At Midnight She Turns Into a Dancer(Kei Amadis)

[Ginnie Dib]

True Venture
Arion Frigate - Night Cycle
Training Facility - Open Floor

Acceptance raged at the new wife's upper eyelid. Had Kei come to the same conclusion Aditya had, yet? Were they ready? Was she too young to dash off into wedded bliss? If she didn't, would she blink @[member="Kei Amadis"]' lifespan by before an atrocity or act of war dispelled the miracle which laid bare in her? If these scattered seconds were all she got, would the woman in her be content? Aditya waited until she thought Kei fell asleep to slide out of his bed and into an old t-shirt and sweats. She crept barefoot through the corridors, clutching a small grey box to her nubile chest until she peeked around the doorway of the Training Facility's workout floor. Alone. Finally alone.

THE DANCE

Putting the small box on the ground, Aditya stretched and limbered her elegant limbs before pressing play on the music box. Throughout the song she contorted and fell, rising in successive muscle groups with the highs and graceful jumps of her elation. There were sweeping arm-widths of affection, tender slides of her bruised fingers and hands along her skin, onward she danced her lifelong training pouring out of stagnant bones, which felt claustrophobic held too long in the stillness of a borrowed bed. She crested and landed, jumped, spun, her legs bearing graceful strains in her body's only form of contemplation. In motion she bore her regret, in movement her fears and pains and hesitations. On the ground, she clung to the floor, pushing off with her fingertips and toes to arch her back as if the floor itself wished to swallow her. End her. Once upon a time, a petite engineering student raced aboard the first ship she could find, running from a man who thought she was the wrong kind of dancer. She met Kei and his father and made herself useful, yet had she offered to show him her gift? Would he accept it, or was she as the ache of her muscles betrayed to the empty room, only good for him as long as she fixed his ship? Was she useful or an object of adoration, was she keepable, or a sometimes girl? Eyes closed, lips bit shut, hair wild and unconfined she danced to the music coming from the box, writhing and hoping with the grace of a beauty who had captivated entire audiences year in and out, until the moment she ran away.

 

[Kei Amadis]

@[member="Aditya Amadis"]
Claustrophobic, yes. These moments to relax would be few and far between from now on. So when he went into engineering, to check how the latest developments were coming along. Music... What did he see, not engineers at work, he saw artists, one artist, one love.

In the doorway he remained, never having seen this side of her.

Vulnerability. Emotion. The Jedi in him was told not to feel it by some, but passion yet serenity, he felt both, this was right. That was what a dancer was to him, an embodiment of the old code he used to follow, till new times called for more, grace and charm. A Jedi could have these things, though he must be mindful to protect them, and what they meant to him, to keep the moments serene like this, and passion within that serenity. He was still working on it, but getting there.

Her arching of her back, a running of finger tips against the skin, Jedi were not robots, he loved her and would protect her, just like everyone back home, and all the homes they'd go to.

Dressed in a green jacket, black shirt, brown trousers and thick black boots, dad's dog tags around his neck. Always business, no time usually to just be. Tonight he did have. It wasn't long till Kei approached behind her, not making his steps hard to hear, he waited for her to see him, close enough for her carry on, but close enough to make himself known. Kei didn't know the story of leaving her mentor, or why she had been a bounty hunter after him, or why she'd turned to start helping him, only that she had. Sometimes a fight, sometimes fun, sometimes, well he'd never seen side of her, but here she was, and here he was.

His woman, his wife? It didn't seem real that was still sinking in, the document she'd brought didn't mean much, that wasn't how he'd tell a woman that, there had to be something more than just a casual piece of paper. There had to be... romance.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Her breath caught as @[member="Kei Amadis"]' boots stepped in a rhythm opposed to the music. Consumed by her dance the young woman hadn't noticed him watching, nor coming forward until he had and she stumbled, crashing to one knee. Aditya froze, her bottom lip trembled. Would he accept this? What did he want her for? A flicker in his deep brown eyes brought a red flush to her cheeks, as if her lover had disrobed virgin flesh and gazed upon the loveliness which soon would be his. Cautiously her head tilted toward him, lips parted, until a tender upturn of her curved pink mouth peeked through the hair she brushed away from her face. Away and back, tossing it behind her and twisting herself around and around until curling upward to stand before him and with the deepest grace curtsey low for her husband. Her arms swept slowly out, until hands curling up and around until met together, she coiled her arms in a tender show, pirouetting to bring herself within his stoic gravity.

