#avenjj

[scribblingbearcat]

Avenjj was real, and there, and broken, and hemorrhaging what was left of her soul.

Saberwitch, talkin’ headcanons re: Avenjj and Bowain, slaying mY HEART

[scribblingbearcat]

Mirage

Avenjj knew, vaguely, where she was. It came and went, like the rest of her thoughts, at random and interspersed with chaotic vivid dreams. She was in a kolto tank. Why, she wasn't sure -she knew earlier, though, she was certain of that- and everything hurt, hurt down to her very bones and even those seemed to throb with agony sometimes. 

Mostly, she was tired. Mostly, she didn't care. Tubes and wires and IVs suspended her gently as a broken puppet, some angel that had fallen through too many levels of hell to really be counted as such anymore. 

Fire, and helpless fury, betrayal, pain- Malavai, why, Master, what did I do?- memories, nightmares. A cold touch on her mind, some oily stone serpent, probing, questioning.

Am I dreaming? 

Silver-blue eyes opened for a moment. 

Someone was there. 

Kolto obscured her vision, and coupled with the pain and the medications she currently had being pumped into her system, she couldn't see straight. It was a blur, a... person shaped blur.

Sort of. Something twisted in her mind. She shook herself, snarled mentally, felt the presence retreat. The blur shifted. Avenjj sluggishly tried to follow it with her mind. It felt familiar. It felt like...

...Like... 

Like Baras, but different, with an undertone that she knew as well as her own lightsabers. It felt like her, that part of her that lay coiled and ready to strike, the monster. In fact, something sharpened in the blur, red eyes and a sharp fanged smile that grew out of proportion to the face. 

Avenjj shrank away, or tried.

She'd never met another monster before. She'd never even met her own, before, not like this, not in person, facing her. Is this what I look like?

The figure stepped closer, resolved some. She caught a mental whiff of the mind behind it, precise as clockwork and terrible as deepest night with a starless sky, gaping to swallow all whole. Two lengths behind the head- braids? Or-?

They were  doing something to a panel. The tank hissed and bubbled slightly. Avenjj felt herself react to something new in the IV, and struggled briefly. No, no, nonono don't let me be alone with me the monster her don't let me be alone-

But unconsciousness claimed her anyways. Her last thought was a fleeting image of a friendly, welcoming smile that grew to swallow the stars.

[scribblingbearcat]

Saved

"…the twileks. We need to offer them out help," Avenjj said firmly. "Council, masters, they need us. Ignoring them will not make them go away and only breeds ill will," she added. The assembled Jedi Council around her wore varying expressions. Her old master, Zeenah, sat across from her, inscrutable as always.

She was trying to get the Council to approve a branch of the Temple at the village. Padawans snuck off to there all the time as it was. If they established an outpost there, not only could they keep an eye on the flesh raiders and expose the padawans and older students to the world outside the Temple, but they could foster good will as well.

She took a sip of her tea, letting it settle her. She loved tea-

No, wait, she didn’t… this was wrong, somehow, wrong-

Her hands were human, calluses, strong and big and not hers, she was no force damned JEDI, what was going on-

Walking the halls, smiling at students who passed him/her/them, looking forward to the sunset over the mountains and a few hours of meditation in peace-

No, no, NO, she hated peace, this hurt- she remembered being those hopeful faces and this hurt she hated it make it stop-

Looking on as an Imperial Agent was arrested by Republic forces and his/her/thier work was done-

Swelling pride and pleasure as his/her/thier master (not my master no what is happening stop) gave them a rare good job-

Laughing with someone at a hot, delicious meal, feeling at home here, safe, secure, purposeful, and yes even loved-

Stop it stop it STOP IT MAKE IT STOP-

Lightsabers hummed as she sparred with a training droid, one with the Force, the feeling she forgot she knew, not the dark side but the icy-hot sort of feeling like drinking from the purest meltwater spring that makes your teeth hurt and she should be dead darkness and cold inky depths what was going on what is happening stop mAKE IT

"STOP!"

The word carried the Force with it. Glass shattered, she fell down, suddenly liquid -water?- everywhere. Avenjj hit hard metal floor, cutting herself and bleeding anew. The air was freezing on her silvery wet skin, the liquid from the kolto tank dripping off her in rivulets that ran akimbo to the myriad of scars that crossed her body.

