Public The Crimson Concord [Sith Order, Friends, & Frenemies]

[Darth Virelia]

"Foreboding."

Tags - Niysha

Virelia laughed.

Not her public laugh—not the cold, spine-tingling note she used to cut through chambers and silence apprentices with a look. Not the blade-sharp one that accompanied executions or political turns. This was a smaller thing. Softer.

Low, husky. Almost surprised.

"You," she murmured, "are absolutely ridiculous."

It was not a criticism.

She let her hand linger where it had brushed Niysha's jaw, then slid it lightly behind the other woman's neck, cradling the base of her skull with deliberate grace. Not forceful. Not possessive. Just present. Steady.

Her voice remained low, like it had adjusted to match the hush of the garden itself.

"You drink something that nearly burns a hole through your throat, and still find a way to make it a compliment."

She tilted her head, her own expression unreadable, though her eyes softened by a fraction. Only a fraction. That was as far as her armor went. Any more would feel like taking it off entirely, and she… wasn't ready for that.

Not tonight.

Maybe not ever.

Her fingers shifted just slightly, thumb drawing a small, absent-minded circle at the base of Niysha's skull as she studied her. So calm. So aware. So devastatingly open. The kind of openness Serina hadn't thought could exist in a world that ran on knives.

"Brilliant. Powerful. Dangerous. Gorgeous." She echoed the words like a mantra. "It would be easy to believe that you're just flattering me. But you're not, are you?"

It wasn't really a question.

Because that's what terrified her.

Not that Niysha wanted her. Not that she followed her. Not even that she understood her.

But that she meant it.

Virelia could command fleets, twist minds, level cities. But here, under poisoned roses and ceremonial light, the only thing she couldn't bend was this. That soft, stubborn, clear regard. Niysha didn't serve her out of awe, or fear, or calculated ambition. She stayed because she chose to.

And Serina—Darth Virelia, with all her titles and weapons and names—couldn't control that.

Not entirely.

Not without destroying the thing that made it beautiful.

Her lips parted, then closed again. There was too much to say. And none of it would land right. So instead, she watched Niysha raise the glass again and offered a nod—serious, solemn, regal, hers—to the toast.

"To my passions," she murmured, "and the one person who has ever survived standing close to them."

She clinked her glass gently against Niysha's, then sipped, the liquid running down like liquid iron mixed with starlight.

And when Niysha grinned again—that slight, awkward grin that meant she was admitting to her own limitations—Virelia let her silence stretch a little longer than usual.

She wanted to say something kind.

She wanted to say something commanding.

She wanted to correct the record. Assert control. Rewrite the narrative into something where she had the upper hand, where she was not just vulnerable to love but victorious over it, as any Sith should be.

But she couldn't.

Because this wasn't victory.

This was surrender.
Beautiful. Measured. Voluntary. But still a kind of surrender.

And she didn't know if she hated it or not.

Her expression didn't change. She was too well-trained for that. But her posture shifted again, infinitesimally—her thigh brushing against Niysha's, her hand at the back of her neck still holding gently, thumb still moving, a circle, a spiral, a ritual of touch she hadn't realized she'd needed.

 

[Elane II of Kuat]

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Elane gave a subtle nod more so out of custom than agreement with the Imperator Lirka Ka . She did not readily yield praise but neither was she entirely incapable of acknowledging a valid point however brutal and simplistic it may have sounded to the Iron Banker. The hydra analogy was suitable for a network of autonomous limbs feeding off the same empire.

In her estimation, it was a hierarchy prone to infighting, but if governed with meticulous oversight, it could, ironically, create a form of resilience alien to most centralized powers. "It is a strategy founded in realism, Imperator. And that is rare among Sith." Her tone was level, yet still carried the weight of studied critique.

"Though I wonder, how long can a meritocracy unchained by order sustain itself before the competition among heads leads to fratricide? Unburdened hierarchy often degenerates into the pursuit of destruction for its own sake." She placed her hands together in front of her, her face maintaining its usual calm demeanor, as she leaned on the wooden cane for additional support. If Lirka's model succeeded, it would not be the first hydra to wear a crown, nor the last to strangle itself with its own coils.

Her eyes narrowed, not in threat, but in evaluation. It was the look of someone calculating risk and profit simultaneously, weighing not only the words she heard but the future cost of hearing them again.

"Companion Besh is indeed fertile, but so is the soil of a graveyard. Be mindful not to exhaust your legions upon frontiers that yield more glory than grain. My associates in the Sith-Imperial Banking Clan will, of course, be observing your campaigns with keen interest. We wish to see returns, not from conquest alone, but from sustainability. Death pays quickly. Infrastructure pays forever."

A pause for effect.

"Though I could see to it that your hydra is well fed, and those of your rival legions malnourished." Elane presented an irresistible offer that most would find hard to decline. In the larger picture, the Legions were primarily competitors, and any edge had to be seized to guarantee their position at the pinnacle of power. With the banks mostly under her influence, it would be relatively simple to postpone funding for the other legions.

