Mar'eyn Skirata

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The List of Tags: (If your name is crossed out then check your settings! Tumblr is not letting me tag you!) @two-black-leviathans @fallenrepublick @eyecandyeoz @ashotofspotchka @littlepossss @octupus-on-the-moon @justalittletomato @mach-opress @mustluvecho @nahoney22 @leotatombs @eloquentmoon @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @maulslittlemeowmeow @misogirl828 @alwayssnivellus @stardustbee @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @bacarasbabe @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius

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Lord Maul was vicious and ruthless when it came to punishing anyone he thought a traitor. You swallowed hard. What if Lord Savage had called you out here to be made an example of? Though, of all the places, the east courtyard balcony was not a place you thought would be used for such a purpose.

Lord Savage had always been kind to you, though kind may not be the word. Considerate perhaps? He certainly spoke to you more than some of the others. What if that was it? You’d said something wrong, or asked too many questions in wanting to learn about his people and culture. You had just wanted to know him better, learn about his experiences, what he liked, what he didn’t. Was that really so wrong of you? You chewed your lower lip nervously, finally reaching the doorway and stepped out into the courtyard.

He stood there, by the railing, hands at his sides, though he seemed tense. Curiosity and anxiety ate away at her but she was determined to know what he wanted and approached swiftly. Better to get it over with.

“My Lord,” you announce yourself as you stop in place behind him. Slowly he turns, his golden gaze hits you and you feel your heart stutter. “You… ah, you summoned me?”

“Yes,” he replied in that low, deep rumble of a voice that somehow made you feel as though you were weightless for half a second. “I have something to discuss with you.”

“Of course,” you replied and managed to avoid tripping over your own feet out of sheer nerves as you both moved to a table just to your left. Taking a seat, you found, did not ease your anxieties. You wanted to know and yet the tension was killing you. You realised then that you hadn’t removed your helmet and would not be able to hide behind it for this conversation. Slowly, your Mandalorian helmet slid up over your head to rest on the table between you both. His expression changed from unreadable to something that looked… nervous? You’d never seen him like that before and immediately became concerned.

“Is everything alright, my Lord?” you began though that did not seem to ease him.

“Yes,” he repeated and after a moment, cleared his throat. “I have spoken to my brother about this at length… and though he did not fully understand, I feel his advice to just speak to you about the matter is a wise one.” This matter? What matter did he mean?

“I’m… not sure I follow?” you said slowly. The big zabrak tapped the metal fingers of his left hand on the table before him. He seemed to be searching the air between you for some kind of sign, or perhaps the words he needed to say.

“I… have… affections, for you, I am not sure if you noticed as such things are foreign to me. The Nightsisters--” he cut himself off and frowned, a darkness crossing his face that made your heart clench for a moment. There was pain in his eyes. “Well, things on my home planet were very different.” There was a pause, and you noticed he did not look at you but there seemed to be more he wanted to say. Gingerly, you reached out, sliding your hand across the table to grasp his own. If he had affection for you then… this would be alright? He looked at your hand for a moment, and ever so gently turned his hand to grasp your own in response. He was so careful in his movements, and you were sure it was so that he did not harm you. Your chest ached and you felt moved by his words. You’d never thought he’d have such feelings for someone like you, and while you’d denied your own feelings… they were there. It was more than admiring his form or watching him train, more than a curiosity. So often with the cold demeanour of the zabrak brothers, it could be mistaken for cruelty or something so simple. But there was more there. You had seen the haunted expressions that barely flit across their faces, Savage especially was easier to read but, still, you could almost feel that something was wrong. Something terrible had happened to them and you wanted to know. Moreover, you wanted to help.

“But it’s more than that,” Savage continued, finally building the courage to say what was on his mind, “I want to take you to all the beautiful places, sunsets over oceans and listen to the rain. I want to dance with you, make you smile and laugh… but– I also want to kiss you so hard it leaves marks on your body, I want to watch you writhe beneath me and scream my name until you can’t say anything else.” Your eyes widened. He was looking at you now and you were sure your whole body was about to catch fire. He…? He really? By the stars… your mouth was parted and you must have looked shocked and perhaps a little frightened, as he began to withdraw.

“If that makes you uncomfortable I will not speak of it again--” he moved to pull his hand away when you grasped it firmly with a jolt.

“No!” you gasped. His large golden eyes snapped up to yours sharply, “I mean… no, you don’t make me uncomfortable I am just… I didn’t expect… I mean… me of all people--” you began but he frowned slightly.

“Why not you?” he asked as though it were obvious, “you are fierce and strong, clever and kind…” he seemed a little embarrassed but there was no way he could be as flustered as you felt right now.

“I…” you were stunned, your heart was racing, your hands trembled and you didn’t know what to say. You wanted to speak, to say something… anything. Your mouth ran dry and you looked into his golden eyes and you were about to respond when--

Beeeeeeeeeeeep!

“Osik!” you gasped, startled by the sound and he chuckled, a smile crossing his features. The message was from Commander Saxon, apparently there was a matter with an enemy that required both of your attentions, the message from Lord Maul came through to Savage a few moments after yours. It seemed the conversation had to be cut short and you had to go. But you didn’t want to leave the moment before at least saying something. You were now standing, helmet under your arm and torn between going and staying…

“I…” you hovered, and winced, wanting to stay when your comm chirped again. “I… I have to go, Lord Savage…” you began, but I… I appreciate what you-- I mean… I have affection… I--” Ah Sithspit… Kriff it. “I love you. I have to go.” With that you spun away and jammed your helmet on, but not before hearing him say;

“Wait, what?!” But you didn’t stay for more. You had to go and you were too embarrassed to face him properly. Perhaps you would be able to speak with him afterwards. You hoped so. Now you had revealed your hearts to each other… well… you hoped to be able to talk more… maybe once your face was no longer on fire.

