Private Tribal Marks

[Jonyna Si]

​

Curiosity gave way to intrigue. Even more dangerous. Date a sith? Oh lord, Giran would never let her live that down. But it was always a line that Jonyna had. She didn't care about light vs dark. She cared about good vs evil. And as far as she could tell, her new friend wasn't evil. But she wanted to know more. She needed to know more. The sith had a reputation, and an earned one. She wouldn't trust someone who wouldn't allow her to feel safe near her. "...are you seeing anyone?"

Never let it be said that Jonyna Si didn't know how to shoot her shot.

It did take a bit of digging to get the crystal out, and silk would probably fog up the river for the next few miles down stream, but the crystal eventually became more clear. Emerald green and foggy in nature, the raw gem looked like it could be cut into a magnificent stone if one were to carve it up into something something more pretty. At current though, it was a big green rock.

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

Khamesi worked to free the stone, not fully paying attention to Jonyna's words as she worked to get it entirely free. Green was among her favoirte colors to, it was why her fire and lightning were both manifsted in the color after all, so it's rich green hue would make a fine base for the alchemical dye she needed to create. Once she had it free she straightned up, inspecting it in the light for any imperfections that would ruin her plans, but as things stood it didn't seem to be the case. Finally she answered.

"It's complicated, but I'd err on the side of yes. One Domina Prime . Not the most typical of companions I'll admit."

She used the flowing water to wash free the mud clinging to her before returning to the shore, setting the stone down next to wehre the rest of her armor was. She was telling the truth, in her eyes it was quite complicated. To Dima however...it was far more simple than that. She liked her 'Kitten' and her 'Kitten' liked her back on some level, even if she was much more hesitant. That may just be because Dima tended to not think, just do, especially when it came to her fickle emotions.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna blinked. "Oh. That's awkward. Yeah, uh..." She scratched the back of her head, looking a little guilty. "Yeah, me and Dima fought a while back on Ryloth. In my defense, she tried to murder my paddie, and stole his saber. Still need that back by the way if you can manage that. We captured her, put her in a cell, and..." She paused, letting out a breath. "I tried to make friends with her, and that only led to Dima escaping. Little shit lied to me about going back to her cell." Jonyna did look mildly annoyed at that, but she also knew it was kinda hard to imagine Dima would even bother staying locked up for long. The cells in the GA weren't exactly made to handle whatever Dima was. "She's nice though when she's not trying to impale you."

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"When I first met her I had crashed on Felucia after my ship had been sabatoged by a now dead rival. She stalked me through the jungle, till she tried to pounce and kill me. Instead I knocked out one of her teeth and nearly shot her. We fought a couple more times after that before a bunch of Trandoshans had us hide out in the same cave."

She started sat in a sunny patch to let her clothes dry as she talked, eyes looking up at the sky of Cathar through the branches of the trees. Those were fond memories for her, once them trying to kill each other had stopped at least.

"Took as a bit to get things sorted, then we started hunting the Trandoshans instead. Eventually we captured their ship and got off of Felucia. Then she spent quite a good time after that trying to be subtle, by her standards, while flirting with me. Wore me down I guess. And I don't know anything of that saber, it's probably mixed in with any other 'treasrues' she's collected. Which can be anything from armor and weapons to a particularly shiny rock she liked that day. Not surprised you couldn't hold her, you'd probably need Beskar or something similar to keep her contained long term. Besides, she's a warrior and unpredictable, half my allies have fought or nearly fought her at some point as is"

Dima wasn't dead or dying, and Khamesi was fairly certain she could recover from lost limbs quickly enough if given the chance. There weren't any real hard feelings from her end for people fighting Dima, it wasn't as if anyone could really stop that living ball of chaos energy. Even as she was the best she could do was restrain Dima for a time, stopping her outright would require a fight neither really wanted.

"She also really doesn't like being imprisoned even temporarily, so she gets really focused on escaping. Normally she's nearly incapable of lying, her tail gives all her emotions away, including anxiety and nervousness."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"If you can find it, I'd love it back. Ko's a sweet boy and I think the lose of his saber has really wore on him since then." Jonyna chuckled, sitting down next to her. "I just want what's best for him. Don't blame Dima for it, I can't tell if she's even mentally capable of realizing what she's doing is bad or not. Don't know her story yet, but I'd love to learn it. More of yours too." That got a snort out of the Cathar. "Could you imagine? A jedi, a sith, and a mando, all friends?"

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"It's happened before, I'm sure it'll happen again. That's what happens in a galaxy so large, as for Dima...She can tell the difference between right and wrong but I wouldn't say she sees things in black, white, or grey. More like blue and orange. Undertand how she thinks and you figure out how to tell her what she did is wrong. You don't, and she doesn't really undertand and it doesn't stick. She's weak to praise and sweets though, so if you use those in the right amounts you can make it easier to get through."

