Dutch Velders (godutch) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-06-15 23:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | dutch velders, kanan jarrus |
Who: Dutch Velders and Kanan Jarrus
What: Dutch wants to show off her new ride and winds up hacking someone as a favor for Kanan
Where: Outside/inside Kanan’s place
When: June 1st, around 6PM
Warnings: none
Status: Complete When Posted
The bread truck had been a welcome surprise after Dutch had been screwed over once again in her Dreams. She had fond memories of that vehicle. In the Dreams it was her friends’ chosen method of transportation. They’d stolen it one night when they were all trapped and outnumbered by Strigoi and used it to make their escape. From that moment on, it was as much a part of their group as any of them. Later on Vasiliy had altered it, made it utterly vampire-proof, but it seemed that the truck had come to Dutch from an earlier point in time as it had none of the alterations and it was full of fresh loaves of bread.
Naturally, the first person she wanted to tell about her shiny new ride was Kanan, so she pulled up to the curb outside of his place and parked. As she walked up to his door she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. A bread delivery truck isn’t the most badass vehicle a person can get, obviously, but given everything Dutch had been through in that truck, in her mind, it was the most badass thing on wheels on the planet. Dutch knocked on Kanan’s door and waited, rocking back and forth on her heels excitedly. She couldn’t wait to share the news.
It had been over a month since he’d been jumped in the front yard and he was finally starting to feel more like himself. More or less. He was still very much on edge. He and Katou - well, more Katou, really - had made it clear that fucking with them was a good way to end up dead, or insane, however, Kanan didn’t think the Old Man would be satisfied just leaving them be. He was expecting the other shoe to drop at any second; another group of hitmen sent special to take him and his protege out of this life for good.
As a result Kanan had been casting weary looks out the windows of his new home every time he happened by one. His senses on high alert, hell he even felt as though his connection with the Force was more sensitive than it had been. It had tried to warn him about the attack just before it happened and by hell he was going to listen to it next time.
Every unfamiliar car that went through the neighborhood Kanan watched with suspicion, half expecting it to pull up to their front yard and a fucking swarm of the Old Man’s best and brightest to come tumbling out with intent to not only burn the house down, but himself and Katou with it.
He did not expect, however, to look out the window that evening and see a delivery truck. A bread delivery truck and with Dutch, of all people, behind the wheel.
He answered the door on her first knock. “Well, hello there,” he greeted her with a smile and a quick kiss to the cheek. His eyes passed towards Dutch’s new vehicle. It was one thing to hear her talk about it on the network. It was something else entirely to actually see it. “You really got a bread delivery truck. I’ll be damned.”
Dutch laughed delightedly. “It’s something, isn’t it? I mean, it’s no Porsche, but it’s got a lot of memories attached to it and it feels a hell of a lot more badass than any sports car, all things considered.” She threw a grin in the direction of her new truck. “It’s outrun a lot of vampires, kept me safe. I’d say that makes it pretty great.”
Suddenly, as if a thought hit her from out of the blue, her gaze snapped back to him. Her eyes widened slightly. “Oh!” Dutch hurried to the back of the truck, using all her weight to fling open the back compartment, and pulled out one loaf of bread wrapped in paper and plastic. She then pulled the door to the back shut, just in case someone thought it wise to try and steal her newest prized possession. With quick steps she walked back to Kanan, a grin on her face. “I don’t break promises. I think all of the loaves in the back were fresh. It’s not sliced, though.” She shrugged her shoulders. Slicing the bread didn’t really seem like the worst thing in the world to do.
“What have you been up to?” She put a hand on her hip, studying his face. He looked a little tired and she couldn’t help but wonder if something was bothering him. They were both usually pretty open about their feelings, so she trusted him to tell her if something was really wrong. Dutch felt a tiny bit of worry creeping up on her. She cared about Kanan. He was one of her dearest friends.
“Fuck, it’s better than a Porsche,” Kanan said. “I’ve never heard of a Porsche coming with free bread.” He grinned at her. With everything that Dutch had gone through with her Dreams lately, it was nice to see her get something good out of them. The truck obviously meant a lot to her, and considering what she had gone through with it and her band of survivors and refugees, Kanan understood why. In fact, considering where his dreams were going, he could understand how easily it was to bond with people during times of strife, especially when those people were thrown together due to circumstances far beyond their control. That was when you really got to see to someone’s character.