Yeah. That would be much better.

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Taglist!

Currently the two of them were having a session of target practice, damaged pieces of droids; heads, limbs or whatever other scrap they could find were perched up on a fallen log some distance from the main camp. That was, when they weren’t getting distracted by interesting things they spotted or different conversations that jumped from topic to topic. They were all assured that the Separatists weren’t anywhere close by, thankfully. She’d managed to show a little for her new friend, when she wasn’t distracted by the cute little smile he had or the glimmer in his eye when she hit the target. She wasn’t exactly a novice, and even managed a few trick shots as well. She was feeling pretty chipper when suddenly she realised just how quiet it was. She paused in her aim, looking around. There were no birds, no animals, no nothing. It was like a blanket of silence had fallen over the two of them. Hardcase shot her a curious look before she suddenly leapt at him, knocking the man to the ground.

“What the--?” was all he could get out before the undergrowth exploded with sound and a huge furred creature let out a screech that nearly deafened the two humans, its huge hook-like claws swiping through the air where they had once been standing. It was huge, it’s head coming to her shoulder and wide jaws full of sharp teeth easily able to snatch a man in them and swallow him in two bites. This particularly angry-looking Nexu spun back to face them as the two scrambled to their feet, blasters firing rapidly. Hardcase didn’t even have his helmet with him! Her shots were wild compared to the target practice, the shock of attack had her shaking more than she would like to admit.

The blasts had the giant beast thinking twice about it’s meal, but she knew there would be another one somewhere, these ones hunted as a pack. She had to think quickly! With a sudden bolt of inspiration she held out her rifle to Hardcase as he tried to keep the Nexu at bay. He’d screamed for backup into his commlink and she hoped they were inbound.

“Swap!” she yelled to him over the blasts.

“Why?” he replied, barely flicking a glance at her as he kept firing.

“Just trust me!” There was barely a break in the assault as she threw her rifle to him and he dropped the blasters he held. The transition was so smooth it looked rehearsed. In the distance she could hear more blaster fire and through the trees spotted more of the boys in blue engaging the rest of the pack.

“There’s more of them?!” Hardcase cried with a quick glance over his shoulder.

“These ones hunt in packs!” she responded, motioning him to follow her as they began to back up towards his squad. “At least they give the Seppies the same amount of trouble, but they can’t eat them so they come back to us too quickly!” she explained, firing off the odd shot between fiddling with the second blaster. She and Hardcase pushed their way through the trees, making a run for it as they crested a small hill.

“There they are!” One of the clones cried, she was sure the Captain had been the one to speak, but it was hard to tell in the chaos. Suddenly she felt something hard at her waist, and with a shriek, she was hauled off her feet and Hardcase had looped his arm around her middle and leapt to join his brothers in the fray.

It took her a second to regain her feet, and this time she had both hands to work on her little contraption.

“They aren’t stopping!” one of the boys yelled.

“Just hold them off for a little longer! I have something!” the girl responded, wrapping the blaster barrel in wire and binding the detonator to the side. They couldn’t see what she was doing, though they didn’t have much time with the Nexu drawing in and surrounding the group. Finally she took the bait she’d forgotten about in her rucksack and stuffed the barrel with the pungent stuff. She would blame herself for attracting the beasts later but for now--

“Everyone drop!” She screamed as she leapt to her feet and threw the rigged blaster with all her might. One of the beasts leapt to grab it in it’s slobbering maw, and swallowed it. The girl hit dirt under a rocky lip as there was a high pitched whine, and the Nexu looked confused for a moment. The next, it was gone as a blast of blood fur and viscera coated everything in the vicinity. The remaining Nexu let out cries of alarm and pain, the furry creatures high-tailing it out of there.

An uneasy calm fell over the group of soldiers, the girl was the first one to pop her head up over the rocks and logs the group had hidden behind. Murmurs became relieved laughs or groans of disgust with the state of the area, her own nose wrinkled as the scent of burnt fur and entrails filled her nostrils. Poor kitty. She turned back after surveying the area to notice a few of the soldiers looking at her. One of them being Hardcase; his mouth hanging open as his warm mahogany eyes flicked between her and the spot where the Nexu had been. His mouth closed. Then it opened again, but no words came out.

“You alright, mell’ona?” she asked; her native tongue for ‘good friend’.

“That… and you were--” Hardcase whined, his voice unusually high. The girl titled her head, he didn’t sound too well. Finally he seemed to mentally catch up with what happened. “...that was my favourite blaster…” he managed pathetically. The laugh that escaped the girl had her almost doubled over. Relief flooded his features, not that she could see it, laughing so hard and all. He grinned at her, letting out a soft laugh of his own.

“Tell you what, how about I make you another one?” she suggested, managing to calm herself down enough to talk without giggling, her cheeks sore from smiling.

“That… would be pretty great.” the clone replied, looking a little shy all of a sudden. The two of them oblivious to the looks they were getting from the Trooper’s brothers. They began to head off towards tha main camp when Hardcase paused, “this one won’t explode, right?” he asked.

“No, it won’t…. Unless you want me to make that possible…?” she suggested.

“Better not… I might blow myself up,” he laughed.

“Well I won’t let that happen, c’mon,” she grabbed his hand and led him back towards her workshop, ignoring the way her heart beat just that little bit faster.