inappropriately timed force bond moments (both nsfw and humor approaches)
dream-sharing
emotional bleed/transference (from rey, involving other parties)
inappropriate force bond voyeurism on rey/poe or rey/finn
mid-conversation force bond interruption
The Rise of Skywalker- Cross-galaxy chase of the Resistance
anything related to ben solo, but especially:
snoke confessionals with family or friends of family
returning to the light
smuggler life style
jedi knight ben
resistance-fighter ben
The Rise of Skywalker- Force Ghost communications w/ Rey
anything related to supreme leader kylo ren, but especially:
fall via coup
resistance fighter reconditioning (gen or nsfw)
force ghost visits from anakin/luke/rey/leia/snoke
defeat by the resistance, and subsequent aftermath
The Rise of Skywalker- Mole Discovery w/ Hux
canto bight:
shady weapons deals
picking up prisoners
recruitment
obligatory dinner party
general casino shenanigans
beach party
basically any reason you can think of to use canto bight as a setting piece
A note on romance: I will ship all of the new trilogy characters with Kylo Ren (except Snoke/Family). But I have no interest in exploring domestic-style takes on them. Thank you for understanding.
[ She takes another uneasy step forward. He's listening. She can tell from the way he pushes for more understanding. This isn't lip service; he wants to make a change. But wanting isn't the same as doing. So she stops after another step forward, drawing a deep breath. Steadying herself. There has to be a limit to how far she's willing to bend. ]
We all feel afraid sometimes. You feel the fear, and you do it anyway. Because the rewards are worth it. You ... You wanted to have someone who would come for you. [ She won't let him forget that. ] Like I would. If I'm the only person you ever trust, the only person you open yourself up to ... People might not disappoint you, Ben. But they won't surprise you either. And they won't be able to care.
[ And he wants to be cared about. She knows that because it's one of the things they have most in common—loneliness and neglect turned into starvation. ]
[His expression will tell her that he is calculating the information she gives him. Now is when he sits up, bracing himself with both arms even as he moves upright. He follows her logic, and yet --]
It is not only that. I am not the kind of person most people care for.
[Not just because he is a murderer. But because he is awkward, does not take social cues, among other problems.]
[ That never changed. She won't let him get away with arguing that her establishing boundaries is the same as abandoning him or caring about him any less. It's the truth. ]
And I'm not special. [ Her voice cracks a little on the words. ] I'm nobody.
[ Even if that fact hurts her, it makes her point. ] Caring for you isn't a fluke. It's only because you let me see something you don't show other people. You ... cared. You understood. You listened, when I needed someone.
It grew because I saw that Snoke had failed to turn you into a monster.
[ She's upon him then, in a moment. Swept up into the aching intensity of belief, of hope. Standing right in front of him, she makes her heartfelt plea, speech quickening with religious fervor. ]
He made you cut yourself off from people. From love. [ She shakes her head. Thinking of Han still hurts. It always will. And she wants to forgive him for it, but until he learns the lesson and rejects Snoke's teachings, not just the man, then Han's death will have been in vain. ] If you really want to put him behind you, then the bravest thing you can do is embrace the parts of yourself that he rejected.
[ Softly, slower now, ] I'm not the only person who flew into the heart of the First Order to save you, Ben. I'm not the only one who believed you can come back from this. I'm not ... some anomaly. You are worth saving. You are worth caring for.
[Ah, there it is. When she tries to bring it back to his parents, something sours in his chest, and he goes quiet. Before long, he comments, reaching up to cup her face. He knows he will hurt her with his next words, but they tumble out anyway.]
Yes. You are.
[Before she can twist away from his grip, his other hand falls to her waist, and his eyes lower from her's. For every ounce Han's death hurts her, just thinking of his parents makes him want to wither away.]
If you weren't, I might not have gone to him at all. They feared me -- even as a child. They all did.
[His eyes finally flick up, because this part is easy.]
