Stranger Than You Dreamt It [Connor]

[Lief]

She turned her head to the sound of his approach and pouted slightly. "I thought it was pretty much a given, since I don't have your gifts." Kyra didn't believe she could touch the Force, what she had done in the scrapyard had been a mere accident. A fluke. "No more using the Force during competitive things!" She shook her head and leaned against him when he knelt down, admiring the view for a moment more.

That was until he suggested they go even higher, no Force to aid him. With a firm nod of her head she rose, took his hand and pulled him onward until she needed both her hands to continue scrambling. "I don't know what you mean" she said, peering back at him, "You're the Forcie here, not me." Pulling a face she pulled herself further up the vessel. It was quite the difficult task at this point, and her exposed flesh was red from the heat of the ship.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor nodded and saluted the scavenger and watched her go - she was going about it all wrong! She was trying too hard, she wasn't letting her natural instinct take over. From that burst of what had been a dangerous blast of Force energy in the junkyard to this? Oh, Kyra. You've just forgotten. That's all.

"Surely you can do better," he chuckled to himself.

Starting forward along the mighty hull, it seemed to be a good mile in length but also at a awkward angle, buried in the planets surface. Still, there was plenty to run over if he just kept moving. And so he did - starting to run gently up the stretch towards the far end of the Destroyer.

Kyra was doing well, but still scrambling around. But, she was very athletic, he couldn't help sneak a glance at her body running and moving up and over and around the metal hull.

"Come on, you're slowing down! Don't want to lose to me again like you did in the junkyard do you?"

Connor grinned as he continued racing up, arms out to keep balance as his boots clanked and clanged over the hull. This was what it meant to be alive and do something he wanted to do for once. The humid wind of Jakku swept over him, but he didn't care because he was having fun, and he was enjoying sharing it with Kyra Sol once more.

[member="Kyra Sol"]

 

[Lief]

Connors balance was impeccable. If she were to try that she would likely tumble down to her death. Or would she?

Kyra slowly rose up instead of being hunched over and firmly planted her feet against the hull; they were good boots, they had quite the grip, but that barely mattered on the hull of a ship. There was nothing to grip. Still she extended our her arms, similar to the way that Connor had, and began to move forward. At first she was wobbly, her feet were oddly placed as she tried her best not to slip. But then instinct kicked in when she focused enough, and soon she was running up along the ship, glancing back at Connor every so often.

When she finally reached the tip of the starship the girl halted, barely out of breath, and gasped at the view. She could see for miles in all direction, even past Cratertown. Kyne was a mere spec in the sand below, prowling and circling the vessel with a low howl that barely made it to her hearing. Poor pup probably thought she'd left him behind.

"It's beautiful" she whispered as Connor presumably came close, though her attention was wholly focused on the view this time.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Kyra was off, and Connor laughed out loud as she overtook him - certainly she had speed on her side. With the angle of the Destroyer making it crucial to use your leg muscles to push down on that blaster-bolt decorated hull and keep moving. Kyra had already reached the top, with the enormous command bridge even higher above them and the two deflector shield generator domes, both partially eroded.

Turning to face Jakku, Connor leant on the thick foundation of the bridge and looked out past Kyra as she spoke softly. It was an awesome sight - beyond anything he'd ever seen. The ship was below them now, nearly a mile of fine workmanship housing god knows what, and they were at the top of it. One of the few people who'd walked or ran up a ship like this.

"If I could bottle this moment, I would and take it back with me," he said absently.

There was silence, but a silence that spoke volumes as they both took in the planet before them as they caught their breath. Connor edged forward, on the sides of his boots, working the angle of the ship to keep his balance, and stood next to Kyra.

"I'm so glad I found you here, I wouldn't have done this without you and I'm so glad I did. Thank you."

He looped his arm around her shoulder, protecting her from whatever was out there that would threaten her.

[member="Kyra Sol"]

 

[Lief]

"Do you have to go?" she asked, absentmindedly, leaning against him when he looped an arm around her shoulder and shared the view they had raced to see. "I mean, can't you stay here, live a normal life for once? Why do you have to be the one who puts his life on the line for everyone else?"

She frowned a little, knowing that it was wrong of her to be asking this of him. She also knew that he would never take her up on that offer.

"I don't want to be alone here again" she finally confessed, "I've missed your company. I've never really..." Kyra sighed and looked out to Cratertown, avoiding his gaze, "You're the only friend I've ever had." There, she said it, and there was a painful sincerity to her tone which spoke volumes.

She was here because it was the safest place she could possibly be given the circumstances. But that didn't mean she enjoyed her life. The people were fine but her days were monotonous and lacking any real adventure. This was the most fun she'd had in years. The best company, too.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

It was here, a mile above the planet Jakku, stood atop a Star Destroyer, that Connor wished he had no-one and had no heart. Affairs of the heart led to pain, and for him it had been proven in the past. His candle still burned for Corvus, and one day he would hope that day came when she would see the light herself…but that was only a dream. His heart had been betrayed by Chastity and his faith in himself shattered by her dismissal of his support. Taeli continued to support him and be a rock when he faltered, and Keira gave him a glimpse into the person he was that nobody really knew except her.

And now Kyra had come back into his life at both the right and wrong time.

He sighed, and squeezed her shoulder gently.

