he really enjoys hanging around aria — almost too much if he were to admit it. the only problem was , they never really ❛ hung out ❜ per say , as they are working for people on opposite sides. their interactions are purely in passing , but even then barry can’t help but enjoy those brief encounters , loving their exchange. sheesh , how depressing. it only further proves how lonely the hitman really was & how lonely he’ll continue being unless he does something about it. ❝ hey uh … can i ask you something ? ❞ barry cringes for a moment at his own words , both anxious & already regretting this move he’s made. honestly , if she were to reject him ? he’d completely understand. i’d probably reject me too … i’m so fucking awkward. ❝ just promise you won’t completely laugh at me , okay ? ❞
theirs has always been a bit of a lonely profession, aria supposes, but she’d chosen it. she could parse out the differences between exactly what they do, she could make some skeletal effort to claim she doesn’t actually kill people for a living, that it’s only an occupational hazard - but she’d be fooling herself. and besides, what would differences matter, anyway? they’re the same, fundamentally ; hell, if anything, barry’s far better a person than she is, more palatable, quieter, certainly more polite. she likes him, he’s comfortable, a breath of fresh air in a world where she rarely finds anyone she can stand. she’s unsuspecting, leaning back in her chair, inhaling on her cigarette, gaze flickering to him as he speaks. a grin tugs at the corner of her mouth, impish, almost playful. ❛ I don’t make many promises. life’s too unpredictable. but when have I ever laughed at you, barry? ❜ she answers as a thin stream of smoke escapes through her lips. ❛ shoot. you can trust me. ❜
jyn raises a brow at aria’s response. while she had quickly become disillusioned at the selfish and unpredictable machinations of other criminals and smugglers, she’d never found them boring. and while she couldn’t call the rebellion that either, not in the middle of a war, she certainly finds the military-like organization confining and regulation heavy. she often strains against the straight-laced members of command ; had she not been a war hero, then she knows they would have kicked her out for insubordination weeks ago. “ it’s about as far away from the empire as you can get, “ she comments mildly. “ most of the people here have warrants out for their arrest. “ herself included, with the charges only growing larger with each day. regardless of her rapsheet, if the empire found her – any of them – then they were done for. she’d been damned the day she’d been rescued from wobani. “ i get it. feels like you’re doing real work here even with the target painted on our backs. “
aria very nearly laughs at jyn’s next words, if only due to the truth of them. it’s true that they still dwell arguably in a den of criminals, mostly, with a few notable exceptions ; by the empire’s standard, they’re all fugitives, but many of them ( both aria and jyn included ) have criminal records that have absolutely nothing to do with the rebellion at all. never mind that aria had been searching for them half her life ; that hardly precludes the ways she’s had to survive over the years. ( still, she’s hesitant to tell anybody of her origins, still concerned she’ll be hunted even by those she’s intended to trust. ) ❛ I’m definitely oen of them. don’t even know what the empire’s got warrants on me for, to be honest. so there was already a target on my back. might as well do something useful with it. ❜ she shrugs dismissively, as if it doesn’t matter. ❛ but I guess we were never too different, even when we were on opposing sides. how would you feel about a drink? ❜
aria supposes it’s ostensibly a true statement, all things considered, when she takes all life lived into account. problem is, every path is different - and covering a lot of ground doesn’t necessarily mean reaching a good place. but truly, she can’t complain, she supposes. at times, things have been difficult, sure, but ultimately, she’s survived and some might even say she’s thrived. she maintains a career that bends to the schedule she prefers, she keeps a number of dangerous people who owe her favors in her back pocket, she does what she likes under a thin veil of anonymity of her own construction ; it’s more than most people get, admittedly, and it’s far easier to fixate on the good things than the terrible, the parts of her past she dares not speak about, as if saying it all aloud would give it a place in the life she now leads. even if that were something she wanted, which it’s certainly not, it’s far from wise.
