Private Please Do Not Feed the Trees

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani had more or less forgotten about the others, who were still napping over in the clearing. Her attention was completely on Thesh. She didn’t like how out of it he seemed. Was it from blood loss? Was he going into shock? Or was he just in a lot of pain?

“I’ll be fine,” she replied. Her nose had stopped bleeding; she could still taste metal in the back of her throat, but the blood on her face was in the process of drying. It was uncomfortable, but there wasn’t much she could do about it until she got the medpac out. When he said they’d get her things back, she snorted, her smile exposing teeth stained with blood. “Maybe when you can walk again. Hey, you’re pretty good at this knife-fighting stuff, even if you did get stabbed. Where’d you get that fancy dagger? Did you make it?”

She thought it was a good idea to keep him talking. Grabbing his pack, she emptied its contents onto the ground rather than waste time rummaging around inside looking for the medpac. She noticed that some of the items that tumbled out looked fragile and winced as they hit the ground, but Thesh’s life was more important than his stuff. As soon as she had the medpac case open, she crouched down beside him. “Here, hold the little guy,” she said, plopping the fuzzball into his lap so that she could pull his hand away from the wound.

She’d gotten basic first aid training as a child and knew how to operate a mediscanner and apply bacta spray, but field surgery was out of the question. Thankfully, the wound didn’t look particularly severe. She cleaned up some of the blood to check for discoloration (just in case Dinah’s blade had been poisoned—Ishani wouldn’t put it past her) but saw nothing more than the puncture, which was still oozing quite a bit. She raised the spray bottle, then hesitated. Bacta was good as a temporary fix, but he would need proper medical treatment to fully heal. This wound would still hinder him as long as they were stuck out here. She could probably help him a whole lot more if she could just get the Force to work for her now…

“You take this, and… give it to him,” she said, handing a no doubt bewildered Thesh the bacta spray and pressing her palm over his side. “I’m going to try something a little bit different. But uh, don’t use it all on him, just in case this doesn’t work…”

Healing with the Force was, contrary to popular belief, not a power exclusive to the Light. Sith had done it as well, drawing upon the Dark to mend; it wasn’t a common practice because Sith tended to focus on tearing things down rather than building them up. What Ishani was now attempting was not particularly challenging, but either because she was using techniques meant for much more serious injuries, or because she had such limited control over her own abilities, she poured a lot more into Thesh than was really necessary for that shallow stab wound. If it worked, he was probably going to find old scars had inexplicably vanished and a year had been added to his lifespan. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but you get the idea. She trembled a little, finding it hard to breathe, caught somewhere between agony and ecstasy as the energies flowed out of her, before she abruptly recoiled with a muffled squeak, shaking her hand out as if touching him had burned her.

“Wow,” she mumbled, catching her breath. “Feel better... ?”

She managed to get that much out before her eyelids fluttered, her stance wobbled, and she collapsed in a faint. If Thesh had replied "knock yourself out" when she said she was going to try something different, it would appear she had done just that.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Mmhmm" was his lackluster response to her question of the dagger. It was something he was proud of, even if he'd had a lot of help from his Master in its creation, and it had come in clutch more times than he could count. Still he couldn't bring too much enthusiasm to the table as he sat there on the ground and tried to breathe through the pain.​

​

It was a strange sensation, being stabbed, it hadn't immediately hurt but it felt weird and warm and then hot. He hadn't even looked at it yet, hadn't glanced down at his bloody hand. It wasn't as though he was squeamish, he simply knew first hand that once you gave something your full attention your brain liked to fixate upon it.​

​

When Ishani Dinn tipped out the contents of his pack he visibly winced, though thankfully there wasn't anything super fragile within it. He could assess the damage later. For now he was more than happy to just close his eyes, maybe he'd take a few minutes and rest? Yeah that sounded like a good idea.​

​

His companion had other ideas though. Instead of napping he was handed the static creature and slowly opened his eyes to look at it. Before he could really comprehend much of what was happening she handed him something else, the bacta spray, and instructed him to use it on the animal.​

​

Seemed a little weird, given that he didn't have many medical supplies on hand, but his mind didn't fully catch up so he started to tend to the creature as instructed without balking at the notion. ​

​

It took a little while longer for him to realize what it was she was doing.​

​

Slowly but surely the wound began to numb, then knit together, and the bleeding stopped, and he began to feel more and more awake. Less of a desire to drift into a sleep-filled state. He didn't realize how taxing it was on Ish until the girl asked how he was, at that point the injury was gone and he was finally fully conscious once more.​

