Private Echoy'la

[Safira Haran]

T A G S | Damsy Callat - Haastal Haran ​

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Safira waited somewhat impatiently for a response from Haastal, but the more the silence pressed on, the more she found a sinking feeling dominating her stomach. Haastal wasn’t normally one for silence. He always had something or other to say. Usually, it was riddled with sass or friendly banter or irritation, but he always had something.​

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Leaning forward, Safira pressed her ear against the refresher door. She couldn’t hear much to begin with, so it was no surprise that what she heard inside the refresher reflected what she felt outside. At least until…​

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Pulling back from the door sharply, one of her hands shot to the device wedged into her ear. It made a high-pitched sound that pierced through her ear mercilessly. Whatever it was that Haastal had smashed, her hearing aid wasn’t overly pleased with it. She refrained from tutting, and spent the next few moments fiddling with the small dial that adjusted the settings. There was the faint scent of copper mixed into the air, Safira was sure she could smell the edge of it whenever she took a deep breath.​

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Her eyes cast down the corridor, to where her cousin had been and to where Safira assumed she was following. She was just about to give up on Haastal and go check on her, assuming he would emerge when he was ready, but the refresher door slid open suddenly.​

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Without even thinking about it, Safira dashed forward and took up the Haastal’s hand. It was drenched in scarlet and oozing more by the second. Yet, before she could make a fuss over it, Haastal dropped a bomb. Safira’s stomach sank to her feet. She let his hand fall from her grasp. Her mouth opened and closed dumbly. What comfort could Haastal find in words now? She did not hide her sorrow as he spoke. It was all the better that he had turned away from her.​

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He continued on, which was when panic began to settle on Safira’s face. What the panic meant, she could not tell, but she knew why it was there. The thought of life without Haastal made her feel sick. In a way she hadn’t ever experienced before. She had jumped on board with Damsy to find him without even giving a second thought to who she was leaving behind, but the idea of returning without him? It didn’t sit right at all.​

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When he had finished, and stood staring deeply at his cracked reflection, Safira shook her head. “You really are as dumb as a sack of bricks, Haastal.” She said, in a soft tone. “This is the blood of a warrior, and a man far stronger than the one we’re both looking at now, even if you can't see it yet. Only time can heal a wound like this. And yeah, you might never be the man you once were. Hell, you aren't the man you were before you met Redd... but time will make you a far better one.” At this point stepped forward to catch his gaze in the shattered mirror. ​

“Gar cuyir not solus.” ​

You are not alone. ​

Her face suddenly appeared behind his in the mirror, chin resting against his shoulder. Her hands wrapped around his middle to give him a tight hug. ​

“Vi kelir kemir adol haran ti gar.” ​

We will walk through hell with you.​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Safira Haran | Damsy Callat
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Hearing Safira's voice was one of the few things to pull him from his mind. His mind a place where hell had taken up residence and enjoyed an extended stay. For so many hours of so many days his mind had been filled with every negative emotion and bad thought that could come from the events that transpired on Naboo and yet...hearing Safira's voice? Feeling her arms around his waist as she hugged against his back, there was a warmth there that couldn't be rivaled. When she spoke, Haastal's eyes rose to meet the woman in the mirror, looking to her with a forward expression. "Varad? The Confederacy?....Isran?" He looked through a shattered shard of glass, finding Safira's eyes.

"I'm not comin' back, Safira." He told her the truth because lying was always a waste of time in his book. Why lie when the truth was faster and less work in the end?

"Your Riduur. You'd leave him behind to step into Haran with me?" He challenged her, half turning towards the woman behind him. He could meet her eyes, but it was easier without them boring holes into him. He'd leave it all behind for her, he always would have. However it had been different for Safira. She had found her Riduur and got to experience something Haastal did not. He turned from the mirror slowly and with a deliberate, almost unbelieving look in his eyes.

A hand rose to hold Safira's chin, smearing streaks of blood over her mocha skin. "You know there's no comin' back. Think before you do somethin' you'll regret." He warned her, lingering over the woman, keeping her close to him. He'd always wanted to keep Safira close, yet in the end there had always been a barrier. Several barriers.

