One Last Housecall? (D10, LA, Shai's)

[Cole Ormont]

Cole could almost smell the crossed wires in his brain fritzing. No, I wouldn't call Jo'ren cute either. It didn't occur to him that the pureblood might be intentionally gaslighting him. He took another, long drink of caff, set the mug down very carefully, and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply and tried to regather himself.

Eventually, he tried to reattack the trajectory that seemed clearest in his mind. "Shaisha. I bring up the topic of your family because, whatever image the Empire wants to portray about itself, it's clear to anyone with an eye and part of a functioning brain that you have close bonds with each other."

"It's like," he scouts for an analogy, "it's like a water molecule. You can't just shove a carbon atom in there and expect it to stick. Even if I went with you, I'd always be this odd bit, just sticking off to the side."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

His words make her drop the teasing for now, as she adopted a more serious expression while mulling over his words.

"I'll be honest with you, Cole. You're right, I do have very close bonds with both Sylvain and Kristal - because they're the only ones who have truly looked after me and held my back over the course of my shitty life. You're smart enough to see that Sylvain and I aren't siblings by blood, obviously, but he's been my foster-brother for the most of my life." She took another deep mouthful of caff and placed the mug down on the counter.

"I don't make friends easily, because I don't trust easily." She thought back to the first time he had treated her, and how sceptical and wary she had been of letting him tend to her in her vulnerable state. "This past year? Meeting people like Jo'ren, and Zeno? They're the first friends I've made outside of Syl and Kris, and I'm fiercely protective of them as well, even if they might not share the same sentiment. And you... you're the first one I might call friend, when it comes to the Republic."

"I don't think life, or relationships, are as easy to define as your chemical analogy. Because I know I was not someone who would stick before, when I first came to live with Sylvain's family."

[Cole Ormont]

"I gotta tell you, being part of something, even if it's just from the edge..." he gets a wry look about him. "I've been living in a holding pattern for eight years, and coming to Nar Shaddaa was this sudden rush of reality. Honestly, deviless, this is the closest I've been to anyone since I was sixteen."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

She looked at him carefully. There was sympathy, as she could understand some of his feelings.

"Shit, Cole... living apart from others is no way to live life. No wonder you seemed so miserable the first times I met you. The Huttball and these little side-adventures must be the most fun you've had in years then."

Shaisha took a deep breath. "And here I thought it was only the Jedi who frowned upon companionship?" While such a comment was normally a snide remark on the Jedi from her, her tone indicated more a curiosity towards Cole's own solitude.

[Cole Ormont]

Chuckling, "yes, this has been quite the day at the fun park," he deadpanned.

"I'm a surgeon, and I'm a damn good one. But that doesn't come easy. I've spent the last eight years of my life training for that. Surgeons don't make friends." He ran a hand through his hair, "there are two types of people in the Medical Corps: the ones on a different track to you, and the competition. If you want the best opportunities, you have to work the hardest and be the best."

"And when you are the best, you have to stay the best."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"And be the best simply for being the best? Right, I guess there's probably bigger pay or I don't know, military doctor promotion?" The workings of navy surgeons wasn't exactly a subject she was familiar with.

"But what is the point of doing all this if it doesn't make you happy? Or are you satisfied with just competing to be the best?"

[Cole Ormont]

Sighing, "in part, being pretty damn good can also be pretty damn satisfying. I assume you've been filled in on the details of a certain surgery I performed yesterday?"

"If I was satisfied, deviless, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"I've not asked the details about it, but I assume it went well since Kris didn't seem to be in a bad mood," she shrugged. Kristal would share her things in due time, she knew.

"Whatever you want or desire can be yours, Cole. If you are willing to take the chances to move out of the comfort of who you are now, and reach for your dreams."

"I cannot give you everything, because there is much about yourself you must find on your own, but I can offer my friendship and a place to be in the Galaxy as we both seek to reach our true potential."

[Cole Ormont]

The offer was tempting, too tempting. Of course there were still little matters like slavery and Aspirant Beniko cutting down innocents and rebels alike. On the other hand, if he already felt like he'd sold his soul downriver for the answer to a fleeting moment of rage... well, he was halfway there, wasn't he?

Cole drained his mug and levelled his gaze on Shaisha. "I murdered Kidaja the Hutt."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

There was a glimmer in those intense eyes as he confessed his sins, so to speak.

"A loss few mourn," her smirk came, along with some more respect for the doctor. "Tell me, what spurred you to take his life, rather than save it? Revenge? Fear?"

[Cole Ormont]

"Anger and opportunity," he admits.

"He had a man shot in cold blood over credits," that anger was beginning to bubble up inside him again, "and burned a homeless shelter to the ground." Cole's jaw became set, and his pale eyes flashed, "if anyone had died in that fire, he would have died much more painfully." The look in the Hutt's eyes as Kidaja realised what was happening jumped to the front of Cole's mind.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

She nodded approvingly as she picked up her mug and finished the last of her caff.

