Hypothermia and You: A Guide No One Ever Reads

[andrend]

WHO: Kylo Ren
WHERE: Near the fountain
WHEN: Evening, November 15th
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Incoming angry wet former Jedi with family issues
STATUS: Closed

---

It took almost no time at all for Kylo Ren to realize he had been submerged. The unfamiliar clothes that clung to his skin were heavy with the weight and chill of the water, and stuck uncomfortably to his skin while he fought to find the right orientation to kick and push himself upward. Everything on his body fought against his upward movement from the thing strapped to his back to the heavy and unfamiliar boots on his feet. When he breached the surface, both hands gripped tightly to the edge of the fountain and he hoisted himself out of its watery depths, rolling over the edge to the hard ground on the other side with deep, gasping breaths for air.

His thoughts were spinning wildly, and a chill clung as tightly to his skin as the over-saturated cotton pressing against him so uncomfortably. His mask and uniform were gone, and although he could feel the weight of the pack resting against his back, he could not sense his weapon. The air was frigid. His wet hair, skin and the drenched cotton and fabric clinging to his body did nothing to hold back the below freezing chill in the air. Rather than sit and gather his thoughts, Ren immediately began to remove his shoes and socks and set them to the side with his backpack. The scrub shirt followed, until Ren was left barefoot with only a tank top and the trousers.

Anyone out in the cold could come across Ren carrying a dripping backpack and bundle of foreign clothes as he deliberately makes his way barefoot into the town. His primary mission: find shelter before losing any of his digits or limbs to the cold. If not encountered in that state, Ren can be found eventually breaking or pushing his way into the first building he comes across in search of shelter from the elements. Especially if the building is giving off smoke or light.

Comments

[lastofthekellys]

"Ren," she corrects herself easily enough with a nod. If there is one here who respects how people might call themselves, it will be here. "I'm Miss Kate Kelly. And we didn't know each other well, so you've nought to worry on that front."

Not that her tone or bearing are reassuring. While she's not afraid of him, she's afraid of the woods, of the woods trapping people and of people vanishing.

"You say, taken? Nothing is left?"

[andrend]

He should have taken the term of respect but he was resistant to an improper title. Still, he watches Kate and considers her question for a moment.

"Nothing of this place." He remembered other worlds and places fine as far as he could tell, but how would he know if something was missing without others to tell him it was?

"Nothing beyond the water someone tried to drown me in."

[lastofthekellys]

Kate chews on the inside of her cheek, frowning over it. She decides, in the end, to take his word for it. There are only two groups of people she habitually distrusts, and for all that she wants answers, she's not about to extend that well-worn paranoia to her fellow captives. She's not going to let the captors do that, and she doesn't like that it's her first thought. That he's lying.

"There are others that have been 'ere, then vanished," she says, by way of explanation. "You're the first to come back."

She feels the worst about Mr Boyd, about Miss Tauriel. They'd rescued her, and seemingly paid the price.

"No one's actually drowned. Yet, for all that might not be reassurin'. But I do have your old things, that were left. If you wanted 'em? Clothes."

[andrend]

"Surprising." It's a dark comment, but he looks significantly more interested on hearing that she has his things. He's cautious but interested, and more clothing would only help, if he would truly be stuck here.

"I would. Thank you for keeping them." His tone is a little more polite now. It took some time to stop the irritation and come to grips with the confusion of where he found himself, but the warmth had helped some, and he had already had one argument that day. No use in starting another just yet.

"I was told I came here before with a friend of mine." That's an embellishment. He and Hux were far from friends. Rivals, to a degree. Members of the same order but not the same school of thought. Still. If they had stuck together the last time, perhaps his things were not the only ones she had.

"Did he leave anything here? He didn't come back with me, and I have been trying to figure out why." Kate has good reason to be distrustful. Ren did not always speak the truth when fiction could get him farther. But if there is a chance of finding some clue among Hux's things, he needs to see them, too.

[lastofthekellys]

"Mr Hux, yes. They, our captors, dressed him in red." Like herself, when she wore anything of the set uniform. Then she nods. "He left the same items as you, they're also upstairs.

I'd-

I'd ask if I could keep them, here. I'm happy to show you, but we also need the supplies."

A spare coat, spare flannel garments, spare socks, spare pack. Valuable commodities, here. Ren can, and should, have his own things back, but she also has others to think up.

"They're upstairs, if you wanted to look?"

[andrend]

"That will be fine." He didn't need them. He would have liked to keep them, but he doesn't argue with her. Dealing with people politely is something he learned long ago and while he rarely uses it these days, preferring tactics of intimidation and fear, he falls back on it now while he's unarmed, unmasked and a little out of his depth. It helps she hasn't given him a reason to get confrontational.

"I strongly doubt he will be making his way back here." He might send others looking for Ren, if Snoke orders it, but the fact that Hux had come before at all is something that is hard to even imagine a reason for. Why had he come or been sent with Ren? What situation had there been that they were both compromised?

Maybe if he found one useful item among the belongings he would ask to hold onto it, but just a look through would be enough to tell him if there was anything of use or any clue as to what Hux had to do with this among the items.

"You say they dressed him in red." His own color seemed to be black, then. "These colors. Do they seem to have any reason or commonality?"