[ Only after she had finished making him scale the interior of the star destroyer and pull himself back out did Rey finally pass him the canteen of water she had brought with them.
Taking shelter in the shade of the massive vessel she pulled her goggles up to look at him. ]
[ Jakku wasn't kind. He knew that going in, but everything seemed much more pronounced in the heat of the day as he'd climbed in and out of a destroyer. Lacking the finesse, it had taken him longer and sighed in relief once he was able to sit and drink from the canteen. His mouth felt about as dry as the sands around them.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of a hand, grunting in displeasure. ]
[ It was terrible to be back here, but it was nowhere near as bad as losing an argument to Kylo - because really, fuck this guy. He thought he could have a life like the one she had left behind and Rey was going to prove him wrong - and be both smug and grumpy about it. ]
So from what we've gathered we'll swap it for food about two hours by speeder. Then we go home and eat. Nothing too challenging.
[ Rey was leaving out the part where they would have to spend an hour or two scrubbing the parts they had salvaged, or that the food they would get wasn't really food at all. He'd find out. ]
[ The only one that would be losing the argument would be Rey. Kylo had no intention of letting her or this miserable planet get the better of him. He took time to compartmentalize his discomfort as they sat in the shade.
The desert was miserable and hot, and Kylo was certain he had sand in places he never thought he'd get sand. ]
Two hours? [ That was just unacceptable. ]
It's no wonder no one bothers to make this place their home.
[ Completely ignoring the fact that she'd made it her home for so long. No one would willingly do this. ]
[ Tugging the scarf she wore over her nose and mouth down she had a drink from her own thermos, her eyes on the landscape while she scowled absently at the sprawling wasteland spreading in all directions.
Jakku was terrible. Rey reasoned that it should be more palatable somehow now that she was armed with the knowledge that she would leave at the end of this awful day and go somewhere really nice where Kylo Ren did not glower in the periphery.
Once she had proved her point. ]
Nobody should make this place their home.
[ Her gaze didn’t shift away from the view but her frown deepened all the same. ]
[ Kylo squeezes his eyes shut to help ease the dryness. It's a wonder he hadn't gotten anything in them yet, irritation aside. The silence that settles over them as they sit in the shade, which doesn't actually relieve much of the heat, is almost a physical thing. Their own personal tensions manifested. There is a breeze, but it's hot like the air from an engine, only serving to make him more miserable.
He sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Jakku doesn't offer any position that isn't absolutely miserable. It does nothing to temper his anger, though the heat of the day and the edges of fatigue he feels taking the wind out of his sails a bit.
A glance toward Rey shows that she's more interested in the barren landscape, which suits him just fine. It gives him a moment to compartmentalize. Push the fatigue as far back as he can.
He doesn't feel it. It isn't important. There's work to be done. ]
[ Inevitably he would crack and they could return to their typical, separate lives not having to deal with seeing the other unless the Force pushed them together - which it seemed to take some horrible pleasure from doing.
Rey didn’t know if that would make things better or worse, though it would be much easier to grapple with the strange amalgamation of feelings his presence evoked no matter what.
Only when she feels him turn back towards the surrounding desert does she glance in his direction again, making careful moves to avoid eye contact. ]
When you’re ready, we’ll head to the outpost. You still have to ride on the back of my speeder.
[ Which had the potential to be highly awkward, having him close and needing to hold onto her to some capacity, but thankfully they were both so cranky about it, it didn’t really have a chance to be. ]
[ If he never had to step on a desert planet again it would be too soon. It's a thought he's had multiple times since they'd landed, and it still holds true, hours later.
He doesn't want to acknowledge what actually brought him to this miserable planet and toward her once again. The pull she has on him is unfathomable, and a small part of him isn't as bothered by it as he should be. The part he refuses to let out of its compartment.
Kylo doesn't need more motivation than the promise of moving further toward this day being done to stand up and brush the sand off of himself. He wrinkles his nose as he does. Galaxy above he hates the sand. ]
The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave.
[ He casts her a withering stare before he covers his head and face once again. ]
Yes. [ Rey finally let herself establish eye contact with Kylo, her expression as cool as her tone. ] Leaving is a luxury.
[ Pulling her goggles back down over her eyes Rey pulled the scarf back over her face and turned, climbing down from the wrecked ship with all the practiced agility of someone who had been scaling ships like this their whole lives.
