I HAVE A RIVER IN MY MIND,

            ❛            grey instead of red ? ooh , that'd be the day.            ❜          i didn't want to admit just how hard my heart started beating at her confession , how flushed my face got , how warm , hoping that by ducking my chin & averting my gaze she wouldn't notice it. but her fingers traced my skin , & i knew she could tell i was blushing. whatever surge of confidence i had that allowed me to actually kiss her in public was fading , melting under the gentle drag of her touch upon my flesh. my throat bobbed as i swallowed.            ❛            i .. i want that , too. more than you know.            ❜          

tucking my face to my chest , i leaned forward , nudging my forehead against hers & taking a slow breath through my nose , eyes still trained on the bar counter between us , my hand outstretched to take her free one , & brush my thumb along her tattooed knuckles.            ❛            maybe we could .. make tanalorr a home. a real one. one that's safe , that .. that we can grow old in.            ❜          it had been nagging at me , the idea that bode had for the planet. a safe haven , not a training ground. it could work , to make tanalorr a mix of the two.

she offers him her silence as he grapples with his words, squeezing his fingers in her own. this type of domesticity; this future they were dreaming of was not typical on dathomir, it was something she had only really seen or heard of in her travels. but they had earned it, hadn't they? a community, safety, a day without glancing over their shoulders for pursuers. maybe it was selfish to want these things, while others suffered, but had she not suffered, too? those years of loneliness on dathomir, and those violent years spent fighting the empire any way she could must have earned her some type of bliss.

IN WAR, VICTORY. IN PEACE, VIGILANCE — IN DEATH ...

"Sounds like a team-up."

i was not much older than you when i lost my family ... for many years, i carried this pain — I DID NOT WANT TO FEEL BETTER — i thought, if i let go of the pain, i would be letting go of the people i loved. BUT I WAS WRONG. and one day, i met someone who also lost his family. together, we found another way to survive. this pain is yours ... it is part of you — but it doesn't have to define you, and you must not let it consume you. #ASTERIMS — a science - fiction based multimuse featuring merrin of the jedi series.

            ❛            mm .. should we ? i'm sure greez would love that.            ❜          pyloon's was packed & busy , so loud that i had to angle my face in closer to hers to speak , brushing the tip of my nose playfully along her chin , before tipping my head forward & kiss her neck beneath her jaw. it was all a tease on my end , of course. i could never imagine staying in one place for too long , not when people still needed help , not while there's a war to fight. but after bode , after cere & cordova , things have slowed to a crawl , & i liked the peace of it all. tanalorr was comfortable , koboh was welcoming. it was easy.

i wrapped an arm around her shoulders to bring her in closer , breathing her in , wondering if she was serious. she still had so much of the galaxy to explore , so many different planets & cultures to experience. there was a time when i would've begged her to stay with me , match my pace , go with the flow , but .. now i'd never ask her to do that. whatever we were , whatever we were doing , i knew we were strong enough to endure distance if she decided to travel again. i took a breath.            ❛            then again .. we're still pretty young. i bet there's loads more for us to do out there , mer. together.            ❜