Private Becalmed In Virtue

[Arcturus Dinn]

He had meant for them to take off into the stars before she spoke. As he walked up the boarding ramp, and into the slowly activating ship, he led her toward the cockpit. They didn't make it there before she turned to him and began to speak, though. It was like a dam had broken, and everything she'd been holding back on came spilling out.​

​

Though every bone in his body was telling him to get them off the ground, away from Korriban, he found himself stuck-in-the-mud. He just stared at her as she spoke, there was no room for him to respond. She wanted to get it all out, and honestly he didn't want to interrupt. Let her get it off her chest, before she got cold feet.​

​

Silence hung over them as she finished her explanation. He blinked, trying to process everything she'd said. Then he sighed. He reached out and pulled her close, unable to immediately find the words he wanted to say. "I'm not putting an end to this conversation," he mumbled, before pulling back and releasing her, "But I think it's best we get away from Korriban for the night, alright?" He waited a moment, then headed toward the cockpit. There was a spring in his step; he wouldn't stop her if she chose to follow.​

​

True to his word he was quick about getting them off the ground. He set a course to somewhere outside of Eternal space, somewhere neutral but still nearby, and then returned to her side. The ship set off without issue.​

​

"I'm glad you saved them," he began, reaching out to take one of her hands, "Nobody should know slavery, especially children. It's barbaric." She didn't need him to say that, of course. He didn't look at her and see someone who was pro-slavery. "As for where they ended up, that was your decision to make." Did he approve of it? He couldn't say for sure. His view on a great many things had changed since returning to Korriban, they weren't given freedom by being handed over to the Jedi. For most that decision would end in their death. Such was the life of child soldiers.​

​

But it wasn't his place to state as much.​

​

"I'm sorry you didn't find me on Coruscant, Ish. I wish that there was some corner of the Galaxy we could run away to and forget everything, but that life doesn't exist for me." He chewed on the inside of his lip. Words bubbled up within him but he didn't want to utter them. It was perhaps selfish of him to try and keep it bottled up.​

​

Ultimately he sighed.​

​

"If you don't want to be here, Ishani, you can't let me stand in your way. One day you might wake up and find you don't like the man I am anymore, and then what? You've sunk years of your life into something you don't actually believe in?" His voice broke part way through, but he held strong enough to speak his point. His expression was temporarily pained, but he did his best to mask it toward the end. This wasn't about him or his wants.​

​

"What do you actually want, Ish? Deep down, what do you want?"​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

The silence after she spoke was loud. Arcturus had been caught off guard, she could tell. The worst news he probably expected was… oh, that she had cheated on him, maybe? Or found somebody else? Certainly not that she had momentarily turned traitor, and was no longer even sure if she wanted to be a Sith.

He headed for the cockpit, and she hurried after him, lingering slightly behind. Once the ship was in hyperspace, he turned and found her waiting. His hands in hers were cold from the controls; she clasped them to her chest like a lifeline, trying to rub warmth back into them. Please don’t let him pull away from me. Not like this...

For the most part, she let him talk, only offering a little bit of further elaboration. “The children were already students at the Royal Academy,” she said. “When they went missing, nobody seemed to care. I only heard about it through rumors. After the failure at Ossus and all the problems it caused, they just couldn’t be bothered to go that far out into space for a bunch of kids. So I went on my own, because it was my planet, and… I felt sorry for them.” She sighed. “Those kids deserved better. They needed to go somewhere where people would at least care about them. Clearly the Sith didn’t, so maybe sending them to the Jedi was for the best.”

She wanted to argue with him, demand to know why that life didn’t exist for him. But she already knew the answer. Everything was here for him, his studies, his home, his family. To try and drive a wedge between him and that was selfish. In fact, she was beginning to think confiding this secret of hers in him was a selfish act. Handing the kids over to the Jedi was her mistake. What exactly did she expect him to do about it?

In his eyes she saw emotions rising, only to be bottled up. It was a battle of containment that he was losing. Hearing the pain in his voice cut into her like a knife. She’d hurt him. She didn’t want to hurt him. The blade twisted as she realized that a surefire way of ensuring that she never had a chance to hurt him again would be to leave him. Go away forever, and never come back again.