​

But no sooner was he back in one piece than Ish had collapsed infront of him.​

​

"Feth," he said, lunging forward to catch her before she hit her head too hard on the ground. He barely caught her in truth, muddied the knees of his trousers in doing so. "Ish? Ishani?" The creature lay in the grass nearby, temporarily forgotten as it began to heal from its own injuries thanks to the spray.​

​

Carefully he lay her back against the grass, and brushed some hair out of her face. She had obviously overexerted herself, and in the heat of the moment he wasn't entirely sure of the best way to proceed. He gently shook her shoulders, trying to rouse her, and said her name a few more times. His eyes scanned the various items which were on the ground, and then all at once he remembered something she'd brought with her.​

​

The perfumes.​

​

He took the one which helped with energy, and lightly spritzed it in the air. With any luck the combination of his various actions would help bring her back to an awakened state. He stared down at her in the moments following, intense concern upon his expression.​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

While Thesh shook and slapped the unconscious Ishani around, the rescued fluffball rolled right side up, fluffed itself, and started to rise off the ground. It bobbed in the air and began to spark excitedly, heading off to eat some pollen or whatever. Along the way, it passed by just as Thesh spritzed the air; the fluffball wondered at how it inexplicably felt amorous after passing through the cloud...

Ishani coughed, the unpleasant feeling of inhaled chemicals burning her sinuses doing more to wake her up than the contents of the perfume itself. She sat up, eyes watering, made a face, and sneezed so hard she nearly gave herself whiplash.

“Guh… wha?” she mumbled, gasping before she sneezed again. “... Ow.”

She looked at Thesh, then at the vial in his hand. Her expression changed, brow furrowing in confusion. “Thesh—”

She sneezed again. Waving her hand through the air, she tried to disperse the fumes. It was so overpowering to her, in the state she was in with her recently bloodied nose, that she couldn’t focus on much else. But eventually realization did come. After all, she had concocted this stuff herself. She knew what it smelled like—strawberries, cherries, and an angel’s kiss in spring. Well, that last part was just advertising to dress up the whole pheromones schtick. Make it sound less clinical.

Still, she snatched the vial from his grasp, just to be sure. It said Infinity. She dug around among her other samples, finding another with the same label, and sprayed it on herself. Very different. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed. It had been mislabeled, an accident waiting to happen—and the Force just decided to spring it on her now, of all times.

Thesh had not sprayed Infinity, he had sprayed Blush. Specifically, the female version, which was designed to attract males. It didn't have any affect on Ishani, aside from making her sneeze her head off. As for Thesh… well, he still had a chance. It tended to affect people to varying degrees anyway, sometimes exhibiting a delayed response or no effect whatsoever. Then again, there was also a chance that it would reduce him to a puppy-love-stricken idiot trying to hump her leg and the legs of every other female (or male) he came across while under its influence. The mere thought of being around when that happened was enough to make her cheeks burn, but she had nowhere else to go.

Ugh, why the hell had she even made this stuff?

Ishani eyed Thesh uncertainly, already looking for signs of a reaction, then shook her head. “You sprayed the wrong perfume,” she tried to explain, then sighed. “It’s not your fault. I attached all the labels, and this one should’ve said…”

Rather than finish the thought, she started gathering up the items which had fallen on the ground, stuffing them back into his pack. “Let’s just, uh… let’s go, okay? Let’s go to that hill and set up camp, get away from those...” She trailed off as she looked up.

Dinah and Bendik were nowhere to be seen.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

In a series of small sneezes the girl awakened, just as the ball of fluff drifted off to some nearby plant. With any luck it would not be one of the carnivorous forms they'd recently disposed of... Truth be told he didn't pay it much attention, his eyes were fixed upon the girl who was quick to sit bolt upright and steal the vial from within his grasp.​

​

He too could smell the scent, and it definitely didn't have the same aroma it had earlier he began to realize. His pupils dilated ever so slightly, and he could feel a strange sensation worming its way up through his body. Thesh did not like to be influenced though, he did his best to fight back as much of the effects as he could, his mind racing and realizing almost immediately just how big of a mistake he had made. Even so he seemed to look at Ishani with a certain intensity he could not mask, but kept his eyes upon her face.​

​

Truth be told, he'd liked her face all along anyway.​

​

He rose up as she began to scramble to put his belongings away, and then he reached down and picked up the pack once more, sliding it over his shoulder. "You're cute when you're flustered," he said, as they set off once more into the forest. "Are you okay, Ish? What happened just now?"​

​

Thankfully it did not seem as though Blush had complete control over him... ​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Hearing Thesh say she was cute only made Ishani even more flustered. Her face turned the reddest it had been in months, possibly her entire life. Well, there was that one time at summer camp, and back in middle school, and...

