( open )

[evasives]

WHO: cassian, helena + YOU (ota!!)
WHERE: dreamscapes and new amsterdam, maybe elsewhere
WHEN: throughout ic march & early april
WHAT: dreams! cooking! it's a catch all!
NOTES OR WARNINGS: several warnings - will note above each header for specifics but many dreams involve blood and death, please be aware of the individual warnings! starters in the comments.

( hit me up if you want anything else specific: communism @ plurk, romanitas#5368 @ discord, or pms! or wildcard me, i'm easy. )

Comments

[evasives]

I don't know. That is why I asked.

[ but he has picked up a lot of things about catra and what her life might have been like from this conversation alone. a soldier of some kind, but one who also throws rocks at strangers. ]

Have you ever planned a coup before?

[purrsistence]

[ Catra is oddly full of contradictions. A messy knot that makes less sense the more you get to know her. A creature who has learned how to survive in a system that runs contrary to her nature. This Catra, the Catra who talks about her home, is so very different to the Catra who allows herself to let loose and forget her problems while she runs around the streets of Meadowlark making trouble for others for a laugh.

The only thing they share in common is that both of them are deeply, deeply angry at the world. ]

How do you think I got to my current position?

No one just gives up their power in the Horde. If you sit around just waiting to be promoted, hoping someone will notice you, you'll be waiting for a long time.

Everyone has a weak point. You just have to find out where to apply pressure.

[evasives]

[ he is starting to wonder about the horde, and just what kind of system it is. their goals, their methods. it sounds very standard military, but far more ambitious than the general rebellion - while there are those who definitely want to be to the top, cassian knows so many of them are drawn in simply because they want to fight the empire. the horde feels more like an attack force. ]

I find there are very few people who give up power once they have it.

And people who do the work out in the field often command more loyalty than those who defer from afar. Sounds like you know how to use that to your advantage.

[purrsistence]

[ Catra's fists clench ever so slightly as she rests them on the table, looking away. ]

... No. That approach won't work. ... I've never been very well-liked.

[ Gee, wonder why. ]

... But I get things done. I know the Rebellion better than anyone. We've won more ground since I took command than we've done in years. ... That has to count for something.

[evasives]

[ his attention is instantly drawn to the word rebellion, something so intrinsic to his whole existence. he doesn't react to it, not physically or visibly, but it does start to re-frame some of what she's said to him so far. ]

I find usually the rebellions are the ones trying to gain ground.

[purrsistence]

Eh. We've been locked in a stalemate with each other for over a decade...

I mean, the last war basically decimated the adult population of Etheria, so. Y'know. Everyone kinda had to take a time out for a while.

[ Also goes a long way to explaining why Catra has any sort of position in Command despite her age. ]

[evasives]

[ it makes him wonder how many adults were lost in the clone wars. most of the older population in the rebellion all hail from the republic; boots on the ground are closer to his own age. they have been for a while. ]

So then why are you fighting this Rebellion now?

[ he is still suspect with this new information, but it doesn't mean he's gonna act like it. it's a natural follow up question! ]

[purrsistence]

They're in the way, duh.

Can't have total control of a planet if there's a group not under your control.

[evasives]

[ wow catra wtf is this imperialist garbage! ]

And why do you want that control?

[purrsistence]

Haha. What are you, new? Why does anyone want control of anything?

Power. Money. Resources. Take your pick.

[evasives]

I meant you, personally. I am well aware of generic reasons people seek to take over planets.

I find it boring to hear that fallback constantly. No real explanations, just the same words. At least it's not the law and order excuse.

[ is this goading her?? maybe a little bit. ]

[purrsistence]

Me?

Oh. Well that's easy.

I want to crush them all for my own personal self-satisfaction. I want to see the look on their faces when they realise that they can't win. The hope dying in their eyes as all their heroes fall.

[evasives]

[ listen. cassian prides himself on being a very calm, collected individual. it's necessary to being a spy! he frames conversations, carefully chooses his words, builds up different parts of himself with different people. ]

[ but catra just gets him right in the rebel. twenty years of fighting, of being a child soldier too, his instinct and basic modus operandi is FUCK IMPERIALISM. his tone is much sharper when he speaks again. ]

Then you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how rebellions work. Hope is not crushed by death. Death is a fuel - for anger, for justice.

You cannot kill hope. It will always exist, it will always come back.

[purrsistence]

Haha. Wow. Easy there. Who said we're going to kill them?

You're right-- that'd only produce a martyr. Nobody wants that.

In time, they'll all come under Horde control. Then everyone else will see. Resistance is pointless.

[ And, well, maybe she'll keep Shadow Weaver in her own special prison chamber, suffering for the rest of eternity. But Cassian doesn't need to know that. ]

[evasives]

How?

[ you got big ideas catra, but so far all he's heard is talk. ]

How will it come under control? No matter how much ground you win, someone out there will always be ready to resist. That is the whole point of these movements, even when it takes years.

If resistance was pointless, it would not keep happening, across any universe.

[purrsistence]

Everyone has a weak point. You just have to know where to push.

Once the last of the Princesses fall in line, they'll convince their subjects to do the rest.

[evasives]

You are still just talking. Why do you think they will fall in line? What are you going to do to make them? One person's weakness does not cripple a movement.

A rebellion does not exist simply because of its leaders. And if they turn around, telling their citizens to capitulate, they should never have been leaders in the first place. Those who believe in the cause are not going to stop fighting just because one person says so.

[ he literally went rogue! ]

[purrsistence]

[ Pause, then-- ]

... I can see you're having very strong feelings about this. A little too close to home, maybe?

[evasives]

[ it gives him his own pause. cassian has a lot of pent up rage, pretty much all the time, but all it takes is giving himself that brief moment to collect it again. ]

[ a little bit. ]

Oh, you really got me there. Right where it hurts. I particularly love the way you tried to turn the conversation around on me with a vaguely personal jab.

[ good thing turning conversations is in his area of expertise. ]

[purrsistence]

No, no, wait, don't tell me.

You're valiantly fighting against your own oppressive regime back home. And you don't want to believe it's futile. You desperately need to believe it isn't all for nothing.

[evasives]

I do not need to believe anything.

I already know we win. It is a fact.

[ she might be right that he did spend most of his life desperately needing to believe in the fight, otherwise what was the point of everything awful he'd done? but he knows it was worth it now. he knows the empire falls, and he knows his own martyrdom helped. ]

[purrsistence]

[ Huh ]

... So then why so hot under the collar, gramps?

[evasives]

[ because twenty out of twenty six years of his life were rebellion catra!! ]

The end of one fight is not the end of them all.

[purrsistence]

[ Catra actually laughs. ]

What, so now you're gonna join the Princess Alliance?

You're not exactly their type. But far be it from them to turn away all the help they can get!

[evasives]

[ phew, good thing he's calmed himself down! he doesn't react to her laughter. ]

No. It just means I understand the other fights, evidently far better than you.