 

[Damsy Callat]

D E T E R M I N E D​

Tags: Safira Haran Haastal Haran​

The pain melted away like abyssal mud on her face under a heavy Kaminoan rainstorm. She smiled up as she always had at the grey blanket of the sky. It was of clouds then, and she would drive back under the surface of the waves, but not the ceiling was a metal alloy and she pushed herself off the ground.​

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She padded towards the refresher. The room's door was open with Safira nowhere in sight, leaving Damsy to assume she had gone inside. She heard the flow of a shower switched from her preset sonic to water usage. At little ways on, low voices rather than the loud, argumentatives she had expected reached unsurely through the hall. The sithspawn stopped. She blinked. Wow. O-okay. Thought the day had gone nothing like she had expected, she could assume pretty well what was going on under her hull. Maybe Syreni's violent move in to her head had raddled a bit of her smarts, but not quite all of them. Anyway, if she was wrong, she really didn't want to come in unintentional contact with water two times in one day.​

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Damsy was about to turn and walk away until a different kind of metal stung at her nose. Blood? She called out, "You two okay in there?"​

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[Safira Haran]

T A G | Damsy Callat - Haastal Haran ​

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Haastal plied her with questions that Safira did not have the mind to answer right now. She didn’t know why she was ready to abandon everything and join him on an adventure to kriff knows where. She just would. Without question. In response, she simply shrugged, her shoulders brushing softly against his back as they moved.​

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When he turned to challenge her, she met him with a steady gaze. “Yes.” She replied simply. There were no complicated words that could accurately explain it. “I would.” Isran, her Riddur, had once been one part of her whole self. After the disappearance of the third part that made up that whole, the relationship between herself and Isran had never been the same. He relied on her heavily for his happiness, and it placed a weight on her shoulder that she had been longing to escape.​

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“Look.” She said, as the fingers on his hand caught her chin in their grasp. “I said I’m coming too. I’ve done plenty of things I regret in my life, but I can tell you that this is far from one of them.” There was a firmness to her tone, a seriousness that could not be denied. “I’m not going to let you walk away from me that easily.”​

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Opening her mouth to speak further, she was interrupted by a quietly cautious voice streaming in from the corridor. Safira shot Haastal a smile before peeling herself from around his waist. Moments later, her head popped out from the refresher door to find Damsy. “Dams?” She called as her eyes scanned the corridor, coming to rest on her cousin, who was noticeably concerned. “I’m fine. It’s this di’kut in here that’s gonna cost us more in repairs than you paid for this ship.” She smirked somewhat, but it did not last long. Damsy had not been present for Haastal’s explanation, or Safira’s instance to join him. She needed to be given the choice too.​

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Stepping out fully from the refresher, Safira let out a pent-up sigh. “He’s not kidding, Dams. He’s really leaving.” The details she would save for Haastal to explain when he was good and ready. “I’m gonna go with him.” Her head nodded firmly to prove her seriousness. “There’s nothing left in Clan Verd for me either. We're gonna try and make our own way from now own...” She trailed off slowly, hoping that her cousin would pick up on her meaning and answer the question that had yet to be asked.​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Safira Haran | Damsy Callat ​

Why is this woman always so damned....different?

The words echoed through Haastal's mind as Safira firmly stated that she would not let Haastal walk his path alone. If he were a different man he would embrace her and tell her just how much it meant to him to have someone with him as he discovered just what he was. He didn't do any of that, instead he just nodded at Safira without saying a word but even in that nod the woman would see the subtle trace of appreciation in his eyes.

When Damsy called out, Haastal turned his eyes out of the refresher and into the hall beside him. When Damsy stepped outside of the refresher Haastal brought a single hand up so he could hang on the door frame, listening as Safira spoke of the repairs that had to be made. "Yea, I'll get that fixed." He muttered before glancing back to the mess of broken glass on the floor behind him, flecked with crimson dots from his cut hand. When Safira explained to Damsy that she would be joining Haastal, the Mandalorian spoke up.

"I need to discover what it really means to be a Mandalorian. Before I became Haastal...I didn't have anything and now there's not much more than the creed, the Resol'nare. So that's what i'm going to do. Walk through a galaxy of hell to discover what it means to truly be Mandalorian." He didn't care to bring up the specifics once again, so he kept his words simple.

