Lethal Combination (Anastasia Rade)

[Cryax Bane]

With a soft smile, Cryax leaned in and pressed his body against hers, his arms around her, hands lingering on her back. He tilted his head into hers and returned the kiss, letting it last as long as she would allow. He was pleasantly surprised that her pulse was as quick as his. Maybe it was foolish of him to think so, but she seemed to be just as breathless and as unable to stay composed as he.

He moved a hand to the back of her head, his fingers intertwining with a few strands of her soft, blonde hair. He slowly ran his lips up one side of her graceful neck. Then with a slight grin, he stopped. With his lips gently grazing her ear, the Chiss whispered.

"I think that you might be a secret weapon specifically made to take down Chiss men."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Her eyes lightly closed and a light pleasureful moan escaped her lips as his lips touched her neck. She might have been embarrassed earlier to do so but right now here in arms it didn't matter. Ana did want him to know how she felt and that what he was doing was something she liked.

Lightly Ana ran her hands up and down his back. "Well than," She smiled before kissing him on the cheek as she dropped her hands from his back.

Starting at his shoulders her hands slowly began to caress their way down him. Leaning forward she playfully nipped at his ear. "How am I doing? Are you properly seduced?"

Anastasia had never done anything like this before nor had she ever felt like this before. She was just going with her gut, what felt good and what he seemed to enjoy. She wanted to make him happy too.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

"I think the answer to that is pretty obvious, Ana." The Chiss grinned at her playfulness. "In fact, I'm afraid if we continue, they might throw us out of the place." He ran his hand down the small of her back and pointed at the Holocams posted around the shooting range.

How unexpected this was. Cryax looked around at the mess of weapons all over the floor and smiled. He wanted to say kark it and just kiss her again, but he didn't relish the notion that they'd be providing some Ithorian security guard his evening entertainment. Cryax hated to be so reserved. Perhaps it was the Chiss in him. His species were notorious for being cold, calculating, and aloof. And even though he was more of a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy, being cautious was in his DNA.

Besides, he wanted to get to know the young Mandolorian witch too. He'd seen her battle moves and he wanted to see her do magic. To learn about what made her tick. Most of all, he didn't want to push her because he knew how hard it was for her trust people. He remembered how men just drooled all over her at the casino party. It was distasteful. He didn't just want to be another wolf, prowling for its kill.

He raised his eyebrows and laughed, "So much for our combat training."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

He was right of course plus they would be on display for anyone to see. That was one thing she didn't want to be. If they were to get to know each other in that respect Ana would want to go somewhere private. She also wasn't looking for just a fling and his actions told her he thought similar.

He had come here for training and she for his slicing abilities. It seemed though that thus far they both were getting more than expected. She had never had such feelings or attraction for someone. It was very different for her and something she wished to explore.

"Well, we can always continue training with a new weapon. We could also clean up this mess and get dinner? Talk and get to know each other more." The most she knew about him was that he was a criminal Chiss slicer whom happened to be a good kisser. She wanted to get to know more about him.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

More training was probably out of the question. He'd already demonstrated that he had little self-control around her when she got physical with him. The idea of having dinner with Ana definitely satisfied the more reserved Chiss side of him. The more red-blooded side of him protested. Loudly. But that side would have to shush for a while.

He grinned at her devilishly and raised a brow. "I dunno, Ana. I don't think I've learned my lesson too well today. I'm definitely going to need some more training."

He started cleaning up the deadly weapons strewn about the floor, placing them in her duffel bags with care. He talked as he tidied up and swiped his credit stick to pay for the services at the range.

"I have to admit, I could go for a bite to eat. Why don't I take you out for a nice dinner here on Antecedent. The casino has some four-star restaurants and the best drinks on the planet. What do you say we go out on the town?"

He put on his trenchcoat and offered the gorgeous Mandalorian woman his arm.

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

"I agree," she looked up with a smile from where she had begun to help clean up her weapons. Should I book you for training session number two on Mandalore?" She not only had access to more resources there but could show him around the planet that had kind of become her home.

She would ensure he got to work with different weapons and minimize the touchy feeling training if possible as it seemed to get them off track. It wasn't exactly a bad thing though but she did want to teach him how to defend himself.

After putting on her white sweatshirt she shouldered duffle bags before taking his outstretched arm. "That sounds lovely."

Her gaze went down to her workout clothes. If he was taking her to some fancy restaurant and out for the night she shouldn't dress like this. Even though she had never been out on the town before something told her she needed to be dressed more presentable. "I should change first, this really isn't fancy restaurant attire. It won't take long I promise.

