i've got thick skin and an elastic heart (open)

[immunetolight]

WHO: Kylo Ren
WHERE: Fountain, river, 6I Inn
WHEN: 15 December
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Emo Boy ca. 2003. TBD.
NOTES: I only want one person on the fountain prompt; the others are wide open! I know The Last Jedi just came out so there will be NO SPOILERS for that movie in this post.

---

Fountain

The first sensation he's aware of before anything else is the cold. Throughout his training, throughout his life, really, Ren's always been aware of the push and pull of the Force and how it affects the living beings around him. This feels devoid of life, empty of the warmth that humanity brings and is ice-cold instead. It's the sort of cold that makes his legs and feet feel leaden and his attempts to augment his upward progress with the Force fail somehow.

He's been conflicted, yes, but how can the Force simply leave him? He has no time to ponder that particular conundrum before he's pushed up and out and the source of the cold is made known to him: he's in a fountain, of some sort, and there's ice along the stone rim of it. Such architecture isn't common on former Empire worlds and had often been destroyed. The Order has destroyed such things in former Rebellion planets in order to put up their own architecture, sleek and black, so this is something he cannot identify. What planet is this?

He does a quick assessment of his body and finds himself in possession of his limbs, his faculties, but one very important thing is missing. He cannot feel the Force, he cannot seek it out, and what he'd thought was simply shock from being underwater is now shown to be some sort of active suppression. He exhales noisily, his breath turned visible in the frosty air, and slams his hand down against the lip of the fountain with all the strength he can manage. The fountain looks no worse for the wear. His right hand may well be fractured.

He struggles to pull himself from the fountain and collapses on the ground, wondering how he'd wound up on this planet and how he can remove himself from it as quickly as possible. He needs the Force and he needs the advantages it gives him if he has no access to a weapon or warm clothes.

Inn

Eventually, he finds himself to the Inn. It's a central location in this village and while he has no more answers than he did inside the fountain he is, at least, warmer. He's currently wrapped in a blanket before the fire and there's a cup of herbal tea in his hand but he's not drinking it. He'd tried it, briefly, but it'd been too bitter for his tastes and his requests for sugar had been met with blank stares. Apparently that is something too precious to be wasted on something so mundane as tea.

He rolls his neck a bit, feeling the muscles and joints expand and contract, and wishes yet again he had access to the Force if only so he could ease the tightness there and assess the injury in his hand. He has rotated it some so if there is a break, it's not in the joint itself, but it hurts and he thinks it's already begun to swell.

When someone walks by, he gruffly offers to get up and offer them his chair but he doesn't want to vacate it. Instead, he wants to sit and watch the fire for a while and see if he can divine anything from it since his normal divination tools are lost to him.

River

It takes him a few days but eventually someone tells him that he has to work to be fed. Ren has never worked in his life for anything; during training, naturally, he'd done some physical labor but his master had gone easy on him since he'd been his nephew. He's never done any physical labor without the Force to augment his strength so when someone suggests he fish, he decides that's the task he'll take on.

He has a fishing pole made of a long, springy branch and he's got a hook attached to it which looks like it had been something else in a former life and has now been repurposed. There's bait only in the sense that someone's told him to dig for it and that had only netted him with two grubs and much frustration.

The only fish he manages to catch is smaller than his hand and when he tries to get it off the hook, he ends up dragging it across his palm in a jagged, surprisingly-deep laceration.

He seethes in his pain, instead of crying out. (Lies. He cries out loudly.)

Comments

Inn

[cleptes]

The familiarity of the inn is what kept Bela coming back to it. That, and the food of course. When they had coffee it was also decent enough and drinkable. Most of the time she didn't stay very long because Bela preferred her own company and wasn't in a mood for a conversation. The cold weather was becoming a concern for Bela though, perhaps it would be a wise idea for her to take residence in the inn until the spring time.

Today, coffee wasn't on the menu. She does her best to not be disappointed, but she supposed that herbal tea would be a good enough substitute. It did help that there was a roaring fire and the promise of warmth was sure to keep Bela going for a while. After grabbing a mug of the tea she moves to one of the seating areas in the main room, passing by Kylo on the way there.

"I'm fine, thanks," she tells him when he offers the seat to her. "You look like you need it more than I do."

