Private Notation From The Stars

[Arcturus Dinn]

Her words made just the slightest hint of a smile form over his previously exhausted expression; he pulled her in once she was in the bed with him, held her close, one hand lifting to play through her hair. He felt a little numb still, a little out of it, but she helped to ground him, helped to keep him sane. ​

​

He buried his face down into the blonde locks, and breathed in her scent. Beneath the perfumes and the rest. She reminded him of strawberries, mostly, but beneath even that she was just... fresh. Probably the refresher trip speaking. But she smelled like nature.​

​

He liked that about her.​

​

"Mm, I'm yours," he mumbled in agreement. It didn't take him very long at all to fall asleep too, and with her cocooned around him so it wasn't as bad a sleep as he'd been expecting. As though she was keeping it all at bay. Willing thoughts of Ession away from him.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“We’re here at the Royal Academy, in the private suite of Arcturus Thesh, for an exclusive interview with Korriban’s finest,” Ishani said in a mock-newscaster voice. Turning to a probably still asleep Arc, she pretended to hold out an invisible microphone. “What’s it like, being the most interesting, charming, and attractive man in the galaxy?”

Whether she received a response or not, she sat up and looked out the window of his bedroom. Morning on Korriban wasn’t half-bad. The sunrise over the desert could be quite spectacular.

Alas, she wasn’t a morning person. If Arcturus wasn’t up, she might as well go back to bed. So that’s exactly what she did.

wow truly great literature here Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Since Arcturus didn't wake up right then and there, he sadly missed the entire interview. What a shame, he hoped to catch it again later on a catch-up channel.​

​

Instead he woke just shy of thirty minutes later, eyes adjusting lazily to the light which pooled in from the window-mimicking screen. It was a true projection of the wastes outside, but given its location within the Academy itself his suite wasn't afforded real windows. Simply impractical. He didn't mind though, in fact the one in the living room had been shut off for the longest time.​

​

He'd even piled books in front of it.​

​

The bedroom one though acted as something of a slow-release alarm. Allowed him to wake with the sun. And so he did.​

​

He pulled the sleeping beauty closer, and buried his face into her hair with a gentle murmur of appreciation. She'd staved off all nightmares, like a dreamcatcher...​

​

"Morning, beautiful," he whispered, placing a little kiss atop her forehead. "Ugh, my head feels weird..." It took him a moment to remember the mess that was the night before. Rather than allow himself to feel further embarrassment though he... exhaled. And let it go. A new dawn, a new day. That had always been something he tried to live by. Easier said than done of course, but it wouldn't ever work if you didn't put in the effort so here he was.​

​

Putting in the effort.​

​

"Alright, breakfast... Then back to work. Unless we want to drag the creation of this blade out for another eight months..." He didn't move though, didn't even attempt to, because the girl lay over one of his arms was looking a little too good for having just woken up. Especially with the mock sunlight pooling in over her like that.​

​

So he leaned in and stole a kiss. A real kiss this time.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Hey, it’s not like I’m going anywhere for the next eight months,” Ishani mumbled, blissfully unaware of what the future held. “Might as well take our sweet ass time… Speaking of—” She was silenced by his stolen kiss, and though she dove into it eagerly, carding her fingers through his hair, as he moved on to other parts of her she shook her head, smirked and said, “You need a shower. And brush your teeth. Don’t worry, I’ll go with you and hold your hand so you won’t drown…”

Thus, it did not take another eight months to get to the sword-making stuff, all thanks to some simple efficiency measures.

They did have a rather late breakfast, though.

“I think I’ve thought of a better inscription for the sword,” she said in between bites of toast. “How about ‘if you can read this, I’ve just stabbed you’? Or, uh, what was the other one… ‘use if pen is unavailable’? Or just have a label that says 'butter knife'?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Unfair. ​

​

But all the same he relented. A shower later, and breakfast made, they sat at the island while Ishani discussed options for sword inscriptions. He had to confess, they certainly made him chuckle. But they also left him wondering what exactly was the power of a word. Was it the word itself, or what someone put into it that counted?​

​

The latter, surely. Intent... They'd be imbuing it during the process of etching, after all. The engraving was just... a vessel. A focus.​

​

With that in mind, he shrugged. "That first one's definitely my favourite, though... It might take you a while to etch it. Are you up for that challenge, Apprentice?"​

​

Yeah okay he could use it outside of the Forge for things pertaining to the Forge.​

