[ Wanda's voice breaking the silence is a welcome thing. There's only so much of this heaviness in his heart that he can take. And ironically enough, he can't help but feel the exact opposite of what she says. His lips quirk for a brief moment as he folds his arms across his chest. He's not laughing at her though. If anything it's aimed at the the stark contrast in what they are both clearly yearning for more of.
In Wanda's case it's a moment of peace in the rare quiet that they've found. For Cassian, it's an escape from it so that he didn't have to think about all the things that would otherwise keep him up at night. Though if his experience so far has taught him anything, it's that no matter what - whether it's noisy or quiet - the thoughts keep on racing anyway.
His gaze drifts from her before tilting back towards the sky. There's still too much light to see the stars but the sunset that was starting to bleed a brilliant orange and yellow was beginning. ]
It was easy to see stars in my galaxy - if you had the means to. Maybe I didn't appreciate it enough. [ There's a pause that allows the thought, the tinge of regret, colour the air. ] How is it holding up to your expectations?
( and when he looks up, wanda can't help but to look away and at him, at his profile. it seems like they are taking turns in looking at one another. in one single sentence, however, he is able to tell her so much about himself, even if wanda doesn't yet have all the pieces to make sense of it.
only when he does ask, does wanda turn to look back at the horizon. it's beautiful, no matter how she paints it. )
I wish I had a camera.
( that's how it's holding up to her expectations; it's been a minute since she's seen the sun setting, all vivid and colorful. she stays quiet the rest of the time, watching as the colors dim, the sun drops down just under the horizon, and the world slowly immerses itself in shades of blues and grays. glancing up, she can see but a few stars.
this is when she pulls back from the car, swats lightly at his arm, and, as promised, opens the passenger's side door. )
I could have walked it.
( —making a point, as she lingers on the open door, before getting inside. just like how he wanted. )
[ That she could surmise so much from so little would be unnerving to him had he known. So much of his life had necessitated that he keep things close to the chest. There were so few in the galaxy, the universe that knew his story. The ones that did were all safely away on Mina-Rau. And that's hopefully where they would stay until he could find a way back to them.
There's a quiet noise of agreement from him as he gazes on at the setting sun. He'd never been one for photographs - even when forced to take them as a child at Clem and Maarva's insistence. Funny how in hindsight he wished that he'd had time to take some with him. But their departure from Ferrix had made that nearly impossible. Vaguely, he can't help but wonder what became of them. If any of the Daughters had taken stock and collected the important belongings from the now emptied Andor residence.
Once again he's left with his thoughts and she's left with hers. The swat to his arm draws him from them and he looks over to watch her get into the car, just as promised. He joins her shortly afterwards, sliding into the driver's seat and turning on the engine so the car roars to life. The radio kicks in too - some static-y lofi beats churning through the speakers that had more to do with the reception than the hardware.
Whoever had owned this car last had also appreciated quality stereos despite the unreliability of signals here. ]
You could have. But you're allowed to change your mind.
Edited (I HIT ENTER TOO FAST ) 2025-06-20 18:16 (UTC)
( it's an easy companionship with him, which makes wanda wonder why. what about cassian makes it easy for her to go with the flow, to let her guard down just enough to be swayed from her stubborn-made decisions? it's almost like she's trying her best to be tough, but is constantly met by someone who worries not about how blunt her words are nor how sharp her claws may be.
someone who has no expectations of her.
(how liberating that is—) )
It's okay to admit you'd get lonely on the ride back.
( at this, wanda glances at cassian, as the car roars to life and the radio kicks in, and smiles slightly his way. combative words with no edge to them, and they bid their recent sunset adieu, as the landscape starts to roll along with the speed of cassian's driving.
wanda keeps her arm out the window, moving her hand about as if she could in any way cause any halting friction to the car's speed, and it's nothing but the silence between them, the static-y music, and a few comments here and there about potential potholes up ahead when she asks, )
Can I ask — why you bother with me?
