"Taris! Oh, Zavvi! Go to Taris for me! It'll be fun!" Captain Zavvi spat out sarcastically, Tarisian rain drumming on her skin and dripping down her sodden clothes. "Just go talk Beyrl Thorne, she'll have everything sorted for you! She won't make you walk in the sodding rain and mud to deliver some shit and oh! Don't mind the rakghouls, it's not as if they bite and infect you and turn you into a raging bloodthirsty psychopath!" The Twi'lek raged to her companion, who resigned himself to listening to her rant, feeling thoroughly soggy and waterlogged himself. His underarmour held the water like a sponge, making his skin cold and damp, and increasing the weight he had to lug around.

Corso shook his head as a raindrop fell directly into his eye, grunting as his durasteel boots squelched into the mud.
"Captain, any chance we can find some shelter?" He asked, tugging at the clinging earth. "We'd have better luck against them rakghouls if we find a place to rest a while."
Zavvi glanced back to him, water running down her lekku and making them shiver. He had a point; they were wearing out slowly, and when they were tired, they'd be prime prey for the savage beasts. She nodded to him.
"Aye. I'm afraid we might have to take cover in a sewage pipe, though." She told him, to his grunt of annoyance.
"One of these days, Captain, I'm gonna roll in daisies for a while and come back smelling nice fer once!" Zavvi couldn't resist a chuckle at the image of him rolling around in a patch of brightly coloured flowers. Then her mind changed the context of his wriggling, which sent a tight stab through her, and she looked away to hide her blush.
"What, like some kind of reverse kath hound?" She asked him, forcing another chuckle to hide her embarrassment.
"Maybe, but I'll feel better."
"You do know Risha will tease you to death if you've got flowers poking out the gaps in your armour, don't you?" She grinned. "Or you'll have petals all over the place, or maybe you'll turn a fine shade of pink. It would suit you..."

That devilish remark managed to provoke Corso's humour, despite his sodden state.
"I don't think so Captain. My little sister tried that long ago, an' it didn't work." He grinned back, dreadlocks plastered to his face. "But I think you'd look real nice with somethin' pink on ya..."
"You're on dangerous ground, mister." The Twi'lek challenged, prodding his chestplate. "Pink is not a colour I'm associated with, and I'm going to keep it that way." Corso tried to ignore how her wet clothing clung to her skin.
"If you say so, Captain." He grinned back, forcing his eyes to keep looking at hers.
"That I do." She smirked, before turning around to scout their surroundings. As they moved off again, she noticed his eyes flick downwards briefly. She bit back a smirk.

They eventually found shelter in large, broken pipe, a large tree and its roots holding it squarely in place and its canopy keeping most of the ground beneath dry and solid. Corso inspected the ground around the pipe, worried that it had become a rakghoul burrow in the meantime, but found nothing to suggest it had a lodger, so they gathered gratefully under its metal roof, happy to be out of the rain. They sat down, heaving out sighs of relief.
"Ugh, nothing'll dry in this nonsense." Zavvi grumbled, shivering slightly. "And we can't even take our clothes off as nakedness isn't a good defence against rakghouls, or so I'm told." She smirked as Corso flushed red.
"N-no, it isn't, Captain." He replied haltingly, before swallowing hard. "Gonna be difficult to find anythin' that'll burn too. Unless the tree shaded some tinder..." He murmured, brown eyes skimming over the grass.
"Well, you're the one with the skills not to die out here." She said, with a little smile. "As in, find stuff that'll burn in this godforsaken mud planet." He smiled back warmly.
"Sure thing, Captain." He got up again, skirting along the dry border to look for sticks and other things they could set alight. Zavvi took the time to watch his posterior lazily, admiring his form and wishing he wasn't armoured down there, though if anything, it sparked her imagination more, and she couldn't stop reminding herself that the black underarmour was tight against his skin, and-

"Captain?" Corso was grinning at her with great amusement that made her light blue skin darken in a blush. "You seem a million miles away. You alright?" The slight chuckle to his tone made her feathers ruffle.
"I'm fine, farm boy!" She replied, tossing her nose to the air. "But I'm going to freeze to death if we don't get a fire going soon!"
"I'm working it, Captain." He said, returning to his work. She sulkily refused to look at him.

