Foolish to Think

[Verie Lacroix]

Verie thought she should offer to assist Amore with her preparations, but the awful truth was she had a nigh-blinding headache, so when the opportunity came to sit quietly around the small galley table, the young woman took it gratefully, cradling her head in her hand and gingerly pressing her thumb and middle finger to her temples, murmuring her thanks to Amore when she slid a plate in front of her. She raised her head when [member="Dissero"] inquired after her. Verie hadn't wanted to complain, and wouldn't have mentioned it if he hadn't brought it up.

"I shouldn't like to say so, but the awful truth is I've got rather a headache," she answered, meeting Dissero's eye for a brief moment before again bowing her head over her plate. Admitting it embarrassed her a little, as if it was some kind of personal failing that she had reacted the way so many others did. She studied her food for a moment before picking up one of the offerings and taking an experimental bite. "This is good," she complimented Amore. "You know, I was thinking I should learn to cook at some stage. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity."

 

[Dissero]

"I would be happy to teach you," Amore smiled, cheeks pushing into her eyes, "I've learned some amazing recipes from the people of Moross and my time with the Fringe."

Dissero watched Verie with a hint of concern, deeply bothered by seeing her in such distress, even if it was only a headache. He considered asking Amore to use her Healer's skills to offer Verie some reprieve but he very much doubted the value in that. He also doubted that Verie would accept - this was cause for some strange rise of pride in her.

If Verie was to learn then she was also to pay the consequences. No actions came without them, benevolent or not.

"In time the headaches will lessen as your strengthen your ability," he said, attempting to find distraction in the tea Amore now served them, hot and steaming, "for now - Nvoso Leaf Tea will help with the pain." The man picked up his mug to study the swirl of dark brown contents within, "It's a plant native to Honoghr. The Noghri warriors drink it after their daily training sessions to ease the ache of muscles."

"Mahet grows the plant in the greenhouse at the Castle," Amore said as she joined them at the table, "his recipe is a bit different. Unfortunately I have yet to convince him to share the secret to it - mine is simple imitation and not nearly as good or as potent."

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Verie said quietly. She finished her meal and stood to help clear. "I must say it makes sense. Certainly I have never experienced anything like that before. My brain was experiencing something new entirely, and rather intrusively, or so it felt," she said with her back turned to the pair. She stood at the sink, pausing for a moment before beginning to rinse the plates. It was odd, she thought, to feel rather domestic. Her mother had always made her do chores, but beyond the odd washing up she didn't know much about how to run a household -- or a ship.

"Lots of things for my syllabus, I'm afraid," Verie told them over her shoulder. "I should learn a thing or two about machinery maintenance -- ships and things, I'm afraid I didn't pick much up from mother -- and cooking and cleaning. Probably something about keeping my clothing together after the fortune you spent on it." She smirked at the thought of herself darning socks and patching clothing. She finished washing the dishes and set them aside in the strainer before returning to the table. She took the tea and looked into the mug.

"I hesitate to try it," she said. "It seems to me there's something to learn in the headache."

[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

"Maybe there is," Dissero responded, "we're not forcing you to drink it, only encouraging. It's as good for the body as it is for the mind. A tired mind does not learn as well as one that is fully recovered and energized," taking a slow drink from his own mug he gave her a pointed look, "and you'll need to be both of those things for Quarzite. This mission is going to be on the unpredictable side."

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

Verie bristled for a moment, looking down into the tea. Damned and damned. She stirred it with a spoon and then threw it back in one hot draught. She took her mug to the sink and washed it out, then set it in the drying rack, pausing with her hands on the rims of the sink, looking down at the water swirling around the bottom of the sink before clearing her throat and turning back to the party at hand.

"I need to check in with Travers," she announced, pausing to dry her hands on her a towel before turning her wrist up to study her chrono. "How long until Quarzite? I might take a shower if there's time."

[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

"About eight hours," Amore said with a small smile, "you have plenty of time to rest. I'll alert you when it's time to start getting ready."

Dissero's blue gaze lingered on Verie for only a few moments before it turned to watch the streaking stars beyond a nearby viewport, growing distant.

