A Memorable First Impression

[oh_what_can_it_mean]

Here's the other Elia 'Verse "big story."

I re-read the two Ara 'Verse "big stories" often, and other stuff here, and sometimes I add stuff to my Google doc of ideas, but no new big story, even though it's been seven months since the last one and I have a few ideas of stuff to expand into the next big story (like the day after "Cin Asks Ara") or re-write into a big story (Cin and Ara's first time; I have a lot of changes to make). The current daydream is either Ara on a podcast after a post-FF/CAA Zarra Chin interview or Ara having her own podcast (with Jitters and a civilian host), which is...well, no more self-indulgent than any of my other fics. I may be hoping that someone else will see this stuff and comment, but I'm mostly writing this for myself.

Anyhow, here's "A Memorable First Impression." It's also here on AO3.

Summary:

Elia Garek (she/her) is a recent fashion school graduate from a family of textile manufacturers, and her spouse Davros "Dav" Werid (they/them) is an X-wing pilot, late of the New Republic Navy. The two make an...interesting...first impression on the Resistance.

Notes:

This story takes place in 32 ABY, 1 year after Poe joined the Resistance and 2 years before TFA. (The year Poe joins the Resistance comes from a quick Google search.) Cresemba Base is completely made up for this 'verse (it's where the Resistance lives between the Echo of Hope and D'Qar), and in the course of the timeline (not in this story) they will evacuate to D'Qar, TFA will happen, and things'll go AU after TFA.

Also, for the purposes of this series, Captain Jessika Pava is Blue Leader, Lieutenant Iolo Arana is on her squad, and Captain Temmin "Snap" Wexley is Red Leader. Wookieepedia hasn't always been helpful and some stuff just didn't suit my purposes.

Credit for "Yavini Loco Leaf": Lovers Under the Stars by (AO3)hoemystars
Credit for the idea of the diffuser: [to be added when I find it again] (I like the idea of a scent diffuser being a standard part of private quarters so I'm making them standard here)

Possible content warning for impromptu little play under the influence of space weed. No harm is done, but there is awkwardness during and after.

Chapter 1: Introductions

     The little freighter Beaumonde gets Elia Garek and her spouse Davros "Dav" Werid from their old life on Hosnia Prime to their new life on Cresemba without incident. They step off the gangplank hand in hand, and are met by General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, and Commander Poe Dameron, leader of the X-wing squadrons. Introductions are made, and they're allowed into the base.

     After a few days, they've been assigned quarters, moved their personal belongings there, and turned over the Beaumonde and its cargo (communiques and gifts from people on Hosnia Prime who had loved ones in the Resistance, some fresh food, but mostly bolts of fabric that Elia had thought would be useful) to the quartermaster, and started to learn their way around the base.

     Elia takes her portfolio and some sample pieces to the base's tailoring and alterations shop, which is run by Master Tailors Kerrin and Steev Stoneskipper. They are happy to have Elia's help and her supplies. Elia knows how to design, draft, and cut a pattern, which will be useful for all the new uniforms they'll be making in the near future, but most of what the Stoneskippers' shop does is fittings and alterations, so they agree to take on Elia as an apprentice tailor. Elia is happy to expand on her sewing skills, and is glad that she'll be useful to the Resistance, but she holds out hope that there will be at least a little demand for her design skills.

     Dav has a test flight with the other X-wing pilots and passes with flying colors. They and the other pilots will need time to get used to each other and cohere, but they're integrated into the X-wing pilot family as Blue Five and they all trudge to the mess hall for lunch.

     They've all tucked into their food by the time Dav notices their wife in the cafeteria line. They wave, and she waves back. Lieutenant Iolo Arana scoots over so that his new squadmate can sit next to their wife.

     "Everyone, this is my wife, Elia Garek," Dav says to the other pilots, then introduces the other pilots at their table: Blue Leader Captain Jessika Pava, Red Leader Captain Temmin ("call me Snap," he says) Wexley, Lieutenant Iolo Arana, Lieutenant Karé Kun, and Captain L'ulo L'ampar.