( she isn't implying anything, other than trying to nurture her own curiosity at the fact that so many here have found a want in them to care about her. prickly as she's been, hardheaded and contrarian, it feels safe to ask cassian. )
[ Generally speaking, things have never been easy for him, nor has anything about him ever been considered easy. Cagey, paranoid, closed off, and flighty had been used to describe him depending on who someone was speaking to. But for those that he seemed to have a bond with, his loyalty ran incredibly deep.
And perhaps, maybe, he understood what it looked like when someone was used to having to stand on their own two feet out of a need to survive.
Her teasing earns a good-natured snort. ]
If that's what will help you accept your choice to accept a ride, we can say that.
[ The drive here had been smooth, if not long. But because of that, it seems that most people are still opting to stay a little longer at the resort, leaving a clear road for them ahead. Any potential potholes are quietly noted and responded to with a gentle maneuver around them. Much like piloting long distances, his body and a part of his mind fall into autopilot, while the other part of his mind is left to quietly wander. Wander, at least until Wanda says something that isn't about potholes or the drive.
There's a beat of silence that may or may not feel like she's managed to catch him off guard. ]
Bother? As in stop to offer you a ride back into town?
( well, when he puts it like that, it makes her feel somewhat dumb for asking. her lips twist to the side, uncertain, before glancing out the window, hand against her chin. maybe cassian really is that kind samaritan that helps people out and it has nothing to do with the fact that it's her.
maybe fishing for some amount of validation that makes her feel like she's doing something right in terms of 'gathering' friends does the opposite of that. how uncool, pietro might have remarked.
a little annoyed (with herself), she turns back towards the central console, waving her hand towards him, frazzled. )
[ The withdrawal of both question and Wanda herself is enough to make him properly raise an eyebrow at her. ]
You asked me a question. I'm just trying to understand what you meant.
[ But he had had seen the way she shifted a little, her gaze turning away from him and back out towards the landscape. And it's mostly because of that there's nothing in his tone to suggest that he's annoyed or even scoffing.
There might be however a patient undertone that implies if she doesn't expand, he won't press upon the subject. ]
( there's a certainty here that she isn't incredibly comfortable with putting herself out there. there was a time when wanda could do without caring about what others thought about her, so long as those she loved were at her side; past sokovia, the events in novi grad, losing pietro, the avengers taking sides and 'breaking up', a lot of her stable ground has shifted into something shaky and tenuous.
trying to build it all up from nothing feels like exposing parts of herself that she isn't confident in presenting to others—vulnerabilities, soft sides of herself...
but cassian's patient undertone gives her room to breath instead of agitating her thoughts the longer the seconds tick by in the silence that grows between them. which is probably why wanda is a little kinder with herself, when she admits to him in the form of a question, )
Are we friends?
( it's still awkward, though, even if she's trying to be kind and honest to herself about it. )
[ The sound of the tires against the road and the low rhythmic beat of the lofi that hums through the stereo fill the silence as he waits for her to decide if she wants to expand or leave it be.
Whatever she decides, doesn't matter to him – or rather, he won't be offended or annoyed if she decides that she doesn't want to clarify anything. People have said things before that they don't necessarily intend and been burned by it. This isn't one of those situations.
There's no risk here. Well, except perhaps her own perceived embarrassment and having to sit in that for the remainder of the drive.
But then she clarifies and Cassian's own realization dawns on the tail end of that. Friends. He didn't make them easily. Hasn't in a while due to the nature of his work. But they are here for the foreseeable future and there wasn't any harm in that. In being friends. Unexpectedly, the word soothes a balm against a part of his heart he hadn't realized had been tender in the absence of those that he did in fact call friends. ]
Is that what you want to be? [ But then he corrects himself, realizing that that would do little to help the awkwardness that she's feeling (and by extension the awkwardness he's beginning to feel). ] I don't usually make a habit of picking up strangers. You never know what they're going to do.
