CUDDLR

[neutronium]

Hux(34) I'm not interested in your bleeding hearts. If you're under the age of 25, click X. I enjoy people who are competent and actually know how to do their jobs, and do them well. Also, leather.

✓.✕

YES
<span style="font-family: times; font-size:40px; color:#2EB82E;">✓</span>


NO
<span style="font-family: times; font-size:40px; color:#CC0000;">✕</span>

Comments

[jiaasjen]

✓

Suddenly the decor at that bar makes a lot more sense.

[ Appreciate for a moment the fact that he has come to you first, Hux, though admittedly has taken his sweet time about it. In some respects Cisco and his tasteless network is to blame — that and several nautical themed cocktails he's in danger of developing a taste for. ]

Tell me more about the leather.

[neutronium]

[He didn't expect this. It's--

--constants and variables. Perhaps some things don't change, even if how they happen, do.

No point in hiding the truth, even if it isn't the whole truth, still.]

✓

Does it? And here I thought it would be obvious, a reminder of the Starkiller.

[His beloved, destroyed Starkiller. But still--]

What do you want to know?

Have you ever felt a good pair of leather gloves against your bare skin, Ren?

[jiaasjen]

Only my own.

[ Make of that what you will, though the connotations are clear enough if you're inclined to look for them. ]

Is that what they taught you at the Academy? Or is it an appreciation you cultivated later in life.

[neutronium]

[Hux understands the implications.]

Most other students were terrified of me in the academy, or hated me.

[Meaning he lived a very lonely, secluded live there. But then again, that goes for most of his existence.]

I've learned to be efficient with my time, as I've gotten older

[Time for other things; though not necessarily on the Starkiller. But here, before things had cultivated with the old Ren, and before This Ren arrived....and inbetween, of course.]

[jiaasjen]

Pity, I'm told it's better with company.

Efficiency versus satisfaction seems an uneven match.

[neutronium]

It depends on the company.

I'm selective to a fault, I always have been.

I'm pragmatic. I have never needed much in the way of my own comfort.

[Why else would he have insisted on the Starkiller being on the planet it was on?

But still, he gave Ren a check. That should say something.]

[jiaasjen]

And yet you must have found someone that met your exacting standards to have remained here this long. From what I understand even their considerable tolerance has limit.

[neutronium]

There was one person. But he left. Since then, I've been making do with platonic affection, which works well enough.

[Careful, Ren...]

[jiaasjen]

What a coincidence. So have I.

[neutronium]

I made two statements. Are you referring to the former, or the latter?

[jiaasjen]

The latter.

[neutronium]

[He suspected as much; but it is..a good thing to hear, he supposes.]


I suspect that isn't why you gave me the check, though.

[jiaasjen]

Go on. Enlighten me.

[neutronium]

If you are asking about the leather, understanding my color aesthetics, my choices.

...I suspect your curious, Ren.

But really, as you initiated the contact, I should be asking you to enlighten me.

[Acting too eager would be the worst idea, he thinks. He hopes he's right.]

[jiaasjen]

Curiosity has always been a given. The novelty of having to rely on more...let's be generous and refer to them as traditional forms of getting to know a person is something I am accustoming myself to as best as possible.

Eloquence has never, and will never, be my gift.

[ Man of action, etc. He'd frankly prefer not having to speak at all but sadly that's a rather vital part of the communication process. ]

[neutronium]

Why don't you come over to the house.

[jiaasjen]

To what end?

[neutronium]

You're curious about things. You dislike talking.

I know things, and I am better at words.

But I am fine with action.

Or nothing.

Your choice.

[jiaasjen]

Practice makes perfect, isn't that how the saying goes? That and at this moment it is unlikely that anything productive would come of us meeting in private.

[ Turns out those nautical cocktails have a bantha-kick to them and guess who has work in the morning? ]

Right now words are the wiser choice over action. And I'm sure you have your own questions.

[neutronium]

Then why the check, Ren.

[Ren never did explain this. He doesn't have to have now, but this is still...confusing.

But there is a question, isn't there.]

I'm glad I have that first part in writing. Doubt you'll ever 'say' it again.

[He can jest, despite feeling his flame of hope snuff into something dimmer. But it's not out just...having to extend.]

[jiaasjen]

As you said, I'm curious.

Because when you look at me all you can see is him. That will change with time.

[ It is as close as he is able to come to kindness, pulling back to give Hux time to...grieve? He isn't precisely sure what it is that Hux seems to be doing only that the sight of him seems to cut clean and deep. The pain of it still raw. ]

Now is not the time for pride, Armitage.

[ This is his olive branch to take or to spurn. ]

You have my number now.

[neutronium]

[It takes him more than a few moments to answer. But then--]

Don't tell me what I see or do not see. Because that isn't the case, Ren. I see you.

[Which is the truth. He's buried the other Ren deep and isn't comparing the two, and hasn't for a month. It's simply an adjustment to how Hux, himself, is now, instead of how he was over a year ago, and a Ren that is from a timepoint so different than his, now. It's a new normal; it would be the case even if 'his' Ren returned, but was from the old timepoint.]

I make a small joke about you actually using your words, and you speak of my pride.

I dislike people using my first name. I do not know if your Hux allowed it, but I do not.

[It makes him bristle.]

Call me Armitage, I'll call you Ben.

[The only person here who even knows his real name is Caleb, and even then he made it very clear he didn't want it every uttered.

This may have been an olive branch, but it's covered in spikes, to him. Hux is doing his best, but he's made a small joke, and been neutral to opening, and gets trouble thrown back for his trouble.

This is beyond frustrating.]