Private Notation From The Stars

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani? Embarrass easy? Noo... Never.​

​

It was all so endearing, that he couldn't even consider the fact that he had her tears soaked into his shirt, Didn't rightly care at all. Just listened as she mocked their consideration for one another, and feigned the presence of some unseen spy plotting their downfall. Like that was going to happen... Even if he hadn't been Maliphant's student, he was something of a son to him. The closest thing either had to having that sort of a relationship. Arcturus wasn't particularly concerned.​

​

If they were going to put him down for such, they would have done so following the Invasion of Ossus. They hadn't; of course, Arcturus understood how fortunate he was that such was the case.​

​

He followed her quietly toward the hangar bay, his hand tightly wrapped around hers, and whistled when the vessel in question came into view. "That's a ship?" he inquired, mind unable to process the notion at all. It was... All glass. How? How was that possible? Not just that but it was fairly transcendent, ethereal. And here he'd thought Leviathan was the most beautiful vessel in the Academy.​

​

Ishani just loved to prove him wrong, didn't she?​

​

Up into the heart of the ship he was led, and he found the interior just as bewildering as the exterior. He felt as though he was trapped within some great glacier, protected on all sides yet not at all free from the gaze of others. Of course how much could actually be perceived through the hull he could not tell. Did not rightly care in fact.​

​

Though her words were cute and caring, speaking about food and clothes and how foolish he'd been not to bring a set to change into, all that he really took note of in that moment was her inability to actually look him in the eye. "Have I done something to upset you?" he asked, knowing that there were probably a thousand missteps he'd taken in the past few days, what with all their emotions up in the air as they had been. Reaching out, he delicately tipped up her chin, to try and catch her gaze.​

​

"Look at me, please..."​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Yeah,” she answered his query. “Made out of this stuff called isinglass. It’s alchemized, that’s how it can handle being in space. But I admit, sometimes I’m a little scared to fly in it…”

Inside the vessel, he chose to confront her. She dipped her head back, meeting his gaze. Her eyes still had that too-full look, overwhelmed by her own feelings. She wasn’t afraid or upset, but she was… it was hard to describe.

“No. I feel exposed,” she replied. “Like I revealed some part of myself I wasn’t even aware I had. Something that was growing inside me, hidden away until now…” She took a deep breath. Force, don’t start crying again. “I don’t know. I guess I thought I was the one who was supposed to be the steel in your spine.”

In other words, she was the strong one, the one who’d had a normal, happy childhood, raised by parents who, for all their faults, didn’t practice the bloody Dark Side. “I have all my memories,” she said, her voice growing steadily softer. “I was always surrounded by love. And when I met you and learned that you’d had none of that—though you deserve it more than I do—I wanted to give it to you. But I went about it all the wrong way, overcomplicated things. I got caught up in this idea of putting you back together, like you were broken.”

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “I should just love you, shouldn’t I? But that’s harder to do. A lot harder than I thought it would be. It’s not just kissing and messing around and having a lot of sex.” She snorted. “Why I ever thought it would be that, I don’t know. Ugh…” She rubbed her eyes. “I should just stop talking and go to bed.”

Accordingly, she started to shuffle off toward her quarters, though she stopped in the threshold and looked back at him over her shoulder.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Yeah," he mumbled, casting a dubious gaze over the structure of the glassious hull, "No chit, I would be too..."​

​

He'd alighted all the same. Maybe because she'd stated they wouldn't actually be going anywhere. Note to self, though, if they ever needed to travel... They'd take Leviathan. Unless Ishani truly insisted. Then he'd just do a whole lot of praying.​

​

To who? Beats him.​

​

Her response came in a series of waves, at first tumultuous and then calmer. Soon she was showing signs of her usual, silly self, but he knew that was mostly just a defensive front, a desire to let the matter lay.​

​

He couldn't just set it aside though, not when she was so clearly impacted by it. All the same he followed her into her cabin, and waited until the door was closed to address it further. As though somehow that would give them more privacy. Force, the ship was already empty save for the two of them. How more private did it need to be.​

​

There he turned to her, lifted her up, and set her on the edge of the bed. There he knelt down before her, coming level with her eyes.​

