#like i’m sorry i couldn’t answer on account of actively still twisting my ankle

[bending-sickle]

done with saying “she’s being a bitch because she’s tired” or “she’s being a bitch because she’s stressed” or “she’s being a bitch because she’s sick”

like maybe she’s just being a bitch

[luimagines]

Hey it’s the same comfort anon! I really loved what did with the prompt!

If you don’t mind I have another rq 👉👈

RQ: You help them out during an embarrassing situation.

Masterlist

Comfort Anon! My first requester! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’m glad you think I did it justice!

I absolutely do not mind that you have another request!

I think I’m going to keep all of them in the same post this time around.

Set platonically and within the group since there wasn’t any specification.

You know the drill! Scenario under the cut!

Twilight

“Wolfie...” You try to fight the grin on your face and fail. “What are you doing?”

Said wolf pauses and stares at you thus beginning an impromptu staring contest.

You had been walking away from the camp to relieve yourself when you spotted familiar looking fur running around. It had sparked your interest so you ventured closer as quietly as you could.

When you reach your furry friend, you feel your face split into a large grin.

Wolfie was running in circles and rolling around the dirt trying to catch his tail.

It naturally amuses you greatly and you decided to watch for a little moment longer before Wolfie had actually managed to catch his tail and had begun chewing on it with fervor.

Realistically, you knew it probably itched and the poor thing was just trying to scratch it in the best way he could.

But it was still so adorably cute!

You ask your question, breaking the moment and try to hide your amusement for the sake of the creatures pride.

You can see the moment when Wolfie sees you. His whole body goes still and he stops chewing himself completely. Wolfie slowly lets his tail out of his mouth, making a small thump against the ground, while never breaking eye contact and waits.

You’re not sure for what but the way he’s staring at you makes you think you weren’t supposed to see what you saw. He looks the equivalent of getting your hand caught in the cookie jar and is trying to see how much trouble he’s going to get in.

It’s makes the whole thing infinitely funnier.

Your giggles escape and the animal begins to lower his head to the ground, ears back and flattened.

You’d dare say he looks embarrassed.

It softens your heart to see Wolfie in such a state so you try to rein in one final snort, fail, and begin to leave. “I’ll... leave you to it, Wolfie. I gotta pee. Have fun with what you’re over there.”

With your back turned, Wolfie gives out a pitiful whine that leaves you snickering until you find a more private spot.

Apparently, this one’s taken. 

Wild

“Wild...” You say, looking upward until your neck hurts. “How do you manage these things? I swear it’s only you who gets into this kind of stuff.”

“I just want to make eggs for breakfast!” He cries in defense. “I’m sorry for trying to do something nice for all of you!”

“Oh no, I get that. It’s this that worries me.” You sigh and try to get step back and assess the situation. Looking up is a little easier with and you’re able to see a better plan of action.

In theory anyway.

Wild, as mentioned, was about to make breakfast and had thus spotted eggs in  a nearby tree. Naturally he wanted to go collect them and feed his friends but there’s one thing he didn’t account on. The mother returned.

That being said, he freaked out enough that he dropped the sheikah slate, nearly fell out of the tree and in the ruckus had also scared away the mother.

He kept the eggs though.

However, when the word nearly is mentioned it’s meant to bring point that he didn’t actually fall out of tree. ...But he still might.

Why?

Because the only reason he didn’t hit the ground head first is because his foot got caught in one of the branches.

So he’s hanging upside down by his ankle and can’t access his tools to even attempt to get out.

This is where you, dear reader, come in.

Wild was actually far enough away and covered by enough foliage that the others haven’t noticed him in this precarious situation. You though, were heading to the creak nearby to wash your face and begin your morning routine.

Wild then yelled just loud enough to catch your attention and had asked for your assistance.

“Are you sure I can’t just get Twilight? Or Time?” You ask him. “I’m sure that one of them can just shake the tree and you’ll be free.”

