Not if I hit you first! (Ahani)

[Not Ordo]

Aran sat at a small table in simple clothes and looked at the woman across from him. A deft hand lifted a cup of juice to his lips as he drank. Between them had been some muffins and caf cake but there was only one bagle. One bagle left? His eyes narrowed as he cocked his head to the side watching her eyes for that telegraphing glint.

"Seems there's only one bagle and two of us." Aran said in his concordian accent, "Guess that can mean only one thing."

His hand gripped the edge of the table as he lofted an eyebrow.

"Do you feel lucky this morning?"

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

Dressed in simple grey trousers and a white tunic, Ahani couldn't help the bright toothed grin plastered on her face. Raw and a bit feral, the grin livened up colourlessly grey eyes and pale, white skin. She gripped the side of the table and cast her hair over her shoulder. "One bagel. Who's mistake was this? Odd numbered pastries. Silly bagel."

Bagel. Ahani wanted that bagel. She wanted it for eating. Ahani sipped her tea and her eyes gave that telltale glint as she put the cup down on the table top. "Do you feel like nursing a bruise?" The Tournament of the Gods finalist kicked at the closest leg of [member="Aran Ordo"] 's chair and made a grab for the bagel.

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

"GAH!" He said, as his chair began to slide, but he had prepared for this dastardly act! He stood and pushed down hard on his end of the table to both wack the woman and send the bagle his way.

"Not so fast!" He yelled triumphantly as he grabbed the bagle with his left hand and turned to escape. As it turned out echani bagles were a delight he couldn't just let go. She was lovely, smart, strong and he would give her nearly anything she asked but at bagles he drew the line.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Wagh!" Ahani yelped as the table smacked her square in the chin. Tumbling backward, she rolled and hopped to a crouch. "Oh you are not getting that bagel, Aran! Have at thee!" Loading up on her ammunition of choice (day old nearly stale irli muffin bottoms), Ahani vaulted over the table top, slid to the other side and launched a muffin bottom at the kissably stern yet soft spot between his eyes.

The first muffin top whizzed past him: a gross inaccuracy? A ruse. How was she going to hit him between the eyes if he didn't turn around?

She couldn't help the spring in her step or the growing flush to her cheeks when she woke up and had breakfast to look forward to, not when the table was set for two and her companion had such a decent left hook. [member="Aran Ordo"]

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

He stopped and turned. A foolish move? Most undoubtedly. He looked back at the woman her pale features positively radiant in the morning light but release the bagel, never.

"Muffin bottoms?" He said taken back, "You wound me madam and your aim needs work."

He waved the bagel in front of her like a prized jewel and began moving it to his mouth...without cream cheese...a slight she would never stand for if he knew anything about that mind behind that irresistible face.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Muffins or forks, you pick! What would have happened, Mando'ad, if I'd have scratched your pretty face?" Ahani batted her eyes and slunk over to the son of Ordo. Her eyes sparkled with a new found ease and joy, one only found in the company of the man who asked no more of her than she was willing to release to his care. She slid her feet a twitch more than shoulder width apart, the Cheshire grin widening as she produced a small silver tin. "You're the one that's good with guns. I prefer the closer strike."

Cracking the top she revealed the only cream cheese in the rented flat, also only food which was guaranteed not to have grains of sand or particles of the morning's pollen in it. She held up the snow white cream and came within reach if, and only if, she put her hips into the reach - which [member="Aran Ordo"] would most certainly expect her to do. "A trade. My cream cheese for half your bagel. Stolen bagel. Bagel thief. Who could possibly swallow a bagel dry? Hmm?"

Distance closed, the Echani hooked the back of Aran's knee with her leg, in a 'grape vine' of sorts to yank him closer, duck her head in and... Lick the bagel.

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

Aran watched as she smiled her mischievious smile. What would happen if she scratched his face?

"If you scratch my face you would have to look at me with a scratch." He said making light of the threat and some how not letting the fact she called him pretty get to him, not when the bagel was in jeopardy. His eyes narrowed as she produced the silver tin and he couldn't help but feel he was about to be out gunned by the gunless woman that didn't prefer guns....yeah.

