DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Winter's Phone
HTML https://wintersphone.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Role-Plays & Stuff
*****************************************************
#Post#: 3885--------------------------------------------------
BEN [15]
By: Zellaphone Date: January 31, 2024, 9:14 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✸ xxxxBＥN xxxx✸
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
As they traveled home, Ben thought about what he could do to
possibly make Rey's stay with him more enjoyable. He wanted her
to like him, and he wasn't always the most patient man, so he
wanted to try and speed up the process as much as he could. He
was trying to be respectful of her boundaries, and he would hear
out any requests she might have. He wasn't going to abuse her in
any way or mistreat her like Plutt seemingly had, but that
didn't mean she was automatically going to love him for it. He
could keep feeding her extravagant meals, he knew, and make sure
she had all of the nicest things. Maybe he could bring her
flowers each morning as well. Or, rather he could have the
servants put them in her room so that he didn't make her
uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how to go about all of this. It
wasn't as if he had been properly taught how to court a woman.
He had watched his parents, but they hadn't been the best
examples. He had followed his family's teachings on how to treat
women, however, though he hadn't really had to put much of it to
use so far. The most he interacted with women other than his own
servants was when he'd go to brothels, and they had taught him a
very... particular form of flirtation. He wasn't sure if Rey
would enjoy it, but it was mostly what he knew. When they
arrived at Skyfall Keep, his servants were prepared for him at
the courtyard, his stableboy waiting to take Carbonel. He slowed
Carbonel to a halt, allowing the stableboy to take the reins as
his dogs came rushing out to greet him. Ben grinned at the
sight, climbing off Carbonel and offering his hand out to Rey to
help her dismount as his dogs gathered around him, barking and
wagging their tails excitedly. Rey smiled brightly, her eyes
wide with delight as she stared down at his dogs, accepting his
hand this time and dismounting off Carbonel. She breathed out
his name, which almost made him feel weak in his knees, pointing
out with a laugh that he hadn't mentioned that he had dogs. “I
knew you’d find out," he told her, still grinning as he faced
his dogs, getting down on one knee so that he could greet them
properly. Honestly, he hadn't been sure if Rey would like dogs
or not, but he was very glad that she definitely seemed to. She
asked if she could pet his dogs, saying that she didn't want to
scare them away, but he didn't think that would be a concern.
Most of his dogs loved people. “You may pet them. I think they’d
be rather offended if you didn’t," he told her before
introducing her to each one. She smiled, getting down on her
knees as well to pet them. She told him that they were beautiful
before addressing the dogs as her friends, which made him smile
a bit to himself. He watched as the dogs gathered around her,
curious about her. Chewie was excited, of course, as were the
other dogs, but Madame was slightly more hesitant. Although, she
didn't seem to dislike Rey, she just seemed... less interested
in her. “Seems they like you," he pointed out, watching their
tails wag and Furst start to drool slightly. It was a good sign
to him that his dogs had immediately taken a shine to her. He
wouldn't trust someone that his dogs didn't like. Hux then came
storming out, which was someone that his digs did not like. They
watched him as he came out into the courtyard, clearly angry as
he asked where Ben had been. This had been exactly what Ben had
been expecting, though he didn't wish to have this conversation
with Hux at the moment. Perhaps he would after dinner, but not
now. Hux glared at Rey, asking what she was doing here, and he
answered, telling his advisor that she'd be living with them
from now on. Hux was visibly shocked and furious with that
reply, questioning if Rey would be a servant. Ben somewhat
looked forward to making him more upset with his next answer. He
told Hux that Rey was to be his wife, in time. That really set
Hux off, the man was hardly able to finish a sentence without
cutting himself off due to anger. Hux began to point out that
Snoke would never approve of Rey, but that was when Ben stopped
him with a hand. He knew that if Snoke found out all the details
of the current situation with Rey, he would not approve, but
that was why Snoke wasn't going to find out. Not entirely,
anyway. He didn't have to know everything, and he definitely
didn't have to know that he was giving Rey the choice to marry
him. He was sure that once he reminded Snoke that taking a wife
met that he could begin producing an heir, he'd be more pleased.
Of course, Ben didn't actually care whether he produced an heir
or not. He wanted children, yes, but he'd be just as happy with
a girl as he would be a boy. He told Hux that they could have
this conversation later, but he was tired at the moment and
wanted to enjoy his dinner. Hux tried arguing again, but he
pointed at him, silencing him once more before he warned him
that he wouldn't be repeating himself. Hux obeyed, though he did
so bitterly, not that Ben had expected anything different. Just
about everything Hux did he did with bitterness. He held out his
arm to Rey, offering to show her around the keep as the servants
set the table in the great hall. Rey accepted his arm, much to
his satisfaction, and nodded, asking if they were having a
formal dinner. She mentioned that she'd be rather out-of-place
if they were, saying with a laugh that she didn't have a dress
for the occasion, and she feared she'd stand out even among his
servants. He chuckled slightly at that. She wasn't wrong. “No,
it will just be the two of us dining together tonight, so your
attire is... acceptable," he assured her, though acceptable
didn't seem like the right word. He was fine with her dining as
she was tonight since she had no other options, but he obviously
wasn't alright with her wearing rags longer than necessary.
“Though I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I had the cooks prepare
a small feast for us," he warned her, hoping she'd be happy with
that. She needed to eat more, judging from how thin she was.
"And speaking of your clothes, I will take you out in the
morning after breakfast to have new dresses made for you," he
informed her, leading her into the keep. He showed her all the
rooms that he felt were important for her to know, saving the
great hall for last since that was where they would be dining.
He showed her the solar where he hoped they'd be spending a lot
of time together, his study where she'd likely find him on most
days when he was home, a view of some of the courtyard that he
could show her in full perhaps tomorrow, and lastly, he took her
towards their bed chambers. He stopped at his first, wondering
if she'd end up staying with him if he offered. Perhaps she
wouldn't be opposed to sharing a bed with him. He was almost
certain she would be, but it was worth a try to find out. “And
this shall be our chambers," he said, opening the door to his
lavish and rather large chamber. His bed was dressed in blue
sheets with silver accents, and the canopy above his bed was
silver to match. In one corner he had his desk, and against the
wall was a fireplace. Really, it wasn't too different from the
chamber he had prepared for Rey, but it was more spacious.