“NO! Do not! Just-!” He flails around a bit, the branch creaking in protest but doesn’t  budge from the spot. “I get into a lot of stuff but neither of them will ever let me live this down.”

“What about Warrior then? Or Legend? He might have a tool of something to get you out-”

“No one else can know! Why can’t you just help me?” Wild begs.

“I have to say I’m little over my head here.” You admit. “Or rather, you’re a little over my head.”

“Very funny.”

“I think I have an idea but you have to catch yourself.” You grin and begin to move away.

“Just make it quick. All the blood is flowing to my head.”

You jog back to camp and take out your sword. A few more familiar faces are awake now and waiting for their food. 

“Hey,” Wind greets you with a tired smile and a yawn. “Where’s Wild?”

“He’s a little hung up at the moment.” You smile. “I just gotta go help him for a second and he’ll be back.”

Wind takes the answer for what it is, too tired to read too much into it and nods.

You sprint back and grin wildly. “Try to stay out of my way ok?”

“You couldn’t think of any other solution?” Wild nearly whines.

“This is the quickest way. You said make it quick.” You take a breath and run forward. With your momentum to run what you can up the tree and jump. With the added height to turn to where Wild is and swing in his foot’s direction.

With speed and accuracy on your part, you slice the branch that’s been holding him back and the two of you fall to the ground.

Wild dips into a roll and somehow manages to expertly swipe the slate off of the ground as he passes it. You do a similar motion but angle yourself to not come into contact with your blade.

Together you spot each other and grin, small laughs exiting your mouths as you get up.

“Thanks for that.” Wild pats himself off and turns on his heel. “I gotta get breakfast started but I’ll come get you when it’s done, ok?”

You nod and begin to head toward the creek once more, willing to play as if this never happened.

You decide on the way to not tell Wild that the branch is still stuck on his boot though. 

Time

Everyone was in Wild’s house for the day, chilling while they could, since there was little to no activity.

Time had actually retired momentarily to take a nap on Wild’s bed for the afternoon.

It was quiet.

Because the group was afraid to wake up the grumpiest member of the group.

So naturally you wanted to take advantage of the peace and brought your book and sat on the stairs while the boys took over the table and floor.

After a hot minute, you looked up to see that half of the group was gone, haven’t left to do something more chaotic and grinned to yourself.

Behind you the wood of the house creaked under applied pressure. You turned around to look at the cause and saw that Time had woken up from his nap. His eyes were closed and he was mid-yawn as he traveled down the stairs.

You got up from your spot and traveled a few steps to let him pass, but that didn’t happen.

Time hadn’t opened his eye yet and had mis-stepped.

His mistake cost him his pride as he fell down the stairs all the way down to the floor.

“Don’t break a hip old man!” Warrior called out in a laughing voice.

You threw your book onto the table and went to help Time up. “Are you ok?”

“Ow.” He deadpanned and grabbed the railing for good measure. “On top of that, I think I left my shoes up by the bed.”

“I’ll get them” You squeaked around him and dashed up the stairs. In your enthusiasm you over stepped one of the steps and fell up the stairs.

You paused in shame and shock while Warrior lost his battle and started laughing hysterically.

Swallowing the last of your dignity, you dash up the remaining steps and help your friend.

You came back down with an attempt to hold your head up high and held out Time’s shoes out to him. “I think these are yours.”

There was a small smile on his tired face. “Thank you. Are you ok?”

“Yes.” You nod. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. No one saw anything.”

Time snorted and took them from you. “Of course.”

Warrior

It’s was absolutely pouring.

Everyone was wet and there was no shelter in sight. It was dark and loud and everyone still had to continue forward.

No one was happy and everyone was silently fuming at the unideal circumstances.

You were walking next to Warrior, not making eye contact with anyone and you had to stop from commenting that he looked like a drowned rat.

His scarf has no doubt doubled in weight with all the water its absorbed and Warrior kept having to adjust it. It was sagging off of his shoulders and he kept having to adjust it or else it risked falling into the muddied ground.

