closed; hello neighbor;

[firstrebel]

Who: Hera and Conner
What: Hera is a little overwhelmed and needs some assistance. Luckily she has a very helpful teenage neighbor.
When: Today??? sure!
Where: Genessia starter housing.
Warnings: Possibly some chat about angst, loss, and/or pregnancy.

Hera has had a very long day. She's always tired, and she has no appetite - the very idea of food has been making her stomach churn, though she's been doing her best to eat something every day. If not for her sake, then the baby's. She had a follow-up at the hospital, and now has an ultrasound photo tucked into an inner pocket, which is nice, though a bit dangerous, given she doesn't really want the information getting around.

And then she had to spend all afternoon dealing with a teenaged Cassian Andor, because Kaytoo doesn't really know how to handle that, and all the moodiness that comes with being a sullen, rebellious teen. Nothing like the cool, calm, and collected Cassian she'd spoken with days ago. In some ways, it makes her feel more alone than ever, that she doesn't even have his reliability to lean on.

Her own mood has been up and down - some of it, no doubt, due to the grieving process, and all the stress she's been under. And some of it, according to Baymax, the hormones coursing through her body, making everything feel heightened and strange and even more uncomfortable than it would otherwise be.

So when she gets near the door of the small temporary lodging she's been assigned to, with several bags of groceries in her arms, and one of them promptly breaks, dropping cans of vegetables and boxes of granola bars everywhere, she has to swallow hard around the tears of frustration that immediately threaten to spill.

She opts instead for a florid curse. "Kriffing hell!"

Comments

[conner_el]

"Conner." He stops himself short of 'Conner Kent'. Probably no harm in it considering it's probably gonna mean absolutely nothing to her and she seems pretty alright either way ... but probably better to be at least a little cautious considering how many question marks there are in this whole situation.

"Also new around here."

[firstrebel]

"Nice to meet you, Conner," she says politely. "And thank you for the help, by the way."

She juggles the bags, grabbing for the key to her temporary residence.

[conner_el]

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it." Conner says, taking a step back to get out of her way. "Neighbors, newbies ... gotta stick together, right?"

[firstrebel]

"I suppose so," Hera says, waving him inside. If he's helping her, he might as well go all the way, right?

"I'm not sure everyone would have that mindset, but it's a good one to have," she adds, setting her bags down on the counter in the little one-room space. She hasn't done anything with the place, that much is obvious. Of course, it's temporary, anyway, so there wouldn't be much.

[conner_el]

"Eh, most of the people I've run into have seemed cool enough." He shrugs, following her inside after the invite. It's, y'know, a lil cramped, but walks to the other side of the counter and lays down his armful of goods.

"It's y'know, the place itself I'm a little more skeptical of." He gestures vaguely at ... everything. "Seems just a lil too nice."

[firstrebel]

"Yes," Hera says, setting protein bars aside. She's basically living on those, with some canned fruits and vegetables when she can stomach them. Rarely bothers to go to the common kitchen area.

"There are some people here, from my world," she adds after a moment. "People who've been here a while. People I know I can trust. They say this place is no more or less dangerous than a lot of places back home."

[conner_el]

"Now that," Conner says, waving a can of ... okra, apparently, in her general direction, "That, I believe."

"Though, hey, at least you got some people from home." He shrugs plopping that last can back down on the table. "That's gotta be nice."

[firstrebel]

"Yes, I'm lucky," she admits quietly. Not as lucky as she'd like to be. But she can't turn her nose up at people like Ahsoka and Cassian and Kaytoo. They've been very helpful.

"It's good to know there are people I can trust here, anyway." It relaxes her a little - enough, even, to let a stranger into her lodgings.

[conner_el]

He feels like, 'not as lucky as you'd like to be' sums up the whole situation pretty nicely. There's nothing trying to kill you -- yet -- but you're still stuck in some alternate dimension with a whole bunch of strangers.

He can't really do too much more the nod his agreement. "Yeah, still working on that. Like I said, most of the people I've run into seem pretty cool."

Present company obviously included.

[firstrebel]

"Most people so far seem all right," Hera agrees with another faint smile. "No one's tried to kill me yet, anyway."

[conner_el]

He snorts. "Yeah, that's a pretty good start." Pretty low bar for 'alright', but he can't even argue with that.

"Still, not everything's crap, right?"

[firstrebel]

Hera's smile falters and fades. "Not sure what you mean by that." Aside from the people here she can trust, which she already said.

Otherwise it's pretty crap.

[conner_el]

"You knowwww," He says, leaning in slightly and dragging out that last syllable in that infuriating little sing-song of a kid with a secret.

"When's the baby due?"

