The slowest burn is the most painful

[reversesock]

Arranged Marriage Turned More To have and to hold, you said, till death do us part, all while the sharp, swinging pendulum of obligation hung overhead. But how could you have truly meant those words? This union has been tainted from the start, forever bearing the chains of an arranged marriage. It would be understandable if you couldn't bear to look at your new life partner, eternal reminder of your stolen future that they are, much less like them. Much less love them... Still, things can change. You could realize that they are in the same boat as you or, that when compared to others around you, they are the lesser of evils. Perhaps you even open up to the idea of a friendship; at the very least, an alliance may be in order to become a power couple in a perilous world. From that innocent decision or sense of self-preservation, a new feelings sparks. Something like affection. Something, you realize in the wake of speeding heartbeats, like love. Will you acknowledge this? Can the two of you have a happily ever after - happier than if you'd met in another fashion - or will you hold firm in your distaste? how to play. - Everybody loves "couples forged by less-than-ideal circumstances" tropes! - Comment with your character, prefs, all that good stuff. - Reply to others. - IDEC where you set your threads, it's wide open. Fantasy world with hairy hobbits, old-timey lands, future AUs, do a space marriage for all I care. I'm sure they're still getting married in Star Wars or whatever.

Comments

[forcevisions]

[ Rey turns her attention to Leia, who nods. It'll suffice.

And too early, they have revealed themselves. Or at the very least, they have left Hux feeling like he has to retaliate somehow, divide them. He will do his best to sow discord, and he may succeed. That's the most unnerving part. Even knowing what he is doing, Hux himself is not the real threat. This dinner had shown that.

Although they had ultimately worked it out, it drew attention to all the ways in which Rey and Kylo's mere experience and perspectives could be enough to position them opposite one another. The Light and the Dark did not naturally exist in harmony, and neither of them had turned. Harmony had to be fought for. ]

Anything else? [ She sets her napkin on her plate, obviously ready to bail. ]

Wtf I didn’t get this notif last night.

[vaderstan]

[ y i k e s. Ultimately, Kylo had pulled the move to try to sew discord— but it had worked too well. He knows that. This marriage was an insane idea from the fact that Rey and Kylo had no chance to sit down and discuss their personal politics. He knew they clashed on issues and there would be no way to air every bit of it without butting heads in front of a crowd.

It’s obnoxiois really. He didn’t want a wallflower. He wanted someone who was his equal and able to counter him, but of course the price they paid was their dissonance. A dissonance that kept them grounded but made others edgy.

Differing ideals aside it was clear to Kylo that their biggest problem right at this moment was Hux. Hux and those who were stubbornly loyal to the general. And those who wanted to use the chaos to grab at power.

There’s a terse sigh as this sinks in and spares a short glance to Rey. ]

I don’t believe there’s anything else on the agenda.

[ no sexy under the table handies for tonight :C ]

i thought you just hated me now

[forcevisions]

[ When no one else interjects, Rey gets to her feet. Her chair scrapes, making obvious her swift departure in a way that embarrasses her just a little. It doesn't stop her, but it does give her pause before she continues her hasty escape. She glances over her shoulder at Ben to encourage him to follow after as she makes her way for the stairs in the direction of their room.

She stays quiet all the way back to the room not because she's trying to cold shoulder him — it's actually a peaceable silence — but because she has nothing to say that she wants others to overhear. ]

No. Just arguing with old men about wvolving story telling and getting up at 7 am

[vaderstan]

[ oh. Cool. Making their exit together. This marriage thing is really weird and even more difficult by the fact that they never even dated. Just had a ~thing~. Which is now made even more weird by the whole political thing but.

Cool. Coolcoolcool. Gonna follow his future wife because that’s what husbands should do???

At least hux isn’t glaring at him anymore. ]

wvolving huh

[forcevisions]

[ No sooner are the doors closed than Rey's datapad beeps. She looks down at it and sighs, moodily. ]

Just as I thought.

[ She offers it out to him. That's the kind of relationship this is now. 'You can stalk my phone messages if you want to, you don't gotta try to hack it to see who else I'm txting.' It's a message from Hux, if he cares to look, and it's suggesting that he meet with her tomorrow in the morning or early afternoon to instruct her on the diplomatic context with some of the Core Worlds.

In other words, he wants to My Fair Lady her, but with more fascism and painting himself as the good guy so that he can drive a wedge between her and Kylo in the process. The better he manages to separate them from each other, the easier it will be. ]

Already plotting how he's going to retaliate. He's a snake.

