Rey Skywalker

Weirdly, Rey felt more in shock today than she did yesterday. Yesterday had been so much, after straight days of constant so much, and things had still felt raw and surreal. She had to have a couple rough conversations that had taken it out of her. She, Poe and Finn had ended up sharing the same cabin on the Falcon overnight, with the door to Chewie's first mate quarters open, like they were all a little worried about not having a sense of where they all were for too long.

Today Rey felt better rested, but things were odd in a new way. People were packing up and leaving now. For about a year and a half her time, Rey had considered this place, these people, like a home, and so many of them were going back to real ones now. It was like losing more people on top of losing so many people already.

And the absence of Leia was striking. People looked to Poe for leadership, but they still usually defaulted to Leia. She knew how to do everything. She would know what to do next. She always had answers. But she wasn't here to tell them. Others would look like they were about to bring her up, or go looking for her, and then they remembered, and it hit them again. Rey wondered if she would be able to reach out, to talk to her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet.

She'd tried reaching out to Ben this morning. Had a little breakdown when she got nothing. All that time she spent shutting him out and…

Rey was determined not to have any more breakdowns today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today. There were things to do, and she was putting herself to work, finding people to help pack up or load things or take down equipment and tamping down the urge to beg them not to go. That was healthy.


[Open for calls, texts, and anyone who may have stayed overnight!]

When the Resistance returned to Ajan Kloss, they were diminished in numbers and yet so many more now. Most of their ally ships had returned to their own systems and planets after the battle, but a few had followed the surviving Resistance ships home. Their base was fuller and busier than ever.

It was the best kind of chaos. People were finding each other in the crowd, laughing and hugging upon being reunited. Medics tried to get to the injured, but some had decided they could ride this high a little longer before needing to be treated. At the same time, some people had realized their loved ones hadn't come back. People who'd only just met were saying hello just to congratulate each other.

They'd survived. Today was a lot, but they were still here.


[For those who helped the Resistance today!]

It wasn't until the next day, when training was ending and she and Leia were picking up to leave the jungle and head back to bare, that Rey finally said, "Can I ask you a question ?"

"Always," Leia said, sounding a little surprised.

"Why didn't you want me on the mission yesterday?" Rey asked, and braced herself. "They cleared me to go."

"You need time."

"But I'm not hurt."

"Not this time," Leia told her. "Rey, you need time, and you need training. You're more valuable than you'll admit to yourself. I don't want you risking yourself when necessary."

Rey frowned deeply. "But isn't going out on missions and helping people exactly what a Jedi should be doing?"

"Yes. And you will. But I need to rethink how we use you for things like this," Leia explained. "If anything happens to you, we don't have anyone else."

"I don't like sending others off to do things I won't do myself," Rey admitted, feeling kind of bad to not just agree with Leia when we sounded so sure of things.

"You aren't. I am," Leia said with a small smile. "Rey, this isn't permanent, I promise. Can you be all right with this?"

She didn't know that she could. But Leia knew best, and Rey didn't want to disappoint her, so she would try. "Yeah."


[NFB, NFI!]

Rey wasn't prone to illness and was careful enough to avoid anything but minor injuries, and in any case, she was used to taking care of both things herself. Therefore it turned out to be immensely strange and frustrating in the aftermath of something actually scary happening to her.

It had been a simple enough rescue mission, and Rey had taken a First Order ship to try and get them off the heels of the Falcon, which had worked really well until the eventual crash landing. Apparently head injuries freaked everybody out, and she'd had to be seen by medics and even though she was going to be just fine, everyone kept fussing over her. As far as she was concerned, she was monitoring things and off training for a bit, but she was mostly just banged up and embarrassed about it, and this was only the first day of having to deal with it all.

(In their defense it had been a worse crash than she was admitting to herself and head injuries tended to look horrible so watching her was probably a good idea.)

Normally she'd be touched at how much this seemed to mean that people cared, but really she just needed time to herself without anyone checking on her. She chose to escape to the nook overlooking the ships where she'd made up her little workshop, where she could just sit and go through the texts for a while. No one really tended to bug her here.

Unless you were a little spherical droid who had somehow managed to roll up there, and who rolled back and forth, questioningly.

"I was hoping to be alone," Rey told him.

BB-8 beeped a query.

"If you're quiet," she allowed, and he quickly rolled up to hang out next to her.


[Mostly establishy, but if anyone's actually calling or texting this week you can do that too!]

When you brought someone along for every single trip home, and then suddenly they weren't there, people kind of figured out what happened pretty quick. And right away, Rey's friends proved why coming back was the exact right thing to do right now. When she wasn't busy with rebel stuff, there were a lot of hugs, a lot of long talks, and BB-8 only left her alone when she told him to. She even got a risky mission that she did really well on, so she got to have something to feel good about.

It was nice.

At the moment it was just her and BB-8 while she did drills in the jungle, and while she heard her phone go off, she waited until she was done before shutting down her lightsaber and going to check her messages and reply.

"Looks like I have a date to go back," Rey told BB-8.

He trilled a question, but Rey was still frowning at the date mentioned in the text and realizing just how close they were to a certain holiday she was also going to really want to avoid.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon after," she answered.

It was called self-care.


[Mostly establishy but open for calls or texts.]

Rey had said she would go on more missions, and when one happened to coincide with a quiet week in town, of course she had to go.

While it hadn't been easy by any measure, it had been a success. She set the Falcon down in its spot in the clearing that served as a landing area, and let Finn and Poe usher their rescued diplomat off the ship and off to the infirmary area for treatment, while she got everything shut down. Once she did, she stepped down the landing ramp to see if anyone was waiting.

[For the pirate!]

There had been a short conversation with Poe this morning that involved him telling Rey that he wanted her out here more, that he definitely wanted her on more missions, and that he'd make sure she got a briefing first from now on. It put her in a great mood. It was nice to know she was wanted around here, and that she was at least getting something right.

So if she was going to be around more, she decided to carve out her own little space on the base. Last time she was here she'd found a little nook overlooking a large portion of the cave, where she could see what was happening while also maintaining some sense of privacy. It was still unused, so she got permission to claim it as hers and began moving a few larger discarded pieces up there. She wouldn't have enough time before they left to do anything, but next time…


[For the pirate!]

The people from Fandom would be returning this morning, but the Resistance members were still busy this morning. Yesterday was just the big day, but the setup would still be happening in stages for a while. Unpacking was still being done, areas were being reconfigured, everyone was complaining about their clothes not being suitable for the climate.

If you thought moving apartments was tough, try moving one half of a war.

If there was anyone you wanted to say goodbye to, now was the time. Or maybe you just wanted to bask in warm for a little bit before going back to winter.


[For last minute crew stuff!]