will you sink down to me?
Take two.
The Reef's qabbrat bullpen was decorated for a holiday this evening rather than a pop-up comedy night. There was enough plant-derived garland about to probably drive Claudia into lividity rather than merriment under usual circumstances, but Damsy hoped the spirit of the season would sway her. Everyone had pitched in their specialties for tonight's festivities. Arisso had jury-rigged more strings of lights than Damsy thought she had even seen in Netra'yaim at this time of year. It was probably just her, but for what the Sanctorium lacked in quantity they made up for ten times over in quaintness. Motina had once again outdone herself with the menu spread of food and drinks.
Damsy herself had done her best to outfit the residents. Though she knew how to sew, the prospect of taking on a project for the entire growing population herself was a little to daunting. She enlisted the help of a newcomer Spinner named Charlotte who wanted to be a seamstress rather than an alchemist. Instead of breaking down biomatter, Charlotte recycled the old fabrics Damsy brought her, and they worked together to reform them into new attire for everyone. The new clothes were distributed to bunkrooms and private quarters before the gathering so their recipients could come dressed up if they so chose. It was a big job, but Damsy had the time to play Life Day elf since she had relatively recently left the New Jedi Order.
She hoped that all the ceremony that her departure had lacked would come out tonight, here, for the occasion. She wanted so badly to say she cared more about the Sanctorium than she had ever about the Jedi, but anger was really not in the spirit of the Day. Neither was lying. Both kinda went against the whole celebration of compassion thing. The kicker? She really still felt that for the Order—compassion, not anger—for its entire ideal rather than just a select few of its people. It all went back to her first days up at the Temple when she had met Kai and they had bonded over their dream to become a Jedi and bask in the Light as more than they had been created to be. They had both grown to fill out their goals since then, but at least for Damsy it wasn't that simple.
She knew that most Sithspawn, including her, would always have a scuff in their mirrors they could never polish out.
When it came high time she stopped feeling bad for it, the obvious answer was to surround herself more regularly with mirror that looked more like hers.
The decision was more practical than personal. She needed her sanity more than she needed the few relationships she had made topside, especially with Syreni still occasionally rattling the bars in their shared mind.
"'Ey 'ey 'ey, errbody!!" Damsy tapped two of her almond fingernails against the slightly cloudy glass of her champagne flute in rhythm until the sound radiated the crowded hall. She stood at the same makeshift podium that she had erected from stand-up. With her free hand she took the mic again. "Look, I 'member last time I was up 'ere I was real underwhelmin', but I hope tonight can be a do-over." She hadn't given a speech in ages, but hoped she could still flex the muscle as she had during her special forces days. "Some of y'all might be aware that Life Day is traditionally a Wookiee holiday. I've visited Kashyyyk like all of once, about a year 'go, as part of an NJO padawaan swap with their cousins, the Silver Jedi. I met a nice young lady there." The thought of what had become of
Artemis Lu
came and passed. "They have a real lovely home, prettier planet.
"Now, in comparison, dull grey durasteel doesn't seem to put up competition with lush green earth. And it don't. But..." Damsy paused to set her glass down on the podium's wooden lip, and place her freed palm over her heart. "I can swear to you on the Fennessan graves of my former squadmates that I wouldn't trade it all for where I am right now. With all of you." She took her time to look over the crowd, looking for the more familiar faces. "I know these last months have been hard. So hard. Hell, we live in a literal sewer teetering on the edges of food security and actual, physical security. We're at risk of rouge Underlevel wildlife, locals, police officers, the Jedi—and, of late, ourselves too.
"Now we can't worry about any of that 'cept the last, the only aspect we really do control. We've come too far, from Kamino," she motioned at herself once more, then to the crowd, "to Korriban to Lao-mon to Cophrigin V, to add ourselves to the pile of odds stacked 'gainst us.
