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WHO: Kylo Ren and YOU
WHAT: Day to day life; includes some training in the gallows, exploring Kirkwall and such
WHEN: Throughout the remainder of April/Cloudreach 9:44
WHERE: Gallows, Kirkwall, etc
NOTES: Nothing of note but I'll update if that changes

Gallows

With his lightsaber in hand, Kylo can be found training rigorously in various forms. He's careful to practice at a distance from anyone else, should they get too close. Starting his training, feet planted firmly and hand holding his weapon out as if to point it at an unseen target, he swings and swirls the lightsaber in his hands in fluid motions. Each time he avoids hitting the dummy directly, occasionally stopping his blade on either side of the target. The last thing he wanted to do every time he trained was to break a training dummy.

He focuses on more than just his blade work, however, practicing his breathing, the bend of his knees as he strikes, and keeping his body a firm immovable object against his opponent. Eventually he takes a break, brushing his messy shock of black hair from his eyes and shrugging his shoulders, the glowing red light withdrawn into the hilt once more.

During his point of resting, he stretches his arms, reaching down to his toes or crossing them one over the other to loosen each muscle. The rigors of training gave him something to channel his energy into, finding focus in his thoughts through the effort he expends with his blade.

Kirkwall

Having washed the sweat and grime from training away, Kylo can be found exploring the markets and other points of interest within Kirkwall. Lowtown was bustling with life as he browsed the Market District, winding streets drawing his attention now and again as he went from shop to shop. It was far from home, but it was starting to feel as such once the routine had set in.

Stopping at a food stall, Kylo turns over a piece of fruit with a careful gaze as he examines it for any flaws. Eventually he would make his way towards the the next shop, stopping to see the wares that Lowtown had to offer.

Wildcard

[ooc: Just hit me up on my journal or pm me at

wishuponthenightskies if you want to come up with a different prompt for us to do!]

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Any bad thoughts he'd had seem to be chased away just by the way she makes his stomach do flip flops when she kisses him back. The cool breeze was nothing compared to the warmth that spread from his lips all the way down to his his toes. When she drops back down to her feet he chases her again, kissing her once more before she speaks.

"Maybe we could get some food before we go back? Unless you have shopping to do." He could quite literally go anywhere with her and somehow find wonder in it because she was with him. He also couldn't mask his thoughts, that he wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day with her. If she had work to be done he wouldn't bother her, but the image in his mind slips back to this morning when he'd woken up with her curled up in his arms. He could do with more of that and more of her kissing him.

That he chases her back down as she tries to pull away is somehow both endearing to her and evocative of their relationship. One of them always chasing down the other. She bites back the smile on her face, shaking her head at his question, even as thoughts of that morning cross her mind. She's not sure if they're hers or his, but it doesn't matter, because they make her feel cared for.

"I never say no to food. But I have everything I need back at the Gallows, this trip was more just for fun."

There's a slight pang of guilt at her comment about the food. He's glad, not for the first time, that she can have about as much as she needs to eat here. She deserved it as much as she deserved a family that wanted her. He might not be able to be that, but seeing her smile was enough.

"Well I'm glad we could go together and I was able to give you back some of what you've given me." It wasn't anything extravagant, but he'd thought of her. That was enough, wasn't it? His fingers trace the shape of her cheek, as he felt he'd done a thousand times by now. He didn't smile but the look in his eyes was no less tender.

She's getting used to the feeling of his fingers on her face, even if it's still new. They'd spent a lot of their time since deciding to bridge this gap between them with little touches. Reaching up with her hand she captures his, leaning up for one last kiss before pulling away from him.

"I know a place that does fried fish and chips. Come on."

He wanted to lean in again, to chase her lips that retreated again, but the promise of more kept him steady. He sucks in a breath, trying to center his thoughts. Food. Right. Food was what he'd suggested.

"Sounds delicious." His words might seem on target but his thoughts were filled with how small she was even if she stood only half a foot shorter than him. Her hands were easily engulfed by his, her mouth fit to his as if it belonged there - two halves of a whole. He should be thinking of food but his thoughts were filled with her. They had none of the carnal desire he'd felt moments ago but something more warm and calming like a summer breeze. It was a feeling he couldn't even admit to himself, let alone say to her.

She leads him in the direction of the food cart, her hand tight in his. It's obvious it's a place she's visited with some frequency, because she knows exactly where they'll be this time of the day. A smile touches her face as she feels the warmth and calm coming from him, a balance in the Force between them.

A few turns down streets close to the docks and the cart comes into view, stopped and without customers for the moment. Rey exchanges pleasantries with the middle-aged woman behind the cart as she hands over coins in exchange for two good sized pieces of fried fish with chips wrapped in parchment. She smiles as she turns and hands Ben his, before starting in the direction of the dock that the Inquisition uses for the Ferry that brings people to and from the Gallows. Obviously this is a ritual for her, and walking and eating has become a habit.

