Private A Breath of Solace

[Darth Strosius]

Darth Strosius felt like chit.

A condition that He wasn't at all alone in of course as many of the other passengers aboard the Tyranny could attest.

Unlike the rest of the wounded being treated however, He wasn't reliant on the medics and bacta nor even confined to the ship's medical wing at all. In the waning hours before He'd made His way off of Abregado-Rae He had been fed by one of the prime annoyances in His life. Darth Strosius hated it. He hadn't even gotten the chance to tear Quinn's throat out, too busy healing His injured form and restoring His lost arm. The newly regrown limb was wrapped up and covered as best as He could manage with bandages and spare bits of what had once been His sleeve, thankfully out of view of the rest of the ship's occupants in spite of the total loss of His gauntlet on that arm.

The metal left behind was barely worth salvaging, merely some scraps tucked into a pouch in His robes that He intended to simply melt down later to serve as material for a replacement. Abregado-Rae had been an experience and one that He didn't intend to repeat any time soon. The pale tendrils trailing from His back were still flowing at their full extent, much to his frustration and embarrassment. Undoubtedly a side effect of His...potent meal from earlier. He pushed the thought aside before it ruminated in His mind and spoiled His mood any further, keeping His strides long and consistent as He moved.

More importantly than His own survival and recovery, both Lina and A'Mia were aboard the vessel as well and they were the only reasons He was still onboard at all. A'Mia had been in quite the state when He'd last seen her, before he... Darth Strosius stopped and found his wrapped fingers digging into the new palm that they were attached to, hard enough to draw trickles of maroon blood that stained the bandages. The wounds were gone in but a moment of course but the stains remained. In more than one sense. As for Lina He wasn't sure what state she might be in but she had evidently exhausted herself as well from what He could tell.

Regardless He wanted to ensure that the both of them were recovering well, not that He didn't necessarily trust the medical staff aboard the Tyranny to provide adequate treatment but rather purely in order to soothe His own guilty conscience. He hadn't been there when they'd both needed Him but now He was going to make as best amends as He could. Darth Strosius steadied His nerves before He took the final steps that carried Him to one door in particular where He sensed the pair within. His still gauntleted and uninjured hand pressed the console beside the door to open it, although there was a moment of hesitation before He actually crossed the threshold and entered into the room.

"Forgive me for the delay, this ship is massive you know."

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Darth Strosius Madrona A’Mia

The ache in her body and soul was nothing in comparison to that which gripped her heart. She so hated seeing A’Mia like this, small and dishevelled in a way that made her seem so much less than the grand and beautiful being that she was. Had she not come, had she not heard her scream across the Void, Lina wondered what state she might have been in then.

She cradled the Neti’s head in her lap, humming a soft tune as she gently braided the vines that mimicked hair, faltering occasionally when her two halves shifted out of sync, strands slipping through shadowed fingers before corporeal ones caught it again. Blood still stained her lips, so focused on A’Mia that she had forgotten about herself, about the pain she had taken from Cruelty so that he may complete his task.

Her fingers paused in their work, looking up from where they had settled on the large sofa as she felt him coming, relief washing over her.

“Alisteri…” she said softly as he hesitated in the doorway before stepping through, the door hissing closed behind him. Her gaze moved over him, noting the extension of the golden tendrils that he so often fought to keep hidden. The pull of the nether would have been enough to prevent him hiding them entirely but this? This was something else.

Her head tilted, noting the shattered gauntlet and hastily wrapped hand, taking note of healed wounds and tears in his robes.

“Where have you been?” she said softly, though there was an edge to the question. An accusation that hung unspoken.

Where did you go? Why did you leave her?

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

Darth Strosius & Lina Ovmar​

In and out of lucidity for the past handful of hours, A'Mia responded better to Lina's ministrations than any others who had tried after the battered Sith sorceress stumbled upon an extraction point. She kept merging and disentangling with the horde-mind up until she was well away from the surface of Abregado-rae, at which time she'd gone somewhat catatonic in Lina's arms.