She didn’t have much of an answer for him. “I guess I wanted to find a place where I belonged. Even if I had to carve a niche out of this universe for myself. I feel like I belong with you, Arc. So maybe all this uncertainty came from not having you around…” She rubbed her eyes. “I used to have nightmares about you coming back to Korriban, only for Maliphant to order your death to appease the Worm, or even just because you had disappointed him. I didn’t know what he might do. If he had hurt you, I would have killed him… but I see now that I panicked and blew everything out of proportion.”

Feeling worse and worse, she stared down at his hands, afraid to look up. Her eyes were filling up, about to overflow. Catastrophizing Ishani, almost making the man she loved cry because he thought she might have to leave him. Never mind that severing herself from him now, right when he finally came back, right when he had nearly let her go for the sake of her happiness, seemed unthinkable to her. Force, he was a keeper.

“I’m so sorry, Arc. I just… I’m an idiot.” Smiling through tears, she kissed each of his palms. “I’m a neurotic, paranoid, unstable idiot, and I’ve embarrassed myself twice in one evening. And now you’re never going to believe me if I say I want to stay with you. Even if it all collapses, I want to be able to say I tried.” She drew his thumb over her lower lip, swollen from kissing him too roughly earlier. Strange thoughts snaked through her mind, visions of grandeur. Why, if they worked together, they could remake the Sith as they saw fit. "Tell me I still have a chance."

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't pull away as she took his hands and tried to warm them up, but he didn't push her to be any closer either; he gave her the space she needed, however much that was, and simply listened.​

​

Arcturus couldn't really argue with the logic of wanting the kids to be somewhere that they'd be cared for. Sure they could have received such in the Sith if they were brought to somewhere like Korriban, the Acolytes here were treated surprisingly well all things considered, and they had a sense of kinship with one another. But further afield? Well, who knew what was happening out there, elsewhere.​

​

Even so, they'd just been taken from one space of indoctrination to another. They should have been sent home. But he knew that wasn't so easy. And he wasn't going to judge her for her decision.​

​

"I didn't expect my absence to have such an effect on you," he whispered, leaning forward to place his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry, Ish, I didn't mean to give you sleepless nights and nightmares. But that's all they were, nightmares." He'd explained why that was though, he'd given enough information as to his relationship with Maliphant, and why him ordering his execution wasn't likely to happen.​

​

Not without something extreme happening first.​

​

She was about to cry, and that pained him. He reached up a hand, brushed away the ones that dared to try and fall; then he brushed her lips, as she intended him to do.​

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"I'm not going anywhere, Ishani," he assured her, "And you're none of those things. Fear makes a fool of us all from time to time, that's no measure of who you actually are." For a second he paused, before hastily adding "Not that you're a fool, of course, I just..." Wow, way to shoot yourself in the foot, Arc...​

​

"Come on," he led her out of the cockpit provided she came willingly, and through into the lounge. If he strained well enough he could practically hear the guitar being played. Some ghosts echoed longer than others it would seem, and another pang of pain gripped his core. In another lifetime, a world away from here, perhaps he and Starlin might actually have been friends.​

​

Alas.​

​

He encouraged her to sit on the rounded sofa, kissed her atop the forehead provided she complied, then turned toward the kitchenette to begin making them something to warm to drink. Something to help steel their nerves, and return them to their sensibilities. It worked for shock, why not this?​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I don’t know why I…” Cared that much? The problem was that she started caring too fast. Faster than Arcturus, it seemed. The contrast made her feel like something was wrong with her.

And yet, when he flubbed his attempt at reassurance, it drew a chuckle out of her despite everything. “No, no, you’re right. I am a fool for you. For this. For everything.”

Letting him guide her into the lounge, she took a seat where he left her to go get a drink. She fidgeted, rubbing her hands over her face and pushing her hair back with her fingers. Her brain had simply… shut off. The emotional tumult of the past hour or so had plateaued, and she wasn’t thinking about anything anymore. She simply existed. And that was fine. For now.