"Stolen? You mean rescued, oh sultry would be stealer of bagels." Aran eyed the tin and the creamy white goodness that so complimented the tasty echani bagel. He had to resist. He must refrain!. He eyed her warily as she continued her approach the look of a bagel predator filling he oh so lovely eyes.

Then! With lightning quick speed she hooked his leg pull him near and the kiss he sought ended in...

"You! Mmmmmm-Bagel licker." He said pulling the bagel toward his mouth and licking the other side. "Ha, now we both licked it".....he couldn't help himself he had to relent, "split it?" He said holding his other hand out for the cream cheese.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Rescued? Remind me to rescue some credits the next time I'm on Sabarene. Me the thief?" Ahani chuckled and her eyes narrowed. Her lips gravitated toward Aran's chin, ducking under the bagel before... "Aaw eeeeew! Gross, you licked it!"

She pushed away from Aran and with her distance, the cream cheese went farther off. Spinning around with a giggle, Ahani came back with a knife in her hand. "Split it." Ahani nearly handed off the cream cheese, but her hand stopped. She glanced up at him, sceptical it might be a ruse. A trick! The armour wearing Mandalorian might be ready to run with her cream cheese and the bagel! The idea made Ahani snort, Aran's face and shoulders were too kindly set for villainy. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek as she put the cream cheese and knife in his hand.

Touching his skin made her flush, her white cheeks taking a rose hew. Ahani glanced down to their feet and shrugged. "I like splitting bagels. Until we buy more bagels." Oh this was silly! She shouldn't blush at her age.

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

He turned a redder shade as she kissed his cheek. This was silly. She was an Echani, he was a Mandalorian, not historical buddies if memory served but he couldn't help that now could he. With a skilled bagel slicing hand he spilt the bagel and spread cream cheese on one side and held it out for her before he would make his own.

He then unceremoniously plopped on the floor and reached up to pull her down to sit with him as he tasted his half of the bagel.

"What are we doing today, luv?" He said in his accented voice.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

On only one thing the Mandalorian was superior with a blade: Ahani couldn't slice a bagel straight on to save her life. She'd even tried the sword. [member="Aran Ordo"] had the bagel gift, he was the pastry Prince and the royal object of Ahani's relief and growing affection. What a strange match, and strange occurrence which led them to this place, sharing breakfasts in a rent by week apartment on Tatooine. It was paid for the single week, Ahani didn't think it would take them long for what they had to do next.

Her neck quirked to the side, a timid smirk on her face. Echani for thank you. She brushed her fingers against his hand as she took her half of the bagel, biting into it and rejoicing that she'd thought to hide the cream cheese as long as she had.

"Whoa!" Ahani splattered on the ground, legs tangled one under her body the other straight out. She burst out laughing and put her forehead on Aran's shoulder, silver eyes peeking up at the demure yet rough Mandalorian. "Two things. I've got a client who asked for a Krayt Dragon hide and I'd love to get my hands on a krayt pearl. It's ... Its time to retire my current lightsabre. The focussing crystal is, well, it's in the past." There was a modicum of the haunted to Aran that Ahani felt a true and noble companionship with, as her haunted past had been splayed across the galaxy's holonet screens and betting dens for weeks prior to and during the Tournament of the Gods. Ahani needed release from the tremors and terrors which hounded her. The lightsabre of her dead husband Raien Keth had murdered thousands, committed genocide, killed her beloved first husband Urdu and tormented her with more than a few of the faded thin scars on her thighs and back. Yet, still she kept it. Still she held to it, the Betrayer's weapon. It had been her only link, her last piece.

Now was the time for a permanent retirement. She chewed and swallowed, leaned her back against his side and craned her neck to look at his rugged, chiseled face. "And after we kill and skin the krayt dragon I figured we could use more bagels. What do you think?" As if killing a gigantic monster wasn't enough, bakery shopping?

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

Aran lifted the bagel to his mouth a took a bite. It was beyond worth fighting for it was scrumptious. He couldn't help think of how far he was from the chains that held him to the wall of that grey sith ship. He still smelled the blood in the air when he slept. He leaned his head down and rested his head agaist hers for a moment, a mandalorian version of a kiss, and continued his bagel as she talked.