Her natural healing was much slowed, plus the neti's coloration still held tinges of blood red mycelium and little patches of black frostbite. It was apparent that the cold didn't much agree with A'Mia. Having managed a few sparse broken sentences that didn't make all that much sense, neti had remained curled in Lina's care mostly unmoving save for the odd slow blink or murmur of appreciation.

That was, until Alisteri entered the room.

Blue-green eyes wavered, then locked in to focus on him, carved brows coming together in concern, confusion, then… consternation.

All at once she was up, on her feet, quivering with renewed energy but nowhere near as strong in her bearing as normal. In truth, she was shaking like a leaf.

"What has happened to you? You are changed."

The words were half seeking, half accusatory and it seemed she might pounce upon him, though with diminished effectiveness than was normal for her.

 

[Darth Strosius]

There was a mixture of emotions swirling through His mind as His masked gaze landed on His two beloveds. Relief at first just to see the both of them there, worn and weathered in more ways than one just as He was but alive and at least in Lina's case without an evident grievous injury. A'Mia was the worst off between the three of them yet given her propensity for molding her physical form all that Darth Strosius could rely on to diagnose her condition in any meaningful sense was the overall withered appearance and demeanor that she sported.

A sight that made His heart ache almost as much as it was soothed by seeing them together. Lina questioned Him first as He began a slow stride across the room, the edge in her voice not at all going unnoticed as His armored and wrapped hands both came up to relieve Him of His mask. Aside from a few dents, scrapes, and a crack in one corner of the visor, it was otherwise unmarred unlike the rest of His attire and armor. The pale face beneath it seemed rather more lively than usual, laden with guilt and an exhaustion that was visible in His golden gaze but even still He was unusually physically vibrant. Even His gaze seemed brighter than it should have been.

Alisteri opened his mouth to answer the question however the sudden rising of the Neti halted him in his tracks and smothered whatever words he was about to say with a surprised noise. Almost akin to a whimper, though it was covered by a cough. Her question made his whole form twitch, even in his armored and robed attire he at once seemed rather small underneath their gaze. He let out the breath that he had been holding and slid down to his knees before both of his beloveds, resting the helmet off to one side before looking back at them.

His mouth opened again but no words came for a long moment as his lips contorted along with the rest of his pale features into a grimace. His gaze snapped back to the floor, darting around before he closed his eyes and loosed another sigh. "On the contrary malul. I think that the issues is, as ever, that I haven't changed at all." He folded His hands together, wrapped fingers lacing between armored digits as He opened His eyes and looked back up at them.

"I do not deserve it, but please allow me to beg for your forgiveness ki akisi."

The choir trailing his words began to fall silent throughout the plea, and their echo would be totally absent as he continued. His voice was as pure as the shame etched across his visage. "I stood against a Mandalorian and I thought-no I knew that I could best him. And I tried. I...I sort of did. He didn't reach you, A'Mia, he never even got a step past me, but he wasn't the problem. You were-" His breath caught, his eyes dimming briefly as he shook. "You were in pain. There-the whole fething sky was torn open and-and there was a blizzard and the Netherworld was just-I just-" His breathing came in ragged gasps for a moment. "You were suffering and I didn't know what to do! There was nothing that I could do!"

His arms clutched around himself, holding himself tight enough to bruise as he sucked in a breath that he shouldn't have needed. "I couldn't even kill that one damn Mandalorian without trading an arm in the process! And you were there wielding an entire planet's worth of plague and nature against all of them! And I just-I couldn't do anything. I couldn't-I couldn't help you! I..." Something wet rolled down his cheek, dropping to the floor as he choked back a sob. "And I ran. I ran like a coward! I couldn't do anything so I panicked and did the worst thing I could do-and I'm sorry!"

