Cassian sighed and took a step away from the engineering nodule, swinging away from the table as he looked over the small piece of tech that he had been working over. With a grumble, he started to mutter about how some tasks could sneak up on you with you noticing. He wished that he had been able to spot that this task might have taken him longer when he was about to start it. Realising that it would be fruitless for him to blame K-2SO for his oversight, he rolled out his shoulders once again before starting back in.
After a few hours, squinting at the small motherboard in front of him, he wondered at what point it had started to blur in front of him. Taking a step back from the tabletop with a loud sigh, he thought to himself that it was now time for him to call it a night. He was not likely to get through much more work before he collapsed due to exhaustion. Attempting to stifle a large yawn, Cassian shook his head once again, trying to clear some of the cobwebs from his mind. Giving it up as a bad job when he realised that he would not be of as much help for the rest of the night as he would like, he made sure to save all of his work and left the room carefully.
As he made his way back to his room, Cassian sighed and began to wonder what exactly had happened to him to make him think that it was not particularly likely that he should over-estimate his abilities. Cassian found himself wondering when the last time he had gotten a good night's sleep. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he realised that he could not easily recall. Grumbling to himself again, he muttered crossly to himself that he could not easily expect himself to be able to operate on little sleep.
When he reached his room, Cassian collapsed into the all too often empty bed and closed his eyes. He only hoped that he was ready to fall asleep, he knew how difficult it could be to sleep when his mind was whirring through some of his thoughts and business he had been attempting to conducting over the past few days. Thankfully, it did not seem as if it was about to take him much longer; he fell asleep fairly quickly, either that, or he was more tired than he had originally suspected.
WHOOSH
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spaceship, Dacia was standing in the central computer nodule tapping at the keyboard. She was frowning as she tried to remember what had happened at the multiple meetings she had attended with Potts', Hill et al. Shaking her head once again as she struggled to pick out some of the finer details, and separate out when deals had been struck. This always happened to her, she thought that she was fine, and usually, she was, but when it came to her parsing out some of the finer details.
Her fingers sped up slightly quicker, as she suddenly remembered some of the things that had been niggling at her, she remembered some more of the details that until now the finer details had escaped her. She had never found it easy to parse out and separate details from dozens of meetings that had begun to blur together in her mind. She wondered if there was anything she could do to improve her memory, maybe she should look into some mental exercises she should practise improving.
Sighing when she realised that it was not going to help her now, she closed her eyes and tried to force herself to remember that there were still some positives for her now. Namely that she had been able to force through a greater connection to the Force, small as it might be it was still something for her to cherish. She briefly smiled a smug grin when she wondered whether it was a sign of things looking up for her. It still made her chuckle when she wondered what she ever would have done if someone had ever thought to bring her attention to the fact that her burgeoning dependence on the Force would be a bad thing. To be fair though, she did not imagine that she would ever be forced away from the Force for any length of time, it was not something that she could have foreseen at any time in her past.
Noticing Jyn begin to look, Dacia made sure to stifle the grin, not wanting to face questions from her friend as she continued to revel in the feelings of find something that she had been looking for a long time. She was aware that there were still some things that Jyn had found a reason to be worried about, she did not want to rub her joy in her friend's face. It might have happened a few weeks ago, but Jyn still felt the small fluttering of relief in her chest, everytime she successfully reached out to the Force. Acknowledging that it was still a small amount of that life-affirming Force, she still found it interesting to consider that her grasp was growing bit by bit each day. At some point, she hoped that she would be ready to use the Force offensively and defensively.
Dacia hoped that the small fact that she was able to feel the Force was not indicative of someone with hostile intent coming to cause them some pain. She was well aware that it could be incredibly difficult now if she were expected to fight as she once had, especially because she was not used to using her skills in that manner. She knew at this point that both Jyn and (to a lesser extent) Cassian had been working on getting their bodies ready to start fighting again.
Unfortunately, they would probably need it if the way Dacia could feel her stomach drop into her boots at the time was any indication.
