Private Upward Again

[Arris Windrun]

CORUSCANT
UNDERWORLD
Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer
​

Varin and Ace were both invited to join Arris in her new lair, a recently 'acquired' warehouse located somewhere in the middle levels of Coruscant's underworld. There, within, among her posse of Gank Killers and other ex-Black Sun thugs, she underwent a much-needed maintenance.

Large blast doors parted ways for them to enter, and they'd arrive to find her seated in a state of undress, with her synthflesh gone from the neck down. Naturally, there was nothing untoward - merely the sight of all that metal and wires which might leave one wondering just how much of her humanity was even left. A pair of cyberdocs worked to reconnect her new arms, while a third dug around inside her torso to replace a broken implant.

The cyborg perked up. "Well, shit. What took ya so long?" She seemed in an unusually chipper mood. Almost like she was back to her old self.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

A summons was called for him to the mid levels of Coruscant, a warehouse of sorts. According to the message, it was Arris calling for him and Acier specifically.

Varin was meditating within his ship in the dockyard when he retrieved the call, he wasted no time, pulling himself up. His back and leg were both still stiff, but the process was finally running its course.

The trip there was uneventful and quick having exploring the mid levels and lower for some time to get the lay of the land. When he neared the warehouse it looked as if Ace was already waiting on him, Varin paused eyeing him then gave him a slight nod.

He had decided to leave his armor and black blade but he kept his saber with him.

Stopping in front of the doors, slowly they opened and inside was a very bare bones Arris being worked on from inside and out by cyber docs. The sight was slightly surprising to him, but as well as he did in the field, he adapted paying little mind to the mechanical guts that seemed to be falling out of her.

The most odd part was how cheerful she sounded, causing his brow to raise.

“Arris, to what do I owe the pleasure for this meeting?”

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

The summons had come through while he was already working. He stood just outside the warehouse doors, attention fixed on the datapad in his hand. A Vergeworks shipment had slipped its lane. One crew was pushing past its limits, cutting into routes that weren't theirs to touch. It wasn't dramatic but small fractures like that were how systems collapsed. So, Ace corrected it the way he always did.

He pulled one group back without ceremony. Flagged the offenders. Marked them clean. By the time they realized what had happened, they were already being removed from the equation. Quietly, efficiently, and without spectacle. By the time the next call came through, the route was clear again. Cuts restored. The rest had already adjusted like nothing had happened.

Ace lowered the datapad slightly, thumb flicking it dark. Then he felt him. Varin. Loud in the way he always was, even when he wasn't trying to be. A presence that didn't creep, but arrived. His head turned just enough to catch him approaching. Their eyes met and a nod passed between them.

He stepped forward as the blast doors began to part, falling into stride beside him without a word. The warehouse opened up around them in harsh industrial light. Bodies moved. Gank killers. Thugs. Operatives. Arris's people. Ace's eyes passed over them once, quick, dismissive, before settling where it mattered.

Arris. Seated, open, literally exposed. No synthflesh, just structure laid bare while cyberdocs worked through her like she was nothing more than a system being repaired.

Ace didn't react. He had already seen beneath the surface. He'd been the one to tear the synthflesh off her months ago, watched it strip away in burning ribbons under his own hand, exposing the chassis underneath. He watched her let it happen, lose her arm entirely and keep fighting like it didn't matter.

There had been no hesitation. No pain he could use. There was nothing here that suggested weakness. If anything, this version of her was more honest. More dangerous.

His gaze lingered only long enough to take stock of what had changed. But the body wasn't what caught his attention. It was her mood. She sounded… light. Chipper. That was new.

Lately, Arris had been something else entirely. Coiled, volatile, sitting on the edge of something that looked a lot like collapse or eruption, depending on the day. There had been cracks. Moments where something beneath the surface threatened to show. This? This didn't match.

Varin spoke first, formal and respectful. Ace's eyes slid sideways toward him at that. Then he exhaled softly through his nose and looked back to Arris.

"What is it, Arris. I was in the middle of something."