As time passed Warrior had to continually fix it, and adjust it and he was growing exponentially frustrated with the prospect and was getting fed up with it.

You watched in growing amusement and restrained from offering your help because you were certain that he would snap at you.

In one final moment of baled up frustrations, he threw the scarf in one more lap around his neck and... well... he overjudged the strength needed and it swung all the way around just to smack him right back in his face.

Oh but it didn’t end there.

In his moment of blindness, he mis-stepped and tripped.

He hit the ground on his knees first but kept going, twisting to his side, just missing slamming his face into the mud as well.

You just stop in your tracks and tried your hardest to not laugh.

With hesitant steps, you walked over to Warrior who slowly started to get up.

His entire side was just brown. And Warrior... didn’t bother with showing the emotion on his face.

Just a neutral face of displeasure.

You quickly, helped him to his feet and and began cupping your hands to throw the collected rain water onto him and wipe off the mud.

It’s not helping.

“Not. One. Word.” Warrior takes a deep breath and begins to help you clean himself off.

“Yes, Captain.” You grin and take his hand. “You want me to take the blame? Say I pushed you down or something.”

“It’s fine.” Warrior bites the words as he says them. 

You pass a creek.

With the idea in your head, you shove Warrior hard and he goes right into the water like you wanted him to.

“Excuse me!” He screeches as his head bobs above the water.

The mud is washed off as least.

“You’re clean again! No one will know!”

Warrior is not amused.

You grin. “It’s not like you got any wetter.”

“...Why are you like this?”

“I’ll take my thanks in monetary compensation.”

Hyrule

“Hyrule.” You gasp. “Oh no. Oh boy. Don’t go back yet. Hold on. Don’t leave. Stay here.”

He pauses and does what you say, although confusedly. “Ok? Why?” 

“There’s a rip in your pants. Huge. I can see your whole-” 

“WHAT?” Hyrule grips the fabric and finally catches wind of the tear. It’s long and goes down the side of his leg but it’s... pretty revealing.

“I’ve got some sewing stuff in my pack.” You say dropping your equipment and dashing as quickly as you could. “I can sew it up. No one will know the difference.”

“...I can never show my face again.”

You roll your eyes and make the quick trip. There’s a small part in the reptilian part of your brain that calls to make it a quick mission. Stealth, silence and shadows are your friends and you make it back to camp, grab your supplies and make a break for it without tripping anyone else’s hand.

When you return to Hyrule, he’s sat down a nearby rock and inspecting what he can of the rip.

“I have no idea how you managed this,” you say when you get close to him again. “But I’ve managed to get there and back with no one knowing. I will, however, need you to take off your pants.”

Hyrule flushes bright red instantly.

“...Do I have to?”

“Unless you’re ok with my face being right next to your-”

“No, no, I’ll do it, I’ll do it.” Hyrule gulps and strips.

“I’m glad you agreed because I, for one, was not ok with that.” You hold your hand out and take the pants from him. “At least your tunic is long.”

“This is humiliating.” Hyrule mutters and sit down on the ground instead of the rock and hugs his legs close.

“Why on earth do you think I stopped you? Someone had to save you from the the ridicule of the others. Like don’t get me wrong, we all like you but there’s no survivors, no mercy, and no alliances when it comes to roasts.” You sat down in front of him and began to sew up the tear. “Any idea how this happened?”

“I think it got caught on a bush?” He rests his head on his knees and avoids eye contact. “I suppose I should thank you.”

“A bush?” You put it down and and stare at him. “A bush?”

He doesn’t reply.

“Hyrule if your clothes are weak enough to rip this badly on a bush then we need to get you knew clothes.” You finish and return to your task of fixing his pants. “We can get Legend and Wild and figure something out. Wild has enough clothes to spare and Legend knows good quality when he sees it. I’ll pay for your new clothes next town we invade, ok?”

“I can’t believe this happened.” He says instead.

“Give me ten minutes and you can at least put your pants back on.”

Legend

They were having a race.

The boys were so bored that they were having a race.

