Private Makeover, Makeover

[Colette]

The door swung open and in stepped a very different looking Colette than the one Cora had met and argued with before heading back home to Ascania. This Colette was a bit more bulkier compared to the otherwise rather slim if not outright scrawny Colette who had just arrived fairly recently. On top of that she had shorter hair, but given that Corazona was there when Colette had given herself this new look it was fair to assume that she had been all too aware of that one.

As well as Valery's disappointment in Colette having done so without as much as a second thought of how it would look. Well, that was Colette's take on it at least. While this utterly superficial idea of beauty was what had brought Colette to seek Corazona out, it wasn't exactly the only reason.

"Come here, you big idiot." Colette smiled and wrapped the blonde in a tight hug. "I have missed you and your silly powders and shears."

As she let go of Corazona she let her hands linger on her shoulders.

"How have you been? Are you alright?"

First small talk, then... Makeover!

Corazona von Ascania

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Idiot? I'm not the one who gave herself a haircut with a knife!"

One brow quirked upwards before Cora laughed, embracing Colette tightly in turn. The pair couldn't have been more different when it came to their personal tastes and lifestyles, but they'd always gotten along well. Marriage talk nontwithstanding.

A gentle incline of Cora's head was her answer. She wasn't really sure that she was alright after her year-long ordeal on Ukatis, but the regret and guilt and sadness seemed to be hitting her in waves. Colette had caught her in a peaceable mood. As the girl braced firm hands on her shoulders, Cora leaned back to take her fellow Padawan in.

Jedi training and the distance of time had added some visible brawn to her form. Compact muscles tensed with sharper, deeper shadows than before. Had she gotten a little taller, too? She held herself well. In contrast to Colette, Cora's body had softened from a lack of intense exercise and the ability to indulge herself. Most notable would be the loss of innocence, a spark of extinguished from her eyes.

Still, she seemed content. Pleased to see her friend, even if Cora cradled an uneven lock of brown hair with a look of disapproval.

"We'll have to fix this. I will not have you walking around looking as though you've narrowly escaped from the jaws of a trash compactor."

It was said with an air of fondness, at least.

"You look like you've gotten strong, Colette. Keeping Master Noble on her toes?"

Colette

 

[Colette]

Corazona von Ascania

Straight back into arguing those finer points of beauty. Colette couldn't help but smile. Given the state of things, this was shaping up to be a far better encounter than the last time they did this given that there was no stupid marriage plans on the horizon for an evidently powergrabby moron to 'take' Corazona by his side.

"But I like that trash compactor!" Colette quickly added with a laugh as she plopped down into a seat with Corazona in tow. "I keep Master Noble on her toes in a way, I guess. We're both very stubborn people with strong opinions that don't always align."

"And I mean… It's just kind of funny to watch her squirm when she doesn't get what she wants, or gets it but not how she wanted it." The kid grinned again. "Like how they ran some kind of bets on our fights. I noticed, and so I gave them a draw so that neither won on my behalf, and mostly just to annoy her."

"I've been told that I am 'annoyingly like her' in that regard?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Mmm…annoying, yes." Cora murmured almost distractedly, still fussing with Colette's hair even as they found themselves seated at the foot of her bed.

It would still take some time to get used to her small, single, spartan dorm room. Until recently, Cora had an entire palace wing at her disposal, and then a homey room in the Noble household. Which Valery and Khalil had assured her that she was always welcome to, but as Cora began her training in earnest, she figured that it would be easier to be on Coruscant.

Things always felt warmer with company, anyway, and an easy smile tilted one corner of her lips.

"You and Master Noble do share many similar qualities, I agree. Whether that is a positive thing, however…"

Her teasing tone led into a soft laugh. It was refreshing to be able to speak like this, and not the same trite conversations about the weather she'd had over and over among other aristocrats.

"They were doing what now?" Cora arched a brow in concern, but the amusement did not drop from her face. "I suppose that it is a good thing Shan and I came to a draw as well…"

"…what, er, what exactly were they betting for?"

She almost didn't want to know.

Colette

 

[Colette]

Corazona von Ascania

Yes, whatever was it that the two could have been betting on? Colette gave Corazona a most deadpan stare through the mirror with a grin to match it.

"Well, let's see…" Colette began. "They are both very physical individuals."

"They both have duties that cause a lot of stress and anxiety."

"And… They have four kids. Five, technically."

"Maybe we'll see a sixth in nine months, hm?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora cocked her head to the side while examining the strange combination of Colette's impassive gaze and knowing smile.
Her confusion only deepened with each statement, playing across her face with innocent bewilderment. Until she understood, that was.

