ximilia inbox

[garbagepilot]

// rey

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO

XIMILIA

Comments

text; un: stargirl

[bossily]

You're new to the Ximilia, aren't you?

Well, suppose I don't have to ask that. I know you are. I think I saw you in the kitchen before our most recent mission, but had been too focused on food to stop and say hello.

So this is me now, saying hello.








I'm Clara, by the way.

[#nailedit]

text; during the beach holiday

[hatejakku]

Rey, I know a place where there's a lot of water. Where are you?

[ He's been on the beach for about an hour now and hadn't seen her. Probably missed her, though. He's been pretty lazy in his walking about. ]

text; un: rey

[garbagepilot]

[This is, for Rey, one of the most difficult interactions she has ever faced.

It's been days now, weeks, and she would say she's settled into things as well as could be expected. She's been spending most of her days wandering, training to keep herself from getting bored, tinkering in the workshops. For the most part she's been sleeping in the sunlight room or the simulation room in a hammock strung from trees. That, to Rey, is normal.

Strangers reaching out to her to be so awkwardly polite is not normal. How do you even reply to this?

It starts several ways. At first she types out what do you want and why are you talking to me and deletes them both when she thinks about the fact that Finn would want her to try harder.

Leia would. This person, this Clara, deserves a little more than immediate distrust for something that is, even Rey has to admit, just something nice.

Her end result is not great.]

Hello. I'm Rey.

[#nailingittogether]

text;

[garbagepilot]

The sunlight room. There's water here too but I don't feel you nearby.

[bossily]

[oh this is more awkward than she intended it to be. normally she's so much better with meeting people and being the welcome wagon on the station.

this is a pretty big wake up call that she needs to get past her own current emotional state to step back into her usual role.

but for now, they're going to awkwardly get through this conversation together]

Thing is, I was thinking of trying a new recipe tonight. And I was hoping that maybe you'd be there to help me test it out.

[If all else fails, forging bonds over food is a surefire plan.]

[garbagepilot]

[Yep, that is definitely the right combinations of words to get her attention.]

What are you making?

[bossily]

It doesn't actually have a name yet?

I'm basically going to gather what ingredients we have on hand after the supply drop, take some vegetables from my garden, and put together something to feed a few dozen people.

There'll be cake involved, for lending a helping hand.

[garbagepilot]

That sounds like a bribe.

But it's working. Do you need help with the garden part?

[bossily]

I've neglected tending to it since we've come back. So I'd love the help there too, if you're willing.

And I don't have any idea what you mean. I'd never bribe someone with triple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Ever.

[garbagepilot]

You really should try, I think I'd do just about anything you asked at this point.

Does it matter that I've never actually seen a garden?

[bossily]

Careful. That's bound to lead to dangerous places with a pretty face like yours.

[Nothing wrong with some innocent, casual flirting with someone you've seen around but technically just met. It's put her in a good mood, actually.]

Think I'll start with charming you into picking what's ripe and ready. Then I'll show you how things grow. No need to have ever seen a garden before at all.

[garbagepilot]

[Well that's bold, and maybe if it weren't so entirely silly it would put her off actually going ahead with meeting this strange woman who has seen her face while Rey has no idea who she'd even be looking for, but...

As it stands, she's just glad she's on her own so no one will ever know that it got a laugh out of her.]

Where can I find you?

[bossily]

I'll meet you at the entrance to the sunlight room. I'm the shortest person on the station, so I'm impossible to miss.

[Now that she's had a good laugh and is wearing a smile of her own, she's quick to get ready to make her way there.]

[garbagepilot]

Oh, that's easy. I sleep here, I'll just

[Seconds after that sends she leaves her little makeshift hidden home and heads for the door just in time to open it up and find...

Oh. She has to look down. That's new.]

Clara?

[Look at that, with the accent she even says your name right.]

[bossily]

[She's used to being looked down at. It's okay. She hasn't been in much of a smiling mood lately, but the fact that Rey says her name properly puts a bright grin on her face.]

See? Told you I'd be easy to find.

