NPC Invasion, Day One | Around the Dormitories | G
Rey feels the moment Ben arrives and makes it a priority to find him as soon as
possible.
⚠Mild sadness about reality hopping?
He'd felt her reaching out to him soon after he'd posted, and it hadn't been difficult to follow his sense of her in the Force. He felt Eliot too, and Fen, but not Hanna which was worrying him. Also there was something that felt a little off, something that created anxiety like he hadn't felt in years that was gnawing away and threatening to turn his insides into something sharp and acidic.
Ren Solo had not arrived from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, he'd arrived from Texas, and one might think it would make his dress blend more easily into an academic campus setting, and one wouldn't be entirely wrong. Dark combat boots paired with black jeans, and a dark asymmetrical tunic top that was surprisingly, perhaps, long sleeve, but he had always hated the short sleeve shirts and refused to wear them on all but the hottest days. In his pocket was his phone, but he was otherwise without anything else as he stepped up to the large brick building that he was pretty certain contained Rey - if not some of the others - and opened up the door.
Once inside he paused, taking note of his bearings, and then followed the Force, pulling out the phone he had to glance at the post. Eliot would reply soon, or Fen. He chewed on his bottom lip and stuffed it back in his trousers pocket.
She felt him instantly.
Silence had been present since her arrival in Derleth. Though she could feel others among the Force, there'd been no one who also shared her connection to it. It'd been the jarring sensation she'd felt when she'd first arrived and it had been the first heartbreak she'd tried to grasp that initial day. Others would soon follow, followed by weeks of difficulty, but the very vivid memory of being cut off from anyone else with Force sensitivity had propelled her back into anxiety she'd not felt since the days of Chicago.
Even if the arrival hadn't been Ben, she'd have known someone from her Galaxy had arrived. But Ben?
She knew it was him immediately. And it only took her a moment to try to reach out through the Force to him, to bridge the bond they shared, for her mind was racing. She could think of three possibilities for how this was going to go and none of them were optimal. He could have been a Ben Solo who'd only experienced the timeline of their Galaxy and this meant establishing what point he was from and connecting immediately. Or he could have been a Ben Solo from an alternate timeline and this meant figuring out the differences between their experiences as soon as possible; especially to determine if he was going to be a possible threat to the individuals here. Her hope, of course, was that this wouldn't be the way of things.
But finally? There was the possibility that he was Ben from home, who had experienced Tumbleweed and who knew everything Rey had ever experienced without any explanation at all. Rey hoped this was not the case. Of all the possibilities? That would have been the cruelest. While she had managed the pain of being separated from her loved ones she knew that Ben had far greater heartache to endure if he arrived.
When the connection was not established, she groaned to herself. They'd blocked one another before. It was usually her doing so. She was moving quickly now, pulling on articles of clothing, so she could head out to physically find him. A quick swipe to the network made her still entirely.
Oh, Ben.
She shut her eyes and sighed. The phone was pushed into her pocket, hands brought up to scrub at her face, as she prepared herself for the inevitable conversation she was about to have. Pulling the door open, she stepped out and went around the corner, where he was easily spotted. She remained silent for a moment before his name was spoken loudly and clearly, "Ben!"
"Rey," was breathed with an almost instant sigh of relief. She knew him, and she seemed glad to see him, so that was something. Admittedly he still felt incredibly uncertain about where he was or what was going on, but Rey knowing him meant that at least she was past the point where they'd been at odds with each other. She had to at least understand him.
He stepped up to close the distance between them, and after a heartbeat asked the first question that came to mind, followed by the next: "Where are we? Is Hanna here?" He asked, referring to his daughter with Fen and Eliot - the only one of the family that he couldn't currently feel.
The question would have been an answer in itself to the concerns Rey felt but instead it just caused her expression to falter. There was pity across her features, for only a split second, before she shook her head. "Safe at home, I promise."
Though she hadn't heard the words of the White Lady for herself, they were an anchor for her to latch onto. They were promised to go home one day and home was Tumbleweed. "We are on a University campus in a pocket dimension." She paused for a moment before, "Did the paper airplane arrive yet?" She glanced to his hands. She didn't see it being held but there was nothing to say it wasn't in his pockets yet.
