Chemical Romance

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

Carach listened.

Brows rose.

His arms pulled her in and wrapped around her.

What was there to say in that moment? What assurances could be made, when she knew him better than most people? Knew that back then... when they first met? He had been exactly how she described the entire situation. He thought back to it, that first night, would he have cared if Raj disappeared soon after? No, not after that first night, but perhaps after the second one or the third one. Perhaps during that long weekend they spend together and enjoyed each other's company.

He had been furious when she stopped returning his calls, hadn't he been?

But that wasn't the same.

Possessiveness and pride hurt through a lack of follow through weren't things to be proud of.

After Raj had died? She hadn't left a void of uncaring feelings - Xiangu's shriek of pain and furious anger still resonated with him plenty. "It is scary- to become comfortable with the status quo out of obligation... just to find the situation has changed as obligation was swept away by reality," He mumbled into her hair, easing his embrace over her. "I want this too, Raj." Then he was silent again, holding her, wondering when things had shifted so much.

Would Carach have imagined himself in this very place a year ago?

 

[Kuzo]

She knew now, that she had been wrong. The comfortable assumptions about how little she had meant to those like Matsu, Reverance... and him.... she had been wrong in those. Her face pressed against his shoulder, she didn't need him to explain, after all. But she had needed that embrace, even if she didn't realize it until she was in his arms. She simply let him hold her for a drawn out moment, before her arms slid around his waist and she rested her head lightly against his shoulder.

The silence stretched, but it was not uncomfortable. Heavy, perhaps, but not awkward.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, "I don't.... my intention was to play you nice music and show you the new apartment. Not drop all of that."

Pushing back away from him slightly, she didn't leave his arms, only settled herself so she could look up at him.

"I trust you, Carach. I believe in you. You've earned that, a hundred fold." She paused, not in hesitation, but in thought, trying to find the words. "You matter to me. And I want you to know that."

She kissed him then, soft and warm. And then, suddenly, she smirked.

"But I also really want you to like this apartment."

[member="Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Thought we agreed to stop apologizing." Carach murmured against her lips as the kiss ended for a moment. For a moment he nuzzled her, brushing her cheek, brow, she wrinkled her nose at the scratchy feeling and Carach chuckled drawing back slightly. "You matter to me too." The Sith didn't think it was necessary to say- it was obvious from where he was sitting, but the reaffirmation (from both sides) felt... nice. Perhaps that was the only thing that truly mattered then.

To state a fact, reaffirm it, because it felt good to do so.

"As for the apartment... well, it needs some more gold to it, gild the floors, cover the walls in silver, maybe add a few fountains as well." He teased gently, calling back to the old days.

When his first instinct was to get the most expensive options.

Just because.

"No, I love it. We will need to buy a feth ton of furniture and appliances, but I can see us living here."

 

[Kuzo]

Nose wrinkling had intensified and she'd gone so far as to stick out her tongue when he mentioned 'gilding'.

"I could go a lifetime without seeing another damned, unnecessarily gilded obelisk or whatever in my living space, thank you very much," she said primly, but the laugher in her eyes (and the raspberry of a moment before) ruined the effect utterly.

In truth, Raj enjoyed the experience of that kind of luxury, but more as a vacation from the every day than as the every day itself. She'd ooh and aah over chandeliers and gold rimmed glasses, but at the end of the day, it wasn't what she cared about coming home to.

"I figure if we hit a middle ground between gold plated toilets and assemble-it-yourself furniture, we'll make it work somehow."

This was her way of saying she had no intention of moving in the (by this point kind of ratty) couch he hated. The last time they'd used it they'd broken some springs and it wasn't comfortable to sit on anymore anyway.

"Want to take a look around? See what the rest of it is like?"

[member="Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Very well, but I insist that our bed will have curtains made out of spun diamond fibers." That wasn't an actual thing, but Carach brought it so convincingly and without doubt that Raj looked at him with just a hint of curiosity. Before she realized he had been joking anyway and swatted at him playfully.

He chuckled before smirking.

"Well, we could, but..." His eyes steadied meaningfully on the blanket before the fire. "We could also find something else to do."

It just seemed like a waste.

Besides, this was a new home, a new apartment. There was need for thorough exploration of its many nooks and surfaces and places, before they could truly call it their home.