[firstrebel]

Maybe in another context his comment would be innocuous. Maybe with another person. But not here, and not with Hera.

A spike of fear goes through her, sharp and cold, and before she can even think, instinct sets in. She snatches up a can of something - the heaviest object in her reach, and flings it at him. Doesn't even look to see if it hits its mark, grabbing for the next can.

"How do you know that?" she hisses, ready to fight, ready to do anything to protect herself and her child.

[conner_el]

Okay. In hindsight maybe not the best question to ask. Better ways to make smalltalk, but getting brained with a can? Not what he was expecting.

It doesn't actually, y'know, hurt or anything - the can just bounces off his forehead with a big ol' dent in the side - but it caught him off guard enough that, instead of actually answering her question he just blurts out the first thing that pops into his head, namely: "Why?!"

Not 'why are you asking?', but 'why did you peg me between the eyes with 14.5 oz of peas? what the hell, man?'

[firstrebel]

"How. Do you. Know." Her voice isn't shrill, or panicked. It is low and deadly. Her first projectile clearly didn't hit its mark, or didn't do it effectively for whatever reason. Her second won't miss. She'll beat it out of him if she has to.

And under it all is that cold, cold fear. The little life inside her, so small and vulnerable - and her last connection to Kanan. The future they should've had together, if he hadn't been snatched from her too soon. So many people would take this, too, because she's a rebel general, because he was a Jedi. No. Not now, not ever. She'll protect the child she and Kanan made with everything she has.

[conner_el]

The backstory is lost on him, but ... yeah. He sees the ice and steel in her eyes, and it's pretty clear that he's stepped on something here - frayed on some ragged nerve that's dragged up a whole lot of hurt and worry, and ...

To be honest he feels like shit about it. Seemed innocent enough, he didn't mean to cause ... any of that.

So he slowly puts up his hands, empty palms out to show that he doesn't have anything up his sleeves.

"I can hear the heartbeat." He says slowly, carefully. "I've got like ... I can do a lot of weird things just by virtue of being me, and I just happened to pick up on it. I had no idea it was supposed to be ..." He pauses, gears in his mind turning before hazarding a guess, "a secret?"

He's lost here, that much is pretty obvious.

[firstrebel]

Maybe it's his reaction that finally calms her down. Or the intrusion of cold logic on her brain - or some combination of the two, more likely. Her rational mind catches up with her body, which has been running on instinct since his oh-so-innocent question, and she finally puts the can of beans down, albeit still wary.

So, what? He has the senses of a Jedi? How many people here do? It's worrisome, but something she'll have to talk to Cassian about, maybe. Whenever he goes back to being an adult.

"I have - enemies," she says eventually, knowing that probably sounds overdramatic but it's easier than saying I'm a General in the Rebel Alliance and I'm pretty sure there's a price on my head or whatever. It amounts to the same thing. "Any of them could show up here, at any time. People who would try to use my - condition - against me, if they knew."

So, yeah, it's a secret.

[conner_el]

A little overly dramatic, yeah, but it gets the message across.

"Okay, well ... I'm not one of them," Conner says, hands lowering slightly even if he doesn't put them down completely yet. "Seriously, I had no idea. I still don't, and I'll tell you right now, nobody's gonna find out from me."

[firstrebel]

The wind is now definitely out of her sails, and Hera finds herself needing to sit down for a moment. She puts her head in her hands, a heavy sigh escaping her.

"I'm sorry," she finally says, her voice tired. "There's a war. Back home. I've been fighting it - a long time. A lot has happened to me lately." Understatement.

[conner_el]

He's starting to get the feeling.

"Hey, it's fine," He reassures her, finally letting his hands drop. "I'm sorry for being a dumbass and sticking my nose where it doesn't belong."

He had no way of knowing, but ... yeah. Doesn't change the fact that he'd clearly way overstepped.

[firstrebel]

Hera takes a few deep breaths, letting her heartbeat slow, the adrenaline rush to begin to pass. Calm. She has to be calm. It's not good for the baby.

Then she stands up.

"You just... startled me, is all," she finally says, moving to pick up the thrown can. "I'm sorry for - um."

The can is...dented? She glances at Conner, confusion writ on her face.

[conner_el]

"Y'know how I said I can do a lot of weird things?"

Yeah. Being real hard to hurt is one of them.

[firstrebel]

Hera looks a little confused. "So, what, you're not a droid covered in synthskin?"

[conner_el]

"Nnnnnope."

He doesn't even know what synthskin is.

"Half-kryptonian," He says, then remembers that's not actually gonna mean anything to some people. "I'm just really strong, really fast, my senses are crazy, and I can fly."

Leaving some things off the list, but ...