“Unless you prefer to sleep alone for now," he said, making sure
to tack on that for now as a reminder that he was confident
she'd choose to marry him.[/center]
#Post#: 3886--------------------------------------------------
REY [16]
By: winterssmary Date: February 1, 2024, 7:19 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✧ xxxxＲＥＹ xxxx✧
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Rey accepted Ben's hand this time when he offered to help her
dismount from Carbonel's saddle. It was warm to the touch and
nearly twice the size of her own, nearly enveloping all of her
fingers up to the knuckle. It was comfortable, oddly enough, and
she knew that it wouldn't be wise to reject his courtesy twice
in the day. Besides, she wanted a quicker dismount if only to
get to the dogs that had rushed out to meet them. Ben got on one
knee as she talked about them, asking permission to pet them. He
granted it immediately, adding that his hounds might be offended
if she didn't. She grinned at that. "Well, I certainly wouldn't
want to disappoint them," she said, getting to her knees as Ben
introduced each of the dogs to her by name. She told him that
all of his dogs were beautiful, calling them friends now. Chewie
and Furst seemed to be the ones who liked her the quickest,
particularly Chewie. The scruffy Irish Wolfhound seemed very
receptive to her pets. Furst was drooling a little already,
crossed around to her back. She gladly petted each of the dogs,
grinning as Chewie licked her hand. The only dog that seemed
more hesitant than the others was Madame. She wasn't angry or
upset by her presence, but she kept her sniffs to a minimum
before returning to Ben, whom she was obviously more comfortable
with. Ben pointed out that the dogs seemed to like her so much.
"That's a relief," she said. Hux came storming into the
courtyard after just a moment, the dogs instantly on high alert.
It seemed that they didn't care too much for the shrewd man,
which she didn't think was unreasonable. He came off as very
pretentious and aloof. That didn't bode well with dogs, in Rey's
experience. Hux demanded to know where Ben had been, speaking in
a manner that she was certain would be dangerous if Ben took the
man seriously in the slightest. It was clear that he saw the
redhead as nothing more than an obnoxious joke with legs. Hux
seemed particularly upset by Rey's presence, asking what she was
doing here. Ben seemed to take pride in telling him that she
would be staying here indefinitely, adding that she would not be
here as a servant, but as his bride. Eventually. She didn't even
want to fight it or argue that she hadn't made up her mind yet.
Seeing the look on Hux's face, how bright red it had grown with
anger, was amusing enough to keep her playing along with it all.
Hux pointed out, however that King Snoke would not approve of
this. It changed Rey's perspective on her predicament. She
thought she was in danger from Ben's wrath alone, but things
were significantly more complicated now that she realized that
Snoke had an inside man in Skyfall. Perhaps Ben knew this and
was risking his own safety to bring her in, but why would he do
that? She found that she more questions than answers after Hux
spoke, causing her anxiety to peak again. None of this felt
right. But, she did find it funny that Ben could silence the man
with a simple gesture of his hand or point of his finger. She
had to stifle a laugh at the display of power. But, she knew
that if he ever did something like that to her, she would be
furious. She could only hope he never tried it. Ben insisted
that he and Hux discuss her place here after dinner, something
she might bring up to him later. She was glad that Hux was
silenced for the time being, but she didn't like being talked
about like she wasn't standing right there. With Hux quieted,
Ben turned to face Rey once more, offering his arm to her. She
took it after getting back to her feet, allowing him to lead her
as he offered her a short tour of the keep while dinner was
being prepared. She asked if there was a to be a formal dinner,
pointing out that she wasn't quite dressed for it, nor could she
be. She added that even his servants were better dressed than
her. Their dresses and bodices were not tattered. Though they
were plain and not overly adorned, they looked comfortable and
well-kept. Ben chuckled slightly, but assured her that dinner
would just be the two of them, so her clothes were fine. He
didn't sound too enthused about her clothes, but she couldn't
really blame them for that. They weren't exactly fitting for the
lady of a keep. They didn't smell too nice either. Ben added
that he wasn't sure what she would like, so he had a feast
prepared for the two of them. Her eyes went wide at that. "A
feast?" she asked, unable to hide her excitement. Her stomach
grumbled at the thought of actually having food to fill her up.
She thought too about how nice it would be to actually get hot,
freshly-cooked food. "I've never been to a feast before.
Honestly, I'm not even sure what I like," she admitted with a
small laugh. "But I'm excited to try what your cooks have
prepared. Thank you," she said, trying to remember her manners.
And, even if this whole situation was uncomfortable and unideal
for her, she was grateful for the food. She'd only been in Ben's
care for a short while, but he had already treated her better
than Unkar ever did. Ben also added that, in regards to her
clothes, he was taking her to a seamstress in town tomorrow
after breakfast. "Really?" she asked, glad to hear it, even if
she knew it would uncomfortable for her. She'd always been her
own seamstress, having to sew ruined and old clothes that she
found on the streets or with the rubbish so that they fit her
better. She didn't exactly have a talent for needlework, but she
had to be clothes. Her smithing apron was the only thing that
Unkar's shop willingly provided her. Being fitted would be a
strange experience, as would picking out dress designs that
suited her. She wasn't sure what suited her. She was even less
sure of how to balance what was comfortable for her with what
was fitting of a lady of Skyfall Keep. Still, it would be nice
to have well-made clothes with better materials. "I would love
that, actually. These fabrics aren't exactly the most
comfortable," she admitted. The linens she used were worn and
thin, rough to the touch and not very breathable. Sweat gathered
where it shouldn't, wearing the fabric down more and more. The
colors were uneven from all the wear and tear. "Or pleasant to
look at," she added with a little chuckle. He showed around to a
lot of the important rooms in the keep, including the solar and
his study. She wondered if he knew yet that she couldn't read
any of the books that lined his shelves. He showed her a view of
the wide spreading courtyard, offering to shoe it to her in
depth later on. He took them to the lord's wing of the castle,
showing off his own chambers to her. They were well decorated in
beautiful blues and silvers, matching the sword she crafted for
him and the sigil of his house. The canopy bed was massive with
more space than she ever thought a person would need for
sleeping. The blankets looked so plush and soft, even from a
distance. There was a grand fireplace in the room that
immediately caught her eye. He introduced it to her as their
chambers. Instantly, she tensed up again, not liking what he was
implying. "Oh, I -," she stammered, knowing that she wasn't
comfortable with any of that. She hadn't agreed to marry him,
nor did she plan to. She certainly wasn't alright with sharing
his bed. He added that she could also want to sleep alone, which
was a relief to here. He tacked on a for now at the end that she
ignored. As long as he agreed to respect her boundaries, she
would stay single, regardless of what he said to her. "I'm not
quite up to that, if it's all the same to you," she said,
shaking her head, rejecting his offer to share a bedchamber.
