[ Fraying at the edges, she skids to a stop when she comes up on the lean shadow of Kylo Ren looming from the top of the cargo ramp, a counterpoint to his steely calm, even as it turns sour before her eyes and carries him away from her. Rey gapes in an attempt to find words, feeling as though she is obligated to justify something that was never voiced, but it's too late, and the thud of furred feet on the metal turns her towards Chewie, who approaches with yawning concern.
A defused ex-scavenger approaches him and throws her arms around his middle with a sigh, primarily for her own sake but also in silent apology for the circumstances she'd left him in while she rested. It couldn't be easy, sharing space with Han Solo's killer, and she hadn't realized either of them would so eagerly begin without her. ]
You haven't let him mess anything up, have you? [ She mutters it quietly to a great bellowing laugh from the wookiee, and she knows that she has been forgiven when he comments then that he's keeping an eye out.
A smile works over her lips just as the Hapan officials below call out for her and issue a request by the Queen-Mother to meet with her. It was a pleasant few minutes, at least, free from the staggering weight of responsibility. Leia's coming, Chewie reassures her as his great paw nudges her down the ramp. Puffing out a breath, Rey straightens her back in anticipation of the journey down to continue the endless dance that sweeps them up. Before she descends, she glances back at Chewie. ]
While you're hovering, would you tell him … [ And she comes up short. Both of things she finds necessary and appropriate to say when she doesn't particularly like the idea of justifying herself, and things that Chewbacca wouldn't begrudge her passing along. Finally, she shakes her head. ] Tell him whatever you want. [ And she heads down the ramp then with her jaw jutting out from the same refusal to look back that she sports in her stiff shoulders.
The journey to the Queen-Mother takes her through hallways equal in grandeur to that which she'd been led down with Chewie and Kylo to reach the guest quarters that presently boarded the Resistance, but it opened to an even more exquisite throne room that glimmered with crystalline jewels and vibrantly colored lights reflecting through them, gleaming off every surface, all of them deliberately reflective to generate the cacophony of light. Suddenly, she felt desperately underprepared and underdressed, but Rey could not recall a single circumstance under which she had worn anything more than the plain, functional clothes of a scavenger. She covered her leather satchel with one hand, feeling the telltale hum of her lightsaber there without reaching for it while she approached and subsequently kneeled before Ta'a Chume.
To her great benefit, Ta'a Chume revealed that she had anticipated the arrival of the Resistance as soon as she heard of their victory on Corellia. News, it seemed, travelled quickly, but the Queen-Mother offered no indication of whether or not it would influence the heavy decision that she knew lay before her—to support the Resistance and the Republic that it represented, or to remain (as Hapes always had) impartial.
When the Queen-Mother dodged, Rey took the opportunity to confess her distaste for politics and appeal instead for the mercy of the Queen-Mother to simply harbor them until the fleet could gather again: the Resistance, Rey assured, would not make any requests of the Queen-Mother's fleet until General Organa did so herself. Until then, they needed to merely lay low while the pursuit died down for another day. Diplomats from the rest of the Hapes Consortium present were reasonably incensed by the forthright nature of Rey's approach, but Ta'a Chume locked their gazes in consideration.
When Rey left the throne room, she felt sure she did so with at the very least Ta'a Chume's respect, albeit certainly not her favor. Hapes would house the Resistance stragglers until such a time they could rally with the fleet, but only with the promise that the disfigured defector that Rey had brought with her be removed as soon as their ship was airworthy. Rather than rally to Kylo Ren's defense unnecessarily, she assented, and made a pitstop to pick up rations that would outfit the Falcon for its next journey out. Though Rey had not yet charted or selected a course, she anticipated it would be a long one—one that could draw the Knights of Ren well away from the Resistance.
Begrudgingly, tethering Ta'a Chume's gift of supplies in the main hold, Rey accepted that it was a decision she would need to make only after seeking the advice of their best source of intelligence. So she went to linger in the doorway that separated the hold from the life support systems, including the primary heating control unit, and watched him in silence. ]
somewhere in this tag i changed tense and i'm too lazy to find them all this late. my gift 2 u
A defused ex-scavenger approaches him and throws her arms around his middle with a sigh, primarily for her own sake but also in silent apology for the circumstances she'd left him in while she rested. It couldn't be easy, sharing space with Han Solo's killer, and she hadn't realized either of them would so eagerly begin without her. ]
You haven't let him mess anything up, have you? [ She mutters it quietly to a great bellowing laugh from the wookiee, and she knows that she has been forgiven when he comments then that he's keeping an eye out.
A smile works over her lips just as the Hapan officials below call out for her and issue a request by the Queen-Mother to meet with her. It was a pleasant few minutes, at least, free from the staggering weight of responsibility. Leia's coming, Chewie reassures her as his great paw nudges her down the ramp. Puffing out a breath, Rey straightens her back in anticipation of the journey down to continue the endless dance that sweeps them up. Before she descends, she glances back at Chewie. ]
While you're hovering, would you tell him … [ And she comes up short. Both of things she finds necessary and appropriate to say when she doesn't particularly like the idea of justifying herself, and things that Chewbacca wouldn't begrudge her passing along. Finally, she shakes her head. ] Tell him whatever you want. [ And she heads down the ramp then with her jaw jutting out from the same refusal to look back that she sports in her stiff shoulders.
The journey to the Queen-Mother takes her through hallways equal in grandeur to that which she'd been led down with Chewie and Kylo to reach the guest quarters that presently boarded the Resistance, but it opened to an even more exquisite throne room that glimmered with crystalline jewels and vibrantly colored lights reflecting through them, gleaming off every surface, all of them deliberately reflective to generate the cacophony of light. Suddenly, she felt desperately underprepared and underdressed, but Rey could not recall a single circumstance under which she had worn anything more than the plain, functional clothes of a scavenger. She covered her leather satchel with one hand, feeling the telltale hum of her lightsaber there without reaching for it while she approached and subsequently kneeled before Ta'a Chume.
To her great benefit, Ta'a Chume revealed that she had anticipated the arrival of the Resistance as soon as she heard of their victory on Corellia. News, it seemed, travelled quickly, but the Queen-Mother offered no indication of whether or not it would influence the heavy decision that she knew lay before her—to support the Resistance and the Republic that it represented, or to remain (as Hapes always had) impartial.
When the Queen-Mother dodged, Rey took the opportunity to confess her distaste for politics and appeal instead for the mercy of the Queen-Mother to simply harbor them until the fleet could gather again: the Resistance, Rey assured, would not make any requests of the Queen-Mother's fleet until General Organa did so herself. Until then, they needed to merely lay low while the pursuit died down for another day. Diplomats from the rest of the Hapes Consortium present were reasonably incensed by the forthright nature of Rey's approach, but Ta'a Chume locked their gazes in consideration.
When Rey left the throne room, she felt sure she did so with at the very least Ta'a Chume's respect, albeit certainly not her favor. Hapes would house the Resistance stragglers until such a time they could rally with the fleet, but only with the promise that the disfigured defector that Rey had brought with her be removed as soon as their ship was airworthy. Rather than rally to Kylo Ren's defense unnecessarily, she assented, and made a pitstop to pick up rations that would outfit the Falcon for its next journey out. Though Rey had not yet charted or selected a course, she anticipated it would be a long one—one that could draw the Knights of Ren well away from the Resistance.
Begrudgingly, tethering Ta'a Chume's gift of supplies in the main hold, Rey accepted that it was a decision she would need to make only after seeking the advice of their best source of intelligence. So she went to linger in the doorway that separated the hold from the life support systems, including the primary heating control unit, and watched him in silence. ]