The Dark Academy on Korriban

Sylvain walked around the corridors of the ship after waking up in the night. There was much on his mind as a result of the trial of the day, and his visions with Jun-tsu... The complications with Kristal and Shai... The meeting with Baras.... all of it was a little much for one day.

He found his way to the observation deck and began looking out at the stars as they sped through hyperspace.

Seeing a shadowy figure on the other side of the deck a small smile came across his features. She held what looked like a bottle in her hand and was fixed on the glow of hyperspace.

Approaching her quietly, he pulled up beside her and put his elbows on the railing.

"Evening Moyr. Trouble sleeping?" He asked in a friendly and open tone.

"My metabolism goes funky in hyperspace. On top of me being medicated right now."

She reacted naturally to his presence, without being startled. Perhaps she had noticed him beforehand. She took a solid gulp from the bottle he could recognise and wordlessly offered it in an extended hand to him.

"And before you lecture me about medication and alcohol, I have a small separate stomach to break down the latter."

After a pause.

"What do you find beautiful, Syl? In macroscale."

He chuckled and took a swig from the drink, "On the macro scale?"

He thought for a good moment, "Justice, perhaps."

Then smiled, "Not the most romantic answer..."

"Good enough for me. If we think about beauty of moral concepts fraught with multitude of definitions and complex socio-political underpinnings, mine would be emancipation and self-determination."

She chuckled ironically.

"I find the infinity of Space beautiful. With all its innumerable stars."

He smiled, "I love the stars too actually..."

He chuckled, "Well here is a once in a lifetime thing... so get ready."

He took in a deep breath and then began singing gently,

"Stars in your multitudes.
Scarce to be counted,
Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night

You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Sadow fell
You fall in flames!

And so it must be
for so it is written,
That those who falter and fail
must pay the price..."

His voice was charming enough, though much of the impact was from emotional projection rather than technical singing ability.

He chuckled, "It's from a play my father to took me once as a child."

"It's not important where it's from, Syl, but why you've decided to sing for me, and what's in the song."

She accepted the bottle back and took a jolt. Her slightly feral smile reflected in the glass dividing them from infinity shifted into singing lips.

"I wanna miss you, lonely as the desert sand;
Sparkle like a star, stranger in a faraway land.
Pockets tie his hands up, feet stuck right where he stands,
Divide grows wide ‘tween work and the wants of a man.

One hand holds the pulse, the other a steerin’ wheel,
On one hand it is his curse, on the other it’s what is real.

I shine bright like the wide, wide world
when you’re standing on the moon, she could be just any girl.
Your hands are tied, but your heart is free.
If you learn to cut the rope, please make your way to me.

I wanna show you, lover take my hand.
You can find satisfaction being a one woman man.
I wanna love you. I don’t know where I stand,
between your heart, the road, and all of the needs of a man.

One hand holds the pulse, the other a steerin’ wheel,
On one hand it is his curse, on the other it’s what is real.

I shine bright like the wide, wide world
when you’re standing on the moon, she could be just any girl.
Your hands are tied, but your heart is free.
If you learn to cut the rope, please make your way to me.

When you hang your hat on her,
will you hang your head in shame?
When you say that it’s impossible,
you’re just runnin’ away
from the thing that kept you tied down,
the thing that keeps your feet on the ground.

I shine bright like the wide, wide world
when you’re standing on the moon, she could be just any girl.
Your hands are tied, but your heart is free.
If you learn to cut the rope, please make your way to me.
If you learn to cut the rope, please make your way to me"

As she sang, she pressed the hand closer to him against the transparent screen, fingers apart.

Sylvain reached up and laced his fingers in between hers on the screen, offering a silent gesture of support and outreach while she emptied her heart with the song.

"You sang that for me before..." He said with contemplation and eyes that searched for her's.

"Why me...?" He asked gently.

Her hand was warm, and didn't flinch at his touch, subjected to it. Her lekku undulated slightly at all the length except at the ends where they remained straight and pointed.

"Do I need a reason, Syl?"

The question came with a melancholic note, but was probably crypto-rhetorical. Of course she needed a reason.

"Not if you don't have one." He said comfortingly. "But I suspect you might..."

He gently squeezed her hand reassuring her that he wouldn't abuse her trust in him.

"I sang mine because it was a bit of a piece of me..." He smiled. "Your example of one who would do anything she could to remove injustice... reminded me of a song about stars shining in the darkness... it's a song that I hold close to me."

"To what lengths you'd go to... make things right, Syl? If you believe strongly? Where's your threshold of giving up?"

Her fingers gently squeezed back his where he had put them in the open spaces on the screen left for him.

He tilted his head, "Depends on what it's for I guess. For some dogmatic ideal or philosophical viewpoint? ...I'm not willing to go far at all.