"Hmm." He said as she started talking about lightsabers and crystals. He didn't much like the force or the over grown glowrods but somehow when it came from her he minded a good deal less. "Well, I can see waiting for one to knock on the door and say kill me. I'll get my gear."

He couldn't say what would happen between them. Having breakfast was fun and she was as strong of a woman as he could ever hope to find but the force reminded him of imprisonment and that scared him.

"Can we get everything bagels this time?"

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

The silver haired woman aged with the ebb and flow of the emotion around her, or seemed to age in any loping disquiet. Her eyes were a little more creased, laugh lines a little more pronounced in the quiet, in the stillness. Memory did the trick. She banished the memory and tried to stay fixed on this present moment in time.

It'd taken her looking up the motion to understand how deep the Keldabe Kiss ran in the Mando'ade culture. Ahani promptly decided it did the trick and promised herself not to head butt him sometime by mistake. Aran's imprisonment was an unknown entity to Ahani, she knew little about his opinions but for his hatred of the Sith. She flopped over his lap, stomach upward as she ate her half of their breakfast and stared into his face. There had come a turn in the elder Najwa: a blossoming of the simple idea that it wouldn't be difficult to live a normal life for a while. Manu had begged her, 'Mom please, go find a life. The one you never had. Go find a life and live it. Give this up, you don't need it. I'll take it from here.' Looking at the way [member="Aran Ordo"]'s jaw worked, Ahani wondered how much he was leaving tied loosely in his ethereal knapsack.

"It'll be fun. An adventure where I get shiny new toys and you get shiny new bobbles to sell or keep for safe. I-is th-that how you say it? Keep-safe-ing?" Her index finger ran up the front of his shirt, along the side of his neck and brushed against his cheek. The long sleeve of her shirt slid down beyond her wrist, puffy, fading circular scars visible on her forearms from the chains which once had bound her for nearly a decade. Such scars were as all Echani were: up front. Available for inspection. When one's language was the body, every mark was a paragraph therein. Secrets were often both easier and harder to conceal. Events writ themselves on faces and bodies alike, in the twitch of a shoulder or favouring of a damaged wrist. She smiled up at him and let her own worries leave her.

"Everyth-th-hing. What's in everything? Sounds filling, a pastry with everything." Her eyebrow rose and fell. Her muscles relaxed and the woman let her guard down for the man who fought in the 'silence' of a suit of armour that hid his many faces.

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

He smiled and gave a light chuckle at the woman's words.

"Safe Keeping, luv." He said as he took another bite of his bagel and cream cheese. She was a stunning creature but not in mere outward appearance. She had a dept of character and wit that was far from common place. She also had a strength like iron hidden behind the soft features.

He eyed the scars on her arms and said nothing. He simply lifted his free hand and rubbed one arm understandingly then took another bite.

"Everything is a delightful bagel that doesn't have everything but i never seem to care."

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Safe keeping. I a-am fond of that word. Safe. I fancy safe." A twitch. A shiver in her stomach betrayed the deeply laid sensation all prisoners once freed still undergo. Did any one of them leave their prisons behind? The blistering desert Suns peered through delicate drapes and cast yellows, golds and pinks across the floor where the couple sat. Ahani's chest rose and fell with a slice of pink ebbing and flowing from collarbone, past her sculpted chest and spilling in a timid sliver on the white fabric covering her stomach. Aran Ordo touched her scar, taking the wrist in his own once damaged hand and he soothed it. Ahani gnawed on her lower lip, her eyes fluttering as his ministrations calmed the ragged fear that she was and would forever be a discarded piece of prison bound flesh. An amuses bouche for the sadistic will of evil, Sith encroached men and their self gratifying machinations. Aran was not without his blemishes, nor was he a paragon of some force tradition's attitude, but as his thumb and fingers massaged her shackle scarred wrist, Ahani felt the stories and worries tied around the damaged flesh disappear. [member="Aran Ordo"]

Her body relaxed into his lap, she nuzzled her cheek into his stomach for a scant few seconds and sighed softly into the warming desert air. Ahani threw her trust at his feet with a caution less abandon. She also threw another bite of bagel into her mouth then chewed and swallowed. "I want to try an everything... And we will. Defeat a dragon, grab the treasure and try an everything. How can a day get better, hmm? I don't know a better day than the day we defeated our dragons and tried everything."

