"Wanna come back to my ship and talk about feelings?"

[Nej Tane]

SPACE, IN SPACE (NEAR COMMENOR)​

TIME IS RELATIVE (1400 24-Hour Clock)​

I really, really didn't like seeing her that way. So I broke a lot- like a lot of laws to get to her.

​

She wasn't all that heavy- Nej was a strong, well-built guy after all- and getting her to the ship through the battle was the hardest part. That, and evading the Sith, the CSA, and all the jackasses that came to help either side when they were escaping. Quite a feat, in all actuality. Stealing codes, punching officials, one guy who was probably still locked in the locker that Nej left him in- all for one specific purpose. He dumped a cargo full of spice, and a couple of ne'er-do-well marauders that had been paid by the Hutts to go kill someone, into space to get this done. They were probably fine, he threw a couple of oxygen bottles- Nej looked over on the floor.

They probably needed the mouth pieces to work, didn't they?

Oh well.

He laid her down gently on his bed, propping up her legs a bit high into the sky. He put a blinder around her eyes to protect her from the bright lights, and laid a few fever reducers and pain relievers, and sat next to her. She was cut up, small scrapes and bruises that he himself had. He peeled off his cut and ripped jacket, touching the small spots where he had been bleeding from being dragged around by the Mandalorian.

What a dick, by the way.

Nej peeled off his shirt, examining his own wounds. Bruises and cuts, but he'd be fine. For the most part. His back was heavily bruised, from being slammed on the wall. He took out a first aid kit, leaning over the barely-conscious Ayessa. He dabbed one of her cuts with an antiseptic fluid, waiting for a reaction. He continued, idly speaking.

"Go halfway across the galaxy for you, lose a bunch of money- lordy lord, what have you done to me, girl?"

He moved her arm gently, trying to clean her wounds. When she awoke, he'd point her to the refresher to clean the grime off of her. But, he was going to tend to her first, before he focused on himself. He was a boxer, he'd been cut up, bruised and broken before. This was nothing particularly new. She, however, was. And he liked new. Well he almost kind of thought he lo- looked over at the other arm, trying to be sure she wasn't dead. He continued to dab at the cuts, careful to ensure he wouldn't wake her.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

The Space Above Commenor, Afternoon
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "Your face looks so sweet, even in the wars."
——————————————————————

Things felt very.

Light.

Light was a fun word. It had 'lie' almost in it, which felt terribly appropriate as Ayessa numbly sprawled on the deck of a ship. What ship? Not a Sith ship. Not that dar'manda's ship. Must have been Nej's. Of course, with closed eyes, she couldn't necessarily see, but her extra senses recognized his presence, took comfort in it.

He spoke, she didn't necessarily hear, only dejectedly noting the sound of voices and the general intent conveyed. Concern. Worry. Maybe confusion. Maybe love. Her head rolled a little but the small movement brought pain, her brain physically traumatized from slamming it onto a fine tiled floor at speeds one should not smash into a fine tiled floor at.

Fragments of her conscious finally pulled together, enough to start working other parts of her; mainly her voice, which came slow but steady, "Sorry. Didn't expect bad guys."

 

[Nej Tane]

"Maybe I knew I- you know. Knew back then. But I wasn't sure- not after the first time, you know? Still hurt, even back then.



His hand reached out and touched the side of her head, urging her silently not to move it. He ran his thumb along her cheek, wiping some grime from it.

"Relax- relax. Take it easy. Don't move around so much. Got your bell rung pretty bad."

He sat down on the bed, examining his bare chest in the mirror. Another cut, another bruise. And a ruined jacket. He'd have to take it somewhere to get it fixed up- and maybe her, too. He wasn't sure how bad her head was going to be. But where were they gonna go? He ran a hand through his hair, realizing that this was the first time he had been shirtless in front of Ayessa, and it wasn't exactly a sexy time.

