𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕤𝕚𝕣𝕖.

"'Earthrealmer', huh?" He rose a brow. Out of all the nicknames he obtained over the years that was a new one to his ears. His almost greying goatee with only one eye to cover for him. The skull spray painted on his chest made him appear as the devil to the criminals that roam the streets of any city. The bringer if death. But this man was different. It made him think if it was one of Thor's other dimensional pals coming to say 'hello'. But it made frank think.

He seemed unimpressed. Was he meant to be? He doubted it. But he did find it interesting to see a man bend water like it was a extension of himself as he crossed his arms." I was expecting someone else. Not..thus." his tone was seemingly stoic. His face however seemed to hold a constant sense of anger and rage. It's what embodied him as blood dripped free from that skull around his chest. He wasnt afraid to get his hands dirty as he cocked his head in intrest." Got a name 'outworlder' or am I just going to have to call you the rain guy?" He asked with a sneer. It wasn't meant to be funny. If it was the speaker of the joke wasnt laughing as he crossed his arms. Not before withdrawing a cigar and lighting it. He could decipher if this man was a criminal or not. It all depended on him..

❝ 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐃, ❞ a reply hedged by the upward inflection of a caustic smirk beneath shades of purple wreathed. this man from the platitude of realms stomped on the border of intrigue and blasphemy, but the demi-god reined in anything more cutting than hints of haughtiness. for now, the stranger was an interest to be humoured until the answers were made plain. rain already had his assumptions lined up in a calculative order, fastened to the back of his teeth as his eyes prowled for revelations in details.

      by his speech and in the way he held himself, rain pinned the bloodsoaked man for a lowborn brute. one dedicated to toning his physicality while savagely neglecting the muscle shivering in his skull. it was rain’s hope that the mortal would prove that notion wrong. a welcome surprise, finding an ally that did more than pretend competency. but if not, the edenian could hardly call it a loss. often it was the greatest of fools who best served a higher purpose.

ㅤIt was too bad Rain didn't have the guts to make that mange comment out loud - preferably where Chewie could hear it. Poe probably would have enjoyed seeing how arrogant the bastard could act with no arms.

ㅤAs someone who put on a show as often as Poe did, who knew the value of visible confidence for oneself and others, he wasn't put off by Rain's apparent lack of fear for his safety. Chewie would blow him out past the outer rim if he confirmed that he was a threat, and that was a fact. Poe would only need to make sure that he didn't get blown up right along with their likely unwelcome guest, but it wouldn't be the first time he had to make himself scarce for some explosions.

𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒 pulsed like a heart on a moderated axis. the reverberating tension on its glass surface barely discernible to the human eye. “poe dameron, i presume.” voiceless steps came to a drifting end. the current of rich fabric anointed to his shoulder cascaded into a perfect pose as if carved from one of batuu’s petrified ghosts. fingers wrapped themselves purposefully around the staff’s slim body as a tingle of atmosphere formed around the mirrored globe. ❝ one of general leia organa’s most trusted commanders. i’d seen holos, but i expected you to be less . . . scruffy in person. ❞

      ❝ interesting. i have yet to draw a weapon or make a threat. yet here you are with blaster aimed, accusing me of being unpleasant. such a strange place the greater galaxy is. i’m beginning to understand what inspired our foremothers’ ideas about men. ❞ a pause while the hapan’s glittering stare struck poe from boot to bang, ❝ what passes for one. ❞

                           relishing in how the relief stone bit through her thin gown into her spine, she let her head tip skyward.   this, this was something real, unlike every interaction since she opened her heavy lids this morning.   what was keeping her here?

                           obligation.

                           the same which kept the mantle of alderaan’s senator upon her shoulder, which led some tens of thousands of beings to still declare her princess even though nothing of their world remained.   the role which made her so attractive a candidate to the queen mother.   what could be more prestigious a match than to an heir presumptive who could never have total loyalty to their throne… because their throne no longer existed.

                           the faint brush of a mind against her expanded senses functioned like a fly caught on a spider’s web, leia straightening, composing herself into something merely mildly tired in a heartbeat.   just in time for one of the hapan courtiers to round the grassy bend.   out of no obligation to rise, the hint of a smile faded onto her lips, easily cloaking herself in sheepish chagrin.    