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Darth Strosius Madrona A’Mia

A'Mia surged upwards, the sudden rapid movement drawing a sharp gasp from Lina as the unfinished braid was torn from her fingers, the Neti’s graceful form trembled as she advance in the predatory way she often did. Lina herself was slower to rise, reaching for Wraithspire for support as she did.

Her gaze settled back on Alisteri as her hand gently entwined with A'Mia's, her thumb tracing idle circles across barklike skin. Soothing as much as she could.

“Rashirtsanadni, ki manatsa.” she said softly, her eyes not leaving Alisteri, her head tilting as he removed his mask revealing a face that held more life than normal, eyes glittered with renewed vigor. Her lips parted, searching for the reason as he sank to his knees.

She watched him struggle battling with something twisted beneath that she couldn’t see, and then the choir that sang every time he spoke, the one that made her very soul vibrate became muted and she felt her chest ache, shaking her head as the words spilled from him as he confessed his cowardice.

Lina released A'Mia's hand, swallowing the lump in her throat as she stepped towards him.

“Alisteri…”

She had no words of comfort, she could not tell him that he had not been a coward, because in leaving A'Mia that was exactly what he had been. Tears born from anger that he would do such a thing and sorrow that he was in so much turmoil, spilled over her own cheeks as she set wraithspire aside.

Her hand reached beneath his chin, lifting his face up, to see her, to see A’Mia. Of all the things she had known him to be, a coward was never one of them, he had faced worse adversaries with endless stubbornness. So why now? Why did he falter here when A’Mia had needed him?

Emerald eyes searched his face and ink swirled at their edges, the only other sign of her anger with him.

“You left her.” she hissed. “I was right there, Alisteri, whatever you needed I would have given you. Whatever you needed to stay with her.”

Then her gaze dropped to the arms wrapped around his middle, the cloth wraps in place of where a gauntlet should be. She released his chin reaching to pull the hand towards her, her movement too sharp, fingers passing through it momentarily before they snagged, her grip tighter than usual as she ripped the wrappings free.

It was completely regrown. Something that should have taken longer.

Her voice took on an unnatural growl, low and guttural.

“Where. Have. You. Been?”

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

His arms clutched around himself, holding himself tight enough to bruise as he sucked in a breath that he shouldn't have needed. "I couldn't even kill that one damn Mandalorian without trading an arm in the process! And you were there wielding an entire planet's worth of plague and nature against all of them! And I just-I couldn't do anything. I couldn't-I couldn't help you! I..." Something wet rolled down his cheek, dropping to the floor as he choked back a sob. "And I ran. I ran like a coward! I couldn't do anything so I panicked and did the worst thing I could do-and I'm sorry!"

“You left her.” she hissed. “I was right there, Alisteri, whatever you needed I would have given you. Whatever you needed to stay with her.”

A'Mia's hand was limp and cool in Lina's reassuring grasp. Belatedly, the arboreal woman curled her fingers enough to acknowledge Lina's steadying words and presence. Though her initial response had been sudden and intense, the woman paused to listen. She swayed slightly as Lina interrogated Alisteri further.

As one paramour finished her questioning of the other, A'Mia flowed to a kneeling position beside Alisteri. She was so small, dainty in comparison to her normally sturdy self, and looked up into his face questioningly.

"There's no shame in protecting that which is so dear to me…" she murmured in a voice thoughtful and serene.

Long, thin fingers came up to gently push back a lock of dark hair, A'Mia's large eyes still searching his features as if there was something not quite right with what she saw.

"I did make him swear to stay safe, Lina…"

The gentle, thoughtful caress of his face turned almost cruel with no notice, A'Mia's expression remained serene as she gripped his jaw to turn his head slowly this way and that. Though much diminished, the neti was still unnervingly strong. Her eyes narrowed as finally she had a sense for what it was she saw in his energies.

"You reek of another Sith — I see it on you… Explain," she demanded in almost a whisper.