It was between Legend, Wild, Wind, Hyrule and Twilight.

Sky refused to run, Time was content with just watching and Warrior had a bet going so he had money on who the winner would be.

You were the judge and had placed yourself at the end of the strip with a small cloth for a flag and got in position. It was anything goes. Items, sabotage, dirty plays- anything.

Twilight was actually competing on Epona.

“Ready?” You call with a grin. “Get set! GO!”

You hear them take off but there’s a blast of wind next to you.

It’s so close to you that it takes you by surprise so you scream in shock but it ends in a thunk against the tree behind you.

There’s a groan and you turn to see the winner.

Twilight is next and he stops before he could run you over. “Are you kidding me? What the heck did he do? How did he do that?”

Legend is sitting in front of the tree and rubbing his head.

He wins at least.

The others make it within the next minute and they groan and whine but they leave without looking at the winner.

You grin and skip over to him, placing your hand on his shoulder when you get there. “Congrats, Mr. Hero. It looks like you were the- oh my god.”

You kneel next to him and tilts his face towards yours.

He’s bleeding from the face, a cut on his eye and a bloody nose.

“Hey, so you see this tree here?” He spits and it’s more blood.

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t.” He hisses and goes to wipe with his sleeve but you stop him.

“Oh boy. Hold on.” You gently take the cloth flag that you have and wipe his face, getting him to pinch his nose as you wipe his cut.

It’s thankfully not deep and not bleeding profusely. With a little inspiration, you take out your bag, your magically enchanted pocket and pull out a potion.

Legend is quick to refuse but you shake your head and splash a little on his face. The magic hits the cuts and is absorbed in his skin.

“Hey!” He splutters.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to explain to Warrior why your face is bleeding?” You smirk and begin cleaning the rest of the blood of him.

Legend pouts and looks away, letting you work.

“I guess not.”

“I thought so.”

Sky

“Oh... that is... not ideal...” You hear Sky say.

With your interest piqued, you turned your head to look at him and what was bothering him.

“Sky, what did you do?”

It... was interesting. Somehow Sky had managed to get his whip stuck in a tree. Not just caught between two branches, no that would have been too easy to pull out. It had somehow wrapped around the branch, at least three times and was too tall for anyone in the group to get out unless they had somehow managed to climb the tree.

The tree itself was also inclined to be easy to climb. You were quick to see that only The Champion could probably scale it but he wasn’t here at the moment. 

Twilight kidnapped him to go fishing.

“...How?” You ask and make your way over to him. “How did you do this?”

He glances at you with wide eyes and a bit lip. ”Help?”

“Ho boy...” You take a breath and get up. “This.... I have one solution.”

“Ok?”

“How good is your aim?” You glance up at the problem again. “Scratch that, how good is your throwing arm?”

“Pretty good I like to think.” He admits. 

“Ok, throw it over the branch but in the opposite direction. We have to undo the loops first.”

“We? Sounds like it’s just me.” Sky steps closer to the tree and prepares to throw the handle over the branch.

“Well there’s not exactly place for me to step in now, is there?” You put your hands on your hips and smirk.

It goes over one loop just fine.

It still doesn’t budge.

Sky throws it again, misses, tries again and makes it.

It’s only one loop over the branch but it still won’t move. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sky growls and throws it into the air in frustration.

“Ok, hold on, if it just need one more throw-”

He made it loose in the process but neither of you were paying attention. It had sung for a minute, budged and had swung all the way back to to you both coming off of the branch in the process. The inertia was still in motion and it had managed to hit Sky directly in the face while you were talking.

Luckily, it wasn’t that strong of a hit.

“Oh hey!” You grin and try not to laugh. “It’s out!”

“Let’s never speak of this.”

“Come on, it’s funny.”

“Ever.”

Four

“Wild, do you have any towels I can dry my hands off with?” Four asks from behind you.

You were all in Wild’s house once more and currently getting ready for dinner.

“Yeah, top shelf.” Wild replies without looking up from the pot.

You glance back as well to see where Wild would have been thinking about.