                           ❝  have i been gone that long already?  ❞

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄, coruscant was everything but. rain expected more from the pliant heart of every galactic regime that’d come before this newest of republics. millennia tall duracrete constructs without a touch of artistry disfigured an otherwise jewel-colored sky. blaring neon adverts soliciting everything from holodramas to suggestive delights accosted peripherals on every side street and thoroughfare. a city of automated aesthetics; designed by organics and built by dreamless machines. a city a creature like the queen mother might appreciate if anything outside her own abysmal perfection could touch her basal standards.

      although thoroughly unimpressed, there were pockets that fell within the realm of beauty. like the garden rain sauntered through. an illusion of nature’s glory, manicured by . rain heard the rapacious song of life all around him. a choir fueled by crystalline blood through chlorophyll veins. yet amid the jungle of harmonized chaos, the trail he followed like an instinct remained untouched.

      for a woman who spent the better part of her still fresh adulthood absconding herself from imperial clutches, leia organa was not a difficult woman to find. her presence called to his magic like an echo’s drip, cascading in silence off the walls and across the open air. even without the spectral current drawing him through assemblage of imported flora, the courtier imagined he’d trace her steps with the same patent ease. if he’d been subjected to the queen mother’s ego in the way organa had, he too would flee to a sanctuary inhabited by a merciful lack of mouths.

      ❝ you’ll find a hapan’s sense of time depends on her mood. ❞ his face was entirely obscured save his eyes beneath rich hues of violet and pale pelagic blues, but the upward turn of his voice was a clear companion to a smile delivering the jab.

      with a click of wood against the path, rain planted himself before a column a respectful distance from alderaan’s heir. vines like threads of jewels encircled the pillar he’d chosen as his post. at the end of each spreading limb was a heart-shaped leaf accompanied by a pair of delicate buds: one a dawn-soaked magenta, the other a twilight periwinkle. rain recognised them as totally innocuous in their natural state, but when crushed and combined with certain . . . obscure components, the wispy aroma that bloomed from their hearts became a nerve-crippling gas.

there's still a lot of work to be done.

i'm not finished with it yet.

i can't give up just yet.

there's nothing noble about working yourself to death.

you think i can't handle this myself?

there's not enough hours in the day.

i realize you think you have to do this.

working like this helps me think.

i'll sleep when i'm dead.

your work ethic scares me sometimes.

i don't need your help.

do you ever sleep?

they need me.

no matter how hard you work, it won't bring them back.

do you realize how crazy that sounds?

i'm not stopping until this is done.

you need to slow down.

i feel like i'm wasting my life.

have you ever taken a vacation?

i can handle this on my own.

i'm nothing without my work.

you're going to get sick if you keep going like this.

you've proven your point.

you're going to work yourself to death.

there are worse ways to spend a life.

you can't keep going at this pace.

i don't have time to rest.

it needs to be done.

do you have any healthy coping mechanisms, by any chance?

there's no time to waste.

i think it's time for you to take a break.

everything was going great until you stopped me.

i can't sleep yet. not until this is done.

i'm the only one who can do this.

at least let me help you.

if i just focus on my work, i don't have to think about anything else.

i'm not asking you to take a break, i'm telling you.

did you really have to interrupt like that?

i'm not budging.

it's my life's work.

you're not going to convince me otherwise.

when was the last time you slept?

i'll help you finish the job if you promise to get some rest.

you're practically falling asleep standing up.

you can finish this in the morning.

let me get you to bed.

don't you get it? it's over!

working yourself to death isn't going to fix anything.

if i don't do it, no one else will.

i wish you would take some time to rest.

i'm not taking a break, if that's what you're asking.

you just broke my concentration, thank you very much.

i'm not going to bed.

i don't know how to quit.

they're counting on me.

too many people rely on me.

i can't disappoint them.

you need a vacation.

i wish you would just listen to me and slow down.

your eye bags have eye bags.

all right, that's it. i'm putting my foot down.

no more excuses.

what do you get out of this? this overworking thing?

without my work... i'm nothing.

no one else is going to step in.

i don't care about me. i care about them.

we have unfinished business.

if i stop now, it'll be like giving up.

i'm a perfectionist. it's in my nature.

better to pour myself into my work than something else.

i wish you would go easy on yourself.

