Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Private Verses in Ivory and Silence



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Cassian Abrantes Cassian Abrantes

The sun over Dee'ja Peak gently spilled into buttery hues through the tall arched windows of the Abrantes estate's grand music room, casting everything it touched in soft gold. The light cast soft rays along the polished floor, over the edge of a brocade chaise, on towards the dark varnish of the piano where Sibylla sat.

As was her tendency, she dressed in bright hues, this time in ocean silk, cut just so that it flirted with informality and providing movement of freedom. The sleeves were forgone entirely, baring the delicate curve of her collarbones to reveal the faintest glimmer of a birthmark at her left shoulder, and beyond that, the faintest glimpse of a faded burn scar healed by the Force than medic treatment. Her hair fell in loose chestnut waves down her back, lightly held back at her temples by delicate clips shaped like vines, gifts from her mother that were worn more often than she'd ever admit.

The melody she played was no simple tune. It was low and sweeping, threading disquiet through beauty like a storm behind a curtain. Sibylla's hands would hover and dart over the ivories, emotive, fierce, and defiant with every stroke of her fingers.

She hadn't lied to Lysander. The piano was her escape. There were no protocols here. No committees or policy drafts. Only ivory keys and resonance. Here her mind found a rare rhythm in the storm of chords and counterpoint. Each note was a rebuttal, each arpeggio a confession she refused to voice aloud.

She didn't hear the door open.

Didn't sense her brother's quiet tread on the polished marble until all of a sudden….

Slam!

The sudden furious crush of of keys rang through the chamber, jarring and final, like the shatter of glass.

Her fingers froze. Shoulders tight. Her breathing came out in shallow breaths, caught somewhere between restraint and revolt. She swallowed hard, holding her breath for a moment pursing her lips, as if the silence embarrassed her more than the outburst. After another moment, she leaned back after a while, one hand slowly ghosting over the keys.

"In theory," she murmured, lips barely parting, "...music is meant to soothe. Yet I find mine grows more disagreeable by the day."

She didn't look up. Didn't need to. She knew it was Cassian.

"It seems I have either grown too passionate," she continued still quiet, as though afraid to wake whatever emotion had curled beneath her chest, "or the piano has grown too fragile. I shall let you decide which it is, dear brother."

Her fingers resumed quietly, softer now, almost apologetic.

But the turmoil still lingered in the melody still gently coiling, aching, confoundingly confused and seemingly unresolved.

 
Some would call it brooding, put it was something else entirely. The first light cast its spell through the windows. Right next to the window stood the form of Cassian Abrantes. It was a good start to any day, but it wasn't just over Dee'ja Peak. It was everywhere, the sun would cast its spell. And the light would illuminate the good culture and high spirits that the planet had to offer. Everything that Cassian had dedicated much of his life to protecting, while he was still young. He had trained as a soldier and in every facet that the Royal Defense Force had to offer. This seemed to be the only job that he was suited for.

He was a leader and a soldier. He and the several members of the house guard just finished a routine inspection of the grounds. For any safety and security hazards and overall general maintenance that should be reported.

A faint smile came across his face as the sound of the piano had begun to be played. It was beautiful to him, and yet laced with a sense of sorrow and something hidden deep within. He moved as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb his sister in the slightest. Cassian and their youngest brother could sit here for hours and listen to her play, he hadn't heard her play in quite some time.

He stood, hands as his back as he leaned slowly and softly against the wall. And there came the sudden rush, it wasn't a fit. It was something strong and real, and it clung its talons deep into Sibylla Abrantes Sibylla Abrantes skin. The eldest was not going to be presumptuous, but it could be something that he had his mind on for a time. He didn't interrupt as she played again, she had no reason to be embarrassed.

He was her family, her brother. There wasn't anything she could do that would cause him to doubt her. A small smile showed on his face as she began to speak, her intelligent speaking volumes now, recovering from what happened moments earlier.

"...music is meant to soothe. Yet I find mine grows more disagreeable by the day."
"It seems I have either grown too passionate,"
"or the piano has grown too fragile. I shall let you decide which it is, dear brother."

