hadriel_logs | Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

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Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

A. There was only so long that Kylo could take being in an enclosed space with Hux. The two of them had been plotting each other's deaths for weeks now and had carried out at least a few half-hearted attempts. But today, Kylo couldn't stand it any longer. After yet another idiotic arguement about the proper way to make a bed, he'd put on his mask and stormed out, slamming the door to punctuate the end of his arguement. Who only knew what their neighbors thought of the two of them?

He stomped down the stairs, looking as his feet landed on each one as if he was five seconds away from murdering someone at any moment. It was best not to test that theory.

B. As Kylo made his way through Hadriel, his temper began to fizzle out. There was only so long he could keep his rage around him before he couldn't even remember why he was angry to begin with. Well, while he was out, at least he could pick up supplies for the apartment. Hux wouldn't know how to cook if the food jumped out of the fridge and into a pot on the stove, so it was up to Kylo to make sure that they didn't starve.

The shop ahead looked promising. As he made his way towards it, he had the sensation of a pair of eyes on him. Scanning the streets, he saw no one. He turned around three hundred and sixty degrees and still saw nobody. With an impatient growl, his voice distorted through the mask's vocoder, he said, "Come on out. I know you're there." He wasn't in the mood to play games.

C. Was there really a reason he was doing this? The woman who called herself Fulcrum had fascinated him from the start. She was a Force user but wasn't a Jedi. She was much more centered than he was. He could feel her balance in stark contrast to the turmoil he felt within. As with anything in Kylo's life, when he didn't fully understand something, it frustrated him. That frustration turned into anger and there was only one way to get it out of himself.

He tracked Ahsoka down, approaching her with a purposeful step. When he was about ten feet away, he ignited his lightsaber. The blade seemed to match its owner, unstable and crackling in ways that it shouldn't have been doing. He pointed it at the former Jedi. "Defend yourself," was all the warning he gave before he raised it high, aiming with a downward slash towards her face.

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Kylo marched back up the stairs and right up to Hux, boots crunching the plate fragments underfoot. He using every inch he had to loom over the redhead. One gloved finger poked Hux in the center of his chest. He wasn't going to address the fact he was technically right about keeping the rest of the apartment clean. He'd agree with something the general said when Hell froze over. "You're certainly acting like a nanny droid! Or my mother. Nothing but nagging morning, noon, and night. I think you do it just to hear the sound of your own voice."

He poked Hux again. There was a certain satisfaction that came with the action. He was sure there'd be an even greater one if he strangled the general until his face turned purple. "If you don't like the way I live, you can always move out. But I doubt anyone else will be able to tolerate your personality. You'd send anyone running for the hills in a day."

Hux was well aware what Kylo was capable of but that didn't stop him from reaching out and grabbing Kylo's finger the second time he poked him. It was tempting to break the finger and the wrist, Hux learned quickly that he wasn't really suited for physical confrontations so he had learned his own way of playing dirty that would get the best of his opponents when they were bigger or stronger than him.

Granted, he knew Kylo was far more dangerous but that wasn't going to stop him today. If Kylo killed him, he would be on his own and he doubted Kylo knew how to survive by himself.

"Here is a novel concept for you, if you don't like my having to nag you because living with you is like living with a rancor, then perhaps you could move out. But then again, I doubt anyone could stand you for very long since all your life people couldn't wait to be rid of your whiny and insufferable presence."

Had Hux--? Yes. He'd dared to reach out and grab Kylo's wrist as though he was some common underling. Clearly, the man was no longer operating on all cylinders if he'd forgotten just what Kylo was capable of. The shards still left on the ground began to vibrate and tremble in tune to Kylo's anger. "Let go of me. Now." The vocoder made his voice into a robotic growl. The four simple words promised that Hux was going to be in for a world of hurt unless he complied.

Then Hux had the gall to suggest he be the one to leave. While that would have been the easy solution, he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of letting him know that he'd won. No, he was going to stick this out until the general left or he finally gave into the temptation to smother him in his sleep. "I'm not leaving. The apartment is mine. You have all the charms of a rabid womp rat, not to mention that expression on your face that says you've had coal shoved so far inside of you it's going to make a diamond the next time you go to the fresher, so you can be the one to leave."

They were quite a pair. Neither of them willing to budge an inch on the subject of the apartment. At least it provided Kylo with a fresh source of anger each day to fuel his powers.