​

"I love every aspect of you, Ishani. Bearing your soul is not an inherently bad thing, and if you're feeling exposed because of it then know that I'll stand in defense of you until you feel safe once more. I love that you care so much, that you love so fiercely, but I am not some broken thing love. You don't need to try and fix me, you don't need to walk on eggshells around me. Be you, Ish, that's all I expect of you, all I need or want. For you to be yourself. Unabashedly Ishani Sibwarra."​

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One hand reached out, delicately cupping her cheek, as he tried to hold her gaze.​

​

"Love is being open and intimate, and being willing to share these scarier moments, is it not? Isn't that what we've come to discover? If not then what's it all for? Where do we go when the going gets tough, if not to one another?"​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

He just picked her right up and set her on the bed, like she was a little girl. Feth, now he was on his knees again. For some reason, she really didn’t like the idea of him kneeling before her. Maybe because she knew he’d been a slave, and because among Sith it had such weird connotations of kneeling before masters. “Arc, come on,” she grumbled, and if he would let her, she’d pull him on top of her on the bed for the rest of the conversation. Granted, she realized afterwards that he was probably kneeling just to be level with her, but she was tired and her back hurt, so whatever.

"I love every aspect of you, Ishani. Bearing your soul is not an inherently bad thing, and if you're feeling exposed because of it then know that I'll stand in defense of you until you feel safe once more. I love that you care so much, that you love so fiercely, but I am not some broken thing love. You don't need to try and fix me, you don't need to walk on eggshells around me. Be you, Ish, that's all I expect of you, all I need or want. For you to be yourself. Unabashedly Ishani Sibwarra."

Then what was last night, love? she was tempted to clapback, but he’d already answered that question: he didn’t know. Uncertainties like that were putting the bad in this little bad romance of theirs.

“I pulled that surname, Sibwarra, from a list of obscure hyperlanes,” she said, stupidly changing the subject. “The Sibwarra Trail, from Bakura to Lao-mon.”

Or maybe it wasn’t just a random, pointless bit of trivia. She’d changed her name when she ran away, to avoid being tracked down. It was her way of trying to remake herself, forge a new identity, but it was also a sign of how torn she was, caught in the middle.

"Love is being open and intimate, and being willing to share these scarier moments, is it not? Isn't that what we've come to discover? If not then what's it all for? Where do we go when the going gets tough, if not to one another?"

“You’re right—and I’m the one who’s broken,” she said suddenly. “That's why I had to come here. To try and remember what it was like to be whole.” She nuzzled his cheek. “It’s why I had to bring you here, my love. Why I tried to bring you to Chaldea, too. Not just to get a mermaid suit, but to try and reconcile the two halves that make up me.” She ran her fingers through his hair, falling silent for a moment. “I do feel whole right now, with you.”

She might spend the rest of her life chasing this feeling, trying to recapture it.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani did not like to see him in so lowly a perceived position, even if no such thoughts had even come to mind when he'd knelt down. He simply wanted her at eye level, while also enabling her some level of comfort in the form of the relatively plush bed. All the same when she urged him up he complied, and joined her on the bed. He sat beside her on the bed, then lay down at her side.​

​

Then came the revelation about her name. He had known for some time now about her first name, not Ishani but Rhiannon, but her last name too? He gave her a curious look, then nodded his head. It made sense didn't it? She'd clearly been running from something. If he could give himself a name, why couldn't she?​

​

'You're not broken, love. You're human." He sighed, and ran one hand down her cheek as she brought her fingers through his hair. "No matter what we choose in life, we can never have absolutely everything we want... One choice affects another. If I could have everything I wanted, I'd pursue my craft, and my esoteric whims, away from all of this... But I can't. Not truly. I've had to accept that fate."​

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He paused, then he frowned.​

​

"But... You still have a choice, Ishani. You don't have to be here, you know? You don't need the Sith to prove yourself... You told me once you didn't even want to be here, you asked me to leave with you. I apologize if I'm the only reason you remained. And if I am, well... Maybe I shouldn't be. You're better than all of this, you know that right?"​

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All the same he closed his eyes, pulled her close, almost daring her to even try and run away. She'd be far better away from the Sith, but that didn't mean he wasn't prone to selfish tendencies all the same.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She wanted him on top of her, but he’d laid down next to her instead. What a fething tease.

