Private Cloak & Dagger

[Talsin Lota]

And there was the smirk, never too far away but entirely absent for the past time they were together.

"What can I say? I am clearly a natural with animals." A bit cheeky as he regained some of his more natural pose. It was easier when they weren't standing so close together.

When her scent didn't push his head into the clouds. Earthy, grounding, it was like being amid nature.

Which was an accomplishment considering they were surrounded by pavement and metal for miles around them.

"Oh we managed to get an understanding last week. You and Talin were at some boxing thing again? How's that going anyway?"

Tansu Treicolt

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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Must be that animal magnetism." Tansu agreed, rummaging around a tool box for some industrial strength cleaner. She wanted to look at him so badly, but why? Every time she did he was puffed up and prideful and pretty and UGH! Her brain was completely out of control. She had to do something mindless and familiar.

"Last week??" It was an aggressive, but not unbelievable timeline. If Talsin lured him with food, there would be no way for Amos to withstand that sort of appeal.

Aha! Cleaner found, cloth acquired, hydrospanner in her pocket.

"Oh, that, yeah.. heh. Going well." Talin and her were running an underground operation that would have seen them grounded indefinitely back on Concord Dawn.

"We got enough credits to pay off our debts so far." She paused, and knelt near the landing gear of her ship. "Exceptyours.." added hurriedly, and so swiftly that the globbing noise of the thick solution pouring into the cloth nearly masked it entirely.

"What did you feed Amy to get his attention?"

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Talsin Lota
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[Talsin Lota]

A head tilt there.

"I told you. You don't owe me nothing, don't worry about it." He hadn't been interested in having her indebted to him before. He certainly wasn't interested in it now that her every breath wasn't annoying to him anymore. "But I am glad you found a lucrative business opportunity." That was sucha stuffy way of saying it, but honestly Tal wasn't entirely sure what went into the job. It sounded like they had managed to get a stake into a fighting ring.

That was pretty impressive as far as Tal was concerned.

"Oh, I had to try a few things, he is a bit picky." Thoughtful there for a moment and wondering if that meant he took after Talin or Tansu. "But I eventually managed to hook him in with some roasted nuna legs. He really ate those up."

He glanced around, watching her work.

"Do... you want some help?"

Tansu Treicolt

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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Tansu made a small noise at his dismissal. It still felt a bit wrong, especially with them hanging out now. She'd tried to make it right by inviting him to join her family and Dax on adventures, give him some access to friendship, but it was clear that speeder hosted memories Talsin held fondly. And because of her, and a stupid gang pursuit, it was gone.

He put up a stiff upper lip about it but it still felt imbalanced.

And maybe it always would. If she lost something of that cost, it would set her back significantly. Talsin could purchase another on the same day, and the only loss was the nostalgia.

She sighed.

"Don't make him fat." Came the warning while she reached to her back pocket, crouched, and tightened a bolt on her landing gear. The nuna would be the choice the cat made to be swayed. It was an Amos favourite. A treat for special family occasions. One each kid's name day, every one got to eat the favourite dish of the celebrated sibling — like it or not. And on Amos' name day (Kara made a day up one year, and it stuck for the annual tradition) they all ate nuna.

Did she want some help? She paused, mid-twist, and stared at the metal in front of her. Yes, she wanted him around. No, he was making her flustered and awkward. She wanted to focus. Yes, she wanted to see how he might look with grease on his cheeks. No! This was her thing for her sister. He'd already done the hard work of getting them here.

Ricocheting between acceptance and denial, Tansu bit her lip.

"Uhm."

He'd enjoyed working on his bike, but it was in solitude. Her hands suddenly felt sweaty and unsteady, and she fumbled the final turn.

"I don't know." She said lamely, and rocked back on her heels.

"Yes, because these things are huge and dirty and really need some love, but no, because I wanted to surprise Talin with them, and also no because I wanted them to be a project we shared, but yes because the doomsday clock is ticking and i ain't got any idea how long we have and realistically havin' all the help we can get is the best. I gotta clean em off, retrofit some spare DE parts on the outside, re-install the schematics inside, although, Chieftain can help with that I reckon' and then the whole insides of one of 'em needs parts, I didn't budget for that, so that probably means more scavingin', and I heard the repulsors squealin' rather than roarin' —" the longer the list went, the more flustered she became. Like she hadn't fully understood the scope of the project until it was parked in the hangar.

"Yes please." She finally squeaked out.

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Talsin Lota
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[Talsin Lota]

"With the way we are dragging him from one sewer adventure to the next, I am pretty sure he could use the extra calories." Talsin responded dryly but inclined his head anyway. It wasn't his cat so it wasn't his call to make. Then again, he wasn't going to make it a regular thing anyway. The trick with animals was luring them in with their favorite bits and boops and then slowly build it off, until they came to be petted just for the sake of being petted.

Her back and forth confused him.

Blinking there as she went back and forth with her rationale. It kinda made him worry that she wasn't actually interested in him being here. Which was the dumb ass in him talking and he knew that. Talsin might not be her favorite person, but clearly she was doing her best to abide by him.

"Oh..." Smiling hesitantly when she finally agreed. "Okay, yes! I will help."

But first thing he did was take off his jacket until he was in a white tank top. It would definitely get greased up, but better than than his jacket which costed about four times more. "Okay, where do you want me to start?"