I WAS ON THE TRAIN AND GOT UP AT 6 AM. DONT JUDGE ME

[vaderstan]

[ I mean Rey would be bored to tears over the messages Kylo receives so you can read all his DM's girl.

And he's just. oh goody, keying through the message and just. Not. Happy. About this. ]

We need to move where ever my mother's lodgings are, without informing anyone.

[ EVERYONE SLEEP IN KYLOS ROOM. (no don't that's a major crimp on his style and the worst place for leia to chill tbh) ]

judges you tbh i nEVER make typos obviously

[forcevisions]

I'll send her a message.

[ Rey takes her datapad back then, pulling up a communication with Leia. ]

Do you know somewhere you can send her?

[ They'd lived on Chandrila before, right? Maybe it's time to visit the old house. ]

remember when u call someone out on a typo. u will always make one that is worse.

[vaderstan]

[ He presses his lips together, trying to think of some place. ]

She knows better than I would.

[ It's been a long time since he's set foot on this planet. Their old home comes to mind, but that may be too obvious? But then again, would Hux be stupid enough to try to pull something. Another sigh. ]

If Lando's come to represent Bespin's interests, he could help her find safe lodging and make sure she has protection.

[ Who knows if Uncle Lando is here

Ugh, this is a headache already. ]

karma

[forcevisions]

Lando Calrissian? [ Rey stares at him blankly. ] The smuggler?

[ And con artist and — alright, then. Leia made some interesting friends before she settled down and … became a Resistance General. Okay, so less with the ever settling down. She just chalks this up to being one of Han's friends and blinks it away, accepting it.

Looking down at her datapad, she takes to typing. ]

I'll make the recommendation. She's tough, though, you know. She's probably already figuring something out for herself.

Karma says I need a week period of not having to interact with humans in person

[vaderstan]

[ Kylos just “have u met my dad” and also Lando has seen him buck ass naked. So that’s something you have in common with him Rey.

He’ll just lean in and wrap his arms around her shoulders and press his mouth to her temple ]

I’m aware.

[ Kylo just knows what Hux is capable of when he’s cornered.

They should have just bust out into a lightsaber battle.

Granted that’s not all he’s nervous about. But. You know. Who talks about things freely??? ]

time to hermit

[forcevisions]

[ It's the hug that conveys it. The fact that he's initiating means he's feeling clingy in some way, seeking reassurance, and it prompts her to reach out and prod at his feelings. ]

As much as I enjoy watching you fret over your mother, I can tell something else is bothering you.

[ She draws out of the hug and looks up at him. ] What is it?

I WISH he's still here until sunday

[vaderstan]

[ "FRET" HE IS NOT FRETTING REY. He is taking the proper precautions becau---



Okay no he's fretting. He's fretting over everything really. He's been fretting since the moment brought up this stupid fucking plan.

All of this reads in the line of his jaw and how he holds his mouth. ]

I don't like subjecting you to Hux alone.

[ He's worried about Hux wanting to get Rey alone. It's gonna make him break out into hives. ]

WHAT oh my god good luck

[forcevisions]

Is that all? [ Sorry. Patronizing. Rey holds up a hand, apologetic. ] Personally I'm looking forward to it. If he tries anything stupid, it'll be the perfect opportunity to kill him.

[ Which perhaps a real Jedi would not deliver so candidly, but then, Rey's not really a Jedi. She has 2.5 lessons and a stack of textbooks collecting dust. Some people just needed to die alright. ]

At least i have got my cats with me tho

[vaderstan]

[ Okay well. He nearly laughs. Nearly. Of course Rey would be fine. Most likely. ]

You may want to leave the killing to me.

[ He's steeped in the dark. He can take that hit.








Also he really just wants to kill Hux.


Still, he keeps close to her because he's a clingy needy child and there's just. Too Much going on right now. Marriage, politics, marriage, Hux, marriage, his mother, MARRIAGE, their inevitable disagreements. ALSO MARRIAGE??? He needs to work off some of this energy and there's no training room near by.

A gloved hand will find hers, clinging to her smaller fingers. He nearly opens his mouth to say something, but decides better of it. Instead he'll silently just-- tug her to their balcony. It's a nice view-- you can see the ocean and the waves crashing...


And the people down below. ]

With any luck he didn't notice the way you were watching me today.

[ Leia probably did tho. y i k e s ]

[forcevisions]

[ She does laugh at that offer, if only because she knows that he's trying to steal it from her for his own sake more than hers. Hux would not be the first man that she had killed, or even the tenth. Perhaps the first she had meditated on for so long, admittedly, but the point remained.

