Private Talk is Cheap

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora blinked owlishly. Her face flamed in embarrassment, bright pink flush standing out on pale cheeks.

She could see the corner of Makko's lips tilt upwards in her periphery. Cora was quick to send him a cursory glare before turning back to Smyphony, embarrassment on full blast.

"Oh…" A few moments passed as she thought about it genuinely.

"I think I was just startled." She concluded. "It wasn't too bad. Now that I know what to expect, I can hold still."

Cora had suffered far worse on the battlefields of Selvaris and Exegol, but there were quite a few differences between deadly combat and a needle poking your skin.

With one last look to Makko, she nodded.

"I'm ready."

She didn’t flinch this time as the needle, now loaded with ink, pressed into her skin. It felt like a cat’s claw, pressed deep, slowly dragging along her flank.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"And we're going," Makko said quietly. He now had both hands over Cora's.

He knew that objectively, the act of rebellion was a bad idea. He still encouraged it, organised it and - now - witnessed it.

"Yeah," went Symphony, talking absentmindedly as she worked. "That's why we don't start with the ink...should have warned you though. Just chill, let me know if you want a break or a drink. This won't take too long."

A little scratch, a flourish of the needle and then she wiped. The ink was bright and shiny, her skin ridging up where it was irritated by the ink.

"You know once you have one, you'll want more?" the artist said, glancing at Makko.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Oh, I'm not…sure about that."

Cora looked to Makko questioningly, trying to gauge whether or not he agreed with Symphony.

She was more focused on the warmth of his hands as they settled atop her own, keeping her anxiety anchored to the chair.

"It took him quite some time to convince me," She added almost wryly, despite the fact that Makko hadn't brought the idea of her getting inked up recently.

Still tense, Cora surprised herself by being able to keep still as the needle dragged along her skin. It stung, but the pain wasn't acute enough for her to tear up.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"Oh I dunno," Makko said, "I don't think it took as much convincing as you think it did."

He left the topic there. He knew that this wasn't because she had suddenly developed a love of body art. It was an act of rebellion against changes that were bigger than the pair of them.

His little plan, foolish and romantic, had sounded utterly hopeless when he had explained it. He wished he could be as easy going as Starlin, or at least have that level of confidence.

"It's looking good!" Makko said.

Symphony was leaning forwards. Having done the main lines she was taking great care over the fine details in the curves.

"Well, if you ever want another, I'll give you my card," she said. She sat back, gave another wipe and a nod of satisfaction. "Take a look."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora's eyes tightened on Makko, but there wasn't much malice behind her glare. In fact, it helped to distract her from the unpleasantness of the pain.

"That's what you think," She scoffed.

Before she knew it, the buzzing of the needle subsided. Tilting her head down, a small noise of surprise sounded from Cora's throat.

Symphony had done good work—the lines were clean, and the design followed perfectly. That didn't mean that Cora still didn't have mixed feelings about her choice.

"It does look good." She agreed with a nod, then a polite smile to the artist. "You're very skilled. Thank you for your time."

She'd take the card knowing that she'd likely never see Coruscant again. At least, not this side of it. Not this free.

The thought almost made her cry, but she kept a stiff upper lip.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"You are more than welcome," Symphony replied. She got a fresh tube of cream for Cora to take home and started to clean, and wrap the tattoo.

Makko had started to explore his relationship with the Force. He had started to accept it, but also to understand that it was bound to his way with people and machines. A lot of what they taught didn't sink in, but listening to other people's feelings or gaining a closer understanding with a machine seemed to come naturally.

He still didn't understand the nature of the Force in the way it connected all living things. He didn't understand the nature of how it could bind those that were close. Others had displayed telepathy and communicated with Cora, but Makko had started to reach out to her subconsciously. To feel things at a deeper level.

He wasn't even looking at her expression, but he gave a reassuring squeeze of her hand as he felt the wave of dark thoughts.

---

"You know, I think she thought you were the most polite person she'd ever had in that chair," Makko said as they turned out of the door and into the street.

"I know she said you can't drink too much and thin the ink, but maybe just the one?" he asked.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The air had a bit of a chill in it, but for Cora it felt like blessed relief as they were sited the building.

She didn't drink much. Makko knew that. But, they were already here and it certainly wouldn't be the most rebellious thing she'd done today.

Cora nodded.

"Just one."

She still couldn't quite believe that she'd gone through with it.

"I still can't believe that I went through with it."

Her hand squeezed his own and she gave Makko a small, sad smile.

"I'm glad you were with me for it, though. It means a lot."

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

He let her gratitude sink in. He read more into that comment than the simply act of holding her hand through an uncomfortable etching.

He was still here despite the severance that was to come. Every day was a little bit more painful, knowing that they were slipping away.

"I'm glad I was there to see it," he mused. He tried to make light of the situation with a lopsided smile.

