"This is beautiful," Rav told Ad'ra Adenn, reaching out to finger the finely wrought sheath of a new throwing knife hanging from the woman's utility belt. Four stones were worked into the beskar loop that secured it in place. The hilt echoed the entwined ropes of the sheath.

"A costly gift," Jango agreed.

Ad'ra grinned. "I earned it," she enthused. "I'm good in bed, I believe."

Vau choked and spit out the caff he'd just sucked in. Rav laughed, believing the girl to be joking.

The Mand'alor's face fell into straight, murderous lines. His brows knit ferociously as he rose, staring into the eager young face before clenching his jaw and moving past her.

"On me," he ordered the other man as he swept past him.

.

"You've done it now," Rav Braylor chuckled. "If he's enlisted Walon's help they'll flip the whole planet inside out looking for a mysterious lover! Where did you get it in truth, little Ad'ika?"

Ad'ra's lips twisted. "Seriously, Walon Vau. I'm not sure of the providence. I didn't think to ask. I just loved it."

She sat, reaching out to take Rav's arm. "He said that it is customary, the giving and receiving of gifts. That in a normal setting a man keeping a woman might buy trinkets for her when she pleases him. I took it to mean a reward."

Rav hissed out a sigh. "There's no way… Walon Vau? You took Walon Vau as a lover, and he's bought you jewels. Walon Vau? Who only loves the strill?"

Ad'ra nodded. "I've always had a thing for him."

Rav's mind was blown. "Do you need anything? Have any questions? Want to talk about-"

A head shake preceded the answer. "No, he explains everything as we go. He's been very instructive and I enjoy the time very much. As, I believe, does he. I'm glad I thought to approach him. It's worked out very well for the both of us."

She rose, filling her own thermos with caff, and barely heard Rav's whisper as she left the ready room.

"Kriffing Walon Vau…"

.

.o0o.

.

"I've never seen your hair get so long," Ad'ra mused, her fingernails massaging his scalp.

She was on his lap, across his lap, snuggled into him with a holozine on her knees while he watched get'shuk.

He loved it. It relaxed him.

It was nothing compared to the sensations she wrought.

"I haven't taken time to cut it properly," he told her. Yawned. "I'm thinking about just shaving it off."

Her wrinkled nose told him what she thought of that idea.

"You're too handsome to shave it."

"Kei're Hosch Tiethe' shaved his and every woman here got wet."

"It's because we didn't realize he was attractive under all that mess," she told him. The Vehitian had come into the fold fully bearded and with a huge mass of hair.

"Sorry you picked me now?" Vau teased.

"I was thinking you're probably sorry you picked me, since it made such an impression on you. Do you want me to see if he thinks you're cute, too?"

Vau's curse made her laugh. His mouth on hers silenced it and her holozine hit the floor with a thunk when he moved to shift her, to lay her out so his body could cover hers.

"Bed," she moaned. "We need to go to bed. I want-"

"I can't wait that long to taste you," he told her, his mouth working down her neck while his hands pushed her tank top up, over and then off of her. "I want you now."

"Here!" she squeaked. There was a panic in her voice and in her eyes when she looked around. "What if someone comes in? The holoscreen is still on! Walon!"

Like she thought the bed ten feet away offered that much more privacy.

He chuckled. Realized that he'd shocked her to the tips of her toes. What a little prude, to think lovemaking was only done with the sheets neatly arranged and a pillow behind her head. He'd have to work harder, disabuse her of that motion.

Forced her legs apart with his. Allowed his weight to come down on the junction of her. Watched her eyes defocus. She liked the press of him. The way their pelvises met. It made her come apart so fast for him to use himself on her before he entered her.

"Here? Like this!?"

"Oh, gods, yeah," he whispered.

He'd never had a lover like her before.

Her breath was coming harder as he reached behind him to tug the shirt from his shoulders. He wasn't opposed to fucking her semi-dressed, but he wanted her hands on him. She didn't disappoint, automatically reaching to help strip him.

"And where are you supposed to put things you take off if you're on the couch, Walon?" she scolded in a scandalized whisper.

"Just drop it," he suggested. Nuzzled her lips. "It's not like most of your gear actually makes it to a hamper."

He rolled his hips and feasted on the scented skin of her throat. Those fingers locked around his biceps and dug in.

"Ohmigods. I can't believe you. I can't believe this… I can't think when you do that!"

"Shut up, Ad'ra," he suggested benignly. Ended her nervous babbling by returning his lips to their original target. Shifted to take his weight on one forearm so he could touch her.