Getting some distance between them was a good thing, unsure as to why he’d even come or what either of them hoped to accomplish here beyond a trite, petty test of wills that she was certain he would inevitably lose.
Loading up their acquisitions while she waited for him to make his way off the ship and over the sands Rey did her best to not look over, and to not dwell.
As he’d said, the sooner they could finish this, the sooner they could leave - which was why once she had finished she hopped onto the speeder, waiting for him without a word before they took off for Niima Outpost. ]
[ Once she gets some distance between them, he follows suit. Scaling back down the wreckage is easy enough, but once he's on the ground, Kylo is more winded than he would like to admit. He maintains posture, shoulders back, and head held high as they made their way over the dunes to get to the hunk of junk she called a speeder.
It was embarrassing, having to sit behind her, arms wrapped around her waist in order to maintain his precarious balance. The two hours pass slowly in a dull and bleary landscape of sand and glare from the sun.
When the speeder stops and he jumps down, his legs wobble and he scowls as he shakes out the pins and needles. His mouth, he realizes, feels like sandpaper, and it's making him more irritable and ready for this whole day to be over simply for the pleasure of watching Jakku disappear from view. ]
[ It had been a while since Rey had gone through the motions of a regular day on Jakku, and all told she may have been laying it on just a bit thickly for his sake - but, he was kind of an asshole. The idea that the looked after son of a senator could have any idea what it might have been like to do this every day, sick or well was enraging. He suffered, she could feel that pain he carried with him within the Force, lugging it everywhere, never too far away from digging through it for a new reason to be angry.
His thorny demeanor when they arrived at Niima Outpost - that seemed more inspired by the present than the past, and she was glad for the goggles and linen covering her face, hiding her smug smirk.
Circling to the other side of the speeder to unfasten the makeshift cargo net strapped to the side, she brought it carefully down to the ground and began pulling it, lugging it towards a group of long tables and benches where other scavengers were sat, scrubbing at similar machine parts as they brought with them. ]
Come on then, if you want to eat you have to work.
[ You got more rations if what you were trying to trade was clean after all. ]
[ He trails behind her, kicking up sand as he does. For now, he lets her drag their haul behind her. Kylo doesn't see the need to interfere if she's already in motion. As they wind through Niima Outpost, he takes everything in with a detached interest. Barren and dusty stalls shaded by tattered, dirty sheets that snap in the occasional bursts of wind. Weary, disgruntled faces stare back at him with the same disinterest.
There is a demeanor in these people that speaks of subjugation that has little to do with the being that controls the outpost and everything to do with the nature of the planet. The desert takes everything, eventually. Eroding things in a whisper until all that's left are bleached bones.
It would do him little good and offer no catharsis to complain immediately, so he follows suit, standing next to her in front of the long bench. He picks a part from their haul and dips a brush that is frayed, clearly seeing better days into the warm, murky basin of water and starts scrubbing in short, furious bursts. The action is hypnotic in the most basic of ways, filling the tedium with something that seems meaningful in comparison to watching the endless dunes of sand pass from the back of a speeder.
He gets increasingly more frustrated as he scrubs and the wind kicks up, a fine layer of sand blowing over them and the work that they'd been doing. ]
[ At his outburst Rey sat back slowly, tugging her scarf down from her mouth as she frowned at him. ] I know. That's what I was trying to tell you.
[ Weren't they here because he insisted he could live her life easily? Rey felt a lot of complicated emotions for the large man sitting across from her, but she knew for sure that she loved to beat him at his own stupid game.
Rising swiftly from the table she gathered up what they had managed to get clean and headed over to the trader. Plutt had gone into early retirement after the accident, but the alien inside knew of Rey enough to give her guff before handing over a fair amount of portions. It would be enough for a good meal for two people at least, although Rey suspected it wouldn't fill them entirely - but that was life on Jakku.
She returned, tucking the rations away and tilting her head towards the speeder. ]
[ He doesn't know how she convinced him to this pathetic level without his permission. The planet's surface is quiet, and there's no sign of her as he wanders into the tree line. The sound of his footsteps and the distant sound of birds are about the only things he hears. Kylo doesn't venture very far, only stopping when he finds a suitable clearing with flat enough ground to lay out the blanket.
