Private Detour through Demonsgate [Rann]

[Imka Larue]

"Probably not," Imka agreed, "but it's so flattering." She was in better spirits now, even if feeling the weight of exhaustion begin to settle on her shoulders. Successful missions always left her on a high, and despite their current situation of waiting, they'd done everything they could and managed to help everyone on board to feel a little better. Even the man who presently slept on the other table, three quarters of his body badly burned. He was resting and he wasn't in pain. She would take those little victories where she could.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Just-" Imka offered him a faint smirk, "sit there in all your heroic glory and let me do my job."

She pulled the medical supplies over, sitting it next to him on the bed, and gently took hold of his chin to turn his head this way and that. The burns on his face were superficial and would heal fine, given time, but likely had to hurt quite a bit. "I think the metal mask was the worst choice of your wardrobe...this will sting." Gently, gently, dabbing cleanser and disinfectant around the main of the burn, she leaned in closer to get a better look, "Why do you wear that mask anyway?"

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann offered a sheepish smile, his eyes wincing with each dab of the disinfectant.

“Honestly? Uh…it has very basic HUD information on it but mostly for style if I’m being honest. I like the way it looks. Also helps hide my identity if I need to.” He shrugged and sucked air through his teeth as she dabbed more disinfectant on him. “Ow.” He said quietly.
“I don’t know why I wore it here. Just felt…right I guess.”

“I appreciate you for doing this.” He said, looking at her. “I figure you’re the type that would anyway. But..still. Thanks.”

 

[Imka Larue]

"Hide your identity..." that got a brow raise over curious dark eyes, "you some kind of celebrity?" A teasing smile followed.

"Ow."

"Sorry," another apologetic wince, "nearly done."

“I appreciate you for doing this.” He said, looking at her. “I figure you’re the type that would anyway. But..still. Thanks.”

Imka's expression warmed at his thanks, "It's what I'm good at," she shrugged, "helping people. Figured if I could make money doing it, why not?" The earnest nature of his gaze caught her slightly off guard, though, and if her dark cheeks may have colored somewhat she couldn't say. "We're out of smaller bacta patches, so just close your eyes and I'll use this kolto sealant spray for now."

She waited for the man to close his eyes, carefully sprayed on the burn areas that needed it the most, then paused.

Smiling to herself, she leaned in and planted a warm kiss on his lips that lingered briefly before she pulled away, but not too far away.

 

[Rann Thress]

“Something like that.” He said, smiling. He didn’t want to tell her exactly who he was just yet.
“That’s fair. Why not?” he shrugged when she told him why she did what she did. More than fair, in an ideal world she wouldn’t need to be paid for her good works but this was far from ideal.
When told to close his eyes, he nodded and closed them. The Kolto spray was soothing, but he did since from the sudden coolness of it. After he felt the spraying stop he kept his eyes closed, expecting more when she planted her lips on his, contrasting the coolness of the spray. After she pulled away he opened his eyes and looked at her, looking back at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

He was thankful for the redness of his skin from the heat of the planet, she wouldn’t see just how flustered he was. He reached up with his organic left hand and took hers, giving it a small squeeze before leaning towards her and planting a kiss of his own.

 

[Imka Larue]

There was always that moment of uncertainty where you hung in the balance after stepping over the line. Imka had so rarely stayed in one place for long enough to form lasting relationships that she'd spent a good deal of her life living in the moment and taking good opportunities when they presented themselves. Rann could have been married or at the very least involved - but what did one little innocent kiss of thanks matter? If it caused offense she could brush it off as an extra-special thank you and call it a day.

If it didn't...

She rarely flinched in the face of these uncertainties. Imka didn't have time for questioning her motives or her confidence. She knew who she was and what she wanted, but wasn't it just always a relief when her gestures were taken in kind and returned in kind. Saved everyone involved a lot of awkward silences. His return kiss was met with a calm breath and a grateful gaze. Imka spared a short, silent glance around the med bay. It was them, the sleeping burned man, and another off in the corner chair who had been gently snoring for some time now. Micro movements brought her closer, standing between his knees at the edge of the table where he sat.