Yup, you think, that’s the top shelf alright.

Four is stuck staring at the height and begins to slowly look around.

You get an idea of where he’s going with this and power walk to his side. Your intuition is proven correct when he then attempts to climb Wild’s house and furniture just to get it.

His hands are also still wet, mind you.

You can see his white knuckled grip as he tries to fight the lack of traction and decide to help him out.

“I got it!” He says, when you nudge him aside.

“You don’t.” You reply and copy his movements to reach a singular towel. You’re back down in a split second but the bounty in within your grasp.

“It’s not like you can reach it either!”

“Still took me less time and significantly less climbing to get it.” You toss the towel in his face with a grin. “I doubt you even had good grip either. I thought you were going to fall and crack your head open on the floor.”

“Please don’t fall in my house and crack your head on the floor.” Wild speaks up. “Blood is so hard to clean up.”

“Know from experience?”

“Don’t tell Twilight.”

“Get lower shelves Wild Child.” Four dries his hands and tosses the troublesome cloth to Wild.

He catches it with blinking and shoves it into his apron. “I’ll take your criticism to the manager and see what we can do.”

“Manager? This is your house! You’re the manager!”

“So? I said what I said!”

“You boys done play fighting or are we going to have to wait to eat?” You ask.

...

“I’d like to eat now please.”

“On it.”

Wind

It was your turn on watch and there was nothing to do.

Not that you were asking for trouble but it would have been nice to at least be able to do patrol or something.

But nooooo... For safety reasons, i.e. the storm just beyond your coverings, everyone was supposed to stay within the camp at all times.

You didn’t disagree with it so to speak. It was more of a mild inconvenience.

That was until Wind got up with whispered...but still loud, curses.

You stood up and tip toed your away around the half hazardly tossed limbs of your comrades. “Everything ok Wind?”

He jumps and grabs the blankets around himself, folding them, bunching them together and curling ever so slightly over himself.

“Everything’s fine!”

“Shh..” You put a finger to your lips and look around the group.

No one woke up.

“What’s got your jimmies in a twist kid?” You squat down and place your hand on the blankets. They’re wet and the smell....

Oh you know what happened.

You stand up again and give him the curtesy of not saying it out loud. “I have a plan but you have to do as I say, no questions asked. We can make it so no one will know what happened. Ever. And this stays between only you and me, ok?”

You wipe your hand on your pants and hold out the opposite one to the boy. He stares at you with a red face and contemplates the choice. After only two seconds of deliberation, he takes your hand and gets up.

You suppose that to have an out, verses having to explain to everyone that he’s been looking up to sounds very appealing in the end. Better for only one person to know than ten.

“You’re lucky it’s still pouring buckets.” you say and grab all the blankets from his bed roll that you can. Chancing a glance at him, you see that his clothes are wet as well, pretty much from the waist down. With another thing to fix, you notice that his very bedroll is right by a huge puddle that had been forming and no one knew.

The hand in the glass water trick, then.

Your friends have seen and done that a few times to a few poor unsuspecting soul.

“Ok, here’s what you’re going to do.” You turn to Wind. “You’re going to change out of your clothes and into some clean ones. And then you’re going back to bed in my bed roll.”

“But where will you sleep?” He asks with a hand gripping his shirt

“I’ll steal it from the next guy.” You lie...kinda... That actually sounds appealing but you don’t think on it too much. “I’ll take the next shift to buy time and I’m going to throw your blankets and bed roll out into the rain, ok?”

“You were too close to the borders of the tarp anyway.” You continue with your plan, throwing them out for a second before turning on your heel and getting some of your clothes for Wind.

You think you might have something that’ll fit him but if not, it’s only to sleep in.

He changes into the clothes while you back out to the blankets.

In your search for the clothes, you dug out your powered soap and tossed some of it on the blankets and bed roll. After rubbing the fabric together to get it sudsy and deep into the material, you set it up against the tree and branches, letting the falling rain drops hit it and filter through.

