3ofswords: (pout)
3ofswords ([personal profile] 3ofswords) wrote in [community profile] sixthiterationlogs2016-12-30 03:35 pm

[CLOSED] a grave it is

WHO: Kira Akiyama
WHERE: The bee hives, behind the Town Hall
WHEN: December 27th, well after the storm
OPEN TO: Kylo Ren
WARNINGS: Possible violence, certainly threats of it
STATUS: N/A


The other clues hung from the bottles of beer had taken some of the surprise out of the gift Kira had found in the old schoolhouse.  Follow the cards hadn't seemed much a priority without a deck to follow, unless the place was trying to send him back into the fountain for another round of aching limbs and needles stitching his skin to his bones.  Not exactly the afternoon he was after when the snow finally cleared a bit, so he'd asked after clues to the other--a library, archive, and finally been pointed south along the trail to the building.  It had been as strange and antiquated as the rest of the village, wooden desks and chairs, the slate of the blackboard as cold to the touch as the rocks and earth outside.

Credence's gift had been balanced on its edge, seeming old and new at once--old fashioned, but glossy to the touch.  His hands had been fidgeting for days without his deck, and somehow Credence had willed into existence a replacement.

Smaller than the deck from home, and just a standard deck of 52 playing cards, but beggars couldn't choose, and they were charming--far less inexplicably than the giver.

Once he'd found them, he'd spent an hour in the dark schoolhouse, shuffling them between his hands, getting used to the feel of them.  Sensing the weight, asking them basic questions, testing if they'd respond.  That extra sense was still weak, and they were hardly made for this purpose, but eventually they'd rolled over like the sharp-eyed cats on the jokers, and stretched, and fallen into a kind of shape he understood.  He'd halved the deck, taking top and bottom cards from each pile, and made himself a compass: spades in the north, hearts to the south, clubs and diamonds for the east and the west.  Shuffle, halve, do it again: after four, the cards slipped in his fingers and scattered on the desk as he shuffled, defying another test of what they both already understood.  

Interesting, that the deck wasn't near as polite as the person who had conceived it.  Kira had smiled, and picked them up, and set out to see where they wanted him to go.  He still couldn't travel far, especially in this weather, but a five of clubs seemed a reasonable distance to walk from the schoolhouse door.  It took him around the large building opposite, into a large field of white snow, until he was standing at a low wall, a chorus of odd stumps with boards laid over their tops standing along it.  Everything appeared untouched, blanketed in the new snow falling gently from the grey sky, and he was about to pull another card to see where he might now turn, when an unnatural black caught his eye.

Ice formed on its side, as if it had been caught in a thaw before another freeze, a small black shovel stood unfolded and struck into the roots of a tree.  Kira brushed new snow from the top of the handle, and a tag dangled free, its nondescript text and final message strangling a laugh in his throat.  He still had the strange toy from the piles of gifts in his room, still unable to remember how he'd dreamed up such a creature, and he wondered if Kylo Ren had thought up his own gift in that tense moment of their first real meeting.

"Time to dig a way out," he read, "or a grave."  His first tug of the handle didn't free the shovel from the frozen ground, and he considered just leaving it.  Who had time to be this dramatic, he wondered, before brushing his thumb over the cards he'd spent an hour shuffling in a dark schoolhouse.  "What an absolute piece of work."

andrend: (04 I hear something more)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-01 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Very well." It could lead to nothing and Ren accepts that. It isn't as if he has better things to be doing than going on a wild rathar chase in search of a mystery gift left by his captors in the name of another captive. Really. What else would he be doing?

He gestures toward the South in an 'after you' fashion but starts walking as well, studying the cards in his hand with interest.

"Have you ever heard of the Force?"
andrend: (04 I hear something more)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-01 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
Lightsaber battles. Ren doesn't let his step falter, but Kira is the first to seem to know anything about his world, and that paired with his unusual card trick has Ren's interests cemented.

"They took memories from me, too." He offers it as a possible explanation. Perhaps Kira was force sensitive. He didn't think the other was a Force user, but he had not sensed it in Jean either, until her voice had touched his mind.

"It's the energy that connects all living things." It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together. The words come to his mind unwanted in a voice he doesn't want to listen to, but he finds himself repeating part of it out loud all the same.

"Maybe they did more than that."
andrend: (08 Fear. Anger. Hate)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-01 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe that piece is something we need. Something that could help us escape or know our captors. I was here before and escaped with another. Months later I was back in the fountain, with no memory of ever being here or the time after." He doesn't offer that lightly. It still unsettles him that people in the village had known of him before he knew them. He still doesn't know what it means or who to trust, if anyone.

He doesn't give that trust easily, and the people of the village were too odd of a mix and none of them familiar. He isn't sure any of them should be trusted, himself included.

