![[-]](https://www.horuset.com/images/igame/collapse.png "[-]")
Content Warning: mature themes, stupid dares, bad decisions
Fingers drummed on the stone edging of the rooftop, the acolyte they belonged to gazing blankly out into the dark horizon. Unfamiliar stars glimmered down, the torches of the settlement bathing the streets below in good, if patchy, light.
"Still hiding up here?" A cultured voice broke through Jadzia's thoughts. The dark haired woman looked over her shoulder to see the blonde acolyte smirking at her. Aster's robes were dusty from scrambling up the side of the building to join her.
"Not hiding. Pondering in boredom."
"Boredom in a war zone?" The blonde walked over to sit beside Zia, casting her blue gaze over the same horizon.
"I'm finding out that war is 20 per cent action, 50 per cent planning."
"And the other 30 per cent?"
"...Boredom. For me, at least." Zia smirked.
"Don't let the Sith hear you say that," Aster stifled a chuckle, "Still... I too seem to find myself empty of tasks this evening and no desire to head to acolyte barracks just to hear Droseth's snoring. Fancy something fun?"
"Like what?" Zia arched a brow.
"Playing a game." Aster's eyes gleamed, "Truth or Dare."
"...You really are just as bored as me, aren't you." Zia couldn't hide the brief grin, "Fine. You find some cups or glasses or something, I'll snatch something we can drink."
...
Ten minutes later, the two women were sat cross legged on the rooftop, a dusty bottle of cheap twi'leki liquor that had been abandoned between them.
"You couldn't find any wine?" Aster scoffed, placing down the two glasses she had "borrowed" from the mess hall. Zia simply gave her a look. "...Fine. Fine." The blonde woman poured them both a glass of liquor, wrinkling her pert nose at the lesser quality liquid that filled the tumblers.
"To the war effort of Horuset's Landing." Zia raised her glass in a toast with a smirk, braving a mouthful of liquor. Aster joined the toast, pausing for a moment to watch Zia's reaction before drinking herself. Zia's eyes watered as the liquor burned her throat and hit her stomach.
"Ooft... that burns a bit..." she smacked her lips "...but the aftertaste isn't bad."
Aster coughed and spluttered as she swallowed her mouthful but had to agree.
"Fine... Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Zia's gaze was calculating; she wasn't drunk enough yet to brave a dare.
"Who was your first kiss?" Aster grinned, teeth flashing in the dim light. Zia rolled her eyes but smirked slightly.
"Some boy in Kaas City, before my sensitivity was discovered and I was sent to Korriban. I think I was...16? Entirely unremarkable. I think he almost missed because he was so nervous." Zia grinned, swirling the liquor in her glass, "Alright...Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Aster replied, having another sip of her drink.
"What was your worst date?"
Aster blinked, then thought for a moment, "I'm clearly too good looking to have had a -bad- date..." she began, "But I asked someone out before the academy, and the girl only went with me as a joke."
Jadzia's eyebrows rose, but she didn't laugh. "Her judgement was flawed, clearly."
The blonde's eyes sparkled, meeting Zia's burnished mahogany over the edge of her glass. "Truth or Dare?"
"...Dare."
"Dip Corporal Xogram's macronocular eyecups in something that stains." Aster's grin was mischievous. Zia smothered a laugh, then nodded.
"Fine." The dark haired acolyte disappeared off the rooftop, returning perhaps fifteen minutes later with a satisfied expression and sitting back down next to Aster, "Truth or Dare?"
"...Truth."
"What is your biggest regret?" Zia sipped her liquor, her eye twitching as it coursed down her throat.
"Not killing you when I've had multiple opportunities," Aster replied, gazing unblinkingly towards her peer; it was impossible for Zia to tell if she was joking or not and the dark haired acolyte could only incline her head in tacit acknowledgement before the question was asked, "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth."
"Hmm...what do you feel other people misunderstand most about you?" Aster bumped her arm against Zia's, a catlike grin spreading across her face. Zia paused, then took another sip to help herself think.
