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

Re: Kylo Ren | Star Wars - Open/Before the winds and siren

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's small on a normal day. Loud sometimes, blisteringly hard to avoid sometimes, scary is a term a lot of people like to use when she's pissed, and even if she takes up more space and sound than a burly hunter three times her size, she's still small. In drenched clothes, hanging everywhere on her, while her hair is stringy, drenched, as well? She looks even smaller.

This fact, that she looks like a very small drowned rat, only marginally detracts from the expression on her face. Confusion, laced with anger, biting into copper eyes and a pressed mouth. This isn't where she was. This isn't Medietas, or Mundus, or The Roadhouse. She remembers. She'd gone to lay down after writing that fucking letter. Tired. Frustrated. Wanting a drink, or twelve, and denying herself.

That another person explodes out of the fountain doesn't actually comfort her. Nor does that the first thing the tall, drowned, guy, with black hair and matching black clothes, does is start throwing his shit everywhere. "What are you doing?"

Even though it was, finally, making Jo take stock of her own self. The fact she had a backpack on, too. Along with these clothes.

[andrend]

"Looking for what belongs to me." His tone is rough, as though he considered saying it through clenched teeth or perhaps was trying to make his own voice more intimidating than it was. Initially his response doesn't even grant her a glance from him.

His breathing steadies and evens out after a moment and he glances sideways at her, a frown and confusion on his face. She was soaked as he was, small and non-threatening. He was tempted to try to lift her with the force just to prove to himself that he wasn't getting even weaker, but he was and he didn't. He didn't want to face the truth of just how weak he was becoming yet.

The Force was barely a whisper of his usual strength, and not all of it to do with what he had done to try and make himself stronger. That had backfired, and the wound had helped matters none. But now he was on a different planet, drenched to his bones without a weapon, his uniform or a scrap of information to move forward with.

"Who are you?"

[tobeclosetohim]

Her brow furrows for half a second at his words, and then her eyes go wide, and her hands are everywhere on her person.

Her pants pockets, her hips, her shirt, for the one thing that never left her body. Never. And No. No. No. She's never lost it. She was never without it, unless she was naked. Not her Dad's knife. Not once. Not in all these times. Not since Raven, and Raven wasn't even losing it. She'd chunked it at him, meaning to kill him, but she'd gotten it back.

"Fucking fuckers," Spits out of her mouth, hard as nails, missing his question entirely in her own expulsion, and she's looking in all the directions suddenly, again. For someone. Anyone. The bastards who brought her here. Who somehow took her stuff. Her clothes. When she swinging her own bag down, even though he hadn't seemed to have found anything he wanted.

[andrend]

Ren snorted derisively when she pulled her pack off as well and picked his own up off the ground. He began shoving things back into it with little concern for the state of them. All the while he watched her sideways, waiting to see if she had anything that belonged to him or found what she was looking for. He did not think she would.

With half of the things back in the bag he dropped it back on the bench and crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet with his head tilted to the side. His eyes followed every item.

"Whatever it is. You won't find it." Someone replaced everything. Someone who now had his lightsaber and had taken the time to heal the wound to his side before dropping him into the water to nearly drown.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Yeah." Jo gritted out, all teeth and anger. "I'm getting that. Which is going to go very badly for whoever's idea this was."

What the fuck was this even? Jo dropped her bag, pulling at her clothes, hard and unhappy. They were out everything, were they? What the hell did she have? Where was Jack's hat? River's bracelet? Her gun and other knives? Nothing she'd seen him toss out even looked like it was useful, and she was done being soaking wet, with heavy, and dripping everywhere. But there was a tank a top under this obnoxious black thing, and Jo was peeling the top layer off already, and then looking down with a frown. This wasn't even her soaked white bra under her soaked white tank top. At all.

