Ava Adore (Zeke - complete)

[Torriana Marx]

Odd. Odd, odd, odd... why was she here again? To visit a friend. Friend? What makes you think he's your friend? The Padawan frowned; true, they had only encountered each other on a few brief occasions, and under rather odd circumstances. Which, needless to say, made the fact that she was standing in front of Zeke's room all the more - what was the word? - odd.

Taking a deep breath, she raised a fist to lightly rap against the door.

[Zeke]

Zeke opens the door. He's the only person home; Jackson DeWitt is off at one of his many jobs and Kindo is out at the Academy training. He's just finished up with a shower by the looks of him, he lacks a shirt and his hair is unbraided, still mostly wet.

"Hi! Come on in."

[Torriana Marx]

:eek "Uh.. hey. Uhm... right. Yeah..." She cleared her throat loudly before following him inside. Being confronted with his bare chest as soon as the door opened hadn't quite been part of her agenda, and now it left her somewhat... perturbed.

[Zeke]

Zeke picked up his shirt from where he'd dropped it on the couch and put it on, then looked at himself in a mirror, apparently debating if he should braid it now or later.

"What's up, Torriana?"

[Torriana Marx]

"Oh, this and that... mainly that. That being nothing." She began humming to herself quietly, trying as best as she could to not openly ogle at his reflection in the mirror and instead taking in the lovely wallpaper. (Although, after several minutes of staring, she still wasn't sure if there was any. Just so long as she didn't look at him.)

[Zeke]

Zeke frowns at himself, now he's gotta reset his braid.

"Bored, huh? Care to lend a hand?"

[Torriana Marx]

>_< "...sure..." :x

At his request, she slowly and reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the walls and, with jaws clenched and an expression of apathy plastered across her features, Torri walked over to him. "What do you want me to do..?" :|

[Zeke]

"I gotta fix the braid...usually I just go down to the Bar and Grill and someone there jumps my bad hair day and fixes it for me...I was never taught how to do it. Screw it, I'll worry with it later."

He raises a brow at her.

"Loosen up. You're stiff as a board. And smile! You look like you just walked into the most boring lecture hall in the Academy."

[Torriana Marx]

She moved back a few steps and crossed her arms tightly over her chest, shivering slightly but not allowing her face to register anything but solid indifference. "I'm not stiff, just... cold?" she offered meekly.

[Zeke]

"Riiiiight...." Zeke said slowly. "You want something to eat or drink? Sit down, get comfortable, relax."

He walks to the refridgerator and pulls a 2 liter bottle of soda, pops the cap and takes a drink. He swallows and looks back at her. She's trying too hard to focus on something, or maybe she's trying not to focus on something?

"Is anything bothering you? Something on your mind, perhaps?"

[Torriana Marx]

"Oh, no, no no no. Nothing's bothering me.. nothing whatsoever..." she declared airily, summoning up as much confidence as she could to exert into her words. Torri slowly sat down on the edge of his bed, unconsciously wringing her hands together and concentrating very hard on the bottle in his hands. She looked entranced; hypnotized by the label on the side so that her voice now took on an almost robotic tone. "Drink. Sure. Thanks."

[Zeke]

He pulls a 2 liter from the fridge and hands it to her, then crosses the room to the cardboard box lying on the floor. He falls over backward into it and sighs. She's just convinced him that something's up.

"What are you so nervous for?"

[Torriana Marx]

A flash of curiosity broke the facade she was putting up, just long enough to glance over at Zeke and his... "..Box?" She stared at him ludicrously for a second before shrugging and turning her attention back to the bottle that was no in her hand.

"And.. really, what have I got to be nervous about? I'm only sitting on some stranger's bed in some stranger's room in some strange place, talking to a strange guy who think I'm acting strange..." she said, her voice detached. (It was hard at times to differentiate between thought and speech.)

[Zeke]

"You're not acting strange, you're acting nervous. Which is normal. We're strangers, you say. I don't think so. We've met at the Bar and Grill several times, and then there's the whole rock concert episode..."

[Torriana Marx]

That jerked her back into reality. Her voice quieted to a whisper and she lowered her eyes to the ground. "I never did thank you for that..."

[Zeke]

Zeke rubs the faint tingling that's appeared in his chest. Force Lightning never seems to hurt that much at the start, but it's effects last a long time...

"Not a problem."

He'd blame it on his "duty" as a Jedi Knight, to protect those weaker than himself, but that's not the reason he was there. He had been looking for her already, but not to save her...at least, not at the start. He'd wanted to talk to her, wanted to hang out, get to know her...maybe...He sat up and took another long pull from his 2 liter.

[Torriana Marx]

She idly thumbed the lid of the bottle for a while, then rose from the bed, setting the drink down on the floor. Moving over to Zeke's box on the other side of the room, she kneeled down beside him. "Does it... still hurt..?" Torri asked hesitantly, trailing her fingers lightly over his chest.

