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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Revelations
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IT WAS MY DAY OFF, AND I WAS BORED.
Noa had become something of a recluse, only coming into the office when necessary and avoiding me most of the time. It was odd and he did little to explain his behavior, but I allowed him his space.
After reorganizing my room three different times, I got sick of the sight of it and felt as though the walls were closing in on me. With a grumble, I donned my uniform before making my way to my office, needing a break from my head.
Standing at the table was, of course, Vader. He was opposite 7-OP, seemingly fixing him up. His mask was off, a look of concentration on his face as he fiddled with Sev's innards.
"Hello, General," Vader kept his eyes on Sev, the wrench between his teeth causing his words to come out muffled.
"Hello, Commander," I replied, biting back a wide grin. "Hard at work, I see."
He let out a laugh before closing up Sev's chest and putting the wrench onto my work desk. Finally, he looked over at me, one of his eyebrows raising. "It's your day off. What are you doing here?"
I shrugged, "I was bored. Noa is neglecting me. I thought I'd come and do some painting."
"Oh," He replied with a tone of surprise, while Sev remained dormant. "Please, don't let me stop you. One of his hands still needs some tweaks."
Walking over to the small supply closet, I took out a few paints and a thick piece of parchment. I set it up on the side of the desk opposite to where Vader was operating on Sev, not wanting him to see what I was doing.
Which was ironic, seeing as my hands seemed to end up painting his eyes on their own accord.
What started as a circle of blood was stamped with a yellow gem, and it was then when I realized what I was absentmindedly doing. Thin, black lines cracked through the irises, specks of white mimicking the presence of a light source shining opposite the eyes. The scleras had miniscule red veins running through, similar to those I'd see on Vader's. Without meaning to, I had filled the eyes with pain and a distant nostalgia, letting my mind pour out onto the paper before me.
With a sigh, I put down the paintbrush, taken aback by my own creation. It was probably the best piece of art I had ever made, which wasn't exactly a hard feat to achieve. There were obvious flaws; creases that didn't exist on Vader's eyelids and omissions of some of the ones that did. One of the eyes was a little bigger than the other, and slanted at an almost undetectable angle. It wasn't perfect, but it was my depiction.
"Show me," Vader said blankly, turning away from Sev and towards me.
"Um," I looked down at the painting, then back up at the real thing. "No."
He let out an incredulous scoff, his eyebrows furrowing. "Why not?"
In reply, I shrugged, unable to meet his gaze. And then, I saw the paper begin to float away, making me gasp as I rushed around the desk towards him. "Commander, please-"
"Are these my eyes?" Vader asked, staring down at them.
Now standing before him, it felt more embarrassing than ever that I had used him as my muse. "No; I just decided to paint a pair of yellow and red eyes like I've seen on a thousand other people I know."
He put the paper down and playfully glared at me. "Sarcasm doesn't look good on your lips, kitten."
The nickname made my thighs squeeze together as I swallowed thickly, my voice lowering. "What does look good on my lips, then?"
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𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙇'𝙎 𝘼𝘿𝙑𝙊𝘾𝘼𝙏𝙀 • 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧
قصص الهواة"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣," 𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦. "𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯," 𝘏𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦�...