"I...hm. Probably...well..." she furrowed her lower lip between her teeth, "...maybe that they think I'm a teacher's pet, but.. I'm just terrified of failure. The fact that it's never enough, well...just makes it a vicious cycle anyway. Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Aster watched Zia as she sipped her drink, waiting for the question.
"...Why Alicia? Or what about another person makes your heart race?" Zia asked, suspecting that Aster would refuse the first question. Aster's cheeks flushed, but the alcohol was steadily eroding her filters.
"Two questions?" Aster gave her a wry smile, "Fine, but then I get to ask two."
Zia swallowed but nodded in agreement. Aster was looking at her drink, perhaps pointedly not at Zia, "Alicia... I'll be the first to admit I'm shallow. She's pretty, badass, beat me up a few times. What's not to like? But with anything superficial, it was gone in a few weeks. For your other question..."
Aster looked back up at Zia, a mischievous glint in her gaze and the curve of her lip, "When you meet someone that matches your energy and your attitude, and there's that feeling. That tension, that anticipation that makes your nerves sing. It tells you that you're either going to fight or fuck, or both, and you just don't know which it'll be first."
".. I'll go Dare."
"Find that one private whose hair is always just a little weird, and put glue in his helmet."
"You really have it in for the military tonight, don't you." Zia retorted as she got up again, disappearing into the shadows. Aster drained and refilled her glass during the time Jadzia was gone, her eyes thoughtful in introspection.
"Ugh...took almost twenty minutes to find that private.." Zia grumbled as she plonked herself back down, gulping more of her drink, "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare this time."
"I dare you to..." Zia grinned wickedly "...steal a pair of Apprentice Mharn's socks and leave them to be found where non Force sensitives could easily reach.."
Aster looked up from her drink, an eyebrow twitching and a smirk lingering. She departed without a word. Fifteen minutes later, Zia could see someone moving in the shadows below the rooftop towards the gate; two large and strangely lumpy darned socks were draped artistically over lamp brackets. A few minutes later, Aster returned to the roof and settled herself beside her peer.
"I didn't expect them to be so lumpy?" Zia peered at the blonde over the rim of her drink.
"They may have been used to scoop up mud on the way back." Aster winked, sipping her drink, "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth."
"Ever kissed a girl?" Aster leaned against Zia's shoulder conspiratorially, her blue eyes piercing in their intensity. Zia blinked owlishly, unsettled for a moment, her voice small when she answered.
"I...um...yes."
"Would you - oh really?" Aster's eyes gleamed, her hand brushing Zia's knee, "Would you want to again?"
Zia blushed faintly in the dark, unsure how to answer.
"Just...just how complex are you wanting this friend...enemy... frenemyship?!"
"Frenemies with benefits?"
"...I don't think I'm in your league." Zia stammered, trying to backpedal.
"You never know if you never try."
"I'm straight!"
"Worth a shot." Aster winked, gulping another mouthful of liquor.
"What was your first time like?" Zia shot the question at her more as a distraction than anything else.
Aster's grin could have been seen clearly from across the settlement. "I'll answer that, but then you have to answer the same." She exhaled deeply and thought back a few years, "It was fun. She was very pretty, and we got to experimenting...though nothing really came of it in the end." she smiled in reminiscence, "It definitely encouraged me to explore more alternatives." her head tilted back towards Zia, smiling, ""Well? What about yours?"
Jadzia's expression was less content as she recalled the memory.
"He was overexcited enough to miss most of the time. Unimpressive, messy and over far too quickly." She rolled her eyes and gulped her drink - possibly to try and blank out the memory.
"Isn't that just men having sex in general?" Aster snorted, Zia slowly looking back to meet her gaze.
"How would you know?"
The two stared at each other for a moment, then dissolved into giggles.
"Truth...or dare...?" Zia managed to gasp out, her shoulders still shaking.
"Dare, this time!" Aster trying desperately to stop laughing for long enough to down a gulp of liquor. An evil spark kindled in Zia's eye.
"Write a love note to Apprentice Alicia on one of the walls of the settlement."
