Mise En Place

[Q. Samus Dage]

And just like that, the possible distraction from whatever might be coming his way was removed. Brushed aside as effortlessly as anything, and a small part of him marveled at the ease with which Vymes plucked himself up from the mire.

He wished he could learn such an art, and as the door whisked shut, secluding himself and T'yeella once more into the confines of his quarters, the blonde couldn't help the myriad of expressions that passed over his features. The last one was of the sort of helpless nature that a person would attribute to a cornered Macalope, and when he spoke next, there was the telltale tone of a man doomed to his inevitable fate.

"Sooo... wanna get some pizza?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

The non-sequitur bounced off of T'yeellaa's armor plating, and didn't diminish the stormy pout on her face.

"jYou werre sso much morre attrractjive beforre we sstarrted talkjing poljitjicss."

She brushed past him, heading to the bedroom to begin collecting her disassembled wardrobe.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Shoulders slumping in the knowledge that his silly little quip would of course do nothing, Samus only followed her trajectory with his eyes, at least noticing the sway of her backside as she breezed by.

"You know," his voice was a rumble of low notes and bass tones, "... for what it's worth, I didn't really think you'd be marching out of here after that full-court press you were pushing on me before we walked in here."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa immediately whirled one hundred eighty degrees.

"And now jyou'rre teassjing me? Dammjit Ssamuss, jyou thjink jI djidn't want thjiss? What the hell am jI ssuppossed to ssajy? Sshrrug jit off and prretend mjy gai'tou jissn't jin favorr of galactjic amnesstjy?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was the barest of hard edges that crept into his eyes as he stared at her.

"Yeah well, when you've been one of the folks that amnesty means a hell of a lot to, maybe you'll understand, Kitten."

What had once been a relaxed and hopeful look became one of tensed muscles as his arms crossed together, and he leveled her with an unflinching stare. Gone was the boyish, lackadaisical expression. Instead he sent a hardened and steely look her way.

"That stuff means having a life for folks that aren't so privileged."

His brow furrowed even more, and for the first time ever, T'yeellaa Meorrrei saw a man who had crawled his way doggedly from a life of hardship.

"Folks like me."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa bristled at how neatly Samus had made a hypocrite of her. Her gai'tou, the outsider, the refugee, the migrant.

The Terrorist.

That was the Empire's determination, after all. She'd never once considered him as such. Not that it made the argument any more tidy.

"jYou'rre djifferrent! Nothjing ljike that warr mongerr Grrjievouss. He pusshed uss jinto a warr farr larrgerr than we had anjy jincljinatjion forr."

She wanted to slap him. Or kiss him and shut him up. All the emotions were piqued and close to the skin, keeping her feeling red hot.

[Q. Samus Dage]

A deep inhalation was the only sign that he was listening to her. Eventually the shade of his eyes followed. and when that shade shifted, there was something understanding yet steel-hard in them.

"Your people were on the side that demanded more, Kitten."

Both of his hands went down then, fingers gripping at the armrests of his chair.

"You're as much a product of an ideology as I am. I'd wager we're on the same side even."

He was trying to show her that their bridge ran parallel.

"You want your way of life to be understood, don't you?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Of courrsse jI do!" T'yeellaa's brows knit defensively. She squared her feet to not surrender an inch, as if an argument could be won or lost in distance.

"But that doessn't come forr frree, no matterr the hjigh-mjinded jidealss that ssuggessted otherrwjisse jin jyourr rrebelljion."

Her features softened as her ears lowered.

"Don't jyou thjink jI want to beljieve that'ss all trrue? Don't jyou thjink jI can't jimagjine what jit would be ljike jif jit werre? But jit'ss not trrue, Ssamuss. We can't jusst forrgjive everrjy passt wrrong wholessale, and we can't ssjimpljy thrrow open the gate wjithout takjing a sserrjiouss look at what we mjight let jin, and what we mjight become jif we do."

[Q. Samus Dage]

His gaze never wavered, and he made no move to rise. His posture was still mostly relaxed as he had no desire to root himself to the deckplates in the same manner that she had.

"We become better stewards by giving a chance to those who otherwise don't have one, and we show everyone that we're not the Empire."

A single eyebrow lifted then, and his head ticked to the side. It was time to cut away the fluff and get to the real issue.

"Unless you seriously think that every Kaleesh is Grievous... ?"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"No, thejy arren't, but how much do jyou know about them, Ssamuss? Djid jyou know thejirr culturre jiss obssesssed wjith warr?"

T'yeellaa paced, her tail switching in snits as she turned.

"Not ljike jyou orr ljike me. We fjight when we have to - when we'rre pusshed. Thejy fjight becausse jitss centrral to thejirr culturre. Sso we let a few hundrred of them make a home forr themsselvess jin Alljiance sspace. What happenss next?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

A sigh, and Samus lurched upward to stand, his height sending him well above T'yeellaa as he reached out to grab her arm. If they kept on like this, she'd soon enough be stomping herself out of his quarters and back to wherever she came from, and the blonde wasn't about to let her throw her hands up after the fight she made just to get through his door to begin with.

