vaderstan: calledbythelight @ tumblr (004)
the human embodiment of the arthur meme ([personal profile] vaderstan) wrote in [community profile] literaldumpsterfire2018-09-30 02:53 pm

The porgs are always watching verse.

[ The move went about as smoothly as it could be expected to go.

Which is to say in jerking chaotic movements only coordinated by the sheer willpower of one Leia Organa. Lando helped, of course-- Poe Attempted to help but he looked a bit rough around the edges. .... In fact, Poe, Finn and Rose looked rough around the edges. Kylo chose to make no commentary on the fact as he continued to load the Falcon.

--Which became somewhat unnerving as he felt his mother searching him out--- and then cruise by while looking long and hard at his hands.

Seems Rey had gotten to her.

There's a flurry of activity to soften any probing, however. People arranging themselves and the next moves, there's an anxious tension in the air that Kylo feels moves the Force around him. It's unnerving in that he knows some part of it is to discuss what happens to him. And even more unnerving because he knows his mother has to plant the seeds that perhaps Rey and Kylo should be solo agents. In fact, he's sure he can feel the moment that's suggested, especially when Poe seems a little rankled as he wanders through the hanger. Annoyed-- probably more for the idea that there's even a SUGGESTION that Rey should be separated from them.

Yikes.

But there's also the fact that Kylo now realizes he's in Rey's hands. Completely. In some capacity he always has been since he's got here-- but under the guidance of his mother. Not that he doesn't trust Rey, but a safety blanket is being torn off that has been there this entire time.


And-- the final private good bye he has with his mother and Lando (No, not final. She sees it on his face and feels it in the Force and sets him straight. 'This isn't forever. You always have a home with me.') finalizes that. It's leaving for Luke's all over again, but with some of that darkness lifted. Somehow, in his mother's arms he feels her renewed strength and fragility all at once.

And just when he thinks she's going to leave him to get ready for the final send off she reaches out for his hand and examines his father's ring and underlines the point:

'I don't care if you both are in wampa furs with Ewoks, I want to be there.'

Lando just claps his hand to Kylo's back and insists that he listen to his mother.

Cool.

Not embarrassing or mortifying at all.

The last thing she does for him is hand him his cross guard.

No words are needed, just a look is exchanged. One that leaves him feeling a pit underneath him and the weight of what she is actually giving him.

From there-- It's fanfare. Well.... The Resistance's version of fan fare. A group of beings gather as Leia speaks about hope blazing stronger than ever. That they are the seeds of what she had wanted for so many years. Poe looks ready to cry, Chewbacca bows his head in respect-- and that's when Rey finally manages to find him and slide next to him under his father's ship.

Given how often they get separated, he realizes how odd it will be to be side by side all the time. Neither one of them had put thought to it and-- it's just gonna become another issue they have to deal with as it comes up.

But she reaches for his hand and he slides his fingers between her own and there's peace there in that touch. A promise for a future he never imagined. He doesn't know what his purpose is beyond her anymore, but it felt like enough. No longer surviving and going day by day, but building.

Finn still can't fly worth a damn, Poe was drugged by Chewbacca and Rose refused to leave either of their sides. I know this is a hard transition out of left field but this is to say-- They all get to ride on the Falcon with Chewie, Rey, Kylo and The Porgs. Which is just a curse in disguise for Poe as several of them try to use his stomach as a nest while he trips Balls. But the ride to Naboo gives them time to talk and unwind and socialize. Kylo absolutely wrecks Finn in Sabbac and Dejarik, even with Rose's guidance (Which Finn ignored ofc). Chewbacca interjects randomly- and nearly tackles Poe for shoving at one of the especially obnoxious porgs trying to burrow into his side. And-- hell. Even Kylo and Poe both silently commiserate over how they are going to miss Mom. With Rose calling them out and telling them to Stop worrying about her.


All that said, it's a peaceful-- and nearly immediately nostalgic ride. It's nearly a shame when they hit Naboo. The only thing which wipes away the feeling is the sheer enormity of the celebrations.

Poe immediately has to disembark (After a trip to the refresher and a clean crisp pair of Not Raggedy I just Rolled Into This War Meeting To Blow Shit Up clothes) to guide the rest of the fleet and parse through their accommodations. Rose is given the task of helping to account for all the inventory and immediately gets Finn's help. Which leaves Kylo and Rey.

The same nerves hit him, broiling under the surface, imagining a whole host of "what if"s and only Rey's intervention impedes the invasion.

There's no Allothar's. No Hux's or Snoke's.

There's curiosity to be sure, the apprehension is unmistakable, and he's sure half of them expected Kylo Ren to be led out in chains. But it's nearly immediately overwhelmed by curiosity. Both for Kylo and Rey. Which... nearly predictably, they're separated nearly immediately. Something he nearly protests until Rey reaches out and gives him the soft ping that "It's Okay".

It doesn't feel okay from his prospective. But it's fine. Totally cool. Not like Rey is one of the only people he implicitly trusts. But whatever.

It's an odd mixture. He is, at once, taken to find something befitting "someone of his lineage"-- it's more doting then snobbery, but it only gets more surreal as some characters from the royal court ask if they have permission to call him Ben and not Kylo Ren.

He had never.... actually decided on that clearly. But he decides to tell them "Solo" is fine. "Ben", after all, still felt like something reserved for family and not the galaxy.

Which is fine except some people take that as "Oh lemme just call u ben already!!"


Cool. I'm sure that's an irrelevant note.

The separation at the very least wasn't for any sinister reason. Unfortunately the last Jedi and the lineage Padme Amidala just had very separate welcomings. Something which he parses as they guide him through halls and speak of traditions and bloodlines and of how they were so happy he had come back to the light.

It's about here that he firmly asks to see Rey.