"I uh, couldn't stand the thought of you being in danger and me not being there."

Surprisingly honest, right off the bat.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

The Space Above Commenor, Afternoon
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "You took the wrap for me, but I fell on my own sword."
——————————————————————

"Haa."

"I'll-- I heal fast."

That was true, but she didn't want to scare him either, so maybe it wasn't as true as she'd have liked. A hibernation trance would certainly facilitate a faster recovery, but it had the appearance of death itself. And, she suspected without an ounce of humour, he would think she actually died. So it was the old-fashioned recovery for her, but she did lean into his hand casually. Just enough for reassurance.

"Where are we going now?"

The Jedi's voice got a little stronger with each word but didn't move her head after his discouragement. Begrudgingly, he was right. Staying still felt better to her fractured mind. .

 

[Nej Tane]

Where else was I gonna go? Where else were we gonna go? I had one place to go.


Nej rolled his fingers over her cheek, before rising to a stand, running his hand through his hair again. He raked his fingers through the whole bit, letting his hand fall down to his side. He paused and looked downward at her, before he laid on the bed next to her, laying on his stomach, wearily. The man looked roughed, beat to all hell- he opened a weary, bruised eye.

"You're not gonna like it, but it's the safest place I know."

He closed an eye, before quickly opening it again.

"But, just keep the whole- Jedi thing on the down low."

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

The Space Above Commenor, Afternoon
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "Honey, we made the news and that's all we did this for."
——————————————————————

Something between a grunt and an exasperated sigh left the Knight at his lackluster reply. Then again, what had she expected? This was only her choice. Suppressing a wince as Ayessa sat up, hands firmly hooked over the edge of Nej's mattress to further help in supporting her rise to feet that wobbled briefly. The Force was an invisible crutch, though, regaining balance and motion extremely quickly -- The Kiffar glanced over her shoulder down to the smuggler, briefly, before she stalked off to the shower.

She did have a lot of washing to do. Warm water felt beyond good, but the process was slow; steam glided through the air as Ayessa toyed passively, making stray droplets hover on her fingertips with minimal concentration. Meaningless expressions of control. Fingers tangled through her scalp passively as the various burns across her ached, old and new -- A patchwork of warfare and mess. A shameful monument. Still, at least she was clean, drying, re-dressing herself in the shaken-out attire she'd wore on Commenor. Her voice, stronger, called across the ship, to him.

"Tell me it isn't Nar Shaddaa."

 

[Nej Tane]

Ah man I knew she was gonna be mad, or maybe just irritated- but where else was I gonna go?


Nej just smiled. He shrugged and rotated to be on top of her, his lucky coin dangling from his neck. He propped himself with his arms, hair falling down over his head. Long-haired, smug-faced conniving bastard that he was. Her, conniving bastard.


He ran a hand over her hair.

"I mean, you won't like it." He seemed genuinely confused as to what she meant. Probably because- well because Nej was just simply Nej. He kissed her forehead.
"I promise to try and not get you killed. I also promise, that you should take a shower- and I should too, come to think of it, but you're more important than me right now. So- go go go. Take a shower." He rolled off of her, propping a knee up, folding his hands on the hills and valleys of his stomach. He really didn't feel like changing the sheets- but someone had gotten grime and soot and all manner of carbon and whatnot all over them.

That someone was them both, but Nej was going to blame her for that for the time being. He tapped his fingers, waiting for her to go and get a shower in. Meanwhile, their ship floated safely in the vastness of space- undisturbed from the chaos not (relatively) far away.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

The Space Above Commenor, Afternoon
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "Honey, we made the news and that's all we did this for."
——————————————————————

Something between a grunt and an exasperated sigh left the Knight at his lackluster reply. Then again, what had she expected? This was only her choice. Suppressing a wince as Ayessa sat up, hands firmly hooked over the edge of Nej's mattress to further help in supporting her rise to feet that wobbled briefly. The Force was an invisible crutch, though, regaining balance and motion extremely quickly -- The Kiffar glanced over her shoulder down to the smuggler, briefly, before she stalked off to the shower.

