serving multiple gunshot wound realness [closed]

[killthepast]

who: Kylo Ren and Various
what: Catch-all for February/March things while Kylo recovers from getting shot up in a street by some COMMON CRIMINALS (it was Poe and John). Mostly for threads that have already been planned, but feel free to poke me somewhere if you'd like me to put up a starter for you.
when: February & March
where: Mostly a skeevy motel
warnings: References to violence and torture

Comments

POUR SOME SUGAR ON MEEEE [Closed: Leonard Snart]

[killthepast]

[ Kylo Ren's been shot before. He's been stabbed. He's suffered broken bones and lacerations and burns and so on. As a Knight of Ren, somebody on the path of Darkness, his training was brutal. It had to be, to harden him, body and soul, and prepare him for missions that would end lesser men.

AND YET.

His recovery from the wounds in his shoulder and hip is like nothing he's ever had to deal with before. There's no medical droid, with its sharp precision, or bacta to accelerate his healing, or any of the medtech he's used to. Just pills, bedrest, and boredom. His savior (which... doesn't feel like an appropriate descriptor for Leonard) isn't even here much of the time. The man often has his own business to attend to, leaving Kylo with nothing to occupy him besides meditation, magazines, and whatever passes for entertainment on the video monitor. And even Ren has his limits with meditation.

As soon as he can move without exacerbating his injuries too much, he begins to try to force his body to recuperate faster, urging it along with what exercise he can manage in this room. But it's not enough. The restlessness grows, an itch that he's desperate to claw at.

Time passes. He grows stronger, slowly and steadily, and more irritable (and irritating, with his endless pacing). And, finally, one night, Leonard has enough of his "bitching" and tells him to get dressed. Finally, he's well enough, strong enough, to... limp along with crutches, beyond the motel room that's become his temporary home, and down to the businesses on the ground floor.

Before they even enter, he winces a little, nose wrinkled. It's loud, he can tell from outside, and no doubt, it's some sort of seedy cantina, the type of place his father likely would have felt right at home in. ]

What are we doing here?

[ There may be the slightest twinge of disappointment in his voice. Here he was, hoping to stretch his legs a bit farther than the ground floor. ]

[hypothermic]

Getting out. You need to cool off.

[Leonard is sick of the pacing, mouthbreathing (meditating), glowering, and awkward silences.

That said, he can't blame Kylo for being stir crazy either. He's been cooped up inside for longer than is mentally healthy for anyone. Leonard's been in prison, and in medical, enough times to know. Hospital bed. Prison bed, the two don't feel that different. Either or, it sucks being stuck anywhere against your will.

Like all strip clubs attached to the kind of motel you can rent by the hour, the club is shady, and the patrons are shadier. Leather jackets and gang tattoos are omnipresent, as are bulges too big to be anything but guns. Even the strippers are rough, hard women and men with oiled bodies and painted faces who are as likely to beat you with a pole as spin on it. The music is too loud, the air is heavy with smoke, and the drinks are cheap as dirt.

All in all, it's Leonard's kind of place, and it reminds him of home. He could afford better, but money can only go so far in buying comfort. Right now, feeling as displaced as he does, familiarity trumps silk sheets and waterfall showers.]

Take a seat. Beer only. No hard stuff. You don't wanna be messing around with those painkillers.

[A pair of sparkling bodies, male and female, strut by Kylo with a smile. Twins? It's hard to tell with how dark it is. Leonard sits on a barstool beneath a blue spotlight, waving the bartender, a heavily bearded man roughly the size of a tractor trailer, and orders their drinks with a bat of his silver eyelashes.]

I'd keep an eye on your wallet, if I were you. People here can get a little handsy.

[killthepast]

[ This isn't the sort of place Kylo would choose to spend time in, if he were calling the shots. It's like the inside of a gangster's... pleasure palace. Bad music, oiled up dancers, criminal patrons... A hive of vice and frivolity, things he'd never had time for as a Jedi apprentice or a Knight of Ren. Though he's clearly not thrilled with their destination, Ren does try to move with his usual confidence, back straight, head held high (easy to do when you stand over most people), but the crutch under one arm and the sling over his other kind of ruins the effect.