"Not that your bedchambers aren't lovely, but I... I want sleep
alone," she said. [/center]
#Post#: 3887--------------------------------------------------
BEN [16]
By: Zellaphone Date: February 4, 2024, 11:15 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✸ xxxxBＥN xxxx✸
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Ben had been prepared for Hux to be angry about Rey and try to
confront him immediately, but that didn't make it any less
annoying when it actually happened. He was already aware that a
lord purchasing a lowly blacksmith to be his wife wasn't exactly
going to be smiled upon, and he already knew that Snoke was
going to have plenty of words for him once he found out, but
he'd deal with that at the appropriate time. So far, he didn't
regret his decision of choosing Rey for a wife, and he really
just wanted to settle down for the evening and enjoy his dinner,
especially since he hadn't had lunch. He silenced Hux with a
point of his finger, telling him that they'd discuss the
situation regarding Rey later tonight. With his advisor no
longer trying to argue, Ben turned to Rey, offering her his arm
and to show her around the keep while the table was being set
for dinner. She got up from petting his dogs, accepting his arm,
much to his pleasure. She asked if they were having a formal
dinner, pointing out how she wasn't exactly dressed for such an
occasion, nor could she be. He chuckled slightly at that,
assuring her that it would just be the two of them dining
tonight, so she didn't need to worry about her clothes. He also
mentioned that since he hadn't been sure what she'd like to eat,
he had his staff prepare them a little feast. He watched as
Rey's eyes widened as she repeated what he had said about a
feat. He nodded. "A small one," he re-emphasised. She seemed
rather excited, which he had been expecting since it seemed as
though she had never had a proper meal a day in her life. She
told him she had never been to a feast before, and she wasn't
even sure what she liked. She laughed at herself, saying she was
excited to try what his cooks had prepared, thanking him. He
nodded, eager to find out what foods would be her favorite
tonight. Dinner was surely going to be a whole new experience
for her. He then added that, in regard to her clothes, he'd be
taking her to a seamstress tomorrow to have dresses made for
her. She questioned that as if she were truly surprised by the
idea of him making sure she had nice clothes. "Of course," he
assured her. He wasn't going to have her wear her old rags
around the keep every day, and as she had pointed out herself,
his staff was better dressed than she was. She told him that
she'd like to have new clothes made, saying her current dresses
weren't exactly comfortable or pleasant to look at. He could
agree with the latter. “No, but that will all be remedied," he
assured her, determined to get her everything she'd need as soon
as possible. He wanted her to be comfortable in her new home.
The more comfortable she was, the easier it would likely be for
him to court her. “And you will have a bath drawn for you
tonight," he added, unsure of when the last time she'd had a
proper wash was. He then began to show her around the keep,
taking her to the solar as well as his study. He showed her a
view of some of the courtyard, promising to show her the gardens
in full at a later date. Then, he took her to his wing of the
castle, showing her his chambers. He let her take it all in,
hoping that she was thoroughly impressed so that it would be
easier to convince her to share his chambers with him. He
introduced his chambers as theirs, noticing how her eyes
lingered on his fireplace. He felt her tense up on his arm, and
he internally swore to himself, disappointed that she didn't
want to share his chambers with him. It wasn't that surprising,
but it didn't make it any less frustrating to him. She began to
speak, but he added that she could sleep alone for now, if she
desired. She admitted that she wasn't comfortable with sharing
chambers with him yet if it was all the same to him. No, it
wasn't the same to him, but he'd deal with it for now. Surely,
she couldn't resist him forever, right? She told him that his
bedchambers were lovely, but insisted that she wished to sleep
alone. He shut the door to his chambers, trying not to look
disappointed or upset. "Very well," he mumbled, taking her to a
door just down the hall from his own and opening it. The
bedchambers he had prepared for her weren't as spacious as his
own, but it was still quite large. Everything was decorated in
red with black and gold accents, using colors from the First
Order and Snoke's house colors. There wasn't a fireplace in this
chamber, but there was still a desk, a canopy bed, and plenty of
chests and wardrobes for her to store her future belongings in.
“This shall be your quarters in the meantime. If anything isn’t
satisfactory to you, you may alert me or the staff," he told
her, letting go of her arm for the moment so that she could have
a look around.[/center]
#Post#: 3888--------------------------------------------------
REY [17]
By: winterssmary Date: February 4, 2024, 8:20 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✧ xxxxＲＥＹ xxxx✧
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Ben offered Rey her arm, not caring in the slightest that his
advisor -- one apparently appointed by King Snoke -- did not
approve of her presence. She couldn't help but feel a little
smug when she took the arm offered, knowing that such a simple
action would get under the redhead's very pasty skin. Ben
offered to guide her around the keep for a brief tour while
dinner was being prepared and the table being set. She agreed,
following his lead, but she asked about this dinner in question.
