Jyn Erso (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nextchance) wrote2017-10-31 01:57 am
nextchance) wrote2017-10-31 01:57 am
Entry tags:
don't you ever tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash
As she really ought to have expected, things escalate quickly.
Trouble has always followed her around, after all, and maybe Jyn has always been a little incapable of staying out of it. There's no other reason why she should be out tonight, taking advantage of this twelve-hour span they're calling the Purge, in which nothing is illegal so people are doing everything that would be under other circumstances. She could have stayed inside, stayed safe — but then, she doubts anywhere is really safe tonight, and that's a feeling she knows well. Nowhere ever has been, not for her. She'd known the same would apply to Darrow eventually, its facsimile of peace nothing that could ever have held up. In that way, this is a bizarre sort of comfort. She's been tense for days, waiting for this, and after a lifetime spent looking over her shoulder, it feels right to be doing so again. In its own way, this is a world at war now, and that's all she's ever known. She doesn't think she could stand it — doubts the voice in the back of her head that sounds suspiciously like Saw would let her — if she sat this out, tried to lie low.
Besides, it isn't as if she needs to go starting anything serious. At first, she just does simple, little things — slicing into the ATM that dispenses cupcakes and tossing them all into a bag, then, when that proves not to be enough of a challenge, slicing into an actual ATM. She acquires a few weapons, nicer than she could afford otherwise, half just for the sake of doing it. Once a thief, always a thief, she supposes.
The same could be said for being a soldier, and that in itself would make all of this worthwhile. The skills she spent so many years learning and honing aren't ones she can afford to let go of; she needs to keep them sharp, and this is the best opportunity to do so she's had yet. There's always something of a thrill in being underestimated, anyway. Saw taught her early how to use her size to her advantage, to seem unassuming to catch any opponents off-guard, a lesson she teaches two men on a street corner wondering why a tiny little thing like her is out on Purge night. Neither is conscious by the time she walks away, barely short of breath, her typical bun still in place.
She could stay out all night doing this, and would probably relish just about every second of it. What's different from what she's used to, though, is that she has somewhere and someone to go back to now, and there's only so much playing with fire she really wants to do with that being the case.
Perhaps ironically, Jyn is nearly back to the Bramford when a shout down an alley catches her attention through the chaos. There's a girl, younger and smaller than her, pinned against a wall and outnumbered, and that strange protective instinct that Jyn has always wanted to pretend doesn't exist and never been able to ignore kicks in. She's got another fight in her. She's taken out more 'troopers than this with nothing more than her truncheons before.
"Hey!" she yells, loud enough to get their attention, to distract them enough for the girl to get away. "Pick on someone closer to your own size, why don't you?"
They turn and bare their teeth, and Jyn realizes belatedly that they're fangs. It's entirely possible that she's underestimated this situation.
Trouble has always followed her around, after all, and maybe Jyn has always been a little incapable of staying out of it. There's no other reason why she should be out tonight, taking advantage of this twelve-hour span they're calling the Purge, in which nothing is illegal so people are doing everything that would be under other circumstances. She could have stayed inside, stayed safe — but then, she doubts anywhere is really safe tonight, and that's a feeling she knows well. Nowhere ever has been, not for her. She'd known the same would apply to Darrow eventually, its facsimile of peace nothing that could ever have held up. In that way, this is a bizarre sort of comfort. She's been tense for days, waiting for this, and after a lifetime spent looking over her shoulder, it feels right to be doing so again. In its own way, this is a world at war now, and that's all she's ever known. She doesn't think she could stand it — doubts the voice in the back of her head that sounds suspiciously like Saw would let her — if she sat this out, tried to lie low.
Besides, it isn't as if she needs to go starting anything serious. At first, she just does simple, little things — slicing into the ATM that dispenses cupcakes and tossing them all into a bag, then, when that proves not to be enough of a challenge, slicing into an actual ATM. She acquires a few weapons, nicer than she could afford otherwise, half just for the sake of doing it. Once a thief, always a thief, she supposes.
The same could be said for being a soldier, and that in itself would make all of this worthwhile. The skills she spent so many years learning and honing aren't ones she can afford to let go of; she needs to keep them sharp, and this is the best opportunity to do so she's had yet. There's always something of a thrill in being underestimated, anyway. Saw taught her early how to use her size to her advantage, to seem unassuming to catch any opponents off-guard, a lesson she teaches two men on a street corner wondering why a tiny little thing like her is out on Purge night. Neither is conscious by the time she walks away, barely short of breath, her typical bun still in place.
She could stay out all night doing this, and would probably relish just about every second of it. What's different from what she's used to, though, is that she has somewhere and someone to go back to now, and there's only so much playing with fire she really wants to do with that being the case.
Perhaps ironically, Jyn is nearly back to the Bramford when a shout down an alley catches her attention through the chaos. There's a girl, younger and smaller than her, pinned against a wall and outnumbered, and that strange protective instinct that Jyn has always wanted to pretend doesn't exist and never been able to ignore kicks in. She's got another fight in her. She's taken out more 'troopers than this with nothing more than her truncheons before.
"Hey!" she yells, loud enough to get their attention, to distract them enough for the girl to get away. "Pick on someone closer to your own size, why don't you?"
They turn and bare their teeth, and Jyn realizes belatedly that they're fangs. It's entirely possible that she's underestimated this situation.