sixthiterationlogs | July Arrivals

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July Arrivals

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She's done a circle of the area and found paths leading out of there. By the time she returns, there's a tall man who's been left by a young blonde woman, placing Peggy's stranger count higher than she likes without at least a little intelligence into the situation. No time like the present to remedy that.

Leaving that strange bag that had come with her, she marches forward and sizes up the man before her. "I've counted at least one viable path out of here," she shares with him, thinking that she ought to try and garner some trust. "What have you found?"

The sudden approach of another woman pulls Ren back from his frustration again to gauge the threat level of another stranger before him. He fixes her with an intense stare, studying her for a moment before responding. Her confidence and the manner she speaks with reminds him of Captain Phasma a bit. It at least earns her a moment of almost respect. Enough not to brush her information off with a dismissive comment.

"The symbol on this pack isn't familiar to me." He lifts the still half empty pack up as he speaks before dropping it back onto the pile of clothes he still hasn't forced back in to it. Frustration is clear in the way he holds himself, tense and uncomfortable at not knowing where he is or who put him there.

Clearly someone moved him from Starkiller Base, but who did was a mystery and for what purpose had they left him alive but unarmed?

"There's nothing of use in them, or the packs of anyone else I'm sure. We've been disarmed and re-dressed. If I had to guess, we're being sold into slavery."

She hadn't had a weapon on her, not after such a very long day. Peggy can feel herself placing her hands on her hips in her default demanding position, but stops herself. It's not his fault that she's been torn away from all she holds dear. The symbol is a good start, but if she's going to figure out what it means, they're going to need something to reference.

"Maybe there are some other symbols like it nearby," she says. "Something that can connect us and those packs to this place."

Kylo bends over a moment to shove the rest of the clothing he had thrown about back in his pack and sling it haphazardly back over his shoulder. If he was going to be forced to interact with these people he was going to keep one or two around until he could figure out how to get off this kriffing piece of space junk and back to a proper ship.

If nothing else he could throw them at his enemies.

"Fine. All right. Let's look." He glances around to the slightly overgrown 'paths' and back to her. He didn't like deferring to other people, but she had already walked them.

"After you." He gestures toward the paths in a wide sweep, inviting her to choose. He didn't want a stranger at his back, anyhow.

She tries to raise herself up and be taller, but unfortunately, given the height disparity between them and her lack of heels, Peggy feels very small right now. She hates feeling small. She also doesn't like to give the advantage, but eyes him up and down and decides that if she has to, she'll be able to fight her way away from him.

"I'm Peggy," she introduces herself brusquely, thinking that he's given her no reason to use an alias. He's only in the same strange situation that she is. She doesn't offer a last name just yet, though. She needs to keep some cards close to her vest. "And I think I saw something glinting in the distance this way."

He didn't want to offer his own name. There was a conflict of ego competing with self preservation in his hesitation to respond to her. If the people of the planet were supporters of the Resistance he couldn't afford to let them know they had Kylo Ren in their grasp. But if it turned out the planet was neutral or under First Order control, he would potentially find allies or at least some fearful respect.

He wouldn't offer his name willingly to anyone, but for the moment he decided to give her his.

"Kylo Ren." His response comes delayed, after they start walking. But at least he offers it. A small gesture of compromise for her going ahead of him.

"Have you seen anyone that does not look like a half drowned wet dog?" Such flattery he offers. Truly Ren knows how to win a woman over with words and compliments.

It's odd, but in LA, she's heard much odder lately. Besides that, Howard does have a tendency to befriend women with exotic names the likes of which Peggy has never heard before. Kylo seems perfectly normal compared to them. "No," she admits, frowning. "No, it seems the only point of entry for everyone in this area is the fountain."

Which begs the question...

"Do you think it's a door? Two ways?"

"It's possible." It is not something he had ever dealt with or experienced, but they did all seem to be emerging from the bottom, and given that some people emerged at different times, he wasn't so sure they had been tossed in.

"I do not really feel like diving back in to find out just yet." He huffs, a sigh through his nose, and shoves branches of overgrown bushes and vines out of his way while moving through the path.

"When I find out who is behind this, they will wish they had killed me."

Her eyebrow is beginning a very slow ascent as Peggy begins to understand precisely what she might be dealing with. Anger issues, to be certain, and certainly a complex about his importance. "Let's presume, for a moment, that what we're doing here isn't malicious," she says, though there's a part of her that isn't sure she agrees with what she's just said.

"Let's go forward, then," she suggests. "There must be some kind of clue."