Aditya spread her fingers palm to palm on one of his hands, tugging Kei's hand up, lacing her fingers through the webs of his, back arching in a timid quest to decipher if in this moment, they were enough. Hand laced with his, she spun out, back arched and head up, twirling one way until she could pull no farther away from him and twirling back to hug herself within his one armed entwined embrace. Her back against his chest, she curved her feminine neck until its ivory line laid bare and supplicant to his predation. Leaving herself defenceless, her other hand feeling along his belt for a loop. A hold. No letting go. Intertwined, her foot played at the ground, back to First Position, out in small circles then up, with a flick of her hips around to hold in elegant line controlled and high. Cascading back down, she broke away from Kei, leaping into the air to kick her feet in pas du chat, cat-like flicking jumps.

The music continued and before Kei she danced, her body moving between the fluidic elegance of a woman's longing, of discrete fixes and lengthy sighs. She danced and slowly came undone, her hair free to roam around her back and lift and fall as her body moved from the silken boughs of affection and attachment to the battle of separation. Arms pushing at imaginary barriers, legs bending, turning to her knees, contorting in the agony of 'finding her way' of 'running off to avoid the potential disappointment', her body spoke of battles they fought together and the battles of her mind. No great tragedy had taken Aditya's innocence, but before her was a man who threatened her joy. Bounding in the air, both feet cast out she landed in a crouch and used the momentum to spin on the balls of her feet and grab her forehead, her hair.

Her body spoke of shock, of panic and coming toward him once again, feet sliding on the floor her reconciliation laid at Kei's feet. Kneeling on one knee, arms curved upward, she panted quietly, eyes peering up at him longingly, desperate, pleading. All he had to do was take hold of her arms, or drift away.

The music stopped. A pause came, and a crackle until an unfamiliar voice siphoned the quiet of the makeshift Temple of a girl and her desires.

"No, No! Stop! Eh, eh, eh, stop, stop!" the sounds of a cane smacking peppered the thickly accented tone of a hard older female. "Ghean, you must lift her, not throw her in the air. Aditya is not sack of yams, she is our Prima Ballerina, she must soar." A muffled movement of cloth was the only audio reply, before the whip crack of the cane snapped again. A voice, which could only be Aditya, sharply groaned. "Aditya! Where is mind!?" The whip-crack sound, "You are essence of life in this dance, not clodhopping brawling girl. Ah! You would be so pretty, I blame your father. Do it again. Again, again! We all must do it again, Aditya's not finished being too proud to dance. Eh?" The sound of several bodies moving through a wooden floor, panting with exhaustion reverberated with a tight painful gasp and an airy series of breaths. "Yes, mother. I'll get it right." Music began again, the sounds of moving feet, and the cane striking a rhythm. "Ah, there you are Aditya. Look how beautiful you move! That's my daughter."

Aditya lept for the music box, scrambling to turn it off.

 

[Kei Amadis]

Raising her with a steady hand, his strength a safe place she could lean upon as she travelled through life and her dance. Head lowered, fingers took hers, while she pulled from him, releasing her only as she reached through her limit. The distance might grow with her steps away, but his eyes never left her.

Watching as she arched, and spun, taking @[member="Aditya Amadis"], from him, further out of reach, she fired up his drive to close the distance. She closed to his chest, but so did he to her, pulling her head against it, and holding it safely, but firmly in his arm. Arms entwined, kissing once upon the offered neck, and letting her go, their own tango, here, its ups and downs, shooting each other, or kissing each other, had always been one more part of the dance.

Separation and unveiling. Was this the same woman he had seen falling over at the meeting, or covered in grease in the engine room. No this was someone else, someone beyond that mask she held for the world to see, to cover the dance she loved. Walking with her as she found her boundaries and pushed beyond them, all gifted to his eyes. She did not get very far from him, a strong, warm grin for her, his wife.

Then the crescendo, the apex of it all, her reaching him, beaconing out for him. Acceptance, not just as a Jedi would for all life, but for a woman showing him her vulnerabilities and letting him in. Seeking to put her in his arms, they moved to brush her hands, but the music stopped, and the curtain fell. Kei was one step ahead of her, a single finger over her lips, he let the words play, and pulled her into his arms, a strong embrace for his love. He would be there till the end.

