Private Citation Index

[Aeris Lashiec]

That was a pile, and that was a pile. Aeris turned around and put her hands to her hips as she looked down upon yet another pile. Books, datadrives, a whole host of informational datacrons that had been pulled down from their shelves to be sorted and, if possible, merged into one based upon how frequently they were picked up by visitors.

Aeris looked upon her pile and saw a treasure trove. She looked towards the door as Dagon stepped in and imagined he saw the same. Yet, as he had stepped in he turned back around. Aeris raised her brow and soon enough the reason followed in his steps.

Yula Perl. There were a few dossiers on her mother, but the daughter was a mystery. Still, it was enough of a ‘decent’ background that Aeris didn’t feel any particular need to keep a guard up. Raised by someone registered as an ally to the Jedi was good enough for her. Hard to imagine the apple rolled all too far away from the tree, so to speak.

“Dagon.” She said and bowed her head towards them both. “Yula Perl.”

“I was not expecting the both of you, but the more we are the merrier.” Her focus turned to Dagon. “Remember those twenty favors you owe me with the whole ‘just a small tidbit of information’ requests?”

“Consider this one of them.” Eyes set on Yula. “You do not have to help unless you want. This is all on him, but assistance would be appreciated.”

 

[Yula Perl]

“You do not have to help unless you want. This is all on him, but assistance would be appreciated.”

Yula gave the librarian a gracious smile in thanks.

“I understand. This seems more like a one-man task and I have…an appointment. It was nice to meet you, Aeris! We have to grab caf sometime.”

Away from the never-ending sea of bookcases.

At first, she thought Dagon was joking about dragging her to the Coruscant temple’s library. Yula wasn’t as much of a bookworm as he was; she found texts boring and at times, difficult to comprehend. The Zeltron preferred to work with her hands, hence her fascination with machinery.

Really, the only reason she’d come was to meet Aeris. Dagon held his best friend in high regard, and she wanted to meet those who were important to him. And now she had met the blonde. She seemed nice, if a little intimidating. Perhaps that was just her childish fear of librarians talking.

She was just waiting to be shushed.

Turning to Dagon, she gave him a blinding smile in the face of what she figured would be a withering glare.

“You’ve got it all under control, yeah? I’ll pick you up later-“

Yula was already heading for the door.

Aeris Lashiec | Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Since he was a kid on Ruusan, Dagon had always been the twin brother more interested in learning. The curious one compared to the martial one. During his earliest memories as a padawan, he'd spend more time in the library. It's where he befriended Auteme and where he first saw Aeris (she doesn't recall it. Arrogant.). But their learning paths had drifted away even early on. Strained by their small size, the New Jedi Order was running a deficit in maintaining order and stopping crime. The Coruscani underworld ran rampant with crime; more goons, less cops, even less capable district attorneys. With the athleticism borne of his brotherly adventures in the wildlands of Ruusan and his curious wit, Dagon's path took a turn from the library and down to the murky streets below.

He was thirteen, or something like that, when he first stepped into a crime scene (we ignore the Jedi employing child labor). Ever since then his love for the library was replaced by the thrill of an investigator's hunt. That first time at a crime scene had him believe that there was no place more despicable with crime than the Jewel of the Core. Denon had shifted that perception. Or rather, the difference between the two ecumenopoli had struck him like a bolt out of the blue. Where Coruscant's decadent crime started from bottom going up; Denon's trickled from the top down.

It felt like vertigo.

One had to quickly adapt to. A new breakthrough research into forensics through the Force had recently come out and the Jedi Library on Coruscant was the only place to have it. Somehow Dagon had been able to convince Yula to come, too-- well, let's say he wasn't completely honest with her. The trip was supposed to be just a shopping trip, tourism and all that. Winning that was only half the battle, the other was getting her into the Jedi Library.

Quick and easy, he had promised. In and out, he had said. Done it a thousand times before, she will never catch us, he had claimed. And no it wasn't what you think it is.

Remember, he was here for the book.

Ideally, evading Aeris in the process because--

“Remember those twenty favors you owe me with the whole ‘just a small tidbit of information’ requests?”

That's why.

His revolving door, flip floppy behavior wasn't shared by Yula.

“You’ve got it all under control, yeah? I’ll pick you up later-“

She was quite clearly set on deserting him.