But those were all examples where she had been humiliated. Thesh wasn’t trying to be cruel. She knew it was just the pheromones talking, but… well, why couldn’t she enjoy it while it lasted?

“Yeah?” she said. It came out almost as a squeak. “You’re the first guy with red hair I’ve seen who isn’t funny-looking.”

Oh no, Ishani. Oh no.

“Uh, I mean… you’re kinda cute too.” She floundered, then mumbled, “More than kinda cute, actually. Pretty, um… pretty darn cute.” Gee, I sure am enjoying it while it lasts!

She was relieved when he asked her a question, and an important one at that. So important that she had forgotten about what occurred until he mentioned it. “Oh, uh… Bendik and Dinah are gone. So I assume either they ran away while you were busy spraying me, or… maybe they got vaporized by our merciful Sith overseers for stabbing you and punching me.” That was probably just wishful thinking.

While they walked, Ishani tried to clean herself up. In the medpac she had found one of those sterile moist towelette packets, and she used it to get the blood off her face as best she could. It stung a little, and her nose was red, but it was simply badly bruised, not broken. Bendik was a lanky pushover who relied heavily on sorcery in a real fight. His punch had only knocked her down because she was so much smaller than him… and maybe because she wanted to fall. Crumpling early on had saved her in the past from worse beatings.

She glanced periodically over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. So far there were no signs of people around. She did, however, hear the sound of running water nearby, growing louder the closer they got to Thesh’s hill.

“Sounds like you picked a good spot.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Funny looking?" he said, with expressive mock-offence to his tone and actions as he raised a hand to settle it over his chest, brows raising in surprise. "Who's funny looking?" It was quickly eclipsed by a smirk though as she fumbled over her words once more.​

​

"Only thing pretty around here is the one thing you can't see," he added, as they worked their way further through the forest and toward the destination they had decided upon what felt like eons ago now. So much had happened since they had begun their journey toward the hill.​

​

As conversation turned to their most recent experiences Thesh could not help but turn his head to stare at the girl with first confusion and then dumbfoundedness. He shook his head some, but he waited until she had finished her explanation all the same before speaking, rather than interrupting; he shook his head all over again when he spoke.​

​

"I couldn't give a nerf's arse about what happened to those goons," he informed her with an incredulous tone, "I care more about why it was you passed out. Are you okay? Does that happen a lot?"​

​

He tore his gaze away from her to look at their surroundings as she mentioned their destination, which they would soon be rising up to, and he too strained to hear the sound of rushing water, of wildlife, both of which would prove helpful in remaining alive.​

​

"Ready for the climb?" he asked, though his question was shot through with a genuine concern. If she had passed out once already, was there a chance it would happen again?​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Realizing she had misunderstood Thesh’s question, Ishani considered running and jumping off a cliff, but settled instead for merely rubbing the back of her neck and giving him the answer he really wanted.

“Oh, that… uh, I healed you? With the Force. Only, I think I put too much into you, and it was too much for me. I mean, it took something out of me and put it into you, so it strengthened you and weakened me. Does that make sense?”

She hoped it did. After a moment, she snorted, her nose and the corners of her eyes wrinkling with mirth.

“Heh. Goons.”

As for whether or not she could climb the hill, she did feel a little lightheaded, and her behavior was definitely more ditzy than usual, as if she were punch drunk. “I think I’ll be okay,” she replied, not very convincingly. “What are you gonna do if I can’t climb up, carry me? Nah, nah Mr. Thesh. I’ll give it the ol’ Sibwarra try first.”

