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gcthamqueen · 2 years ago

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late night rendezvous.

Elnia gets a late night visitor to her apartment looking for a place to lay low in the wake of his escape from the Jedi - Cad Bane x OC

Author’s Note - because I am chronically incapable of writing anything in chronological order, this is set somewhere in Elnia’s timeline after she and Cad have known and worked with each other for long enough to develop enough of a sense of trust for Cad to decide to hide out in her apartment. And also this whole scene is a thing because as impressive as it is for him to resist a Force interrogation from three of the strongest Jedi in the order, I don’t believe for a second it didn’t leave some lingering effects behind given it was explicitly stated that if they pushed Cad too far, he could lose his mind.

Also don’t ask where he got his hat and blasters back from after escaping Mace and Obi Wan, he felt naked without them 😂

— — — — —

There’s been enough buzz throughout Coruscant’s underworld about something going down at the Jedi temple to have vaguely piqued Elnia’s interest, even with the almost laughably heavy handed way the Jedi seemed to have tried to clamp down on the rumors. Her current planning for the latest job had been more than enough for the fuss to only briefly register on her agenda for the evening, but the last thing she had been expecting was to be jolted out of sleep to the presence of someone else in her apartment through the Force.

Reaching for her lightsaber, she carefully slipped out of bed and silently padded to the door, taking a deep breath to center herself before igniting the blade and stepping out into the main living room ready to attack, only to be met by a familiar tall figure in an unmistakable hat. She couldn’t help but come up short as her half asleep mind finally registered who her unexpected guest was, the Duros’ own hand on his blaster at the sound of the door opening.

“...Bane?”

For the briefest of moments, she thinks he looks almost guilty, before he smirks and the hand on his blaster moves to tip his hat at her.

“Evenin’, lil lady.”

“What in the name of the Winged Goddess are you doing in my apartment?” Elnia asked, turning off her saber and setting it on a side table.

“Need somewhere t’ lay low fer a few days, if you’re amenable.”

“How do you even know I have a place on Coruscant?” she sighed, before shaking her head, “Wait; don’t answer that. I was one of your bounties, of course you know where I live on planet. What were you even going to do if I wasn’t here?”

“Was hopin’ you wouldn’t be, t’ tell the truth.”

“Well, isn’t it nice knowing my one time bounty hunter’s decided my real estate makes for a good bolt hole,” she replied, moving over to her drinks cabinet, “Would’ve thought you had your own little hideaways to retreat to.”

“I did,” the venom in Bane’s voice is enough to make her pause in pouring the Zeltron whiskey, flicking her eyes back to the bounty hunter now on her couch, “Lost my station t’ the karking Jedi.”

“…oh so you’re the one who’s got the temple running around like a flock of headless tip-yip,” Elnia laughed as she moved back over to hand him the drink, “Guess I should have suspected as much.”

“Y’ heard about that quick,” he replied as she perched on the arm of the sofa.

“I wouldn’t be a very good merc if I didn’t keep an eye on the temple now and again, would I? Jedi don’t particularly take kindly to those who don't follow their chosen Force dogma.”

“Sounds like y’got personal experience.”

“Buy me a drink sometime to thank me for crashing on my couch and I might tell you the story,” she grinned, “Now, you are welcome to stay Bane, but I am going back to bed.”

As she returned to her bedroom, she climbed up to sit cross-legged in the middle of her bed to refocus her awareness of the Force to accommodate her unexpected guest, yet as she reached out towards Bane, she was met with a wall of defensive anger that felt like…the first thing that came to mind had been when she had been forced to hide in the jungles of her home world as a child while Gorgara had been hunting nydak, the defiant roars of the chirodactyl’s prey the closest thing she could compare his Force signature to. And she knew fine well what he normally felt like, cool and collected even in moments like when they had first met and she’d done her damndest to take his head off. And hearing that he’d been the one responsible for whatever had gone down at the Jedi temple…

Slipping back from the bed, she stepped into the doorway of her bedroom again, pausing before she decided to talk.

“Bane?”

“Hmm?” was the only response from the lanky figure sprawled out on her sofa, hat tipped down to cover his eyes.

“Did the Jedi try and interrogate you before you got away?”

Even in the dark, she could feel the intensity of his gaze as he reached to move his hat and look at her.

“Now why would’ja be askin’ a question like that, lil lady?”

“Cause your energy in the Force is all kriffed off and roaring at me like a cornered nydak,” she replied matter of factly, “You’re never normally that angry. Plus you doing something to annoy the temple enough for you to lose your station? Seems like a pretty logical conclusion that they tried to interrogate you for whatever job you were working on.”

“What are you anglin’ at?”

“I can fix whatever mess they left behind.”

“You’re not gettin’ in my head,” the forceful way he responded to her sent another wave of angry energy towards her, snapping at her subconscious like a cornered animal. If Elnia hadn’t been certain of his Force interrogation before, she definitely was now.

