faderift | OPEN ↠ HEART LIKE ICE

OPEN ↠ HEART LIKE ICE

WHO: New Rifters & Inquisition Members
WHAT: A journey south to make new friends and kick some ass
WHEN: Drakonis 15-25
WHERE: Sunless Lands
NOTES: Violence and language assumed. Warn for anyting else. OOC post.

The Sunless Lands are not, in fact, sunless. This time of year there can be as many as eight hours of daylight, some of it blinding where it reflects off of snow and ice that stretches from the southern edge of the Kocari Wilds as far as anyone can see, broken only occasionally by rocky masses of land jutting out of the snow cover or barren tundra peeking out in patches where constant, unforgiving wind has pushed it aside. You'll be traversing this span primarily on foot—there are sleighs, too, pulled by hardy dogs, but they're carrying essential supplies rather than spare people. The only way to get a ride is to successfully feign passing out.

Beyond the dogs, the area isn't devoid of native wildlife: white fennecs hunt rodents underground, and a herd of excessively fluffy wild druffalo is seeking out whatever vegetation it can find. But hunting down a meal or two early and preserving rations for further south would not be a bad idea, because the further south the team travels, the more inhospitable the terrain grows, and the less life can be seen. And sometimes not much of anything can be seen, when clouds roll by and burst with snow thick enough to halt progress entirely for hours.

The nights are cloudy as often as clear, but when they are clear the sky is split by green and purple ribbons of light.

I. THE RESCUE

Two days' journey south, the monotonously icy horizon is broken by something new: smoke rising in interrupted puffs, an intentional signal. Someone is out there. Chances are, it's the rifters, with or without their first group of intended rescuers. But there's no way to be sure. And approaching with caution is wise either way. Rifters have strange powers (and strange personalities), and they've been out here for days now, dealing with demons and Maker knows what else on their own. For all anyone knows, they could be the reason for the rescue team's disappearance. Orders are to approach carefully.

Then, once contact has been made and initial concerns have been allayed, make sure those poor people have something to eat, and try to figure out where their original rescuers disappeared to.

II. THE STORM

After the rifters are recovered, there's still the matter of the red lyrium mine to address. Another two days' journey south will put the group within good range of the mine: not so close as to be seen, but close enough to be able to get there in a couple of hours as needed.

Halfway there, however, in the middle of the day, progress comes to an abrupt half when the darkest clouds yet gather suddenly on the horizon and barrel down on the group, bringing with them a glut of snow that reduces visibility to only a few feet and wind that roars so loudly you have to shout to be heard. Magic can help some with heat, but the storm shows little sign of quickly abating and with hours of deadly cold conditions to deal with, digging in and getting cozy for a few hours might be the most feasible solution for everyone.

III. THE VILLAGE

Shortly before the point everyone is aiming for—one marked by an enormous stone carving of an owl, several times taller than a man, that's inexplicably been left by the ancients in the center of the tundra—something else appears not far to the west. On closer inspection, it turns out to be a circle of low-sitting animal-skin tents pressed down into the snow to protect them from wind, rocky fire pits, and abandoned sleighs. Overall, it's a cross between camp and village indicative of a nomadic group that's staying a while but not forever.

It's empty now, with a coating of snow on most of the structures that indicates it's been at least a few days since anyone was here. Closer inspection reveals personal belongings inside the tents, including toys and clothing belonging to children—and, in many tents, chunks of red lyrium in the center or beneath the skins that form the beds, each piece emanating heat. They probably thought it was safer than fire.

Wherever they went, they don't come back while the Inquisition is there. But the activity does get noticed. A few hours after arrival, enormous white bears apparently moving in a pack come within a hundred yards of the camp and pace at a distance, watching the interlopers with wary interest. Some of them are wearing collars or harnesses decorated in the same style as the tents. For enough food, they may come closer, and they'll turn out to be abnormally tame.

IV. THE BATTLE

The red lyrium mine that Corypheus' followers built when their operations were crippled in Emprise du Lion is nestled in an icy canyon, with massive scaffolding built up the sides of the cliff and too many cages to count, though few of them hold living prisoners anymore. It's a massive operation, but one that's been crippled by its distance from civilization. It's sparsely guarded compared to its size, and other than the cliffs, it has minimal natural protection. The enemy has magic-silencing Templars, enormous behemoths, and a chained white-furred giant, but they are clearly not prepared to be attacked.