( it's good that he changed his mind about the question being the only thing he'd say on the matter. wanda's own sensibilities, the awkwardness of it all, would have had her absconding even further if he had set it as something that sounds so incredibly childish (is that what you want to be?). when he adds his own insight, his own explanation, an amount of give to the idea of her not being just a stranger to him—
well, it causes the tight knot in her chest to give way a bit. )
Like breaking people's noses with a door?
( —they are so past that.
but it gives wanda room to collect herself, to not feel so vulnerable in this moment, despite being all too pleased that this foraging into forcing the label of 'friend' onto another has worked out just fine.
for her part, she seems appeased with his answer. wanda leans back on her seat, shoulders relaxing, and finding reason to be soothed by the wind blowing through the windows and the smooth tunes. )
Friends forgive each other for accidents like that.
[ And hopefully that utterance of that word is more reassurance for her too. That they are in fact friends.
At one point in his life he'd balked from labelling things, particularly relationships of the romantic sort. That implied a sort of commitment, a reliance that he was in some ways, afraid of failing. Friends was easier, even if he'd thrown the word around in an attempt to ply credits from people on loan.
But he means it here. And there's nothing he's trying to gain from it either, unless you count the company on the long drive back. And that is enough for him too. Before he allows them to fall back into a comfortable silence reserved for those that there's a comfortable companionship with, he motions backwards to the seats behind them. ]
There's a blanket in the back if it gets too cold.
( friends would forgive each other for accidents like that, and it's a testament to each other and this budding dynamic between them that it has now become less of an embarrassing thing and more of an inside joke—even with two weeks since the incident.
(wanda is for the most part grateful that it's the nose-'breaking' that is given attention to, not so much the accidental kiss.)
by the time cassian offers a blanket in the back, wanda's hand is outside the window, streamlining shapes against the force of the wind, a quiet dance of her fingers as the world around them grows even darker, even more muted, even colder. her clothes, shorts and a thin shirt, were perfect for the heat of the day at the resort; now, a blanket would be welcome.
which is why she turns around onto her side and digs around for the blanket in the backseat, reaching for it with her fingers so that she can wrap it over herself once she's got a hold of it.
[ The budding dynamic is a strange thing, almost like a shirt or a sweater he hasn't gotten used to yet. But it's not one that is so uncomfortable he feels the need to shed it. It'll just take some time. And perhaps that's what they both need. Time to trust. To understand. How this strange dynamic begun is less important than how they were, in their own ways, trying to become comfortable with it now. ]
You're welcome. [ And then he glances over just in time to see her wrap herself in the blanket to cut the chill of the night air. There's a hint of a smile in his voice before he turns his gaze back towards the road. ] You'd do the same.
[ They fall into silence after that. Cassian, for once doesn't allow the pull of his thoughts and memories drag him into the undertow. Instead he allows them to pass over him like the music and the cool breeze. And at some point when he looks over, he finds her asleep.
Warmth lingers in his gaze as he watches the gentle rise and fall of her chest before he turns back towards the road again, but not before turning down the volume of the static-y radio. The windows roll up and he switches on the heater just to have some warmth (for her and for him) to combat the chill that had settled into his own bones.
Everything is calm. It should have been an easy ride back into the city.
But of course it isn't. Headlights wink at them in the rear view and then he hears the roar of engines as they come racing towards them. Annoyance prickles through him at the same time wariness has him sitting up straighter in his seat. Soon enough the car - or cars, rather, are quickly tailing him. They're hovering dangerously close to his bumper and his brow furrows not quite taking the bait yet - mostly due to his sleeping passenger. ]
( wanda, for her part, isn't entirely too sure when she does feel comforted enough to let her eyes close and let herself drift into sleep. she'd argue that she didn't do much to merit needing to fall asleep, but suppose the unrelenting sun in the resort wore her out.
and perhaps there's something to be said about how comfortable she feels in cassian's presence, enough to let her guard down enough to fall asleep.
she would have slept the entire drive into the city, except a rather quick swerve in cassian's otherwise impeccable driving jars her awake. there are a few fumbling moments of trying to get her bearings, glancing about, her brain trying to ascertain if she can just head back to sleep despite the jostle, but she catches on quick to the loud sound of engines, the headlights being blinked at them from behind. wanda glances over her seat and back, then over at cassian. )
What'd you do?
