Private The Siren & The Liberator

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Mia Monroe
Location: Serreno

"Mia. I mean this in the nicest way. I don't want your pities. I don't want your apologies. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. This is all I've ever known."

Pity. It wasn't something Reina wanted. She wasn't used to it. Not used to the concept of people feeling sorry for her. She didn't think she deserved it anyway. With how much her Master had looked down upon her, the one person who should have always had her back, she didn't see herself as anything better than a monster.

"I've never felt more free, than when I'm fighting. I don't need to hide myself. But to be told that was wrong, again and again, with no alternatives suggested to me...I've only ever wanted to kill one person. Murder a single person. And that's who...changed me. She believed she knew what was best for me. What I should be. So she changed me physically. My master tried to change my spiritually."

And that was why Reina believed near enough anyone who had an interest in her life wanted to change her in some way. The only exception was Quinn. Even now, she was glancing at Mia out of the corner of her eye, ever so suspicious of what the Mandalorian wanted. But she was not one to run away from that which scared her anymore.

"...I'm always willing to learn more. Unlike members of the Jedi, I am willing to learn and see if I am wrong in my opinions."​

 

[Mia Monroe]

"Its not pity Reina, its empathy and acknowledgement of everything you've suffered."

A frown creased her forehead as she spoke of her want to kill the Sith who had changed her, but it was not judgement nor disapproval, it was simply thoughtful. It seemed that Reina had been force to walk certain paths and straying from them had led to punishment in one form or another. Mia had no interest in shaping her into anything, she only wanted to give her a solid foundation from which she could grow into whatever she was going to be.

She caught the suspicion in her eyes as they walked. "Relax Reina, I have no interest in making you into anything you don't want to be, I'm just opening a door for you. Its up to you whether you walk through it or not."

The gardens fell behind them as they followed the path Mia had walked around the edge of the estate back to the landing pad at the front.

"If you were to start anywhere, in learning more about us, where would you want to start?"

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"Well, it feels wrong. Alright? Hardly anyone acknowledges it. Nearly everyone I've spoken to about this talks about how it's fine to feel this way, how I shouldn't worry. I don't want anyone to say kark about it. It's just what I've went through."

The redhead waved her hand through the air, somewhat frustrated. It wasn't a topic that she wanted to be pitied for. As much as she'd feel sorry for anyone that had been in her position, Reina didn't want people feeling sorry for her. She would push through it, as she always had. She was stubborn, whether she liked it or not.

"I'm...not sure where I'd start. I've been trying to learn your language. Met one of your people on Zeltros a while back. She used a bunch of words I didn't understand...so I've been studying them."

Of course, there had technically been two people, now that Zeltros counted as a Mandalorian word. Both Cali and Aselia had inspired Reina to at least somewhat try and learn more about the Mandalorian culture, as much as Reina used to want to stay far, far away from it.​

 

[Mia Monroe]

"I understand."

The acknowledgement of Reina's obvious discomfort was quiet. If that was what she wanted, then Mia wouldn't argue it. She let the matter slide, if and when the siren was ready, she would speak about it, and Mia would be careful to just listen. It sounded like that was what she needed and Mia could understand that need. The want for people to hold back their judgements or thoughts, to not try to understand or justify what she had been through, but simply to hear her.

"Language is as good a place as any to start. So let's start with this;"

Mia stopped as the shuttle they'd come in on came into view, turning to face Reina properly.

"Ba'jur bal beskar'gam, Ara'nov, aliit, Mando'a bal Mand'alor—An vencuyan mhi." she spoke slowly not to insult her, but to be sure she followed the words and their cadence.

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

She gave a small nod of thanks when Mia agreed to drop the topic. Though as they stopped outside the shuttle, and Mia started to speak in Mando'a, the redhead blinked, giving off a look of confusion as she tilted her head to the side. The cogs in her head were trying to turn as she held out a finger, waving it through the air slightly as she tried to translate.

"Beskar'gam...is your armour. Mando'a is your language and Mand'alor is the name of your leader...I dunno what the rest of that means but..."

Reina frowned in thought, trying to least put some of effort into understanding something she didn't actually know. She had to deduce. Figure things out logically, when most of her responses were always reflexive.

"...Is it something around the lines of your people and culture being an armour to protect you? Instead of being alone, you're part of a culture?"​

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia smiled, watching her process the words. Her deductions were not far off for someone who knew very little of their culture. She inclined her head indicating for them to walk, leading them to board the shuttle.