Ahead of the onslaught, traps are set and any surviving prisoners are evacuated under cover of darkness. Everyone else sent to fight either creeps down shortly before dawn, rappelling quietly to avoid notice in the dark, or waits at the top for the first surprise strike to provide enough distraction for them to descend more openly. If anyone has been particularly nice to the bears (see above) then it is entirely possible they'll allow themselves to be ridden into battle.

Once their presence is known, their orders are pretty simple. Destroy it all. Leave no one behind and nothing worth returning for.

Fire is a good strategy. Red lyrium doesn't do well in heat.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He'll take her word for it about the Fade and the Veil. He still has such a small understanding of this place and it's frustrating. He wants to understand why they're here - specifically why he ended up here with Rey. He had to be the last person she wanted to see.

When she offers warmth he stares at her for a long moment, the question forming in his mind. Why even trust him?

He makes the decision, approaching her and sitting down beside her and the creature. It was better than having to pace around to keep heat flowing. He cautiously puts his hand on the animal's head, curious at its existence.

"You named it Padawan?" Still, it was a sturdy looking thing. It could probably tear his arm open if he did something wrong.

She almost expects him to refuse. She's oddly relieved when he doesn't, though as he approaches and sits she's uneasy again, careful no skin comes into contact with him. Their connection had been strong, strong enough that she'd somehow physically pulled him to Ahch-To, long enough for Luke to see him there. She doubts her walls would be a match for any contact.

Padawan turns her head as his hand settles on it and she gives him a doggy smile as he questions her name, and Rey struggles to adjust the bear fur so it will cover him. It's plenty large enough for the three of them, provided that closeness isn't an issue. Which it is.

"She. I didn't name her, her previous partner did and I sort of... inherited her, when he--disappeared." She grimaces, not really having a better way of phrasing it. "That happens to Rifters, sometimes. One day you wake up and a person is just gone." She sighs, holding out the edge of the bear fur towards him.

"You need to move closer. It's a big fur but it's not big enough to warm all this empty space." She sounds a little exasperated, her anxiety at this whole situation coloring her voice.

“So someone else from home was here.” It’s an easy assumption to make, given that the word itself belongs to the Jedi of their world. After all, they were here. It must have been nice having someone here who hadn’t been him. His being her complicated things for the both of them. While he would be happy to ignore her, he also wouldn’t hesitate to survive.

“I need to move closer? You’re small enough to fit in my arms still.” Not that he needs to carry her, nor does she need the reminder that he was larger. Even so he instinctively gives her defiance over cooperation.There was a part of him that was both amused and put off by her being in his arms. He would need to suck it up to maximize warmth. Whether he liked it or not.

She was going to confirm what he said, that it had been someone else, and then explain what that meant. Of course then he had to stubbornly refuse her request that he move closer. Her eyes narrow and she glares at him, rankled by the thought of sitting in his arms.

"I'm not doing that. I've already warmed this spot. Where you are is cold and it's getting colder the longer you sit there without being covered." She just wants him to move a little closer, what she's asking for isn't unreasonable, she thinks.

"Fine. Even if it makes more sense given that you are smaller than I am." Now he just feels annoyed. Annoyed and freezing do not make a good combination, but he does what she asks anyway for the sake of not continuing to freeze. He moves as close to her as possible, even daring - arrogantly - to put his arm around her shoulders to bring her closer to him. It was a compromise, in his mind. He didn't like this any more than she did.

"Happy now?" He adjusts the blanket around the both of them, tucking his legs in to give them some warmth too. If she had a problem with it then he didn't care. He just wanted to be warm. If it meant suffering through this situation then he'd take it with all the irritation and none of the grace a person could muster.

Rey tenses as his arm goes around her, even if she knows logically that it makes sense and she had told him to get closer. It's a struggle not to push him away, those memories of the feeling of lives in the Force being snuffed out as he stood there and tried to tell her to leave them behind.

Padawan shifts around so she's laying on both of their laps, her head on Rey's, entirely unbothered by the fact that the humans seem uncomfortable. She's warm. Their petty human things aren't her concern.

Shoulders still tense, Rey glances over at Kylo, her head only moving so far that she can look at him out of the side of her eye.

"Was that so hard?"

It's on the tip of his tongue to say 'no' but everything about this was hard. He didn't want to be here - let alone with her in complete solitude. It meant facing a situation he didn't want to touch. She clearly didn't want to touch it either, with how tense she also is.