It's a relief to sit down, but he tries not to let it show too much. The twins' smile isn't returned, and instead, Ren surveys the club with the cautious, practiced gaze of a fighter on the lookout for potential threats. ]

I shouldn't drink at all. [ No beer. Nothing. That was how he'd gotten so sloppy that some common, lowlife rebels had managed to shoot him in the first place. ]

They won't be foolish enough to put their hands on me. [ This time, he'll be vigilant! He will keep his mind clear and listen to the Force. Then, he looks at Leonard with some interest, watching him in his element. Kylo, meanwhile, feels like a painfully conspicuous outsider. ]

Why do you enjoy places like this?

[ Shockingly, there's no judgment in his voice. Just curiosity. ]

[hypothermic]

What’s not to like? [Leonard smirks around the mouth of his bottle, laughter in his eyes, gleaming sharp and bright like the edge of a razorblade beneath the strobe-lights. He’s not sure what’s more amusing, Kylo walking tall and strong above the crowd with one arm in a sling and the other holding a crutch, or how desperate he looks for a Clorox wipe. Even more than that, there’s a shyness to him, beneath the confidence and broad-shouldered (albeit crippled) swagger that Leonard can’t help but find endearing.

Leonard doesn’t care about strippers. He’s not interested in gangs outside of business. He doesn’t dance often, or publicly, and he’s rarely in the mood to make small-talk. Truthfully, The View is someplace his partner would like. Dirty, loud, and loose. Left to his own devices, Mick would empty his wallet in a dive like this, buying booze and ass like they’re going out of style while Leonard watches from the sidelines, drinking slowly and deflecting unwanted advances.

He sets his bottle down, leaning forward on his elbows, looking up at Kylo from beneath his eyelashes with some consideration.]

Because no one here gives a damn. You can have a drink, eat some crappy food, and be whoever you want to be for the night. Or be no one at all.

[killthepast]

[ Leonard, you know Kylo's about to launch into a litany of things not to like. And it's only the amused glint in the other man's eyes that keeps him from doing so. Because it reminds him of his father, setting up a joke for him to walk right into. Because Han, for all his flaws, recognized the sullen anger and alienation in his child, and tried to distract him from it. Redirect it into a groan and an eyeroll, or a surprised peal of laughter.

There are little bits and pieces of Han he can see in Leonard, and yet, they're practically of a different species. (Which is probably for the best. We don't need his current daddy issues to morph into another kind of daddy issue entirely.) Leonard exists in himself with so much confidence and authenticity. If he wears a mask, he hides it better than most. Ren knows, of course, that he could peek inside the other man's mind and see what's real and what isn't, but... he doesn't want to.

For once, he's enjoying putting the puzzle of another person together slowly, piece by piece, instead of using the Force to assemble it for him.

He realizes he's staring just as Leonard leans in. Blinking a little, he grabs his beer and takes the smallest sip. What a feeling that must be, true freedom to be whoever you want, even for a night. At times, he's tried to grasp it here, but it's never really stuck. Perhaps, he can be somebody else for a few hours... and then he turns a corner and is shot at for being who he truly is.

Kylo Ren. The monster. ]

I see. So who should I be tonight? [ He asks it with the air of a jest, not wholly serious. But it probably says something that his go-to is to ask, rather than come up with some silly alter ego for the night. ]

[hypothermic]

My partner.

[Leonard slides off his bar stool and takes his beer with him, sauntering halfway across the dance floor, unmoved by the music or people grinding around him, before glancing back over his shoulder at Kylo with a look that dares him to follow.

Invitation. Instigation. Taunt. Seduction. They’re all the same thing, in Leonard’s book. He had his wires crossed at a young age, and there’s no rewiring him now. He’s tried. Going back in time wasn’t enough to undo all that’s made him who he is, and on some level, Leonard doesn’t want to be undone. He has his own daddy issues, his own scars, his own history as a criminal, and what some might call a monster, but there’s more than that, too.

And he always taken a certain pride in the thickness of his rap-sheet. The biggest risk in life is doing nothing. He saw that on the motivational calendar in a prison psyche’s office once. Seemed like unnecessary advice to an institution of high-security convicts.

Leonard grabs a pool cue off the wall, shouldering his way between a group of thick, leather-clad men wearing too many tattoos and rings to count. The kind of people most decent people crossed the street to get away from, if they know what’s good for them.]

Mind if I join you boys?

[killthepast]

[ Partner? Ren's brow lifts a little in an unspoken question, but Leonard's on the move before he can get some elaboration out of him. It's fine. He doesn't need verbal confirmation, when observation can yield more than enough information. Sliding off of his stool, Ren returns to his full height and follow, a dark and foreboding storm cloud trailing the other man. Though he moves stiffly, his size and demeanor is enough to project an air of 'UNSTABLE!! DISTURB AT YOUR OWN RISK!!'