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

Eight hours -- that seemed rather a long time to hang around, and despite the headache she didn't feel tired. Verie decided she would take the opportunity to shower and rest a moment before doing some more training of her own.

Whether it was the tea or the hot shower or some combination of both, by the time Verie settled into a quiet alcove with her datapad half an hour later, the headache that had been acute had become a steady dull ache that was unpleasant yet manageable. The burgeoning apprentice sat with a towel around her shoulders to keep her damp hair off her clothes and balanced her video communicator on her knees, punching in the appropriate code. A moment later, Travers' face appeared on the screen and he looked up before smiling rather boyishly. "Miss Lacroix," he said. "Is everything quite all right?"

Verie, who had several bobby pins in her mouth, didn't respond immediately. She impatiently pinned her hair back before offering an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I thought you'd take longer to answer," she finally said. "What time is it there?"

"Midmorning, actually, so I was at the desk anyway. Do you need something?"

"Just checking in," she answered. "I'm going to be going..." she stopped herself and smiled abruptly. "I'm going to be out of communication for a while so I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed." She conversed with Travers for a few moments more, verifying details, and then signed off. She spent a moment watching the screen and then stood, making her way to the cargo hold. She decided it would be suitable as a studio for awhile. She did some warm-up exercises before scrolling through her music player to find a suitable routine. Most required a pas de deux, so were unsuitable, but there were a few that were mainly solo. She selected a few and tucked her earbuds in, then went into her routine.

This was comfortable -- challenging, but comfortable -- and invigorating with the Force as her ally. With this, she knew where she was. Her Force training was fascinating, but she felt increasingly like an outsider with it. Her compatriots had been immersed in it from birth, give or take. It seemed like it came naturally to [member="Dissero"] and his sister -- at least from Verie's perspective. She felt like an other among them. And yet she was now an other from people like Travers, too. Slowly, she opened herself up to the Force and emptied her mind of being other, and only danced.

 

[Dissero]

"She's doing very well, all things considered. What are you so concerned about?"

In the cockpit Dissero sat in the Pilot's seat with his sister seated next to him. He was quiet, stoic. Amore knew the look well - it was his fretting expression. She frowned, "You can't make her stronger by holding her back. Some things she will just have to figure out on her own. Maybe you don't remember those things, we were both so young when we started learning. It might not be natural for her yet but she'll get there, she just-"

"That's not it," a flat tone cut through her words.

"Then what is it?"

"You wouldn't understand. You've only ever been on the other side of things."

"What...Lightside? Is that what this is about? I told you I would train her if-"

"No."

"No what?"

"..."

"Merovign," a patient sigh, "what am I supposed to do if I don't know what's wrong?"

