[ 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. ]
[ This was entirely her fault, and he would not see any other reason this was happening. She was intentionally throwing things his way to make him slip up or look foolish. If only she weren't so easy to argue with- if only he could simply ignore the urge to tempt her toward that sharp anger. The way that anger felt in the Force was intoxicating in its own right. Vivid like a flash of cloud-to-cloud lightning that can be seen for kilometers.
It takes little prompting to get him to move in the same direction, trailing behind her with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He looms behind her as she speaks to the creature in charge, his inscrutable gaze focused just over Rey's shoulder. If Kylo knew how this ridiculous portion system worked, he would protest in contempt. Instead, he allows her to do what she needs, stalking behind her on the way back to the hunk of junk she called a speeder. ]
[ That she has a large angry man looming behind her like the darkest storm cloud Jakku had ever seen might have gotten them a few extra rations - something she would have thanked him for were he not the absolute worst person in the galaxy.
Instead she climbs back onto her speeder, waiting to feel his hands on her waist - which was a nice feeling and that was absolutely horrible - before taking off towards the Goazon. It was a bit silly to designate any part of Jakku the badlands, all things considered and the toppled AT-AT once known as the Hellhound Two was just another part of the bleak landscape here.
After deactivating the traps set around the place, Rey shows him into what was once the belly of the beast, now converted into very meager accommodations. There are a few personal items she never returned for waiting, and she casts a glance to a little handmade doll on a shelf, as if making a mental note to return for it at some point while on her way to the small kitchen area to begin rehydrating the rations that would serve as their dinner. ]
[ His hands stay on her waist as they ride past the same distant sand dunes, and if he holds on a bit tighter, it's only because the ride is tedious and it helps to ground him in the moment. Absolutely not because his head has started to pound at the base of his skull. Even with his eyes shielded, the glare off the burning sand feels bright enough to burn his retinas.
When they arrive, Kylo certainly doesn't feel anything like awe surveilling her abode. He can't regard her ingenuity as spectacular, carving a home out of the carcass of an AT-AT. Not even as his eyes roam each area, spending his time committing the details to memory. He hears her voice, but it seems so far away. Was she speaking underwater? When had his hand started shaking? He raises the hand slowly, pinching the space between his eyes as he squeezed them shut to will the sensation away.
Ignore it, it will pass. Nothing is wrong, it's fine.
Opening his eyes to scowl at her turns out to be a mistake. Sound gets further away, the only thing he can hear is his own thundering heartbeat between his ears, his vision blacking around the edges. The ground doesn't feel real. He collapses in an uncoordinated heap where he stands.
When awareness happens again, he groans, eyes fluttering open. He doesn't recognize where he is and everything hurts. Kylo spots a face, though everything is still hazy. His brow furrows as he tries to put everything together. ]
[ When he hit the floor Rey put two and two together almost instantly. She knew what the climate of Jakku could do to a person, and some part of her felt just the slightest twinge of guilt for pushing him this hard but - on the other hand - he had said he could easily pull off living a day in her old life, and clearly he was very wrong.
Her victory was tarnished by the fact that Rey had to spend it re-adjusting a very large man, rolling Kylo over onto his back before pulling his outer tunic off in order to get him cooled down. She wasn't especially thrilled with undressing him while he was unconscious, but he was hot to the touch and something had to be done.
Ice was extremely rare in a place as underdeveloped and warm as Jakku but at least there was water. After balling Kylo's tunic up to serve as a pillow beneath his head Rey soaked a cloth in cold water and draped it across his forehead. ]
You big dummy.
[ She muttered the words under her breath as she rummaged around, returning to his side with a thin sheet of durasteel to use as a fan.
On the floor beside Kylo Rey alternated between trying to fan him and refreshing the cool compress on his head, pausing with an awkward start when he seemed to begin wafting back to coherence. ]
Don't talk - drink.
[ Setting the makeshift fan down, Rey held a cup of water up to his lips watching him. ]
[ Kylo blinks hard, trying to clear his blurred vision, though it has the opposite effects and makes his sight grey around the edges. He should protest, slap the cup away from his face, but it seems he doesn't have the strength to do more than raise his hand and let it flop uselessly back to his stomach.
He drinks reluctantly at first, but the first touch of water against his tongue leaves him so thirsty, that the rest follows about as fast as he can get it down. When he's finished, he wipes his mouth with his hand, struggling up onto his elbows. Kylo offers her a grunt, looking away from her. He doesn't need her lecture- particularly now. The water helps, but his head still pounds painfully behind his eyes and he feels chilled despite the heat of his skin. ]
I was about to.
[ There's little heat to his words, merely biting exhaustion mumbled toward his shoulder. ]
[ Regardless of whether or not he could see her Rey rolled her eyes, resting a hand on his chest and pushing him back gently. ]
You need to lay down or you're going to make yourself sick. You're going to hate it when it gets worse and I have to drag you through the desert on a piece of scrap.
