The sun woke her. It was bright, stifling even in the shade. As she blinked to clear her swirling vision her gaze settled on a metal roof, the sun streaking through frayed tarps set up in the place of a door. But what she noticed was the quiet, a quiet that came with nothing living surrounding her. It was still. She'd expected to be captured, to have woken inside a moving ship cuffed, possibly gagged because she was known to fight tooth and nail, or laying where she'd fallen in the sand exposed with nothing but the sky above her. She got neither.

Sitting up she felt the bruises all along her sides from where she'd hit the ground after ejecting; and she'd done it so late, hoping to not be seen by the damned pilot tailing her, she landed with almost the same force as the pod. She might as well have stayed in it for all the good it'd done her.

Yet there she was, wherever there happened to be. If she had to guess she'd wager it was an old ship, old from the rust, and ship because of the various metal pieces she saw partially buried in the sand outside. She sat half hunched leaning more on the side that hurt slightly less when she breathed. With each breath strands of purple hair were drawn to her nose tickling it gently, and she raised a hand to brush it out of her face. At the soft clinking of metal her gaze fell to her wrists to find a rusty chain knotted forcing her hands together. She followed the length of it to see it was wound around part of the ship's structure, and with a measured tug she knew it wasn't coming loose. She looked for what was next. It was an old chain, one of the links had to be loose or at least cracked. So she climbed to her feet, feeling her aching legs wobbling beneath her weight, and pulled her battered body as hard against the chain as she could giving a sharp jerk every now and again hoping it'd snap one of them.

She went on for several increasingly hopeless minutes, too stubborn to give up until she was left on her knees with sweat dripping down her back gasping for air to fill lungs that burned from the way her aching muscles squeezed too tight around her ribcage. She bent her body so her chest was pressed against her legs and her forehead rested on the metal of the ship's floor to cool. But already it was warming, whether from her exertions or from the sun burning the roof, and it did little else but make her sweaty forehead all the warmer.

After several quiet minutes the sand around the ship began to tremor, a slight vibration she felt through the metal against her temple, and she held her breath as she strained to hear what was passing close by. There wasn't much she could see of outside from behind the tarps, the ground a sliver of the bright sky, but nothing in the distance. Nothing to help prepare herself for who was so clearly coming toward her.

It was a landspeeder, she'd driven enough of them to be certain of it. And if she had to make a guess, because really a guess was all she could make, the person driving it was mostly likely whoever saved her last night. Even though it made her blood boil to use the word 'save' it was none the less true; or else she would've woken on her way back to the Resistance. It didn't make her any more grateful, in fact she waited like a coiled spring as the engine cut out.

The face she saw when the tarp was pulled back was cloaked in white, wide goggles over their eyes, a white mask pulled over their nose. She kept still as they stepped onto the ship, placing first their bag and staff against the wall, and then stepping closer to where she lay. "I know you're awake," a soft feminine voice said behind the mask. They made the mistake of kneeling beside her, of assuming she wouldn't bite the hand that proverbially fed her.

She swung her leg behind their feet knocking them on their back, and she lunged toward them grabbing the chain that bound her and wound it around their neck. While her 'savior' struggled to breathe she took the opportunity to search them for anything that would break the chain, a search made difficult by their thrashing body. A violent, desperate, kick landed square on her chin throwing her back, stilling her for several moments as she laid on her side seeing only black. It was enough of a chance for her masked jailor to free themselves and step back before her sense was regained.

Only her sense had been dislodged and the world was once more a mixture of swirls and stars, she could do no more than lie awaiting certain death. With blood spilling out of her mouth from where her teeth had been pushed into her lip she knew what a sight she was, easy prey – the kind she normally passed by and left to their misery. And she was in misery, having escaped one jail for another. The breath stilled in her at the feeling of something pressed firm against the side of her neck.

"Try that again and we'll see how much Unkar Plutt'll pay for you," that same female voice said from behind the mask, though it sounded younger this time as she spoke out of breath.

Turning her head and spitting a mouthful of blood on the floor she gave a wry bitter laugh. "If you're waiting for a thank you don't hold your breath." She grit her teeth as she pulled herself up against the wall to sit, her sides burning, her lungs burning, her face burning. Her whole body was a massive tired bruise. "Or better yet, why don't you go for it." Giving a bloody-toothed smile she leaned her head against the wall of the ship and closed her eyes trying to get her breathing under control, hoping it might lessen the pull on her sides – which had taken the brunt of her landing the night before. At the sound of movement she opened one eye no more than a slit and stared through her lashes as the other girl moved about the ship.

"Here."

Opening her eyes fully she looked up to see a canteen being offered. It was then she realized how dry her mouth was, her tongue feeling shriveled, her throat stuck closed; the thought, like a desert, nearly made her smile because she was sure the night before she'd choked on sand.

The woman was a sad sight holding the canteen in her bound hands, dried blood caked on her forehead and hair, fresh blood dripping down her chin, and now water pouring from the sides of her mouth as she gulped like she hadn't drunk in days. Rey pulled the mask off her face, unwinding the cloth wrapped around her head, and set it on a table. "I'm Rey," she greeted turning back to the woman to find her now watching closely. Rey didn't know how she'd missed it before, this woman was ready to strike at any moment, probably had been soon as she woke. "Are you hungry?"