Jyn looked over at her friend and rolled her eyes; she was well aware that Dacia was more than likely thinking of the Force and her ability to reconnect with it. She knew that it was a good thing that the woman was able to reconnect with the Force, but she shared Dacia's concerns that it could whisper of something big and bad was coming for them. Jyn had heard whispers that there was something bigger on the horizon for the people of this Universe. She had read further into some of Dr Stark's warnings, and she had only felt that they had rung true.
She had been running for her life for long enough to know that it was not likely (if ever) to be a day when she could count on being able to rest. It might be intense paranoia, but Jyn was firm of the mind that if it kept her alive for a little while longer, then there was nothing negative about paranoia. As Moody was fond of saying 'it's not paranoia if they are out to get you', she found from experience that she could not easily disagree.
It might not be the life that her parents were looking for in regards to their only daughter, but as they were fond of pointing out in this universe; shit happens. Jyn would never be comfortable enough to sit and take it easy, but at least she had learned enough to be able to count on herself in times of stress. Jyn might not completely agree with all of the hard-won lessons that are growing up under the firm tutelage of Saw Guerra, but at least not she knew that she could count on herself and her instincts. He had taught her to listen to those murmurings in the back of her mind, and act upon them. They rarely (if ever) had steered her cataclysmically wrong.
Shaking her head at the woman, Jyn focussed her attention back on the screen in front of her; she was attempting to compile a report of all the things they had picked that they had managed to learn in the short space of time. Jyn knew that her actions might not make a lot of sense, but she knew that it was something she had long since practised. She had been firm of the opinion that it helped her to write things out because it would sometimes help her see the patterns that she had been missing, it could be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not it worked.
The two of them had gotten so lost it peering at the individual screens in front of them that they did not notice the passage of time. After a few hours, Jyn ended up turning away from the screen with a small groan. She realised a little too late that she had been staring with too much intensity at the screen in front of her, certainly when she realised how stiff her joints had become during her study. Rolling her shoulders, she groaned when she thought she could detect the sounds of clicking and creaking coming from her joints.
Looking over at Dacia, she realised that the woman had long since left the tiny room behind. Thinking to herself, she wondered at what point her friend had left her behind; she wondered whether or not it would be in bad taste for her to smirk. She had wondered when Dacia had decided that it would be the better part of valour for her to get a good night's sleep. Jyn had long since recognised that her friend could cherish sleep over all else when it came to it, the only time that Jyn could remember seeing her friend not putting sleep first had not been pretty.
Jyn still shuddered to remember what Dacia had been like when she was going through university. She wondered how many college students had a proclivity to turn into raging homicidal monsters, because it could not just be Dacia, right? Jyn was not even in the mood to think about the number of people that were going in and shooting up schools; she did not even think that she had that amount of energy to burn through.
Sighing, she decided that for now at least it would make more sense for her to go to bed. After all, if it was not good enough for Dacia, it was good enough for her. Stifling a yawn behind her hand, Jyn flicked the computer she was standing at into sleep mode and left the room. It was time for her to get a good nights' sleep, maybe she would see even more patterns with a good nights' rest under her belt.
WHOOSH
Dacia sighed and straightened out her limbs; she felt like now she would be able to perform more tasks successfully. It would not be incredibly earth-shattering for her to admit that if she did not get a good night's sleep consistently, then she could become a bit of an angry bear. She still remembered some of the eye rolls she attracted from both Cassian and Jyn when finals had rolled around when she was going through Culver. Making her way through the corridors and back into the central control nodule, Dacia prepared to carry out more of her duties. Knowing that until Jyn got up in a few hours time, she would no doubt have the central computer nodule to herself unless Cassian came up to join her.
It would seem like she would not be destined to get a lot of time to herself, at least not she thought when Cassian followed her in not long after. She looked over at the man, sighing when she saw that the man had on a face like thunder. A good nights' sleep could not cure all ills!
"What is wrong Cassian?" Dacia heard herself asking.