Ugh. Just… ugh! Damn it!

She got up and followed him to the kitchenette, unable to sit still any longer.

“What are you making?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Hey now, Arcturus cared!​

​

Cared enough to be willing to let her go if it was what made her happiest. Even though it would pain him to do so.​

​

But she wasn't going. Not yet at least. She was going to hold out. For what he didn't know. Did she think she would come around to the idea of being a Sith? Did she think he could pull her through it despite her apparent disagreements with them? He didn't know, and he wasn't one who enjoyed speculation so he stopped the thoughts dead in his mind.​

​

For now it didn't matter. And if she ever changed her mind, well, hopefully she'd be honest with him.​

​

"Then that makes two fools on one ship. Let's hope the AI is smart, eh?" He smiled warmly, already feeling a little better now that everything was out in the open. No more glaring secrets or words unsaid.​

​

As he set about making some tea, he heard her get up from the sofa and side on over to him. He turned his head after adding some boiling water to two mugs, a tea-strainer set upon the brim of each holding some loose-leaf. There were countless varieties of tea across the Galaxy, but he only had one in his possession. Atrisian. Pretty basic to be honest, but it was still flavourful. An all-round standard tea to be sure.​

​

"Tea," he said, with a small shrug, "I've heard it helps calm nerves. I have a little honey from the forests of Endor too, if you'd like it sweetened." Where had he put that..? He glanced around the cupboards for a moment, squinting his eyes, before reaching back behind some other odds and ends and finally unveiling it. A small glass jar. There wasn't a lot of it, but it was good stuff. He'd acquired it on Coruscant...​

​

"Feel better to have it all off your chest?" he inquired with a soft tone, "If you ever need to talk to me Ish, you can. You know that right? I may have loyalties to Maliphant but they're only really to him. The rest? Well..." He shrugged his shoulders. The rest he couldn't give a kriff about. Not that he'd say that aloud. "And you matter to me. Just say the word and we'll hop back in this ship and be free from it all for a while." He couldn't promise more than a while, but a while was better than no time at all.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“If you have AI on this ship, fifty creds says it would decide to pitch us both out the airlock for the safety of the vessel. If you’re half as foolish as I am, we’re too dumb to live.” Competing over which of you was stupider? Now that’s what I call romance!

Her urge to go over and find out what he was making proved useful. “I appreciate it, but I don’t like tea,” she said, smirking gently. “Or caf. I know, I know, I’m a freak. But if you’re gonna make a hot drink, it should be hot chocolate. And use milk, not water. Only heathens use water.”

Chocolate didn’t have a reputation for being calming, but it was supposed to make you feel good. She hunted around for the stuff, opening cabinets and drawers. While she didn’t find hot chocolate mix, she did find a rather dusty-looking bottle at the back of a shelf. “Is that alcohol?”

As he spoke, she turned back toward him. Her hand slid off the cabinet door, leaving it dangling open, but she hesitated, halfway between him and the space where she had been standing… but only for a few moments. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back.

“Yes, I feel better,” she answered. The fact that she had come here and told him what she had done proved that she trusted him, knew she could talk to him. Her eyes were drawn toward his right shoulder, where she knew his brand lay beneath the fabric. In her mind, she saw a different scar, this one the mark of a Sith’s blade gouged across a man’s chest. Her fingers traced the hem of Arc’s shirt, before carefully lifting it (provided he did not stop her) and pressing her lips against the slave mark. It was a brief kiss, a tender peck, largely devoid of sensuality... but with the gesture, she seemed to erase many things at once.

