#reader is mute

 Hux peeked an eye open slowly, hesitantly. Above him was an unfamiliar form, someone he had never seen before. A young woman, wearing scraps of dull colored clothing, sat on her knees beside him, her smaller scared hands rubbing ointment into his skin gently. Immediately, the throbbing that accompanied inflammation began to die down and he let his other eye open. He stared at her, unsure whether she was an enemy or a random civilian. She had no insignia, and after looking around as much as he could without too much movement, he realized that the two of them were surrounded by rock. Were they in a cave? Most likely. He turned his attention back to her when he heard her close the lid of whatever ointment she had used on him. “Thank you,” he said, his voice hoarse and throat dry. He tried to clear it.

 The girl jumped in surprise, the ointment dropping out of her hands. It clanged loudly against the stone flooring and he flinched a bit at the echo. She turned to face him, eyes wide and hands trembling. Armitage raised an eyebrow at her obvious fear. “Is everything alright?” His voice sounded worse that time, and he coughed rather violently. The force of his cough brought new waves of pain through his chest as it irritated his wound. He wondered how fresh it was, how long he’d been there.

 She stood quickly and ran off. A sigh escaped him, if she was an enemy, she was poor one at best. One should never show fear to an enemy, after all, let alone run from one. At least, he thought, she was rather pretty. Without so much dirt and ragged coverings, he thought she might even be considered beautiful. After a bit of time had passed, he heard footsteps once more, quick ones, and he could tell by the sound against the stone that they were bare feet. It was the girl. She knelt beside him once more and set a large claw bowl down to her right. Hux wished to see what she was doing a bit better, so he tried to sit up and she helped him. She placed a bundle of cloth behind his back to make sitting up not only easier but more comfortable against the rocks of the cave wall. Once he was comfortably sitting up she leaned over the bowl she had brought and dipped her hands into it.

 Using her hands in place of a cup, she brought the liquid out of the bowl, he figured it to be water, and up to his lips. When he didn’t immediately start drinking from her hands, she ushered them forward a bit more, a bit of the cool water splashing against his bare abdomen. “Okay, okay,” he muttered and began to sip from her outstretched hands. He had not realized how thirsty he had been until she decided he could just drink from the edge of the clay bowl. Once he had downed all of the fluid, he handed the bowl back to her. The girl nodded and stood up once more, still a bit skittish. He could tell she was still trembling. “What’s your name?” He asked. She looked down at him curiously and tilted her head to the side. “Your name,” he repeated. “What is it? I should like to thank my savior properly.”

 She continued to stare at him, blinking in confusion. Was he crazy? Did he hit his head too hard when he crashed? Was he not speaking basic? She remained unspeaking and turned around and walked away quickly. Her reaction was unexpected, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much about it. He would die soon anyway, whether he was killed by an enemy, her, or himself, he was unsure. But he would die. There was nothing left for him in the world of the living anymore. His First Order, gone. His Finalizer, gone. His men, gone. Plans, gone, ambitions, turned to dust, leader, murdered by a buffoon, even his precious Millicent was gone.

 “Mrwow,” as if having heard his thoughts, his precious orange tabby came sauntering over to him from further in the cave. Armitage blinked at her in shock. It seemed she had also survived the crash, thankfully. Millicent began to purr as she curled up by her master’s side, making sure to sidle up as close to his hand as possible to ask for his affections. The girl also returned, this time holding a smaller clay bowl. Again, she knelt at his side, but she made sure to give the feline next to him a few scratches before turning her attention back to the ginger male. She set the bowl to the side and began to more her hands about, making odd shapes and symbols with them, and moving them in differing motions before staring at him expectantly. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

 She furrowed her brow and repeated her actions. He shook his head at her and repeated the same statement. A huff left her lips and she looked down to the bowl beside her. Picking it up once more, she made a sipping motion, and rubbed her abdomen. That he understood and he nodded. She gave him a shy smile before handing the bowl over to him. It was some type of stew, a light-colored broth with hunks of veggies and unfamiliar meats. Hux downed the bowl in a single swallow, some of it spilling past his cheeks and down his chin. He had never been too picky of an eater.

