Fandom Star Wars: Demesne [Closed]

[cleopat]

Skye sighed and nodded. Of course she knew of the risks in telling Eira. They weighed heavily on her mind, and were primarily the reasons why she hesitated in even telling Eira that there was something to talk about. It was such a complicated situation, and damn Eira for having hope that someone who has turned can still be good again.

Skye wished she was as hopeful and optimistic as Eira.

“I understand that there are risks, and they are something I am still strongly thinking about,” she admitted. Overthinking it, like everything else she does.

“We’ll just have to get you good again with a blaster and a blade,” she said with a smile. “A little practice with me, and you’ll be back to your old self.” Just an afternoon with the two of them together, sparring together as they get Adlai’s new hand working properly with her body.

It should be a fun time.

~~~

The two of them got more comfortable after they finished dinner. Cora smiled as Eli wrapped an arm over her shoulders, and in return she leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder as she got more comfortable. They still had light conversation as they watched the movie, not too worried about focusing on it.

She chuckled at both the scene in the movie and Eli’s statement. “I want to try it as well,” she easily agreed. Such an infamous drink that she never tried before, and honestly had been too scared to try in the past.

“When my oldest brother was younger, he tried Port in a Storm. Well, he liked it so much that he had several drinks in the span of only a few minutes. It knocked him on his ass, and I’m pretty sure he was hungover for several days,” she chuckled.

No, she wouldn’t be drinking more than one drink at a time. Just the one, lest she wanted to embarrass herself.

Cora interlaced her fingers with Eli’s on his free hand.

“I think if I do try it one day, I wouldn’t want to be at a bar or something. Maybe in the safety of my own room, just in case I do something embarrassing,” she chuckled.

 

[Lucyfer]

At least Skye was thinking about it…and evidently understood there was reason to worry, and to doubt, telling Eira. Eira always had too much hope. It had won them many recruits. Voids, it had started this entire thing, really, since it was Eira and Shay at the beginning, but at some point, there would be someone she couldn’t save.

Her master?

‘Thrawn?’

She danced too close to Imperials now.

But that wasn’t Adlai’s battle. His battle was going to be with himself, and looking normal enough that he convinced society, until some way to feign an accident came to them all so that his fake-hand was a known situation, and not a new one. He’d trust Shay with that. His sigh was a bit tired, but not upset, nor exasperated. “I’m sure I’ll look forward to that soon,” he said.

He couldn’t right then.

But, soon, he’d be eager. “There’s still some basic things I’ll have to make sure I have a grasp of. Like writing,” not exactly something she could help him with. Thankfully, writing was almost a lost art with all the technology, but it was still important amongst the various Royal and Aristocratic families, of which he had to be a part of. “I’ve always heard it’s not too hard to get things going again. The hand doesn’t have nerves, but all it’s connected to does, and there’s still memory in my arm.”

And memory in his mind, of course.

It’d flow together again, one day soon.

The doctors would say as much, as well, when they came to tell Adlai about what he had put on him, and about proper maintenance. He’d need to go for tunings about every two weeks for the first two months, then once a month, before it became a bi-annual thing.

That was done very early in the morning, and he was taken through a few exercises to help him build strength and familiarity, and given a recommended program to follow – as well as a diet to help strengthen things – before he and Skye were released.

~***~

“Safety of a hotel room, maybe,” Eli said with a chuckle, “I’ve heard you can’t have real Port In A Storm if you aren’t on Pamarthe. Of course, I’m not sure how true that is,” but he felt it was true enough that he ought to go there to try it, all the same. He knew some things had a certain charm or difference in their place of origin, whereas off-world, they were usually adapted to be more palatable.

“I think I’d be just fine with the one, myself.” He heard the horror stories about it. And the humorous stories. “Maybe we can take a vacation out that way. I’ve heard Pamarthe is a popular pathfinding place, so it must have some natural beauty.”

He didn’t actually know why it was popular for pathfinding, only that it was. He didn’t really know much about pathfinding, except that it was for the children of the rich, and he was decidedly not that, so he’d never experienced it. But it was about nature, and seeing nature, so he assumed a lot of beauty in nature was involved.

He’d heard it was also about roughing it, but he didn’t imagine it was really all that rough.

What he did know, was that he liked making hypothetical plans with Cora, and hoping they’d be a reality, one day. "It couldn't be that embarrassing though, unless...what kind of drunk are you?" he couldn't help but tease, doubting she had any drastic personality shifts.

 

[cleopat]

Thankfully, a robotic hand was easy to hide.

They were able to slip back into society without anyone being none the wiser, until the moment they were ready to come forward that something indeed had happened to Adlai, that there was an unfortunate accident.

But Skye imagined that would be some time from now. They needed to keep the fake incident and the Inquisitor incident far apart, so no one would even begin to think to connect the two. The last thing they needed was an imperial investigation.

After Adlai was released, Skye did everything she could to help him heal, without helping so much that his healing process would be hindered. They needed normalcy as soon as possible.

But before they could establish that normalcy, Demesne had to have a meeting, no doubt to discuss what had happened on Batuu. The information they uncovered, and to briefly discuss the incident with the Inquisitor, though Skye hardly believed that would be such an important topic.

It would be more important when she discusses the Inquisitor with Eira later on, in the privacy of the skyfaring room.

But for now, she and Adlai entered the safety zone that was deemed their meeting area. Soon everyone else arrived, and they all waited for it to begin in between light conversation with others.