Already rubbing his hands at the prospect of working on these beauties.

Tansu Treicolt

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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Suddenly the bolt she twisted became the most interesting piece of hardware she'd ever seen. As soon as Talsin slipped out of his jacket, bore his arms, and donned that boyish smile, she sucked in a breath and looked at the tiny octogonal shape near her fingers. Her blush reached her ears. She pulled the brim of her hat lower to cover her face so he couldn't see the inevitable shade of pink she could feel warming her skin. Tan looked like a real cowpoke now.

"I guess.." she started, and glanced at the wall. "I was gonna scrub 'em, but that'll take forever. Could just hose 'em down first. I did a light audit of their exterior and interior before I sent the call out and you came so..just..I guess we hose 'em off and then get to work on tightenin' anything that's loose first 'n foremost."

Talsin let Tansu put him to work. Together, they scrubbed, tightened, made lists of missing parts, rewired, welded., torched, buffed, scrubbed, reinforced, recalibrated It was hours of effort, and when they took a step back at the end of the day to look at what they'd accomplished, they earned the pride felt.

"Thanks for all your help today." Tansu wrapped the cleaning cloth around her knuckles, "I appreciate you spendin' your day on somethin' you weren't plannin' on." She turned to watch his reaction to her honest gratitude. Her brows knit together. His pretty face had a smear of black across his nose and cheek. Probably from the back of his hand.

"Oh, you've got," she licked her thumb and pressed it to his cheek, monofocused on swiping away the stain.

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Talsin Lota
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[Talsin Lota]

And it had been great.

Sure hanging with Amos and chilling on the sofa was nice. But they had an adventure and then worked together on something they both loved. That basically made them friends, right?

He assumed.

He didn't have (m)any friends but it seemed to be logical. "I had a great time today." Tal murmured softly as he brightened up at her nice words. "Thanks for including me."

As if she hadn't send an alert and dragged him from droids to the sky.

"O-oh." Before Tal could say anything she already went at it and really made him flush.

"I, thank you... That... Yeah. Is it all gone now?" But not stepping away from her.

Tansu Treicolt

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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Tansu smiled warmly. Hearing him say the words she felt, how great their time together had been (in contrast to earlier in their relationship), and his gratitude for inclusion, made her happier than she'd expected. It was strange for him to be so nice and pleasant. She'd enjoyed his company. A lot.

"Just a sec," she muttered, biting down on her tongue that slipped through her lips in concentration. His cheek needed a bit more scrubbing, and she reasoned it was all the pressure she was applying that made him pink. "Sorry, that was such an auntie move." She laughed.

"Okay, yeah, right as rain now." Satisfied, she pulled her hand away and observed her handiwork.

She'd had crushes before. Schoolboys, neighbours, farm hands, but none of them made her stomach flip-flop quite as much as the way it did when she looked up at Talsin. Admiring the flush on his cheeks, the unruliness of his hair, the slight sheen of sweat down his neck. He was gorgeous like this. Bright-eyed, a little mucked-up. And it was because of her. For her. He'd broken a sweat choring around on X-Wings he'd helped her liberate, and his eyes were sparkling because they'd had a good time together. The thumb she'd used to scrub his skin wedged between her teeth.

"Uh, okay, we." She ran her hands up to her hair, twisting it anxiously behind her, round and round until she could gather it up into a bun and tie it with its sheer length alone. "Should probably get back. I can't wait to tell Lin all 'bout this."

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Talsin Lota
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[Talsin Lota]

Again Talsin laughed nervously after her own joke.

"Oh it's uh... okay. I don't mind. Don't wanna come back home greasy, right?" It was the most nonsensical answer you could give under the circumstances, but Talsin really didn't have a lot of brain power left at this point. The respite given to him by them focusing on the engineering and cleaning was rapidly dissipitating as instead they were looking at each other and so close at that. He swallowed. "You have a little... " And he leaned in a little. "...can I?"

If allowed he'd absently lick his own thumb, his eyes stuck on hers... and rub a little something something away from her cheek, bringing him just a bit closer to her.

"I... yes, of course. I should probably get back home too... they are gonna wonder where I have been."

Biting his lip as he hesitated.

"Thanks again. For... everything."

Tansu Treicolt

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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She sucked in a breath, and looked to where he pointed. Obviously, she saw nothing. How could she? But in that split second of her attempting to circumvent the lack of three-dimensional observation, he leaned in, and when she looked back he was so much closer. Holy Force.

"Mhm." Came out of tight lips, like a little squeak.

Then his thumb, moistened from his mouth, rubbed against her skin. That was the second time today his hand touched her face. He wasn't even looking at what he was doing — his eyes were steady on hers. Heat coiled in her gut, breath quickened, like there were a thousand sensitive nerve endings suddenly beneath her freckles and he was frisking every single one of them.

All the pride she'd felt moments ago, looking at their hard work, slipped away. Pushed out by another stormy feeling that fluttered and flip-flopped, knotted and twisted.

"Okay." She nodded, not fully aware of what it was she responded to. He was saying bye, right? And thanking her? Again? She wished she could hear him clearer, over the random sounds between her ears that weren't words.

"Yeah. A-anytime. Next 'bout of shenanigans, yer my first hollar."

That was stupid. Why did she say that?

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Talsin Lota
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