Ask Beyond a Shadow of Doubt

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan grinned at Tia's announcement of wanting the spiciest option and immediately gave Emryc an apologetic look. He at least kept mints and things around for himself these days after the first time. The prince had no comment to make on nutrient shakes, something he sometimes added to his diet while working to cut down on cooking, but he still preferred real food. Their interaction did bring a soft chuckle out of him, though.


Golden eyes watched his boyfriend go through the entire menu before settling on what Morgan suggested, flashing him a little smile. Emryc's curiosity resulted in a small tilt of the prince's head before he subtly brushed his presence affectionately against the other man's. "Spotted a new friend on the way," he said. Other details were not for the dinner table.

The question about this other silver-eyed Jedi drew his attention, as did the half-Sephi being willing to directly touch food. He'd seen it recently but it was still an interesting change. Morgan grabbed some bread of his own and took a smile bite while Tia told her story.

"How interesting," Stolas commented, looking thoughtful. "Even the most recent events?" Knowledge of events at the ball on Drommund Kaas would indicate intel gathering in that territory. Some of these interrogators sounded very talkative. "If they surrendered outright there would be no collateral," he added matter-of-factly. It's not as if he directly targeted civilian centers. Most of the time.

It wouldn't be long before food showed up, this being a sort of fast-casual place. Morgan mercifully hadn't gotten the spiciest thing on the menu to avoid wafting it into his boyfriend's face but the small bowl of soup was still an ominous red colour. Scents of mushrooms, vegetables, and aromatics wafted freshly over them as the waitress placed things in front of them.

@Sreeya @GABA

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc stared blankly at Tiamat while she spoke. He recalled their rather profound moments where she had revealed her love for him, and he also knew quite well that he actually didn’t have a sense of humor. Not intentionally, anyway. Something seemed inconsistent.

“But it’s not funny,” He muttered flatly, blinking calmly before taking a bite of bread. He failed to see the humor in the nickname or why the Jedi would find it humorous. Emryc glanced at the options for what he could use with the bread and saw butters and oils, both of which sounded too fatty. The half Sephi grumpily ate the plain bread while waiting for the food.

“Of course they noticed my absence,” Emryc said curtly, “Until that one,” His gaze flicked over to Morgan briefly, “I’ve been the most theatrical Sith Lord,” He added quietly in case anyone nearby was listening. He grinned at the thought of Tiamat getting lectured, however.

“Good, I hope they made you do your kata too,” He said, his tone actually lighthearted for once. It was clear he had been isolated for too long to where he was actually being more social than they would remember him.

Emryc eyed the soup bowl that arrived and knew what was going to happen before it did. Within moments, his eyes began to water and his face started to turn red. As the spicy scent wafted to him, he turned away and gave a series of rapid sneezes. Morgan would recognize this very well from the time he had sniffed a Firrerreo hot sauce.

@Mr. Teatime @GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Any hint of a smirk or smile quickly disappeared from Tiamat's face when Emryc stated that it was not funny. She stared at him for a long moment, her own features now growing stotic as she listened to Morgan expressed his interest, and inquired if it were anymore than just Denon and Blybos. The woman pursed her lips in thought and glanced at her bread that she seemed to just like to hold instead of eating. "Just Sullust...but it wasn't more questions, just the Rangers playing the news over loudspeaker. They kept me drugged up once the Jedi felt they were done, and they didn't come back after the first meeting when I had first arrived."

Instinctively, she rubbed her arm, remembering where the needles continued to jab her in her lucid state. Her gaze went back to Emryc as he pointed what was the likely rationale for both he and Stolas were frequently voices on the holo; she wasn't sure what he was looking for in her response. No doubt it would have been ideal to get some counter-intel, but it was also ideal that she wasn't in that situation to start. Emryc seemed to enjoy knowing they had lectured her and quipped about her katas; Tiamat didn't say anything in return, in fact, she was missing just the silence that would be there between them. Though she also wondered how much of it was just him still upset with her for what she said earlier and it was no doubt she felt a level of unease.

Luckily the food arrived and she was hungrily ready to dig into her bowl when she saw his face match the color of her hair, his eyes watered and most concerning of all, his unending sneezing. Tiamat held her spoon with a look of shock and disbelief as she tried to piece together what was going on and turned to look at Morgan before pushing a glass of water to him. "Take a drink of water-are you allergic to something?" she asked, now setting the spoon down and feeling herself tense as she looked to Morgan again.