What was acceptable attire anyway? She wasn't sure she knew and even if she did Ana wasn't sure she had anything that impressive sitting in her current wardrobe. It wasn't as if she had ever gone out like this before. She would make it work either way.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

"Sure, I'd love to see Mandalore." The Chiss smiled widely at the idea of spending more time with the witch on her home planet. Admittedly, he wasn't going to be too picky about where they went. As long as he got to see more of her. Cryax hoped that she didn't have a Mandalorian boyfriend lurking around there somewhere, all to eager to give him a beatdown for making moves on her, but she hadn't mentioned one.

"I'm not going to complain about what you're wearing." He laughed softly, letting his red eyes linger on her shape a few more seconds. "But you have a point about changing clothes."

He scratched his chin and came up with an idea, "We could save time by picking you up a dress at one of the stores on the main strip. There are plenty on the way to the Dragon Palace. Then you could change in my office? It's spacious and private and I won't peek, I promise."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

If he was interested in the witches she would take him to Dathomir as well. That was the planet the witch clans lived on. Ana just didn't want to scare him away with any voodoo witch craft or sorcery. There was so much she could show him there too. Ana was just excited about the thought of seeing him again and showing him around.

He wouldn't have to worry about any boyfriends as never had one. What he may have to worry about was Azrael as he was kind of like her protective older brother. It didn't help that he was also the new Mand'alor.

It was sweet of him to tell her it didn't matter what she wore. Ana knew that was true but if she was to be seen on his arm she wanted to look her best. That and for some reason she wanted to look pretty for him. "Oooo, a private office, how fancy. You must be one of the more high ranked Ravens. Not that I'm surprised or anything." She grinned at him as they walked along.

She could leave her gear in his office while they went out on a date or at least she thought it was a date. Ana doubted he would mind storing her things for her.

"I could quickly pop in here," she motioned to one of the stores up ahead as she spoke "and grab something. I promise it won't take long. If you want you can even come in with me and pick out what you think I'll look good in." Ana wasn't that great at clothes shopping or dress shopping. The plan was to get something nice and get out. She didn't wish to hold them up due to being indecisive about dresses.


[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Escorting Ana into the store, a ritzy looking boutique with what looked like the finest Iridonian silk dresses in the window, Cryax chuckled and flashed that grin.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about women's fashion. Believe me, I'd just end up putting you in as little fabric as possible. I'm happy to give an opinion, but I have no doubt you'd look amazing in anything."

"And as for my position with the Ravens, I don't know if I'd call it high ranking per se. I'm guess I'm more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. But, you'll get the picture when you see my office." He hoped computers and droids wouldn't bore her too much.

"I'll just wait here and you take as much time as you need. And the dress is on me. And I won't take any arguments. After all, I'm the one dragging to an impromptu dinner at the casino."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

She didn't know much about woman's fashion either but that wasn't something that she was willing to admit. Ana was sure though that she wasn't getting something skimpy as than men would only ogle her all night plus she wished to leave something to the imagination.

"Alright,"she sighed as she shook her head. "But I'll have you know your not dragging me anywhere. I want to go out to dinner with you." It had been her idea to go out to dinner but she decided not to argue with him. "Thank you, I'll be right back." Giving him a quick kiss on the check she took his credit stick and headed to the section of dresses.

She had been dress shopping before but last time hadn't gotten anything. This time she was actually looking for something nice to wear that was sexy but not too sexy. Ana was having a hard time as everything was beautiful and soft to the touch.

After trying on several dresses Ana settled on a strapless red silk dress with a little slit in the front of it. She thought she looked pretty in it and that it wasn't too much. Once it was bought, paid for and in a bag she went to find him again.

"I hope I didn't make you wait too long."

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

He raised his eyebrows and gave her a soft smile, shrugging his shoulders. "Some things are worth waiting for."

As the couple entered the Dragon Palace casino, Cryax realized that Ana's duffel bags contained so many weapons they could send the security droids into full lockdown mode. "Excuse me a minute." he said tapping on his Datapad. "I'm just quickly changing some of the club's security preferences on the fly." He quickly held up his Datapad and did a Holoscan of Ana, its blue light tracing her entire face and body.

"This will make sure that the Droids recognize you as someone who's allowed to bring weapons into the club." He grinned, pointing to the blaster under his trenchcoat. "Like me."

He took her hand and headed up a small flight of stairs to an area of the club marked "Employee's Only."

