A Woman's Game

[Retired]

Having been trained to pick up on the quick movements of people, Seo did not miss the fractional uplift of his mouth. He gave no other tells though, but did not look away from her. His approach was slow and with a purpose. However, he had yet to look away again even if his eyes weren't fully focused on her. There were no other tells from him either, so when he requested her to stand up, she did without question.

Not breaking any eye contact with him at all, her peripheral vision watched him for any tells and she didn't see any. Mereel had not asked any question of her, so she was silent and paid attention to everything about him.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

When she stood up, he continued walking forward, his look unchanging. He was a twisted ball of emotions right now, but there was one emotion that still held out above the rest. The mental flip of the switch he had had made him realize a few things - why she had brought up her one night stand in the first place, that even though he was mad at her he couldn't leave or tell her to go , she was too important to him now, and it reminded him of what he felt as soon as he saw her when he walked through the door.

A weak grin broke through his deamenor, and when he got close enough his arms wrapped around her backside again. Hoisting her into the air once more, he didn't plant any kisses on her this time, he only gave her a pained smile as he looked into her eyes.

"I haven't seen you outside of a tube in weeks. I want to talk about this more, and it'll probably make us both sick, but I'll be damned if it stops me cuddling you tonight, on the first opportunity I've got."

He began walking them away from the kitchen, paying no mind to the drink glasses still left on the table. He would clean them tomorrow morning. "Where do you want to fight? Couch or bed?"

A small amount of humor had returned to him, but only in what he said, not the tone he said it, and he still kept his voice low. Just incase something she said struck him in an emotional weak spot.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

There was still some things to talk about over this, but the worst she felt was over with. Mereel had not told her to leave and that more than pleased her. She was more confident everything would work out, especially when that small, weak smile broke through.

She reacted only a little differently this time to his embrace. Instead of staying up on her own, Seo leaned into him and wrapped him into as large of a hug as she could give. At the mention of cuddling, she laid her head on his shoulder and nuzzled in. Her breath very likely light touching his neck and ear.

"Why not both?"

Her voice was a whisper since her mouth was so close to his ear.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

How Seo decided to support herself on him was definitely a welcome surprise. While it didn't make him feel as warm as the embrace he had given her as soon as he got back to the room, due to the context, the gesture was still enough to lift his spirits a little higher out of the mud.

He had almost reached the halfway point between their bedroom door and the living room couch when she rested her head on his shoulder. He could only barely make out her scent over the smell of the cooking in the room, but he clearly felt the heat of her breath against the side of his neck and ear, and those three things combined with her whisper deeply stirred the sense of longing he had.

Not being able to properly hold her until he set her down, Mereel did the next best thing as he first walked them over to the couch. He raised where his hands were lifting her from by a few inches until he was decisively holding her up by her butt.

Arriving at their destination, a large brown couch with a holoscreen in front of it, with two similarly fashioned loveseats on either side, Mereel gave her a long squeeze before turning himself around and falling back first onto the couch, still holding her even though it was rather uncomfortable in their upright position. They could adjust their uncomfortable position after he started them along on her uncomfortable talking subject.

"I don't think you should tell people we fell in love on Carida anymore."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

Having the feeling he would pick the closer destination, Seo was not wrong and he sat down on the couch. Yes, the position was uncomfortable, but it had to have been for him too. She remained sitting on his lap, but adjusted her position.

Her rump was on his legs and her torso was still hugging him. Lifting her head only slightly to look at him when he spoke, something jumped into her mind.

"That is when I first felt something for you. However, I have no idea when it started for you. Mereel, I finally figured it out when we met at the festival, but when did you figure out your feelings for me?"

His words hurt a little, but it was nothing compared to what she had done to him.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Seo's readjusting made things as comfortable as they could be for the way they were currently sitting. Well, almost as comfortable as it could be. Mereel moved his hands up from her backside to rest on her hips as he looked into her eyes and awaited her response.

His emotional state meant that his mind still wasn't all quite there. Right now it was going to take him some time to actually process what she said and try to empathize with her, and he hadn't been prepared for her to turn the tables on him. He stared at her for a few seconds as cogs slowly began turning in his brain.

"I never told you? It started on Glacies Domum -"

A frown formed on his face as he thought back. If it hadn't been for seeing his father again, he may have thought about what he felt for her in the bounty hunter's ship and in his clan's fortress sooner and prevented all of this. But he had seen his father, and the feelings of hate he felt towards the man had easily distracted him from thinking or acting on what he felt until he saw her again at the festival.