He watched with a slightly raised brow as Dutch hurried back to her truck and opened the back. Curious, Kanan ventured from the front door and a few steps out onto the front walk. He didn’t go too far, seemingly unwilling to leave the house open and unguarded. His face lit up, however, when Dutch returned with a wrapped up loaf of fresh bread.
“Dream bread!” He exclaimed. “Aww, you remembered.” He took the loaf from her. It really was honest to goodness bread. It was even a little warm and squishy the way bread was supposed to be. “Come inside and I’ll slice us up some. I can tell you what I’ve been doing.”
She tossed her head back with a laugh. Honestly, she thought it was better than a Porsche, too, but it was a surprise to hear someone not from her Dreams sharing the opinion. “I don’t know if I’m a bit sad no one from my Dreams can appreciate it being here or if I’m glad I have it all to myself. I’m usually pretty good with sharing, but y’know… Cars and the like are often good to keep to yourself.”
The way he seemed hesitant to step too far away from his house didn’t go unnoticed. She suspected that it either had something to do with his attack or with some Dream bullshit that he had yet to tell her about. She knew all about Dreams being horribly upsetting. Dutch frowned a little and nodded at his invitation to come inside, then smiling. “Sure.” She’d get to the bottom of things. Only then could she actually do anything to help.
Kanan hesitated a moment. He actually could sympathize with her about not having people from his dreams to share things with. The others who Dreamed of the Star Wars universe hadn’t made an appearance in his Dreams. Not yet. Ahsoka had said she had met him at some point in the future when she was older and he was more...involved...with certain things, but Kanan had no idea when that would be, or if he would ever get to that point. As it was, he couldn’t ever see himself as a full fledged member of the rebellion. He was still looking out for himself. The only reason he was involved in what was currently happening on Gorse was because he wanted to be around Hera. The Twi’lek woman had some kind of pull on him that Kanan of this world couldn’t quite understand, but hadn’t really allowed himself to think too much on. Things were on a steady course in his Dreams and he was interested to see how Hera and her rag tag of group of fighters would fair in the end.
“You never know,” Kanan said with a shrug as he lead Dutch inside. Once inside, he closed (and locked) the door behind them. “Some one may show up one day. Then you can show off the van and how you’ve tricked it out. Might help with the whole adjustment for the other party.”
The front bay window Kanan had crashed through last month had been repaired and looked as good as new. Carolina and Katou both had done a good job of cleaning up the house and one would never had known that three weeks ago Kanan had been laying on the floor bleeding all over the place.
He lead Dutch to the kitchen where he placed the still wrapped up loaf on the counter and dug a knife out to cut up a couple of slices for the two of them. “What do you think? Should we have any jam or butter with this?”
“Well, I ran into someone from my Dreams once at a movie theater, but they weren’t a Dreamer.” Dutch gave a facial shrug. She wasn’t sure if she had been disappointed or relieved that Vasiliy hadn’t experienced the Dreams. Now that she knew that she’d broken his heart in the Dreams, though, she knew she was definitely relieved. He was such a nice guy and she wanted to spare him that emotion. “I doubt they’d be able to properly appreciate how wonderful the bread truck is.” She smiled faintly.
She walked out to the kitchen with him. “Yes to jam and butter. Let’s do this extravagantly.” Dutch winked at him and let him get out the fixings. As he worked, though, her hand found its way to his shoulder. Her expression took on a concerned quality to it and she looked him in the face. “Kanan, tell me the truth. Are you alright?”
The question seemed unnecessary. While she wouldn’t go so far as to say that she knew he wasn’t alright, she had a good feeling that he wasn’t. Still, Dutch trusted facts over her own intuition. She’d needed to ask him. Hopefully he’d be truthful with her. After all, he had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.
“You found someone from your Dreams who wasn’t a dreamer?” Kanan had never heard that before and it seemed...odd to him. On the one hand it made sense. Not everyone in Orange county was a Dreamer, after all. But on the other hand, it seemed weird that Dutch would run into someone she recognized and knew, but didn’t necessarily know her. Weird and a little cruel. Kanan wondered if that meant that Hera, Zaluna and even Skelly (perish the thought) existed in this world too...and if so...where were they?
