Private Meeting Ghosts

[Shai Maji]

KESTRI | TOR VALUM
MIDDAY | CLOUDY
TAG: Eliz Krayt

The week had been an emotional roller coaster for the battered Shistavanen, desperately trying to fix all of the mistakes she had made. Kranak was at least still on her side, but the others were still a problem. They struggled to find it in their hearts to forgive her, despite all of her attempts to make it all right. To make all of the pain go away. But it was a fool's hope, getting her people to forgive her.... and yet she still kept going. Testing her limits by walking in the streets, trying to buy some lunch, or even just taking in the cold, fresh air on the docks. But nowhere was safe for her. At best, people walked circles around her. At worst... she had lost count on how many gun barrels she was staring down for the day.

But she persisted, trying again and again. Perhaps she wasn't fixed. Perhaps she was still insane. For what sane person would still persist and stay in a place that did not want them anymore? She knew Xyoz wouldn't mind if she moved in permanently with him. Her time with him after the ceremony was nothing short of perfect... how he agreed to letting her go back to Kestri was beyond her. She needed to see him again, perhaps talk about finding a permanent home for the two of them once she felt she tried all she could to make her name right again. Maybe even look at adoption... though that conversation was going to need a lot of booze. A smile formed at the types of reactions she was expecting from him. But that had to wait. There were still a few more names she wanted to tick off on her list of attempts. A name she thought lost to the mountains of Panatha...

She reached the small home Eliz and Gwyn shared with Kranak. Her heart felt like it was in her throat as she came to a halt in front of the door. She had no armour or weapons on her, only her shirt, cargo pants and her yellow jacket. It was all she had left on the Vhipirheim when she was allowed to pack her things.

A hand reached out and hovered over the buzzer of the door, frozen in place as she swallowed hard on the prospect of seeing him again. Kranak wouldn't lie to her... but seeing him again still felt like a lie. Surreal. Would he even recognize her? Would he know her face? Would it even be the same Eliz she came to know on Mandalore, cared for with Kranak and welcomed into her clan?

With a shaky breath, Shai reached out and pressed the buzzer. Gwyn was out, as well as Kranak. All she could hope for was Eliz answering the door...

 

[Eliz Krayt]

Eliz stared down at the mask in his hands, watching it closely. Looking over every ding, scratch, and mark that made it his. He remembered. Some, little by little he was starting to remember more, but he was remembering a lot. Gwyn. Kranak. Shai. He closed his eyes, set the helmet to his forehead. He'd remember everything. That he was determined about. Especially his father.

Especially his mother.

The knock at the door pulled him from the past. He blinked, glancing to it. Kranak and Gwyn would just come in, so.. He got up. Pulled a pistol from the nearby counter to holster on his thigh. Mandalorians should never be without weapons, even at home. With a click of the button, the door slid open, and he blinked. There was only a second of him staring at the Shistavanen, down at her. He'd grown a couple inches since getting back now that his body wasn't stuck where he was.

Then just threw his arms around her and pulled her right into a hug.

"You're alive. Kranak left to go find you, thinking you were dead and- Manda you're alive."

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

The door slid open and the Shistavanen flinched, she could swear that she felt her heart stop for a second as she stared up at the familiar face. He had grown a lot. They both stood for a brief moment, tears forming in her eyes as she felt like time slowed to a halt around them. Then he jumped forward and hugged her.

Shai's eyes widened at the sudden gesture, but quickly her arms wrapped around him as she held him tightly. She nearly held him too tightly, before remembering what she was now. She expected anything else, but instead he greeted her with kind words she had missed dearly from those she cared for. "I can say the same thing." She managed to croak with a laugh as she held him, tears flowing from her face. Tears of joy, for once in a very long time. "By the Force, I missed you." She muttered, finally managing to let go of him to instead study his features. "You've grown..." She laughed, looking at the rest of his body. How the hell did he survive.

"I, uh... I brought some hot chocolate if you want some." She smiled, pulling the tin from her satchel as she looked at him again. She couldn't stop looking at him, like he would disappear if she looked away for even a second. The only reassurance that he wasn't going to disappear was the fact that he felt superbly solid in her embrace.

Eliz Krayt

 

[Eliz Krayt]

Eliz squeezed her tight. It was nothing to the strength he had before. Normal, for once. When she pulled back, he did the same. Offered a smile and a nod before stepping back to let her inside. "Hot chocolate sounds great, Shai. Come in. Uh, don't mind the mess. Still trying to pick up after.. Well. Had to relearn a lot of where stuff is." Well, if he even knew in the first place. Easier to just assume he did and forgot than anything else.

"Kitchen should be fine to cook up in, at least."

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Slowly Shai stepped past Eliz and into the house, almost feeling wrong for coming in. After what happened between her and Gwyn, it felt wrong to intrude into her space. Her home. Though after looking at the mess of a place, her worries started to fade. The amount of similarities between it and her own room was uncanny. "I ain't judging. Not like my place looks any better." She snickered as she wiped at her eyes, carefully moving through the house until she reached the kitchen.

She managed to find two mugs and started to prepare their drinks. Waiting for the water to boil, she turned to look at Eliz once again. "Last time I saw you... you were barely as tall as me. Now I'm looking like a kriffin' dwarf next to you." She chuckled as the tears tugged at her eyes again. But one question continued to linger on her mind. His arm was no longer cybernetic, but his scent wasn't any different. There was no way he could have gotten the bloodsucker treatment like her.