 

[Lunaria Talon]

Location: Sovereign Plaza
Tag: Matteo Guo-Yian

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Artemis looked down into the drink as she took it, her fingers curling around the large cup before lifting it just enough to catch the scent. Sweet…With something sharp and acrid underneath. The feeling of Matteo's arm settling around her shoulder kept him from giving it a try. He eased the raw edges of her nerves far more than anything in the glass ever could.​

​

She let herself lean into him just slightly. Not too close. Just enough to feel the grounding weight of his presence beside her. It didn't make her forget where they were, the noise, the people, the layers of people, and Force signatures pressing in on all sides, but it did make it manageable. Less like drowning. More like…Treading water with someone who knew when to pull her up.​

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Or let her sink. ​

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Eyes of gun-metal blue swept the plaza again, softer now, not so wary. The air shimmered with motion and as beguiling as it was visually, she couldn't help but sense what lurked underneath. Danger. Beautifully baroque and full of barely contained esoteric mystery…. It was deeply, deeply dangerous. Matteo didn't seem to notice that. Half of the patrons didn't seem to have a care in the world. "Yeah it's really...Really amazing." ​

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But…@Darth Empyrean wasn't his father.​

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"I want to go to the Arcane Court…See the labyrinth.", she said quietly, as if saying it too loudly might break the comfortable bubble he created. "I heard it changes every time you enter. That it…Shows you things. Based on who you are." ​

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There was a note of curiosity in her voice that was a mix between fear and excitement.​

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"It's probably just a maze with some dramatic lighting…But still." ​

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Her foot kicked at a pebble before she raised the cup to her lips and tried the beverage Matteo had procured. Artemis felt her throat burn while her nose squinched up in distaste, wrinkling, at the bite that followed almost immediately. It took all she had not to cough while she sucked in a little air through her teeth. Not for the first time, nor the last, Artemis reached out for her mother.​

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Matteo got to see her all the time…But Luna? A glimpse. Here or there, maybe. If she was lucky.​

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Lunaria knew it was for her own protection, that her mother loved her in her own way, but it didn't stop her from noticing a missing shape in the Force. It was too quiet, too empty, with every sensitive turning into white noise because of sheer volume. Her mother wasn't the type to blend in well even when she tried. There was just…Something. Luna didn't know what it was.​

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But…She'd hoped to catch sight of her. Or feel her. Even, just a little.​

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There was no hurt in her, only a quiet sort of wondering. She gave her head a little shake before letting her head rest on his shoulder for a moment. "Food sounds good too…Is there anything you want to see? The market has alchemical tattoos and all sorts of things." ​

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She straightened up and gave him a little nudge. Why he put up with her? Luna would never know.​

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"C'mon Tea-yo…You can buy me something nice." ​

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Dromund Kaas (New Kaas City) - Sovereign Plaza
Attire: Red and Black Dress
Equipment: Hidden daggers under the dress
Tag: Wrathian Kell

Eira sniffed and rolled her eyes, "I confirm nothing of your suspicious. I am merely a single voice in a sea of much louder, much more important voices. If you think what I say, what I believe reflects the entirety of this Order, that speaks more of you and your desires to jump to conclusions." Eira stated, her red eyes burned with indignation as she studied the Pureblood before her. "What is happening over on that table could be for a number of reasons that we have no idea about. They could have found out he is an enemy of the state, that he is secretly tied to the Jedi or that he was stupid enough to insult one of them or their friends to their face." Eira could see that this man loved to jump to his negative assumptions on the Sith. Anything to reinforce that they were no longer capable warriors.

That only he could lead them. The arrogance was insufferable.

"It is more laughable that you believe that we should just accept that your Jedi scum wife was going to be anything but a danger to the Sith and ensure the destruction of our Order under your rule." Eira countered, she had no interactions with this Jedi, she had no background and she refused to just accept that this biased man's view. Wrathian would never see that there were always going to suspicions surrounding the Jedi, did not matter if they didn't talk about their lives as a Jedi or supposedly hid a marriage. There was an entire career path for spies, undercover operators within the Jedi Order known as Jedi Shadows.

She gave a sad laugh, "you are blinded by love. So blinded by it that you cannot even comprehend the notion that others will always be naturally suspicious of her. We both don't know what she told her fellow Jedi, you do not know if she lied to you, was working undercover. Using you as a way to infiltrate and bring down the Order. All you have is the idea that your love was enough to unwind decades of indoctrination." It was pitiful in Eira's mind but she did not push the matter further.

The eyes of Srina Talon on her, it made her skin prickle with goose bumps, but she did not acknowledge it yet. "I did not intend to pass your tests. I do not care for your judgements on me. There are others here whose opinions of me I care for most. If I fail their tests or assessments of me, they are the ones I would feel devastated about." Her eyes turned to Srina Talon as she said that. Highlighting one of the people whose opinions of her Eira did care about.

Her glance returning to the Pureblood, "wild fire consumes all in its path. People forget, it is not too difficult to control how a fire shifts and burns. As long as you control it before it becomes too wild." Eira trusted in Quinn Varanin as her Master to ensure she did not become too crazed as a Sith. Too wild that she was no longer a force to be controlled. Eira desired to be tempered into someone formidable and deadly but not someone seen as a wild fire.

 

[Matteo Guo-Yian]

Lunaria Talon

"If you want to see the Court, then the Court it is." Luckily enough getting to there would pass them through the food stalls and such anyway.

His drink was gone after the second deep swallow and a soft sigh.

"What do you hope to see in the Labyrinth? Are you looking for some kind of revelation?"

It could just be idle curiosity, but more often than not when Lunaria had some sort of want there was something behind it. In that way her mother and her were remarkably alike.

Srina had taught him a lot.

"Oh, look, here." Once they passed by the food stalls. "They have nuna drumsticks, oh, that stall has popcorn nuggies. You want to share a sack?"

Matteo considered her question. Was there anything that he wanted here?

"Would you like a matching tattoo?" Sudden wicked tone.

Srina would probably kill him for even suggesting it.