faderift | A kick in the teeth is good for some [Closed]

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A kick in the teeth is good for some [Closed]

WHO: Kylo Ren and Rey
WHAT: Just a sparring match between two Force users
WHEN: Early Solace
WHERE: Gallows Courtyard
NOTES: Violence - these two don't hold back much

With their warm up routine finally done, Ben found himself breathless as he stretched and watched Rey as she did the same. It had become a routine for them, when time permitted, to spend time together like this. He liked the feeling of adrenaline that made his lungs expand and contract, his limbs burning lightly as he stretched them post-jog. They ended up in the Gallows' training yard where all the swords and shields and other tools were kept.

He enjoyed coming here to quietly go through his training or to meditate with Rey. It allowed them a minute to turn their thoughts off, to just feel one another's presence, and those around them, within the Force. He was never more at peace than when they meditated. Yet, he finds himself wanting to do something different. He straightens from stretching down to his feet to look at Rey, his brown eyes full of purpose.

"Spar with me. Your choice of weapon." Not that they didn't both carry their light sabers, of course. There were plenty of metal or wooden weapons here too. He gestures silently with an outstretched hand for her to come at him, once their weapons had been decided.

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"You say that now but you've never had to duck to avoid hitting your head on things." He's flushed too, the both of them on the same page over his awful wording.

"So. Round two?" He holds her steady, coaxing her off of his back at last. When he can stand to his full height without her weight on him his muscles relax again.

"I certainly have. I'm tall too, you're just a giant," she replies lightly, smile still tugging at her lips. There's some reluctance as she slides off his back, because she's sort of enjoying being held up in this way. But as soon as her feet hit the ground she rolls her shoulders back, stretching her arms as she shakes the stiffness from them after their brief rest.

"Sure, round two. Maybe you'll last longer this time." She smirks, holding her hand out so that the staff flies into her palm.

"I'm not that tall." He sounds almost put out, but it's said with a light smile. He calls his own staff to his hands without effort, turning the wood over in his hands and shifting his feet into a stance. He looks at her like a beast stalking prey and when she looks to be ready he moves in, swinging his stave between his hands as he aims his first blow.

"I think I'll be just fine." He aims a second blow to her staff, preparing the same tactic as before - to slow her down and try to make her drop the weapon.

He may look like a beast stalking his prey, but she doesn't look like prey, more like a jungle cat ready to pounce. When he comes at her she spins her staff, deflecting the force of his blow as she pivots around him. She swings her staff away from his blow, before bringing it back in and swinging it towards his hand.

"You're still making your moves too obvious."

He parries the move easily, ignoring the sting in his fingers as she nearly strikes them. He could feed off of the ache, feed off of the pain. He takes a breath, steadying himself as he lunges forward, sweeping his weapon behind her knees with one hand and grabbing her weapon with the other.

"Am I? I would think no matter what I do it's known to you." Their connection within the Force made each other's movements like a dance of blocks and parries, being able to see what was coming as it happened.

He had her in a box so she takes the blow to the backs of her knees, but before she can fall she reaches out and grabs his shirt. Using his larger mass to keep from hitting the dirt she doesn't let go of her staff, but for the moment he's got her pretty well trapped.

"Maybe not everything you do is known to me."

He nearly topples forward when she grabs onto him, breath catching in his throat and eyes widening in surprise. He straightens immediately, clearing his throat even as he can't hide the adrenaline rush at her counter.

"My point this time?" He breathes through his nose, wide brown eyes looking down into hers. He wanted to make her struggle to fight him and he wanted her to do the same to him in turn.

She'd had the thought to use all her weight to pull him forward and flip him onto his back, but the way her legs were angled right now would have made that move nearly impossible to successfully pull off. So gritting her teeth as she holds herself upright she nods.

"Your point." She's always been competitive, it's something that kept her alive on Jakku. She was constantly competing against the other scavengers, who could get to the newest piece of junk to surface, who could take home the most rations. Who was the least hungry at the end of the day.

Pulling her legs back under her she straightens, stepping away from him again and walking in a half circle as she rotates her staff in her hand, before turning back towards him again.

"Round three?"

"Round three." He agrees, flexing his grip over his staff. He mirrors her actions, rotating his weapon and walking in a half circle opposite her, as he sizes her up. He then moves in again, swinging his staff in both hands in a sweeping move above his head and then bringing it down.

