Private Coal

[Talin Treicolt]

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duketalsinlota 1 day ago

Dear Talin,
I do not know what I have done to deserve your ire, but that is a discussion we can have another time, because right now there are more important matters at hand.
Your sister is suffering in your absence. She needs to talk to you and unless I have completely misjudged your character, you need to talk to her as well.
I propose the two of you have a meeting where you can clear the air and discuss how to move forward. No matter what else, you are family, after all.
If you are agreeable, please suggest a meeting and I will convince Tansu that having this conversation would be the best for everyone involved.
Kind regards,
Talsin Lota, Duke of House Lota, Defender of the Seven Lakes


rodeostar001xx 1 day ago

fine
but y r u talkin' like that


duketalsinlota 1 day ago

Dear Talin,
I was taught at court to always use the proper punctuation and formalization, as to avoid hurting the feelings of the people on the opposite side of the screen.
Kind regards,
Talsin Lota, Duke of House Lota, Defender of the Seven Lakes


rodeostar001xx 1 day ago

ok weirdo


duketalsinlota 1 day ago

Dear Talin,
As the children of today say: if you look in the mirror, you stare in your own eyes, in fact.
Kind regards,
Talsin Lota, Duke of House Lota, Defender of the Seven Lakes

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they say pressure makes diamonds, how the hell am I still coal? ​

The exchange had left her with turbulence. But still, three days later, Talin turned up at the gardens of Naboo, garnering stares from other occupants as she made her way through the trail. Normal tourists didn't wear leather jackets and combat boots, apparently. Would Talsin come, she wondered? Surely, he wouldn't risk further altercation. She was still surprised he had reached out at all. Was Su so bad off without her? Talin thought she mighta been happy. The thought of that night still made her stomach churn. Despite wantin' to turn back, her feet peristed in carryin' her forward. Auteme had made a mark upon her heart. This couldn't stretch out for decades, no matter how hard it was to face.

Comin' over a hill, she paused, takin' in the view of the city below. The setting sun bathed crystalline domes, setting them ablaze with an orange glow. Speeders came and went as the citizens went about their day, indifferent to the peace talks in the gardens above. Naboo was so different and beautiful and old. It was exactly the place the twins should have been explorin' on better terms. The thought made that missin' piece of her heart ache. Everything had spiraled so quickly. Tansu was still in the dark about everything before Atrisia, and Talin had lived another life since then.

A patagona came into view as she finished the ascent. Draped with a lush thicket of Queen's Heart, the flowers made for a pleasant smell and a peaceful atmosphere. A blonde mane to match her own poked over the back of a chair beneath the cover.

"Hey." Talin rounded the chair and stood, hands in the pockets of her jacket. "I'm..."

Words weren't comin' easy. There was too much to say.

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Tansu Treicolt
Honorable Mentions: Talsin Lota | Auteme ​

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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It was a beautiful spot. Green, lush, fresh and loamy. Aromas from the flowers made the air throughout the grounds delicate, soft and powdery. Soft coloured petals seemed to shimmer in the sunlight when tickled by the breeze, and Tansu sighed, enjoying the buzz of pollinators.

Very different from Atrisia, which was beautiful too, but different. Where Naboo had spilling, wild florals, Atrisia met it with trimmed, manicured, and precise greenery. Nothing pretentious or overly ornate.

Another difference evidenced in the stiffness with which the pair greeted one another. On Atrisia, it had been all excited babble, enthusiastic overtalking and excited sharing in as few breaths as possible. Su's arms had wrapped around her sister tightly, and now, she mirrored her twin by keeping her hands in her pockets. Loose, and uncomfortable with the unfamiliarity and the vague shame that it hadn't been either of their own volitions that drew them here — instead, it had been Talsin to reach out first.

That was a knot in her stomach, and it became tauter when Talin couldn't find the one word Tansu wanted to hear. Needed to hear.

She rose to her feet instantly.

Sorry. She was sorry. She had to be — why couldn't she just say so?

A brief flash of annoyance rose in her and faded. Approaching this conversation with expectancy would make it short. Treicolt tempers would flare and it would only result in longer stretches of time without her other half.

