A Golden Fall

[no_light]

Characters: Kylo Ren and OPEN
Date: Through September
Location: All over Tu Vishan
Situation: Catch-all
Warnings/Rating: None yet



A - Tea house or healer's guild

Once released from the healer's guild as a patient, Kylo Ren could be witnessed returning to his regular schedule of mornings spent studying with Raine at the healer's guild, and letting Fletch torment him with medic training (such as mastering his personal nemesis, the LifePak), while his afternoons and evenings were spent waiting at the tea house.

He seemed to be growing increasingly exasperated with his waiter job, it might be time for a change of pace soon. There was only so much best behaviour he could show before snapping.



B - Fire Sector

As a resident of the Fire Sector, he would still be regularly out and about in the sector, and if you paid close enough attention you might notice that he spent a lot of time listening in, or peoplewatching. If he couldn't find the Cultists through the Force, it might be time for more scoundrel-like tactics...

Comments

B!

[shroudofgray]

Kylo wasn't the only one who was people-watching, though Yorda did so for a much different reason. She'd been in the city over half a year, but she was still playing catch-up when it came to social interactions and watching people, listening to them helped a great deal. Usually. Sometimes it just left her with more questions, but she was, at least, being fairly proactive about her education. So she had bought some sweets to sample and perched herself comfortably on the ledge of a fountain, munching contentedly while she let the sounds of the city wash over her.

She spotted Kylo positioned in a similar sort of vantage point, ideal for watching and listening without being obtrusive. Since he'd spoken to her on the network, the man stood out like a wound. But whatever Yorda was, she was not easily deterred. She hopped down from her seat, and approached cautiously. Despite her insatiable curiosity, she wasn't an idiot. The man was volatile and angry, having practically exploded at her over the network. But he also understood things, secret things, things her Mother kept her from knowing lest she actually become a force to contend with. And Yorda deeply desired answers to her questions. She weighed the risk and decided it was safe enough to speak to him here - if he became dangerous, she could flee into the crowd, and vanish down one of the narrow alleys.

"You spoke to me on the machine," Yorda said. "Are you waiting for a friend?"

[no_light]

Under normal circumstances Kylo Ren would not have suffered being observed, but here on Tu Vishan, the circumstances were anything but normal. And once he saw the little girl approaching him, he was glad he had not chosen to respond with hostility or just plain leaving to this prickly feeling of being observed while he was observing, for this was a conversation partner he didn't want to run off.

Well, not unless she started preaching again. Then his patience would run out very quickly.

"No, I'm not waiting for anyone." He looked around again, letting his gaze wander over the crowd on the marketplace. "I'm watching them." No denying that. Nor forbidden, if maybe a bit disconcerting.

He shot her a half-hearted glower. "Have you come to preach more to me about light and darkness?"

[shroudofgray]

"Did I preach...?" Yorda asked absentmindedly as her pale, unflinching gaze followed Kylo's to the busy flow of Kedan. She was very still as she watched them - so much so that one might easily mistake her for a statue if the wind didn't flutter her thin, gray hair and white dress. Her attention was only half on the crowd, the rest was thinking over their prior conversation. Even in person, Kylo seemed like something volatile, akin to the explosives in the castle. Yorda wasn't afraid, but she was cautious by default.

Eventually she moved again, sitting down a little ways from the Knight of Ren, and turned her inhuman stare to him.

"I came to listen and to see," she said as if this explained anything. Yorda drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin in the small dip between them.

"There is so much I do not know. Are you watching them to learn as well?"

[no_light]

"Yes, I am." But now he watched her, a scowl still marring his face, though he wasn't feeling overly hostile. More cautiously curious, very cautiously so. After all he hadn't particularly enjoyed hearing what she had to say to him before.

"I'm trying to understand them better, and gather information." On the Cultists, mostly, but the child had no business knowing that. Bad enough he had Valdis and Rey snooping around in his affairs.

Maybe, though, he should try to be social. It didn't come naturally to him, but then this place forced him to do many things that didn't come naturally. "How have you been? Have you calmed down since we last spoke?"