     "Nice to meet you all," Elia says shyly. Turning to Dav, she says, "I guess it went well then?"

     "It did," says Captain Pava. "They did really well. Their new call sign is Blue Five."

     "I knew it!," said Elia, smiling at Captain Pava, then at her spouse.

     "How did your intro at the tailor shop go?" Dav asked.

     Elia ducked her head and took a bite of her food, feeling the gaze of the other storm pilots on her. Finally, she said, "It went really well. They liked my portfolio, and when I showed them your other flight suit with Berik's fabric, they were impressed." Elia looked at the other pilots. "We'll be cranking out new flight suits over the next few weeks, with the fabric that earned my brother his mastery as a textile designer. It's anti-microbial, moisture-wicking, and it feels like soft denim."

     "Wait, really?" asked Lieutenant Arana from less than a foot away. "That is awesome!"

     Elia flinched at the sudden loud noise, but managed a smile.

     Commander Dameron said, "That's good to hear. It'd be nice to stink less when debriefing with the General." Laughter all around. "And we're having a holo night tonight--"

     "Pilot Puppy Pile!" inserts Iolo again, grinning. Elia startles again.

     "The number of attendees will determine how 'puppy pile' it actually gets," Poe continues, with a short but sharp glare at Iolo for another sharp, loud noise that made the just-introduced civilian woman flinch. "You're both welcome to attend. It's just a pajama party and a holo-movie or two, and it's completely voluntary."

     Dav looks down at Elia, who nods. "We're in," Dav says. "When does it start?"

     "2100 hours, in my quarters. You know where they are?" Commander Dameron asks.

     "I think so, sir," Dav says, "and if not, we'll follow the line of X-wing pilots in their jammies."

     "See you then."

---

Chapter 2: Movie Night

     "Everyone comfortable?" asks Dameron. He and Dav are fiddling with the holo display, Elia is in the middle of the three-cushion sofa in the back of the small living room with Snap to her right and space for Dav to her left, Arana is leaned against the arm of Snap's side of the couch, and Pava and Kun are on a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, and there's space for Dameron a few feet away.

     Dav is wearing their X-wing pajamas that Elia had made for them and their New Republic Navy squadron back before they defected to the Resistance, and they get compliments on them.

     Dav points to Elia and says, "Elia made them. Even designed the print."

     "Hey, would anyone mind if I put a couple loco leaves in the diffuser?" Pava asks. There are cheers and no objections. Moments after the device is activated, a mild, sweet smell fills the room and Elia is consciously aware of her body and mind relaxing. She starts to lean against Snap, then sits back up again with a quiet apology.

     "It's alright," Snap says, and puts a pillow against his leg. "If you want to lay down..."

     "Yeah, I think so. Thanks." Elia stretches her small body out across the couch, resting her head on the pillow and her right arm a little under it, next to Snap's thigh. "This okay?" she asks.

     "Yeah," Snap says. He looks down at her and smiles.

     The holo starts and Dav comes back to the couch, lifting Elia's legs to sit with her knees across their lap.

     The holo isn't terribly interesting to Elia. It's an adventure story with lots of fight scenes and explosions, and the romantic subplot seems shoehorned in.

     And it was clearly made on a Core World, because it doesn't pass the Blorkdel Test at all.

     Snap hesitantly, carefully, pats at Elia's hair. Elia struggles to remove the hair tie containing the messy bun at the nape of her neck, and Dav gently gently removes it for her and places it in the breast pocket of their pajamas. Dav meets Snap's eye and mimics carding his fingers through Elia's hair, with a little shrug that they intend to mean, if you want to.

---

     Snap gives a wobbly little smile and does as indicated, carding his fingers through Elia's hair absently, while also not seeing the holo. He's remembering a Boy who was in his late twenties, but when he was in little space he was about five. Snap's Boy also enjoyed having his hair played with like this. Snap holds his breath to try to keep back a sob and it works for a short while, but then his eyes start to well up and his nose prickles. He sniffles as quietly as he can, but he has to keep doing so.