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer
​

The cyberdocs didn't even acknowledge their presence, devoting attention entirely to the cyborg's maintenance.

Arris grinned at their greetings.

"Y'see, Ace, Varin is a perfect gentleman - why can't you be more like that?" She teased.

Her amusement faded into something a touch more serious. There was business to attend, but first she had to clear the air.

"Vestra's dead," she stated flatly. "That's left some big headaches for our organization."

The cyberdocs locked her arms into place. They connected with a sharp hiss, and she clenched her fists just to give it a feel.

"So - I'm gonna need you both to step it up."

Her attention turned to Varin first. " You, Fire Boy, are a warrior who fights what needs fighting and kills who needs killing. Hell, I don't think I've ever heard you complain or refuse a task." Grey cyber eyes flicked to Ace for a second before setting back on the big guy. "But you aren't just our good footsoldier anymore. It's a waste of your potential. You know it, I know it, he knows it." She pointed her thumb back at one of the Ganks, who barely reacted.

When that was said, Arris turned to Acier next. "And you, my apprentice," said dryly, "can't keep getting thrown in with the acolytes anymore."

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin spoke quietly.

“It would seem I still need to work on my sarcasm.”

When she relayed to them that Vestra was dead, his gaze sharpened. Eyes glaring for but a moment as he processed the words. Such was the nature of being Sith.

But he did wonder, how did she die? This had to have happened recently and the evidence of Arris’ current disarray only led him to assume that she had something to do with it.

He wouldn't ask why, not because he did not care, but because it was not his question to ask.

His arms folded over his broad chest as she spoke. The cyberdocs continuing their work as she spoke, like it was the norm. Which, he would not doubt for them.

When she spoke of potential his eyes flicked over to the Gank she gestured towards, his fingers slowly tapping over his arms as they remained crossed.

“And what potential would that be?”

His voice carried over to her, quiet but evident.

“You don't plan on using us for target practice do you?”

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace didn't acknowledge the jab, nor Varin's response to it. His attention stayed on Arris, expression unchanged as he watched her with a level, unreadable look.​

​

When she stated Vestra was dead, there was a small, almost imperceptible reaction. Ace blinked once, the only outward sign that the information had registered. He didn't dwell on the loss itself. Instead, his thoughts moved immediately to what it meant for him. Vestra had been one of the few who might have noticed the inconsistency on Genarius. The duel.​

​

He had operated under the assumption that she had seen through it, or at least suspected something was off. If she had, it no longer mattered. Whatever she knew, whatever conclusions she may have drawn, had died with her.​

​

His gaze shifted over Arris again, more deliberate this time. The need for repairs. The unusual ease in her tone. The timing of it all. It didn't take much to begin forming a conclusion. He remembered enough of what he had overheard at the Red Ronin to know there had been friction between them. Given that, it wasn't a stretch to consider that Vestra's death might have come at Arris's hand. Ace didn't voice the thought.​

​

He listened as Arris continued, turning her focus to Varin. Vestra's absence would leave a gap, and that gap was either filled, repurposed, or collapsed inward depending on who stepped forward. Arris was doing the former. Reframing Varin's role, seemingly to push him beyond where he'd been operating.​

​

Varin questioned it, adding his own edge to it with the remark about target practice. When Arris turned to him and referred to him as her apprentice, he registered it without outward response. The label wasn't new, but the way she used it here carried implication. Her follow up made that clearer. Being grouped with the acolytes was no longer something she intended to allow.​

​

That was where Ace finally engaged. He looked at her directly now, his expression remained flat, voice even when he spoke.​

​

"What're you getting at?"​

​

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Varin Mortifer | Acier Moonbound
​

If Arris had heard Varin's quiet commentary, then she didn't regard it.

She caught both of their reactions when she mentioned Vestra's death. Neither seemed bothered to ask how she died, so she wouldn't bother elaborating. Made things simpler.

Slowly, the cyborg rose just as the cyberdocs closed up shop on her torso. They collected their tools and cleared out, while she stepped forward, placing one metal hand on each of their shoulders.