It’s rudimentary and it took you longer than you wanted because now you’re also soaked to the bone and only halfway through but you think back to being a thirteen year old and how embarrassed you would have been and plow on to save Wind from the same fate.

You step back into the tarp and guide Wind, taking his clothes away to where you were sleeping prior. You’re clothes are way too big on him and it’s honestly more endearing than you would have thought.

“Thanks.” Wind says in a small voice. He’s humiliated, you know but you don’t focus on it.

“Your hand got wet and you pissed yourself in your sleep.” You say and shrug. “My friends and I were... are brats and it’s not the first we’ve played that prank. Put the poor saps in a glass of warm water and watch them pee their pants. It’s funny when it’s planned and well... not you. I won’t tell a soul.”

“You better not.” He sits down in your bed roll and begins to get comfortable. “It’s smells nice.”

“I try.” You grin.

“Do I owe you?” He looks up with big eyes and you think that it makes him look younger than he is.

“It’s on the house.” You wave him off and dash back in the rain to clean the rest of his clothes.

On the way back to cover, you kick the support that was closest to Wind’s spot, sending a torrent of rain upon yourself in the process but the spot where the pirate was is considered useless now.

Wind tilts his head from his spot and you grin. “Cover story.”

The rest of night is spent watching the time, watching the others and taking turns with Wind’s clothes and blankets by the fire so that all three of you can dry off before the sun comes up and the other inevitably ask questions.

By morning you’re dead on your feet, but consider it a job well done. 

[queen-scribbles]

Tension

Oh boy, full-on, tropey goodness sparring fic for Ris ft one (1) snarky scoundrel. 

                                                                  ---

Kayris ran out of things to do before Telos was a full day behind them. She still tried; fixed what she could on the Ebon Hawk without getting in Bao Dur’s way, tinkered some with T3, lost several games of pazaak to Atton... It wasn’t until her absolutely abysmal attempt at meditating with Kreia she finally conceded it wasn’t so much she was out of things to do as it was out of things she could focus on. Apparently, her irritation at the recording T3 had found in Atris’ archive ran deeper than she’d realized.

She needed to hit something. Now. Before they got to Nar Shaddaa, even. It was the only thing that had a prayer of working out this stress. Even droid tinkering--her favorite hobby and usually a sure bet--couldn’t completely calm her jangling nerves, and she almost fried T3′s motivator in her distraction.

“Sorry, buddy,” she said soothingly as she corrected her mistake and closed the access panel. “Clearly I need to do something else. Shame the blasted ship doesn’t have a sparring room...”

T3 chirped a response to her musing and Kayris smiled. 

“I know it’s a smuggler’s ship not a warship,” she said, pushing to her feet and patting the droid on the head. “You’d still think they’d wanna keep their skills sharp.”

T3 boop-beeped something and started rolling toward the cargo bay.

“Really?” Kayris raised an eyebrow as she followed. “How’d I miss that before?” Aside from the ship only being in my possession a grand total of, what, two days...

A low whistle and cascade of beeps answered, echoing off the walls. T3 trundled into the cargo bay and up to one of them far end wall panels. His articulator arm extended, engaged with a port she couldn’t see, and a well-concealed compartment slid open. Inside rested rolled up floor mats and a pair of deactivated training remotes.

Kayris grinned. Wouldn’t be the same as fighting a person, but still gave her something to do. “Very nice. Thanks, T3, this is perfect.”

T3 whistled happily and rolled out of the cargo hold.

It didn’t take long for her to convert the space to a makeshift training room and retrieve her double-bladed sword. “I need the challenge,” she muttered to herself, and activated both remotes on an intermediate level.

They did prove to be a challenge, and she felt their sting several times. More than she should’ve; she wasn’t that rusty. Even the rhythm of combat was proving elusive.

“Good form,” a voice drawled from the doorway as she paused to catch her breath.

Kayris turned and half-smiled at Atton, weapon hanging loose in one hand as she wiped sweat off her face with the other. “Thanks.”

