Junction Sun & Starlight [ME][TSO][THR][TSC] | [Empty Hex][Dahrtag][Iphigin][Phu]

[Taiia Mataan]

//: Allyson Locke //:​

Taiia's smile lingered as Allyson admitted she could never quite keep herself out of trouble. She simply nodded, the expression on her face making it abundantly clear that this was hardly new information. "No," she agreed with quiet amusement. "You really can't."

The kiss to her hand drew another smile, though it softened as Allyson spoke about the places she had been, about how they would have been better together. "I think you still would have found trouble," she replied gently. "I simply would have been there to help you find your way back out of it." Her thumb brushed absentmindedly across the back of Allyson's hand as they continued their slow walk along the shoreline, the waves rolling lazily onto the sand beside them.

"...despite wanting a family..."

Taiia's steps slowed almost imperceptibly as her green eyes lifted to Allyson's face. For a long moment, she said nothing at all. She had spent years wondering what might have been, imagining countless versions of the life they had lost. Somehow, despite all of that, it had never once occurred to her that Allyson might have been imagining the same thing. "You wanted children." The words escaped almost as a realization rather than a question. Something warm settled quietly in her chest. For so long, she had assumed the family she built had been something Allyson watched from a distance, believing it belonged to Taiia alone, not meant for her. She had never stopped to consider that Allyson might have wanted that life just as desperately.

"I wish I had known that." Her fingers laced a little more firmly through Allyson's. "I think you would have been wonderful." The answer came without hesitation. "You would have worried over every little scrape and bruise." A smile tugged gently at her lips. "You would have insisted you weren't worrying, and then somehow convinced yourself every scraped knee was a galactic emergency." A quiet laugh escaped her before Allyson's question settled between them.

Could they really have raised children while living the lives they had? Taiia considered it for a moment, her gaze drifting toward the sea. "I don't think we would have dragged toddlers through half the things we've survived." She smiled to herself, already picturing the conversation. "I think somewhere along the way, one of us would have looked at the other and realized we'd become completely unreasonable." Her eyes found Allyson's again. "I think we would have stopped."

The words were gentle, spoken with the quiet certainty that had always defined her. "I know you don't believe that." Her thumb brushed lightly across Allyson's hand. "But you've already proven you can." There was just the quiet honesty of one who knew Allyson Locke all too well. "You came home." The smile that followed was soft enough to rival the morning itself. "I think we would have found our way home then, too."

​

 

[Aselia Verd]

Wearing: [X]

The corner of Aselia's mouth lifted a little more as she caught the look lingering on her. Months ago, she might have let it pass without comment, convincing herself she'd imagined it. Now she knew better; there was still something wonderfully disarming about realizing Adelle was looking at her that way. "I think I can manage that," she replied, her voice carrying an easy warmth as she shifted slightly in the lounger, turning just enough that she was facing Adelle a little more directly.

Her eyes drifted over the beach before returning to Adelle. "First, the track. Then drinks. Then dancing." She gave a small, thoughtful nod as though carefully reviewing the evidence. "Now a beach." A soft laugh escaped her. "I'm beginning to think you're trying to spoil me." She let the teasing linger for a moment before settling comfortably back into the lounger, the ocean breeze stirring a few loose strands of hair across her shoulder that she tucked behind her ear without much thought, her attention drifting out toward the waves.

"You know..." she said after a while, her voice quieter now. "For someone who usually needs to be doing something..." She trailed off, watching another wave roll onto the sand before it quietly disappeared back into the sea. "...I'm surprisingly content just sitting here." It was only the quiet realization of someone noticing something about herself she hadn't before. The smile that returned was smaller than before but somehow more genuine. "Maybe we should do this more often." Her eyes found Adelle again for just a moment before returning to the horizon.