"Oh!" She let out a scandalized gasp, both hands clamping over her mouth in surprise. "Colette, that's…highly inappropriate to suggest! There's no way that they really were…"

As she trailed off, a light of recognition sparked in her eyes. Cora's expression quickly shifted into one of somber acceptance, maybe even regret. A shiver of revulsion wracked her spine and she shook her head as if trying to dislodge the thought entirely.

"If that's true, then you're first on babysitting duty."

Cora's exclamation had disturbed Lula from her sleep. The portly racyon had been curled on her back atop the Padawan's bed, but now she rolled over sleepily. After a few moments to right herself, Lula leaped from her perch and landed heavily on the floor, her rotund body jiggling. Padding over to where Colette sat, the creature sniffed impassively at her feet.

Colette

 

[Colette]

The face that Colette made was one of incredulous confusion. How was suggesting physical intimacy an 'inappropriate thing', or was this another one of those stupid 'civilized' topics that people were too ashamed to admit was a natural part of being alive? All races did it in some way or the other, why was procreation such a…

Know what? Forget it.

Colette chuckled at the conclusion Corazona reached in case what Colette had hinted at was true.

"I… Don't actually think they will, but—" Colette stopped before she looked over at Lula. "Holy chit, that's a fat racyon!"

A concerned look shot towards the little creature before she softened up and patted at her legs as if to encourage Lula to come even closer so that she could be pampered. Colette even tugged just a little at the creature's mind to make it do so for her own selfish desire to pet it. The kid had wanted one of these for herself when she had first seen one but figured that they deserved their freedom in the wilds where they belonged.

Still, this one was already here so there was no shame in helping it out a little. Yes, it weighed a bit more than she had expected as it rested upon her lap, but that was to be expected from a chubby doofus like this.

"You need exercise, friend." Colette talked in a manner of double speak to both the racyon and her caretaker-but-also-stylist. "Nothing's more cute than…" Eyes rose to challenge Corazona. "Living a long and prosperous life." The blonde let up to reach for something and Colette reached down to place a gentle kiss upon the top of the racyon's head before she leaned back into Corazona's procedure again. "Just think about how you'd be the envy of all the other racyons. You even have the prettiest princess in the lands looking after you."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"You underestimate them," Cora grumbled lowly as she rummaged through the various bottles and beauty accoutrement atop her dresser. Colette's comment about Lula's body type had her turning on her heel.

"She is not fat!" Cora insisted sharply, brandishing a comb at her fellow Padawan. "She is simply big-boned. And she has thick fur."

Lula, for her part, didn't seem bothered about her numerous rolls or Colette's concern over them. She usually didn't care much for people anyway, unless they were offering food or pets. Colette offered the latter, so Lula graciously allowed herself to be placed on a warm lap and receive attention. Which is to say that she could not climb Colette's leg herself, and required the girl to lift her.

"Lula is fine just the way she is." Cora murmured as she ran the comb through dark hair, perhaps handling Colette's head with a bit more aggression than necessary as she directed her to tilt it downwards. "And I'm not a princess anymore." As the realization drifted through her head, the haughty irritation in Cora's voice drifted into something more somber.

"I'm not sure what I am anymore, really. I've spent my entire life knowing who exactly I was and what I was meant to do. And now that's gone and I…never thought that it would be, you know?"

Colette

 

[Colette]

Corazona von Ascania

Big-boned? There was no such thing as 'big-boned' unless what Corazona meant was some sort of tumorous growth in the poor creature, but as Colette gently pinched and scratched the racyon in her lap it was quite obvious that it was dealing with far too much 'padding' than was good for it. The animal lover in her resigned herself to merely sighing as she continued to pet the poor thing. She would need to find a way to break this behavior later, when the two hadn't just reunited again.

"I do," Colette slowly nodded. "But, I mean, do you really have to 'be' something?"

"I grew up thinking I would wander a single desert forever, living and dying for a clan that would never really see me as an equal."

"Because my people put a lot of emphasis on blood, you know. Have to spread ourselves out so that we don't risk what our elders called 'degenerative diseases' that would hurt our already small numbers. As someone born outside of the clan I roamed with I was a big old question mark. It means that usually when it comes to 'mating season' they put people like me at the bottom of the list, which, you know, suits me fine. Even if it sort of hurt to think about sometimes."

"That's… Not relevant to what we are saying though." Colette said and cleared her throat. "What I meant to say is that there is a lot of freedom in this feeling. I mean, y'know, I'm not good with words, I can't really… Describe it, but it's there at the back of my mind."

"Like a— I don't know. Like a bird or something that just managed to lift off on its own without anything holding it back."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's head canted to the side, considering Colette's counter. Why was she so fixated on being something?

Her attention was stolen by the girl's story, and through it Cora realized that she'd never taken the time to learn about the other Padawan's family dynamics.