[ She doesn't flinch away, though she should. Not so long ago, she had told him what a poison he had been for her. But she isn't being drawn into it now. For the first time, it feels like this conversation is happening out in the open. Her hurt and her hope are both bare on her face, unabashed. ]
They weren't. They made a mistake. Just like you did. [ Rey reaches up to place one hand against his chest. Comfort, but also a flat palm keeping some distance. She isn't ready to let the heightened emotions of the moment push them back into anything haphazardly. ] But your father loved you. He tried to make it right. Your mother, too.
[ In different ways, that Rey isn't nearly as qualified to describe, but which she knows with utter confidence. ]
[He corrects her, but his voice is wavering. Killing his father hadn't been easy. Coming back from it hadn't been easy either. He does not even want to think about his mother.]
It does not matter now. They are gone. And they waited until I had you to even try and come for me.
You didn't have me when your father came for you. You'd kidnapped me. [ Let's not get it twisted. ] And it's not worth any less just because he's not the only one who tried. It's not a contest for who can love you the most. You're missing the point. [ On purpose, a cynic might think. Rey chooses not to. ] Your mother is still alive. And there are other people who, if they knew you — the real you — would care just as much. But you won't let them because you think everyone is bound to disappoint you like your parents.
Yes. I kidnapped you. You were in my possession. I had you.
[Semantics, as far as Kylo Ren is concerned. But the rest -- the rest...
There are other reasons, reasons he doesn't really want to acknowledge out loud. But it all comes back to that which she demands that he fight: the fear.]
You? [He offers her the briefest of smiles -- it is sad, but no less understanding of the irony of her question.] You've had a taste of it. I imagine it might have been sweeter, if things were different.
[ It's the first time she doesn't like to see him smile. It's such a rarity, most of them only half-measures. But this one sits wrong in her chest. Rey stills. ]
What do you mean?
[ Because it sounds a lot like he's throwing it back in her face and telling her that she is holding people at a distance, afraid they'll leave like her parents did. Which would be ridiculous. She doesn't. She has people now. Maybe it takes her time, maybe she seldom lets them all the way in, the way she has let Ben in, but she has them. ]
[ She leaves it there, flatly. It hits her wrong that he seems to frame it as a fault. He thought things would be better if she were more damaged. If she looked on everyone with more suspicion. ]
People who care about me, and want what's best for me. People that I can count on to ... to show up. [ Unlike her parents. It's healing, in that way. Her jaw trembles a little before she manages to get out the crux of what she's getting at: ] I want that for you.
[ Her chest squeezes. A fluttering grip. That's the fear, but also the anticipation. It always comes when he's this close, and the way he combs her hair is familiar. Comforting. He knows how good it feels. He knows every part of her. It's deceptively effortless between them. ]
Do you mean that?
[ She so badly wants him to. A promise isn't follow-through. A maybe isn't even a promise. But it's an intent, and he wouldn't declare it if he didn't mean it. That's more than he's given her ever before. ]
[He tightens his grip on her hair slightly, enough to communicate exactly how serious he is. He holds her eyes for a few moments, reminding himself why he has cause to believe, before replying.]
[ The light tugging sensation of his solidifying grip prickles her scalp. Her breath hitches, as if the air just got a little thinner for it. Her eyes dance across his face, and briefly, she probes at the bond between them, feeling out his resolve. It's precisely as steady as she had expected.
For all his faults, Ben had never lied to her. Had never offered something he wasn't truly willing to give. She'd just been too willing to settle for less than she needed. ]
Good. [ Her eyes dart back over to the window, then up at him again. Soon, they can hope, he'll have the chance to act upon that. But not now. ] The streets won't drain for a while. A few more hours, assuming the rain doesn't come back. [ Leaving them stuck here together a little longer yet. ]
[He feels her probe and the air leaving her lungs, and it makes him bold. There is no one to watch them here -- better, there is no chance of someone coming to stop them, and they have time.
His hand untangles slightly from her hair and drops to join the other at her waist.]
We have weathered worse storms together.
[She has not yet given him express permission to get messy again, but Kylo Ren has never been particularly good at curbing his messy impulses. He'd been frightened by the rush of intimacy and everything that came with it the last time they had been this close -- but he is still coasting on the high of danger in the far off reaches of anxiety in his mind.
