Private This Is Kinda Awkward, Huh?

[Valaine Valentine]

Tags - Reina Daival
Continuation of X

"...It's your move."

Valaine blinked as Reina approached her, her blade out to the side but not pointing towards her in much of a threatening manner, not yet at least... She hadn't expected to see the girl here but ever since she mentioned she was a Jedi, or at the very least training to become one, she had a sinking feeling she'd meet her on the field of battle like this one day.

After the initial shock had passed she put on a rather coy and smug expression as she released the droid in her arms to go and let it hover away. She moved her hands behind her back, clutching them together behind herself as she leaned forward slightly in her stance. "... I guess so, huh?" she asked as she started to steadily walk backwards. "Did you come all this way to fight me?" she asked. She knew she hadn't, she was stalling for time, trying to keep her attention as she kept walking back, gently swaying from side to side in something of a taunting fashion as her long hair swayed. "Gonna swing that sword of yours at me?" she asked again.

She needed to draw Reina away from the fight at the door, to somewhere her allies couldn't intervene and possibly seriously harm her, but she couldn't let it be seen as obvious. Her tired grey eyes remained focused on the redhead as she kept luring her further down the hall, back into the fortress itself, and all the while she kept taunting her. "Think you can take me?" she asked curiously with a smug smirk.

Valaine would fight her to maintain appearances, but she sure didn't want to hurt her. At least, not too much.

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Valaine Valentine

Reina had tunnel vision in this precise moment as she was focused on Valaine, stepping after her carefully. The Ersansyr's gaze firmly focused on Valaine, as she glanced every so often to make sure she wasn't stepping into a trap. Slow but sure steps forward, with the sword still held off to the side. It was enough to defend herself in case of a strike, but she was not going to point the blade at her friend.​

"Gonna swing that sword of yours at me?"​

"No. I only point this at something I want to kill. And I don't want to hurt you Valaine."

Even now, Reina's voice was void of any anger or hatred. It was just disappointment. Sadness to an extent. Her entire body was tense, her muscles ready to jump at the slightest movement as they went deeper and deeper into the spire. This wasn't what Reina wanted. Not whatsoever. The further she went into this spire, the more likely it was that She would get her hands on Reina again.

Beads of nervous sweat started to build on Reina's brow. She didn't want to be here. Not alone. She couldn't do much alone. Her heart was racing. Adrenaline rushing through her veins as the Ersansyr did her hardest to keep her cool. She couldn't let herself break, even as she was pretty secure in her armour.

"I should be more surprised. Y'know. That you're here. But I'm not. Because She always does this. Did She put you up to this? Did she convince you to spy on me? To get me to lower my guard?! Answer me Valaine."

The further and further they went into the spire, and the further Reina got away from her backup, the more emotional she was getting. Tears started to well up with in her eyes at the thought that the friendship she had wanted with Valaine might have been built on lies. Whether it was willing or not, Reina was using her voice to its full extent. Trying to convince Valaine to tell Reina the truth no matter what, as Reina's voice tried to sneak its way into Valaine's mind.

Spoiler: OOC Notes

: Means written/typed communication : < Means Sign Language communication >

 

[Valaine Valentine]

Tags - Reina Daival

Valaine held her smug smile as Reina followed her, but the words she spoke caused her little act to falter somewhat. She let out a soft exhale of breath as, when far enough from the others, she came to an abrupt halt and stood herself up straight once more. She let her hands rest at her side, a stance that was non-threatening as she regarded the redhead.

Her smile faded, the guise abandoned as she now looked to her with the same usual tired expression. Her words initially gave her pause however. Her? Did she know her mistress? How awkward indeed...

But then she felt it, the influence of that voice once again seeping into her mind, just like last time... Her eyes squinted towards the Ersansyr as she tightened her jaw; she would have told her willingly, but at least now she had a good excuse if she was ever confronted over giving her answers... Valaine shook her head, her voice lacking the playful teasing of earlier. "Nobody put me up to anything, Reina. You seem to know her though, I'm one of her apprentices." she admitted. Even with the voice seeping into her mind, that wasn't something she was asked to answer, she did so willingly. "If... somehow she managed to trick me into meeting you that day, I had no knowledge of it. As far as I'm concerned it was just a random encounter. None of it was a lie..."

Her shoulders slumped slightly and she let out a heavy sigh. "If you're gonna ask me questions with that voice of yours though, don't ask me anything embarrassing, okay?", even with her mind in a somewhat addled state she was still popping jokes...

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Valaine Valentine

It wasn't as if Reina didn't trust Valaine to tell the truth. It had been more a case...that she had NEEDED to know the truth. She wouldn't have been able to cope without it. Though as the truth came out, Reina's sword dipped slowly, starting to point towards the ground as she clenched her fist. Frustration finally starting to bubble through to her, as the tears started to fall down her face.

"I know Her because She's the one who changed me. Ruined me. She wants to build me into what She wants. And She'll do the same to you."