​

That was his prerogative after all.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Well, Master, that depends…” She hopped from her seat into his lap. “My arm is still pretty sore from yesterday, and if it’s going to take that long, I can think of a lot of things I’d rather do than inscribe…” She paused, her face hovering close to his as she counted all the words in the phrase. “...nine, or even five words onto a blade. But two isn’t so bad, so I guess that answers that…”

When in doubt, go with the simplest option—and seal it with a kiss. Or two. Or three. Four… five… man, at this rate the only sword that was gonna get finished was the one in Arcturus’ pants.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Oh, wait, what was this...​

​

His cheeks reddened some as she slipped into his lap, and all thoughts of breakfast and the forge were set aside in an instance. Wasn't she the one so incessant that they get up and start the day? Or had that been him? Either way, he was very much regretting that decision right about now.​

​

"Tease" he whispered, as she kissed him. Then he realized what else she'd said. Two. She was going with Butter Knife?​

​

To each their own he supposed, as long as she etched it with conviction, and truly put something into it... It was her blade, after all. But he didn't really want to think about blades either. Nope.​

​

He scooped her up out of his lap, and shifted them both over to the sofa where it was at least a little bit more comfortable. You know... So they could better discuss the inscription. Yeah...​

​

"So uh," he tried to get them back on track at least a little. Two birds, one stone. "What do you want the uh, the blade to do exactly. When you inscribe it..." He gulped, get your head on straight Thesh. "With Butter Knife..."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I’m not a tease. I just wanted you to get clean,” she grumbled somewhere below his ear, nibbling on his neck. Freshly showered Arcturus was simply irresistible—and she needed to know that all was well with him, after what had happened last night. “You’re the one who got dressed and made breakfast and all that stuff…”

She could tell he was disappointed, or at least surprised by her choice. To be honest, she was just lazy and didn’t want to do the extra work with the inscription. That could be a Sith trait, couldn’t it? Laziness. Like the banality of evil. Being good took effort, a willingness to step beyond the ordinary… she hadn’t even been willing to get out of bed before Arc did. If he had no aspirations of becoming a Sith Lord, she didn’t have aspirations beyond the confines of this room, where she had already found such happiness.

Her thoughts disintegrated as he carried her to the couch, shaken off like ash from a cig. Amazingly, Arc was still talking, still trying to plan out the sword. Sometimes Ishani almost felt bad about all this fooling around—she was almost always the instigator of it, evidently having the higher drive of the two. Not that she’d ever force herself on him if he didn't respond to her affections, but it felt like he couldn’t get much done with her around to distract him…

“Aside from giving my enemies the chance to die laughing? Hm.” She tried to think, her hands cupping his face as if to stop him from kissing her further while she got her head on straight. Boy, were his cheekbones sharp. “Well… um.” The tip of her thumb idly traced the double arch of his cupid’s bow, then along his lower lip. “What would be a good thing to add to it, a property it doesn’t already have as a Force-imbued blade?” They had discussed the tattoo and pocket dimension idea already. Force-imbued blades could fend off incorporeal beings, they were strong, resilient, and incredibly sharp. What more could she want?

“What if… I could channel fire into it? Temporarily turn it into a flaming sword. Or other things, like cold, Sith poison, acid…?” Her eyebrows rose as she considered the possibilities. “That sound good?”

The whole project was a mess of ideas. There was no unifying concept to any of it—which was a pretty accurate description of Ishani herself. Jumbled, full of things she wanted to say or ask but couldn’t find the right opportunity to get them all out, she’d occasionally blurt out random ideas, strange notions, and jokes that didn’t always land properly, or even necessarily make sense.

Case in point: after another passionate kiss, she suddenly asked, “Arc, would you marry me?” A panicked beat later, she quickly added, “Not right now. I mean, later. Eventually. In the future. Um. Would you like to, some day, maybe…?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He huffed an insincere huff.​

​

"If I'm showering, you best believe I'm eating too," he told her as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "My poor aching stomach would never forgive me if I neglected it so. Never, never, ever." And he had neglected it in the past, so Arcturus most definitely spoke from experience. Poor aching stomach. Even now it wasn't fully satisfied, half of his breakfast left behind on the countertop.​

​

Oh well.​

​

Ishani was doing a very good job of being distracting, but somehow they managed to plough on through regardless. She threw a bunch of ideas at the wall to try and see which would stick, and Arcturus was most definitely helpful in the way in which he merely shrugged in response.​