Alisteri and Lina knew it was A'Mia's supernatural vision which granted her such keen insights, so the description had nothing to do with the man's actual scent. Though she was pressed close enough to him so as to make it uncomfortable, particularly with the intensity of her bearing.

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri let out a shuddering breath as Lina's hand slid to his chin and lifted it, biting his lip to stop another sob from spilling loose even as it wracked his body with a shiver and his dimmed eyes began to well up at the sight of her stare. Her gaze sought meaning that he didn't know, answers that he couldn't provide, blame that he was more than owed. "I know. I know, but I couldn't take any more. I-I was at my limit. I could feel my soul clawing at my body to be let loose, to soar off into the Netherworld where it belongs and there wasn't anything-"

He recoiled slightly in surprise as Lina snatched his wrapped hand up, a choked gasp leaving him as she tore the coverings off to reveal the healed limb. It was still the same as it was meant to be of course, the umbral skin and pointed fingers just as pristine as ever. Though a keener gaze might have noticed that the gradient where pale flesh became darkened had shifted upwards more towards his elbow ever so slightly. Not that Alisteri was in any state of mind to note such a thing of course.

He was too busy shrinking beneath the questions that were all but pierced through him, then wincing as A'Mia's comforting touch suddenly turned harsh and clinical. "I-I don't know what you mean, I haven't been around any Sith!" The answer was frantic, but honest. Heartfelt and certain. Yet of course there was more to be said in spite of that honesty. "After I ran for...awhile, I stumbled into..." Sorrow and shame gave way to a guilty rage for a moment. "That blueblooded brat. Quinn Varanin."

The name was snarled like a curse, his fangs bared as he grimaced. "Of all the places she just had to be there. Adding insult to injury! I needed blood and she was right there, I-I was going to just cut her down and feed but then she..." Anger simmered and waned, giving way to a perplexed expression and tone. "She just-just bared her throat to me. She let me drink from her." His brows furrowed as though the recollection didn't sound quite right in spite of it being accurate.

"A-And her blood, her anima, something was different about it. I've never known anyone to have such potency and when I tasted it I just-I-I couldn't stop drinking it." Horror spread across his pale features. "I-I couldn't stop...I'm not-that's not what I-" He shook and choked. "I don't lose myself like that anymore! I'm better than that! I-I thought I was better than that! But-but Raaf's little puppet, there's something different about her blood! I-I don't get it. I don't know why I couldn't stop drinking."

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Madrona A’Mia Darth Strosius

Lina closed her eyes, breathing out a small sigh, the tension in her shoulders easing, fingers gently massaging the line where fresh skin had grown from old, working steadily down towards his hand.

“We are supposed to protect each other.” she whispered in reply.

He didn’t need to have run, she would have protected him, as would A’Mia. He had let his shame get the better of him, failing to understand that their strength was combined, when one of them faltered, the others would always be there.

Her comforting and gentle in comparison to the harsh grip A’Mia suddenly had on his jaw, though the touch slowed as her dear neti understood the change in him and Alisteri came apart before them. Quinn’s name made her draw in a sharp breath as she understood. Lina knew her lineage, not that which she was adopted into, but that which she was born from.

Ashin and Spencer were more than footnotes in her own parents' history. Quinn was a powerful Sith, no matter how much he wanted to diminish what she was.

“Oh, Alisteri…” she breathed, her gaze settling on his face, the horror and shame that made him tremble before them, shrinking below their gaze like a wounded animal. Lina did not have it in her to be jealous and her anger abated in the wake of his despair. She shifted, drawing him towards her in an embrace.

“In our weakest moments, it is easy to fall back onto things we thought we were beyond, ki aki, this does not make you less than you are.”

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

The firm grip she had on him gradually faded as Alisteri spoke, explaining himself in a vehement ramble, until eventually her hand fell into her own lap. For a time, she almost appeared like a statue as she listened. Uncanny in how still she was, unblinking as the words sunk in.