After a little while, Corso had nursed a small flame into taking root in the less damp bracken he'd found, and now the fire was burning comfortingly, its light and warmth gratefully accepted.
Both were glad for the respite, Corso unclipping some of his platings to take the weight from his shoulders and let the armour behind it dry as well. Zavvi noted the tight muscles she could glimpse through the black material, but kept her eyes and thoughts to herself, watching the flames flicker and leap, the rain still hissing down outside their little bubble.
Neither spoke for a while, too tired and enjoying the silence that had settled except for the ambient noises of weather and animals off in the distance. Zavvi had to admit, at a time like this, Taris seemed beautifully, wonderfully wild, and she admired the fact it was a jungle that was reclaiming the trappings of civilization, taking back what it was owed. That is, she could enjoy it more than those rakghouls, which ruined the atmosphere and made her worried for not only her safety, but her partner's too.
Not that she'd let him know that, of course.

"Captain." The Twi'lek turned her head to Corso, who was looking into the flames rather distantly. His arms rested on his knees, hiding his mouth. The flares danced in his brown eyes.
"Corso?" She wondered if he'd just being thinking out loud, but his eyes flicked up and focused on her.
"I need to tell you something." He said, then sighed, long and drawn. His eyes were outside. That tree root was fascinating.
"Tell me what?" Trepidation crept into her tone, her heart beginning to quicken. A memory of an old horror holofilm flickered into her head and she felt a hand creep towards Flashy, and she felt the irony twist her stomach. Calm down, I'm sure it's nothing serious, don't panic,her mind mumbled uncertainly.

The pause was long and agonising, and she noticed the human was looking everywhere but not at her. She was tempted to command him to spit it out, but restrained herself. He swallowed hard, and she saw his throat scars ripple over the movement like waves.
"I...I had a fiancée, Captain." He said, and her eyes widened.
"Why are you telling me this, Corso?" She asked, wide eyes beginning to narrow and her hackles began to raise, but paused as the young man flinched at her tone.
"Well, I though you needed to know..." He was fidgeting. "Just in case..."
"Just in case of what?"
"Look, Captain, afta I came back from the Brigade, I couldn't go back to the farm proper. I got into arguments with my parents more, we kept disagreeing about guns an' stuff..." She was watching him with much interest. "I dunno why, but they decided it was time fer me to settle...To get ready t' take over the farm." The smuggler blinked widely.
"Was it..." He looked to her for the first time in a while, and his eyes were dull.
"Yeah. It was." Now he was looking back down to his muddied boots. "Ariane, her name was. Real pretty, an' nice." He shook his head. "It weren't fair on her. I never felt anythin' for her, Captain. Nothing more than liking her, of course." He added hurriedly. "I tried my best to treat her well; it weren't her fault this was happenin', but what else could I do?"

Another long, heavy sigh.
"Then the seps came. They came an' slaughtered everyone but me." He steepled his hands, fingers pressing into the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed tightly. "I ran, Captain. I left her an' everything behind. I was nothin' to her, so I kept runnin' and never looked back." He shook his head. "I found my way to Viidu, and he took me in." A smile, wistful smile. "For what his job was, Viidu always had a big heart. Tried not to show it, but it was always there..."
He trailed off, the moment raw and sombre. Zavvi's gaze was steady on him, his was skittish and sad.
"You never told her it was off?" She asked.
"No. I figured it would've been better she thought I was dead." He replied, quailing a little.
"You never told her you didn't love her." This sigh was exasperated.
"And what would've happened, Captain? I would've upset her, and then neither one of us woulda been happy."
"And you'd've left it to simmer for her to find out later?" The accusing tone hurt like a brand.
"Then why do you think I'm telling you this now, Captain?" He cried. "I'm not proud! I never wanted to break her heart! I never wished my parents would die just so I could get out of an arranged marriage!" Now it was the captain's turn to quail, but Corso soon soothed. "I just wanted you to know, Captain. I dunno if she's alive or dead. I hope she's got another fella, one who'll love her."