​

"I have acid to spare," he informed her, tilting his head to one side. "You don't strike me as the acid type. You don't break things down... You are, however, very fiery..." He kissed her then, in case she might refuse him any kisses with what he said when next he pulled away, "And Force help anyone who gets your cold shoulder. Hm... Fire... Ice... All things nice... I don't know, Ish. Either? Both?"​

​

With his thoughts out of the way, and much of the planning done, there was much more time for all things nice. He leaned into her, gently guiding her into laying down on the sofa, one hand rose to cup her cheek and he deepened their kiss.​

​

When she pulled away to breathe though, her words gave him pause. Gave both of them pause.​

​

Wait, what did she say?​

​

He blinked. Marriage? Him? The boy who didn't even really have a name, who certainly didn't have a family, no assets, no anything really... The faraway look in his eye didn't last very long, and he felt a heat flood through not just his face but the entirety of his being. He leaned in, lips just inches away from hers, and smiled deviously.​

​

"Say that again," he whispered, "The 'm' word..."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

With the matter of fire and ice out of the way, they had more important things to do.

Beneath him, Ishani was flushed bright red, embarrassment overtaking the heat of the moment. Arc didn’t say anything at first, and she was afraid she’d blown it. But she just wanted to know if it was a possibility. That was fine, wasn’t it? They ought to know what they wanted, where their dreams for the future might overlap.

"Say that again," he whispered, "The 'm' word..."

His face was right above hers, a smile on his lips. It wasn’t a serious smile. Did he think she was joking? Or was he just playing with her, teasing her…

“Marry me.” It came out as a gasp. “Please. I don’t want this to ever end…”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It was so easy to get caught up in the moment when you were young and your life was so full of change. To crave the stability which might come from such... To feel as though you'd never ever experience this level of intimacy again. Arcturus was lost within an unexpected buzz in that moment, his world shrank down to just her, just Ishani. She was all that mattered. She was all that would ever matter.​

​

So he leaned in, and once she'd said the words again he kissed her deeply. "Yeah," he mumbled against her lips, the idea already seeming more and more valid with each passing second. Why shouldn't they? Was anyone going to stop them? Not yet, of course, not now, even in such an addled state he knew they weren't ready for such, but one day?​

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If not her, then who?​

​

He'd never even considered the possibility before. Never even thought he'd ever be afforded such a life. But she made it all seem so easy, so effortless, so achievable. Arcturus pulled back a touch, that intensity back within his gaze. "I am yours, and you are mine, Ishani," he stated, repeating her own words back to her. "And one day, we'll make that as official as it gets."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

He didn’t leave her hanging for long. When the answer finally came, a yeah muffled against her lips, she shuddered, feeling as if she had died in that moment and been reborn.

…Bit overly dramatic, that thought. It wasn’t as if the date of the wedding was set. He’d only agreed to do it some day, when they weren’t so young and stupid. But she couldn’t help it. After so many years of thinking poorly of herself, relegated to just another face in the crowd that no one would ever find worth or merit in, she didn’t think there was a chance of any of this. Part of her still didn’t believe it was possible. But after hearing him say it, now everything felt different. She felt different.

So what did she do?

She laughed. It was somewhere between nervous giggling at the release of tension, and an expression of pure joy. It came out of her though she tried to stifle it with her hand, not sure what he would think. Once it was under control, she threw her arms around Arc and rolled over so that she was on top.

Above him, she held back the curtain of her hair as she leaned forward. “You’re mine, Arcturus,” she echoed, her lips capturing his.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

An indistinguishable amount of time later...​

​

Did it make sense for him to have had another shower right before they set foot in the sweltering depths of a Forge once more? No... Probably not. Yet he had all the same. A shower, a quick clean up of the kitchen, and then they were back to work. It felt different this time, though, some of the uncertainty he'd held within himself at the thought of teaching another how to do something was gone. Arcturus Thesh felt.. Confident.​

​

That was a rarity indeed. Up next: Pigs caught flying...​

​

Either way, he led her over to the desk again and unfurled the parchment once more. "Alright, so... You have your words. Now you just need to... Settle on a design. A language, a script, whatever you'd like. Then you've still got to grind down the blade, sharpen the edges, polish it... And then we'll get to etching. I figured you'd prefer to give your arms a little more of a rest before all that, though. Hence: designing."​

​

He stepped over to a shelving unit filled with different types of crates and boxes, and pulled out one which held a couple of different crystals. He set that down on the desk beside her, too. Most were his own creations, synthetic crystals to use in his projects, but there were a couple of others inside too. "You may want one of these to inhabit the pommel, too," he explained, taking out all of the non-synthetic crystals and laying them out. "They can help bolster the effects, or grant it new ones."​