Then Lina was pressed close to him in a comforting gesture all while a writhing, ugly emotion seemed to knot up inside of A'Mia. Was this… anger?

No, she knew the shape of anger. Alongside curiosity and fear, it was one of the very few emotions she'd been born with.

So what was this boiling, seething thing within her that seemed to rhyme with rage but tasted more like poison?

Envy.

All at once she rose to her feet, unsteady still but almost droid like in her movements. An altogether unusual sight in a being so ordinarily filled with eerie grace.

"Excuse me a moment," she murmured as she went, making her way to the refresher.

As the door hissed closed behind her, a brief moment of silence overtook the room before…

A scream split the air, as the violent sound of glass breaking and the thump of mental denting accompanied it.

 

[Darth Strosius]

He couldn't help but wince at the tender touch that Lina moved along his arm with, not due to any sort of sensitivity or pain that it caused but rather purely because he knew he didn't deserve it. Alisteri even winced as her fingers met his hand, guilt weighing on his pale features as his umbral fingers twitched and curled in on themselves. A retreat that signified what his entire form was about to do were it not for Lina pulling him into an embrace, causing him to stiffen slightly and almost miss A'Mia's harsh grasp.

Words of comfort rather than rightful scorn where spoken to him and he slowly eased himself into the embrace. "No. But, it does make me realize how lesser I was than I thought." It was a sinful admission, not from a Sith Lord but rather from a weathered and withered man. The words were weak, defeated and frail. Unworthy. Yet in spite of that Alisteri allowed himself to lean into Lina's touch all the same, though before he could allow himself to melt into it fully the Neti stood and excused herself.

He watched her leave the room, dim golden eyes flickering and then wincing with the unmistakable sound of a scream and something being damaged. He swallowed thickly and slowly looked back at Lina after a long moment. "Do...do you think she was imagining that was my mask?" The words were somehow even smaller than his previous ones, hollowed and dejected. "I wouldn't blame her. I almost wish it was...she's owed that much from me after my cowardice."

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia​

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Madrona A’Mia Darth Strosius

The moment A’Mia moved, Lina understood, her eyes sliding closed as her heart went to her, her hand reaching for her small form. “Ki manatsa.” she breathed, but she was already gone, the refresher door closing behind her.

Lina was not a jealous creature, she was a free spirit who understood that sometimes nature meant that attention or needs would be fulfilled elsewhere. Not that she had found anyone in quite some time to stir such interest outside of the two with her now but still, to be jealous would make her a hypocrite of her own nature.

But A’Mia, A’Mia was sweet, naive and new to this world of emotions. Love was something grand in itself, but everything else that came with it? She flinched at the sound of the smash. She met Alisteri’s stare with pity and clicked her tongue.

“Alisteri, my love, that,” she gestured towards the refresher door, “has nothing to do with your running, and everything to do with Quinn. Get up, and go to her” the last words were uttered in a low growl.

“She needs your comfort, not your sorrow. Go.” She gave him a gentle, but pointed shove.

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

Another heavy, muffled thud filled the air and indistinguishable speech. The refresher door did little to block out the distinct sounds of the room within being trashed but words were harder to pick out.

"… phobis-… ungrateful wench!… should've been-…!"

And so on, interspersed with more muffled thrashing. All the while, A'Mia was either none the wiser to how clear her distress was, or didn't care. Regardless, it was clear she needed support but had no idea how to ask for it.

If anyone were to enter the unlocked room, they'd find A'Mia slumped against the far wall with her half braided hair writhing around her head like so many angry snakes. Head in hands as she rocked and shuddered with overwhelming emotion.

 

[Darth Strosius]

His brows knitted together at the correction, sorrow morphing into perplexion across his pale features. "Quinn? Why would she matter-" A thud in the other room served to silence him before he could properly ask. He'd never known A'Mia to be so...physical in her emotions. He wasn't certain if he should be proud of her progress or terrified of the implications, though regardless he'd have to face her before he could come to any such conclusion it seemed.