She'd always heard that dinner in a castle was something of a
formal affair. Most ladies were dress nicely, even if the guest
count was kept to a minimum. She saw many women bustling in the
streets of the marketplace, their hair twisted in elaborate
styles and braids, nets and hats on their head, all prepared for
an audience with even a minor lord or a knight while petitioning
for marriage. She asked if this dinner would be a formal one
like those, since she knew that she would be ill-prepared. She
couldn't dress appropriately, nor did she think she could get
cleaned up and looking pretty in time. However, Ben assured her
that dinner would only be the two of them and he didn't seem to
care about what she had on. It was a relief to her that his
expectations for her -- at least in this regard -- were
realistic. She couldn't give more than she had, even if she
wanted to. He also discussed the dinner itself, telling her that
he prepared a small feast for the two of them, since he wasn't
sure what sorts of foods she liked. She questioned that, eyes
bright and wide, her stomach growling with anticipation. Ben
reminded her that it was only a small feast, but he likely
didn't know what that meant. He likely didn't know that it was
not uncommon for her to go a day or two without eating. He
likely didn't know that she could sustain herself on a loaf of
bread for an entire fortnight, since it was all that was
available to her. Having a warm dinner was already a luxury
beyond her imagination, let alone a feast, no matter how small.
"I have a feeling a small feast to you is a lifetime of food for
me," she said with a little smile. It wasn't necessarily a
playful comment, but she said it so that he hopefully didn't
take it as an insult. He likely knew that this would be a lot of
food for her. He wasn't completely ignorant of her position, of
course. She said all of this to show gratitude. She just hoped
it came across the right way. She told him that she had never
had a feast before and that she wasn't even entirely sure what
foods she liked or disliked. She thought it might be hard for
her to really dislike anything, since food was food, but she
couldn't be sure. She was almost excited to find a food that
didn't taste good, just because it meant she was finally healthy
enough to be picky. He also told her that he would be taking her
to a seamstress after breakfast in the morning so that she could
have new dresses made. She was more excited for that than she
was willing to let on. Having clothes that fit properly and were
comfortable and didn't smell was something she was deeply
looking forward to. Whether she chose to stay here or not, she
needed better garments. She told him that her current clothes
were not comfortable, nor particularly stylish. He didn't
disagree, but told her that it would be remedied soon enough. "I
appreciate your kindness," she said earnestly. It made her feel
a little bad about planning her escape. But, if he knew the
extent of her circumstances -- that she was a treasonous spy
against his evil master -- he would understand, since he would
want her beheaded. He told her that he would have a bath drawn
for her tonight, which sounded amazing. Soaking in warm water
was an extreme luxury to her, something she couldn't remember
ever doing, but she always imagined it would feel nice. On top
of that, she couldn't wait to scrub off the layers of soot and
ash and dirt from her skin, to smell like a person instead of a
funeral pyre for once in her life. "A bath? I hate to admit, but
I can't remember the last time I had a proper bath," she
admitted. Maybe talking about her lack of hygiene would make
him... less attracted to her. It definitely couldn't hurt. "I
rinsed off in the rainstorms outside the shop most of my life,"
she confessed. Ben showed her to a few spots around the keep,
primarily the recreational spaces where he assumed she would
spend most of her time -- or places to find him if need be. He
showed her to the solar, to his study, and a charming view of
the expansive courtyard. He promised to show more to her later,
including the gardens. They ended the tour in the lord's wing of
the castle where all the bedchambers were for him and his future
family. She knew enough of how castles were built to know that
this was the purpose of this location. It must feel empty and
lonely over here with just a lone lord. He showed her his
bedchambers, a spacious room with a fireplace, a writing desk,
an a massive canopy bed. Everything was decorated in the colors
of his house, blues and silvers and greys. Overall, it looked so
peaceful, especially knowing who it belonged to. He introduced
it to her as their chambers, which caused her to tense up. No,
she was not alright with that. He offered her a way out, saying
that she could sleep alone for now if she wished. She took him
up on that, saying that she preferred to be on her own. He
didn't need to know how temporary her stay here would likely be.
He didn't need to know that she would never share his bed. He
just needed to know that she didn't agree to it right now. He
seemed a little disappointed, but she felt that was unwarranted.
Did he truly think that she would share his bed after knowing
him for less than a day? Especially after she argued with him
about being bought and sold just a short while ago? Regardless,
he didn't fight her, instead showing her to her bedchambers,
which were also elegantly decorated. Her rooms lacked the
fireplace that he had, but that wasn't a deal-breaker. There was
plenty of storage, implying that she would have more belongings
in the future. It also had a small desk and a large canopy bed.
Her only complaint was the color scheme. It was all done in
Snoke's red and blacks and golds. While the colors weren't ugly,
she didn't like what they represented, but she expected nothing
less. She was in the keep of King Snoke's favorite attack dog.
She would say nothing about it, as not to arouse any suspicion.
Besides, she could ignore the colors as long as the bed was
comfortable. She'd never had a bed before. She walked into the
room, reaching out and running her fingers along the silks of
her blankets, feeling the plush softness of her mattress. Her
body practically ached with desire to stretch out, to know what
it felt like to sleep on a cloud. "Thank you, Ben. This should
be more than adequate," she said, though she couldn't mask her
happiness at finally having her own room, her own space, and
something nice. Her speech was practical and well-mannered, how
she imagined most ladies were supposed to talk, but her wonder
was childish regardless. [/center]
#Post#: 3889--------------------------------------------------
BEN [17]
By: Zellaphone Date: February 5, 2024, 6:50 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✸ xxxxBＥN xxxx✸
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Ben was curious to see how Rey would react at dinner. He knew
that it was likely she was barely fed during her servitude to
Plutt. Nothing about her or her previous master had exactly
screamed wealthy. He wondered how much food she had on a normal
day, if any, but he decided to wait to ask such questions until
dinner. Since she seemed concerned about her clothes, he assured
her that he'd take her to have new clothes made for her
tomorrow, which she seemed excited about. She explained that her
current clothes weren't comfortable, nor were they very pleasant
to look at, which he could agree with. He assured her that would
all be remedied, and she said that she appreciated his kindness.