Re: Inn

[immunetolight]

Ren casts a glance over at the woman once she speaks. She's got the accent of someone from the Inner Rim, the clipped consonants and rounded vowels. It reminds him of most of the Order officers, honestly, and while it's not exactly a welcome sound, it's a familiar one and he'll accept familiarity for the moment.

"Does everyone arrive here through that fountain or am I the only one who ended up coming through half-drowned and without a scrap of dignity?"

[cleptes]

She nods at his question. "Everyone arrives via the fountain. Pretty much without their dignity intact."

Bela remembers her own arrival quite clearly, even now. It has only been about six weeks since she set foot in the village and things hadn't been the same for her since.

"If you're lucky enough, someone is usually there to greet you. Give you a brief rundown of the situation."

[immunetolight]

There had been a man who greeted him at the fountain but the information he'd gotten had been less than enlightening. Ren had hoped for more but it seems that it won't be forthcoming, based on what this woman says.

"Someone greeted me, yes. It wasn't terribly enthralling but I guess I learned enough to make my way here. Is this a Rebellion-aligned planet? I don't see signs of the Order here."

[cleptes]

A flicker of confusion crosses her face before she decides to clarify what he meant. "I'm sorry, 'Rebellion-aligned?' That isn't something that I've heard being mentioned in this place. In fact, it is the first time I have heard of it. The same for the 'Order'. It doesn't mean anything to me."

Bela is polite enough when she speaks, but she is still unsure about what he said. Hopefully he would enlighten her.

[immunetolight]

Ren exhales quickly, impatient with not getting the answers he wants and needs. How could someone not know what system they're in and whether or not the Order was in charge? Unless...unless they were part of the Resistance and didn't want to reveal their allegiance.

"Who is the governor of this system? It's not a planet I'm familiar with."

[cleptes]

"That's the thing. We don't have a governor here. Everyone works together and they help each other when they need it." Which was a practice that Bela wasn't entirely used to, given that she mostly looked out for herself.

"Moreover, no one seems to know where we are. It's just called the 'village' and the residents come from all manner of places. Different time periods, even. I haven't been here for very long."

Fountain

[theintercessor]

It's almost better this happen now: Jude doesn't know dick about helping someone acclimate to coming out of a fountain into a closed canyon. He'd spent his first night here running wild, half out of his mind with fear, but he'd been in no danger from the weather at the time. What he does know about is bringing someone in out of the cold and getting them settled, even if it's an ill thing to be glad someone's too cold to do more than flop on the ground at first meeting.

Socializing isn't a skill of his that improves in crisis.

Approaching no faster at the man's collapse, he comes up in measured crunches of boot over snow and earth, finding a bubble of space to start circling instead of carrying straight on. Hands up, he announces himself with a simple, "Hey, buddy," before completing that half-circle in to the fountain's edge, immediately visible at the man's front. "You want some help? Got a place with a fire nearby."

Re: Fountain

[immunetolight]

Ren immediately bristles at the familiarity of being called "buddy," because it reeks of that Rebellion pilot, Dameron, but he does need a fire and he is going to have to accept help if he's going to get to it. He grits his teeth and uses the lip of the fountain to push himself up to standing, needing to do this on his own to maintain some semblance of dignity.

His cloak is gone, along with his boots and warmer clothes, and he's been left with the sort of generic uniform issued to hospital patients and prisoners. "Bring me to a fire and then tell me who has captured me. I'll need to know where I am if I intend to get out of here."

[theintercessor]

Jude hovers without broadcasting it, arms dropped to his sides. If the guy falls, he'll step up to help, but if he wants to get up on his own, Jude can understand that. Months in, it's still hard to ask for help.

The tone is a little odd, but everyone reacts to frozen water a little differently. "It's not really as simple as all that, but alright." Shrugging, he looks back into the trees, then turns and looks down a path. Something in that tone has him biting his lip once, rolled in, rolled out, a puff of steam into the air. "This way," he decides, leading the man through the backwoods, around the Town Hall to his own house.

[immunetolight]

"It's exactly as simple as that," Ren bites out. It's cold but it's not so cold that he'll die in a few moments of exposure so he has the luxury of being flippant as he follows the man through the woods toward the settlements. It looks like a colony, of sorts, and one of the colonies that deliberately tries to keep to the old ways of doing things. Ren's heard of these but he's never lived in one aside from his Jedi training and he finds them to be antiquated and useless relics of a lost era.