---

     Elia notices Snap's distress. She figures Dav can too, but just in case she reaches out with her left hand and pokes Dav in the thigh. Their eyes meet and Elia rolls her eyes to look at Snap. Dav nods their comprehension, and the soft look in their eyes says that they are also feeling empathy for this man's sadness, even if they don't know the cause.

     As quietly as they can manage while still being heard over the holo, Dav asks, "Hey, man, you alright?"

     "Sorry," Snap says, just as quietly. "Just missing someone. I had a Boy, back when I was in the Navy. Not much bigger than Elia, and he liked having his hair played with like this too."

     "Capital-B Boy?" Dav asks, just to be sure that Snap wasn't talking about a literal child and/or his literal offspring.

     "Yeah," breathes Snap, on a stifled sob. "When I decided to leave the New Republic Navy and join the Resistance, he broke up with me. I haven't seen him since."

     Elia whimpers in sympathy. She hasn't quite started to doze, so she's heard this part of the conversation and pressed her right arm, which was under the pillow, a little more firmly against Snap's thigh.

     Dav looks down at Elia, who looks up at them and trusts them to know what to do in this situation. Dav says quietly, "Ellie, Mister Temmin is feeling lonely You know what might make him feel better?"

     The use of her Little name has her regressing quickly, aided by the loco leaf. "What's that, Renny?" she asks.

     "I think he needs an Ellie hug. Ellie hugs are the best hugs!"

     Ellie sits up into a cross-legged position and looks at Snap with wide, hopeful eyes. "Would you like a hug, Mister Temmin?" she asks shyly.

     "I would love a hug," says Snap to Ellie, hoping he didn't sound too needy but high enough to not care much. To Dav, he says, "Such a polite little girl."

     "Yeah," says Dav, a little dryly, "she's on her best behavior for once."

     Ellie is climbing onto Snap's lap. She pauses to blow a raspberry at her Renny, then she wraps her arms around the back of Snap's neck and smooshes her forehead and nose into the crook of his neck.

---

     Snap is unprepared for such a rush of emotion at a holo night, but he's afraid that this will never happen again, and he wraps his arms tightly around Ellie, though not as tightly as he'd like for fear of scaring or hurting her. He weeps quietly onto Ellie's shoulder, time going fuzzy as he moves slowly through a swamp of buried emotions.

     He doesn't notice the holo ending, or the concerned looks from Jess or Poe, or an eavesdropping Iolo waving them off. He doesn't notice when they start another holo, this one with even more loud fight scenes and explosions than the first. He does notice when Ellie starts to weep in sympathy, and he feels like a shit for making a Little cry. He looks to Dav to apologize, but Dav, a little misty-eyed themself, puts their hand on Snap's knee and whispers, "This is something you needed, and we're happy to help. Ellie always feels better after a good cry, and hopefully you will too."

     Snap's throat tightens and he can't say anything, so he closes his eyes, puts his head back on the now-cold spot on Ellie's shoulder, and lets the tears slow to a stop on their own. By the time he's done, he notices that Ellie has slumped a little in his embrace, snoring softly and drooling on his shirt.

     Now what?

     Snap turns to Dav for what to do next. They're the one whose words put their wife into little space and onto his lap. This is their weird, impromptu, too-public scene.

     Dav is starting to panic, wondering what the fuck they've just done. They probably just majorly overstepped their bounds with Snap, and in front of their new squadmates no less.

     "I fucked up, man," Dav says quietly, almost directly into Snap's ear. "I'm sorry, this all really should've been negotiated if it was going to happen at all. Are you okay?"

     Snap is relieved that they recognize this, but now that the crying has stopped and there's a sleeping Little warm on his lap, he says, "Yeah, um, sib. I'm good. That was...totally out of left space, and we should talk about it, but I'm...good. I could stay like this indefinitely, or at least until the holo's over."

     "We can talk about--" they gesture at the three of them "--this, when Ellie's big again. If you want, you could come home with us and put Ellie to bed."