"What are you going to do, kill me? Break my hand? You can't clean up after yourself and wouldn't know the proper end of the mop if it hit you in your face," Hux pointed out.

"The apartment is yours? The apartment where I'm the one who cleans and keep in order is yours? What color is the sky in your world, Kylo Ren? I'm curious to know." He gave Kylo's wrist a forceful squeeze just enough to make it hurt before letting go, just to make a statement. "I'm not going anywhere when it's my apartment so you can either behave less like a rampaging rancor or move out. The choice is yours but if you are staying, I suggest you march right back up there and clean your dishes."

He refused to give any ground on this. He had had to lay down the rules on Finalizer as well and let Kylo know that he was not going to tolerate some behaviors.

Edited 2016-12-14 19:12 (UTC)

"It's a tempting thought to remove you of a few limbs. I hope you're not fond of your left foot." Hux just had to keep pushing him. One of these days, Kylo was just going to snap like a rubber band and attempt to do some serious damage to his roommate. Maybe Hux would finally develop a healthy sense of fear for him when he finally stabbed him in the arm with his lightsaber.

The order in Hux's voice was galling. If he was actually expecting Kylo Ren to obey, he was sorely mistaken. There was no way he would be doing anything the way the general was barking out orders as if he was some mewling subordinate on the Finalizer. He lifted up a hand, using the Force to shove Hux back into the apartment. "If it upsets you that much, clean it yourself!" He slammed the door with his mind to punctuate his point. Holding it there in place, keeping Hux inside, he turned around and began to stomp back down the stairs.

"You wouldn't dare." He was sure that if pushed enough, Kylo would snap but Hux wasn't going to allow himself to be ordered around by a petulant pretend Sith.

He nearly tripped back when Kylo suddenly shoved him back but quickly recovered, pulling on the door before realizing it would be useless. He wouldn't give Kylo the satisfaction of pounding on the door but instead decided to make use of the suggestion the other man had provided. Oh, he would clean alright.

He grabbed a few of Kylo's shirts to do just that, making sure to clean the most unpleasant places as well as the dishes with them before neatly folding the clothes back and putting them away. By the time Kylo returned, the apartment would be spotless except for the dirty dishes stacked neatly by the sink. Hux himself was laid out on the couch reading calmly on his datapad as if the argument from earlier had never happened but still looking rather pleased with himself.

Kylo returned several hours later, still stubborn and petulant, but his anger had subsided to its usual level rather than the fury it had been at earlier that day. He was pleased to see that the apartment was almost spotless. Maybe he was finally beginning to win in this never-ending argument between he and Hux. He still pointedly ignored the dishes and the other man both as he went to their shared room. He'd been off training with his lightsaber and wanted to change out of his sweaty outfit.

Taking his helmet off, he opened up the drawer. That's when he found his clothes streaked in grime and cleaning supplies. Just like that, his fury had returned, stoked high again like the embers of a fire being blown upon. He grabbed the first shirt and stomped back out to the living room, throwing it in Hux's face. "What the hell is this?"

Hux didn't look up from his datapad at first as he waited for Kylo to discover what he had done.

"Clearly you need to do laundry. I trust you've figured out the washer," he said as he caught the shirt with a smug smirk before throwing it back at Kylo. "You should take better care of your clothes, though," he said as he set his datapad down, looking at Kylo with amusement. "I know you were raised by a Wookie but it doesn't mean you have to act like one."

The mention of Chewbacca made Kylo's eyes narrow as he caught the shirt. His family was always a sore spot. He knew that there would be no one happier to see him return home than his honorary uncle. While he may not have ever wished to see his mother or father again (a lie that had grown comfortable over time), his uncle was a different story. "I wish I was a Wookiee. Then I could tear your arms right out of your sockets."

He was going to get Hux back for this, oh yes. The idea Alphys had given him about taping everything he owned to the ceiling was having more and more merit. He went back to his room, gathering up the clothes. He stomped across to the laundry, turning it on. Look at that, Hux had finally gotten him to do something in the realm of cleanliness "I can't imagine who raised you." There was no warmth inside Hux. Kylo could only guess what sort of a father he'd had. Everyone in the Rebellion had heard of Brendol Hux. "Or did the First Order just put its cadets through the same program the Stormtroopers went through?"