                 ❝ spilled water cannot be retrieved, rain. don't let your mouth be the well of edenia's misfortunes. ❞ the mortal impact behind such a warning can be delivered by him just as easily as breathing. he bears little to no tolerance for unrequested company, especially when they wanted to pretend their tongues were slicker than a serpent's stomach, just to weep over the consequences later. but, if the prince wanted to insist on leaving the responsibility of his health in the cryomancer's palms, then he was free to continue on the dangerous path he was going.

𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐄. when it understood the merits of caution. a tactician, a soldier, a survivor. even a hero — for a tragically brief spell. titles rain couldn’t claim if he played games he wouldn’t win. which is why argus’ bastard strutted along an invisible border. close enough to gloat an undeniable presence to the cryomancer while maintaining enough distance to keep a tactful eye on winter’s lethal reach.

      ❝ in your experience, ❞ wisps of water materialized from smaller particles of moisture dispersed through air. they solidified into a rippling globe that spun on an axis on the palm of rain’s hand. in an instant, the orb was crushed. cascades slipped through rain’s fingers in tear-shaped patterns. stains the color of night-colored blood pitter-pattered on dark stones only to be sucked back into the air, leaving the ground bone dry. as time was in retreat, scattered drops returned to rain’s hand forming again the orb as pristine as the first.

"Oh, my bad; my pompous asshole's a lil rusty, but lemme see if I can translate."

He steps forward without hesitation or trepidation, stopping just in front of Rain as he locks eyes. His next words lack their signature even keel, and instead carry an uncharacteristic gravity.

"To this moment, your supposed power and superiority over me have been naught but words flimsy as clouds with a drizzle of unearned and untested hubris behind them. Unless you are prepared to test your assumptions of my worthiness or lack thereof in kombat immediately, you would be better off retaining the moisture so as not to further vex me with your pointless prattling."

He held his gaze for a few beats before letting the hardness fall away from his face and resuming his usual demeanor.

𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐒 of the birds roosting in the garden’s hanging nurseries. the air, usually spiced by verdant aromatics from various corners of outworld, was ripe instead with pungent anticipation. even the sun only dared brave the edge of a stone archway to peek with faded rays into the rotunda’s sanctum. neither man on the impromptu stage flinched as space between them crumbled to nothing.

      liu kang’s fool was close enough for rain to admire his own reflection in the man’s pugnacious stare. hood canted with amusement reserved for boastful children. cheekbones brushed upwards with a smile that failed to touch obsidian eyes. all while the mage pictured a vivid eruption of geysers from sockets. insides liquified by catastrophic pressure, funneled through the earthrealmer’s throat to spill out his mouth faster than death could claim him. searing seconds of pain. thanklessly relieving the realms of further backwards soothsaying once and for all.

      the simmering exchange continued unbroken as threads of unseen energy beckoned to the fountains around the kourtyard. shimmering slivers slithered from pools of glass, between the stones, gathering behind the earthrealmer in a shapeless silence. the water shifted, stacking into a gracile column as invisible hands lifted it into the air. rain scoffed as the last drop of aaron’s monologue drippled between them with comedic timing befitting a jester worthy of a fire god’s patience. ❝ so it can speak. ❞ the water column curved like a serpent. its featureless head sharpened to a point as it leveled with the back of aaron’s skull.

                                    ❝ but can it fight ? ❞

@delugenal talks big for a guy about to eat crow...

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝doesn’t matter how big the blaster is if you don’t know where to point it.❞ / to poe

𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐄. underdogs were bound to attract mange.

      dameron’s attempt at intimidation wicked off rain’s skin like water on wax. unbothered by the presence of a weapon trained, the hapan glided along the perimeter, hood canted over his shoulder with fascinated regard. there was a touch of ridicule in the way his brows bent upward, questioning the other man’s antics and his ability to spot the different between a thumb and a firing stud. even rain’s aqueous gait on the dust-chalked stones rippled with derision.