The spray bottle in her free hand was set aside and the hand now squeezing her other was given a small nuzzle. "Can I ask you a question, then?" she gave the man a coy look as she leaned in just a hairsbreadth away, "Can I have your autograph?"

Grin.

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann held her gaze, unblinking, as she stepped closer. His heart beat with ever increasing speed as she leaned in so close, asking if she could ask him a question. He nodded and awaited her question, eager to hear what she had to ask, yet slightly frightened as well. His mind ran through the endless possibilities.

Why did she look around before she came in close? he asked himself, endlessly pondering the answers.

“Can I have your autograph?” Came her question, and Rann stared blankly, mouth agape, before stifling a small laugh, relaxing.
“Yes.” He smiled at her and nodded, “Yes you can.”
He answered, taking a small deep breath, regaining as much of his composure as he could.

 

[Imka Larue]

Imka's grin broadened, a quiet laugh of her own flushing over his face. Felt good to laugh over something so absurd when just a few hours ago she thought for certain she was looking at the last moments of her life.

"That's great," she replied, voice hushed to keep from waking the patients in the room, "no one will ever believe me when I tell them I kissed a celebrity because he saved my life." Imka's smile faded somewhat for a look of earnest appreciation, a slight nod shifting her gaze as she looked over his face. Scruffy, burned, but scrappishly handsome. She would have liked to find somewhere quiet and secluded to continue showing him her gratitude, but a cramped vessel full of wounded people didn't quite seem the appropriate time or place.

Imka gently cleared her throat and stood back, "I should go check to see if any messages came in from my team."

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann blinked and down looked away from Imka, rubbing the back of his neck. “Y-yeah.” He replied. He didn’t want to press the issue. This was hardly the place.

He stood up from the table and grabbed his discarded outer layer. As he did he shot a long glance at Imka before shaking his head and moving. “Yeah I’ll catch up with you in a minute. See uh. See what we do next.” He said, smiling at her as he proceeded to head off towards his quarters. His clothing, even stripped of the outer layer, was still very heavy, he desperately needed to get out of the heavy layers of black robes he wore. Once inside his quarters, he dropped the clothing he was wearing on his bed and stripped the remainder of his top layers off, opting instead to wear a single dark grey tanktop and his usually black pants. Once he was comfortable, he looked down at his arms. They were slightly red, but they had been mostly protected from any serious damage by his clothing. His robes, however, were singed. He cocked his head to the side and clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Ah well.” He turned to leave his room and began to move towards the cockpit. He figured it would be best to wait there for any information, and perhaps some more time with Imka.

 

[Imka Larue]

Imka was perched on the edge of the pilot's chair when he entered the cockpit, listening in on a garbled transmission through the pilot's headset. She looked up with the image of relief in her expression as Rann walked in and gave him the thumbs-up.

"Good news," she took the headset off and set it back on its jack, "my team is on its way with an SAR ship, fully equipped to get these people the help they need. They'll be here in about an hour. We should also be able to tow your ship back to the mobile repair yards at Kinooine. I'll pull some strings and make sure you're taken care of."

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann sat down in the co-pilot seat and leaned back, nodding. Just an hour? he tried to hide his selfish desire to have her around for a bit longer. Saving everyone was infinitely more important.
“Sounds good to me.” He said, turning the chair to look at her. “Your people equipped to handle pirates?” He asked, not wanting to just add more fuel to the fire.

“I’d hate to have more people put in danger.” He added. He figured he may be able to reach out to the Confederacy, but left that option for a last ditch effort. He crossed his hands and rotated back and forth on the chair, looking down at his hands thoughtfully, “Thanks, too. I mean. It hasn’t happened yet, but thanks for offering to help me out with this.” He lifted his head and looked around the cockpit.