     "Really? You'd let me--" (Wow, way to sound desperate, Snap thinks.)

     "Yeah," Dav says. "Of course. I mean, it's the least we can do, and she clearly trusts you. And then we can hang out, and, I dunno..."

     "We could fuck, if your wife would be okay with that. Karé is my wife and nesting partner, but she's spending the night with Pava tonight."

     Dav sighs with relief. "Oh, thank the Force. Yeah, Elia will be fine with it, though she'll want all the details. I was afraid to make the first move after, you know."

     "Your wife is in a child's headspace and drooling onto my shirt. I think we're past awkward," Snap deadpans.

     "Sir, you underestimate my ability to awkward...how do you feel about restraints?"

     Snap snorts. "I think we're gonna get along just fine."

     When the credits start to roll on the second holo, Dav meets Snap's eyes and they nod at the door. They help Snap up, careful not to wake Ellie, then the three quietly retreat to the privacy of Dav and Elia's quarters.

---

     Iolo Arana has been sitting with his back to Snap's arm of the couch the entire evening. He couldn't know the nuances of movement and facial expressions behind him, of course, but he'd heard every word. He hadn't understood most of it, even with context clues, but he knew that it wasn't his place to interfere. It wasn't Poe's or Jess's either, so he'd waved them off earlier, but now that the trio of weird have left, Poe and Jess move to sit in front of him on the floor. Karé sits next to Jess but doesn't appear at all worried. Iolo considers that a good sign.

     "So, uh..." Poe begins, "what the kriff was that?"

     "I can't say, Poe. I'm sorry. It sounded really personal to them, and I feel bad for listening to all of it."

     "But they'll be okay? Elia is safe?" Poe asks.

     "I don't think there's anywhere in the galaxy that she'd be safer than with those two, right now," says Iolo, dead serious. Karé nods her agreement with Iolo's assessment of the situation.

     Poe nods at both of them, then turns to Iolo with an unreadable expression. "You sound a little envious, Iolo."

     Iolo is tired, high, and lonely. He's putting all his remaining energy into not spilling secrets that aren't his, but his brain-to-mouth filter is running on fumes at this point. "I am envious. I haven't been carried to bed since I was an actual child."

     Poe raises an eyebrow at this, and Iolo worries that he's just dropped a clue to what he was trying not to say, but he doesn't think there's anything he can do about it now.

     Looking as tired and high as Iolo feels, Poe says, "Come on, Iolo, We're all dead tired and tripping balls. I'll walk you back to your quarters."

     And Poe does, after sending Jess and Karé on their way. Once Iolo is in the privacy of his own room, he scribbles "capital-B Boy" and "child headspace" and "sex with restraints" onto a scrap of paper. He wants to look them up, but he's too wired. He removes his boots and his pajamas carelessly, leaving them where they fall, then collapses into bed and jerks himself raw, imagining sex with restraints, but mostly the thought of being carried gently to bed after.

Chapter Notes:The "Blorkdel Test" is something I made up because of human-centric sci-fi despite many different types of aliens (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.). To pass the Blorkdel Test you have to have two or more named alien characters who talk about something other than a human, or humanity as a whole. Despite this being a gripe of mine in the sci-fi fandoms I love, most if not all of the stories in this 'verse will also not pass the Blorkdel Test.

---

Chapter 3: Iolo has Questions and Jess has Concerns

     Elia wakes up...still Ellie. That's unusual. But Renny is there, and they take care of her, washing her hair in the shower, helping her get dressed, and brushing and braiding her hair. Once they enter the living room and see Snap standing in front of the sofa and folding the blanket he'd slept under, Elia starts to slowly switch up. Dav leads the breakfast conversation into mundane (for a Resistance base) topics like supply runs and the logistics of getting all the pilots their new flight suits. Snap, understanding, says that he'll make it a point to talk to Commander Dameron about making sure all the pilots get their measurements updated. Not long after that, Snap leaves to shower and dress in his and Karé's quarters and Dav and Elia continue their morning routine.

