( open ) summertime,

[periastron]

WHO: Alexandra, D’Artagnan, Fingon, Kylo Ren, Rey & open
WHAT: brave camp-anions assignment: members of Forces test Inquisition camping gear on the rough terrain and weather of the Wounded Coast, others can come by and laugh at their struggles and applaud their victories (lol)
WHEN: vaguely June
WHERE: Wounded Coast
NOTES: set up your starters, assigned campers! and feel free to come visit the campers.

Take a quick trip outside the city to test Inquisition tents, and try building your own shelter.
What’s easy to set up? What holds up well against the weather? Does anything need repairs?
Did you figure out the ideal ‘smore ingredients, or ghost stories to demoralize the enemy? Team bonding!!!

Comments

Kylo Ren (and Caedus the Mabari!) | prose or brackets are welcome

[letoldthingsdie]

The last thing he expected out of an assignment for the Forces division was a camping trip. Yes he had agreed to do it but that still didn't make him a fan of doing something other than hitting monsters for the Inquisition. The Wounded Coast also left much to be desired as far as landscape, but it wasn't the worst thing he's seen.

Pitching a Tent

With his hair pulled back out of his face, Kylo was staring severely at the instructions left for putting the tent together. Caedus was circling his feet, sniffing the ground and looking up at Kylo as he turned over the diagram in his hands to get a better look and figure out which piece he needed to start with. The mabari, sensing that someone was being too serious about this, decided to pick up one of the poles and take off with it. Was it one he needed right now? Would it be perfectly straight when he got it back? Only the Maker knew.

"Hey- Caedus." Kylo looks up from his work, completely exasperated with the dog. "Kriff. Why did I think it was a good idea to bring him along?"

Sighing, he shoves the instructions in his pocket and stabs one of the poles into the ground out of irritation while he waits for the pup to bring the other one back, or be laughed at by his fellow campers. Which ever happened first.

Let there be fire! (Just a campfire, don't worry)

Once the tent is finally put together and only a little crooked, Kylo is all too happy to distract himself with getting firewood. He has several broken branches and some split logs in his arms and carries them to the center of their circle of tents with ease.

"Is this too much? We don't have to use it all at once, I guess." He looks to the person nearest him as he starts creating a bit of a fire pit, though nothing too fancy. It just needed to be enough to keep the fire in one secure place. The last thing they needed was the forests around them catching fire.

Tent

[mousquetaire]

D'Artagnan, usefully, is off to one side leaning against a tree, and observing Kylo's dubious attempts to erect the tent.

Incidentally, this is something he's used to. He's never been given a camping assignment before, but it comes with the territory in his line of work. Still, Kylo seems so determined, and for now at least, d'Artagnan will let him work.

That is until the little Mabari puppy steals one of the poles, and then he pushes off the tree with a smile.

"It was a good idea, he'll warn us if any strangers approach. Clearly he wants to play. Shall we take his advice, or do you want to struggle with that for another hour, first?"

[letoldthingsdie]

He looks towards D'Artagnan, surprised. Had he been watching him struggle with the tent? Unconsciously, he presses his lips together and tries to swallow the embarrassment. There were tents where he was from, but so much of the technology there was different to here. You didn't need tents when you spent half your life on a star cruiser.

"Isn't the mission more important?" All work and no play, of course. This was hardly a dire situation. He did play with the mabari sometimes, but it was usually with Rey and Padawan around him. He hardly ever let his guard down around strangers. Though, technically Rey was here on this trip, too.

[mousquetaire]

D'Artagnan shrugs, clearly still taken with the puppy.

"What do you suppose the mission is? He's an ideal test for our equipment. If it can survive his teeth, it's well made."

And if it's not well made, the Inquisition will surely thank them for pointing it out so succinctly. That sounds like an excellent excuse to play fetch.

"Besides, that's easily done if we work together." He gestures at the collapsed remnants of the tent. "You know it's all right to ask for help, Monsieur Ren?"

[letoldthingsdie]

"Building a camp. Testing the equipment." He gestures to the camp around them. He actually huffs out a laugh at his point about the equipment surviving teeth. "You say that now but he hasn't chewed anything of yours yet."