Sssshhh, "no matter what comes", he'd be there till the music started again, and until the words were done. "We'll listen to it together," that they would, he would not hold her back from the box if she moved for it, only give her a place to rest if she wanted it, a place she was protected, in his arms. A Jedi's love for his wife.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

In @[member="Kei Amadis"]' eyes and his lips she met her answer. Her stomach fluttered with anticipation of his touch, his skin a thin barrier for the soul she laid upon with the privacy of her actions. Mewling meekly, the young wife held devoutly to her husband, clinging to him with a fervency undeniable in the nakedness of their silence and his love. It clicked. He loved her. He wasn't pretending or in a prolonged act of letting go, nor was he going easy to placate her or hurt her feelings. Kei loved Aditya, and she was proud of his name. Amadis. She could wear it proudly in faith and devotion, forgetting the other in deference to her honest state of bliss. She basked in his affection, released and delivered by her moment of vulnerability to an indelible adoration.

He pulled her up and held her close, never far from the conviction of his emotions. The power of Kei's revelations consumed and bore into her with overwhelming praise and wonder. In his eyes she saw a man willing to walk the universe from one end to other with her on his back. As the music shifted to her mother's voice, Aditya started. She begged to rush and turn off the years spent chasing an image of the perfect daughter. Suspended in his embrace, she burrowed her face into his shirt, nuzzling in for warmth and comfort as her dance class continued in crackling audio. "Never thought. . . you're always . . . I love you, Kei. Things happened and I didn't want to bother you and wasn't sure. . . Got scared you'd freak, or break before I could fix it. I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you before we get our lives started, I'm scared of the Sith and I'm scared of this war. I can't move things with my mind, or swing into battle with a fancy lightsaber and I can't keep up. All I can do is fix things and dance."

The dance class's audio burst with a tumbling sound of a body hitting the ground hard. Aditya cried out, gasped and muffled a scream. "Stop! Foolish girl! Get up, get up. A ballerina cannot fall on the stage!" The sound of scuffling, limping feet combined with the thunderclap of the cane. Aditya yelped, another series of thumps and scuffles. "Stop crying! GET UP!! We perform in three days on Coruscant's best stage! Perfection, not embarrassment!" "I think she's hurt. Adie, you okay?" A strained series of sobs fled the music box, chased by the noise of limping steps. 'Oh gosh. Look at her foot.' 'It's swelling up' chitters from other voices. The cane struck the ground. Silence. "Stand up! Back to First for the Waltz! Aditya, are you telling me three days before the largest performance of this Company's career you will disappoint us!?" Sobs. "NO! No, no Mama, I. . . give me thirty seconds for pity's sake!" Scuffling, inaudible seething whispers, sobs, a tumble, scuffle, the music played again. "The show, the show! Dear gods the show must continue! ONE, two, three! One, two, three!"

"Broke my ankle. Mother never forgave me for having a swollen foot on my most important début. Wanted me perfect. My sisters couldn't dance a lick, no matter how hard they tried. Ah, but I was the golden child. Brought in enough money that we all could eat comfortably. Daddy didn't make much as a mechanic. Not on our little backwater." Aditya sighed as the music shifted to a closer approximation of a Alderaani waltz. She put Kei's hand on the small of her back, taking the other in hers and starting to move from side to side, eyes watching nothing but his face as she mouthed 'One, two, three, One, two, three'. As she taught him the dance her smile grew and grew and grew. She glowed with inner happiness, sweeping from side to side and dipping herself down once in a while to keep him on his toes. Her eyes drifted shut and she danced smiling in his arms, carried away with the lull and security of their blossoming romance.

 

[Kei Amadis]

@[member="Aditya Amadis"]

Kei hadn't thought of the name yet, their name now, always moving from place to place meant putting down roots anywhere was far from his mind, but not his hopes. Before all this started, he had been carrying cargo in the back of his ship, an early retirement fund, sold to help the war effort. "Things break in war, we'll need you, a lot." That was the general facing her, holding her strong and shielding her from the words playing next to them. "I need you." Kei, the man, spoke into her ear, he kissed her, probably as strongly and as deeply as he ever had, hands on her cheek, thumb touching the lips. Keeping her tight and close to him, cradling her in his arms, safe and proud to have her as his girl.

