Private Not Your Motina’s Rule of Two

[Damsy Callat]

"You with the Sith?" Damsy asked evenly. Of course, she was too—in one, underused sense of the word—but she was curious which definition fit Alina Tremiru best.

Whatever the answer was, though, the Siren was determined to not lose a friend.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Yes." No, she wasn't going to hide who she was in fear of rejection. Not again. If it was an issue, at least Alina would know before she got too comfortable here. "I'm no threat to the people here, if that's a worry."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Nah, ain't worried 'bout that," she admitted. "'M Sith now too. I just ask 'cause, I dunno, am tryin' to understand the lay o' the land, y'know? The whole deal's gotten hella messy since Korriban."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Messy's an understatement. You gotta keep your head low, for the people here. Kainites, Eternals, The Maw. High Sith. Hell, probably the Tsis'kal, they'd all try to make you and yours bend the knee or die." Yeah, Alina wasn't too thrilled about the politics of it all. Her frown remained, her gaze staring out at the sun shining over the ground. A world of light she could never again enter, even if the light didn't burn.

"I'll kill them. All of them. So don't worry."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy followed Alina's gaze idly.

"Told ya I ain't worried 'bout ya," she repeated softly, sincerely. "I know ya will. So, don'tcha worry 'bout us 'ere while you're doin' it.

"Maybe someday I'll join ya, but I 'ready 'ave an ova'flowin' plate righ' now." A pause "'Til then, I'll keep your frequency 'andy?"

Until Damsy reyoked this earth, if Alina would have her. If Alina would wait to kill them all for her.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Join?" Alina blinked in complete surprise. It took a second of staring out at the sunlight before her gaze shifted back to Damsy. And she laughed. Not to make fun of the other woman, but something more pure spirited. It was actually funny to the Sangnir. How could it not be?

"Everyone keeps telling me it's a stupid thing to do. That I can be better or be a Jedi or 'rise above my base nature'. Or y'know, they're cult fanatics. But- Yeah. Yeah. If I haven't killed them all by then, and even then, yeah. I'd love to have another I can trust around."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy scooted sideways a bit and leaned over to grab her goblet. She took a sip of water, then rose it towards Alina, not to offer it itself but a gesture of understanding. "Ah, well, prolly 'cause it is a stupid thing to do." Damsy set her water in between her thighs and gave a shrug, holding one side of the vessel so it wouldn't tip over. "But necessary." She pointed with her free hand at Alina in preparation of punctuating her next point. "An' you oughta be proud o' it. You oughtta be proud o' who ya are, too."

Her hand went back into her lap. "Kai made it, fully integrated inta the NJO, rose 'bove his base nature—an' I'm proud of 'im too—but that don't mean that path's that's gonna work for all us if we try 'ard 'nough. That's the hill I'll fethin' die on if I gotta."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Proud.

Yeah, she really was proud of it all. And it always helped to hear someone else say it. Not just Alisteri. Or her master. Someone on the outside of it all agreeing with how necessary it all was. She practically beamed with how happy this all made her. At least until she spoke about Kai. Then Alina frowned. "He cheated. getting a new body, a pathetic weak body like he did at that, wasn't rising above his 'base nature.' Pissed me off something fierce seeing him like that. .. Hope he doesn't regret it."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

This time she held up a hand almost defensively. "Well, ya ain't his motina. Or 'least a mother that's not one ta fight wit' her son."

Damsy's gaze slid back over to the window. With one hand, she blindly set her cup on the ground near the sofa leg before getting up to walk over to in. The moment she had unfolded herself, Kezi did the same, bounded over, and stole the Sith's newly vacated spot.

"There's trauma 'ere, 'Lina," she explained, looking out over the city. "Very generational. Some of these folk have an ancestry steeped in Sith Alchemy. Sometimes—" if the subject's DNA changed or a curse was placed on the family— "the characteristics pass down, sometimes they don't. But even then, the knowin's 'nough.