Khamesi sighed, she didn't really talk openly much and even now most of her feelings were still guarded. It was obvious she was protective of Dima, despite just how lethal Dima was, and that she typically kept her emotions buried. Even within the force it was not fear she relied on for strength, nor hate, but anger. Not a burning anger either, an old frozen anger that contantly permetated her everything. Even now, as relaxed as she looked and even talking about Dima, while it had calmed it did not leave her.

"Your best bet is probably to offer her something shinier than the saber, or find some great dangerous beast she wants to hunt and promise to take her to it if she returns the saber. I don't mess with her trophies personally, just as there's a small number of my things I've convinced her not to touch. She has very little concept of 'privacy' so that took some effort."

Khamesi rubbed at the one scar she willingly kept, as she healed all others, leaving her relatively unmarred for a Warrior and Sith Lady, a large burn on her left side, mostly hidden by her clothes but it ran far enough down that it reached her hip., It was only this anger she carries that had let her survive that wound long enough for merical intervention, and as a reminder of what weakness does, she left it.

"Don't really get a lot of quiet days myself, personally I don't like them. If I'm awake I want to be doing. Whether it's looking through intelligence reports, focus my abilites, training, or sorting through....other things, sitting here and just talking feels wrong, as I could be doing something else."

Khamesi had to catch herself, inborn true Shatterpoint was a rare ability even among force users, seers alaways had extra attentoin lumped on them. Sure she had never honed the visions she got, but people knowing about them at all could create issues she just didn't want to deal with.


Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna let out a sigh, her own mind wandering. "I know that feeling. I always try to push to do something, because there's always someone out there who needs my help. Did that for ten years before I even started my journey to becoming a jedi and now...I dunno. After getting caught up in helping take down the Empire, getting frozen for nearly a thousand years, and now dealing with two paddies, it's...nice to slow down every once and a while. Take some time for myself. Go treesurfing with a fellow cathar." She smiled to her new friend. "It's nice seeing that there are more of us out there though. Back when I was born, it was practically impossible to find us during the days of the Empire."

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"I can't speak on everyone's perspective. Even now among the Sith I still sit at the edges, in the shadows. It's where I've spent my whole life, and whether it's hunting Hutts or conquering worlds, there isn't often a lof of time to have slow days."

The Empire was at this point ancient history, and not history Khamesi was well versed in, outside of some of it's major figures. There was just so much history in the Galaxy, especially between the Sith and Jedi, that studying any of it for to long left her lacking somewhere else. She'd chosen to study the history of the Sith and Jedi over the Empire, even if it was also Sith history the emphasis of the history was different. Though her fleet did often fight like the rebellion of old, operating quietly and hitting targets of opprotunity instead of large brawls.

"Most people in the Galaxy are hardier than you'd expect. Look at the Twi'leks and everything they are still subjected to, or the continued survival of the Jawa. If they can survive, the Cathar will always find a way to survive. We may not have the same history of it as the Mandalorian's, but we're a warrior people ourselves. Even if we must die out, it will be with a bang and not a whimper. We do not go quietly into the night."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Conquering Worlds. Those were the words that stuck in Jonyna's head. She'd given the sith lord the benefit of the doubt thus far, and yet there was always a catch. She could only stare quietly as her mind processed what would come out of her mouth next.

"Do you believe in the good of people?"

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"What's good for a Twi'lek could be seen as hell for a Wookie, but I do believe every people have a path that is best for them. I believe in order, and strength, but not just for myself. Look at my Ash Dragons. Pirates, the lot of them, but many were once political prisoners, or slaves, and I gave them a choice to fight with me, return home, or start anew. I punish failure harshly, but only when failure is on them alone. If I tell them to raid a certain fleet and they fail despite having all the resources, they'll get punished. If they fail because there was more of the enemy, or an unexpected hurdle like a Jedi, then often they don't get punished. I also reward those that go above and beyond, it's why all three of my commanders aren't Sith, they are just members of my fleet that proved themselves above the mold, and loyal to boot. I apply these same principles to planets as a whole. There will be law and order, there will be harsh punishments for those that step out of line, but equally there will be rewards for those that do their best."

Khamesi paused, as she looked down at her hands, hands that had killed plenty in their time. She didn't believe in a senate or republic, they grew to corrupt as time went on, and generational money and grudges took root. More and more people were lost in that system as days went on, and while the system did it's best, it was bogged down by ineffeciencies and political divisions that kept it from doing what it should.