Avenjj Taress hacked and coughed, yanked off the breathing mask and pulling the trachea tube more slowly. It burned as she did. Besides what was needed for modesty she was naked, barefoot, and felt as weak as a newborn kitten, shaking in the chill of the room and gasping for breath and control.

….What- what was that- those horrid dreams- how did I get here-

I should be dead.

Of that she was certain. She should be a pale corpse under the ice of the lake. So why…?

The assassin froze.

Akkadi. That son of a bitch. Why?

….Why did he save me?

I guess he really is as stupid as he fucking looks.

Glass scraped the floor and cut her palms. She relished it, feeding on the pain as she pushed herself up and stood on shaky knees. First things first: get the hell out of here.

Then she would figure things out. Like how best to slowly kill her favorite Jedi. Or why he was turning up in her dreams.

Half recalled emotion swamped her, feelings she hadn’t touched in years of torment. Avenjj threw them away, grasped invisibly for the dark side and her hate, seeking the familiar burn.

There it was…..

Yes. Yes. She hated him of course.

The dreams were nothing more than some… Medical side effect. She would have Quinn give her something for them when she got back. That had to be it. Yes.

Seemingly immune to the broken shards that littered the floor and cut her where she stepped, Avenjj took a moment to cross the room and raid the medical supply cabinet, bypassing the locks entirely by simply yanking the door off with the Force.

Gauze went around her hands and feet with terribly practiced efficiency, as used as she was to dressing her own wounds, and a syringe of bacta into her thigh. Avenjj looked up as she tied the last bandage around her right hand with her teeth holding one end.

A security camera.

She gave it her best, wickedest, most horrifying smile, the one she wore during skinning someone alive, wolffish and feral and teethy.

Then she blew a kiss to it, the gesture ending with one elegant silver finger telling them exactly what she thought of thier half assed attempts to heal and contain her.

Stupid, STUPID Jedi.

Standing, she took someone’s lab coat that was draped over a chair and the longest, sharpest shard of glass she could find. It wasn’t much in the way of weaponry and armor.

But not she NEEDED much.

Maybe when I get out of here and we meet agian, I can have HIM walk across broken glass. There’s a cheerful idea, she thought. Without further ado she shoved the door right off its hinges and sent it flying into the hall. Sires began to sound, a warning.

By some miracle, Avenjj Taress was not dead. Not yet. And the universe had the dubious honor of thanking Bowain Akkadi for it.

"Now, where are the escape pods…."

[scribblingbearcat]

Hypothermia of the Heart

She shivered. The hutt’a barge got so cold at night, so cold… Seeped into the metal and turned the Pit into an icebox, stabbing at her lungs with every hard breath like knives. Darkness and cold and silence, alone, shaking pitifully in a ball of battered child -woman?- curled up on the sand…

//”…peration may not be successful…” “Tissue damage… Irreversible…” “…and her core temperature is lower than I have ever seen in a humanoid, let alone…” “Someone is going to have to tell General Akkadi…”//

Akkadi. Why was that familiar?

No, it hurt to think. She curled tighter into herself, trying to fall back into sweet oblivion. Everything felt coated in ice or lead or both. Breathing hurt, the simple act of existing pushing her limits.

Sleep. The place where she didn’t have to think anymore. Where it was warm and quiet, and…

Akkadi wasn’t quiet.

Where had that come from? Who was Akkadi? How did she know it was a who?

She shook her head, tried to go back to the blackness.

Nothing hurt there. It was not too bright and not too dark and warm, like- like a hand holding hers as they moved through the motions of a dance, predator and prey with the roles so blurred she didn’t know them anymore. Searing heat at the small of her back, warm breath on her cheek.

Akkadi was warmth.

The feel of huge hands compared to her child sized ones, wrapping a cloak around her on snowy Tython days, sitting in front of a fire with the only other person who had been warmth to her, slowly thawing frozen fingers from a snowball fight.

HE had been warm. Akkadi was warm.

But she was so, so cold, had been for so long. It was better he stay away, away from her cold in the Pit, away from this place… And most especially away from her.

//”-art rate dropping, we are losing her, get me the epi and the paddles!”//

Avenjj was the vacuum of space, blackness, pure and untouched by light.

"…Except you aren’t. Space has stars, the fire of uncounted suns, burning bright enough to light the universe, my dear."

That voice.

The child/woman looked up from her fetal position. A hand extended from the darkness, a gentle, calluses hand in a simple robe, attached to strong arms, defined chest, broad shoulders, stupid ginger fucking beard, and the bluest eyes.