"You should consider searching for her." He shook his head before she was finished speaking.
"No, I couldn't...I can't do that to her, not on top of everything else."
"Corso, look at me." He avoided her. "Corso." The steel in her tone made him glance up, then be held by her light green eyes.

"I'm not happy with you, being frank." His face fell. "You could have treated her a lot better, and my desire right now is to have you track her down, and be her dead or alive, apologise to her." She saw he was very morose, and her heart whined. "However, I can't blame you for too much." He looked up, startled. "You did as best you could do in the situation, and at least you treated her well. And, well..." A sigh. "I can't blame you for thinking straight after...what happened..."

"So I won't make you search for her. You're right, it could end up making everything worse, and I think she's gone through enough already. But if she is alive, if she comes looking for you, or we see her or hear about her, or whatever, you are going to go to her and apologise, do I make myself clear?"
Corso nodded.
"Yes, Captain." He replied sincerely.
There was a brief pause between them, as Corso prodded the fire, before the smuggler spoke again.
"Thank you, Corso. I mean it." She shifted her boot, crushing sparks beneath her feet. "I don't know many men who'd admit that sort of thing. They'd prefer to keep their skeletons in the closet, to be stumbled upon." Her eyes were on him again, their colour like gems. "So why'd you tell me? Must've been a reason."

Corso threw some more fuel to the fire.
"Well, you'd find out eventually, so what's the point of hidin' it? Jus' make everythin' worse." He replied. "An' I wanted to do things right this time."
"Do what things right?"
"Depends what you think that means." Riggs answered simply, before he waved his hand. "Shall we stay here for the night? I'll take first watch, if that's alright with you."

Her eyes narrowed briefly, but then she snorted.
"Fine." She said, shuffling into a dark, dry crevice with her sleeping bag. "Wake me up when you're getting tired. And keep that fire going as long as you can. Last thing we want is rakghouls sneaking up on us."
"Yes Captain." He replied, shifting his position to look out into the rain. Was it his imagination or was it abating? He glanced back to the Twi'lek, who'd curled up, her back to him, and he sighed.
Was it right to have told her about his fiancee? All it'd seemed to have done was make her unhappy and maybe even dislike him. He prodded the fire, and it crackled sadly at him.

He gazed back out to the rain and noticed something. A yellow glow lit the falling darkness and the rain, soft in its light like a giant firefly. Corso stood up, trying to work out what it was. It was long and thin now, waving and hissing as water turned to steam as it touched the light. He squinted, thinking he could glimpse a robed figure through the murk, the owner of the light. He opened his mouth to call to Zavvi, but then he thought better of it.
But why? Why here, why in front of him?
The light moved, but its owner didn't; the glow danced into long trailed patterns typical of a fighting Jedi, but the glow never died as it did when it hit solid matter. He found his eyes following the movement, caught in a dance that made his head feel funny, like tendrils of air were touching his mind, drawing something to the surface like a bird stirring a pool to bring the dirt to the top.

Corso.
He started, spell broken.
"Captain?" He looked towards the Twi'lek, but she was sleeping soundly. It had to be... Corso looked back to the rain Jedi, the lightsaber now stilled. Suddenly, he felt a wave wash over him; calm, peace, serenity infused every nerve and muscle, quietening tension and soothing away stress as he felt the tendrils back in his head, still as gentle as they first were.
Have faith, Corso. Like this storm, you must weather her moods. The voice in his head was kind, almost motherly. Have faith. I will help you later, I promise. But for now, you must do it on your own. Have faith.

And then it was gone, the voice and tendrils in his head, and he heard the hiss of a lightsaber, and the slap of wind. Corso blinked, looking back out to the forest, seeing the Jedi had left, though the calm feeling she'd given him still remained. And the rain was now little more than weak drizzle, and it wouldn't be long before that too fizzled out. The fire was low, and Corso threw it a few more sticks to keep it satisfied, then settled back down to his watch.

This time, he was smiling.