"I do not consider any act that disarms me and divests me of my uniform to be anything other than Malicious." Still, he presses on. The walk through the overgrowth isn't a long one. There are buildings not too distant from them, and Ren hopes to find something of use within them, if not the clues she mentioned.

"If we came from beneath the water and were not thrown into it, searching above ground might well be useless to us."

"You were military?" she reads into his words and tries to pry out the most useful piece of information. "So was I, a lifetime ago, but I understand what it's like to have your uniform and purpose taken away," Peggy assures him to try and diffuse the situation a little before things can get that tense.

"Kylo, right?" she says. "If you are right and it is malicious, wouldn't it make sense that the people who did that to us have a vested interest in ensuring we're well and kidnapped? Perhaps they're here." And she would much rather have something to investigate and assault than an idea, so she has to hope that her hunch is right.

"No." He bristles a little at being lumped in with the military. That was Hux and Phasma's area. Reserved for their mindless stormtroopers. He was so much more than that. "I am the master of the Knights of Ren." She really had no idea who he was, even hearing his name. It's surprising and makes Ren question where he is even more. Peggy was unlikely to recognize the Knights of Ren, but it's important to him that they are not the same thing.

"If they have any sense in their heads they will be far from my reach." He was careful to pull his anger back, at least outwardly. He needs his mind clear, and as difficult as that is in the current situation he's at least trying to keep a level head and a cooperative attitude. As much as he ever does. So he agrees with her, for the moment. He continues to press forward while he talks. She has valid points, loathe though he is to admit he needs to listen to anyone else right now.

"The fountain isn't likely to move. We'll search the area first. If we find the people responsible I can easily get answers from them."

Peggy doesn't comment that being a knight is quite similar to being in a military outfit, even if you are at the head of the column, but she can read the young man's face well enough to see that such a thing would not go over well. She allows him to take charge, only because she knows that men like to believe themselves in a position of power, in control over the situation.

Right now, she has no reason to disagree, so she gives a nod. "You'll have to save some for me, of course," she insists.

Ren wants nothing more than to feel in control. This entire situation has sent him into a spiral, a tailspin he can't correct, and he's unsteady on his own feet thanks to all the shit that has gone down in the past cycle for him. Or at least what feels like the past cycle. Time had to have passed more than that to heal the bowcaster wound that had ripped into his side. Even the lightsaber slash across his face and shoulder no longer burned. It only felt hot and uncomfortable.

He avoids disagreeing with her. He won't even actually deny her the chance at her own turn as long as it doesn't interfere with getting his answers. And he doesn't doubt she is capable. The fact that she's a woman has no play into how capable she is or isn't for him.

"You are welcome to it as long as I can get into their minds before or after." Even after wouldn't bother him. Sometimes minds were easier to pick through after a good round of pain and torture, or a hearty beat down. And with the force's call so weak he might actually need the help.

He stops when the path of vines and branches opens to a view, hesitant to continue onward unarmed for only a moment before stepping out of her way. The architecture is strange and foreign and only further convinces him they're on the outer rim. It does not look promising.

"What the Hoth."

She's following along, but her mind is still fixated on what he's just said. She's paying no mind to his progress until she nearly comes to a tripping stop when suddenly he's no longer moving. "I'm sorry," she says, aware that she's staring at a strange structure in the middle of nowhere after being half-drowned in a fountain. "Did you just say into their minds?"

That shouldn't be possible and yet, this day is becoming a lesson in the impossible. "Was there some sort of procedure done on you? Did someone do this to you?"

For half a second, Ren doesn't follow her thought process. It doesn't occur to him that he used the wrong words until her words sink in. He turns to face her, watching her intently while considering his response. He could claim to be a Jedi, but he wasn't. For a moment he's just standing there staring at her a little too close.

"No one did anything to me beyond stranding me in this place." And healing his wounds. He reaches a hand briefly to his side, checking again just to be sure, but it still comes away clear. His clothes are wet but not with blood. "I was injured. Someone cleaned my wounds. I have no memory of that or being moved, and no way of telling how many days have passed or how far we traveled to get here." Maybe he should have mentioned that he felt weaker, that his connection to the force was cut down to barely a sliver but that would be an admittance of weakness that could have nothing to do with the rest of the clues available to them.

"I can force my way into their minds if they refuse to cooperate with more traditional methods of questioning."

"Let's save that for a last possible resort," Peggy insists, because the thought of forcing someone to divulge information isn't what sets her at unrest. It's the thought that he can force his way into someone's mind, unless he means that in a metaphorical way, and she's not keen on anything that science can't explain.

