#cherra

“I can’t believe you’re so bad at this”

“Shut up, I’m trying my best.”

“I mean, you’re a Jedi. Aren't they famous for their feats of grace and physicality?”

“Well yeah, but I’m not a good one.”

Dara’s legs go out from under her. One goes forwards and the other somehow goes sideways, and Cherise catches her.

Her hands catch Dara’s elbows and hold her steady as she struggles to get her feet back under her body. Whoever decided that strapping wheels to your limbs was a good idea was either a moron or completely insane, she thinks as she grits her teeth. She then thinks that she needs to go swimming more often, if her core strength is this poor.

Her hands find the collar of Cherise’s jacket and she manages to haul herself upright. Cherise’s hand settles low on her back as they come face to face, their lips centimetres apart. Dara’s breath catches in her throat and the leather of Cherise's jacket creaks as her fingers tighten. 

"Oh I don't know," Cherise murmurs, "there's some Force stuff you're really, really good at."

Dara laughs and rests their foreheads together. She can't help but grin as Cherise captures her lips and kisses her softly. Her hands smooth over Cherise's shoulders as she gets tugged closer by the soft hands on her hips.

"C'mon," Cherise says when she pulls back. "Try again."

She lets go of Dara and skates backwards smoothly, effortlessly.

It's incredibly attractive of her, really.

Dara keeps watching her as she skates away. She's wearing a long silk scarf wrapped around her waist that flutters against her bare thighs as she moves, graceful and elegant and incredibly beautiful in the evening sunlight. 

Dara has been all over the Galaxy, to thousands of secluded spots and unspoiled planets. Waterfalls and mountain ranges and jungles and forests and deserts. Part of her work is to keep them that way. Beautiful places are her specialty, and so she's uniquely qualified to say without doubt, that the sight of Cherise laughing and smiling in front of the golden sunset is the most beautiful thing in the Galaxy.

"Come on," she says, spinning to a stop and holding her hands out. "You can do it."

Dara sighs and starts to move her legs. They wobble below her as she slowly starts to glide forwards. Well, hardly glide. Cherise had glided, but Dara just sort of… lurches. She's always known she wasn't physically gifted, but she feels pathetic. All clumsy and lumbering. 

Cherise's laugh as she nearly falls again makes her blush furiously. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry baby," Cherise says, still giggling. She skates forwards again, cupping Dara's chin and kissing her cheek. "It's just- it's nice to see you be so- vulnerable, for once. You're usually so good at shit."

"I'm really not," Dara sighs, leaning against Cherise.

"I just don't like showing you what I'm not good at," she admits quietly, staring down at her feet. At least they aren't jet boosted, or Force forbid, hover boots, she reflected morosely.

"Hey," Cherise murmurs, "look at me."

She tilts Dara up with a finger under her chin.

"Thank you for showing me something you're not good at," she whispers.

Her smile is wonderful, something secret, just for the two of them. She presses it to Dara's lips, her other hand tugging Dara closer until they're flush together. It becomes easier to stand upright if she just leans against Cherise, let's Cherise take her weight and hold her.

"Yeah well. You love skating, and I love you," she mutters, her cheeks heating.

Cherise swoops forwards to kiss her again.

"I love you too," she says when she's finished making Dara's knees wobble. It's a dangerous thing, when she's got damn wheels strapped to her feet.

This time, when Cherise skates backwards, she keeps ahold of Dara's hands.

"Let me take the lead," she says, smiling gently.

Her hands are warm in Cherise's, fingers soft yet holding firmly. She leads Dara in a wide circle, and for the first time since she strapped these damn things on her feet, she doesn't even stumble. She wobbles a few times, but Cherise catches her. 

Cherise always catches her.

They begin to move faster, and Cherise doesn't even fumble. She's still moving backwards, glancing over her shoulder from time to time. But she's confident and sure as they skate.

"How did you get so good at this anyway?" Dara asks curiously.

She's been watching Cherise skate all afternoon. Truly, she's incredible. The backwards skating and the spins and jumps blows Dara's mind a little bit.

Cherise shrugs, still holding Dara's hands.

"Where I grew up, we had long winters. I used to skate with my family when the rivers froze over."

Her smile is coloured with nostalgia. Golden, happy memories.

"When I moved to Coruscant, I really missed it. I took up rollerblading instead." 

She lets go of Dara's hand, spinning so that they're skating side by side. Dara wobbles a little, but manages to stay upright. She looks across at Cherise.

"You're really good at it," she offers. It's a little dumb, but the grin Cherise gives her is wide and warm.