The men at the pool table eye the two of them, sizing them up, before grunting their assent. Not hospitable, but confident that Ren and Leonard, for all their height and muscle, are outnumbered and outclassed if they should try anything. For his part, Ren wonders what Leonard's angle is.

If he's anything like Han Solo, there's always an angle to work. And, if the two of them are partners, he'll pick up on it soon enough.

Ren shoots a glower at the man closest to Leonard, and, wisely, the lowlife steps back a little, to give him more room to rack the balls on the table. ]

HIIIIGHWAAAAY TO THE DANGER ZONE [Closed: Poe Dameron]

[killthepast]

[ Now that he's up and about again-- somewhat-- Ren's taken to venturing further and further from the seedy motel that's become his temporary home.

As ever, he finds comfort in the quieter places in the city, where he can sit in nature and clear his head. Normally, he'd prefer going out beyond the fence, where he's less likely to have others impose their company on him. But his body's still recuperating, still weaker and slower than it should be. He's in no condition to fight off the creatures beyond the fence, should any come upon him.

So, he's in the park, off in some mostly-secluded spot, eyes closed, communing with the Force. The ache of his injuries feed into his connection with the Dark Side, an ever-present reminder of the hatred and anger coursing within him. There is strength in this, he knows. There's always strength in pain.

Through it all, he's aware-- dimly-- of Leonard's nearby presence, though the older man's giving him the space to meditate while he does his own thing.

...

Probably because it's really boring to watch. ]

[volitaunt]

[ Poe carries a sense of peace with him that's almost entirely new. It's at the surface, it's what keeps the lid on everything underneath. The sorrow. The rage. The guilt. It's where he's dwelling to avoid the rest.

It's also very clearly tied to John.

Poe rounds a corner full of trees, sees Kylo Ren, and stops short. This isn't the first time they've walked into each other at random in a park, and Poe has to wonder if maybe Kylo likes being out in nature as much as he does. It's a stupid, uncomfortable thought and he ignores it.

He also considers just turning and walking away. Injured or not, Ren is a threat. Injured or not, he can still throw Poe into a tree. ]

[killthepast]

[ Poe's presence registers as an intrusion, an unwelcome encroachment into his meditations. Those churning emotions--sorrow and rage and guilt-- shoddily suppressed under the weight of peace, sing out to Ren as the other man approaches.

Even if he isn't doing anything just yet, just by being here Poe Dameron's trampling all over his clarity like a clumsy child. And though he senses no violent intent, he's not going to sit around and wait for the pilot to try anything.

Opening his eyes, Ren glares at the pilot, moving to get to his feet. It's not as fluid a movement as usual; it's obvious Ren has to put extra effort into it, gritting his teeth through the pain as he pushes himself up. ]

Here to make another attempt on my life?

[volitaunt]

Doesn't seem like a fair fight.

[ Not that 'fair' stopped him from trying last time. Fair was the last thing on his mind. This time, though, he's thinking about John, and Finn. About how if they do this, they're going to do it smart. Do it careful. Not do it in a public park.

If they do it, they're going to do it right.

Still.

Poe is Poe. ]

Has anyone ever told you the way you talk is really pretentious?

[killthepast]

Ah. Because you're so concerned about fairness.

[ Please. Not a fanatic like Poe Dameron. Winning is all that matters to him, not inconvenient notions like 'fairness' or 'honor.'

(Yes, this is the goth calling the kettle black.) ]

I--

[ He purses his lips and glowers back at Poe. HOW DARE YOU CALL OUT HIS PERFECTLY NORMAL SPEECH PATTERNS. ]

No it's not!

[ Dial back the petulance there, Kylo. He advances on the pilot, even as his body protests, and his left arm is clearly just about useless. Not the most intimidating, but whatever!! ]

Now leave.

[volitaunt]

Why?

[ FREE SHRUGS.

Though, honestly, Poe was planning on leaving. He just doesn't want Kylo Ren to think it's because of him, because Poe is Poe, and sometimes that means Poe is twelve.

And he's not going back the way he came. He's going to keep walking the path that skirts Ren's bench. (Adrenaline junkie that he is, danger addict, man without either of those things here to keep him sane.) ]

It's a public park.

[ Yes, that choice of words was very, very intentional. Even though the last time he said that he ended up in the hospital shh details.

He's wired, electric with awareness of Kylo Ren and any move Ren might make, when he passes the bench at the closest point on the path.