"Fear means you're smart," Kei grinned, "keeps you on your toes," kissing her forehead, and running a hand gently down her hair, petting it. Kei didn't have the fear she had, the Jedi training was letting him know that he'd always be alive in the force, with the force, but that would still leave them separated till she knew that herself.

The voices from the box were harsh, Epicanthx's could be rough when they were training their young, but this woman instructing his wife sounded over and above that. You didn't blame someone for getting injured, you patched them up, and got them back into it when the injury was sorted out. To do it before the injury was healed, was just plain stupid. He shook his head, feeling the need to try and help her.

"You've got to fail to get good, and if you are injured take the time to heal," Kei grinned, they listened to the voices over the box together, keeping her in his arms, strongly wrapped around her, rocking her back and forth gently, "perfect is a dream we keep telling ourselves so we push." He looked to her, that glow and radiance attracting him, taking his wife to war, Epicanthx did that, but still looked out for them, Kei was still concerned that she might not make it back. There was a silence for a time, as he just held her there, a comfortable silence for an intimate moment.

"If you want to head home, I won't mind. Don't just come for me," not quite the same as saying that to a human wife, but it had similar sentiment, he didn't want her here just for his sake, Epicanthx or not.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"You will need me. And I need to be needed." Aditya said, while cradled and rocked, her chin poised on his chest as she gazed up at him, eyes growing black and large as he whispered in her ear. He needed her, he kissed her and Aditya's penchant for whimsy crumpled and died for the stronger bond of mutual desire, mutual need and the love in him. The kiss made her pause, she rested within it and halted the gaining words sticking to her throat to brush his face with the backs of her hands. She touched his forehead, using her thumb to release the lines there and dispel worry and cares. Curling up in his cradle, she shut her eyes and focused on nothing but the rocking of their bodies. Him to her, her man.

Aditya chuckled, "Oh Mama didn't agree. I wasn't bleeding, I wasn't dead, I was a little actress trying to get out of taking care of my responsibilities." The voices change, music stopping abruptly.

"Damnation, Taya!" A gruff masculine voice rushed from the box, heavy footfalls pushing their way down the floor. A scuffle was heard, punches thrown and connected. The music trilled to a stop, and the wooshing sound of a man picking up his little girl sounded with Aditya yelping and bursting into tears. "Look, I get it. Big deal and all. But you're done." "We still have last act to--" "Taya, no! You're DONE! Go home! All of you! Practice is done! You'll all be fine, anyway. Always are." The hiccupping sounds of Aditya's lungs pushed through the silence, as fabric crinkled and a soft humming purr resounded masculine and resolute. "Shhh, Ada. Hushabye lil bit. Daddy's gotcha. Put some bacta on that ankle, eh? Shhh, there's my lil brawlin' queen. Daddy's got you." The sound got softer with receding foot falls, and the music stopped. End of recording.

Positioned within it, the silence was an active entity in the cavernous space. Aditya rocked in her husband's arms, another in the history of strong men holding her close and bandaging her up. First was her father, second came Kei. As much as she talked, there had never been others, but that she kept quiet, a secret laid in her heart for the moment it would blossom and shine. Oh how she wanted to fold herself around him, to take the war by the scruff of its neck and beat it out of the universe, beat it out and send it off to molt, and quiver and die. She puffed up her chest, holding the back of @[member="Kei Amadis"]' neck and pushing up on her tip toes to get as close to his eyeline as she could. "Don't you do that. Don't ever. I'm in this with you, side by side. I'll do my bit, whatever I have to, I'll do it. . . I. . . I might have to go back to Atrisia, Kei. Was gonna surprise you but I got Citizenship. I got an apartment and it's got a little rooftop garden and a view of the capital city and it's . . . it's not a lot but its ours. Yours if you want it. I . . . I thought you'd want a place to call home and I got assurances, I . . . well, the Galactic Empire'll protect us. Both of us. . . I got people to talk to, but there's this Noble right? He . . he likes my engineering plans. I'm not gonna be gone long, I can't be gone long. I can't lose you and I can't wake up without you. So you wait for me, Kei Amadis. You wait for your wife, and you stay alive while I work things out. But I'm always coming back for you, I'm gonna fix your engines and anything else that needs it. Promise. Promise me you'll always come back for me. Promise me you won't leave me behind. Right here. Right now. Promise I'm gonna have you forever. Promise. Promise."