"When I met you all those years ago, I didn’t know what a normal life was and I still don’t. I’ve never had the chance to find out, and even if I dare think about it, something always stops me. I’m surprised I’m still standing and not just given up to be honest."

Would the galaxy miss him? No. The Silver Sanctum would mourn him for a day or so and then carry on in the Heavenshield way of doings things. Padawans would forget his name, Masters overlook his faults. He had received nothing but pain and confusion, and even now still felt it.

But sitting here there was no expectation on him, just a friend wanting him to be alright. What was stopping him from leaving it all and having more days like this, making a living salvaging and selling, smuggling and being a private mercenary?

His eyes had dropped to the sand below in thought.

"I promise you won’t be alone now. I’ll always be here. I’m going nowhere."

Connor turned to her.

"Why did you go. I missed you." Thinking out loud, mourning the years wasted.

[member="Kyra Sol"]

 

[Lief]

Not bothering to say anything, Kyra reached out and took Connor's free hand. Her gaze remained set to the view, though her attention at this point was wholly his. He would always have her undivided attention. When he spoke of his life, the lack of normality, Kyra could not help but frown. She could not even begin to imagine life in his shoes, what he must have gone through to get where he was in one piece. Honestly, she wasn't certain he was in one piece, but she would make him whole again, she had to.

Squeezing his hand the young woman sighed. "I will show you what it is to live" she said, "not for anyone else, not for an organization or some silly mystical energy, but for yourself. If you'll let me." She bit her lip in a moment of uncertainty, before turning to face him, forsaking the view they had worked so hard to see. "It's not in you to give up, Connor, I don't think you could. But giving up and letting go are different things."

Her gaze became glassy for a moment as she zoned out in thought. She wanted to take him and hide him away from all of his worries and concerns, to keep him safe and away from those who wanted a mindless soldier for their whims. If they could not accept Connor for who he was, then they had no right to ask anything of him. They stole away so much of his time, his life, and from the looks of it they had judged him ruthlessly until Connor believed what they thought of him to be true.

Well it wasn't true.

"Promise?" she whispered, peering up at him when he finally glanced her way. She didn't want him to go, she couldn't be alone without him again; truly she hadn't really been living up until the moment he stumbled into her life, simply surviving. Now with him back in her life again, perhaps things could be different. "I'm sorry" she said, looking away - ashamed. "I had to... Please forgive me, Connor."

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor gently sat down on the warm hull under the shadow of the giant command bridge behind them. He pulled Kyra down with him to sit beside him and wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing her lean back on him. There, he sat and looked out over Jakku feeling like they were the only people on the planet, with the exception of her hound laying in the shaded sand down below.

"I don’t think I’ve given up Ky, I think…I don’t know. I think I just don’t know how to live being me. I don’t know who I am. Does that make sense?"

He’d had this discussion numerous times with various people and never left with an answer that pleased him. He chewed his lip.

"Something’s missing. Something is just not right, but I don’t know what it is. Well, partly I do. I guess."

He chuckled slightly trying to diffuse the situation.

"I may have to retire here y’know. Hey, why don’t you come with me to Voss? We can tap into that gift of yours if you wanted. Stand with me in the Order, or whatever is left of it…if I’m even still there I suppose."

His arms held her in place, that protectiveness still there against…anything. Anything that out there to hurt her.

[member="Kyra Sol"]

 

[Lief]

He said nothing for a moment, and Kyra's mind raced to a great many possible reasons why. Had she overstepped her boundaries? Was that it, was he going to leave? But then something unexpected happened, Connor sat against the heated hull of the ship and pulled her down with him. She leaned against him as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and for a moment she felt content and at peace.

And then he spoke, and Kyra felt the pain he was no doubt experiencing. She knew how it was to be at a loss where your own identity was concerned, to be uncertain and simply walking the path set out for you because it was the only way you knew.

"I understand" she whispered, reaching up a hand without thinking and settling it adjacent to his cheek - not touching him just sort of holding it in the air, fingertips just meeting with his hair. Her eyes had become glassy again, but the moment she realised what she was doing she dropped her hand without acknowledging it and sighed. "But it's never too late to discover yourself, Connor."

Another, more heavy sigh escaped her. "You need to have some time for yourself. To find out who you are, to get to understand yourself. I spent a long time following a predetermined path after they found me, I'd be pillaging right now, doing something wrong, something I didn't enjoy, if I hadn't left. In fact... I'd probably be a pawn in some foolish pirate's games." They had wanted a Forcie of their own, after all, even if Kyra's instability had frightened them.

"But I made my own path, and... It helped. You don't have to be what you think others want you to be, Connor. No one would give you the same courtesy." Well, she would. If he were to tell her to jump her only question would be how high. But that was different, and Kyra couldn't even explain why she felt that way, she simply did.

"I will come with you to Voss if that is what you want. Force knows I've spent too long here... But do you want to go back there?" Kyra shook her head. "Don't decide now. There's no need to rush a decision. You can stay here, I have a spare room you can use if you want, speaking of which we should head back, the wastelands aren't safe after sundown."

Rising up, reluctantly as she wanted nothing more than to remain there in his arms, Kyra offered down her hand to help him up before descending down the great metallic beast which jutted from the sand, alongside Connor. At the bottom Kyne was waiting, patiently as ever, and together they departed back toward Cratertown, both of them having a lot to consider.

[member="Connor Harrison"]