That nearly made him pause. It was rare that anyone ever
referred to him as kind or said that anything he did was out of
kindness. If anyone said that to him, he'd likely get upset,
just because he wasn't supposed to be viewed as kind. Snoke
didn't want him to be kind. However, Rey saying it made him
feel... warm. But even so, he didn't think what he was doing for
her was kind, necessarily. “It’s not kindness, it’s common
decency," he corrected her. “Who would I be if I let my future
wife walk around in rags?” he asked rhetorically. It was his
duty now to make sure that she was well taken care of, but that
didn't mean that he didn't want to care for her. He certainly
wanted her to like him. He then added that she'd also be getting
a bath tonight, which seemed to please her. She confessed that
she couldn't remember the last time she had taken a proper bath,
explaining that she had rinsed off in rainstorms for most of her
life. He raised a brow at that. Had she even been able to wash
all of her body like that? Had she been clothed when rinsing
off? Perhaps he shouldn't think too much about it. All he knew
for sure was that she could not properly clean herself in that
manner. "Charming," he said sarcastically. Hopefully, she'd have
no issues fully bathing tonight. “Your handmaiden can help you
with your hair tonight. Unless you’d rather I be of assistance,"
he offered teasingly, knowing she would turn him down, which was
fine. She had been very unhappy with him purchasing her, and had
made it clear she wasn't thrilled with the idea of being his
wife or lover in any way yet, but he figured he could at least
tease her here and there. He showed her around the places in the
keep she'd be most likely to visit, starting with the solar,
then his study, a view of the courtyard, and then his own
bedchambers. He introduced it as their bedchambers, hoping that
maybe, just maybe, even though she had turned him down in every
other way, she'd maybe agree to share a bed with him. However,
she tensed up, clearly growing uncomfortable at the suggestion,
and he gave her to option to also sleep alone, for now. Once
they were married, there would be no reason for them to have
separate chambers, and he wasn't giving up on the idea of them
marrying anytime soon. She told him that she wanted to sleep
alone, which wasn't at all surprising, but it was still a bit
disappointing. He wanted to get closer to her, but he wasn't
sure what the best way to go about that was. He agreed to let
her have her own bedchambers, showing her to the chambers he had
prepared for her. The room wasn't as large as his, nor did it
have a fireplace, but it was still exceptionally nice, in his
opinion. He let go of her arm so that she could look around,
telling her that if something wasn't satisfactory, she could
either tell him or the staff. She walked over to the bed,
touching the sheets and seeming to ponder something. Surely, she
had never touched a finer fabric in her whole life. She thanked
him, calling him by his name again before assuring him that the
room was more than adequate. He smiled slightly at that,
nodding. Perhaps he'd let her change the color scheme later on,
but he was glad that everything was satisfactory to her in the
meantime. "Then we shall make our way to the Great Hall," he
said, offering his arm back out to her, eager for her touch once
more. He liked the feeling of having her so close to him, and he
had liked the feeling of her hand in his own earlier as well
when he had helped her off of Carbonel. She felt so small under
his touch, but her hands had been a bit rough and calloused from
her hard work as a smith. He hadn't minded that, however. In
fact, he rather liked it. He led her to the Great Hall where his
servants had finished setting the table. All the candles were
lit down his long dining table, and about half of the table had
hardly any space that wasn't occupied by a plate of food. There
were many fruits, vegetables, breads, and cheeses along with
venison, suckling pig, and chicken stuffed with herbs. The cooks
had also prepared quite a few desserts such as sweet rolls,
custards, tarts, marzipan cakes, and fritters. He was pleased
with the selection the cooks had made, and he took Rey to their
places at the head of the table, pulling out her chair for her.
"What do you think?" he asked her, sliding her chair in once she
was seated before taking his own seat.[/center]
#Post#: 3890--------------------------------------------------
REY [18]
By: winterssmary Date: February 6, 2024, 8:31 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✧ xxxxＲＥＹ xxxx✧
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Apparently, Ben had a disagreement with her over how she viewed
his actions. She thanked him for his kindness, referring to his
desire to get her nicer clothes and make sure she was well fed.
To her, it was kindness that he was willing to pay money for her
to get finer dresses, comfortable garments, and hot food. It
meant a lot to her, admittedly. She had assumed that any new
master would be a lot like Unkar; that they wouldn't care in the
slightest about her comfort or happiness. Her standard of living
was so low for so long that this was legitimately shocking to
her. However, Ben didn't think that his actions were a kindness
at all. He corrected her, claiming that they were just common
decency. Would he be surprised to know that this decency wasn't
as common as he claimed? He added, rhetorically, that he
couldn't allow his future wife to walk around in rags. She
smiled, but quickly tried to mask it. She didn't want him to
know how much she liked hearing that, despite the smug
assumption that she would absolutely be his by the end of this.
He had another thing coming. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I
haven't agreed to anything yet," she reminded him, but there was
no frustration or anger in her voice. He was being kind, but he
needed to know that accepting his gifts didn't mean that she
owed him anything. If he believed otherwise, she had to leave
sooner than she might have planned. "But thank you, regardless,"
she added softly. He told her that she would be getting a bath
tonight, which prompted her to mention her lack of proper
hygiene throughout her life. Sarcastically, he called her
history charming, which she couldn't disagree with. She knew it
was disgusting to him. It should have been. He told her that her
handmaiden would be there to help with her hair. "I have a
handmaiden?" But then he offered to help wash her. He was being
playful, she was sure, but she couldn't help how uncomfortable
it made her feel. "Somehow, I think she will suffice. And, if
she doesn't, I'm not above washing my own hair," she said. After
showing her to a few more places around the castle, he showed
her to the bedchambers, particularly his bedchambers. Though, he
introduced them as their chambers, which she rejected outright.
She was not alright with sharing his bed, which he didn't seem
thrilled with. She assumed that he couldn't be surprised.