( she's not blaming him, despite the question! she's just trying to understand what's happening. )
[ It's only a matter of time until Wanda wakes up. Though if she somehow slept through this he'd be impressed. The roar of the engines, the sudden jerk of the car - all of this is a stark contrast to the calm, quiet ride they'd been enjoying. ]
Why do you think I did anything?
[ Despite how much concentration he should be putting towards the task at hand - namely, keeping them on the road and keeping Wanda safe - he can't help but sound incredulous at the same time. It might beg the question why there's a certain level of being completely unsurprised by this turn of events happening to him. And a distinct air of annoyance which is aimed more at the drivers in the cars flanking them on either side than anything else. ]
Hang on.
[ There's a handle above the passenger side door for her to hang onto and that's the only warning he offers before he surges forward. The cars follow suit just as the road ahead begins to curve. It won't fit them all at the same time - but he's got the speed advantage for now. He has a split second to decide if he can make it and he makes a choice. Cassian shifts the car into gear, letting up on the gas. The car swerves, its tires squealing - sending them drifting around the corner.
He pulls them back just as the road straightens out, gaze drifting up to the rear view. ]
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no subject
In Wanda's case it's a moment of peace in the rare quiet that they've found. For Cassian, it's an escape from it so that he didn't have to think about all the things that would otherwise keep him up at night. Though if his experience so far has taught him anything, it's that no matter what - whether it's noisy or quiet - the thoughts keep on racing anyway.
His gaze drifts from her before tilting back towards the sky. There's still too much light to see the stars but the sunset that was starting to bleed a brilliant orange and yellow was beginning. ]
It was easy to see stars in my galaxy - if you had the means to. Maybe I didn't appreciate it enough. [ There's a pause that allows the thought, the tinge of regret, colour the air. ] How is it holding up to your expectations?
no subject
only when he does ask, does wanda turn to look back at the horizon. it's beautiful, no matter how she paints it. )
I wish I had a camera.
( that's how it's holding up to her expectations; it's been a minute since she's seen the sun setting, all vivid and colorful. she stays quiet the rest of the time, watching as the colors dim, the sun drops down just under the horizon, and the world slowly immerses itself in shades of blues and grays. glancing up, she can see but a few stars.
this is when she pulls back from the car, swats lightly at his arm, and, as promised, opens the passenger's side door. )
I could have walked it.
( —making a point, as she lingers on the open door, before getting inside. just like how he wanted. )
no subject
There's a quiet noise of agreement from him as he gazes on at the setting sun. He'd never been one for photographs - even when forced to take them as a child at Clem and Maarva's insistence. Funny how in hindsight he wished that he'd had time to take some with him. But their departure from Ferrix had made that nearly impossible. Vaguely, he can't help but wonder what became of them. If any of the Daughters had taken stock and collected the important belongings from the now emptied Andor residence.
Once again he's left with his thoughts and she's left with hers. The swat to his arm draws him from them and he looks over to watch her get into the car, just as promised. He joins her shortly afterwards, sliding into the driver's seat and turning on the engine so the car roars to life. The radio kicks in too - some static-y lofi beats churning through the speakers that had more to do with the reception than the hardware.
Whoever had owned this car last had also appreciated quality stereos despite the unreliability of signals here. ]
You could have. But you're allowed to change your mind.
no subject
someone who has no expectations of her.
(how liberating that is—) )
It's okay to admit you'd get lonely on the ride back.
