Private An Unexpected Visit

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri didn't answer immediately, looking down at her food, nudging it around the plate with her fork.

<Yes,> she said eventually. <It also reminded me that she's the only family I have left. This is the first time I've seen her since before my father died.> Bithia didn't come to the funeral.

<Well, aside from my brother. But he's just a kid.> She started eating, pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind. <And I suppose the whole idea of blood relations hasn't mattered as much to me since you came along, beloved.>

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I underst-> he paused and stopped himself — he didn't really understand. He never really knew his parents and especially until Miri entered his life, he had never felt particularly cared for. So he also didn't know what it was like to lose people close to you caring about you.

<I see. I don't think blood relations always have to matter, not when they don't treat you right,> he said as he shifted over to sit beside her and give her some comfort if she wanted it.

<The people who matter in the end are the ones who mirror the feelings you have for them, or at the very least respect them.> He reached up and gently swept aside some of the long, beautiful locks of hair from the side of her face. <And it might be a little early for us to consider it, but one day I hope our family will matter most.>

There was still a need for time so their relationship could grow even more, but he'd be lying if he denied that the thought of starting a family with her one day hadn't crossed his mind.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Growing almost drowsy from the ministrations of his hand through her hair, Miri's eyes opened wide and flicked over to meet Kyell's, her eyebrows rising.

<Too early?>

One corner of her mouth curled in a lopsided smile.

<Why not now?>

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Kyell blinked and smiled a little awkwardly with reddened cheeks in response to her questions. The idea to start a family was amazing, but his self-doubt hadn't entirely faded away yet.

So his eyes shifted down to the mechanical arm, and he frowned, <I worry that if I fail again or commit to it before I'm stronger, I could leave behind a lot more pain if there are kids involved.> He looked up at Miri and began to smile a little.

<I also figured we'd get married first, and maybe get a place big enough to share with kids.>

Then a more playful smirk flashed through, <Aaaand we'd also have to dodge Master Yenna. I can't even imagine what her reaction would be if she found out you're pregnant. It would, after all, interfere with our 'Jedi duties'> he said, those last 2 words spoken with their Master's funny little voice.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri didn’t normally gamble when it came to possible social blunders, but in this case her risk paid off as she was treated to the hilarious sight of Kyell blushing. Not that she wasn’t equally as red-faced at the thought of… having his babies… Were her hands shaking? She dropped them into her lap in an effort to hide it.

<Or it could give you a reason to fight harder,> she pointed out gently, but didn’t push it further. Instead, she sighed in faux disappointment. <Well, there goes my plans for this weekend…>

Despite her goofing around, her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. She suddenly hopped out of her seat and into his lap, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face against his chest, letting the nervous excitement and overwhelming love she felt for him wash over her.

<I agree, we should get married first,> she said eventually, trying to remind herself that they had to be responsible. <And this ship has plenty of room if we need it, but getting a place isn’t a bad idea.>

At the mention of Master Yenna, she made a face. “‘Got knocked up, did you? Knew this would happen, I did. Listened to me, you should have, and gotten more sleep!’” Miri made herself laugh doing the impression. <I don’t think she’d be able to stay mad, to be honest. Especially if the kids were cute.> She leaned up toward Kyell, brushing her lips against his. <Which they will be, if they look like you…>

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<You're not wrong,> he admitted with a smile. <You've already given me a reason to get better. Fight harder.> A kid definitely would do the same, but it would make him feel a lot more comfortable if they planned it properly and probably got married first. It seemed like the more responsible way to go about it. <And no reason for us to skip out on the fun this weekend either,> he added because that was also very important.

Kyell then blinked as she suddenly moved out of her seat and moved into his lap, but quickly relaxed his shoulders again to wrap his arms around her and hold her tight. It was hard to get the blush to fade like this, and his heart continued to pound as if this was the first time he held her, but that was the magic of their relationship. Its fire never dimmed.

<That's true. I just like the idea of getting a place so the kids aren't moving around too much when the ship is needed. It will be easier for them to make friends if they have a stable home in one place, especially when they're very young.> It wasn't the only reason he struggled making friends, but always moving between Temples and never staying anywhere for long didn't help him either.

He then snorted at her impression of their Master and looked down to rest his forehead against her own for a moment, <Very naughty, you are,> he joked with the little voice again before her next words shifted his laughing into a loving smile. <If they look like us,> he corrected lovingly before he closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss.

<I'm sure it'll be fine too. Master Yenna will have new headaches to worry about, but at least they will be her own size this time.> He smirked and brushed some hair aside so he could keep looking at her eyes. Yeah, starting a family with her was exactly what he wanted... which meant he'd have to start thinking about the right time and place to propose.