“Y’know,” he began, pushing away from the wall to saunter a couple steps into the room, “if you’re looking to work out tension, an intelligent life form might make a better partner than kriffin’ droids.”

She smirked. “Sounds good. Let me know if you see one.”

Atton narrowed his eyes, expression unsure if she was joking. “You’re in a mood today.”

She grimaced. “Sorry. That was intended as a joke. Especially if you’re offering to help...?”

He nodded, posture relaxing at her confirmation. “Why not? Ship’s on autopilot, not like there’s much else for me to do.”

“Alright, then, tough guy.” Kayris raised a teasing brow. “What were you thinking we’d do?” She shot a significant look at the blaster strapped to his hip.

Atton shook his head and grinned. “Live fire shipboard’s a bad idea, and stun blasts wouldn’t be any fun. I was thinking more melee, anyway. Hitting things, well, me, should help get out all that pent-up tension.”

“No offense, but are you any good at melee?” Kayris asked. She’d only seen him use blasters so far in their brief acquaintance.

“If the point of this is to let you beat the living hell outta something, does it matter if I’m any good?” Atton countered. He smirked. “‘Sides, even if I’m not, it’d be good for you to beat me at something.”

She glowered at him. “I will win a game of pazaak against you someday.”

His eyes gleamed mischievously as he shrugged off his jacket. “Win a set first, Ris. Then you can start talking about winning a game.”

Her glower deepened and Kayris flipped her sword flush with her arm to level one blade at him. “You’re goin’ down now, Rand.”

“Really? Right now?” Atton baited, holding up empty hands. “Thought you Jedi types frowned on attacking unarmed opponents.”

Rather than point out that he wasn’t, technically unarmed with that blaster on his hip, she instead scooped up the force pike she’d left leaning against the wall and tossed it to him. “There. Armed.”

Atton grinned at the clear challenge underlying the words as he caught it. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Kayris made note of several things as they circled; the reflexes behind how easily he’d caught the pike, his comfortable grip on it that spoke to at least some martial experience, the wariness in his stance as he stalked out their path. The Handmaiden’s words about his having Echani training floated through her mind, and she could see elements of that style in his movements.

They couldn’t circle like this forever, and she was curious about a few things, so Kayris gave it a few more steps and then made the first move--an overhand swing Atton blocked easily.

“You open with that a lot,” he said dryly, tone just neutral enough to hide if it was a judgment or an observation, as he pushed back until her blade slid free and then cranked his around toward her shoulder.

“Yes, and?” she countered, twitching her right blade high enough to deflect the blow. “You’ve seen me fight how much?”

“Enough to see the pattern,” Atton grunted, side stepping her next strike and swinging a low slash at her shins.

Kayris backpedaled, then brought her blade around toward his unguarded neck. “Don’t think we’ve left anyone alive to exploit that little quirk.” She gritted her teeth as Atton swiftly brought the pike up to shove her sword away. “Not that it would work if they tried”--she bulled forward, forcing him to sidestep so he didn’t lose his balance--”I’m very good.”

“Oh, really?” The teasing words had barely left his lips when Atton backed into a wall and one blade of Kayris’ sword came to a halt not even two inches from his jaw, only held at bay by whatever instinct had brought the force pike up as he stepped back.

“Yes, really,” Kayris grinned, breathing hard.

Atton rotated the pike slightly and pushed back, his angle forcing her to give ground. “Should I feel sorry for these Jedi Masters when we find them?”

She gave up several steps in rapid succession and saw him teeter for just a moment, but he caught himself before she could exploit his unbalance, and they were back to circling. “Depends on what they have to say. Would you feel sorry for them, even if you should?”

Atton snorted and made a small, experimental strike toward her ribs, backing off quickly when she blocked it. “Does it matter what I think? I’m not the one the exiled for following her conscience.”

“There was more to it than that,” Kayris protested. She tripped over the edge of a mat and rolled out of the way from Atton’s opportunistic jab.

“Like what?” he said skeptically.