"'M tryna help 'em to 'cept themselves, but I don't force 'em to."

The Siren sighed and turned back towards her friend.

"Syreni an' I've an unda'standin': Sith's wha' I am, so she says, but it ain't who I am, so I say." Not the usual kind of Sith, at least. "If I force Spawn unda' my control, even if I think I'm doin' it for their own good, am I good?" She clicked her tongue. "Don't think so." Her time for hypocrisy was long over.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Ask any of the old fucks that are trying to run the show again, and they'll tell you it's a Sith's privilege to force others under their control." Alina grumbled her annoyance, closed her eyes. "Denying what they are will just- It'll make it worse, in the long run. So much worse in the long run. For everyone. When they loose control. When they slip up even for a second. It'll cost them everything because they refused to learn."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

A nod now.

"I know, 'Lina. We on the same page." It was one most other Sith had either no concept of or had torn out of their books long ago.

"There ain't nothin' 'bout the Qotsisajak that backs up them 'old fucks'," she added matter-of-factly. "It talks 'bout chains bein' broken through victory. Ain't say I gotta get that victory myself, or that I can't 'elp folk out with theirs. Power gonna be a struggle, sure, but 'gainst the galaxy, not 'gainst each otha'."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"That's.. Actually true." It wasn't something she'd ever thought of, on account of her families focus being on the more arcane. Battle, war, they didn't care. Victory, even if it was for another. Was that why her mother never did? She half chuckled at the thought. Perhaps the late Lady Tremiru was more wise than Alina had given her credit for. "I wouldn't mind serving another I could trust to actually bring glory to the Sith. Choices don't have that at the moment, though."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Same. But choices'll have it one day. I gotta believe that."

She turned back towards Alina and leaned back against a section of nearby wall.

"If the Jedi won't let us be parta their Good Guys Club, well, we gotta make our own."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Good guy club. Heh. I wouldn't say that's my goal. I just don't want the young acolytes that should be our future to get killed because some bloated Lord thinks they're still relevant." Alina curled up more on the couch, knees tucked towards her chest under her chin. "Something that needs to eat people can never be good, anyway. Not in the selfless sense."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

A worried look crossed the Siren's face, but not the kind that was horrified with anything about her friend; instead, disappointed in her own lack of sufficient phrasing. She pushed off the wood to straighten up. "Chit, sorry. I didn't mean..."

She trailed off as she approached the couch once again, but this time kneeled on the floor and reached for Alina's hands. "Look, maybe we can't be good, but we can be better. Bein' one with your, my, nature ain't bad just 'cause. It bad if we outta control.

"There will always be monsters in the shadows, and a lot of 'em'll stay scary, but we can make some o' 'em friendly."

Even as she spoke passionately, her tone never grew proselytizing.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Alina shook her head. What Damsy said didn't bother her in the slightest. She blinked in surprise as the other woman took her hand, but she did smile. "Control is what separates us from not just other Sithspawn. Sith, too." Her other hand reached down, gently patting the back of Damsy's own.

"The galaxy just doesn't realize how much we protect them from."

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy smiled bittersweetly back. "They might neva'."

She gave Alina's hand a squeeze before standing and looking down at the chronometer widget on her wrist gauntlet. "I could talk to you forever, an' I might if you don't peace out now. Dun wanna keep you from your newfound duties."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Probably for the best, then. Can't have you growing old on me in a conversation or two." She returned the smile before finally standing up. Stretching. Sometimes a normal conversation was needed, just to relax.

".. Maybe next time we can chat over dinner or something. It's nice, not always making everything so.. Dark and brooding, you know?"

Damsy Callat

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Hell yeah." She started walking Alina to the foyer's exit. "I have this great blood clam recipe I've been meaning to break back out."

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Blood clam. Heh." Alina flashed a fanged grin as she stayed by the door. "See you soon, Damsy. Don't get caught up in their games, if you can help it."

Then she left.

Damsy Callat