[D11, EE, Manka Cats Rule] Worth a try

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin had expected the previous night's outcome to settle his nerves and calm the butterflies, but instead they'd been with him all day. He really didn't know what to do with today, now that it was clear of yesterday and able to be its own... something.

"Its own something huh?" He grumbled as he parked Ruby. "Yeah, I'm doing great..." he wipes both hands over his face and through his hair, trying to reset as he went up the ramp to the ship. Eyes closed, hands on head, he took a deep breath before he actually stepped in.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

The place has a definite air of packing up. Less clutter is scattered in the common area, an empty crate looks to have a bit of trash tossed in it before it gets hauled away.

Dhel’s there at the top of the ramp, on hand at the controls. “Hey you.” She steps forward, reaching to pull him into a fierce hug, rubbing her cheek along his. “You doing ok?” After the night. After everything. Knowing that the ship full of really identifiable Force users was likely to leave sooner rather than later.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin embraces the hug, doesn't want to release it, but finally does with a dark chuckle. "No, I'm not. But how's Petra? And the folks who actually got hurt?"

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"Everyone's healing, at least. Though it'll take a while." She lets him go reluctantly. "And Petra is...doing a little worse than you, I think, but hanging in there."

She offers a small smile, running a hand down his arm. "Can you do me a favor, and keep half an eye on her when..." She pauses, not quite saying it. "I think it'll probably piss her off, mind you. But that might be good for her, honestly."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin can't hide his shock at the request.

"You want..." Both his hands run over his face so hard that he ends up looking at the ceiling, hands on head. "Dhel," he says flatly, still facing up, "Petra hates me. I mean, you can't..." When he looks into her eyes, he stops. Closing his eyes with a heavy sigh, he bows his head. "You're asking an awful lot for someone who's leaving," he says, voice distant all of a sudden.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"She doesn't hate you." Dhel protests, before stopping at his tone. "I'm trying to look out for...I.." Her hand drops to her side, sensing that seeking that connection isn't going to be wise or welcome now.

"It's fine. I'll com Mylar or somebody. You're right. You've done plenty." She steps back a bit, leaving the way open to enter. "Coming in?"

[Korvin Hikarrin]

With a sigh, he says before he moves, "I'm going to do it, anyway, you know." He looks at Dhel. "Look out for her... Of course I will. I mean, I didn't... I didn't only do this for you." He sighs again. "I picked my team, and I gotta honor that. So..." He exhales a little roughly. "I don't know what to say here."

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

She offers a smile. "I know. You picked a team before I was in your picture. Never thought or asked you to do all this for me. That's part of being free to not make those bargains, you know? I didn't spend the other night with you to make sure you went through with things or something."

Out of habit, she starts to reach for his cheek, stopping and closing her hand as she pulls it back. "But I am leaving. You're free to guard yourself as you need to. I can't fault you for it."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin reaches out and gently takes the hand that she'd raised. "Can we go... sit... to talk?"

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

There's a pause, then a single nod, as she turns to lead farther into the ship. Manka is completely passed out over the edge of a crate lid, in that boneless way only the very young can manage.

She leads to a small couch, and takes a seat at one end, using the arm as a backrest. "OK?" It's said quietly, honestly curious.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin takes a deep breath. "You said back there that I picked a team before you were in my life, but that's really not true. I wasn't picking anything before. I didn't have a plan. But when you came along, I got to live a life that maybe I wanted to pick. And the resistance came along, that was a different life, a different... me."

"I knew i needed to pick a team. And I picked the resistance. Partly for you, partly for Petra, partly for my dad and the Bellionas that... Well, somebody someday will enjoy. But I also chose for me, because..." He runs out of momentum, closes his eyes, and shakes his head. He chuckles at his own struggle with the words.

"Because you helped me see that that other, dreamy life wasn't... Wouldn't be a real life. You helped me see past a trap that would have been so easy to slide into. So, um..." His voice gives out, getting choked with emotion.

"Just..." He shakes his head. "I hate that you're leaving," he says with fervor, "but, um, thanks... for helping me while you were here."