While exciting, the idea also made him a little nervous.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<Of course. I’m always right.>

She was surprised by his depth of foresight, and it occurred to her that he must’ve thought about raising a family before. Admittedly she had done the same, fantasizing about getting married and having children of her own someday. But she’d been afraid to broach the topic before, not sure how he’d take it… and now she felt like an idiot for not bringing it up sooner.

His last comment about Yenna made her laugh, abating much of the lingering nervousness still tingling through her. <Shall I take your name, and become Miri Laysel? Or would you like to be Kyell Nimdok?> Nimdok was, in her opinion, the cooler of the two, but then she was biased. On the other hand, she almost didn’t care who took which name, as long as he was hers, and she was his…

She pressed her lips to his throat, fingers unbuttoning his shirt as she worked her way down—and then the ship’s alarm chimed, announcing that they had arrived at their destination.

Raising her head, she glared at the nearest speaker, then checked her chrono. <We’re early,> she said, grinning at him.

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Kyell gently rubbed the sides of her arms, just chuckling at her comment and enjoying the moment with her. The topic of having kids or getting married was nerve-racking, but taking the time to discuss it really helped, and so did the jokes. <Let's go with Nimdok. I don't really care about my own last name, but yours has more weight to it. Little Nimdoks also sounds funnier for the kids,> he said with a big nod and a grin.

He then leaned back into another kiss and allowed his hands to shift over her body, reaching for-

An Alarm interrupted the moment, and had him sigh a little, <Seems the fun will have to wait until the weekend,> he joked before kissing her cheek and looking at the instruments. They were about to drop from hyperspace, so it was time to get ready.

Maybe it was for the best... having her mother see him with lipstick on his face was probably not a great idea. He buttoned up his shirt again and lifted her up as he raised himself to his feet. For a moment, he kept his eyes locked and slowly lowered her, teasing her all the way to build up to a more exciting weekend.

<Alright, let's find that 'aunt' of yours, hm?>

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<Little Nimdoks?> That got a laugh out of her. <I wish my father could’ve lived to see his grandchildren…> He had certainly loved being the grandfather of his stepdaughter’s kids.

The slight damper those thoughts put on her mood made Kyell’s denial of her affections a little bit easier to accept. She wasn’t quite somber as she let him lift her out of his lap and set her back on her feet. More thoughtful.

Her hands lingered upon his shoulders as she looked into his eyes. “I love you,” she said, her voice soft and full of feelings she’d been bottling up, not quite ready to be served. This wasn’t a rushed confession on the battlefield of New Aldera, fueled by the delirium of blood loss and fear. Nor was it that coy innuendo in a nightclub on Coruscant while she was practicing her sign language. She was being honest and open now. She meant what she said.

Kissing his cheek, she left to get ready for the mission. “I suggest you wear a helmet, a mask, or something to cover up your face. The last thing we need is to wind up with a bounty on our heads.”

***​

Bithia requested that they meet her on a rooftop overlooking a neighborhood that had been all but abandoned. Rows of destitute houses and starscrapers littered the block, lined with crumbling infrastructure.

The wind ruffled Miri’s hair as she looked around the roof, her gaze eventually landing on a figure standing near the edge. It was Bithia, clad in a high-tech suit of body armor with a helmet that hid her face from view.

“Glad you could make it,” she greeted Miri and Kyell. “I’ve managed to get an idea of Jaina’s position—or at least, the position of her tracker.” She pointed toward a building across the street. “That’s a Corpo office building. Or at least, it was—I think it’s being used for something quite different now. If she’s in there, chances are she was taken prisoner. We’ve got to free her.”

Turning to Kyell, she asked, “Since you’re a Jedi, I figure you like to get up close and personal with your lightsaber. Or do you prefer another approach?”

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I would have loved to meet him,> he said before lifting her and slowly lowering her down to her feet. It wasn't as playful as the times he carried her around before, but more tender. Her hands lingered on his shoulders and his own settled at her waist, gently holding her close while his eyes connected with hers. Kyell didn't need the Force to feel the emotions swirling within her. Within him. He just smiled and brought a hand up to brush against her cheek.

<I love you too,> he said with the same sincerity and openness that she was showing him. It was a brief moment, but one that needed to happen.

The corner of his lip then tugged up in a smile at the kiss against his cheek, and he'd watch her leave to go prepare for the mission. Getting married and starting a family, hm? He thought to himself. It only made him smile even brighter before he too left to get ready for their adventure on Denon.

...