TAG: Adelle Bastiel
​

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Taiia Mataan //:

Allyson looked at Taiia when the words that she had spoken finally settled in the woman's heart. She understood the surprise. Allyson's lifestyle didn't scream family-oriented, nor did it allow her to even fathom the thought. But with Taiia, she had always wondered in the back of her mind if they even could.

It was a thought she had, one of the last before she had left the note she did when she walked out. In her mind, for Taiia to have everything —a marriage, love, and a family—she needed to leave her. The way Taiia's life unfolded in front of her only proved her right. Allyson often dreamt the children were hers, wishing with every fiber of her being that she could just step forward to have the one thing she had always wanted.

A family and a home with Taiia.

She listened, smiling softly the entire time, letting the woman work through the what-if scenarios that Allyson had dreamed of every night. As their eyes met, Allyson could see the same story that Taiia was telling. They would have stopped, settled down, and begun their quiet life.

Her grin widened only when Taiia pointed out what the Corellian was already thinking. There was always someone who pulled at the Spy's leash, dragging her into conflicts, missions that were necessary for her skill craft. Could she have walked away from everything? Abandoned the way of life she had known for decades?

She could have, yes.

"It took me thirty years to come home through Taiia. I couldn't leave you with children for that long — alone." She continued to smile gently.

Allyson wondered if she would have made even more deals with the devil to protect Taiia and their children, if this story had played out. Maybe it was for the better that they didn't have them; there was only so much of the Corellian's soul that she could barter with.

"I've always figured family and a marriage was something only I could dream about; it was never something that made sense for me to have."

Allyson shrugged.

"Even though they weren't mine, I wished they were. I remember there was a time I had come to visit after one of my particularly draining missions." Allyson let her gaze wander back towards the water as she stood, closer to Taiia.

"Caelan had decided to try and jump over to one of the rocks in the middle of the river. The water was flowing quickly, spring was just coming into bloom, and the snow from the mountains was melting."

It always surprised Allyson how the memories surrounding Taiia had always remained vivid in her mind. Too often, she found herself struggling to remember things and to organize thoughts that were part of her life, not a persona's.

Yet, these simple memories always lingered at the forefront of her memory.

"Seris wanted no part of it. You looked so tired; I wondered how much trouble they had been giving you. But Caelan, despite his sister's warnings, decided to jump. He made it, but scraped up his knee and shin. I could tell he was trying not to cry… I wanted to help him, do something to stop the bleeding."

She didn't, though; Allyson remained close, but still far enough to not interfere. In the memory, Taiia had eventually realized what the twins were up to and scolded them after making sure Caelan was alright.
Allyson huffed with amusement.

"But you are right, I'd have made something so small into something big."

She leaned forward and kissed her wife's cheek. "I'm sorry I never told you before, but I feared that if we had tried, I would have only brought you and our children danger."

Staying close, Allyson brought Taiia closer into an embrace, her cheek resting against Taiia's as she sighed softly.

"Forgive me."

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Aselia Verd
Wearing: [X]

Adelle rolled onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow, her mismatched eyes glittering with a touch of mischief. The quiet affection in Aselia’s voice did more to set her heart racing than the little black bikini, and soothed the worry that she annoyed her girlfriend with everything about herself. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she had warned Aselia that her myriad of medical conditions were a lot. And with their respective jobs, they had precious few opportunities to be in each other’s space for extended periods of time. She’d lived with Na’an and Leigh for a couple years, and both had started running out of patience with her.

"First, the track. Then drinks. Then dancing." She gave a small, thoughtful nod as though carefully reviewing the evidence. "Now a beach." A soft laugh escaped her. "I'm beginning to think you're trying to spoil me."

“Are you complaining?” Adelle asked with a grin. She hadn’t thought the times she’d invited Aselia to things had been anything special; they’d all just been things she enjoyed and wanted to share. But it was good to know Aselia had also thoroughly enjoyed them. Adelle would be lying if she’d said the Verd name didn’t intimidate her.