"Help Verie get suited up, we're about to arrive in-system."


~~~~

"Verie? Sorry to interrupt, it's time to suit up," Amore stepped down the stair into the cargo hold, heading for a side panel where the survival supplies could be found, "it's not a terribly hospitable planet. We'll need to take some weapons. Have you ever used a blaster?"

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

By the time Amore entered the cargo hold, Verie's headache had more or less subsided, and she was left with a residual feeling of tension, but minimal pain. She was sitting on a crate, cross-legged and relaxed in meditation when Amore came in. "Suit up?" Verie answered, unfolding herself and climbing off the crate. She walked across the floor to where Amore was opening a side panel. "I've fired a blaster a few times," Verie said, before confessing, "Mostly for sport, but occasionally in a live-fire testing environment." The young woman quirked an eyebrow as she looked at the supplies Amore was gathering. "If you'll give me two shakes of a Bantha's tail, I'll get dressed and come help you with the supplies."

A few moments later, Verie was entering the cargo hold again, this time suited up appropriately in her new mission gear. She walked back over to Amore and again knelt down to study the supplies. "How can I help?" she asked, making a mental inventory of what had been gathered. "From what I know of this planet, the atmosphere is pressurized to a lethal degree." Verie looked up into Amore's face. "What brings us to such a garden world?" she asked wryly.

[member="Dissero"] & [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

Some years later...

Life finds a way.

Verie sat on the edge of the marble spa in her bathroom, her fingers gripping the underside with an intensity that could only be described as white-knuckle. She didn't know where the thought came from, but it had been coming to her mind every hour or so since she and [member="Dissero"] had completed their last outing and returned to Kuat to refuel and touch base. As she was unpacking her bag, she realized that she had missed a significant biological signal during their journey. She hadn't noticed at the time, having been fairly busy with their work, but she had double-checked on her calendar after unpacking. Life finds a way.

Business had been good over these years. Travers had proven more than up to the task, taking the estate left to Verie by Avadreia Lacroix and grown it through reinvestment and expansion. In addition to being wealthier than ever, Verie had grown in the Force and been knighted. She had learned much about the Force and the galaxy it bound together. She loved her prince and knew he loved her in return. She knew that when the timing was right, they would become as one and start a family.

Or maybe not when the timing was right. Life finds a way.

Her dark eyes stared at the slender white apparatus on the counter, until they lost focus. Verie felt a stinging in her sinuses, a tingling sensation, as her eyes filled. Life finds a way. This was not her plan; it was not what she wanted from her life, or what she wanted for Dissero. It was the stuff of daytime holovision, of people who lacked class and lived in subsidized housing. In short, it was everything Verie Lacroix did not consider herself to be. They had taken every precaution, they had been careful, and -- the apparatus on the counter chimed.

Life finds a way.

Two hours later, Verie emerged from the refresher with her damp hair in a ponytail and her body wrapped in casual clothing. She wandered into the common area of the penthouse, lit by the blazing sun that was currently setting, casting the city in dusk. "Mero," she called -- pleasantly surprisingly herself with how normal and steady her voice sounded. "Are you here? I'm thinking about making dinner. Are you hungry?" She wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, canting her head towards the door to see if she could hear a response. She wondered if he was back from -- well, from whatever he was doing while she was coming to grips with her new situation.

 

[Dissero]

Hadn't been back to Kuat in some time but there was most certainly valid reasons for that. His sister, not quite a year ago, had quietly given up her right to the throne - an abdication that no one had seen coming but Amore herself. This left Kuat in a state of brief discourse, it's people questioning their Sovereign where she could provide no heir. Prince Amadeus Darke made himself more scarce than usual as eyes slowly turned back to him, he who had not in any official capacity given up his own right but had also not yet taken a wife.

Talk of marriage was made and that was all it took to scare the would-be-Prince away.

Not that he feared marriage, on the contrary it was something that had been strongly haunting his thoughts lately. Marriage to Verie Lacroix was something he'd long contemplated with equal parts fondness and fear. He'd walked on eggshells about himself all through her training and found his own nerves frayed by the time she'd been Knighted. Even still, having given the young woman a new lease on her own life, new freedoms to pursue her own wishes and dreams, she'd stuck around and he'd not complained once. Especially not when, after making it perfectly clear the professionalism of a Master-Apprentice-relationship was no longer necessary, she reciprocated the desires he'd always harbored to break character.

