( Despite the flare of smug satisfaction at the expression on her face, Kylo is almost relieved that Rey doesn't follow up with some aggrandizing comment of her own, intent and content as they typically are to pursue argumentative lines of discourse so long as they extend into territory that doesn't shake the world around them like the slight tremor in the ground before a tripwired explosion. He refuses to let his guard down as a matter of pride and principle, but there is no disguising the fact that he is exhausted - they both are, beaten and bloodied, and it's a testament to their willpower - perhaps Rey's more than his - that they haven't gone for the other's jugular. That bone-deep weariness that he feels as an echo under his own skin might as well be reason enough for him to press his mouth into a thin line as he watches her secure the cable before tossing a flippant remark his way before disappearing over the edge of the cliff as if she has done it a thousand times before.
If the etches on that rusted durasteel wall that he had pulled from the bleak, lonely wasteland of her mind were any testament, it could easily be three thousand.
Rey is lithe and agile despite the pack of muscle that she carries underneath her skin like knotted cable, fusing with white bone and standing out in whipcord definition as she propels down the side of the rock with ease. Her descent is seemingly unburdened and hardly cumbersome; Kylo's own path down is not so graceful, though to his credit, there is no anxiety or trepidation that claws its way up from his gut to squeeze at his throat. He sinks like a stone, unused to the pull of gravity, unfamiliar with the steps required to scale the gritty surface with the elegance and relative ease that Rey seems to display below him. He easily weighs closer to a hundred pounds more than her than he doesn't, and while the cable holds on his descent, it's less than graceful, to say nothing of his dismount.
He could slow himself with the Force but he doesn't see the need to expel any excess energy, which results in him overestimating the distance between himself in the ground. As a result, he stumbles forward somewhat once his feet hit the ground, a sharp twinge running the length of his thigh and down into his knee. Once he's regained his footing, Kylo looks at her directly, as if daring her to say something. )
now i'm back. from outer space. i just walked in here to find you with that look upon your face!
If the etches on that rusted durasteel wall that he had pulled from the bleak, lonely wasteland of her mind were any testament, it could easily be three thousand.
Rey is lithe and agile despite the pack of muscle that she carries underneath her skin like knotted cable, fusing with white bone and standing out in whipcord definition as she propels down the side of the rock with ease. Her descent is seemingly unburdened and hardly cumbersome; Kylo's own path down is not so graceful, though to his credit, there is no anxiety or trepidation that claws its way up from his gut to squeeze at his throat. He sinks like a stone, unused to the pull of gravity, unfamiliar with the steps required to scale the gritty surface with the elegance and relative ease that Rey seems to display below him. He easily weighs closer to a hundred pounds more than her than he doesn't, and while the cable holds on his descent, it's less than graceful, to say nothing of his dismount.
He could slow himself with the Force but he doesn't see the need to expel any excess energy, which results in him overestimating the distance between himself in the ground. As a result, he stumbles forward somewhat once his feet hit the ground, a sharp twinge running the length of his thigh and down into his knee. Once he's regained his footing, Kylo looks at her directly, as if daring her to say something. )