July Arrivals

[sixthiteration]

WHO: Arrivals
WHERE: The fountain park
WHEN: July 1, 12:00 PM
OPEN TO: ALL
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: CLOSED

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

It is the first of July.

It is precisely twelve o'clock in the afternoon.

Comments

For Hux

[andrend]

The siren had finally stopped, but the howling winds had not. The building rattled and shook in the fashion of old and rickety places. Ren's ears still held a ring within them, and the storm's rage was well matched with the one whipping about inside of him.

He had not given up on finding answers but he had begun to assume that any familiarity with the worlds he had known was being kept from him. When he saw red out of the corner of his eye, he assumed it was Sam again and turned to seek him out in the group gathered in the inn. It wasn't Sam, however. The face was all too familiar and Ren had a moment of pause while he tried to determine the best response to suddenly being faced with this.

"General." Ren couldn't decide between anger and surprise. He approached with powerful strides and when he stopped he was, as usual, far too close for comfort and personal space, trying to appear more than the one inch of height he had on Hux.

"Care to explain what is going on here?" Because this is clearly Hux's fault. It couldn't be Ren's. He had been minding his own business trying to chase down the scavenger girl and Hux's traitor-trooper.

[generalginger]

Having encountered a number of strange people since pulling himself out of the fountain, Hux had begun to assume that he would not run into anyone that he knew. He wasn't bothered by that; he was more concerned with making sense of his being here and figuring out what to do, how to contact his ship, and finding shelter.

He'd give anything for his climate-controlled star destroyer; the wet clothes and strong winds caused him to shiver, but when he heard a painfully familiar voice, Hux immediately steeled himself.

Of all the people he knew, why did it have to be Kylo Ren? He was an ally, yes, but the most contentious and infuriating variety. "I was under the impression that unexplained mysticism was your area of interest, Ren."

[andrend]

Ren was not happy to find Hux there beyond an initial moment of hope that the general would know what was happening or who to blame. It was clear he did not by his response, and that was both disappointing and disconcerting. He didn't back off, searching Hux intently for a moment with his eyes. He could not let the man know how weak he was, and so he kept even the slightest use of the force from his mind for the moment.

"This is not of my doing." Nor was it his fault, in Ren's opinion at least. He had no recollection of a kidnapping and no clues to who or what had done so. He did not even know what planet they were on and the lack of answers was infuriating at best.

"We appear to be on the Outer Rim. If anyone would have information on this situation, it would be someone who has spent more time there." He tries to keep his tone calm and even. The mask was gone, and that left him with nothing to hide behind but his own scarred face. He refused to show more weakness before General Hux.

[generalginger]

Hux wasn't confident that they were in the Outer Rim, but he had no way of confirming their location. At this point, it really didn't matter: they were somewhere unknown, in strange clothing, and without a way to contact their allies. The best Hux could hope for was his dutiful lieutenant noticing their absence.

"That doesn't explain how we came to arrive here."

He would've at least remembered going off-ship.

[andrend]

"How is it possible that neither of us is aware of that?" Ren scowls at Hux for a moment and then distracts himself by peering briefly out a window to check on the angrily howling wind whipping loose debris about outside. In other circumstances he might have admired the rage of it, but not when it left him trapped in this underdeveloped hell hole.

"What is your excuse?" At least Ren had the crutch of having been heavily injured. As far as he knew, Hux had been just fine. But Ren had been incapacitated on the crumbling surface of Starkiller Base. He should have died there.

[generalginger]

"My excuse?" Leave it to Ren to act insolent, even in a situation such as this. Hux would've loved it if Ren was a little more mature, but instead he's blaming Hux for them winding up here? As if his headache isn't bad enough.

"You let yourself get defeated by a girl. Your series of poor decisions resulted in the destruction of Starkiller, and while you were bleeding out in the snow, I ensured our survival. How we wound up here, I cannot say, but you were unconscious in the medbay prior to this."

He doesn't have the answers, and that troubles him.

[andrend]

"If your stormtroopers were not so weak-willed, that girl never would have escaped." Ren's snapped retort was instantaneous, but he forced his emotions back under control after it, straightening his shoulders, trying to draw himself up and force a calmer expression. Fighting would get them no where and it wasn't the time for the dispute that would circle around them if they did not stop it before it really started.