"But for people that I know in some way or another... The one's I really care about... I haven't found the point where I'd stop yet. And I try to extend that out as much as I can... I treat others with the same level of consideration I would myself... That to me is the 'Justice' I am able to control..."

"So you know my reason, Syl."

She shifted her palm under his so their fingers could truly interlace and their hands hold. She then pulled their hands entwined off the glass, into a tighter squeeze of a knot between them.

"I would not sing for you otherwise."

He reached out with his other arm and drew her close to him. He knew her reason now, and he knew that she needed him right now. In her drunken and remorseful state, he felt she needed the warmth of his chest on her cheeks and the firm grip of his hand on hers.

They stood there transfixed for a long time; but to Sylvain it didn't seem to be long at all. Pulling back for a moment he brushed her cheek with his hand, "You really are a star in the darkness Moyr."

Normally from a man like Sylvain that type of line would be followed by some overtly romantic gesture, but instead he just looked at her affectionately and smiled his support.

Her emotional condition and rationale were a bit more complex than he was imagining but how he acted on his assumptions was more important than his misconceptions. She welcomed his embrace, reciprocating it with the lekku on his shoulders as her other hand held the bottle. The physical comfort had not been her first thought but once she could lay her cheek on his chest she caught up to the small reprieve it granted. She listened to the beating of his heart for reasons she didn't understand. On the cue of his touch, she looked up. Hearing his words, she smiled gently, though with a glint in the eyes that reminded that her wits were no easily dimmed.

"My gravitational pull seems to have caught a dark exoplanet into embracing me for an orbital dance."

He chuckled, "You've been hanging around with Baesal too much; you're jokes are so technical."

He then tightly wrapped her in his arms again, "I hope you don't pull too hard, I'd rather my inertia carried me into a comfortable orbit around you than get swallowed up."

"I'd have to drop mass then. I wonder where I have it in excess."

Shifting the weight from one leg to another, well knowing what dynamic reflection in the glass that would cause, he thinned her lips and arched her brow, but there was a smirk in the golden glow of her eyes. The tips of her lekku tickled his nape.

"Would you know it, Syl?"

He smiled, "I could be convinced to do a thorough check for you."

"I have an impression it would not require of me to climb to the heights of persuasion. I also think your assertion about reluctance to be devoured has been a bit insincere."

Her gaze sharpened a bit, though did not lose its playful quality.

He smiled in return and chuckled. There was no look of pressing passion or seduction yet though. "You might have to be a bit persuasive my beautiful star." He smiled, "Because while there's a significant part of me who wants to know you in the most intimate way... To be 'devoured' as you say... I'm not fully sure you want me yet."

He put his hand on the bottle pointing to the source of his concern, "I'd hate to take advantage of a drunk woman. Even one that I'm quite interested in."

A small smile, but genuine, with fewer strings attached.

"It behooves a noble to behave nobly."

She dancingly twirled in his embrace using their holding hands as the axis, turning her back toward him and letting him embrace her from behind. The lekku crawled back on his shoulders in a snuggly way but her main attention was on the hyperspace lane before them, and their reflections in the glass.

"I am not fully sure either. If I were, I would probably turn jealous."

He smiled and gently caressed her stomach as he held her, "You do seem like the jealous type."

He held her close so she could feel his chest as he breathed in and out, "You wouldn't be the only one for me right now... I could see you having a problem with that. And she with you..."

He chuckled his self-deprecating chuckle, "I'm just a fount of romantic talk tonight aren't I?"

He smiled, "I guess I just feel the need for pretense between us to fall away... It feels right to be open with you... It's certainly not me 'being noble' I assure you... I'm just going with the flow."

"Oh, I have already been accosted by lady Serasai for claiming to be a friend of yours the other day, as far as dropping the pretense is concerned."

She smiled faintly, fitting herself comfortably into his embrace. Her gaze was intently set straight on his reflection.

"You are a possibility for me, Syl. Perhaps the best I can hope for in a while. But I won't let myself fall for you until I know you're the right man for me. And as you honestly admit we can't have arrived there yet."

She cupped his hand over her stomachs with hers.

"I am not impatient. Are you?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

Then smiled slightly, "I wouldn't antagonize Kris too much... She doesn't put up with a lot of shit. And I'd prefer not to deal with the aftermath of some altercation..."

He looked out to the passing stars, "I'm perfectly fine with a gradual progression. It's worked so far. You're an interesting woman, with great appeal. It took Kris 12 years to look my way. I'm happy just to have you looking after only a few months."

"Kris is your issue, not mine, Syl. I am not up for catfights."

Her fingers traced a track amid his knuckles.

"About our pace... If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

He smiled and chuckled. It had been him saying that not so long ago in a different context.

"A personal motto of mine."

He then moved his head to the side of hers and gently moved up a hand to her cheek to guide her face towards his.

He planted a tender and impactful kiss on Moyr's lips, before she had too much time to see it coming.