Duel Of Wagers & Want [Taiia Mataan vs Allyson Locke]

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taiia Locke //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Cybernetic Eye //: Jacket //: Arrows of Absence x 25 //: Bag of Absencite x 5ea //:

It had been nearly over a month at this point. Allyson had fully recovered from her fight with Mia Monroe. However, her heart still ached for the revelation and the full story of Ember's death.

She felt empty knowing the truth; she would never be able to avenge his death — Mia had done that already. Allyson was thankful; at least the man that had killed him didn't see another day in the galaxy, but Allyson didn't kill him. The thought would plague her more than she'd like to admit, lest she have no thought as she was up and moving.

The walk towards the arena in the academy wasn't long. It was enough to get Allyson's muscles moving and blood flow coursing through her tired muscles. She needed the strain; stretching and body weight workouts were starting to get too easy on her. She was grateful for her wife's careful attention, but Allyson still wasn't used to it. To be healed and taken care of was something that Allyson would have to allow herself to appreciate.

Allyson glanced towards Taiia, trying to read her face as they walked. It was obvious that Taiia had noticed the new branches of the brand. It was something that happened when she channeled the Force and specifically the dark side of the Force. It continued to force the bleeding, creating a new network of cracks that adorned the core of her frame. They hurt, being open wounds for a few days and then scaring over.

She wondered how much longer till Taiia began to muse on how to remove the brand.

It was a focus, but one that Allyson hoped her wife would let go. Allyson knew the boons she received with the brand — the pain was a side effect, one that she was okay with.

"It's been a while," Allyson smiled as she let her steps fall in line with Taiia's as they arrived.

The arena was large, bigger than Allyson had figured, but it made sense. They had chosen to allow their weapons; her arrows would be blunted, but she figured Taiia knew how to deal with most of what Allyson had. The explosive arrows would be dialed back, but enough to pose a bit of a threat. Still, they could do some damage to each other, a good thing Taiia had become so proficient (to Allyson's standards) in healing.

"So," Allyson smirked.

"Are we making any bets?"

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Allyson Locke //:
​

Taiia had noticed the changes.

She had noticed them the first morning the newest fractures appeared, their branches spreading a little farther beneath Allyson's skin than before. She had said nothing then, nor had she asked in the weeks since.

Quite the opposite.

There were questions she carried quietly, possibilities she sifted through in the evenings after the house had fallen silent. Ancient texts she had found herself revisiting. Fragments of Nightsister magik. Sith rituals. Jedi healing techniques. Even Emperyan's conclusions remained, in her mind. He had reached them honestly, with all the knowledge available to him, but Taiia had never believed knowledge to be synonymous with finality. The brand had become woven into Allyson in ways she did not yet understand, and she refused to accept that nothing could be done was the end of the conversation.

Today was for something far simpler.

She matched Allyson's pace as they crossed into the arena, the broad training hall unusually quiet as it was made available to the couple. Polished stone bore the countless marks of sabers, blades, and boots. Sunlight streamed through the high windows, catching drifting dust in warm shafts of gold. A familiar sort of peace settled over her. It had been too long since the two of them had simply trained. At Allyson's question, Taiia's lips curved into a smile.

"A bet?"

Taiia's smile deepened just a fraction as she considered it, green eyes lingering on Allyson with quiet amusement. "If I win, you take tomorrow off." She knew exactly what expression that was likely to earn her. "And by off, I mean off. No workshop. No projects. No deciding you've found something 'small' that simply cannot wait." The corner of her mouth lifted. "You'll survive. Just you and me." She let the thought hang between them for a moment before continuing. "If you win..." Her gaze wandered briefly toward the practice racks before returning to Allyson. "Name your prize."

Stepping into the center of the arena, Taiia unclipped the white lightsaber from her belt. The familiar hiss of the blade echoed softly through the training hall, its pale light spilling across the worn stone beneath their feet. "Well, Mrs. Locke." There had been a time when she had not been certain they would ever stand across from one another again with nothing at stake beyond the simple joy of crossing blades. She settled into a relaxed guard, the point of her saber angled slightly toward the floor as she watched Allyson over the glow of the blade.

"I should warn you," she said, the hint of a challenge finally finding its way into her smile. "I've had considerably more practice since the last time we did this." Her head tilted ever so slightly. "Though I imagine you're about to tell me the same."

​

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taiia Locke //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Cybernetic Eye //: Jacket //: Arrows of Absence x 25 //: Bag of Absencite x 5ea //:

Allyson couldn't help grinning.