"Eliz... if you don't mind me asking... how did you get out alive?" She asked nervously as she stepped closer to him. "You were trapped... and your arm... How'd you manage to escape that mountain?" She flinched as the kettle finished, pouring the water in while she thorough stirred their drinks. She held out his mug towards him before taking a long sip of her own.

Eliz Krayt

 

[Eliz Krayt]

"Ah, yeah. I have been growing, huh." Yeah, another thing he was trying to remember. Didn't he have an issue growing? He frowned, trying to think on it more. Just for a moment.

Then, he shrugged.

"I honestly don't know. .. There was a dream? A place of white. .. I think my mother and father were there? They're dead, so I can only guess that was a dream. Had to be, right? .. Then I woke up." He glanced to his arm, squinting at it. Frowning deeper.

".. This was gone, huh? Knew somethin' was weird with it."

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

The more Eliz spoke, the more Shai realized what Kranak meant with his memory being all wonky. He explained what he could remember about how he survived, but it wasn't exactly much of an explanation. Shai was fine with that. It didn't matter how he survived, or even got his arm back, all that mattered was that Eliz was back.

"Yeah, you, uh... you got beaten in a fight a couple years back." She muttered, scratching the back of her neck as she took another sip. "But hey..." Her smile broadened as she looked into his crimson eyes. "You're alive. And you're whole. That's all that matters." She commented as she leaned against the counter. But something still wasn't right with all of this. He seemed abnormally happy to see her, like he didn't know what she had done under the Maw. She doubted that Gwyn or Kranak wouldn't have told him about what happened.

"Eliz..." She started. "Do you, uh... do you know what I've done?" She asked him carefully. She didn't want to turn him against her now, after finally seeing him again in years. But hiding the truth from him didn't sit right at all with her.

Eliz Krayt

 

[Eliz Krayt]

It was good to be back. Now that he remembered anyway. There was a lot to be said about remembering what was missed and just being told about it. This, though. Family. Knowing who they all were to him, he couldn't be any happier. Who needed the details. Well. There were some details he did know.

"Yeah. They told me everything. .. It doesn't matter to me. You're the closest thing I've ever had to a mom, Shai. I can never hate you."

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Shai waited with a halted breath for his answer. When he finally gave it, she gave a smile of pure joy as she walked up again and pulled him into an embrace. "I can't say how much I've missed you, Eliz. Please don't leave me again." She practically begged as she pulled away from him. She picked up her hot chocolate again and took a lengthy sip for a moment.

For a moment she let the silence linger as she merely engrained Eliz's new looks into her brain, though eventually her eyes looked around the place. Despite it not being her place, the mess put her more on edge than her own room. She quickly started to simply pile everything together with their sorts before finishing off her hot chocolate. "How's things been going over here, though? I, uh... haven't been around recently, so I'm a bit out of the loop." She chuckled with a guilty smile as she set her mug aside. "How's things been going between you and Gwyn?" She asked him calmly.

She wasn't exactly sure if Gwyn had told him about their meeting the other day, but it wasn't even much of an issue for her. She didn't even care what they did, all she wanted was to spend a few moments longer with him, to hear his voice and see his smile.

Eliz Krayt

 

[Eliz Krayt]

"That's.. A good question. I've uh, also been out of the loop. Did a stint on the hospital while everything.. Pieced itself together? I still don't remember a lot. .. Which makes the Gwyn thing.. Weird? She remembers everything. And I y'know, I remember some. Enough to remember who she is to me. But I feel.. Guilty? Like I'm taking advantage of her feelings. She'd.. Uh." He rubbed at the back of his neck, smiling nervously before taking a long drink of his own hot chocolate.

"She changes around me without a care. I don't.. Remember some of the more uh.. Intimate stuff, so I feel.. Not really awkward just.. Yeah. Guilty."

Shai Maji

 

[Shai Maji]

Shai listened closely to what Eliz had to say, a chuckle escaping her as he mentioned Gwyn's behaviour around him. Though the laugh harboured no malice or ill intent. "You have nothing to feel guilty over, Eliz." She reassured him gently. "Your mind is fractured, that is nobody's fault. Gwyn still cares deeply about you..." She looked away for a moment. If Eliz didn't feel the same anymore, that was simply the end of it. It was his decision.

"Give it time. If you still feel that connection with her, take it easy and start over with her. Y'all did it before, y'all can do it again. But if you don't... that is your decision. Your happiness matters as well." She continued, glancing at the door. "You hungry? Let's go get some fresh air." She suggested, making her way to the door.

"At the end of the day, Eliz, it is your decision." She stated again as she took a deep breath outside. Perhaps walking around town wasn't the best idea, especially if there was a risk of a fight breaking out. She could put him in danger. "Hey, Eliz... um... I just wanna say... my face is a bit of a sore topic for some people around town. If we start getting threats or something... just go, okay? I don't wanna drag you down into my own mess." She gave him an apologetic look as she spoke.

Eliz Krayt

 

[Eliz Krayt]

"Even if I don't remember it all, I know I love her. .. I just wish I did. Remember it, everything. What I do, though, I do." Yeah that wasn't the question, if he wanted to be with Gwyneira Vizsla or not. He did, without a single doubt in his heart. It was just.. Bridging that. Getting past the awkwardness holding him back. Hungry, though? He blinked, pulling out that little introspection before nodding and hopping up to follow her.

And grabbing a jacket. He needed a jacket now. That was still weird.

"I don't care what people think or if they're justified. I'll punch em right in the mouth if they talk shit. They can always challenge an honor fight if they have a real problem. But people who only talk shit? Cowards."

Shai Maji