Arris looked at Varin. "Target practice?" She snorted. "Why in the galaxy would you think that?" It was unclear if she was serious.

Both, however, had asked her to elaborate. So she would.

"Ascension!" She patted their shoulders once and stepped back, arms spread wide. "What else? Claim your knighthoods and join us as equals."

In the Covenant, Knights and Lords all had the same rights. But of course, those rights came with a hefty asterisk; equal right to try, equal right to fail. There was no handholding involved.

Her arms fell, and her hands found their place on her hips as she awaited their answers. Or questions.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin's arms remained folded over his chest as she approached, the mechanical skeleton approached, placing her hand on Aceier's shoulder, then reaching up almost awkwardly to reach Varin's. His brow arched as his gaze flicked to her hand for a split second then back to her.

His eyes squinting just a bit to see if she were serious about what he meant, but he decided to remain silent instead of indulging.

Then she mentioned Ascension.

Knighthood.

Varin had wanted Knight status for a while now, but he never felt he deserved it, until Arris mentioned it to him just now. His fingers tightened slightly over his arms.

“My tradition dictates that I must have my Master do the Knighting. And as someone who respects his Master, I intend to keep that promise for her.”

He fell quiet for a moment as he chose his next words carefully.

“What makes you suspect we fit the slot for it? And with the title, what else comes with it?”

He did not decline, but he had not accepted as of yet, learning the hard way to peel back more details before entering deals with other Sith.

“More importantly, how do I know that I won't randomly die in this company of promotion?”

His gaze looked directly into hers, his eye measuring her very force patterns, even finding the black cloud that seemed to seep darkness into her very body, the core itself.

He had heard stories of it, but he had never seen it before. His head only tilted ever so slightly when he noticed the device, or creature or entity. He did not quite know how to characterize it.

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace's eyes dipped for the briefest moment when Arris's hand settled on his shoulder. The look alone was enough to make it clear he hadn't invited the contact.

Then she said it. Ascension. Knighthood. That held his attention. Not for what it was meant to represent, but for what it gave. Titles didn't matter to him, but position did. Access did. Influence did. And this… this moved him closer to that. Closer to what he actually wanted.

His gaze slid briefly toward Varin, letting him speak first. He listened, measured the questions, the caution behind them. It was reasonable. Expected, even. Ace didn't wait for Arris to answer.

"We fit the slot because we're the best." He said plainly. "The most experienced too."

As he spoke, his shoulder rolled just enough to displace Arris's hand, the motion casual on the surface but deliberate in intent. By the time it settled, the contact was gone.

"Lysander's already ascended." He added. "We wouldn't have been long after him."

His attention returned fully to Arris then, eyes narrowing slightly - not in hostility, but in focus.

"But… that's not it, is it? Vestra dying must've left a mess. Enough of one if you're fast tracking me and Varin."

He didn't press further than that. He didn't need to. The implication was already there and the opportunity was obvious. Arris stepping up. Vestra gone. A gap in the structure. With the right positioning, things could be pushed in a different direction. Controlled. Redirected. Only one problem left, Mercy, but he and Arris would deal with that all in due time surely.

Ace folded his arms across his chest, settling into a more grounded stance.

"Anyway." He said, as if the rest of it was already decided. "I accept."

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer
​

Varin's talk of tradition earned himself an eye roll. If there was anything that mildly annoyed her, it was standing on ceremony.

"We're not Jedi," she drawled.

But it was Ace who engaged his doubts that raised an excellent point. Lysander had ascended, and in a way, the three of them were a peer group. She decided to add kindling to the flame.

"Lysander is probably gonna be Vestra's replacement," she added. "I wouldn't want to be too far behind him."

When they had both finished, Arris brought a hand to her head, as if nursing a headache, and shook it slowly in frustration.

"You're both missing the point. I'm not gonna ask you to kneel and rise, Darths Meathead and Angstboy." She said.

Her hand dropped from her head and she snapped her fingers at a nearby goon. He presented his lit cigarette. She took a long drag.