Sitting down on one end of the blanket, he stretched his legs out and pulled out a holo pad to keep himself occupied until she showed up.
If she showed up. He was still thoroughly convinced she wouldn't. ]
[ What a stupid idea. It was ridiculous to have asked and even more preposterous that some dreadful, jittery part of her seemed to thrum in anticipation now that she was on her way.
Rey had no business going to a strange planet, to the middle of an alien forest to sit on the ground and eat with Kylo Ren, and yet - yet once she had landed her ship one foot in front of the other carried her closer to actually going through with this and further from being smart and turning around.
Stepping through the treeline she felt him before she saw him. There was a sudden and very fleeting softness to her expression at fight sight, but by the time she had made her way to where he waited, a satchel of food slung over her shoulder and a blanket tucked under the opposite arm it was barely perceptible. She didn’t know why they kept doing this to themselves, but she didn’t quite know how to stop either, nor did she really know if she wanted to. ]
[ He doesn't look up from his datapad until she speaks. Oh, he'd felt her presence the moment she'd stepped onto the planet. In her absence, he'd forgotten what it felt like. A mass of fireflies in absolute darkness, illuminating anything with the intensity of their warm glow.
He was certain she would flee, or at the very least, decide this was a horrible decision. It was, really. Their history proved that well enough- they simply couldn't work together unless their lives depended on it. This was..not one of those situations. Kylo wanted to try, but the thought of letting his guard down for anyone repulsed him. He could not bear his own weakness, let alone someone else's.
When he does set the datapad down, he meets her eye briefly. ]
Not long.
[ If only because he had no idea how much time had actually passed in his attempt to not think about it. ]
[ To her credit she did not bristle at his brevity, or turn around and walk away - it was all far too unusual to abandon just yet after all.
Their collective disdain was apparent, and the way they both returned to beat their heads against the wall that was the two of them was bewildering and gratifying. It was nice to know she wasn’t alone in this strange emotional limbo that he was so inexplicably linked to.
It takes her an extra moment, just because it could for her to take a seat across from him, leaving a respectable amount of space between their knees before pulling her pack into her lap to rifle through and lay out her contribution. A container of ronto dumplings were set down beside a bag with a few pastries in it and a wheel of cheese wrapped in cloth. ]
I brought whisky too but I thought the objective was to not drive the other to drink.
[ She had no idea what the objective was really, or what she was doing here or why he had come - none of it made sense - but maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t argue for a moment. ]
[ For as much as Rey enraged him, she was also a mystery he wanted to solve. Wanted to know the various things that made her tick and unravel one of the universe's true mysteries. What was so special about a nobody? In a sea of nobodies, it was difficult to find a hidden gem, but she shone as bright as any luminous diamond. He didn't understand her, but he wanted to.
Kylo raises an eyebrow at her. She always managed to surprise him. He hadn't known what to expect on their slapdash picnic, but it certainly wasn't an entire spread. Suddenly, he feels a bit silly. Taking the abandoned container next to his hip, he places it with the rest of their nibbles. Finger sandwiches seemed a bit simple. ]
Clearly you didn't know any better, but whiskey is the most important part of a picnic.
[ Perhaps that was just a Solo family picnic. As if they'd ever had any of those he could remember. He can only imagine it would be, though. Anything with his father was always an excuse to drink. Without waiting for a response, he shifts so he can reach and properly remove the lid for the finger sandwiches. There is an assortment, all cut in precise, uniform shapes. Triangles. Sandwiches tasted better when cut in a triangle- that is just scientific fact. ]
You're right - I've never been on a picnic before.
[ When? With whom?
Taking his word for it Rey reached for her bag and put the bottle out, adding it to the spread on display before she took one of the sandwiches he'd brought with him and absolutely destroyed it in a single breath. ]
I looked them up on the holonet so I knew what to bring.
[ She adds, needlessly clarifying and suddenly all the more awkward for doing so. It wasn't as though she could exactly ask anyone for more information, entirely unwilling to explain that she was going to sit in the woods with the Supreme Leader and eat outside.
Maybe this was what the whiskey was for? Looking up at him for just a moment Rey was very aware of looking at him and so turned her attention to the dumplings instead. It was only a matter of time before something made one of them regret this, and she knew it.