"The Reef's not this factory, y'all. It's this community, whenever it might be; it just happens to be here right now. When I was a Confederate and my General forced me to take vacation leave, I normally found myself on Rishi. It's a paradise both on land and off. In those shallow seas right off the coasts is where I first saw a coral reef 'long with all the wonderful life that lived thereabouts. I was so taken that I kept going back whenever I was up for some RnR, about a weekend every few months. It took me a lot of weekends to realize that the hodgepodge of organisms that called that reef home sweet home wasn't just living there all together coincidentally. Y'know what it was instead?
"A lil' theory called evolution. And that understands necessity. 'Cause if it didn't, there would be no way those tides could sway in which those critters would survive. See, I have it on good authority that the open ocean is a mean place: cold, dangerous, not all that much food the further you swim out into it. Things can exist in a reef that can't in the abyss, and on that virtue alone it's a pretty magical place.
"If you haven't drawn the parallel yet, lemme help you out. It's the same here, on dry ass land, somewhere below the Senate buildin'. But we're surviving together even in the dark. Right now, especially in the dark. Lowercase d rather than upper. Most Jedi don't seem to understand that yet, but I don't really blame 'em because I ain't too sure we always do either. That's a'ight, though. I have hope that in time we'll all come 'round.
"We just gotta push through. That's what tonight is about, keeping up our morale. So, please, enjoy." Damsy walked back to the podium, as she had wandered a ways from it. She picked up her glass and rose it up and out at the crowd. "Kia wonosa, ir kia xauti drajunas*!" she exclaimed before redocking the microphone and returning to her seat in an alcove of cushions nearby.
Arisso, leaning against the wall, straightened up on her approach. He smiled and said as if he had told her so, "See, that wasn't too bad," which he had. It had been his idea as always to add in the toast in Old Tongue. Even if not many understood, he had promised, it'd hammer the point home.
"I just said the words," Damsy admitted light-heartedly before taking a sip of her drink. "I don't remember what that meant." Then, when he rose his organic brow at her: "What? I'm still learning. That chit's too advanced for me."
**
@Sithspawn Sanctorium + friends
The Reef's qabbrat bullpen was decorated for a holiday this evening rather than a pop-up comedy night. There was enough plant-derived garland about to probably drive Claudia into lividity rather than merriment under usual circumstances, but Damsy hoped the spirit of the season would sway her. Everyone had pitched in their specialties for tonight's festivities. Arisso had jury-rigged more strings of lights than Damsy thought she had even seen in Netra'yaim at this time of year. It was probably just her, but for what the Sanctorium lacked in quantity they made up for ten times over in quaintness. Motina had once again outdone herself with the menu spread of food and drinks.
Damsy herself had done her best to outfit the residents. Though she knew how to sew, the prospect of taking on a project for the entire growing population herself was a little to daunting. She enlisted the help of a newcomer Spinner named Charlotte who wanted to be a seamstress rather than an alchemist. Instead of breaking down biomatter, Charlotte recycled the old fabrics Damsy brought her, and they worked together to reform them into new attire for everyone. The new clothes were distributed to bunkrooms and private quarters before the gathering so their recipients could come dressed up if they so chose. It was a big job, but Damsy had the time to play Life Day elf since she had relatively recently left the New Jedi Order.
She hoped that all the ceremony that her departure had lacked would come out tonight, here, for the occasion. She wanted so badly to say she cared more about the Sanctorium than she had ever about the Jedi, but anger was really not in the spirit of the Day. Neither was lying. Both kinda went against the whole celebration of compassion thing. The kicker? She really still felt that for the Order—compassion, not anger—for its entire ideal rather than just a select few of its people. It all went back to her first days up at the Temple when she had met Kai and they had bonded over their dream to become a Jedi and bask in the Light as more than they had been created to be. They had both grown to fill out their goals since then, but at least for Damsy it wasn't that simple.
She knew that most Sithspawn, including her, would always have a scuff in their mirrors they could never polish out.
When it came high time she stopped feeling bad for it, the obvious answer was to surround herself more regularly with mirror that looked more like hers.
