The Elvenqueen

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria snickered in response to his comment about Ethan’s arrogance, purring teasingly. “More arrogant than I was when we first met?” when her partner didn't respond immediately, she grinned back at him and followed up with: “I'm sure you can get through to him, impart some of your humbleness to him or something. And maybe let me borrow some of your patience while you're at it.”
She tucked herself against him as he kissed her, mumbling something in tired agreement before she too, drifted into sleep.

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Yerbol’s sudden jolt into wakefulness prompted a similar reaction from his spouse, the diminutive Champion sitting bolt upright as one of her sabers shot into her hand and activated, ready to strike against the perceived threat (her habit of sleeping with one tucked into her pillowcase at night had been a difficult one to curb, and she had yet to manage to do just that). After a few moments of blinking at one another in confusion, however, Aria deactivated the saber and threw herself back down onto the pillows as she howled with laughter and proclaimed:
“We… Work too much, Y'know that?!” as she wiped a tear of laughter out of the corner of her eye.

After a few more moments of silliness, including Yerbol almost leaving the room in his sleeping shorts and Aria cracking a jest about how she “saw no problem at all with his chosen attire”, they managed to get dressed and join their other companions in the CIC. The apprentices looked as well rested as Aria felt, and as her partner prompted her to voice any possible objections she may have, she waved them off with a jubilant grin.
“No, no, you two go on and get outta here for the day! Go have fun, that's what these stops are for!” she shot Ethan a stern look however, and uttered firmly. “But both of you keep a comlink to hand, alright? As soon as Vano pings that data through, we've got to get going.”
Kytra, of course, was not going to be a problem, the Selonian giving the Champions a complacent salute as she tucked a comlink into her ear and disappeared down the loading ramp, Aria had no doubt that her apprentice would be heading for the nearest library or some other similar establishment. Once Ethan had also taken his leave, the Champions headed off into the city themselves.
“I'd say we've earned a break of our own, hm?” Aria prompted, standing on her toes to press a playful kiss to his nose before she danced ahead a few steps, with both Sith hounds in tow. “Soooooo, how about we go and do something ridiculously, stupidly normal?” another teasing grin accompanied her next suggestion. “Nothing TOO strenuous of course, we still have to find a hotel somewhere for the other things later, hmm?”

Hiking along a mountain trail with a picnic basket was probably the most stupidly normal thing either Champion had done in a VERY long time. It was refreshing, to say the least, watching the dogs charge back and forth ahead of them, either bringing back sticks which they INSISTED the pair toss for them to retrieve, or diving into a nearby snow drift; Alderaan’s mountains were an odd mix of both snowy and not even this low down, which was interesting in and of itself, being able to find a nice place to put the picnic blanket down and still giving the opportunity to lift a decently sized snowball and hurl it directly at her unsuspecting partner’s face when he turned towards her after she had called his name. Of course, she had expected a retaliation, but Yerbol ending the battle by lifting her instead of another snowball and dropping her into the snow despite her (playful) protests of “NO, NO, I'M GONNA CATCH HYPOTHERMIA, BOL PLEASE!”

She was sure they spent more time laughing than eating. Not that it was an unwelcome change. She wouldn't admit to faking more than a few of the shivers on her way home, after all, they'd had the desired effect.
Yerbol raised an eyebrow at her quizzically after the fifth one, as they made their way into the hotel room (the Tuk'ata were remarkably perceptive and had flounced off to terrorise the local fauna and give their masters some much needed privacy, they weren't stupid and the Champions were sure they could find their way promptly back to the Commodore).
“Seriously, Ari, you don't have hypothermia. It wasn't that bad!” he chuckled, as aware as his wife that she lacked many of the other symptoms of the condition.
“Maybe not, but if you can't take a hint, that's your loss baby~” Aria simply shrugged and caught his eye over her shoulder as she dropped her attire onto a chair and skipped into the en-suite refresher. The door, when tried however, was left conveniently unlocked.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Awesome! I shall get them transitioned over to that then and you can wrap up anything left to say/do before they get flung back into the frying pan as it were? XD

Oh dear haha, perhaps our duo will have to set him straight haha

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Edit: I have nooo idea how that bounced over into the IC section wtf RPGuild XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh wow Ethan XD that boy keeps surprising me, I figured him as the strong and silent type but never in a million years would I have thought he'd be the overly arrogant kinda person XD I look forward to seeing even more of him now haha