Why wouldn't a person want the sleek technology of the Order, the crisp lines and the organization of predictable architecture? This is madness.

"What system am I in? Outer rim, isn't it?"

[theintercessor]

Oh, well, if the guy says so. Jude carries on ahead, pushing aside and holding branches, burrowed into his coats and his hair and not rolling his eyes. Staring at people for long enough usually worked better, didn't give them much to snap off at if they even got it. Simple isn't something he hasn't wished for, so he keeps his mouth shut.

Until they're on the sagging back porch of the little red house, and he catches the name of something he's heard Bodhi mention more than a few times. He wonders idly if Bodhi might come knocking tonight; maybe they can both practice their welcome speeches.

"I'm still not really sure what that is," he admits. "What's the Inner rim like?" Holding the door open with his weight, he nods the man inside. This part of the house isn't much warmer, but it's out of the wind, and the fireplace is waiting in the front room.

[immunetolight]

"The Inner Rim is controlled by the First Order," Ren says, stepping inside the house. This man is offering him hospitality, so he'll be cordial to a certain degree. It's advantageous at this moment considering he has no idea where he is and if he's in a friendly system.

"None of this antiquated architecture would be present on an Inner Rim planet. That's why I presume we're in the Outer Rim. What system is this?" He doesn't know if this man truly is unaware of what system this is (which is possible, if he's never left it) or if he's deliberately being vague.

River;

[copingskills]

One of the first things she did when she arrived here was come upon someone fishing in the river. Ever since then, she comes up here often enough, trying to do the same. They have to eat, after all, and something about it is calming to her. It reminds her of the trips to her family's cabin by the lake, and even if she didn't do a ton of fishing herself, it was still comforting.

She usually doesn't hear anyone in pain when she nears, though.

Elena's feet take hurried steps, spotting someone she's only briefly caught glimpse of at the inn in the last couple of days, but hasn't had a chance to actually talk to.

"Are you okay?"

Re: River;

[immunetolight]

"I'm fine," Ren says sharply. He's still cradling his hand, giving the lie to that, but he hates to reveal a weakness in general and certainly not to someone he doesn't know. The woman before him is small in stature and doesn't appear to be a threat but he hasn't sensed the Force since arriving on this planet. He feels like he's missing a limb, at the moment, and he's vulnerable.

"It was just a fishhook. I've removed it." It appears that it may need to be repaired but Ren hasn't seen any tech around here, much less a medical droid. He doesn't know what kind of barbaric medicine they have on this planet and he's not certain he wants to find out. While his face and neck have a scar, this wound on his hand wouldn't if he could find a decent medical bay. That doesn't seem to be a possibility here.

[copingskills]

Elena winces visibly on his behalf. "Oh, I've seen that happen before. Not fun."

Her family owned a cabin out by a lake, and Jeremy had snagged himself on a fishhook one year. Seeing as her Dad was a doctor, he'd fixed him up just fine, but Elena had seen the mess it had made, and it wasn't as simple as just removing it.

"My Dad was a doctor and he taught me some first aid," she says, moving a little closer. "Do you want me to take a look at it for you?"

[immunetolight]

There are two instincts warring in his head at the moment. The first, the most primal, is the one to be cared for and treated. Ren suspects that's what any living creature wants when it is in pain and he is far from immune from it. He's taken injury before and wanted his mother, of all people, even if his mother wants nothing to do with him. She'd made that plainly clear long ago when she'd sent him to his uncle for training.

The other is the desire to withdraw to prevent further injury, to skulk away to some cave or hidden place until the weakness is no longer so evident. This girl doesn't seem like much of a threat, though, even without the Force or a weapon; Ren is not only inches but at least a foot taller than she is. It would not be much of a fight. He thrusts out his hand, palm turned up, and lets her see it.

"It hurts but I don't think I'll die. At least not this time."

[copingskills]

Elena reaches for his hand with a delicate touch, gently cradling the back of it in her palm. She winces a bit at the sight, teeth tugging on her bottom lip as she takes a look.

"It's pretty deep. You should at least get it cleaned and bandaged. I wouldn't be comfortable stitching it up for you, but there are people here who could do that, if you wanted."

