But I'm only human (open)

[provenforce]

Who: Rey
What: settling in and stuff
When: throughout June
Where: different locations in Trench

Content Warnings: possible discussion of child abandonment, war stuff, will add more as needed



i. Sanguine Station (the first few days after arrival)

Remembering who she was was easy. Coming to terms with the reality of this place was harder. She spends a few days at the inn, pouring over the journal that had been given to her along with other items. There were others who seemed to be in similar straits, and if anyone approaches her while she's sitting at one of the tables in the inn with the journal in front of her she'll speak with them.

ii. exploring (anytime)

Once she's quietly freaked out enough at the inn Rey sets out into the city. She finds herself in Willful Machine, walking through the shops and pausing to look at anything shiny that catches her eye. She likes to touch things though she makes no attempts to buy anything.

She is surprised when she finds a shop selling old bits of machinery and wires, taking more time in there than anywhere else. In her mind she's cataloguing everything, how many portions certain parts would have gotten her back on Jakku. Part of her is still the starving scavenger girl, even if she's tried to grow beyond her.

iii. house hunting (towards the end of the month)

The inn was comfortable enough but Rey needs her own space. Part of her had been looking from the first day, but so much of the Trench seemed loud or crowded, both things that Rey enjoyed, but on her own terms. She needed something quiet for her own space, and after almost an entire month of staying at the Sanguine Inn she found a small victorian-style bungalow at the end of a road of homes mostly overgrown by vegetation in Crenshaw.

It was big enough for her to park her speeder that had somehow appeared on the beach not long after she had, and had a little shed out back that had an old workbench that looked like something she could repurpose into something useful.

The yard was overgrown with weeds, so after moving her meager belongings in she got to work in cleaning up the yard.

iv. wildcard

[ feel free to hit me up on plurk or discord if you'd like a custom starter! I also will do prose or brackets, whatever you're more comfortable with ]

Comments

ii

[hopesparks]

[ Anakin occasionally trawls the machine shops and junkyards in search of interesting parts or even bits of information. He's pale and exhausted from night after night of nightmares, but he tries not to let it get to him.

He feels a slight jolt when he enters the shop today, stronger than a hot cup of caf. His bleary mind can't quite place the sensation, but he doesn't sense any danger (for whatever that's worth in the Trench).

The only other Sleeper he spots in the store is a young woman. Maybe she's the source of it? Or maybe his sleepless nights are throwing him off. In either case, he decides he might as well greet the new (?) Sleeper and offer a few friendly tips. ]

They get the best stuff in the middle of the second week of the month.

[provenforce]

[ Rey is entirely unused to feeling others strong in the Force around her, save for Leia, but this place also seemed to play tricks in the Force, so it isn't until she's approached that she looks up in surprise. There's something very familiar about him, so she can't help but stare at him for a moment before registering what he'd said. ]

Oh. Oh really? I wonder why that is.

[hopesparks]

[ He's completely unbothered by being stared at. He's looking at her thoughtfully too, in fact. There's something on the tip of his brain, but his drowsiness is making his mind feel like slush. ]

I'm not sure. Maybe it's when the newest stock comes in.

[ Anakin tilts his head slightly. ]

Are you new to the Trench?

ii

[facultative]

While Rey is perusing the wares, in strolls Anakin and a very familiar astromech. He isn't paying attention to anyone else, more intent arguing with his droid than anything else.

"I can't give you any upgrades right now, they don't have any good parts here."

There's some furious beeping from Artoo as he wheels around the shop.

"Take as long as you want, I've already checked this place already."

[provenforce]

"Artoo?" Rey turns when she hears the beeping of the astromech, her face lighting up when she sees the droid. She hadn't expected to see any droids here, but then a lot of things in this place seemed to be from many different places.

"Artoo! What are you doing here?"

She walks towards the droid, looking up to see who he's with. When her eyes settle on the human that came in with the droid her eyebrows rise as she senses the Force within him, strong enough that it stops her short.

[facultative]

The droid in questions beeps questioningly at being addressed. Neither he nor Anakin recognises her.

"Can I help you?"

With Anakin's baseline being what it was, he doesn't always recognise Force-sensitivity in others, but it nudges him here. This is significant.

iii

[survivalthroughhate]

Maul had been hiding in his home for much of the month. It was unlike him. Most of the time, he faced his problems head-on, but the combination of the traumatizing memories being shared and the other assorted things going on in the month like nightmares and ghosts had left him feeling too broken to go out.

