bah humbug [open]

[killthepast]

who: Kylo Ren & OPEN
what: General catch-all for settling in. MORE SPECIFIC PROMPTS WILL BE ADDED LATER, but in the meantime, enjoy a totally broad, generic starter.
when: December
where: Places
warnings: None yet.

i. generic walking around doing things starter
It's fitting, he supposes, that he should arrive while it's winter on this moon. Though it's a small detail, and ultimately insignificant, as-- other than the snow-- this place has little in common with Starkiller Base.

There's no sense of order in this city. It's loud and the streets are bustling with activity, much of it lacking purpose. Still, Ren needs to get a lay of the land to fully assess his situation here. And besides: he's in need of some essentials, like... food. And clothes.

(Thanks to recent events with the scavenger, his own clothing was deemed damaged and tossed out while he was receiving medical care at the hospital here. Now he's down his one-and-only outfit and has some new scars to show it.)

So yeah there's a very tall, very gloomy-looking man making his way through the city, trying to find clothes in the right shade of black to match his #aesthetic, trying to figure out how to pick the right produce at the supermarket (it's not as if he had to shop for food with the First Order), and who knows, maybe trying various teas and coffee (caf, you plebs) while intimidating teen baristas with his quiet intensity.

Comments

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 is the one who spots him, all dressed in black and without the mask like some kind of self-parody. The droid boops a soft warning to Poe, hiding behind the pilot's legs.

Kylo Ren is grocery shopping. The image is so incongruous that it takes Poe a few seconds to process it. He's too surprised to be alarmed, and by the time he gets around to alarmed, he's too determined not to be scared to even question what he does next. (Sorry Karen.)

Poe falls in beside Ren like it's completely natural, BB-8 sticking close to his heels on the side opposite Ren. The droid knows what he's about.

Unlike his partner. ] Hey, Kyle. Can I call you Kyle? I feel like we know each other well enough now for me to do that.

[killthepast]

[ What, you expect him to go shopping with the mask on? Poe, please.

...

He doesn't even have it here, anyway.

And he's not surprised by your general you-ness, Poe. He just looks down his very long nose at the pilot, regarding him with a long look, studying-- as if for the first time-- Poe's outer appearance, rather than forcibly rooting around his brain. ]

You're older than I realized.

[ Darth Petty up in here. ]

[volitaunt]

I prefer to think of myself as distinguished.

[ UH HUH.

Poe studies Ren right back, for a second something more serious peaking past the cavalier facade. This is the man who murdered Lor San Tekka, a person Poe helped search for long enough that he felt like a friend before the two of them ever even met. This is the face behind the massacre at Tuanal. ]

You have a big nose.

[ .......takes one to know one apparently. ]

How does that work, with the mask I mean, since it's so... [ Poe pauses, like a chef trying to find the proper words to describe a near-perfect dish. ] Flat. Do you just smash it down? Is that what the voice modder is for?

[killthepast]

[ There's a slight tic at the corner of his mouth, as if he's suppressing a smirk. That crack about his nose (WOW, HE NEVER HEARD IT WAS BIG BEFORE!!) goes ignored, the disrespect inconsequential since, as Poe so gleefully pointed out before, he's nobody important here. ]

You're still upset about the old man. [ And all those villagers. But Lor San Tekka is the one who stands at the forefront of the pilot's mind, the clearest face to the massacre.

It's funny. Poe Dameron had barely known the old man, hadn't he? Of the two of them, Ren is the one who-- in another life, as another, weaker person-- truly spent time with the explorer. And he's just about to point out that Poe's outrage should be directed inward. After all, old man and those villagers would likely still be alive, if the First Order hadn't tracked Dameron to Tuanul. He and the Resistance pulled them into this fight.

But this is hardly the time or the place to get into the ins and outs of that. They are, after all, standing in the produce section of a grocery store.

Instead, he says, mildly, though the implications are loud and clear: ] How quickly you become attached to people.

[ Gosh, you've sure got a lot of attachments, Poe Dameron! A N Y W A Y he's just going to return his attention to the apples he had been picking through before Poe decided to strike up a conversation, as if the pilot's presence is nothing to him.

It's definitely not because he's actually kind of sort of looking forward to eating something that's not, like, a First Order protein shake or something AND YOUR DISTRACTION IS INCONVENIENT TO HIM. ]

[volitaunt]

[ There's a bitter irony to the fact that being blamed for Tuanul would have bothered Poe less than what Ren actually says. He carries the guilt of those deaths, of his inability to stop them, but every villager who died that day died because of the First Order.

Ren has his tricks to fuel the Dark Side. Poe has his own to fuel his dedication.

His reaction is threefold, immediate, all of it tangled up and spilling out in an instant. When Ren mentions Lor San Tekka, a wash of cold goes through Poe. Ren is in his head, again, as naturally as breathing; Ren can't even be bothered to say the man's name. Fury comes next, helpless rage tinged with disbelief that this person cares so little for other living beings. (Myriad faces there, none of them clear, simply glimpses of the breadth of those he's met across their home galaxy, then:)

Finn. Rey. Cassian and Jyn. Taako. (Passing more quickly: Kirk, Sam, Thor, a half-dozen others.) Karen. Karen, who he went to right after finding Finn, before he'd even managed to get to Rey. Karen, who understands his fear without knowing what Ren did.