@Mr. Teatime @Sreeya

 

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan observed Tia and Emryc's short back and forth. Amusement and mild bemusement mixed together on his fine features in cycles. A small frown that didn't really conceal how one corner of his lip turned up found him after his boyfriend described him as 'theatrical'. Stolas seemed proud of the description, as if complimented, running his fingers through dark hair for no real reason at all. What could he say, he liked to put on a show.

"I'm sure they worried over where you'd end up next."

Meanwhile Tia seemed to take Emryc's comment personally and that seemed odd to him, but instead of saying something she stared at bread and addressed Morgan's question. It seemed his original thoughts about intel weren't quite correct. "So they have nothing but lazy torture. Hm! We'll see how they like it."

Playing news on repeat was just obnoxious, but the reminder of the repeated drug injections furrowed his brows and turned down his lips. Morgan made a note to determine an appropriate response to that treatment and turned away from her as she touched her arm and seemed lost in thought. The prince himself was distracted by how sociable Emryc was being, especially catching the change in tone, although there was no answer from Tia again.

Morgan's confusion grew right up until the food arrived at which point his eyes lit up. He may like making fancy things sometimes but he wasn't above good soup and buns. Goldens shot up at the first sneeze and he moved the bowls immediately off to the side as far from Emryc as possible without spilling them, reaching into one of his pockets to pull out a tiny unopened packet of tissues and sliding them silently across the table. He didn't always know how sensitive his boyfriend would be to the smells or steam, between his and Tia's soups.

"Ah! Sorry," he apologized, then turned to Tia. Morgan blinked at her, as if trying to process her question for a second. "Not allergic. He doesn't do spicy foods," the Firrerreo replied simply, turning back to check on the larger man.

@Sreeya @GABA

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc took the tissues from Morgan and wiped his eyes and nose. It took a moment before he felt normal again, turning back to face the others with his eyes bloodshot. He kept sniffling and wiping his nose, glaring at the spicy soup. Mercifully it was set away from him now which helped a bit.

He couldn’t help but glance at Morgan briefly, the man revealing that he knew a fair amount about the half Sephi. Was that intentional? Emryc sniffed again, rubbing his eyes as they had begun to water. It was probably the closest Tiamat had ever seen him get close to crying.

“I don’t do spicy,” He stated flatly after a while, echoing Morgan’s words. Emryc pulled his own dish closer, beginning to take a few bites. Every now and then the spicy soup scent wafted over and he turned and sneezed.

“Have you been working to flush the drugs out of your system?” Emryc asked as his gaze flicked over towards Tiamat just as she began to eat her extremely spicy soup. This was after she had been subjected to nothing but prison food and drugs for a while.

@GABA @Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Tia's eyes widened as she watched the spectacle, uncertain what to make of it as he carried on, sneezing, his face as red as chilis in her soup as Morgan moved the bowls away. In exchange Morgan quickly offered Emryc the tissues, and she was corrected, with relief it was not an allergic reaction...it was just he didn't do spicy. Tiamat's look of shock slowly formed into a smile and then a giggle, "Noted, you don't do spicy." she confirmed and glanced at Morgan, eyebrows raised in some curiosity as to how he knew that of Emryc and hoped there was a humorous backstory, but she did not dwell on it as her stomach growled again, "Double the spicy for us then." she glanced at Morgan with a grin.

Spoon still at hand, she scooped up the flavorful liquid, eagerly taking a few quick sips to ease her hunger, but there was something wrong. It was not a familiar sensation, but every spoonful she just took seemed to linger for a lot longer than she had expected, in fact she couldn't really tell what was happening until she took another sip while Emryc gave another sneeze. Tiamat paused, holding her breath as she realized what it was: her mouth was on fire and it burned more than just her tongue and throat and she could feeling it up in her ears and nose.

Her own face was now turned several shades red, looking similar to Emryc's own only moments earlier and challenged the red color in her hair. Eyes wide, she slowly set down the spoon and pushed the bowl to the side, letting Emryc's question about flushing the drugs from her system linger for just a moment before she managed a sharp inhale, "Yes..." she squeaked as her eyes watered, her nose felt like a faucet as she begun her own coughing fit. Months of bland food unknown to her until now, left her more sensitive to anything spicier than salt. She waved her hand in front of her mouth and grabbed her piece of bread, shoving it into her mouth to find anything that would cool her tongue. This was just horrible.