He keeps his senses open, waiting for her to parry him with another move, waiting for to strike out at him. He funneled his energy into each strike of his weapon, gritting his teeth as they both moved.

Moving as he does she dodges his swing, darting around him again. She'll always have her speed on him, which she knows is her most important asset. She spins on her heel as she moves past him, aiming a blow at his side while he's focused on swinging where she was, but getting distance between them again rather than immediately trying to take him down.

She turns fully once she's past, nostrils flared as she breathes through her nose, focused entirely on him and what his next move will be.

The blow that connects with his side only spurs him on. He doesn't register if it hurts or not, only centers his focus back into his own movements. Let the pain feed his strength. Her dodging him was only going to frustrate him in the end. Let him feed on that too.

He steps and circles, trying to follow where she went. He twirls his stave and swings out at her again, forcing her to stay and meet his blow or try to dodge him again. She couldn't do it forever. His successive blow is aimed at her midsection with a little more force than he might have intended.

He was thrilled by the exchange, eyes lit up like topaz and his mouth parted in the beginning of a grin - or perhaps gritting his teeth from the effort. That was also possible. He was battling her in earnest, that buzzing feeling humming from within as he drew upon the Force to meet her blow for blow.

She turns his blow to the side off the end of her staff, swinging hers around to hit him again, wincing when his blow hits her ribs, but not stopping in her own, aimed at his shoulder.

Her teeth are bared as she moves away from him again, before darting back in and aiming another blow at his legs, looking again to catch him low and off balance. She can feel the Force humming around them, alive with their energy. She draws from his determination, fueling her own with it, her strikes bolder and faster than before.

If this had been a lightsaber fight, they would both probably be severely injured by now. It's lucky that they can cut loose easier with wooden staves, then. He sees her charging forward and ends up stumbling over his own feet as she knocks them out from under him. Instinctively he does the same move she did, grabbing onto the front of her shirt as he tries to keep his footing. His weapon nearly slips from his grasp as he scrabbles to stay upright.

"Kriff" He sweeps a foot under hers, aiming to knock her to the ground. If he was going to be the one to go down first, he was taking her with him.

Rey lets out a grunt as he grabs her shirt, trying to keep her balance even as he loses his, but switching tactics as soon as she realizes that won't happen. She lifts her staff, pushing her weight into his as he sweeps her legs, bringing her staff up and across his neck as they both fall to the ground.

Hands on either side of his head she pushes down as soon as they hit the dirt, scrabbling to pin him, her staff across his shoulders rather than hitting his windpipe.

He hits the dirt with a grunt and she lands on him, pinning him with her staff. The fall knocked the wind out of him, leaving him panting as he lays beneath her. It would be easy to push her off and switch their positioning but he couldn't help but enjoy the view for a minute.

Rey was sitting on him, her legs on either side of his hips, and staring down at him with wild eyes and equally wild hair that stuck up in little fly aways. She was the image of perfection and he drank her in like a man starved for nourishment. He wasn't holding her shirt anymore but he did bring his staff up between them, pressing it across her throat as he still gasped for air and his chest rose and fell.

"Nice try." He chuckled and lowered his staff, leaving it to the ground and moving on to push his messy hair out of his eyes. A split second later he pushes up with his feet and hands to turn them over, pinning her beneath him in the dirt. Whether or not he's successful in wrestling her weapon from her hands didn't seem to matter as he leaned in, almost as if to whisper in her ear, before pushing up to his knees and looking down at her.

"I believe we could call that one a draw."

Her breath was heaving as she sat atop him, a half smile touching her lips as he raised his staff to her throat. The wind was knocked out of her as he flips them, her back meeting dirt with a soft thud. Somewhere in the motion she'd let go of her staff, her arms falling to her sides.

"I'd double check that score, if I were you," she exhales as he speaks, her eyes flicking downwards to indicate that he should look where her hands had disappeared to. In her right hand is the knife she always keeps on her belt, pointed at his stomach. She withdraws it once he sees it, a grin breaking across her face.

"You wouldn't have stabbed me with that." He's sure of that, but still he leans into her again to pin her hands beside her head. They were both out of breath, their adrenaline spiked. He can't say he minds that it takes this much just for the two of them to scuffle. They were evenly matched, after all.

