riverviewlogs | bah humbug [open]

Entry tags:

bah humbug [open]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maybe I want to know why she inspires such fanatical devotion in her followers.

[ It's meant as a dig, but strangely, something about it seems a bit forced. Like he's still playing the part he's meant to in this story, but he knows it now. He tries to sound like there's venom behind his words, but...

Instead, he really is just searching. ]

[ Silence on Poe's end. There's something here, some trick, some calculation, and if he's not careful he's going to walk himself right into it.

There's a trap here, somewhere, but he can't see what it is.

Abruptly, after a stretch of silence that feels much longer than it is: ]

She's everything Snoke isn't.

How? [ There's a bite in his voice right there.

He doesn't even disagree, really. They are different. That... that's some of the appeal. But he just wants to hear it from somebody else; he wants to see his mother from somebody else's eyes. ]

'Everything' is a big claim.

Edited 2017-12-15 15:37 (UTC)

[ Poe is genuinely confused. This matters. This matters to Kylo Ren for reasons he can't fathom. The man is pressing Poe for answers he isn't sure he's willing to give. ]

I don't owe you anything. [ It starts as a statement made in bewilderment, ends somewhere closer to resolve. ] You want to know so bad, why don't you just find out yourself? You're good at that.

Edited 2017-12-15 15:46 (UTC)

[ Whoops okay goodbye tiny pretense of civility. There's a darkness settling into his features again, and any vulnerability, any weakness that might have been slipping through before is shoved deep down inside, where it belongs. ]

Well, if you insist.

[ Does he actually need to reach his hand out to Poe? OH WELL HE DOES. With the Force, he yanks the other man within arm's reach and brings his fingers close to the pilot's temple, almost touching, but not quite, as he digs. ]

[ Fuck.

Kriffing shavit stoopa fuck, Dameron.

He can't move.

Shoot to Thrill can't hold up to active boring into his mind. He can feel Kylo Ren's invasion as a steady pressure that gets worse the harder he resists. And of course he resists. Pressure becomes pain. Pain becomes memories of a dark room and screaming that felt like it was never going to end.

The Resistance--

It hurts.

--be intimidated--

It hurts. ]

Stop. [ One shaky word, without defiance, and Poe hates himself. ]

[ Pain and fear, rising to the surface, past Dameron's attempts at resistance. It's gratifying, lends him a strength he's found lacking since his arrival in the quarantine. He wants to break through the pilot's every defense until there's nothing left but a broken shell begging for him to stop.

And he can do it. He has the Dark side; he's strong. He moves past that dark room in the other man's mind, digs deeper, past the faces of insignificant strangers and Resistance fanatics, until he sees her.

In the absence of Snoke, and the wake of his father's death, it's only natural that he'd want his mother.

No.

Needs her.

Ren hates himself for this weakness. Poe, meanwhile, is incidental. ]

Edited 2017-12-15 16:38 (UTC)

[ He holds out. For a few seconds that feel like an eternity, a few seconds where he can't tell if he's screaming in the past or the present.

Then something gives, and Poe comes unmoored.

He's eight, reading and re-reading the message Leia sent when his mother died. (She refused to admit that any mission could be the end. As long as the stars shine, Shara Bey will be remembered.) He's twelve, crying in his mother's A-wing at the corruption of the data file.

He's in his twenties, on leave, listening as Leia Organa dedicates the statue of her father. (He taught me so much about politics, leadership, and war, but above all he taught me that no price it too great to pay for our ideals.) He remembers one of his friends laughing, remembers telling them to shut up.

He's meeting her face to face. (You remind me of my brother.)

He's on D'Qar, in her quarters, talking strategy, reading reports, recommending recruits, playing Shah-tezh. Mourning the first casualties of the Resistance. Drifting across the line from subordinate to son.

He's lost in his own head, caught up in memory and agony, and there isn't a damn thing he can do about it. ]

[ He should feel a sense of victory when he finds them, those cherished little memories of Leia Organa. Peering in on the way she touched the pilot's life, before she ever even met him, he feels, instead... something he can't quite fathom.

This man loves his mother as if he were her own son.

Poe had a few early impressions of her, and they resonated throughout his life. Guided him to her and the Resistance. And Kylo...

All that he ever dwelled on where those moments when she wasn't there.

He doesn't need to see anything else. He's done. Ren pulls back right then, dropping Poe to the snow as he withdraws from the man's mind. ]

The son she always wanted.

[ Could he possibly say that with any more contempt? ]

[ Poe feels his knees hit the ground like a distant shockwave. His bare hands sink into the snow. That’s what brings him in to the ragged present, just soon enough to hear that declaration. That disgust.

He’s exhausted. He’s so, so tired. His head is already starting to pound and he knows from experience that the pain that comes next will be enough to keep him down for hours.

