Wires and Things

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin looked over at the Teddy Bear.

He frowned for a moment, then took short, quick steps towards it. The infochant looked confused for a moment, his fingers running over the edge of the desk just slightly away from the bear. There was something...wrong. He tried to remember the small stuffed animal, tried to remember having put it there...tried to remember anything about it. "I..."

Munin looked around the room for a second.

"I'm not sure." A flash of pain ran through his mind, a hand coming up to clutch his head. "I don't remember."

He said the words through gritted teeth. He couldn't remember the bear, but he could remember leaving this place. The Orphanage had closed up, run out of funding or some other excuse. They had taken all of the children and were moving them to another orphanage off of Coruscant. He remembered the day well, being taken to the starport. He remembered being excited, but also scared, he remembered closing that door...walking through the streets.

He just couldn't remember the bear.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Brown-eyes widened beneath glass lenses as she watched Kai's reaction to a simple question. It was clear this place had many memories for him. Some forgotten. Perhaps some forced to be forgotten?

Leaning forward, fingertips reached forward - hesitated - then brushed against his arm. #I'mnottouchyfeely "You okay? I mean...we don't have to stay here. Maybe we can find somewhere else..." she knew it was a pointless question. There was no where else to go. And even if there was, she wouldn't make it.

#wiped

She stifled a yawn, free hand going to rub at drooping eyes beneath her glasses.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"No." He said quietly, putting down the bear slowly as though it were some kind of a bomb. There was no way the thing had harmed him of course, could harm him, it was a freaking teddy bear, but something about it made Munin incredibly uncomfortable. He watched it for a moment more, then slowly turned around.

"It's fine." Munin said finally. "Besides, there's no other place to go."

Especially now.

Time had swung against them, and the day was beginning to rise on the streets above. By now their picture would be circulating all over the place, the Security forces would be giving the search an extra push, and everything would be entirely unfriendly to them. They would have to stay the day here, then move the next night and see if they could reach a starport. It was really the best bet they had, aside from hoping that the authorities would simply give up, which he doubted. "Why don't we get some sleep?"

The suggestion came quietly, another look tossed towards the bear.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

A frown tugged at her lips. She studied him quietly a moment longer. #guysandbears

Another yawn.

"Okay." Converse-shoes got kicked off. Tugging her legs up, she scooted toward the inside of the mattress. She faced the wall, arms stiffly crossed, laying on her side. Bony-shoulders rose and fell, quickly transitioning into deeper breaths. She didn't know where Kai would sleep. The cot was small. But at this point, she was too tired to care - even if he somehow shared it.

"There's one thing I should warn you," she yawned, eyes closed. "Sometimes I get night terrors."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin did not in fact try to share the cot. Instead he sat himself down right beside the bed, leaning back so that his head was pressed against the small crossbar that ran the edge of the cot. He made himself comfortable, though his arms quickly pulled around himself. The little room was surprisingly warm, almost hot, there was no need for blankets and...well there weren't any anyway. Silence passed after she spoke, Munin not responding to what she had said.

He couldn't find anything to say.

His eyes were locked on the teddy bear, his mind fixed on the blank that he had noticed in the memory. He knew that the bear was important, he knew that he had seen it before, but he couldn't remember why, he couldn't remember where...he couldn't remember it at all. It was like the thing had been ripped out of his memories, completely torn away and removed. There was simply forgetting something, and then...then there was this.

Munin frowned, watching the bear.

His eyes never closed.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

A few hours later the first scream ripped from her throat. Munin might have been asleep. Or maybe not. Maybe he was still looking at that teddy bear. #creeperbear

A second scream followed. Then a third. Gangly limbs thrashed on the bed. Voice whimpered, "No. Don't....NO!" Head whipped to the side and she screamed again. If she wasn't woken up soon by Kai, her screams would alert anyone nearby. Their position would be compromised.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin snapped awake. His eyes had already been open, frozen in a hard look at the bear. When she screamed however old instincts seemed to fall upon him. He tore himself from what little sleep he'd managed to get, ripping himself from rest and quickly turning towards the source of the disturbance. His eyes popped open, ripping from her and towards something...anything that might have caused her to scream. Munin found nothing but darkness his mind suddenly snapping back to what she had said.

"Night terrors." He said it as though it was a curse, scrambling up from his place on the floor and jumping onto the bed. His hands came upon her with a gentleness, one set on her shoulder, the other gently caressing her face.

Munin didn't want to shake her, didn't want to startle her, but he had to wake her. "It's okay. It's okay."