"And for people to have that chance, money can't just flow to the top. Unlike many Sith, I allow dissenting voices among my crew. If any have a better plan, or think they do, they are allowed to present it. Sometimes I have been proven wrong, most often by my second, Zhardev. Innovatoin, new ideas, growth should all be rewarded. So yes, I do believe in the good of the people, but I also believe it needs a firm framework and someone at the helm that will not bow to poltical parties, or mere money that takes it off course. I also note that the world to which I refer is already inside Sith Space, just hidden till recently. If I'm not the one to conquer it, it's only a short matter of time before word reaches other Sith, and one far more willing to conduct mass executions, or chain them all into slavery will find the world. I intend to be it's shield against the worst of the Sith, and instill these ideals into the world, so that even if I die they, like my fleet, will continue to follow this idea of harsh but fair."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna listened, but internally she struggled.

Do Good.

It was the first tenant of her long held beliefs.

"I don't believe in ruling. Not smart enough for that. To Cathar, I am a sage. A giver of wisdom, and a shield to my people. But I do not make the decisions, that's up to the elders. It's always been so...simple to me. This idea of good versus evil. Evil is things people do. Selfish things. Letting greed take hold, abusing your power, hurting the people around you. The sith, the people who you ally with, I don't believe any of them inherently evil. The jedi do, but I've never been one to keep myself too closely to their ideals."

She paused, looking up to the canopy above.

"My boyfriend. Giran. He was a jedi back during the Clone Wars. He believed all this garbage that the jedi taught him. That emotions were too tempting to have, and that attachments only led to the dark side. I didn't believe him when I met him, and I don't believe him now. One of the things he believed was that the sith were the ultimate evil, because they used the dark side. On Cathar, we have a belief. The Hunter and the Predator. The Hunter is one who masters their skills. Masters their ability to be proficent in being a member of their tribe, whatever that may be. The Predator on the other hand, is someone who fails to do that. Someone who is so focused on doing it their way, doing things for their own sake, that it consumes them, and they become nothing more than an animal on the hunt. To me, the sith are much more the latter. But that doesn't make you evil. Evil, to me, is letting yourself become more important than everyone else in your own head. Because from there, you're willing to commit..." She paused, looking to her fellow Cathar. "I've read up on history since I came out of the ice. The Sith have done plenty wrong, and your leaders are people I wouldn't lose sleep over killing without hesitation. But...you're not evil, as far as I can tell. And that gives me hope that, in the sea of sith who are, there can be good ones."

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"Black and white is rarely what anything is, most things are some shade of grey. The Jedi try to do what they think is good, but enabled the rise of some of the greatest evils in history, and the Sith do more evil as a rule, but have also destroyed systems that did nothing but bog down true justice. In the end, I think Sith are prone to evil, and Jedi to good, but nothing is set in stone. Some of it comes from how the Dark and the Light alter the way one thinks, because both alter how their users think."

Khamesi began putting her armor back on as she spoke, what few pieces had come with her this far anyway. It was clear she had thought on these things quite a bit. She was, if nothing else, introspective. A trait she felt was rare among both Jedi and Sith, for no one liked knowing their own weaknessess and hangups. Most tried to ignore them. Hell, Khamesi was sure she ignored many of her own, but she at least tried.

"It's why so few of my inner circle are force users themselves. I want other perspectives, other voices, to keep me thinking, and to have the knife ready if I ever stray from my path and become that which I despise. Already, with the number of pirates, smugglers, and criminals in my network, the movers and shakers of the Sith government pry for my favor, and if I should ever let them corrupt me, my own forces are to cut me down. It's part of why so many of them have slugthrowers, that and I just like the kick of them."

Khamesi may be a Sith, but she was one with a core set of ideals and beliefs etched into her soul by blood, and grief. Any force user had the potential to become a calamity, and someone like her, with access to seer powers and a hunger for blood kept in check only by her ideals, was a greater risk of becoming one than most. She hoped that if she ever strayed, Domina Prime would be able to put her back on the path, or kill her, before she damaged to much of what she was trying to build.

"I don't truly desire to rule, but if I am to have any sway on what the Sith do as a government, I need more influence, money, and power than I have now, and there are only so many ways I can do it. If I am to prevent something like what happened to my family, or what the Mandalorians did to Cathar so long ago, I need a slice of the pie to sway others."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"I think that's the Cathar in us." Jonyna chuckled. "Our urge to protect. It's instinct. If you learn anything from your visit here, it's that no matter what the galaxy says, no matter what the jedi, the sith, the droids or the capitalists say, it's always down to who we protect. Who we care about. Me? I care about everyone. To me, the Galaxy is just one big-" She used a word, a cathar word. Khamesi might not know it's origin, but she would've heard it before, and understood it's meaning. City-tree. A word that meant much more than just a tree in which the cathar lived and used as a canvas. It meant home. It meant family. Your City-tree was your community, your neighborhood. Where you grew up. The people who you knew since childhood, and trusted with the private things in your life. To a Cathar, those who lived in your City-tree were treated as blood relatives.