In response to it, he sits back down on the bed and drags her closer to him by her waist.]
[ There's something lighter in her voice to match it. A teasing jibe, not the sharp barbs she's been slinging at him. A person with better sense would consider this a bad idea, but Rey has never been one to shy away from those. Not when it feels right. She doesn't believe in withholding for the sake of withholding, and in this moment, the person that he is now, this is what she wants them to be.
Better to enjoy it.
Rey plants her hands on his shoulders. She slides one knee up onto the bed, then brings the other up to straddle him, settling into his lap. The gesture is deceptively smooth, giving an impression of much greater familiarity with this kind of intimacy than she actually has. Her nose bumps against his, eyelids fluttering as she teeters at the brink of giving in and kissing him. Narrowly resisting for the answer to her question. ]
[She descends so fluidly that he very nearly doesn't answer her and goes straight for the kiss -- but he notices the way she does not take the opportunity herself. The promise of it makes something warm, low in his belly.]
I suppose so.
[He lets his hands coast from his waist down to her thighs, gripping them with as much certainty as he can manage, for all of his inexperience. He leans in to search for her lips with his own, and there is nothing to hold the relief that floods from him when he finds them again.]
[ She has missed his hands on her. Recognizing it with the way he reached at her while they stood holds no candle to feeling him pawing at her this way, like he's been starving too. The former had been gentle, sheepish. A child tugging at their mother's pant leg for attention. This is possessive and intimate.
The last time they'd been like this, he'd stopped her. She had spent her share of nights relieving her aches in the shower of their hotel room, without him, just to avoid the same awkwardness. The very same ache builds in her now, fueled by the warmth of his mouth as it presses to hers. They slot together like two pieces of the same broken artwork. Her arms lock around his shoulders, encircling him to bring their bodies flush together while Rey parts her lips and pries his apart so her tongue can press in and taste him.
She settles into his lap, a comfortable space. It feels like hers. Maybe it's the cabin fever of being cramped in here with him when the feelings they'd shared for each other never went away, or maybe it really is a logical choice following their conversation. It doesn't matter which, in the end. She won't be sorry for it. ]
[His mouth falls open a bit awkwardly once he realizes what she is doing, desperate to please and experience. Kylo Ren makes a sound into her mouth when she pulls flush against him, forcing his legs further apart to keep from crushing his balls between their bodies and the bed he sits on.
The simple act means there is little to shield his cock from the friction of their pants, and he begins to grow hard beneath her. There is the familiar flutter of anxiety on the other end of the bond when he feels it building, a moment's hesitation in how he holds her -- but unlike previous, he does not push her away or try to stop her pursuit.
Instead, he forces his shoulders to relax under the weight of her arms encircling him. His hands tentatively lift from her thighs, moving upward to explore her torso beneath her shirt while his tongue wrestles with her's.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
How do you keep from being afraid?
[He does not ask after hiding. It feels easier to accept, now that everyone already knows.]
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[ She takes another uneasy step forward. He's listening. She can tell from the way he pushes for more understanding. This isn't lip service; he wants to make a change. But wanting isn't the same as doing. So she stops after another step forward, drawing a deep breath. Steadying herself. There has to be a limit to how far she's willing to bend. ]
We all feel afraid sometimes. You feel the fear, and you do it anyway. Because the rewards are worth it. You ... You wanted to have someone who would come for you. [ She won't let him forget that. ] Like I would. If I'm the only person you ever trust, the only person you open yourself up to ... People might not disappoint you, Ben. But they won't surprise you either. And they won't be able to care.
[ And he wants to be cared about. She knows that because it's one of the things they have most in common—loneliness and neglect turned into starvation. ]
no subject
It is not only that. I am not the kind of person most people care for.
[Not just because he is a murderer. But because he is awkward, does not take social cues, among other problems.]
But you did.
no subject
[ That never changed. She won't let him get away with arguing that her establishing boundaries is the same as abandoning him or caring about him any less. It's the truth. ]
And I'm not special. [ Her voice cracks a little on the words. ] I'm nobody.