He'd called her his beloved ever since and that had been several years ago.

So what had scared him away and kept him from showing his face at the Royal Palace? Proposed marriage to another. This time, however, it wasn't his mother's idea, but the idea of her Large Council. Hapes was back on the table again, as were several other neighboring planets. He'd even heard talk of potential matches within the One Sith. Dissero would have none of this, and it was in particular some of these things that had ultimately made him decide to help his mother retrieve her first-born-child from the realm of the dead. He'd spent a fair amount of time away from Verie to do it and he wasn't convinced it was the best of ideas, but he was convinced it was worth it.

Now here they were - rather, here he was, standing on the veranda of Verie's penthouse, partaking in a glass of Blodwyne while he watched the sun make it's slow descent upon the horizon, kissing the landscape in golden-pink.

There would be no denying the tenseness of his posture at being home again, but he was complacent to hide out while Verie went about her business. And what a lucrative business it had turned out to be. He sipped pensively from the tumbler in his hand, pondering the implications of Verie being the breadwinner in their relationship, when he heard her voice through the open french doors. With a sigh, the man who made the galaxy's most heinous super-weapon and sold to the people at large the fruits of his many years of Archival and Alchemy labors, turned and softly padded barefoot back into the homestead.

"Ve?" Placing drink on endtable to rid himself of its overpowering scent, he followed the now lingering trail of the young Miss Lacroix with a growing desire to fully drown himself in it when he found her.

"Did you just ask me if I was hungry?" came the low tamber of his voice as he arrived at the kitchen doorway and looked in, hands in the pockets of his dress slacks, white button-down shirt tails pulled, sleeves rolled, yet somehow tie still in place. His blue eyes found her hiding behind a tall glass of water and settled upon the diminutive woman with a warm, doleful smile, "That's a silly question."

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

"You're right," Verie answered. "That was a stupid thing to ask."

She set her water down and went over to the cooler. "We've got... eggs, butter... some bread. Bacon." She chewed her inner cheek thoughtfully. "Breakfast it is, then." She pulled everything out of the fridge, leaving it empty save for a few bottles of wine, and arranged it on the counter, then placed her hands at the edge of the counter and bowed her head over it. She was still for a few moments before she raised her head and looked past the kitchen bar into the breakfast nook. At that moment, she was seized with an overwhelming impulse to detonate the entire place.

"I've been thinking," she told [member="Dissero"] as she turned towards him and strode over to the stove with the eggs and butter. "I don't see a reason to keep the flat open. We barely use it -- our lives aren't on Kuat anymore. I could probably get a decent price for the flat if I sell it, or possibly let it. What do you think?" She went back to the bar and got the bread and bacon, carrying them over to the stove, where she retrieved two skillets. "Would you be a dear and look in that cupboard?" She pointed to a cabinet near Mero. "There should be a plastic box containing some, ah... cookie cutters. I need a medium-sized round one."

Verie turned back to the stove and turned the heat on, then added bacon to one skillet, and a pat of butter in the other.

 

[Dissero]

Smile broadening at the mention of breakfast Dissero left his stance in the doorway in a slow stroll. One step, two step, three step-

"Would you be a dear and look in that cupboard?"

"As you wish," came the reply with a rolling turn on his heel mid-stride. He looked into the cupboard and began to rifle around through things. Cookie cutter. Why did she need a cookie cutter for eggs? Oh, right, she liked to make them in those cute little circles that looked like googly-eyes when finished, the yolk sitting askew in the whites like wayward irises on an imbecile.

"I thought you loved this flat," the man remarked as he clattered through a collection of cutter shapes. Tree. Bantha. Catface - he took this one. Spaceship. Circle - took that one too.

"I mean ... we could use it more if you like. You don't have to sell it if you don't want to," Dissero stepped over and handed Verie the catface cutter with an utterly straight face, "do you want to sell it?"

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

She paused as he commented that she loved the flat. She had fond memories of the flat, growing up here with Sante. But the memories were tainted by the malevolent presence of her mother and overshadowed by the more recent knowledge of Sante's untimely death. "I suppose I love the idea of the flat more than the flat itself. I mean, look at it." She gestured vaguely around the room. "It's massive, and as nice as it is, it's my mother's handiwork. I can feel her lurking everywhere. It's unsettling." Particularly the imposing portrait of Lacroix herself, all platinum locks and piercing blue eyes, that stared out over the living room. The Knight shivered and turned back to her work. She took the catface cutter with a murmured thanks and, without looking at it, punched holes through four slices of bread, still talking.