Alisteri grumbled as he was hurried up and away from Lina's embrace and towards the door that their beloved had quietly stormed out through, swallowing another lump in his throat as he eyed it warily. He could just barely hear a couple snippets of what must have been some rather impassioned rant, again another occurrence that made an odd mixture of pride and concern swirl within the back of his mind, and while of course he could scarcely make out the details he was beginning to suspect one potential cause for her distress what with Lina's remark.

He was reminded of a time that seemed so long ago and yet simply a few days back at the same time, when their courtship first began. An arm was needed for her work and after he'd provided his limb she had offered herself as a means of regeneration, to fuel his regrowth given that she was technically the cause of its necessity. He had declined of course, politely and discretely, but in doing so he hadn't made clear why he would have denied the offer.

The memory made him wince and the push toward the door made him grimace, but Alisteri steeled himself all the same and took a moment to roll his shoulders before slowly opening the door and peeking through it. "Malul?" His gloved fingers tightened around the edge of the door at the sight of the distressed Neti, before he even realized it he'd already stepped forward in spite of the damage around the room and the writhing of her hair.

Perhaps caution would have been wiser however he simply couldn't bear to stand there watching A'Mia strain any longer. "My love, please allow me a moment of your time?" He bent down slightly to try and level with her, hesitantly reaching out to gently coax her hands from her head so that their eyes could meet. "My lady, I apologize for upsetting you so. It was never my intention, quite the opposite in fact. You know how much I..." His throat grew dry but he cleared it and continued.

"I do not wish for you, or for Lina, or Revna, or anyone to see me feed. And I certainly wouldn't ever even dream of feeding upon any of you. This...thirst of mine isn't a burden that I wish to saddle you with." He tried to offer a comforting smile, though it didn't quite reach his golden eyes. "It is a distasteful and wretched compulsion, my love, and as such it should only be sated by those that have nothing more to offer the galaxy than the anima within them. You're worth so much more to me than just-just sustenance. I love you, A'Mia. And I'm so very sorry that I have caused you any grief."

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia / Mercy​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

The woman stilled and quieted as Alisteri approached. It took some coaxing though for her to look at him and when she did, A'Mia was a mess.

Green-black streaks trailed down that lovely face, her brows pulled together in what might have otherwise seemed an exaggerated expression of sorrow. Despite all her cunning and cleverness to alter her form though, the neti was guileless in that moment.

She merely listened for a time, eyes large and sad, body trembling. Until something seemed to strike a cord with her and she pushed at him, all the fight and strength in her gone.

"Why must you speak of what you are so poorly?!"

The neti's voice was uncharacteristically forlorn — it was her usual feminine pitch but the epitome of distressed.

"I— I feel your love Alisteri, even if I've yet to fully understand… but why, if you are in need and I can aid, why do you scorn me in favor of-"

Suddenly she went limp and slumped against him rather than the wall, still trembling like a leaf. A distress cry that sounded like distant howling wind through a far off gulch escaped her wordlessly as she struggled with the tornado of emotion tearing through her.

A'Mia couldn't understand why the sacred sharing of resource was a bridge too far. In so many other ways they'd become close, Lina too — the neti felt entirely embraced by her new grove. Save for this one crucial matter.

The sorceress jealously guarded information and resource with the intensity that its value warranted, of course. But as any self respecting botanical would, she prided herself on how she could provide for those who deserved it. That was one of the reasons she made for such a good teacher, and though non-conventional as a bedfellow, it was something she felt she contributed to the lives of those she considered hers.

That Alisteri wouldn't deign to seek nourishment from her, when she so badly wished to provide it? Well, it was distressing.

To hear that he'd sought such reprieve from Quinn?! The bratty little, albeit incredibly intriguing, noble girl.