Everywhere. She was sure she was losing brain cells. His constant undulations made her want—made her hips rear up and beg him to strip them and make this a real mating. Meanwhile his hand was over her—everywhere—the calluses on his palm and fingertips igniting her. He cupped her breast, thumbed the hardened tip of it. Before she could arch into that sensation the warmth of him was gone, sliding down her waist. Barely reaching out to graze the place where her panties were edged in lace. That dip where her torso met her thigh. Then over the outside of her thigh, tugging it up, cupping under her knee so that she cradled him. The couch wasn't big enough for this. There wasn't room for them to… oh, gods. There might be. He might fit even more closely to her this way.

She felt him hardening even further against her. Thought she could feel the heat in him as he masturbated the length of him over the silk-covered cleft of her.

His groan of pleasure and want made everything in her go liquid.

The sounds he made in this bed undid her…

Except it wasn't a bed.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head again, when he reached between them. Freed himself from the thin shorts he wore. Slid his long fingers against her to shift her underthings, letting him access her secret places.

Jesu. She was soaking. Already. Just from their abbreviated love play.

Begging for him and denying him in every breath she took.

"Yes," he told her, guiding himself into her.

He couldn't watch her face, his eyes forced to close in order to survive the feeling of sliding inside her.

She caught the back of his head as it tipped back, his mouth coming open to gasp.

"Oh. Ohh." His teeth clamped shut and he shook. "Ad'ra. If there was any way to show you how good it feels to be inside you…"

His belly quaked at the feeling. It made his mind whirl.

Then she clamped around him, the first orgasm hitting her hard and out of the blue.

He loved the screaming.
Loved when she couldn't help but cry for him.

Loved the silent capitulation that caught her by surprise, too.
The way she thrashed under him, wanting the feeling and fighting it still. Wanting more of it and unable to get close enough to him.

He smiled. Looked down at her.
Gave her what she wanted.
Gathered her close afterward and hugged her hard against him.

"Did you win or lose?" she asked, glancing over at the sudden cheering on the screen.

He looked over, too. Looked down at her, a pleased smile on his face.

"Won. Definitely won."

"I meant your game!" She slapped his shoulder.

His dick was still twitching inside her. He bit her lip. Grinned.

"Best game of the year so far. I'm getting you a fan jersey. I want you under me and naked but for the team colors next time."

"There is to be no next time, Walon Vau!" she objected. "Not on this couch!"

"I have one in my apartment…" he mused playfully.

"Let me up so I can scrub this!"

He hadn't reached for anything to protect them. Hadn't sheathed himself. Hadn't even given it a single thought, he realized. Fierfek.

Of course, they'd nothing to fear as far as diseases. He'd been celibate since coming here nearly eight years ago. She'd been innocent and he didn't think she'd spent the last weeks running out to take as many lovers of questionable providence as she could spread her legs for.

He had to kiss her.

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. There was a little surprised shriek when he rolled, flipping them so she was straddling him. Arched under her and lifted her, bouncing her in his arms.

"Couch can wait," he told her, wiggling and reaching around her to divest himself of the rest of his clothes. The contact brought her tender folds in different alignment. She automatically arched her back, rubbing her clit against his pelvic bone. "Oh, shab," he gasped. Let his head fall back. "Yeah. I knew you'd like it this way."

He reared up, kissed her. Let himself collapse against the cushions. There was one hell of a wet spot under him. He aimed to make their shower worth it here shortly.

No sense not working up a good sweat before they bathed, right?

Efficiency. He liked order and he liked efficiency.

And having access to her breasts with both hands while she brought him back up again with those insatiable hips of hers seemed the height of efficiency.

.

.o0o.

.

"You done? Ready to call me the winner tonight?" he asked twenty-four hours later.

They'd paired up, faced off.

If they weren't both so damnably competitive and determined to be known as the biggest badass in the bastion this would be easier.

"If I'm not dead I'm not done," she spat.

He straightened. Looked surprised.

"What is that in Mando'a? Say it in Mando'a."

What the kriff? She stared at him. Repeated herself in the other language as directed instead of waiting for an explanation or repetition of the request.
. . . Meh Ni'm nayc kyrayc, Ni draar kelir cuyir dayn.

"I've never heard that one before."

She bent, panting. Couldn't help herself this time.

"What?"

Her expression looked even more pained when she looked back up at him.

If that was possible.