With a simple mask to cover his face, Kyell joined Miri and Bithia on the rooftop. He quietly glanced down at the street below, taking note of people walking near the building up ahead — their target. It was likely going to be guarded, so he tried to find patterns in the way they moved and looked around.

<I do prefer up-close and personal. I leave the gun handling to Miri,> he said before shooting Miri a quick wink.

<This is a good firing position. We could keep the plan simple with me going down to draw them out? Inside, they'll have an advantage but if we draw them onto the street, you two will have it easy.>

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Bithia watch Kyell’s signed response, then nodded. “That’s a pretty good plan. What do you think, Miri?”

“I’ll do it,” Miri replied. Already standing on the edge of the building, she seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to get this over with. Turning to Kyell, she added, “Do your thing. We’ll be right behind you.”

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Kyell looked between Miri and her mother and dipped his head. The plan was inherently risky for him because if they missed their shots, eventually he'd get overwhelmed. But if there was one person he'd trust here, it would be Miri, and her mother had gotten some 'upgrades' that made him feel confident enough too.

<Alright, see you soon, love,> he smiled at her and jumped all the way down to draw as much attention as he could. The Force flowed underneath him, cushioning the fall and after landing, he telekinetically threw some debris at the windows of the building. He couldn't yell to make noise, so that would have to do.

Almost immediately, armed guards rushed out to confront him, and especially when Kyell ignited his lightsaber, they knew he meant trouble. They wasted no time and opened fire, but Kyell stood his ground and began deflecting their blaster bolts to take a few down, but mostly pressure them enough to give Miri and Bithia a chance to return fire.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

A rifle shot rang out, and the wall of the building was promptly painted with the brains of one of the first guards to respond to the scene. Bithia was sniping them from above, while Miri dropped after Kyell, picking the others off with her pistols a good distance behind him.

Working in tandem, the three managed to take down the first wave of security.

“Excellent work,” Bithia remarked, climbing down to ground level. “But I doubt that this is the best they have.”

Miri opened the door of the building, and was immediately pummeled by laser turret fire. She barely rolled out of the way, smoke rising from her scorched armor as she crawled behind cover.

"I wish you hadn't done that!" Bithia exclaimed... right before she barreled through the entrance, blasting the turrets with some sort of ion gun. They exploded in a shower of sparks.

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

The Nimdoks did not disappoint.

With every passing second, Kyell felt the pressure on his defenses grow weaker as they sniped the enemy from a distance, allowing him to advance and focus his deflections on actually hitting opponents as well. It resulted in the three of them getting through the first wave of guards almost without breaking a sweat, and soon enough, the street was cleared and covered in bodies. He would have preferred to take them down without all this death, but there were just too many of them.

Approaching the building, Kyell stepped aside so Miri could open the door, but watched with widened eyes when a bolt struck Miri's armor. Bithia wasn't having any of it and stormed into the building to take out the turrets. Seems she did care more about her daughter than she openly showed.

<Hey, you okay?> He asked as he pulled her up to her feet and made sure. <Seems uh, I'm no longer taking point,> he tried to joke before he moved after Miri's mother with his lightsaber drawn. The turrets inside had been taken out, and he heard her go after her next target already, so that's what he'd help with.

The lightsaber, however, had one drawback — normally those wielding them were the most dangerous of a group, so he attracted a lot of enemy attention, and got pinned down under heavy pressure. All he could do was defend and keep the bolts from hitting him, but he wasn't going to last forever.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<I’m okay.> Miri grimaced as she got up, a little bruised and sore, but not seriously injured. Her armor had absorbed the laser blast, thankfully.

With Bithia now leading the charge, Miri covered Kyell, trying to lessen the pressure on him. Unlike him, she had no qualms about killing, something that had already begun to generate friction between her and other Jedi. Master Yenna certainly disapproved.

But Master Yenna hadn’t been there to see Miri make her first unwitting kills at the age of six, massacring a room full of Sith assassins with the Force. She could no longer match the raw, wild power of those dizzying first few years, but she remembered the feeling of relief, knowing that there were a few less monsters in the galaxy.

Many security guards and droids fell to her hail of gunfire as they followed Bithia deeper into the building, eventually reaching a lift. Bithia held the doors open for Miri and Kyell, quickly blasting a few more guards behind them just before the doors slid shut.

“They’ll probably disable the lift,” she muttered, reloading her weapon. “And this building is too big for stairs. So, we’re probably going to have to grapple our way through the elevator shaft…”

Sure enough, the lift rose a few floors, only to come to an abrupt halt as power was cut off. Bithia pushed open the hatch in the ceiling and climbed out, reaching down to pull one of them up after her.

Miri glanced at Kyell. “I hate heights,” she said with a grimace, before taking her mother’s hand and disappearing through the hole.