"What!?" Alcohol sprayed over the ground as Aster spat out her mouthful and gaped, a flush of embarrassment glowing over her pale cheeks. Zia's face was a study in smug satisfaction.
"Fine." The blonde got up and stomped off the rooftop. Zia followed, leaving the now-empty bottle and glasses behind, wanting to both witness and ensure that Aster actually fulfilled the dare. Both acolytes dampened their presences in the Force to keep themselves from being discovered by the nighttime patrols, Aster choosing a wall beside a pile of steadily rotting vegetables and broken crates.
Zia covered her mouth to silence herself as the large words were plastered on the wall in stolen paint faded with age. Aster was breathless from embarrassment and daring as the tipsy acolytes stumbled away from the scene of the crime. The pair wended their way through the alleyways, keeping to the shadows until they got close enough to the acolyte barracks to not be as suspicious.
"You didn't bring the bottle with you?" Aster's tone was accusing, a hand resting on her hip.
"It was empty.." Zia shrugged. Aster squinted at her, tilting her head as she recalled something from earlier.
"You never answered my question earlier."
"What question?"
"Would you ever kiss a girl again?" Aster watched with some satisfaction as Zia blushed and stammered.
"I...um... maybe? I don't know! We should get some sleep..."
"Coward."
Zia froze at the accusation. Emboldened by the alcohol and despising being called a coward, she strode towards the blonde and leaned in, brushing her lips against Aster's. Aster welcomed the move, smiling broadly when the two women parted.
"...Did you like it?"
"...Not for me." Zia at least met Aster's eyes, simple in her honesty "Not bad, but not for me."
Aster tilted her head, suspicion dawning.
"Not scarred and tattooed enough for you?"
"I don't know what you mean." Zia replied primly, turning around and promptly smacking her face into a rocky outcrop from the nearby wall. "Son of a-! Ouch!" She clutched at her bleeding nose, staggering backwards into the blonde woman. Aster burst out laughing and grabbed Zia's arm, and half pulling, half dragging her to the relative safety of the settlement's acolyte barracks.
Fingers drummed on the stone edging of the rooftop, the acolyte they belonged to gazing blankly out into the dark horizon. Unfamiliar stars glimmered down, the torches of the settlement bathing the streets below in good, if patchy, light.
"Still hiding up here?" A cultured voice broke through Jadzia's thoughts. The dark haired woman looked over her shoulder to see the blonde acolyte smirking at her. Aster's robes were dusty from scrambling up the side of the building to join her.
"Not hiding. Pondering in boredom."
"Boredom in a war zone?" The blonde walked over to sit beside Zia, casting her blue gaze over the same horizon.
"I'm finding out that war is 20 per cent action, 50 per cent planning."
"And the other 30 per cent?"
"...Boredom. For me, at least." Zia smirked.
"Don't let the Sith hear you say that," Aster stifled a chuckle, "Still... I too seem to find myself empty of tasks this evening and no desire to head to acolyte barracks just to hear Droseth's snoring. Fancy something fun?"
"Like what?" Zia arched a brow.
"Playing a game." Aster's eyes gleamed, "Truth or Dare."
"...You really are just as bored as me, aren't you." Zia couldn't hide the brief grin, "Fine. You find some cups or glasses or something, I'll snatch something we can drink."
...
Ten minutes later, the two women were sat cross legged on the rooftop, a dusty bottle of cheap twi'leki liquor that had been abandoned between them.
"You couldn't find any wine?" Aster scoffed, placing down the two glasses she had "borrowed" from the mess hall. Zia simply gave her a look. "...Fine. Fine." The blonde woman poured them both a glass of liquor, wrinkling her pert nose at the lesser quality liquid that filled the tumblers.
"To the war effort of Horuset's Landing." Zia raised her glass in a toast with a smirk, braving a mouthful of liquor. Aster joined the toast, pausing for a moment to watch Zia's reaction before drinking herself. Zia's eyes watered as the liquor burned her throat and hit her stomach.
