Event Log: Dust to Dust

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Dust to Dust event
Where: All over the city!
When: January 14th-17th
Warnings: A big ol' mess.

It starts off small: the wind picks up, particles of sand and dirt and dust begin to fill the air. You might not even notice at first, not until you have to wipe the dust off your windows to see outside. After all, it's been a long time since Hadriel has experienced weather, and it's never experienced a weather event not caused by the gods before.

But the gods aren't in charge of the weather now, and even if they could prevent this dust storm, they have way too many other things to do. So it's up to you to deal with it, and as the wind rises and the dust storm moves into the city, there'll be plenty to deal with.

Once the storm is at its peak, it'll be almost impossible to see outside - and it won't be safe to go wandering, either. Entirely besides falling and hurting yourself, if you aren't wrapped up well enough the particles in the air will abrade your skin. Love that sandpaper feel! Oh, and breathing? Yeah, better make sure your nose and mouth are covered, or else they'll be full of sand, too. Hope you've got some goggles stashed away to protect your eyes. Luckily, it won't last too long - 'cause you'll have plenty of cleaning to do once the storm is over.

► This log covers January 14th-17th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you foolishly get scoured to the bone, please let us know here.

Comments

[warfares]

— what? [ a bewildered snap, squinting into the gloom of the temple as he tries to make out the source of the accusation. ]

Oh, [ he says, attention settling on Rey, pushed against one of the support pillars like she would climb it if she had the chance. ] It's you.

[ He'd planned to seek her out again, after their arrival; then the city had moved, his priorities had shifted, and she had slipped almost entirely from his mind. ]

Clearly the Force moves in mysterious ways, [ muttered to himself as he pushes further into the safety of the temple, stamping his boots and otherwise trying to dislodge the sand that had collected in his robes and hair. ]

[invariances]

[ Clearly he's right — but she won't admit as much. ] The Force has nothing to do with this.

[ ...Says the stubborn desert rat who's just had her first taste of a forceback vision not too long ago on Takodana, and then again with the way his failed interrogation on Starkiller had led her to get inside his head and then mindtrick a guard to help her escape.

She realizes she's backed away like a frightened animal, and when he seems to want to busy himself more with shaking himself of sand than actually pursuing her, she backs away from the pillar. Seeing him without his vocoder mask again is almost as much of a shock as it was when he'd first unmasked for her.

Still, she can be acerbic. ] — You hold a lot of reverence for something that failed you in your interrogation.

[ ...Ha. ]

[warfares]

[ His attention snaps toward her immediately at that, eyes narrowing. ] You seem fond of prodding at imagined wounds, looking for a reaction.

[ The thought that she comes from some point in his future isn't one he should readily dismiss, given his encounters with both Anakin and Padmé already, but the implication that he would fail so catastrophically is one he isn't ready to entertain. He knows himself, knows what he is capable of; someone like this girl would pose little obstacle to him. ]

[invariances]

[ That gives her pause. Is he trying to insinuate she's imagined their encounter? ]

You've forgotten that quickly, how you had me strapped to that chair and invaded my mind? [ 'Invaded' was a strong word - the way he'd done it, even as she'd fought against him, was with more of a surgical precision than beating down the door with a mental battering ram. ] And then how at the height of it, your Force powers failed you — and I found myself in your head.

I saw what you're most afraid of.

[warfares]

[ His brows lift: ] If what you claim is true it was not the Force that failed me. [ "Invasion" might carry with it unfortunate implications, but they were apt enough for what he would likely have done to her had the circumstances required it.

Regretful, though. It was one thing to pick over the mind of an enemy combatant, another thing entirely to turn his focus to a civilian girl. One that still wears her fear of him on her sleeve. ]

[invariances]

[ Rey is quiet for a long moment after, his words ringing in the relative still of the shelter. Outside the storm continues to rage, sand violently whipping in the air in mini-cyclones, but the inside of the dilapidated temple is calm even amidst the tense stand-off.

She breathes loudly, coming to a realization of sorts. ] ...You're suggesting that I'm just as strong with it as you are.

[ That in itself is a lot to digest — that she might have a power that rivals his, a Force-wielding warlord with the First Order, but it's a logical conclusion. There's no way she would have been able to compel the stormtrooper who'd released her, otherwise. ]

[warfares]

Did I? [ he asks, turning his face away from her to properly study their surroundings. Something heavy and somber hangs in the air, almost palpable.

He has never been inside one of the Temples before nowㅡhad thought to avoid it, at least until he understood things betterㅡbut even now he can sense the yawning absence, like a candle whose flame has been abruptly snuffed out. ]

[invariances]

In not so many words, maybe. [ Her answer is uncertain, as she watches him carefully — did he suggest it, or is he toying with her by answering in such a way? It doesn't ultimately matter in the scheme of things — she didn't take the lightsaber when Maz offered it to her, and she has no intention of doing so if it were to be offered again. ]

But I don't care, either way. I don't want to be strong with the Force. I don't want any part of it.

[warfares]

Your disdain is readily apparent. [ She reminds him of Han, truthfully. The shape of their doubt is the same even if Rey's is shot through with a fine silvery thread of hope ㅡ hope that there is something more to it, that she might be more.

He turns back to her, brows lifting. ] Then you should get out of my way.

[invariances]

[ Her wariness of him gives way to a scornful hiss. ]

I'm not in your way. You're the one who captured me because you thought you could extract the map from my head ㅡ remember?