Her fingers curled around the hilt of her blade. So many emotions were swirling in her mind now. She hadn't even realised what she had done with her voice. The words hadn't fully went into her own mind. Why? Why did it have to be Valaine? Anyone else. Anyone else and Reina would have been able to make the first move. She'd be able to strike Valaine. But she couldn't. That Will to fight that Reina normally had was gone, as her sword was fully pointed down at the ground.

"I don't...need to ask anything else. That's all I had to know. As long as it wasn't a lie...I can live with this."

Her spare hand shot towards her sword, as if she was struggling to lift the blade up from the ground. A blade that weighed so much more than just the metal that made it. All of Reina's emotions towards Valaine were held inside the blade. The friendship she felt towards the Sangnir. The affection Reina could not deny that she had. She had even told Valery so.

"...I don't hate you Valaine."

Spoiler: OOC Notes

: Means written/typed communication : < Means Sign Language communication >

 

[Valaine Valentine]

Tags - Reina Daival

"I know Her because She's the one who changed me. Ruined me. She wants to build me into what She wants. And She'll do the same to you."

Valaine's expression faltered with surprise and empathy. "That was her...?" she asked with uncertainty. Her shoulders slumped for a moment with another soft sigh through her nose. "I'm sorry Reina, I had no idea..." she answered in response and then her tired gaze shifted aside for a moment in consideration of her last statement.

"Yeah... Maybe she will. But I'm already in too deep, Reina. I try to leave now and she'll just hunt me down..." she spoke as she subconsciously moved a hand to grip at her left forearm in recollection, "I've already paid the price of disobedience, I'm not keen on experiencing it again." The memory of the torturous burning of her arm returned, how she struggled to pull away from it, how she went so far as to try and cut her own arm off to stop the pain. Her tired gaze shifted back towards the redhead and she offered a soft but forced smile.

She glanced briefly towards the other woman's blade before she reached into her robes and pulled out a saber hilt with a slight angle too it. She held it in front of herself before the blade ignited in a vibrant hue of orange; it wasn't the weapon of a Sith, that much was certain. It belonged to Kito and she held it in an almost reverent fashion as she aimed the blade towards Reina.

"...I don't hate you Valaine."

"I don't hate you either." she responded.

The stance she took was easily discernable for it was that of a duelist; Makashi. "Fight, Reina." she all but commanded. "I'll guarantee you won't die here, and I'll make sure you're not captured either if it comes to that. But you do need to fight. We're being watched after all, and my punishment will be just as severe if you don't." she spoke as she took a firm and confident step forward as she kept her blade pointing towards her.

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Valaine Valentine

"I get it. You value your own survival. Your own life. You can't accept the end. You said it yourself. I can."

Her eyes focused in on the blade that Valaine pulled out. A lightsaber. Ironic. A weapon that Reina didn't think she deserved to use anymore, being used against her. It was enough to almost make her laugh as she kept her hands wrapped around her sword, trying to steady her breathing. She knew she had to fight. Her mind knew that. Her muscles knew that. But her heart was refusing her.

"But that's the funny thing. You don't want to experience that pain again. The pain She forced on you. But as long as you live like this, that pain will become familiar to you. It will never stop. It hasn't for me. Every night I close my eyes...I relive it. Over. And over. I don't want that for you...but what I want doesn't matter."

Reina took in a steady breath, slowly letting her heart...die in a way. She had to let those emotions die. Let her attachments fade. The weight slowly fading from her blade as she held it ahead of herself, pointed directly at Valaine, even as Reina's eyes couldn't bring themselves to meet the Sangnir's. Even with the iridescent glow of her eyes, they seemed dark and heavy.

"I want you to be safe, far away from all of this. I want you to feel loved for who you are, to have a support network to uplift you. I wanted to show you the outfit I bought, just because of you. But none of that matters. If I take a page out of your book...All that matters is survival."

And with that, Reina shot out from where she was stood. Relying on the passive usage of enhance attribute, letting the Force flow through every muscle and vein she had. Empowering everything but her heart. It wouldn't cause her to dash around like some kind of speedster, but it would allow her to keep up. If she had put conscious effort into the usage, she might have been able to overwhelm Valaine. But as much as Reina had tried to kill her emotions, she couldn't bring herself to go all out against her friend.

The instant her boots scraped against the durasteel floor, the build up of tension caused the dam holding her back to break. Reina's advance was not graceful, nothing about her in this situation was graceful. it was violent, born of exhaustion and resignation rather than fury. Her blade came in low, then arced upward in a heavy diagonal swing meant to test Valaine's guard rather than cleave through it.

The Force pulsed through her arms and shoulders with each motion ,not to empower her beyond her limits, but to steady her faltering resolve. She pushed forward, all the same, gritting her teeth in frustration as they shifted and changed. Growing sharper and more vicious, before she hissed out

"Let's dance then. I'll entertain Her. Just for you. Let us be awful friends."