She started to march up the mountain, but then the world dipped. Stumbling, she fell on her hands and knees, clinging to the grass to keep from falling off the earth. “Okay, maybe not… maybe not…” She gasped. “Wow, this is embarrassing. I can’t even climb up a hill? Ha ha. This is terrible, just terrible. I’m never healing anyone ever again… Thesh, get back here and give me back my life force, please.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"You did?"​

​

He took a second to think it through, with the fog and haze lifting, and realized that no other reality made sense. Of course she did, and he knew she had, but hearing it said outloud was a little mindboggling. Then a frown seized his expression.​

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"Are you okay? You didn't take on the injury yourself right?" Even as he spoke he turned his gaze to where the injury would have corresponded upon her body. No blood was present, thankfully, he took that to be a good sign. Just exertion then, just the Force. He appeared genuinely relieved in response, even going so far as to exhaling a short breath. "Thank you..."​

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They began to venture up the hill as she assured him she would be fine, and all he did in response was give her the side eye as they climbed. But it didn't take long for that fatigue to catch up with her. Didn't take long at all. She wobbled on the spot, stumbled to the ground, and immediately began to nervous-talk.​

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"Hey, you're okay," he said, reaching out to gently support her. When her legs still wobbled though he realized it would take more than a little support to get her up the hill. If they had needed its defensiveness before, certainly they required it now. A man down. Well, woman.​

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"I don't know how to give it back," he mused, with a slight smirk in response to the way in which she'd said it. It was marred only by the same concern which remained upon his expression. "Come here..."​

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Without warning he slipped his hands under her, lifting her by her back and the crook of her knees until she was held in his arms. Lightly cradled against his chest, he began to carry her up that hill... Provided she didn't balk at the idea. He wouldn't force her, of course, but he'd be damned if he let her flounder.​

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Ishani Dinn​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani didn’t protest as Thesh scooped her up and carried her up the hill. “You’re lucky I don’t weigh very much,” she remarked, a dopey smile on her face. She clasped her arms around his neck and let her head rest against his shoulder. He smelled like freshly tanned leather and something coppery or metallic. She thought her nose detected smoke, too, probably produced by the heat of a forge.

The entire situation had gotten incredibly silly… and could very easily be romanticized. Ishani was admittedly a romantic fool, a teenage girl still clinging to glimmering ideals and preconceived notions that were gradually becoming dim and distant, but she felt guilty for even thinking of it that way, especially after the blunder with the perfumes. She had to remind herself that, even though they were getting along really well, she had only met Thesh an hour or so ago, he was only carrying her because it was necessary, and she was snuggling her face against his neck because she was just trying to get comfortable. Yep.

With nothing to do except talk, she ran her mouth, her fatigue becoming more and more obvious as her sentences shortened, punctuated by yawns and long pauses as she struggled to think.

“I don’t have any wounds on me. I’ve heard of that happening, but not with the technique I used. I just made the Force do what I wanted it to do. No sacrifices necessary. I could probably teach it to you, if you want. Or maybe I could show you where I found it. Um… Oh, it was in a book about Freedon Nadd. That’s where I got it from. He used the Force to heal Exar Kun, and the person who wrote the book was freaking out about it, because she thought you could only heal people if you were a Jedi. Like you have to be completely selfless to be able to do it. You know, people think the Sith are selfish and can’t have attachments because of stuff like that. What’s that one guy, the Sith Lord, who killed his Twi’lek girlfriend because she was a ‘chain’ to him? Darth Amalgamous? Whatever his name was, he gets held up as an example of a Sith who’s just… bleh. I mean he’s like a Jedi in the sense that he wouldn’t allow himself to have attachments, but he did it for all the wrong reasons. Jedi did that stuff because they wanted to be selfless and devote themselves completely to their work, be zen, peaceful, unemotional, blah blah blah, all that crap. I think it’s all a bunch of crap... You’re not very selfish, Thesh. You just met me a few minutes or an hour ago, and now you’re carrying me up a mountain. I mean, a hill. Feels like a mountain…”

Thus did she drift off into incoherent mumbling, then fall silent, her eyes closed in sleep. Clearly the girl just needed a power nap.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

She didn't fight him on it. That was good. It would already be rather difficult to scale a hill bearing the weight of another, without them being a pain in the butt about it too. She settled against him comfortably enough, and soon enough she was rambling on about healing and Jedi and Sith. In response he simply grinned a goofy smile and climbed upward. With any luck they'd reach the crest before it became too dark; they did have to set up a camp still, after all.​