That's when it hits Ren:

Cuffs securing his wrists, a rough dragging at his shoulder. Trying to take in as many details as he possibly can as the First Order goon hauls him to wherever it is that they do their dirty work.

He gets slammed back onto the interrogation table, buckled in, and left alone to think about what the First Order can do. And he does. His imagination runs wild, brutalizes him in every way imaginable, presents him with the nightmare of being broken and giving everything up.

He won't do it. He won't.

The interrogator is a black-clad woman with skin as pale and ashy as bone and eyes that convince him without a shadow of a doubt that she's never known the meaning of kindness.

"Where is the map that Lor San Tekka gave you?"

He licks his lips. His tongue almost as dry as his mouth. "Shoved it up Snoke's ass on the way here."

The neuroshock hits him with paralytic force, his mind going blank, his muscles seizing. He arches with pain, making a high-pitched noise deep in his throat, every nerve ending on fire.

It stops. He collapses. It's tempting to weep from the pain, but all he does is lick his lips again.

"What does a guy have to do to get some water around here?"

"Silence, rebel scum. Where is the map?"

His heart pounds. He braces himself.

"Can't tell you. I'm being silent."

The world goes white. The restraints are the only thing that keep him from bucking his way off the table. He's screaming, maybe, but he can't really tell. Not until the neuroshock stops and he collapses back against the table again, the sounds he was making trailing off into silence.

"You will break."

"Lady." He smiles, tasting blood in his mouth. Must've bit his tongue. "I could do this all day."

She punches him in the side of the head.

It doesn't end. The beatings continue, in between neuroshock, electrocution, vibroblade cuts across his abdomen and sides. He screams until he loses his voice, and keeps screaming without making a sound. They tip the table backwards, pour water down his nose and mouth while his torturer taunts him for being thirsty.

Where is the map, where is the map, where is the map.

He'll die with those words in his head.

After a while, he goes numb. They keep at it. Small blades shoved under his nails. Force pikes pressed against his stomach until he smells hair and skin burn. They keep going and he stops screaming, retreating to some undiscovered place in his head where pain can't find him.

And then there's silence. It sinks in like blood into cloth. No pain but what's already been inflicted. No questions but the echoes in his own mind.

The door to the room hisses open, and he doesn't move. He doesn't move until a black-clad nightmare with a voice changer says, "I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board." ]

hello, hello, baby, you called, i can't hear a thing [Closed: Rey]

[killthepast]

[ By now, Ren is well enough that he can resume some semblance of physical training. The wound in his hip caused far less damage than the one to his shoulder, thankfully missing bone or organs. His shoulder, however... The fractured collarbone, the nerve pain extending down his arm, that's a complication that continues to hinder him.

So though he's begun to train with his lightsaber again, it's slow going. His dominant hand is unhindered by his injury, but his left arm is something of a handicap. He goes through the motions as best he can, finding some quiet and secluded place to train. But it's slow, and frustrating, and he has to take too many breaks.

He doesn't even notice it, at first, when it happens. That connection, coming back to life. ]

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

[talentedscavenger]

[For Rey, she has been keeping her distance from those she cares about. She can't bring herself to tell Finn and Poe the rest of her story. What happened with the First Order, with Ben. Leia and Cisco knew the full details; how Snoke was killed, how she went to Ben to try and pull him away from the Dark Side. Ben's offer, the look on his face with his hand out stretched to her, and the soft murmur of 'please.'

It broke her heart.

He broke her heart.

She was out by the forest, away from prying eyes, sitting on a patch of soft ground and trying to meditate. She needed guidance. She needed something to anchor herself to and try to figure out the best way to deal with her emotions--and not simply shove them to the back of her mind and lock them away.

Her eyes were closed, reaching out to the connection to the Force, easily grasping it and finding some peace. However, something starts to pull her, like a trance. When she opens her eyes, Rey sees Ben. His back is towards her and her heart stops. Can he see her? Was their connection back--but how? Snoke was dead. He was the one who fooled both of them into thinking they were--No.

This was...this wasn't real. This couldn't be real.]

You're not real.

[The words were murmured to herself to break whatever magic or spell was on her.]

[killthepast]

[ Sensing her, Ren turns to face Rey before she even speaks. His eyes lock on her as his emotions play out on his face-- surprise, anger, hurt, guilt, all of it. The first time this happened, he was curious, asking questions while she was calling him a murderous snake. Then they became used to their bond, found comfort in it.

