A Year Is A Long Time Passing

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

As he approached her from behind while she overlooked the stars above she offered him a congratulations, though he interrupted her mid-speech. "I suppose this means I-" The feeling of something being draped over her neck was sudden and cold, and she shivered for a moment before her skin adjusted to the new addition. Her hand reached for the item, her head lowering to gaze at the necklace that Varus had just placed around her. She stood quietly for several moments looking down at it. She'd only ever been given a small number of gifts before, and never anything as ornate as this. It was hard for her to find the words to express herself.

"I...It's...I mean...Thank you, Varus. It's wonderful. But, why?" She wasn't so good with the idea of receiving gifts. It was an odd feeling for her, though she couldn't explain why. Most people loved receiving gifts. That's not to say she didn't love it, or getting gifts either, but she was simply awful at expressing her gratitude, often stumbling with words. She turned around to face him, lifting her arms up and around his shoulders, her feet lifting her up on the tips of her toes to kiss him sweetly. "Thank you, it's beautiful."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

He didn't know what to say at first, her reaction catching him off guard. He thought for a moment that she hadn't liked it, but she was quick to interrupt that moment with a hug, a kiss, and what seemed to be genuine thanks. "Of course. You deserve beautiful things.", he told her as he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up to embrace her for a few moments, kissing her again before he leaned down and kissed her shoulder.

After about a minute he left her down before reaching out to take his glass of whiskey back in his hand. He then raised it back to his lips to take a sip before stepping over close to her, hip to hip as he leaned against the railing of the balcony. "That necklace would have been a diamond ring... if... I knew that's what you wanted.", he told her, not wanting to make the moment awkward or say something to scare her.

He loved her, and he knew that she loved him too, but did she love him enough to spend the rest of her life with him? A question that had bothered him for a long time that he knew he had no answer to...

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Sera's vibrant skin tone was perfect for covering up the embarrassing blush from moments like this. She lifted her wine to her lips, the dark coloration of it contrasting with her face as she looked at him through the glass. When he mentioned a ring she nearly spit her drink all over the balcony. It was something she was entirely ill prepared for. She was oblivious to social cues, if there were any, for that. She took things one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time. She turned, placed the glass along the railing of the balcony, then placed her hands on either side of him along the cool metal of the balcony rails. "I don't want anything but you by my side. I don't need a ring for that. If that is something you want though, I would rather you did so when you felt ready, not by me telling you. I will never ask for, nor demand gifts from you." She lifted up again and kissed him one more time before turning her back against his chest and leaning into him, her drink in hand.

"What do you plan to do, now that you've won the bet? I'm awful curious after all."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"I know you would never demand anything or ask anything of me. That's the best part about spending cred on you. You don't require anything, but you'll get things like this anyway, from time to time, because out of everyone I've ever had to fight with, against, and put up with all the same... you're the one who deserves it all the most.", he told her before she managed to kiss him again and turn her back to him so that she could tuck herself in against his chest. When she did he smiled softly and wrapped his left arm up over her left shoulder and his right arm beneath her right arm, making sure not to get in the way of her glass as he grabbed his right forearm with his left hand He tied himself to her, leaving his right arm in tact from the elbow in order for him to still be able to lift his right hand up to his mouth as he laid his chin across her right shoulder. "I suppose... I just wanted to know whether or not that would ever be something that you want... eventually.", he admitted, revealing that clearly the prospect of marrying the young, Pink woman had been on his mind.

When she asked about the bet, Varus smiled softly and raised his glass of whiskey to take another small sip before he sighed and said, "I'd say a few home cooked meals are in order... although you'll be in nothing but an apron."

That smile soon spread into a grin as he turned his head and glanced over at her, that cute, boyish look upon his face like someone who was about to boast or brag. As if he could make her feel the loss she'd just had to stomach with a cocky air about his features. "But, at least when you're cooking you'll be allowed to wear anything at all."

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

"I hadn't really ever thought about it I guess." She placed her glass down along the railing, twisting her body back around to face him again. "I suppose, for the most part, I've simply enjoyed things day-to-day. That's not to say I don't see it as something that would happen. I am just not the type to dwell on what the future may or may not hold for me. But I do want you to know I am quite happy in your arms, being yours." Her eyes wandered from his, looking out over the city, leaving a few moments of silence, returning only when he mentioned her duties that she would need to perform for the week of his triumph. Her nose twitched slightly, followed by a lazy eye roll. "Very well then. If that's what you want." If nothing else he was predictable. She assumed he would desire something relatively similar to his demand.