[ Even if that fact hurts her, it makes her point. ] Caring for you isn't a fluke. It's only because you let me see something you don't show other people. You ... cared. You understood. You listened, when I needed someone.
no subject
[The echoed correction is offered like another apology.]
You aren't nobody. Not to me.
[She doesn't want to hear it, he knows this too, but he has to quantify that before he continues speaking.]
I showed it to you because -- I felt something. For you. Something I do not feel for other people. Ever since I first saw you.
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When you first saw me, you were hunting me like an animal.
[ He can't possibly romanticize that. ]
no subject
[What is he going to do, deny it? Even Kylo Ren is not so stupid.]
But when our minds touched -- it was the first time that I really...
[He is half babbling, so he is stuck digging for language to communicate the thoughts racing through his head.]
The first time I questioned. The first time I questioned since --
["Since I killed all of the Jedi" would probably ruin the moment, so he doesn't say it. The thought dies on his lips. He has to backpedal here.]
Our bond was not first formed by trust. Trust grew.
[It is an acknowledgement of what she is trying to tell him, thought he sounds somewhat defeated when he says it.]
no subject
[ She's upon him then, in a moment. Swept up into the aching intensity of belief, of hope. Standing right in front of him, she makes her heartfelt plea, speech quickening with religious fervor. ]
He made you cut yourself off from people. From love. [ She shakes her head. Thinking of Han still hurts. It always will. And she wants to forgive him for it, but until he learns the lesson and rejects Snoke's teachings, not just the man, then Han's death will have been in vain. ] If you really want to put him behind you, then the bravest thing you can do is embrace the parts of yourself that he rejected.
[ Softly, slower now, ] I'm not the only person who flew into the heart of the First Order to save you, Ben. I'm not the only one who believed you can come back from this. I'm not ... some anomaly. You are worth saving. You are worth caring for.
no subject
Yes. You are.
[Before she can twist away from his grip, his other hand falls to her waist, and his eyes lower from her's. For every ounce Han's death hurts her, just thinking of his parents makes him want to wither away.]
If you weren't, I might not have gone to him at all. They feared me -- even as a child. They all did.
[His eyes finally flick up, because this part is easy.]
In hindsight, it seems they were correct to fear.
no subject
They weren't. They made a mistake. Just like you did. [ Rey reaches up to place one hand against his chest. Comfort, but also a flat palm keeping some distance. She isn't ready to let the heightened emotions of the moment push them back into anything haphazardly. ] But your father loved you. He tried to make it right. Your mother, too.
[ In different ways, that Rey isn't nearly as qualified to describe, but which she knows with utter confidence. ]
no subject
[He corrects her, but his voice is wavering. Killing his father hadn't been easy. Coming back from it hadn't been easy either. He does not even want to think about his mother.]
It does not matter now. They are gone. And they waited until I had you to even try and come for me.
[So who, exactly, is of most import here?]
no subject
[ Her hand pulls back. ]
You didn't have me when your father came for you. You'd kidnapped me. [ Let's not get it twisted. ] And it's not worth any less just because he's not the only one who tried. It's not a contest for who can love you the most. You're missing the point. [ On purpose, a cynic might think. Rey chooses not to. ] Your mother is still alive. And there are other people who, if they knew you — the real you — would care just as much. But you won't let them because you think everyone is bound to disappoint you like your parents.
Where would I be, if I thought that way?
no subject
[Semantics, as far as Kylo Ren is concerned. But the rest -- the rest...
There are other reasons, reasons he doesn't really want to acknowledge out loud. But it all comes back to that which she demands that he fight: the fear.]
You? [He offers her the briefest of smiles -- it is sad, but no less understanding of the irony of her question.] You've had a taste of it. I imagine it might have been sweeter, if things were different.
no subject
What do you mean?
[ Because it sounds a lot like he's throwing it back in her face and telling her that she is holding people at a distance, afraid they'll leave like her parents did. Which would be ridiculous. She doesn't. She has people now. Maybe it takes her time, maybe she seldom lets them all the way in, the way she has let Ben in, but she has them. ]
no subject
["Craving love". He isn't ready to use that word. He brushes his fingers against her cheek -- he feels better, just for being able to be this close.]