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As she spoke he mm'd here and there in agreement, and once or twice glanced down at her rather than the unmarked path ahead with curious eyes that only slightly betrayed some of his concern. Soon enough she had drifted into a sleepy state, becoming a little heavier in his arms as she did. No problem, though, he carried on all the same and made sure to do as much as he could to soften each step and avoid rocking her too much.​

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Time passed on in such a way for some time, and when they reached the top he gently lowered her down into a patch of pillowy grass and shrugged out of his jacket. He lay it under her head, and then set about working on a temporary camp. If it proved a decent location he'd work on something more permanent tomorrow, for now he was fighting daylight and the sun was already dipping below the horizon.​

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From the exterior of his pack, tied onto the bottom, was a rather large tarp. He draped it over the branches of a tree and anchored the ends into the ground to provide them with some sort of shelter. It wasn't perfect, open on both ends, but it would keep the rain off them if nothing else. He lay down a blanket and then gently carried her under the tarp. He did his best not to wake her, but who knew what the act of being moved might do.​

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After that he left the tarp himself and rummaged through his supplies. There were a few ration packs, but largely he intended on foraging and hunting. He didn't know how long they'd be here, before their instructor returned. It hadn't made sense to pack a tonne of rations, to rely solely on them, but he was willing to cut that supply in half all the same so that Ishani Dinn was able to eat too.​

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Once he knew she was safe he'd be able to head out, find some of the native fauna and flora that could prove helpful. But until then he sat and kept watch.​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Exhaustion had knocked Ishani out. The most she did while being moved around by Thesh was grumble and groan a little in her sleep, then roll over. She did toss and turn a little, trying to find the best position, but at least she didn’t snore.

Eventually she woke up, blinking at the sight of a tarp over her head and nighttime outside. The planet either had a shorter-than-standard rotational period, or she had slept for a very long time. Reaching up, she lightly touched her nose. Still a little tender.

She sat up, stretching. Thesh was sitting watch by the opening of the makeshift tent. “Hi,” she greeted him, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “I feel crusty. How are you?”

The planet they were on had three moons in its night sky… or maybe they were on a moon, and one of them was a planet they were orbiting around. One of the blue “moons” definitely looked much bigger than the others. It didn’t tell her much about where the hell they were in the galaxy, but at least it was pretty to look at.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

For once he ate his rations slowly.​

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There wasn't much else for him to do as the quiet of night settled in, he couldn't read without the requirement of light and the last thing he needed was to shine a beacon on where they were. Couldn't really do project work either. So he had sat, observed the sky, kept watch over the forest below. No sound had come from there, no chattering or rustling of bushes. It had been still. Perhaps the others had gone a little further afield.​

​

He had been tracking a few of the stars which were blisteringly clear in the sky, which was mostly free from any pollutants. There were just a few night clouds to be seen, otherwise it was clear. No light, no smog... It was quite beautiful really. One of his journals was open in his lap, a pen settled upon it, and a few markings noted there. They looked like constellations, though it was too dark to determine for sure. Too dark for even Thesh to know if he'd properly noted them or not. No matter, he'd got the general basis of one of them down, he could fix it when the sun rose.​

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Her voice drew him from his thoughts, from his aimless glancing to the sky, forest, and horizon. He shifted where he sat on the ground, and turned to face her. After a second he patted the grass at his side, then began to rummage through his pack for another ration. This time he handed it over to her.​

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"Crusty..." he pondered on that for a moment, before nodding his head some, "Yeah, I suppose similar. How did you sleep? I hope I didn't disturb you too much."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani flopped down on the grass beside him. The effects of the perfume had probably faded away by now, thankfully.

“Anything happen while I was out? Or have you just been out here eating this whole time?” she asked jokingly, taking the ration he offered her. Noticing the journal in his lap, she leaned toward it, her hair falling forward and tickling his lap as she squinted. “You drew… dots? Oh, is that supposed to be—” She looked up. “It is pretty.”

She started to open the ration packet, then paused. Force of habit reminded her she had to take her medication… which was in her bag, which had been stolen.