"You're certain we haven't died?" If hell was real, it would only make sense that his would have the general in it. It was reassuring to hear that he had made it to the medbay, even if he bristled internally at having Hux to thank for that. It explained why he was not bleeding out when he came to in the fountain.

"Exile without trial. Slave trading. Whatever this is, it hardly seems like the work of the Resistance."

[generalginger]

"Whose idea was it to seize the girl instead of the droid?" They could play the blame game day all day, and Hux was certain he would win. Some of the mistakes, of course, were ones of which Hux was responsible, but his faults weren't as egregious as Ren's.

"We are not dead." He refused to believe that, and Hux was certain he'd remember if either of them died. "As to who is responsible for this, I cannot say. It's the work of enemy even greater than the Resistance."

[andrend]

"She had the information we needed. It would have taken too long to locate the droid and the numbers we had with us were not enough for a full scale fight with the Resistance at that time. Quick action was the only way to ensure we didn't risk losing both."

Ren reigns in his anger. Now is not the time for a fight with the General, as cathartic and enjoyable as that would be. He wouldn't give Hux the satisfaction of taking the bait.

"How has such an enemy organised itself under our noses? Their methods are-" Surprisingly effective, actually. That is part of what frustrates Ren so greatly. "Barbaric. From the look of things, this primitive planet could only be more underdeveloped if they used mud shacks and sticks."

[generalginger]

"You're making excuses." There are more pressing matters to attend to, of course, though he just barely resists pointing out that Ren could've potentially had access to the entire legion. All that needed to be done was calling in for it.

Figuring out their current circumstances is more important, but Hux doesn't have the answers that he wishes he had. "It's possible that this planet is more like a holding cell. Whatever brought us here might not originate from here."

[andrend]

"I assumed slavers, but-" He hesitates for only a moment, the words freezing in his mouth as he realizes just how much he has actually been paying attention to their fellow captives. "They seem to have collected resourceful and intelligent individuals, if a bit naive to the ways of the galaxy."

There had o be a purpose. As much as Ren would have liked to believe so, he had to admit they were not the primary targets alone. So whoever had grabbed them did not only have issue with the First Order.

"I have not heard of anything like this." He would understand the Rebellion, slavers, bounty hunters, even kidnappings for entertainment on the more barbaric planets that liked to host death matches, but this did not read like any of those.

"We are trapped with people who did not even know they could leave own planets." Petty disputes had to be set aside. Not permanently. They were both too stubborn to let things go so easily. But even Ren could realize their focus was needed on this matter and not the past.

[generalginger]

It was an observation that Hux actually appreciated. He'd only met a couple of people so far, but if he was to be objective, he could say the same for them. They were obviously ignorant about the galaxy and caught up in mundane interplanetary affairs, but they definitely seemed to have good instincts.

Why they were all here wasn't something he could explain, but it at least it would be useful to them in the meantime.

"The intent must be to use our combined skills for something." It made sense: if there was to be some sort of endgame here, it would make sense to bring people with some level of usefulness. Just how useful these other people were, Hux couldn't say, but...

[andrend]

"I don't see the benefit of trapping us somewhere with such limited resources. If they wanted us to use our skills, they should have left us with the tools to do so." There was a slight bitter edge to his words. The loss of his weapon was frustrating enough, especially when paired with the far more upsetting decline in his connection to the force. But that wasn't something Hux needed to be informed of. Not yet.

"But I saw no signs of anything useful leading up to this building. No ships, no weapons. Not even a scrap droid."

[generalginger]

"That shouldn't be a problem for you, apart from an inconvenience." He raised a brow at Ren, but didn't say much else about it. It wasn't often that a situation was enough to put Hux at a loss of words, but this was definitely one of those instances. Hux wasn't going to admit to anyone, especially Ren, that he didn't know. He didn't have the answers.

It was more than disconcerting, which was why he tried to do his best to compartmentalise. Look at this objectively.

"We're missing something." Obviously. But he was sure he'd figure out the missing puzzle piece.