"Oh," so not unlike when they'd come to Tumbleweed. This settled in with both anguish and relief. Hanna might not be here, but at least she would be at home where he'd still be - presumably there to hold her and care for her along with Fen and Eliot. Even though they were … also here. He tucked it into his mind to ask her about where he might find them, although they'd see his post, he was sure, and they could talk through some more of the implications of this later one.
"A paper airplane?" He felt confused for a moment and then he remembered, and he reached into the pocket of his tunic and pulled out a now crumpled piece of paper. He glanced at her, then uncrumpled it and spread it out to read through it. After having done so, he read it a second time and then glanced up. "So white void then, huh? And kidnapped like Tumbleweed, only… not. Eliot and Fen are here though… how long have they been here? They won't miss us at home will they?"
As he worked on retrieving the document, she took the final steps to be at his side. Uncertainty mounted in her as to how to proceed. Did she steer him towards the dormitories and bring him into her own for privacy as they began to peel back the layers of what this meant for him? Or did she guide him towards the green, where it was possible others could come across them, but guaranteed to have plenty of fresh air?
And more open space should he have a strong negative reaction?
Frowning, her gaze turned up at him. "Tumbleweed allowed time to march on. Derleth does not." They would experience the week and a new one would begin when it was complete but they never truly progressed ahead. It was more obvious in those who had injuries they were recovering from when unwittingly brought to this space. "They..." She hesitated before reaching out to brush against his elbow, just enough, so she could steer him away from the dorms. The green it was.
Walking towards the exit, she didn't step away from his space. "...have been here longer than I have." It was better to just put him out of the anguish, wasn't it? "They come from Fillory, Ben. Not home."
Tumbleweed allowed time to march on. Delerth does not.
Ren was trying to work through what exactly she meant by that, questions popping into his mind, when the last sentence she said sunk in, feeling as if she'd plunged a stone into his stomach and it was pulling him down, dragging him into some place that wasn't safe, something that felt darker than he'd been in a long time, and he swallowed, scrambling, knowing that she'd sense it, but…
"They don't know me."
There was a look of sympathy across Rey's features as she managed a small nod of affirmation. Memory of being in the same position as Ben, not even two months prior, was still incredibly fresh and had served as a pain point for the first few weeks of her time here. It had subsided when Margo had joined her but that didn't erase the pain of having someone held so dear have no comprehension of who you were.
"Barely anyone is from home," she said, gently, though she didn't think that would do much for him. It was a fact more than anything else.
For a second Ren held still. He was still reeling from the news that Eliot and Fen wouldn't know him at all. But he supposed this had happened to people in Tumbleweed hadn't it? People came, they didn't remember being there? He frowned slightly, and then sighed.
"But you're from home," he countered. "How long have you been here? Have you been by yourself?"
"I did say 'barely,'" she recalled before she motioned for them to continue on. She hoped she was correct in her belief that nothing bad was going to happen this week. Nothing had seemed terrible just yet. She cast her eyes back to him as she took the steps. "It's been just over two months."
Was she here by herself? She drew in a breath before her mechanical hand came up to sweep her hair back. "At first? Yes. I was told Ravi, if you remember him, had been here a few months prior so they knew of Tumbleweed. But he was gone and no one else was here. Victor Frankenstein showed up a few weeks later and then Margo did three weeks back."
Ren did remember, vaguely. So it wasn’t unheard of for people to show up here from Tumbleweed even if it was now just the two of them… three of them. He stared, a flash of irritated anger that Margo was here flaring up, followed just as quickly by a flash of irritation at himself for being angry that Rey wasn’t alone. Because he wasn’t, not really. He didn’t wish being alone on anyone and he knew well enough they’d each had long periods of it at home, not Tumbleweed, but home in their galaxy.
He pulled in a breath, counting to ten or something that wasn’t particularly impressive for a Jedi. “Right, well that’s good she’s here. She knows you?”