"Come back to me. You aren’t don’t yet. You can’t be."

But I am tired. So tired, and cold…

"So are stars, before they reach fusion mass, and ignite the galaxy."

//”….coming back.” “Heart rate stabilizing! Increasing! Force be damned, look at that, she just won’t die-“//

No. No I won’t.

I have work to do.

Akkadi. Fucking Akkadi.

My… Revenge…

Drawn back from the doorstep of death’s parlor, Avenjj slipped into deep, blessedly dreamless, sleep.

[bitsypookums]

Loren II, what on earth drives you to needle and be around a certain silver skinned semi ex sith? What do you think of her and Bowain?

"Well, there’s the obvious: she’s got a wicked sense of humor, good taste in liquor, and is pretty damn easy on the eyes… as Master Assbutt has clearly noticed.

"More than that, though?  I like people.  I like stories.  And if someone trusts me with a bit of their story, I try to honor that.  Avenjj knows a bit about me, and I know a bit about her.  I care about her.  She’s been through… well, more than anyone ever should.  And she’s understandably spiky as a result.  …She’s my friend.

"And, you know.  I tend to needle my friends.  It’s a love language!

"As far as she and Woobie are concerned, basically they need to be locked in a room to kill each other or kiss each other or both.  My estimate is one hour of attempted escape, fifteen minutes of collaboration to that end, six hours of trying and failing to kill each other, and then, ultimately, a lifetime of stupid force-bonded kissy faces when they think we’re not looking.  And loud bickering when they think we are.

"Trust me, I’m a brilliant matchmaker.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise."

[scribblingbearcat]

Chicken Noodle Soup

It was not often one saw Jedi Knight Bowain Dar-Akkadi in the Temple kitchens, nevermind with an actual apron on. He could cook, but it was not his calling.

However...

"It's been ten days. She won't eat anything. She just throws it at whoever tries to give her the meals," said the healer sadly. "She's still healing, very much so. Her body NEEDS nourishment; in fact, she was probably underweight to begin with, but now..."

Now, she refused anything given to her. Whether out of stupid, stubborn pride or something else, he wasn't sure, though he suspected pride had a little to do with it.

After all... Everything had changed, entirely without her consent. It's no wonder she grabbed control of such a small thing. A pang in his heart reminded him this was partially his fault; but the alternative was unthinkable. He would not, COULD not, leave her to die at the Council's judgement, or the Republic's, whatever she had done.

No matter what she may think she deserved for what she had done, for he had his suspicions about that, too. 

This particular recipe was something he learned from his master, the ever wise and inscrutable Zeenah Ninghiz. Bowain remembered fondly when he'd caught a cold meditating under the waterfall, and she'd made this for him. It seemed like magic at the time, maybe because she'd made it for him, specifically. He hoped it would be the same for Avenjj. 

She was so weak. 

It was a horribly strange thought to think about Avenjj Badass Motherfucking Queen Bitch of the Sith, and she'd make him eat his own eyeballs if she ever caught wind of it. But three months comatose took thier toll on even her, not to mention her extensive injuries. How she survived remained a mystery; muscle atrophy on top of that, well... 

Avenjj had pegged him with a teacup two days ago and it barely hurt. If she were at her full strength it would have broken his nose at the minimum.

The water on the stove began to boil, and he set it to a slow simmer, smelling the savory chicken stock (also home made) as he began to chop carrots. Then he added celery, corn, a few peas, roast chicken, noodles, and seasoning. The entire thing went on a slow simmer to bring out all the flavors to thier very fullest. 

He took a spoonful, sipped it carefully. It exploded onto his tongue. 

"Oh, you outdid yourself this time, Bowain my boy." 

Very pleased with himself, next was the bread- soft fresh baked bread, perfect for sopping up the leftover broth. Two peices and a moderate amount of soup, a glass of ice water (she despised tea, he knew) and he put the entire thing on a tray, ready to go.

In a fit of mischeif, he added a fresh daisy on the side, and garnished the soup with parsley and a dash of cheese.

Perfect. 

Humming to himself, he picked up the tray and began the walk to the hospital wing. He had a plan.

"Good afternoon, my dear," he said as he opened the door to her room. Bowain was met with that familiar, snapping icy eyed glare. It would have been more formidable had she not been clad in one of those ridiculous hospital gowns, or her cheeks less sunken, or the bandages peeking out from underneath the cloth less fresh. 