​

A pause. He considered the whole fire/ice thing again...​

​

"Since you plan on channeling the powers down the blade, it's going to be acting as more of a conduit for such rather than the inherent source of it. There isn't much I can give you to help with that, in truth, maybe just... Work that into your design some."​

​

Of course there was the bigger issue neither one of them had truly addressed yet: the tattoo. Arcturus would have to take over for that process, it wasn't something he could inherently teach. It was still highly experimental, even for him. A little unnerving in truth. But he'd managed it in some capacity, in differing ways. The summoning of his own blade, and the pocket he'd formed for Alina's necklace.​

​

Pulling up a chair, Arcturus fetched his own parchment and quill and began to work on theorizing the whole thing. Yeah, that part might take a while longer to come to fruition.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Hair braided to keep it out of her face (and away from the fires of the forge), a love-drunk and humming Ishani leaned over the parchment, writing out the words “butter knife” over and over again in various scripts. Guess this was her life now.

Arc brought over a box containing crystals. Setting down her pen, she peered inside, looking over all the rocks, before pulling one out to examine it more closely. Holding the little crystal in the palm of her hand, she blew on it. It grew warm and began to glow faintly.

“Yeah, I think it’ll work.” She picked up her pen again and circled one of the designs she'd made.

Glancing over at Arc, she figured out that he was working on the tattoo, whether drawing it or "theorizing". Call it intuition, though more likely it was the telepathic bond they'd developed allowing some vague ideas to pass between them without words. “It’s gonna go on my back,” she said, reaching back to tap the spot. “Between my shoulder blades.” A good spot for someone who didn’t like being able to see marks on her skin, and it would be easy to hide if necessary.

It would also probably kill her if anything went wrong. No pressure, Arc.

“Make it look good.” She winked.

No pressure.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Dantari," he mused, as he glanced at her selection, "Very nice... It'll help with recycling any Force energy you expend."​

​

Back to the task at hand, more scrawled writing - he'd never really had neat handwriting, his brain was faster than his hand so it was always fighting to keep up - before she spoke on the tattoo itself. Detailed its location. A desire for it to look good.​

​

He settled down the quill and peered over at her, head tilted to one side like a curious pup.​

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"I mean, that location might hurt... A lot. Not much there to cushion it." A warning, before he smiled, "Alright miss Make-It-Look-Good. What sort of a design are you hoping for? Also once you're done with the etch sketches, let me know. I need to add a few things to it myself, or the tattoo will be, well, just a tattoo.."​

​

Something told him she wouldn't much like that.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I’m not afraid of pain.” Picking up her sketches, she sent them over to him. “Would a tattoo of a sword be too obvious?”

She envisioned the blade of ink lying against the length of her spine, a simple design. “That, or perhaps a symbol of some sort…” Using his desk as a flat surface, she quickly scrawled out a design. “Or would that be too complicated?” She paused. “Who’s going to actually tattoo it on me? You?” Did he even know how to do that?

Crikey, what had she gotten herself into?

He mentioned he’d have to modify her inscription. Pointing to the text she had circled, she gave him a skeptical look. “And what will you be adding to it, Master?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Not afraid of pain, huh?​

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He gave her a slightly amused expression, before forcing himself to stay focused on the task at hand. No more being sidetracked...​

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"Obvious? Nah. The design could even be relatively simplified, it's a vessel but what shape that vessel takes is, well, largely inconsequential. So long as you can envision it in your mind, it'll be fine."​

​

Arcturus glanced over the design, then faltered some when she asked who'd do the tattooing. He almost laughed aloud as she asked if it would be him. "Force, no. I've never done a tattoo in my life. But I have contacts, and I'll be there with you. After all, someone's got to imbue it and make it all work."​

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Or, again, it would just be.. a tattoo.​

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"Not a bad design, though it would depend on how small you wanted it. Go too small and the lines could end up less than ideal in a few years time, blending together or whatever."​

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As for her other question, the one which held skepticism but also his newly discovered favourite word, he smiled. "Just a few runes to bind it to both the pocket dimension and your tattoo. Without them, well, you'll have to forget storing it out of realspace Apprentice."​

​

He moved toward the bookshelf, and scanned for an old journal. Once it was in his possession he pulled it onto the table and opened it to a page which revealed the blueprints for the necklace he'd made for Alina. One Ishani might have seen before, but never had the context for.​

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"This was my first attempt at storing substances elsewhere. You see this?" He pointed to a small circle of runes, "Without these, it would just be a tiny crystal vessel. With them, though... It hooks up to another place entirely. Your sword will work similarly."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Now, what was that look all about? It was true. She didn’t enjoy pain, and she certainly loathed anyone or anything that inflicted it upon her or those she cared about, but pain with a goal in mind, suffering to some fine end, was no trouble to her anymore.