Disappointed, sure, but not surprised. He showed her to her
chambers, which were large and decorated in reds, blacks, and
golds. It was a pretty color scheme, but one that she associated
with King Snoke's evil regime. Still, she could ignore that,
particularly if it meant that she would still get the comfort of
the plush mattress and silky sheets. The bed seemed more
comfortable than anything she had ever had. She couldn't
describe the excitement that she felt to finally get to sleep on
a bed. She told him that the room was just fine, smiling a
little, thanking him once more. He said that it was time to go
to the Great Hall now, which caused her stomach to rumble once
more. She approached him, taking his arm when he offered it to
her. "Thank you," she said softly. He led her through the keep
halls, eventually opening up to a massive chamber with a long
dining table taking up a lot of the space. There were candles
lit all along the table, bathing the room in a warm light. The
table was dressed with foods and dishes that Rey had never seen
before. Meats and cheeses and fruits and breads all lined the
space, showing her that food was much more colorful than she
ever believed. She was overwhelmed by the influx of scents, the
sugars and fruits and the seasoning on the meats. It was
intoxicating. "Is this real? It doesn't feel real," she said
softly, staring for a moment. "I don't think I've ever seen this
much food in my life," she added with a little laugh. Ben asked
what she thought, pulling out a chair for her. It took her a
moment to realize that he was holding it out for her. She sat
down after a moment. "I think you and I have very different
definitions of small, Ben," she said with a breathless laugh. He
pushed her chair back in and she watched him, feeling like she
couldn't eat until he said so. Or until he had eaten himself.
[/center]
#Post#: 3891--------------------------------------------------
BEN [18]
By: Zellaphone Date: February 10, 2024, 4:09 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✸ xxxxBＥN xxxx✸
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
It felt strange to Ben to be thanked for his kindness. It wasn't
something that happened often, or really ever. He wasn't known
to be kind. What made it especially strange for him though, was
how Rey was calling his willingness to buy her new clothes and
feed her kindness. To him, it was just decency or even
necessity. If Rey was to be his wife, why wouldn't he provide
her with everything she needed? He rhetorically asked her who he
would be if he let his future wife walk around in rags, and he
caught her smiling for a brief moment. She asked that he not get
ahead of himself, reminding him that she hadn't agreed to
anything yet. That yet gave him some hope. She wasn't outright
refusing him, which was good. He grinned a bit at that. “No, not
yet," he agreed, perhaps being a little too smug. She thanked
him regardless of whether or not what he was doing for her was
out of kindness or just common decency, and he nodded, not
thinking too much of it. He told her that she'd be getting a
bath tonight as well, to which she told him that she had really
only rinsed off in rainwater during her time with Unkar.
Sarcastically, he pointed out how charming that was, and she
didn't disagree. Her lack of hygiene wasn't that surprising, but
at least she could take proper baths now. He added that her
handmaiden could help her with her hair, which she questioned,
seeming surprised that she had a handmaiden. "Of course," he
said, thinking her having a handmaiden would be obvious. She was
the Lady of the House, so she needed a handmaiden. He had
appointed of of the maids just this morning to the position.
Then, playfully, he offered to help wash her hair himself, which
she didn't seem too pleased with. She told him the handmaiden
would suffice, and that she could always wash her own hair if
she didn't. "If you insist," he said, not at all shocked that
she had turned down his offer by this point. He showed her
around some more of the castle, showing her his bedchambers last
and calling it their chambers. She rejected that right away,
which he had figured she would, but that still didn't mean that
he wasn't disappointed. Part of him had hoped that she wouldn't
mind sharing a bed with him, but he had clearly been mistaken.
So, he showed her to her own, personal chambers, letting her
take it all in. He told her that if something wasn't to her
liking she could tell him or the staff, but she said the chamber
was perfectly adequate, seeming pleased with it. Satisfied, he
told her that it was time for dinner, offering his arm to her
again to lead her to the Great Hall. He heard her stomach rumble
as she accepted his arm again and thanked him, and he chuckled
and nodded. He was certain that she was absolutely starving by
now. He took her down to the Great Hall where the table had just
been finished being set, meats, cheeses, breads, fruits,
vegetables, and sweets all covering the table and filling the
room with a delicious aroma. Rey asked if this was real,
admitting that it didn't feel real to her. "It's real," he
assured her, guiding her over to their seats at the table. She
told him that she had never seen so much food in her life,
laughing. He pulled out her chair for her, asking her what she
thought about the small feast that had been put together for
her. She waited a moment before sitting down, telling him that
they had very different definitions of small. He chuckled,
sliding her chair in for her and taking a seat at the head of
the table beside her. “That will change in time, I’m sure," he
told her, certain that she'd become accustomed to having as much
food as she'd like. “The cooks will always be at the ready to
make whatever your heart desires," he assured her before nodding
at the food. "Now, tell me what you'd like and I will serve it
to you," he offered, not sure how much dining etiquette she
knew. Likely none. "I recommend the venison, but I'm partial to
meat."[/center]
#Post#: 3892--------------------------------------------------
REY [19]
By: winterssmary Date: February 11, 2024, 10:45 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✧ xxxxＲＥＹ xxxx✧
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Rey didn't mean to add the yet when she reminded Ben that she
hadn't agreed to marry him. It just slipped out. She didn't mean
to imply that it was ever a possibility; to give this man hope.