[With a soft laugh, she leads the way back into the depths of the sunlight room.]

Did you say you sleep here? As in, yes you're camping out here instead of sleeping in an actual bed?

[She's not judging. But she is surprised by that. She didn't think there was much privacy to be found in the sunlight room. Not really.]

[garbagepilot]

[Rey even holds the door open for her, how gallant.

As they walk she points over towards a small copse of trees, the rope of a hammock just barely visible on one if you squint very hard and focus your attention.]

The beds here are too soft. It's not just me, though.

[She does have something of a roommate, if you can call two people who don't like people but do like each other sleeping in the same room but very, very apart. Mal at least goes back to his own room sometimes.]

[bossily]

Not just you, huh?

[Clara's eyebrows arch as she glances back up at Rey, curious.]

Does that mean you've got someone camping out here with you? Don't need to worry about how soft or hard a bed is, with the right company.

[Those arched eyebrows waggle, and she can't resist a little laugh.

The hydroponic garden that's been set up for her is in one of the far corners of the sunlight room. Not too long of a walk, but long enough to get in some good teasing.]

[garbagepilot]

[For this moment, that flies right over her head.]

It's a big space so we only see each other if we feel like it, so it's not so much camping together as it is camping in the same general area. I think he sleeps on the ground anyway.

[It's not an eyebrow wiggle in the way Clara's was, but Rey does give the other woman a quick smirk all the same.]

You could say we've been roommates this whole time too and I had no idea you'd moved right in with a whole garden.

[As though Clara wasn't the one who was there first.]

[bossily]

Hey now. [It sounds like she's giving a warning, but the laugh makes her sound more like she's trying to explain herself instead.]

My garden's been here far longer than half the people on the crew.

[And that being said, they're close enough now, she points on ahead.]

It's not the usual sort of garden, though. Given everything here is artificial, just a simulation? We have to grow things using water. But I thought that it was a good idea to come up with something, just in case the supply drops ever stopped or there was a time we didn't have enough food.

text;

[hatejakku]

I'm in the sim room. If you want, come over when you have a minute. I can meet you at the door.

[garbagepilot]

I had wondered about that...

[About how it was possible to grow something that could actually be used outside of this room as though it were something real, but the way Rey says it is so soft and her eyes are filled with wonder as she looks over the little patch of growing things.

She knew from the start that seeing a real garden up close would be something that would have an effect on her, but she isn't quite prepared for what it feels like to see real, natural, living produce growing here. She should have felt it in the Force, she realizes, but she had never expected to find it and so she had never looked for it in her meditations in this room. It's just... there. Food, growing and beautiful and something so simple that it shouldn't make her want to cry, and yet here she is with her throat closing up on her.]

I've never seen a garden before.

Re: text;

[garbagepilot]

I can come now. Do I need anything?

[bossily]

[Like the Doctor does with her when he takes her to new places, Clara watches Rey as she experiences a garden for the first time. She takes in Rey's wonder and curiosity, and she finds it helps her see things in a refreshed and new light.

It's with a smile on her face that she hurries over to take hold of Rey's hand, urging her along with a laugh and a gentle tug.

If this is her first experience in a garden, Clara's going to make it as good as she can.]

We planted seeds from a fruit I've never seen before about four months ago. They should be just about ripe by now.

[She guides Rey over toward something that looks close to grapes from Earth. Only they're bright blue and pink, and far larger in size.]

Go ahead. Pick one and give it a try.

[Rey will discover, if she tries one, that they're as sweet as candy.]

text;

[hatejakku]

Just yourself and clothes you don't mind getting wet in.

[garbagepilot]

[In a very good example of how poorly she's adjusting to some things, there is no reply to this message. Instead, it takes her around ten minutes to scrounge up something that feels appropriate to swim in and to make her way to the simulation room. She spots him right away where he's standing at the door, but more important is that she can feel his familiar signature in the Force like a warm beacon, something that makes her heart feel just a little lighter.

Even for the brief few days they were cut off from the Force it was too long. She's glad things are back to normal now.]

You made it sound like this should be something I close my eyes for so you can surprise me.