"I know I don't have to sell it," she acknowledged. "But if we need a place on Kuat, I don't about you, but I'd rather it be ours. And maybe someplace that wasn't so publicly linked to me. I don't necessarily need everyone knowing I'm onworld when I'm onworld, you know?" She dropped the bread into the skillet, only then noticing the cookie cutter shape. She snorted into her fist and looked over her shoulder. "You're not great at following directions -- but that's part of your charm."

Verie cracked an egg into each hole. "Nanny used to make this for us. She called it frog in the hole. Anyway -- after all these years I think I can trust Travers and not need to check in in person. He knows what he's doing. But with that being said, having such a potentially valuable asset sitting empty seems... illogical. But we don't have to decide today."

[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

"Mmm."

This was all the man had to say in comment to the late Avadreia Lacroix. He was not convinced she was dead and it had absolutely nothing to do with a clone of the woman running around. Dissero was, with all his expertise into the monstrous and dark, well aware that her sort of evil was not the sort that simply shriveled up and went away.

As Verie might note from their few and brief stays at the penthouse, he was lament to have his way with the young Miss Lacroix while under that disconcerting glare of her mother.

She's watching, he remarked to Ve one day when she'd attempted to initiate a heated make-out session in the lounge, always watching.

He distinctly recalled biting his tongue every time the thought of, can't we just burn it? came to mind when looking at the portrait. You know, burning the likeness of the woman who bore you into this world was just plain rude. With a short glance towards the doorway where the corner of the thing loomed just out of sight the man moved to stand behind Ve at the counter to watch over her shoulders while she worked and wait for the moment that she realized-

There it was. He met her glance with a half-smirk.

"You're not great at following directions -- but that's part of your charm."

The smirk broadened more.

"Well," said the man as she went back about her work, reciting a story of her Nanny. He waited for her to finish her thought before wrapping his arms around her middle and presenting to her the circle cutter, "Now they can be Cat In the Hole." Leaning into her neck to kiss at the skin exposed by her ponytail, he gently kneaded the fingers of his free hand across her middle, suddenly pausing as the flat of his palm passed over her belly.

"If you want to sell this place and find somewhere new then that, Verie Lacroix, is what we will do. Under one condition," the hand resumed its roaming, giving a squeeze over one hip, "we auction off the portrait."

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

Verie shied away from a fleck of bacon grease, popping from the pan, and used a fork to clumsily turn them over before finding herself in Mero's grasp. She smiled faintly, enjoying the faint scent of him, despite the overpowering aroma of bacon in the kitchen, but when his hand began to trace over her midsection, she froze, going slightly rigid before forcing herself to relax. But the way his hand came to rest just so set her pulse racing, for more than just the usual reason. She quickly turned aside, heading for the dish cabinet opposite the stove and searching for something to say to mask what was almost certainly going to come across as odd and out of character. "That's a good idea," she said quickly. "It taints the room for me, but it seems to ruin the whole flat for you." Verie opened the door to the cabinet and paused, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. Pull yourself together. "Let it haunt someone else."

She flexed her fingers at her sides for a moment before reaching up to get the plates. "I keep forgetting that I'm not normal -- normal people would want to keep that sort of thing for their ch -- for future generations, for posterity. But I'm the last one in my family who will ever have known her. I'm the last..." Her voice trailed off; the sentence did not need finishing, for she was indeed the last of the Lacroix. The clone she occasionally caught a glimpse of on the holonet was not truly her kin, and whatever children she might have would not be Lacroix at all, but instead -- she again reminded herself to get a grip and turned back to @Dissero. "Sorry. This place can get me a little..." She shook her head and rolled her eyes up and to the left, a trick she had learned in childhood to staunch the flow of unwelcome tears. "...so. Sell the flat, auction the painting, and look for a place of our own. Or... not."

Verie took the plates to the stove and plated the Cats in a Basket and the bacon. "I told you I could cook," she managed an attempt at levity before handing him a fork. "Dining room or bar?"

 

[Dissero]

He may have noticed the curious things about Verie as she footled about the kitchen.

Dissero smiled after her, hands slipping from her midsection to allow her free roam. He would have offered to help but he knew Verie to be a busy-bee sort. She liked having things to do, especially when something was on her mind that she needed distracting from. She also talked faster when something stressed her out. He supposed, with a mild sigh, he may have come on a bit strong.