But.

But.

He has to gather his breath once, twice, before he says: ] Who are you?

[ He has to ask. He doesn’t want to know. ]

[ The second Poe asks him that, Ren knows: he made a mistake. He shouldn't have said anything at all. It was too much, a petulant slip that he should have been above. And yet, for all his training, he can never seem to conquer his emotions. He takes a step back, as if Poe's the one who's dangerous here.

Because, in a way, he is. He has knowledge that he never should have been privy to, and Ren has no one to blame but himself.

So he turns to hate-- warm and familiar, comforting-- and spits out: ] I'm the one who will snuff out the Resistance once and for all!

[ As if that'll convince Poe he isn't the estranged son of General Organa. Well, Kylo. ⭐ You tried⭐ ]

[ Poe isn’t sure how to name the feeling that steals through him. Not at first. It’s visceral, makes him choke, and he thinks for a moment he’s going to be sick.

It’s revulsion.

His defenses are in pieces. His mind is open as he speaks, spilling memories of his own parents, of Leia, of shared love and understanding, and more than anything else, horrified disbelief. ] You murdered you father.

[ Kes Dameron, clear as day, teaching his son how to track whisperbird nest from the jungle floor, how to cook, how to love, how to finish what he starts.

The misty face of Shara Bey, but more clearly: Leia. ] You... betrayed her. You betrayed everything she is. What....

[ Every word is a struggle with exhaustion. ] What kind of... bantha shit destiny is worth that?

Edited 2017-12-15 20:40 (UTC)

[ This man is judging him. This man who, like so many, views Han Solo and Leia Organa as the untouchable legends of the Rebellion, and not what they really are. (Were, in the case of his father.) No, he won't be shamed by some Resistance scum. He's the one who ought to be looking down on Poe Dameron, not the other way around.

Everything she is... Because that was always what was important, wasn't it? The Rebellion, the New Republic, the Resistance. Her duties as a hero, as a legend, came first. Always.

Ben Solo wanted a mother, and a father, and instead he was sent to an uncle who'd put him down in his sleep if he could. And now that boy is dead. ]

You know nothing!

[ That snarl of rage, feral in its intensity, that's the only warning Poe gets before Ren strikes out with the Force, sending the other man hurtling against the nearest tree. He doesn't even hesitate after that, just reaches for his lightsaber and advances, red blade and crossguards crackling with destructive energy. ]

Edited 2017-12-15 20:56 (UTC)

[ He may as well have been thrown from a moving speeder, with how hard he hits the tree.

The only reason Poe has to believe his back isn’t broken is the fact that his feet can move. His ribs are cracked, or worse, he’s heard his bones break often enough to recognize that sound. He can barely breathe, but he knows that’s the injuries and the impact. Whatever broken bones and inner damage he’s sustained are incidental.

Kylo Ren is going to kill him.

This isn’t an adrenaline-fueled standoff.

Poe doesn’t stand a chance.

So he does the only thing he can. He rolls from his back to his side, from his side to his knees, and straightens as much as possible with his whole body demanding he give up. Drop. He won’t. He can’t. His parents wouldn’t. Leia wouldn't. Eyes on Ren’s face, steady and unblinking, Poe wraps one hand around his mother’s ring and prepares himself to die like a Rebel. ]

Edited 2017-12-15 21:10 (UTC)

[ Finn assumed that when he next saw Kylo Ren up close and personal, it would be in a jarringly domestic setting. When, not if. This is one city on one small moon, after all. Luck can't carry all day every day.

What he finds instead is far too familiar for his liking. He would rather have seen Ren doing something mundane, something that made him look for all intents and purposes like a human man with human sensibilities. He'd rather have to come to grips with a person's face than have another image like this burned into his memory.

He was heading in their direction already once he caught sight of them, trusting any situation involving Ren to turn out well about as far as he could push the Falcon. It isn't long before he's breaking into a flat sprint, heart pounding, and on the heels of that fear comes anger, and with anger comes familiar clarity.

He doesn't have to fight to win, anyway. He just needs to buy time to get Poe out. He can do that. ]

Ren!

[ Poe Dameron's salvation looks a lot like a thrown rock. Finn's hoping to hit Kylo in the face with it, but he'll settle for anything, since a couple hundred pounds of ex-stormtrooper are right behind it anyway. ]

[ In this moment, Ren doesn't care about the potential consequences of cutting a man down in a public park. He just craves the satisfaction of destroying somebody who's been a thorn in his side since Jakku. All of his attention is on Poe, who, like so many rebels, is so willing to lay down his life for nothing.

What stops him from driving his lightsaber through the pilot's heart is the fact that there's a rock flying at his head and he's so blinded by his own murderous intent that he doesn't sense it until it's too late. It glances his temple, and he looks to the side and sees--

FN-2187.