When they had first met, Allyson had been shoved into the arena. A younger version of the woman with the same calm confidence stood before her. Unlike Taiia, Allyson had realized in that moment that she wanted to spend the rest of her life chasing her. She would follow wherever Taiia would lead her, all the while doing whatever she could in her power to make Taiia happy.

It was a feeling she never understood, had never felt before. But she wanted to keep feeling it. It was then the wager, the original bet that had gotten her a date with the Confederacy's brightest obsidian knight. Allyson lost on purpose; she was sure of it — but even with the loss, Allyson won.

If she could do it all over again, the one thing she would change was leaving. Taiia deserved a partner who wanted to work things through, believed they could make it, and was willing to stay. Thankfully, she was given the chance for a do-over, and this was a sign of it. While Taiia perhaps assumed this was to just get the rust off of the healing Corellian, Allyson wanted to reclaim a piece of their past. Do it over, so that the years lost meant even less between them.

Taiia didn't wager back then; she seemingly agreed with Allyson's choice and went along with it. Again, as luck would have it — she'd allow for drinks to happen. This time though, Taiia had decided to make a bet, one that surprised Allyson, but also didn't. She laughed slightly as she adjusted her jacket and nodded — understanding the reasons.

"A day off?" Allyson repeated, "You know you don't have to kick my ass to ask me to take time off." The Corellian laughed again.

"Alright, that's your final answer?" She looked at her wife as she drew the blade and came closer. Allyson took a step back; she wondered if Taiia was trying to gain ground quietly, knowing that the Corellian desired distance. It would allow Taiia to get the upper hand early.

Allyson took another step back, drawing the bow and moving her fingers in a calculated pattern. The glove created the arrows, one long thin nanite shaft, as she mused over what she wanted to wager. Slowly, she brought the arrow to the string, lining it up carefully as she continued humming along, wondering what would be the last thing Taiia would expect her to bet.

Finally, her mind was made up, and she looked at her wife.

"If I win, we have a baby."

A wink and the Corellian instantly disappeared into the Force. Unlike before, Allyson's presence was small and almost untraceable. The brand on her body severed almost any ability to anticipate her actions or intent. But there was something that no one else had…

Their bond.

Allyson knew that Taiia could easily track her through the bond that connected their lives to something deeper than the Force. She needed to play smart and to keep everything about her cover as precise as possible. Footsteps no longer appeared as she nearly floated across the arena grounds like a ghost.

When she had created enough distance between them, Allyson fired the arrow that soon split into 8 smaller arrows. Shooting the arrow at an angle almost made the small batch of arrows fall like rain upon her elven wife.

It was time to see what time had changed.

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Allyson Locke //:
​

The words stopped her cold.

For the briefest moment the arena seemed to fall away.

Children.

It was not an idea she had ever dismissed. There had been quiet evenings where the thought had found its way into her mind unbidden, only for her to gently set it aside again. There had always been another war, another crisis, another reason why later was wiser than now. She had never spoken those thoughts aloud, never quite allowed herself to believe there would be time. A warmth rose to her cheeks despite herself as she looked at Allyson, completely unprepared for the certainty with which the wager had been delivered.

"...You play for very high stakes."

The smile tugging at the corner of her mouth betrayed her composure just enough. "I was expecting a long weekend with neither of us getting much sleep." The words had barely left her lips before Allyson vanished and the smile disappeared with her.

Taiia drew a slow breath as the world around her sharpened. Precognition brushed against the edges of possibility, as the force strengthened muscle and bone while the Force settled quietly into her limbs. Every sense widened.

The brand denied her the certainty the Force ordinarily provided.

Their bond did not.

It wasn't enough to reveal Allyson's exact position. Somewhere within the arena, Allyson was moving, thinking, waiting for her to make the first mistake; Taiia refused to give it to her. Rather than pursue, she settled into a relaxed guard, the white blades angled lightly across her body while her attention drifted beyond what her eyes alone could perceive.

Then the future narrowed.

Eight lines descended toward her.

Taiia moved.

There was nothing hurried about it; every motion flowed into the next with effortless motion. Decades of refining the same forms were apparent in an instant. The first arrow met her blade and split cleanly in two before she pivoted through the second and third, denying their approach to the space she had occupied a heartbeat earlier, Enhanced speed carrying her only as far as necessity demanded. The fourth glanced harmlessly off of her blade while the fifth passed through empty air as enhanced reflexes carried her beneath it without a single wasted movement.

She was already somewhere else before the remaining arrows completed their descent. By the time the last shaft struck the stone floor, Taiia stood several paces from where she had begun. Her breathing remained steady, her posture relaxed, the point of her lightsaber lowering only slightly as another smile found its way onto her face.