"The man I escaped with did not come back. Apparently I did."
andrend: (13 What must be done)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-03 08:26 am (UTC)(link)
Ren stops. The crunching in the snow behind him had stopped following, and he looks over his shoulder before turning around to watch the still young man questioning him. There's an unease in the force within him he can feel twisting beneath the surface, and he frowns slightly when the question sinks in. He works hard not to show too much of his power, and even harder not to let on that he is weaker than he should be by an uncomfortably large amount.

He hesitates to admit it even now. It's hard to say if Kira is a force user or is tapping into some unknown energy Ren has never encountered. He assumes the former, usually, but even with Jean whose powers were so similar to his own he could sense there was a difference.

"I have not had access to the full use of my power since arriving on this planet." And the tone he says it with heavily suggests his discomfort over the matter. He isn't used to this weakness in his connection and it drives him mad to know he has no way of knowing how to fix this, or how to become stronger again.
andrend: (11 Fuck your rhyme scheme)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-08 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Ren moves back into step when Kira does. He does have power, then, not just a whim and a strange choice of use of cards. At the very least he believes he can sense the future. It's useful, even if muted or inaccessible for now. When he manages to destroy or kill whatever is suppressing his powers, he might have a use for Kira's ability. If nothing else he sounds force-sensitive. Seeing possible futures through the energies of living things. Perhaps, then, the cards are a trick, and he only believes or wants others to believe that he needs them.

Cards were inorganic. The energy of the force could be wrapped around them but it did not move through them.

"I can't imagine our captors would want you to be able to see them coming." It's an explanation he uses to remind himself never to let down his guard. If their powers are weakened it is to the benefit of their captors, and he's more than certain now, since learning others were affected, that that is something planned and controlled.
andrend: (08 Fear. Anger. Hate)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-08 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
That's good information for Ren to know. He stores it away, reminding himself to make use of it if he ever knows Kira is trying to read him or something about him. He doesn't need anyone in this village digging into his past or future without interference to keep them from finding things he didn't want them to.

Ren stops a few feet ahead and glances back at Kira. He lets out a breath, close to a sigh of a mix of disbelief and frustration but it's barely there.

He thinks of the question, the riddle and the gift again, disregarding Kira's question as he pulls a card and hands a diamond suited one back to Kira. Only then does he process the earlier question.

"Nothing. I didn't know her. I saw the creature after they killed it. Some species I've not met. It looked like it could have been a sentient race."
andrend: (09 This fate of mine)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-14 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"It was a large beast. Thick-furred, taller than a man by a head or three. It was hard to tell with it on the ground. Smelled like rotting death." He turned when Kira did, making a new path of tracks in the snow. This time they were closer together, and it made the conversation easier, not having to glance over his shoulder.

In his mind it had seemed just another of many beasts he did not know, scattered throughout the galaxy. Not a wookiee, but in many ways reminded him of one and made him wonder if it could speak, and the others had just failed to attempt communication. Not that he cared. It was dead, and now gone.

"Looked like it was rotting itself, too, what I saw of it." It had been half buried in snow already by the time he got a good look. "I didn't see the feet. Long limbs, though and the upper ones had claws that looked made for ripping other creatures apart."
andrend: (06 Show me your politics)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-18 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
The word means nothing to Ren, but the way Kira speaks of it and the description he gives does. Even if not a race he knows, he knows of plenty who could also fit into those descriptors, albeit most without the 'evil spirits' additive. He makes a barely there sound of acknowledgement, watching the world around them for movement in the trees.

"You know something of them, do they often crawl off from their graves? Do they travel alone or in groups?" Two questions, simple but deeply informative if Kira has something to offer on the matter. In the meantime, Ren lets Kira do the leading. For all he may not put stock in the cards, he firmly believes in the force, and there's a chance Kira has tapped into it.
andrend: (17 Force you)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-20 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Then it's likely the missing body means we could be looking at it back on the prowl, if it is what you think?" His question could wait, however. He stops when Kira does, squinting up to the top of the fir. Of course it would be a tree, and one of many near the village, but also one of the tallest trees around. It's very likely Kira is fucking with him, but if it's anywhere near as useful as the knife, it's worth it. He eyes the tree quietly, scanning it up and down before squinting hard toward the top again.

"Enough so to be a possibility." He admits finally. It isn't ideal, in fact it's rather an annoying turn from what he's been hoping for, but it is worth the shot and the risk. He loosens the rope and slings it over his shoulder, pulling his gloves off one at a time and shoving them in his pockets.

"Don't suppose you found an ax before the shovel?"
andrend: (04 I hear something more)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-23 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
Ren stares up the tree, considering his options while Kira speaks. Climbing the tree would likely be a foolish endeavor, and there is little to no guarantee that Kira has led him anywhere productive. A few cards and a feeling aren't exactly concrete evidence, and he isn't even sure what he is looking for with the fracking boxes.

