Sep 9, 2019
- Alfa (suggested by @capaldisrighteyebrow)
seen from Canada
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
seen from Spain
seen from Ireland
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Spain
seen from Yemen
seen from Italy
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
- Alfa (suggested by @capaldisrighteyebrow)
A teaser from @capaldisrighteyebrow‘s fic, Between Concrete & Stars:
"I'm here for more names."
Ben quietly closed the door, then turned to regard her. “I’ve exhausted my list of enemies, confirmed and speculative.”
"The first list didn't yield much. A few fans with some. . . fixations." Her eyes darted between his so-called 'strawberry lips' and 'dinner-plate hands' with 'sausage fingers'. When they tracked up they measured the breadth of his expansive chest. The fan sites weren't wrong in their descriptions. The man was utterly edible.
And forbidden fruit.
“Fixations, you say?”
Rey startled and nearly dropped her Moleskine notebook. He’d caught her staring; much to her chagrin, it wasn’t the first time he’d noticed her noticing him during their repeated interactions.
Considering his cocked eyebrow and devilish gaze, Ben didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. Maybe this was why he kept showing up with fewer clothes—to shatter her resolve not to look.
“This would be so much easier if you’d put on a shirt.”
The complete work will be released on February 14 as part this year’s Reylo Charity Anthology: Across the Stars. Donate by February 13 to receive your copy!
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I love procrastinating too. "you can't be here now" for reylo. Please and thank you!
Procrastinating is so, so good, that this got away from me!! *sweats* Thank you for the ask! (◕‿◕✿)
“You can’t be here now.”
“You think I can control this?”
Normally, Kylo wouldn’t be bothered by Rey’s reaction to his sudden appearance, but this time was different. She seemed skittish, eyes constantly darting past him. He looked around and unsurprisingly, he couldn’t see her surroundings, only her, standing in front of some viewdeck with the glittering expanse of space behind her. She bundled the edges of her tunic in her hands and nibbled on her bottom lip. Odd, this was the first time he had seen her like this.
He turned back to her and noticed that her hair was pinned to one side, exposing the cream of her neck and clavicle. There was something else - her face was clean, cleaner than normal. Bright, almost. She had put something on her face…it made her lashes more defined and her lips glisten. For lack of better word, she looked… “Pretty.”
“What?”
A furious heat crept up his neck with his heart hammering in his chest and blood screaming in his ears as he floundered for words. Maker, how could he be so stupid? He couldn’t believe he actually let that slip, lips pressed together in a thin line as he struggled to reply. However, he didn’t need to as Rey’s attention was pulled away by something…or rather, someone.
Kylo couldn’t see who it was or what was happening, only that a single flower was pressed into her hand. He stared dumbly at the pink petalled item in Rey’s hand, her slim fingers clutching the fragile stem. And then, everything clicked into place.
“You’re on a date?” he asked incredulously. He felt his stomach drop when Rey avoided his eyes and refused to acknowledge his presence again, moving to walk down the boardwalk.
He followed her, a sharp remark on the tip of his tongue that died when a faint outline of a hand appeared near her waist. He came to a complete stop, eyes wide as Rey continued on without him. His body felt numb, his hands dangling by his sides and mouth moving without any sound. He was speechless, and suddenly felt out of place. She was right, he shouldn’t be there. He couldn’t be there. He didn’t want to see any of this, to see someone else with Rey when her rejection was still fresh in his mind.
Without a single word, he turned around with a snap of his boots and stormed off in the opposite direction, feeling relief only when their connection disconnected with snap. He didn’t need her. And she didn’t need him.
Fine by him.
-
“Rey? You okay?”
Rey jolted back to reality and looked at the lieutenant who had been trying to get her attention for the past few minutes. What was his name again? Urgh, this was a terrible idea, but the others had insisted on it. Next thing she knew, makeup was being dabbed on her face and hair pinned to the side, courtesy of Rose and the support of Finn and Poe. “Gotta make use of your hair, Rey. Mine curl up too much, so I’ll have to live vicariously through you,” Rose had commented as she fashioned some clips from old engine parts. They had also suggested she wear a dress instead of the same clothes she always wore, but she had profusely declined. It was just a walk after all. Still, they dug up a random dress from somewhere and thrust it into her arms before giving her a thumbs up.
She didn’t wear the dress. It was just a walk after all, despite their reassurances that it was not just a walk.
It turned out they were correct. Her ‘date’ showed up in plain, civilian clothing, rather than the uniform she had expected him to don, much to her shock.The Resistance was still on the run, but the planet they had stopped at for a week to resupply was the perfect place for a date, it seemed. And as much as she tried, she couldn’t seem to relax around the young man.
He was nice and polite, but the admiration clear on his face was too much sometimes. She could tell he was excited to go on a date with ‘The Hero of the Resistance’, not Rey herself, and for that, she plastered a fake smile and counted down the minutes until she was able to get back to her bunk.
Kylo appearing was also the last thing she needed. If she felt distracted whilst being on the ‘date’ beforehand, the guilt that began to fester after he disappeared was unbearable. There was no way she could keep her facade up.
“Sorry,” Rey said, offering a small smile. “I don’t feel very well.”
“Oh.” The man clearly looked deflated. “I can walk you to–”
“No, no! It’s okay!” she quickly reassured with her hands up. “You didn’t get the see the whole boardwalk! It looked very nice, it would be a shame if you didn’t finish it.”
“But–”
“I’ll see you around!” Rey rushed off, not bothering to look back as she wrung her hands nervously.