The signature glare, aided by his hand grappling hers, planted her in place. No was written all across his form.

"Oh, she's helping alright." Yula would recall in his voice the countless hours he'd spent waiting on her to decide on a pair of gloss. Both looked the same- no. Both were the same. True Mauve or Nude Pink. True Mauve or Nude Pink. True Mauve or Nude Pink. True Mauve or Nude Pink.

Hell had never seemed more enticing.

"Matter of fact, I think you oughta teach her how to organize stuff. You know - that method of yours. Forgot its name." by the Force, that could knock a krayt dragon on spice to sleep.

Much as Yula preferred to drown in tibanna oil, fidgeting gadgets and boosting speeders; today she was going to drown in Aeris.

What better way to for Yula to meet his best friend, right?

Yula Perl | Aeris Lashiec

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Yula Perl // Dagon Kaze

“You mean knowing my ABCs?” Aeris asked, smuggly. Eyes shifted to Yula for a moment. “I can not imagine how he fooled you into thinking he has even half a brain.” Her head shifted to the side, her eyes closed. “Unless, of course, he didn’t.”

There was a dry sense of humor under that librarian’s facade. Aeris was very much the definition of a stereotypical librarian at times, but then she also liked to imagine that made her more approachable.

Or well, maybe not.

“Look, I will not force Yula to help, but you…” Attention set on Dagon, if he was pulling collateral into this… “Articles on lipstick colors?” Aeris withdrew her datapad; there was more to go on here. “Before that it was sithspawn, duplication, strategies against the force dead…”

“I was going to use this as a chance to ask you about how things were going given the change of interests, but… Seems you already sort of answered that.”

"And, since you seemed curious: you are definitely more of a True Mauve than a Nude Pink. Goes very well with that whole blue color scheme you enjoy so much."

 

[Yula Perl]

“Hup-“ Yula flailed for a moment as she tried to pull herself away, Dagon’s grip and stance so rigid that he held her fast in place.

Oh well, it was worth a shot.

It would only be a minute, he’d said. I just need to grab this text and we’ll be on our way, he‘d said. If that were true, he wouldn’t have insisted on dragging her along. With how he’d assured his revenge for the lipstick debacle on Denon, you would have thought Yula had seen this coming from a mile away.

But they’d had a very good morning, and she’d been walking on air until the lead balloon of Dagon’s retaliation dropped her back on solid ground.

Fortunately, Aeris cut the tension with a well-placed quip about Dagon’s brain. Yula snickered. “Wasn’t the first thing I noticed ‘bout em, no.”

A raised brow and a wide grin were sent Dagon’s way when Aeris brought lipgloss back into play. It seemed that this was going to be a recurring theme—and hell, Yula wasn’t one to complain about it.

“That’s what I’ve been telling him. He’s more cool toned, so True Mauve would really highlight the definition of his face.” She curled her index finger and ran the knuckle along his jaw. “You need to shave, by the way.” Oh, he’d be giving out a record number of glares today.

Her attention refocused on Aeris, supplying the blonde with a toothy grin. “I don’t think I have a choice in helping. Not with the jaws of life here, trying to cut off my circulation.” She chortled in admission, taking her finger away from Dagon’s face and gesturing to where their two hands connected.

Leaning close, she lowered her voice—they were in a library after all—but not so low that Dagon couldn’t hear.

“I’ll get ‘em back for it, anyhow.”

Aeris Lashiec | Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"And, since you seemed curious: you are definitely more of a True Mauve than a Nude Pink. Goes very well with that whole blue color scheme you enjoy so much."

From pale to crimson to pale again. His face flushed between both colors, mouth wide open with only notes of an embarrassing stammer escaping it.

"H-how.."

Yula's grin put him in a handicapped position - they were teaming up against him. Dagon could only stare as both girls threw quips in unison at his expense. He was on the roller coaster and the harness was inescapable. The raven-haired Jedi could only hope Aeris would not go further and give Yula the rundown of Dagon's antics in the library; like that time chasing porgs with Viers.