He sighs and shrugs off his coat, slipping the knife out of his belt to wrap up in the coat with the shovel and setting both aside in the snow. He rolls his shoulders and glances over one to Kira.

"Makes wandering around the woods more or less alone seem like a great idea, doesn't it?" He reaches up to grab a branch, giving it a strong yank and causing several branches of the tree to shake and drop their snow to the ground below.

"There's a knife in my coat if it comes running for you." He smirks slightly, grabbing a higher branch and focusing on finding a good footing as he starts his attempt to climb it. The snow was still deep enough it could probably cushion his fall.

"You say it's a spirit, but it has a physical form. They injured it and thought they had killed it, I saw the body. I thought spirits weren't meant to by physical."
Edited 2017-01-23 02:37 (UTC)
andrend: (08 Fear. Anger. Hate)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-28 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good to know. It is really unwise to go around advertising your inability to stab things, though." Ren responds as he finds his footing properly, making his way up the sturdier branches with the ease of someone who has both climbed trees before, and possesses the upper body strength to pull himself up where necessary. He makes it about a third of the way up before the tree starts to shake with his movements, dumping snow periodically from its boughs and showering them both in white powder.

Evil shit changes you. Ren wants to laugh, but he resists the urge. There's an old echo there in a more familiar voice, and he can just hear Luke again. The dark side changes you. Old tales of how it twisted and warped those who allowed themselves to be taken by it. Physically as well as mentally.

The dark side hadn't given him his scar. A girl with a lightsaber had.

"Don't get buried. I don't want to have to dig you out when I get back down."
andrend: (12 Harder than I foresaw)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-28 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Or your ability to walk at all." He calls down after, with a hint of amusement. The snow proved difficult for some. Ren had grown use to the deep sink of his feet into it, but he had seen a few people struggle, and repeatedly fall, trip, or put too much weight into strides and steps that moved too far for the terrain. He reaches a point where he can actually see the box, wrapped in neatly black paper and tied to the unsteady tip of the too tall tree. He frowns, studying the branches and doing the math in his head.

Whatever it was likely wasn't worth the risk, but he had come this far, and one of the hidden boxes had been a knife. He looped his arm tightly around the trunk, hugging the tree as he cracked one of the longer branches off from it with much bending, shaking, and a sickeningly loud Crack that echoed in the still air.

"You might want to move further back." He yells, twisting the branch in his hand to try and knock the two foot long box loose from its thin twine binding.
andrend: (17 Force you)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-01-31 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
Ren knocked the box down, looking after it as it fell just in time to watch Kira disappear into a snow bank. He was lucky enough the box, containing as it happened, a rather study and sharp machete, landed a fair distance away from the dip in the snow in the form of Kira's body. Ren makes his way down a bit faster than his climb up, his footing still remembered clearly, and backtracking his steps only reaching a mild hitch near the bottom when his boots slip on a frozen branch. He drops down into the snow from a few feet into the tree, sinking in with his legs, but keeping his balance.

Ren doesn't bother with the shovel or the box as he makes his way to the depression in the snow, peering down at Kira with his head cocked to the side.

"If you wanted time to play in the snow, you didn't have to wait for me to climb a tree. I wouldn't have buried you." And yet his tone seems to almost jokingly imply he would have. His humor slipped into the conversation for just a moment, brows arched as if Kira had intended to take a spill into the snow.

"Do I need to dig you out?"
andrend: (05 You're lucky to be alive)

[personal profile] andrend 2017-02-03 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"I have better weapons for that then a shovel." He offers, as he picks his coat up and shakes the snow off it, pulling it back on over his shoulders. As Kira reaches a hand up, Ren grabs him by his wrist, letting Kira grab onto his arm for a sturdier hold before easily pulling him to his feet, the faint curl of the Force pushing at Kira's back with a surprisingly gentle push in addition to Ren's help with his arm.

"I do, but I think they can wait for another day." He says as he leaves Kira standing in the snow to collect the box. He doesn't open it, tucking it under his arm. If it ends up being something that's a token of his past again, he doesn't want Kira around for it.

He eyes the young man, considering his earlier comment. The cards, or something, had worked. For all he didn't seem it, Kira might be useful. He was a thin, frail, form of a man, but then, so had Hux been. He considered both equally useless in combat, though he knew Hux was far more useful than he let on. But Kira knew things about the creature here, about Ren's world, and he had a connection to the Force, or something like it. One that could be put to use even here in the canyon that seemed to dull and mute everything.

"I know where to find you." He comments, not intending it as a threat, as he picks the knife and shovel back up to prepare to head back to his own living space. Kira was someone he was going to have to keep an eye on in the future.