It wasn’t until she was in the ‘fresher attached to her bunk that she properly looked at herself in the mirror. Against her better judgement, she quickly changed into the dress her friends had supplied, hands smoothing over the fabric that stopped just above her knees. She felt weird and looked different, but it felt oddly liberating. She wasn’t used to dresses or the feel of her legs being so…free. It felt nice, but in the quiet of her ‘fresher, she was glad no one had seen her in it. Even alone, she felt slightly self-conscious. Probably something she would eventually get used to, but with the current state of the Resistance, it fell short on her list of needs.
“Oh, no,” she bemoaned, as the minimal sound around her got sucked into a void once again.
She didn’t need to turn around, able to see Kylo clearly in the mirror before her. He eyes were averted and had yet to see her in her dress, much to her relief. Things were already strained between them, and Kylo storming off earlier didn’t make things better. Not that she particularly understood why, it wasn’t like he was the one on the unwanted date.
A sharp intake of air brought her from her reverie, eyes focusing back on Kylo. He stood perfectly still and she could practically feel his nervousness rolling from him, despite the intensity of his stare. Again, what was he uncomfortable about? It wasn’t like he was the one standing in his ‘fresher in nothing but a slip of a dress.
Suddenly, he moved towards her. Now, it was her turn to freeze, watching him warily through the mirror. He stopped right behind her and it was impossible not to inhale his soapy scent. She shivered, even as he reached past her to the flower she had placed on the durasteel vanity. Her eyes followed his hand, a jarring sight to see his hulking fingers wrapped around the delicate stem. They moved to the side of her face, the same side her hair was pulled back, and tried to fasten the flower to her clip. He let out a small gasp when the stem snapped in half, catching the remaining flower in the palm of his hand.
As Kylo tried a second time to attach the brightly colored flower to her derelict clip, Rey’s eyes never left his face. His brows were knitted together with his lip wedged between his teeth, deep concentration apparent until the flower stayed in her hair.
He stepped back and let the ghost of a satisfied smile appear on his face. “You look nice,” he mumbled awkwardly, words jumbled with one another. He let out a shaky sigh and took another step back. “He’ll like it.”
He? Rey turned around to correct him, to explain that there was no ‘he’, and to properly show Kylo the front of her dress, when he disappeared in a blink of an eye. Like he was never there. Her hand came up to press against the flower in her hair, and her heart twisted traitorouslywhen sound returned to her ears.
💬 post a favorite sentence from your writing! <3
He's not what we've been fighting, they keep saying. It's only until she sees him, behind a pane of glass, that she understands their paranoia.
“We don’t know what kept him alive out there,” Dr Kalonia explains to Finn and Rose. They are symbiotic of one another now; barely able to acknowledge one without the existence of the other. “My medic staff reported no signs of flora or fauna around him. Not even water.”
He’s a shadow of himself. He’s not only thinner (he’s barely what he was, ribs showing where once it was flesh and muscle, designed to break) but he is sallow. His cheeks are hollow, his skin pale and muddied. There are old, crusted wounds on his temple, cheek and torso. His fight, his trauma, his torture, his resolve. His mask. It’s gone.
“The Force,” Rey says, speaking for the first time since their return to base. -- I don’t want (to set the world on fire)
For every 💬 I get in my inbox, I’ll post a quote from my own writing that I’m proud of!
Okay. Legit questions: what vestal virgin headcanons do you have? have you considered, instead of rey/ben being a solider/citizen, that they are one of the gods trying to seduce the vestal?
SO
my space vestal virgins are tasked with keeping the flame of the first order alive. what does that mean? idk
But Kylo is their leader, brought into the role as a young man by Emperor Snoke and groomed to be High Vestal. The Knights are lesser Vestals but stil powerful and dedicated to the First Order.
I HAVE NOT CONSIDERED THAT BUT OH BOY THAT IS A LOVELY TAKE YES YES YES
honestly in my AU its in space? so Rey is a warrior who has almost but not quite dalliances with Vestal Kylo. and Kylo kills Emperor snoke when he threatens Rey and so now Vestal Kylo is Emperor and Rey is there and they have feelings they can finally explore and that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.
Ohh. The hand hut scene is a little more firey that what we see in TLJ. Because of course we need a Vestal holding onto their vow scene
"Any minute now they will say some coffee poured out of a keurig is perfect and I’ll stop reading." Your liveblogging has been making me laugh, but this is the best comment yet. It's also making me think, "this gets published? I could do this."
IKR? it’s insane
Waves hello. It's been a while. Your opinion on the best/worst household chore. (Since I'm in cleaning mode.) :)
Best Household Chore is probably vacuuming because it’s monotonous and you can put on some music and just get it over with.
Worst Household Chore is cleaning windows, like not the washing of them but cleaning the track of dust and the like. It’s the worst. Probably because it’s not done often enough and so it is always a big chore.
Ask Me My Opinion on Stuff
I don't know if Ben will complete his knitting project by the time the story ends, but I'm curious as to what he might be making. I think I want to challenge myself to knit whatever it is before the story ends. I'm basically at his level, so I think it would be a fun challenge. (Also, my phone definitely auto corrected "knitting" too. Lol) Bless the fiber arts and technology mix ups.
he’s not making anything right now. he’s still on a beginner’s swatch because he’s still gotta get it into his muscle memory.
as far as first knitting projects go, i usually recommend hats. scarves take forever, and can be boring, but hats are fairly quick and you can usually get some good skills in there instead of just knitting row after row after row.
(i imagine ben’ll start with either a scarf or a hat, depending on what rey decides for him. he’ll probably do whatever she tells him to, lbr here.)