"My office is here." he said, putting his face up to the retinal scanner used to safeguard the door, which opened with a hiss once it scanned one of his red eyes.

The room was a typical office decorated with a desk and chair, filing cabinets and a poster of a Nautolan pinup girl on the wall. Unlike a typical office though, his had an enormous computer and views of almost every HoloCam in the Casino. Droids and droid parts littered every nook, along with all manner of tech equipment, servos, hard drives and tools.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry it's so messy."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Glancing around his office Ana could agree that it was messy. It was nice though and bigger than the little place that she had. "It's nothing I'm not used to," stated as she set her bags down on the floor. She had a guess now that he was head of security with all of these computers.

She had spent a lot of time around engineers and even spent some time at MandalMotors. Ana had seen work places much messier than this. "Are these your projects? They are really cool." She asked as she went to go get a closer look at one of the half finished droids he had sitting about. Bending over she gently touched it so she wouldn't break it. " What are you trying to make?" Ana could have guessed but figured it was best to ask him. She was sure he was proud of all his little projects even if some were half completed.

It had taken Ana awhile to design and make her own armor but she was very proud of what she had made for herself.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

The fact that Ana was genuinely interested in his work pleasantly surprised him. "Well," he smiled, picking up a droid head. "I'm just tinkering with these guys for now. I like to mess around with the AI to find ways to make them faster, smarter, to give them better personalities." He shrugged and frowned a bit. "It's not a greatly accepted line of thinking, but I'm really not sure that droids should serve us. They're basically our slaves and..." He stopped suddenly, remembering Ana's history and thought it best not to stir up old, bad memories.

"Anyway, I'll have to tell you all about my Droid liberation philosophy another time. If it doesn't bore you to tears." He laughed. He picked up the shopping and handed it to her.

"Here, why don't you get dressed and we can grab that dinner?" The Chiss rifled through his office closet, pulling out an expensively-tailored suit. "I should change, too."

He sat in his office chair, swiveled it away so that he wasn't facing her, and started removing his boots. He looked back blushing at her with a smile.

"I won't look if you don't."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

She could share in the notion that not even droids should be slaves. Ana consider Ghost to be family not her pet wolf pup. She was sure his philosophy wouldn't bore her to tears. He had yet to do anything of the sort.

Nodding she smiled and took the bag from him. He could always tell her more about his projects at dinner. "No turning around to catch a glimpse of my butt," she turned around to wink at him before she turning back around yanking the sweatshirt over her head. Ana wasn't worried about him seeing her naked as she believed he to be a nice guy who wouldn't peek even if he really wanted to.

Pulling out the dress and shoes from the bag the thought of turning around occurred to her but she didn't. Ana instead continued to stay turned away. The dress was easy enough to slip on but what was giving her trouble was the zipper. No matter in how many different directions she pulled she couldn't get it to zip up all the way. Sighing she slipped into the silver heels.

"Cryax, would you be able to help me?" She asked with her back to him. "I can't seem to zip myself up." Ana continued as she pointed to her halfway zipped up dress. "I can't seem to reach it." The Mandalorian woman could do a lot of things but zipping up a dress not one of them. It was a little embarrassing to say the least but it wasn't every night she went out for drinks.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Cryax was just finishing lacing up his shoes, when he heard Ana asking him for help with her zipper, a request that sent his mind into temporary chaos. He stood up, straightening out his suit jacket, and crossed the room to where she stood, facing away from him in a ravishing red dress. Without a word, he softly took the fabric of the dress in one hand and, fingers around the zipper, very slowly pulled zipped her up. While this was happening, his lips found her neck, first travelling lightly over the surface of her skin teasingly, then more firmly kissing the crook of her neck.

He continued kissing her like this until he had the dress zipped up. Then he pressed his body tightly against hers, wrapping her in his arms. Grinning widely he whispered in her ear.

"I don't know about you but I'm famished."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

His kisses on her neck sent shivers down her spine. He was making it extremely difficult for her to be a lady and control herself when all she wanted to turn around and kiss him. There were other thought entering her mind as well that she hadn't had before.

When he wrapped his arms around her she wanted to just melt. Leaning back into him she sighed happily. Ana could just stay her all night wrapped up in his arms but she had promised him dinner.

Spinning around in his arms she loosely hung her arms on his shoulders. "Well than, we should get you something to eat." She smiled drawing him in closer to her for a kiss before reluctantly letting go and taking a step back.

She knew the more time they spent in his office the less likely it was that they would leave tonight. "You look very handsome," she smiled as she took a step back and allowing herself to slowly check him out.

