It was funny how much he had been able to change once he got to the hotel. He’d arrived thinking it was the afterlife and that he was here to pay penance for everything he’d done. Sometimes, it still felt like he was waiting for all of it to come crashing down ...that there were shadows waiting just around the corner to steal every bit of happiness that he’d found here. He had too much to lose now.
Had he changed completely? He tried to stay on the right path but if Rey or Armitage or Padme or Ari, if anything bad happened to anyone that he cared for, he would stray. There would be no second though to it. Just because he was playing nice now didn’t mean that Ben didn’t know how to play dirty.
“I wouldn’t say I was ridiculously tall,” Ben grumbled half-heartedly. It wasn’t like he was this unreachable mountain. Unless it was Rey who was so small that Ben had to sometimes lean down just to give her a smooch. “Some people don’t mind the climb.”
This wasn’t how this conversation had been meant to go. They were supposed to be trading threats, not jokes. But Ben would take what he could get. Rey would be pleased they were getting along.
The rabbits did seem to be going scarce in the area. Good. Maybe that meant they could take a break. He bent down to pick up Ari again and then tucked her into his side. Her eyes were drooping by now. Rabbit hunting had tired her out. Good. “We can see if anyone else needs help?” He offered as he turned down a new path. There was still room in the makeshift dead rabbit bag.
“And call me what you like. Titles aren’t important to me. Not anymore. This isn’t the First Order. We’re just ....trying to find our own way.”