hand around his blaster, his watchful eyes focused on the other end of the cave.
Three speederbikes appear from a cloud of dust and stutter to a halt. The faces of the drivers are covered by protective shawls and it takes Luthen’s eyes a moment to find the one he’s been expecting.
“You’re late”, he greets her.
“We had to ditch a patrol.” The face of a middle-aged woman appears behind the shawl, blue eyes clear and piercing. “You must be Luthen.”
“I am.”
Her eyes wander over to Cassian, who is more focused on her escort. “This your man?”
“It is.”
She eyes him critically. “I hope he can do all the things you promised.”
Luthen is relieved to see that only a small furrowing of his brows shows Cassian heard her. He’s become more professional, reliable. A valuable asset. Too valuable for this?
“He can do everything I said and more. But he’ll be the one in charge. If he says it’s too risky, he’ll call it off.”
She tilts her head. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“It is now.”
He can see the way she grinds her teeth. No longer young, but still eager, he decides. Perhaps too eager.
“That’s not going to work for me”, she says. “This group trusts me to make the decisions.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to extend some of that trust to us.”
“I’m letting a stranger into my group, that’s plenty of trust. For all I know he could be an ISB spy!”
“I’m handing over one of my best assets to you to help your cause!”
He can feel the situation slip from his grasp. He knows where he picked the wrong words, but it can’t be undone. Who knows, a small voice in his head says, maybe he wanted this situation to turn sour. Has he gotten too attached to play the cards he has? Something to consider, later.
He watches her guards grip their weapons tighter. They’re young, nervous. Exactly what he feared. The third is nestling around with one of the speeder bikes. He’s turning the ignition, but the exhaust only coughs out some weak clouds of dust.
When he glances to the side, Cassian still has his hand on the blaster, but his eyes aren’t where he expected them to be - not seizing up the two armed men, but examining the one working on the bike. Cassian, this is not the moment to think about fixing things, he chastises him quietly. Get your head in the game.
But to his surprise, he watches Cassian’s shoulders relax slowly. “Luthen, it’s alright.”
He shakes his head. “We talked about this.” They didn’t, but these things have a script, and Cassian’s veering off on it.
“Not, it’s fine, really.” To his chagrin and confusion he takes the hand off his blaster and calls out: “Hey Melshi, you gotta clear the filter out first!”
The man working on the bike immediately turns around and pulls the shawl off his face. “Keef, is that you, you son of a bantha?”
Cassian smiles, a wide, honest smile that Luthen has rarely seen him display, but that seems to suit him perfectly. The next moment, the two men are hugging and slapping each other on the back.
“Where’ve you been all this time?”, the man appearantly called Melshi asks after they’ve pulled apart. He still has one hand on Cassian’s shoulder.
“Oh, you know - around”, Cassian says with a mischievous grin. It makes him look younger, more boyish. “I see you haven’t been idle either.”
“Wait til you see the pile o’ work I got for you”, the other man says with a smile.
“Well, it can’t be any worse”, Cassian says cryptically, but Melshi seems to know what he means because they exchange an understanding look.
Luthen takes that chance to ask: “You know him?”
Cassian has the audacity to give him a shrug and an easy smile. “Yeah, I know him.”
Lithen fixes him a serious look. “How well?”
“Well enough”, Cassian says firmly. Then he gives Melshi a sidelong glance. “Although my name’s not Keef.”
“You can’t be serious”, Melshi says, but the man seems more exasperated than anything else.
Luthen fights the urge to press two fingers between his brows to deal with the oncoming headache. His eyes meet her blue ones. It makes him feel better that she looks about as unmoored as he feels.
“Well then”, he says, trying to regain control of the situation. “I guess this is settled.”
She glances over to where the two man are now crowding the speeder, appearantly fully prepared to take apart the exhaust filter right there and then. “Looks like it is. - We’ll send him back in 30 days. That should give us enough time to make use of his expertise. - Your assistance is appreciated”, she adds as an addendum. By the way it sounds, it can’t be coming easy for her.
He nods. “30 days, same time, same place.” He moves to leave, but turns around again once more against his better judgement. “If you get him killed, through carelessness or any other kind of preventable mishap, I will be very - displeased. Do we understand each other?”
“We do”, she replies. He doesn’t like the look of the small smile now playing around her lips.
He leaves the cave in big steps, trying not to dwell on the feeling that he just left something valuable behind.