"Where do you plan on taking me?" It truly didn't matter to Ana as she wasn't a picky eater. The fact she actually got to eat something other than the slop now was amazing. She loved trying new foods. She had never been to a fancy restaurant before so she was sure the menu would be filled with things she had never even heard of before. "I'll forewarn you now, you might have to explain the menu to me. I think the fanciest place I have ever ate was at this pub."

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Cryax smiled at the compliment, his blue skin blushing a slightly purple color. "Thank you Ana. I guess I clean up well." he chuckled. He definitely wasn't used to being flattered, much less on his appearance. All his life he'd underestimated his looks, especially since he'd always been that bespectacled thin kid.

"There's a restaurant right here in the casino. It's got great food and the bartender mixes up a mean Sonic Servodriver." He paused. "Not that I'm trying to get you drunk or anything like that." He looked down at his feet, thinking of all the lecherous guys who probably tried that with her.

"I'm happy to explain the menu, if I can. I'm not really used to having this kind of lifestyle, quite frankly. I grew up on a dirtball planet in the Outer Rim, very poor. My mom was a scavenger..." he stopped again. It was clear his upbringing was a bit painful to think about.

"Anyway I'm rambling. Let's go grab a table. I can tell you all about it over dinner."

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

It took a lot of alcohol for her to get drunk and normally she didn't. The only time she ever got drunk were those first couple of months back when her night terrors were really bad. Now she had learned how to control them better and how to handle herself when they came. Baking seemed to help and it was less destructive.

"Oh really? I'll have to try one in that case." The pain in his eyes as he began to speak about his past was of a familiar sort. It seemed as if he didn't have a nice childhood either. She wouldn't pry into his past. If he didn't want to talk about it he didn't have.

"Well, if you can't explain the menu than I guess we will just have to get a bunch of different things and see what we like." She smiled giving his hand a light reassuring squeeze. Ana wanted him to know she was here for him. "Yes, let's go eat I'm starving," she stated as she began to pull him along and out of the office.

"I think you already know everything about me or most things. I would love to hear more about you. Like how you got into slicing."

The past she could see was a touchy subject so she wouldn't ask. Slicing seemed like a safe topic as it was his job after all.

[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Once the couple was fully seated at the restaurant and had ordered drinks and samplers from the menu, Cryax got back to answering her question about his slicing roots, while carefully nursing his Sonic Servodriver. The Chiss was terrible at holding his liquor and he didn't want to ruin the evening. Ana could probably have any man in the galaxy yet she liked him. He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I didn't have alot of friends growing up, unless you count Droids. I was always into computers of course, but as I got older, I found that using the computer the way it was intended, just wasn't enough for me. I wanted to turn it inside out, to get into places I wasn't supposed to go. Just to prove I could. To prove I was smarter than whoever encrypted the code on the other end. It's silly really, but that's the thrill. At the heart of slicing is a just a big geeky-pissing-contest." He laughed and pushed his glasses up on his nose, looking down at his drink.

He looked back up, his red eyes meeting hers, and reached across the table, gently placing his hand on hers. His pulse still quick from her presence.

"My turn to ask a question. How did you find out that you were a Witch?"

[member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Anastasia Rade]

Ana took a sip of her drink as she listened to him explain his love of slicing. She didn't want him to think her a drunk so she would act like a lady.

"A pissing contest," she giggled. "That kind of sounds how the Mandalorians act with their weapons always trying to one up each other. Challenging each other to duels. It's not silly, it makes a lot of sense." She could imagine him sitting at the computer for hours just slicing away. She bet he even wrote his own code. Ana doubted he got out a lot though but she was going to change that.

"My protective older brother actually introduced me to the witches so I could learn to manage my visions and gifts." She smiled looking up into his eyes her fingers intertwining with his. "I always knew I was force sensitive but never did anything with it. I actually tried to hide it from him but Az knew better. I thought I was cursed but the witches have taught me to look at it more as a gift than a curse. They helped me semi-control my visions as well. Unlike the Jedi and Sith we cast spells but don't worry I'm a good witch. I could show you some spells later if you want." if he wanted to see what she could do she would show him. She was no threat to him and she didn't want him to be scared of her because of what she was. Ana would never use her gifts to hurt him. If she could, she wished to protect. Ana was sure that as a criminal he had people coming after him all the time.

"I'm curious, how did you end up hooking up with the Ravens? I'm sure a man of your talents could make millions anywhere encrypting code."

[member="Cryax Bane"]