Spoiler: OOC Notes

: Means written/typed communication : < Means Sign Language communication >

 

[Valaine Valentine]

Tags - Reina Daival

A bittersweet smile formed on Valaine's lips as she listened to Reina's words, her tired gaze carefully studying her form as she witnessed the hardening of her heart in the moment, steeling herself what she needed to do. A soft hum of amusement came from the Sangnir as her saber was given an idly slow spin in a relaxed flourish, the blade thrumming gently as it moved. "... Your words are sweet. Reminds me of someone." she mused with a recollection of memory. "But don't get the wrong idea Reina. What you want does matter, it always will, but we can't always get what we want."

Her saber steadied once more as it again pointed towards the redheaded woman. "Those things you speak of though? Still possible for you, aren't they? Do me a favor and experience them in my stead, don't worry so much about girls that like to make every bad decision they can, they'll just drag you down with them." she answered, fully acknowledging that her place in the Sith, her place as her apprentice, hell even her place at the opposing end of the girl in front of her, it was nothing she wanted. Not a single one of them was something she had desired, but just something that happened to her. She accepted all of it for fate was fickle and unescapable. Destiny was absolute.

"I bet the outfit's cute." she spoke just as Reina lunged, it might've even been to throw her off as she took a single measured step back and prepared to meet the first strike. She noted immediately that Reina had enhanced her strength and agility; she knew how slow people were, her inherent Sangnir abilities made it laughable, but whenever a Force User enhanced themselves like this it put them on an equal footing with her natural state. At some point she'd have to learn that trick for herself...

The blade came in a low diagonal arc as the Sangnir shifted back just enough to avoid the tip of the blade as it warded her approach with the wide cleave. In response she moved her saber to allow its blade to graze and follow Reina's sword as it swept upwards. letting her strength carry both of them as the two blades sparked in contact through the duration of the swipe before Valaine disengaged with another step back.

She shifted her body sideways as she made the profile of her form more narrow but also to prepare herself for a strike of retaliation as she'd suddenly lunge forward with a sharp thrust of her lightsaber, aiming to try and slip it past Reina's blade and jab at her shoulder. It wasn't an attack intended to seriously harm but rather it seemed she was testing the redhead's capability to defend against her thrusts, for they were swift and sudden.

Reina's words seemed to get a smirk out of the Sangnir. Awful friends. She recalled that she had referred to the both of them as such in their last meeting and she wasn't wrong; they were certainly awful friends.

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Valaine Valentine

"I don't care if my words are sweet Valaine. Words are just that. Easy to say. Difficult to prove. I'll never be safe. I'll never be able to have that support network. What I want will never matter."

Reina refused the words coming from Valaine with relative ease. She had learned how people liked to say what they could to get you to lower your guard. To make you feel better. None of that worked on her. Not anymore.

"Then I'll be dragged down Valaine."

No way was Reina going to experience all of this for Valaine. It was what she wanted for the Sangnir. Not for herself. It was what she had wanted for a friend. She had been in the same boat as Valaine once. Where she had believed everything was written. Destiny was absolute and she could do nothing to escape it. That had been her reasoning for why she couldn't take her life before she had been captured. Her reasoning for why she was the way she was now. But that wasn't the case anymore. Reina was far too stubborn to accept something as simple as Destiny. That nothing she could do would change it. She'd fight as hard as she could.

Reina would break her Destiny. She would break Valaine's Destiny. Nothing was absolute. Not anymore.

As the two weapons clashed against each other, Reina's resolve only hardened as she pushed back against the Lightsaber. The roles had once again been reversed for Reina in an amusing way. In the past, it had been her who used a Lightsaber against some form of blade. But this time? She was the one on the back foot. There was more she had to pay attention to. Her blade alignment. The direction it was pointed in. Breathe. She had to focus on what she wanted to do.

Her sword shot out to the side, intercepting the thrust at her shoulder with a harsh clang that sent a tremor rippling down her arm, grimacing yet grateful for the cortosis weave incorporated into the blade. There was the possibility that she could have used her armour to take the strike. But it wasn't a risk she wanted to make. The contact burned against her muscles, but she didn't falter. She couldn't afford to. Instead, she turned the parry into a push, shoving the edge of the Lightsaber away from herself. Blade against Blade combat was something Reina was used to. Djem-So had been her style of choice recently. None of that mattered however as she pressed her attack, stepping in close, forcing the two into each other's space. Sparks flared between them, Reina's breathing coming out ragged, almost to a rhythm as she kept her eyes focused on Valaine's.

"You might try to drag me down into darkness Valaine, but I will always try to drag you out. No matter what."

Her next swing came from low to high, a brutal, rising cleave that sought to drive Valaine back rather than cut her down. Because Reina couldn't. Any strike she made with the possibility to cut Valaine down was pulled back. Her heart was just not in the strikes. The Force flowed through her legs, giving her movements a raw, desperate strength that bordered on reckless. Each motion was less about precision and more about refusal. Refusal to yield, refusal to believe in fate that was going to drag them down, refusal to let go of someone she cared for even as she struck at them.

And yet, beneath it all, her eyes betrayed her. For every violent strike, there was a flicker of sorrow, the quiet ache of someone who didn't want to be fighting at all. Reina could deal with physical pain. But emotional pain had always been a different beast for her.

Spoiler: OOC Notes

: Means written/typed communication : < Means Sign Language communication >