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Meeting Millicent
Hux spent most of his childhood and teenage years on ships and space stations. His life started on Arkanis, a rainy, grey planet. Memories of his time there were admittedly fond ones. Even to this day he missed the serenity of the planet, the constant drizzle of rain awoke within him a welcome feeling of melancholy. No matter the abuse and animosity he was dealt at home, little Hux escaped it often by roaming the city and the beautiful forests. Both his parents never demanded for him to stay at home, he thought they might've been relieved when they didn't have to look at him. He tried to convince himself that he didn't mind. That he didn't wish for them to worry, to want to know how his day had been.
Being a rather shy, anxious child (to his father's distaste) he preferred to keep to himself, not needing other children to entertain himself or to have fun. His imagination was more than enough. Hux was easily scared and gentle spirited. The only person that he remembered getting past the safety walls he has build around his presence was a neighbor.
A young woman with hair as dark as the night sky and pale skin like the moon. Armitage had been fascinated by her kind smiles and soft spoken words. She would sometimes give him sweet, baked treats that he shyly, but eagerly accepted. From what he could tell she seemed to live by herself, apart from a furry companion, a cat called Lilly. It was black, reminiscent of her owner's equally colored hair.
"I see you met lady Lilly," she said one day, startling Hux at first, but his quickly beating heart calmed down as he realized who the voice belonged to. No threat. She was never threatening. Still, he didn't look at her directly, at least not when he thought she could see him or paid him attention. Armitage had hummed and nodded his head, his lips forming a trembling smile as he pet the cat's silky fur.
"I think she likes you, Armie."
And Hux felt delighted. Someone liked him! Lilly and Armie became best friends.
Hux reckoned that this early childhood acquaintance made him more susceptible to how he acted when he found Millicent.
After fleeing Arkanis, they flew around the Unknown Regions in search of a planet that would be most fitting to become the main base for the First Order. Hux didn't leave their ships often, even though as a teenager he wasn't anything like that scared, shy child he used to be anymore. He was cruel and cold, sometimes reckless during his more rebellious phase. He thought he could piss off his father with it, but all he got was crushing disappointment and he hated it. He wanted attention and to his shame, he wanted approval. So, he worked hard, locked away his emotions and longings to exceed all expectations. For some time Hux wore a mask, until he became the mask.
Hux very rarely demanded shore leaves. He preferred the order and structure of life on a ship and on the base he mainly resided in during his late teenage years and young adulthood. Starkiller base became home. Sometimes, like today, the walls around him and the cutting words and jeering laughter of his peers became suffocating and restricting. He had honed the skill of swallowing the rage that flared within him to perfection. In his mind he imagined killing all of them and with a smirk he realized that he would do that once the time was right. Not yet. Not yet. But they would get what they deserved.
Right now he was exiting his ship to set foot on a planet located not far away from Ilum. It was one he visited often when he felt the need for distance making his skin feel too tight. Hux travelled by himself, not even Phasma was allowed to be privy to his escapades. A relieved sigh left his lips as he felt some of the tension melt from his shoulders once the wet foggy atmosphere settled around him.
The sky was grey, the air humid with rain and the scent of salt. It wasn't Arkanis, but close enough and Hux didn't try to deny to himself how this wasn't the reason he picked this planet to regularly shed his uniform and change into civilian wear. He wasn't yet the General he would become later, but uniforms always had been a part of the First Order no matter the position he occupied.
It was different, he couldn't help but to feel more vulnerable without the shield of his uniform. Simple black pants, an indigo colored dress shirt, black suspenders. His flaming hair was void of any product, dishevelled in the wind and rain. Armitage walked towards the small city of the planet, most of it was surrounded by forests and the ocean. There was a market in the city today, several booths sharing local products. Hux hid an embarrassing curiosity for other cultures and beings behind the stone walls he had build, a trait not often found in members or followers of the First Order. Their ideologies were strict and old.
Suddenly there was a sound of a painful, high-pitched wail that caught Hux's attention. Raising his head he witnessed an alien creature kicking a ginger bundle of fur away from the booth and to the ground. He realized the bundle was a cat, now laying motionless. A feeling that Hux didn't understand gave a sharp ache within his chest and he glared at the booth owner. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" He yelled, his voice even, the cold Arkanis accent cutting through the air. He got a retort in a language he didn't understand and chose to not get into a fight. Instead he walked to cat and crouched down beside it carefully.
For a moment he was mesmerized by the color of its fur that was so similar to his own hair color that it stunned him with surprise. And he was reminded of how Lilly's fur had resembled her owner's hair color as well. It was a revelation that made him chew on his lower lip, almost nervously as if he was trying to push those memories away, memories that had the potential to make him weak, sentimental. He snorted and instead of dwelling on his thoughts he examined the cat more closely. It was looking up at him with apprehensive, green eyes, but didn't move away. Hux saw that it seemed to be bleeding from one of his legs. He wasn't sure if the injury came from the kick, the fall or something else. The cat gave another pathetic whine and Hux frowned.
"The galaxy isn't a place for weak creatures to survive, don't you know?" In contrast to his harsh words he moved his hand slowly to pet the cat's bright fur, his movements were awkward, unpracticed in giving out any sort of comfort. He felt stupid kneeling in the middle of the street, petting a cat. So when the creature leaned into his touch, he reacted on impulse and lifted the cat into his arms, careful to not smear his shirt with its blood.
"What is wrong with me?" He lamented, the cat leaning into his chest made him feel broken.
He carried it back to his ship, where Hux cleaned the wound and bandaged its leg with a care that he never thought he possessed. At this moment he wasn't aware yet that Millicent's compliant manners were only due to pain of injury and exhaustion, because she showed that her personality was of a much more feisty and demanding nature once she had fully recovered.
"Well, welcome to the First Order, I guess." It felt good having a companion in this dreary galaxy.
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