Still, he got back on his feet. He always did. That was how he came to be near Rey's house one afternoon. His clothing, while still black, was made of light fabric as the weather has turned warmer. What grabbed his attention at the rundown looking home was the speeder parked there. It looked to be a bit like a hunk of junk but at the same time there was familiarity to the shape and design of it. This looked like something from home. Given the propensity of people arriving from his galaxy month after month, he peered around the yard, curious as he hoped to see the owner somewhere about.

[provenforce]

Rey came around the side of the house with a set of clippers, intent on tackling some of the nastier overgrowth when she spots someone at the front of the property she'd claimed for herself. She paused, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to ascertain his intentions, the part of her that used to have to fight to protect her home every day immediately tensing her shoulders.

"Can I help you?" She calls out, trying to sound casual.

[survivalthroughhate]

When the girl appears, Maul plans on answering, but the jolt he feels through the Force is enough to make him go silent as he stares at her with unblinking golden eyes. She's Force-sensitive, he can sense that plainly enough, but there's more to it than that. She feels.....familiar, almost, as if the Force is nudging him towards her with a whisper of 'She's an important connection.' He waits for a moment to see if any clarity will come from that feeling but nothing concrete comes.

When he finally speaks, his soft, velvet-smooth voice with those traces of a Coruscanti accent is incongruous with his extreme features. "What planet do you com from?" She hadn't stared or flinched away the way others from different worlds did, so he's trying to confirm the hunch he has that she really is indeed from his galaxy.

iii

[grice]

[ self-care should come in close first place in one's priorities when corruption was starting to cling to your heels— falco was at least aware he wasn't quite right, wasn't well. with his mentor out on an expedition, he had a touch more time to tend to a walk before it became dark, during the warm afternoon heat in the district he lived in, crenshaw. accompanying him is a small, fairy-like creature that takes interest in the speeder just off the path they were taking. the young boy picks up his pace in an attempt to get to the curious thing touching and sitting upon the seat of the futuristic vehicle. a part of him is curious too, but he's more than aware it belongs to someone likely on this property.

he hushes, loudly and playing babysitter when he's baby-faced enough to have a guardian of his own to watch out for him. he was responsible though, as proved by his reaction despite his sickly appearance, trying to reach high for his playful companion. ]

Wait, it's not ours—!

[ what if it fell over, or something—?! ]

[provenforce]

[ Rey hears the commotion near her speeder and stands up from the spot in the yard she's working in, squinting in the direction of where she'd parked. Her eyebrows raise as she sees a young man trying to reach for a little creature that is playing on her speeder. ]

Careful! The chassis is electrified!

[ It was set up so light creatures wouldn't be harmed but anything larger than a bloggin would get quite the nasty shock if they laid a hand on her speeder. Maybe she didn't need to electrify it here, but she was used to people trying to take things from her, and this place seemed just dangerous enough that a little extra security on her speeder wouldn't hurt. ]

[grice]

[ electrif—? oh, no. it was a shame that falco grazes the metal with the bottom of his palms in an effort to reach, on his toes, to grab the fluttering thing just out of range of his fingertips before he heard the warning in full.

BZZTT.

how hard of a shock did it take to down a kid? well, falco would be mostly okay due to his physiology, but. he's down, hidden in overgrown weeds and it may smell like something like . . . burnt hair, in the air! ]

ii

[democratically]

Padmé has been out doing the weekly grocery shopping. It's better this way. Not that Sabé and Padmé will likely kill anyone with their baking or cooking, but there may be a possibility that it is undercooked, or overcooked, or just having some ingredient in it that shouldn't be in it. Their varied skills lay in other areas.

The silvery black fox seems to be enjoying itself as Padmé carried the bundles in her arms. The day isn't too bad and her omen slinks around, darting here and there, chasing after a leaf or a piece of garbage that litters the ground. A twig seems to have caught the fox's attention and with leaps and swirls, he plays along with it, skittering here and there, dancing.

At least until he gives a bit more forceful of a toss, which sends the twig spinning and clattering down near Rey's foot.

[provenforce]

Rey looks down when the twig clatters near her foot, her eyes following its trajectory until she sees the little creature that had sent it in her direction. Smiling she crouches down, picking the stick up.

"Hello, there, did you lose this?"

[democratically]

The eyes track it, the intelligence within seeming to form a plan as to how to get it back. Yet an ear tracks back in Padmé's direction as she comes closer, and slinking to slip between Rey's legs, the fox trots back towards her. "Oh. He wasn't being trouble, was he?"

