Touch
The first time they touched was an accident, a brush of hands as Raven pointed to something and Rey shifted what she was working on at the same time. They'd already become adept at technical shorthand, their conversations - when working, at least - a steady stream of overlapping jargon. The touch abruptly cut them both off as if their comms had shorted out at the same time. There was a flash of...something in Rey's mind, there and gone too quickly for her to catch anything but residual warmth, which she immediately attributed to the close quarters. A spark shooting from the panel next to her shook them both from the spell and the work continued. The warmth, however, remained.
The second time they touched was on Narwen-4, a short trip to test some of the upgrades Rey and Chewie had made. The hill they were climbing wasn't too steep (Rey had scouted the terrain beforehand to be sure), but the rocks and loose sand made for tricky footing as they climbed a small ridge. When the ground gave way under Raven's feet, Rey's hand was there quick as a flash to grab Raven's and keep her steady. Normally Raven didn't like being helped, or needing it. Ever. If it were anyone else she would have ripped her hand away with a terse "I'm FINE." This time she regained her balance and gave a soft "thanks." The view from the top of the ridge was breathtaking.
The third time they touched they were sitting across from each other. Raven wiped her hands on her thighs and offered them palms up. They were smudged with grease and dirt made a fine, dark line under the short, ragged nails as they hovered in the space between them. Rey took them, one in each of her own, wondering at the ease with which her fingertips settled against the mechanic's calloused pads. She wanted to relish the light she felt flowing between them, wanted to swim in it as long as she could. With effort, she set that aside to open her mind and share a childhood she didn't have words to describe. It was Raven's first real, direct contact with the Force. The images she was receiving of a young Rey clambering through derelict cruisers and ships, knowing innately just where to go and what parts to scavenge, were overwhelming. Because along with them came an acute loneliness and a sense of longing, a search for people and a place in the universe. Even with that dull ache, Raven felt the keenest sense of peace she'd ever experienced. She didn't know if it was the Force or Rey herself or some combination of the two; she just knew it was as intoxicating as the sweet archion brew she sometimes drank when her leg was being especially troublesome. It was a few moments before Raven realized the shared images and sensations in her mind had stopped. They sat that way as they talked, Rey's fingers tentatively exploring Raven's. She asked about each scrape and scar that crisscrossed the knuckles, working her way over Raven's hands. "And this?" she asked as her thumbs brushed over faint white lines that crossed the inside of each wrist. Raven pulled her hands back and tugged her sleeves down over the scars. It was silent as Rey waited for the answer, her hands folding over each other to try to replace the warmth that was suddenly lost. It wasn't the same. "Those were, um, not from a machine," Raven finally said. Her thumb rubbed at the inside of the other wrist, her eyes cast down at the space between their feet. "I hit a rough patch a few years ago. My leg got worse and for a while they were trying to decide whether it would need to be replaced or not. They were hedging because it wasn't life-threatening. Meanwhile I couldn't work, I couldn't do much of anything, really. So I spun out, got myself into a pretty deep, dark hole and eventually only saw one way out." Her shoulder lifted a fraction and fell again. Rey reached across and took Raven's hands and squeezed them tightly. "Promise me," she said urgently, concern etched in her features. "Promise me if you ever feel like that again, if you start to lose hope, you'll tell me." Raven's dark eyes lifted to meet Rey's and she saw all the hope in the universe in them and wondered how she could ever lose it again. She closed her fingers around Rey's.
"I promise."