[For Rey] Vending machines

[st_rangepalette]

Lillith stood before a box. It was very large box. With glass in front. She cocked her head, trying to make out the many-colored things inside.

"Kit Kat," she said aloud, only the slightest accent touching the foreign, thrilling word. "Rol-lo." Was it named after Percy? The de Rolo family was noble as her own. How strange would it be to see a thing named Daturai? The thought made her laugh softly.

She glanced to the other box beside it. This had rounded front. When she touched, it felt less hard than glass. And less solid. Less weighty. The bright blue and red swirl was stunning. The color so true. She loved it purely for boldness her sisters would hate.

But what did they do? There were too many packages inside the clear to be only a display. Both had levers that made noises inside when depressed. There were slots but what was meant to go inside? "What does S with bars mean?"

Comments

[st_rangepalette]

"Yes." Lillith smiled, a hint of pride in her tone at Rey's surprise. "Although I am nothing and no one special. A small gift with smoke and mirrors. Little more."

It was not false modesty on her part. Lillith knew what she could do and what she could not. She could cause distractions and misdirections, frighten people and deceive them. She could call them from the dead, soulless, to serve her need, and she could, if she needed to, cause her illusions to kill. But she could not heal and she could not cause large amounts of damage. Like many things of the Feywild, she survived and protected others by protective coloration.

[st_reyofsunshine]

"You should take pride in the things you can do," Rey says, her gaze steady on Lillith. "You might think that who you are or what you can do isn't special, but there's always going to be someone else who thinks that it's extraordinary."

For one brief moment, her thoughts flicker back to Finn -- the man who had defected from the First Order. He'd thought nothing of leaving the Order, or the courage that it took to do so. It'd been nearly a year since she'd last seen him now, and a small part of her wishes she had the moxie to tell him as much before that fight with Kylo Ren that had rendered him unconscious.

"Can you make other things?" she asks, suddenly. "If I were to show you a picture of something, could you make it look that lifelike?"

[st_rangepalette]

It was sweet, Rey's concern for her self-esteem, if somewhat misguided. Lillith knew who she was and liked that person, but she also knew what she could not do. She felt no need to discuss the point with Rey, however, and simply nodded appreciatively.

"I can. Although it will not be real. Only an illusion," she cautioned Rey. "And there is a limit to how many illusions I can hold at once and how large. But if there is something you wish to see, I can try."

[st_reyofsunshine]

Rey finishes off her Snickers, pockets the wrapper, and then quickly reaches into her bag and pulls out a medium-sized leatherbound book; she quickly flips through the pages, most filled with notes or observations or simple drawings of spacecraft or aliens or droids... or even herself.

Finally, she stops on a page, and turns the book over to Lillith so she can get a better view of it.

"Can you show me him?" she asks.

A simple drawing of Finn in the same sketchy style as the other decorates the page. He's wearing Poe's jacket and an easy smile -- an easy smile she hasn't seen in a very long time.

[st_rangepalette]

Lillith knew the answer before she saw the sketch. She looked still, curious at what or who she would see. The handsome face, she could not make it. Eyes soft with sympathy, she shook her head.

"I am sorry, kochanie, but I cannot create with magic what I have not seen. Butterfly or kitten, perhaps, but not person. It would be travesty, injustice to handsome face or worse, monstrous."

She pursed her lips and felt the phantom tail wish to swish, angry, like Zvezda's. "From portrait, maybe. You have more--" she pointed to the sketch. "I paint him. Then maybe more real."

[st_reyofsunshine]

The disappointment registers on Rey's face immediately, even despite her best attempt to rein it in.

"Oh," she says, looking down at the upside-down sketch of Finn's face.

But before the disappointment can settle down in the pit of her stomach, Lillith makes a different suggestion instead. She regards Lillith with wide eyes for the second time that day and asks:

"You paint?"

And then: "Would you really?"

[st_rangepalette]

"If you have more sketches and will tell me of him--for expressions and feelings, I will do my best." It pleased her to be of some use in this place and Rey was a nice girl. "I do not have my own brushes and paints, but I have found some I may use."

[st_reyofsunshine]

Rey nods in affirmation. "I can do that," she says. "What room are you staying in? I can probably have something for you by the end of the week."

[st_rangepalette]

"210. The room called Paris Violets. If you leave it for me, I will find you when I have questions. I will." Lillith had spent many months drawing Beatrycze's family. "To draw a portrait without a study requires much input from one knows the person."

[st_reyofsunshine]

"I will," Rey says. Though her expression is serious, there's an excitement radiating off of her, as if she is trying very hard to contain her excitement and has managed to pull together the appropriate facial expression, and not much else.

"I should yet going, though," Rey says, this time with a smile. "It was good meeting you, Lillith. If there's anything I can do, please, let me know."

[st_rangepalette]

"Thank you for sharing candy with me," Lillith said with an easy smile. "And teaching me about machines. I will see you soon, I hope."

She would like to do something nice for the young woman. She seemed very strong but also lonely. This man, he meant a great deal to her. She would help her have him close to her heart.

[st_reyofsunshine]

"If you'd like, I can show you the next time I have something around the inn to repair. I will look for you then."

With a slight nod of the head, Rey stuffs the book back into her bag, then heads in the direction of her room.