Private Dark Matter

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina listened in rapt silence, noting every detail as the passion in his voice grew, the tension that crept into his shoulders, the slight tremble in his fingers as he laid bare His frustration; the endless struggle of being an ant among giants, of never being able to trust or rely on anyone around you. The words struck a chord in her chest as she realised how much he truly embodied the sith code.

Peace is a lie; there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.​

As he shoved the lid off the oubilette, she moved her hands, shifting her gaze to the myriad of needles and tubes, unable to stop the arching of her eyebrows. Her lips parted to release a soft gasp as she ran her hand along its interior, careful not to snag her skin on the needles. It was crude, callous even, to put yourself through so much pain...

Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.​

She let the silence hang after his words, carefully processing his words, letting the fire he had ignited within her settle. Slowly, she lifted her gaze from the ouibilette to look at him, withdrawing her hand from the casket. "I understand," she said quietly, "I know what it is like to stand alone against self-proclaimed gods. To have everyone you placed your faith in...everyone you gave a piece of yourself to...cast you aside." Lina stepped back from the ouibilette, gesturing with one hand, she lifted the lid with ease from the floor, setting it back into place and sealing the chamber from sight as she tried to pick her way through her next words with care.

Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.​

"I understand now why the Wonosans are so dedicated to you. You have a fire of devotion in you that is...difficult to resist." She gave him a half smile,
"The Zambrano line is within my firing line already; adding a few more names to the list will not be so hard."

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

At the silence that followed His outburst He let out a heavy breath and pressed a hand against His mask much like one would do to their forehead in exasperation. "Forgive me, my emotional state has been unstable as of late and I find this topic distressing." Darth Strosius stepped away from the Oubliette and took a moment to roll His shoulders and properly recompose Himself, silently cursing His own weakness for ranting and exposing such a thing to Lady Ovmar of all people.

By the time she spoke He had turned back to face her, letting out a small hum of agreement at her apparent sympathies with His sentiment. "It is a bitter thing, is it not?" Betrayal was second nature to the Sith. A truth that He had been forced to realize time and time again. No doubt one in the business of intrigue such as she was quite familiar with such affairs as well, even without accounting for her...interesting taste in partners. He was still waiting on a thanks for giving her an out to her marriage at that reception.

"The Order of Wonosa is dedicated because they see that I am one of the very few willing to do what must be done." He glanced back at the Oubliette, the internals now hidden by the lid once more but no doubt still present within His mind. He was intimately familiar with it after all. "Even if they do not know the full extent of my own dedication and measures. They see that I will stab at the corroded heart of the galaxy and they yearn to do the same, if only our fellow Sith were motivated by morals and prosperity as they are."

The masked man waved off the offer of aid as He turned back towards the workstation that He had been shepherding Lady Ovmar towards earlier. "I can handle the corpse. The Zambranos are the greatest threats, focus on them. Raaf and the rest will die in time, as they should. Until then, let us return to the question of your disunited being shall we?" He strode over to the station and brushed some spare implements aside, plucking a makeshift amulet of dark stone and woven Zeyd-cloth that was clearly still being finished as it were. The runes inscribed on its surface were already fully completed however, with the stone itself bearing a dark crimson sheen when properly looked at.

"I heard of this sort of amulet from one of the ancient texts I recovered from Krayiss II, a Healing Accerant the records called it. Supposedly it eases the mind and mends the body, I thought it might aid in at least keeping the soul secured as well." He turned back to His guest and offered it. "Mind the edges, I haven't filed them down yet."

Lina Ovmar

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Lina tilted her head as he dismissed her offer of assistance. Did he truly think that he could take on the Emperor alone when he had failed so dismally against Malum? She opened her mouth to remind him that his last underestimation of an opponent had given him the wings that he was doing his best to keep retracted, but thought better of it, not wanting to test the limits of his hospitality.

"As you wish," she said with a soft sigh. Her gaze shifted back to the ouibilette, her fingers tracing the runes idly as she lost herself in thought, pondering over the possibilities of dealing with the Zambrano clan. It would need to be widespread, targeting them as a whole rather than simply removing the head of the snake. She looked around as Strosius spoke again, snapping her attention back to the here and now and moving to meet him halfway as he approached with an amulet in hand.

An intrusion of mistrust made her hesitate, though a brief scan of the runes told her that it was exactly what he said it was, and she forced her doubt aside, taking it gently from him. The gentle hum of power from it made her fingers tingle. It was simple, yet beautiful. She ran her thumb over its surface, her face unreadable.

"There is something I don't understand," she began, unable to push back against the wave of insecurity and mistrust battering against her mind. "I stand to gain more from this than you do." She looked up at him, emerald eyes locking with his mask. "You know where your ashes are; you don't need me to retrieve them. Every time we have crossed paths, you have had nothing but contempt for me. Hell, last time I saw you, you stuck a sabre through my stomach. So what has changed? Why are you helping me?"

Darth Strosius

 

[Darth Strosius]

The masked man blinked in surprise at Lady Ovmar's supposed lack of understanding even after examining the amulet, glancing at it and opening His mouth to give another brief explanation of it before she continued and clarified what she meant. He supposed that from her perspective His behavior was a bit peculiar. For her their last interaction must have only been a few days ago, when He was a different man. A whole man. Not like the overgrown being that He was now.

"Death has a certain way of...shifting one's perspective." Darth Strosius began, picking His words carefully as He returned her intense stare from behind His visor. "I spent a good week in a bacta tank on Alvaria after my resurrection. There was nothing to do but think and converse with Malum whenever he saw fit to visit and keep me updated on current events. In that time I came to a realization that my...narrow mindset had blinded me to before. One that upon reflection made more sense than the alternative that I thought of before my demise."

He gestured towards His guest. "You are afraid. You and most others within our Order rightly fear the consequences of crossing the powers-that-be, wary of the threats that they could bring down on your heads. Afraid, even, to the point of doing your best to adhere to wishes and designs of them so that you go unnoticed and unthreatened." He stepped to the side, crossing His arms behind His back as He began to circle the workstation. "Before my death I had no trouble lumping you and everyone else in the categories of cowards and sycophants, which to be fair there was some truth to regarding many of our contemporaries."

Darth Strosius stopped His stride and plucked what seemed to be a chiseling tool from the other side of the station, no doubt the implement that He had been using to work on the amulet beforehand. "In my hatred and desire for revenge I mistook the victimhood of my peers for genuine malice and willing compliance. I have come to understand now that many are not in league with our oppressors, they simply wish to placate them. For better or worse. I believe you are little different, understandably concerned and wary of crossing those who have placed themselves as your betters. It is my duty now not just to avenge the fallen, but to enlighten the living. To tear off the facade of power and invincibility and rid the Sith of this fear."

He paused and nodded back towards the "wings" sprouting from His back. "With you in particular I feel sympathetic for your current predicament. Our previous animosity hasn't left my mind, but now I see the true culprit of your distress and actions lay not in a desire to see me brought low but instead to ensure that you yourself aren't. That, and I would not wish the disconnection of body and soul upon anyone. It isn't a pleasant experience as you know, and I'd like to do my part in helping mend it wherever I can."

Lina Ovmar