It was unbearable.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Darth Strosius Madrona A’Mia Mercy

Exhaustion was settling in her bones, listening as Alisteri sought to calm and comfort the distraught Neti, Lina allowed herself to slump, her body tipping forward palm pressed to the floor to stop herself from collapsing entirely. Even here, this close to the gaping wound they had torn open to the Nether, the weight of the battle was taking its toll.

The cost of making Cruelty’s wounds her own so that he could complete his task, of channelling the raw Chaos energy so that her loves could survive their fights. She drew in a deep shuddering breath, reaching for Wraithspire, fingers curling around the rune etched shaft.

“Tizn zo iunoks wir” she whispered and the runes answered, glowing a deep crimson as it pulled from the nether, power flowing through her fingers filling her body and chasing the ache from her bones. Her loves needed her, and she would give all for them.
Steadily she rose, moving to the refreshed where A’Mia was slumped against Strosius, howling her despair. Carefully, Lina shifted behind her settling on the floor, she leaned to slide her arms around the neti’s waist, holding her tight

“Jealousy is such a wicked emotion.” she murmured, placing a gentle kiss on her shoulder as she leaned forward. “Makes you feel like your insides are being ripped apart. Come, ki aki” Lina opened her mind to the Neti, gently pressing into the Weave.

<<”Meld with me, sweet one, let me show you how to hold it.”>>

 

[Mercy]

Darth Strosius Madrona A’Mia Lina Ovmar

They'd feel her presence before they'd see her.

The Dark Side was no longer balled up deep inside of Mercy, hiding it, like a stalking predator before the kill. It was triumphant. It heralded her arrival like a storm at sea, driving forward black-tarred ocean towards the shore, before it would wash everything away. And even though Mercy had fought hard and had tanked a lot of damage, her mood was celebratory.

She was walking down the corridor of the Tyranny positively giddy.

That was until she noticed that the servants, crewmen and navy personnel were conspicuously inching away from a certain corridor without looking at each other or Mercy for that matter.

Her brows furrowed and she entered that particular passage way. The sounds coming from it tipped her off. This had been the section she had offered to three of her friends. Well, A'Mia and Lina were friends, Strosius... was complicated. Even if they had more or less made up on Brosi. She was about to enter the room when she noticed the wall the corridor shared with the bathroom on the other side.

"When did we start adding dents to our design?" Mercy called out confused as she took another look, but nobody answered her because everyone was too busy avoiding this corridor when the screaming had begun. Then another scream and a second dent appeared right above it.

"What the fuck is happening there?"

Mercy finally entered the room proper and was hit with emotions, the taste of the Netherworld and a whole lot of Dark Side laced fury.

"You know, when I gave you all one suite to share, I didn't expect said suite to be destroyed almost immediately. What the actual fuck are you three doing in here?"

Her hands were on her hips and disappointment dripped from her tone.

It was very much like your mother coming back and looking at you like you fucked up so badly you hurt their soul.

 

[Darth Strosius]

A slight frown crossed his face at the sight of the Neti so distraught and disheveled, though it was more meant for himself given that he was the apparent cause. Nevertheless Alisteri wasted no time in gently wiping away the streaks that marred her lovely features with both of his thumbs whilst the rest of his fingers cradled her face, one set gloved and the other bare. Though his task was somewhat interrupted and stalled when she pushed at him, his hands leaving her face in surprise before her question made him wince.

"I-A'Mia its not like that-" Alisteri stiffened as she slumped against him but he wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her, pulling her even closer as she shook and cried out. "I am so sorry my love." There was a pause as his fingers either traced patterns along her back or moved up to run along what braid remained in her hair. He was considering his words very carefully it seemed. "To drink from you would be to scorn you, in my mind." He admitted quietly as Lina entered, a glance cast back her way but one which widened when he idly sensed her presence.