Korvin leans forward, his head still turned toward Dhel, but resting on a hand propped on his knee. His other hand is on the couch between them and his eyes are closed. In a short amount of time, he's gone to looking very tired.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel rolls up onto her knees to lean forward and wrap Korvin in a hard embrace, as much as possible when he's hunched over on a knee. "I've done a lot of things with a lot of folks. But I don't think I helped anyone figure their life out like that before." One hand strokes gently down his back after a moment.

"For what it's worth, I think you'd have figured it out ok. There's a really good heart in here, you know?"

Sitting back on her heels, hands shifting back to rest on his shoulder and knee, she adds, "I feel bad leaving when there's so much to do. But...it's stupid to think that it matters so much that I'm here or not when there's you, and Petra, and Mara, and...just everyone. And everyone you're going to help see that there's hope to find here." There's a small smile. "Thanks for that reminder. I'll be more use learning what I need to and coming back."

"We'll grab dinner someplace less fancy to catch up, when I do, yeah?" There's care there, in the look she give him, the fires they've stoked in one another banked a bit to leave space open to talk like this instead of rushing through sensation.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

The position makes it awkward, and he can't hug back, but Dhel can feel Korvin lean into that embrace. She can feel his breathing is forced, a little uneven.

He looks down at the heart comment. He closes his eyes and bites his lip as his next exhale is almost a shudder. There's the tiniest shake of his head.

When she shifts, he turns toward her a little more, but it takes a deep breath before he can open his eyes to look at her, and there's another labored breath after he does. The biting of the lip continues and he listens closely as she talks, shaking his head hard when she says she's not so important, and tilting his head curiously when she mentions going to learn.

He takes a heavy breath when she asks about catching up. It takes him a minute to bring his voice back. "Um, yeah, I guess..." He pauses, looking into her eyes, and his start to sparkle not in mischief or adoration, but excess moisture. "Um," he says aggressively, forcing past that feeling, "I, I gotta say... You know, everyone matters. It's not stupid to think you matter. A lot."

"I mean, you're the one who saved Petra the first time. And I couldn't... be here if not for you. And..." Korvin swallows hard and stifles a little cough. He tries to continue with a more upbeat tone: "Well. Just, um, don't think... that you fixed everything, and you're not gonna have to come back. You know." There's the hint of a sniffle, and then repeated nodding of Korvin's head as his mouth is closed in a tight frown. An attempt at a deep breath breaks into a ragged exhale.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"I needed everyone to get me to where I could help her that time, and this time..." The morning has left her once again question her decision to go. If it was selfish. "It's not that I don't matter...just, that it's so much more than me." Her own eyes are soft, smile a bit uncertain. "I think I can do more if I go away first, come back with more. And...and see just what you've gotten up to, right? "

She reaches for him, tentative with not knowing if it's a comfort he can accept just now. "Don't want to come back and find you've kept it all the same just waiting on me or something," she adds matching his upbeat tone.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin closes his eyes and sadly shakes his head again as she talks about not being such a big part of what's been done. As she continues, and sounds that more upbeat tone, he opens his eyes again to see she's offering that embrace.

That embrace that had been so calming and so thrilling so many times. So steadying at times when he'd needed an anchor amid waves of emotion. That embrace that he would happily have gotten killed protecting.

He stares at her, conflict visible on his face and that sad sparkle lurking around the edges of his eyes, for what probably seems like an hour but is really only a few long heartbeats. With a shuddering exhale he turns to look down at the floor in front of him.

"So, um, you're... going to learn stuff," he says, trying to sound upbeat again. He fails this time, and his voice wavers. "Somewhere. I, um..." When his eyes close again, even from the side she can see how hard he's squeezing them shut. Two hard breaths later, his hands squeeze into fists. They squeeze a couple of times, but then finally a ragged breath seems to bring him back from wherever he'd gone. He keeps his eyes closed, facing the floor.

"The, um..." He swallows hard, then starts laboriously pushing out words. "What the resistance did here... That was everybody. No, um, no one more important. All the... small things, all the big things mattered." He pauses, still looking pained but he doesn't lose his voice this time. "We, uh, we won't do again... what we did together. The resistance won't. So... I don't know."