"The woman back there's husband is a fisherman. Her fish is always fresh, caught this morning. It's the best place in town for this."

The food smelled amazing and he was glad Rey had lead the two of them here. He hadn't bothered to find little things like this, to make himself at home the way she has in so many small ways. When the two of them stop in front of the cart he listened, watching Rey's exchange with the woman. He gives the woman a nod as the two of them head towards the dock with their food.

"I'm guessing it's somewhere you come to eat a lot?" He takes a careful bite of his food as the two of them walk together, making note of their surroundings. The food was delicious, a salty sweet aroma filling his senses as he lets himself indulge. It was definitely better than food rations in the vastness of space.

"Mm-hm," Rey responds around a mouthful of fish, wiping some grease from the corner of her mouth as she looks over at him. This isn't dainty cute eating, she enjoys her food. At least she chews and swallows before she says anything more than her noise of confirmation.

"If I'm in town around lunch I'll stop by her cart. There's a few other places I can stop too, but I love the way she spices her fish," Rey has found she really enjoys how flavorful things can be around here, and what a variety of cooking styles there are in Kirkwall. "Seafood in general... I haven't had anything I haven't enjoyed. And some of it is served raw." She never would have thought about eating something uncooked before coming here.

For a fraction of a second, while he ate his own food, his brows shoot up and there's a distinct wrinkle of his nose while he watches her eat. His own meal isn't quite so worshiped as hers is. His bites are smaller and his mouth isn't quite as full.

"No, I can't imagine raw food would have been plentiful on Jakku - or fish. Probably imported?" Whereas Chandrila, and several other worlds abundant in water, had them naturally. Even water had to be imported to Jakku, he knew. The thought made him less critical of her eating habits and more pleased that she could enjoy something she most likely hadn't been able to back home.

"What else do you like?" He could be asking about food or anything, really. He wanted to know her beyond the glimpses he got inside her head against their will. He knew she liked colorful things, which was why he'd gotten her the bracelet, and he knew she liked to tinker and build things. Other than these small glimpses he didn't know her well and she didn't know him. Was he even willing to open up about himself? The thought felt intimidating. He hadn't talked about his interests in a long time.

Edited 2018-04-25 23:48 (UTC)

Oblivious to him judging her eating habits like a snob, Rey continues to enjoy her meal. She shakes her head at his question about imported fish, swallowing another bite.

"Unkar may have imported fish for himself, but most people on Jakku wouldn't have been able to afford that. I've only ever had rations. At least, before I left." Her first real meal had been at Maz Kanata's castle, with Han. The memory still makes her smile, she'd been more into the strange fruits she'd been given than the conversation, almost.

His question brings her back to the present and she's about to list off more food before she realizes that's probably not what he means. She plucks a few chips from around her fish and chews on them thoughtfully as they walk, considering how best to answer that question.

"I like to draw? I used to draw things I saw on Jakku. I've been drawing things here, since I arrived." She never really gave it much thought, but it's something she's decent at, and she does enjoy doing it. "How about you? Is there anything you like?" She realizes she doesn't know. Even when she'd been trying to find something to bring him while in Orlais, she'd been having trouble coming up with anything. The fact that he liked the necklace she gave him was sheer luck.

Now that he's asked, having her ask him puts him on the spot. There was so little they knew about one another. There hadn't been time to stop and to know, given that they were set on opposite sides of a war and had wanted to kill one another.

"Calligraphy. It's sort of like drawing, but not." He could have winced at the lame explanation, feeling wholly inadequate at opening up about himself. He'd thought about talking about flying, but that only made him think of his father. Not a pleasant topic, he decides.

He isn't surprised at what she hears about Unkar Plutt. The man was slimy like a worm to be crushed. Yet Rey had managed to carve out a small way to survive, as she'd grown up. No chiild should have to go hungry or scramble for a means to eat. He'd been so sure when he told her what he'd seen, that her parents had sold her, that she would have been as angry as anyone and she would have come to his side without hesitation.

It was strange, the way their lives had changed in just the short month or two he had spent here.

Edited (that tag was painfully short let me fix this) 2018-04-26 01:56 (UTC)

Rey is familiar with calligraphy, there were a few nomads she'd seen on Jakku who made beautiful signs to post. But she can't picture Ben doing it. She can't picture him doing anything that might be considered an idle hobby, truthfully. He's always seemed so intense, and given Snoke and what she knew about him, it didn't seem like that would be something wholly encouraged within the First Order.

Still, it makes her smile, trying to picture it.

"I didn't think that anyone on the Core planets bothered with writing things down anymore. Did you teach yourself?"