So far what he’d said she agreed with, so no comment there. She pulled him in close, kissing his throat while he talked, his voice rumbling against her lips and tongue. But the love-biting stopped when he suggested she run away, again.

“No.” Her flat refusal softened. “I came here for a reason, you know. You’ve become that reason, not just because I love you—you’re what I wanted to find, my hope for the future. That there’s more to the Sith than wreaking death and destruction.” She hooked a leg around his hip, pulling him closer still. “You’re a maker, Arc, and not a cruel one like so many others here. I want to be like you. You haven’t lost yourself—and maybe that’s just a matter of time, sure. But the way I see it, if we’re together in this, we stand a much better chance at keeping ourselves intact. We can look out for each other, just like we did when we first met.”

The two of them against a hostile world, relying on each other to survive—if that wasn’t romantic, she’d eat her socks.

“So that’s where it stands with me now, in case you wanted to know,” she purred, brushing her lips against his in the faintest of kisses. “I can deal with a bit of brokenness and occasional homesickness. But I’m not going anywhere without you.”

If there was no rebuttal, she’d kiss him again, hungrily this time.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani was surprisingly ardent in her refusal of his notion that she should not remain here.​

​

While she spoke he stroked the same spot on her cheek, becoming more languid by the second. There was a certain comfort to be found in the way in which they lay, and deftly touched, and spoke. It was oddly fleeting in those moments, as though they were experiencing all of this for the first time once more. Timid touches, gentle hands, a blush laying over his cheeks.​

​

When she hooked a leg over him though, he pulled her in closer and held her tight.​

​

"Okay" he whispered, realizing that it wasn't worth it to argue with her any more on the subject. This was her life, her autonomy, he couldn't alter her will. He wouldn't alter her will. "Then you stay here, with me, and I'll keep you safe and sane and happy, okay?" He leaned in, kissed her forehead. "You're mine, Ishani."​

​

And then her lips were upon his, and he shifted until he was leaning over her. Both were tired he knew, he could sense it within her, and he knew his own body well enough. With a wave of his hand he turned out the lights, casting the room into darkness...​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Right back atcha, babe."

No matter how many marks she left on his neck, Arc still blushed like a virgin. Granted, she was hardly shameless, going red in the face when he leaned over her finally.

Tired? Yeah.

At least until she felt him flailing around. She broke from the kiss just long enough to say, “What are you doing? This isn’t your ship, goofball.” With that, she clapped her hands together once, and the room plunged into darkness.

…Oh yeah, wasn’t all this supposed to be about making a sword?

Come morning, they were back in the forge to begin the etching, some more imbuement, and the setting of the crystal. Hopefully all of that would be done by the end of the day, and then she’d have a fully functioning Force-imbued blade.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Not his ship indeed.​

​

Still it achieved the desired effect.​

​

Morning came fast, breakfast slipped by, and before he knew it they were back within the Forge.​

​

"Okay, so once we're done today - and we should be done today - you'll want to properly harden the blade by setting it within the Forge at a low temperature, alright? We'll give it say... 24 hours? So the day after tomorrow your Butter Knife will be finished."​

​

For now the blade was brought back to a workbench, and the etching pen was set down beside it. "Begin with your inscription, Ishani, then I'll show you how to set it. Once you are done I will etch the relevant runes into the pommel."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She did as instructed, penning and then etching, before handing him the blade. "Give runes now please."

literary genius Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Though it may have seemed as though time had flown by, in truth they lost a great many hours to Ishani's crash course in the etching and imbuing of symbols upon the sword's blade. After showing her how best to proceed, he mostly left her to her own devices and instead contacted the individual he'd mentioned a few days prior regarding the eventual tattoo the girl would be needing to get.​

​

Then he flipped through some books, worked on a couple of his own projects in small doses, until eventually Ishani was done. He could feel the Force thrumming through the blade even now. "Excellent, most excellent..." She'd honestly done really well. "Why don't you go and pick out some leather samples, for the handle wrap, while I work on the runes?"​

​

And just as he said, he sat down with his own set of tools and delicately, and with great precision, began to etch them into existence. They were small, they were many, they were oh so specific. At some point he even got out some sort of monocle-looking device which afforded him an even clearer, even more up close view of the pommel and all that he was creating there.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She couldn’t believe she’d just spent hours inscribing the words “butter knife” into a blade. Amazing.

