apparare | i found something in the woods somewhere.

( It's the swatting that comes first - well, an approximation of it, if wrapping a hand around her wrist and yanking his head, and hair, out of her immediate reach, this being so far beneath him, counts as swatting. Laughter has not often been a contagious thing where Kylo is concerned, and while he doesn't do it outright in that moment, the inclination to join in some capacity is, enough that underneath the tangle of hair that has fallen across his face and into his eyes, something like a resigned smirk stamps itself into the corner of his mouth before he can clear his throat around the urge to do it in the first place. He leaves his hair that way for half a beat as if offering her the opportunity to take in her handiwork before hastily jerking a hand through it and settling more solidly on the mattress, still warding her hand off with one of his own. )

Are you going to stick your tongue out at me, too? ( Because he will stoop to that level if need be and possibly even further beneath it. Rather than waiting for a response, however, Kylo loops his arms through her legs and yanks her down the bunk until she is nearly beneath him, kneeling between the splay of her thighs. ) I don't appreciate your attitude.

( The only frame of reference that he has for this are memories that have been locked away in a cold, dark space for years but which come unbidden and unexpected as soon as his fingertips attempt to carve out little nooks and alcoves in Rey's sides, trying to eek out more laughter by tickling her whether she's interested in it or not. Revenge doesn't normally take such an innocuous stance, and he's less practiced at this than he at pretty much anything else he ever could be, but memory helps soften a touch that's more practiced in aggression than it is in negotiation. )

[ When she opens her mouth, it's to answer him, too used to surrendering to the brush of his fingertips against the plane of her waist to think twice about it, but an unprecedented yelp comes out instead, and she kicks to free herself from his weight, twisting to paw her way further up the bunk again as though it might pull her from his grasp. Her breath comes in short wheezes seized only when she has the opportunity between half-whines, half-laughs.

Conceptually, it isn't foreign to her at all. She knows tickling. But she hasn't felt it that she can recall, too long without intimate touch, longer still without something usually reserved for the gentle hand of a parent. She flinches more than necessary, but staves off the prickling instinct that tells her to jam her elbow into his face and end it quickly. That response is for the wrong kind of vengeful pounce, and she knows it, if distantly. ]

Stop! [ She howls through her laughter, sputtering over the word. ] That's cheating!

( Kylo has very little frame of reference to work off of - Captain Phasma is literally a sheet of chromium, and he is at least ninety percent sure that Hux has never done anything other than sneer in his entire life - but he imagines that Rey laughs the way that most other people do not: violently and with her whole face, maybe even her whole body. Her smile is often comprised mostly of flashing teeth and narrowed eyes, and while that's an arrangement of features that he's more than used to seeing from her - usually charging at him with a blue plasma beam raised overhead - this is a version of it that he prefers much more than the usual. The only problem is that it's infectious and spreading quickly, like a plague, and although she might have the wherewithal not to punch him in the face, that doesn't stop her foot from planting right in the middle of his face, striking his nose with enough force to make him see a flash of light, though not nearly enough to do any real damage.

The sound that he makes in response is undignified, a garbled yelp that sends him back on his haunches for just as long as it takes him to wrap his hand around her ankle. From behind the protective shield of his other, Kylo glares at her with exaggerated offense - if his eyes are watering, that's nothing he can help where his brain and body's traitorous impulses are concerned. )

Are you trying to break my nose? ( The problem with infectious laughter, however contrived or forced it might be, is that it doesn't always fade away even when the fun stops. Even Kylo can hear the lingering hint of a grin in his voice, from behind his curled hand where he grips his nose. ) That sounds like cheating.

Don't be ridiculous. If I were trying, it'd be broken.

[ Somehow, her laughter does little to temper the aggression of the assurance, and in fact sounds unnervingly disparate beside her message. But it dies off in a few short moments, realizing that despite the hints of glee that survive in his tone and expression, he truly is nursing an injury.

She sighs as though put out by it, and sits up straighter, leaning towards him and reaching one hand up to pull his away from his face so she can get a better look. It's too early still for any evidence of injury, but her other hand goes to gingerly prod at the area around his nose for bruised sensitivity.

Despite the gentle touch, her expression criticizes his sensitivity in volumes. ] Let me see.

Edited 2017-01-25 01:34 (UTC)

( Nursing an injury might be a relative way of categorizing what it is he's actually nursing, giving their penchant for earning actual injuries through various burns and abrasions, to say the least. What he is nursing is some slightly injured pride, though it's hard to say if it's anything worse than what he's dealt with in the past. A betting man would argue in the negative. )

So you can rip it off next? ( Kylo is acutely aware of how petulant he sounds and how critical of his attitude Rey is based on expression alone, never mind her tone, but the benefits far outweigh the risks in this case. He would rather have her pay attention to him than not pay attention to him, when the stakes aren't exactly high. The upturned angle of his chin is accompanied by a sharp sniff as though testing the functionality of the appendage in question, and Kylo sounds gravely serious when he continues. ) At this rate, there won't be anything left when you're done with me.

( Fortunately for them, there's more than enough of his nose to go around. )

[ She makes no effort to mask the roll of her eyes that earns him; in fact, she puts her neck into it, lolling her head somewhat to emphasize the expression. That he feels justified in acting like a child does not obligate her to put up with it, thankfully. ]

Fine. [ It is the huffy 'fine' that it is not fine, that she didn't really want to have a look anyway, and even if she had, she's not sure what she would have done about any genuinely grievous injury dealt to him. What little skill she had mastered in healing could be infrequently replicated, at best. Mostly, though, it says that she hadn't really believed that he was so bad off in the first place anyway, and he deserved to mope. ] If you don't want to take that risk, I can always leave.

i found something in the woods somewhere.

i will also live that good life again one day. meanwhile this thread has completely derailed

i mean how surprising is that really

on a scale of 1 to 10 about a -7. also i have never been happier for a day off work

mmmm days off. i'm like ... 5 weeks out from my next one

puppy brain does not make for good tagging skills

i don't remember what not being tired was like