 The girl seemed surprised by his actions and she pressed a hand to her chapped lips. Again, her brow furrowed, and he wondered what she was thinking. Why hadn’t she spoken to him? Could she not understand him? Then where was he, to be on a planet with a human who didn’t understand basic? Armitage watched her carefully, and she watched him intently. Her features were soft and feminine but marred by dirt and scars. The wrapping she wore covered her neck entirely, her breasts and abdomen, but not her arms and shoulders. She wore some type of wrapping for loose pants that obviously did not fit her. Her feet were bare and scarred, much dirtier than the rest of her. It seemed that as he continued to stare at her she grew more and more uncomfortable. He was about to ask for her name again when his stomach grumbled, loudly. The girl let out some odd huffs, hoarse and almost without tone, her shoulders shook, and she covered her mouth with her hand once more, but it seemed as if she was smiling. Was she laughing? What an odd sound she made.

 She got to her feet again and picked up the clay bowl the soup had been in earlier. He assumed she was leaving to get him some more of the stew, and he was correct. The girl came back and handed him the bowl once more, watching in fascination as he swallowed the broth and chewed the chunks in a bit more than one go. The third time she brought him the stew, he didn’t finish it, only getting about halfway through before feeling almost too full. “Again, thank you,” he said. She pressed her lips together at that and shook her head. He didn’t understand.

 She looked around them, were they being watched? Once she had finished looking, she glanced back at him. Again, she made various hand motions and shapes, these being different from the last ones. Was that why she wouldn’t speak? Because they were being monitored? He glanced around, now also looking for enemies. A strangled noise came from the girl and she grabbed him by the cheeks and forced him to look at her once again. “Are you in trouble? Are we being watched?”

 The girl kept her hands on his cheeks, making him look her in the eyes. He didn’t understand. What was going? Millicent let out a yawn and stretched at his side before curling up once more. Now visibly frustrated, the girl huffed and let go of his face. “I don’t understand, what’s going on here?”

 It seemed the girl had figured out what she wanted to do. She brought two of her fingers up and pointed at his eyes, then to her own. He understood that. She was telling him, ‘Watch me’. Once he nodded at her in response, she let out a noiseless huff and reached up for the wrappings around her neck. Slowly, she began to untie them, the wrappings around her torso slowly loosening along with the ties. Before she could finish unwrapping them, they both heard footsteps. Hux could tell that these steps were booted, and he narrowed his eyes at the direction they were coming from.

 Without missing a beat, the girl stood and ran towards the sound. He heard the booted footsteps stop, then heard the shuffling of clothing and hands. Armitage narrowed his eyes in that direction. Soon, the girl emerged, a larger figure in tow. The other figure looked to be a human male, with dark skin and long dreaded hair. He wore a cream-colored cloak with a hood, a dark green tunic, and brown colored pants. The girl made all sorts of motions at him animatedly. She was making many expressions and mouthing things that he could not get the hang of. All the while her hands were going, again making shapes and motions he’d never seen before. The other male placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders gently, which stopped her motions, before noticing the undone wrappings on her torso. He narrowed his eyes before looking toward Hux with aggravation. The ginger responded in kind. Steely blue eyes glaring back at honey colored brown.

 In a language Armitage had not heard, the man spoke to the girl and placed his cloak over her shoulders. She snuggled herself into it easily. The dark-skinned man said something else to her, at which she nodded, before running off in the direction he had come from. He turned to face the ginger, his left hand rubbing his right wrist. “Taking advantage of your savior, hm? Scum like you are the worst.”

 Hux narrowed his eyes. So, he could speak basic. His accent, though thick and unfamiliar, was not so bad as to be misunderstood. “I believe you are misunderstanding the situation.”