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

It was clear he left the killing to Miri.

In this case, with so many of these guards attacking them, it was impossible and highly risky to try and take them down non-lethally, but he still disliked the killing. Perhaps it was weak for him to just let his girlfriend handle it instead, but this strategy was effective as well, with him covering her to open fire. An excuse, maybe, but at least a solid one.

The two then pushed on and followed Bitha into the elevator, who correctly predicted that they'd get forced to go up through the elevator shaft. To him, it wasn't the heights that bothered him, but the fact they'd get funneled through a narrow shaft. And what if they activated the elevator again during the climb?

<I don't like this at all,> he told Miri before he went up last and covered the rear. The three of them began the climb, and throughout he made sure to watch her. Overcoming a strong fear of heights was difficult, so he'd be her support if she needed it. He could probably handle climbing and carrying her at the same time too, if needed...

<Hey... you hear that too?> he asked after a moment, and rather quickly, he realized his fear was becoming reality. The elevator was coming up fast.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

<I don’t either,> Miri replied.

It was unfortunate that she had a fear of heights, given her usual line of work. She could rarely be persuaded to swing across a chasm or scale a mountain to reach a cliffside tomb. Having other people around to save her helped, but she was still afraid of falling. It could happen so quickly, too. There might not even be a chance to rescue her…

Her heart leaped into her throat when she heard the metallic screech of metal below. She looked up toward their goal… and saw that it was still a little ways off, too far to jump.

“I suggest you two use the Force to save yourselves!” Bithia called down to them. “You can't save me that way, but I can survive much worse than you can! Go now!”

Miri had frozen with terror, clinging to the grappling line with a white-knuckled grip. The Force felt distant and unresponsive. Below them, the lift lurched closer.

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

Looking down at the source of the sound he heard, Kyell's eyes widened when he realized the elevator was coming up to crush them all. It was going fast, so they had little time to act, so when Bithia called out for the two Jedi to save themselves, he wasted no time at all. Even if he wanted to help her mother too, he simply couldn't, so he focused on the woman he cared so much about, and the one who seemed frozen by the fear of heights.

<Miri!> He called out to her mind to at least get her to focus on him instead of her fears.

Because with a single, powerful jump, Kyell closed the distance between them, held onto the cable with all his strength, and used his free arm to lift Miri over his shoulder. It wasn't the most comfortable for either of them, and there was significant stress on his arms especially, but he bit through the pain and exploded up with her again, looking for an open elevator door.

Meanwhile, the elevator was closing in fast, and only a second or two before it threatened to slam into them, Kyell swung on the cable to launch them both onto one of the higher floors. He ended up landing on top of her, and just laid still for a moment, unsure if they had actually made it out alive.

When he realized they were okay, he pushed himself up enough for her to snake out from underneath him, and looked at Miri with clear worry in his eyes, <Hey... you okay?> he asked before he suddenly pulled her into a tight hug against his chest that lifted her off her feet again.

A moment he needed to ease his mind.

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Paralyzed with panic, Miri fell limp against Kyell’s shoulder. The position unfortunately gave her a prime view of the lift rushing up toward them, sparks flying as it scraped across the metal gears.

Then she was suddenly thrown upon a floor, Kyell on top of her as the elevator rushed past them. She found that she couldn’t breathe even after he lifted himself off of her, so she pulled off her helmet, gasping for air. No one was around to see her face.

<I’m okay,> she answered, her heart still pounding in her chest. <I thought… we were dead…>

Kyell lifted her up again, embracing her tightly. She hugged him back, pulling his mask away just enough to kiss him. As it turned out, near-death experiences could provide quite the rush...

Kyell Laysel​

 

[Kyell Laysel]

Location: Miri's Ship
Tag: Miri Nimdok

<I thought… we were dead…>

He honestly did too, but he didn't say it and just kept her close, and hugged her against his chest as if it was their last-ever embrace. She then pulled down his mask, and met him in a kiss he wished would last forever. But she was safe, and that's all that mattered to him. Eventually, he set her back down and leaned forward to kiss her forehead, <It got close, but I'm not letting that happen,> he said with unusual confidence and calmness.

When it came to her, it felt much easier to find strength through his desire to protect and care for her.

His eyes then turned back to the elevator shaft, and the mission as a whole rushed back into his mind. They still had a task to complete, and Miri's mother hadn't been able to escape. <Let's go check on your mother and make your way up. It's time to end this.>

He was so done with this, and it likely showed in the way he now carried himself. He felt more intense, a lot more focused — these people had nearly gotten his girlfriend killed, and he felt a rush of emotions because of it that his lack of experience struggled to control.