"Haastal Verd is gone, Haastal Haran is just about to start." He promised the two women before turning his eyes to Damsy.

 

[Damsy Callat]

T R I B U L A T I O N​

Tags: Safira Haran Haastal Haran​

Damsy's smile faded into a frown as Safira transitioned from repairs to Haastal's wishes. She screwed her face up when she had processed her cousin's truth, matching his. ​

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Oceans. She had lost them both.​

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She nodded solemnly, glancing from one to the other but no quickly enough that she couldn't look deep into each's eyes. Enough time passed to open her heart in sincerity and crawl her skin vulnerability. "'right then," she offered verbally after a moment. "Take a shower or turn off the fethin' water." It was an attempt at a joke as she glanced back to her uncle and gave a strained smile, but the delivery fell flat as her tone. She realized and turned to walk back towards the cockpit before she lingered much longer and make it weird. "I'll check out Chokan," she offered with a wave of her hand, remembering the system over on onboard galaxy map.​

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What was she going to tell Isley?​

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Nothing he would very much like.​

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But she didn't have to.​

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She didn't have to return either.​

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Damsy sat back in the pilot seat to power up the navicomputer, shaking the thoughts out of her head. What came to fill the void was something even more troubling:​

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". . . six months AWOL is not something that can be overlooked for anyone in the service. You abandoned your men while they were fighting a terrorist threat. . ."​

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Her sigh was ragged and shallow like an impoverished fisher's net, or else one that had failed to retain a sea creature determined to survive. She felt caught in that net too, but the more she thrashed and the more it ripped, the more the shredded tendrils contained her somewhere she wanted to be but couldn't any longer. She thought she had finally escaped since Omega's Rodian Incident. Evidently not.​

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"When you left, you left your men with a single message. They fight alone."​

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Gold flashes on the durasteel cabin walls caught Damsy's attention when the door opening hadn't. Keziah trotted across the room to her master's leg. She nuzzled to the thick beskar, an affection that the sithspawn couldn't feel but in her heart and across her face. With another grin, more meaningful, Damsy bent to pick up the miniature dragon. "You the best, Kezi." She clamored into one side of the grey cloth mantle hanging off Damsy's breastpiece and settled down again. Further warmth spread through Damsy's mind, Keziah's pleasant telepathic chatter taking over the emotional breeding ground that often invoked Syreni.​

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She began stroking the pet's back and got back to charting a course for her wayward passengers.​

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[Safira Haran]

T A G | Damsy Callat - Haastal Haran ​

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A sinking feeling came over her stomach as she watched her cousin’s facial expression fall. Safira was rather taken aback at the flat tone Damsy displayed moments later.​

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When Damsy turned to walk away again, Safira shot Haastal an uneasy look. It had been easy for Safira to decide she would leave too, though she couldn’t say exactly why. For some reason, she thought it would be the same for Damsy. Maybe because she had been the one to set the mission up to find Haastal in the first place? Safira let out a strangled sigh and followed Damsy into the cockpit.​

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“Dams?” Safi asked, poking her head through the doorway.​

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The map was already up, and a course had already been chartered.​

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There was no easy way to begin a conversation like this, so Safira just barrelled right into it. “You could come with us, you know?” Her feet tapped softly as she made her way over to the co-pilot's chair and threw herself into it. “I’m not gonna pretend like I know it will be good for you, and I’m not gonna pretend like it’s gonna be easy for us in any sense of the word.” Safira lent back and glanced over the back of her cousin’s head. She wasn’t making a decent argument for her case thus far, but she carried on. “But what I do know is that we’ll take care of each other… and we won’t let each other get lost in a crowd.”​

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At that point, she smirked, but Damsy wasn’t looking at her to see it anyway. “And I’m not sure I can look after Haastal all on my own anyway. He takes the crew of a star destroyer to manage.”​

 

[Haastal Haran]

Safira Haran | Damsy Callat ​

When Damsy stepped out of the hall, Haastal watched her leave just before Safira let out a bit of a sigh. He was about to say something but before he could Safira had moved down the hall to check on the woman. Haastal exhaled before looking down at his cut hand. He pulled a cloth from the rack, wrapping it around his hand so blood did not drip through the entire ship. He clenched his hand into a tight fist before following after the two. When Haastal stepped into the cockpit he had caught the trail part of Safira's words, listening as she explained just how difficult it was to manage him. "Five Star crews couldn't handle me." He corrected before turning to the woman.