“Ah, chit,” she muttered. “My meds were with the rest of my stuff. Uh, it’s not that big of a deal... I can live without it… I just hope we’re not stuck here for a long time.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Nothing of note," he said with a loose shrug, watching as she plopped down at his side and took the offered food. He leaned back some, propping his back up against the tree he'd used as support for the tarp, and observed her while she glanced over the journal page. Even in the light of just the trio of moons she could tell what it was. Eventually.​

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"Yeah, dots," he grinned, before shaking his head some. "No idea if they're legitimate constellations or not, just what I saw when I looked up. Who knows where in the Galaxy we even are, really..." Definitely not a habited planet, but that didn't mean the system was devoid of life. Didn't mean they were the first to look at those stars and carve images from within them.​

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He reached out and gently placed some of her hair behind her ear, looking to match her gaze as she expressed her frustrations. "One more reason to get your things back," he told her, with a firm nod, "Will you be okay? Is it anything important?" He had a couple of different meds within his first aid pack, but he doubted it would be of much use if what she needed was prescription grade. While waiting for her response he opened the rations for her, then handed the pack back.​

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"Make sure you eat, alright? Today was eventful, make sure you let your body recuperate." Speaking of, he reached into his pack a second time and pulled out a flask of water. He took a quick swig himself, before handing it over to her.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani froze when Thesh tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then felt stupid for it. He had touched her hair. So what? Well, then there was the eye contact thing he did, holding her gaze. Still. Didn’t mean anything.

“It’s, um… important to me, but not important for me to live,” she replied vaguely. “I can go without it, but after a while I’ll get… sick. Even then, it won’t kill me. It’ll just make me… miserable and unhealthy.”

The halting, reluctant way in which she spoke would at least make it clear that this was a sore spot for her, more psychological in its effects than physical. Bruised confidence, a broken self-image, feeling like she had no control over her own body. Taking the medication had allowed her to forget she even had a medical condition. It faded into the background, minimal in its importance. But she still remembered what her life had been like before the doctors figured out what was wrong with her and gave her the medicine to fix it.

“It’s not as serious as it sounds, is what I mean,” she mumbled, eating the ration. She accepted the water flask he offered, only to hesitate, having just seen him drink from it himself. “There better not be backwash in this,” she said, before taking a sip.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Okay, so she wasn't going to keel over and die. Not from lack of medication, at least. But that didn't mean they could forget about it either, even if he wasn't willing to push his queries any further. He simply nodded his head and let the matter go for now, seeing how uncomfortable it made her to speak of it.​

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"Alright," he said, in place of anything else he might have wanted to say, "And you're feeling better now, right? No more passing out?" Try as he might he couldn't keep that concern from expression or tone. He didn't want to harp on about it, didn't want to come across as smothering or make it seem as though he saw her as some sort of damsel in distress. He knew she wasn't that, she'd given those goons as much as she'd taken.​

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"Don't worry, I'm not diseased," came his response to her statement, rolling his eyes some, "If you can put up with sharing tonight, we'll hunt down that stream tomorrow and get you set up with a skin of your own alright?"​

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Hydration was important, after all. One couldn't be too fussy in situations such as these.​

​

Besides, Thesh had been careful in the way he'd taken a drink from it. He'd known when doing so that he'd be sharing it, after all, given that her things had been stolen away. He wasn't entirely a savage...​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I’m not gonna pass out, Arcturus,” she replied. “Are you gonna pass out? Or are you good to go for a while now with my life force energies or whatever floating around inside you?”

She was eating when he said he wasn’t diseased and rolled his eyes. She giggled at his reaction, almost as if he were personally affronted by the idea of getting backwash in the water supply. In the back of her mind, she sensed that he was bothered by her mentioning the medication only to withhold further information about it. Sort of like she had teased him, or didn’t trust him enough.

Well, she was rapidly learning how fun it was to tease him.

“We’re gonna go hunting? Oh wow, that should be something. How are you gonna do that?” Leaning toward him, she had a sense that he had experience with hunting, or at least knew what he was doing. In the dim lighting, she noticed belatedly that she had leaned forward so far she was almost right up in his face, close enough that she could feel his breath. She started to back away, but hesitated. “You, um… make your own weapons to hunt with?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Arcturus.​

​

For a moment it felt as though the air had been sucked from the space around him, til only a vacuous void remained. His expression froze into whatever it had been previously portraying, and he could do little more than stare for a few seconds. Arcturus. Nobody had called him that, at least not since Rax Tremira had tried to mock him with it during their spar. He was Thesh, he'd always been Thesh, and though he'd given himself the name Arcturus he hadn't really been proactive about having it used.​

