Private An Ukatian and a (Dead) Hapan

[Miri Nimdok]

“Today is my birthday,” Giselle had announced that morning at breakfast, her hands neatly folded in her lap. “I would like to go shopping.”

That was what led her to the Vonnuvi marketplace, and eventually to the street vendor selling trinkets. Nothing else had caught her eye—the fashions were flashy and unappealing, the electronics loud and overwhelming. But the Gypsy Trading Co., as was painted on the sign above, was away from all the noise and lights and flaunted skin.

The seller was also Human, which only made it all the more appealing. Their eyes met, and as Giselle approached, her Jedi escort following close behind, he pulled a plasteel bin out from behind the counter and dumped its contents out. Hundreds of pieces of shiny, glittering jewelry spilled across the surface.

Giselle combed through the metal and gems with dainty fingers while the salesman gave his pitch. All of it was pre-owned, of course, but the styles were more varied, including some that were close to what was sold back home on Ukatis. A ring caught her eye, but she played coy at first, continuing to sift through the other pieces. She kept coming back to the ring, though: a band of rose gold, engraved with leaves and inset with a sparkling crystal that seemed to hold all the colors of the spectrum trapped within its facets.

“That one’s a genuine rainbow gem!” the seller declared. A ludicrous claim, she knew. But it was an exceptional imitation, and Giselle was determined to have at least one good birthday present this year.

“May I try it on?” she asked.

“Of course!”

She slid the ring onto the index finger of her left hand. It went with no resistance—which surprised her, given the usual difficulties she had with rings on her chubby fingers. She held up her hand, admiring how it looked. “I’ll take it,” she said, handing over the money.

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

The Other Side was akin to a dream-filled slumber. Subdued yet expansive, Emotional yet devoid of lucidity. If Aramis was there, not even he knew it. Like a dream, memories disappeared as soon as they came, rarely more than a lingering sensation ever escaping the clutches of the void, before its tide swept it back below.

Sometime after Giselle slipped on the ring, she might feel a similar sensation. Not quite placeable, like a feeling of being watched. Unnatural, but easily dismissed as a trick of one's own mind. But within this new link, Aramis was finally rolling out of his deathbed.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Giselle was always being watched. Senator Organa had warned her of that after she agreed to go with him. While he assured her it was for her safety, she did sometimes feel as if she had merely exchanged one form of captivity for another—one that was more high-tech, but no less intrusive.

When she returned to her quarters, her escorts left her alone. The eyes upon her now were the cold and unfeeling sensors of machines, meant to pick up on heat signatures and detect motion around the abode in case anyone came looking for her. Giselle certainly doubted that all the king’s men were being put to the task of tracking her down, but probably someone was out there searching. Perhaps a Seer, or a hired hunter. Either way, she doubted they would ever find her here, on this little space station full of strange aliens with hammer-shaped heads, backs that curved inward and low, droning voices.

The ring should probably be washed, she decided. Who knew where it had been. She went to the fresher and, temporarily removing it from her finger, disinfected the band as best she could with soap and water. Once it was clean and dry, she put it on again, holding it up. It looked even lovelier, the light catching more brilliant on the gem.

She lay on her side in bed, propped up on her elbow. All around her were stacks of books, datapads, and a holo projector. None of it could claim her attention quite like the ring, which even now she was gazing at. She had other jewelry, given to her by His Majesty from his personal treasure horde, but much of it was too decadent for her tastes. The ring was elegant. She held up her arm, trying to make a rainbow on the wall by turning her hand just so that the light would filter through the crystal. It didn’t work. Hmm, was it only crystal prisms that could do that? Ah well. It was pretty regardless.

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

Aramis was about to wake up, but fell back into slumber. He returned to the void, none the wiser of how close he came to undeath. Then after a period that could have been mere seconds to eons, he was practically thrown from his state of limbo. A dim mote of light grew from within the crystal as Giselle looked at it. Growing at first imperceptibly slow, then suddenly expanding beyond its boundaries. A gust of wind would rush across the room.

Then, a young, well-dressed man would appear hovering above her. His body appeared almost duotone; Skin and hair pallid white, his clothes and darker features a muted blue. And all of it, notably, semi-transparent. Aramis looked around in confusion, his gaze settling on the unknown face in front of him. Then, as if everything leading up tot his moment suddenly rushed back into his head all at once, the boy recoiled, wailing in agony.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

It took a while for Giselle to notice the tiny glow at the center of the crystal, and by the time she did there was hardly time to react before a figure materialized from the light. Floating above her was a young man with white hair and colorless skin.

“Oh my,” she said. “There’s a strange boy in my room.” She didn’t seem to find this sudden development entirely displeasing.

His sudden screaming was a little more alarming. “Keep your voice down!” she hissed, sitting up. She held her breath, expecting the guards to barge in assuming the worst, but nothing happened. He screamed like he was being murdered, and yet not a soul seemed to hear. Some guards. If it had been her crying out, would they have come to her aid then? Hmph.