She looks so happy when she skates, relaxed and practically glowing with joy. Her skirt flutters in the wind and she looks so graceful. Her hair is tied up in a bun with a few curls hanging loose over her forehead, her deep red cheeks dusted with silver freckles that have always reminded Dara of stars just beginning to shine through when day turns to night. But it's her smile, her glorious smile that has Dara transfixed.

She turns to smile back at Dara as they skate hand in hand, and Dara wants to take a picture of the moment.

Cherise, happy and relaxed and looking at Dara with all the love in the Galaxy. 

The sunsets on Coruscant are always beautiful, like the sky has been set on fire. The clouds are pale lilac against the deep orange sky, like uj flavoured candyfloss. 

Cherise doesn't know whether they even make uj flavoured candyfloss, but she reckons they should. It would taste incredible.

She doesn't know whether the warmth in her cheeks is sun damage or alcohol, but it's probably both. It's been one of those summer days where everything is perfect. It wasn't too hot or too cold, the wind wasn't too dry, the sun was shining through the trees and everything felt wonderful. She probably feels wonderful because she's been drinking since lunchtime and now it's well past dinner, but the warmth of the day lingers in her bones even as the sun begins to dip below the horizon.

It's Cherise's first day off in two months, and the first day off she's had since 79s first opened its doors that Dara has been free too.

Her girlfriend is lying over her legs, face resting on Cherise's belly and looking unusually content. Her face is smooth and her lips quirked up in a soft smile. She hums contentedly as Cherise gently strokes her ahwey, gill slits fluttering faintly as she nuzzles Cherise's stomach.

Their relationship hasn't always been easy, they've had more than their fair share of ups and downs, but on days like this it's hard to remember. Even though this is the first time they've been able to spend alone together in months that wasn't in Cherise's office or her apartment, even though they have to sneak around and be careful about who sees them together, even though Dara is away for months at a time, days like this it's easy to forget.

It's easy to forget when Dara is perched on the end of the bar, smiling at her and chatting as Cherise works. When Dara hangs back and helps clean up when the doors are locked, then tangles their fingers together and walks Cherise home. It's easy to forget that there might be no future for them, when Dara leans in on her doorstep and kisses her so sweetly. Even easier when they step inside and Dara presses her up against the wall and kisses her breathless.

There are drawbacks to dating a Jedi. But there are many more benefits to dating Dara, and so Cherise will put up with the Jedi thing to be with her. Today's benefit had been a luxurious hamper picnic lunch in their favourite park, followed by an afternoon of drinking. The blanket is from Dara's latest trip, handwoven and beautiful. It’s cream, but patterned through with deep red flowers with shimmering golden stamens.

“It reminded me of you,” Dara had said, kissing her cheek as Cherise ran her hands over the beautiful pattern and leaned into her side.

In a few weeks, when Dara is sent away again, Cherise will sit on her sofa with it wrapped around her shoulders, remembering this afternoon.

There are drawbacks for Dara to dating Cherise too, she knows. She works long hours, almost the exact opposite to Dara's when she's teaching at the Temple. If they want to spend time together, Dara has to sit at the end of the bar while Cherise works.

She's almost crippled by the fear of being hurt again, and sometimes she pulls away when things feel like they're getting too serious. But Dara made her believe that she is worth it, worth the pain. She makes Cherise believe that what they have together in the moment is worth any future heartache she might have to endure.

How can Cherise do anything other than believe her, on days like this?

Days like this are becoming fewer and farther between.

"Stop thinking, Cherry," Dara murmurs against her belly. "Today is not a day for thinking."

"Sorry," Cherise says with a smile, pressing her fingers more firmly into Dara's tresses and watching her melt.

Dara nudges up the bottom of Cherise's t-shirt and kisses the sliver of skin she's revealed. Cherise shivers as Dara scrapes her teeth just below her belly button, then tugs her up with a hand in her ahwey. Dara wriggles up Cherise's body and settles over her, deep blue against the burnt orange skies. She's sunburnt too, her cheeks a touch more purple than usual.

She looks so happy. A rare moment of peace for the both of them.

Cherise takes a moment to drink her in, cupping her cheek and gazing into her large black eyes. Dara smiles back softly, turning her face to press a kiss to Cherise's palm. Her eyes flutter shut and she smiles, looking so utterly relaxed and boneless that Cherise can't not kiss her for a moment longer.

She shuffles up onto her elbows so that she can lean up and slot their lips together.