"You could have fooled me. You sound like a Wookie when you snore." A petty jab but he couldn't resist.

"I was raised by a droid." It was said in a flat tone with no emotion though it was the truth. He had no sentiments about his mother who had been left behind on Arkanis and he had never met his father's wife. When it came to Brendol, his meetings with his father were always brief and to the point even when he was a child.

"And then I was raised by the Imperial military. I didn't go through the same training as stormtroopers, I went through officer training on a star destroyer in the Unknown Regions under a former Imperial admiral. All information I would have thought you would have gotten from my personnel file in the First Order records," he remarked as he watched Kylo stomp towards the washer, pleased that he had gotten him to do some cleaning.

Kylo listened, and if Hux was facing him, he'd find the Knight listening with much more attention then he'd been a moment ago. He knew only the basics about Hux's life. At the mention of being raised by a droid, he rolled his eyes. "This explains so much," Kylo said, that sarcastic side he'd inherited from his father rising up again. Despite how he'd like to disinherit that side of his family line forever, he was more of his father's son than he'd care to admit.

He filled up the washer with clothes, almost all of them black, adding in a little more detergent than he normally would to get the grime off. He finished, wiping his hands off on his robe. He sat down on the couch, as far away from Hux as he could possibly get without having to take a different seat all together. "As if I'd ever waste my time looking up your files. I have better things to do with my time."

"That seems shortsighted of you. I read everything on you I could find." Despite Snoke's decrees, Hux had access to more information than most other First Order officers and had been able to find out quite a bit.

"You should always take what information is provided you. You never know when you may need it. There could have been something in my files that you could have used against me to gain more of an advantage."

Kylo scowled at Hux's words. He'd already gathered as much from how the general had been treating him, as if he was an open book that Hux had already finished reading. Maybe he did have a point, not that Kylo was ever going to admit that.

"I already have all of the advantages over you I'll ever need," Kylo sneered. Hux could most certainly outthink him, but when it came down to a physical battle, Kylo would always come out on top. That was the only one that mattered as far as he was concerned. Hux could have every advantage when it came to his technological terrors, but Kylo Ren had the Force on his side.

"Oh yes, the Force. You depend on it like a crutch. You put all your faith in that one advantage- what happens when someone is able to nullify your use of the Force?" he asked, leaning forward slightly. Granted he would be more than happy to watch Kylo get taken down but not when their successes depended on each other.

"When you depend too much on one thing it becomes your weakness. It can and will be turned against you," he pointed out. "I may not be Force sensitive but I do know that the Force isn't all powerful and it doesn't make you invincible."

For once, Kylo didn't have anything to say, at least at first. Hux had a good point. He'd been reliant on his powers since he was a child, and now, they had consumed him. "You paint a lovely hypothetical picture, but unless you have a ysalamir or three hiding in your back pocket, that's all it's going to remain." There wasn't many things in the universe that could disrupt a Force user's ability to use their powers. He was also taking note of what Hux was saying about becoming dependent on something that would eventually become a weakness. Not for himself, but for how he could control the general.

"I doubt these so-called gods can do much to me," he went on. "We should really stop focusing on these pointless arguments and focus on the real enemy here."

"I've wanted one for years. Five years to be precise." And he hadn't been idly hoping that someone day one would fall in his lap but he wasn't going to mention that to Kylo. No doubt the other man could guess as much, though.

"Don't be so confident. While I doubt they are actual gods they are still powerful enough to keep us here. Even you. I have found some more information, however." Hux frowned thoughtfully, he would never admit that Kylo had a point, even if he agreed. "Several things, in fact. One of them admitted that they are not, each of them, all powerful. They each have different strengths which we could use against them."

Kylo raised an eyebrow. Of course the general would have wanted his own personal Force-nullifying bubble. "Keep on waiting, Hux." The minute he got one, Kylo was finding a vornskr pup he could train to eat it.

Kylo listened intently. Now that they were getting to the real meat of the problems, he was done with childishly insulting Hux or ignoring anything he had to say. "What's your plan?" Hux always had a plan. And a plan for that plan. This is why Kylo was keeping him around.

"I had names picked out and everything."

Hux was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. "The plan, for now, is for us to get to know these so called gods. To know how they act, routines, preferences. For example, Desire left the demons for Hope, claiming that Hope was better at that sort of thing," he said suddenly as if snapped out of whatever he had been thinking about.