Still, he has to allow himself to relax. His hand drops and he loosens his hold on her, settling with just a light touch to her upper arm. It was less forceful and less demanding, leaving her the option to shrug him away. His other hand rests on the beast's back as she makes herself suddenly at home in both their laps.

"Yes." He finally answers. It was hard. He wasn't going to lie to her. This whole situation was hard and they couldn't get away from it even if they wanted to. "But not for the reasons you think."

He didn't care about something petty like being physically close to her, even if it opened up his thoughts to the only moment they had willingly been close to one another. Touching her hand, seeing into the past, had been such a surreal experience. And she had shut that connection away to punish him.

She doesn't have a smart remark for that, because she knows the reasons. Beneath the scarf wrapped around her face she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying it as she bows her head. Her shoulders relax, for the most part. She could shrug him off but she leaves his hand where it is, at least for the moment.

"I know," she says quietly after a moment, eyes cast down rather than at him. She believes that things played out the way they did because they were meant to, and that their paths were still open to them, and obviously very intertwined. But she can't help but wish things had been different.

"I'm sorry if me being here ruins anything for you. I didn't exactly have a say." There was that self depreciating sarcasm at its finest. He knows she isn't upset with him - not him specifically, anyway. Yet, as it had been back home, they couldn't seem to escape their entwined destinies.

He tries to ignore the cold, tucking the blanket higher around his neck, close to his chin. He didn't have a thick scarf like she did but the blanket was enough to help stave off the chill. All he could do was try to relax in the warmth she had offered him, closing his eyes after five days of restlessness.

She lets out a small laugh, a humorless exhale at his comment. She tilts her head up, shaking her head.

"Actually, you being here confirms some very important things for me that I was struggling with. I suppose I should thank you." Now she knows for sure that what she had dreamed, memories or some kind of out-of-body experience, it had happened. Though the timing of it is something laughable almost, that she recovered those memories and he happened to show up in the same week.

"Such as? You said before you thought you were dreaming. Did something happen to make you doubt I was real?" His gloved hand on her arm, thumb drawing lazy circles now that he's more relaxed and focused on their conversation, was real. The sound of his voice and his freezing bones pressed as close to her as modesty will allow were real.

"Maybe our connection in the Force brought me here and not the Veil." He was only half serious, but the idea that the Force wanted them in the same room that badly did make him laugh a bit even if it was without any real humor. This situation was serious and a problem for the both of them. They could very well freeze out here if the storm outside didn't pass.

She's grateful for the layers she's wearing, dulling the sensation of his hand on her arm. Her walls are still up, but she wants to let them down, try to show him what she'd seen in him. But she'd tried that once before, and it had only led her down a path of disappointment.

His comment that the Force brought him here, it's a thought she'd had too, when she first saw him. Really, she thinks the Force likely had a hand in her being here, as well as Obi-Wan. They could still feel the Force here, it was still shaping things around them. They were still it's tools, even outside of their universe.

"It may have," she replies, slowly, exhaling. "When I first came here, a year and a half ago, the last thing I remember happening was finding the island of Ahch-To. But five days ago I went to sleep and dreamed so vividly that I couldn't have distinguished reality from fabrication if I tried. I woke up with memories of everything that came after my discovery of Ahch-To. Finding Luke, being connected to you, the battle on Crait, escaping in the Falcon..." She breaks off, shaking her head. "I wasn't sure if it was real or just something I'd imagined, until I saw you."

"So then... you know I'm not your enemy." Despite how tense the both of them are, he hasn't made any moves to hurt her. He wanted to, if only out of some self indulgent feeling of revenge, but he knew they needed one another. She would come to understand one day. He felt sure of that. Either she would come to see things his way or they would destroy one another.

"We can find a way together." She may have been here a year but that had been a year that clearly was spent mostly alone, as she always had been. She wasn't alone anymore. The Force clearly still had plans for the two of them if it had seen fit to bring him to her.

He turns his attention from looking at her to the wind blown snow swirling outside their safe haven, watching it come down. He didn't care for the climate one bit, but they were stuck here together until the storm passed and they moved on with the rest of the people who he had come with and whom she had come with.

It strikes Rey as odd that that's almost exactly what she wants to hear, but it just doesn't sound right coming from him. Because she knows better now than to hope that he's realized that the path he's walking is the wrong one. More that he's hoping she's decided to join him in the dark.