She releases his hand, realizing that he's not entirely comfortable with all of this.

"It will probably heal faster that way, and you don't want it to get infected."

[immunetolight]

It's been a long while since anyone's touched him like this, a soft touch that's meant to soothe, and it's his natural instinct to jerk away. Still, he doesn't, and manages to let her touch his hand just long enough to examine it.

"Where's the infirmary, then?" He hasn't been able to locate every building in this settlement yet in spite of the small size and if it helps the girl feel useful to show him where to go, he'll allow her that.

River

[enterprisingheart]

Fishing is certainly an admirable goal, to be true. And there's little denying it's a useful source of food, besides. Especially when living off the land is the name of the game. But fishing in the middle of winter isn't something that Picard would consider to be particularly useful. Even if there is still water that hasn't entirely frozen over. But it's as good a place to start as any, and to be perfectly honest, if it had been just that, he might have mostly left Kylo be.

The sharp cry of pain, on other the hand, catches his attention and he makes his over towards Kylo without so much as a second thought.

"Are you alright?"

He knows the answer is likely to be no, given that cry of pain. Still, better to at least ask, he figures. Especially given that he knows at least one culture where self-inflicting pain is entirely normal, if not precisely a frequent occurrence. Not that Kylo looks like a Klingon on first glance, mind. But stranger things have certainly happened.

Re: River

[immunetolight]

"It was simply a fishhook. I've removed it now." Ren keeps his tone flat and even, trying to give the lie to how much pain he's in. He's never been one to handle pain well, even if that's contrary to the Jedi way (and the Sith, for that matter) and he tries to keep it to himself even though he hasn't met anyone here who seems to be aligned with either side of the Force.

He can't even feel the Force, much less wield it for anything.

"We have no medical bay here and no medical droids, so I don't know how I'm going to have it repaired. This place is backward and barbaric. I didn't realize the Outer Rim didn't even have basic necessities." He's determined this must be the Outer Rim, some long-forgotten planet or moon that he's been marooned on.

[enterprisingheart]

Fortunately, Picard doesn't press further about the comparative level of pain. Injuring oneself with a fishhook is unfortunate, yes. But it's not anything that's entirely unexpected when fishing, and to be perfectly fair he doesn't have any idea as to the severity of the injury in in question, especially given Kylo's efforts to keep his voice flat and even. It's only when Kylo starts complaining about not knowing how he's going to have it repaired and the comparative level of technology here that his eyebrows begin to rise towards where his hairline would have been if he still had any in the first place.

"There might not be a sickbay here, true. But that hardly means it's barbaric. As for the injury in question, I would assume it should be able to heal naturally, although I could have a look at it, if you like?"

He also has his opinions about things like regenerators being seen as basic necessities, even despite the fact that he knows very well that they would certainly make life easier. But for the time being, at least, he figures he can keep those thoughts to himself.

[immunetolight]

Ren doesn't know if he should trust this man. He hasn't revealed much about himself to any of the people he's met here and he doesn't know if admitting a weakness now is a good idea. Still, he does have an injury and it's prudent to see how bad it truly is before risking infection and more scarring.

He thrusts his hand out to let the man examine it. "I've never fished before. My home system doesn't have a lot of lakes and rivers."

[enterprisingheart]

For all that Picard isn't aware of Kylo's thoughts with regards to admitting weakness, he certainly wouldn't have blamed him for them, either. He might be generally inclined to not play on any weakness he spots in people, true. But that doesn't mean that Kylo is going to be aware of that, when they've only just met.

Still, once Kylo does offer his hand he wastes no time in looking it over - and if he's none too impressed with Kylo's reaction to such a minor injury he at least has the grace to not say as much. Instead, there's a nod a Kylo's comment about not having a lot of chances to fish, prior, before he turns back to matter at hand.

"An injury like that should be able to heal on its own. If you wanted to have it bandaged, I could show you where the nearest equivalent to a sickbay is, but other than that it won't need much care, if it's kept clean."

[immunetolight]

Ren lets out a short, sharp breath and curls his hand in on itself. He thinks he'll end up in the sickbay eventually, if only to make sure it doesn't get infected, but he'll nurse the injury a little longer before he does. He'll just add another scar to the one that bisects his face.

"There's no droids here. Are there human medical personnel of any worth?"