log; coffeeshop; ren & rey Who: Rey Smith and Ren Solitaire What: WTF are you doing here? When: Thursday. Where: Coffee shop Warnings: Language
Rey had taken a few days to get settled in and unpack before she ventured over to the actual town of Repose to look around and see what she'd gotten herself into. There were a number of shops that might need her help, a few places to eat, that kind of thing. Nothing too exciting, but it wasn't like Rey was above any of it. She'd done field labor and other scutwork in the past and she would again if needed.
There was a bookstore near where Rey had parked; she pulled her hands into the sleeves of her hoodie before she ducked in to take a look round. There was a coffee bar at the back of the single room that housed the stock. The growling noise her stomach made at the scent of coffee and baked goods reminded her it had been a long few hours since breakfast, so she made her way over to take a look at the menu, and maybe chat with whoever was behind the counter.
"Be right with you," Ren called up from where he was existing - currently under the counter playing with the cord of the espresso machine. It had been a pill all morning and he was trying to make certain that there wasn't something obvious, like the cord having been joustled or something of the like. But even if he hadn't heard the bell on the door, he could sense that someone had come in, and he'd get to them in a minute.
As far as he could tell, the cord wasn't the problem, which made him lean more towards just plain meanness when it came to the machine. Not that a machine could be mean exactly, but in general. He frowned at it, pushed on the cord, and shifted out from under the counter, carefully so he wouldn't bump his head - something all too easy to do with his size - and lifted himself to his full height, turning to regard the newcomer.
When his eyes caught sight of her face, he froze.
It had been years. But it wasn't as if you could forget the face of someone who could do no wrong as opposed to your constant mess-ups. Caught between 'what are you doing here' and hoping maybe she wouldn't recognize him somehow. He did have a beard so there was that.
When she'd heard his voice, Rey thought it had to be a mistake. She was hearing things. But then he came out to the counter and it was--older, hairier, maybe a bit grungier--it was definitely him.
"Ben?" Rey asked incredulously. "Ben Og--"
"Shut up!" the words came out hissed, a glance given towards the back of the store, which thankfully was fairly sparsely populated at this particular moment. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
Maybe someone else he could have played some sort of mind game, tried to make them forget that they'd seen him, or had an encounter with someone else entirely, but he knew her well enough to know that wasn't likely to work, and him trying was only going to ruin his chances of convincing her not to tell his family that he was here.
Had his parents somehow tracked him down already? But no, she seemed surprised, which was something. "It's Ren. Ren Solitaire." He didn't really know if she'd kept track of the band he'd been in or not, and he didn't really care. It wasn't the point.
Oh, that was right, he had a stage name. Rey used that memory to buy herself a moment to recover from her own shock. "I could ask you the same question. I'm at the house." She gestured in the general direction of the lake. "With things. And stuff." If they were playing a weird game of not answering things, Rey could play along, and it wasn't like she wanted anyone to know what she was doing anyway. Not until she got the lay of the land. "I'm by myself, if that's what you're asking."
"The house?" It was a stupid question because he knew what house, and of course his parents owned it, and of course they would give her the key for… god only knew what reason. It wasn't as if he hadn't been it at all, but he generally tended to pretend it didn't exist. And things and stuff sounded… suspicious, really if he were being honest.
"Good." It hadn't been exactly, but it was one thing. He was still curious what she was here for, if she'd known to expect him, and he reached out with the intent of getting anything surface that might exist in her thoughts anyway. She shoved him off with some effort--he was still strong, if not well in practice--though he could certainly tell she was displeased.
"Use your words," Rey suggested flatly. "Like this: do you know about Uncle Luke?"
He glared, but there was no more malice behind it than there had been previously. It wasn't as if he'd expected it to work with her. "Fine. Do my parents know you're here?" There was a beat as her question sunk in and he gave her a sharp look. "He's not here is he?"
"Yes, they know I'm here," Rey's answer was all patience now that she was getting what she wanted, sort of. "Aunt--your mother suggested it, in fact. For reasons of our own, not because anyone thought you'd be here. And, not in any form you need to concern yourself about, anyhow."
So they hadn't been looking for him. Well that was something. He hesitated on a razor's edge between telling Rey he didn't want her to tell anyone he was here and thinking it might be better not to say. She hadn't known he was here, so maybe it would be obvious, and if he said something, it'd just become obvious he didn't want it… fuck all of this shit really. He glanced up sharply, "what's that supposed to mean? I don't want him in any form. What form?"
"You really don't know." It wasn't a question, but there was a bit of incredulity in her tone. Then she softened a little, "I'm sorry to be the one who has to tell you, then, B--Ren. He's gone. Six months ago. I was with him so--I'm sure it was him."
He didn't move at all, just kept staring down at her trying to figure out if there was relief or anger or regret or something else. Mostly he didn't want to name the emotion so he didn't. He had spent most of the time since he'd come to Repose trying to avoid his Uncle, until the past year or so when he'd just decided he had to deal with things, which had been fine and easy enough to do when it had just been him and his memories, but now here was Rey.
"I see." There was some realization even as he said it that this wouldn't be enough of anything for her, but his Uncle had always preferred her somehow. "I'm not in touch with my parents and they don't know I'm here. And he hasn't made his presence known to me for years now." There it was, both the explanation for why, and a note about his parents knowledge of him being here.
None of this seemed a particular surprise to Rey. She regarded him steadily. "Your mother gave me a message to give you if I happened to see you. Which is: come home." There was no sense that his reply would have made a difference to her, but her thoughts and feelings were protected now. "And I knew that you and Uncle Luke were--" Rey made a delicate gesture with her hands, drawing them apart to demonstrate distance between Luke and Ren "--but I thought, at the end--" she trailed off, unwilling to say more in public.
"There are some other things I should probably tell you, but they'll wait until you're not at work. If you want to come up to the house, we can talk about them there." There was the lightest touch on his own mind, not pressing through his shields, to make clear the kind of matter she was talking about. "I meant to have some coffee, but I should probably go."
Ren snorted at that message. Like his mother really cared. If he went home they'd blow up the house in a fight in probably 24 hours, and there wasn't any point to that. "He hasn't wanted anything to do with me since I decided to stop following directions and go to University," he told her flippantly. It wasn't like him to not persist in the coffee, but he didn't. Instead he shrugged, an indication that he had no particular intention of following up on her offer, although he glanced back towards her and frowned.
He hated not knowing things. He always had. "You probably should."
Rey's gaze rested on Ren for a long moment, then shrugged. "Then I suppose I'll see you around. I'll be staying at the house for the foreseeable future, so if you want to reach me, you know how. And in the meantime,--" the shift of her mouth left no doubt that she meant to give the ritual words of parting, but what she ended up saying was "--farewell." There was a pause, and she added, "Ren."
"Yeah, later," Ren muttered, immediately turning away, but even as he did, he couldn't entirely keep from tracking her presence, even if it wouldn't change anything and certainly didn't return to place what had shifted.