They said her burns were hideous, when the removed her from the kolto tank. He knew they were being polite. Bowain's heart hurt afresh. What happened to you, darling? 

Stony silence met his cheerful greeting. 

"Well, I am having a lovely afternoon. I thought I'd stop by, see if you wanted company-"

"Yes, I just adore visiting with my jailers," she spat. He ignored her mightily, even if the comment stung. Bowain took a seat by the table next to her bed, just out of reach. Her hands twitched reflexively in the force cuffs that were attached to the wall by a long, but strong, lead. 

"Well, I thought I would return the favor for Korriban," he replied with a smile. 

"I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"What would killing me accomplish now, Avenjj?" he asked. "You're not Sith anymore-"

"Yes I am, Akkadi, and you'd do WELL to remember that," she hissed venomously. He felt her emotions, tumult though they were, bleeding under the walls she'd thrown up and kept in place ever since he told her of thier Bond. Too many to count, too potent to examine closely. They almost hurt HIM in thier strength.

He sighed. "Whatever you say, my dear."

Glare glare glare.

Trying to ignore her, he unrolled the napkin with it's silverware and put it on his lap. Bowain brought the soup closer to him. "I assume you don't mind if I eat," he added.

More silence, more glaring.

Suddenly, his comm beeped, right on cue. He sighed. 

"Alas, duty calls. I'll be right back!"

Bowain felt her glare follow him out as he turned the corner and vanished from her vision. The door shut behind him... 

And he settled down in front of the security camera in her room (the one she had yet failed to find and destroy with well placed cutlery) to wait.

One hour passed. 

Two.

At two and a half, she began to eye the meal. 

At three, she took the bait, stretching out one long leg to hook around the table leg and drag it within reach. The soup would be cold, but it didn't seem to matter to her; she ate voraciously, with the speed of someone afraid it would be taken away if it didn't disappear in a hurry.

An old habit, he suspected. Oh, Avenjj. I knew you couldn't resist thinking you'd gotten one over me. But if this is what it takes to get you to eat, and heal, so be it. 

Maybe we can have lunch together tomorrow.

[scribblingbearcat]

It occurs to me that...

...This is Avenjj's face during most of Tython and Coruscant and any time there is Super Justice Friends and in general when fucking Akkadi tries to do something nice stupid. Also when Loren tries to get her to 'lighten up'. 

[scribblingbearcat]

SWTAW- Loren II and Avenjj

He was late, and she was going to kill him.

Avenjj paced, caged tiger sort of savage jerky stride full of barely suppressed irritation growing greater by the second. The ruins around her on this planet hurt her to be in, though less so than they used to; the- the LIGHT in them was blinding. But this corner was blessedly shadowed, by the Force Wars that left millions dead….

…Just like the rampage she contemplated if a certain smuggler did not show up soon. Avenjj told herself it was not because she was desperate for conversation that did not involve pathetic preaching on her ‘evil ways’ and blah blah blah.

Excuse me whilst I vomit.

It was only because Loren II brought excellent booze. That was it.

And today, she needed it. First a lecture from Master Oh So Fucking Holy Satele Shan, then the miserably failed attempt to get her to attend lessons with actual Jedi Padawans (as if her current humiliations weren't enough). Still new scar tissue drove her crazy by itching and burning with phantom remembered pain in turns. To top it all off, she was banned from the practice halls until the training droids she'd destroyed -which was all of them- were fixed, and the ruins were empty as the tombs they housed with no opponents at sight. 

She desperately needed to kill something. 

"You’re looking particularly violent and beautiful today," said someone behind her, and she turned. Loren grinned at her and hefted a satchel. These strange little meetups were a not completely boring break in otherwise mindnumbing tedium, and of course that was the only reason she tolerated them. Loren looked about the same as the first time she’d met him, minus the singed coat tails and the red tint of a forcefeild which was, at the time, all that kept him alive and separated the two. His slip from her redefined ‘skin of the teeth’.

"Finally," she growled, and snatched the bag from him. "You took your kriffing time."

"Had a delivery," he said breezily. "Nice to know you missed me, though."

"I missed the alcohol."

"Sure you did." He paused. "….Are you out already? I gave you a bottle of the good stuff last week. Aged, no less, Corellian too." Loren crossed his arms. Avenjj bristled. "You haven’t-"

"NO," she snarled, and her eyes flashed warning at him enough that he relaxed a bit (as well as stepping back, which was prudent). "I’m not falling into alcoholism, if that’s what you’re worried about." Though why the kriffing Force you give a shit I don’t know and don’t care. “And I don’t answer to you, smuggler. So fuck off.”