Her last words got quieter and quieter, hiccups and sniffs attempting to staunch any weakness she saw in tears. Still she clung to him, gods don't let this moment end.

 

[Kei Amadis]

"You are and will be, always." Kei continued the kiss deeply, lips to hers, breaking it only when she was breathless. Her breath against his lips, he grinned warmly, resting his lovers head back to his chest. This intimacy was a contrast to the old order's way of living, but he cherished it and her. The sentiment she expressed in her touch, through the force was taken to a beautiful place, his connection and aura literally taking on a light glow, at complete peace here with her.

About to answer her again when the voice came on, eventually realising it was her father speaking. He just grinned, "sounds like a hell of a dad, good thing someone was looking out for you 'ditya, I was getting worried this had no silver lining." Some time past before he said anything else, "Do you miss him?" Kei expected he was dead, his own situation coming into the question, not being able to locate his mother or father, who he presumed were dead themselves.

" 'ditya," Seeing her look him in the eye, telling him how she felt, how it was going to be. That was what he wanted to see, that side of the wife was why he'd been interested in her just as much as the dancing. "I love you," looking at her for a long time, that strength in her eyes meant a lot to him, Epcianthxs were attracted to it naturally, as equals.

Now the apartment, the citizenship didn't matter here or there, people could come from anywhere to fight the Sith and were doing, "it's war Aditya, we have to go where we have to go." They had to put aside their time together for that. Kei shook his head at the mention of the apartment, it was a dangerous war against a tough opponent, he wasn't even sure he'd be coming back, but that wasn't what she, his wife, needed to hear.

Pulling her firmly into his lap, and holding her so she was supported, "tell you what, we win this and I'll move in." There it was that Kei-grin, smugly on his face. Another dare against impossible odds, just like their marriage had been, and he hadn't regretted the woman in his arms at all from winning that one. Just one Sith Empire between them and victory. Kei was confident that might take awhile. He had been a republic man through and through, loyal, and when the this was over he'd go back as he said he would, and face judgment, after that, who knows, maybe he'd survive it long enough to visit.

The Jedi felt the force in the room, between them, it was a harmony, and it was theirs. In her he found his center, not his destruction.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Auras of light and pleasant spiritual places were above Aditya's pay-grade as a humanoid with attitude. Although she trusted @[member="Kei Amadis"]' judgement when it came to him learning the Jedi Arts, Aditya found no rest inside old philosophies and antique laser swords. She'd never felt such peace, nor light, nor any sort of representation. The Force was not a physical thing for her to rest within, no sinew and muscle and bone like her lover's arms. Yet she would take her words to her death-bed when she said being in Kei's arms, being loved and kissed by him was as spiritual an experience as she could understand. Tonight for some foggy vanguard of enlightenment, Kei's tenderness awoke a new foundation and for one glimpse of time Aditya's eyes went wide. She could see it. She could see him, and breathless she gasped, fingers dressing his face with a beloved reverence.

"Every day. Best Dad in the universe. He used to have this refridge in his mechanic shop out front, whatever swill he was drinkin' and something fizzy for me. We'd be out there for hours while he repaired speeders, lawnmowers, anything with workings. I'd pass him tools and dance for customers. Mom tugged me away eight hours a day to practice my dancing, but Daddy would pick me up walk out and bundle me up in his coat while he worked all night long. Wake up every morning in the bed I shared with my sisters. Never understood it till I was older, but he stayed for his kids. Last time I saw him, I was seventeen and I'd finally bested Mama in an all out fight. I was beat up fierce, Daddy bandaged me up, grabbed me his old haversack and he'd stuffed it with all his extra tools. Gave me a few credits, my first real beer and drove me to the spaceport. . . I went back two years ago, your Dad talked me into it. Said no Dad could handle separation without knowing their kids were tended to. Daddy was gone. He'd packed up not long after and hoofed a ride on the first ship what needed a mechanic."

Aditya kissed Kei's jaw, nuzzling underneath his neck, "S'why I kept going off from the Statement. That and folk kept trying to kill you. Never would have left for a minute if I hadn't kept thinking that next ship, he might be on it. Wanted him to meet you and your Dad. They'd really get on. Drink themselves blind, the old codgers, but . . . what happened, Kei? I know you're hurting, but I don't know why."