[ He takes off his gloves, setting them with his datapad so he can do the same, only without the immediate inhalation. He does like to taste his food. As he's nibbling at his finger sandwich, he gives her a look of surprise, raising his eyebrows. She did research for this, and it leaves Kylo feeling... Unsure? Hopeful, perhaps? He could be reading far too into things, it was a damn picnic. Still.
She did research and cooked. All he'd brought were sandwiches. ]
In my limited experience, picnics aren't a rigorously structured endeavor.
[ Finger foods, light fare, ambrosia of some sort.. Those were all in the days of his young childhood, before he was sent away to become a Jedi. Fat lot of good that did him. He follows the same order in which Rey goes, trying a dumpling next. He hums, pleasantly surprised. He hadn't known what to expect, but it's good. ]
[ Rey raised her shoulders in a little shrug and ate another of his tiny, oddly endearing sandwiches as she tried to imagine him constructing them in the sleek confines of a First Order galley. The imagine is charming and therefore she forces herself to stop thinking about it. ]
What happens on a picnic then? Apart from whiskey.
[ His question about glasses is met with a shake of her head and after popping another dumpling in her mouth she hands the bottle over to him. ]
I didn't. I missed that part of the research material I guess.
[ It's awkward, having admitted a thing like that to him, but trying to ensure that everything was nice and right seemed like the best course of action. After all, she had promised she was going to be nice. ]
[ It had been easy enough to get everyone out of his hair for long enough to assemble them. With his explosive temper and his shorter tolerance for insubordination since his self-appointment to Supreme Leader, people stay out of his way where at all possible and dare not ask questions of his odd behavior. It was odd, having a picnic in the middle of the woods on a planet where it was likely just the two of them and whatever flora and fauna inhabited the surface.
Cracking the whiskey open, he takes the first drink, wincing at the burn as it goes down and leaves him with a pleasant warmth in his chest. He extends the bottle to Rey and picks up another dumpling, popping it into his mouth. As he chews, he considers her question and offers a shrug until he's free to respond. ]
You've uncovered the true secret to picnics, all without the research.
[ 'Eat and get drunk in the woods' sounds far more appealing than 'be social, get to know your guest, and enjoy each other's company'. It's far less complicated than the implication that he wants to get to know her better. Know her, as opposed to the front she puts up as a defense mechanism. He's guilty of much the same, but Kylo doesn't know for certain if he'd truly be able to let his guard down around her. The idea of being vulnerable repulses him. He's seen firsthand what happens when he's put in that position, and it's something he wouldn't be repeating. ]
[ It was the closest she would ever come to admitting that this was - nice, where she wanted to be. When he holds out the bottle she takes it having a fairly substantial swig before pulling the bottle away coughing. ]
Oh that's terrible!
[ As she says it she's laughing, which skews the sincerity of the remark quite considerably. The whiskey is warm and for the moment they aren't being hostile towards each other - which was, in all honesty, the best she could have ever hoped for.
Snagging another dumpling to eat she nudges the pastries towards him. ]
I didn't make those, but I bought a lot of different ones, I didn't know what you liked.
So long as it doesn't devolve into 'who gets drunk first'.
[ Maybe it would, anyway, he thinks as he takes his second swig from the bottle. He grimaces, eyes screwing shut as an attempt to enjoy it better. The warmth settles more firmly in his chest and he clears his throat in the aftermath. ]
It doesn't get better, it just numbs absolutely everything.
[ His lips quirk upward in a brief smirk as he replaces the lid and sets the bottle down. His eyes go immediately to the pastries she nudges his way and he picks out his favorite- a jogan fruit tart. There's definitely a bit of awe in his expression. It's been so long since he'd had one, let alone seen one that he immediately snatches one and eats half in one bite, humming in delight.
After his momentary lapse in control, his eyes dart to hers, with an expression that spoke of physical harm were she ever to tell anyone about his emotional range. He did have a reputation to uphold to those under his command. ]
[ When it was her turn with the whiskey Rey did the same, having a swig before recapping it and setting it down on the blanket between them. ]
Everything?
[ She was torn on how good having everything numb might be until she saw the look on his face, having spotted the jorgan fruit tart. Her chest constricts and for just a moment her rib-cage feels just a little bit too small to contain her heart. At least until he looks up and she knows she's been caught watching him for a bit too long. His defensiveness is a bit of a blessing in that moment, and she responds to the warning look with a roll of her eyes, diverting her attention downwards to his tiny sandwiches. ]
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Taking shelter in the shade of the massive vessel she pulled her goggles up to look at him. ]
How's the day going?