And then everything happened on the Supremacy, on Crait, the last gasps of the bond lingering, until Rey shut the door in his face.

He hadn't expected it to happen again here, not after the weeks of silence. And, unlike the last time they connected, now... He doesn't want it, doesn't want her in his head.

He opened himself up to her, he made himself vulnerable, and offered his everything to her. And she rejected him. All she'd ever wanted was for him to serve the Resistance. Like his mother, so absent throughout his life, choosing her dead causes over him.

He sees Rey standing before him, connected through the Force, and it's as if his heart breaks all over again.

He wants nothing to do with her. ]

You know that's not true. [ His words are spat out, devoid of the gentleness he used to use with her. ]

[talentedscavenger]

[ Rey could see those emotions play out on his face. For the first time in days—weeks, she sees him and her heart breaks all over again. The anger, the hurt, it’s all clear in her eyes. She won’t turn her head away, let him see the damage he’s done. He made her choose and now...

Now they’re connected with no reason. Snoke was gone. Unless the Force was playing a cruel trick on them. ]

There’s no reason for it. Snoke is dead.

[ And she knows he’s told Hux that she killed Snoke. Way to throw her under the bus. Rey swallows the lump forming in her throat. There’s a tightness in her voice, holding back from lashing out. He doesn’t deserve anything from her—not even her anger. Not after he made her choose.]

We can go back to ignoring each other until this wears off. [ And once it does, she’ll find a way to block it. She doesn’t want to have him in her head any longer. ] I’m sure you have other business to tend to with Hux.

[killthepast]

[ He made her choose, and she only used him for the Resistance. The way he sees it, she has every reason to feel as badly as he does. One thing his time with Leonard has taught him is that he has no reason to fit into the molds that others try to squeeze him into. He won't deny himself anymore. He's Dark, no matter how much anybody tries to starve the darkness out of him. And he's Light, too, no matter how much Snoke wanted to choke the light out of him. Rey and Hux and Poe and all the others here-- he doesn't care what they want or need him to be, for their galactic tragedy. He chooses his path now.

And he refuses to be cast into the role of the monster here, as if he's the only one who caused pain. ]

My business is mine alone. It's not with General Hux. [ He takes a step forward. ] And it's not with you. [ Words that are easier to think than to speak, when he's looking her in the face. ]

[talentedscavenger]

It is my business when you tell your General that I killed Snoke!

[ Rey snapped, her anger bubbling over too quickly for her to get a hold of. Okay, he deserved her anger, just as she deserved his. Both of them had the choice to go either way. They chose to not be together. He wanted her to serve the First Order, to kill her friends. He didn’t see her as nothing. She wasn’t nothing and she thought—she wanted to believe she mattered more to him than as a weapon. ]

It is my business after what happened! You...

[ He was her business. She was the one who wanted to keep an eye on him, which quickly became an excuse to see him....as friend and more. She confided in him. She opened up to him.

He had worked his way into her heart and she didn’t know until they first kissed and she wanted more. ]

You made me care about you and I hate that I still do! [ Care for him, miss him and wanting him. ]

MEET THE SURROGATE PARENT [Closed: Alexander Pierce and Leonard Snart]

[killthepast]

[ So, it turned out to be really easy to get his LAYABOUT SCOUNDREL LOVER to visit him at work. All he had to do was text Leonard with something that basically amounted to "I'm bored, come over." It's not even a lie, because he is bored, without anything to do while he waits for the doctors to clear him for field work again.

From there, it's just a simple matter of Ren mentioning that oh, yeah, also his boss (who he definitely doesn't regard as something of a father figure) wants to meet Leonard, no reason, let's go to his office. Considering Ren's nearly nonexistent poker face, plus Len's general level of savviness, it's probably way too obvious that this is some strange 'meet the parents' scenario.

This is what happens when you pick up strays and take their v-card, Leonard. ]

[hypothermic]

[Leonard takes Kylo's his arm as they go through the door. Mostly because he can. Go hard or go home. If they're going to play this game, they might as well go all the way. It's a new role for Leonard. He's never been the type anyone would take home to anyone, and never been the type to care, so this is a first for him, and he's all about firsts. Kylo would know.

He shoots a smile to whoever's on the other side of that very important desk, but can't help picking up the nearest expensive looking objet d'art to inspect the maker's mark. Kylo's boss has decent taste. The same can't be said for Kylo, apparently. Tall. Silver. Lean and mean. Kylo's 'lover' is a forty-something criminal who already had a rap sheet before Kylo was a twinkle in his father's eye, and he doesn't even have the common decency to pretend to be anything but.