"Ooft... that burns a bit..." she smacked her lips "...but the aftertaste isn't bad."
Aster coughed and spluttered as she swallowed her mouthful but had to agree.
"Fine... Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Zia's gaze was calculating; she wasn't drunk enough yet to brave a dare.
"Who was your first kiss?" Aster grinned, teeth flashing in the dim light. Zia rolled her eyes but smirked slightly.
"Some boy in Kaas City, before my sensitivity was discovered and I was sent to Korriban. I think I was...16? Entirely unremarkable. I think he almost missed because he was so nervous." Zia grinned, swirling the liquor in her glass, "Alright...Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Aster replied, having another sip of her drink.
"What was your worst date?"
Aster blinked, then thought for a moment, "I'm clearly too good looking to have had a -bad- date..." she began, "But I asked someone out before the academy, and the girl only went with me as a joke."
Jadzia's eyebrows rose, but she didn't laugh. "Her judgement was flawed, clearly."
The blonde's eyes sparkled, meeting Zia's burnished mahogany over the edge of her glass. "Truth or Dare?"
"...Dare."
"Dip Corporal Xogram's macronocular eyecups in something that stains." Aster's grin was mischievous. Zia smothered a laugh, then nodded.
"Fine." The dark haired acolyte disappeared off the rooftop, returning perhaps fifteen minutes later with a satisfied expression and sitting back down next to Aster, "Truth or Dare?"
"...Truth."
"What is your biggest regret?" Zia sipped her liquor, her eye twitching as it coursed down her throat.
"Not killing you when I've had multiple opportunities," Aster replied, gazing unblinkingly towards her peer; it was impossible for Zia to tell if she was joking or not and the dark haired acolyte could only incline her head in tacit acknowledgement before the question was asked, "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth."
"Hmm...what do you feel other people misunderstand most about you?" Aster bumped her arm against Zia's, a catlike grin spreading across her face. Zia paused, then took another sip to help herself think.
"I...hm. Probably...well..." she furrowed her lower lip between her teeth, "...maybe that they think I'm a teacher's pet, but.. I'm just terrified of failure. The fact that it's never enough, well...just makes it a vicious cycle anyway. Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Aster watched Zia as she sipped her drink, waiting for the question.
"...Why Alicia? Or what about another person makes your heart race?" Zia asked, suspecting that Aster would refuse the first question. Aster's cheeks flushed, but the alcohol was steadily eroding her filters.
"Two questions?" Aster gave her a wry smile, "Fine, but then I get to ask two."
Zia swallowed but nodded in agreement. Aster was looking at her drink, perhaps pointedly not at Zia, "Alicia... I'll be the first to admit I'm shallow. She's pretty, badass, beat me up a few times. What's not to like? But with anything superficial, it was gone in a few weeks. For your other question..."
Aster looked back up at Zia, a mischievous glint in her gaze and the curve of her lip, "When you meet someone that matches your energy and your attitude, and there's that feeling. That tension, that anticipation that makes your nerves sing. It tells you that you're either going to fight or fuck, or both, and you just don't know which it'll be first."
".. I'll go Dare."
"Find that one private whose hair is always just a little weird, and put glue in his helmet."
"You really have it in for the military tonight, don't you." Zia retorted as she got up again, disappearing into the shadows. Aster drained and refilled her glass during the time Jadzia was gone, her eyes thoughtful in introspection.
"Ugh...took almost twenty minutes to find that private.." Zia grumbled as she plonked herself back down, gulping more of her drink, "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare this time."
"I dare you to..." Zia grinned wickedly "...steal a pair of Apprentice Mharn's socks and leave them to be found where non Force sensitives could easily reach.."
Aster looked up from her drink, an eyebrow twitching and a smirk lingering. She departed without a word. Fifteen minutes later, Zia could see someone moving in the shadows below the rooftop towards the gate; two large and strangely lumpy darned socks were draped artistically over lamp brackets. A few minutes later, Aster returned to the roof and settled herself beside her peer.
"I didn't expect them to be so lumpy?" Zia peered at the blonde over the rim of her drink.