 “I understand plenty,” he responded roughly. He took a few steps toward the ginger before kneeling in front of his Hux’s pale and bare feet. “If she had not found you, you would be nothing but rot. You should be grateful I have not notified the Resistance officials.”

 So, he knew who he was. He chose to ignore that comment. “Does the girl not know basic?”

 “She does not,” he responded dryly. “And she has a name.”

 “Well, I would love to hear it,” Armitage said dryly, forcing back his urge to roll his eyes. The other tilted his head to the side as he looked at the ginger. Carefully, he uttered your name, and Hux made sure to remember it well. “Can you tell her thank you for me, then? Seeing as I don’t know what language you both speak.”

 The man smirked, “You can tell her yourself you know, as long as your hands work.”

 “My hands?”

 “When she comes back, do this,” he said and made a gesture with one of his hands with a single fluid motion. Hux repeated it. “It means thank you.”

 “And what is your name?”

 “I’ll let her tell you,” he muttered before standing back to his full height. “I’ll be back to check on the two of you later. Be good, general.” He uttered the word with so much sarcasm that the ginger could feel his blood begin to boil. The only person who had annoyed him that much with only a few words had been Kylo Ren. Green clad man walked further into the cave, disappearing in the opposite direction you had gone in.

 It took quite some time for you to return, and when you did, you and your wrappings, including the cloak that the other man had placed on your shoulders, were wet with what he assumed with rain. A large smile was plastered on your face, and you held what looked like pieces of scrap metal in your arms. When you noticed Armitage’s stare, you paused in your trek to go further into the cave. After setting down the pieces of scrap metal, you slowly approached him and pressed a wet hand to his forehead. Your small hand was so cold against his skin, he almost shivered. He said your name softly, and you nodded back to him in acknowledgment.

 You took your hand away from his forehead and brought the blankets that were around his waist further up his body. He stopped you before you could wrap it around his upper body and hesitant made and gesture and motion the green-clad man had showed him. It took you by surprise, but you gave him a bright smile and repeated the motion to him. Then, you took the cloak off of your shoulders and let it hit the stone floor with a wet smack. Again, you began to undo the wrappings around your neck and torso, and Armitage motioned for you to stop. He couldn’t lean too far forward, his wound wouldn’t let him, but he still reached out and grabbed your left arm, but it was too late. Your wrappings fell, your upper body completely exposed to him. He immediately narrowed his eyes.

 ‘Watch me’, you motioned to him again, then pointed at the expanse of your neck. You tilted your head back to give him a better view. There was a long and jagged scar there that stopped right at the edge of where your collar bones met. It looked like an older scar, like it had had years to heal. Your hand grabbed his wrist and brought his hand up to the scar. He was confused. This was what you wanted to show him? Why you bared your breasts and abdomen to him? You had scars everywhere, so why was this one so special? Hux ran his fingers along the scar as he thought about what you were trying to tell him. And then it hit him all at once.

 The hand gesturing, the odd breathy noises you had made, the scar.

 You were mute.

~

It reminded him of Starkiller, and how cold he had been on the first few nights he spent there. Eventually he had acclimatized, so he assumed the same rules would apply here. He heard his teeth begin to chatter. “You’re loud, shut up,” called the other male in the dark. The ginger heard a loud smacking noise and then a pained noise from said man. The next noise he heard was the shuffling of feet on the stone floor and he saw your silhouette move toward him and lay alongside him. You faced him, your softer eyes trailing along his face to examine him. He felt your roughened hand reach up and lay on his forehead before a frown pulled at your chapped lips.

 Armitage was tempted to say something, to ask what was wrong, but he knew you wouldn’t understand, and he could take a guess as to what made you frown. You used one of your feet to smack against the stone and your companion tsked from his spot before approaching the two of you. The dark-skinned man watched you as you began to sign to him. Honey eyes trained on blue once you were finished. “She says you have a fever,” he said in a gruff voice. “She’s making me go waste money on medicine for you, so be a good soldier and stay put.”