He also may not have noticed them, so much as accepted them for what was normal for Verie.

Being in this flat never made either one of them particularly comfortable or relaxed.

"The bar," he said with yet another glance out the door to the corner of that portrait, "where I can chew with my mouth open and not have your mother scowling at me for it."

Not that he needed Avadreia Lacroix to scowl at him for anything. Verie's subtle expressive inflections were more than enough. She tried to hide them under that stoic ballerina facade but he had grown quite good at picking those subtle eyebrow twitches out. The man picked glasses from a nearby shelf and took from the fridge a small container of juice. He wasn't sure what it was but he'd never been much of a milk kind of guy. Dissero took the fork with an amused glance, "and I never doubted you for a second."

He poured them both a glass and took a seat, uttering a thank you to Ve before digging in. Prince, Sith Lord, Master Alchemist - didn't matter his title or station, his mother raised him to be gracious and grateful.

"Soliael and Amo seem to like Borleias," he offered after a gulp, though there was a lack of conviction behind his voice, "I'm not...keen on the idea of putting a home in the sphere of the Republic, but I'm open to suggestions for places off Kuat."

Far, far away from arranged marriage and the One Sith.

A blink, blue eyes settled on Verie, "Or on it, if that's what you'd like. Naboo Lake Country is nice, too."

[member="Verie Lacroix"]

 

[Verie Lacroix]

Verie settled into her seat and watched as he gathered glasses and juice. They really were rather pedestrian, behind closed doors. She liked that. She spread a napkin across her lap and toyed with her fork until he had made himself comfortable. "I like your... castle, I guess we'd call it. But it's also nice to have civilization nearby. Shopping, restaurants, the theater..." Verie was not typically a woman of leisure, but she liked to indulge every so often, and would watch the absolute pants off a good ballet. "I don't know. I don't... I don't know," she repeated rather stupidly.

She took the catface cutout of toast and dipped it into the mostly-cooked-but-slightly-runny yolk of the egg, then took a bite. "Not quite like Nanny made," she ruled after swallowing. "But it'll do."

"I'm not sold on the Republic," Verie agreed. "It seems like they're constantly on the verge of collapse. If they broke apart, it would be a disaster for property values, to say nothing of physical safety." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "But there's a threshold question here, that I think I would like to ask you. And -- I'm not pressuring you or anything, so try not to take it that way. I just want to have some open exchange of information. All right?" Verie paused and spun the chair a little, so she was facing him squarely now. "Remember what I said."

She took a breath and clasped her hands in her lap. "Do you want to get married?" she asked, then added quickly: "Specifically, to me, that is."

[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

Dissero abruptly stopped chewing and for what felt like the longest three seconds of his life his mouth just sort of...hung open. If there was one way to take the wind out of a boy's sails it was asking the question he'd been fretting to ask himself for the better part of a fething year.

Longer, even, but the serious consideration had only begun after Verie's Knighting.

Slowly, the man reached forward for his juice and took a long drink to wash down that Cat in a Hole. Then, with methodical precision, he set the glass down at the top left corner of his plate, set his fork down just beneath it at the direct left of the plate, and finally turned to face Verie with a stone-slate expression.

"[member="Verie Lacroix"]," he began, "did you just propose to me over toast and eggs?"

 

[Verie Lacroix]

"No," Verie said, her lips turning up at the edges in a smile, despite the seriousness of her thoughts at that moment. "I didn't ask, will you marry me -- I asked, do you want to marry me. Those are two separate and distinct questions altogether. I mean, the Kuati political situation alone, but our class differences in the broader sense, and our differing views of -- whatever. The point is... I've always had an idea where this was going, and I think you have too, but... I have reason to need to know what you want."

She set her knife and fork down and wiped her lips primly before again turning to face @Dissero. "I know this is idiotic -- not to mention unconventional. But then, everything about this stupid thing is unconventional." She batted her silverware away, sending them skittering melodiously across the counter in the grip of embarrassment and anger. The sound of even a tiny bit of bedlam she caused was a tonic for her agitated nerves.

"I don't want you to do the honorable thing. If you marry me I want it to be because you wanted to, not because it's what's done." She paused and reached for her utensils; they flew into her hands effortlessly and she set them down neatly next to her plate. "The last thing I want is for you to feel stuck with me just because I'm... in trouble," she finished indelicately, irritated by her own inability to find the words she needed.