Truth was, she had thrown the bottle at Bowain after he came in without knocking and she was half dressed. Really, she missed a chance. She should have teased him mercilessly; but she had been too angry at the intrusion and hurled the first thing she got her hands on at him. (Tragically, he ducked in time to dodge it.)

Loren hesitated. She mastered, barely, the urge to strangle him. Tiny tremors rocked her hands; she forced them still by sheer will. The damn Jedi would barely let her off her leash long enough to piss, let alone indulge in some glorious bloodshed. It was making her twitchy. Or rather, it was making the monster in her twitchy, and it bled through. She needed release. Soon. Perhaps the Flesh Raiders. No one would miss them, and they were suitably bloodthirsty.

Alcohol was not her drug of choice…. but it did help balance the withdrawal from the one that was. But she’d never be so weak as to drown herself in it.

Or so she told herself. People had done so driven by far less than the ghosts and demons that dogged her heels.

"Alright, alright," he relented. "Just saying."

"You could just not, and sit down and shut up and pour me a glass."

It burned as it went down, and she closed her eyes very briefly to savor it. The good stuff again. Very nice. A long, slow exhale let some of the tension and the edginess out of her.

"I trust it meets your approval?" Loren drawled.

"Not bad."

"Not bad, she says! Hmph! And with all the trouble I went through, too. I ought to be offended, really." He sighed dramatically and put his hand over his heart. "You wound me."

"If only I could be so lucky."

"Speaking of wounds of mine…" She blinked, turned to him. He was leaning over his knees as they sat on the ruined stone steps of some building. And he was watching her. "Found out something the other day."

Warning bells went off in her mind.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Remember when we first met?" He was still watching her. She kept her eyes off his. What was he getting at?

"Vaguely. As I recall, you were fleeing for you life the majority of the time," she snarked with a wicked little grin, reminiscent of- of before. "Fun days."

"It was a delightful dance," Loren admitted cheerfully with a cheeky smile in return. "But I got that whiskey, see, from a friend of mine, runs a bar- long story made short he heard from a patron the other day a most interesting tale.”

"Can you not tell it to me? I really don’t care."

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. Avenjj rolled her eyes.

Smugglers.

"The guy was an Imp navyman, off duty and such, and the topic came around to Sith -don’t glare, it ruins your pretty smile-" he added, before she cut him off.

"I’m about to ruin your pretty face if you don’t get on with it."

"Right, um, well, turns out he served with a contingent. On Alderaan. At the time of our dancing. And he said that Sith were so odd, you never knew what they were going to do -he said it not me- because this one time there was a security breach and instead of ordering pursuit of the stolen cargo they were sent to deliver…."

Now Loren paused, and she met his eyes almost unwillingly.

"Instead of that," he said, slowly, watching her with the hidden intelligence he kept under wraps most of the time, "the Sith, a ‘very scary Rattataki woman’, ordered them explicitly to wait until after the ship had gone to hyperspace, and then, only then, follow."

Silence. Avenjj’s jaw muscles twitched, and her hand on her glass tightened. Loren continued.

"Which of course makes no sense, all things considered. Why give your enemy a head start? He didn't know the answer, and neither did the bartender. And neither," he said, watching her curiously, "do I. So." 

Unconsciously, she tensed, relaxed no more, tight as piano wire. Except for that, she sat as still as stone. Why? Why is he doing this? Did Akkadi put him up to it? She was sure he must, somehow. Loren couldn't resist poking the tiger with a stick, but Akkadi practically fucking ENJOYED it, the bastard. 

"Avenjj...Why?" Loren asked, quiet and serious.

More silence, stoney and forbidding as the ruins around them.

Damn him. Damn him to the deepest levels of a Hutt's pit. 

"I'm not thirsty anymore. You can have this back." Avenjj shoved the bottle at him and stood, casually draining her glass as she did so. There was no way she was talking about this. They weren't friends, whatever he thought. If she ever got out of the damn Bond, he was second on her List. 

Loren moved to stop her. "Avenjj-"

"Go, I dunno, screw your pretty Jedi girlfriend or something," she snapped. A spark of rising anger in his eyes made her smile grimly. 