"Who are you?" she asked the screaming fellow. "What are you doing here? Do settle down and answer me, or I shall call the guards."

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

Aramis' cries gradually subsided, the mental assault of untold years rushing back, now dissipating. He looked around at his surroundings in shock, then down at his own incorporeal hands. The other voice in the room finally registered, "W-what?" He said in shock, blinking, "What?! That's your question?! Not 'why in the hells is there a ghost floating above my bed in the first place?!"

Aramis scoffed, "I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't even know what here is."

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"W-what? What?! That's your question?! Not 'why in the hells is there a ghost floating above my bed in the first place?!"

Giselle gave him an offended look. “How was I to know what species you were, sir? We’ve only just met, and under most unusual circumstances.” She gestured to her room. “I don’t often receive male visitors in my boudoir, whether they be ghosts or not.”

If she seemed entirely too casual about the whole situation, it was deliberate. Giselle had learned from a young age to hide her surprise and shock at the unexpected. By seeming calm and unbothered, she could appear confident even in the face of perils and misfortunes that would reduce other girls her age to tears. It also increased her chances of regaining some control over her fate—a very good trait to have for an Ukatian lady.

She rose from the bed, standing before him, her gown a cloud of dark pink taffeta around her. “Do stop floating, please, if you can. I would prefer that we speak face to face here on the floor.”

Once that matter was settled, she deigned to provide him with answers. “You are in my private quarters, aboard the space station Vonnuvi. I believe you came from this ring I bought earlier today for my birthday.” She held up her lily-white hand to show him. “Now, would you care to explain how you came to be a ghost inside a ring?”

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

"'Species'?" Aramis repeated. This woman's nonchalance was freaking him out even further, "Well if you treat all things with this much boredom, I can't imagine why." The polite request for him to stop floating received a dry chuckle. He didn't cease, but he did hover closer to the ground.

“You are in my private quarters, aboard the space station Vonnuvi. I believe you came from this ring I bought earlier today for my birthday.”

None of that made any sense to him, but when she flashed the ring, a spark of recognition lit his eyes, "A— That's my ring!" He said, peering for a closer look, "It belonged to me. I must've…" He dwelled on his death. He could remember it now. He could remember his time in the afterlife, though time was harder to discern. For all he knew, he died a thousand years ago, or a few minutes ago. Although considering his ring had been recovered and resold, probably not quite the latter. "My spirit must have become tied to the ring. I can only imagine it's the lone piece of me that survived my… demise. Why do you have it?" He asked accusatorially.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

“You are not boring in the least, sir,” Giselle said, silently thanking the gods. She had been hoping for better company than her stiff guards and stuffy Jedi escort, and if a ghost was the best she could get, well... at least he was cute.

He immediately recognized the ring as having belonged to him. “It belongs to me now. I paid for it. The shopkeeper tried to pass it off as genuine rainbow gem.”

Her curiosity was certainly piqued, but she resisted the urge to pummel him with questions. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lady Giselle. And you are?”

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

Aramis groaned, and began to pace across the room (or hover across the room). "It's not, if it were I would've been stuck with a roommate for the past… however long it's been." True Hapan rainbow gems held a consciousness. How that would have actually worked with his spirit becoming tied to the object, he had no idea. "I suppose pilfering rings from the dead is a suitable method of resale. Not like I can wear it anyway," He looked down at his fingers and recognized that an incorporeal echo of the ring was in fact on his left hand, "Hm."

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lady Giselle. And you are?”

Aramis looked up at the young lady, finally coming to terms with the chaos himself, "Aramis, Baron of House Aramentia, thirteenth of the name." He inspected Giselle more closely for some signs of her title, "A Lady? Of what nobility?" She wasn't Hapan, that was for sure.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

“Oh yes,” Giselle apparently agreed. “It’s no use burying the dead with their wealth like pagan savages.”

He finally introduced himself. As a baron, he outranked her, but only by a single rung on the ladder of noble hierarchy. When Aramis asked her what nobility she was from, she hesitated. Technically she wasn’t supposed to discuss her background with anyone, but… oh, bother.

“House von Ascania, of Ukatis,” she replied. “Although you must not tell a soul that I am here. The King of Ukatis was holding me captive. I was rescued by a Duke of Alderaan. Now I am in hiding.”

Perhaps if he had found her earlier, she would've spoken of her situation as if she were a character in a great romance. But spending enough time cooped up with no one to talk to and not much to do had quickly worn out the romance from her present circumstances. Being in hiding felt more like a second captivity, only far more dull and monotonous than the first had been. King Horace was many things, but he was never boring.

"May I ask what planet you are from, my lord?"