She lets it go all the same, twining her fingers with his and following him out onto the balcony. The air is fresh and warm off the sea and she shut her eyes to appreciate it without feeling the distracting pull of wondering what the people are doing, if they can see the Empress and her Supreme Leader up here, whispering in secret.

Until, of course, he says that. And the wolfish expression she fixes him with is, well, not unlike the one from their earlier dinner. ]

What way do you mean?

[vaderstan]

[ Oh my god he wasn't making it up in his head. It was Super Real and now he's suddenly flashing back to the few other times he saw her with that look before. He is starting to realize that maybe Rey.... has had a Thirst for Ben Swolo for a While now. ]

The way you're looking at me currently.

[ If only he knew how close he was to an under the table handy. ]

[forcevisions]

[ Like she wants to eat him. Probably she does. Rey lets go of his hand to run her fingertips up his side instead, dancing across his ribcage in absent-minded appreciation of the dark figure he cut. Those people down there might be able to catch a glimpse, so she avoided any more overt gesture, but it's hard to miss the heat in the way she looks him over. ]

If your comments at the venue are to be believed, I'm sure it's not a look he recognized.

[ Yeah. Calling him out for starting this. 100% super duper starting this with that remark about eating in bed. ]

[vaderstan]

[ LET HER EAT.

I mean.

He glances to the people below as her thoughts pass through him. It's so natural he hardly thinks of how odd it is to process what's going through her mind. ]

I'm nearly sure we could fuck in front of him and he wouldn't understand what was happening.

[ Big if true ]

[forcevisions]

Could we?

[ She lets her hand drag down the front of his tunic, her fingertips curling in the band of his belt before she looks back up at him. ]

Then why did you feel so nervous at dinner when I touched your leg?

[vaderstan]

[ he doesn't want to say BECAUSE MY MOTHER WAS RIGHT THERE AND AWARE WE ARE FUCKING NOW. but i mean-- ]

I was more worried about everyone besides General Hux.

[ To his credit, he isn't moving away from her now. Just a fluttering in his stomach and a slow crawling heat. He's just... gonna let her take the lead on this one tbh. ]

[forcevisions]

Well, I wasn't planning to announce it.

[ She can feel the heat creeping up his neck, perhaps because it so clearly mirrors her own reactions. Her eyes track across his face, lingering on his mouth in a way that betrays her desire to kiss him. But — no. That would be easily spotted from below, and there is no performance to be made. While half the guests would be thrilled by that prospect, half would run straight to Hux.

Better to exercise caution.

She unhooks his belt with one hand. At a distance, surely, the black on black will mean it's not noticeable at all. ]

Are you worried that you couldn't hold it together? That's not good. Surviving this week is going to require a great deal of discretion on our part, you know.

[vaderstan]

[ He nearly snorts at the idea of Rey screaming across the room: "IM TOUCHING KYLO RENS DICK". I mean. He can nearly imagine her doing it out of spite. (can't we all tho)

Once she's got his belt unhooked he'll snatch her hand quickly to press a kiss to her fingers before letting it drop to resume it's work. An innocent gesture- a flirtation to anyone looking on. ]

I just need to know if I'll need to hold myself together at our wedding reception.

[forcevisions]

Only if you're any good at it.

[ Blunt in a way only Rey can be. From anyone else's mouth, it may have been intonated in an alluring way, drawn out, phrased better. But somehow, Rey's directness makes it enticing in its own way — it draws attention to the fact that she isn't the sort for empty talk, but action. She's definitely going to keep pushing his buttons.

The railing obscures her hand as it travels below his waist — probably better from the lower angle of where any of the public would be looking at them from. She slips her hand up under his tunic, loosened now by the lack of belt, and begins to work his blasted high-waisted pants open. ]

While I'm thinking about it, you should get less complicated clothes.

[vaderstan]

[ There's a scoff in response. His clothes were utilitarian, necessary in how they functioned and how they made him appear. ]

You have time to learn how they work.

[ This all means he doesn't lift a single finger to help her as she figures out how they unfasten Yes he is definitely getting some sick pleasure out of watching her struggle with his clothes. Why do you ask? ]

At least you don't need to contend with the mask any longer.

[forcevisions]

Oh?

[ She questions him almost absently as she works open his fly, pulling his trousers down to his mid-thigh to get them well and fully out of her way. His tunic still covers his hips. This is exactly what she means. Complicated. Unnecessarily so. ]

Did you stop wearing it because of me? [ She did comment on it. She recalls that now. She hadn't put a whole lot of thought to the fact that he'd stopped wearing it, but if he was trying to seduce her by looking like a human being. Well. Success. ]