"Sounds like he got what he deserved. The galaxy is better off without him anyway, though it's sad to say it won't matter much on this shitty moon. None of the other Hutts moving in to take his place are any better. But you seizing the opportunity... very nice, I approve." There was a certain darkness to her smile as she regarded Cole with new eyes.

"I didn't think you had it in you to be a killer, but I'm glad you continue to surprise me. It's people who can seize such opportunities who will change the Republic and the Empire."

[Cole Ormont]

Shaisha's approval was something like absolution for the troubled medic, he knew such acceptance would be difficult to find on the Republic side. He hadn't even told Ashla and, for a time, they had been thick as thieves. Or he'd thought so, at least.

He liked the way she was looking at him. For the first time he felt he was more than a useful tool to be aimed in the correct direction and employed. He had been used, by his father, by the Republic, by the Crescent Shadow. But here, in this moment, he was a man, and a capable one.

The shift in his posture, in his expression, was slight and yet significant. The first hues of confidence taking over from the unassuming 'don't see me' slouch he usually wore.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"I see the experience has made you stronger as well," she nodded as her eyes met his, and she began to circle the kitchen counter to approach him closer.

"Tell me... was that the first time you killed someone?"

[Cole Ormont]

His pale blue eyes locked with her fiery gold as she approached. His breathing deepened and he didn't answer immediately. In the space of his hesitation, he realised that his heartbeat was elevated, and the heat he'd felt had not yet dissipated.

After a moment Cole answered. Not the question she had asked, precisely, the question he assumed she meant to ask, "yes." His voice was firm and cool.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Both her arms reached out and draped over his shoulders, making him lean forward due to their difference in height. "And you would seize the opportunity again, if it presented itself?" she whispered as she leaned close to him, her breath warm and inviting as it touched his skin.

[Cole Ormont]

Cole didn't answer at all this time. His arms went around her lithe body, palms flat against her back, feeling the ridges underneath his fingers. He pulled her close, so there was not even breathing room between them.

He leaned in, one hand sliding up between her shoulder blades. Tasting her breath on his lips, there was no hesitation as he kissed her fiercely.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

The fierceness of his embrace made her elicit a low pleasant moan of surprise, and she repaid the intensity of it in kind. One arm remained wrapped around his neck as the other loosened itself from that entanglement, so that her hand was free to roam over his body and feel the details she had only spied at earlier.

The heat of her lithe form seemed to almost burn through their clothing as their bodies pressed together, overcome with desire in the moment.

[Cole Ormont]

The heat of her body, her exploring touch, her mouth crushed beneath his were raising an unmistakable response in Cole. He groaned, the hand against her lower back pulling her more firmly against him, against his growing arousal.

His lips parted, tongue flicking across her lips, tasting, before aggressively seeking entrance.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Her hand deftly began the rushed work of undressing him, and her teeth gave his lips a playful bite and tug before her lips parted for him as her tongue met his.

She needed no words now to tell him what she wanted, as her body was doing all the talking for her.

[Cole Ormont]

A moan answered her playful bite, throaty and rough. Graceless and urgent, he released his hold on her, that he might return the favour; peeling the pureblood out of her clothing and exposing the carmine flesh and bony spurs and ridges that had so effectively ensnared his imagination since his first night on Nar Shaddaa.

Knotted muscles tensing, Cole grasped her rear with both long-fingered hands and lifted her the short distance to the countertop. Closer in height now, his hands moved slowly, luxuriantly up her back, tracing the shapes of her. One hand reached the nape of her neck and he wrapped her braided hair around his fist.

Pulling, insistent and not entirely gentle, he tipped her head back. Breaking from her lips, he roughly kissed the ridges of her cheek, the spur of her jaw, working his way down her throat.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Her eyes closed as he pulled her head back, her body shuddering in pleasure and anticipation as an intoxicated groan formed in her throat. His lips against her throat and chest could notice the increase of her breath and heart-rate, both fairly healthy signs given the situation.

Warm legs pressed against his sides to further encourage him on his newfound path. "Yes..." her voice broke for a moment as she inhaled sharply in delight, "take what you want."


---

OOC: Sounds like /fade to black territory.

[Cole Ormont]

He needed no further invitation.


/ftb

[Shaisha Vreysk]

/fade in

Exhausted, reinvigorated, and sticky with sweat, Shaisha eased herself up on her elbows and tenderly kissed Cole's cheek. "It feels good to let go, yes?" she purred, bringing up a hand to caress his chin.

[Cole Ormont]

Cole murmured, catching her hand and kissing her knuckles, "very good, deviless." His pale skin was sheened with sweat, blonde curls dishevelled, if it were possible for them to be messier than usual. He caressed her flat, taut stomach.

"Say I did go with you, what are Sylvain and Kristal going to say about you picking up strays?"