 The pale man nodded slowly in response, unwilling to verbally acknowledge his statement. Hux’s eyes trailed back to you as he heard you begin to stand. He watched you collect some stones and twigs and move them a bit closer to his location. You were preparing a fire for him. The other male reached into his back pocket and handed the ginger a folded sheet of paper. Armitage took it reluctantly, too much movement caused him discomfort, and unfolded the sheet. It looked worn and yellowed, probably due to time and usage. On the paper were drawings of hands and motions, alien words now crossed out and rewritten in basic, no doubt for his understanding. “So that you can make basic conversation with her. It makes her sad that she can’t understand you,” the other male grumbled, he shook his head before moving to stand. “I’ll be back in a day or two.” Hux assumed he repeated himself to you in your language, as you nodded to him before lighting the fire.

 The flames closer proximity helped to warm him a bit, but he still felt chilled. You watched him carefully with a bit of concern. He tried to sit up on his own and groaned in pain, Millicent let out a small noise of disgruntlement before getting up and stretching. Again, you helped him to a sit up, and placed the bundle of his old uniform against his lower back for comfort, which he appreciated. The ginger tabby pranced toward you and you smiled at her softly before stroking her fur, almost immediately the feline began to purr loudly. Hux muttered your name quietly and you peered up at him, still petting the cat, and he made the ‘Thank you’ motion and you fixed your smile on him. You shifted your gaze to the parchment he had in his hand and you pointed to it with a spark of excitement in your eyes. He looked at the signs and their translations again before nodding at you slowly. With her lips pressed against one another you pointed to him then moved both your hands inward and tapped two fingers from each hand against one another. His brow furrowed as he tried to single out the sign on the sheet of paper. You repeated your motions.

 ‘you’ and ‘name’ You had asked him for his name. He repeated the sign for name and then said, “Armitage.”

 It seemed either the first name of the General of the First Order meant nothing to you, or that you simply didn’t care, as you excitedly nodded your head. You then pointed to the orange tabby curled up by your knees and repeated the sign for name. “Millicent,” he responded. A large grin erupted onto your face as you scooped up the feline, she let out a startled meow, and gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek. The now angered feline wriggled free of your grip and ran to his side, curling up into a ball and closing her eyes once more.

 You began to sign again, making sure to do it slowly and even repeat the signs, so that he could find them on the chart. You signed; me, give, name, sign, you, two. The ginger narrowed his eyes in confusion but nodded to see what you would do. First, you pointed to Millicent, then signed animal. You signed animal a second time, but with a different handshape. Then, you pointed to him and made the sign for hair, again when you signed hair a second time you used a different handshape. He was still confused. His lack of response did not dissuade you, as you continued to stare at him with an expectant smile.

 Hux had many things to ask you; where are we, who are you, how’d you find me, how many days has it been since he arrived, what’s the state of the galaxy, who’s the man with the poor attitude, and so on and so forth, but he only had the where withal to ask simple questions and understand simple answers.  He decided to try to ask for the name of your dreaded companion.

 ‘What’s his name’ he signed, clumsily, slowly.

 You patiently answered with a sign he was unfamiliar with, one that wasn’t on his chart, before bringing up a single hand and spelling the letters I A N. So, his name was Ian. Then you signed the words ‘good’ and ‘friend’ with a soft but sad smile. He nodded to you and you yawned. You stood to your full height and stretched a bit, then walked to the other side of the cave and grabbed a blanket, a lot like the one he was using, and placed it atop his lap. With a tired expression you signed a simple ‘good night’ before curling up on his side, much like a cat, and laying your head on his uninjured leg. Hux went stiff at the intimate action, unsure if he wanted to push you off, or allow you to use his lap as a payment for the care you were giving him.