"...We're discussing that wager after this." The smile lingered as she raised her guard once more. Both lightsabers rolled through her hands into a reverse grip, the white blades angling behind her as she settled into Shien with quiet confidence.

​

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taiia Locke //:

It was hard to concentrate. She watched Taiia move as she hid in the shadows of the Force. The woman was still graceful with each step, still anchored in the power she had back then, but now she was refined. Her power had grown along with her strength — but she was still Taiia. Allyson watched the arrows dodged and cut down; she knew the initial attack would mean very little, but it was a chance she needed to take.

The shock of the wager was a one-time chance. But it wasn't to get an early strike in; it was to allow her a moment to fade.

Allyson was briefly reminded of their first meeting, their first fight. Taiia always had a confidence Allyson often wished she had. Maybe she would feel more worthy to be with the woman. Despite those feelings, though, Allyson wasn't going to run away anymore.

As Taiia finished settling in, Allyson found a space where the woman's blind side would possibly be. She stayed quiet, listening as Taiia pointed out the incoming discussion.

Grinning, 'Allyson' stepped out of the shadows in front of her wife. Bow drawn and as life-like as the Corellian could make the doppelganger. The figure tilted its head and kept the bow leveled towards the woman.

"And what is there to talk about, Min Larel?" The voice- everything was spot on to the Corellian. Allyson had developed the skill, having used it pretty heavily in the war against the Alliance.

Still, an odd jealous little prick echoed in the Corellian's heart. Even though the doppelganger was her, and was hers — seeing Taiia speak like this, and hearing someone call her the affectionate pet name irked Allyson.

"Do you want to up the wager? Or are you willing to just let me win so we can go back home and get started?"

A cheeky little grin from the Corellian in front of Taiia widened. "Like you said, you are looking forward to a weekend just us, uninterrupted."

Behind Taiia, the real Allyson crept. She maintained the spread-thin focus of her Force energy; she had grown, able to quietly absorb the Force from the area around her. The Kaggath had taught her things along with the teachings from her Master. Allyson let the doppelganger continue until she found the perfect place behind her wife.

Another arrow was drawn, again with blunt tips, so as not to harm the woman. Aiming towards Taiia's shoulder, she released the long arrow aimed to numb her arm. If Allyson could take out one of Taiia's strengths, it would give her the advantage.

 

[Taiia Locke]

//: Allyson Locke //:
​

Taiia regarded the woman who stepped from the shadows before her, bow already drawn and every familiar feature reproduced with remarkable precision. The voice was right, the expression was right, even the grin belonged unmistakably to Allyson. For anyone else, perhaps it might have been convincing, but Taiia knew her wife far too well for that. A faint smile touched her lips as she allowed her sabers to lower slightly, giving no indication that she had already dismissed the figure in front of her for what it was. Wherever the real Allyson had hidden herself, she was watching, and Taiia saw little reason to spoil the effort just yet.

The offer only deepened her smile. Allyson had already managed to catch her off guard once with the wager, enough that the warmth had yet to leave her cheeks entirely, but Taiia had recovered. If her wife intended to keep pushing, then she was more than willing to return the favor. "You really are determined to make this difficult for yourself." She tilted her head slightly, appearing to consider the doppelganger's offer while her awareness stretched quietly around her. "You started this wager, Min Larel, so if I win..." The corner of her mouth lifted just a little further. "...I decide how many."

Taiia's senses were attuned to the slightest movement, as the arrow left the bow and its concealment; a smile touched her lips. She did not turn, nor did her stance appear to change. For the briefest moment she remained exactly where she had been, still facing the false Allyson with that same faint smile upon her lips.

Then the arrow passed through her.

The image lingered for scarcely more than an instant before it distorted and faded, nothing more than an afterimage left behind by movement too fast for the eye to properly follow. The shot Allyson took had given exactly what Taiia had been waiting for.

Her position.

Taiia appeared beside the real Corellian almost immediately, close enough that the sudden rush of displaced air stirred the dark strands of Allyson's hair. She gave her wife barely enough time to register that she had been found before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss against her cheek.

"If I recall correctly, you lost to that move last time, Min Larel..." Though she had no intention of ending it right here, she wanted to know the limits of her wife's abilities. At the same time, there had not been many who could press her like Allyson; Taiia wanted to know what she could do as well.

There was quiet amusement in her voice as she lingered beside her for only a moment longer, clearly enjoying the opportunity Allyson had given her. Then space folded around Taiia and she disappeared again, reappearing farther across the field with both white blades already raised as she settled comfortably back into her guard; the smile never left her lips.