"Yeah. It just... gave me something to do." It kept him focused, making something beautiful when everything in his mind was darkness. When he'd been with Luke and the other students, he had practiced it more. He still had the pens, of course, but his work in the First Order kept him busy. His thoughts had no longer needed to be at peace.

"My pens came with me through the rift." It was strange, but he didn't think much on it. He'd been more concerned with his safety and then trying to get his lightsaber to work. He had more time to do such things now, of course. "Not the most useful thing to come through, I'm sure."

"Not the least useful, either," Rey replies with a smile, finishing off her chips and crushing the empty parchment paper up in her hands. She tucks the ball into her bag to be disposed of later, wiping her hands off on her trousers. Sorry Ben, your lady friend is kind of gross.

"Have you tried doing any calligraphy using this world's letters?" She knows that some of the script she's seen around Thedas has been elaborate, though a lot of it was much more simplistic than the alphabets that ranged across the galaxy they came from.

He's been eating his food while they walk together but still had a handful of chips left. He hadn't devoured his food nearly as fast as Rey. When she wipes her hands on her trousers his brows knit together as if he wants to say something, perhaps offer her a napkin, but he thinks better of it. There had to be some point in their existence when they might seem dissimilar to one another and this was clearly one of those times.

He liked neatness, order, and structure. He had also been raised to have the manners to match his family's status; his mother a princess and senator of . It also helped him to exercise control in areas of his life that he could, while everything else about him was like a gaping storm, uncontrolled and chaotic.

"I haven't tried, no. The letters themselves shouldn't be too hard, though." He felt more at home writing in their native language, though. It had been so long since he'd done it, but he had a few crumpled and discarded pieces of parchment in his room from attempts to practice while here in Thedas. His thoughts had been so focused on other things back home that now he seemed to have all the time in the world, when not busy with his duties.

"Maybe I can practice more... and you could show me some of your drawings?" It was a cautious offer that he might reciprocate and show her some of his work, even if the idea made him nervous with anticipation of what she would think.

As they kept walking, his food finally finished and the mess put in his pack to be discarded later, he reached out for her hand. Wiping them on her pants might seem disgusting to him, but they were still her hands. They were hands he very much liked holding.

Edited 2018-04-26 05:09 (UTC)

Because of wiping her hands on her pants the grease from the fish and chips isn't covering her hands, so when he takes her hand it's just her hand. She smiles as he's the one who reaches for her, threading her fingers through his.

"I haven't really shown anyone my drawings. But... okay." It wasn't particularly a secret, she just didn't think they were anything special. People created beautiful works of art, she just did little doodles.

"Only if you want to." His thumb brushes across the back of her hand as they walk together, his gaze drifting to her when she speaks. It was nice to be able to walk together, all of the chaos and uncertainty of his thoughts drifting away into a comfortable silence.

"Did you want to ask me anything?" He had been the one to ask about her interests, after all. It was only fair, even if he wondered what she would even want to know about him. He had never been intimate with anyone; even friendships he had no real experience in. That left him with the question of What could they talk about?

"I want to," she affirms, smiling a little at the feel of his thumb brushing against her skin, leaning a little closer to him as they walk.

She isn't sure what to ask him, she's never been in this kind of situation, the getting-to-know-you dance with someone of a more than casual interest. She's made friends since coming to Thedas, friends that she'd had more conversations with than she has even Finn, but there's still large gaps in her social etiquette knowledge.

"Have you ever kissed anyone before me?" She internally winces a little as soon as the question leaves her lips, but it's something that she's been wondering about since their first kiss.

He looks to her when she moves closer, a small smile gracing his features as he looks from her to their joined hands and back again. Her question, however, almost instantly causes the smile to leave his face. His lips press together in a thin line, trying to decide how best to answer her.

"I didn't exactly have the time to before." He tries for sarcasm, but it doesn't feel right. He bites his bottom lip, eyes shifting down to their entwined fingers again. "When I was still training with Luke. She was one of his students."

He swallows, trying to not dwell on the deeds of his past that had lead him to this point. No matter how much he told himself that it didn't matter anymore, the past seemed to enjoy rising up from the dead to haunt him. Perhaps that was why he tried so hard to get rid of it. It couldn't hurt him any more if he didn't let it.

"She died the night I left. After Luke tried to kill me." And he had never looked back. Such a thing had been an insignificant experience in his life, he'd thought. He didn't regret killing Luke's students. The ones who been spared had taken with him when he left the Jedi forever.

She'd regretted asking as soon as it had left her lips, but now she regrets it all the more. She knows what he's not saying, that he probably killed her.

"I'm sorry, Ben," she says quietly, chewing on the inside of her lip as she squeezes his hand, glancing up at him.

"I shouldn't have asked. I don't know, I just... imagined given that you were a senator's son on one of the more elegant planets in the system, and given how you look..." She trails off, blushing and looking away from him again, suddenly overly interested in the sight of the waterfront.

