Selus returns

(( Wow. Just...wow. My humble thanks to the player of Selus for making the awkward and tension so real and honest. It was a great scene to RP, and I'm excited to share it. ))

Selus spotted Aittera on the upper Promenade in the evening, wearing her usual leather trench coat over a black mini-dress and thigh high boots. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets, her usual sexy strut was obvious even if partially concealed by the coat itself, and the hard look he had once seen on her so often back when they first met was apparent from his vantage point as she made her way down a crowded walkway.

Making his way to a point that would intersect where she was heading, he pulled the wide rimmed hat low so that she couldn't tell it was him until she was passing.  He pushed it up to show his face with a "Going someplace awfully fast aren't you, Angel Girl?"  And gave her a wink with his normal grin.

Aittera was brought up short, and for a moment, it looked as though he was about to get an insult or worse. Recognition registered in her expression though, clearing the storm from her deep blue eyes, and she launched herself into his arms with a cry of utter joy, kissing him deeply. He wrapped his arms around her as he slipped them inside her trench coat, pulling her body against his as much as possible, and returned the kiss with affection as though he could somehow say how much he'd missed her with just a single kiss.

The crimson-haired rogue pulled back to look the Cathar over, smiling affectionately at him as she confirmed for herself that he was really there and in one piece. "You're finally back!"

Selus gave her a nod and placed another soft kiss to the corner of her mouth, taking her hand in his. "I am, with a surprise."

"You mean you aren't surprise enough? I was about to send out a search party," she joked, squeezing his hand.

He laughed and pulled her out of the crowd, over toward the seating area overlooking the inner promenade. "Yeah, I heard you have one of your own too."

Aittera blinked, her immediate thought conjuring Ragious's face in her mind. "I do?"

Ragious's Force-projected image appeared behind Selus, still clad in the pants from their last shared dream and shirtless.  He looked over with a glare at the Cathar as Selus gave voice to the surprise he was speaking of. "I heard you got yourself a new place here."

Aittera's gaze flickered over Selus's shoulder, then back to his face as a self-conscious flush crept toward her cheeks from her hairline as though her scarlet locks were somehow setting her face on fire. "Oh! Right, the flat! Yeah, I was tired of the hotel, and I...thought...well, it's a long story. What's your surprise?"

"I salvaged the Hope,"  he said with a smile, hoping that the news would be happy rather than a reminder of the events surrounding the attack.  "It's in rough shape, but the main hull was intact."

At hearing the news that the Cathar had, Ragious almost shook with anger, fading slowly from view. The last look on his face was one of pure murder, aimed at Selus' back.

The news was a surprise alright, leaving Aittera stunned for a moment as her eyes drifted back to that spot over Selus's shoulder in time to see Ragious fade from view. Her smile dissolved.

"I'm sorry, I thought you'd be happy.  I know living on the Wanderer with me hasn't been easy, or ideal.  I wanted you to have your own space again.  Didn't think you'd go in for a brand new ship, but maybe fixing the old?"

Aittera's mind seemed to leap after the fading vision and scrambled to catch up to the conversation at hand all at once, making her response sound as though it came from far away as she tried to focus on Selus's face again. "Uh...no...yeah, that's...I didn't think it was possible."

"Well, it took me a while to find it, due to the way it drifted after the attack.  I was surprised by how intact it was.  I suspect it may have had some kind of rotational soft impact, or maybe even the emergency thrusters came online at the last second."

He noticed her look, and wanted badly to figure out the reason for it, struggling to find the proper way to ask about it. "Is there something going on, Aittera?  You don't sound exactly like yourself?"

"No! I guess I just never considered it possible that the Hope could've survived." The smile she managed was telling in the way it was a little tighter and contrived, very unlike the candid one she'd had upon first seeing him. "Where is it now?"

"The asteroid.  I didn't want to start work on it before I talked to you."  He gave the hand he was holding a squeeze.  "I missed you, I really did. I should have called."

She nodded, her expression softening at the feeling of his hand tightening around hers. "I wish you had. Come on, let me show you my flat."

Aittera stood to lead him back the way she'd been coming from. "I didn't realize you'd be gone so long. When I said I wanted a few days to myself, I didn't realize it'd be weeks."

"Well, I didn't realize it'd be weeks either.  And believe me, I would have rather been with you than the salvage team."

Selus followed her, never letting go of her hand as if he couldn't bear the thought of not having that contact with her, even if it was through a glove for the time being. When they reached her door, she keyed it open and waved a hand inward to invite him inside. The apartment was small, but not cramped, and there was still no furniture. However, there were two potted plants, and at the base of one, there was a flurry of motion in the foliage before a small creature poked its head out, looking along its flat snout toward the source of noise that disturbed it.

"I don't have any food, but we could order something."

"Oh, that'd be fine."  The Cathar's eyes were drawn to the creature. "Did you get a pet?"

Aittera glanced toward the miniature raptor as it ducked back into the cover of the plant and nodded with a little self-conscious chuckle. "Damn thing gave me sad eyes when I saw it, and I got suckered in. I was supposed to be buying furniture."

Selus turned to her with a smirk. "Aittera Timm, putting down roots.  I never would have guessed.  So why do you not have any furniture?"

She shrugged, crossing the room to activate a panel that revealed a small screen, and tapped in an order from a local restaurant she knew delivered. "I tried a few times, but I just couldn't find anything I liked."

"Huh.  Maybe you should try again, I can't imagine you could entertain much here without places to sit, besides the floor that is,"  he teased as he moved toward the plant with the raptor to sit against the wall.  "This thing isn't going to try to eat me is it?"

