The rocky bits- Sunday evening

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had seen the Falcon off, in slightly better condition than it had been before, and it had left her both glad she'd been able to have the last few days, and already missing them. Part of her had wanted to go back with them, but she also knew she was doing what she had to in order to be able to help more later, so she hadn't even seriously considered it. Still.

Her apartment felt too quiet now, though, and it felt like it was going to be one of those lonely nights she'd used to hate, so she'd gone out to the rocky bits to sit and watch the sky over the water, because... why not? It was pretty, and she didn't do this enough.

And then she heard a familiar trilling coming from her left, and saw a porg land on a rock not far from her, joining one that she hadn't even realized was there.

"You have good timing," Rey told it.


[Needed to establish a thing but can totally be open!]

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[okteiviakom]

The island was finally quieting down, and Octavia was everywhere this week just taking a breather at the end of what had been a long week. Because even a good week could feel extremely long, sometimes.

Tonight, her trek was taking her through the rocky bits towards Selkie Lake. Usually, she would've given the other woman there a fair bit of space and left her alone - and in fact, that was exactly what she was planning to do, until she happened to catch movement next to the woman. Smaller, fuzzier figures.

Curiosity got the best of her, and she made her way closer.

"... Those are new, right?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Seem to be," Rey said, reaching over to see if she could get one of the porgs to come closer. "I think they decided to stay behind."

Darn.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was tilting her head as she watched the -- yeah, she didn't know what they were.

"Are they birds?"

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah, theyre called porgs. They're from my galaxy," she said, and looked over at her. "These ones are pretty used to people."

In case she wanted a better look.

[okteiviakom]

"Porgs," Octavia repeated, as she crouched down slowly and carefully, to be a little closer to their level. She didn't hold out her hand or anything, though. "They're... cute."

The word sounded almost unfamiliar to her. Hadn't got a lot of use out of it over the last several years.

[thatwaslucky]

"They really are," Rey said, scratching one on the head. It seemed to enjoy that. "I'm Rey, by the way."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded. "Octavia." She found herself weirdly grateful whenever anyone introduced themself with a single name only. It helped her skip the spinning wheel of identity in her head that came with any expectation of choosing a last name equivalent. "I think I've seen you around before."

Give her a moment, she'd remember the wedding thing from last weekend.

[thatwaslucky]

And now Rey was trying to figure this out. She'd been busy, but not very public. "I've only been back about a month," she said.

Maybe before that?

[okteiviakom]

Octavia frowned a little. She was sure it was pretty recent, yet couldn't really --

Oh.

"Oh, I think it was last weekend," she said, after a pause. "So probably doesn't even count."

[thatwaslucky]

There was a long, horrified pause as Rey realized what that meant.

"...You were at the wedding?"

[okteiviakom]

"Plotting to marry and murder one of the other guests," Octavia replied with a drawl. "Yes."

[thatwaslucky]

"That weekend absolutely does not count," Rey decided, wincing, and had to ask, "Which guest?"

[okteiviakom]

"Anakin?" Octavia offered with a shrug. "Pretty sure that's what his name was."

She didn't have any business at the school, ever, so she didn't exactly know him outside of that single incident.

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh, the father of the man I publicly professed love for," Rey noted. "Everything was dumb."

[okteiviakom]

There was a pause where Octavia was clearly trying to add up what she remembered of the two men and how they looked, and coming up with 'that doesn't work at all', before discarding it as a Fandom thing.

"It wasn't the worst the island's decided to do," she said, her tone extremely dry. She turned her gaze towards the porgs again. "But not the best, either, no. It was ridiculous."

[thatwaslucky]

"It always used to miss me. I guess the hope of that is over," Rey said. "Never a dull moment, I guess. At least there are birds from another galaxy."

[okteiviakom]

"And that's where you're from, too?" Octavia asked, glancing up again after a moment of watching the birds in question. Her tone, although mild, was considerably softer somehow. "Another galaxy."

[thatwaslucky]

"I am," she said, nodding. "Different timeline than most people, though."

Which had its good and bad points.

"Are you from here?"

[okteiviakom]

"Sort of." Was anything on Fandom ever that clear cut and simple? "My time's still over a hundred years away, and I grew up on a space station."

Though they were currently remarkably close to where she'd ended up once they'd come down to Earth.

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh." Sounded totally normal to Rey. "Do you constantly have to worry about spoiling things for people here?"

She worried about that all the time.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia might not have mentioned the space part quite that abruptly, had the galaxy thing not already been in play. She'd expected - correctly! that Rey wouldn't be weirded out.

"No?" she said, shrugging. "I mean, I tell people here that the Earth I come from got destroyed in a nuclear disaster a century before I was born. But I don't think this is that Earth."

Not that this one couldn't still be heading towards a similar fate.

"Is that something you have to worry about?"

[thatwaslucky]

Well, that was horrifying to think about happening to any Earth. She had experience with a world collapsing under her, and she liked this particular world. Mostly. (Some people needed some work.)

She nodded. "I'm from just far enough past everyone else from my galaxy that would tell them what happens with the things they're doing now. It's surrounding tricky."

Hey, Rebels, that thing you're doing is totally gonna work! ...For a while.

[okteiviakom]

The Earth got better! Kind of. Over a century.

Anyway.

"So there are really that mnay people from your galaxy here?" Octavia asked, with some extremely mild surprise. "As far as I can tell, it's just me and my brother from mine."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had to pause and do a quick count. "Five on island normally that I know of, five that show up from time to time from off island. I think there's more than that, that's just who I've talked to myself. Your way is definitely simpler."

[okteiviakom]

"Or lonelier," Octavia scoffed, although there was a lightness to it. Probably masking something deeper. "But, at least I don't have to keep anything from anyone."

There was that.