 

[Imka Larue]

"They've requested local sector patrol to give them an escort, so with any luck it should be fine."

Imka wasn't one to rely on luck or chance, but she preferred to keep the positive vibes rolling now that things were looking up from what had started as a very bad day at work. If a little bit of luck was all they needed, well, she wasn't going to question it. As for helping him out? She turned to look at him over her shoulder, warmth in her expression, "What, you think I'd let them leave you sitting out here in this thing?"

Truth be told, they wouldn't leave Rann out here regardless of whether or not she spoke up on his behalf. The EVE Foundation was in the business of humanitarianism and helping people, not leaving them stranded. Still, she could pull some strings and see what little extras her good clout and higher rank could afford her.

"I'd never get another kiss if I did that."

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann blushed and smiled, looking down at his hands again.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” He said raising his head to look in her eyes, “I’m hooked now. Although I’d definitely be a lot happier if the next kiss wasn’t as you were leaving me in the cold dark of space.”
His smiled died just a bit after the joke, “They’re bringing an escort though? Good.” He nodded his head and leaned it back against the headrest. This was a very exhausting day, but it seemed like at the very least it wouldn’t get any harder.

“Here’s to a good hour.”

 

[Imka Larue]

Something about the wilting tone of leaving me to the cold dark of space made Imka wonder if it hadn't happened to him before. Gods, the people of the galaxy could be truly cruel sometimes. Her smile turned into something of disbelief and concern, "That's terrible..." and a faint laugh accompanied her shake of the head.

"Here's to a good hour."

Or, at the very least, a better hour than the last several. Imka pressed her lips together, thinking of all the things that could be done to make it better than good, and dismissed all of them. In a different situation, different setting, she was more than happy to entertain various notions. Today, right now, she was exhausted and sore and wanted nothing more than a solid nap.

Some pain killers would be nice, maybe a stiff drink, but they didn't have either of those. At least, she knew they didn't have the former, she'd used the last of them on the burned man in the med bay...

"Do you, uhm..." Imka bit at her lower lip, expression of hopeful mischief, "do you have anything to drink?"

 

[Rann Thress]

Rann looked at Imka, thinking. He knew he had something to drink. He knew where they were too. He wondered if he should be so bold as to invite her back to his quarters or to direct her towards the very small mess hall. His nerves screamed at him to just invite her, they had almost died after all, and a drink didn’t have to be more than a drink.

But it could be.
“I uh,” he started, before taking a deep breath and smiling at her, committing to his decision.
“Yeah. I have a little cooler in my quarters with some alcoholic drinks if you need to take the edge off.” He leaned forward and rose from his chair, offering her hand as his heart beat harder.

 

[Imka Larue]

"I uh,"

Well chit, that didn't sound good. Imka was prepared to level the bad news with a deep sigh and relent to other things like a nap or maybe some snogging and cuddling with him in the co-pilot's chair (honestly that came in as a close second) but then suddenly she didn't have to. "Oh," she breathed a sigh of relief and gladly took the proffered hand, "thank the Gods. I could really, really use a drink right now. My nerves are wired - I don't know how you look so calm."

He was certainly doing a fabulous job of covering up his own nervousness. She followed after him quietly back through the ship, pausing to check on a few of the patients and adjust a blanket on one of them that had fallen off their shoulders before finally making it into his quarters.

 

[Rann Thress]

A small chuckle came out of Ranns mouth. Did he look calm? He felt as if he was dripping sweat and hyperventilating. Of course, his nerves were not because of the near death experience, not anymore.
“I guess that kiss Steeled me.” He smirked.

“I dunno. If I panicked, people might have died. I guess the near death hasn’t really settled in yet.” He shrugged. He had his fair share of dicey situations, and each of them bothered him in a different way, most brought on by selfishness. This was the first time he had almost died for selfless reasons. He wasn’t worried. It was a strangely elated feeling in his chest.