"The repair work I was doing? You know that I said that a part of it looked as if it was taking me longer than I had anticipated. I also got it into my head that I could take work on some of the other stuff, that had annoyed me, some of the stuff that did not seem as urgent. I am glad though that I was able to look at some of the stuff because it turned out to be more urgent that I had initially thought, I am glad that I was able to get it done." Cassian started to ramble.
"Okay, whoa breathe, have you got any more of it sorted out now?" Dacia cut in with a smirk.
"Yeah, for now, we should be good, but there were some things that I wanted to take a closer look at. As I said, I am glad that I did, some of it was more urgent than I had initially thought. Some of it has me spooked, and I would not risk undertaking any tales of derring-do. Heck screw that, I would not even risk a simple little milk run in this rig while it is not completely up to scratch." Cassian tried to prevaricate.
"Okay, that is fine, will it be ready soon?" Dacia asked with a frown.
"It should be, but I am sure that I am reasonably near the end of it, or at least closer than I had been before. I will need some extra time to finalise the fabrication process, but for now, I have got it to a point where I can be confident we are not going to go out in a great big blaze of glory." Cassian muttered.
"Okay, that is good, we will need to get the prisoners away soon, do you think that the spaceship will be able to handle it? Can we work with the best of what we have or do we still have more to worry about?" Dacia nodded.
"Give me a couple of weeks; I do not want to travel anyway until I can know for damn sure that it is completely safe for us. My best conservative guess though? It could take me anywhere between two weeks and a month, but it could take us a lot longer, at the moment I am working with what I have. If I still access some of the things from our home Universe, then it could go by a lot quicker." Dacia reminded the woman.
"If wishes were kisses though right? I am guessing that it does not help matters that you have to work with the best of what we can salvage here. Any work you can do here, I am guessing is not going to be completely up to scratch. Look, do not let it get to you, because I know that we are asking so much of you, but I know that you will be able to do it okay? I know that you do not like the smaltzy talk, but both Jyn and I? We trust in you, to do the best damn work that you can with all that you have to hand, you always do." Dacia smiled, lightly telling the man.
Dacia watched as the man nodded as if he was not sure what the woman was attempting to get towards. She smiled gently at the man, knowing that whatever thoughts that the man was facing, it would be better for them all. Dacia took a small drink of the water at her side, while she watched the man tried to make up his mind about how he wanted to approach Dacia's words. She knew that Cassian lost himself in his head from time to time, but she also knew that it was simply better to let the man work things out on his own, under his own steam.
Strange but sometimes Cassian in a bad mood could easily suck any good mood out of the immediate atmosphere. It could get so tiring to deal with, and Dacia honestly did not think that she had any energy to deal with that particular minefield today. If she had to remain quiet watching the man until he concluded his thoughts, then so be it, would it not be the better part of valour if she allowed the man the time and space to explore his thoughts.
He had also had problems with his self-esteem, to the point where it could worry Dacia from time to time. She still found it to be surprising that the man did not see his strengths, sure he might have improved, but Dacia was still not at a point when she felt like she could be confident in the man's sense of self. She might not fully understand why the man did not believe himself to be as brilliant as his friends told him, but it was something to work on. Goodness knows that both Dacia and Jyn had resolved to work with the man to improve his self-esteem, it was slow to yield any fruit, but that only meant it was all the sweeter.
"Right now, you can heap all the praise on me that you want, but it is not going to make it easier for me to work through some of the things that I feel I need to focus on. For now, I feel like you need to remember that I am doing all I can, please do not hurry me along, not while I am still trying to focus. I need to work out how I can get some of the parts that I need before I can get distracted by whatever scheme you two have worked up." Cassian chided, a faint blush showing across his chest.
Dacia lifted the mug of water to her face, hoping to hide the small smirk she was so sure was currently sitting there. It might be a combination of mildly amusing and slightly upsetting to her that she could still frazzle Cassian. She knew that with the help of Jyn the two of them would have to work even harder to make the man more open to see his strengths. It would probably worry Dacia every more if she did not think that the man had a grasp on his weaknesses or at least a better grasp of his self-esteem issues than he had.