"I'd rather be untied," she answered instead, her voice offering not even the possibility of kindness. It was hard as a stone, just as unyielding and sharp.

Rey was quick to shake her head as she grabbed a bowl. "If that's what you can do tied up I don't plan to find out how you'd behave free," she told her not unkindly, though by no means did her tone hold any warmth. Not when her throat still felt like the chain was wrapped around it; this woman would've killed her without asking questions. This was a mistake, one she was only just starting to regret.

She considered it, and the girl's wit at already knowing it was best to keep her under lock and key. "Then yeah, I'm hungry," she admitted reluctantly, realizing there was no current way out of this besides getting the kid to let her go.
She was given a bowl of water and a packet of green powder dumped in it as a means of food. Nothing about it resembled food, not even when Rey stuck her finger in it and swirled it around. It took her several moments too long to figure out what she was being given was a food portion, a poorman's food portion – but when it came together and formed what she thought might've been a biscuit she understood what she'd been given. It didn't make her any happier to eat it, not when she knew eating a mouthful of sand would taste about the same.

"That's all you'll get here," Rey told her at the sight of her turned up nose and hard eyes as she practically glared at it. "I suggest sucking it up. Besides, I only had enough for myself, I had to sell some of your things to get even half a portion, so in a way you bought it."

She turned to Rey sharply, her hands tightening around the bowl. "What exactly did you sell?" she asked reserving her anger until she knew just how angry to be.

"If I'd taken parts from your ship I would've gotten a lot more than half a food portion, but instead I saved you. You should be thanking me," Rey said quickly losing her patience. "I've got half a mind to drag you down to the Niima Outpost to find out if your head's worth more."

"Oh you're not gonna sell me," she told Rey brushing off her empty threat.

"I could," she replied stubbornly, knowing if it came down to she wouldn't be able to.

But she shook her head and raised the bowl she held in her chained hands. "You wouldn't a fed me." She set the bowl on the floor and slid it to where Rey stood. "I'm not hungry enough yet to eat that."

Rey happily took it from her, not knowing any other food, and she sat a good distance away from the woman – too far for the chain to reach. Rey got a good look at her then, the sun shining through the tarp illuminating her face. She was older than her, though not greatly, her hair though dirty was a deep violet, her skin a softer more pink purple, and she had strange glittering eyes. "You never told me your name," she said simply.

If Rey hadn't been so young she might've been more suspicious of why the girl wanted her name. But instead she answered in a dull short tone: "Eris."

With a nod Rey shoved food into her mouth, it'd been a while since she had more than one portion to eat a day and even then she didn't get one everyday. "Why was he hunting you? Was he with the Resistance?" she garbled around a full mouth.

Eris gave a short unamused laugh. "I'd assume so," was the only answer she had. Those days it seemed no one else cared about her besides the Resistance, granted most of her targets were people who aided them.

Rey paused midchew as she thought of what it could mean that the Resistance wanted her captured. "Are you with The Order?" she asked almost afraid of the answer, she wouldn't know what to do if it came back yes.

She laughed again, only this time it was softer more honest. "Don't choke kid," she said seeing Rey's eyes had widened at the thought of harboring the enemy. "I'm not with anyone."

"What does that mean?" Rey was quick to ask, not knowing much outside of Jakku.

Raising a shoulder Eris sighed. "I go where the money is," she said by way of answer. "Usually it's on someone's head."

Her eyes widened once more and her mouth fell open slightly as she realized what that meant. "You're a bounty hunter," she said mystified. "What's it like?"

A wry smirk curled one half of Eris' mouth, not many people responded so enthusiastically to that bit of information. "Depends on the job; sometimes I'm an executioner, other times I'm a hired gun, mostly I'm a jailer. Except now, now I'm the captive." She raised her hands and shook them so the chain rattled, their repetitive clanking echoing her irritation.

But Rey only shook her head. "I'm not letting you go until I know you won't retaliate, or steal anything," she added for good measure. She knew as soon as Eris was free that chain would be around her own hands, and Eris would leave her there alone to rot – she had cold eyes. They were unforgiving.

Eris slumped against the wall realizing of course it'd be harder than that to get the girl to release her. Nothing was ever easy, at least nothing of importance. "And when do you suppose that'll be?" she asked letting her head slump to the side to glare at Rey.

"That's for you to decide," Rey answered as though it was the simplest thing in the galaxy. But she quickly brushed that aside in favor of what all Eris had seen, of all she might know that Rey herself could only dream of. "What was your favorite job?"

At the naïve excitement in Rey's voice, and the childlike stare, Eris rolled her eyes. This kid was gonna force her to play nice, Eris didn't particularly like being nice.

"Wait," Rey said having a new, better, thought, "no, the most exciting job. Definitely the most exciting one."

There were so many things Eris wanted to say, threats she wanted to scream because maybe she could scare the kid into letter her go. But she breathed heavily through her nose. Playing nice, that's what was happening. "Will you let me go if I answer your questions?"

Without pause Rey answered; "I'd be more likely to consider it."

Which meant no. With a growl of a sigh Eris hit her head against the metal wall, a dull sounding clang, and gave in. This girl was gonna be the death of her.