"Close," she said softly. "Its a rhyme, we teach it to our children to help them remember the Resol'nare, the tenants we live by. In basic it translates as 'Education and armor, Self-defense, our tribe, Our language and our leader—All help us survive.'" She stepped onto the shuttle, doors closing behind them as the pilot wordlessly began to take them back to Mia's ship in orbit.

"There are many interpretations of the Resol'nare, some more rigid than others but at its core they are all the same. We wear our armour with pride, we teach our children to do the same and we are ready to answer the call of our Mand'alor and defend our kin."

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"Mhm. Wearing armour with pride is something...I'd struggle with. I tried it back when I was a Jedi. When I wanted to be a bulwark against the Darkness for the innocent. Then I grew up and realised that was a stupid dream. You can't protect someone from themselves. Everyone has darkness inside of them, no matter what they say."

Reina nodded to herself as they stepped onto the shuttle, and she found herself the closest chair she could, folding her arms along her front as she stared off into the distance. Even the armour she wore sometimes for the jobs with the Mandalorians felt wrong. Not as if they were fully restrictive. It just didn't feel like her. It never had been.

"The rest makes sense to me. Teaching your kids, so that your lessons and culture won't be forgotten. It must be nice having a culture to be raised amongst."

Another nod came at that, as she sighed to herself. The Mandalorians weren't nearly as bad as she had been taught by some of the Jedi. It was strange, the more and more she thought about it, the more it seemed like the Jedi were actually the blight in the Galaxy...but she tried not to pay that thought any mind. That was the kind of thought that pushed you down a dark path, one that Reina didn't want to go down herself.​

 

[Mia Monroe]

"Every mandalorians beskar'gam is different. Some are packed with technology that can map a fight before it happens, some are light, the basic cover needed to survive. There are some of us who live in it, and there are others, like my daughter, who only wear it into battle. We celebrate individualism in a way that no other culture does. You do not have to be born a Mandalorian to become one."

Mia settled into the chair opposite her watching her for a moment before continuing.

"You can shield the innocent with darkness as much as you can shield them with light."

A small frown tugged at her forehead.

"What is it about armour you find difficult?"

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"My only proper education was the Jedi. If you brought up the idea of protecting innocents with darkness, they'd have shunned me more than they already did. I wanted to learn how to control the anger and frustration within me. All they taught me was to bury it. That it was wrong to feel it in any way."

The next question that came from Mia was perhaps a difficult one for Reina to answer as she stared down at the floor of the shuttle, thoughts spiralling out of control in her head as she tried to figure out how she wanted to answer it.

"Scars make you who you are. I had mine taken away from me. Had who I was taken away from me. If I let myself hide in armour...I'll never get back who I used to be."

Of course, she would never be the same person as she was before she got turned into an Ersansyr. Even if she got the same scars, they'd always be different, in some way or another. Yet it was still something that plagued her mind.​

 

[Mia Monroe]

"A good Jedi does not suppress their emotions, the acknowledge them and they act in spite of them. But good Jedi are a rare breed, most of those that claim that title are arrogant, selfish, and have a warped sense of what it means to be a Jedi. When a Sith commits a war crime, they do so openly. When a Jedi commits one, they bury it in justifications for the greater good."

Mia shook her head.

"When I was young, before I...found the force, I hated force users. Jedi, Sith, Witch...it didn't matter, none were to be trusted and all acted in favour of themselves. In some regard, that opinion still stands, it is simply less..." she paused trying to find the right word "radical."

She waited patiently for Reina to sort through her thoughts and find a way to explain her dislike for armour, nodding slowly when she did.

"Armour is not meant to be something you hide behind, it is meant to be a part of you, to bear your scars just as much as you do. If armour is made right, it will feel like an extension of yourself. It also does not have to be all encompassing."

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"Funny. I felt somewhat the same. Though throw Mandalorians into the mix alongside Sith. I believed they both just wanted destruction. The death of innocents in the name of glory, freedom or power. I'm slowly learning that isn't entirely truth. That some are capable of lo...compassion."

Love wasn't the right word. No-one loved Reina. Some people loved their idea of her. Her biological family loved the idea of Raini, the daughter they had lost out at sea, but she was no longer that. But truly for who she was? No-one did. There were those who cared for her, which is why she leaned towards using compassion...but those specific words were something that Reina never expected to hear. Either way, her gaze flicked back over towards Mia as the Mandalorian spoke about armour once more.

"...The Monster who made me what I am had her armour as a part of herself. I couldn't get a scratch on her. Even when I shattered my prosthesis on her, it didn't even drop a single droplet of blood. It made me so hopeless. Powerless. I...I don't want to be like that. If I was ever the Villain in someone else's story..."

