dragonwarder | (no subject)

[There’s a long pause while Daenerys struggles with the desire to be a mean girl.]

Alright.
I have been spending my additional time at the research center, but I can clear an evening.

Yeah? I'd heard you were out of town a lot.

[ she's not trying to pick another fight, so she doesn't mention from who. but it is a solicitation for more of what that's about. ]

I have not been keeping track, to be honest.
But it keeps me busy.
There are many strange things happening to the lands of this world.
And its animals.

Like the ones in the ruins?

[ their golden eyes hadn't struck her as unnatural, not right away. she hadn't seen enough mammals on earth to be sure what they were supposed to look like to begin with. but she'd heard others comment on it. ]

Indeed.
They are evolving in unexpected ways.

Much of it is beyond me, I am afraid.
But I am learning.

[Or trying to. Ever since the EMP — something like that made it easy to show perspective on how little she knew and understood. It left her at a disadvantage. That couldn’t be allowed to stand.]

I know you don't like asking for help. But I'm sure there are some Displaced who could help you make sense of pieces of it.

[ people who are more familiar with the way earth does science.

and to bridge what could be taken as an insult a little, ]

Kylo, even.

[ he's dumb as a dewback where people and his own issues are concerned, but he's smart in all the ways a child who has received a good education is. analytical. she'll admit that while she won't be connecting herself to him, daenerys clearly feels differently. and if she's going to be friends with kylo ren, she might as well bring this up. ]

We have spoken about it, some.
But I will never learn if I do not see it for myself.

[Rey probably knows something of that, given their many conversations that Daenerys refused to simply take someone else’s word on. She was not a trusting person by nature.

And even with her trust in Kylo Ren, understanding did not come from being told. It came from doing.]

I have been told there is research occurring down on Adelaide Island, near Antarctica.
I plan to attempt an excursion in the near future, once I can convince my colleagues to endorse it.

Antarctica. That's cold, right? Nathan Drake knew a lot about how to plan for Everest, in case you think that'd help. But I bet if you get your work on board, they'd cover that.

Still. If you need supplies or any mechanical support or just a friend, say the word. I'll join you.

[ force knows dany has shown up enough times for rey in that way. ]

Quite.

[She takes the rest of what she says and stores it away for later. What she focuses on is the second half of what she says.

"A friend". Is that what they were, still? She certainly hadn't acted like it.

She's not ready to unpack that yet. Not without first:]

Where did you want to have lunch?

If evening is better for you, we can do dinner.

You pick the place. I'll pay.

The hovering mobile taco establishment is fine.
I have been indoors far more than I would like anyway.

[And it was cheap, so she'd feel less like a charity case.]

Yeah?
Good.
Great.

[ EVERYTHING IS GOING SO WELL ]

See you then.

[This is going to be awkward, she is sure. But she's been in more awkward situations.]

[ music plays out of the taco truck, which on the day they meet is parked in a landscaped promenade surrounded by high end stores. the truck isn't crowded enough at this time, though, and after a few minutes, the owner calls out the window to ask rey if she's planning to buy anything. ]

Oh, I'm waiting for a friend.

[ it occurs to her with some disappointment how badly waiting has worked out for her before. but daenerys isn't like her parents. ren had insisted her friends would be different. so she waits. again. ]

[Daenerys shows up after work, still dressed in her white labcoat. Her hair is up, artfully twisted into a braid on top of her head that has begun to come undone from the business of the day. Fortunately, she at least had the piece of mind to pocket the rest of her PPE.

Finding Rey is easy still, even now when their relationship is more...distant than it once was. Of course, the impatient owner helps -- which leaves Daenerys stepping up with a light frown.]

You did not need to wait for me.

[Though she speaks to Rey, her impatience is directed at the owner of the truck for his chosen tone.]

I don't really mind waiting.

[ her smile rings hollow, a little bit. the words wear thinner with each year that passes. she'd always minded waiting, but she never knew what else to do. it's the same with daenerys now. she can't do anything but be present, insist upon her place here. rey finds herself recreating the same pattern. ]

Order what you want. I'll get something else, and we can share. [ and she'll pay, obviously. as she'd said. ]

Alright.

[She offers a small nod before opting to step up and order a set of tacos -- no protein involved, just garden veggies with some spicing and a spoonful of some sort of puree for the body to hold it all together.

Once through, she stands off to the side, peeling herself out of her lab coat so that she can fold it and put it away in the bag she had brought. The scrubs beneath aren't exactly flattering, but they're better for the weather.

They do not, however, cover the large bandage on her arm.]

I suppose it has been business as usual, since the simulation lifted?

Uh.

[ she takes her food from the vendor, paying for both of their orders, and then turns away. there's no hiding it, now. daenerys had been on her good side in front of the vendor, but now that they're facing one another directly ...

long claw marks have left still-healing wounds in rey's throat and up over her jaw and her cheek, not entirely unlike the scar that which kylo ren wears. there's no hiding it, she knows. the scabs itch like a lie. ]

Not exactly. [ she hasn't had to explain. not in this way, at least. but daenerys didn't see the video. ]

[Her eyes are drawn to it quickly, and she blinks in surprise. Rather than approach her and fret over it, she slowly sinks into a seated position and glances up at Rey's face suspiciously.

Not cruel suspicion, of course -- there is concern there. But she's still working through her hurt here.]

Go on.

There was a fight.

[ that even sounds like an excuse. rey chokes on it. she shoves a bite of food into her mouth and chews it over. the movement shifts some of the scabbing on her cheek uncomfortably. don't like that. ]

I got into a fight. At Red Wings, with Catra.

[Well, that is not entirely surprising. Catra could be a little...well.]

Over?

[She won't make excuses for the girl. She knows her sort, and wouldn't be surprised to find that Catra had, in fact, goaded her into attacking. It is what she is expecting to hear, so there is no judgement in her tone.]

A lot of things.

[ rey holds out her reusable tin tray for daenerys to try some of her food. an offering. a way to buy time while she puts 'a lot of things' to words. rey is getting better with them, but she still doesn't like to place it, and the catra fight comes too close to her soft insides. ]

Catra always wants a fight with me. And she ... she saw something in one of my dreams that she didn't understand, and I found out she was lying to Adora. [ it's so complex. too complex to explain in a linear fashion that really makes sense. ] She's fine. Catra is.

Catra often wants a fight.

[She can understand. She is not always innocent in this regard. Though not nearly so much as Catra. But Daenerys accepts the offering and mirrors the gesture.]

And you? Are you "fine"?

[ she plucks a piece of food out of daenerys' basket. she doesn't eat it right away, which is the first sign something is off. ]

... No.

[ she chews it over then. they find a place to sit, one of the long half-walls that double as benches, with intermittent sculpted bulges designed to look like crown molding or architecture styling, but really just to prevent them from functioning as benches. ]

But it's nothing we haven't talked about before. [ better not to retreat old ground that she already knows daenerys is not in a position to support her in. rey isn't looking to her for that. she's here to make up for where she had failed, not to ask for more from daenerys. rey gestures to her wounds. ] I probably had this coming.

I'm afraid I am not much of a healer, and you are long past the stage where cauterization would be helpful.

[A mild jest, if only to take away from the weight so obviously sitting on Rey's shoulders. There was no sense in making the girl feel worse, after all.

"Nothing we haven't talked about before" indicates a subject that neither of them was likely to budge on, and so she is happy to leave it there.]