[OOM] Eiattu - Palace Corridor

[fighting_mad]

Plourr had been vocally against the official goodbye, informing the cabinet that she didn't want a committee at the spaceport to see her off, no matter how small. She's a strong-willed princess, but she lost this one. Mostly because of the lack of state reception when she had arrived.

And so there are a princess and a count quietly walking the corridor, Plourr in a flightsuit with her helmet tucked under her arm, Rial with Plourr's duffel bag thrown over his shoulder. Two uniformed guards move with them, one several meters ahead and one trailing behind. As they reach the end of the hall, Plourr waves the two women on, gesturing to the door leading to the garages. "Go ahead," she says. They do.

She looks to Rial, tightening her grip on the helmet. "This is probably the last chance we'll have to talk without fourteen courtiers and your father pretending they're not listening."

Comments

[eiattu_pride]

Rial nods quietly, dropping her bag on the floor.

"Yeah. Suppose we should make the best of it."

[fighting_mad]

"Yeah," she says, but then she falls silent because she just doesn't know what to say.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial reaches out and touches her shoulder lightly, smiling.

"I'll see you soon."

[fighting_mad]

Plourr surprises even herself a little when she grumbles, "You don't get away with just that, Pernon," and wraps her arms around him.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial grins at that, and bends to kiss her gently.

"I don't?"

[fighting_mad]

"Mmph-- No, you don't." Her tone is gruff, but the brown eyes aren't.

[eiattu_pride]

So he tilts her chin up, and looks her in the eyes.

"What, then?"

[fighting_mad]

She looks up (though admittedly, not very far; they're nearly the same height) at him. With some confusion. " 'What' what?"

[eiattu_pride]

"What can I say or do?"

[fighting_mad]

"Not pat me on the shoulder?" she suggests, but it drags a hint of a smile out of her, and she leans into him.

[eiattu_pride]

He holds her, then ducks his head to kiss her again.

"I'll miss you."

[fighting_mad]

Plourr rests her forehead against his. "I won't miss you at all," she teases, hand warm on the side of his neck. "The snoring, the waking up early, the dashing good looks, how impossible it is to make you angry."

[eiattu_pride]

"I don't snore. You snore."

He laughs softly, "Well, I'll miss your beauty, how easy it is to make you angry, the sleeping in late..."

[fighting_mad]

"I do not," she says, but it's a half-hearted protest at best.

Her smile softens while not losing any of its brightness, turning almost girlish. "Come on, don't stop there."

[eiattu_pride]

"The way you look in the morning when you've only just woken up, late at night when you're asleep, in the middle of the day when you're tossing datapads at the walls."

He's smiling gently.

"The way your eyes look when you talk about the Rogues. The way you smell after a shower when you're all damp and soft. The way you smile when you think no one's watching. The way you move."

[fighting_mad]

Oh.

She pulls back and just looks at him a moment, and then she tucks her chin against his shoulder, drawing her arms around him.



"Okay, maybe I'll miss you a little."

[eiattu_pride]

He holds her, nose buried in her hair.

"That's better."

[fighting_mad]

She stands there a few minutes longer, unspeaking, and then she draws back only to claim his lips in a kiss.

[eiattu_pride]

He kisses back, eager, longing.

He's going to miss this.

[fighting_mad]

Plourr absolutely doesn't want to let go of Rial, and so it lingers,

and lingers,


and lingers.


But eventually, Plourr slowly steps back and lets her hands (one of which is still clutching the helmet) fall to her sides. She looks up.

"Ready?"

[eiattu_pride]

"Yeah."

He takes a breath.

"Have fun, okay?"

[fighting_mad]

The lieutenant nods, bending and picking up her bag. "Right." She starts walking to the door, bootsteps ringing over-loud through the corridor.

As always, there is a Rial-sized space at her side.

[eiattu_pride]

Rial follows.

It's just what he does.

[fighting_mad]

She looks back. "You coming?"

[eiattu_pride]

He steps up the pace a bit until he's by her side.

"As always."

[fighting_mad]

Plourr smiles and walks shoulder-to-shoulder with him. (Plourr does not smirk.

Clearly, it is a sign of maturing.)

She pauses at the door. "Do you think we can sneak out another way and not talk to them?" she asks, resigned despite the question.

[eiattu_pride]

"I somehow doubt it."

He nudges her shoulder.

"Go on."

[fighting_mad]

She takes a reluctant step-- then turns back in surprise. "You're not coming with me?"

[eiattu_pride]

"Do you want me too?"

[fighting_mad]

"You don't have to."

[eiattu_pride]

"That's not what I asked, my princess."

[fighting_mad]

She looks up, smiles quietly, and holds out her free hand.

[eiattu_pride]

And Rial takes it.

He'll come with her, every step of the way.

[fighting_mad]

Until she reaches her X-wing. Then Plourr will be on her own.

But til then, she wants him on her wing.