 

[Kuzo]

Her own smile widened as he leaned in. The rough rub of beard scraped lightly along her cheek, his breath warm on her ear. He whispered intentions in low tones, and her face flushed slightly, though not from any sort of embarrassment.

"That would take all night," she whispered back, with mock seriousness. "It's not a small apartment."

"Is that an objection, Doctor Ven?"

His words hummed directly against her skin. Sliding her hands up behind his head, she pulled back just enough to catch the look in his eyes- heat and hunger-

"Not even remotely," she murmured before pulling his mouth down to hers.

*****

They took their time in front of the fire in the library, and by the time they separated it was full dark outside. That room was only lit by candles, but as they retrieved wine glasses and went to pad barefoot around the apartment, Irajah brought soft lights up in the living room with a casual flick of her hand. Clearly on dimmers, she offered just enough to see by without being intrusive.

Thick white carpet muted their steps. There was a step down to a smaller nook, and a pass through that allowed a glimpse into the kitchen.

"I like it, but I have doubts about a white carpet," she mused, half to herself half to him.

[member="Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

It was a pleasant feeling to have the white fur between his toes.

Warm, comfortable, it was a good contrast to the cold floor made out of some kind of expensive-looking stone. It was most definitely not simple duracrete, not with the way the veins of the stone were mixing together in a pattern. Duracrete was far too simple looking to even remotely compare to this.

"Because we are gonna get blood on it in the first week?"

"Well yeah."

"That is fair." Carach agreed after a moment of thought. One more experimental wiggle with his toes, before he shrugged. "I like it though. We can just replace it every week."

Seemed a pretty simple solution to him.

 

[Kuzo]

She laughed, stepping lightly away from him as he wiggled his toes.

Half of the wall was taken up by floor to ceiling window. One of the reasons she'd chosen this particular apartment had been because of the views. It was a view that would have made her vaguely ill, if not out right dizzy in the past. But that fear of heights had been burned out of her on the side of that mountain. This? This was nothing after that. She stood there for a moment, wine glass held lightly in one hand as she looked down.

She felt him approach after a moment. Reaching back her free hand, she caught just the tips of his fingers and drawing him up behind her to look down on Coruscant beneath them.

Sipping from the wine glass, she settled her back against his chest, his hand drawing across her hips.

"Can watch sunrise from this room and the master bedroom," she commented, feeling a certain lazy contentment. "Sunset from the office and the library."

Tipping her head up, chin turning slightly, she peered up at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You..... are not thinking about the view of the city anymore," she teased accusingly.

[member="Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

For a moment Carach did look at the view.

​

If there was one thing about Coruscant that he loved it was the view.

Strange how he had come to this place in his many incarnations: as an urchin, a thug with no name, then as a conqueror and a lord, a corporate magnate next and now... what was Carach now? It was difficult to really sum himself up now. Assassin? Criminal? Just a man with a curious hobby and the willingness to provide-

A brush and all that went away for a moment.

"You..... are not thinking about the view of the city anymore," She accused in a tease, which evoked a smirk from him. Instead Carach leaned in, lips brushing neck, kissing softly at first while whispering. "Can you really blame me?"

 

[Kuzo]

"Well, you did say every room, so I suppose-"

Whatever it was she supposed was lost a moment later when he found just the right spot on her neck. She closed her eyes, reaching out to steady herself against the glass.

Neither of them paid much attention to the view after that.

*****

"I don't need much more than a frying pan, spatula and maybe a good knife, so you're going to have to pick out most of the stuff in here," she commented as she paused, watching him look around the kitchen.

Leaning in the doorway, she crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. Empty wine glasses had been abandoned for the moment on the counter. The kitchen she'd chosen specifically with him in mind. Grey marble, shot through with lines of gold, a hint of the decadence she was more familiar with from him. Middle island slightly lower than the surrounding counters, new appliances in black and steel. There was plenty of prep work space, six burners to work with- not to mention the double sink and a prep sink in the counter. She might not be more than an acceptable cook, but it was clear that she knew what one needed to work.

Pushing off of the wall, she padded silently into the room. Slipping around him as he explored, she opened the fridge, producing another bottle of wine (this one lovely but not so impressive as the Corellian, a fine pale jade of Ithorian vintage). Plucking a wine key from the counter (the only kitchen tool in the house so far) she set to opening the bottle, because the empty wine glasses simply wouldn't do.

