#and a night of dark trees

[blackkatmagic]

Granta, Eldra, and Maul getting to thieve, punch, and be dramatic is a winning combination.

(i ADORE them ok)

“No guards, then,” he says dryly, pulling the cable up and coiling it. The hole vanishes as he hauls the shifted flagstone back into place, and Eldra snorts.

“Whatever Maul decided to do, it’s very distracting, apparently,” she says, but deigns to offer Granta a hand up as he finishes erasing any trace of the moved stone.

“Maybe he took his shirt off,” Granta suggests, and winces slightly as he comes to his feet, rolling his shoulders. He’s still feeling the after-effects of their trip to Felucia, apparently.

Eldra slants him a glance, then deftly pulls the coiled rope from his hands and slings it over her shoulder and across her chest. “At this point it would be more distracting if he put a shirt on. That scrap of fabric he normally wears covers about as much as the ‘traditional’ Twi'lek dancer outfits we saw on Nar Shaddaa.”

Granta hums, entirely amused, because he knows Maul has been showing progressively more of his chest each time he changes clothes at least thirty percent in an effort to make Eldra look. If he knew she’d noticed and disregarded it, he’d be incredibly offended. “Are you still offended by that? That was a year ago.”

“They don’t have anything to do with tradition,” Eldra says, scornful. “Ryloth is a desert. Do you know what happens when you have that much skin exposed in a desert? And the rest of the galaxy has just accepted it!”

Her lekku curl sharply, like fists. It’s not a gesture Granta thought lekku could make before he met Eldra, but it’s one he’s becoming increasingly familiar with.

“Our first act as rulers of the galaxy can be an educational campaign regarding the historic fashions of the Twi'lek people,” he proposes. “I'm sure it will be a riveting success.”

Eldra rolls her eyes, reaching out to thump him on the arm. It’s relatively light, for her, meaning it will only leave a small bruise. “Don’t laugh or I’ll bring up that Telosian town on Corellia—”

“You assume I can be offended by wild misinterpretations of my birth culture,” Granta says breezily. He’ll never admit the effort it takes not to twitch at the mention of the travesty they encountered on Corellia, though.

Raising a brow, Eldra aims a long, pointed look at him. “So I should assume that Telosian restaurant was standard—”

“It most certainly was not, and half the decorations were traditionally Doniphoni—”

[maviyenot]

[ak-nm]

[aqua-regia009]

Night's Gaze, 2023 - oil on wooden panel. — Annie Stegg Gerard (American, b.1982)

https://www.gallerygerard.com/

[bequietanddrivefarawayy]

[2000s-angell]

Cc: to the owner

[wanderlandjournal]

far over the misty mountains cold

[fairytaleprincessart]

[inky-sun]

[gailstorm]

A couple from tonight

[franz-bauch-foto]

Full moon night

[blackkatmagic]

Any specific wip that's currently commanding your attention or just hopping from piece to piece?

The hilt is as heavy as stone in his hand, nothing at all like Xanatos’s lightsaber once was. That was a light thing, more air and light than substance, and this—

This is a warrior’s weapon, meant to hurt, even before the black plasma burns to life.

Smiling, amused, Granta leans back on one hand, turning the hilt over in his hand. The Vizslas’ ancestral home is quiet and still above him, the vault even quieter, with a heavy hush that feels like a watchful, living thing. Granta's not about to care; he’s a thief, and he took what he wanted, and now the greatest symbol of Mandalorian kingship is in his grasp.

It’s been a productive day, he thinks, and chuckles, flipping the Darksaber up and catching it again.

“I don’t suppose you can tell whether your theory is correct?” he asks courteously, tipping his head to slant a glance at his companion.

Eldra frowns, picking her way across the floor with an instinctive awareness of where the traps are that Granta needs three scanners and a high-tech visor to match. “There is something about it,” she says, crouching down beside Granta, though she doesn’t reach out to touch the hilt. “It’s…louder than a lightsaber should be.”

Granta hums, interested but not all that invested. “Do you think our pet Sith can wake it up?”

Eldra snorts, lekku curling. “He’d better be able to,” she says. “But if anything can wake him up, it’s Maul.”

That is, quite honestly, good enough for Granta, and he flips the hilt up once more, catches it with a flourish, and slides it through his belt, then rises. Politely, he offers Eldra a hand as well, but she rolls her eyes at him and stands on her own, brushing her pants down with a grimace.

“Back out through the tunnels?” she asks, displeased.

“Unless you’d like to waltz through a keep full of Mandalorians armed to the teeth and ready to shoot,” Granta says, full of amusement. When Eldra looks like she’s considering it, he deftly catches her elbow, steering her back towards the entrance they used. “And then only if you're capable of keeping them from noticing that we stole anything. I want to keep this as a delightful surprise for the young heir.”

“That bastard,” Eldra mutters, but she lets herself be steered, and Granta matches her steps carefully as she stalks back across the trapped floor. “Those vornskrs had better still be sleeping.”

“The gas I used should keep them asleep for at least another full day,” Granta promises indulgently, though he’s not in any more of a rush to face the beasts than Eldra is. They’d let him get close enough to gas them the first time, but given how narrow his escape was before it took effect, Granta isn't willing to bet on it working a second time.

“Don’t take that tone with me or I’ll punch you in the face,” Eldra tells him, unimpressed. “You're only two years older than I am.”

Granta makes a sound of deep offense, raising his hands in surrender. “Such anger issues. Are you sure you were a Jedi?”

“If I wasn’t, you wouldn’t have gotten in here.” Eldra flicks a lek back over her shoulder, then sweeps a hand out, brows furrowed in concentration. The giant stone door that seals the vault rolls back, creaking loudly in protest as it slides on its rails, and then settles, and Eldra lets out a heavy breath and keeps moving.

Granta claps politely as he follows, ducking through just before the door slams back shut. The vault shakes slightly, but it’s well-insulated enough that Granta isn't worried about guards hearing. Besides, Maul should be making himself a thorough distraction, putting all of his acting talent to good use for something besides lounging dramatically all over Granta's ship in the hopes that Eldra will notice him.

Granta is of the firm opinion that he should just pick a fight with her if he wants her attention, but no one asks him these things. And last time he offered his help unsolicited, Maul had flounced off like Granta cut off his horns, then gone on some kind of bender, and dragged himself out of a swamp planet a month later smelling like the foulest mud imaginable but with a new outlook on life.

Eldra is absolutely convinced that he spent his entire time there eating frogs and tripping like a naughty housecat, and Granta isn't willing to disagree.

[ak-nm]

[bequietanddrivefarawayy]

Shartash Granite Quarry. Yekaterinburg, Russia

[ratbeef95]

[wanderlandjournal]

morning light of November