He called to her, his fingers gently crossing her skin, his other hand cupping her hand. The orphanage had often been filled with nightmares, both real and imagined. He remembered some of the kids reacting this way, though no one had ever shown them the same kindness Munin now showed Spark.

Nevertheless he continued, gently holding her, pulling her from her dreams.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She saw the pit. The largest sarlaac pit. Sage Bane dangled her over the edge. He ripped her glasses from her face. The stench of old bones and still rotting flesh was enough to make her gag. The force suppression collar pinched at her throat. Needles constantly pricking flesh. She forgot what it felt like - the force. But she would never forget the phantom pain around her neck. The pricking and burning. The choking. The sneer of a pompous sith lord.

There was a touch on her face. A voice in her ear. It wasn't Sage. Or Carach. Or Matsu. Or Cameron.

Brown-eyes snapped open. Contacts felt gritty and dry. The man next to her was bleary and her tiny fist was already flying toward Kai's face.

#unfortunately #reflexes

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He moved faster then one would expect, but a life of holo-games and being beaten had set his reflexes on edge.

It also helped that she was still sleepy.

His hand shot up and his fingers latched around her wrist almost immediately. He pulled her first slightly down, though unfortunately it wasn't enough to entirely stop her. The knuckles of her fist pressed into the very bottom of his jaw, a pretty solid punch landing against his face and causing him to go half dizzy. His head immediately spun to the left, his eyes fell into the top of his head, and almost reflexively his body tensed and then quickly went slack.

Rather unceremoniously Munin fell onto his side.

He wasn't unconscious, but his eyes were half lulled, his hand that had been on her cheek had slipped lower as he'd fallen. The hand that held her wrist still clung to her, pulling her along as he went tumbling off the tiny cot and onto the floor.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Fist connected. The remaining sleep fled from her eyes. But suddenly she lost gravity. Actually, gravity took hold of her. #Munin #what'shisname #what'shisface

He went first. She went second. She landed hard on his chest, glasses tipped down her freckled-nose. One of his hands was tangled up in her hair. The other had her wrist.

"Ooomph," she yelped, forehead knocking against his own, legs tangled with his.

#touching #eeEEEEEeeeeep

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He didn't really think about what he did next, all he did was react in such a way that she wouldn't be punching him in the face again. One hand flowed through her hair with surprising ease, pulling free any bands that she had earlier placed there to hold it into place. The other hand released her wrist and almost immediately flowed around the small of her back, he pulled her close, tight, and right against himself.

His breath flowed over her neck, a groan of pain escaping him.

Pain once again ran through him, a startling amount of it actually coming from his back, not the smack of their foreheads coming together. A brief thought passed through his mind, thinking about how this woman would very likely be the death of him.

Oddly enough, he found that somewhat comforting.

Not many people knew how they were going to die. Munin did though, quickly moving his face forward to press his lips against hers.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

One minute she was groaning about the forehead smack. Before a hand could even raise to rub at her tender flesh, she felt a pair of warm and wet lips on her own. She froze. Eyes widened to saucers. Flesh down to her neck flushed red. A bright red that, this time, wouldn't be hidden by the darkness of a ventilation shaft.

And for a second, #teenysecond, she kissed him back. What had taken Coren Starchaser months to accomplish, this man did in twenty-four hours. #stilldontknowhisrealname

Sense finally took over. #reason. Hands fumbled up, palms working their way against his chest and she pushed him down into the floor. As hard as her gangly-limbed muscle strength allowed.

"What," she caught her breath. Face still burning red. "Are you doing?!" There was a hand still around her waist and a hand still in her hair.

#awkward #justwanttohide #omgee

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His hands didn't move, his eyes set hard on her, his lips thinning for a moment.

He could have sworn that she...

"Uhh." Munin said quietly, not quite sure how to answer the question. It was an odd one really, she was the one laying on top of him, she was the one that had punched him then headbutted him, and she was the one that had...well...he didn't know, but all of this really did seem to be her fault. Saying that however seemed to be a very bad idea, so instead Munin simply looked at her for a moment, then shot a small gaze towards the Teddy Bear on the desk, then back to her. "What are you doing?"

That would get her.