     Elia's ever-present fear of being late has her arriving at the tailor shop early, which is just as well, because Captain Pava and Lieutenant Arana are both there, pestering Kerrin and Steev to speak to her.

     "I'm right here, how can I help you?" Elia asks them, using her customer service voice, because she is at work now.

     "Can we talk in private?" Pava asks.

     "Sure," Elia says with a sigh. "Step into my office." She leads Pava and Arana into the tailor shop's singular two-by-two meter fitting room. She knows what this is about, and she's not ready to talk about it, but she senses that Dav or Snap or both could be in trouble if she doesn't say something.

     As soon as the fitting room door closes, Pava asks, "Are you alright?"

     "Yeah, I'm great actually. Best night's sleep I've had in ages," Elia replies, and the only part that's dishonest is the part where 'great' would really mean just getting to work and not having to answer intrusive questions.

     "Really?" asks Pava, unconvinced. "Because from where I was sitting, it looked like you cried yourself to sleep after being told to sit on someone's lap."

     "With all due respect, Captain, that's because you didn't hear what's being said, and you might not have had the context for it," says Elia. "But that's not even important. Snap is an adult. Dav is an adult. I am an adult. We were high, and we had a conversation that was more emotional than we were expecting, but it was cathartic and no harm was done. In fact, I think some good was done. But the details are private."

     Arana spoke up then, sounding nervous. "Um, were you actually an adult the whole time? I'm sorry to have eavesdropped on the entire conversation, but, well, you didn't sound like it."

     Elia rubs the bridge of her nose. Kriffin' K. "No matter how young I act, I don't stop actually being an adult. I have agency and a safe word and a foundation of trust that Dav and I have built over years."

     Arana seems more curious than worried when he asks, "How do you even get started? How do you even know to look for this stuff, much less how to?"

     Pava looks at Arana in surprise. "Really? You'd want to go down that road?"

     "If that road leads to someone feeling honored to carry my sleeping, dead weight ass to bed, then...yeah. I want to know more about this stuff," Iolo says, bashful.

     Elia's not expecting that turn of the conversation, but she's glad for the change away from her private life. "How much do you already know about, um, 'this stuff'?"

     Arana sounds a little ashamed when he says, "I tried to look up some stuff this morning based on what I overheard. 'Sex with restraints.' That one was straightforward enough. But, what is a 'capital-B Boy' and what is a 'child headspace' and why would someone feel honored to be asked by one adult to put another adult to bed? I barely got through the first one before I had to leave early to talk to you before work." Then Arana seems to realize all he's said and says, "I'm really sorry."

     Elia, resigned to having her dirty laundry aired in front of her spouse's co-workers but hoping that this information will at least lead to a closer friendship with them, says, "Well, I did ask that time. And I'm going to trust that this private information won't travel any further." Pava and Arana both nod their agreement. "Lieutenant Arana, may I give you a task to complete before we talk any further about, 'this stuff?'"

     "Of course! And please just call me Iolo," Iolo says, excited.

     Elia is sympathetic to someone who is brand new to the lifestyle and brimming with questions, but her patience isn't infinite. "Okay, lesson one: don't agree to anything before knowing exactly what's expected of you. But this is what I want you to do: come back tomorrow. I'm going to put together a reading list and link to some worksheets. I expect you to have done all the reading and filled out all of the worksheets before we discuss this topic again. If, in your reading, you decide you're not interested anymore, just say so and we'll continue what I hope is becoming friends as if you hadn't asked."

     "Yeah, I can do that," Iolo says. "What do I do after I've finished?"

     "You turn in the worksheets. I'll go over them, with Dav if you'll allow it. Then we'll make an appointment to have a long talk. I'd prefer to have Dav there too, that way you're getting more than just my perspective, but if you don't want them there, that's fine. It's your call."

     Iolo considers this, then says, "I think I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Thank you for...everything, Ms. Garek. I know it's more than I deserve."

