women laughing alone with the force. [closed]

[snaphiss]

WHO: Mara Jade snaphiss & Rey Mysteriouslysurnameless sensitively
WHERE: The Bearings roof, with all the other coolkids.
WHEN: Day 34.
SUMMARY: Two galpals have a friendly chat.
WARNING: Threats, name-calling, raised voices. I was promised biting.

[Mara has promised not to fight Jacen's battles for him, not to clean up his messes. That's fine with her; she has no intention of being someone's babysitter. But that doesn't mean Mara plans to let a potential threat slip through her fingers.]

[Since the encounter with J- Kylo Ren, he called himself Kylo Ren-- since then, Mara has had an easier time with the Force. Combining the symbiote's power and potential with her innate talents hasn't reaped amazing benefits, but enough that she can control both better. She finds a comfortable, tactically advantageous place on the Bearings roof (she has the higher ground), and meditates.]

[She focuses on the name Rey in the Force, looks for a scavenger, a girl who thinks Skywalker's lightsaber is hers. She focuses, and she concentrates, and she feels the Force open up to her. She uses the symbiote to sharpen that impulse, to turn her intentions into words:]

( Rey. )

[Through the link, there's the sensation of focus. Someone very strong willed is looking very carefully.]

( I am on the Bearings roof. Meet me there. )

[Best to keep it brief. Message sent, Mara settes down to wait.]

Comments

[sensitively]

[ The thought that reaches her from across the Nest gives her pause; Rey, since her confrontation with Ren and then the vigil, has been maintaining a relatively low profile, communicating mostly with her brood and with Ahsoka. Occasionally, reaching through the Force, she can reach Ren — when he's not actively shutting her out — and doing the mental equivalent of smacking him upside the head with the palm of her hand.

But this, this contact — Rey cocks her head and listens, focuses, because to her surprise it feels as though the message is coming from yet another person utilizing the Force.

She gets to her feet from where she's been sitting cross-legged on her bed, startled by the realization, and throws out a demand in reply: ]

( Who is this? Who are you? )

[ but when no answer readily comes, she grabs her quarterstaff — the only weapon she has, now — and heads up to the roof, her steps quick, brow darkened like a storm cloud. She can sense that willfulness behind the communication.

When she finally finds the source, the red-haired woman seated in a comfortable-looking pose, she stops short. ]

...You called me. [ She sets the butt end of her quarterstaff down, bracing herself with it. ] I'm here.

[snaphiss]

[Mara found a high vantage point to wait from, a metal awning atop one of the doors inside. There, she waited, meditating, until this girl, Rey, arrived.]

[When she does, Mara opens her eyes, and attempts the regality and poise she used at her days in the Imperial Court. She speaks with authority and privilege, as though her ownership of the station is a given. Chin up, Mara looks down at Rey with the appearance of dull interest.]

My name is Mara Jade. We're going to talk about lightsabers.

[sensitively]

[ Fourteen long years of scavenging, scraping by in the hot sun and sand for rations and repelling through long-abandoned husks of Star Destroyers have taught Rey many things. Survival, self-sufficiency, resilience among a few of them.

But also, first and foremost, that she doesn't enjoy looking up to anyone — whether Unkar Plutt's trading window in Niima, or this woman looking down her nose at her.

Her voice is icy, cautious. ] If you're asking if I've wielded one, I have. If you're asking whether I have one on me — I don't.

[ Her frown deepens, a little crease forming between her dark brows. ] I don't see what else there is to speak of, on that subject.

[snaphiss]

[Mara cocks her head to the side, thinking. It's a banal display of interest, made to show that her attention is still completely on Rey. That the ball remains in Mara's court.]

I've heard you like stealing them.

[sensitively]

[ ...Oh. So that's her angle — this woman has obviously been speaking to Kylo Ren, either as a sympathizer to the First Order or a Darksider like he is, but it's perplexing to Rey all the same. The woman's powers don't have the same sort of signature as Ren's, despite her inexperience with others adept with the Force. Perhaps she's simply a member of his brood.

Nevertheless, the insinuation has her hackles riled. ]

You've got your source all wrong. I've never stolen anything. [ ....wellll... ]

...Except the Millenium Falcon, from the Blobfish. [ there is that. ]

[snaphiss]

[That sure gets Mara's attention. Her eyes widen briefly before they narrow with anger and suspicion. She was never fond of that rusty hunk of metal, but it's Han Solo's ship. Is this woman obsessed with Jacen?]

You stole the Falcon? [It's clearly an accusation. Her tone is severe, and her question is more of a demand:] Why.

[sensitively]

[ Now it's Rey's turn for brow-raising — that was an intriguing reaction to what was literally a throw-away comment, an admission that yes, she's stolen one thing before for her own survival, during a TIE-fighter attack on Niima Outpost.

She regards the redheaded woman with new interest, as well as a wry look. ] ...I thought you wanted to talk about lightsabers.

But yes, I stole the Falcon. Why I did so is my business. [ and she's not offering any more information up until Mara answers one of her questions, for a change: ]

You knew Han Solo, then? [ ...'knew', not know. ]

[snaphiss]

Who I know or don't know is my business. [She tilts her chin, sneering.] If you want to know, you have to share first.

[The only reason she could think of to steal that piece of junk is for the resale value. Collectors would want to own the transport that fought in both Death Star battles.]

[sensitively]

[ ...Fine. If she wants the reason for an insignificant act of thievery, she can have it. ]

It belonged at the time to a junkyard dealer on Jakku. I stole it to get off-world, because my friend [ — there's a quick swallow as she says the word, over the emotion that sparks whenever she thinks of Finn — ] and I were running for our lives from a First Order attack on Niima Outpost.

They were after a droid, that was with us...Ren was after the droid. A BB unit.

[ All of that said, she puts her hands on her hips and looks at Mara now, expectantly. Your turn. ]

[snaphiss]

[Mara keeps up that look of stern disapproval. Sympathy won't be found in Mara, much less her side of the story. Secretive to a fault, she won't offer up her truth until it's pried from her.]

And was this before or after you stole the lightsaber?

[sensitively]

— I didn't steal the lightsaber! It was offered to me. It called to me.

[ She's had enough with this bantha fodder, as well as with having to look up at this woman. ] I'm not answering any more of your questions, until you start answering mine — and get off of that perch, while you're at it — how do you know Han Solo and his ship? What else did Ren tell you...?

...Do you even know who he is?

[snaphiss]

[And Mara, unsurprisingly, stays on her perch.]

Yes. [She says without hesitation or eagerness.] Far better than you, I bet.

[Mara stands, arms still folded. She has no intention of answering questions, especially to a thief (because Mara has never stolen anything, ever, obviously).] I'm Mara Jade. Anything more than that, you don't need to know.

[sensitively]

[ If she's an ally of Ren's, from their world, she wants nothing more with this. ]

Then we're done, here.

[ Gripping her staff, she turns to leave. ]




[ since you were promised biting!!! ]