"All these years, I've never heard that saying before…"

"I just… I just said it, Walon."

"I heard you. I just don't recognize the providence of that particular turn of phrase."

"It's not a quote." She shook her head.

He cocked his head. "It's not an axiom?"

"Fek," she breathed. Moved one hand from her knees to her side. He'd gotten her pretty good. She still had a stitch from running. "What? No. Did you crash your head around inside your helmet too hard?"

She'd shoved him down a flight of stairs.
Some people brought the people they were dating flowers, jewelry, candy or furs. They brought pain and suffering.

Of course, they supposedly weren't dating.

Fekking adenn.

She'd used her Gaffi stick like a vaulting pole, launching herself up to reach the landing of the scaffolding. He'd followed her—the traditional way—belting up the stairs. Only for her to hook it, swing from it like a rope, and use both her feet to send him flying backward.

He was going to kill her.

.

He was so fucking proud of her when he hit his back a little while later.

Vau just lay there, breathing hard—or trying to—looking up at the sky.

It was a lighter grey than usual and you could see shapes in the clouds. You couldn't usually. Just the dark-on-dark swirl of them. The only seasonal changes were when they got typhoons in the summer that brought less-freezing rain from some other jet stream. As opposed to the monsoon season that showered them twenty-four hours a day with sleet and sometimes hail.

He was pretty sure they were always in beskar'gam in wintertime in case somebody got hit in the head standing formation.

Ad'ra appeared over him.

"I win."

She grinned.

Right before his legs scissored and she hit the ground beside him with a cry of surprise.

"Never, cyar'ika," he said menacingly. "I'm always going to be smarter, faster, and meaner."

"I hate you," she whined, curling onto her side away from him. Curling her body around both her arms.

"Shab. Are you all right? Did I hurt you?"

She came up with the fucking jewel-sheathed knife he'd given her. Rolled with it in her hand even as he crawled over to her.

Stuck it to his throat.

Grinned at him.

"If you cut me again I'm going to smack you so hard you'll never see straight enough to shoot another rifle," he warned her.

The last place she'd opened up had been vile. And it had taken forever to heal, since every time he jerked his head it started seeping again. It had been miserable—burning and oozing the first few days. Then the itching of the scab under his buy'ce had near to driven him mad.

His threat was spoken through clenched jaws, his head tipped back to avoid just such an occurrence.

"Yeild to me," she begged. "Just once. It won't hurt at all."

He snorted. Sneered.

This was why people wanted to stab him.

"When you look at me that way it makes me want to stun you, string you up, and sell tickets for the opportunity to throw knives at you."

That made him happy.

It started near his eyes, something about the tops of his cheeks. Then his eyes twinkled, his lips parted, and his beautifully even, white teeth flashed out. He had laugh lines around his mouth.

They suited him.

He suited her, she thought, smiling back at him.

The beskad he stuck to her gut in threat? Not so much.

Hashery Ghett clapped his hands and called for their truce—Gey! shouted loudly enough for the watching commandos to hear. Enough!

Ad'ra rolled her eyes and rose, made a pretty courtesy.

Reached down to help Vau up.

He took her hand. Used it to jerk himself upright.

Swept his foot under hers and sent her down again.

"Ooops," he leered, bending over her. "Slippery."

"Fek. Off." She annunciated clearly.

Away he went, whistling as he swiped his palms on his ever-present handkerchief. He blotted his face and examined the spot of blood from his brow.

He was grinning when he engaged the hyperdrive of the swim-lizard's ship to send himself into hyperspace. Shouldered the body of the freak Fett's boss had sent him after and spent the entire time they were in-bound explaining to him how he'd made some lousy life choices and that if he worshipped a god, now was the time to walk a little closer. Because the man had obviously been too stupid to heed the long-given advice gaanader gar friends pirusti bal gar aru'ese jate'shya.
Not that he had a lot of advice to give about being choosey about his friends, he admitted when H.G. let out a tremendous belch and snickered at Vau's objection to the absolute stench of it.

All the more reason to never take up a vegetarian lifestyle, he thought.
Rubbed his hands in anticipation.
He had no idea what the slime had done that had so offended the science and development team of Kamino's finest, but he'd been glad to get off-planet for a while. Idiot or not, the hunt had been more grueling than either of the Mando'ad had anticipated. He thrilled to it, though, when he found a worthy opponent. Now he was very much looking forward to actually shutting his eyes for a few minutes, washing his face and shaving with more than the thumb-sized kit in his belt.