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He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of a hand, grunting in displeasure. ]
Never better.
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So from what we've gathered we'll swap it for food about two hours by speeder. Then we go home and eat. Nothing too challenging.
[ Rey was leaving out the part where they would have to spend an hour or two scrubbing the parts they had salvaged, or that the food they would get wasn't really food at all. He'd find out. ]
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The desert was miserable and hot, and Kylo was certain he had sand in places he never thought he'd get sand. ]
Two hours? [ That was just unacceptable. ]
It's no wonder no one bothers to make this place their home.
[ Completely ignoring the fact that she'd made it her home for so long. No one would willingly do this. ]
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Jakku was terrible. Rey reasoned that it should be more palatable somehow now that she was armed with the knowledge that she would leave at the end of this awful day and go somewhere really nice where Kylo Ren did not glower in the periphery.
Once she had proved her point. ]
Nobody should make this place their home.
[ Her gaze didn’t shift away from the view but her frown deepened all the same. ]
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He sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Jakku doesn't offer any position that isn't absolutely miserable. It does nothing to temper his anger, though the heat of the day and the edges of fatigue he feels taking the wind out of his sails a bit.
A glance toward Rey shows that she's more interested in the barren landscape, which suits him just fine. It gives him a moment to compartmentalize. Push the fatigue as far back as he can.
He doesn't feel it. It isn't important. There's work to be done. ]
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Rey didn’t know if that would make things better or worse, though it would be much easier to grapple with the strange amalgamation of feelings his presence evoked no matter what.
Only when she feels him turn back towards the surrounding desert does she glance in his direction again, making careful moves to avoid eye contact. ]
When you’re ready, we’ll head to the outpost. You still have to ride on the back of my speeder.
[ Which had the potential to be highly awkward, having him close and needing to hold onto her to some capacity, but thankfully they were both so cranky about it, it didn’t really have a chance to be. ]
Cover your head back up before you fry.
[ Did she care? Yes. No. Sometimes. ]
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He doesn't want to acknowledge what actually brought him to this miserable planet and toward her once again. The pull she has on him is unfathomable, and a small part of him isn't as bothered by it as he should be. The part he refuses to let out of its compartment.
Kylo doesn't need more motivation than the promise of moving further toward this day being done to stand up and brush the sand off of himself. He wrinkles his nose as he does. Galaxy above he hates the sand. ]
The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can leave.
[ He casts her a withering stare before he covers his head and face once again. ]
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[ Pulling her goggles back down over her eyes Rey pulled the scarf back over her face and turned, climbing down from the wrecked ship with all the practiced agility of someone who had been scaling ships like this their whole lives.
Getting some distance between them was a good thing, unsure as to why he’d even come or what either of them hoped to accomplish here beyond a trite, petty test of wills that she was certain he would inevitably lose.
Loading up their acquisitions while she waited for him to make his way off the ship and over the sands Rey did her best to not look over, and to not dwell.
As he’d said, the sooner they could finish this, the sooner they could leave - which was why once she had finished she hopped onto the speeder, waiting for him without a word before they took off for Niima Outpost. ]
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It was embarrassing, having to sit behind her, arms wrapped around her waist in order to maintain his precarious balance. The two hours pass slowly in a dull and bleary landscape of sand and glare from the sun.
When the speeder stops and he jumps down, his legs wobble and he scowls as he shakes out the pins and needles. His mouth, he realizes, feels like sandpaper, and it's making him more irritable and ready for this whole day to be over simply for the pleasure of watching Jakku disappear from view. ]
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His thorny demeanor when they arrived at Niima Outpost - that seemed more inspired by the present than the past, and she was glad for the goggles and linen covering her face, hiding her smug smirk.
Circling to the other side of the speeder to unfasten the makeshift cargo net strapped to the side, she brought it carefully down to the ground and began pulling it, lugging it towards a group of long tables and benches where other scavengers were sat, scrubbing at similar machine parts as they brought with them. ]
Come on then, if you want to eat you have to work.