They lapsed into silence, Aselia’s gaze on the expansive ocean as Adelle watched her absently tuck windblown locks back. Not for the first time, she wondered how had she managed to catch Aselia’s attention when there had probably been multiple options for her.

"You know..." she said after a while, her voice quieter now. "For someone who usually needs to be doing something..." She trailed off, watching another wave roll onto the sand before it quietly disappeared back into the sea. "...I'm surprisingly content just sitting here."

She looked back at the waves, roaring as they rolled in and hissing as they washed out. The ocean had always soothed, always eased whatever burden Adelle had carried. It had always felt like home. The times she actually got to enjoy it, however, were few and far between.

The smile that returned was smaller than before but somehow more genuine. "Maybe we should do this more often." Her eyes found Adelle again for just a moment before returning to the horizon.

“I’d like that.” Adelle looked back at Aselia and the small smile she found made her heart skip a beat. It was real in a way that didn’t happen often. She followed her girlfriend’s gaze back out to the cerulean waters, a stark contrast to the black sand on the beach. Idly, Adelle wondered what the shore might look like if the beach had been one of the famously rare Black Gold beaches of Corellia.

“I know a place,” she said softly. She didn’t take many people there—her mom had been the one to find it and share it with her. “There’s not many that know about it so it’s nice and quiet. The water’s not as pretty but it has its own merits.”

She looked back at Aselia, looking for her reaction. “Say the word and I’ll tell the galaxy to kriff off for a few days.”

 

[Taiia Mataan]

//: Allyson Locke //:​

Taiia's fingers tightened around Allyson's hand. It was a small, almost unconscious gesture, but enough that their slow walk along the shoreline came to a gentle stop. For a long moment, she simply stood there as the waves continued to roll lazily onto the sand, but she scarcely heard them anymore. Everything Allyson had shared settled over her all at once. Of course, she had known about the visits and had known Allyson came back whenever she could, lingering just long enough to convince herself Taiia was safe before disappearing once more. She had always believed those visits were because Allyson missed her. She had never imagined...

Her grip tightened again. "...you wanted all of it." The words escaped before she could stop them, barely more than a whisper. Not just her. The home. The family. The quiet mornings, and even the difficult days when everything felt like too much. Allyson had wanted all of it; worse yet, she never noticed.

She stepped toward Allyson and turned until she was standing in front of her, still holding her hand as though letting go had become impossible. Her green eyes searched the Corellian's face, but whatever she had meant to say never came. Instead, tears welled without warning. "Oh... My Love..." Her free hand rose to Allyson's cheek, trembling just enough that Allyson would, of course, notice. "I didn't know," her voice broke as it left her. "I didn't know..." She shook her head helplessly, another tear slipping free.

For all the years she had spent wondering whether Allyson was safe, whether she had somewhere warm to sleep, whether she was still alive, never once had it crossed her mind that every visit carried another kind of grief. That Allyson wasn't simply coming back to see the woman she loved. She was coming back to see the life she wished she could have shared with her.

She stepped forward without thinking, closing the last of the distance between them. One hand never released Allyson's while the other slipped behind her neck, drawing her into an embrace that lacked all of her usual composure. Taiia tucked her head gently against the Corellian's shoulder. There was nothing graceful about it. She simply held her as tightly as she could. "Why didn't you tell me?" The question was barely audible against Allyson's shoulder. "You carried that all by yourself..." Taiia's voice failed her again. She buried her face against Allyson for a moment, trying to steady a heart that no longer seemed interested in listening. "I would have wanted to know." Another breath caught in her throat. "I would have come to you..."

When she finally lifted her head, her eyes were red with tears, but there was only love in them. "You never had to dream by yourself." Her thumb brushed gently across Allyson's cheek. Without another word, she buried her head against Allyson's shoulder once again and closed her eyes.

​

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

"Bony?!"