She chuckled as she shook her head. "No, he eats the plants apparently. That's why I got two. And I'm not really the entertaining type, but you know that," she added with a smirk as she finished sending the order.

Once that was finished, she walked over to sit on the floor in front of him, reaching over to rub the flat of the raptor's snout. Selus leaned his head back against the wall, just watching her for several minutes as if trying to see what had happened in his absence, wondering why he felt so...uncomfortable here.  "This feels weird, doesn't it?"

Aittera's response didn't match the look in her face, and she knew it, but her eyes remained focused on the little reptilian creature. "I don't know. It's not as though either of us does 'domestic'."

"No, I know.  And you do too.  What happened while I was gone?"

"Made the deal with Khor about not going after Ragious." She realized she was dodging the meaning behind the question, but it felt like Ragious was in the room, analyzing the interaction, watching her every reaction to Selus. Then, of course, there was Selus and everything she had been sure she was going to say to him that just refused to come out.

Selus frowned, knowing there was something she wasn't saying, but he didn't want to make this a fight or confrontation - something they'd done far too much of before he left.  "Yeah, but that doesn't feel like the issue this time.  I know you were upset about that, this feels like you're completely avoiding something."

"I mean, I come back and you're not at the hotel, I have to find out from Ali why, and this place...it just feels weird me being here, like it's not someplace I should be."

"Somewhat ironic, since I think you're the reason I haven't bought any damn furniture," Aittera admitted with a slight smirk, rubbing her forehead with two fingers as though trying to see a clear path to take the conversation. She was trying to avoid another fight as well.

"Why would I be the reason?"  He truly seemed to have no clue.  "Unless you mean...is this...are we through?"

Aittera winced, and it was clear to her suddenly that she'd considered it to be a possibility. "I meant that it didn't feel real, because I hadn't told you about it yet."

"Oh.  Okay then.  I was afraid you meant that you hadn't bought anything because you...well, apparently I jumped to a conclusion. I'm sorry."  Selus looked down at the floor as he worked his gloves off, his bared hand reaching down to run across the surface to feel it against his fur. "Something else happened, so you may as well come out with it."

"Khor said there could still be contact between me and Ragious. Like some kind of left over thing from the mind contact or something."

"And Khor was right I'm guessing?  That's what you're trying to avoid saying, isn't it?  You're still in contact with Darth Asshole."

Aittera looked up at him and nodded, her expression carefully neutral. "We've talked."

"You and he talked?  What could you possibly want to say to him?"

"I don't know. It just...happens. He says I think too loud or..." She blew out an uncomfortable breath and looked around the sparse living room. "It's not like I have actively sought him out or anything."

"Obviously suggesting Sky could help was a terrible idea."  Selus blew out a breath of his own. "What can I do to help?"

Aittera visibly stiffened at the mention of Sky, and she directed her gaze back to the raptor. "Just forget it. I can handle this. Let's just...eat and talk about what to do with the Hope."

"What about us?  Are we okay?"

The door chime sounded, and she got to her feet to answer it, part of her grateful for the interruption and hoping that he'd let the question slide away unanswered for the time being. Once the food was paid for, she stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of Whyren's, casting a quick glance around as though she expected Ragious's shimmering form to be standing there. Not surprisingly, she caught a glimpse of his Force-image angrily turning his back to her and disappearing.

When she returned, she set the bags and the bottle in the center of the floor before seating herself cross-legged beside Selus. "I ordered you a nerf steak."

"Thanks, it's been since the night I left that I've had a meal that didn't come out of a small bag and needed water added to it.  But you still didn't answer my question."

Aittera reached for the bottle first, opening it as she spoke in a softer tone. "Why didn't you call?"

"I didn't know what to say.  You were so angry at me for wanting us both to get out of that feud alive.  I knew a response to what we did was coming.  I knew it would be bloody. I guess I kind of figured if I gave you time, you'd be less mad.  And maybe if I brought back the Hope, you'd even be happy again."

"I'm not...mad." She took a long drink from the bottle and handed it to him. "And I am happy you found the Hope. It's all I had from Davin, and being on that ship makes me feel like maybe he didn't die in vain."

Selus took a drink and cut into his steak, taking a big bite and chewing it down before speaking, "So we should fix it.  Get you back in it.  And then maybe work on getting us back where we should be.  I love you, and upsetting you - even to save us - was the worst feeling I've ever felt."

Aittera nodded, taking the bottle back for another hefty drink before digging her own nerf burger with fries out of the take-out bags. "I love you too."

"That's really all that matters then.  If we remember that, then no matter what comes at us, we can just blast it." He gave her a wink and one of his grins that showed his fangs as he moved over closer to her to kiss her on the cheek, then re-positioned to sit closer to her.

"You know what? We should finish eating and take the rest of this bottle back to the Wanderer. I could use a night in a real bed for a change." Inwardly, she was cursing herself for actually entertaining the thought or notion that Selus's presence in the flat felt as much like an invasion of her privacy as his earlier expression of discomfort indicated. Further, it was irritating as hell that Ragious's reaction to her seeing him was for him to leave as though it was his presence that did belong there. Any other time, getting the bastard to walk away from her was nigh impossible.

"And the bed on the Wanderer is extremely comfortable.  And big.  And sturdy."  Selus offered with a grin. "And it's been missing one of the people that should be in it."

He moved a hand to her back, giving it a rub as his other brought a large piece of his nerf steak to his lips, chewing it down and moving to take another drink from the bottle.  "Then maybe tomorrow we should look at getting you some furniture for your place."

(( Added to The Next Chapter ))