“Much better.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Then it'd just be left floating aimlessly through space; it could end up with a far worse captain than I!" He shook his head, chuckling lightly. He was half way through the tea making process when she informed him of her distain for that particular beverage, to which he turned and stared at her for a moment almost dumbfounded.​

​

"I am such a jerk, aren't I? I should have asked... I just presumed..." Oops. Well, he did keep a little cocoa somewhere but he couldn't recall where. It wasn't something he had often. She rummaged, he rummaged, they both struck gold. Just different kinds of gold he supposed.​

​

"Here we are," he said, almost exactly as she inquired about the bottle of alcohol stashed in the back of his cupboard. "Uh... Yeah. It was on the ship when I salvaged it. I don't drink, but didn't want to toss it really." Something something boy who once had nothing to his name... It was difficult to just throw out something that potentially had a use.​

​

One hand shifted to lay over her arm, holding her close even though she stood behind. With the other he set about making her some cocoa. When she lifted his shirt though he seemed to pause what he was doing, including breathing. Yet her touch upon his brand had been gentle, featherlight, a brief kiss that was fleeting. More symbolic than anything else.​

​

He let out a sigh, and his breathing resumed.​

​

"I'm glad you're feeling better," he whispered, with full sincerity. Somehow her bringing attention to the brand didn't bother him quite so much this time.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I didn’t mean to spook you,” she said, letting his shirt fall back into place. “I promise I won’t fiddle with it anymore.” Her eyebrows rose, her tone turning cheeky. “Unless you want me to.”

After all, Dagon had reacted to the same symbolic gesture of kissing a significant scar by shoving his tongue down her throat and trying to screw her on the floor of her ship’s cargo bay. Arcturus just got quiet, though she sensed he certainly wouldn’t object to a little more physical affection. She imagined he hadn’t gotten any when he was on Coruscant. At least, she hoped not. As long as she was too ashamed to bring up her little misdemeanor, she wasn’t going to ask.

“You’re not a jerk if you found some for me,” she murmured, pointing to the cocoa without uncoiling her arms from his middle. If he hadn’t found any, she would have gone for the alcohol. Not that she wanted to get drunk, but… okay, she did sort of want to forget. The stuff was poison and tasted like it, but she thought it might help her relax.

Now, though… she didn’t care to move from this spot, enjoying the closeness too much. Hadn’t she said she was trying not to be clingy? Oh well, she’d gone full koala.

“Weren’t we supposed to be planning out a sword?” she asked. Standing on tiptoe, she planted a kiss on the back of his neck, nuzzling him a little. “I didn't mean to derail everything. As long as you don't have anything to confess, I guess we can go back to that..." Her hand had slipped up the front of his shirt, fingers drawing idle circles around his navel. It probably tickled him rather than rousing his ardor, but she wasn't necessarily aiming for that at the moment. In fact, she was almost too gentle with him, as though she were refamiliarizing herself with his body and behaviors.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I'm not spooked," he hastily assured her, "I'm just not used to it being touched. It feels.. weird?" He didn't rightly know how to explain it in truth. It didn't matter though, he'd already recently had it brought to his mind by Ishani there was nothing to hide with it now, it was already fresh on his mind and that was okay. Maybe working through it was better than trying to pretend it didn't exist.​

​

There were definitely no misdemeanors in his past. Ordinarily Arcturus had eyes for none; for a while he had almost presumed himself ace. He just didn't care about that sort of thing, he never had. A lot of his friends were females but there'd never been attraction. Nor had he felt anything for the same sex. He was happy to focus on his studies, and do his projects.​

​

And then Ishani had come along. Ace? she'd said, I'll show you ace...​

​

Well, she hadn't. But she might well have. Apparently he just hadn't ever been around anyone he'd felt a deeper connection with. Was that the point? He enjoyed the company of Melydia, cared for her almost the way he'd presume he would a sister, was fiercely protective of her. But he didn't have eyes for her. Alina was a good friend, she'd pulled him out of one of his lower points whether she knew it or not, helped him to realize he could fight through his temporary illness. But again, he'd never even had a twinge of attraction toward her.​

​

There were plenty he was close to, plenty he considered good friends, and if nothing had come of this with Ishani then the same would have been said for her. But it had. Whether the Blush had kickstarted it or not didn't matter, because it was months since that incident and he still felt that way. If not more intensely so.​

​

He realized he'd stopped what he was doing as he pondered through all of this in his mind. Over how quickly they'd come together, how intense it all was, yet also how sincere it was. Time apart should have dampened it, surely, if it was nothing more than a weekend fling. Or had absence only made that stronger? More intense?​