Curled in his lap, she rested in his embrace as they sat on the floor. "I love you, too Kei." She kissed his cheek, lips lingering as her hands grazed his chest through the fabric of his shirt. "All we got to do is win a war and I get to keep you? Forever? What are the conditions of victory?"

She milled the thought, searched the problem for a solution where there mightn't have been another one present. Aditya wasn't blind, nor was she a mechanical savant. She worked hard for every advance and had the brain power to accomplish them, she knew Kei was speaking for her benefit. Made her love him more, for protecting her from the haggard truth of their unrelentingly negative odds. "Until then, get used to me being on whatever ship you're on. Whatever planet, or battle or any of that. I promised nothing but death would part us and I don't plan on either of us dying until we're older than fire and brimstone. I mean it, Kei. When I'm not on Atrisia, I'm with you. No matter what condition either of us are in."

Was there talk of children, somewhere in her mind's eye, or was that healthy homestead a myth which best served her in the nighttime hours where not even Kei tread heavily? Accidents happened, happy or ill timed as they might be. "No being all sacrificing either. You've got a family to tend to, and that family as small as it is right now needs you healthy, free and fighting. If you did try and sacrifice yourself I'd throw myself in the way anyhow. We're a pretty tiny family, you and me."

 

[Kei Amadis]

One hand moving through her hair, the other holding her firm, so she wouldn't ever fall. Kei still had faith in the Jedi, not the senate, but the spirit of the Jedi and what they stood for. Kei was proud to call himself one. @[member="Aditya Amadis"]

Her Dad sounded like a breath of fresh air, "He taught you how to swing that right hook?" Kei winked, "Sounds like a hell of a man 'ditya, I want to meet him"... "My dad?" Kei rubbed the bridge of his nose, "yeah he was right, usually was, you'll find yours again." Usually was, sucked to be that way, but he'd come to terms with it. Both his parents gone, no ties now, not until 'ditya showed him that license, taking a small nip on his silver flask, the herbal tea was as strong as it ever was. Kei didn't answer her question yet about him, he was enjoying the time with her too much.

To win the war? "Every last Sith behind a force cage?" Kei grinned, pulling her a bit tighter to him still, and embracing her strongly. "I reckon that'd about do it girl," he looked at her deadpan. Kei was teasing her, and he kissed her lip pulling it away from her face and tickling her mercilessly, pinning her to the floor. She'd be with him when she could, same for his time with her, "I know, we've got our own lives too Aditya," parting the hair from her face, "wouldn't have it, or you, any other way."

No sacrificing, trouble was he didn't see it ending all heroic for him like some people might, he knew some of what he'd be facing, knew enough about the Sith to see it was a very tough fight, and he'd be considered a prime target. If he made it through, and it was all over he'd go back for judgment, and probably a long spell in a force cage. That was the situation though, that was war. "You think i'd let you throw yourself anywhere right now?" He grinned, keeping her pinned, this was why time with her was so important, the Jedi in him stopped and felt that flow of light through him, it carried his hands to her face. "No being the hero you hear me?" Kei kissed her forehead, she wouldn't come to any harm. She wasn't a Jedi so she couldn't be turned by some Sith trying to get to him, no she was his balance. Though 'ditya might see it the other way around, without her life was grey. "Whatever happens to me, you've got to carry on, live for both of us."

That thought led him right into the next one.

"The old navy dog is not coming back," he finally admitted. He'd never known for sure, even now he didn't, still felt that somewhere out there, on one star or another would be one old really damn angry ship captain, wondering when someone was going to pick him up. "I don't know what happened, we've been trying to put that together for about a year."

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"And the left one. We did a lot with southpaw, said it would give me the edge when I popped one." Aditya playfully nudged @[member="Kei Amadis"]' cheek with a feather-soft left hook, other hand tight up to protect her face. Her expression was relaxed and neutral, a whisper in comparison to the theatrical show she ran twenty-four-seven. Nuzzling into his chest, Aditya rubbed his shoulder with the palm of her hand. When Kei took a nip of tea, Aditya took the flask and took a thin drag herself, smacking her lips before giving it back.

