Private Whispers of Forever

[Everest Vale]

Equipment: Bracelet, Earrings
Tag: Tigris

The world outside could have fallen away, and neither would have noticed. Here, wrapped in each other’s arms beneath silk sheets, was all that mattered.

Eve stirred slightly, her silver hair a messy halo against Tigris’ chest, the steady thump of her heartbeat a lullaby against her ear. The warmth between them was almost dizzying, a cocoon spun from trust, love, and the slow aftermath of closeness that had left her feeling raw and safe in the same breath.

The lights were low. Somewhere beyond the thick curtains, rain whispered against the leaves, a quiet rhythm in tune with the slow rise and fall of their breathing. Eve shifted again, nuzzling into Tigris' neck with a sleepy, affectionate sigh. She could still feel the faint hum of their bond, a silver thread glowing quietly between them, strengthened, deeper now in ways words could never touch.

For a long moment, she said nothing. She didn't need to. Her hand simply found Tigris’, their fingers tangling naturally, lazily, as if they had always been meant to fit that way. At last, without opening her eye, Eve murmured to her, her voice a tender breath against skin.

"Do you ever think about... the future...?"

A simple question, but one heavy with hope, and trust, and all the things they had fought so hard to hold onto. She wanted to hear it, in Tigris’ voice. Their future.

Whatever it would look like — together.

 

[Tigris]

Equipment: Bracelet, Echo Stone
Tag: Everest Vale

The subtle shifting of the Echani stirred Tigris. It was not an abrupt thing, but a gentle flow into a semi-wakefulness, as if she was quietly summoned by her senses into the moment. Her eyes remained closed as her skin painted the scene for her. Against her, the warm form of Everest. The soft brush of her breath against her chest, the caress of skin on skin and cool, silky sheets as Eve shifted. Tigris' fingers splay across the flat plane of Everest's abdomen. Once padded with softness, the Atrisian's digits now felt the relaxed muscles of Everest's core. Her Angel had become a warrior.

A soft sigh brought Tigris' focus to sound. The sweet noise flowed intothe serene background of steady rain, giving Tigris the distinct desire to remain exactly as they were for as long as they could. They were both awake but required no words, no verbal greeting. They knew each other through that cord that was both adamant and tender, the Force that tethered them a quiet resonance that mirrored the atmosphere of their room.

Tigris intentionally relished all of it in practiced detail, for it filled her with such joy, such contentment, it was more sustaining than food and drink. She would readily confess that she was whole with Everest, and lacking without her. Their fingers entwined with instinctual ease, another way they connected. Then, the hushed question broke the silence with meaning.

The future. There was a time when the future didn't matter. Surviving mattered, living through the day mattered. Gaining more power, more strength than the day before mattered. Whether as a Seyugi, an assassin or a jedi, it was the same. Until Everest.

Suddenly, the future became a reality. Tigris couldn't think of Everest as a fling, an affair. Everest couldn't be something for today, and tomorrow, until she wasn't. They truly had become part of each other. And what they were was wonderful. But part of loving Everest was an insatiable desire to be closer, to experience her in new ways, new places, to make her more and more a part of life.

These thoughts passed through Tigris' mind in the few breath after Eve posed the question. Yes, she did think of the future. privately, tentatively, as if speaking them before others may jinx them. Can they be like other couples, can they live together, could they even marry? To have any of that would have been unimaginable before meeting Everes.t

"I do." Tigris answered quietly. "But only really when it comes to you." Yes, she looked forward to becoming a knight under Master Noble's tutelage, in learning more about the Force. She and Eve talked about those things often. While Tigris did think about their future often, the two of them never really discussed it, as if both were anxious to do so. Tigris sensed that is what Eve was getting at... do you think about our future?

Tigris' hand gently slid up Eve's arm to stroke the silky strands of silver hair. Everest was probably looking for more than the simple answer given. "I can't see anything but staying close to you, and getting closer. I am not sure how we do it. But Valery and Kahlil do it." Admittedly, Tigris looked up to the married Nobles as role models, inspiration that a couple can survive and not only serve the jedi Order, but thrive in it.

"What do you see, when you see our future?"

 

[Everest Vale]

Equipment: Bracelet, Earrings
Tag: Tigris

Eve shifted closer, her body curving instinctively toward the warmth of Tigris. Her fingers lightly brushed the side of her arm, trembling faintly, as if she could barely contain the surge of emotion tightening in her chest. She pressed her forehead against Tigris' shoulder, closing her eye for a moment, just breathing her in. The clean, steady scent of her. The living weight of her presence. When she spoke, it came out fragile, almost broken open from the depth it rose from.

"I think about it all the time," she whispered.

Her voice wavered, thick with feeling she didn't quite know how to put into words. She traced the faintest pattern along Tigris' wrist with her fingertips, grounding herself. They delicately touched the stones of the bracelet she made for her; a permanent reminder of what they had.

"I think about..." She hesitated, swallowing hard. "About being with you. About waking up to you. About... coming home to you..."