( at this, wanda glances at cassian, as the car roars to life and the radio kicks in, and smiles slightly his way. combative words with no edge to them, and they bid their recent sunset adieu, as the landscape starts to roll along with the speed of cassian's driving.
wanda keeps her arm out the window, moving her hand about as if she could in any way cause any halting friction to the car's speed, and it's nothing but the silence between them, the static-y music, and a few comments here and there about potential potholes up ahead when she asks, )
Can I ask — why you bother with me?
( she isn't implying anything, other than trying to nurture her own curiosity at the fact that so many here have found a want in them to care about her. prickly as she's been, hardheaded and contrarian, it feels safe to ask cassian. )
no subject
And perhaps, maybe, he understood what it looked like when someone was used to having to stand on their own two feet out of a need to survive.
Her teasing earns a good-natured snort. ]
If that's what will help you accept your choice to accept a ride, we can say that.
[ The drive here had been smooth, if not long. But because of that, it seems that most people are still opting to stay a little longer at the resort, leaving a clear road for them ahead. Any potential potholes are quietly noted and responded to with a gentle maneuver around them. Much like piloting long distances, his body and a part of his mind fall into autopilot, while the other part of his mind is left to quietly wander. Wander, at least until Wanda says something that isn't about potholes or the drive.
There's a beat of silence that may or may not feel like she's managed to catch him off guard. ]
Bother? As in stop to offer you a ride back into town?
no subject
maybe fishing for some amount of validation that makes her feel like she's doing something right in terms of 'gathering' friends does the opposite of that. how uncool, pietro might have remarked.
a little annoyed (with herself), she turns back towards the central console, waving her hand towards him, frazzled. )
Forget I asked.
( she's awkward about this. )
no subject
You asked me a question. I'm just trying to understand what you meant.
[ But he had had seen the way she shifted a little, her gaze turning away from him and back out towards the landscape. And it's mostly because of that there's nothing in his tone to suggest that he's annoyed or even scoffing.
There might be however a patient undertone that implies if she doesn't expand, he won't press upon the subject. ]
no subject
trying to build it all up from nothing feels like exposing parts of herself that she isn't confident in presenting to others—vulnerabilities, soft sides of herself...
but cassian's patient undertone gives her room to breath instead of agitating her thoughts the longer the seconds tick by in the silence that grows between them. which is probably why wanda is a little kinder with herself, when she admits to him in the form of a question, )
Are we friends?
( it's still awkward, though, even if she's trying to be kind and honest to herself about it. )
no subject
Whatever she decides, doesn't matter to him – or rather, he won't be offended or annoyed if she decides that she doesn't want to clarify anything. People have said things before that they don't necessarily intend and been burned by it. This isn't one of those situations.
There's no risk here. Well, except perhaps her own perceived embarrassment and having to sit in that for the remainder of the drive.
But then she clarifies and Cassian's own realization dawns on the tail end of that. Friends. He didn't make them easily. Hasn't in a while due to the nature of his work. But they are here for the foreseeable future and there wasn't any harm in that. In being friends. Unexpectedly, the word soothes a balm against a part of his heart he hadn't realized had been tender in the absence of those that he did in fact call friends. ]
Is that what you want to be? [ But then he corrects himself, realizing that that would do little to help the awkwardness that she's feeling (and by extension the awkwardness he's beginning to feel). ] I don't usually make a habit of picking up strangers. You never know what they're going to do.
no subject
well, it causes the tight knot in her chest to give way a bit. )
Like breaking people's noses with a door?
( —they are so past that.
but it gives wanda room to collect herself, to not feel so vulnerable in this moment, despite being all too pleased that this foraging into forcing the label of 'friend' onto another has worked out just fine.
for her part, she seems appeased with his answer. wanda leans back on her seat, shoulders relaxing, and finding reason to be soothed by the wind blowing through the windows and the smooth tunes. )
Good.
( that's done, then! )
no subject
Friends forgive each other for accidents like that.