"They may have been used to scoop up mud on the way back." Aster winked, sipping her drink, "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth."
"Ever kissed a girl?" Aster leaned against Zia's shoulder conspiratorially, her blue eyes piercing in their intensity. Zia blinked owlishly, unsettled for a moment, her voice small when she answered.
"I...um...yes."
"Would you - oh really?" Aster's eyes gleamed, her hand brushing Zia's knee, "Would you want to again?"
Zia blushed faintly in the dark, unsure how to answer.
"Just...just how complex are you wanting this friend...enemy... frenemyship?!"
"Frenemies with benefits?"
"...I don't think I'm in your league." Zia stammered, trying to backpedal.
"You never know if you never try."
"I'm straight!"
"Worth a shot." Aster winked, gulping another mouthful of liquor.
"What was your first time like?" Zia shot the question at her more as a distraction than anything else.
Aster's grin could have been seen clearly from across the settlement. "I'll answer that, but then you have to answer the same." She exhaled deeply and thought back a few years, "It was fun. She was very pretty, and we got to experimenting...though nothing really came of it in the end." she smiled in reminiscence, "It definitely encouraged me to explore more alternatives." her head tilted back towards Zia, smiling, ""Well? What about yours?"
Jadzia's expression was less content as she recalled the memory.
"He was overexcited enough to miss most of the time. Unimpressive, messy and over far too quickly." She rolled her eyes and gulped her drink - possibly to try and blank out the memory.
"Isn't that just men having sex in general?" Aster snorted, Zia slowly looking back to meet her gaze.
"How would you know?"
The two stared at each other for a moment, then dissolved into giggles.
"Truth...or dare...?" Zia managed to gasp out, her shoulders still shaking.
"Dare, this time!" Aster trying desperately to stop laughing for long enough to down a gulp of liquor. An evil spark kindled in Zia's eye.
"Write a love note to Apprentice Alicia on one of the walls of the settlement."
"What!?" Alcohol sprayed over the ground as Aster spat out her mouthful and gaped, a flush of embarrassment glowing over her pale cheeks. Zia's face was a study in smug satisfaction.
"Fine." The blonde got up and stomped off the rooftop. Zia followed, leaving the now-empty bottle and glasses behind, wanting to both witness and ensure that Aster actually fulfilled the dare. Both acolytes dampened their presences in the Force to keep themselves from being discovered by the nighttime patrols, Aster choosing a wall beside a pile of steadily rotting vegetables and broken crates.
Zia covered her mouth to silence herself as the large words were plastered on the wall in stolen paint faded with age. Aster was breathless from embarrassment and daring as the tipsy acolytes stumbled away from the scene of the crime. The pair wended their way through the alleyways, keeping to the shadows until they got close enough to the acolyte barracks to not be as suspicious.
"You didn't bring the bottle with you?" Aster's tone was accusing, a hand resting on her hip.
"It was empty.." Zia shrugged. Aster squinted at her, tilting her head as she recalled something from earlier.
"You never answered my question earlier."
"What question?"
"Would you ever kiss a girl again?" Aster watched with some satisfaction as Zia blushed and stammered.
"I...um... maybe? I don't know! We should get some sleep..."
"Coward."
Zia froze at the accusation. Emboldened by the alcohol and despising being called a coward, she strode towards the blonde and leaned in, brushing her lips against Aster's. Aster welcomed the move, smiling broadly when the two women parted.
"...Did you like it?"
"...Not for me." Zia at least met Aster's eyes, simple in her honesty "Not bad, but not for me."
Aster tilted her head, suspicion dawning.
"Not scarred and tattooed enough for you?"
"I don't know what you mean." Zia replied primly, turning around and promptly smacking her face into a rocky outcrop from the nearby wall. "Son of a-! Ouch!" She clutched at her bleeding nose, staggering backwards into the blonde woman. Aster burst out laughing and grabbed Zia's arm, and half pulling, half dragging her to the relative safety of the settlement's acolyte barracks.