Yeah I figure 24 hours is a decent length of time for Vano to do her thing, she probably has Ashara and one or two apprentices up there helping her so I doubt it'd take her longer than that :)
As for what they could do, a short stay in a hotel sounds good, and/or they could go hiking up in the mountains and take a picnic or something? Haha
A bit mundane compared to what they usually do but hey, they never got a chance to do something silly like that before so? XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Unfortunately yes, but hey its always in the name of good plot/character development XD though if there was one character I ever wish I hadn't killed it would've been him haha

Yeah, Ari would be 23 now, and I would definitely agree. The poor things haven't really had much time to just do 'normal' person things and they definitely deserve it (I think Ari may end up contemplating this by the end of their latest adventure...)

We could certainly work it in, perhaps during the next interlude after they defeat Val? It would be very plausible that they'd need a LONG holiday after that XD

As to transitioning to Alderaan, we can do that in your next post if you like, sure! :)

No worries my friend, you too!

Where is your "writing sanctuary"?

For me either when I'm bored during work/errands (ideas always turn up when I have to be sneaking not to get caught haha)

OR if I find I'm struggling with inspiration for a post, I grab the playlist I've made for the character(s) that I'm playing as and I go for a run, by the time I get home I'm usually FULL of ideas and scenarios to jot down and form into a post :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Awww Yerbol, bless you! Yes, ghost-dad most definitely approves and he's very proud of you :)

Preach it! XD as much as I love the epic, action-y parts too, it does hurt my fingers something fierce to be typing 1-2k words per post XD

So very nice to go down to something less intensive for a bit (plus, the poor things really needed a breather and time to just...be. They're only 20-something and they already can't step foot in public without being recognised by somebody, poor things LOL I dunno about you but I'd find that tiring too haha)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria snickered quietly herself at his mention of the long walks, a faint flush of colour appearing in her cheeks as she caught his eye again.
“In all fairness, we did also fall out of a tree and come back with all sorts of leaf litter in our hair, so it's not surprising Vano thought that; it wouldn't be the first time she’d caught me sneaking back to my room after…doing things I shouldn't have been doing.” she cleared her throat, settling herself comfortably into his arms before Yerbol thankfully changed the subject rather than pressing her for more details. His reassurances that he wouldn't be going anywhere did help, and she let off a quiet sigh that mirrored his own, a sad smile forming as she remembered the fallen True Sith. “I do, too, sometimes. Usually he's yelling at me when I'm about to do something stupid.” Aria’s smirk faltered as she pondered his question about the Elders.
“Definitely a good idea, as for who, well…” - another sigh - “if Voldon was alive, I would've said him. But since he isn't, I don't know, Cheriss, maybe?” the Champion gave a one-shouldered shrug, not wanting to move from her current position against him in order to fully commit to the gesture. “You remember she called that Force spirit down to help us in the temple on Voss? That must've been pretty tiring. I know it's not EXACTLY the same but I'm sure she has some techniques for dealing with it that might at least help a bit? Maybe Malu, too, she probably has a stronger connection to the Force than anyone cause of, Y'know, the creepy, weird no-eyes thing. Maybe she can help you, moderate the energy flow of your powers or something.”

She hadn't considered the less literal angle to his thoughts about anger, and her expression morphed from the initial concern she had felt at the start of his admission, to relief, and then fond amusement as she chuckled and leaned into his touch, promising: “Well, that's going to be a VERY long time, then. Maybe forever, if there really is someplace within the Force that we go when we die. And I mean that, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Reluctantly, Aria moved away from him to allow her husband to comfortably adjust his position, snuggling back into his chest once he was properly situated. She laughed softly, more genuine this time, as she thought about Kytra and the Selonian’s somewhat over-eager desire to soak up any and all knowledge that she could, like a sponge. She steepled her fingers against his chest and perched her chin on them, raising an eyebrow down at her partner.

“Are you sure you got the worst one? It's not that she doesn't listen, but rather that I never knew one kid could ask SO MANY questions! Every time I try to teach her something, it's always ‘but how this’ and ‘but why that’ or ‘when can I learn how to do that’. Sometimes I wonder if she has an off switch.” the Champion’s nose scrunched up. “And she always looks at me like I've got the answers to EVERYTHING, it makes me feel…old.” she tilted her head curiously, trailing one hand up to card through his hair absently as she asked him about his own apprentice. “What about Ethan? Other than barely saying a word, which after Kytra doesn't seem like such a bad thing, he doesn't seem like trouble? Is it because he's all silent and broody? I thought you'd be used to that by now.”

