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WHO: Kylo Ren, Rey, Obi-wan and whoever else wants to stop by.
WHAT: It's Rey's Rifter-versary and they're celebrating?
WHEN: Whenever things aren't going crazy???
WHERE: Rey and Kylo's home
NOTES: Bring your party hats?

While Kylo wasn't a huge fan of being around a crowd of people, he wanted to do something nice for Rey. She had done so much in her time to become a part of the people who lived here in Thedas and had been here long enough to find a place for herself. He wanted to celebrate that, and to show her he cared that she was here, that others were happy she was here too.

Ever the dutiful partner, he starts the 'festivities' with food. A nice dinner for them and their guest(s) and he tried his best to play host.

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Tessa shows up, looking a bit awkward because while she knows Kylo and Rey, she doesn't know them well. But as someone who is also a Rifter, and especially one who doesn't want to return home, Tessa's all for celebrating the day one of them fell into this place.

When she arrives, she holds out a wicker basket lined with cloth that has plenty of rolls inside. Rolls that look suspiciously like what they serve at dinner in the Gallows every night. Rolls that, if anyone checks the Gallows kitchens, are now missing from there. She stole the rolls, is the point. But she's smiling and handing them over.

"Hi! I didn't know what to bring. Not much of a cook. Hope this is cool?"

Lucky for Tesa, he knows all about awkward. He wasn't exactly good at socializing but he wanted to do something for Rey. Being surrounded by her friends was the best way to do that, in his experience.

"Oh. Hi." He clears his throat a bit awkwardly as he takes in what Tessa has brought. He was glad people were coming but hadn't really expected it. Part of him worried that he might be the thing that turned people away. He is more than glad to be wrong.

"The rolls are fine. Thank you." He very nearly cracks a smile, having seen these rolls enough times to know where they came from. The basket is set with the rest of the spread, soon to be gobbled up by guests and host alike.

"Nice!" She rubs her hands together, which is something she does when she's getting ready to dive into something, no matter how simple.

"So, is it just a dinner? Not sure how we celebrate a Riftversary." It's not like they can watch home movies of Rey falling from the rift.

"It's just a dinner. No pressure involved." He runs a hand through his dark hair, mussing up his curls out of nervous habit. "I don't really know how any of this works either. I've only been here less than half a year. It just seemed like something nice to do."

While the idea of staying here for years bothered him, he was slowly finding a way to reconcile that and create a place for himself. It just also happened to be with Rey too.

"And I've been here less time than you. So I'm like, super lost still." But she says it in good humor because despite all the faults, this place is better than the alternative she was faced with at home.

"Anyway, is it just you two living here? Do I get the grand tour?"

"Yes it's just us for now, I guess. If more people from home show up we have the room for them." He shrugs his shoulders and indicates she can follow him while they move from the kitchen through the house. "It's pretty standard - first floor has the kitchen and where we eat, the living room and all that."

He shows her each room: the kitchen and their small pantry, the living room and the small storage where he keeps some of the trinkets they each won in Wycome. The only thing outside was Rey's bird bath. That thing was partly why they tried to find a large yard. Now there were plants growing outside too. Caedus shows himself as they near the stairs, the mabari's mouth hanging open in a drooling smile. He pets him as they go by, pausing half way up to make sure she's following.

"Rey keeps a lot of her projects in one of the spare bedrooms. I try not to touch anything because I just mess it up." He smiles a bit, feeling fond despite Rey's projects leaving behind quite a mess. A lot of it she would use to help benefit repairs in the Gallows - things that needed fixing or updating she would usually pour her energy into. As the Seneshal's Assistant her work was more bureaucratic now.

When they make it up stairs, he shows her the two spare bedrooms. Other than bits of metal work for Rey's projects and other supplies, they were mostly empty. The beds were probably the only thing decorated about them. Their room itself is more spacious and has enough space for a sitting area, a bookshelf, and a desk for him to do his calligraphy. He certainly never showed anyone else his hobbies and wasn't planning on boring her with them now.

It's a constant thought in the back of her mind that people from her home can turn up here, but who's left but Mike? Everyone else she knew is either dead or a zombie. God, imagine if a zombie fell through the rift. People would think it was a new kind of demon. Still, it's good that he's taken that into account for the people he knows and has space for them. She merely nods along as he continues the tour, making a comment here and there about something looking cool or whatever.

She lets Caedus sniff her hand, hopeful that he remembers her from their meeting at the Tourney where she lavished him with attention. He seems all right with her being there instead of acting the fierce guard dog, so she'll take that to mean he does remember her. He gets a pat too before she follows Kylo up.