[member="Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

This time around she got more curiosity from him.. more than from the living room anyway.

Because the Sith Lord studied and checked out every inch of the kitchen, tried out the burners, positioned himself just right to see just how well it would work when he was in the thick of it all. It might have taken all of ten minutes, before Carach nodded softly to himself in satisfaction. She would notice it when he turned around to look at her.

"This is perfection, Raj. I love it." Carach said before seeing the wine and then the glasses already full again. Brows lifted up, if slightly, while studying her curve behind it.

"Well, I suppose I am feeling a little bit... thirsty."

The Sith approached then, taking his glass in his hand and clinking it against hers. A sip was taken, to try it out, while a free finger stroked skin up and down in an experimental fashion.

"Tastes good."

 

[Kuzo]

She smirked knowingly. A clink and she sipped with him. The wine was light, herbal and just a touch sweet. Not their usual taste, but one thing he knew about her was that she was prone to trying new things on a whim, simply for the sake of the experience.

"Well, I *did* have you in mind while I was looking at places," she said, laughing as she canted her head to the side and looked up at him. His trailing finger drew her smile wider.

"Can't expect you to cook like you did last week in subpar conditions," she teased, pushing up on her toes to kiss him, brief but firm. "And I will freely admit that I'm hoping you'll do that often," she murmured against his mouth before dropping back down.

"You're going to have to leave a cabinet for me though," she joked, bare feet taking her silently across the kitchen, away from him, hips swaying deliberately but pretending she was paying attention to the room and not his reaction. "Going to fill it with a dozen different kinds of caf."

She reached out, patting a spot on the counter and throwing smile over her shoulder at him.

"Caf machine is going to go right here, in case you were wondering. Everything else is up to you."

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

His attention slipped from the wine and the room towards that swaying.

"Well, I suppose I could give up one cabinet for you." Already pressed against her, the walk steady and surely as his hands found their place on both sides of her, keeping her in place there and then. "I think we should stress-test it first, don't you agree?"

He mumbled against her neck.

This never got old for him, never boring, every inch explored and yet Carach enjoyed finding out more. She kept surprising him, kept him on his... toes and it was a consistent joy to him. This time around he reached out to her in his mind, his presence slowly wrapping itself around hers, squeezing tight and finding purchase in the room she left for him always. A shiver running up and down her spine, the feeling of a tug against her ear with teeth, hands exploring.

Some of it was physical.

Some of it was not.

Both felt real.

 

[Kuzo]

"Mmmm, doesn't take much to make me happy," she murmured, eyes closing. "One cabinet. Some good caf....."

With eyes closed and him inside of her mind, it was easy to let the sensations mix and meld like a carefully crafted cocktail. With eyes closed, as long as she accepted instead of dissecting, there was no telling which things were touches on her body and which only on her mind. She liked that, and he knew it.

Both of her hands were resting on the edge of the counter now, leaning there with his weight carefully layered against her back.

"Scraps of your attention," she smirked, teasing him softly.

She turned around in his arms, hands returning to their spots against the edge behind her now. With a boost, his hands on her hips, she hopped up to sit on the counter. Her feet swung back and forth slightly above the floor.

"You know. Little things."

"Little things?"

"Figure of.... speech."

​[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

More time passed and the kitchen was explored thoroughly.

By the time they were.... satisfied (for now anyway) they were familiar with every inch of the room. "Mmrrm." Carach hummed against her head as they sat on the kitchen floor, leaning against that very same counter that started all of this. With a mild gesture the glasses and bottle drifted lazily from the table and to his hands, depositing one for Raj and one for himself.

"We will have to clean up this mess.... later." The hitch in breath punctuating the pause before he smirked down at her while she looked up. "You are a menace, you know that, right?"

The glasses clinked again and he kissed her after the first taste of wine.

Their earlier... talk had been pushed up all the way to the corner, no worries for now, just pleasure.

 

[Kuzo]

Half sprawled in his lap, she laughed, touching her glass against his with a satisfying ring. She was warm and a little drowsy by this point if she were being honest, and surprisingly comfortable there leaning against him.

"Mmmm I'm glad you noticed. I do try," she said with a mock gravity that was spoiled by the humor in her eyes.