[ Breathing out a sharp sigh through her nose she shook her head before adding- ]
I'm going to hate it if you get worse, so you're definitely going to hate it.
[ She kept her hand there, partly in an effort to keep him still and partly for some indiscernible reason likely born out of concern - one she was not going to think about right now. Grabbing up the canteen she left nearby for just such an occasion Rey handed it over to him. ]
[ He says, as he feels worse with the vertical motion. His breaths are measured, about the only thing he feels in control of as his body continues to betray him. The world still feels as though it's moving, but he needs to stay up long enough to drink more. Kylo's hand trembles as he grips the canteen, but manages to keep it within his grasp as he takes small sips of water until he's sure his stomach won't rebel.
Which it very well might.
His eye catches her, and that look of concern makes his chest constrict in a way that feels entirely foreign. His mouth feels dry in a way that has nothing to do with his dehydration. When he's aware of his own staring, he hands the canteen back over and lowers himself back down to the floor. It may be uncomfortable, his spine twinging in protest, but it's remarkably okay as far as temperature is concerned.
Not threatening to boil in his skin any longer, but not freezing. He knows the chills are simply his body's overdramatic response. His eyes slide open and his brow furrows as he asks, quietly: ]
[ To her credit she didn't roll her eyes at his protests, settling instead for quietly looking on as he shakily helped himself to the water, frowning just a touch while he did.
She didn't like worrying about him and her disdain for the feeling was multi-faceted. It implied she cared on a level that she wasn't quite ready to admit to.
Instead she turned to stretch out and lay on the floor beside him, maintaining a respectful distance as she did. ]
Maybe I'm hoping you don't remember I was ever helpful.
[ When was the last time he wasn't bombarded immediately with the idea of grousing at her until he got a rise? Laying side by side away from the heat of the day with the lingering throb in his head, he can't seem to find the energy to want that type of a reaction from her. Kylo watches her, takes in the way her brow furrows, her countenance giving little away as to what she's truly feeling. He wants to reach out- not in a physical manner but to peer into her mind once more.
He does no such thing, of course. However, he does take the time to move his gaze from her and toward the ceiling of their shelter. He can't help but marvel at it, now that he has the opportunity. ]
Would you have stayed here your entire life, waiting for the parents who deserted you?
[ Rey answered honestly and without hesitation though the frown on her face deepened, he expression growing cold at the thought as she turns it over in her mind. ]
Devi and Strunk and I - we fixed up a ship. We were going to sell it to Plutt for food but they - [ Rey paused, taking a breath before continuing on with her story, getting it all out in a rush as though it hurt to talk about. ]
They wanted to off-world, so they stole it from me and that's when I figured I'd be here forever.
[ He turns his head so he can watch her as she ruminates over her response. ]
You were going to sell your working ship for food instead of leaving? Wh-
[ He stops himself. It's not the question he needs to ask. Kylo had seen enough firsthand to know why someone might trade away their only means of escape. The galaxy's cruelty didn't stop with Jakku. ]
Other scavengers, I don't have a lot of friends but I thought we were partners.
[ Rationalizing that once he was feeling better Kylo was likely to forget most of this Rey was considerably more candid with him than she would have been on any other occasion. ]
Because I didn't think I could leave here, you know why.
[ He'd spent enough time in her thoughts to know how the longing for a family she had spent so long believing would return to her had stained her thoughts, there was no reason to repeat it. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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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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It takes little prompting to get him to move in the same direction, trailing behind her with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He looms behind her as she speaks to the creature in charge, his inscrutable gaze focused just over Rey's shoulder. If Kylo knew how this ridiculous portion system worked, he would protest in contempt. Instead, he allows her to do what she needs, stalking behind her on the way back to the hunk of junk she called a speeder. ]
As ready as one could possibly be.
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Instead she climbs back onto her speeder, waiting to feel his hands on her waist - which was a nice feeling and that was absolutely horrible - before taking off towards the Goazon. It was a bit silly to designate any part of Jakku the badlands, all things considered and the toppled AT-AT once known as the Hellhound Two was just another part of the bleak landscape here.
After deactivating the traps set around the place, Rey shows him into what was once the belly of the beast, now converted into very meager accommodations. There are a few personal items she never returned for waiting, and she casts a glance to a little handmade doll on a shelf, as if making a mental note to return for it at some point while on her way to the small kitchen area to begin rehydrating the rations that would serve as their dinner. ]
Drink water, you're all pink.
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When they arrive, Kylo certainly doesn't feel anything like awe surveilling her abode. He can't regard her ingenuity as spectacular, carving a home out of the carcass of an AT-AT. Not even as his eyes roam each area, spending his time committing the details to memory. He hears her voice, but it seems so far away. Was she speaking underwater? When had his hand started shaking? He raises the hand slowly, pinching the space between his eyes as he squeezed them shut to will the sensation away.
Ignore it, it will pass. Nothing is wrong, it's fine.