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

I apologise for Ari's habit of rambling when upset XD but she does have very valid concerns, for them, since they don't know what we do of course ;P

Its going to be quite a shock for them to run into all these people they thought were dead, passive aggressively swiping at each other somewhere out in Wild Space pahaha XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria listened somberly as Yerbol spoke about his concerns and thoughts, smirking wryly as he mentioned the wish to keep their Force sensitivities hidden. “I can understand that, I suppose…it is more difficult for us…when you have that much raw power inside of you its almost impossible not to let it do too much damage if you lose control of it for just a moment.” she chuckled guiltily and shook her head, offering: “We won't talk about how many of my mother's light bulbs I smashed every time I threw a temper tantrum, or the boys I put in the hospital because I threw them across the plaza like ragdolls (although, in my defence they shouldn't have called me a demon, they were asking for it).”
As he protested about not wanting to be angry all the time, she responded with a perfectly reasonable alternative. “Maybe, but there's no harm in beating the crap out of a training dummy to get it out of your system. It's what we did at the Academy.”

His next question required a bit more thought to be put into her answer, so the Champion fell silent, turning her hand over in his grasp to intertwine their fingers in the meantime.
“I don't know if it makes sense COMPLETELY, I can't begin to make sense of what that feels like… Or WHY anyone - you, Revan, or Meetra - would feel that way,” she admitted slowly, huffing out a breath, “but I think I understand the premise.” she sank her teeth into her lip and paused again, then glanced up to meet his gaze warily.
“Honestly? I don't think I've ever been more scared of anything in my life.”
For Aria, that was a big admission.
“Not really of…where we might be going or- or going into the unknown because we've done THAT all before.” she clarified, holding up her free hand to indicate that she wasn't quite done with her explanation before he could interrupt her, “I'm scared of what might happen out there, and I'm scared for YOU.”
Don't cry. For the love of the Force Do. Not. Cry.
Thankfully her voice somehow managed to keep itself steady despite her worries, though it did drop considerably in pitch to just above a whisper. “The pain I felt from the bond when we were orbiting Malachor… I-I thought I was going to lose you right then and there. And that was only a FRACTION of what you were feeling, I can't…I can't even begin to imagine what that must have felt like for you, what any of this feels like, whatever it is.”

Aria scoffed in frustration, looking to him helplessly once more.
“And I don't know if its just me being a mother hen, but it almost feels like you're getting, weaker, since then. When we opened that door…it felt like I was putting more energy into it than you were, not because you weren't trying but because… I HAD more energy?” this time, she stared down at their hands instead, as if she was worried the observation might somehow offend him or make it seem as though she was belittling him. Which was the opposite of what she was trying to convey.
“And it HURTS me, emotionally, to know that you're struggling like that and I can't fix it for you. Because I have no better idea what in all the hells is happening than you do… And if you're already feeling that way now, what's going to happen when we do go out there?”
What if you die? She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud, but the worry was there, niggling at her thoughts like a hungry Mynock. What if I can't save you? What am I without you?

With a snort of wry laughter that caught in the back of her throat, Aria shook her shoulders out in a feeble attempt to physically shake all these anxiety-inducing possibilities from her brain.
“Maybe I've just been spending too much time thinking alone, but, we have NO idea what it is that we're going to find out there. Something so evil that Revan would choose to leave his wife and unborn child just to go out there and stop it? I doubt it's True Sith technology either, or anything made by them, or else Renso or the Archives we have would've given us some kind of heads up, and then…it's been decades, maybe even closer to a century now, since Revan and Meetra left and they NEVER came back, Force, Bol, maybe they're already karkin’ dead and no one in the known galaxy ever bloody knew! How strong will whatever this is be, if THEY couldn't stop it, how can WE?”

The Champion had to take another breath, this time falling silent as she realised she hadn't given her partner a chance to get a word in edgewise.
“I rambled again, didn't I… Shit. I'm sorry, I've got to stop doing that when I'm upset…” she apologised sincerely, leaning into his side. “I'll shut up and let you talk now.”