She did have a lot of washing to do. Warm water felt beyond good, but the process was slow; steam glided through the air as Ayessa toyed passively, making stray droplets hover on her fingertips with minimal concentration. Meaningless expressions of control. Fingers tangled through her scalp passively as the various burns across her ached, old and new -- A patchwork of warfare and mess. A shameful monument. Still, at least she was clean, drying, re-dressing herself in the shaken-out attire she'd wore on Commenor. Her voice, stronger, called across the ship, to him.

"Tell me it isn't Nar Shaddaa."

 

[Nej Tane]

Told you man- she wasn't gonna like it.


She didn't look happy, which confused Nej. Who wouldn't want to take a trip to the loveliest, scummiest place in the galaxy? Tatooine was a great time! If you knew how to have a great time. And if you had money. Otherwise you just burned to death in an endless, unrelenting pair of suns that just never seemed to want to screw off. Nej let his feet touch the floor, heading to the showers when she was done. He left a pair of clean sweatpants with a faded Imperial Starfighter Corps- specifically, Fel Empire.

Maybe there was more to Nej than even just a smug look and being an idiot.

He took a shower, a brief, uneventful dripping of water and soap over his bruised body. Wincing and grimacing- pulling shards of glass and wiping away blood, he seemed clean. He slipped on a pair of shorts, but nothing else. It was his ship! Shirts and shoes were for losers. He rolled his head, cracking his neck. He would've shaved, but he didn't particularly feel like it. Someone liked the beard.

"Well, I grew up there, it has two suns, and some guy named Skywalker was born there. So- take a few guesses."

He said, walking up to be in front of her, subtly trying to show off that he had been working out a lot more lately.

"Lots of sand though. Plus, we might get into a cool barfight!"

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Space, The Not-So-Final-Frontier, Nej's Ship, 'Afternoon'
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "We drove for centuries without a sound or fuss."
——————————————————————

"Seriously?" Ayessa huffed, head titled, standing with crossed arms and squared shoulders, "We're going to Tatooine?" Desert planets seemed to haunt her. She could think of a few that she wouldn't mind glassing from orbit with a Venator, and whilst she'd never been to the infamous Outer Rim planet, it just seemed to be a place that deserved it, "--I hope you don't mind me leaving my lightsaber here, then." A hurdle of trust, one that was necessary.

Yeah. Encounters like the sort on Zeltros would need to be eagerly avoided on Nej's homeworld. Exasperated, she glanced to the unfamiliar insignia and wording scrawled across the pants, looking for distractions, clearly, "Where'd you get these?"

"Wouldn't have guessed you'd have been a navy man."

 

[Nej Tane]

She said it was like a bad thing- like, oh, so much better than a- well, okay, The planet sucks. I'll give her that.


Okay, so maybe Tatooine wasn't the nicest places. Or the nicest smelling. But at least it was relatively safe. Or. Well, Nej considered it safe. It wasn't Commenor, that was for sure. Nej only looked mildly upset that she hadn't changed into the clothes he set out for her, and only lightly offended. Oh well.

"I'd take it. Jedi have a weird habit of needing it."

He looked at the old uniform. Once upon a time.

"Tried a different path once upon a time."

Tried being the key term. He sat on the bed, before he laid down, trying to spread out as much as possible.

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Space, The Not-So-Final-Frontier, Nej's Ship, 'Afternoon'
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "State penitentiaries weren't made for souls like us."
——————————————————————

That seemed to surprise her. His offer of taking her lightsaber. A strange expression crossed her face, one of contemplation, before finally muttering, "Never gave it to someone before." But she still found herself grabbing the curved hilt, setting it down atop a crate, "Just don't touch the big red button. I don't want to see you get stabbed or something." Nej was many things, and, she hoped, he wasn't totally devoid of common sense. There was little doubt in her mind that he'd seriously injure himself if he attempted to use a lightsaber, especially hers.