"You're not my enemy," she echoes, and that she does mean. There are snags and snares there, but if he were her enemy, someone she truly felt would be better off dead, she would have been able to kill him on the Supremacy. Her gaze stays ahead of her, not drifting towards him, because it's easier to talk when she isn't looking at him.

"We may never see our galaxy again. But the Force still exists, here."

Carefully, he adjusts the blanket around the both of them. It was something to do with his hands. He was trying to ignore the tightness in his chest at her response. He could practically feel how hopeless they sounded. It felt like bile in his mouth.

"For all the good feeling the Force does us." He was bitter at being stuck here. The Force gave them no solution to their current problems and he had no access to any of his resources from home. The hardest blow was not even being able to use his lightsaber. He debated sharing this bit of information with her but wondered if he could even trust her not to take advantage of it. He could still put up a damned good fight without his weapon, though.

"So this... Inquisition. They're accommodating, I take it? You have different gear." Save for the goggles and boots, which he recognized.

"I couldn't feel it, for a little while. Believe me, feeling it here is much better than being without." Even with her new memories, the knowledge of never feeling more alone than when she'd realized that she had no family, through that she'd still had the Force. Without it she had felt so entirely empty. She shudders a little, her arms wrapping around herself, her gloved fingers bumping against his on her arm.

His question draws her away from the memory and she nods her head, smiling a little, though he can't see it.

"They are. They could have executed those of us who fell from the rifts, but instead they've taken us in, tried to help us find a place here. They expect us to pull our weight of course, coming on missions like this, closing the rifts, helping out wherever we might be useful. But they pay us, too." Real money, even. For the first time in her life, Rey has real actual money to her name.

"I can't imagine. I've never gone without feeling the Force." He wonders just how terrifying that would feel. He had always felt it. His mother had tried nurturing that side of him because she shared it too. When it had evolved into random outbursts and broken objects she had become scared for him. He knows now that she had still loved him despite that fear, that his father still loved him.

"It's what I was expecting, honestly." The kindness - new clothes that he kept in his pack, warm food that he had gulped down before they moved out and subsequently got separated - had not been what he expected.

"What would you even do with money?" There was a tone of amusement at the question, recalling from memories he had sifted through her little trinkets in her AT-AT makeshift home. If it were him, he'd want books, maybe a new calligraphy set. He had no idea whether his ideas would even align with whatever people had here for him to even think about buying.

Rey's brow furrows at his question and she glances over at him. Is he amused with her? That's not something she's entirely used to, coming from him.

"Lots of things. The kitchen staff does their best, but sometimes going outside of the Gallows for something to eat is nice. You need money for that. I've also been working on projects, and I need money for parts when I can't scrap other things or make them myself. There's also clothes, some of these I bought myself." Rey tugs on the sleeve of her jacket, her fingers bumping his again.

Almost as if he remembers he's touching her, he withdraws his hand from her arm. He brings his arm back from around her, tucking it at his side to match the other. It was awkward with the two of them jammed close together and her animal laying on their legs. Its fur was warm, though. The blanket around them was warm.

"So you make things." He's not surprised. They had that in common, actually. They both liked tinkering with things. He had only seen glimpses of her interests in her mind and had quickly discarded them when he'd been trying to get information about Luke at the time. Everything else about her had been irrelevant.

"You serve these people willingly." Not unlike his mother's Resistance. She had picked a cause and stuck with it because they were taking care of her in turn. It was gullible, he thought. They could discard her at any moment or decide she was too dangerous. He had his doubts they wouldn't decide such things about the both of them eventually.

Even so, he feels as if he's catchign up on the year she had spent here in a way. She was offering up information and he made observations or asked questions in response. It was nice to just have someone to talk to who he could somewhat stand talking to. He couldn't say that completely about the group he had been with.

She decides to not examine that she feels a little disappointed when he withdraws his arm, adjusting instead so her back is resting a little more comfortably against the wall of the cave. Comfort is a little relative, and after a moment she shifts around, reaching for her bag and pawing around in it, looking for anything that she can use as a little more padding.

"I work with them," she replies to his observation, a little tersely. She doesn't like that phrasing, serve. She isn't a servant, or a slave. Not anymore. "They're doing more for this world than a lot of others, trying to stop the creature that caused the rifts to start opening in the first place."