This entire situation was...odd, and in truth Munin hadn't counted on any of it going the way it had. He was supposed to have gotten the data, gotten off-world, then sold the data for millions upon millions of credits. It should have been easy, it should have been done by now, but instead he was here on the dirty floor, covered in grime with fingers wrapped around a pretty girl who was just as filthy as he.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Wha-what?!" She stared at him just as he stared at her. She didn't move. Until one hand lifted from his chest to push up her glasses. #perpetualglassesadjustment Cheeks still brightened. She was socially awkward enough. This was well beyond her. Well beyond her preference of sipping fair-trade caf in a holonet cafe by herself.

"You kissed me first," she blurted. "I'm not. I don't usually. I barely know you!"

Eyes traveled to the bear, then back to his face.

She didn't dislike kissing him. She just didn't...it was so...and then the....and he didn't know her....and the....#complicated!

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." Munin said with a completely blank expression.

Everything outside of the moment was forgotten. Everything that he had thought about as he'd fallen asleep, everything that he had endured, everything that he was surrounded by. The Germs, the forgotten bear, everything. None of it seemed to matter as much in that moment, it was all...all just happening. He watched her cheeks bloom a bright crimson, watched her eyes dash away, and watched her poignantly not move away from him.

His fingers slightly curled in her hair.

Were he a more charming man Munin would have thought of something clever to say, something half seductive and half endearing. But he was not a charming man. He was an orphan that had ever really ever known one female, one that was more like a Sister then anything else.

So instead of being charming, he instead chose to be reasonable.

"It was enjoyable, wasn't it?" He asked quite simply. "Why try to complicate it?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She felt his fingers on the back of her head. Her elbows and palms spread along his chest. She actually felt...really safe. How many times had they ended up like this? Close and stuck together. Still, she barely knew him. And yet it felt familiar.

But they were both cons. #logical

"Yes. No. I mean," she huffed. Lips thinned. They tingled. Eyes drifted back to his mouth. Then snapped back up to his blue eyes. Finally, she went to push off him - if he didn't hold her down. "Don't we have to go? It's almost nightfall. It's not safe."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

For a moment he didn't move, his hands didn't move. Munin held her in place for just a second, perhaps to enjoy the moment for a little bit longer, perhaps to countermand her claims, perhaps simply because he couldn't think of anything else to do. No matter what it was, Munin held fast, his fingers pressing gently into her side as she tried to move, her hair curling around his fingers as she just barely tried to push herself away, eyes darting to his own.

"I feel pretty safe." He said flatly.

She had a point though.

It wasn't likely that Security was looking for them here of course, but they would very likely be sweeping the streets block by block by now. Drones would be flying overhead and they would be asking questions of people who were out of the street last night. He doubted that they would find this place even if they did look, but...well if they were going to get off Coruscant then their best chance would be within the next few hours.

Yet...

Munin didn't really want to move.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Did his grip get tighter? She froze. "I do too." Mouth closed quickly as she realized she said that out-loud. Instead of pulling away, she snorted and fell into his chest. Face buried against the top of his shoulder. Bony shoulders shook as her body trembled over his.

She wasn't crying.

She was cracking up. #lolol #awkwardlaughing #forthewin

"Stars, we're a mess," muffled voice breathed into his shirt. "Are you ever going to tell me your real name?"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His arms tightened around her time time, really tightened. It was half an embrace and half a soft...clinging. There wasn't really another word for it, not an accurate one. "I..."

What was he supposed to say to that?

Munin didn't have a real name, not in the way that others did. He and Huginn had both had many names throughout their childhood. The Orphanage had often changed their birth certificates, they had ruined their own files, and well...there had been so many changes that he couldn't even remember what they'd originally called him. It wasn't a blank like the Teddy Bear, it was something that he had very simply forgotten. Huginn had forgotten too.

They had picked names for themselves at certain points, something to call one another, but they'd abandoned those long ago as well. They hadn't needed names, they were siblings, they addressed each other as such, anything more...wasn't real.

"Are you going to tell me yours?" He asked quite plainly, countering her question instead of giving his own sad answer.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She snorted one more time. Shoulders didn't tremble as much as her laughter subsided. Without lifting her head, her lips smiled against his shirt. He had known. She knew he did. The fake name.

#bothplayas #butNOTthatkind #duh

Eyes peaked up. She frowned. Did she trust him? He had plenty of times to hand her over. To leave her behind. To betray her.

She did trust him.

"I'll tell you...if you really want to know. Do you?"

If she did tell him, she wondered if he'd believe her. Partly because it was an odd name. And partly because if he had heard of her before he might not...

She dismissed the thought.

And she didn't move. She remained wrapped up in this man's arms, trying not to think about how weird or awkward it was. In a place she didn't know.