Lowering the mug again when she was sure that she had her amusement firmly pushed below the surface. Dacia looked over at the man, attempting to get his emotions back under his control, she thought that it might seem ridiculous that the man fell back into old habits when he became stressed or tired. Dacia wondered if it was possible that the man had not filled up the growing gulf that was his sleeping deficit. Again, she considered that it was not always simply one night's sleep that could work wonders but rather a series of them.
Shaking her head out once again, she peered at the man and wondered what point she should begin to attack next. Sighing, when she realised that there were too many things that she could reasonably begin to focus on, she opted to start with a simple one.
"Okay, I do not want to put you under more pressure than I have any right to, know that both Jyn and I trust you to do the best damn work you can. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Not, yet, if you can keep looking for whatever it was that piqued your interest, the Force thing I mean. I do not need to point out how much I want to avoid being taken by surprise. For, now I do not think that we are ready, on a personal level at least to run a mission against people who have similar if not identical abilities to us any time soon. I fear that we may have softened in our training, sure it became a little awkward to deal with the likes of Designation: Black Widow or Designation: (Former) Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier. The rest of them might have just been coming back from a sedative and therefore could not pose as much a challenge, what I am trying to say is that I fear we may have taken that for granted. When we took it for granted, we let our training slowly begin to slacken, because we had all of the beneficial elements and we did not have to work on improving those muscles." Cassian started before turning away embarrassed by his words.
"You are unusually verbose today, but what can we do? We can not simply launch ourselves back into full fighting ability; something tells me that would not end well." Dacia teased with a smile.
"As you said we might not be able to immediately launch ourselves back into how we used to train, to use an analogy you can not immediately go from back surgery to weightlifting in the Olympic Games. Just as we can not expect to be able to have those skills still ready to be used as strong as they once were. We should continue to work our way up to being able to use those skills." Cassian shrugged.
Dacia nodded briefly at the man, before looking back at the computer screen in front of her and taping through a few more of the features. Frowning at the screen in front of her, Dacia continued to look through a few more of the words in front of her. Shaking her head, she wondered what was going through her head last night when she was typing. Some of these words were to put it delicately gobbledygook when she had even used proper language, but in others, she looked like she had used a combination of differing languages. To make it even more confusing, she had not simply conformed to one set of grammatical rules, but rather for every language she had followed another set of grammatical rules.
She sighed, thinking that it was going to be a massive headache for her to untangle and for now, it looked like she would have time to untangle the mess. Dacia snorted to herself as she wondered whether there were would ever be a good time for her to work when she was exhausted.
Judging by a massive headache that she had created for herself, she was going to say that there never would be. Dacia tried to recall what it was about her life as a student that had made this work possible? Was it the massive amounts of coffee and other stimulants she had imbibed during her college days? She suspects that it was and for not she did not want to get into the middle of that coffee haze again, it did funny things to her sleeping schedule that she did not want to revisit. Goodness only knew how long it had taken Dacia to wean herself back into a proper sleeping schedule.
"Eugh, this was such a mess, I think I have used a few different languages and grammar layered into one confusing document. This is going to take me hours if not days to untangle." Dacia muttered, running a hand through her hair.
"That is typical, do you think that you will be able to sort it on your own?" Jyn laughed, having sauntered into the room.
Dacia looked over at the woman and noted that it looked as if she was clutching a coffee cup, she smiled at the woman thinking of how difficult Jyn found it function without at least one bitter cup in the morning. The good thing was that Jyn was not yet addicted to the caffeinated gods, she rather strictly cut herself off after two cups. Jyn had confided in her friend that she in no way wanted to become beholden to a beverage.
"Yeah, it might take me a while to get it untangled, I am not sure if I would be better simply starting from the beginning. It might take me too long otherwise." Dacia muttered frowning at the screen in front of her.
"Alright, go up to the library, there at least you will be surrounded by dictionaries and translation books and scrolls of languages that do not simply come from here. I will up in an hour to see if I can do anything to help you out. Is that okay?" Jyn checked, taking a delicate sip from her coffee mug as she spoke.
