( His reaction is almost immediate, buffered by a hair's breadth of hesitation that only reinforces the whiplash of anger that he strikes out at her with. One arm thrown parallel to the ground, he stretches an unseen hand out to fist itself in the front of her tunic and seize her, lifts her above the ground so that her heels drag in the dirt until he's able to ball fabric up into a fist. Without the Force he can't keep her aloft with one arm alone for long, but adrenaline keeps her elevated for a moment before she lands flat-footed on the ground, and he ignites his saber in the same moment that her feet thud against the packed dirt in the anticipation that she will throw hers up as well.
Up close, she will be able to see the new steel of his helmet, less worn and tarnished than its predecessor, but also the little tears and fine stitching committed to the fibers of his clothing, made bulkier by the armor that he wears. The helmet offers absolutely nothing by way of his expression, and his posture doesn't change enough to offer any indications of his ire but Kylo throws open his mind to let the swirling mass of his thoughts overwhelm her as the grip that he has on the cross section of her tunic tightens and threatens to tear the fabric at the shoulder. )
You. ( His voice pitches low underneath the modulator, some cold and dark thing crawling out of a hole to stalk into the underbrush. The current of his anger is a harsh undertow, black water lapping high tides over the buoy he anticipates her holding fast to in the sea of his thoughts. ) You have no idea what you're talking about. You're a runt pulled out of the wasteland, out of Jakku, and you're playing a game you're ill-suited and even less prepared for. You play with matches and think that you won't get burned, even though your hands are covered in oil.
( Perspective is everything. Where Organa and Skywalker and Rey, now, see a man who emerged from the Dark Side triumphant at the end, Kylo Ren sees a sad and sorry seduction away from the path of righteousness, sees a weakness that was seized and exploited until Darth Vader fell and fell hard, at the cost of his own life. Skywalker used to tell Ben as a child what a hero his grandfather had been, how he had died doing what was right, but Kylo had never seen it that way, in the end. He was strong and powerful and had a command that Kylo envies now, with Rey's tunic caught in his grip and his lightsaber burning a hole in the ground. )
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Up close, she will be able to see the new steel of his helmet, less worn and tarnished than its predecessor, but also the little tears and fine stitching committed to the fibers of his clothing, made bulkier by the armor that he wears. The helmet offers absolutely nothing by way of his expression, and his posture doesn't change enough to offer any indications of his ire but Kylo throws open his mind to let the swirling mass of his thoughts overwhelm her as the grip that he has on the cross section of her tunic tightens and threatens to tear the fabric at the shoulder. )
You. ( His voice pitches low underneath the modulator, some cold and dark thing crawling out of a hole to stalk into the underbrush. The current of his anger is a harsh undertow, black water lapping high tides over the buoy he anticipates her holding fast to in the sea of his thoughts. ) You have no idea what you're talking about. You're a runt pulled out of the wasteland, out of Jakku, and you're playing a game you're ill-suited and even less prepared for. You play with matches and think that you won't get burned, even though your hands are covered in oil.
( Perspective is everything. Where Organa and Skywalker and Rey, now, see a man who emerged from the Dark Side triumphant at the end, Kylo Ren sees a sad and sorry seduction away from the path of righteousness, sees a weakness that was seized and exploited until Darth Vader fell and fell hard, at the cost of his own life. Skywalker used to tell Ben as a child what a hero his grandfather had been, how he had died doing what was right, but Kylo had never seen it that way, in the end. He was strong and powerful and had a command that Kylo envies now, with Rey's tunic caught in his grip and his lightsaber burning a hole in the ground. )