That admission is followed by a loud exhale. "Yeah, I don't know," he says, a little easier now. "It'll... be what it is." He starts to turn his head toward her, but it tips back toward the floor. His eyes come open as he breathes, but he doesn't turn.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

There's a loss in how or what to offer. Touch is her usual mode and that's..unwanted. Dhel sits back on her heels again with a single nod and small sigh, expression shifting from concern to confusion. "What do you mean? Why won't they? Everyone might lay low a bit, let attention shift to all the known criminals whose trails run off-planet. But Mara's not stopping with this."

"Are you?" Her tone is incredulous, a bit sharp, as if she can't quite believe what she's hearing.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

"No, Dhel," he says, incredulous himself. A little angry even. "I told you. I picked my team. But half the team that saved Petra, is getting ready to ship out." His breathing is still rough, but the bad feelings seem to come out clearer.

Korvin puts his face in his hands. "We did something amazing," he says, his hands high enough on his face that his words aren't muffled. "Maybe impossible. But we did it--with Jedi and jetpacks and everything else. And some of us are still gonna be here when the imperials decide what to do about it. Not today, or tomorrow, but whenever they've got a chance they like. They don't..."

He rubs his face, and then fully turns to Dhel. "The old independence advocates? My dad's friends and allies? The Imperials didn't take them all at once. Didn't even take them in the middle of rallies, or places they knew were dangerous." He bites his lip for a moment, seeing past Dhel to some memory from a long time ago. Then Korvin shakes his head. Hard.

He exhales, and then looks at Dhel. He's sad, but no longer stormy. "Whenever they decide, they get them." He gives a tired sniff. Then there's a pause, as Korvin's eyes soften. "I, um. I hope you stay safe." It comes out with a bit of a stammer, but there's an affirming nod at the end.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"Ah!" That made more sense. "Some of the worst hunters are going to take off after those Jedi. I don't know that the point is to lead them away, but it does work that way." She doesn't bother to note that she'll be with most of them. He's able to do that math.

"But yeah, I know. My parents vanished out there someplace. Maybe stuff like last night that didn't go as well? But they picked up my foster ma at work, Pa at a park. Left Rig crying in the grass till someone could get enough words out of her to call Cayl." It's said matter of factly, like saying it's raining out today, so grab an umbrella. "Mara's brother? All the other folk missing?"

She reaches to set a hand on his arm, remembers and pulls it back to rest in her lap. "What I'm saying is, they never stopped doing that. They're never going to stop unless someone makes them. I meant it at that meeting. At that point, I thought I was staying, and I knew they might come down hard, and it's still worth it."

"i really hope you stay safe too, but I know there's no promises for either of us, Korvin." She brushes at the short skirt rumpled across her lap, fidgeting.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

"Yeah. No promises," he says quietly, looking over the back of the couch for no reason other than to not be staring at her.

"I, um..." He looks back to her as he speaks again, voice a little hoarse but steady. "I'll do everything I can to keep Petra safe. Which, I guess is a promise, so sorry about that. And, um..." There's another well of emotion, and his eyes close again, but one hand slides a little closer to Dhel's fidgeting hands.

His head bows and, after a heavy breath, he manages aq quiet but forceful, "I wish I got to make that promise for you." After a moment he looks up at her, head still bowed but the circle of moisture around each eye so clear it seems impossible that the tears haven't fallen.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

That's more thatn Dhel's resolve can take, and she reaches for Korvin's hand, pulling him into a hard hug..maybe. She's definitely not strong enough to do so if he doesn't want it, nor is she the sort to force the issue.

"It's ok, Petra needs that promise more, you know? I've got like...a ship full of people with swords to look out for me. More worried about you." There's a weary sorrow to her eyes, liquid but not nearly overflowing, not when she's already had a good cry or two already. "I don't want to leave right now. But sometimes things aren't timed like you want." If she's thinking of her morning with Petra, well, that would be pretty understandable.