"I think--" She paused, settling back down on the mattress with a rough exhale, feet resting on the cold metal floor of his quarters, "--If I could have tried a different path. I think I could have made a good farmer, maybe." Sure, part of her was definitely joking (Even fake plants could die under her watch) but there was something attractive about the idea, of being so far away from the galaxy's problems you could only focus on local, day-to-day ones. A pain in her head brought her figuratively back to reality, an excellent reminder that she was still definitely experiencing the aftermath of head trauma. Fingers reached back to loosely rest on his arm, then came a deep sigh, "I'm glad you're here. And I guess-- I'm glad we're heading somewhere safe, at least. I'd like to see your homeworld."

 

[Nej Tane]

"First time you're vulnerable is when you know you're in love, or at least thinking of- falling in love with someone."


"I've seen enough movies to know not to press the switch." The button, was in fact, not a switch.

That enough, was cause enough for alarm. Stabbing was an understatement. Nej would probably poke his own eye out, or accidentally slice his own face off, maybe.

Nej thought for a moment (a rarity), thinking on the possibility on him being a tall, handsome pilot for some...Empire or some people, some other group. But he liked living on the fringe. On the edge of it all. A foot in the door, only propped open to pick a pocket or steal a ship or two. He never believed in anything, because nobody believed in him. But he had one person who believed in him now- that could, and probably would change, in time.

"You- you want to see Tatooine? You realize that place sucks right? Like, a lot. That's in fact, part of the reason why I left. Also..safe is relative. I guess. Nobody should mess with you. Or me. I mean. Probably."


[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Space, The Not-So-Final-Frontier, Nej's Ship, 'Afternoon'
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "There will be blood, but you will be loved."
——————————————————————

Stuck between pondering how one 'presses a switch' (Technically, you could do it?) and having an acute moment of foresight concerning maiming (Oh, so much panic), Ayessa scooted back, leaned in slightly to give him a surprisingly stoic face, and spoke softly, "Please. Do not cut your hands off or something." It was a sincere, simple request, fingertips digging into his forearm to accompany. Then came a smile-- he was good at undoing her attempts to be serious --and she exhaled, shrugging, a lick of her lips cementing her new near-light-hearted tone.

"Yeah, it sucks, or at least, probably does. And, I think we could watch each other's back well enough down there to make it work, but, you know. You brought me to my home, only seems fitting it's the other way around."

Tatooine had been too deep in Hutt control to be a fixture for her in the war she recalled, never a point of interest for her beyond it's proximity to Geonosis. The apprehension and ill feeling from Commenor had yet to fade, but an exciting bout of trepidation had replaced it. Sure, Tatooine wasn't in the best of places. It wasn't even the best of places. But it could be something, right?

 

[Nej Tane]

For the record, I now know about switches and button.



Hands? His hands? His beautiful, amazing hands? He couldn't even cut them off if he wanted to (he didn't). The fingertips digging into his forearm meant that it was a simple request, but oddly serious. It (probably) didn't help when he started to toss the hilt in the air, idly. He stood up, and felt oddly at ease not wearing a shirt. He didn't feel like putting one on, and it was his ship- he reminded himself that he already had that rant in his own head. He set the hilt down, going to the cockpit.

The hyperspace coordinates for Tatooine were marked 'BIG SUCKY SAND PLACE'. Fitting name. He took a deep sigh, and input the coordinates into the navcomputer, where it would take...well, a while for it to figure out, position itself, and make the jump. Mostly because Nej had stolen it out of a much larger ship and it was still plotting for a larger ship.

He walked back, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"So, just warning you- people like me there, don't give them anything, no matter how cute they are, or how little their faces are. If you do give them something, throw it away from you. The kids there are relentless, really relentless. Make sure your pockets are buttoned and whatnot."

