Five Times

The First: A Curious Kiss.

At such a late time of night, the mess was nearly empty. Sleepy men slouched over late night snacks, heads nodding. The rest napped where they sat.

In the back corner, though, a pair could be found, sitting huddled together with uneaten food, long since cooled, on trays pushed out of their way. One was Commander Gree, and the other was Padawan Barriss Offee. The object occupying so much of their attention was a holobook. It sat on the space between them on the table, and each was curled around one side of it.

"They also wore tattoos," Barriss said, a fingertip touching the light blue screen and tracing the pattern on the figure's forehead.

"It marked their caste," Gree explained. He smiled, looking at her wryly. "Ritual tattooing is not uncommon among different species in the galaxy." His hand, resting just to the side of the holobook, lifted, traced a pattern in the air just across from Barriss's face. She touched the pattern of diamonds on the bridge of her nose, self-consciously, shying away from his gesture. Gree lowered his eyes, set his hand deliberately at the bottom of the holobook's screen, just below hers.

Barriss moved hers down to the next tier of the stele shown on the page, and Gree slid his hand away to give her room. Their hands did not quite meet. She sketched out the figures with her fingertips, letting her nails slide across the surface of the screen. "Very little seems to be known about the Gree," she said, picking out the figures on the second tier of the bas-relief. The first tier depicted craftsmen constructing some bit of technology she could not quite determine. The second seemed to be depicting the celebration of the completion of the first. A figure in the center held the rectangular object in two tentacles, while four other Gree, two flanking each side of the central figure, seemed to be dancing or rejoicing, their multiple arms tangling each other into an embrace. "Cephalopods, sentient or not, are usually congenial in nature." She tapped the screen, pointing out one of the embracing pairs, their faces turned towards each other, close. "They look almost like they're about to kiss."

"It's old," Gree said, a hand sliding out over the softly glowing surface of the screen, pausing over parts of the relief. Though the image in the book was high resolution, the stele was ancient, and pieces were crumbling from it, leaving bits of the image missing. "Even if this were once a part of their culture, it may not be any more."

"That would be a shame. There's joy on their faces. See?" Her fingers flicked against his as she tapped on each of the figures. She turned her head to smile warmly at him, and found he was looking, not at the holobook, but at her. She looked away, shy, across the mess. The few who occupied it with them were paying no attention to the two of them. She looked back to Gree, whose eyes had grown heavy, lashes descending halfway closed. She found hers drifting shut as well, wondering if his lips would taste of salt and of muja juice from their meal. They did, and they were warm, and they were light, and then they were gone.

Gree's face, soft, grew more nervous. He cast a brief look across the mess, lips drawing into a line as he pulled back, retreating from their closeness. He looked at her, uncertain now, not timid but curious as to her reaction and concerned over his own boldness. His hand, still on the tabletop, slowly drew into a fist.

Barriss regarded her own hands, the olive of her skin against the forest green stripes on his white armor. He wondered if she would regret, or feel anger, or feel imposed upon. But she found it sweet, if forbidden. It was a small intimacy, an experience she could lock away and remember on days when she felt lonely. A quick glance towards the rest of the mess assured enough privacy. She gently placed a hand on his fist, if only for a moment. "It was a good custom, for the Gree to have." Her fingers trailed across the two nearly-kissing figures, and she let her indigo eyes meet his brown ones.

She withdrew, but not without sharing a small smile. The worry in his face faded, and he touched the back of her hand for a moment before withdrawing as well.

"Tell me more, about the Gree," she said.

He smiled, and did.

Ah, nerd love. LOL.

This is a slightly random fic, and somewhat out of context. While writing a part of my Said the Joker series, a scene between Barriss and Gree cropped up with the line "it was not their first kiss, but it was their longest" popping out of nowhere, and I decided to explore it just a bit. So, technically speaking, this is a part of my Said the Joker series, though it can probably be read as a handful of oneshots standing on their own.

I hope you enjoyed part one. There will be five parts total.

~Queen