Her head gave a tilt as she picked up the emotions surging from him. In turn, her expression turned downward, eyes set on him to convey the unfairness of those feelings. But she said nothing of them and instead pushed it from herself when she took note of his shift of frustration towards himself. "I remember all too well what it is like to have them look at you without recognition." It was a statement and it was clear.
She was one of the few who could understand. He just had no way of knowing.
Sighing, she gave a shrug of her shoulders. "She knows me. There is another, who was here first, and she didn't." Rey wasn’t sure if 'good' was the appropriate word. A comfort? Certainly. But Rey felt guilty for wanting the woman at her side and not back home in safety and with their families.
She hesitated before, "I've mentioned you. To Fen and Eliot."
Ren's gaze shot up at that information. There was another Margo here who hadn't known Rey. So she probably knew what he was feeling. Which, if he were being honest, they'd always had a connection like that hadn't they?
"That's good," he tried to lighten his tone. "Maybe they won't think I'm just a raving idiot out of nowhere then."
"Maybe not." Her conversations with Fen had been a point of regret. It pulsed through her immediately but she tried to push it away. "I don't talk to Eliot much. Fen and I have begun to be friends."
She drew in another breath. "I can tell you more about how it works here but…" she looked to the device in his hand, "...I'd understand if you want to wait til they respond. Or until it sinks in more."
Ren sighed.
The earlier frantic worry about Hanna was fading away leaving something blank and exhausted in his place. He could remember conversations he and Rey had about before, when she'd been places even before Tumbleweed. Lives lived that nobody here would remember because they weren't the same people. And he was suddenly very tired, aware that he'd come to count on Eliot and Fen both but not here. Here he wouldn't be able to, or if he would, it would be starting over from scratch, a whole new relationship, and Ren knew he'd never been particularly good at those.
He could have asked if his mother or father were here, or in fact anyone from their galaxy, but he could only feel Rey.
"I don't have a key," he said. It came seemingly out of nowhere but he'd seen Natasha's post, even if he'd chosen to ignore it in his frantic scramble about whether or not Hannah was safe. "So maybe we should start there. Natasha said I should have a key?"
Sympathy certainly was present from her in this moment. For as much as she'd tried to explain the experiences she had before Texas, she would have never wanted anyone else to live them. Being pulled from the loved ones was hard enough but the added pain of seeing them daily, in a small space, with any recognition? Rey didn't wish that on anyone.
"You should. Did you check everywhere?" She looked at him closely, eyes bouncing over his figure, trying to identify hidden spots a key could have appeared from. She didn't spot many. Her arrival had found her own key easily thrust in her jacket pocket. He likely had checked there and the inability to locate it was worrying in itself.
The question sent him digging again: in the trousers pockets, and in the one pocket on his tunic and he frowned. “I don’t think I have any other pockets,” he told her. It would just figure that something would be wrong. “Is there somewhere we could go? You could… explain things? And I’ll try to figure out if there’s another pocket I’m not thinking of.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s in my shoes.”
"It's not going to be in your shoes," she said with a slight look before nodding her head. "Yeah. Do you want to go inside? We can go to my room. We have two spare beds right now. Or did as of this morning. Who knows if that'll change," she said with a roll of her eyes. She didn't love how quickly things could be altered here.
Feeling uncertain about how to proceed exactly, Ren nodded. "Do you have some coffee?" He queried feeling as though a cup, even if it wasn't from Galactic Roasters, might do at least something to set things right. But even if it didn't, it'd give him some time to learn more about what to expect here, and figure out how to address the whole Eliot and Fen situation. "You can fill me in on how this is different from Tumbleweed. I saw Natasha was here, and had made a post, but I didn't… um," he shrugged. "I guess I didn't read it much."
"Kady has one of those machines with the pods." Rey would have been content with instant mix herself but she had a feeling the Keurig wasn't something Ben would be terribly excited over. Still, it was coffee, right? She nudged her head back towards the way they'd come.