Pulling her close, he gave her a fleeting, crooked grin before silencing her words with his lips pushing against hers.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

She was angry, and moved to pull her arm free from his grasp. She faltered more than he held on. She wanted to bite his lip hard, it turned into a nibble. She was still angry, but it was starting to matter less and less, and she was starting to remember exactly why she was here to begin with. That fire hadn't been snuffed out, and the coals were still underneath, red hot. Didn't take long to become a conflagration again.

Redoubled and reinforced with a little angry energy, T'yeellaa returned to the matter at hand with vigor, dragging Samus back to the bed where she shoved him against the mattress.

"And don't jyou ssajy one morre worrd about poljitjics!"

Ninety minutes later

Hot, piqued, sweaty, spent. Bruised too. She smarted in no less than four places where they'd smacked against a bulkhead or a low ceiling. Angry sex was wild energy, but in an awkward venue, there was a lot of friendly fire. For now, T'yeellaa simply lay back in the afterglow, smashed against Dage's side with her feet dangling off the small bed.

"jYou're lajyjing on mjy tajil."

It was perhaps the least profound thing she could say in the moment, but T'yeellaa feared invoking the beast of their two competing passions. It wasn't just that they were competitive, they were equally stubborn.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He gave a grunted non-answer, but shifted his body so that her tail could escape from its' prison beneath him. Busy inspecting his most recent crop of scratches along his chest, Samus couldn't help but release a sighing grumble.

"You know, each time I think it'll be different. I say to myself 'It'll be ok, Samus. It won't be like it was the last time'. And guess what... I'm always wrong. It's never different."

A last exhale, and he slowly sat up.

"Which is to say nothing of how many times I hit the wall."

A sly look her way, and his hand reached out, one finger extended to push into a bit of bluish discoloration beginning to forming on her shoulder.

"Least I'm not the only one with war wounds this time."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

She watched his annoying finger on a deliberately provocative course mash into her fresh bruise. He withdrew his finger, and she deadpanned "Ow." with a bothered ear-twitch.

"jI'm not ssurre jif that'ss the besst jI've had jin a whjile, orr the worrsst."

T'y rolled off the edge of the bed, letting her feet slap the deck as she groaned.

"Do jyou have kolto?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

He gestured towards the small, compact fresher.

"In the mirror cabinet," his voice held more of a drawl as he spoke, and leaning back into bed once more, he swept his arms back to prop his head up.

"You know, you only have yourself to blame this time around." A smirk. "I'm but a pawn in your little pleasure game."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Leaning at the door frame leading to the refresher, T'y crossed her arms with a wry expression on her face.

"Forr a pawn, jyou ssurre do need a lot of ssjignalss. jI honesstljy thought jyou werre about to let me walk back to mjy quarrterrss."

She shook her head, turning to climb into the sonic shower.

"jI thought fljirrtjing wass a human thjing!"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Hey now," the feigned hurt reared its' head in that moment, and he had fun with it.

"In my defense your versions of flirting are either super-duper obvious or so subtle that even a Bothan spymaster wouldn't be able to decode it."

He sat back up, slowly and ponderously letting his legs swing over the side of the bed to set bare feet on cold durasteel plates. Reaching over, his hand grasped at the undergarments she'd practically torn off. He even made sure to inspect each stitch for damage.

"Besides. Even if you did go back to your quarters, I'm pretty well certain you'd find some reason to come back."

He gave her a good-natured wink in punctuation.

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

Activating the sonics, T'yeella began to scrub off her exertions with workmanlike efficiency.

"Don't doubt jit forr a ssecond. jI have an actjive jimagjinatjion!" she called out over the hum, spreading sonoactivated lather over her striped skin.

"Majybe next tjime Massterr Vjymess jinterruptss uss, we can jinvjite hjim to jojin jin."

T'yeellaa grinned furtively and unseen as she set a teasing hook on the line.

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was a brief, morbid look that passed swiftly over his features at those last words, and Samus couldn't help the incredulous stare he gave to the empty doorway of the 'fresher.

The next moment found him rising to stand, and in a bizarre dance of stepping toward the 'fresher while attempting to pull on his underwear, the lanky blonde halfway tumbled through the doorway.

"Kitten, you do realize he's already taken, don't you?"

He grasped the plain toothbrush sitting in its' wall holder, his free hand moving to take up the half-used stick of toothpaste. Pausing for a moment in thought, he twisted his torso so that he could point the tube at her. There was a glowpanel that had ticked on in his brain, telling him that he'd left her an opening that needed to be firmly shut off before she got any other ideas.

"Which, it wouldn't even matter if he wasn't. The answer is a hard no, Ma'am."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

The lather on her skin firmed up a moment before atomizing into vapor, and T'yeellaa side-eyed Samus and the level of his disengagement in her proposed ménage à trois, and merely shrugged it off with a grin, wagging her tail left and right as she turned her back to Samus and hummed a tune to herself.