"What I need you to do is to get information from other residents. What they've observed the gods doing, saying, etc. Remember to consider your sources carefully but try to use your powers sparingly for the time being. Speak to the gods as well if you can but again, we don't want to play our hand just yet." He paused, biting his lip as his gaze met Kylo's. "It's also important we stay on the same page. I can't have you advertising that you want to suffocate me in my sleep. And as tempting as it is, I have no intention of advertising that you're a Darth Vader knock-off."

He held up a hand before Kylo could protest or start to get angry. "That means if I have to...twist the truth, then that is what we both have to stick with. We can't contradict each other."

The idea of being seen as a united front was doubtful in Kylo's mind. Considering the amount of loud fights they'd had thus far, he doubted that at least their neighbors, if not the rest of Hadriel, considered them to be anything but a pair of bickering fools, but he decided not to mention that fact to Hux. Kylo Ren knew the general had a prickly sense of pride, and as fun as it was to rile him up by prodding at it, now was not the time to do so.

Much as he hated to agree with anything that was being said, Hux seemed to have a solid idea of what he wanted to accomplish here. Without Snoke's leadership to fall back on, Kylo Ren had been adrift and lost on what to do. He was someone who needed a clear purpose on what to accomplishment and how to do that. With a clear goal in mind, he was back on track, even as the Light Side continued to try and pull him back towards it.

"You can trust me," Kylo said seriously. It was no small statement to make. They'd spent the past five years trying to backstab and one-up each other in their quests for power. Now, with no one to rely on but themselves, they could either both fail individually or try to succeed as a united team. "Which god should we target first?" His own preference was Rage. What better way to show his mastery of the Dark Side than to take down a being consumed by one of the main emotions that fueled his powers. But he wanted to see what Hux would say first.

Hux was silent for a moment, meeting Kylo's gaze. He knew the significance in that statement, what it meant. And for Kylo to say that to him of all people was something he never thought he would hear.

He nodded after a moment, accepting it. "Desire. She seemed to lack combat experience. I don't want us to play our hand against a more powerful or more experienced god until we have a handle on what to expect," he explained. "Gather as much information so we can coordinate our efforts and then we will focus on the other gods."

He paused then, waiting to see if Kylo had anything else to add.

"After her, we go for Rage." Famous last words right there. Kylo was most eager to face a god composed of anger in combat. This was something he'd most likely end up regretting if it actually happened.

It occurred to Kylo that this was the longest conversation they'd had in Hadriel without it devolving or starting out as an argument. That was a strange thought. At least it saved on energy. Constantly being angry at Hux was a tiring process.

"Just try not to rush off into anything," he said though there was no bite to his tone. Fighting was exhausting, even back in their own galaxy he found it tiring with everything else he had to juggle.

Perhaps here they could have a truce. There was no need to complete for Snoke's attention here, at least.

"I will gather more information as I'm able to. Don't mention the Hosnian System just yet, it will make gaining information more difficult." He wasn't ashamed of what he had done, but he knew that others here wouldn't understand the necessity of taking apart a corrupt Republic.

"As you wish," Kylo said laconically. He wasn't itching to talk about the destruction of the planets with anyone. There had been some compunctions about the act he hadn't spoken of to anyone. Hux hadn't been able to hear millions of voices being silenced, but he had. Just another way the Light Side was crippling him.

"Have you found anyone we can rely upon as allies?" He'd have asked if Hux had found anyone to trust, but the general trusted no one.

The only sleep Hux lost about Starkiller was the loss of the weapon. Millions of lives had been sacrificed for a greater purpose and he would do it again if he had to.

"A few promising allies but I want to get to know more about them, how they operate. One has powers like I've never seen before but he seems to be unpredictable. I want to find what will motivate him to work with us." Hux hated not being able to predict others. His life was built on precise calculations and he preferred to minimize surprises when he could.

"Maybe you should send me to talk with him," Kylo suggested. Being unpredictable was more in tune with his own personality than with Hux's. He could at least make a token attempt at diplomacy even if that wasn't his normal style. After all, he couldn't very well just wave his lightsaber around and force people to work with him here the way he did back in their own galaxy.

Even though your hate for me is strong (OTA)

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