She comes up with another woolen blanket that she'd tucked in her bag in case the ones that were packed on the sleds for everyone weren't enough. She works on unfolding it under the bear fur, before turning towards Kylo.

"Lean forward. I'm going to put this blanket behind us and then pull it over our heads. We'll be enclosed and stop losing so much heat."

"Not even a 'please'?" he quips, leaning forward anyway. brings his hands beneath his legs, wrapping his body closer to himself while she adjusts their new blanket layer.

"How long do storms like this last? I have some rations in my own bag... some things we picked up from the rift too." He had tucked the fish in with his normal rations from home that somehow had come over with him. Neither amounted to much food for two people.

He didn't mind Rey eating more than him. He imagines her starving for so long on Jakku and instinctively he wants to give her whatever he has. She certainly seemed less skinny than she had been, between her journey from Jakku up to now.

Rey just rolls her eyes in response to his quip, working to smooth the blanket behind him and tuck it in around them both, before pulling it over their heads. Once they're enveloped in the darkness she feels a little bit calmer, finally tugging the scarf down from her face. If they had anything to build a fire with she'd have done that too, but unfortunately this cave was clearly man-made, likely used as a quick shelter rather than somewhere for a long stay.

"I'm not really sure. A few hours to a few days. I have food in my bag, too. We should be okay." She of course traveled with food, even when they had people carrying things to feed the bulk of the Inquisition with. She's not the kind of person to forget to pack extra rations, not after she grew up hungry. One of the reasons she's no longer as thin as she once was is thanks in large part to the regular meals and sometimes extra portions on the side from the Inquisition kitchen staff. Several of them were quite fond of her, because she always seemed so grateful for what they did, even if it was nothing more than potatoes and whatever meat was cheapest that day.

Kylo lets out a shaky breath, running his gloved hands together quickly to generate heat. The cover from the cold was helpful. Count on Rey to be resourceful in a pinch after years scavenging the deserts of Jakku.

"Maybe we won't need it. We'll get out of here before it comes to that." Despite the darkness enveloping them in their blanket coverings, Kylo can still somewhat see the shape of her beside him. He could picture her in his mind with her scarf drawn down around her neck from her face, her small form curled away from the cold.

"Come here. I won't... do anything. It's just better if we're close." Cautiously, he maneuvers his arm around her again, hesitating until she gave permission. In the dark it was harder to see but he was careful to search out her shoulder on the opposite side from him. The longer they shared warmth the easier it would be when they were found. He didn't know what he was doing, only that he wanted to keep the both of them as warm as possible.

Rey's brow wrinkles as she tries to parse out what exactly he means by that, before she shakes her head a little, shifting herself so she's closer to him.

"I'm not worried you're going to do anything," she replies, a little obstinately, even if she really doesn't know what he means. She wouldn't have allowed him close enough to share warmth in the first place if she were truly afraid he was a danger to her. She settles somewhat uneasily against him, resting her hands on Padawan's neck before turning her left hand over, considering for a moment before she pulls off her glove, exposing her palm and the glowing green shard embedded in it. The light is enough to see by, even if it bathes them in an ethereal greenish color.

"No? I don't think I've earned the right to hear you say that." His voice comes out quiet, rough with some emotion he kept back as far as possible. Emotions that held sentiment were weakness. Caring what she thought of him was a weakness. Why he cares, when he knows that her letting him live was her own shortcoming, he can't explain properly. He knows, deep down, that his rejecting her request to save the fleet had been a betrayal in her eyes.

He cared so little for the Resistance and their cause, having long ago lost his mother to it. He didn't care if those people lived or died, even as he was relieved that his mother could find it in her to still want him for a son. His mother's continued faith continued to perplex him. He wanted to believe that that was why Rey let him live, that she still had that faith too. Yet, he found himself unable to understand their reasons.

He watches Rey take her glove off, showing the green glow of the shard within her palm. He takes his own glove off, the shard glowing in his own hand. The two lit up their enclosed space enough that he could see Rey and Padawan better, though the light left a sick feeling in his stomach. He'd felt that way when he fell from the sky, the glow burning from behind his eyelids. It reminded him of Luke's lightsaber, he realized. He had no reason to fear it anymore and yet he still recalled the tension that built up inside him, exploding outwards within the Force as he preyed for it to save him.

"Do you get used to them after a while?" He still felt it like a splinter, an anomaly embedded into his skin.

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