~~~

“I’ve heard of the same thing,” Cora said with a chuckle. Maybe the alcohol in the drink was even stronger on Pamartha, or some clear difference between Port in a Storm on its homeworld versus off-world.

Either way, it would be worth a trip to Pamarthe one day, and Eli seemed to hold a similar thought. “Yeah, I’ve known some people to have pathfind there.” While she had never been there before, she had heard other people describe the planet to her, its nature and beauty. “They all spoke highly of its natural beauty. I would love to visit one day.”

And Cora certainly wouldn’t mind visiting Pamarthe one day with Eli.

With the next question, Cora groaned, but the smile was still on her face. “I’ve been told I can be quite the clingy drunk,” she answered with a shake of her head. Too affectionate, too clingy, though, there were worse types of drunks out there. “And what about you?” she teased right back. “What kind of drunk are you?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Eira wasn’t there when Skye and Adlai arrived. Nor Lin. Things had run late on set, and though it was fine for her and Lin to be seen together, they still went their separate ways to make it to the place. Eira could at least say, she got there before Lin – and she went right over to Adlai and Skye as soon as she arrived.

She nodded briefly in greeting to Skye, before letting her attention focus more fully on Adlai. “How are you healing?” asking him how he was still seemed stupid, and her gaze dropped, figuring out too well which one was fake. Not by the look of it – no, there was just a way that Adlai…held it.

It was heavier. Drooped down a bit more. It also just…moved less as he moved.

But then again, Eira was looking for it.

He chuckled, though she could hear the sigh in it as he said, “Is it that obvious?”

Eira looked back up, tried to match his smile, “I’m an actress…I know how to notice small things,” she said, to reassure a bit that the normal person wouldn’t, well, notice. But someone like her, or…Mitth’raw’nuruodo…would. “But…?”

“I can use it. That’s a start,” he said, “the healing process isn’t long, it’s just making things normal again,” he said, “writing is taking practice,” practice he was, indeed, doing – mostly his signature right now, but he’d get further. It would help with the fine motor skills.

“Let me know if I can help with anything.”

Adlai nodded. “I think I have it covered. Skye’s going to help me spar, and I have no shortage of droids, or pens,” he said. “I’ll be okay.” He sounded like he believed it, too, which was…encouraging.

When Lin showed up, last as usual, Shay finally stood up to draw attention. No one was too surprised with the rushed meeting, given Skye and Adlai were back, but none of the others had been briefed on the situation.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Shay said, “I know not all of us could be here,” Rem and Nikhil were still on their part of the mission. “Adlai, Skye, I will leave the debriefing to you,” to say, how they preferred, the details.

Adlai understood and sighed, “The good news is, we have information and know how to proceed,” he said, “the bad news is, I lost a hand to an Inquisitor.”

There were, of course, gasps. Maege in particular roared outrage, tempered hastily with concern, “I’ll be okay,” Adlai again reassured, tired, “but it needs to be said. We need to be more aware. They…they don’t play by the rules we’re used to dealing with, when it comes to Imperial Officers. They will kill and maim, just to kill and maim. They don’t have that fear of retribution we’re used to managing and leveraging.”

~***~

Eli would make a mental note, that at least one day with Cora, he could try Port In A Storm on Pamarthe. They would also probably want a hotel room fairly close to whatever cantina they tried it in, in case the stories were true. Also because of the kind of drunk Cora was. Not that he was too worried over her getting into a fight, or even wandering off with someone else, but…still.

Having a clingy drunk all to himself could be nice.

Even if he knew his own drunk attitude didn’t quite fit. Well, maybe for cuddling and falling asleep, because, “I’m a tired drunk,” he sighed in an almost defeated way as he said it. In a way, he was somewhat disappointed with himself for being that way. He couldn’t go out and get wasted and enjoy parties. He was usually the most sober because of this; if he wanted to enjoy a party, he couldn’t get much more than tipsy.

But in the safety of his room? Sure! He could drink, ramble nonsense, and conk out.

“Sometimes it verges onto angry, most the time it’s just tired and content. Apparently, I say a lot of weird nonsense,” at least that could be entertaining. It kind of depended on the atmosphere and who he was with, or what had happened.

He hadn’t noticed alcohol itself affecting it, as he’d been told some people only became an ‘angry’ drunk after drinking a certain kind of liquor. “I guess that’s probably not a huge surprise, huh?” considering all he did, it was no wonder his greatest, drunken desire, was just to sleep.

In vino veritas!