When they got to his quarters he moved to his cooler. He opened it and pulled out a bottle of Tarul Wine. It had been unopened, no doubt a celebratory drink for some important event.

But Rann doubted the Lord Comander would miss it that much. At the very least he wouldn’t suspect it was Rann. Or maybe he would. At any rate that was tomorrow’s problem.

“I have this bottle of wine from Naboo. It’s uh. Probably expensive.” He smiled and held it in both hands, walking it over and placing it on a small table in the middle of the room before walking over to pull out two glasses from a nearby cupboard. He brought the glasses over and set them on the table next to the bottle, then opened the bottle and poured the contents into his glass before gesturing the bottle of wine towards Imka,
“Unless you don’t like wine? I do have something harder.”

 

[Imka Larue]

You could tell a lot about someone by the state of their room. Imka was hardly shy about stepping inside, nor nervous or concerned at all about the implications of her being there. Yes, several of the patients had seen her go in there. Yes, they were all probably thinking the same thing. No, she didn't really care what they thought. If nothing else, the man had piqued her curiosity. Famous enough to have a need to hide his face. From the Confederacy. Brave enough, or maybe foolhardy enough to forge through literal molten fire to save a group of complete strangers, and yet humble enough to spare a thank you for the thought of taking care of his ship.

Reserved enough to return a kiss with respect.

And, apparently, he was the neat and tidy sort, too. His room was clean save the clothing she recognized as what he'd worn earlier now laying on the floor. The bed was made, the furniture was sparse. There wasn't a lot of decor. Simple. She liked that.

Hands lightly clasped at her front, Imka slowly and gently swayed them back and forth from hip to hip as she took it all in. The mention of wine drew her attention, and the offer of something harder drew her wry smirk back into her expression. Did he ... did he say that on purpose? Imka eyed him with humored suspicion as she slowly approached the table.

No. No? Really?

A single chirrup of a laugh escaped her lips as she took the offered glass, "Wine is good. I'm not picky. Thank you."

She wasn't a wine connoisseur by any means but this one smelled good and tasted even better, "Mm, Naboo huh? Wow." A nod, "It's perfect. Is this how you get all the ladies?"

 

[Rann Thress]

He blushed and set the bottle down, grabbing his own glass after filling it and taking a sip. The wine was definitely better then any he had recently and he couldn’t help but let out an audible “Mm.” After his drink he set the glass down on the table.

“Well is it working so far?” He said after a second pause, looking at her with a small half smile before looking down at his glass. He shrugged it grabbed it back up in his hand and took another drink.

“Not exactly the extravagant party this was meant for. But this is nice.” He laughed. “I’m glad you like it.” He raised the glass towards Imka for a toast.

Despite everything’s it was turning into a nice evening.

 

[Imka Larue]

Oh he was absolutely blushing. She could sort of tell now that the redness of his face from the burns had begun to subside. That pink creeping in there ... what a tell. Avoiding the question.

"It's definitely helping," Imka grinned, taking a healthy sip and doing her best not to look guilty that the bottle wasn't being used as intended, "I hope you weren't saving this for a special occasion," clink, she cheers'd him back, "I don't want you getting in trouble on my account. Uh ... at least, not any more than you already have for today. Near-death experience is enough trouble for me. You don't have anything left to prove."

 

[Rann Thress]

‘Nothing left to prove’ would be on his gravestone. Until then, he had everything left to prove.

“Oh. It’s not my bottle.” He said then grimaced. “Oops.” He chuckled and rose his eyebrows, looking down at his glass before taking another sip. He raised his head to look back at her and shrugged sheepishly, “I uh. I took it. So for the price I paid this is as good an occasion as I could have hoped. I probably would have drank it alone otherwise.” He took another long drink, finishing the glass. He set it down and grabbed the bottle to fill his glass again.

“Don’t worry. Guy I took this from doesn’t need it. You’re much better company. And getting in trouble drinking this with you is worth it.”