Sparring Partners

[Lilaena De'Ville]

As she landed Lilaena grounded herself through her feet, pulling up her arms to put her fists near her face. As she did so Jeng launched at her, both feet slamming between her forearms and catching her in the chest.

She tried to stay upright, rather than moving with the blow, and staggered backward. Jeng landed hard from the drop kick, but he was quickly rolling to his feet while she was struggling to get air back into her lungs.

Lilaena drew in a ragged breath and readied to counter whatever he came at her with.

[Jeng]

“We should do this more often,” Jeng said, taking a moment to catch his breath too, as they stood facing off against one another. His side ached some from the impact with the dropkick, but he could see from the rise and fall of her chest that it’d had the desired effect. He had to strike now and press for the advantage. Centre of gravity low, he edged forward and swiped first left then right, aiming to grab behind her knees and pull her legs out from beneath her.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The workout was exhausting her body to match her mental exhaustion from the long day. Lilaena fumbled the counter to his move, and found herself on her back, breath knocked out of her again.

[Jeng]

Jeng dropped to the ground with Lilaena and, sensing an potential impending victory, he slammed the length of his forearm down across her collarbone, aiming to pin her in place beneath him.

His face loomed above hers, his expression challenging her to yield.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

It was tempting to use the Force to shove him off, maybe slam him into a bulkhead while she was at it, but this was the Battle Circle and there were traditions to be upheld, even in a sparring match.

Lilaena struggled for a moment, trying to buck him off of her, but his arm pressed harder and closer to her neck. She let her body go limp, breathing hard.

"I yield," she said, looking up at him, a tired grin tracing her face. Lilaena closed her eyes, waiting for him to release her. After a long moment she opened them again.

"You can get off me now."

[Jeng]

Sitting back onto his haunches in the space between Lilaena’s legs, Jeng smiled a lopsided smile down at her. He held out a hand, offering to help her up.

“Want to go again?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She accepted his hand up, but yanked hard to pull him off balance as she scrambled to her knees.

"I think I'm too tired to think clearly." Lilaena sat back on her heels. "Can't stop thinking about that terrible place, though."

It made her so angry to think about children being used like that, as expendable objects for some mad scientist's experiment. Lilaena clenched her fists until her knuckles whitened, her fingernails digging into her palms.

[Jeng]

The fight had allowed them to think, for a while, about something other than the trip to Talus. Jeng pressed his lips into a hard line for a moment, considering what they had seen.

“We did what we could. We made a difference.”

He glanced down at Lilaena’s hands, at the tension in her fists and the whitening knuckles. “Don’t let that anger build up inside of you.”

Getting up from the deck plating to stand, Jeng rolled his shoulders as he watched Lilaena rise. “You ever need to let off some steam, let me know.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I thought that was what we were doing - ohh. Oh." Lilaena's eyes widened a bit as Jeng raised an eyebrow. "No. No, I don't think so."

Wasn't he with Hel, anyway? She could have sworn she'd seen the two of them sneaking off together a few weeks ago. She realized she was staring at him and turned away, a little flustered.

"I don't - thank you for the offer?" Lilaena shook her head, smoothing her tank top across her middle with her hands.

[Jeng]

Jeng just nodded, not appearing remotely crestfallen at the rejection. “Consider it an open invitation,” he said, turning away, toward the edge of the circle and the pile of armour waiting for him.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena didn't reply. She walked outside the circle and held out her hand, her lightsaber hilt snapping into it.

He was so nonchalant about what he'd just offered to her. While she didn't really believe what A'na had taught her - that to remain pure of body was to keep herself pure of purpose - she found herself still holding on to her virginity. Not that it made her special or anything. Perhaps she was holding on to some old fashioned notion of giving herself to the right person.

Of course, that person was all too happy to muck about with his underlings. Lilaena's cheeks flushed, an image of Salem and Razielle entwined together appearing in her mind. Angry, she tried to think about something else. They both would likely try to kill her if they ever saw her again. "Try," being the operative word.