Despite the throbbing in his skull, the blood starting to pool where his skin's split, Ren's reaction is swift. They're practically a hair's breadth apart when he lifts his hand to lock the former stormtrooper in place, fingers curling to apply an unseen pressure to the man's throat. ]

There you are, traitor.

Edited 2017-12-15 23:45 (UTC)

[ Poe's focus on staying upright and looking his murderer in the eye is so complete that he misses Finn's approach. He doesn't even hear the crunch of snow under running feet until Finn yells Ren's name, and then--

It's like waking up.

Finn.

Finn.

Ren is going to kill him. Crush his throat. Poe hears himself yell: ] No!

[ Then he's in motion, up on one knee just long enough to launch himself full-bodied at Ren's legs. ]

[ Finn is pretty much just choking, which he figured was a probability. They can't always be upset enough to want a physical one-on-one fight, especially at full health.

(Any time he buys is time bought. He hopes it's enough. That's all he can do-- hope it's enough to be worth something.

And at least the rock hit.)

But I mean, Finn looks extremely like someone who hates everything about what Kylo Ren has chosen to be, while he's at it. He is fully prepared to be prepared to spit at him if he can get enough of a breath in to shoot for the range he wants.

Shoutout to Poe for the potential save. That looks a lot more like what he was trying to accomplish a few seconds ago. ]

[ Wow, two on one is such an unfair--

Haha no, Kylo Ren deserves this. This being an impulsively attempted murder, with frayed nerves and an explosive temper already detonated, his attention is too divided to deal with these two in the manner in which they deserve. Instead, he feels his legs give out from under him before he can crush the life out of Finn, which also has the effect of breaking his hold on the traitor.

And down he goes, toppling like a lanky tree.

Congrats, you guys. You've got about a second or two before he calls his lightsaber back into his grip. ]

[ Well Poe is just fuckin' underneath Kyle right now so Finn it's all you buddy. ]

[ Kicking him in the face is not super feasible from all their respective positions hitting the ground. Putting that one on the back burner for now. Finn, coughing, is nonetheless in a much better position than Poe to rally now that he's not being actively strangled.

He makes a determined scramble for the incidental dogpile, where he'll be trying to get a fistful of Kylo Ren's shirt and another fistful of his hair. All the better to hopefully wrench him up and throw him with.

Do they have full nelson holds in Star Wars? They'll figure it out. Is it dirty fighting? Probably, but look. Kylo punched him in the face during a lightsaber fight, Finn definitely remembers that, so fighting fair clearly only goes so far. ]

[ As soon as Ren is lifted off of him, even partially, Poe rolls sideways, hand closing around the hilt of the weapon he's starting to despise.

He can't manage to get to his feet but he can at least teeter-lunge forward while Ren is still in Finn's grip, pressing the hilt hard against Kylo Ren's back, finger on the igniter. ]

Give me a damn reason.

[ How did this happen? How did he go from having the upper hand, two resistance fighters at his mercy, to...

...getting his hair pulled as he's yanked off of Poe Dameron. That in itself he could have dealt with, easily, until he feels his lightsaber's hilt shoved against his back.

His breathing's ragged with anger, but at least he's got enough sense to know that right now, he's in a precarious situation, requiring a delicacy that he doesn't often try to employ.

Ren tries to crane his neck, to fix a baleful glare at the other men. It's a total 'I'm going to annihilate you the second I get a chance' look, but otherwise... He seems to surrender-- he's certainly not fighting!-- though there's just the tiniest flex of his fingers.

Try igniting that lightsaber, Poe. Just try. ]

Edited 2017-12-16 02:29 (UTC)

[ Seconded, please give Poe a reason. Maybe that's rude to think. Finn doesn't care, and he doesn't relax his grip just yet.

He doesn't trust like that.

Of course, even if he did, he's seen one too many pilots thrown into trees today to feel like extending that courtesy. What he wouldn't give to have a trash compactor nearby right now. A blaster. BB-8's uncannily strong zapping capacity. Anything.

Just the way life works sometimes, though. ]

It's time for us to walk away now. [ While they can. Before this turns into a real, proper public spectacle, even more than it possibly has already. ] We can all go have a good long think about where we came from and what we chose to do with it.

[ Preferably from a medical facility in some cases. ]

[ Poe can't move his hands.

It gives him goosebumps every time, when his body locks up, when Ren takes over control.

Poe hates it. He hates it the way he suddenly hates everything this man has chosen to put his faith in.

Finn is being reasonable. Finn is being calm.

Poe can't move his hands. He can move his arms.

Which is why he swings the lightsaber around and sends the whole heavy apparatus cracking hard across Kylo Ren's temple. ]

bah humbug [open]

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