She curled her index finger and ran the knuckle along his jaw. “You need to shave, by the way.”​

She was right - the stubble was growing at a record rate proportionate to the glares he was throwing both. Who could blame him? This last case had him pulling a series of all-nighters like nothing before. He couldn't put a finger on it - was the case itself so taxing or was it insurmountable corruption at the precinct he had to overcome on a daily basis. Yula wasn't making it any easier. That shock boxing match fiasco was an ugly revelation about her long nights.

“I’ll get ‘em back for it, anyhow.”

"You know I can hear you, right?" that was a rhetorical question. For all the knee-jerk, impulsive behavior characterizing her, Yula was punctiliously methodical in her pettiness.

His hand left hers and he crossed his arms, "Alright, if the circus' over, let's get to work." a sly smirk pulled at his lips. He had to have the last laugh, "I can help ya with the alphabet, Pink."

By the Force, Arthur was right - her pettiness is rubbing off on me.

Aeris Lashiec Yula Perl

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Dagon Kaze // Yula Perl

Force’s sake though, did it have to be a new girlfriend every time that he came to visit her with someone else in tow? The pattern was new and Aeris enjoyed their dynamic, but even she had to admit that when every unplanned social encounter in the library was something that could play the next part in how the progeny of the Kaze bloodline continued, even someone as understanding as her would get bothered. That wasn’t to say Yula wasn’t a nice person to meet, Aeris was very happy to finally meet the woman who got Dagon’s head out of his ass.

“Right, we should probably get to work.” Aeris said gently clasped her hands together before her. “As you both can imagine, we have a lot of books in these halls. Everything from fiction to non-fiction, maps to cheap motel pamphlets, things that might seem unimportant to the naked eye yet hides something of greater value.”

“A jedi might not need a cheap motel right now, but when they are laying low and in hiding it would be invaluable.” Aeris said and motioned for one pile. “That is this pile. General information from a dozen different planets, recently taken from one of our scout dropboxes.”

“Beyond that, we are not machines. We get several books and texts through our donation box outside the temple.” She pointed to the pile, on top of which laid ‘The Little Porg Who Could’. “These are just fun to read during off-hours.”

“And then there is the third pile.” Aeris picked up the red book to show it’s cover. It was a hardback copy of ‘A Bad Kaze of Love’ that she slowly put back down again. “The fan mail, so to speak.”

“We have three piles, we are three people. I’ll let you two take your pick at which of these you’d rather go through.”

 

[Yula Perl]

In an entirely unexpected, but not unwelcome turn of events: Dagon was miserable and Yula was reveling in it. The comment about her skill, or lack thereof with the alphabet earned him a half-hearted sneer.

Oh, she liked this Aeris. Maybe Dagon had a humiliation kink, hence surrounding himself with women who took pleasure in embarrassing him.

The fun was cut short when Dagon steered them back towards their initial reason for being here. As Aeris flowed into her explanation, Yula idly picked at the stack of pamphlets. Cheap motels and dives? This task her name written all over it.

“Hey, this looks pretty not terrible.” Snagging one of the brochures from the top pile, she leafed through it for a brief moment. “Waaaitaminute, I’ve actually been here!” Dangling the corner of the leaflet between pinched fingers, she held it up for the other two to see. “La Maison Derrière. Not as nice as it looks, y’know.” She gestured to the colorful burlesque furniture on the cover. “And not…the best place for a Jedi. Unless you’re into that sort of thing?” Yula shrugged. Who was she to judge?

Then came the third pile. Then came A Bad Kaze of Love. The pamphlet was abruptly returned to its pile, all but forgotten.

“I call that one. Not much of a book fan, Dag’s been telling me I should read more.” A wide, toothy grin was flashed his way. “Maybe I should start now.” Aeris and Dagon wouldn’t have time to give their input—or protest—before the Zeltron had sauntered over and snatched up a copy of what was soon to be her favorite novel.

“Ahem,” Clearing her throat in a most dramatic manner, Yula flipped open to a random page.

“Dagon removed his skin-tight shirt showing off his muscles, glistening with dewdrops of sweat. He ran his hands through the dark waves of his flawless hair, moussed to perfection. His bright blue eyes, heady with lust seemed to bore through me as his hands, rough and calloused moved to-“

One would imagine she’d have to be stopped.

Dagon Kaze | Aeris Lashiec

 

[Dagon Kaze]

La Maison Derwqeasdas.