"Man, I'd never be able to make heads or tails of these parts," she says on seeing the metal bits for Rey's projects. Tessa really hadn't had hobbies. She liked shopping, social media, drinking at the bar until closing, dancing badly, and vegging out watching Netflix. She really can't point to any one thing and say she's skilled at it, unless that thing is surviving against the odds, but seeing how Thedas is at war, that's not much of a unique accomplishment, is it? The realization kind of bums her out. Without the distraction of the internet to keep her from looking too closely at it, she's suddenly very aware of how bottom of the barrel she is. Maybe that's why she's been working her butt off in Base Operations instead of coasting through: she totally has no hobbies to fall back on.

As they enter the main bedroom, she forgets about her issues and looks around with a clearly impressed look on her face. "Dang, this is like a room out of a magazine. You got places to sit and everything. And a desk! That looks pretty sweet." Her room in the Templar tower of the Gallows is basic as all get out, but she can't say she'd know what to do with a house this size. She never even wanted a house back home. Just an apartment with a killer view.

"It's really awesome, dude. I didn't know houses like this existed in Kirkwall. Everyone always talks like the city's the rich people on the hill and everyone else is just scrapping by, but this is totally the suburbs. It's great."

A good guest brings refreshments to any gathering. Obi-Wan has frequently been accused, and not unfairly, of being a very poor guest. The truth is, he has always been more likely to bring a fight to any party he was invite to, than anything like what he has today.

He brought wine. And. That's about it. He doesn't have much income.

"Good evening."

"Good evening." Kylo is first to greet him, which makes this all the more awkward considering their past conversations. It wasn't as if he went into things trying to fight with the Jedi Master. Honest.

"There's food enough for everyone so feel free to dig in if you want." Of course he'd want to that's why he's here... Kylo shrugs and then rubs the back of his head. Pressing his lips together in a thin line, he already finds himself struggling for something to talk about.

"Rey should be here... somewhere." He looks around for her, practically hoping she'll materialize next to him.

While she doesn't materialize next to him, she does appear at his elbow, a smile on her face when her eyes settle on Obi-Wan.

"I'm glad you came, Obi-Wan. Did Ben offer you anything to drink?" She's not really much more practiced in being a host than Ben is, but she's been to a few parties since coming to Thedas, and has more or less learned etiquette from experience.

"No, I'm afraid not," Obi-Wan replied, offering Rey half a smile, and then glancing to Ben as if this question were prof of... something. Something unflattering, no doubt.

He's joking, really.

"But that's alright, as you can see," And here he offers her his own gift, "A gift. It's been... Well. Congratulations."

It's been a terrible few years, if he's honest. Was it worth any of it? To soon to tell. But of all the things that have happened, Obi-Wan can never quite regret, meeting Rey.

His hand instinctively moves to Rey's back, something he's undoubtedly done a hundred times by now but felt more like a defense mechanism in the moment. His talks with Obi-wan had usually been without her there and now he was trying his best to almost prove to both Jedi that he can, in fact, behave himself and not give in to the nerves that inevitably come up whenever he's been alone with the other man.

"I offered food." He adds, a bit lamely, his mouth curling up at the edges in an attempt to smile. It wasn't as if Obi-wan being here was awkward for him, but he can't help some lingering guilt that the two of them weren't on the absolute best of terms. That had been his fault. Perhaps Rey might even be able to smooth through these awkward wrinkles between them but he didn't want to force it.

She doesn't mind Ben's hand on her back, leans back a little into it even as he does it, while her smile widens a little as Obi-Wan holds the wine out to her and she accepts it. If she's aware of Ben's discomfort and awkwardness she doesn't show it, holding the bottle out for him to take with his free hand.

"It's a little weird to be celebrating, isn't it? We didn't come here by choice but... A lot of good things have happened to me here." Her two years in Thedas have been better than her entire life on Jakku.

"It does seem strange. I remember the first day I had in Thedas... Not a fond memory."

His lightsaber nonfunctional, suddenly thrown into unarmed combat against an unknown foe, with little more than The Force and adrenaline on his side. He'd been years younger, and so much more confident.

So much more.... foolish. Reckless. Stupid.

"I remember the day we met much more fondly," He tells Rey, with a smile, and an apologetic nod towards Kylo in acknowledgement, "Not something everyone can say of me, I'm afraid."

"I think the fact that we're all still alive is reason enough. With the state of this place, we've lucked out to manage that." Obi-wan is right, though. This place isn't exactly 'celebration' worthy. Still, they're all here. He and Rey have a place they can come home to. He's happy enough with that.

