knightsoflegend | open ♔ valentine's day

[ She nods in agreement with Vi's estimation of her survivalism. ]

So you came through the Veil as well? [ she gets the bikini top tied, gives one last skim of her fingers along the edges of it, and then moves for the pool's edge. ]

[ damn rey, why you do pretty? ]

It was three years at the beginning of the month, actually. [ vi's knight anniversary is valentine's day, actually. she gives lucia a glance to make sure she's safe and entertained before slipping into the water again. ]

Well, congratulations, if that's the sort of thing one celebrates. [ Rey can't much imagine why you would, but when your life is as bleak as hers has been you gotta take the small milestones ok. She drops her feet back in the water, nervous but bold, easing straight down the side and keeping her hands securely fastened to the edge. The brief chill startles a choked sound of her, but she collects herself readily with a slowly drawn breath. ]

I think it might be. Definitely fuckin' changed my life, so.

[ since the first thing finnick taught we was to be comfortable in the water, she's applying the same idea to rey so she just keeps talking. ]

Maybe it's like a birthday. I dunno.

I've never much celebrated those, either.

[ She says it without self-pity, at least, mostly because she has no concept of what she's missing or why it should be missed. Once you're past a certain point, after all ... But for Rey, her momentous yearly event was surviving one more on Jakku. In the water, she turns, keeping her elbows up on the edge of the pool to keep herself from sliding down, though if she let go, her average height would likely be enough here to at least keep her head above the water. ]

Birthdays are weird for me. Where I'm from, the lifespan wasn't incredibly long, I was already pushing the far reaches of it when I was 26 so every year was a huge accomplishment. Plus, we're huge party kids so any excuse, really.

[ ducking her head back she gets it wet before sweeping it up into an astoundingly messy bun. ]

[ that better targets something she can empathize with, but rey doesn't say so. instead, she nods, turning her full attention towards vi. ]

What made it so hard to survive your world?

Mostly me. Have you heard of aasimars yet?

[ only the name, really, so she shakes her head. ]

Basically, they're people descended from gods. Most of 'em are pretty distant, many generations back; great, great, great, great, great, great-grandparents, that kind of thing.

Where I'm from we're called demigods, but it's pretty much the same thing. And the monsters there could smell the divinity in our blood and just... [ she shrugs. ] Hunted us down. We were born to protect mortals from the parts of the world they couldn't see, but it made us twice as vulnerable.

[ her nose crinkles a bit at the drop of 'gods'—only because rey's never been religious, and she's always considered it silly teedo superstition. then again, many would say the same of the force, and she knows it to be real. ]

These monsters, were they sent after you by some kind of master, or were they hoping to eat you to survive? [ Apropos of nothing but curiosity, really. ]

Depends on the situation, honestly. Gods can't drift into each other's realms, but the creatures they make can -- including their mortal children. A lot of the times it was because they were trying to stop us, but some things, I think, just really liked the taste of demigod.

[ she makes a face like eugh that's bad news, then qualifies it, ] A hired hand can be reasoned with, but not a hungry strill. [ and her expression then offers sympathy like yep that means it was awful. on the bright side, she now seems to have her feet flat on the bottom of the pool, drawing away from the edge without much noticing. ]

[ omg finnick is a genius. dragon's fish is real, son. ]

That also depends on the monster. Some of 'em are just dumb as a box of rocks, reasoning with them is impossible just because they don't even know why it's reasonable. What's... a strill?

Vicious, six-legged monsters trained to hunt by the Mandalorians. The smell terrible; you should be glad you've never met one. Bounty hunters loved them for their senses, brought plenty through the planet I grew up on looking for people hiding away. [ they never found any, of course. no one, not even those fleeing pursuit, marooned themselves willingly on jakku. ]

That sounds horrible. Oh, the first time I met the knights? I was looking for directions to some place and this guy just turned into this huge red sala- salami... no, slade- slaadi! Slaadi. It was huge and disgusting and smelled like bodily fluids.

[ she looks down, smiling fondly. ] I pancaked it with a train.

He turned into one? [ with no small degree of horror, rey balks. ] That sounds terrible.

It was disgusting. Apparently they, like, incubate inside people and then just explode out of them and the person they were in is just gone and then they go on rampages to implant their spores or whatever into other people. It's so gross.

[ when u miss the rathtars, you know it's bad. rey is just ... disgusted into silence by this and doesn't want to even think about what else is out there. maybe missing jakku like 5%. ]

Yup, exactly. But my friend Jess went after one with a bat, bless her soul.

Well, your friend must be very brave. [ the implication of her tone is "or very stupid." ]

Definitely brave. You do what you gotta do.

I guess we all do. [ she agrees with a sigh, stepping out from the wall and into the water where it pools around her shoulders. this isn't swimming. this is standing. ]

[ it's progress is what it is. ]

How y'feeling about the water situation?

Well, I haven't drowned yet. [ She laughs. ] So far, swimming's a lot like standing.

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