​

He wasn't sure.​

​

Talk of swords brought him tumbling back down to reality, and he blinked a couple of times. Oh right, he was supposed to be making cocoa. He added the powder, then some of the milk he'd started warming up before his mental tangent, and stirred it all together. It smelled divine, but he stuck with his tea for now. He supposed he had two cups of it to get through.​

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"Yeah," he breathed, a little breathless as she nuzzled against his neck, "Yeah, we can work on the sword..."​

​

He didn't want to turn back and go back to Korriban though. So he turned slowly in her embrace, kissed the top of her head, then ushered her toward the sofa again. With a wave of one hand the mugs came one by one to settle on the table which sat before it, all three of them steaming with a warming invite. He pulled the journal out of his satchel and set that down too before reaching for one of the mugs of tea.​

​

"So we've talked Nether before, right?" They had, back on the unknown world where they'd first properly met. But he wanted to make sure she recalled it before carrying on.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Not used to it being touched? You mean you’ve never washed it? And I just kissed it?” She stuck her tongue out in mock disgust. “I wish I had kissed it back when you first told me what it was. Standing in that lake, underneath that waterfall, in my underwear and freezing my ass off…”

Ah, he was lost in thought, only to suddenly snap out of it, almost like he’d fallen asleep and then woke himself up. Classic Arcturus. She cracked a smile and rolled her eyes at all his startled blinking, then followed him over to the sofa.

His question came right as she sat down and picked up the mug of cocoa. Poor Arc had to drink both cups of tea. “Uhhhh…” It took her a moment to remember. The Nether, when had he mentioned the Nether… a few times, actually, though usually just in passing. “...You talked to me about it way back when we first met. You got all excited and started talking about tattoos and pocket dimensions in the Nether, and then you got this funny look on your face, and then you kissed me, and we made out, and then the pot boiled over. It was all very suggestive…”

She raised the mug to her lips, realized it was too hot, then decided not to take a sip yet. “Oh, are you going to use me as a guinea pig for your Nether tattoos?” Not that she had any particular objections to him using her as a guinea pig, provided she didn’t, y’know, die. Even then, he could probably just take another hike through the Nether to restore her. Looking down at her cocoa, she pursed her lips, then set it down. “One sec…”

Disappearing into the kitchenette, she rattled around in there until she found something she had spotted earlier. Returning to the sofa, she shook up the can of whipped cream and piled it on top of the cocoa.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Har Har," he said with a roll of his eyes as she mentioned him not having cleaned it. Thought she was funny did she? "I don't think anyone else has even seen it..." That realization took his expression to a slightly more somber one for a moment, before he shook his head and rid himself of that thought. It didn't matter. No more dwelling on it.​

​

Instead he smiled as she reminisced about the waterfall. It had been a rough venture that one, they'd fought tooth and nail to survive, but they had done exactly that. They'd survived. He sat down next to her, leaned back in the sofa, and waited for his own drink to cool some.​

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"No, if anything my initial tests would be some sort of clone, or a creature, or..." He shrugged. Maybe himself? No better way to figure out if something worked than to test it out properly, and he couldn't be certain it was truly effective without knowing for himself. He watched as she darted back into the kitchenette, and came back with a can of whipped cream. He had meant to find that for her when she'd first mentioned cocoa, but had naturally been rather distracted.​

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Woops.​

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"Hey you found it, awesome!"​

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He waited until she sat down before turning slightly to face her.​

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"So yeah, no tattoos... But I am thinking pocket dimension. So my blade.. it's proximity based. I go too far from it and it teleports right back into my hand. Always present unless I put it into a specific box... But that's not the point. Well you wanted a similar effect, right? Only I don't think having a katana on you at all times is best, sometimes you need to blend in, sometimes you'll be somewhere that weapons aren't allowed, or whatever. A dagger I can hide relatively well, but a katana..." He grimaced.​

​

"So here's my plan. Link it to a pocket dimension. You want it? You call it from the pocket dimension. Stays with you as long as you want it. When you're done? You recall it back to that dimension. I'd have to figure out the mechanics of it all, but it shouldn't be too difficult in truth. I've worked with pocket dimensions before. Just a matter of the right runes, the right spell for you to use... Or maybe words?" He thought about that for a moment. Spells required her to be able to speak. Unless they could be telepathically uttered? Would that even work..?​

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Arcturus blinked, then focused his attention back on Ishani.​

​

"Unless you have something in mind that I'm utterly overlooking..."​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“You’re not using yourself,” she said, already guessing what he was thinking. “I do not want to have to go to the Netherworld to get you back after you accidentally blow your atoms apart trying to attach a portal to another dimension to your body. That is bullchit, and you will not do it to yourself or to me.”