She didn't finish the sentence. It was hard for her to admit it. Even with the promises she had made, to come back to Quinn at all times, Reina couldn't see herself as being some invincible villain in another person's story. She had to leave some kind of weakness. It was the self destructive part of her that she couldn't quite get rid of. Reina remembered that day on Tattooine. When she had tried to end it all so that she couldn't be captured. How pointless it had all felt. As much as she tried to reason away her dislike of armour for petty reasons, that was the truth of it all. She didn't want to make anyone feel how she felt.

​

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia listened as the ship around them shuddered through the atmosphere breaking through after a moment into the stillness of space contemplating Reina's words. She wanted to be vulnerable, so that if she was ever the villain in someone else story they would have a chance to kill her, or take their revenge.

"I think I understand." she said slowly, sitting forward so her elbows came to rest on her knees. "But as someone who is the invincible villain in a lot of peoples stories, let me give you a different take. I am not invincible because of my armour. My invincibility is because I refuse to stay down. And neither do you."

She let her words settle before continuing.

"I have stood against foes who don't bleed, and they are no different. If they are not bleeding, it isn't the armour they are wearing, it is the weapon you are using. So you have to live another day and find out what is the right weapon, you find a different approach." She paused thoughtful for a moment.

"This Monster who changed you, who is she?"

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"I don't always refuse to stand down. One time, I tried to. To give myself an eternal rest...but it didn't turn out that way. My blaster had jammed..."

She was nowhere near as invincible as some people thought she was with her stubborness. Her refusal to give up. She had tried it once, and there was that small part of her, in the back of her mind that believed she could try it again. If she had ever gotten into a bad enough headspace like that again, where she felt utterly helpless and useless. But Reina was doing her best so that she never had to be in that role again.

"Her name is Serina Calis. She also goes by "Darth Virelia"...but I refuse to use that name. I knew her when I was a Jedi...and she was doing whatever she could to make my life miserable. There is a dark part of me that wants to watch the life leave her eyes...but I try not to entertain that thought anymore."

Reina's gaze flicked down towards her hands, flexing them out for a moment, trying not to visualise the idea of her hands choking the life out of someone. Even if she was getting trained by one of most despicable Sith in the Galaxy, Reina didn't want to kill out of revenge. Not truly.
​

 

[Mia Monroe]

Mia felt something tug in her heart, hearing that Reina had tried to take her own life. Mia may have never tried to take her own, but she had deliberately thrown herself into situations in the hope that someone might do the same. And they had. Twice. Once on Coruscant, and the second time on Mandalore. And yet, she was still here, because something needed her here.

What and why still had yet to reveal itself, and until it did, she would continue to fulfil her oath to her people and to Aether.

Her eyes dropped to her own hands letting the quiet fill the space for a moment.

"You are wise not to entertain them. Not because the lead to a darker path but because vengeance is all consuming. It blinds you to what's truly important. I learned that the hard way." she inclined her head. "I am still learning it, if truth be told. There are some monsters that have a way of getting under your skin no matter how hard you try to ignore them."

Reina Daival

 

[Reina Daival]

//: Mia Monroe //:
//: Location: Serreno //:

"She literally got under my skin. My bones. Changed who I was. I should be missing a leg. I should have so many scars. And she took them all away. She wanted to make me into what she believed was the perfect version of me...And the Jedi tried to do the same."

Reina took in a steady breath at that, flexing her hand out for a moment. In the past, she'd started to shift out of frustration and a lack of control but she had managed to improve from that. To become better than what she used to be. She would be no-one else's "Perfect" image of her. Reina would be herself.

"I don't have much that's important to me anymore. My closest friends have left me. My mentors have left me. I can't be near my....family. I'm too much of a danger for them. They deserve to have a normal life. I'd get in the way of that."
​

 

[Mia Monroe]

"I understand."

The reply was soft, her gaze moving from the young siren to the viewport behind her, not really seeing Serreno as it slowly shrank against the back drop of space as they drew nearer her ship. She knew what is was to be unmade, to have someone play with your life like that. Her left hand twitched as if remembering the prosthetic that had been there in another life. She took a breath, exhaling slowly before letting her eyes move back to Reina.

"You have a lot of history for someone as young as you are." It wasn't a criticism, more of an observation of how much she had suffered, she gave her a small smile.

"In our culture, when we welcome someone new, we care little for what you were before and focus on what you are now. Your path is your own to shape within that culture. I've no interest in making you into anything, only in helping you become exactly what you want to be. You've worked with us long enough, you are more than welcome to stand with us, not just as one of the Writ of Iron, but as a mandalorian, if you are interested, I will be happy to guide you."

Reina Daival