The decision was more practical than personal. She needed her sanity more than she needed the few relationships she had made topside, especially with Syreni still occasionally rattling the bars in their shared mind.
"'Ey 'ey 'ey, errbody!!" Damsy tapped two of her almond fingernails against the slightly cloudy glass of her champagne flute in rhythm until the sound radiated the crowded hall. She stood at the same makeshift podium that she had erected from stand-up. With her free hand she took the mic again. "Look, I 'member last time I was up 'ere I was real underwhelmin', but I hope tonight can be a do-over." She hadn't given a speech in ages, but hoped she could still flex the muscle as she had during her special forces days. "Some of y'all might be aware that Life Day is traditionally a Wookiee holiday. I've visited Kashyyyk like all of once, about a year 'go, as part of an NJO padawaan swap with their cousins, the Silver Jedi. I met a nice young lady there." The thought of what had become of
Artemis Lu
came and passed. "They have a real lovely home, prettier planet."Now, in comparison, dull grey durasteel doesn't seem to put up competition with lush green earth. And it don't. But..." Damsy paused to set her glass down on the podium's wooden lip, and place her freed palm over her heart. "I can swear to you on the Fennessan graves of my former squadmates that I wouldn't trade it all for where I am right now. With all of you." She took her time to look over the crowd, looking for the more familiar faces. "I know these last months have been hard. So hard. Hell, we live in a literal sewer teetering on the edges of food security and actual, physical security. We're at risk of rouge Underlevel wildlife, locals, police officers, the Jedi—and, of late, ourselves too.
"Now we can't worry about any of that 'cept the last, the only aspect we really do control. We've come too far, from Kamino," she motioned at herself once more, then to the crowd, "to Korriban to Lao-mon to Cophrigin V, to add ourselves to the pile of odds stacked 'gainst us.
"The Reef's not this factory, y'all. It's this community, whenever it might be; it just happens to be here right now. When I was a Confederate and my General forced me to take vacation leave, I normally found myself on Rishi. It's a paradise both on land and off. In those shallow seas right off the coasts is where I first saw a coral reef 'long with all the wonderful life that lived thereabouts. I was so taken that I kept going back whenever I was up for some RnR, about a weekend every few months. It took me a lot of weekends to realize that the hodgepodge of organisms that called that reef home sweet home wasn't just living there all together coincidentally. Y'know what it was instead?
"A lil' theory called evolution. And that understands necessity. 'Cause if it didn't, there would be no way those tides could sway in which those critters would survive. See, I have it on good authority that the open ocean is a mean place: cold, dangerous, not all that much food the further you swim out into it. Things can exist in a reef that can't in the abyss, and on that virtue alone it's a pretty magical place.
"If you haven't drawn the parallel yet, lemme help you out. It's the same here, on dry ass land, somewhere below the Senate buildin'. But we're surviving together even in the dark. Right now, especially in the dark. Lowercase d rather than upper. Most Jedi don't seem to understand that yet, but I don't really blame 'em because I ain't too sure we always do either. That's a'ight, though. I have hope that in time we'll all come 'round.
"We just gotta push through. That's what tonight is about, keeping up our morale. So, please, enjoy." Damsy walked back to the podium, as she had wandered a ways from it. She picked up her glass and rose it up and out at the crowd. "Kia wonosa, ir kia xauti drajunas*!" she exclaimed before redocking the microphone and returning to her seat in an alcove of cushions nearby.
Arisso, leaning against the wall, straightened up on her approach. He smiled and said as if he had told her so, "See, that wasn't too bad," which he had. It had been his idea as always to add in the toast in Old Tongue. Even if not many understood, he had promised, it'd hammer the point home.
"I just said the words," Damsy admitted light-heartedly before taking a sip of her drink. "I don't remember what that meant." Then, when he rose his organic brow at her: "What? I'm still learning. That chit's too advanced for me."
**
@Sithspawn Sanctorium + friends
* = for freedom, and for found family
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