Or rather, the presence of the Nether which seemed to be rolling off of her. Alisteri shot her a worried look, concern etched across his pale features, yet he said nothing to dissuade her as she came up behind A'Mia to offer her support as well. The sight of the pair of them made him sigh in a mixture of fondness and fretfulness. He didn't quite know what it was that he could do to soothe the both of them perfectly, though he had the feeling that they would work it out in due time. One way or another.

While that thought was comforting, a rather sudden new feeling that pricked at the back of his mind wasn't. As Alisteri had been rather understandably distracted he hadn't quite been as observant as he normally would have and in the moment of peace between the three of them he felt a distinctly heavy and recognizable presence soon to be among them. What concerned him most wasn't Mercy's arrival though, this vessel was part of her dominion after all, rather it was the slight twinge of thirst and envy that it caused.

A sensation that he had no real time to dwell on for better or worse as she entered the room and he quickly pulled his exposed umbral arm off of A'Mia to instead clutch it against his robes to hide it as he drew his hood over his unmasked face more. The pale tendrils that flowed from his back bristled at the question and his golden gaze frantically glanced around, not for an answer but rather for where he'd left his helmet. A slight clearing of his throat in an effort to mask the slight choir that trailed and echoed his words preceded his answer.

"Apologies Lady Mercy! We-er, there was an um-a miscommunication. Yes. That."

Lina Ovmar / Madrona A’Mia / Mercy​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

​

Alisteri's arms around her soothed A'Mia for a moment, but her body still trembled and his words only served to remind her just how frustrated she was that their minds were not aligned on this matter. That he was emotionally averse, and she felt so strangely needy.

Lina joined them and her presence made the arboreal woman shudder as if with a great breath, then calm. She nuzzled her face into Alisteri's chest, small hand clenched around a fistful of his robe. Then turned to regard their beautiful Lina with bleary eyes.

Her brow scrunched in a pained expression as "jealousy" was mentioned, but A'Mia didn't try to deny it. In fact, it seemed to soothe her some that Lina knew and didn't think less of her for it, wasn't chiding about it.

Then her eyes traveled up, up, up, to where Mercy had appeared with all the annoyance of an aggrieved mother. It was enough to bring dark tears to A'Mia's eyes again and she very nearly lost composure. But Lina was there, reaching out to hold her in the Weave, which helped steady her long enough to offer assurances.

"I'll have the damages paid for and repaired…"

Then she reached for Lina and welcomed her psychic presence, seeking what wisdom and comfort she could offer.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Darth Strosius Madrona A’Mia Mercy

​

"You know, when I gave you all one suite to share, I didn't expect said suite to be destroyed almost immediately. What the actual fuck are you three doing in here?"

"Apologies Lady Mercy! We-er, there was an um-a miscommunication. Yes. That."

“Lady Mercy?” Lina repeated incredulously looking at Alisteri with a raised eyebrow, clicking her tongue in disapproval before she shifted her gaze to look at the Empress of the Core, unbothered by the clear air of disapproval, her hand gently stroking A’Mia’s head.

“You will do no such thing.” she chided at A’Mia's offer to pay for damages with a glance her way, before meeting Mercy’s. “We have given more than enough to aid your latest conquest, you can afford to handle a few dents.”

There was an underlying tone in her words. She had endless patience for Alisteri and A’Mia, but she was in no mood to pander to Mercy’s hubris, she was beyond tired and as far as she was concerned, Mercy owed her. Whatever mess she was looking at right now, was ultimately a consequence of them aiding her.

She let her gaze move back to A’Mia and closed her eyes, focusing on the weave that bound them together, guiding her breathing until they were aligned. Emotions were colours that ebbed and flowed, some remained always casting deep undertones over a person, others rose and fell with each passing moment.

For Lina it was all a river and when powerful emotions rose the river turned into churning rapids that obscured everything else. She guided A’Mia through the river, showing her how to open distributaries, letting the rapids spill into them until the water settled again. It didn’t remove the emotion, it just made it easier to navigate, easier to see over.