Ask The Enigma

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan growled deep in his throat. It seemed with these two, they were always pushing the other buttons to see what would happen. He breathed in and out, before smirking. "The more important question is," he started softly, taking a step forward, "Why do you want to know so bad?" He took another step forward and opened his mind, thinking of images that would have scandalized any average person. Bodies touching and heat radiating.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee felt satisfied with his reaction because she now had the certainty that she succeeded in pushing his buttons. Now he had to give her an answer and she was tensely awaiting his response. As he stepped closer, she eyed him cautiously, preparing to be able to defend herself if he would try anything funny, but as she realized that he was purposely allowing her to enter his thoghts again, she already knew that this couldn't end well. She was still too curious to resist and so she entered his mind while a board smirk landed on his face. And then she saw what he was imagining. Her impulse was to open her mouth in indignation, but she had to get a hold of herself. "Interesting. So you're a mighty Sith but you're thinking just like every dirty scumbag on Corellia", she tried to let her voice sound amused and as though she wasn't shocked at all, but his directness did indeed startle her a bit. She was used to being the direct, provocative one in conversations, but he was quite similar to her in those ways.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

"You're the one who wanted to see. I made an off-handed comment about it and you turned it into a big deal," Ronan replied. He could sense Hailee's shock, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. "I think it's time for the third question," he continued, crossing his arms, unperturbed.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She had seen a lot in her life already and was used to many things, so that normally, men wouldn't make her nervous at all, but Ronan had something on him that now made her shiver even worse. It was not only from the cold. She even trembled a bit, which was why she slid off the bed and put another large sweater over her shirt and then began to walk from left to right, rubbing her hands, hoping she would be able to keep them warmer. How much time had passed? It felt like an eternity to her, but she still wanted to wait some more before trying to locate the broken module. She ignored his first comment and appreciated the change of subjects, while she had another great idea. "You know what? Let's wait some more time before I ask you the last question. To keep up the tension, you know?", she made sure that her response came across as cheeky as it was intended, because she actually wanted to put him on the rack. For her last question, she needed to catch him off guard, unprepared.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan snorted as Hailee got off the bed and pulled one of his old sweaters over her head."It's a little late for that," he muttered. The tension was so thick he could cut it with a knife. "Fine. What do you propose we do?" he said, not appreciating her cheek. He could sense what felt like unease drifting off of her in the Force.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee walked around like a wild cat confined in a small cage and the metaphor was pretty fitting as she was also somehow stuck here, even though she sometimes felt like she was the prey and the predator stood just a few feet away from her. "I don't know. We need to wait first and find a way to stay warm right now. We could maybe start some physical exercise", she suggested, but the moment her direct, not actually carefully considered words left her mouth, she knew that he could take this the wrong way.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan raised an eyebrow. Was Hailee making venereal jokes now? He decided to overlook it. "That I can do," he said, getting on all fours on the ground before proceeding to do a series of push-ups.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Her eyes still rested on him, but fortunately he took it only literal and wasted no time before following her suggestion right away. She was pretty relieved that another embarrassing situation could been avoided by that and so she just started her training routine as well. She starting by laying down and doing some side crunches, and fortunately she got warmer instantly, but since they couldn't just do sports for the next few weeks, she grew a little worried. "See, it's helping. But we need a few more solutions ", she then responded a little breathlessly. Also, if they were doing sports, could they use the shower? How cold would that water be? There was probably some hot water saved somewhere, but it clearly wouldn't stay warm for weeks. LUckily the tension in the room was dissolving for now, so at least one problem was solved.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan finished his one-hundredth push-up (but who was counting) and sat up. He was indeed quite warm now, but he knew that it wasn't going to last. "We need fire," he said. The tension between the two had mostly gone, but it would only take a spark to light that fire again.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee changed from the side crunches towards straight sit-ups, then she started with some push-ups herself while he seemed to be done for the moment. When he spoke, she stopped immediately and sprang to her feet, feeling her heart pounding inside her chest and the warm blood flooding her veins. She looked him straight into the eye, contemplating whether he was being serious.
"Fire? Inside a ship? Inside a small confined space while the heating module is broken? You know that it is usually connected to the air flow...we wouldn't want to risk losing oxygen", she replied a bit perplexed. Before you start to burn things, we should rather follow your other suggestion, she thought bitterly to herself.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

"Well I don't see any other solutions that don't involve physical contact," he said, standing up. The bed seemed to grow larger in his peripheral vision. He swallowed hard. What was so special about her that made him tense and on edge? He looked away from her intense gaze and stared at a point near her elbow.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She felt both her frustration and her desperation grow again. What was he trying to do? Make her say it? His fire idea was basically a stupid distraction. Actually it was quite clever of him though, because he managed to let her have the last word on it now. Body heat was of course an efficient source of warmth and while they had no other options,she felt almost obliged to say it. She felt her own temperature drop again, the first shivers started to trace her body and they needed to stay warm somehow. Their food wouldn't even last long enough if they had to eat increased portions in order to not loose too much energy. Resigning, she let out a desperate sigh, made her way back to the bed, sat down on it and moved as closely to the wall as she could."Sit down", she instructed him confidently, as though she would be in the position of giving commands, simply hoping that he would obey without a word. The tension between them reappeared, stronger than before and while she also felt this strange nervousity flood back in, she wondered why he made her feel that way. It wasn't too hard to just sit close to someone to avoid freezing, wasn't it?