After handing it off to Arc, she went to the supplies area—really a glorified closet filled with an assortment of different pieces and tools. While it had the vibe of a high school art class’ storage room, it at least achieved a higher level of quality when it came to the materials on hand.

Ishani rifled around through the shelves, eventually finding a box with some scraps of leather. She rummaged through stacks of bantha, rancor, and terentatek hides, before her eye caught on a piece at the back of the box.

No way, she thought, even as she cautiously reached for it. No fething way.

She picked out a scrap of what she believed to be dragonskin leather. It was a dark greenish-gray, with an iridescent, almost metallic sheen. The portion of the dragon it had been cut from lacked scales—or at least, the flesh there was smoother to the touch. How a piece of dragonskin had wound up here, of all places, Ishani didn’t know. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like this scrap would be enough to wrap the handle.

Well, maybe she could still use it, but supplement it with something else. She dug around in the box again, grabbing some of the terentatek leather before returning the box to its proper place and going back to Arc.

“I found some—” She stopped in her tracks, staring at the monocled alchemist in surprise. Soon her eyes lit up. “You look like a toymaker.” Putting aside the leather, she sat and watched him work on the pommel’s runes. No wonder he had busted out the microscope; it was like painting the wings of a fly.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't notice how long she was gone, searching the cupboard for leather as instructed. This part of the blade's finishing touches was finnicky and required every ounce of his focus. Thankfully when said focus was being disrupted, he knew better than to try and resume his work. He pulled back the tool, and listened as Ishani began to say something.​

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Then she switched tracks entirely. "A... Toymaker..?" His gaze shifted toward her, confused by the expression, before he shook his head. "Did you find what you were looking for?" he inquired instead of addressing it, setting down the tool and removing the monocle while they spoke.​

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She had set something down; he allowed his gaze to drift to where that was. He spotted the shifting hues of the hide, and beamed appreciatively at her choice. "Very nice... Not quite so much there as you may like, but if we turn it into strips rather than trying for one wrapped piece it should work out." Strips were far more forgiving, it made use of every square inch of material including what might have been cut off ordinarily for being too tall or too wide.​

​

He gestured toward some leatherworking tools which stood on a different workstation. "If you want to form strips, there's a simple tool in there which has a few different rotating blades evenly spaced. It will help you keep the rows neat."​

​

Something for her to busy herself with, while he returned the monocle to his eye and picked the tool back up. If Ishani was paying close enough attention, she might notice the small motions of his lips as he soundlessly mouthed an incantation into existence with each rune he etched.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Yeah, one of the artisan types.” She wasn’t quite sure why she’d made the connection, apart from the fact that he looked kinda cute with the monocle. “I could actually see you doing that. In fact, I know that if a child did ask you to make them something, you almost certainly would do it.” She smiled and left him to his work.

Cutting up the strips proved one of the easiest parts of the entire project, provided she was careful with the blades. It certainly wasn’t anywhere near as time consuming as the etching. Gathering up her strips in her hand, she turned toward Arc, staying quiet so as not to disturb his concentration.