"I know it was you, and I know you tried to kill me then, and I know you WOULD have if that forcefeild hadn't been there," he tried again. Loren moved to block her way, leaving the bottle and satchel where they sat. Her hands clenched at her sides. "We got away. It's probably because hey, I'm just that damn awesome, but a delayed pursuit certainly helped. So why?"

 "Get. Out. Of. My. Way," Avenjj told him, every muscle straining with the urge to break his impudent little neck that she was holding in check. Distantly she noticed her hands were shaking again. I need to leave, now, right fucking now-

"No." 

Chin up, arms crossed, planted firmly in her path, Loren II defied her for the second time and part of her screamed to rip out his throat with her teeth. Did he know his danger and stay anyways? Or was he just oblivious? Either way, he was stupid, very very stupid, to stay around her.

He was going to get hurt. Everyone around her always got hurt.

"Loren. GO. AWAY," she hissed, and there was not a touch of desperation in her voice, no, never not her-

"Not until you tell-"

Avenjj almost felt the snap inside her, and he would have felt the resulting roar in the Force were he sensitive to it. As it was, the Jedi could probably feel it but they couldn't get to the ruins for at least half an hour, though she was sure, in a corner of her mind, that Master Asshole would use this as some new excuse to cage her up agian. But she didn't really care about that right now. Everything went half-red as power surged through her veins, deliciously gloriously sweet: no opiates or alcohol could compare. She reached out, made a fist, yanked it toward her- Loren was lifted up with a violent curse by the neck and dragged to her from his spot until his face was an inch from hers. 

But even as he clawed at his neck... She did not squeeze, merely held, tight, yes, but not cutting off his airways like it would be so, so very easy to do and watch him flicker and fade and see how smart he was then-

Wrenching herself back, she jerked him another inch forward until thier noses were almost touching. Avenjj's face was twisted in a snarl, eyes on fire with power and need and hate, of course, always hate, but for what and from where was uncertain.... and there were other things there, too. Loren grit his teeth, refused to look away, even as her knife blade eyes stabbed into him. Part of her was perversely pleased to see that one of his hands went from his throat to his gun. 

He'd never make it if he tried to shoot her, not at this range, but the effort made her feel appreciated.

"You want to know? Fine. I hate slavers and I detest the practice for no reason that you will never know or understand; I was deceived by my orders and was not told of the mission parameters and I detest that perhaps most of all so between killing YOU," she spat, "and killing the fat, lazy, overgrown tub of LARD that tried to trick me I took the lard."

It would be so easy, so easy to squeeze now, kill him, end it, feel the life flutter and flee and exult in it and victory- 

“How the hell are you going to help me deal with all these peace-spouting code-mongers?”

“By not being one of them,” he offered, raising the bottle to her.  “And providing whiskey.  And my ear.  And my shoulder, if you need it.”

The conversation echoed in her mind. And for reasons she did not care to examine closely, she found the strength to shove her monster back in it's box and half drop, half throw Loren away from her. He landed with a yelp and skidded on stone. 

Avenjj turned and fled. 

If Loren looked up before she vanished into the maze of ruins, he'd see her retreating back, and hands shaking so hard she couldn't use them to leap over a fallen pillar, flipping and landing instead and pelting away, far away, out of his sight and into the forest and stopping only when she felt the dull drum in the Force of a Flesh Raider scouting party. 

The monster smiled.

"Yessss."

x-x-x-x-x

When she came back to the ruins hours later, still damp from a bath in a frigid stream to wash the gore from her, she paused.

The bottle was still there. 

....And so was he.

Asleep, actually, considering it was near midnight and Akkadi would probably be shitting his pants by now. He'd used the satchel as a pillow and his coat as a blanket. Idiot. He didn't even set up a watch. 

"Wondering when you'd come back to me, beautiful." 

Not asleep after all, then.

"Save it for your spaceport floozies," she drawled. He stretched, grinned again, winked. "Or your girlfriend," Avenjj added. 

"So..."

She froze.

"...Pass the bottle?" Loren asked, and Avenjj relaxed again. This time she actually looked like it, too. It was amazing the good a little bit of mass slaughter did for the soul, and her monster sat content and sated for the moment. He got glasses for them both again and poured. 

They drank in silence. Or what passed for it with a smartassed loudmouthed smuggler sitting next to you. 

"Better?" 

Avenjj turned. Gave him a strange, steady, almost curious look for a long time.

Then, a very small nod. 

"At least it's not kriffing hot leaf juice."

Better.