[Zeke]

"Sometimes," he admits.

The idle tracing of her fingers raises goosebumps on his flesh.

"It's like this stinging tingle. It's not like the initial shock at all...that feels like your whole nervous system is on fire...usually it locks me up and I can't move for a few seconds. People think the reason I don't scream is willpower, but in reality it's because my body won't allow me to."

[Torriana Marx]

Torri drew her hand away and curled her fingers inward, clenching her fist. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She again directed her gaze down and bit into her bottom lip. "It was stupid of me to be there in the first place. I deserved to die."

[Zeke]

"No, that's not true. Before Fiend took it over it was a normal rock concert, and you had every right to be there and have fun. You're not stupid, there's no way you could have seen Fiend's take over coming. And I don't regret any of what happened that night."

He took her clenched hand in his and looked at her eyes, though she was looking at the floor.

"It's not your fault. Dont' feel bad."

[Torriana Marx]

Squeezing his hand gently, she raised her head. There was some truth to his words... but then again, Fiend had been the band's frontman, and perhaps Torri would have foreseen the night's quandary had she focused more on training and not recreation. She felt... hollow, for foolishly endangering both her own life and, more importantly, that of someone she... cared about?... frowning, the Padawan shook her head to negate what Zeke had said. "You shouldn't have risked your life like that. Not for me."

[Zeke]

"Yes, I should have. Your life is valuable. To your friends, your family...to me...I don't know what I'd have done if you had died..."

He gets the odd feeling of something squeezing his heart, one of the negative emotions he's always warning his Padawans against. Fear. He suppresses it. She's not dead, she's alive. That's good. Positive. But...

"If I had lost you that night...it would've been like the ship all over again..."

[Torriana Marx]

Her lips pursed briefly at the mention of her family. Torri had been treated as little more than an unwanted child's toy, to be used and abused by her father, and neglected by her mother even when broken and damaged. She had murdered them. The gesture, however, faded as soon as she noticed Zeke's sudden change in demeanor. "The... ship..?" she repeated softly, her forehead creasing in concern.

[Zeke]

"Wh...when I was 15 years old..."

He swallows hard, hesitating. He hasn't told anyone of this...he's been suppressing it for a while now, this memory...

"I was living on a ship...called the Happy Child. The captain of the ship adopted me and raised me as his son. On my fifteenth birthday the ship was raided by pirates. They killed the crew, plundered the ship, and destroyed it. I...I tried to save them, at the very least I tried to save my little sister May, but I failed...I was thrown into this very box, placed into an airtight shipping container, and ejected into space. I thought...they had all died because of me. I've never felt so wrong in my entire life."

[Torriana Marx]

There wasn't much Torriana could offer him as comfort, for she too was plagued with that overwhelming burden of guilt. Both were born into broken families, both lost whatever little was left of their identity, blaming only themselves... and both were forever cursed with those remaining shards of their past. It lived and breathed almost as a second skin to the Padawan, serving as a constant reminder of her failures and ineptness.

She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing the side of her face against his shoulder. "I'm sorry..." she breathed.

[Zeke]

Zeke holds her close to him, holding tightly without hurting her. It's not her fault, he wants to say it, but he knows that's not why she said that she was sorry. If felt good to finally get the memory off his conscience, though it seems he's brought her down a bit by telling her. He feels...better...lighter...

[Torriana Marx]

Zeke could feel hot tears brush past his skin when she nuzzled his neck, her body entirely submitting to her mind and lying limply against him in his arms, shuddering slightly.

[Zeke]

She's...crying? Is it something he did?

"Torri...what's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

[Torriana Marx]

"I'm sorry," she repeated in a muffled whisper, pulling herself away from Zeke's embrace and brushing the back of her hand over her eyes. "I should go..."

[Zeke]

"Go? Why? What did I do..."

[Torriana Marx]

Her voice faltered. "I.. I shouldn't be here." Torriana slowly stood back on her feet and turned to look towards the doorway. "I'm sorry for wasting your time..."

[Zeke]

Zeke rises with her, eyes full of worry.

"You're not wasting my time...Torriana, what's the matter? You can tell me...I want to help..."

[Torriana Marx]

"Really, it's nothing," she said, summoning a face of resolve. She sounded distant, perhaps even bemused... with a heavy, shuddering sigh, Torri pivoted on her foot to leave. Then, as an afterthought, she rotated her neck to the side, just far enough to place a quick kiss on Zeke's cheek.

"Sweet dreams," she breathed into his ear. Swiveling around again, she paced briskly to the door.

[Zeke]

Zeke falls over backward into his box, sock-clad feet sticking up out of the top. He's positively dumbstruck. His heart is racing a mile a minute, and his mind is turning thoughs over faster than he can process them. She likes him...or he thinks she does...hopes she does...Maybe...when next they meet...he'll ask her. Because one thing he's sure of is this: He definitely likes her.