"I was being generous, calling it a draw." He smiles almost wickedly as he looks her up and down, checking for any other surprises. He knows that she wouldn't have stabbed him but knowing she had the knife in her hands brought his guard up just a bit.

"No, but the point is if this were a real fight, I would have," she replies, the smile not leaving her face even as he pins her hands. She can think of a few further ways she could get herself out of this position but she doesn't, allowing him to look her over without putting up a fight.

"Generous for you. I had you before we hit the ground. I would've crushed your windpipe if I hadn't deliberately moved my staff."

"How nice of you not to stab me or crush my windpipe. If I hadn't been playing fair either you would have been on your back long before." He still remembers the Force in moments when his life depends on it. Were she threatening him, he would have pushed her back with a simple flick of the wrist, just as he'd unconsciously done when Chewbacca shot him, stopping the Wookie from tearing him in two.

Almost as a punishment for her deception with the knife, he squeezes her wrists before letting his hold relax again. It would be easy to make her hurt if he wanted to, from this position, but the level of trust they shared prevented it.

"You almost look like the same scavenger I met on Takodana, from this angle." They were both covered in dirt from their earlier scuffle and the difference from then and now was that he wasn't worried about being shot, nor was he planning to hurt her.

"I play to win, Solo, it's not my fault if you don't do the same," Rey replies her smile faltering a little as he squeezes her wrists. She wiggles a little under him, getting her feet under her so she can push her she get her knees up on either side of his hips, just resting against them.

His comment that she looked almost like that scavenger on Takodana made her look up at him with consideration, pulling her lip between her lips.

"You don't look anything like the monster that stalked me."

"Mm. I think I like that - the competitive streak." His hands move down her arms, relinquishing his hold on her, and his eyes drop to her mouth. He wets his own lips, just taking a moment to appraise her.

"Oh, I'm still the monster, but with you it's different." He doesn't feel so much like a monster with her. There were days he lost his cool, still, but he didn't resort to choking anyone or killing them when they made him angry.

Careful, as if handling glass or something precious and fragile, he tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. This girl continued to surprise him. No matter how he towed the line between darkness and light she gave him something steady and real. He couldn't begin to understand why, when he's sure that he doesn't deserve it.

Her lips part as he runs his hands down her arms, the motion sending chills up her spine. She looks up at him, sweaty from their fight, dirty from the ground, and he couldn't look less like a monster to her. Even as he maintains he's still that monster, he tucks a strand of her hair that's come loose from her bun so gently, like he's afraid to break her.

But as she's come to learn, he's always treated her like that. Gentle, when others weren't extended the same courtesy.

Her arms shift now that they're free to do so, her hands sliding up his biceps.

"I don't think you are. You might be a little meaner to others but..." Your father was like that, too is on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn't say it. She doesn't want to ruin the moment. "That's just your personality."

He can feel the words she wants to say on the edge of their bond, making him suck in his breath. Instead he focus on the words she actually says, smiling ruefully as they fit inside his mind and he turns them over and over.

"My personality." He repeats, shaking his head slightly, his long hair falling in his face. "You know, there are others who could find different words for me besides 'mean'."

Cruel, almost feral, dangerous... yet he had allowed himself to calm somewhat. Not too long ago he resorted to choking and harming with the Force to get what he wanted. He hadn't done that in months. When she touches his arms, he allows himself to put all of that out of his mind. His thoughts were filled with her instead.

Rey can't help the smile that spreads across his face as his hair obscures his features. She reaches up with one hand, pushing his dark curls back as she lifts herself up enough so she can press her forehead to his, her hand settling at the base of his skull.

"They don't know you like I do." Part of her likes that, that there is this part of him that only she is allowed to see. It did complicate things, however, especially when it came to her trying to convince people that she was safe with him and actually wanted to be with him.

There was a clever retort in him somewhere, but it's forgotten when she pushes his hair out of his face and she lifts herself up to press her forehead against his. He moves back enough to give her space but doesn't go far when her hand moves to the back of his head.

He bites his lip, hesitating for just a moment before pressing his mouth to hers. His hands move to her shoulders and then to her cheeks, his leather gloves that he often trained with preventing him from touching her skin directly. A moment later he comes back to himself, realizing how exposed they are out in the courtyard.

"Rey," he whispers her name and kisses her again before pulling back slightly, his ears buzzing - his everything buzzing, really.

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