"Damsy." He said, walking past Safira and kicking the back of the pilot's seat so she would know to turn towards him. "We don't really know where we're goin' or what the feth we're doin' there." He looked to her for a moment before shrugging. "None of that chit matters. All that matters is us knowin' we ain't good where we're at, so we're goin' somewhere else." The Mandalorian looked to Safira and then back to Damsy. "You should come with us." He didn't say anything more for a moment as he turned out of the cockpit, looking down at the cut on his hand and the red-stained cloth. "I'mma go clean this." He stopped for a moment before looking to Damsy.

"I ain't your daddy, but I got your back, Goldfish." He told her before stepping out into the hall and make his way back to the bathroom.

 

[Damsy Callat]

T R I B U L A T I O N​

Tags: Safira Haran Haastal Haran​

Damsy didn't look at Safira as she came in, nor when she sat down. In fact, she wasn't really listening to anything but the purring of Keziah. But she herself made no noise until after her uncle joined them. A steel rounded-toe jostled the pilot seat's base, not enough to compromise its structural integrity, but just so to startle its occupant. Only then did she truly process their persuasions.

She glanced to Safira for what seemed like the first time in ages, then she turned sharply in the chair to witness Haastal's departure. Her abyssal eyes met his brown gaze. Her expression fell from neutral ground at mention of her father, but then an invisible fish hook tugged up at the corner of her mouth as he made his promise complete with a petname. Goldfish already felt better suited for her than princess...though in she wasn't gold even in squaloid form.

That and no one had nicknamed her since Typhan Berrezz and the Omegas. If re-christening was a marker of affection and comradery, these two, between 'Dams' and 'Goldfish,' should be her new pod, truer than any in the ranks of House Verd had been before - except Rann Thress . Damsy's wonder for her half-brother's welfare fleeted in the oncoming memories of Luna Terrik 's prized squad. The one that, even and especially on Rodia, had given her everything - their sweat, their tears, their blood, their lives - and in misconstrued thanks she had forsaken them. Any and all of her good intentions had followed her out to the space surrounding Scarif in The Stallar Kart's wake, where they had quickly frozen and shuddered and died.

Captain Mallory Bash , bless her heart.

Exarch Adron Malvern 's too. He had been right, about all of it. She found herself at a like junction once more, but carrying the weight of his harsh lessons which had long felt more like a burden than a weapon, she was equip to make a far better choice this time.

She wouldn't tell the two closest to her to swim on alone. Haas did promise Father he would take care of me, she mused in a quick moment. And he can't if he leaves and I stay. Playing with semantics was almost always an annoyance - a fool's game, a mark of unintelligence even - she knew, but the logic still held if one canted their head and looked at it that way. A promise was a promise under any circumstance, and she wouldn't be the reason he broke it. If she wanted to start carrying herself with more honor, perhaps this was how it had to start: stood by a bent intention.

Bones full of righteousness had doomed her before, an infectious illusion that had weathered to dust and left nothing of her but pain and regret. This time would be different. This time, because she couldn't restore Omega's Major-Adjunct, she wouldn't leave behind Netra'yaim without her Akaa'kalyr. Hopefully, the affect of the latter would calm her heart of guilt for the former.

A brand new temperature blossomed through the sithspawn's mind, like a tsunami at high sea - powerful still but melodious in its unheard wavelength.

"There's synthflesh in the top drawer in medbay!" Damsy shouted after Haastal. Reaching up to a grip hanging from the celling with one hand and scooping up Keziah with another, she stood. She moved to deposit the dragon onto Safira's lap if there was no protest from the second woman. "I've got a resignation to film," she said at a much lower volume to her cousin as much as to herself. She stepped out of her chair, around the console, and ducked out into the short hall to the Main Hold.