The miscreant children obviously were not Nej's primary concern, something else was.

He rubbed his hands together and flexed a little, trying to show off.

"So uh, the computer is gonna take a while..."

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Space, The Not-So-Final-Frontier, Nej's Ship, 'Afternoon'
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "The world will know, but it's only us."
——————————————————————

Every time Ayessa watched her curved hilt jump up and down she resisted the urge to snatch it out of the air with the Force and just conceal it on her person. Damn it. Trust, that's an important foundation to anything. It was definitely nerve-wracking to trust her lightsaber with anyone, but there was a first time for everything.

I'm still gonna worry the entire time, though.

It definitely didn't help that Nej, purposefully or not, was baiting her into looking. Looking-looking. She was a Jedi, and that didn't exactly stop her, a grin on her face halfway between delirious from fading pains of her concussion and pleased with the sights offered. Oh, sweet relief. Letting her blood pressure sink back down alongside her Lightsaber hilt being gingerly put somewhere flat and safe and away, brown eyes trailed him as he moved to the cockpit to calculate their jump. With crossed-legs in a position one might call meditational, she remained perched like some bird as he moved back, raising an eyebrow at his warning but nodding nonetheless. Pickpockets, of course. He'd grown up there, hadn't he? She expected nothing less.

Resisting the urge to mention once more how he'd failed the first time to take a single item off her, she finally cut in once he'd mentioned the duration of their trip with a not-so-subtle, awfully-casual, "You called me your girlfriend on Commenor."

Yeah, she was still concussed. Yeah, it was something she'd remembered. Yeah, she was bringing it up now.

 

[Nej Tane]

What a time.


Nej blinked only a few times. He had never even considered the weight of what he said. What it meant to her.

"Am I not yours? Are you not mine?"

The room's atmosphere changed. It shifted, from a light-hearted jab and a few quips about the old planet, to a serious discussion between two people, two souls intertwined. Two lovers. He stared at her a while. Not a stare of lust, or of pride, or hate. But of genuine love. He reached out and wrapped his hand around hers.

"I have traveled from every corner of the galaxy, and I was looking for something. I just wish I knew what I was looking for- sooner. Because I was looking for you."

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]

 

[Ayessa Kroan]

Space, The Not-So-Final-Frontier, Nej's Ship, 'Afternoon'
Interacting with [member="Nej Tane"] ~ The Last Romance ~ "When I lay me down."
——————————————————————

He had his moments, didn't he? Nej's words proverbially rocked her ship. Sent men overboard, drowning in the depths of her murky heart, made Ayessa's breath fall short for a few crucial seconds.

Am I not his?

"You'd have spent a long time looking, if you had known," The Jedi remarked a little dryly, head tipping a bit as she spoke, "I was gone for a while. Things have changed a lot."

"I don't fit in very well anymore."

Fingers coiled 'round his, the mood on her end changing from sober reverence to a more lighthearted, affectionate smile, "But I fit in well with you." Her own acceptance of his words, their linked hands raising for a moment as Ayessa planted a quick and almost pleased kiss on one of his knuckles. Then she swayed a little, eyes shutting as she kept his hand near her face, "You don't have any painkillers, do you? Actual ones, not party-drugs."

 

[Nej Tane]

Love, that's a funny word- you never know, until it hits you. Like a mean right hook.


"Way I see it, only the names change. It all remains the same, really." He hooked his arms under hers, wearily looking over her frame- then meeting her eyes. "You fit well enough in with me, I guess." He leaned in and kissed her forehead, running his fingers through her hair.

"I wouldn't take any drugs you find in here. The only ones you can find in here will make you trip really bad."

He stroked her hair.

"Better off just not taking anything that I don't take first, really. Or eating anything."

He thought for a moment again.

"And the water- I think it's safe."

[member="Ayessa Kroan"]