[ You got more rations if what you were trying to trade was clean after all. ]
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There is a demeanor in these people that speaks of subjugation that has little to do with the being that controls the outpost and everything to do with the nature of the planet. The desert takes everything, eventually. Eroding things in a whisper until all that's left are bleached bones.
It would do him little good and offer no catharsis to complain immediately, so he follows suit, standing next to her in front of the long bench. He picks a part from their haul and dips a brush that is frayed, clearly seeing better days into the warm, murky basin of water and starts scrubbing in short, furious bursts. The action is hypnotic in the most basic of ways, filling the tedium with something that seems meaningful in comparison to watching the endless dunes of sand pass from the back of a speeder.
He gets increasingly more frustrated as he scrubs and the wind kicks up, a fine layer of sand blowing over them and the work that they'd been doing. ]
This is impossible!
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[ Weren't they here because he insisted he could live her life easily? Rey felt a lot of complicated emotions for the large man sitting across from her, but she knew for sure that she loved to beat him at his own stupid game.
Rising swiftly from the table she gathered up what they had managed to get clean and headed over to the trader. Plutt had gone into early retirement after the accident, but the alien inside knew of Rey enough to give her guff before handing over a fair amount of portions. It would be enough for a good meal for two people at least, although Rey suspected it wouldn't fill them entirely - but that was life on Jakku.
She returned, tucking the rations away and tilting her head towards the speeder. ]
Ready to go eat?
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passive aggressive luncheon for two
Sitting down on one end of the blanket, he stretched his legs out and pulled out a holo pad to keep himself occupied until she showed up.
If she showed up. He was still thoroughly convinced she wouldn't. ]
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Rey had no business going to a strange planet, to the middle of an alien forest to sit on the ground and eat with Kylo Ren, and yet - yet once she had landed her ship one foot in front of the other carried her closer to actually going through with this and further from being smart and turning around.
Stepping through the treeline she felt him before she saw him. There was a sudden and very fleeting softness to her expression at fight sight, but by the time she had made her way to where he waited, a satchel of food slung over her shoulder and a blanket tucked under the opposite arm it was barely perceptible. She didn’t know why they kept doing this to themselves, but she didn’t quite know how to stop either, nor did she really know if she wanted to. ]
Were you waiting long?
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He was certain she would flee, or at the very least, decide this was a horrible decision. It was, really. Their history proved that well enough- they simply couldn't work together unless their lives depended on it. This was..not one of those situations. Kylo wanted to try, but the thought of letting his guard down for anyone repulsed him. He could not bear his own weakness, let alone someone else's.
When he does set the datapad down, he meets her eye briefly. ]
Not long.
[ If only because he had no idea how much time had actually passed in his attempt to not think about it. ]
Sit.
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Their collective disdain was apparent, and the way they both returned to beat their heads against the wall that was the two of them was bewildering and gratifying. It was nice to know she wasn’t alone in this strange emotional limbo that he was so inexplicably linked to.
It takes her an extra moment, just because it could for her to take a seat across from him, leaving a respectable amount of space between their knees before pulling her pack into her lap to rifle through and lay out her contribution. A container of ronto dumplings were set down beside a bag with a few pastries in it and a wheel of cheese wrapped in cloth. ]
I brought whisky too but I thought the objective was to not drive the other to drink.
[ She had no idea what the objective was really, or what she was doing here or why he had come - none of it made sense - but maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t argue for a moment. ]
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Kylo raises an eyebrow at her. She always managed to surprise him. He hadn't known what to expect on their slapdash picnic, but it certainly wasn't an entire spread. Suddenly, he feels a bit silly. Taking the abandoned container next to his hip, he places it with the rest of their nibbles. Finger sandwiches seemed a bit simple. ]
Clearly you didn't know any better, but whiskey is the most important part of a picnic.
[ Perhaps that was just a Solo family picnic. As if they'd ever had any of those he could remember. He can only imagine it would be, though. Anything with his father was always an excuse to drink. Without waiting for a response, he shifts so he can reach and properly remove the lid for the finger sandwiches. There is an assortment, all cut in precise, uniform shapes. Triangles. Sandwiches tasted better when cut in a triangle- that is just scientific fact. ]
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[ When? With whom?
Taking his word for it Rey reached for her bag and put the bottle out, adding it to the spread on display before she took one of the sandwiches he'd brought with him and absolutely destroyed it in a single breath. ]
I looked them up on the holonet so I knew what to bring.