"Find a planet. Somewhere in Covenant space. Go there, and build a base of power."

She looked at Ace. "And before you get any ideas. Fuck off with Coruscant. Go somewhere else."

Another drag.

"Rely on your own resources. Have your own people. Show us that you can do more than follow orders. And if you can do that, then maybe some day you'll have the right to take apprentices of your own, and count yourself among the true Lords of the Sith... For now, you've just earned the right to play at the same table."

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber​

The best

The words caused his brow to twitch. He had no idea why the thought of him being declared as someone of high value would irk him so much. All he did was follow orders and ask no questions. His hand tensed over his arm at the mention of Jedi. A question burned in his head after he was told to claim a plant within Covenant space, warning them against taking Coruscant. A small scoff left him at the mention of it.

His stance straightened after they finished speaking, his voice coming quietly.

“What happened with Vestra?”

His eyes peered into Arris’ as he spoke, a habit he had picked up whenever he questioned anyone. Always unflinching as he looked, as if looking into them and through them.

The thought of taking his own planet ignited something within him, an almost anxious feeling. Not of nervousness but eagerness. A way to test himself to see if he truly can take a planet and rule it as effectively if not, more so than his father.

He would be a true Lord of the Sith. One that would shake the ground as he walked, one that would cause the very sun to weep crimson whenever he spoke.

Everyone would know him, fear him.

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Lysander replacing Vestra. A few months ago, that would've made sense to him. It was clean. Logical. Lysander had always been on that trajectory. He was disciplined, capable, and positioned well. Ace would've even respected it, been glad to see it happen.

Now? Now it didn't sit right. What he'd felt on Bonadan hadn't been clean. Lysander's Thread had cut through everything around him: sharp, controlled, but wrong underneath. There'd been weight to it. A lingering hunger that wanted. And it wasn't fading. If anything, it was getting louder.

Ace said nothing. He let it settle where everything else did: buried, contained, and hidden deep within his own Thread in the Force. Where no one else could touch it.

Arris kept talking. About claiming a planet. Being independent. Earning the right to become a Lord of the Sith.

Quietly, and to himself, he smirked. Not at the idea. At her. At the assumption. She thought he'd follow that path, that he'd go out, pick a world, carve it up, plant a flag, call it power. That wasn't just wrong. It was… basic.

Ace didn't want a planet nor care about conquest for the sake of it. He wasn't interested in playing king over something just to prove he could hold it. She knew that, or at least, she should've.

The Vergeworks wasn't ambition. It wasn't some grand move toward power. It was home... and a mess he'd helped create. Killing Tessk, the power vacuum and chaos that followed. That was on him. So he went back and fixed it. Took control because no one else could do it properly. Stabilized it. Gave it structure.

And soon? He'd make it better. Not just stable. Better. Bonadan was his. Not because he conquered it, but because he understood it. Because he knew what it needed and was willing to do what others wouldn't.

If that wasn't enough? If that didn't meet whatever standard she was setting? Then she could fuck herself.

Ace's gaze didn't shift. The thought passed through him clean and unfiltered, then settled like everything else: contained and irrelevant to anything he needed to say out loud.

When Varin spoke. Asking what had happened with Vestra, his eyes flicked to Varin for a brief second before shifting back to Arris. The look he gave her was clear:

Go on. Say it.

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Varin Mortifer | Acier Moonbound
​

Arris looked at Varin. Couldn't be bothered to pay attention to whatever Ace was considering in silence.

The big guy asked a question, and so she'd answer.

"I blew her fucking head off."

Answered crudely, but there was no pride and certainly no remorse.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber​

He did not react, only stayed silent for a moment, studying her with his gaze. Certainly she was not lying, A kill like that and knowing their extremely tense history hell even seeing it partly first hand at points, he knew she would not lie about that.

Vatin’s stance relaxed, the tension in his arms and his back releasing with a slow exhale through his nose.

The question still remained, one he did not voice, would not voice.

If she killed Vestra, then what is stopping her from doing the same to Lysander.

