[ Thawing limbs prickle against the warmth that steadily sinks deeper into her skin, rippling steadily in a way that briefly causes the persisting chill to ache in her joints. The last of it fades while he pushes to his feet, and she searches his face for some sense of how he feels in the wake of it.
Tired, she decides. Mostly tired. But maybe that's her. The bleed might never stop muddying the waters between their hearts and minds, but she doesn't have the wherewithal to fuss about the possibilities there in this moment. If anything, it's an absent, fleeting thought.
The intonation of apology, on the other hand, really grabs her attention. Her eyes briefly stretch wider, but she tempers the reaction as if she knows in the wake of his sarcastic gratitude (really, why did he keep doing that with his face? Was he in actual pain, thanking her?) that the act of apologizing makes him akin to a frightened animal, ready to retreat at a moment's notice.
For a moment, she's sure he has insulted her in the same breath, saying she wasn't strong enough, but she recalls the hoarse wind of Snoke's influence and the quite palpable sensation of his darkness crashing in around her, crushing her. And that was only a glimpse of what Kylo Ren had suffered for years before he'd relented. Not an insult, then, but a confession of sorts. He'd endeavored to shelter her from that, whether she needed it or not, and it was still impossible for her to imagine anyone's first instinct to be to help her. ]
I wasn't sure if I could either. [ Her dignity grants him a pass despite itself, one quick shake of her head dismissing it. She lowers her arm, quick to dismiss the injury as nothing now that he's at full height. ] But I'll find out sooner or later.
[ Unfortunately, there is no believing that this was their last encounter with Snoke. The first of many, in all likelihood, both internal and external. For all the limitations faced by the Dark Side, it certainly hasn't done anything to temper his reach. ]
We need to warn your mother. If he can find us here, he's likely already sent soldiers to find the rest of the Resistance as well.
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Tired, she decides. Mostly tired. But maybe that's her. The bleed might never stop muddying the waters between their hearts and minds, but she doesn't have the wherewithal to fuss about the possibilities there in this moment. If anything, it's an absent, fleeting thought.
The intonation of apology, on the other hand, really grabs her attention. Her eyes briefly stretch wider, but she tempers the reaction as if she knows in the wake of his sarcastic gratitude (really, why did he keep doing that with his face? Was he in actual pain, thanking her?) that the act of apologizing makes him akin to a frightened animal, ready to retreat at a moment's notice.
For a moment, she's sure he has insulted her in the same breath, saying she wasn't strong enough, but she recalls the hoarse wind of Snoke's influence and the quite palpable sensation of his darkness crashing in around her, crushing her. And that was only a glimpse of what Kylo Ren had suffered for years before he'd relented. Not an insult, then, but a confession of sorts. He'd endeavored to shelter her from that, whether she needed it or not, and it was still impossible for her to imagine anyone's first instinct to be to help her. ]
I wasn't sure if I could either. [ Her dignity grants him a pass despite itself, one quick shake of her head dismissing it. She lowers her arm, quick to dismiss the injury as nothing now that he's at full height. ] But I'll find out sooner or later.
[ Unfortunately, there is no believing that this was their last encounter with Snoke. The first of many, in all likelihood, both internal and external. For all the limitations faced by the Dark Side, it certainly hasn't done anything to temper his reach. ]
We need to warn your mother. If he can find us here, he's likely already sent soldiers to find the rest of the Resistance as well.