Again she returned her eyes to the beyond, looking up towards the stars. "Sometimes I wonder what is going on." She gestured towards the skies. "Everywhere. The galaxy is such a huge place, and we're such a small piece. What is going on right this very moment on Onderon? On Coruscant? Or the far edges of space? Tatooine? What are people thinking about right now? It's an impossible question, I know, but it's something I find interesting and fun to think about."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"I'll keep your openness in mind the next time I see a ring I think you'll like.", Varus said with a confident smirk and almost joking air about him, although he wasn't joking at all. He certainly didn't want to scare his little, pink goddess off, but he also knew that, at least for him, he wanted to give her as much of himself as he could. That meant marriage, a couple of homes together and perhaps even children one day, if she wanted any of that at all. He'd been head over heels for her for so long that it felt right, and he wasn't about to lose her again. He'd lost her once, thought he could live through that and almost hadn't. It had almost killed him, and he'd self destructed as he searched the galaxy for her, and when he'd found her he'd wanted to hurt her back like she'd hurt him. Something he'd never wanted to do to anyone before her, and in any other situation, he didn't think he would have cared for a moment.

For Seraphina to hurt Varus, she would have to end it right then and there, or wait until he proposed to her one day only to tell him no. Either way, if she did he felt as though he might very well die. He wasn't sure if that bit was true at all, but it was certainly not something that you chanced. She meant everything to him, and more, and if only there were words to describe to her how he felt, he'd use them every time he saw her eyes. For the eyes held the secrets of the soul, and he could tell how beautiful she was from the very second he'd met her, in the right place at the right time.

"We'll figure it out when we get home, but... for now... let's enjoy this.", he told her, knowing she might not have been ecstatic about the chores she would be doing for him in either nothing or in next to nothing. He wouldn't be that vicious, though, and knew that eventually he would let up on the whole slaving maid bit after a day or so of their agreed upon week. If she had won, however, Varus wasn't so sure that she'd be so nice with him, knowing that she would want to play and bother him because of how playful she usually was. She would make him do interesting things that should likely not be repeated, but now he would never know.

"I wonder that sometimes too, my Love.", Varus said as he glanced over at her before taking a sip from his glass of whiskey. He then swallowed it down and sighed at the burning sensation that sank into his body again before he let his sapphire eyes flicker back at the blinking stars above him. "Too much to be comprehended by any one person, I'm sure, but... I do know this...", he whispered as he glanced back over at Sera with a small smile forming on his face.

"Out of all those stars... I found the brightest one of them all... a star of the prettiest shade of pink I've ever laid eyes on.", he told her before he glanced away back to the sky. "...and that's the only one I'll ever need."


[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

A quick, loud giggle slipped from her lips as he compared her to a star. If there was one thing she had to concede of him, it was his way with words. As brash as he could be sometimes, he did always know what to say to make her smile, when he so desired. Looking down she took in the necklace again in hand. The light that flooded the balcony from the casino just inside reflected off of the gems that adorned her neck.

"So, I suppose you've been wondering where I've been all this time. I guess now would be as good a time as any to explain it."

Taking her glass in two fingers from underneath she wandered to the small table on the far side of the balcony and set it down, taking one of the empty seats. "When I left, I sold off my holdings in Nubia Star Drives. It was merged into Aurora Industries. I banked a substantial sum of credits for that sale. I took some of it and built a home for myself on Phindar. Ironic, huh? I felt that planet would be best for several reasons. The first being that it was under Mandalorian dominion, out of the reach of the Sith, and relatively sparse in terms of population, as I am sure you remember."

Varus would likely remember that planet well, from their rather long trek while trying to find a way back to the Republic when they got stranded there.

"In the center of a large lake, surrounded by nothing but wilderness, I had a tower built for myself. It is rather impressive, if I may say so. I've lived there for some time. It's quiet, peaceful, and low key. However I also spent a substantial amount of time on Kashyyyk, helping to rebuild after the war with the Sith had been brought there twice in recent history. And finally, when I could, I would make trips to Coruscant and the other core worlds to try and locate Force Sensitive children. I would find them and make sure they were safely rescued from their grim fate, depositing them and their families on safer worlds out of the grip of the Sith."