"Yes. Natasha is here." There was tension in Rey's voice as she said this and if he were to focus in, there was a shiver down her spine as well as sadness emitting from her. She was still working on overcoming the feelings she had regarding Natasha the past few weeks. "There's more of you today than normal. It's usually only one at a time..." She sighed. It was another curve ball and one she was concerned over. But that was for future dissection.
"Kady's here, alright." Ren nodded, but it occurred to him that she wouldn't know him either, and he couldn't quite keep a sign from escaping his lips. It was a reminder that he was largely starting all over again except with Rey, and presumably Margo - but he and Margo had always been complicated anyway, and he couldn't imagine that this would change just because he wasn't married to the Eliot that was local. Maybe that was unfair though.
"Yeah, there were… she said something about that," he considered. "There sometimes were large influxes in Tumbleweed too though… do we know what's pulling us in here?"
"There'll be a lot of familiar faces. None from our Galaxy other than BB-8. Which...I don't have time to warn him you are coming," she said with a bit of a sigh herself. Hopefully he'd not be too responsive to Ben's arrival. She pushed this thought from her mind as she moved to head back the way they'd come.
"She's always thorough," she noted before nodding her head, looking at him over her shoulder, "The large influxes are never good." She'd more than enough memories reminding her of how they were fickle and they felt instable. People would come in large swathes and in the blink of an eye? They'd go back.
In this case? Maybe it would be for the best. Maybe she, Margo, Ben and Victor could all be sent back. But that felt far too hopeful. "I don't think so."
"You know maybe you should go in ahead of us and give him proper warning," Ren raised an eyebrow half teasing, and half serious. He wasn't really in the proper fame of mind to be scolded by a droid, or worse, electrocuted because BB-8 was in a mood or the droids last memories of him were something less than ideal.
And he couldn't argue with Rey's comments. Because he remembered that too. The large swaths of people, the way they'd go back. The updates, and changes - he wondered if that happened here too.
Tentatively he reached out in the Force. He'd brushed it away earlier, worried and anxious and not really wanting Rey to feel all of that, but in the scheme of things he was glad that she was his Rey, the one that he'd talked to and the one who had gone through all of the Dyad memories with him.
"Oh? You don't want him rolling directly into your knee caps?" And for the first real time since Ben had arrived, there was the flash of the cheeky smile she so regularly displayed. She gave a silent laugh afterwards before nodding in agreement because she didn't want to have him being assaulted by her friend.
Her steps slowed as she felt him reach out and she closed her eyes briefly. It'd been far too long since she'd felt someone that shared her affinity with the Force and she'd known how much she missed that connection. And feeling him specifically? Despite the sadness she felt on behalf of him, she couldn't help but be a little grateful in turn that he was there.
When she opened her eyes again, she looked at him with the smallest smile. 'It will all be alright,' she reassured him without saying out loud.
"I grew up with Artoo giving me sass and Threepio whinging constantly," Ren retorted. "And I've just learned neither one of my spouses are here, just people in their bodies that won't remember me, so I think I've earned a droid abuse free morning… or afternoon? What time is it? I can't tell time on this planet."
But the connection felt like home, even if none of the surroundings did and he connected with her and he glanced back over echoing her small smile.
Eliot and Fen might not be here, but all of the things he'd learned from their friendships and love had come with him, even if they hadn't. And if Margo had shown up. If Rey were here… well. That was a possibility, right? I know, he returned.
"That's admittedly fair." The truth was that she wouldn't let BB-8 attempt to harm him. She would do fairly close to anything to try to make the coming days easy for Ben. And, if she were lucky, BB-8 would be sensible. It wasn't as though her kinship with Ben were going to come as a surprise to the droid, just that he hadn't ever been too keen on it.
Just like Poe and Finn.
The smile lingered and after a moment she gently nudged her head towards the door that had come to mean her own. "This one," she said before casting a look toward him. There was a moment of hesitation, because it wasn't something they regularly did in the years they'd spent in Texas, but she turned quickly and wrapped her arms around him. A quick squeeze of a hug was given as a stand in for the words she knew were unfair to say but true nonetheless.
That she was glad he was there and she'd missed him.