II

[faithfulson]

It's while Rey is nose deep in calculating portions, the door to the shop suddenly opens, and in the next moment someone nearly barreled over her on their way into the building.

"Oh, sorry!" a familiar voice apologized quickly, before the sound of feet took them to the counter just as quickly, where the shop owner chided the person for trying to run over their customers. It drew an equally familiar, almost youthful and happy chuckle from the person, muttering something that sounded vaguely sheepish.

[provenforce]

Rey lets out a surprised yelp as she's barreled past, but further objection dies in her throat as she feels the Force around her, and hears that voice. It sounds different, more youthful than she's ever heard it, but it is a voice she's been straining to hear for the past year.

"Luke?" She questions, half expecting to be wrong. She walks towards him, her head tilted curiously to the side. "Luke Skywalker?"

[faithfulson]

Luke let out a confused noise, pausing his conversation with the shop owner to look back at Rey, tilting his head at her curiously.

"Yes?" he asked.

ii

[decoyqueen]

Sabé would hate to admit that she's fallen into a pattern much like she had in her time on Tatooine, but that's very much the case. Willful Machine was where she and Padmé had set up their home, so it was a district she spent much of her time in... whether intentionally or not.

She's sitting on a bench near a cluster of the shops with one foot perched on the edge of the seat so she can rest her arm on her knee as she picks at a small lunch from a nearby vendor... and really, it's not that she's watching the other woman- just that she's paying attention to her surroundings when she's noticed that she's walked into a few shops and left empty handed.

Tossing the last piece of cured meat down to tusk-cat cub curled at her feet, Sabé brushes her hands off on her pants before calling out to her-

"Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Willful Machine has a lot of shops- and she's been in quite a few of them by this point. While not at all an extroverted individual, she does want to be of some help if she's able.

[provenforce]

Unaware that she was being watched Rey doesn't even realize she's being spoken to for a moment. When she does she smiles in the other woman's direction, shaking her head.

"Not really. Just getting my bearings. I've only been here a few days."

[decoyqueen]

She smiles... Sabé smiles back. There's so many potential follow-up questions from that answer- but she doesn't want to pry and it's not like she's on a mission right now. Even months after her arrival, she still struggles with adapting to normal life. Or at least life that wasn't a perpetual mission.

"Oh? Well... welcome." Was that weird to say? It sounded polite at least. "How are you settling in so far?"

III. Wildcard

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra does not really patrol. He doesn't consider himself a hunter, even part time; using the Force might place him as a more capable fighter than pretty much any of the native human hunters, but there's plenty of Sleepers with talents at least as impressive as his, in combat. At least, that's the conclusion he's come to.

Still, he's a busy guy, with reasons to be in many sections of the town, and as he travels around, he tries to keep his eyes peeled and open enough to Force to hopefully spot danger. That means he has a decent sense for the feeling of a lot of the Sleepers around, even if he doesn't know their names, especially the more psychic ones.

Especially the ones who slot into the variety of psychic that seem to hail from his native galaxy.

So yes, he notices the woman who looks around his age, who pings to his extended senses as 'powerfully Force sensitive' and also he thinks, but is less sure about 'at least a little training'.

Dressed in blues and oranges but definitely robes and tabards and cloak, with lightsaber on his belt, for that matter, he openly waves at her, with a friendly smile.

"Hey. I don't think we've met before?"

[provenforce]

She's starting to realize that when she thinks she senses someone else strong in the Force, in this place, it means they are. She's never been around so many Force users before, and it's a little overwhelming.

Maybe not entirely in a bad way, she'd had dreams of this. Had tried hundreds of times over the past year to reach out, to find any other Force sensitives in the galaxy, only to be met with nothing.

So when a young man who looks close to her age approaches her, bright in the Force and looking like a very colorful version of Luke, Rey doesn't shy away or put on a defense immediately. She smiles back politely, nodding her head.

"I don't think we have, no. I'm Rey. You?

III

[onebadapple]

As Rey is getting situated in Crenshaw, Snow White was coming home from the orchards with baskets full of fresh fruit. What she couldn't carry? Well, the entourage of animals behind her were all carrying baskets of fruit as well.

As she passed by the home she stopped.

"Oh! Did you just move in?" she asked as she saw Rey. "How wonderful! Are you settling in alright?"

[provenforce]

That sure is a procession of several animals carrying fruit. Rey pauses at the spectacle before looking at the young woman who spoke to her.

"Uh- yes. Yes I suppose so. Do you live around here?"