Opening his eyes to scowl at her turns out to be a mistake. Sound gets further away, the only thing he can hear is his own thundering heartbeat between his ears, his vision blacking around the edges. The ground doesn't feel real. He collapses in an uncoordinated heap where he stands.
When awareness happens again, he groans, eyes fluttering open. He doesn't recognize where he is and everything hurts. Kylo spots a face, though everything is still hazy. His brow furrows as he tries to put everything together. ]
..Mommy?
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Her victory was tarnished by the fact that Rey had to spend it re-adjusting a very large man, rolling Kylo over onto his back before pulling his outer tunic off in order to get him cooled down. She wasn't especially thrilled with undressing him while he was unconscious, but he was hot to the touch and something had to be done.
Ice was extremely rare in a place as underdeveloped and warm as Jakku but at least there was water. After balling Kylo's tunic up to serve as a pillow beneath his head Rey soaked a cloth in cold water and draped it across his forehead. ]
You big dummy.
[ She muttered the words under her breath as she rummaged around, returning to his side with a thin sheet of durasteel to use as a fan.
On the floor beside Kylo Rey alternated between trying to fan him and refreshing the cool compress on his head, pausing with an awkward start when he seemed to begin wafting back to coherence. ]
Don't talk - drink.
[ Setting the makeshift fan down, Rey held a cup of water up to his lips watching him. ]
I told you you looked kind of pink.
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He drinks reluctantly at first, but the first touch of water against his tongue leaves him so thirsty, that the rest follows about as fast as he can get it down. When he's finished, he wipes his mouth with his hand, struggling up onto his elbows. Kylo offers her a grunt, looking away from her. He doesn't need her lecture- particularly now. The water helps, but his head still pounds painfully behind his eyes and he feels chilled despite the heat of his skin. ]
I was about to.
[ There's little heat to his words, merely biting exhaustion mumbled toward his shoulder. ]
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You need to lay down or you're going to make yourself sick. You're going to hate it when it gets worse and I have to drag you through the desert on a piece of scrap.
[ Breathing out a sharp sigh through her nose she shook her head before adding- ]
I'm going to hate it if you get worse, so you're definitely going to hate it.
[ She kept her hand there, partly in an effort to keep him still and partly for some indiscernible reason likely born out of concern - one she was not going to think about right now. Grabbing up the canteen she left nearby for just such an occasion Rey handed it over to him. ]
Drink more, drink slowly, and lay back down.
[ A pause. ]
Please.
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[ He says, as he feels worse with the vertical motion. His breaths are measured, about the only thing he feels in control of as his body continues to betray him. The world still feels as though it's moving, but he needs to stay up long enough to drink more. Kylo's hand trembles as he grips the canteen, but manages to keep it within his grasp as he takes small sips of water until he's sure his stomach won't rebel.
Which it very well might.
His eye catches her, and that look of concern makes his chest constrict in a way that feels entirely foreign. His mouth feels dry in a way that has nothing to do with his dehydration. When he's aware of his own staring, he hands the canteen back over and lowers himself back down to the floor. It may be uncomfortable, his spine twinging in protest, but it's remarkably okay as far as temperature is concerned.
Not threatening to boil in his skin any longer, but not freezing. He knows the chills are simply his body's overdramatic response. His eyes slide open and his brow furrows as he asks, quietly: ]
Since when have you been so helpful?
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She didn't like worrying about him and her disdain for the feeling was multi-faceted. It implied she cared on a level that she wasn't quite ready to admit to.
Instead she turned to stretch out and lay on the floor beside him, maintaining a respectful distance as she did. ]
Maybe I'm hoping you don't remember I was ever helpful.
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He does no such thing, of course. However, he does take the time to move his gaze from her and toward the ceiling of their shelter. He can't help but marvel at it, now that he has the opportunity. ]
Would you have stayed here your entire life, waiting for the parents who deserted you?
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[ Rey answered honestly and without hesitation though the frown on her face deepened, he expression growing cold at the thought as she turns it over in her mind. ]
Devi and Strunk and I - we fixed up a ship. We were going to sell it to Plutt for food but they - [ Rey paused, taking a breath before continuing on with her story, getting it all out in a rush as though it hurt to talk about. ]
They wanted to off-world, so they stole it from me and that's when I figured I'd be here forever.
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You were going to sell your working ship for food instead of leaving? Wh-
[ He stops himself. It's not the question he needs to ask. Kylo had seen enough firsthand to know why someone might trade away their only means of escape. The galaxy's cruelty didn't stop with Jakku. ]
Who were Devi and Strunk?
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[ Rationalizing that once he was feeling better Kylo was likely to forget most of this Rey was considerably more candid with him than she would have been on any other occasion. ]
Because I didn't think I could leave here, you know why.
[ He'd spent enough time in her thoughts to know how the longing for a family she had spent so long believing would return to her had stained her thoughts, there was no reason to repeat it. ]
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