Though her time at Skyfall was proving to be nice, she knew she
could never let this place be a home to her. Being here was too
dangerous for her and for Ben, if she were being honest. If, for
some reason, he decided not to kill her when he found out about
her... activities, Snoke surely would and would kill Ben for
bringing her close. And she simply wasn't clever enough to keep
it all a secret, nor did she really want to. It felt wrong and
mean, like she was taking advantage of Ben. Which she was. Being
here in general was taking advantage of him, but he seemed to
want that in terms of basic necessities. He wanted her to take
advantage of his food stores and his finances in order to make
herself more comfortable. He wanted her to take advantage of the
safety that he was providing her by keeping her in a guarded
keep with resources galore. He would not want her to take
advantage of how he was trusting her, to try and cause his
downfall in the war. And, truthfully, she didn't want him
getting hurt in battle. She didn't want to supply her side with
information that would see Ben injured or killed, despite him
being Snoke's favorite attack dog. Killing him would be a
massive victory for the Resistance, but he had been too kind to
her for her to manage that. She needed to get out of here before
it was too late and she was in too deep. She wouldn't be staying
to the end of the week, so she certainly wouldn't be marrying
the man. After a few more comments and Ben telling her that a
handmaiden would be tending to her during her bath, the two made
their way into the Great Hall. Her muscles were aching a little,
not because she was sore, but because she could feel those silky
sheets in her bedchambers calling out for her, begging her to
lay down. The biggest ache, however, was the one in her stomach.
It was growling like a furious bear at the thought of this small
feast that Ben had promised her. She was curious to see what
constituted a feast in the lord's eyes, what foods he had
prepared for the two of them and just how much would be
available. It wouldn't be too much, right? Surely he didn't want
to waste so many resources on someone like her. They entered the
room, a spacious hall with banners in blues and silvers lining
the walls, the sigil of House Solo proudly on display. The table
was long, taking up much of the length of the room, and lined
with comfortable-looking chairs. Candles were lit throughout the
space, illuminating it all in a warm, intimate light. Almost
every square inch of the table was marked with different foods,
many of which Rey couldn't recognize. She knew most of the
fruits and vegetables. She recognized a lot of the simpler
breads and knew what cheese looked like, but the soups and the
meats and the sweets were things she couldn't identify until she
tasted them, probably. The air had a thick aroma of seasonings,
braised meats, potent spices and hearty brothers. It smelled
absolutely amazing, her stomach roaring in response to it.
Almost wistfully, she asked if this was real, since it seemed
like something out of a dream or a particularly charming
painting. He assured her that it was real, guiding her over to
the table. He had pulled a chair out for her, but Rey was too
distracted by the dishes to notice at first. She told him that
she had never seen so much food in one place before, laughing a
bit at how silly that must have sounded to him, but he didn't
make any comments that confirmed her beliefs. He asked only what
she thought. She sat down at that, saying that she thought that
they had very different definitions of the word small, which
caused him to chuckle as he slid her chair in closer to the
table. She didn't know that men actually did that for their
ladies. She always thought tales of chivalrous knights were
myths made up to make women more enthusiastic about being sold
into marriage. Ben took a seat at the head of the table, which
happened to be next to her. He told her that her idea of small
would change in time. "It's just hard for me to imagine having
this much food just available," she admitted. She knew it was
probably a redundant point by now, something Ben had figured out
and obviously didn't care too much about. It didn't matter if
this was a rarity to her, something beyond belief. This was just
his life and, as far as he knew, it would be her life too. He
didn't know that she would be swiping a bag of leftovers and
taking off on a random horse in the next few days. "Sorry. I
don't mean to sound self-pitying. This is all just so new to
me," she said. He told her that the cooks would always be there
to make her anything that she wanted, essentially promising that
she would never go hungry again. It was a big promise, one that
nearly made Rey betray her principles and agree to stay. Nearly.
The promise of freedom from starvation was a large motivator,
but her beliefs in ending Snoke's reign of terror were just
slightly more effective. "Thank you," she added with a small
smile. He didn't understand how he stoked this conflict in her.
He asked what she would like, offering to serve it to her. That
was a... difficult ask. There was just so much to choose from,
so many new tastes to experience. "Oh, uhm... let me see... it
all smells so good," she said, mulling over her options. Ben
recommended the venison, but added that he was biased since he
was partial to meat. That made sense, given his overall build.
"Sure, yeah, venison sounds great. And... uhm... and maybe a bit
of that bread and some of those grapes -," she said, but she
stopped worrying that she looked like an absolute pig. Did he
want her to conduct herself more like a lady? Was she supposed
to eat in stages and courses like other, more proper women did?
"Or is that all too much?"[/center]
#Post#: 3893--------------------------------------------------
BEN [19]
By: Zellaphone Date: February 11, 2024, 8:46 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✸ xxxxBＥN xxxx✸
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Ben showed Rey as much of the keep as he felt necessary for now.
It wasn't as if she needed to see everything right away, and
there were some parts of the keep he doubted she'd be visiting
very often. Besides, he'd have plenty of time to show her more
at a later date. It wasn't as if she was going anywhere or could
really go anywhere. She'd likely die out in the world on her
own. After showing her to her bedchambers, he led her to the
Great Hall, knowing that she had to be starving judging from the
way her stomach growled. When they entered the Great Hall,
everything had been finished getting set up for them. All the
candles were lit, and the table was filled with a variety of
foods that Rey was surely going to enjoy. He doubted that she
had probably ever even had a properly seasoned piece of meat
before, or even a good glass of wine, so he was looking forward
to seeing her reaction to everything. She asked if everything
was real, saying that it didn't feel real to her, but he assured
her that it was all very real. She told him that she didn't
believe she had ever seen so much food in her whole life, but
that wasn't at all surprising to him. He had expected that.
Pulling out her chair for her, he asked for her thoughts on the
feast laid out before her. It took her a moment to sit down, but
when she did, she told him that they had very different
definitions of the word small when it came to the feast. He
chuckled at that, sliding her chair in for her as he assured her
that would change in time. She would never have to go a day
hungry living with him. Of course, he supposed he could always
punish her by withholding food from her if he felt it necessary,
but that wasn't something he exactly ever wanted to do. He
didn't want her to be hungry. He took the seat beside her at the
head of the table, and she admitted that it was difficult for
her to imagine having this much food available to her, which
didn't surprise him. She then apologized, saying that she wasn't
trying to sound self-pitying, but this was all new to her.