"Ah- I don't-" He had been about to say he didn't need help, that he could figure it out, but truthfully he was frustrated by the tediousness of putting the tent together. "It doesn't have all the pieces, while he's running around with that pole."

As if on cue, Caedus bolts right back to their camp and straight to D'Artagnan, dragging the missing piece with him and dropping it at his feet. The mabari was quite pleased with himself, having gotten his master to come out of his shell a bit. Clearly he was a very good boy.

[mousquetaire]

D'Artagnan holds his hands out, delighted, and sends a pointed smile in Kylo's direction. He crouches, lifting the pole with one hand and scratching the mabari behind the ears with the other.

"There's a good boy. You see? He's helping."

D'Artagnan holds out the pole, before standing up and pulling his knife from his belt. Then he heads to one of the trees, and starts looking among the branches for one small enough to cut away.

"If we find him a stick of his own, he's less likely to steal the others. Ah, this one--"

He takes a firm hold of it and snaps it off at the joint. Then he uses the knife to smooth it out, taking off all the rough edges. He holds that out to Kylo, too.

"Try it. He'll bring it back."

fiyaaaa

[provenforce]

Rey is sitting on the ground nearby, patching some holes that she's found in a fishing net that she'd borrowed. When Ben returns she gives him a soft smile before going back to her work, but when he speaks she looks up again and squints at the wood he'd brought with him.

"If anything it probably isn't enough. Wood burns fast. But there's no shortage of it around here so that's a good start, at least."

[letoldthingsdie]

"Mm. True." He crosses his arms for a minute, staring at the pile he's brought. She was right. He'd need more. He looks to her for a moment, head tilted in interest.

"What are you working on?"

[provenforce]

"Fishing net," she replies, holding it up for him to see. She's almost done knotting the new threads into the old ones, so it's fairly recognizable as what it's supposed to be. "I borrowed it, but it's... in rough shape, so I'm fixing it up so we might actually be able to use it."

[letoldthingsdie]

"Mm." He wrinkles his nose a bit, taking in the holes littered throughout the net. 'Rough shape' was an apt way to put it. He debates helping her instead, but his task is still unfinished. He looks to the firewood again. "I'll get more wood and help you once I have enough. We'll have to stock up again later once we burn through this."

[provenforce]

Rey considers that for a moment, looking down at the net before carefully untangling her hands and setting it aside.

"I'll come with you," she replies, pushing herself to her feet and brushing the dirt off the seat of her pants as she steps towards him, giving him a crooked smile. "That way we can carry more at once."

[letoldthingsdie]

"Oh. You don't have to if you're busy." Though he clearly does not object to spending time together. He smiles just the faintest bit as she gets to her feet and steps towards him. "Help would be nice, though."

He dips his head a bit, his smile slowly widening at the seam of his lips pressed together. He looks up again, bringing his focus back on their task at hand. With two people it would go a lot faster.

[provenforce]

She smiles in response to his smile, always brighter when directed at him. Even though he's gotten more free with his smiles since they started seeing one-another, she still appreciates each one.

"I can work on the net later, it's not a problem. Let's go."

[letoldthingsdie]

"As the lady commands." He can't help but tease a little as she takes charge of the two of them getting firewood. It makes his smile widen for a moment before his expression softens and he follows after her to the woods to grab more broken branches and dead bark and whatever bits they could scavenge to burn.

[provenforce]

Rey wrinkles her nose at his teasing, before rolling her eyes at him and heading into the woods without waiting for him. It's easy to spot things to burn, there's always an abundance of fallen tree branches in the woods.

"So before you came to Thedas, when was the last time you collected firewood?"

[letoldthingsdie]

"Ah." Her question actually makes him frown a bit, his thoughts instantly going back to the Jedi Temple immediately. He remembers his hut being similar to the one she had been in on the island with Luke. Jedi Temples weren't all that different. He tries his best to push thoughts of Luke away immediately, trying to feign indifference when he speaks his name. "When I was with Luke, probably."

He shrugs, trying to keep his thoughts neutral. It wasn't as if she'd said anything wrong. Truthfully, it had been a long time and the First Order had spared no expense on small comforts. They had the funds, after all.

[provenforce]

"Oh." She realizes she should have known that, and she is a little angry with herself for bringing it up in the first place. She falls silent for a bit, chewing her lip and focusing on picking up sticks.