Mercy smirked at her reply. It had been the obvious quip, considering Windrun from the neck down was entirely a cyborg and Mercy was pretty sure her head at this point was mostly cybernetic too.

Crazy stuff, really.

She wondered how long it would be until the only organic part of Arris would be the brain in her skull.

“You heard what I said.” Then again a swig from the bottle before leaning into the unfolded chair with a heavy sigh. “You know, we should make this a habit. Do some murder and mayhem, then go to a beach and get shit-faced. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

Humbarine was already a distant memory to Mercy.

A messy messy memory that had left her healing for weeks. Not something that the large woman wished to have a repeat of.

“How are you holding up since then?”

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy
​

Arris rolled her eyes. “Have you considered we can skip the murder and mayhem? Y’know, we’re loaded enough that we can prolly just fuck off to some backwater by now.”

Humbarine had reminded her exactly what happened when the Sith got out of control. She had set out to achieve a clean coup. Dead imperials, sure, but when were they people to her eyes? Those brainwashed idiots practically signed up for the deaths they received. It made it easier - no, it made it feel good when she was ordering their executions en masse after Coruscant.

Arris snatched the bottle back, taking a swig of her own. Dry as the sandy beach.

“I’m…” She trailed off, actually giving the question some consideration instead of just slinging a cheap answer. Then, with a shrug, she was honest. “Terrible. But you don’t wanna hear that. You want us to get drunk and get into some trouble, yeah?”

She looked around. The others seemed busy with their own ‘fun’ or had headed off towards the gala. As far as she was concerned, the beach was theirs now.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

She looked up from her bottle.

“Fuck off to some backwater to do what exactly?” Mercy responded in surprise. It was not often she got blindsided these days, but Arris managed it in one sentence. The idea of this being a temporary gig did not even occur to her.

They’d do this until they died as far as Mercy was concerned.

This thing they were doing wouldn’t last, of course. Another Empire would come up, or rival Sith, or the Jedi would get off their arse, something would make sure to destroy what they had forged in the Core.

That was fine. That was right. That was the way the Galaxy worked.

But walking away from it before that could occur?

She held her tongue as Arris spilled some truth. Mercy’s eyebrow raised as she plucked a cigarette box from her chest pocket and offered it to her.

“Terrible, huh? What’s got you in a twist, darling, spill.”

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy
​

Arris snatched that cigarette real quick - as always. Preferred it over alcohol any day. Besides, even great liquor tasted like swill lately.

“You were there!” She got a little snappy and took a drag. “Another storm. Crazed civilians. Collapsing towers. A giant lizard?! Portals to hell popping open in space???” She listed it off like a struggling writer throwing darts at the wall for their next holoflick.

But that was when she went back to Mercy’s first question.

“I dunno, Merce… I’m tired.” Another drag.

The only thing that kept her going right now. Okay, only two things were as follows:

One - taking down the High Republic.

Two - protecting her few people of interest in the Covenant.

That fun they used to have? It was pretty much gone the moment she realized Mercy was willing to go to such lengths for the game. Yeah, Arris had gotten over it emotionally, to an extent. Accepted that she was a genocidal war criminal responsible for two, now three, atrocities.

But what was there left to gain? What more could they do? It’s not like they were going to exhume the legacy of a dead empire and claim it as their own, ushering in a new era of Dark Side imperialism the likes of which this galaxy hasn’t seen in tens of thousands of years.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

“You were there!” She got a little snappy and took a drag. “Another storm. Crazed civilians. Collapsing towers. A giant lizard?! Portals to hell popping open in space???”

Sharp predatory teeth were exposed in the grin escaping Mercy’s expression when Arris numbered out the shenanigans that had occurred on Humbarine. To Mercy it had been wonderful, up to the point that she almost had gotten herself killed, protecting Srina.

“Come on, those were the best parts.”

The death part didn’t bother her. It was the long recovery time from the almost dying. Death would have been glorious, but having to waddle around with a cane while your half-melted face was regrowing was just disgusting.