"I didn't get my feelings in order until I saw you again at the festival, but I thought I'd see you again because of what happened with Detrik. I didn't sleep with another while I reported back to the Jedi Order and worked things out on the home front."

He tore his eyes away from hers as he said the last part. He knew saying that would hurt her, but he wanted her to know so that she would never have to ask him or be left wondering whether he had done the same as her. But besides that, another part of him wanted to hurt her. She had put a knife in his heart, and even though he loved her and wanted to keep loving her, it was a natural, animalistic instinct for a wounded being to lash out at the thing that had wounded it, or anything or anyone unlucky enough to be around it.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Ra'a'mah]

No longer resting her head on his shoulder fully it was still tilted downward. Meeting him in the eye, Seo did not look away.

His answer was a bit of a surprise, but it fell in line quite nicely since it seemed they had both started feeling something around the same time.

"Mereel Vaun. You are the most important person in my life. I don't want that to change. As I said what I did was because well, I didn't know how much I actually felt for you or you me. Now I know fully and I am very sorry."

She took what he said in stride and did not rise to the bait of lashing out too.

Giving him a small smile, she leaned her head down on his shoulder. Mereel may not know just how much he meant to her but she was going to try and make it clear to him.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Already staring at the floor panels from when he had stopped looking at her, his eyes didn't rise to meet hers when she lifted her head off of his shoulders. There was a tug at the corners of his mouth when she said he was the most important person in her life, but it never developed into a full smile. What she had said about why she did it made a modicum of sense to him, but the color drained out of his face as it raised a disheartening thought in his mind that made him feel inadequate.

Biting down on the corner of his already bloodied lip, Mereel let his hands fall off of her hips. Without saying a word, he grabbed the two cushions nearest to them that lined the back of the couch and threw them to the floor to make more room. Once two out of the three back couch cushions were out of the way, he leaned his head against her chest. The movement was primarily done so that his hands could better reach his boots to take them off, but he noted that it had the nice side effect of allowing him to escape her eye contact while still being intimately close to her.

He needed that intimacy right now, but he also needed her to address the thought he had had. Once his shoes were off, he returned his hands to her sides and scooted them further back onto the couch. When his back pressed against the bare backrest of the couch, he would attempt to pull her down with him to lay down.

Finally committing to addressing his thought, Mereel looked up into her eyes. He made his voice low again to keep it steady, "How long did you wait, and how long would you wait for me now?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

She did not stop Mereel from making the adjustments he wanted to. Already having made herself comfortable, he needed it too. They could at least be physically comfortable even if not emotionally or mentally.

Mereel could have easily turned her statement against her, but she was glad he didn't. On her own part, when they had parted after being taken by his father, Seo had not reached out to him. It wasn't until he had wanted to meet with her and she had found it funny he had been unaware of the festival around him. Her getting to him that day had been interesting. Not wanting to dwell on that journey though and thankful he hadn't brought it up again, when he asked his two part question, she nodded slightly before thinking.

Pursing her lips just slightly, he might sense the thought process going on in her mind. Maybe not what those thoughts were, voice would be given to them once an answer was formulated. Hopefully he would understand her silence and not assume she was trying to come up with some sort of lie. If he wanted her to give voice to everything she would.

"About a month to the first part. Things have changed since then, I have changed. When it happened, I was not fully aware of how much you meant to me. That only became clear on Ciomia. And the rest is history as we have hardly been apart since. Which is exactly how I think it should be."

It hadn't answered the last part of his question fully, but played into it. Lifting her hand that wasn't near her head, she opened the palm of her hand to hover between the two of them. Her thumb touching her own chest and pinky him. This motion connected their hearts in her mind.

"Until one of us dies."

Looking at her hand and not his eyes any longer, Seo did not want to meet them at the moment.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel was glad Seo didn't try to stop him from moving them around. Emotionally, he was still in a fair amount of turmoil, but she had elicited a physical response from him earlier when she had whispered in his ear, one that he was still dealing with.

When she pursed her lips, he didn't think she was concocting a deception. If she had wanted to decieve him, she wouldn't have told him about her one night stand in the first place. He simply nodded his head at her first answer. Of course it was easy for her to say that they shouldn't be apart now that they were together, but if he hadn't contacted her to resume following up on his missing sister, he doubted he would have ever seen or heard from her again.

But he didn't want to think about the life where she had shacked up with another Mandalorian. It made him feel sick for a myriad of reasons. Closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing and tried to clear his thoughts, just focusing solely on the warmth of her body next to him. Her pinky resting on his chest pulled him out of his Jedi meditation technique, and he looked back into her eyes while she looked at her hand. A flicker of warmth flashed in his eyes, and a sad smile came to his face.