Between her and Emryc's display of how they handled spicy, they were certainly drawing more attention than needed right now.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Tiamat seemed to cheer up now she knew Emryc wasn't dying or something, but Morgan still glanced at the teary-eyed half-Sephi with concern. Even with the soup farther away he was still getting whiffs of the heat. He caught the man's momentary look and just blinked at him, head tilting ever so slightly. Morgan was more occupied by the other man's discomfort than thinking about what Tia might wonder and glanced over every time he sneezed.

Goldens eyed the very hot variety Tia had ordered warily, notably spicier than the one he'd suggested and ordered himself. Morgan had just taken a bite of a bun, leaving his soup to the side to cool and ignoring the enticing scent, as the redhead started on her soup. A held breath and his boyfriend's question in Tia's direction drew his attention from food and his brows raised at the sight of her face being as red as her hair, mild bemusement coming through.

"Maybe not double then," he commented wryly after her squeaked out answer. Morgan watched her begin a coughing fit, nose running and everything, and placed a stack of napkins from the holder at his side of the table in front of Tiamat. His eyes briefly flicked to the half-Sephi and then over others who looked their way. This casual outing was becoming a bit of a mess. Morgan made a mental note to stick to milder things in close quarters and to make up for it later.

The waitress made her return, drawn by the commotion, and the Firrerreo immediately spoke up before she could ask the question forming on her tongue. "Two to-go containers for soup. Please." And then she wandered back off again as if she'd forgotten what she'd shown up for in the first place. He looked at Emryc, then Tiamat, then Emryc again.

"Smoothies after?" he suggested. There was a small stand for them on the way back.

@Sreeya @GABA

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc’s eyes narrowed slightly as Tiamat giggled at his plight. He began to sneeze again, taking more of Morgan’s napkins to wipe his nose and face. The half Sephi looked up when Tiamat all but squeaked out her words, bursting into a coughing fit along with a nose that unleashed streams down her face. Emryc’s lips curled in disgust before he launched into his own series of sneezes at the same time, blowing his nose into the back of a napkin he already used since they were running out. He and Tiamat went right through the stack Morgan set out, fighting over the last napkin to tear it in half.

The half Sephi couldn’t help but glare at the woman who was responsible for this whole incident because she had to have the spiciest thing on the menu. Emryc’s jaw tightened, “Can always count on you to bat out of your league,” He all but hissed at Tiamat before sneezing again.

By now, the waitress came over with a few others since the other patrons kept looking over. Their table was making an obnoxious scene and disrupting the calm ambience of the restaurant.

Morgan was the only one that got some coherent words out to get everything to go. Emryc shot a look over at the Firrerreo, “No,” He said with a growl, “Tiamat’s soup is not coming with us,” Silver gaze drilled into Morgan’s goldens and it was one of the very few times the half Sephi refused to budge, a dangerous flick of gold briefly flashing in his eyes.

Of course, that was all ruined as he followed it up with more sneezing and coughing. Emryc wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he rose to stand. The half Sephi offered no opinions on smoothies, but it sounded infinitely better than sitting in the deepest levels of Hell itself.

@Mr. Teatime @GABA

 

[Darth Tiamat]

As soon as Morgan set down the new stack of napkins, Tiamat grasped a handful and held them against her face to muffle her coughs and blow her nose, though it would barely help as she reached for another and another...

She could feel the eyes of all the patrons at the restaurant turn to their table and if her face wasn't already red from the spicy soup, it would be certainly just as red from the embarrassment of choking from the soup. There was more than just regret of just picking a dish she thought she would enjoy, but it started to spiral into the regret of coming here with Morgan and Emryc, and even going to see Emryc and seeing how he had his ship. Morgan quipped about not getting double spicy and Tiamat groaned unhappily as she blew her nose again, reaching for the last napkin just as Emryc did, resulting in a small tug-of-war with half a napkin and a glare.