As his lips moved, she felt something in the air, like a scent or a taste she couldn’t quite place. Though she watched him as much to admire his profile and those lines she so loved, a desire to discover all the secrets of how he did his work was born in her. The runes, the incantations, the imbuement—she wanted to learn all of it. Not to surpass him, but just to know for the sake of it. He might not be ready to serve as her master in any official capacity, but if they could go on like this, with him teaching her, perhaps that would work better anyway.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I wouldn't even know where to begin" he admitted with a shrug. Would he, though? Would he make a toy for a child if they saw fit to ask him? Perhaps. But no child would ever ask that of him, so what did it matter?​

​

Both of them fell into their work then, she cutting the leather and he finishing up the runes. When she was done he felt her watching him again, but somehow it didn't feel quite so distracting this time. It didn't take him much longer to finish the circle.​

​

He removed the monocle again, set down his tool, and then handed over the blade to Ishani.​

​

"You'll want to make use of the binding glue," he informed her, all at once reminded of the time he'd literally made his own crude variant of it back on Lao-Mon when he'd shown her how to make a simple bone knife. Force that felt like an eternity ago now... Nope, no on-the-fly glue for them today, they had the real stuff on hand. "Try not to oversaturate the leather with it, a little will go a long way. Start at the base of the hilt, by the guard, and wrap it tightly. You can fuse the ends of each strip together with it, too."​

​

So close... They were so close to done.​

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And it had come out far greater than he'd expected.​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Ah, the good stuff.” Or at least, it wasn’t glue made from strips of leather boiled in a pot over a campfire.

While Ishani set to work gluing down the wrappings, the memory of that peculiar trip lingered in her mind. The trio of bullies had all disappeared. She’d heard rumors—supposedly Bendik had returned home to his family, Dinah was killed in action during the mission to Chandaar, and Naan had ventured into a Sith tomb only to never return—but nothing confirmed. For all she knew, Darth Neferu might’ve disposed of them.

Neferu was still here at the Academy, still teaching the other students. A strange thought.

For the sake of her sanity, Ishani pushed the matter out of her mind, and focused on not using too much glue and keeping the wrappings tight. When she was finished, she looked at the nearly finished product and sighed. “Lot of work,” she murmured, picking at some bits of stray glue that were stuck to her fingers. Turning to Arc, she asked, “Who taught you how to inscribe runes like that?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He was quiet as she bound the blade.​

​

She was quiet.​

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The quiet stretched on for a time, and he was comfortable enough in it to simply exist. He didn't try to busy himself with some task or another, he just sat and watched her, resting his chin on his hand.​

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Then she asked him a question, and he tilted his head to one side. "In general? Maliphant showed me how to inscribe runes. But so small? And for the reasons used here? I uh... I developed that myself."​

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Ishani was finished, but she made no move to try and do anything with the blade, or to do much of anything at all. There was very much a sense of what now lingering in the air. Ordinarily he'd have urged her to make a sheath for it.​

​

What use was a sheath when she'd be pocketing it in the Netherrealm?​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Oh yeah, I knew the Netherrealm pocket was your idea—and you’re quite the genius for coming up with it.” But Maliphant had taught him the basics. “Did you ever learn from anyone else besides him? Just, in general.”

After giving him a chance to answer, they fell quiet again. She looked at the sword, her brow furrowing.

“... did we forget to do something?”

They had, in fact, forgotten to insert the crystal.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

A genius?​

​

Psht. He wouldn't go that far. Still a blush overcame him all the same. Her question was what he responded to though.​

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"Yeah, at first there was a woman who worked for him, Odana, she taught me how to fight. And then I sought out tutors for specific things... Sorcery, necrom--" wait, best he skip over that one, "While Maliphant is my Master, he's always made it known to me that I should seek out knowledge from a variety of sources. That way I can find further insight, learn differing approaches and techniques. He doesn't claim to be able to teach me everything, so I sought out people to fill in the gaps I guess."​

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In his opinion, that was precisely how it should be.​

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Silence.​

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Then another question.​

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Arcturus considered it for a moment, glanced around the room, and spotted... Oops. The crystal. It was still sat on the other workstation. With a gesture of his hand he pulled it free from the surface, and brought it to rest within Ishani's hand.​

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"There's your missing piece, Apprentice."​

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Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Odana,” she echoed. It was a pretty name. “Is she still around?” Something about the way he spoke of her made her think she wasn’t working for Maliphant anymore, at least.

But something else he said caught her attention.

“Necromancy?” She quirked an eyebrow at him as she took the crystal and began to insert it into the pommel. Her telekinesis had improved, but it still required focus, so she didn’t talk further until she was finished—plenty of time for him to elaborate further.

Arcturus Dinn​