“Yes, we needed to do something, and no, I don’t regret following Revan,” she began, swiping at him with each blade in turn even as she regained her feet. “But some of the things we, I, did needed accounting for, and protecting the innocent”--she kicked at his legs, then swung her elbow into his shoulder when he jumped to avoid it--”was only part of my reason for going.”

Atton hit the ground shoulders first and was rolling out of the way before she brought her blade down in follow-through. “Everyone does things for more than one reason,” he countered. He rolled up on one knee and grabbed the lower blade of her sword near the hilt, ignored it digging into his fingers so he could yank her off-balance. “Doesn’t change that at least part of why you got kicked out was for making them look bad, sitting in their ivory tower while the galaxy went to hell around them.” His elbow hit in between her shoulder blades, pushing her toward the floor. “Jedi hate looking bad.”

Kayris turned the momentum into a somersault, biting her lip literally and figuratively in the process. She rolled into the wall and instinctively threw up an elbow. It didn’t connect with anything, but hanging back in anticipation of her reaction kept Atton at bay long enough for her to find her feet.

She’d barely done so, however, before he was in her space, pike held horizontally to pin her against the wall. Sh got her sword in between just in time, the pike’s grip clipping her knuckles in the process. 

“You could have mentioned you knew how tricky doublehilts are from experience,” she panted, meeting his gaze with a smirk. Her hunch had been right.

Atton chuckled, breath rushing warm against her cheek. “And show all my cards at the start?” He matched her smirk, eyes locked on hers with a look that made something in her twist. “Even you know that’s not how you play the game Especially if you want to win.”

“Speaking of winning...” Kayris hooked one foot behind his ankle and twisted her sword to make him stumble back. “You really should be sure you have before you let your guard down to gloat.”

She pressed her advantage, and within seconds Atton had hit the floor again, this time with her blade flicked to his throat before he could roll away. He tensed for a heartbeat, clearly contemplating something risky, but relaxed and let go of the force pike.

“You win,” he laughed breathlessly. “Good fight.”

“Not too shabby yourself,” Kayris returned as she lowered her blade. “And it definitely helped.”

“Good to hear.” Atton pushed himself up on his elbows to grin at her. “Always happy to help you relieve tension however I can.”

She rolled her eyes and offered him a hand up. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

It took only slightly more bracing than she’d expecting when he accepted, still grinning. “You do that.” Despite the words, he released her hand very quickly, shaking his as if it stung.

Kayris shot a meaningful look at the blood staining his fingers. “You should probably take care of that.”

Atton shrugged. “Eh, it’s not that bad.  And you’re one to talk with this.” He titled her chin up and brushed his thumb over where she’d bitten her lip.

She flicked her gaze up to meet his for a moment before hastily stepping back, self-consciously feeling the swollen skin as she parroted, “It’s not that bad.”

He cocked his head and studied her for a long-frozen second. “So, are you gonna tell me those other reasons you went to fight?”

Kayris smirked coyly. “And show all my cards at the start?”

Atton snorted, which turned into another laugh. “Guess I had that coming.”

She just shrugged in quasi-innocence and held her smirk as they locked eyes, panting breath and the underlying hum of engines the only sound.

And then the Ebon Hawk yawed hard, tossing Atton into the wall and Kayris into him. The only reason they didn’t crack heads was Atton got his hands up in time to catch her biceps and steady her a few inches away.

“Sorry...” she mumbled in tandem with his wry, “You alright?” and suddenly their eyes were locked from much closer together.

“I, um,” he cleared his throat and started to ease out of the space between her and the wall. “I should see what that was.”

“Right,” Kayris nodded, scrambling backwards. “I can, ah, check the hyperdrive.” She crossed her arms tight as he let go.

Atton didn’t look at her as he shrugged his jacket back on. “Good idea. Thing’s finicky enough as it is.” He darted toward the cockpit, and she busied herself cleaning up the sparring mats until his footsteps faded.

When she did head for he hyperdrive as promised, she was stiff with an entirely different kind of tension.