He looked at her from where he was, with a soothing expression, smile still on his face. He knew she wasn't looking as she was focused on the piano. Cassian let out a small sigh, not out of annoyance or pity. It was steered toward the fact that his sister was in pain. If he could snap his fingers and make it go away he could.

That wasn't the way the galaxy worked though.

"They both come hand in hand, sweet sister." Cassian spoke with a soft and gentle tone, yet with complete truth. "The more passionate we become, sometimes the piano.....or the heart can become fragile."

"I miss hearing you play." Cassian said, not to take her attention of her matter. Just to let her know he was here, she wasn't alone. "I'm your brother, Sibylla. You need not be embarrassed for how you feel right now."

It was truth and love coming from the eldest sibling. While he teased her time and time again, and they had their sibling spats as any sibling would.

Whatever it was, whatever it could be.

He would always stand by her side.
 


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Sibylla seemed to half listen, her head tilting just so in the direction of her Cassian's voice, but her gaze remained on the keys before her, caught somewhere between distraction and a quiet ache. A few soft chords whispered into the din, no longer defiant but reflective, as if her very thoughts had taken to sound. But even then, the melody still trembled at the edges.

"The more passionate we become, sometimes the piano.....or the heart can become fragile."

Make no mistake, Cassian Abrantes Cassian Abrantes 's words reached her as they always did; his voice was too steady to be ignored entirely but her thoughts were curled so tightly around the sensation in her chest that they only half lodged in her mind. His presence was a comfort, yes, but her heart had wandered, as hearts often do when left alone in music for too long.

So when the faint buzz of her tablet sounded from its perch atop the piano bench, it was as though something had physically snapped inside her. She gave a slight start and for just a moment, the tension once again returned to her shoulders as hazel eyes flicked to the device.

An incoming message.

That familiar ache in her chest bloomed anew because she knew who it was before even checking. Only one person sent messages to her private comm this late, and only one person had a peculiar knack for rooting themselves in her thoughts more and more lately that it had left her more than a few sleepless nights.

Lysander.

The thought alone set off a flurry of complications she had no time to entertain. Not when Cassian stood there, doing his best to be kind, thoughtful and painfully observant.

She pressed her lips together, trying to pretend her fingers hadn't just stilled completely, giving a light breathy laugh that was honestly more for herself than him.

"My heart is quite tired of being metaphored into breakable objects..." she said at last, her voice touched with the wry cadence that often laced her words when she was flustered. "Though you are not wrong, Cassian. As ever, the philosopher in armor."

At least she could admit that as she nibbled on the fullness of her lower lip.

Finally, she looked up to meet his gaze. And while smile that bloomed over her lips was faint, it was truly genuine. A soft exhale and she let her fingers rest gently on the keys once more, though she didn't play.

"I missed playing too," she admitted, softer now, as if the confession cost her something. Work had ramped up with the increasing additions of new worlds and systems into the Royal Republic, in her duties and responsibilities with foreign relations during the transition into the High Republic... in her recent bid for candidacy for Sovreign of Naboo.

"I think I stopped for a while because I was afraid of what it might reveal. Music is dreadfully honest when one is not..."

Much like a poem that Lysander had sent her a while ago, he had questioned the what-ifs and maybes in relation to her staying at that concert. If she had let her defenses and mask slip away, if she had truly faced what was growing between them, what would have happened then?

How could she explain that the situation was not as straightforward as it seemed? It wasn't that she didn't want to see him; that she'd gone out of her way to sneak out to do so was proof of it. That she had to leave hadn't been her fault. Timing, responsibilities, and duty all played a role in preventing her from finding a way to see him in person, never mind that he was right that even then she'd still had been holding him at bay. Unable to comment properly. Unable to stop a quip that she used as that very armor he accused her of. A rare flash of childish frustration surged through her as she felt that even despite that, he wasn't being fair. Not everything could be conveyed over text and holomail.

Her mind raced with growing frustration at the teenager she was at heart, and unable to help herself, she cast a single, swift glance toward the tablet

She didn't reach for it.

Didn't dare, not with Cassian still watching with that brotherly warmth that always seemed to see far too much. Perhaps that was her second mistake. Waiting. Delaying. Leaving Lysander von Ascania Lysander von Ascania 's message unread.