She took out a cigarette herself while studying Arris.

“Tired, really?” She stretched as she put one between her teeth and leaned in, so that Arris could lit it up for her.

“It’s all going so well. The old is crumbling, the new is coming in. Isn’t that exactly what we wanted from the start? Show those entrenched and decrepit what fear means?”

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy
​

She pulled the lighter back after igniting Mercy’s smoke. Of course she enjoyed the chaos. That didn’t surprise her one bit.

“Yeah…” She began, dryly. “I think we’re too hands off. I think some of our people are starting to get lost. Unable to find out why they’re here, and what the Sith Covenant is actually supposed to mean to them.”

Nilira. Kirie. Acier… who was long gone, a complicated sort of story, too. But she was starting to see the cracks in the others, too. As much as Arris hated to admit it, the Triumvirate was lost without someone like Vestra Tane . They needed an anchor. Guidance. But more than that.

“We need purpose. We need meat to dangle. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ve been running off too often, leaving me to figure this shit out.”

She had finally met Srina Talon on her own terms, so Arris kind of got it now, but how were you supposed to be Empress of the Core when you constantly vanished to play best friends in the Holy Worlds or who knows where else?

The cyborg offered the bottle back. She was done with it.

 

[Mercy]

Arris Windrun

She drank heavily from the bottle with a happy sigh, while trying to process what Arris was saying. It was difficult for her to wrap her mind around. Because her mind was a literal, straightforward and blunt thing at the best of times.

The consideration that people needed guidance from others to do things was a hilarious prospect. They were Sith, weren’t they? Not Jedi chattel. It was the latter that needed to be told to go where and why, but they were supposed to be in the business of making Lords.

Creatures of self-determination who looked forward and seized what they desired. All the while overthrowing the established order.

“They are here to become powerful and carve their own reality out of the flesh of those that oppose us. What more do they need?” But Mercy’s eyes were calculating, thoughtful. Even if her words seemed dismissive, Windrun knew her long enough to know she was contemplating.

“We need purpose. We need meat to dangle. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ve been running off too often, leaving me to figure this shit out.”

She had finally met Srina Talon Srina Talon on her own terms, so Arris kind of got it now, but how were you supposed to be Empress of the Core when you constantly vanished to play best friends in the Holy Worlds or who knows where else?

Mercy rolled her eyes.

“What I am doing is building bridges, you prissy little shit. Sure, having fun along with it, but if it weren’t for me we wouldn’t have had half the support on Humbarine and before that on Coruscant from the Sith Order.” Her eyes met Arris’.

“You know how rare it is what we have right now? Two Sith groups active in the Galaxy and neither one of them is gunning to kill the other one off. You don’t get that without me… running off as you say.”

But she was explaining herself.

Arris knew that meant she herself also considered her absence to be an issue, even if it had given them boons for the near-future. But she was too proud to come out and acknowledge it.

 

[Arris Windrun]

Mercy
​

Arris plucked the cigarette between two fingers and laughed the rest of the smoke out of her lungs.

“No,” she admitted. “I don’t actually know. I’m thirty-three, and until a few years ago when we started this shindig, I didn’t know what the fuck a Sith was beyond some kind of monster.”

She gestured vaguely to the world around them. “But look at us now. You’re right,” her arms fell. “You’re the face - that’s what you’re good at. I believe you. You’re out there being the putty that holds it all together. But I’m Arris Windrun,” she pointed index finger and thumb up, then leveled it at Mercy. “I’m the gun.”

The cyborg chuckled again, bringing the smoke back to her lips. Her tone got a little more serious.

“So, if you want me to keep shooting straight, then you’re gonna start listening, ‘kay? Because I spend my time around this lot more than you do. I know what goes on in their heads, Merce. I know what drives them… You have your ways of crawling into people, and so do I… I think it’s time you started to admit you’ve let the reins slack a little, yeah?”