❛ mmhmm. I don’t know. maybe you’re right! ❜ she takes a steady drag from her cigarette, slow and thoughtful as she directs her gaze out to the hills, the same landscape upon which she’d basically grown up ; if anything, she hadn’t traveled very far at all and had, in fact, found herself all the way back at square one, if not a little older and wiser and sadder for it. at the end of the day, she hasn’t really established anything ; she floats through life more specter than women, never quite putting down roots, never quite sure how to do so. how would she even go about building a life, she wonders, after everything? all she’s ever known is temporary ; she takes what she can, when she can, whatever good life can offer her in the moment, but she never expects it to last, never dares to wonder what might happen if it did. ❛ sometimes I wonder if I haven’t come far enough. I get tired. too tired. but I guess we all do, don’t we? ❜
it isn’t in the marshal’s nature to become attached to anything or anyone that isn’t related to this little town , but something about this woman draws him in faster than a krayt dragon to a bantha. she’s strong , quick - witted & a real beauty to boot , & while it’s only been a few days since getting to know her [ that’s putting it lightly. even he knows there’s more hidden behind the walls she puts up ] , he knows that he won’t ever meet another woman like her & definitely not one he’d ever have any interest in. a charming grin tugs at his lips as he approaches her sans mandalorian armor , the sand kicking up like small puffs of smoke the closer he gets. he doesn’t close the distance between him & aria , but he’s close enough that he knows she can see just how excited he is about all this & how anxious he is to begin. ❝ i’ve never sparred with a woman before , ❞ cobb admits with a shrug , one hand running through steely grey strands [ damn sand just gets everywhere ]. ❝ ‘course , there’s always a first for everything. i’m not usually one for hand to hand combat personally , but that don’t mean i ain’t good at it. ❞ cue a laugh , followed by an incredibly cheeky wink. if this is the sort of activity he has to engage in to keep her hanging around a bit longer , then he’s happy to oblige. ❝ don’t expect me to go easy on you , de luca. it’s all or nothing , so gimme your best shot ! ❞
in all honesty, aria used to know what to make of the man, but lately, she’s not so sure. used to be, in her mind, that there could be only one logical explanation for someone parading around in ( at some point ) stolen mandalorian armor, but even a little time in mos pelgo had turned her impression upside down - at least, in some regards. but a man is still a man, and most of them she’s ever met, especially in any position of authority, carry quite a heavy ego on their sleeve. ( not that she’s one to talk, all things being equal, considering the size of her own, but she’s never claimed not to subscribe to a double standard. ) but vanth is a slightly different breed and her brief stay in the town has taught her that he cares for nothing more than the wellbeing of a town that’s not even on any of the maps. even so, the arrogance shows in some moments and she can only smirk in response, flexing her fingers as she lifts a dark brow. ❛ imagine you were probably too scared. ❜ she answers with a shrug. part of her wishes she could wield her saber, really show off - but even if she doesn’t consider him an enemy, she certainly doesn’t trust him like that. ( can’t really trust anyone like that. ) ❛ once we’re finished? you’ll wish I went easy on you. ❜ it wouldn’t be fair to utilize her advantage, she tells herself, even though the desire to nearly tingles at her fingertips. besides, tipping him off to what she really is certainly isn’t in the plan. without another moment’s hesitation, she strikes swiftly with her right fist - almost an experiment, not to hurt, but if anything to test his speed.
@pragerstrasse sent: "i think you are remarkable.“ ( from rey! )
aria is perspiring after her display, breath coming in short bursts even as she attempts to steady it. conditioned or not, there are plenty of things which still fatigue her - and practicing with rey is certainly one of them. but even despite the strain, the ache, she never feels quite so alive as when she wields her saber against the other fledgling jedi ; and surely, rey gives her a hell of a challenge. aria’s training had surely been longer, but rey’s more recent and aria knows simply from their sparring, simply from their connection through the force itself, that rey outmatches her in terms of simply raw power. while surely aria is the competitive sort, she knows by now not to kick herself too hard for losing to a woman who, quite simply, possesses more extraordinary power than she can imagine having.
but regardless of what she knows, the compliment still feels good and aria can’t help the smile that stretches across her face - no matter how she momentarily tries to repress it. ( why, she’s not sure ; if there’s one thing she knows about their friendship, it’s that the two of them truly have nothing to hide from each other. ) flicking her wrist, she spins her saber effortlessly, just once, before shutting it off and clipping it back to her belt. lifting a hand, she wipes her brow on her sleeve and sits heavily on a log next to their makeshift ring. ❛ maybe compared to other people. but not to you. the kind of power you have, rey … ❜ aria trails off thoughtfully for a moment, and ever so briefly, a cloud crosses over her features, darkening her features a moment, transporting her somewhere else as quickly she could blink. ( it’s a comparison she could never truly make, not one which she feels in her heart is true, but there truly is only one she’s ever seen to match her power. ) ❛ I wish it was fair. you … you don’t deserve to have to shoulder all of this yourself, you … you know I’ll be with you all the way, don’t you? I know we’re both used to being alone, but I won’t leave you. I promise you that. ❜
she typically finds heat easy to withstand - until she’s being absolutely suffocated by it. she isn’t made for this kind of oppressive humidity. ( but then again, aria’s left to ask herself what anybody is truly made for or whether everybody has simply been made to endure just as she does now ; whether she can do more than simply hope she does so better than most. ) she tightens the grip of her damp palm against the long blade in her hand, brushes her hair away from her sticky forehead, holding her breath as she takes careful, silent steps forward in the brush on nimble feet. one can never be too careful, especially around here, especially when anyone - anything - can be watching from amongst the trees. ( take one step in the wrong direction and you may be inviting the ire of the wrong person - and while she can certainly handle herself in any given situation, she prefers to avoid danger where she can. ) the silence feels almost deafening, the way it embraces her, such that it chills her, until she senses something. someone. at least - that’s what she thinks. ( and if she’s wrong? there’s little shame in talking to one’s self if there’s nobody there to witness it. ) ❛ I know you’re there. wouldn’t come closer, if I were you. ❜
it’s mid-afternoon. there’s been a heatwave for days. you’re in a forest. there’s a lonely feel to the place.@ownworth. sc.