"I want you to meet him! He'd be incredible for the Army. Probably give the old coot a second wind on life. Maybe a third. Was always good to have your Dad around. Your Dad and his jokes. Kept nudging me t'look atcha. Sure, I thought 'wow, that Kei is hot!' I was so nervous all I could do was reach for my tools. Be useful. Never forget how your Dad was watching it all smiling. He talked to me, after we. . . heh. Well, he knew we were... It was great."

The war would kill him. Deep in her spine she felt the rise in him, the way a man would get when they were trying to be pleasing and protective and it made her heart sick. "Every Sith in a cage?" She could do that. She would do it. If it meant Kei got to live in their apartment, and raise kids some day Aditya would raze planets to the ground. "I'll have you any way I can ge--aah."

Aditya chuckled deep in her belly, she thrilled with the attention, wrapping her legs around his waist giggling away. Putting one of her legs across his belly, she pushed and pulled to the side, hoping to break his hold and send him veering to the side. Hey, Aditya was no damsel! Even if his kisses were making her weak in the knees and choice other places. Her struggles probably didn't work. "What's the point of having a husband if he gets dead? I'm make a terrible widow! Think of the possibly never existing children!"

Aditya reached up to pull his head down to hers, arms wrapping around his neck. She kissed his hairline and brought herself as close as she could to his body. "Don't say that, to either of it. I'm not happy living without you, sure I could but that's no kind of life. And . . and we'll find him. We'll figure out what happened. It have anything to do with your new chest jewellery? Gotta say it, that thing freaks me out. And the way those Echani dudes are looking at you? Kinda creepy. Who do I need to shiv first?"

 

[Kei Amadis]

@[member="Aditya Amadis"]

"Your old man in the army, heh, Sith wouldn't stand a chance with two of you." Kei said with a large grin, completely relaxed, "oh he talked to you after?" Kei said looking down under her nose, trying to catch her eye, "after what?" teasing her.

"He was," Kei said taking a deep breath, he was a good man.

"Every second Sith in a cage will do," giving a mock grin, just a big enough dent to make a difference and get the Jedi moving before it was too late would do him. He'd resigned himself to that the second the temple and senate burned, that his own life was secondary.

Kei was thrown to the side, but again pulled himself around to be straddling his wife again, holding her hands, play fighting, "You really see me having kids?" A smug look, a half question, half statement. Pinning her in place but then she stopped play fighting, and kissed him, and so he stopped pinning her too, kissing her back. "Don't worry 'ditya, takes a lot to put me down for good." If his falling to bits, patched up ship was anything to go by, it'd take more than a few million Sith, to finally end the ambiguous statement's captain.

"Echani?" He'd never had problems with the Echani, since they signed up he'd seen nothing but good reports, training the men, almost every day doing something in the war effort, even brought them some ships. He saw them as a general would, "why, what's the problem with them?" His Dad, it was damned nice of her to say, but he'd resigned himself to the fact the old man was gone, or would resign himself to that, one day. "The crystal is a long story." His usual attitude, he could spare her the details, no need for her to worry again, they had enough with a few million or billion Sith to deal with.

 

[Ginnie Dib]

@[member="Kei Amadis"]

Aditya glared at Kei and broke out in giggles. "After we came out of the engine room and you whistled to the cockpit and I got a cup of stimcaf and he handed me the cream. . ." She clucked her tongue and smacked him softly on the chest. "After what. Sure. Like you weren't there." The young woman blushed, curled up under her husband's body as they played. She went for his elbow, trying to bend it and get some leverage. A wrestling match with Kei? That was good training, and experiencing her husband's strength. He'd keep her from harm. "You'd rock as a Dad! Make our old men proud and jealous. If it happened, we'd be fine."

The game changed, and Aditya laid herself out on the ground, tugging him with her. "It better take a lot. Build you a suit of armour or such, I'm worried you'll brush off the wrong kind of boo boo." Her eyes flashed toward his chest, hoping to hide there the worries she carried about him coming home. Pushing at them, Aditya let go of Kei and flopped her arms above her head on the floor. "You know when I'd get the itch? Like, there'd be traders or folk at a cantina and I'd know 'hey, they're after us, they're bounty hunters' or 'they're after Kei'? It's the way they look atcha. Like they know something you've not been privy to yet, or maybe you are and not telling me, but whatever it is, those Echani aren't just here to help in the war. Not with the way some of them look at you. Watch your back, Kei. Maybe it's time to tell me."