Lifting the glass again she swished the contents in a slow circular pattern, shifting her eyes from Varus to the wine, then back to Varus. "So for about a year, that was what I had been doing. I felt that despite being out of the war, I was still making a difference for the future by helping the Wookies, and helping secure the future of Jedi children."

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

"Sounds like you've been up to a lot lately.", Varus said as he watched Sera, still smiling after having heard her giggle, which he found both enticing and adorable. She had always been like that, from the moment he got to really know her back on Phindar, though his great fall for her hadn't been entirely innocent. She was in flawless shape from head to toe, tight, toned and perky in ways that no other woman could compare. When she'd realized how much Varus admired her when they'd been stranded so long ago, she used her beautiful body to enthrall him, having enjoyed his staring and sideways glances.

She liked the attention, but not because she was getting it from juSt anyone. She had been equally tormented by Varus's muscular form and physical endowments that she most admired. Broad shoulders, thick arms and his own pretty face had been her downfall so long ago, and here they were, very much in love and enjoying every moment of it while they could. While they were both young and alive and able to love eachother the way anyone deserved to love someone. It was only a stroke of luck that they had realized their feelings for eachother and now we're able to live in the pursuit of developing and fostering those feelings that Varus had hoped to one day turn into a marriage that could even bring them beautiful children together.

He'd have been outright lying had he tried to say that he didn't want just that, or to even try to say that it hadn't crossed his mind more times than he could count. He was in love, however, and that transcended so many other things. "It's nice to know that even though you left the Republic... you never stopped being a Jedi. That you never stopped being as good as I've always known you were...", he told her as he glanced over at her and smiled that perfect white smile, hoping that tonight had been as good for her as it had been for him.

"Come on...", he said, offering her his hand to take. "...let's go. I'd like to invite you back to my place for a nightcap.", he whispered to her with a lightly suggestive tone while wearing a cool smirk on his face.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

With the bright blush wine in her glass nearly gone, Sera lifted and tipped it back, finishing the last of it before placing it down on the table, a soft clank echoing through the crisp evening air. She swung her legs around to the side of the chair and stood up, taking Varus' hand as it was offered and planting a kiss on the side of his cheek. "What I've been doing felt of greater importance than delaying the inevitable on the battlefield. That's how I justified it. Making a difference, just in a different way, behind the scenes, where the Sith had no control."

"I want more than a nightcap, boy." Her eyes held a devious look, matched only by the grin on her face. She held his hand and pulled him along back towards the interior of the casino again, before halting under the entryway and kissing him once more. A soft sigh escaped her, teeth sinking into his lower lip, toying with it before releasing him to continue through the crowd of people towards the exit.

Exiting the building she waived an oncoming taxi down. It slowed to a stop, and Sera pushed him rather forcefully against the side of it, restraining him from moving while she gave him another rather loaded kiss, pressing herself against him teasingly, her hands passing over his chest and arms, something he seemed to enjoy her doing, quite possibly to spike his own ego, though it didn't bother her to stroke it now and then.

[member="Varus Shatterstar"]

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

Varus had started to laugh at Sera's playfulness before she turned and pushed him up against the side of the taxi. Instantly a pang of arousal reverberated through his body as she forced herself up against him, her lips pressing to his firmly as she took a kiss rather than carefully requesting one. Something that set his blood to boil again, and as her hip pressed against his crotch she would be able to feel the effect she was having on him as a specific muscle grew and became rigid.

"Dammit, Sera...", Varus said amidst his gasping for breath following the long and almost painful kiss that made him ache with desire for her. He didn't waste another second though, reaching up and snatching the little, pink goddess by her throat before turning and guiding her in through the door of the taxi. "Get us to the White Dragon fast, and I'll double the meter if you don't stop.", he said forcefully as he pulled the door to and crawled up on top of Seraphina, not giving a damn about what the driver thought.

It had been so long since they'd had one another, and his patience was being abused by the playful little creature beneath him who he pinned down with his body. Be laid down on top of her, one of his hands coming up to grip her by the underside of her thigh as he braced himself with his other hand against the door above her. He then leaned down and pushed his lips against hers as he ground his hips down into her crotch before feeling the taxi lurch from its place and find its way into a lane.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"]