Dutch’s hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts and he paused mid slice through the loaf. The muscle under her hand was tight and riddled with knots the size of Dutch’s fist. He could lie to her, tell her everything was fine, that he was fine. It would have been easier than talking about what he was really thinking. However, Dutch didn’t deserve to be lied too and besides, she’d easily be able to call him out on any bullsht he tried to pull.
Kanan let out a breath. “Not really,” he admitted. “It’s been over a month and I’m still jumpy as fuck. The Old Man hasn’t retaliated. Janus said he’d take care of it, but I hate not knowing and I hate the idea of that smug asshole sitting fat and comfy in his pent house while I’m down here squirming.”
When he asked about her finding someone from her Dreams, Dutch simply nodded. Her friendship with the real-life Vasiliy hadn’t really solidified. She hadn’t heard from him in a month. It was kind of sad, really, that they couldn’t be as close as they were in the Dreams. One rendezvous and that had been it. Just as well, she supposed. Anything more and she would have eventually had to tell him about the Dreams and how terribly she treated him in the Dreams.
Her mouth twisted into a frown and she ran her hand up and down Kanan’s back as he spoke. “What can we do? There must be something.” Dutch was never one to lie back and let nature take its course. She’d always been a woman of action and she felt like she should have been doing something, anything right then to be easing Kanan’s mind. It was awful to see him like he was.
She paused a beat and then rephrased her question. “What can I do?” Moving just slightly, Dutch faced Kanan so that she could look him right in the face so as to better read his expression.
Kanan looked at her, carefully at first. How many people was he willing to drag into this quagmire of shit? Katou hadn’t had a choice and Kanan had wrangled in Carolina to help plan a retaliatory assault. She’d been a marine, had experience where Kanan had none. Could he pull in Dutch too? Who was next?
He met Dutch’s eyes. Aside from Janus, Kanan didn’t have many people who were willing to stick their necks out for him. He had lived his life fairly solitary for a number of reasons. However, all of that had changed after coming here, after signing up to that goddamn network. Just knowing he had people in his corner...it was...Kanan wasn’t sure just how to describe it. Was there a word that meant “less lonely”?
He nodded. “There is something you can do,” he said. “We’re planning a strike, Carolina, her brother Wash, Katou and me. I need information. The Old Man owns a hotel up in Vegas, he lives and has his offices in the penthouse. I need any and all information you can get me about the place. Building plans, security codes, anything. Can you get that?”
Just hearing that there was something she could do to help made the muscles in Dutch’s neck and shoulders relax slightly. It made her feel a great deal better. She knew she could help with information. That was her forte, after all. Anything at all that was kept on a computer was fair game and she was certain that everything Kanan had asked for could be found on a computer.
Dutch nodded. “I can get all of that, I’m sure of it.” Hacking Bass Industries had been a piece of cake and that had been because she was bored and curious. She was actually driven to do this. She had all of the motivation in the world. There was no doubt in her mind about what she could achieve.
There was a pause as she thought it over. “You have wifi here? And a printer?” Dutch gave his shoulder a squeeze. She could do her work here. Her laptop went almost everywhere she did. It was some yards away, stored out in the bread truck, and that tiny hunk of machinery was all she needed to get him every bit of information he and the others would need for their strike.
“Wifi, yes.” Kanan answered with a nod. He had used his phone to setup a hotspot for his own use when he was working. “A printer…” he shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to use one here. I think Katou might to use for school and whatever. If not, I can probably find one.”
The shoulder squeeze was appreciated. It felt good on his aching muscles and further more it gave Kanan a kind of reassurance that he needed. Just to know that he wasn’t alone. Carolina and Katou were backing him up, yes, but neither one of them were really the touchy-feely type and Kanan found he actually sort of needed the physical contact.
He turned slightly to look at her with a small tired smile. “Thanks, Dutch. I owe you.”
Dutch simply smiled at him for a moment without saying anything. She closed the space between them with a kiss on the cheek and gave him a one armed hug. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not doing this expecting anything in return.”
The mood was fairly serious, but a small smile spread across Dutch’s face. She felt good about what she was doing. If she could find every bit of available information, then that meant that Kanan and the others would go in there utterly prepared. It would give them the best possible chance. They were already well prepared. With Dutch’s help they stood an even better chance of success. It gave her more than enough motivation to succeed in hacking the Old Man.
“I’ll be right back with my laptop and then we can get this done.” Dutch gave Kanan’s hand a squeeze and turned to walk back out to the truck to retrieve her laptop. She was going to get this done.