Causing a mountain of complications and misunderstandings that might serve as even more fuel to the fire.

"I suppose I owe it to you," she said airily, giving a lift of her chin in mock grandeur, "to one day write a proper march in your honor. Something terribly noble and full of drums."

Her smirk was fleeting. But her fingers returned once more to the piano, playing something new. It was light, graceful... reticent.

But the undercurrent remained.

A single message, unopened, with her heart fluttering in its wake.

It was a silly thing to wonder.

And yet...she wondered all the same.
 
"My heart is quite tired of being metaphored into breakable objects..."
"Though you are not wrong, Cassian. As ever, the philosopher in armor."

The small smiled showed on his face, taking a deep breath and looking upon his sister. He had hidden talents when they counted, he was honorable to his core. Bravery, strength, honor.....they were the very fabric of his being. Layer upon layer that was within the young man, is was.....

Him....

He wasn't trying to be a spy...

Before it was all about protection, if something happened to her, the family would fall apart. But during the intervening times of the Naboo Republic, their journey's were different. The path's that were set before them, and they were diverging. That didn't mean he couldn't still protect her as best as he could. And right now, she was hurting. She hid it pretty well, but that pain was showing through in various ways. Words, poise, the look on her face.

He was her brother, and to his trained eye. He could see so much more.


"I suppose I owe it to you,"
"to one day write a proper march in your honor. Something terribly noble and full of drums."

"You don't owe me anything, and you think too highly of me sweet sister." Cassian said with a smallest of chuckles. Cassian carefully moved forward, taking a chair from nearby and placing it close to the piano. He took a seat, and he just listened. The light touch against the piano, the melody with the slightest of echoes. It moved through his mind, body, and spirit.

After a few moments, his own intrusive thoughts getting in his ear.

"Tell me....."

Sibylla Abrantes Sibylla Abrantes
 


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Cassian Abrantes Cassian Abrantes

Sibylla's fingers continued their slow dance, the melody falling like mist rather than her earlier storm. Each note stretched longer than the last, as though reluctant to leave her. By now, the sun was slanting gold ochre rays as dusk approached, but her gaze remained low, fixed somewhere between the keys and the edge of her thoughts.

No, that was a lie. It wasn't at the edge of her thoughts, but what lay in front of her in that tablet.

Another lie. It was for whom.

She gnawed at her lower lip again, harder this time. She didn't even realize until the faint sting reminded her it was becoming a habit, another nervous tic she couldn't quite unlearn.

Cassian's voice was quiet, gentle in that maddeningly steady way of his.

"Tell me....."

How terribly simple he made it sound.

Her breath caught as she exhaled slowly, resisting the urge, but barely, to reach across the polished wood for the tablet propped in front of her. Where Lysander von Ascania Lysander von Ascania 's message sat waiting. It hadn't lit up since the initial notification, and yet it might as well have shouted her name.

"I should warn you," she said, keeping her tone light despite the tightness at her throat, "you ask a question with no charming answer."

The notes shifted beneath her hands, dipping into something heavier and unresolved. Her shoulders were straighter than they had been before, but her expression that was half-turned toward him shone with the finest trace of uncertainty.

"Cassian," she began, and it came softer than intended. "Where do you place the line? Between duty and....yourself?"

She faltered for a moment.

"How do you know when to act, and when to wait? When is it right to defy, and when is it merely selfishness dressed in principle?"

The piano answered for her before he could.

A strained crescendo. Then another. Her fingers pressed too hard, the sound warping from beauty into discontent. It was a stormcloud forming again, uneven and restless.

"I want…" she whispered, mostly to herself. "I want too many things. Or perhaps I want one thing too much."

Another discordant note. She flinched but didn't stop.

"I just don't know," she said finally, "what I'm allowed to want."


 
"I should warn you,"
"you ask a question with no charming answer."

"I'll be okay, I assure you." Cassian showed a small smile, very ready for whatever it was that she had to say. It was difficult at times, being the older brother but he wouldn't have changed it for the world. So many secrets and thoughts that dwelled on the surface. The Piano was a good cover, and for him, it was his duty, constantly pushing himself headlong into the fray. A soldiers life it wasn't easy, but with Cassian he made it look easy.