Tiamat's brow narrowed and her fingers curled into her handful of napkins as he hissed at her about being out of her league. She found it a rather pointed remark and no longer did her face burn, but there was a heat that radiated through her entire body. Her mind filled with everything she wanted to yell as she kept her blue eyes locked onto him, hardly noticing the waitress and her posse that had come to their table and Morgan dismissing them for the to-go containers. Tiamat found she was holding her breath and when she inhaled, while muffling a cough, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, not that she felt saying anything would fix the situation. However, instead of feeling everything, she now felt nothing and she welcomed it as she retreated back into herself.

The redhead glanced back at her soup and pushed it to the center of the table when Emryc rose, feeling no longer hungry as she reached into her pocket to pull out credits for her meal and a generous tip for the waitress who had to put up with it. Emryc did not say anything to Morgan about the smoothies as Tiamat got up to let the Firrerreo out of the booth. She lifted the collar of her sweater to cover her mouth as she coughed again and glanced to Morgan, feeling terrible for how everything turned out. She put on her best everything is fine voice, "I'm going to go, no smoothies for me. Still not feeling the best." she stated, giving a small smile, not bothering to even look at Emryc as she exited and made her leave.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

/Exit Thread

 

[Darth Stolas]

Morgan's gaze glanced down toward the packet of tissues and found they were already empty, his hand reaching down toward his hip- and of course, his bag was still on the ship, a fact he looked suddenly grumpy about. Instead he moved the napkin dispenser to the center of the table, unsure what else to really do about all this.

Emryc's biting and sharply pointed comment surprised the prince, eyes widening and brows rising above them. Morgan didn't blame him for being the way he was, or being frustrated, and certainly not for expressing himself. But that particular wordage was either targeted toward how Tiamat felt about him or simply sounded like it. It was like his preference for patience had worn thin over the time he'd been away.

Goldens turned to the red-headed Sith and caught the many shifts, the curled fingers, narrowed brows, a certain kind of stiffness he recognized. She stared at the half-Sephi and Morgan turned to him as well, an annoyed frown set on his face. Even the young woman's lack of response was telling after watching the prior reaction, although he didn't need to see her face to know she'd been hurt by what Emryc said.

"Then leave it," he said firmly of the bright red soup, eyes meeting silvers that momentarily shone with gold as he scooted it from the center off to the side. Morgan felt conflicted again, especially as his boyfriend immediately sneezed after his comment. They all got up and he placed payment and tip of his own on the table, sliding out of the booth just after Tia.

Tia spoke and Morgan's eyes found her again, gaze focused. Her face was evened out now, aside from residual coughing, but the hawk-eyed Firrerreo still recognized what it looked and sounded like when someone was putting on an act or lying to him. Then she turned to leave left, avoiding Emryc entirely. Morgan's intense goldens found his boyfriend again, taking in his features. He let out a short, huffed breath of frustration, with a complicated expression to match.

These two seemed to mix... poorly. Morgan didn't have the time to find the words he wanted so instead he just said, "I will meet you at the ship," And then handed off the box of buns to Emryc and turned to follow after Tiamat's bright red hair, trying to catch and talk to her somewhere before she vanished entirely. With how she left he didn't anticipate success.

@Sreeya @GABA

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc’s eyes narrowed as Morgan bit back with a frosty tone of his own. He watched them both storm off, leaving him to stand by himself in the restaurant with a box of leftovers. The half Sephi stared at nothing for a moment, standing perfectly still right there by himself. He drew in breath and exhaled quietly, tilting his head this way and that as he closed his eyes. When he opened them, yellow flicked in and out.

Before he realized it, he had his datapad up and opened up to a series of texts. He was about to type when he looked at the last correspondence he sent.

‘This concludes our arrangement.’

His nostrils flared slightly as the pulse of rage remained circling beneath, now with only himself to temper it. Emryc’s jaw tightened as he exhaled slowly again, putting the datapad away. He quietly walked out of the restaurant, actively working to push back Raze who fought hard to claw to surface.

He was basically on autopilot as he tempered himself, making his way over to the smoothie shop. Emryc ordered a bland one before he began to walk back to his ship. His datapad was back in his hand, and he found himself staring at that text again.

Emryc instead went back into the cargo hold to train and meditate all over again till he found tranquility once more. Till Raze stopped lingering and detesting him for ever tolerating the disobedience of others.

/End Thread