     "Call me Elia," Elia insists. "And while it does sting because it's my personal life that was eavesdropped on...I'm not proud to admit this, but if our places had been reversed, I'd have listened in too. Now, I know that you two have jobs and I am at mine and very new and still trying to make a good first impression, so if you don't mind, I'll get back to my new girl bitch work."

     The three have a quiet laugh, then exit the fitting room.

     Halfway to the door, Iolo turns around and says, "Hey, do you think you could make me some X-wing pajamas like Werid had? You made those, right?"

     "Yeah..."

     "Oh, me too!" says Pava. "Just the pants, though. I'm not gonna wear a button-down to bed."

     Elia is happy to have been asked for a custom order on her first day and within earshot of the Stoneskippers, but worries about the limitations on the sort of garments she can make now that she's living and working at a secret Resistance base. But one of her kinks that wasn't aired in the fitting room just now is creative problem solving, and she thinks about what she can do. "I can't replicate them exactly. We don't have the resources to print a pattern on a bolt of fabric, but we could make it Resistance Chic--"

     "Resistance Chic isn't a thing!" shouts Steev from a table where he's hemming the trousers of an officer's dress uniform.

     "It will be!" Elia retorts, then turns back to Pava and Iolo. "Anyhow, I think we could improvise by taking black or navy fabric--we can do single-color dyes fairly easily--and then make a stencil of the x-wing design and use a bleach pen to do the markings. And it'd have to be on my own time because it's not official Resistance work."

     Pava seems to reconsider. "Never mind, then. That's too much to ask."

     But Elia's into it now. "Now I want to. It's not something I've done before, and I kinda want to try it just to see if it'll work."

     "We could help! We could make a party of it!" Iolo exclaims, and Elia only startles a little. He's an excitable dork, but he's starting to grow on her.

     "Yeah, somewhere well-ventilated," Jess says to both of them. Then, just to Iolo: "Arana, go on to the hangar and let the others know I'll be right there."

     "Yes, sir," Iolo says.

     Once he's left, Jess and Elia make their way to the front door of the shop. Jess looks back to make sure that neither Kerrin nor Steev are in earshot, then says, "Do you think that all that homework will scare Iolo off from...'this stuff?'"

     "No," says Elia. "At least, that wasn't the intention. I just want him to do the background reading that I didn't do before jumping in with both feet back in the day."

---

Chapter 4: Poe Checks in

     Commander Dameron shows up to the shop later, after lunch. The first person he sees is Kerrin Stoneskipper, and he asks to speak with Elia about getting X-wing pajamas like Dav's.

     Kerrin turns and shouts over her shoulder, "Elia, another pilot wants X-wing pajamas!" To Dameron, she says, "Honey, you don't need space pants. That ass is already out of this world!" And winks.

     "Um, thanks, Mrs. Stoneskipper," Dameron says awkwardly.

     Kerrin is unrepentant. "I'm married, not dead!"

     "Thanks, Kerrin," Elia says when she's close enough. "Commander, I don't have the resources to do exactly that, but I think I can do something similar. Did you want both pieces?"

     "Yes, if it's not too much trouble," says Dameron.

     "Okay, let's get your measurements then. We'll need them for your new flight suits anyway." Elia grabs the measuring holo-cam, then leads Dameron into the fitting room, closes the door, and looks him directly in the eye. "Do you actually want X-wing jammies or are you just checking up on me?"

     "Both, actually," says Dameron, "but mostly the second one. Iolo stopped me from interfering during the holos, but he accidentally let some stuff slip anyway. It sounds like you and Werid have a dom/sub dynamic, or daddy/little?"

     "Both, actually," says Elia, smiling ruefully.

     "Hey, I'm not judging. I'm in the lifestyle myself. No experience with Littles, but plenty of other stuff. But, you're okay? Nothing...untoward happened after you all left?"

     "Yeah. I woke up with Dav in our bed, and Snap had slept on the sleeper sofa."

     "And you talked it out?"

     Elia sighed. "No, we're doing that tonight. I, ah, woke up still little, which doesn't happen often, so Dav and Snap spent breakfast helping me back into a grown-up headspace."