She needed another approach. Another way to coax the truth out.

"…suddenly real bad at talkin'." Tansu offered, ticking her head to the side.

It hurt being this close and realizing how little of her sister she felt. Normally, they'd have tangled up in their broadness, their sameness, but it felt fractured now. Strained. Withdrawn.

"How long you think we coulda gone if Talsin didn't text first?" The knot twisted another quarter turn too tight.

"I miss you." She admitted. "But my missin' you is all messed up because o' what you did. What you were ready to do."

It was Jon who'd landed Talsin in the hospital, but it had been Talin who'd been ready to shoot him between the eyes when he was on his knees.

Searching eyes moved right-left-right between the irises that matched her own.

"Why… how.. could you have…." Already her voice cracked. She'd hoped to last longer than this. "You said I outta know. But I don't. And all I can do is reckon 'n suppose and make things up unless you tell me what is going on with you."

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Talin Treicolt
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[Talin Treicolt]

Shame choked her as Tansu thrust her perspectives unforgivingly on her twin. Talin couldn’t even muster up the nerve to return fire at the little pokes and prods. A blank stare regarded her sister as she spoke - until the pain reached a pinnacle, and words shuddered underneath pain. That was enough to send her eyes probin’ the gravel ground - anything that wasn’t her sisters face. Moments dragged on, emotions churning beneath the blank surface before Talin lost control of her walls.

“Ugh! It’s not… that wasn’t…” One hand worked its way to the back of her neck to tangle admit curls, halfway to tearin’ it out. “There’s so much!”

Frustration was evident in every step that made up the pace across the pavilion. How did she even begin to backtrack everything that had led to that night?

“It’s not all of it, but - do you really think Jon deserved to be arrested for what he did? He was tryin’ to protect me. It wasn’t… he wasn't himself, but I know it didn’t come from a bad place, neither. I mean, imagine, Su! He’s our friend. Locked up in some facility for the rest ‘o his life?! Eatin’ slop and havin’ to survive the folks around him every moment and livin’ just to die there?! Really?!”

Desperation was evident in Talin’s insistence. If one dead weequay did Jon in for her sister, what did Denon mean for the pair ‘o them?

 

[Tansu Treicolt]

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She'd rehearsed this conversation in front of the mirror a thousand times since Atrisia. An inevitable thing, but unpredictable in the details. Never once, in all her ruminations, did she predict Talin's deference all the way back to The Drop. That it would take more than four breaths to hear her sister apologize. The tension in her stomach took another quarter turn.

Tansu frowned. It was hard to be fair when she was hurt and angry all at once. But she had to try. Had to keep her emotions at a simmer to just get through.

"The Jon we grew up with ain't the same Jon from the last two times I've seen him." Her fingers poked up past the cuff of her oversized leather jacket and pronged for emphasis, "Yes. He oughta be tried."

Even though her mirror image seemed to be lookin' anywhere at her, if Talin did look up, she'd see Tansu looking her square in the eye.

"Talin — he grabbed someone who still a chance at gettin' outta there alive, and he used 'em as a meat shield. And then he never once stood up when that innocent l'il fox was framed. He had the time to. I texted you, you musta told him right?"

She didn't wait for an answer. She couldn't believe her sister wouldn't have passed on the message at least, it was more rhetorical than anything.

"And let's not forget he just up and broke Talsin's damn face just for simply just bringin' up arrestin' him!" Her eyes shimmered but didn't spill.

Voice low, she shook her head. "He oughta be arrested. Oughta be tried. And if he needs help, then fine — get him the help. But what he don't get is a free pass."

On Atrisia, she'd been too preoccupied fretting over Talsin to have seen her sister or Jon leave, or in what state they were in. If there's been regret, she hadn't been privy to any of it.

She exhaled through her nose. Soft. Almost sad.

"'Member what Ma and Pa used to say? They disciplined us cus they cared about us. Cus they wanted us to be better. Even if it was rougher than a two-credit saddle as it was happenin'."

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Talin Treicolt
Honourable mentions: Talsin Lota | Jonath Kago | Ren
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