The woman who had been one of his main guides seems a bit annoyed by his urgency to cut things short, but he couldn't even be bothered to get her name.

'Liana,' She repeats it once she can see his mind wandering. She's dressed and made up as one of the higher born royals, her hair looks as though it possibly took a small army to assemble. And all Kylo can think is he didn't have time to do Rey's hair before they departed.

Liana huffs, amused at how distracted he is before taking him along some other part of the tour. Probably to see some fountains or whatever else rich people shit. Talk about how Padme and Anakin made out here once.

Sorry Kylo Ren, your toddler tantrums and demands to see Rey are not working for the moment.

Yikes. Let's hope Rey isn't getting Absolutely Assaulted (she probably is).


And hey. You see this novel I wrote here? You see it???


don't u fukkin worry. I'm gonna make it all end in a text convo.

Because Kylo Ren is now gonna be every over extended out of their element introvert and pull out his datapad. If anyone asks he'll shrug with a short answer of it being Urgent.

Urgent meaning-- Texting Rey. ]


Could you possibly blow something up and create a distraction so I can escape?
forcevisions: (echoes)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-01 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ She hears laughter around the time she hears the buzzing of her comm, but she pursues the former instead. She gets a glimpse of Ben and the noble woman and feels a sting of something ugly, a toxic sludge in her gut that churns and roils. It's not fair, really, that she should be uncomfortable or shocked. Ben had many redeeming qualities. She knew all of them.

She just wasn't used to others appreciating them, and the more they did, the more uncomfortable and jealous she became. Even of Rose.

It had been irrational then. It is irrational now, even if this woman is a stranger who has taken no time at all to grow endeared to Ben. Rey has his messages in her pocket, indicating firmly that he would rather be talking to her than spending time in this woman's company. Rey pulls them out now, and she too laughs.

Swapping identities. Yes. That'd go over swimmingly.

She shakes her head and looks away from the scene, assessing her keepers. Honestly if Ben would spend more time with women like that, they'd all probably be happier with the heir to the Amidala house. She presses her lips together tightly and wanders back, feeling sour over her own lack of diplomatic prowess.

Instead of responding to Ben, she tries to throw herself into it. Interrogating her keepers — no, she ought to try to think of them as guides, not as people keeping her away from Ben deliberately — on everything they could share with her about Nabooan politics as they drag her into the library after all.
]
forcevisions: (you were my versailles at night)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-02 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ She tries to take interest in the political histories. Really, she does. But it's just a family tree, and even if she could focus on them, it would only bring her misery to know that she has no idea where her family comes from, and the answer is probably nowhere and nothing. They tell Padme's lineage like it's a story, a sprawling thing that everyone is flattered to be connected to.

So instead she sits deadpan at one of the holo-tables, watching the reel, feeling a yawn creep up her throat and swallowing it with teary eyes when her guides look her way and almost catch her. She makes it through plenty before she notices the comm message.
]

Unlikely. We're up to your great, great, great, great grandmother. She too was a queen. I'm sure you're shocked.
forcevisions: (but aggressive)

WEEPS DW WHY

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-03 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her guides have noticed that she's bored. Nearly passing out, in fact. One of them politely suggests that perhaps they should go look at something else — art, perhaps, or architecture from the Old Republic era. Rey snaps upright immediately and shakes her head. ]

No! [ Beat. ] No. I'm enjoying this. Really. I'm so glad to hear about Queen Teryahu.

[ Uncomfortably, they correct her: 'Taenhryuu.'

Rey slides down in her chair sheepishly.
]

Er, right.

[ She's trying so hard. ]

Hurry.
forcevisions: (because the drugs never work)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-06 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Honestly she doesn't even notice the clothes except to observe that it takes her a split second to recognize that it's him. He did not pick her for her awareness of fashion. ]

Ben.

[ She's on her feet in an instant, pushing her way between the guides to get at him. While Ben maintains some semblance of propriety, Rey doesn't have the investment he does and moves past it entirely. She doesn't know what she needs to be right in front of him to do — it's not a kiss or a hug, despite the fact that they've been apart for a bit. They're in public. That's awkward and performative. But she's drawn to him and she's not going to pretend that she isn't.

Oh that lady from before is with him. Rey looks her over, puzzling for a moment over that fact, then settles on offering Liana a smile. Ultimately nonthreatening.
]

Do they have a place for us to stay ready yet?
forcevisions: (i got harder)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-07 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
Perfect.

[ Rey's quick to latch onto it. The two guides who had accompanied her don't get a chance to respond. ]

You want to look at the histories? It's all I've seen.

[ That earns a huff of a laugh from Liana that gets masked in clearing her throat. The older guides who had accompanied Rey don't know quite what to make of it, but they excuse themselves decidedly from the library space. ]
forcevisions: (sick of all these people talking)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-08 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Outside.

[ The palace is beautiful, but the grounds moreso, and Rey has always been a sucker for nature. A smile spreads across Liana's face as she says, 'I know just the place.'

The vineyard is technically also an orchard. Long rows upon rows of trees and stiffly supported vines that wind for miles and miles. The trees bear cherries, blooming pink and bright and beautiful. Rey holds Ben's hand on the entire walk to reach them, and when they arrive, she squeezes it, marveling over the splendor.

It's wonderful. Maybe the most wonderful thing she has ever seen. Definitely close, at the very least.
]
forcevisions: (empty your sadness)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2018-10-09 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
No.

[ Rey admits, somewhat chagrined. She glimpses Liana's faint offer of privacy to them and redirects her attention fully to Ben, allowing it to be what it is. She doesn't collapse into him the way she wants to. The illusion of privacy is still only an illusion. But she at least feels compelled to speak freely. ]

I've barely been anywhere. Base after base.

[ She shakes her head. ]

I've seen more of space than of any planet.