Dagon knew that place. Clearly not its name. From what he remembered, La Maison Deqreqwfsd was a brothel. Look, you might know the difference between burlesque, strip clubs, and brothels but to an investigator tasked with the Coruscani Underlevels—every nighttime establishment had a back-office department dealing with pleasure services. What Yula was doing there was something he did not want to know. At least not now; surely his curiosity would boil over the top at some point.

Averting his attention to one of the other piles, he wouldn't notice the hardback book Yula picked up until she started reading from it.

Loud enough for the rest of the Library to hear.

Eyes wide open enough to pop, Dagon froze in place and slowly shifted his attention to the exotic recital.

The feth?

"Give me that!" his hand snapped at the book, snatching it from her hands and shutting it close on the desk before him. He squinted at the title—A Bad Kaze of Love. Fanfiction. The worst kind of it.

Smut.

What took him aback more was its hardback cover. Someone really wanted to get down with the raven-haired Jedi.

A smug smirk flashed across his face.

Nothing new.

It abated under the weight of feigned seriousness, "Why do we even keep those?" he raised an eyebrow at Aeris. And since when had the New Jedi had become so famous. Infamous, I get it, but popular? Maybe they really were making a positive change, after all; just the gratitude in return was... oddly specific, let's say.

Then the answer to his question dawned upon him. The librarian would receive the glare, too, "You've kept this one on purpose, haven't you?"

The smugness returned.

"What - you read this on your break, Aeris?"

The smugness reached new heights as his chin.

"...or maybe you wrote it?"

Aeris Lashiec | Yula Perl

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Dagon Kaze // Yula Perl

“Depending on the Jedi, a brothel is the perfect hideout, actually.” Aeris said and shrugged. “I lived in one for a short amount of time when I was on the run from the One Sith.”

As Yula picked up the little red book, a deep grin spread on Aeris’ lips. Of course she had saved that one in particular, and of course it was for the express purpose of causing Dagon to get so mortified that he died.

“Why do we even keep those?”

“We don’t.” Aeris grinned and picked it up again. “I just like to give our fans constructive criticism.”

“-Read this on your break, Aeris? … Or maybe you wrote it?”

“Oh please, the prose is far too simple and the images they try to relay leaves the user wanting far less detail, which given the genre is really an accomplishment. Honestly, the entire appeal is the way each word and phrase should let the mind wander and build its own idea of what is happening, but…” Aeris cleared her throat. “That is not the point here.”

“The point is that we keep these books so that we can register banned contributors.” Aeris smiled and put the book down again. “As much as I enjoy reading about ‘the way her glasses were on sort of crooked and hot, like a librarian’, I don’t enjoy when my shelves are filled with inappropriate texts on current members of our order.”

“Besides, I don’t even wear glasses.”

 

[Yula Perl]

A bark of laughter rippled through the placid air of the library. Dagon had snatched the book away and Yula was on him in an instant, pouring over the Jedi’s shoulder as he shut the cover with a decisive snap. Even the loss of her new favorite book didn’t dull her dopey grin.

He changed his tune, if only a little. Smug jackass.

“Warming up to it, eh Dag?” Up and down went her one visible eyebrow in a suggestive wiggle. “Just don’t ask me to do what’s on page 246. Even I’m not that…open minded.”

Reaching over him in an attempt to reclaim the literary treasure, she managed to flip the book onto it’s back—revealing a rather artistic portrait of Dagon, shirtless, riding a horse.

If she weren’t still harboring some secret fear of Aeris shushing her into nonexistence, Yula would have exploded into laughter. Instead, she did the sensible thing and muffled her giggles against Dagon’s arm.

Aeris had the book now, and the explanation as to exactly why she’d kept it was enough to draw Yula up for air. Her face was red as a beet, eyes shining with unshed tears of glee.

“That’s…that’s pretty clever, y’know.” Sighing away the rest of her cackles, the Zeltron dabbed just under her eye, then patted to ensure that her concealer was still in place. “So there’s more of these, huh? Guess Jedi are a hot topic. Suppose I could see the appeal.”

The eyebrow was wiggling again. Dagon would need an aspirin at some point today.

“Why did you think I’d get bored with this, exactly?” She placed a hand on Dagon’s shoulder. “This is the most fun I’ve had all week.”

