The beach- Tuesday morning

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was sans yoga teacher this week (and it had better just be this week, and she wasn't thinking about it), but she still decided to come out to the beach like normal anyway. It was a quiet week, she was bored, she should be keeping up with this anyway, and there was only so much time before the weather got too cold to be out here. So she came out with her own mat to run through what she remembered, just like normal.

And then she sat for a while and watched the waves, because it wasn't like she had a ton else to do. Maybe because it was a quiet week, that bothered her a little more than usual. There was more she should be doing, she just didn't know what, and the uneven time difference between here and home felt a little more oppressive when she thought about it that way. Maybe she'd call in later, just to see if they might need anything coming up.


[Open!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia happened to come by this stretch of the beach purely by accident, and it had nothing to do with having wondered whether Rey could be found here even though Duke wasn't around. Nothing at all.

Promise.

Anyway, here she was, fresh off of patrolling the island - or more specifically, right from The Perk. Judging by the takeaway cup in her hand. "Hi, Rey."

[thatwaslucky]

"Morning," Rey said, smiling over at her. ""How goes the patrol?"

She assumed.

[okteiviakom]

"Nothing of note," Octavia replied with the tiniest shrug, followed by a little sip of coffee. "Island's extra quiet, this week."

Even with her love of the quiet, this kind never sat very well with her for a variety reasons. Though there seemed to be some new ones, too, this time around.

[thatwaslucky]

"Yeah," Rey agreed, frowning a little. "This is the first time I've been here when everyone was on a trip. I'm not sure I like it."

It was entirely possible she'd gotten spoiled having people around so much.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't think I do," Octavia admitted, her gaze flicking over towards the water.

She clearly meant to add something - and then just didn't find the right words to.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey waited to see if she'd finish that, and when she didn't, said, "Want to sit? We can keep each other company."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia glanced over and nodded, then went to sit down.

Sometimes, ackowledging offers in words didn't seem all that necessary.

"It's kind of funny," she said instead, after a little silence, her voice raspy and her tone subdued, "last week I was starting to feel like I'd had enough of people for at least a month. Two days into this week and I already think there aren't enough of them."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey made a small noise of agreement. "This kind of quiet is what I'm used to," she said. "You might not talk to another person for days, if someone does hang around then they're probably about to try to cheat or attack you. And then all of a sudden I had to be around people, or seek them out... and I think I like that better. At least in moderation."

Those very early days on the Falcon after Crait had been a lot at times.

[okteiviakom]

"Was that back when you were living somewhere isolated?" Octavia guessed, remembering she'd said something to that effect before. "Before the people."

[thatwaslucky]

"Jakku, yeah," Rey nodded. "The whole planet's desert, the local economy is scavenging... I found it easier to work on my own, which meant staying out of everybody's way."

[okteiviakom]

"So you kind of chose the isolation for yourself," Octavia noted, mildly but also pretty softly. "In part."

[thatwaslucky]

That earned a pause and a very careful answer out of Rey. Because she'd say no, but... she had. Again and again. Maybe that was why she was so bothered now.

"I did," she admitted. "Felt like the right thing to do at the time."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shrugged, lightly. Didn't seem like she thought it was a big deal, or anything to judge.

"Sometimes it probably is," she said, her eyes on the water. "I didn't choose mine."

[thatwaslucky]

"What do you mean?"

She left it open-ended, so Octavia could say as little or as much as she wanted.

[okteiviakom]

The silence that followed was Octavia deciding exactly how much she wanted to say. Deciding what would explain her take on too many or too few people without getting too far into it.

Not that she didn't think Rey could be trusted with the whole story. It was just exhausting to tell, in particular after the turmoil of the last week.

"I grew up only seeing two people, ever," she settled on eventually. "For my first sixteen years."

[thatwaslucky]

"That really isn't a choice," Rey said, raising her eyebrows. "This was on that space station?"

[okteiviakom]

"This was on the space station," Octavia confirmed. The way her voice went lower and raspier was probably by force of self-protective habit, somehow. "Just me and my brother and our mother, living in our shared quarters."

[thatwaslucky]

"And... then you left it?" Rey asked, and added, "You don't have to tell me anything, either."

There was plenty she hadn't gotten into herself.

[okteiviakom]

"And then I left." That was an extreme over-simplification. "And it's been, what? Five years now."

She shrugged.

"Not enough time to fully get used to people, I guess."

[thatwaslucky]

"It isn't easy," Rey said. "Is it more like you like knowing people are around, even if you don't actively see them?"

[okteiviakom]

Oh, look, it was another shrug. Octavia was pretty fond of those. "Something like that," she said. "It's like there's a balance of things, you know?"

She glanced over.

"Like how many people are okay to be around me, but also how many are okay not being around at all?"

[thatwaslucky]

It all cane down to balance, every time.

"Are you talking about anyone in particular?" Rey asked.

[okteiviakom]

Now there was a question Octavia wasn't sure she had the answer to. "I think almost everyone who came to the bonfire this past weekend is on the school trip, now," she offered. Mildly.

And, you know. Then there was that one who wasn't.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had to think about who all had been there, and nodded.

"It's just a trip, though. It's temporary. We'll be bored for a week and then everyone will be back."

And Rey was going to feel a little bad about seeing if she could go to work back home.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let that thought just sit there, for a moment. When she spoke again, her tone was predictably neutral. "I wasn't sure you'd even be here today."

Wherein 'here' was a little more specific than just the entirety of the island. Also, not that she'd specifically come here to see whether Rey was. Perish the thought.

"Since Duke's not."