     "Snap does the little stuff too?"

     "I don't have permission to answer that!" snaps Elia, exasperated. "And I cannot karking believe how much of my dirty laundry has been aired in the past eighteen hours." Then, grumbling more to herself than to Dameron: "And I can't even get a punishment scene out of it because Dav isn't a switch."

     Dameron's eyes widen. Elia even thinks his pupils dilate, but she's not sure. "A punishment scene? You have... implements?" he asks very quietly, just above a whisper.

     Elia throws caution to the wind--as much as she's capable of, anyway. "Yeah, but this conversation doesn't leave the two of us, and Dav, unless all three of us agree to it." Once Dameron nods his agreement, she continues. "I have two floggers, a whip, and a quick-assemble Tess'Ander cross." Switching tacks but not her tone of voice, she adds, "Now, jacket and trousers off, arms out, parallel with the floor, so I can actually get your measurements."

     He complies, and Elia walks around him with the holo-cam to capture his dimensions in less than a minute. She likes what she sees, and she knows that her gaze is entirely unprofessional. Also, Dameron is standing very still. Idly, she guesses, sub or switch.

     Dameron also seems to throw caution to the wind. "Are they fluid bonded?" he asks, referring to the propensity of leather to absorb germs along with sweat, blood, etc.

     "Nope!" Elia says brightly. "I ordered them from Stelara House, so they have the treatment where you can completely sanitize them in a high-pitched sonic shower."

     Dameron gives a low whistle. "That is so cool. But really expensive!"

     Elia shrugs. "Yeah, well, you can't take it with you." She hopes the money talk will stop now.

     It does. Dameron seems to be psyching himself up for something monumental, that could go very well or very badly. Finally, he says, "If this is beyond the pale inappropriate, just say so and I'll never bring it up again, I promise. But I could...volunteer as whipping boy? Or flogging boy, dealer's choice. I haven't been--I haven't done anything in so long..." He seems to want to hide his face or at least look away, but he's still standing like Elia had told him to, even though she's clearly done with her pictures.

     Elia lets him stew in his worry for a short while, because she's still annoyed, but she's also enjoying having the upper hand for once. It doesn't take her long to relent, though. "That sounds lovely, Commander Dameron. And you can put your arms down and get dressed."

     "Please just call me Poe," Poe says, looking relieved. His cheeks are a little pink as he dons his trousers and jacket. "And thanks. For, uh, everything."

     Elia smiles at him. "You're quite welcome, Poe. We can discuss the details of the scene--make sure we're actually compatible as play partners, find a venue, that sort of thing--later. Not today or tomorrow, because my plate is pretty full already, but soon. I'm really looking forward to it." Then Elia grins wickedly and purrs, "I bet you hurt real pretty."

     Poe blushes to the tips of his ears. It's adorable. He makes a needy little noise in the back of his throat, and Elia wants to hear it again.

     She knows that she's not being entirely fair to Poe, but she doesn't entirely care at this point. "Serves you right for prying into my personal business. See you in no less than forty-eight hours!" She does wait for Poe's blush to fade before ushering him out of the fitting room and across the shop to the front door, though.

     "I'll sketch out some print samples and get back to you in a week or so," she says, knowing that Kerrin and Steev will be listening. "Then you and Lieutenant Arana and anyone else who wants them can decide which pieces you want--I have more examples of sleepwear I've made than Dav's pajamas in my portfolio--and we can take it from there."

     "Sounds like a plan!" says Poe, seeming grateful to a mundane end to the conversation.

Chapter Notes:

The Tess'Ander cross is just a St. Andrew's Cross renamed, because Star Wars.

End Notes:The next part will pick up where this one left off, with the discussion and implementation of at least one actually planned scene, expanding polycules, and Iolo Arana continuing to be my favorite excitable dork (because there's so little about him on Wookieepedia and I get to make him that way).

I know better than to try to promise once-a-week updates, but I think I can manage once a month? So far, so good, I guess. In that time I'll figure out how to put the parts in chronological order.