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The next breath he took was shallow, seemed to stick in his throat. As strange as it was to hear it said, as unexpected, he could not help but feel a small sense of triumph running up through his body as he processed it. Such a small thing no doubt to the one who had uttered it, perhaps just a slip of the tongue, or an attempt at seeming a little more authoritative in that moment. Inside something seemed to shatter; it was slow, started like a mere hairline fracture and began to splinter and grow.​

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Arcturus...​

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He'd been so lost in that thought that he barely recalled a word she'd said afterward. Instead he seemed to stare almost dumbfounded as that faraway look which had entered his gaze began to diminish and he returned to the present. "I'm sorry, what?" he inquired, watching as she giggled and ate the rations. Clearly she'd been poking fun, but he couldn't get his brain to play catchup.​

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Then she inquired about hunting. He supposed he had mentioned it, though he had more meant look for the stream. Did she want to go hunting? Because that was definitely something they'd need to do. He decided not to mention the miscommunication, and instead simply nodded his head. Going with the flow.​

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"I mean, if you're up for it. Would you want to join me?"​

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She had leaned in close, and her scent was all he could smell on the air. There was damp grass from the ground, mixed with the metallic tang of blood, wisps which lingered from the forest below, and something faintly floral and sweet beneath it all. He found himself breathing through his nose a little more than he usually would have, as she remained close by. He dropped his gaze down to meet hers, even sitting she was smaller.​

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When she made to look away he lightly lifted a hand up and caught her cheek, holding her gaze. Though he did little more than glance at her, he could tell there were thoughts on her mind. He was oddly satisfied when she spoke them, even if it was just another question about hunting.​

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"I've made all my own weapons, yes. I don't hunt as one might expect though. I don't use bows or rifles. Mostly just my blade..." The one she'd seen before, which had mysteriously returned to his person despite the fact that Naan had stolen it from him. "Or the Force... We could, uh... Make something in the morning, if you want? A makeshift knife, maybe? I can show you how I hunt with it..."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Her brow furrowed at the faraway look he gave her. Oh. She’d called him by his first name. It had been intentional, really just to tease him. She hadn’t expected this reaction from him. He didn’t seem upset by it, at least, just… surprised?

She risked a small smile, her brow smoothing over. “Never mind.”

His touch on her cheek made her feel strange. She blushed, of course, but with the heat was a sensation more akin to cold. Her body shivered involuntarily. His hand was warm.

“That sounds fun,” she replied, fighting the urge to giggle nervously, or start fidgeting. All of this was new and weird for her. She was a little bit scared, but not enough to pull away. “Didn’t think I’d be getting a fancy new blade out of all this…”

She knew she had a million questions about how he made his weapons, but couldn’t seem to recall any of them. Her mind had blanked out, unable to focus on anything but him and the feel of his hand. His fingers were a little rough, callused from work.

Her smile returned with a soft snort at her own befuddlement. She had a dimple in her left cheek—he could probably feel it against his palm. “Sorry about your name, I was just teasing. I don’t go by my first name either. Ishani is my middle name. My first name is Rhiannon. Same as my grandmother. Everybody always called me Ishani so they wouldn't confuse the two of us...”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Don't... Don't apologize," he said, with a short shake of his head. His words too had been rather short, but not in an uncaring or cold way. Quite the contrary, he seemed in a rush to reassure her. He listened to what she said regarding her name, her Grandmother, and could not help but bring back his goofier smile. Rhiannon... That had a nice ring to it. He'd remember that one for sure. Deep down though it was all just a reminder of how little he actually knew about himself, and the smile faded slowly.​

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"It's not my actual name, you know? Thesh. It was more of a... moniker? I dunno..."​

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He hadn't really spoken about such with anyone before, and he wasn't sure how much he wanted to delve into it now. There were those who knew of course, such as Darth Empyrean who had bestowed it upon him, and he was sure Quintus Varro had deduced as much, fellow slave and all. Shade of Decay had tried to knock the name out of him entirely, he'd banished one of the marks he'd bore upon his wrist which signified it, though that which lay upon his shoulder remained. That particular mentor had been the one who set him on the path of self-discovery, which had eventually led him to claim Arcturus.​

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But why hadn't he used it then? Why was it always Thesh when he introduced himself?​

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He let out a very slight sigh, and then forced a smile once more. Wasn't so much forced when he refocused his attention on her face though, then it became much more natural.​

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"Fancy? I'm not sure I have the tools for fancy, Ish... But tell you what, we'll make it an IOU. This can just be the stand-in. Whatcha say?"​

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Ishani Dinn ​