Freedom. She had the freedom of not belonging to a tribe, which meant that it wasn't important that she adhere to its customs and rituals, for better or for worse. But there was also a loneliness in that type of freedom, in being excluded. At least, that was how Cora saw it.

"I've once heard someone say that the only thing worse than being desired, is not being desired." Cora shook her head, misting some water over Colette's hair to wet the strands. "Or something like that, I might be mis-remembering."

She ran the comb through dark locks again, trying to assess how uneven each side was. All things considered, Colette hadn't managed to do a terrible job on her own.

"I will not deny that I've found joy in being free from him, from my…duty. I feel as if I can breathe again."

Slowly, Cora had begun to acknowledge the positives that came with her situation, even if she still felt crushed beneath the weight of her failures.

"I still fear for my people, though. My family. There could be retaliation against them for what I've done and I…am unable to contact them."

Her heart sank from the base of her throat into her stomach at the thought. Father said we mustn't speak to you anymore.

Cora drew in a deep breath and smiled.

"Do you have any siblings, Colette?"

Colette

 

[Colette]

Corazona von Ascania

Colette supposed she could understand that fear for her family. Colette herself had felt it for a long time when she had first arrived at the temple. Uncertainty had a way of tricking the mind like that and make you think that all was lost without you. In the end it was to discredit the efforts of those that she cared for, but there was no need to tell Cora, she most likely already knew this in some way or the other.

"I don't know if I have any siblings, at least not by blood." Colette confessed and reached for a nearby glass of water to take a sip and then put it back. "I chose my family once I settled in with the Jedi, and in a sense it just keeps getting bigger."

"Although, I guess…" The otherwise blunt girl stopped for a moment in embarrassment. "Or well, no." She hesitated once more before she figured that if she couldn't trust her friends then who could she trust? "Or yes, I think,"

She cleared her throat. "I see the Nobles as my family. Valery has done more for me than anyone else has, and I… I really enjoy spending time with Vera no matter how much of a gremlin she can be sometimes."

"I knew that this was my place when they took me in after I kept the kid safe during Valery's disappearance and the torture. I was there for her children then, and I will be there for them again later. Just like I am here for you if you ever need me."

"I love you. Like how I'd like to think a sister loves another sister, you know?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The concept of found family was still new to Cora. She'd grown up with so many certainties – her biological family, her position, and what was expected of her. Still, she'd slowly begun to appreciate choosing one's relatives. As far as the aristocrat in her was concerned, that was a perfectly acceptable option for those who didn't have strong blood ties already.

"The Nobles are good people." She agreed readily, leaning over Colette's shoulder and retrieving her shears from the drawer. "They've treated me well since Master Noble took me on as her Padawan. Valery and Kahlil have been like second parents to me, especially though this…ordeal. I owe them so much."

As attached as she was to the Nobles, Cora could not easily discard the love and loyalty she had for the Ascania brood. Her relationship with her parents was complex, but she'd fall on a sword in a heartbeat to protect her siblings. It had been written into her blood for nearly two decades.

"I love you. Like how I'd like to think a sister loves another sister, you know?"

Cora let Colette's words sit with her while she trimmed away split ends. The pair of young women couldn't be more different, from the environments they'd been raised in, to the values they'd been taught as children, to even their physical features. Still, they'd managed to forge a strong relationship. Perhaps that was the power of love.

"I have three sisters on Ukatis." A pale hand tilted Colette's head forward slightly. "You remind me so much of Fantine – she's a few years younger than me, but very troublesome."

If Colette peered up into the mirror in front of her, she'd see the smirk that pulled at Cora's lips.

"I'd kill for her."

She had, technically. Horace had threatened to make her fourteen year old sister into a concubine shortly before she'd pushed him to his death.

"I'd kill for you too, Colette, even if you are an uncouth ragamuffin."

Colette

 

[Colette]

Corazona von Ascania

Troublesome? Colette's brow rose in defiance. She was NOT troublesome, she was just stubborn, and nobody ever seemed keen to tell her off. That was not a fault in HER character but THEIRS. Still, she supposed she could see what Cora was trying to do. In a way she too reminded Colette of some of the more conventional types she saw in other tribes. Difference perhaps being that Colette saw Corazona in a bit more of a brighter light as someone who actually stood up for their rights to exist as true equals and held the strength to outright demand it if need be.

"What is an unk-oof ragged muffin?" Colette asked and recoiled in confusion. Was unk-oof even a word? "Are you saying I look like baked goods?"

"Because, I mean, I would think I am more like a… Uh," As someone who didn't enjoy sweets, this was a hard comparison to try and make for Colette. "A hot pepper, I guess."

"Y'know. I'm nice, but also pack a punch."