[shroudofgray]

"There are many here like you," she said quietly, fidgeting with the frayed hem of her dress, "seeking things. Hidden things swallowed in the shadow of a dead god."

Yorda went quiet again and watched the crowd for a while, and then once more observed Kylo for an uncomfortably long time. Clearly he wasn't the only one who suffered from a lack of social skills.

"I am not as afraid," she said, "though I am not sure what to do yet. What of you? Has your anger dimmed?"

[no_light]

"Not permanently, it never goes away for long. But I'm far more in control of myself today than I was when we last spoke." He gritted his teeth. It hadn't been one of his finer moments, being driven to rage by a child's pointed questions. "You haven't said anything to anger me yet."

It was kind of uncomfortable, to be the subject of her close scrutiny, but Kylo decided to endure it without complaint for once. It might give him an idea what people felt like when they came to in the interrogation chair. At least he wasn't watched by a masked enemy. Maybe by an enemy, but not by a masked one.

"I'm glad you're no longer as afraid. Fearing your own powers is a terrible way to live."

[shroudofgray]

Yorda chewed the inside of her cheek. She would have corrected him, but the man was volatile - she didn't want to incite his wrath again, so she remained silent.

A small flock of birds fluttered into the square and Yorda reached into her bag of baked goods to break off half a loaf of bread. She tore off chunks and tossed them towards the scavenging flock, her pensive expression far too old for a girl who was, at most, in her mid teens.

"What..." she hesitated, searching his expression out the corner of her eye for signs of wrath, and then pressed on. "What do you think is not a terrible way to live?"

[no_light]

He opened his mouth, but closed it again when he realized he didn't have a ready answer for her. So he just watched her feed the birds for a while, and let his thoughts calm.

"Being powerful," he ventured, "and in control of yourself and others. You've got nothing to fear then, not even yourself or what you could do." He peered at her, just as cautious in his own way as she was. "Or just being no longer conflicted. That would do. It's a terrible way to live, existing while you are torn between extremes."

[shroudofgray]

Yorda managed to lure one of the birds closer, tempting it with a particularly large crust of bread.

"I understand wanting to be in control of yourself," Yorda said, as the bird hopped up to her extended hand, picking warily at the proffered morsel. "But why others? You are already strong, yes? Are you afraid of others?"

As Yorda spoke, she'd been slowly reaching out with her free hand to pet the bird which fluttered off back to the flock. She made a noise of disappointment and tossed the remaining crust a few feet away where it was promptly swarmed and devoured.

[no_light]

"I'm not scared!" Kylo bristled, looking just as ruffled as the bird had. He shot Yorda a glare, but this was the kind of anger that flared up quickly and died just as quickly.

The scowl remained. "I don't want to be in control of others because I'm scared of them, you just.. You seek power. Over yourself, others, the Force; it is all one and the same. These things go together when you wish to be acknowledged for your full potential, and live up to a great legacy."

He looked thoughtfully at her. Feeding the birds, she couldn't have looked gentler. It was odd to think she held such power within her. "Have you never thought of how it would be if your powers were something you can take pride in?"

[shroudofgray]

Yorda recoiled quickly at the outburst. She'd half-expected it, as the mere mention of fear seemed to set Kylo off, but it made it no less frightening.

She scooted away a bit, just in case she'd need to make a run for it.

"My powers simply are. I did not choose them, nor can I command them, and they were born from an abhorrent rite that never should have been allowed. But..."

She fidgeted with the paper back, folding it bit by bit, unphased by the splotchy grease stains.

"...What choices were mine to make - those I am proud of."

She looked up, her pale eyes fixed on Kylo, unblinking and curious. "What is the legacy you speak of?"

[no_light]

He nodded to show that he was paying attention and understood, even though he couldn't truly understand it. His powers had been given to him by nature, and he might not always have liked having them, but now he couldn't imagine wishing things to be different.

"My family's legacy. We have been Force users for generations. Some of the greatest, most powerful Force users have come from my family, they changed the fate of the entire galaxy." He frowned. "It's a lot to live up to, for better or worse."

Kylo went back to people watching for a while. "You're very lucky that you can say you're proud of the choices you made. Not everyone can say that of themselves."