Enemy of my Enemy, Friend of my Friend

[Talia]

She rolled onto her side, propping her head up on her hand. "Manageable." she replied. Truth be told she'd have no idea just how sore she was until she got to her feet, but it would have to be manageable. She reached over, a finger trailing down what had been a deep scratch the light before.

"You heal quickly." she commented. Her fingers lingered too long, heart beat a little harder...

She withdrew sharply, made herself get up and find her clothes. Ronan had come out of nowhere and snatched her attention on a level she'd not been caught on before. She didn't like it, the vulnerability of it. It was like trying a drug for the first time and knowing if you did so again you'd be hooked.

It terrified her.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Talia Fett"]

Ronan noticed.

There had been a tension once she touched his healing scar. There were shifts of instinct, of intent, but right now they were both returning back to a more baseline version of themselves. For Ronan it was guarded ferality, for her... who could really know, besides herself? "I do." Ronan agreed calmly, while turning slightly to catch her movements and expression.

"You smell of doubt." Vizsla rose and listened to her heartbeat. No, it was not doubt. "...of fear."

One step after another took him closer to her, if she stepped back, he'd continue his path until they almost physically touched once more. There was part of him that was inconvenienced by his bareness in the moment.

"What terrifies you so, Talia Fett?"

 

[Talia]

Her clothes were bunched against her stomach as he approached her, Talia back peddled till her back hit the wall. The smell of him and the heat coming from his body made her swallow thickly.

She closed her eyes but it didn't help. Coward, she chided herself and opened her eyes again. "You." She replied.

No, that wasn't it.

"This. Us."

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Talia Fett"]

He didn't stop.

Kept moving towards her, until she was pressed against the wall and then Ronan took a few more steps. Until he could lean in, his nose almost brushing the side of her neck and up.

There it was.

Beyond the fear, beyond the terror, there was hunger and there was lust. "Mm." He didn't touch, didn't need to. Her skin already run up with goosebumps from his proximity and hot breath on her. "Hunger is natural." Ronan leaned back an inch to meet her eyes. "Hunger sees what you want and is unafraid to take it. Instincts... are powerful like that." His hand reaching out now, skin hot to the touch as he'd brush her side. Up and down, curling around meat.

"Don't let the terror take hold and restrict you. Take what you want and revel in it."

Then he detached and left her at the wall, opting to find his pants. There was a long day before him.

 

[Talia]

Talia caught the whimper before it could slip from her lips his fingers stirring fire in her once more, hands trembled and she tightened her grip on the bundle of clothes, hypnotised by him, unable to look away, to push him away.

And then he was gone.

The space where he'd been cold, an empty. It took her a moment to realise she was breathing harder, that she could move. Her eyes followed him across the room and she caught herself smirking. Oh yes, she needed top put some distance between herself and Ronan and she needed to do so now.

She moved to the edge of the bed, dumping her clothes and pulling them on one by one. She didn't talk to him, didn't look at him. The fear lingered and she needed to protect herself. Call it hunger, call it instinct. Whatever it was that he drew out of her, whatever power he had over her left her open and vulnerable and that was dangerous.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Talia Fett"]

She was forgotten.

For the moment anyway.

Ronan lived in the moment, spurred on by his instincts and right now he had smelled weakness on her. There was a chance that would go away- no one person remained the same for all their lives and some situations would force change... no matter what.

"I aim to find a place for my Clan somewhere. Then break Yasha's regime one brick at a time." Ronan finally said while putting on his pants on the edge of the bed. "Hmm. Should probably make contact with your Alor to tell him I found the Exiles." A shift, as he looked at her with amusement. "One of them anyway."

 

[Talia]

Talia was fixing her bracer in place when he finally spoke to her again and she gave a derisive snort. "My alor?" She shook her head. "I'm an exile, Ronan. I answer to no alor. That's the whole point."

She contemplated it for a moment, surprised at her own speed of dressing. The weight of the armour seemed to drive the fear away, the fact that he could and already had gotten beneath it was neither here nor there. It was the symbol of it that counted in this moment.

"You want to find the rest of us? Want somewhere to settle? Give us a target, an opportunity to take something from the Empire we wouldn't be able to get from the outside. If its solid, I'll see the doors are open to you." She rose to her feet, sliding the chest and back plates over her head, practised hands fixing them in place.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Talia Fett"]

"That a fact." Ronan murmured while doing his boots next. Good sturdy boots that had carried him from one side of the Galaxy to the next many times over. In truth the only reason why his instincts told him to tell her and hers nothing was of pride.

Who were they to ask him to prove himself?

They were no one coming from nowhere.

But that would not bring down the Empire, would it? It was a waste of time to cling to any pride when there was a war to fight and to win. Together they would be stronger, no matter what these people wanted. "I know a great many things that will hurt Mantis and her regime." This was truth. He had been the hound, the mad dog send to slaughter and butcher those that were against the Empire's laws.

He knew more than most.

"I know of a route, of a supply run made monthly, I know the codes, know the time. Know the load." He rose and locked his chest piece into place next. "The question is not what I know. It is if you and yours have the resolve to fight this crusade."

Then shifted as his helmet rose up to look at her for an answer or reaction.

 

[Talia]

Talia didn't bother to answer his comment. Koda Fett was not her alor. She'd not been part of the clan that chose that title for him, she might carry the Fett name, but she was not a part of the clan, not anymore. She'd sealed that deal the day she fought for Mia. She perched on the edge of the bed to pull on her own boots before rising to check she had all her weapons.

"I can only speak for myself." she replied fingers hooking into her helmet. "We're not a clan. We don't have a leader and we all have our own goals. Make a good enough suggestion and they will crusade with you. So far we've avoided anything unnecessary because we don't have the resources. But they're not stupid, till the ME collapses none of us will be able to breath easy."

She shrugged, knowing full well that that was no the answer he was looking for.

"You have to take risks in order to reap reward."

[member="Ronan Vizsla"]