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan sat down on the bed and swung his legs over. He was tall enough that even sitting at the top of the bed, his feet nearly reached the end. He kicked off his boots and leaned against the wall. He had to admit, it was warmer sitting next to her, he could feel the barest brush of her knee against his thigh and he tried not to think too much about it. He turned his head and looked at her next to him. He had to tilt his head downwards to meet her eyes.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee felt her heart racing. She tried to breathe calmy while it was wildy pounding in her chest. She hadn't had any actual physical contact in the last few moths and now she was sitting next to the man who captured her. She was technically still his prisoner and now they sat there, still some distance between them, but closer than she had ever imagined. She felt his eyes burning on her light skin but she forced herself to look up, in order to overplay her confusing emotions. What was it that made her feel so lost in this moment? Pulling herself together, she opened her mouth again, still, struggling to regain her calm. "I would say we might survive...but what are we supposed to do with all this time?", she asked curiously, but also a little overstrained. She moved a little closer, as she was still shivering, but it actually started to help.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan did not blink when Hailee shifted closer. Now, their arms were touching. Her skin seemed to sear his arm even through his shirt and cloak. "I have absolutely no idea," he answered truthfully. He supposed he could train, and perhaps try and turn the girl before they even arrived. That would make everything a lot easier. He didn't know what to think about sitting this close to the girl for the entire three weeks. It was helping, though; his shivers eased.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

She noticed that this wasn't quite easy for him either and so she cautiously tried to sneak into his mind for a second again. While he was considering their options of how to pass time, she just caught a glimpse of him thinking about training of some sort. He was powerful. She couldn't deny it. Maybe she could even make him teach her some tricks amd skills which could be useful for her. She knew that she had to be careful in order not to step too closely to the abyss of the dark side, but she figured that by practicing a little, this wouldn't just happen like that. She was to strong headed and determined to be lead astray. "Well you could teach me how to focus so strongly that you could make someone levitate", she responded jokingly to lighten up the mood...her mood at least.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan shrugged, his shoulder moving against her arm. "It's really not hard- you just need to meditate and build up your mental strength, and focus it on one object; imagine you are actually picking it up with your hands," It had taken years of training for him to reach this point- ever since he was six he had been trained to be the best of the best. Anything less deserved to be punished.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

It was weird for her to have such a casual talk with him right now, sitting just besides him and embracing the warmth his body emitted from the side, when she was literally wearing hand-cuffs less than 24 hours earlier. However, it somehow distracted her from the cold and she really needed to focus on something else. She had made things levitate before, but never people. She was taught that especially if they resisted, it would be harder to overthrow them with the Force, for example by making them float. Just as he was done explaining, she closed her eyes, concentrating on him and the Force within him, imagining that she could simply lift him from the ground. She tried to focus so strongly, so determined, that her head began to ache again. She could feel a slight pull within him, but he of course didn't leave the bed. "At what age did you start your training? And who taught you?", she asked, changing the subject for now, opening her eyes and shooting him an interested look.

@Reylo4evr

 

[Ronan Carduel]

Ronan looked at her with an amused look when she tried to levitate him. Some of his muscles twitched but that might have been a shiver. He scooted closer. "I was six standard years old when I first started training in the ways of the Force," he said. "You will meet my master when we reach Moraband. A warning- do not toy with him like you toy with me, he would not hesitate to kill you in an instant. He will keep you alive if he is intrigued, so if you want to keep breathing, I suggest you intrigue him- show off her your fierce personality and your quickness to anger," he said. Might as well be honest- falsehoods would help no one now; his master would only grow angry with him for bothering him and then kill Hailee.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee was a little surprised by his little warning as it actually seemed quite honest. Why was it even so important to him that she was kept alive? Did he need to prove something to his master? Hailee assumed that he could bring any Jedi to him and if there would be the prospect of success in turning them over to the dark side, his master would be satisfied. But why her? Why was he clinging to that thought? "I appreciate your warning...thank you...really. But I cannot promise anything", she replied truthfully, still eying him curiously. "It almost sounds like you wouldn't actually want me to get killed. I wonder why. Is it still because I 'pipe your curiosity'" , she then taunted him with a slight devilish smirk on her face, quoting what he said to her in that cell just the day before.

@Reylo4evr