At least Leonard puts said piece back down again. Wouldn't want to make a bad impression, after all. A tilt of his head as he cases the joint from beneath his eyelashes, committing entrances, exits, windows, and any other details that may be of value or note to memory.

He doesn't quite purr, but it's close enough.]

Spectacular office. Did you design it yourself?

[peacemongering]

[The fact that Kylo had a beau was not entirely surprising. Nature tended to move in a natural direction when there wasn't a war to fight, a people to put in their place, and with all that idle time, it was going to happen that the young man would find someone worthwhile eventually. It was a matter on who this individual was and how much of a distraction that they would eventually become.

Normalcy was fine, even encouraged. Distraction to the point of making rash decisions was to be firmly squished.

So when the pair came up to his office while he was reading the daily reports and a stack of supply requisitions awaiting his approval sat untouched next to his left elbow, he wasn't at all surprised. The promptness of this showing was answer enough of what this suitor currently meant to Kylo, and he assessed the older man with a quick flick of his eyes from his paperwork.

Then he slowly sat back in his chair and folded his hands neatly across his chest, watching the pair. He immediately took stock of the fact that his office was being cased with some shrewd glances; he worked with enough formal criminals to know those looks. The corner of his lip pulled in a smile before he pushed himself from his seat and approached the pair.]

The space itself, no. The building was here before I arrived, but I certainly had input on the items that you see. [His office was neat and tidy, and the items of value were intermingled with those of lesser value. He held out his hand.] Do you case every space that you enter, or is mine special?

[killthepast]

[ In the time they've come to know each other, Kylo's probably shown a great deal of cuddliness to Len. Really, it can be hard to pry him off sometimes. He's like a big, affectionate dog when he's in the right mood.

But that's in the privacy of their motel-room-home. Here, he's surprised by the gesture, until he realizes: Leonard knows why he's meeting Pierce now. And it's hard not to return the gesture, to hold back the urge to drape an arm around the other man and nuzzle against his neck and get up to all sorts of PDA now that the floodgates of his sex drive have been opened, liberated--

And then once they're in Pierce's office, it's suddenly very easy to resist his urges, because there's his employer, his mentor, the wise man who's given Kylo Ren a chance. (Dad's watching, basically.) While Leonard cases the place, Kylo practically stands at attention, glancing between the two of them.

And maybe he has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking, just a bit, at the other two men's exchange.

~And they called it puppy love...~ ]

[hypothermic]

Only if there’s something worth stealing.

[That’s a compliment. Leonard’s robbed plenty of old, rich bastards with too much money and not enough taste. All that makes them worth anything is locked away in a vault. He’s gotten bored of those jobs. There’s nothing personal or interesting about money. If you’ve seen one duffel bag stuffed with a cool million, you’ve seen them all.

Leonard is more subtle in casing Pierce. He isn’t here to rob him. There’s a lot to be gleaned from what a man wears, and the way he carries himself. He’s confident. Leonard can see why Kylo would be drawn to him, though he’s not sure he likes it. There’s a reverence in the way Kylo looks at him that makes Leonard want to steal something for hell of it, just to prove he could, if he wanted to. That no one is above him. Not even this man, in his minimalist office, in his bespoke suit who smells like wealth and power.

In the end, they’re all just marks.

Instead he extends his hand, gloved in black leather (no fingerprints), almost delicately. The look in his eyes is anything but. There are diamonds more delicate than Leonard Snart.]

Charmed.

[peacemongering]

[The pair clearly liked each other; it could have been because it was new or because Kylo literally had so little personal emotional self control that the flood gates had been opened and nothing could reel it all back in for the time being. He appreciated that there was a level of respect towards him, and he smiled with fatherly approval to Kylo even as he shook Leonard's hand.]

Good handshake. That's a good sign of man's abilities.

[He withdrew to give the pair a touch more space, but his gaze was intent on Leonard in an friendly way. This was someone he immediately took notice off, and it reminded him of a person he had once spoken on the network too. Some men refused to break no matter how far they were bent, and he already had the impression that this one cared very little for his opinion on the relationship.

This was for Ren, so he liked to think the affection was mutual. Good, there was a point to strike a fire too.]

And is professional larceny your occupation? Perhaps a more honest profession compared to the ones that you likely steal from. You seem too cool and calm to be out for most damage.

[He glanced at Kylo, his smile widening.] I like him. Good job.