"In our line of work, it isn't uncommon for people to go missing. I told you on Lorrd I'd be there when you need me, but if I'm late I'll search the galaxy until I find you."

He left out the unspoken understood that he may only find whatever was left of her, but now she would understand how he felt towards her, even in his current emotional state. He gave her a short peck on the cheek just in case what he said hadn't already made it clear that he still loved her.

"Now, can you turn around so I can cuddle you better, or do you want to be the big spoon?"

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

Taking his words for what they meant, he would feel a small nod of understanding come from her. It wasn't a thought she liked much, but his words were true. She had said pretty much the same thing and so far neither one had failed the other. The light kiss was warm on her cheek and made what he said even more clear. There wasn't anything but death in her mind that would keep them from being with each other.

When he requested for her to turn around, she chuckled slightly.

"No, you can this time."

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel smiled. It wasn't a pleasant topic, but it seemed they were on the same page at least. If he could trust her word it meant that Seo wouldn't cheat on him, and now if she trusted his word she would know he wouldn't cheat on her. He fully meant what he said. Even if he thought she was dead, he wouldn't move on or stop searching for her until he found something.

His blood warmed when she laughed, but what she said got an only-somewhat-jocular frown from him. Sighing in resignation, he put his good hand on the side of her face, closed his eyes, and moved in to give her a kiss on the lips. When he pulled back, he still didn't fully want to turn around because he had been wanting to hold her, but he simply mumbled out an, "Alright."

As he clumsily rolled himself around and onto his other side for her, he took off his jacket and threw it onto the air at the nearest loveseat. After doing the same with his undershirt, he spoke up while looking straight ahead at the couch's backrest.

"I still want to return the favor later."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

Cursing more to herself than out loud, it was soon clear he had misunderstood what her words meant. Shaking her head a little, once he was close to getting comfortable, she would attempt to flip him gently onto the floor with her on top. Of course if it didn't work out exactly like she planned it would still be funny.

"I didn't mean it that way. You can cuddle up to me and be the spoon. The bed would be far better for this than the couch or floor though."

There wasn't much more she could think of to say so instead leaned to return the kiss he had given moments before on the couch.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Expecting her to start cuddling him from behind, when she put her hands on him Mereel couldn't help but think it felt nice. His eyes went wide in surprise when he realized that she was actually trying to flip him over instead of just holding him, but he went along with her movements anyway and plopped down back first onto the floor.

A sharp cold ran through him and he got goosebumps on his arms as his bare back met the floor. With Seo being on top of him it wasn't hard for him to put up with the cold. Wrapping his arms around her back, he looked into her eyes as she spoke and closed his when she leaned in for her kiss. Locking his lips with Seo's, he would kiss her either until she pulled away or until his back stopped feeling cold.

Blushing a little, Mereel admitted what he had thought on the couch. "You know, I actually kind of liked how that felt - before you finished flipping me I mean."

He moved his hands from her back to her hips. "The couch would've been better than the floor, but here we are."

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Retired]

She was a little surprised her move went off without a hitch. Since she was on top and had freedom to move, she took her shirt off, used the Force to grab one of pillows and when she bent over to kiss him, placed it under his head as their lips met.

"Why should you be the only one that's got chilled skin?"

Instead of laying down on top of him, she laid on her facing him. Both of their heads resting on the pillow.

"It'll happen again, I hope. Many times. Chances for you and I just hold the other."

Giving him a soft smile, Seo rested her forehead on his and just wanted to remain like this. Cold floor be damned. He was what mattered, her future in front of her and she didn't want to let it go.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

As soon as he saw and felt Seo's shirt coming off, he smiled and eagerly began tracing his hands up from her waist. A little mumble of surprise escaped him when he felt her put a pillow under his head mid kiss. The manuever didn't make him pull away early though, if anything it only contributed to making his heart beat faster, and what she said about chilled skin faster still.

"Don't worry, neither of us will be cold soon.

Honestly, he hadn't really expected her to want to stay on the floor. Now that they were both fine with being on the floor for the time being though, he was going to do his part in keeping them warm.

"It will happen again, tonight too. I think you said you wanted to "fight" on the couch and the bed though."

Mereel flashed her a playful grin. It had been a long two weeks without her, and right now his body and mind wanted to make up for the lost time.

"You might have pulled down a pillow, but this isn't the couch."

For tonight and the rest of his nights to come, whether it meant simply holding her or something more, he wanted to be by her side to keep her warm. And unless she did with someone else what she had done with the other Mandalorian now, that desire wouldn't change.

[member="Seo Linn"]