Makko would normally have headed to some dive of a nightclub but techno music shaking duracrete walls. With Cora he was branching out a little. He turned them into a deliberately cosy and industrial cocktail bar.

They were told by the man at the front to find a table to be served.

"Wow," went Makko. "Table service. A drinks menu"

The concept of getting that in a bar was still alien to him.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

As Makko marveled at the drink menu, Cora couldn't help but smile. It was tempered by the situation that was hanging over them like a guillotine.

A perky young waitress who did not pick up on the mood came to take their orders.

"I'll have a glass of the house white."

Cora didn't have much experience with alcohol, and as such her tastes were fairly narrow. As the girl flounced away, Cora found her gaze settling back to Makko. First, on the pale scars between his fingers, then up to his face.

"This almost feels normal, doesn't it?"

Only one corner of her lips lifted in a wistful smile. Cora realized that she didn't know what to do with her hands. After placing them in her lap then back up on the table, she settle on playing with the napkin that was wrapped around a set of silverware.

"Makko I'm-"

She stopped as suddenly as she'd started. Cora wasn't sure if this was an appropriate setting to address this in, but her behavior earlier in the day had been gnawing at her.

She drew in a deep breath.

"All of those awful things that I said to you…I didn't mean them. I was just…"

She bit the inside of her cheek, brows furrowed as she tried to put words to a flurry of feelings she couldn't even pin down.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"Yeah I'll have a b..."

Makko paused, his eyes going wide. He wasn't accustomed to comfortable Coruscant bar prices for beer.

"Yeah, just a beer please, the firestone please."

He tried not to look classless in being surprised by beer prices three time what he had expected. It wasn't the evening for that.

Fortunately, Makko was better at being honest with feelings than hiding his shock at prices. After everything had come tumbling out he'd felt exhausted, but it had come with a kind of clarity.

He was blunt, didn't have the widest vocabulary, but he got to the point.

"It's alright," he said. "I think...we might have got through the worst of the shock at the gala had everything not coming crashing down and had he not found us."

He lips twisted in distaste. He didn't even want to say the man's name. That she regretted what she had said didn't stop those words and the wider situation from hurting.

"Dunno how I thought things would have gone if we'd had those years."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora shrank back in her seat, picking idly at the paper napkin ring. Makko's words, honest as they were, had her deflating at the shoulders.

A few years, at least. That was how far into the future her theoretical engagement to some Noble Lord was supposed to be. Her father had promised she'd be allowed to finish her Jedi training first.

It would reflect poorly on her as a potential wife if she did not.

Instead, House Ascania had succumbed to a Royal proposal. Her father would've been a fool to ignore it.

"I'm sorry that we aren't able to have those years." Her voice came whisper soft, almost lost to the din of chatter around them. "Perhaps by then I would've been someone."

Maybe she would've had the power, the status, or even just the courage to challenge her father. Maybe she wouldn't.

"You've been so good to me through all of this," She acknowledged. And then, Cora said something she hadn't expected to.

"I want you to find someone else. I want you to be happy, Makko."

She lied. Cora did want Makko to be happy, but she didn't want Makko to be with someone else. Selfish though her thoughts may be, Cora didn't want to keep him on any sort of hook.

Unable to meet his gaze, she looked down to see that her nervous fingers had shredded the paper napkin ring to fine bits.

“Just…don’t forget about me, please.”

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

“Just…don’t forget about me, please.”

He felt the request like a gut punch. He was still reeling from her asking him to move on when she came out with it.

Makko wasn't subtle in reaching out for her hands. He literally flattened hers into the table, laying his over the top. He didn't know where to start.

A few years would have been a long time. To him just one year felt like a very long time. Even a few more months would have been enough time to work out more about what this would be. It had started to feel like more, but they would never get to find out.

He couldn't think of a way to say that without making everything worse. He'd done enough to make her entertain his childish notion of running away. Makko wished he could be just a little more like Starlin, unrepentant in his attitude.

"I won't. I know...you're gonna be...back there," he said.

What he really meant was under the control of her father and fiance.

"I could rig a little holo-pad comm unit. An encrypted tunnel and... What I mean is... You could still talk to me. Sometimes. It's not like Master Noble or the others ain't never gonna see you again?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The warmth and pressure of his hands against her own felt like the only thing anchoring her to this world. Cora lifted her softening gaze to Makko, afraid of what she'd find there—afraid of hurting him more.

When he mentioned her sneaking in a comm unit, her eyes sparked with surprise. Her lips parted, and for a moment Cora looked as if she were going to try and admonish him.

The silence was barely broken by the waitress sliding their respective glasses toward them. She'd finally picked up on the dour mood, moving soundlessly before drifting away.