"There aren't trees on Jakku. Scrub brush, sometimes. Little bits of vegetation that somehow survives despite the climate, and the Caretakers of the Jedi temple usually gathered all the wood for our fires on the island. The first time I really gathered wood for anything was here." She volunteers the information, hoping it'll distract him from thoughts of Luke.

[letoldthingsdie]

He can see her regretting her choice immediately and he instantly feels guilty for it. He searches his memories, trying to find something to tell her about. She beats him to it and he smiles appreciatively.

"No, I wouldn't imagine there was a lot of plant life on Jakku. Not unless it was nightbloomers and spinebarrels occasionally." He'd picked that one out of her memories, seeing the shriveled up plant in her AT-AT home in his mind's eye. "I wonder if there are plants like that here."

[provenforce]

A slight smile touches her lips as he mentions the flowers by name that she used to collect. She's come to appreciate a wide array of flowers since those, but they had been little reminders for her. If they could survive in the Jakku desert, so could she.

"There must be. This planet has so many different kinds of flora it wouldn't surprise me. Even in the desert there had been more green than I'd ever seen on Jakku."

[letoldthingsdie]

He begins gathering up sticks and things again, bundling everything in his arms and straightening to his feet once they're full. It was easy to focus on his task and take his time finding the words for their conversation. They were here to do a job, but he did enjoy spending time alone with her. She made him feel less out of place when they ended up on assignments together. It made him feel slightly more at ease around others.

As for their conversation - he had seen so many different worlds, far too used to the New Republic changing home planets every so often. His home had been Chandrila but his mother's work and later his travels with his uncle had taken him to so many places. Jakku had been a harsh climate, that he remembers of his time searching for Dameron's droid.

I imagine it would have been hard to find water needed for plant life on a planet that needed to import it. His brows knit slightly, picturing Rey again - all skinny arms and legs and those buns - sitting and waiting with synthetic food and a Rebel Pilot's helmet on her head. She would never have to feel that alone again and would see all the green she wanted.

"Maybe we can make a garden in front of our home, fill it with plants and flowers - whatever you want." He smiles a bit sadly, hoping he could give her what she wanted above anything else. She deserved it after her years long vigil on that desert graveyard.

[provenforce]

"I was thinking about that," Rey replies, her smile growing as he brings it up. She walks towards him, her arms full of sticks and her eyes warm. "There's plenty of room out front, and... it'll be nice for the birdhouse to have flowers surrounding it. We could grow vegetables too. I... don't know how, but we could probably figure it out?"

She can't imagine it's too difficult, but there are gardeners around the Gallows, she can find people to ask for advice easily.

[letoldthingsdie]

"I don't exactly have a green thumb, but we could work on it. Flowers and vegetables - all of it." He knew next to nothing about these things too, but what they lacked in knowledge they made up for in enthusiasm.

"Should we head back? Or did you want to pick up more?" He looks around them, eyes scanning for more branches they could use for the fire.

[provenforce]

She's happy that he wants to help her with a garden. It would be something nice they could do together, building up their home more in little ways. Making it theirs entirely.

At his question she looks at the bundle he has, and her own, considering for a moment.

"I think we can head back, this should last us through the night."

[letoldthingsdie]

It was honestly the most mundane thing in the world: a garden; having a house, building a home together, and all that came with it. Yet, it meant everything to the both of them. It terrified him greatly to see himself become someone who could rise up out of his darkness and settle into this kind of a life. He didn't need to destroy things to etch out his place. Rey had made room for him already.

"Mm. Hang on a second, before we do." He looks around them, checking that no one else has decided to wander back here. It shouldn't matter, of course. It wasn't as if they had anything to hide. Even so, his wish for a private moment was important to him.

He dips himself forward, into her space, with his bundle of wood and branches still held in his arms, and kisses her forehead before finding her lips.

"Thank you for helping me." In more ways than one, really, but he could just be talking about the firewood.

[provenforce]

When he starts looking around them she does too, curious as to what he's looking for, and then he kisses her forehead and it becomes clear enough that she's able to reciprocate when his lips find hers. It's awkward with two bundles of wood between them, and brief, but impossibly sweet. She smiles at him, careful not to lose her grip on the wood in her arms.

"I'll always help you, Ben."