It was just the way it is.

"Cassian,"
"Where do you place the line? Between duty and....yourself?"

"Hey....."

"How do you know when to act, and when to wait? When is it right to defy, and when is it merely selfishness dressed in principle?"

"Sibylla....."

"I want…"
"I want too many things. Or perhaps I want one thing too much."

Cassian got up from his chair and moved towards her. The more strained and hard the piano was played.......

"I just don't know,"
"what I'm allowed to want."

He took a seat next to her and he place a gentle yet firm hand over hers, just for the briefest of moments. She was completely allowed to express herself how she wanted. Yet the firm hand that went over hers was a calling card that she wasn't alone. Speaking as gently and wisely as he could, based on his own experiences.

"It's a fine line, its easy for me. You guys, and my duty are all I have. If it came down to it, regardless of what it was. I would choose my family over my duty every day. Duty's can change, family is absolute."

Cassian let out a sigh as he closed his eyes for a brief moment. "If you truly believe in your heart that something is right, or that something is wrong. There is nothing wrong with you defying, as long as you can justify it to yourself. Is it truly worth the risk, if it is.......do it."

Cassian knew that their positions were critical, she was throwing her hat in to the ring for the Queen of Naboo, a title that is not taken lightly. But did that mean she would have to give herself completely.

No....

"You are allowed to want whatever you want, you just need to ask yourself is it worth it." Cassian leaned it gave her a gentle nudge with his shoulder. "But only you can know that for sure. Politics, everything else aside. Your heart and your mind can tell you different things, what are they telling you and which do you really want to do?"

"If I can help, I will."


Sibylla Abrantes Sibylla Abrantes
 


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Cassian Abrantes Cassian Abrantes

Sibylla didn't move at first.

Instead, she rested in the warm and steady press of Cassian's hand over hers, the comfort he offered quieting the storm at her fingertips more effectively than any melody ever could. It was only the briefest touch, but it settled something in her. Reminded her, as he always did, that she was never as alone as she sometimes fancied herself.

Her eyes lowered, lashes brushing against her cheek as she listened. Not just heard, but truly listened.

"Family is absolute," she echoed softly, a breath of a smile playing at the corner of her lips. "You do make it sound so very simple, dearest brother. Almost enviably so."

She turned to look at him, then, really, really look at him. A she studied him with her hazel eyes, her expression seemed thoughtful, chin lifted just a tad. There was that same mix of pride and mischief in her eyes that had followed her since girlhood, but now it was tempered by something older. Wearier.

"But you see," she said, her voice lilting gently as though trying not to sound as tired as she felt, "my heart and my mind are in violent disagreement. One argues reason, the other refuses to listen -- and both are insufferably loud."

She gave a small huff of a laugh, almost self-deprecating in the humor.

"If I am to be Queen, then I must become some version of myself I've not yet met. And yet I fear that in reaching for it, I may lose something… or someone… I never meant to give up."

Her eyes flicked down to the keys again, her hand slipping from beneath his to play a single soft chord. It lingered, just like the ache in her chest. Once again, her gaze rose to the datapad, and this time, she took it.

"So if I justify it to myself and I deem it worthy, then it is worth the risk..." Another pause, and then Sibylla gave a nod. Perhaps it was that simple? Was she over thinking it?

Then again, how could she make a decision without knowing all the variables? If she wanted to talk to Lysander von Ascania Lysander von Ascania , then she should make it happen. Be intentional. Find a way to do so. Really have that conversation she wanted. Yes he was twisting her in knots, but that was starting to become all too clear it was because she really, truly cared for him -- more than she had admitted to herself before. They couldn't continue like this any longer, with every attempt at being together interrupted by others or the chaos created by third parties.

When did they ever really have a time to just be? He and she? It was long overdue.

Yes, Sibylla mused to herself then. That is what I will do.

"I shall think on what you've said," she murmured, almost to the room itself, but her hands were tightening around the unread tablet. She had to read it now. To talk to him. A comm message would not be enough. No, it should be a holocall.

 

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