Dara's lips are soft against her own, her tongue delicately tracing the seam of Cherise's lips. There's the lingering sweetness of fruit and alcohol, and Cherise wraps her arms around Dara's shoulders. Dara moans softly as Cherise tightens her grip around her ahwey. Like a switch has been flipped, she becomes demanding. She presses Cherise firmly into the blanket, her kisses becoming insistent and fierce.

Somehow, her legs have fallen open and Dara's thigh settles against her core. Her teeth catch Cherise's bottom lip and Cherise moans, her thighs shaking with the sudden need that's overtaken the both of them.

She gives back as good as she gets though. When she drags her thumbs over the sensitive spots on the underside of Dara's ahwey, her chest does that thing where it thrums, vibrating so deeply with pleasure that it travels right down Cherise's spine and curls her toes.

Suddenly, she's gone.

Cherise gasps as Dara begins to kiss down her throat, sucking every tender spot and scraping her teeth along Cherise's jugular. As soon as she blinks her eyes open they're rolling back into her head as Dara worries the spot under her ear that no other lover has been able to find, the one that soaks her knickers if Dara so much as breathes on it.

Dara shifts again, dropping to the side slightly so that she can slide a hand beneath Cherise's top and skirt her thumb gently over one of her nipples. Her thigh still rests firmly between Cherise's and she barely resists the temptation to grind against it.

It would be so, so, easy and it would feel so, so, good.

The voice in the back of Cherise's head says this is insane, it's a public park, anyone could walk past and see them. The voice in her pants says that no one comes this way anyway, it's why it's their favourite spot in the first place, and that telling Dara to stop would be a crime. 

Dara has been away for two months and this is the first day they’ve had together in even longer. It would be an unforgivable crime to tell her to stop, Cherise thinks slightly hysterically.

Every damp spot left on her skin prickles in the rapidly cooling evening sir, a new sensation that Cherise thinks she could become dangerously addicted to. Her cheeks are warm, and she can still feel the sun in her skin as Dara moves again, kissing down her chest.

Cherise spares a moment to be thankful she wore a black vest as Dara's lips seal around one of her nipples over the fabric. On the other side of Cherise's chest she tugs Cherise's bra down so she can pinch and roll her nipple between her slightly calloused fingers. 

“Dara,” she gasps, her hands tightening around Dara’s ahwey. The rest of the sentence is lost, whether it was to tell Dara to stop or beg her to keep going, as suddenly her other breast is exposed to the air. Cherise barely has time to register it, but her surprised yelp is lost in a whimper as Dara wraps her lips around it, swirling her tongue around the sensitive bud. Her chest thrums again, the vibrations passing from her mouth right down Cherise’s spine and to her rapidly soaking panties.

Cherise doesn’t know whether it was a stroke of genius or a severe tactical error that she wore a long flowing skirt with a side slit today. One of Dara’s hands is creeping up her bare thigh beneath the skirt, and yet Cherise can barely focus on that as she moves down and scrapes her teeth against the underside of Cherise’s breast.

The voice in the back of Cherise’s head, the sensible one that she’s decided to ignore, is screaming that her tit is out in the middle of the park. Cherise doesn't care. She’s warm with alcohol and the latent heat of the sun, the sky is on fire and sprinkled with lilac candyfloss, and she’s listening to the breeze rustle through the trees as Dara tugs her knickers down.

Dara moves again, tugging her knickers over her sandals and tossing them to the side. Cherise squeaks in surprise when suddenly Dara slides between her thighs, pushing her skirt fully out of the way and exposing her aching cunt to the evening air. 

“Dara, wait,” she hisses.

The way the breeze ghosts over her swollen clit as it rustles through the trees above them is something dangerously close to heaven. Dara groans into her stomach, thumb skirting down the crease of her thigh.

Cherise is half naked in a public park and she wants it, she wants it so badly, but the part of her that thinks this is a terrible idea is getting louder and louder by the second. Dara bites into her thigh and the part of her that thinks this is an excellent idea shouts just as loudly.

She tugs weakly at Dara’s ahwey.

“Dara we can’t,” Cherise hisses. But she wants to, oh she wants to.

“I’ll be able to sense if anyone is coming,” Dara says, smearing the words into Cherise’s thigh. “No one will see.”

“They’ll hear us,” Cherise whispers. As soon as she’s said it, she knows it’s the wrong thing.

Dara’s eyes flick up to hers, dark and dangerous. A shiver runs down her spine as Dara gazes up at her, blood rushing past her ears. 

“Well then, Cherry dearest, you had better stay quiet,” Dara murmurs, a wicked smile dancing around her lips.

She slings one of Cherise’s thighs over her shoulder and gets to work. Cherise digs her hands into the grass at her side and holds on for dear life.