Ishani took a cautious sip of the cocoa, getting whipped cream on her nose. While he spoke, she stuck her tongue out as far as it would go, trying to lick it off, but couldn’t reach the tip of her nose. All she succeeded in doing was going cross-eyed. Giving up, she wiped it on the back of her hand and turned to him, thinking.

“... Magnets?” She raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Could always kidnap a teleportation savant and study them to figure out how they do it. That lady who got denounced by the Silver Jedi, the one who’s been killing her fellow Jedi, she’s one of those. Oh Force, what’s her name… Lavinia? Ligeia? Lucretia— Laertia Io !” She snapped her fingers. “That’s it. We should totally abduct her and experiment on her!”

She was obviously joking.

Mostly.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Okay, okay, I'll find a clone..." Or make a clone. Was that something he wanted to dabble in?​

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He pondered that for a moment.​

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No, probably not. Probably best just to acquire one. Maybe Kal would know where he could get one, he did rely on that sort of thing after all. Hey, maybe Kal could be a semi-test subject? Hop into the clone, see if it worked? Would he go for that? He wasn't unfamiliar with the Netherworld after all, it wouldn't be a huge deal if it went wrong.​

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Right?​

​

Ah, he'd just have to ask he supposed.​

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"Magnets?" He lifted a hand and scratched his jaw curiously. "I mean that could work, magnetization, but it's a little... I don't know. Mundane? You could achieve that without the Force..." Mundane wasn't necessarily bad, but it definitely wasn't teleporting-through-time-and-space-dimensions kind of cool.​

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"Anything else you want from it? Katana, Force-Imbued, Dantari Crystal... Ever sharp edge? I could get my hands on some svolten rhyolite. It's what my dagger's edged in. Means it'll never dull."​

​

That was a very nice feature, to be sure.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“A clone of whom?” More of a rhetorical question. Clones got made and used for all kinds of bizarre purposes on a daily basis in their big chitty galaxy, she couldn’t be bothered to really care.

“I was kissing—kidding about the magnets.” What kind of Freudian slip was that? Sheesh. “Obviously it’s very mundane and silly compared to sexy Sith magic. Always sharp you say? Heyo, I’ll take that, too...”

As she spoke, she seemed to grow distracted. Her eyes darted from the can of whipped cream, to Arcturus, and back again. The wheels in her head visibly turning, she tried to hide her smirk as she took another sip of cocoa, set it down, then reached for the can, her fingers closing around it, her thumb on the nozzle, turning to aim it at Arcturus—

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"That's because magic is superior to-- hey now!"​

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She had a loaded weapon!​

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His eyes narrowed in the fraction of a second it took for her to aim it his way. He shuffled back slightly on the sofa, lifting both hands up in surrender.​

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"I yield... I YIELD!"​

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The seriousness was marred only by a slight smirk which pulled at the corners of his lips.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Beaming with mischief, she kept her loaded weapon trained on him as she crawled across the couch toward where he had backed away, only stopping when she was practically on top of him. Her cheeks were flushed.

“This is a little weird, but… I’ve always wanted to try this. Don’t move, even if it tickles.”

What was supposed to be a small amount of the whipped cream foamed out onto his bare neck, rather more than she intended. She cringed, then sighed and leaned forward anyway, licking it off.

The whole operation was a mess. She came away cracking up, trying to keep it all on her mouth, wearing some of it. Swallowing, she struggled to speak, but was laughing too hard to get anything out as she wiped the rest off her face.