It is the reason she's here, after all, or so she suspects. "What I don't understand is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of connecting thread. I have my fair share of people who disagree with me," she says, a polite spin on 'enemies', "but I'm from Los Angeles in 1947 and you're talking about invading people's minds, which isn't possible where I'm from."

"Which system is Los Angeles in?" That seemed the more relevant question. The numbers clearly weren't a system. Maybe they designated a vessel. In either case it isn't surprising she doesn't think the Force is real. Few people believed in the power of the Force, or the skills Force users had at their disposal. He actually turns to face her when he speaks this time.

"It is always possible. People only prefer to believe that it isn't because it sets their minds at ease." Those people were usually the sort with weak enough minds to invade. But Peggy seemed to just be ill informed rather than weak-minded. She had enough of a clear head on her shoulders to know what to do with herself in their current situation without descending into a panic and that earned her a few points of respect with Ren.

"It's the Milky Way," is her immediate response, still too slack-jawed and surprised to do much more than stare at the man who talks about going into people's minds and other systems. This is far beyond her pay grade and she's not even sure where to begin. "I'm sorry, this is all a bit much," she clarifies, a hand on her hip. "Your implication is that you're not from the same system as myself. I have to assume you mean the solar system. Which, then, means we're from different galaxies."

And here she thought that commuting back and forth between New York and LA would have been quite the hike, if she'd decided to both make the trip and try something with Daniel.

The name is unfamiliar. It doesn't even sound like a real system in his mind, but the notion of it being another galaxy is disconcerting. The galaxy he knew was so large on its own, with so many systems contained within it. Even Rishi Maze, the next closest galaxy, was far enough away that Ren had not imagined travelling to it.

He gives her a moment while she talks it out and glances skyward. Everything would be easier if he could see the stars. At least then maybe he could catch a glimpse of something familiar.

When she stops talking he focuses his attention back on her more directly.

"Fine. We'll stick to simpler topics." He was at last making an effort in his mind to not be combative though it didn't help his tone. He avoided using the term 'feeble minded' at least. How could she be so unaware of people coming from multiple systems? How far had he been dragged across the universe, and from where and why had they grabbed this woman?

"Details can be discussed later. What direction do you want to take this search?"

It's like she's back in the New York office. Her hands fall to her hips out of habit, but she refrains from snapping in his face or doing something brash. She's had to learn the importance of patience and waiting, allowing people to think they have the upper hand (or smarts, in this case) while she simply continues on beneath the grid. "It depends on how quickly we think we can find an exit," she says. "Otherwise, fresh water is going to be a problem if we don't find any."

"The fountain is unsanitary, but it could well be a source assuming it doesn't drain out." Useful, even if it failed to be so as a means of escape. He glances at the vegetation around them and then the buildings. The whole place screamed a lack of civilization and development the likes of which he had only seen on lesser moons and the reaches.

He started to speak again when a sudden piercing assault on his eardrums ripped through the valley, echoing off cliff-sides and buildings and drawing a flinch from Ren's composure and a stutter to all of his thought processes.

"Are we under attack?" He yelled thee query, not covering his ears but scanning the sky. Was this an outpost or training ground and he had somehow missed the signs? He saw no blaster damage or evidence of warfare or routines.

She's opening her mouth to say that if they could find a fire source, they could boil off the water, but that's impossible as she claps her hands over her ears, wincing as old memories come flooding back. Her brain is already telling her to find shelter in a station somewhere along the tube, but that doesn't seem to be an option here.

"Air raid!" she shouts, but a glance to the sky yields nothing. "It must be something! People don't set off alarms like that for no reason at all."

The siren is less familiar an alert to Ren, but he can guess at the reasons such an alert would be triggered. Whatever the reason, it is rarely good news when an alarm goes off.

He reaches again for the saber hilt no longer at his waist and growls under his breath in frustration. His eyes follow hers to the sky, but there are no ships or even signs of a ship or fight in the sky.

He gestures forward, partially deafened by the sound.

"We need to find an open building." Or break into one. Even if the siren was not for something they could duck into safety from, walls would at least provide some buffering against the sound.

Peggy tries to keep one hand over her ear in order to block out the sounds, trying to fight the onslaught of memories that want to accost her. They're there at the edges, but she refuses to let them overwhelm her, especially as she squints and seeks out where the path leads.

"There," she shouts. "There, I think I see something, like a door of a building," she says, trying to gaze through the trees.

July Arrivals

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

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