"It takes a lot of work, you understand. To be this menacing."

With her free hand she clawed at the air in his general direction, making noises more akin to something a rowdy child would make at a zoo toward an actually menacing creature, rather than of an actually menacing creature.

"See? Very menacing. You should be terrified."

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"Mmhm, never have I encountered anything more fierce in my many lifetimes." He murmured, teasing back as his hand brushed down and cupped the length of her jaw. Long fingers leaving lips alone and instead leaning down and kissing her once more. It was strange- before Raj he had never been that much of a kisser. Oh, he enjoyed it where it was done, but never outside of the play. It just didn't seem to be that kind of thing. Besides the usual kiss or peck on the cheek, things like that.

He decided he enjoyed her taste.

"How many more rooms are there to explore, Raj?" The question came after leaning back again, hand brushing down and down, until it rested easily on her leg. "Of course every refresher is its own room, so we must keep that in mind."

Fingers curled and squeezed just a bit at that last note.

 

[Kuzo]

She chuckled, leaning back against him as he settled back against the cabinet. Turning her head, she rested her cheek against his shoulder, entirely relaxed.

"Hmmm. Master bedroom and bath. The office off of that. Guest room, the 'fresher off the main hall. So, counting the way you do, five more rooms. But most of those are smaller, and empty yet. Made sure the guest room is big enough for a king sized bed, though. For when Rev and Aver visit."

Not that it was likely they'd sleep alone anyway.

Tilting her head back slightly, she arched an eyebrow at him.

"You can't tell me that even you aren't getting a little tired," she teased.

While the 'round the world' escapades hadn't been part of her particular plan for the evening, she had no complaints. She enjoyed these times, just the two of them when nothing was tugging insistently at their attention besides each other.

"Because there is always tomorrow- and the day after that..... and the day after that...." she shifted so she could kiss him. "Until you and your many life times gets bored-" but she was smiling, still teasing.

Oh, she believed that would be the case, someday. She also believed him when he said that this mattered. The two weren't mutually exclusive, as far as she was concerned. They'd made no promises, no agreements. Both were here because it was where they wanted to be. It didn't need to be more than that, and she was entirely certain that she didn't want either of them making 'forever' promises that there was a chance neither could keep.

[member="Jairus Starvald"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

Carach smirked at her last mention.

"It's fine, once I get bored I will just switch out a life and keep it going that way." He teased and then kissed back, line trailing past her lips, jawline, neck and settling in there with teeth and lips. Whatever Raj wanted to say was lost in the hitch and the Sith Lord could only smirk at the reaction received from her. "Well... we could also simply retire to the tub and see what we can squeeze out of that?"

The glint in her eyes as he pulled back to study her reaction, reactionary smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth, it told him enough for him push himself up and pull her with.

"Let's go explore then."

All lazy exhaustion was gone once they went deeper and farther.

 

[Kuzo]

"I'm sorry Jai, I know this is our date night, but this can't wait."

Irajah was packing some gear- tranquilizer gun with enough stopping power to take down a medium sized rancor, climbing gear, head lamps. It was a week after they'd spent the first night in the apartment, and already it was looking more lived in- especially since she had everything she needed spread all over the bed.

"There's something I need to get- someone I guess, that I left behind. Technobeast. Something my father created and is keyed to me. But I just got word that the Alliance is planning on 'cleansing' a bunch of old O.S. installations- and it looks like that one is on the list. I'd always planned on going back for him, but my time table got moved up by that."

She talked while she worked.

"I might be gone a couple days- I thought I'd pick up Samson to go with," she said, explaining the second set of much larger gear as he watched her pack. "I'm not expecting any sort of trouble- I mean, there are other technobeasts roaming around in the facility, but that's what this is for," she added, nodding to the rifle. "Going to see if I can blow an opening so when they wake up they can get out before the Alliance gets there, but we'll see what happens. Not going to put us at risk to do it, but if I can thumb my nose at them and take away what they want to destroy, well-"

She shot him a smirk as she zipped up the second pack.

"I know you're really busy with the 'garage', so I figured mmph!"

He silenced her with a kiss and she relaxed into it, smiling against his mouth.

"So you're not mad then?"

[member="Jairus Starvald"]