He wasn’t going to do the tattoo himself, thank the Force. It had been an amusing thought, however. “If you plan to keep on doing this sort of thing, you may want to invest in that kind of skill,” she commented. She’d seen him draw, he was pretty good at it. Unless tattooing was completely different from sketching with pen and parchment…

"Not a bad design, though it would depend on how small you wanted it. Go too small and the lines could end up less than ideal in a few years time, blending together or whatever."

“Yeah… and it might look strange anyway whenever I move my arms,” she muttered, looking at the symbol she’d drawn. Nah. A sword it was. “You sure do know a lot about this stuff. Do you have a tattoo, and I somehow failed to notice it?” Watch it be in a super obvious location, too. Blind as a bat.

"Just a few runes to bind it to both the pocket dimension and your tattoo. Without them, well, you'll have to forget storing it out of realspace Apprentice."

The way he reacted to her calling him Master hadn’t yet lost its novelty, from the looks of it. For a moment she was tempted to reply with something along the lines of future husband, just to get a reaction out of him, but the words caught in her throat. Don’t push it too far. You have your victory for the day, don’t spoil it. Instead, she rested a hand on her hip. “Oh, I was thinking you’d put your name in there somewhere, or maybe just your initials. Like a signature. On my back.” She laughed.

After all, he was the galaxy’s most interesting, charming, and attractive man. Why not have his autograph tattooed on her?

He showed her the pendant design, and the runes involved. It didn’t look too bad. “So, a circle of runes… that could go around the pommel of the sword…” She was back to scribbling.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Now that was an idea, wasn't it? Arcturus... Learning how to tattoo people. It had seemed stupid at first but the more he sat there and considered it the more it made sense. Yeah, cut out the middle man... Why not?​

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Her question however tore him away from such thoughts. As if he'd even have the time to apprentice with a tattoo artist anyway.​

​

"Me? No... Uh, at least, not a tattoo..." Branding? Yeah, the boy still had a little bit of that. Ole Tsissy had only removed one of them. But tattoos he'd never dabbled in. Hadn't really had any use for them before. If he followed this little rabbit hole where it led though, maybe one day...​

​

He blinked at her next statement.​

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"My name? Your back?" Was he sweating? Boy it was hot in here, and they hadn't even turned the forge on yet. Force, girl, how did she keep doing this to him?​

​

He sat back in his seat, and stared at her for a long moment.​

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"I shouldn't need to add anything to the tattoo itself," he finally stated, with a slight huff, trying to keep his focus on the task at hand however difficult she was making that. "But the pommel, yeah that could be a good place for it I reckon. Though, it doesn't need to be a circle. That was just the easiest way to make it work for the crystal."​

​

Arcturus watched as she got back to scribbling her designs, then turned his attention back to his own work.​

​

She'd be the death of him, if she had her way... At least it'd be a pleasant cause of death, though.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Well! Maybe she wasn’t blind after all. She’d felt his brand almost from the beginning, and that time when he’d taken a liking to black nail polish hadn’t escaped her notice, but there were no tattoos hidden from her sight.

His train of thought was visibly derailed at her joke about putting his name on her back. The look on his flushed face only made her laugh harder. “I don’t suppose you’d put my name on any part of you?”

"But the pommel, yeah that could be a good place for it I reckon. Though, it doesn't need to be a circle. That was just the easiest way to make it work for the crystal."

“The circle works,” she said, leaning her cheek against her hand as she peered at the page. “Circles are used for things that bind, because they are unbroken. Chains on a prisoner, a crown on a king, wedding rings… all of them are used to represent vows, promises, the bestowing of power or the taking of it…”

Her musings trailed off, and she shrugged. The design she had made depicted a sword, the blade pointing downward, with a circle of runes that eclipsed the pommel and the crossguard like a constellation of stars. Yes, he’d said he wouldn’t need to modify the tattoo, but… well, she’d already done it anyway. Whoops.

Arcturus Dinn​