The words faltered. She could feel it there, just beneath the surface — the thing she wanted to say most of all — pressing up against her ribs like a bird desperate to fly free.

But she couldn't say it yet. Not yet.

So instead, she lifted her head, and with a raw, aching kind of honesty, she looked into Tigris' dark eyes.

"I-I want a life with you," she breathed. "Not just for now. For... for always."

Her voice cracked, a silver thread of longing weaving through it. She gave a small, trembling smile — a vulnerable, radiant thing — and curled herself even closer, as if that could somehow say all the words she couldn't yet speak.

"I... don't know how to say," she admitted, the barest hint of laughter and tears in her voice. "I just know I need you..."

Maybe, in the end, that was enough.

 

[Tigris]

Equipment: Bracelet, Echo Stone
Tag: Everest Vale

Tigris' breathing was relaxed, slow, deep breaths that made Eve's head rise slightly and lower as her lover exhaled. There was a dichotomy in moments such as the one they enjoyed. Feeling Everest curled against her, draped over her, elicited feelings that were deep and visceral, both emotional and physical. With Eve's closeness, there was a serenity born of a completeness Eve brought. And there was a current of physical enervation that such intimate contact inevitable stirred.

As Eve spoke, Tigris' eyes shifted to see delicate, pale fingers trace the inked designs on he wrist, her senses alive as the digits brushed over the sensitive skin. The Atrisian had learned that the Echani felt deeply, in all things, but was often hesitant to express them to her more stoic paramour. Her words hinted, stumbled a bit, and then paused. Tigris knew, sensed through their bond, what Eve was getting at. But she would allow the girl to find her words.

Tigris felt the head on her chest lift, and she met that gleaming silver eye with her own dark wells. Eve's unruly silver hair fell around her gorgeous porcelain features, once again captivating the stalwart Atrisian.

Tigris returned the soft smile, hers smaller and more rare. Tigris reached to brush away stray pewter strands. She paused only a breath, ready to make her own confession.

"I know what you are saying..." She replied, her tone hushed in the quiet room, with only the steady sound of the rain outside. Tigris, admittedly, could not imagine a life without Eve. That alone frightened her a bit, never having had a close relationship of any kind, let alone a life-long intimate relationship. But her logical brain agreed with her heart, that the thought of a life without Eve, after having loved her, was heartbreaking.

"I...feel..." Something she was getting used to saying, "...we were meant to be together. I want that too. I want to be with you, always."

Love, the Force, compatability... in so many ways they fit together like a puzzle, one made with intention. What that meant for their future, Tigris only dared to let herself imagine. But Eve and she had, in their masters, the ulimate example of life-long union. Marriage. Tigris didn't balk at the thought of she and Eve being married, when the time was right. She was that much in love. But neither of them seemed willing, or able, to say the words.

 

[Everest Vale]

Equipment: Bracelet, Earrings
Tag: Tigris

Eve's breath hitched the moment Tigris spoke her voice low, velvet-wrapped in rain, and full of something that made Eve's heart stutter in her chest. A flush crept over her cheeks, blossoming fast and high with the kind of intensity that only Tigris could summon from her. Her lips parted, but no words came; only a quiet exhale, as if her body was trying to release the overwhelming rush of feeling somehow.

Silver lashes trembled as she looked up, her single eye wide and glistening —, not with tears, but with something more tender. More fragile. She felt small in the best way, tucked against Tigris’ chest, sheltered by her warmth, her strength, her love. Like a puppy offered shelter in a storm, utterly and unconditionally devoted.

Her fingers tightened slightly on Tigris’ wrist, anchoring herself to the words that had just been spoken.

Meant to be together.

Always.

They echoed in her like a song she’d always known but never dared hum aloud. Her voice was barely a whisper when it finally returned.

"Th-then I won’t let anything take us from each other."

She blinked slowly, the blush still high on her cheeks, and tucked herself closer again, not out of shyness, but reverence. Like Tigris was so sacred, so cherished.

"I-I want that future with you," she murmured, her breath warm against Tigris’ collarbone. "I want every sunrise. Every ache. Every quiet night. I want all of it, with you."

And though she still couldn’t say the words yet — the ones that sat just behind her teeth, glowing with truth — her body said them in the way she kissed Tigris’ wrist, soft and lingering, as she felt her pulse against her delicate lips. It spoke in the way she held her tighter, breath caught between love and longing. It spoke in the way she simply... stayed.

Tears came after all. Tears of adoration, of gratitude, of uttermost joy.

And finally, the words she had held back spilled from her, tender, vulnerable, but safe.

"I love you, Tigris. I love you in ways I can't even speak. I wish I could express it more to you, but..." Her breath hitched again as she tried to formulate her words. "I just know I need you always. I can't imagine a life without you. I'll love you..." Her voice started to break under the weight of the emotion that pushed them closer, until she finally said the word that had stuck in her throat all this time.

"...forever."