Poe starts mentally yelling AC/DC the moment his mind settles on her face. ]

His name was Lor San Tekka. You could at least use it.

[killthepast]

[ The reaction's satisfying, that sense of helplessness and fury all tangled up in each other. So he probes deeper, this time with more purpose, seeing those faces flash in the other man's mind (the traitor, the scavenger, and even his own mother among them), until a sudden onslaught of noise causes him to pull back with a kneejerk wince.

But not before he saw one last face: a woman. Blonde hair and sharp, clever eyes. There's so much sentimentality, so much affection for her. She's somebody particularly special.

He looks up from the apples, back at Poe. NO COMMENT ON THAT. He'll let you guess how much he knows, Resistance scum. ]

I know his name. [ Quick and dismissive. ]

[volitaunt]

[ Thank you, Captain Kirk. Too bad Poe doesn't know if it's working or not. Too bad he's terrified of how much he's given away. (You can't let him have the upper hand that way, Karen had said. You can't give him the satisfaction of getting yourself into deep shit because then he's free to do whatever he wants.)

He's screwed up again. But the idea of retreat is unacceptable. He can't stomach the idea of leaving Ren be, letting him wander the Quarantine, shopping, existing without the reminder of what he is. ]

Really? Because you seem more focused on the whole 'old' thing. You do realize 'old' is something that happens to everybody, right?

[ Of course, Ren won't get that far, or if he does it will be in the comfort of a prison cell. If the Resistance doesn't kill him incidentally, the rise of a new galactic Senate will ensure that this man gets what's coming. ]

[killthepast]

[ IT'S NOT LIKE HE LIKES SHOPPING, BUT A GUY'S GOTTA EAT, BRO.

He makes a noise, a short hum, low and contemptuous in his throat. It's almost a chuckle. ] Oh. Please. Teach me about life's stages.

[ SARCASM. Just to add even more maturity to this already mature conversation they're having. ]

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8, for the record, is watching this whole adult exchange with his arc welder at the ready, wriggling in place.

Poe scratches his chin, staring off into the middle distance. ]

Well, if no one's talked to you about puberty, it can be a very scary time for a giant baby--

[killthepast]

[ Now there's a flicker of annoyance on his face, even as he tries to appear cool and impassive. Despite his attempts, some venom bleeds into his voice. ]

You must be so lost here, without a misguided cause to fight for.

[ Hello, pot, have you met kettle yet? ]

[volitaunt]

Oh, I'm doing just fine.

[ That's a lie, but it's a lie Poe tells so often in so many situations that it rolls off his tongue like pure honesty. ]

Nothing like a little r-and-r to get that Resistance scum flowing.

[ He might not be Force-sensitive, but he can tell he's sunk at least a small barb under Ren's skin. Which means it's time to press that advantage until the advantage gives out.

Like he do. ]

Must be strange for you, having to make your own food, change your own diapers....

[killthepast]

[ He hasn't been here long, and Kylo Ren already misses his mask. It's easy to project an impassive, unfeeling demeanor when nobody can see your face. Now he has to fight to keep from rolling his eyes or scowling at the pilot. ]

Ah, still on that tangent. [ UNIMPRESSED WITH YOUR BABY JOKES. He tilts his head slightly, then shrugs and starts to turn on his heel, to resume... food... acquisition. Anyway! He says one last, dismissive: ] Stay there, for all I care.

[volitaunt]

Yeah, well. I'm old. We get stuck in a rut, just keep spinning our wheels.

[ BB-8 apparently thinks this is over, because the little droid has popped his arc welder back into its socket.

Poe isn't done.

No one except BB-8 is surprised. ]

Stay... with the fruit? [ Poe manages to resist the impulse to pick up an apple and chuck it, unprovoked, at the back of Kyle's head, because that would be truly childish. But oh, he relishes the idea. ] I think it's actually very nice that you're learning to retreat. You're going to need the practice.

[killthepast]

[ NO, STAY IN THE GUTTER OF YOUR IMMATURITY, OBVIOUSLY. ]

Mm. Is that so...

[ NAH STILL GONNA GO ABOUT HIS BUSINESS. Oh look, he's nearing the vegetables now. Where's he off to? Dairy? Frozen foods?

Is it a retreat, or is he trying to provoke Poe into causing a scene? He does, after all, know how badly the man wants to throw something at him. ]

[volitaunt]

[ TWO CAN PLAY THE GAME OF PRETENDING TO BE MATURE.

Okay no they can't because Poe twiddles his fingers in a wave. ] Bye Kyle.

[ AND OFF HE GOES IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION even though he needed to get some vegetables.

He'll get them later.

Stop judging. ]