[ She adds, needlessly clarifying and suddenly all the more awkward for doing so. It wasn't as though she could exactly ask anyone for more information, entirely unwilling to explain that she was going to sit in the woods with the Supreme Leader and eat outside.
Maybe this was what the whiskey was for? Looking up at him for just a moment Rey was very aware of looking at him and so turned her attention to the dumplings instead. It was only a matter of time before something made one of them regret this, and she knew it.
Was this what the whiskey was for? ]
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[ He takes off his gloves, setting them with his datapad so he can do the same, only without the immediate inhalation. He does like to taste his food. As he's nibbling at his finger sandwich, he gives her a look of surprise, raising his eyebrows. She did research for this, and it leaves Kylo feeling... Unsure? Hopeful, perhaps? He could be reading far too into things, it was a damn picnic. Still.
She did research and cooked. All he'd brought were sandwiches. ]
In my limited experience, picnics aren't a rigorously structured endeavor.
[ Finger foods, light fare, ambrosia of some sort.. Those were all in the days of his young childhood, before he was sent away to become a Jedi. Fat lot of good that did him. He follows the same order in which Rey goes, trying a dumpling next. He hums, pleasantly surprised. He hadn't known what to expect, but it's good. ]
I don't suppose you thought to bring glasses?
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What happens on a picnic then? Apart from whiskey.
[ His question about glasses is met with a shake of her head and after popping another dumpling in her mouth she hands the bottle over to him. ]
I didn't. I missed that part of the research material I guess.
[ It's awkward, having admitted a thing like that to him, but trying to ensure that everything was nice and right seemed like the best course of action. After all, she had promised she was going to be nice. ]
Do we just eat and get drunk in the woods?
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Cracking the whiskey open, he takes the first drink, wincing at the burn as it goes down and leaves him with a pleasant warmth in his chest. He extends the bottle to Rey and picks up another dumpling, popping it into his mouth. As he chews, he considers her question and offers a shrug until he's free to respond. ]
You've uncovered the true secret to picnics, all without the research.
[ 'Eat and get drunk in the woods' sounds far more appealing than 'be social, get to know your guest, and enjoy each other's company'. It's far less complicated than the implication that he wants to get to know her better. Know her, as opposed to the front she puts up as a defense mechanism. He's guilty of much the same, but Kylo doesn't know for certain if he'd truly be able to let his guard down around her. The idea of being vulnerable repulses him. He's seen firsthand what happens when he's put in that position, and it's something he wouldn't be repeating. ]
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[ It was the closest she would ever come to admitting that this was - nice, where she wanted to be. When he holds out the bottle she takes it having a fairly substantial swig before pulling the bottle away coughing. ]
Oh that's terrible!
[ As she says it she's laughing, which skews the sincerity of the remark quite considerably. The whiskey is warm and for the moment they aren't being hostile towards each other - which was, in all honesty, the best she could have ever hoped for.
Snagging another dumpling to eat she nudges the pastries towards him. ]
I didn't make those, but I bought a lot of different ones, I didn't know what you liked.
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[ Maybe it would, anyway, he thinks as he takes his second swig from the bottle. He grimaces, eyes screwing shut as an attempt to enjoy it better. The warmth settles more firmly in his chest and he clears his throat in the aftermath. ]
It doesn't get better, it just numbs absolutely everything.
[ His lips quirk upward in a brief smirk as he replaces the lid and sets the bottle down. His eyes go immediately to the pastries she nudges his way and he picks out his favorite- a jogan fruit tart. There's definitely a bit of awe in his expression. It's been so long since he'd had one, let alone seen one that he immediately snatches one and eats half in one bite, humming in delight.
After his momentary lapse in control, his eyes dart to hers, with an expression that spoke of physical harm were she ever to tell anyone about his emotional range. He did have a reputation to uphold to those under his command. ]
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Everything?
[ She was torn on how good having everything numb might be until she saw the look on his face, having spotted the jorgan fruit tart. Her chest constricts and for just a moment her rib-cage feels just a little bit too small to contain her heart. At least until he looks up and she knows she's been caught watching him for a bit too long. His defensiveness is a bit of a blessing in that moment, and she responds to the warning look with a roll of her eyes, diverting her attention downwards to his tiny sandwiches. ]
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