"I don't know what's going to happen." She admitted, ignoring the glass of wine to her right for now. "Everything will be at his whim. I don't know how much freedom I'll be allowed, but even a Prince can't deny a Jedi Master, can he?"

The hopeful edge to her tone crackled just a little, and Cora drew in a sharp, heavy breath. For a few moments, she simply breathed to steady herself and to keep from breaking down in such a public setting.

"Would doing something like that hurt you more?" She asked earnestly. As much as she wanted to have a way to communicate with Makko, she couldn't bear to keep delivering proverbial punches to his gut.

Maybe she could, though, if she was desperate to hear his voice.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko chewed on his lip.

"It must be frightening," he said. "Not knowing how your life will change."

It made him feel worse for going in so hot on two different occasions. The tattoo made even more sense. Something she could control now that would be permanent.

"I don't know if it will hurt more," he admitted. Makko shook his head and shrugged. "I think I'd rather think that I might get to talk to you again than it be so...final."

He reached out and picked up the cold glass of beer. He hid himself behind it as he took a long, slow swig from it.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora could only nod somberly. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth to speak, her voice would crack into a sob.

Following Makko's lead, she reached out with one hand and slipped her fingers under the bell of her wine glass. His other hand still remained atop her own, and Cora made no move to pull away.

An uncomfortable silence lingered between them as they took their respective, drawn-out drinks.

"If you could do something like that…I'd like it." She decided finally. Cora's words were slow and careful, conscious of the tightness in her throat and the wavering of her tone.

"I'm hoping that it won't be as bad as I'm imagining."

She'd heard troubling rumors of Prince Horace. And after the way he'd spoken to her during their engagement party—she was inclined to believe them.

"Who knows," She added. "Maybe he'll decide that he doesn't like me very much and dump me for another woman."

A weak, wry smile attempted to break her sober expression.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

The pieces fell into place a little more clearly in his mind. Horace was a prince, potentially a future king. Whatever maneuvering her father had done, now that the engagement was arranged she was truly trapped.

Maybe, if it was worse than she imagined, they might both find the resolve to carry out his rediculous plan.

"Can only hope," he joined her in joking. It came out particularly dry.

"And yeah, I can do that. Then if you want, or need to reach out you can."

He was going to torture himself either way. Cora would be in the news, he knew that he'd follow it and make himself feel wretched either way.

"I'm going to be a Jedi Knight," he declared suddenly. "I know that's a weird thing to say, but I'm set on it now."

Maybe if he was a full Knight and he understood how the Galaxy really worked he would never feel so hopeless again.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Blue eyes flared in surprise at his sudden declaration. After a few moments, Cora's face softened.

Then she smiled genuinely, perhaps for the first time since they'd sat down.

"Good." Her hand wriggled beneath his own, turning over so that she could squeeze his hand. "I'm glad, Makko. I know that you've felt out of place among the Jedi, but I want nothing more than for you to succeed."

Her smile tilted a bit wistfully, regretful that she'd not get to see him learn and grow.

"You deserve it, and I know that this is something you can do."

Her fingers wrapped around the stem of her wine glass, idly twirling it before lifting it to take another drink.

"You be good and listen to Starlin, okay?"

A hint of a smirk could be seen as she pressed her lips to the rim of of glass again.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"I'm not sure if that's a...erm...whats the thing...two things which don't go together..."

Contradictory. He was struggling to grasp for the word contradictory.

"I'll still try and do both," Makko replied.

He tried to put together a timeline where she might get to see him being knighted. Such a mental exercise involved far too much predicting of how her life would progress for the next few years.

Makko was going to have to lean on people around him. The idea of showing vulnerability and pain was new. It was a death sentence where he had grown up.

He knocked back a full third of his beer and grinned from one side of his mouth.

"How's the tattoo feeling? Wasn't so bad, was it?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"You'd better. I’ll have my spies keeping watch.”

Soft laughter followed, and under the table Cora nudged Makko's foot playfully with her own.

The silence that drifted between them as they drank seemed slightly less uncomfortable. Cora still rolled her eyes at how quickly Makko managed to down part of his beer, as opposed to the measured sips she took from her wine.

"It's still sore and irritated, but it's hurting less than I'd imagine." Her head cocked to the side. "I can't say that it felt pleasant, but it went better than expected."

Her gaze fixed on the lines of ink that peeked out from his collar, following a path up to his neck.

"Did any of yours hurt particularly more than the others?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko grinned. He didn't think Cora had spies. The royal family might, he supposed. That made him think that he might need to be extra careful with the routing on the comms between the holopads.

"Front of the neck, the one on the inside of my foot," he said without even a pause.

There was something blissfully mundane about the conversation. He enjoyed that, enjoyed playing pretend for a while. It wasn't even pretending, he thought to himself. It was just letting go enough to enjoy this moment on its own.

"Where would you get a second one?" he asked, leaning forwards across the table to listen carefully.