 

[Not Ordo]

[member="Ahani Najwa"]

"Well." he said with a smile as he formed a mischievious thought, "there are a few ways it could get better."

He popped his last bit of bagel into his mouth and looked at her there. The way the light caressed her and bathed her in delicate hues. The sound of her voice like wind chimes on a summers eve as they're blown by a warm breeze. The was her hair cascaded over his lap like a blanket of dark silk. She was a divine creature mucking about with a mere mortal man. He knew she had scars, everyone seemed to in one form or other, but how anyone could think she was less than deserving of devotion he simply could not fathom. He brushed his hands off to the said and helped her up, though she didn't need it, and then hopped up himself.

"Ready when you are love." He said doing his best to resist the urge to take her in his arms and not let go. Besides, a dragon sounded fun.

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

Ahani gave [member="Aran Ordo"] a throaty chuckle in reward for his commendable recommendation. There would be time, thought she, for such discoveries. Ahani wanted to know the man in him, the warrior he wore in his garments of Beskar and armour weave and enjoy the lead up to physical affection. Would they, tired and sated, lie together in a bed they shared? Maybe so. Would it be beautiful, heavenly release? It might. It would take a resolute man indeed to stomach the scars she wore from decades of deranged desecration at the hands of her captor husband. The Echani woman had come to realize a substantial and precious thing: she was worth the wait. Aran reminded her of her value, of her blessed nature and inner peace. He reminded her of the outward thrill of knowing someone, of being sane for it, of surviving horror for a blissful hereafter. She rolled off and up, aided by his hand on hers. Ahani hopped up with a bob of her silver head and tossed her arms around his shoulders, "Wait..." Leaning up, her lips brushed across is thick stubbled chin and found respite on his lips.

She moaned softly into the kiss, disconnecting as a whisper disconnects from one's throat to another's ears. "Better. N-now you can disappear inside your h-helmet." The Mandalorian was a born magician in mid disappearing act. Hiding from danger and self beneath layers of Beskar and armour weave, they kept distant and apart. An Echani fought so differently. Ahani put socks and boots on, tucking her soft grey linen trousers into the sturdy boots. Lacing a thick belt to her trousers, she added Anandi's sheath, checking the blade before sliding it in. She'd been careful lately not to knock herself on the blade of her hallucinogenic sword, nor to draw blood on Aran. The last thing he needed was to get addicted to Ixetal Cilona by accidentally cutting his finger on her sword. Sliding two canteens of water into a leather satchel, Ahani tossed it over her shoulder and across her body, the pack naturally resting on her back toward her left hip. A natural southpaw, she kept her sword sheathed against her right hip, for the easy draw. Other than a chrono and a pair of sunglasses she 'stole' from Aran, Ahani was clothed in no armour nor brought any other form of assistance. The white blouse she wore was rolled casually up her forearms for the desert sun, unbuttoned three from the top to give a view of the crest and fall of her collarbones and nubile chest. Above her left breast, the peek of a scar crinkled in and out of view depending on how the fabric moved.

It looked to be a thumbprint shaped burn, and was matched by an entire row of fingers hidden beneath the tunic's linen swath. Pulling her hair up in a loose ponytail on top of her head, Ahani scratched at a long thin scar which ran across the back of her neck, then threw her hands to the side and fixed Aran's sunglasses over her eyes. "I'm ready. I rented a speeder to take us out to the high desert, figured we can track one from there. Ten legs, long snout, big neck... Prepare for sand people, yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill."

Ahani smirked and stepped backward to the door of the rented flat. "We'do better go, or I might keep us in here for hours... Maybe." A bright grin burst on her face as she raced out the door and to the speeder. Dragon hunting. . . It would be easier than keeping her hands off Aran.