“That’s understandable, given your background," he told her, not
thinking that she sounded self-pitying at all. She herself had
said that she came from a lowly background, so he knew that this
was all new to her. He had grown up living a comfortable life
while she had grown up with next to nothing. That was just the
difference between a prince-now-lord and a
peasant-turned-blacksmith. He assured her that the cooks would
always be at the ready to provide her with whatever she desired,
and she thanked him, smiling a little. He nodded, glad that she
seemed pleased. He then asked her what she'd like to eat,
offering to serve it to her. He told her that he recommended the
venison, but he was also partial to meat. Especially red meats.
She agreed to try the venison, also wanting to try some bread
and grapes before stopping herself, asking if she wanted too
much. “Not at all. Have as much as you’d like," he told her,
getting up to slice her off a bit of venison along with some of
the bread she had chosen and grapes. Once she was finished
telling him what else she wanted for the moment, he served
himself, getting some venison, chicken, grapes, cabbage, bread,
and cheese along with a hearty glass of wine. Once he was seated
again, he cut into his venison. “Now, I’d like to know more
about you," he told her, curious to know more about her life
with Plutt. "Tell me about yourself," he said, trying to make
sure it sounded more like a request rather than an
order.[/center]
#Post#: 3894--------------------------------------------------
REY [20]
By: winterssmary Date: February 12, 2024, 10:14 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━
✧ xxxxＲＥＹ xxxx✧
━━━━━━━━━&
#9473;━━━━━━━━&#
9473;━━━━━━━━	
473;━
Rey didn't believe her eyes when she was first shown to the
Great Hall. Not only was the room itself larger than she
expected, but it held mountains and mountains of food, the likes
of some she had never seen before. She didn't realize that food
could be so colorful, but the spread of fruits and vegetables
and meats and soups was proving her wrong. Everything smelled
heavenly, the seasonings of the meats mixing with the scent of
fresh bread in a way that had her stomach crying. Ben assured
her, despite her doubts, that everything was very real, that it
would always be available to her, should she stay with him in
his keep. It was tempting, more so now than ever before. The
idea of actually being safe for a change and never being hungry
again was almost too much to pass up. Almost. She had to fight
to remember her role in this war and how it conflicted with
Ben's. Her being here was dangerous. The most she could do was
entertain this fantasy for a day or two before making her
escape. She wouldn't let herself grow too attached to this
lifestyle. Ben pulled out a chair for her, asking her thoughts.
She sat down after a moment, telling him that the two of them
had very different definitions of the word small, but he seemed
so sure that that would change about her. Again, she felt that
ache in her chest. It hurt knowing that she was giving him false
hope. She wondered how it might hurt him when she did end up
leaving or if all of that would be channeled instead into rage.
Perhaps then he would hunt her furiously and kill her on sight.
At least that would maybe ease her guilt about it. She told him
that it was hard to believe that these resources were just
available. It was all so unreal to her, but she didn't mean to
throw a pity party. She didn't need his sympathy and she wasn't
fishing for it, which she tried to assure him of next. He didn't
seem to take her words as anything other than a pragmatic
explanation, saying that he understood, given her background. He
told her to choose what she wanted, offering to serve her. She
didn't expect him to serve her. He must have been really trying,
which made all of this hurt more. He recommended the venison,
offhandedly mentioning that he was partial to meats. The venison
did look appetizing or, at least, she assumed that was the
venison. Red meats looked much the same to her. She took him up
on that, asking for venison and bread and grapes. She wanted to
keep going, but she panicked, worried that he might have meant a
dish at a time or that he would think her some sort of
gluttonous beast. However, he didn't seem to feel that way in
the slightest, telling her that she could ask for whatever she
wanted. He was truly not giving her any restraints. That was...
odd; hard to believe. "Alright... if you're sure," she said, not
wanting to upset him. "I'll have some of that cheese, maybe some
of that too, and a little bit of the soup," she said, pointing
out the things she was talking about, since she didn't know the
names of everything or the different varieties. Aside from
basics like apples and cabbage, most of the specific names were
a mystery to her. "The tomato-ey soup that smells so nice, I
mean," she specified after a moment, noticing that there wasn't
exactly a shortage of soups in the area she pointed at. "But
that chicken looks amazing too," she added quietly. "I just... I
feel like I want to at least try everything on the table," she
added with a little, awkward laugh. After filling her plate, Ben
served himself, grabbing a glass of wine to finish it all off.
She waited for him to take the first bite, remembering that
Unkar was particularly uptight about that. He said it was how
wolves ate in the wild or something to justify it all. The boss
always goes first and everyone else is hungry until then. She
dug in as soon as his venison touched his lips, grabbing for the
bread and the meat, humming in delight at how everything tasted
on her tongue. Never had she had food that was so fresh and
flavorful, each bite feeling like a completely new full-body
experience. Ben spoke up, asking to get to know her better,
wanting her to tell him about herself. She paused for a moment.
"Oh... I... uhm," but she stopped, realizing that she wasn't
entirely done chewing her bread. She swallowed after a moment.
"I don't know that there's really much to tell," she admitted
with a small shrug. She didn't have the lifetime of stories and
exploits to talk about. She didn't have the journeys to far away
lands and experiences with important or interesting people that
he did. "I uh... I lived in Niima all my life. Or, at least, I
think I did," she explained, popping a grape into her mouth.
Followed by another. And one more before going back in for
another bite of venison. "My parents dropped me off after making
some sort of deal with Unkar. Or so he told me. I have to assume
they died after that, since they never came back for me," she
said. She went for the soup next, absolutely loving how it
tasted, but thinking it might be a good dipping element. She
dipped a small piece of bread into it before tasting that,
thinking it was a divine combination. "So I, uh... I lived in
the shop. I learned how to work so I could earn my keep and have
a roof over my head. I haven't had time for much else," she said
after swallowing, taking a swig of wine to wash everything down.
The combination of wine and all the food was interesting, to say
the least, but not unpleasant. She just knew she needed to watch
herself with the alcohol. "I'm sorry. I fear I'm horribly
uninteresting," she added with a little laugh. [/center]
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page