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

"I don't even know what that is," Arlo replied plainly, "Sounds like a shithole, though," His lip curled at his own remark. The drama sounded fun at least. "What's Alderaan doing getting involved?" The baron began to float around the room, evidently trying to gain some sensory response. He phased his hand through objects, held it up to sources of warmth or cold. Nothing.

"Hapes." Aramis replied plainly, not looking away form his hand that was now partway through a wall.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

"I don't even know what that is. Sounds like a shithole, though."

Giselle recoiled at his rudeness. “Your language offends me, my lord.” But there was little she could do about it apart from ignoring him. If he kept behaving like a cad and insulting her heritage, perhaps she would.

"What's Alderaan doing getting involved?"

“His Grace is a knight, if not in name then in deeds,” she replied. “I believe he simply wanted to rescue me out of the goodness of his heart and his sense of justice. The others, though—they all had something to gain from my escape. At any rate, I am to be given a seat in the Senate as Ukatis’ representative, as is my birthright, and I intend to keep it.”

"Hapes."

“The planet where the women treat their men like chattel?” It was plain by the expression on her face and the tone of her voice that she found this to be a most unnatural arrangement. She gave him a pitying look. “I am sorry to hear that. It must have been difficult for you.”

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

"Ah, yes, of course," Aramis muttered. Noble decorum was always a hassle, and he'd lost his investment post mortem, "You shouldn't put much stock in the words of a dead man." He tried to rub his fingers together, finding little resistance.

Giselle's assessment of her savior's character made Aramis elicit a mock retching noise. "Goodness of his heart," The baron chuckled, finding it difficult to believe. Then again, the man was apparently hippy-dippy Alderaanian. Her assessment of Hapes also made him chuckle, "Yes, yes. I suffered greatly under the bootheel of noble wealth and privilege." Aramis shrugged, clearly not taking it too harshly, "Perhaps a more common man might take comfort in your words. The inconveniences of my sex took me down a much greater path. One I might not have taken otherwise…" The more he spoke, the more his haughtiness seemed to deflate. As if Aramis were unconvinced by his own braggadocio.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Giselle gave Aramis a wary look, one which deepened into a frown as he made a retching sound and echoed her words about the Duke mockingly. He was by now on very thin ice; there was only so much flippancy and rudeness she was willing to take, even from a dead man.

He spoke rather casually about the “inconveniences” of his sex. Based on the things she had been told about Hapes, Giselle did not consider them mere inconveniences, but then she could not comprehend the irony of her own perspective. She had been taught that it was the natural state of man to rule and of women to submit to their rule. That there was a world where the roles were forcibly reversed, running contrary to nature through the artificial means granted by technology, was not merely dystopian but an aberration.

Yet Aramis hinted at having found a way to overcome the terrible circumstance of his having been born a Hapan male. Her eyes brightened. “What path was that?” she asked, leaning toward his floating form.

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

The spirit's smirk grew back, "The path of darkness…" He admitted, turning to face her, "I studied the profane secrets of the galaxy with zeal. Trained and learned under eldritch dark lords unknown, yet powerful enough to strike fear in the hearts of all. Even those savage Mawites would probably cower at the revelation. But I did not waver. I would have become he ruler of the galaxy. A god, even." He deflated once more.

"…And then I died. And my potential squandered."

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Giselle’s eyebrows rose as Aramis launched into an evil monologue. To be perfectly honest, she’d heard much more grisly and fearsome tales among the annals of Ukatian literature. But it did make her slightly more wary of the handsome ghost boy.

“How exactly did you die?” she asked. Earlier he had tried to touch various objects around the room, but his spectral hand simply passed through them. She made her own attempt at contact then, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

Aramis​

 

[Aramis]

Aramis seemed to wait to respond until after Giselle tried to touch him. He seemed expectant, hopeful even. But the moment he proved intangible to even her, he recoiled as if insulted by the gesture. "I…" The spirit pursed his lips, struggling to admit his fate, "It was a hyperspace malfunction. I was just traveling. Not even to anything significant." Just blew up. For a long time he couldn't even process it in the afterlife. It was instant, without warning. But eventually he came to realize the truth.

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Giselle's hand passed through him as if he were naught but air. Her fingers did tingle a little, though. Aramis seemed distressed by both his intangibility and the manner of his death. It wasn't hard to understand why.

"You poor man," she murmured in sympathy, miming caressing his cheek even though she couldn't truly touch him. "What will you do now that you're free of the ring?"

Giselle von Ascania​

 

[Aramis]

"I don't know," Arlo said, deep in thought over his current state, "Am I truly free? I'm still… dead. Roaming the material world as nothing more than a shadow feels more like a curse than anything else." He suddenly turned and phased through the door to her room, as soon as he did, a man walked past. Aramis startled, making a noise, but the man passed by unimpeded, "…What?"

Aramis returned to the room, "You can see me. Hear me." He looked back towards the door, "Are you the only one?" He looked down at her finger, to the ring. That had to be it.

Giselle von Ascania​