Finally, she was able to squeak a few words out. “That… was not as hot as I thought it was going to be.”

In her state, he could probably snatch the can away from her hand and turn it on her easily. Assuming he wasn’t also laughing.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He'd backed up as far as he could by the time she came upon him, weapon drawn and ready to fire. He stared at her with an easy grin now, not even feigning fear though his hands did remain up for a few moments longer all the same.​

​

Then she spoke, and his expression turned to one of confusion, then intrigue. Clearly he had no idea what it was she was talking about.​

​

The cream on his neck was cold, and caused him to shudder in response. Not cold for long though, and a different kind of shudder set through him. "Maybe not for you," he groaned, as she began to devolve into a state of laughter and declared it suitably not-hot. He'd beg to differ, in fact...​

​

He snatched the can from her, and immediately and without warning turned the weapon on her instead. He was a little less liberal with how much he got on her, targeting her neck too so she could feel the same torment he had. Setting aside the can he leaned forward, and have her a taste of her own medicine...​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Her mirth was swiftly cut off by a shriek as he turned it on her. She squirmed in his grasp, first because of the cold on her throat, then with pleasure as she felt his tongue against her skin. Oh. So… it was better if you were the recipient… a lot better...

He didn’t use as much, but that wasn’t what made her knot her fingers in his hair. It was because he took his damned time licking it all off. Lost in a haze, the writhing beneath him fell still, or as motionless as she could be under such stimulation. Her pulse throbbed against his lips, her throat vibrating faintly as a moan escaped her, chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath.

She had missed this. Er, not the whipped cream shenanigans, that was new. But she had missed necking with him under weird circumstances, stealing kisses, messing around, that sort of thing. The playfulness of attraction. Wanting and being wanted. Missed it terribly. And now that she had him back, it was tempting to go wild and rush. That was why she had thrown herself at him in his room. She’d been left with a sense that it was now or never, because if she waited, he would disappear again like a mirage or a dream.

But he wasn’t going anywhere. They were on a ship together in hyperspace, that place between, where time had no meaning and there was nowhere he could run off to. Laying a hand on his cheek, she nudged him gently until he raised his head, leaving a reddening mark on her neck where he had drawn the flesh between his teeth, and sealed his lips with hers. The faint aftertaste of sugar was shared between them, sweet on her tongue. Her eyelids fluttered. He kissed as greedily as her, matching her appetite for affection.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't know what she was talking about when she'd claimed it wasn't hot. Something about it definitely was, even if he wasn't the recipient. Though maybe it was simply the way she squirmed beneath him, then softened into the delight of it all. Yeah, there was something oddly satisfying about the whole thing, and even when the cream was gone he still nibbled at her neck.​

​

The hand at his cheek was soft, he leaned into it then moved with her gestures until their lips met. For once he truly let his mind shut off, he went with the flow and let his heart lead instead. Instinct maybe. He reached up to cup her cheek and used the other hand to pull her close. She had already been leaning over him, now he pulled her into his lap and held her, hand settling on the small of her back.​

​

There were no eyes watching from above, no ears listening in. This was his ship, his domain, and he didn't have a care in the world anymore.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

There was nothing to stop them, huh? Don’t mind if I do...

Straddling him, she broke the lip lock only long enough to shed her dress. It wound up taking a few seconds longer than she would have liked as she wriggled out of it, her head finally emerging from the collar with a wry grin. The difficulty had more to do with her slightly shaking hands than the tightness of the fabric. Something about removing your own clothes in front of somebody else was more nerve-wracking than removing their clothes, even though he had seen her in her underwear already.

Back in the game, she kissed him again, her anxieties fading fast. Although now she was beginning to realize just how cold it was in there, and that she may have gotten ahead of herself. Was this why people generally preferred getting naked in bed, so they’d have blankets to keep warm with? Made sense. Bit late to put her dress back on, though. Where was it, anyway? She’d just kind of thrown it carelessly over her shoulder, entirely intent on knocking Arcturus’ socks off rather than making sure her clothes didn’t slam dunk into a garbage chute, or the sink, or some other unlucky place...

Arcturus Dinn​