“I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want me to, but you’ve seen what I can do to the minds of people who are resisting my influence. Getting rid of something that shouldn’t be there in the first place if you allowed me to wouldn’t take much effort at all.”

In one move, Bane stood up from where he had been sprawled, stalking across the apartment to get up in her space, crimson eyes scrutinizing her face as she looked up at him. He’d seen her handiwork before, so she simply stared back and allowed him to decide for himself if he wanted to accept the offer.

“...that’s all y’want?”

“I have no interest in poking around in your memories. I’m not a kriffing Jedi,” she replied, an amused smile curling the corners of her mouth at his suspicion, “But if it makes you feel better, I won’t even put you under for it, so if you want to tell me to stop, I will.”

“...fine.”

“Good. Now we’ve agreed on that, go lie down on the carpet while I get what I need.”

“What?”

“You’re too damn tall for us both to fit on the sofa, Bane,” she replied with a grin, “And you don’t get into my bed without buying me dinner first.”

Turning back to the bedroom, Elnia headed to the cupboard where she kept much of the equipment she had left Dathomir with, pulling a waterskin and a shallow wooden bowl from the footlocker before returning to the sight of Bane standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room. Settling cross-legged onto her icewolf pelt rug, she turned to pull one of her side tables closer to set the bowl down before unscrewing the waterskin and pouring the Waters of Life into it, a pale green light emanating from the liquid as she looked up at Cad.

“I’m not going to make you drink it, if that’s what you’re grimacing about. The Waters are for me, not you. Now, come on. Head in my lap.”

Fixing her with a distinct expression of annoyance, she only shrugged at him.

“I’m fixing your head, aren’t I?”

Moving to lie down as told, Elnia allowed Bane to get as comfortable as he was going to before moving one of her hands over the bowl, closing her eyes for a moment as she started to chant in Dathomiri as she began drawing on the energies of the Waters. Beneath her fingers, she drew a ball of green energy into existence before directing it to drift around her head. Bane was still tensed up so as she continued, she moved her hands to either side of his head, gently pressing her fingers to massage into his temples.

As much as he’d been reticent to allow Elnia into his head, the soft green light of the swirling magick, combined with her soft chanting and the gentle steady pressure of her fingertips managed to lull him into such a sense of relaxation, he couldn’t help but let out a low rumble of satisfaction.

“…are you purring?”

“Kark off, witch,” he grumbled, cracking open an eye to idly reach up and swat at Elnia, her own hand darting up to lightly rap his knuckles before he got close despite still having her eyes closed.

“Ah, so I’m a witch now, am I?,” she grinned, “And here I thought you liked me.”

“Awful presumptuous of ya.”

“Besides, I didn’t claim it was a bad thing,” she continued, one of her hands moving to cup his cheek at the odd angle as she leaned down above him, pale face framed by her loose silver hair. The ball of green light had now created something of a halo around her head, and as she opened her eyes, their usual silver was replaced by that same misty green which did little to hide the distant gaze that seemed to bore into his very soul at the same time, “It means you’re relaxed enough for me to do this.”

Before he could question it, Cad was suddenly struck by a sensation all too similar to the invasive interrogation of the Jedi, yet rather than their bullish probing, the only thing that he could picture was a big cat like those he had encountered on other planets, silent but ruthlessly effective in hunting down their prey. He’d barely even noticed her pressing forward into his mind, save for the sudden disorientating sensation of no longer being alone in his head.

What seemed to rise up to meet her was a chorus of whispering voices, the same phrase the Jedi had used in interrogating him swirling around his head in a near maddening cacophony.

You will take us to the holocron, you will take us to the holocron, youwilltakeustotheholocronandyouwilltakeus -

Before the sentence could end, Elnia struck, pulling the magick around the echoing impressions of the Jedi’s Force signatures like a snare. As she pulled her hand away from Bane’s face, a green web of energy coiled around what appeared to be a glowing cloud drew away with her fingers before she flicked it away into nothing, the light of her magick dying out with it.

“Well, that worked.”

As Elnia leaned back with a hiss, Bane sat up to regard her, and as she blinked back into awareness of the world around her, he realized that the sclera of her left eye had gone black with a popped blood vessel from the effort, a bead of dark blood oozing from her nose that she quickly wiped away with the back of her hand.

“Y’ sure?”

“You tell me. Any guests who’ve overstayed their welcome still knocking around in that head of yours?”

“I guess not,” he replied after focusing for a moment.

“Told you, Cad,” she smiled ruefully, “I’m very good at what I do.”

#oc: elnia zotra #cad bane #otp: raise a little hell #may the force be with you #my writing #these two have been living rent free in my brain for a MINUTE #horrible little gremlins #i love them dearly

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