Dagon Kaze | Aeris Lashiec

 

[Dagon Kaze]

“Depending on the Jedi, a brothel is the perfect hideout, actually.” Aeris said and shrugged. “I lived in one for a short amount of time when I was on the run from the One Sith.”

Wait--what??

How do you hide in a brothel??

As who??

The questions piled up but before he could ask Aeris about it - and why she hadn't told him that - they were on about librarian smut and its own specific details. His best friend really had her own genre of humor and often Dagon didn't understand when he was on the receiving end of it.

Maybe smile more, Aeris.

Then came Dagon's portrait - bare chest, riding a horse and dramatically looking to the east. If Aeris' humor was the silent shiv at night, Yula's was that of hammers and wardrums. She was dying in laughter on his arm, her muffled cackles still loud enough to disturb the cemetery silence around. He glanced at her, stars of joy danced on her green eye. The business glare melted into a soft smile.

If she was happy, so was he.

He drowned into it, picking one ‘random’ short story from the dirty pile.

“Lash Me Hard: My Secret Lust for Aeris Lashiec.”

Clearly the Force guided his hand.

He flipped the book on its backside, reading the synopsis in his head, then summarizing it in his own words:

“Don’t think I’ve ever imagined you with a whip, but this guy clearly does…vividly.”

Dagon turned the backside for the two to see. The synopsis was a fan art. An extremely, professional commission, too.

Black leather, steel spikes, cop’s cap, glasses (again) and a whip in the hands of the blonde striking a dominating posture with her boot on the back of a pile of men.

Yula Perl Aeris Lashiec

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Yula Perl // Dagon Kaze

The benefit of being in control of one’s emotions was the ability to keep from choking when someone was unbearably cute with another person. It warmed Aeris’ heart to see the two interact with one another as they made jokes on each other’s behalf. For a second it reminded her of her love for Alex, but not enough to cause the pain to resurface. As long as they were both happy, Aeris would be happy for them as well.

Then Dagon withdrew ‘Lash Me Hard’ from the pile and Aeris gently grabbed it from his grasp and flipped open a page with a snicker. It was always a fifty-fifty whether or not a padawan wrote these. She never faulted them for it, but the library was not a place to publicly display their lack of grammar or inhibition. They’d both be there in good time.

“Her eyes looked in my eyes with the coldness of Hoth snow. Shivers grew up my arm as goosebumps.” Aeris hushed as she read with a headshake. “Your books are overdue, she said, as she put her high heels—”

Aeris shook her head and closed the book.

“Well now, that is certainly something.” She laughed and placed it in the discard pile. “There is potential, but the usage of repeated words makes me think this is someone who is new to writing.”

“... Clearly developed their preference, though.” A mischievous grin spread on Aeris lips as she looked at Yula, and then Dagon. “It seems Dagon has too.”

Back to Yula. “The strong type. Someone who is as likely to kick him in the head or ass as they are to lift him back up on his feet again afterwards.”

And finally back to Dagon again. “I like her.”

 

[Yula Perl]

Yula released Dagon’s arm by the time he’d exacted his revenge, producing Lash Me Hard from the pile of smut. The only thing that managed to make the situation even better, was Aeris reading a passage aloud while maintaining her cool composure.

Nothing could rattle this woman, not even ill-conceived fanfiction. In fact, she seemed more concerned over the poor writing quality rather than the fact that there was at least one padawan in the temple harboring fantasies about the Jedi librarian.

A low whistle issued from the Zeltron when she saw the image printed on the book jacket. “I actually have an outfit like that, if you wanted to borrow it. Back from my time at the Mai…” She’d trailed off just in time for Aeris to discard the book back into the fanfiction pile, where it would surely be in good company.

The praise that followed was unexpected—she imagined that if it came at all, it would have been privately between Dagon and Aeris. But she was glad for the candid assessment, as her beaming smile would show. “Believe me, I’ve kicked him in plenty of places.” And plenty more to come, for sure.

“Y’know, you’re way less scary than most of the librarians I’ve met.” Her grin widened, arms crossing over her chest as she considered Aeris with a cocked head. “I’m glad Dagon has a friend like you to keep him in line.”

Dagon Kaze | Aeris Lashiec