I still enjoy my solitude. So long as I know the option is there, otherwise. But you...
[It is hard for him to imagine her not surrounded by people now. He might have been envious, if he were a different person.]
no subject
[ She leaves it there, flatly. It hits her wrong that he seems to frame it as a fault. He thought things would be better if she were more damaged. If she looked on everyone with more suspicion. ]
People who care about me, and want what's best for me. People that I can count on to ... to show up. [ Unlike her parents. It's healing, in that way. Her jaw trembles a little before she manages to get out the crux of what she's getting at: ] I want that for you.
no subject
[He lets his hand rest now, threading his fingers through her hair.]
Maybe I will understand that pleasure, before too long.
[There is doubt, but if he doesn't try -- he'll never know. And it is a clear path back to Rey allowing herself to be in his company.]
no subject
Do you mean that?
[ She so badly wants him to. A promise isn't follow-through. A maybe isn't even a promise. But it's an intent, and he wouldn't declare it if he didn't mean it. That's more than he's given her ever before. ]
no subject
I do.
no subject
For all his faults, Ben had never lied to her. Had never offered something he wasn't truly willing to give. She'd just been too willing to settle for less than she needed. ]
Good. [ Her eyes dart back over to the window, then up at him again. Soon, they can hope, he'll have the chance to act upon that. But not now. ] The streets won't drain for a while. A few more hours, assuming the rain doesn't come back. [ Leaving them stuck here together a little longer yet. ]
no subject
His hand untangles slightly from her hair and drops to join the other at her waist.]
We have weathered worse storms together.
[She has not yet given him express permission to get messy again, but Kylo Ren has never been particularly good at curbing his messy impulses. He'd been frightened by the rush of intimacy and everything that came with it the last time they had been this close -- but he is still coasting on the high of danger in the far off reaches of anxiety in his mind.
In response to it, he sits back down on the bed and drags her closer to him by her waist.]
What's one more?
no subject
[ There's something lighter in her voice to match it. A teasing jibe, not the sharp barbs she's been slinging at him. A person with better sense would consider this a bad idea, but Rey has never been one to shy away from those. Not when it feels right. She doesn't believe in withholding for the sake of withholding, and in this moment, the person that he is now, this is what she wants them to be.
Better to enjoy it.
Rey plants her hands on his shoulders. She slides one knee up onto the bed, then brings the other up to straddle him, settling into his lap. The gesture is deceptively smooth, giving an impression of much greater familiarity with this kind of intimacy than she actually has. Her nose bumps against his, eyelids fluttering as she teeters at the brink of giving in and kissing him. Narrowly resisting for the answer to her question. ]
no subject
I suppose so.
[He lets his hands coast from his waist down to her thighs, gripping them with as much certainty as he can manage, for all of his inexperience. He leans in to search for her lips with his own, and there is nothing to hold the relief that floods from him when he finds them again.]
no subject
The last time they'd been like this, he'd stopped her. She had spent her share of nights relieving her aches in the shower of their hotel room, without him, just to avoid the same awkwardness. The very same ache builds in her now, fueled by the warmth of his mouth as it presses to hers. They slot together like two pieces of the same broken artwork. Her arms lock around his shoulders, encircling him to bring their bodies flush together while Rey parts her lips and pries his apart so her tongue can press in and taste him.
She settles into his lap, a comfortable space. It feels like hers. Maybe it's the cabin fever of being cramped in here with him when the feelings they'd shared for each other never went away, or maybe it really is a logical choice following their conversation. It doesn't matter which, in the end. She won't be sorry for it. ]
no subject
The simple act means there is little to shield his cock from the friction of their pants, and he begins to grow hard beneath her. There is the familiar flutter of anxiety on the other end of the bond when he feels it building, a moment's hesitation in how he holds her -- but unlike previous, he does not push her away or try to stop her pursuit.
Instead, he forces his shoulders to relax under the weight of her arms encircling him. His hands tentatively lift from her thighs, moving upward to explore her torso beneath her shirt while his tongue wrestles with her's.]
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