"I'm going to have a nice, intimate, chat with whoever the hell put these clothes on me, too." Which, yeah, really does come out as threatening as she's thinking about it. No one went around changing all her clothes and stealing her things from her. No matter where she'd ended up this shit had never been done to her, and it wasn't going to fly now either. That bastard could have his balls burned off for all she gave a damn right now.

[andrend]

She had spirit, Ren would give her that. He could feel the anger coming off her even with how difficult the force was being. That anger was good, though, because Rn understood it. He felt it, too. And he had similar thoughts to her own when it came to opinions and threats toward whoever interfered.

"When I find them they will not be capable of chatting with anyone." But there was no one else to blame. Not yet. He didn't bother removing his soaked clothing, despite other options being available in the pack he had been given. Apparently he was just fine crouching there with water still dripping off of him consistently.

He glanced skyward after a moment, squinting at the sun.

"Do you know which system we're in?"

[tobeclosetohim]

It's easier, so much easier, to be filled with rage and violence at this second than anything else. She doesn't want to slow down, doesn't want to think or overthink, or begin to step foot in the dreaded, chilled, thoughts already waiting at the edge for her. It helped that this guy wasn't telling her to calm down and being all pedantically helpful. He looked just as put out, and his question made her look up.

The question easy enough, when she glances up. It's sun up still, and that's not helpful.
"No clue. It's probably better at night to figure out anything like that."




Beat.

"Not that I want to still be here come night, or even have any clue really how to help you with that in the slightest."

[andrend]

"It doesn't matter. We need to find a communicator or a ship." He needed to get in touch with Snoke. And General Hux so he could order him to send a ship to pick him up. He was so irritated with everything that it had not even occurred to him they might be on a planet backwards enough not to have the right technology.

"And some weapons." He wasn't going to wander around a strange planet, unarmed. He hadn't even realized yet that Rey had left a scar across his face, and he did not think anyone would recognize him. That made no difference, though. A foreign planet could hold any number of threats and he needed to be prepared.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Pretty sure you just proved we don't have those." God. Fuck. She never thought she'd suddenly miss having that network comms device, that never shut up and people never learned how to use right, and suddenly she wanted it. But she didn't pat anything on herself this time. There was no point. She was taking her shirt and trying to wring it out, before she was going to end up tying it around her waist.

"Whatever might be here, it isn't right here," Jo considered, adding, a little too sharp still as she was looking at the edges of all the plants and greenery surrounded this area. But it looked like there were structures in the distance. "Maybe we split up and start looking around somewhere that isn't the fountain or some trees or grass."

Or these idiotic backpacks that only had, apparently, everything they were never going to need.

[andrend]

He nodded, at least. He couldn't physically force himself to tell her she was right. He was too irritated to be agreeable. But he didn't immediately become combative or contrary over the suggestion. She was right. They would learn nothing waiting around by the fountain.

"One of us should stay here and look around first. We could be missing something." His fingers twitched at his side. Without his mask, his uniform or his lightsaber he felt exposed, and with the force evading him nearly completely he felt cut off from more than just his teacher and his resources.

"I'll give the area another look and go that way." He pointed to one of the three barely distinguishable paths among the overgrowth. With it being noon and an unfamiliar planet he had no idea what direction that way was, but he knew what it looked like.

"Which one are you taking?" He looked at her expectantly while pulling the coat from his pack on over his still soaked clothing. It was 84. There was no call for it. He didn't seem to care.

[tobeclosetohim]

"I'll take the other one," Jo nodded toward the next of the three paths from the foundation area, after a few seconds of watching his odd choice with the coat. Oh, well, right? She took part of hers off, and he put more of his on. Different strokes, completely different folks.

She turned one direction, but looked back, and even though she said the words, they were more a strong armed order than anything like a suggestion or a concern. "Watch your back. In case."

Of anything. Of everything. Creatures. Monsters. Sudden traps and holes.

She had no idea how green he might be. Angry, yeah. Experienced, no clue. None at all.

Don't try to die, and end up screaming, and make her come running back to save you from the greenery.