"I guess it's more of a house-warming party than anything else, but the sentiment is there." He's happy she's here. There are others who are happy she's here, too. Obi-wan's words stir up a conflict in him. On the one hand, he feels justified in much of his hate towards the Jedi Order, but on the other he doesn't direct much of that hate at him specifically anymore. Not entirely, anyway. They still have their arguments, though.

"How we met is fairly in character for how I met most people." He tried to kill Rey once, too. Excuse him for his off color humor, though. He's trying.

Edited 2018-08-23 15:13 (UTC)

Rey's smile widens as Obi-Wan mentions the day they met, though she's a little embarrassed, too. She'd been so suspicious of him that she'd come right out and told him he was dead in her time. Ben's dark humor actually helps distract her from the embarrassment of the memory and she tilts her head, her hand coming up to rest against his back.

"We're trying to work on that though, aren't we?"

Obi-Wan's smile is immediate, though for a moment it seems not to be directed at Rey, or even Kylo, but somewhere vaguely beyond them. The halls of memory.

Then he nods once, firm yet polite, and says, "A little better each time, I think. One day, we might even get a hello out of him before he leaps into action."

Making fun of Skywalkers is a way of life.

The smiles between Rey and Obi-Wan feel almost disarming. He's so used to people being put off by him or angry that actually having a nice conversation makes him want to relax. He chuckles a bit, running a hand through his dark hair and his brows lift before dropping to scrunch together as he takes in the turn of this exchange. He hardly ever smiled for anyone besides Rey - really smiled. He hadn't done so in so long that it had felt strange at first.

"Yes, well, I've always preferred action to words." He's working on it. Sort of. It really is a Skywalker thing. "I seem to remember neither of you came out of it for the worse."

Rey had split his face in two and Obi-Wan had destroyed his lightsaber. Talk about a bruise to the ego.

That Ben is smiling in front of someone else is something big enough that Rey doesn't want to ruin the mood by mentioning that their first encounter she had certainly come out of in not great shape. Maybe physically she'd been fine, but she'd had nightmares for weeks after waking up in Thedas, of him worming his way back into her head. It's nothing compared to what Snoke did to her, which is why it never really comes up, but he'll catch the thought as it passes her mind, now.

Her hand rubs on his back as she moves on, inhaling through her nostrils and smiling at Obi-Wan.

"He actually has friends. I don't think he's attacked any of them. Except maybe Iorveth." That one she's not really sure about.

"Having met Iorveth, at least once, I can say that that doesn't surprise me," Which is, for once, not really an insult. In that tone, it's almost a compliment, "You both should have friends."

Attachment, his mind substituted for him, and he clamped his jaw down on the word. It wasn't the Jedi way. But the Order was dead. For a moment he stood there wearing a pleasant mask, as the endless echo why why why why boiled up in his ears like a low, volcanic rumble.

And then the ambient chatter returned, Kylo and Rey poking at one another, and smiling. Smiling at him. Attachment. Obi-Wan took a single, sharp, bracing breath, and tried to put the moment aside.

"Come now, let's have a drink."

"Iorveth is... well-" He waves a hand wordlessly, his face almost contorting animatedly, as if that sums up their relationship perfectly. Iorveth felt like a kindred spirit in a lot of ways and yet he was calmer than Kylo could ever hope to be, despite the harshness the elf had experienced in his long life. At the mention of drinks, Kylo nods once, all too happy for the change in direction of their conversation.

"Drinks. Yes, lets." He has a glass ready to be filled with whatever alcohol Obi-Wan has brought. It was strange. The Jedi prided themselves on abstinence and yet Obi-wan had drank the last time he came to his house too. He wonders just how much of the Jedi that Luke had taught him was entirely accurate.

Edited (i forgot a comma - the most grievous of sins) 2018-08-27 03:04 (UTC)

Rey rolls her eyes a little as Ben stammers over trying to explain his relationship with Iorveth, though it's with good nature. She likes Iorveth, and thinks that his friendship has been as good for Ben as everything else about this place pulling him away from the dark.

At the mention of drinks Rey nods her head, pulling away from Ben to move towards the kitchen counter, wine bottle from Obi-Wan in hand.

"Do you want me to open your wine or would you prefer something else? We've got a few different things." She reaches into the cabinet and pulls down a few different bottles, ranging from brandy in a bottle that Rey clearly bought more because it was pretty than because she wanted it's contents, to something in a jug that looks like it was probably brewed in someone's bedroom at the Gallows.

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