If nothing else, Jeng had succeeded in completely distracting her.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Now...
(after the events of Malleable)


The Ne'ta Prudii sat in the middle of the moors on Terephon, cloaked in fog. Lilaena was only able to find it again because her HUD was programmed with its location, and her speeder cut through the heavy mists toward it.

She slid to a halt beside the light freighter, dismounting from the speeder. Standing there for a moment, the dampness of the planet curling around her boots, she seemed to come to a decision.

Salem Ave would have been content to allow her to yearn for him, as long as it remained unsaid. When she had kissed him he made his choice known. In some ways, it had been ...liberating. She had finally said what had burned inside her for so long, and instead of his rejection breaking her, she had walked away as strong as before.

Lilaena thumped her fist on the hull of the ship, walking to the hatch and keying it open with the touchpad.

[Jeng]

Jeng was waiting on board, bare arms folded across his chest as he leant against the frame of the doorway to the common room. He looked Lilaena over, taking stock of her appearance.

“Su cuy'gar,” he said in greeting. So, you’re still alive.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena nodded, riding the speeder up into the ship. “It was a little anticlimactic in that regard,” she said. Dismounting, she bent down to fasten the speeder into its place.

When she straightened, she faced Jeng, taking in his broad shoulders and muscular arms. “You once offered... you said if I ever wanted to blow off steam...”

Lilaena took one bold step toward him before she halted.

“If you are still...” Her voice trailed off and she was mortified to feel the heat rising in her face.

[Jeng]

It had been almost a year since he’d first mentioned the prospect of the two of them letting off some steam together. She’d said nothing about it since, and Jeng hadn’t thought anything of it either. Not until now, seeing the flush rising in Lilaena’s cheeks. He stood up, away from the door frame, not quite so languid anymore.

“The offer still stands.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Her heart was hammering in her chest. Lilaena took another step forward, unbuckling the gauntlet on her left arm and letting it fall to the ground. She stood right in front of him, looking up into his blue eyes.

“I would ...hiibir gar laam bat bic.” Her mando’a was nearly flawless now. Take you up on it.

And for the second time that day she stretched up and kissed someone on the lips. It was an almost chaste peck, her inexperience probably obvious to him.

[Jeng]

There wasn’t a chaste bone in Jeng’s body. He returned that gentle, tentative kiss with something more firm, more mando’ade. One calloused hand cupped Lilaena's cheek, fingers sifting into her hair. The other settled onto her hip, his palm following the curve of her body up to small of her back, pulling her closer.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena gasped against his mouth as he pulled her close, her body stiffening instinctively. Heat rushed over her and she slowly relaxed against him, returning the kiss with sudden urgency.

Her hand found its way around his neck, fingers brushing against the short hairs on the back of his head as she pressed more firmly against him. Her armor -

Lilaena concentrated on the Force for a moment and the fastenings on the various pieces of armor she wore began to unclick and release as she started to struggle out of them without breaking off the kiss.

[Jeng]

The clang of metal hitting the decking brought to mind Jeng’s own armour. He made to move the hand at Lilaena's back, to work at the clasps that held his chestplate in place, but seconds later heard the fastenings clicking loose, as if own their own accord. He broke from the kiss, long enough to shrug the harness over his head and into the pile with Mand'alor's discarded armor.

“Here?” he asked, eyes shifting for a moment around the half-light in the ships hangar.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena looked around at the sterile hangar and shook her head as she pulled her own chestplate over her head.

“No.”

She dropped the armor and grabbed his hand, towing him into the rest of the ship. Her cabin would be better. There was at least a bed in it.

Lilaena stopped outside her door and turned to face Jeng as she opened it. “You should know... I ...this is my...

”Oh, never mind.” She kissed him in the open doorway, fingers fumbling for the zipper on his bodyglove.