Varin’s blood boiled at the thought of it, but he knew his brother in arms could certainly fend for himself, he may even come out on top if Arris did decide to cut him loose. But…

The thought remained…

Varin was silent for but a moment longer, weighing the words she had extended to them, ascension, property, power and a seat at the table.

His voice was deep and harsh.

“I accept. But…”

The word hung in the air.

“I will not tolerate a stab in the back.”

The look in his eyes would show the dire seriousness in his words. He did not take kindly to betrayal, and he has rewarded such actions with appropriate and in some cases... over the top, reaction. It was not a threat, but it certainly was a promise to what could happen.

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

That was that then. Arris confirmed it without hesitation, without theatrics, and without remorse. She had killed Vestra. Ace gave a slow, almost lazy nod at the answer, as if the confirmation itself mattered less than finally hearing it said aloud. The suspicion had already settled into place long before now.

When Varin accepted, only to follow it with his condition about betrayal, a dry breath escaped through Ace's nose.

"Arris is a lot of things." He said evenly. "None good."

His eyes shifted briefly toward her before returning to Varin.

"But she wouldn't stab you in the back... She'd shoot you in the face."

There was no humor in it. Just experience. Almost absentmindedly, his hand brushed across his side where the scar still sat beneath layers of fabric. He remembered the violent crack of the shot and the split-second instinct that had saved him from taking it clean through the torso. Even avoiding the centerline hadn't spared him entirely. The impact alone had been enough to send pain ripping through his side and throw his footing off balance.

"If you're lucky." He continued. "You'll have a chance to see it coming at least."

That was the thing about Arris. For all her instability, for all the darkness rotting through her, she was rarely arbitrary. Dangerous, yes. Volatile, absolutely. But not random. If she turned on you, there was usually a reason for it, even if the reason only made sense to her.

Which brought him back to Vestra. Ace studied Arris for a moment longer, expression unreadable again. He remembered the tension between them at the Red Ronin. The disdain. The friction that never really hid itself. But killing another Sith over personal dislike alone? Possible, but maybe there was more to it.

"What pushed you to kill her?" He asked calmly.

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer
​

Arris dragged her cigarette and gave Varin a slightly sterner look when he questioned that she might stab him in the back. Now that bothered her more than he could possibly know. Personal betrayal was one of the few accusations that stirred memories of guilt in her gut.

But Ace interjected and spoke true... Even if the way he said it was direct.

She regained her half-amused, half-unbothered smile.

"He's got a point. If I wanted to hurt you then it'll be your fault if you couldn't see it coming." It was more of a statement than a warning.

Then, her attention flicked back to Ace, who decided to dig into the question of Vestra Tane.

She sighed, finished the cigarette, she sighed again as final ashes floated down to the floor.

"I didn't hunt her down, if that's what you're wondering. She started a fight and I ended it. I dunno if she was just an idiot, or if she had a death wish, but I wasn't in a mood to make it a teachable moment for her." Arris explained.

And with a final addendum. "Some mistakes require a permanent correction."

But there was more to it. Arris was difficult to read, so Varin might not have picked up on it, but Ace knew the cyborg well enough to see the signs of a deeper, emotional pain. Vestra had hurt her in a way that couldn't be replaced or repaired; a wound in her consciousness, and it showed in her slight shifts, the way her cybernetic eyes explored the room as if pretending to inventory the place. The way she didn't savor her cigarette. Sign upon sign when there was a mess beneath the facade - the kind that made her vulnerable; the kind that made her dangerous.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

He trusted Acier’s words about Arris, a slow nod came from him in response as he listened to Arris speak. Noticing how some mannerisms changed. What called to his attention is how she seemed to not even enjoy the drag of a cigarette. Something had cut her deeply, enough to wound.

He did not bring attention to it.

He let her speak of how it all happened and why. That Vestra came to her. Started something she could not finish, and went out fighting. Varin understood that.

After she finished speaking Varin’s stance relaxed, his arms slowly hanging loosely to his sides.

“You both know that my loyalty is absolute, that I would do everything within my power to maintain strength within the Covenant.”