"What- no. You don't have to apologize I'm the one who-" He was the one who had been the catalyst for it. If Luke hadn't tried to kill him, if he had been able to keep Snoke out of his mind, perhaps he wouldn't have left. Even with Snoke in his mind he'd tried for so many years to tell himself he was good, that he wasn't a monster. Having Luke reaffirm those fears had been what pushed him over the edge. If Luke, who had been so sure of his grandfather's goodness that he had tried to save him, thought he was evil then he must have truly been evil.

"I was always by myself. That was my own choice." He might have met someone before he'd gone with Luke, if he hadn't been so lost in his own head and mired in the darkness that Snoke poured into him. "I thought, for a moment, that I wasn't the monster my parents feared. Luke proved me wrong. That's all it was. She wasn't- it wasn't like it is with you."

"She was afraid of me too, I think. On some level most people are. I make them uneasy." He had grown used to it. The storm troopers had often kept their distance, their unease radiating from them whenever he entered a room. Luke's students had been no different, for the most part.

He pulls her against him, stopping to bring his arms around her but not before coaxing her to look up at him again. Rey's presence in the Force had always been like a steady beacon to him. He had no reason to doubt her feelings the way he'd had so many others in his life. She had thought him a monster once but that seemed so far removed from how they were now.

"How I look?" He was well aware of 'how he looked'. He'd spent half his life being compared to his father by senators and wealthy people in his mother's circles. It had quieted down some once people realized he was quite the opposite in personality to him. Hearing Rey say it, as if she could possibly think he was handsome beneath the face of the monster he wore like armor - it made his face feel warm once the thought occurred to him.

It's strange, part of her really wants to hear more about his past, if only to better understand what made him the way he is now. But she also doesn't want to bring up anything that might bring him pain, or upset him. She knows it's unavoidable, and she'll have to get used to it, but she'd spent so long pushing her own pain and loneliness down, the last thing she wants is to drag his out into the light.

She's somewhat reluctant to look up at him as he pulls her to him but she does, her face flushed as she wraps her arms around his waist. Of course when he asks for clarification her blush deepens, but defiance creeps into her expression as she's determined to keep eye contact with him.

"I think you know what I mean."

"Oh, I don't think I do. Maybe you should tell me." His smile is playful as his hands drop to her waist. His earlier unease was long gone, replaced with the now-familiar feeling of his heart leaping in his chest. He licks his lips, his smile widening into a genuine grin. "I don't think I'm all that used to hearing it as you might expect."

The were locked in a stalemate as he tried to coax the words from her, hovering just inches from kissing her like he wanted to. If she was stubborn then so was he. He marveled, not for the first time, how small she was in his arms. It was different when they had come to each other's beds. He wasn't as aware of the subtle difference in their height or how narrow her waist was, the way her body curved when he traced his fingers up her spine.

Rey's lips are pressed into a thin line as he closes in on her, but she doesn't give in to what he wants. She could, of course. In the moment, she feels bold, with his arms wrapped around her and his face inches from hers, she might not even stumble through saying it.

Instead of telling him what he wants to hear, though, she shifts her hold on him, her hands sliding up his chest to hook around the back of his neck, tugging him that last few inches to her lips. While she thinks that the way she kisses him speaks for what she thinks better than words could she eventually murmurs against his lips:

"You're very handsome. I thought so the first time I saw your face."

Even when you thought I was a monster? he doesn't say it aloud, knowing she can hear his thoughts just as well as hers come crashing over him like a wave. Being tugged forward those last inches sent a shudder down his spine. He knew he was always the one to get physical with her: he'd done it from the first time they met. It was so ingrained in him that his presence made others uneasy but to be desired - oh, how different that felt.

He kisses her back, his hold on her waist just barely tightening, and takes care with the action as if he needed to control himself. He can it see in his mind's eye: Rey, unconscious to the chair he'd strapped her too; Rey, standing over him in the forest, her teeth bared and her shoulders heaving as she stared down at him and the Force shone through her so brightly it was almost blinding; Rey standing with her back to him in Snoke's throne room.

She wasn't just beautiful; she was a Force.

It was as if the Force had breathed life into her, had imparted some of its energy onto the mortal coil and had given it her shape. When he had slept after the first time he had brought her to his room in the Gallows her earthy smell had lingered for days, her presence molding itself in his room. Beautiful didn't quite cover how he felt for her. There was beauty in life that drifted in and out of the Force and then there was her, all grit and stubbornness that knocked him off his feet in more ways than one.

"I was fascinated by you. I still am. You still keep me on my toes." His touch lifts, one hand caressing her cheek as he presses another kiss to her lips before it moves to the nape of her neck to tangle in her hair.

Edited (punctuation i can do it) 2018-04-26 20:08 (UTC)

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