[ And hopefully that utterance of that word is more reassurance for her too. That they are in fact friends.
At one point in his life he'd balked from labelling things, particularly relationships of the romantic sort. That implied a sort of commitment, a reliance that he was in some ways, afraid of failing. Friends was easier, even if he'd thrown the word around in an attempt to ply credits from people on loan.
But he means it here. And there's nothing he's trying to gain from it either, unless you count the company on the long drive back. And that is enough for him too. Before he allows them to fall back into a comfortable silence reserved for those that there's a comfortable companionship with, he motions backwards to the seats behind them. ]
There's a blanket in the back if it gets too cold.
no subject
(wanda is for the most part grateful that it's the nose-'breaking' that is given attention to, not so much the accidental kiss.)
by the time cassian offers a blanket in the back, wanda's hand is outside the window, streamlining shapes against the force of the wind, a quiet dance of her fingers as the world around them grows even darker, even more muted, even colder. her clothes, shorts and a thin shirt, were perfect for the heat of the day at the resort; now, a blanket would be welcome.
which is why she turns around onto her side and digs around for the blanket in the backseat, reaching for it with her fingers so that she can wrap it over herself once she's got a hold of it.
in the end— )
Thanks for stopping to offer me a ride.
( friends make things easier, right? )
no subject
You're welcome. [ And then he glances over just in time to see her wrap herself in the blanket to cut the chill of the night air. There's a hint of a smile in his voice before he turns his gaze back towards the road. ] You'd do the same.
[ They fall into silence after that. Cassian, for once doesn't allow the pull of his thoughts and memories drag him into the undertow. Instead he allows them to pass over him like the music and the cool breeze. And at some point when he looks over, he finds her asleep.
Warmth lingers in his gaze as he watches the gentle rise and fall of her chest before he turns back towards the road again, but not before turning down the volume of the static-y radio. The windows roll up and he switches on the heater just to have some warmth (for her and for him) to combat the chill that had settled into his own bones.
Everything is calm. It should have been an easy ride back into the city.
But of course it isn't. Headlights wink at them in the rear view and then he hears the roar of engines as they come racing towards them. Annoyance prickles through him at the same time wariness has him sitting up straighter in his seat. Soon enough the car - or cars, rather, are quickly tailing him. They're hovering dangerously close to his bumper and his brow furrows not quite taking the bait yet - mostly due to his sleeping passenger. ]
*cowbells in the distance*
and perhaps there's something to be said about how comfortable she feels in cassian's presence, enough to let her guard down enough to fall asleep.
she would have slept the entire drive into the city, except a rather quick swerve in cassian's otherwise impeccable driving jars her awake. there are a few fumbling moments of trying to get her bearings, glancing about, her brain trying to ascertain if she can just head back to sleep despite the jostle, but she catches on quick to the loud sound of engines, the headlights being blinked at them from behind. wanda glances over her seat and back, then over at cassian. )
What'd you do?
( she's not blaming him, despite the question! she's just trying to understand what's happening. )
TOKYO DRIFT, BABY!!!
Why do you think I did anything?
[ Despite how much concentration he should be putting towards the task at hand - namely, keeping them on the road and keeping Wanda safe - he can't help but sound incredulous at the same time. It might beg the question why there's a certain level of being completely unsurprised by this turn of events happening to him. And a distinct air of annoyance which is aimed more at the drivers in the cars flanking them on either side than anything else. ]
Hang on.
[ There's a handle above the passenger side door for her to hang onto and that's the only warning he offers before he surges forward. The cars follow suit just as the road ahead begins to curve. It won't fit them all at the same time - but he's got the speed advantage for now. He has a split second to decide if he can make it and he makes a choice. Cassian shifts the car into gear, letting up on the gas. The car swerves, its tires squealing - sending them drifting around the corner.
He pulls them back just as the road straightens out, gaze drifting up to the rear view. ]