His words hung in the air before he continued, a slow sigh leaving him.

“If you want ascension from me, then you will have it.”

His palm lazily rested on his Black Blade, a gift he had received from Vestra, it felt different to him now. A sword that was forged by now someone who no longer walks among them. It made the Black Blade seem colder.

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Coruscant

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Arris's explanation pulled Ace briefly back to Genarius. The first time he had met Vestra Tane had also been the first time he'd crossed blades with her. Even then, before everything else that followed, she had been obvious in a way most Sith weren't. Reckless. Aggressive. Hungry for violence in a way that bordered on self-destruction. She was the kind of fighter who treated survival as secondary to escalation.

Ace remembered handling her cleanly despite the disadvantages stacked against him at the time, at least before he deliberately threw the fight. But that part wasn't what stayed with him. What stayed with him was the realization that Vestra had been the sort of opponent who would happily destroy herself if it meant dragging someone else down with her.

So when Arris explained it the way she did, without embellishment or justification, it actually tracked. Ace's gaze lowered toward the floor for a moment in thought before he folded his arms loosely across his chest.

"A good psychopathic murderer is a dead one, I guess."

The acknowledgment was dry, neither approving nor condemning. Then his eyes lifted again and immediately, the tells were there.

He'd known her and interacted with her long enough to know. The way her attention drifted around the room instead of settling. The cigarette that had been smoked more out of habit than enjoyment. The slight disconnect in her movements, like part of her focus was somewhere else entirely.

Something about this had gotten under her skin. Ace didn't know whether it had been Vestra herself or something she had said. Maybe something she had done before the fight ever started. Whatever it was, it had left damage behind in a way that clearly lingered.

He wasn't going to press. Not here. Maybe not ever. There was no point digging into wounds unless there was something to gain from it, and right now there wasn't. Curiosity alone wasn't enough reason for the effort.

A quiet breath left his nose. "Alright then."

His gaze shifted briefly between Varin and Arris.

"This it then?"

Arris Windrun | Varin Mortifer ​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer​

So - Varin bid loyalty. That disappointed her greatly, even if he might've believed otherwise. Though she doubted it was for her benefit. Varin meant what he meant. Still, the question remained... What exactly was he loyal to? She considered the question momentarily. To them, a silence made awkward because she wasn't exactly doing anything. No cigarette to justify the pause. Anyway.

Arris snorted at Ace's remark at Vestra's expense. Not that dead women paid, she supposed.

'This it, then?' He asked her. "Almost," she answered.

"I mean what I said. This is a test, not a game. I don't want half-measures." She said, looking at Varin. "And this certainly isn't an exam to see how good of a lawyer you might've been in another life." That one was directed at Ace.

"What you build will be a testament to your power, the defense of your climb. Without it - it's not just me you gotta answer to. Mercy will cut you the fuck down. She's not messin' anymore. Vestra's death changed the game, raised the bar. We play harder, we win more, but to her? Losing means you better have a great excuse to still be breathing."

It wasn't just a pep talk. She wanted them to understand that there was a shift in power. Whether or not they saw it.

She took a deep breath, then smiled. "Now get the hell outta here. I gotta put my flesh on, and I really don't want you boys watching."

With that, the blast doors groaned as they parted behind them.

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin's gaze glared towards her when she mentioned no half measures. A look in his eye that was not a challenge to what she said, but an acceptance to do what needs to be done and then some.

He understood the foundation that must be laid for him to climb, a challenge he was ready to accept. All that was left was to figure out what planet he would take.

The doors slowly opened behind them and Varin glanced once more at her.

“Consider it done, Arris.”

His voice carried just over the scraping of the doors. His gaze fell to Acier giving him a slight nod before he started walking towards the door.

A whole world for us to claim and carve our name into. Perhaps that could be your new home, boy. What do you think about that?

Ignati's voice rumbled in his head as Varin limped towards the opening doors.

“You know it will never be MY home. But it will serve as an example.”

Arris Windrun | Acier Moonbound​