"Yeah, I will head up there now, I do not know to describe it to you, but I want to get this done. If nothing else, it might help me a bit better with my linguistic skills." Dacia sighed, before waving off her friends' obvious concern and leaving the room behind.
WHOOSH
Dacia looked over some of the scrolls that she had pulled down and sighed to herself, as she wondered (yet again) what she had gotten herself involved with. She was impressed that she had not managed to stuff up any individual languages and to bar the tiny, little grammatical errors, the account could make a lot of sense. As she dug further into it though, she wondered why some of the threads did not seem to make a lot of sense.
Raising an eyebrow briefly, when she marvelled that at one stage she had begun to write a shopping list in both Irish and Italian. It was mostly for things like milk and bread along with ice cream and tampons and a note in Irish for chocolate, which was interesting. Those were things that they needed; she decided that at the earliest opportunity she should pick up said groceries. It was better for her to wait until she was not as hungry, the stupidest thing that she could do when hungry was go grocery shopping. More often than not she ended up picking up items that she genuinely did not need, to fill a hole in her stomach that he subconsciously expected always to be there.
Chucking her pen away from her in disgust, Dacia decided to attack another section, hoping that sooner or later she would come across something that made sense. She figured that she needed some more context to try and unravel some more of the words she had previously typed in. Dacia found herself amused at her actions, she did not want to be amused, not in the slightest, but she found that she did not have the energy to start laughing.
If she were to start laughing, it would probably be the maniacal kind of laughter that would be indicative of her being a supervillain. If nothing else, Dacia wanted to avoid that particular downfall; she would never hear the end of it from either Cassian or Jyn. The three of them were close enough to wind each other up if they started to slip up at any point.
Clambering to her feet, Dacia wondered if it was at all likely that a short stretch of her limbs would result in her being able to think of and see new concepts. Dacia could recognise that it was not as if the work was exceptionally difficult, just that it was more time consuming and seemed never-ending. She knew that in any other case she would not cause so much of a stink about the issue being so time-consuming, now that she knew that she needed to get this recorded quickly, she was firing on all cylinders.
Leaving the small library nook behind her, she needed to go to the toilet; she could always use the opportunity to stretch her legs. Dacia thought that usually any amount of exercise could shake a few ideas loose. It had worked for her in the past, and hopefully, now it would work again. Making her way to the living quarters, Dacia slipped into her bedroom and slipped into the small bathroom.
It was times like this when she was unbelievably glad that they had thought to put in separate bathrooms. Goodness knows, how easily Cassian could find it 'to destroy a toilet', quite frankly it was easier to let him deal with the stink rather than allowing both Jyn and Dacia to deal with the aftermath.
They might love the guy, but goodness knows how much Cassian loved his stinky goat's cheeses.
The girls both felt as if some lines really should not cross. Not if they wanted to remain friends. Which they did, just that sometimes they felt as if they knew too much about their friend's bowel movements.
Once Dacia had emptied her bowels and was making her way back to the library nook, she felt as if ideas had been shaken loose. Hopefully, now she would be able to get on with her work and speed up the translation work.
Sitting at the desk again, she leaned forward and grabbed a pen again and started to chew her lips again as she read through the papers again. Looking through the file, she thanked her earlier thoughts for making her separate out the paragraphs in front of her. Leaning over the desk, Dacia hummed to herself as she began to untangle the threads that were directly in front of her. She looked over the notes in front of her and smiled as the words began to make some semblance of sense to her.
The words were finally starting to make some sense; it would seem that Dacia had been right, things did look as if they were about to begin making sense, maybe a good poop could make everything make sense again! Even if she was attempting to unravel something that she had messed up in the first place.
Letting out a small smile, the woman felt a feeling like satisfaction curling low in her belly. Not one due to carnal actions, but when she was able to make sense of some of the things she was learning. Quite frankly that had been more instances of languages than she would have expected to be able to use.