"-And I plan to protect them all, as best I can. Whether that be from the Mandos, or the Sith, or whatever."

Jonyna took a moment to take another drink from the stream. Her ears perking up as the jungle made a noise. "...you up for a small hunt? I'm a bit hungry, and some fresh meat would be nice."

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"I could, just be warned that I do not eat meat raw, period. I will always cook it, even if I must make the flame myself."

Khamesi knew some Cathar preferred their meat uncooked, and whether it the old diner owner in her, or just from growing up in a more technological socieity, she refused to eat undercooked or uncooked meat. Granted, the majority of her food was cooked by her own hand to begin with, so it was rarely an issue. Just something she thought to mention. She wasn't the stealthiest of people. or the best shot, but she did hunt on occasion, a few times with Dima actually. Dima seemed to revel in the hunt.

"I'm also not exactly very quiet, or the best shot."

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna eyed her fellow Cathar curiously. "You think we're doing this with blasters? Sister, I'm gonna take down a Wark with my bare claws if I get the chance. Come on, let's at least get the height advantage." Jonyna didn't waste any time after finishing her sentence, approaching a tree and digging her claws into it as she began to bound up it. "Try and keep up!"

Tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

"I didn't exactly bring a blaster, I was thinking more about launching things at it. With shatterpoint I can usually find a weakspot to hit, the problem is hitting it."

Khamesi responds as she follows after Jonyna. She wasn't as fast a climber, but she bet her grip on the tree was better. Didn't mean much here, but her pride had to find something to use. She had hunted without weapons before. Sure she preferred a blaster to hunt with, but there was nothing wrong with one using their own claws and teeth.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna's movements were much more methodical now, leaping between branches rather than the stylistic movements from before. Her ears twitched back and force, keeping her compatriot in earshot while she listened for some sort of prey. To her, this was practically a ritual of habit. Cat-like eyes scanned the area, while she used her fur as camouflage, the tans and reds blending in with the browns of the trees. While normally, her massive blue coat would stick out like a sore thumb, Jonyna had left it back home as a sign of respect for her new comrade.

The jungle stirred, Jonyna suddenly gesturing her friend to halt as Jonyna herself perched herself in the thick of a massive tree, using her tail to secure herself as she three point gripped a trio of thick branches, toes curling around a thinner branch as her eyes adjusted and honed in one what she was seeing.

A massive beast lay before them, a hairy pachyderm that seemed to stand like an ape, but very clearly had hooves that curled. From it's face, two massive tusks jutted out, and it stood at least 20 feet tall with brown fur that covered it's body.

"It's a Skih Rých." Jonyna whispered. "They live in these deep parts of the jungle. Would probably feed a family for days." She smiled. "You wanna make the first move?"

tag: Darth Tormenta

 

[Darth Tormenta]

Khamesi's armor, even limited as it was, meant she was not particularly stealthy. Her lack of tail compared to the other Cathar meant she could not steady herself the same way, but she had other advantadges. She was a being of power, be it muscle, or the force. She could do subtle, she apprecitated subtle at the right time, but herself? She preferred to use power where she could, and now was a time she could do so. She examiend the foe before her, letting the force flow into her, but crucially was not focusing it in her muscles or reaching out into the world, instead she settled it's power into her eyes.

Shatterpoint was a hard skill to learn, but it's greatest strengths had to be born, could only be taught between those born of it. The fickle strands of fate may ever elude Khamesi, but she could find the points that balanced on the head of a pin, and force it in one direction or another. She shifted as the wind changed slightly, keeping downwind of the beast as she chose her angle of attack. The hooves and tusks would be it's main weapons, but bulk and weight had a power all their own. One Khamesi knew how to face, and use in equal measure. After all, Dima was twice her size, and they had begun sparring on occasoin.

The trick here was not just in the ambush, but in getting the right grip and using it's weight against it. She tensed, waiting for it to look away, and when the moment presented itself, flung herself somewhat recklessly from the tree, Aiming not for the head or neck, without weapons opr the force they would not be instant kills, but instead slamming her weight, and her claws, into the vulnrable-ish joints of it's leg. Her claws would not sink deep enough to find tendons now, but that wasn't her goal. Her goal was to panic it, and the moment it tried to use that great weight, knock it entirely off balance.

Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

The beast let out a blood curdling roar as pain erupted from it's leg, before it tumbled over, it's weight falling on it's face. While definitely still alive, the beast now lay on it's side, kicking it's leg out desperately to try and throw Darth Tormenta off it.

Jonyna in return, leapt onto the side of the creature, claws digging into the beast, before the Denik reared her fangs, and bit deep into the side of the Skih Rých, rending into flesh, before she pounced right off, back into the trees.