Wandering About the Stronghold (Witches/Cavataio)

[Darth Metus]

​

Cavataio Stronghold, Dathomir​

Wandering was the word that accurately described what the Mandalorian was doing at present, for he did not have a clear-cut direction to tread. His itenerary was non-existant as long, confident strides bore him about the internal circle of the Cavataio Stronghold. Curiosity was the reason for this voyage, as this was a place he had never fully traversed before. Ever since his adoption into the family by @[member="Petra Cavataio"], Isley Verd had been doing everything in his power to both help his new, extended family and to learn all he could about them. This included familiarizing himself with the stronghold that they called home: a fortress literally built inside a mountain. As he strode along, however, the Mandalorian could not help but feel...ever so slightly out of place.

After all, he was the only one clad head-to-toe in beskar within the whole of the fortress.

It was a simple fact that Dathomir's entrance into the Mandalorian fold caused an intersection of cultures. The typically-isolationist Witches had, under his mother's leadership, begun to reach out to the Mandalorians; as well as take steps towards technological advancement. Isley was happy, nay proud, to help in this regard and busied himself in putting his skills to good work. Through alchemy, he helped his mother's business in regards to her Rancor ventures. Through simple knowledge and contacts, he helped his mother's people through being available to fulfill any task given to him. Simply put, Isley was one dedicated son; and hoped that his new family would come to accept him because of it. Rounding a corner, the crimson-clad warrior began to whistle a tune that echoed across the walls.

With his helmet tucked under the crook of his arm, Isley did not know who or what he would encounter within the Stronghold; but he was eager to find out.

@[member="Nessarose deWinter"], @[member="Lauda Cavataio"], @[member="Petra Cavataio"], @AnyWitch/Relative of Petra

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Dathomir. It had been a good long time since she'd last visited it. Other than its distance from most of the planets Nessarose had need to visit through out most of her days, its relatively recent joining into the Mandalorian existence was enough to make her gag. The racism was strong with the teenager, a great combination of correct upbringing and seeing them time after time go after her mother.

She supposed her aunt had her reasons. But still... As far as she was concerned, the very air changed the moment the Mandalorians' mere existence began to defile the beautiful Dathomir. There was little Nessarose was currently privy to on this planet... But that was something she hoped to correct in the foreseeable future.

Landing Shiny as closely as possible to the Cavataio Stronghold, Nessarose did the rest of the way on foot. Her followers she left behind on the ship, seeing no reason to bring them along. This was probably going to be just a family thing; say hi, beam with pride at having managed to pas through Mando space, kiss Lauda and Auntie Petra on the cheek, and leave.


@[member="Isley Verd"]

 

[Darth Metus]

There was a sound that caused the "merry" tune whistled by the Mandalorian to come to a swift and abrupt end. One after the other, repeated "clicks" spurned echoes about the stone corridors of the Stronghold, alerting Isley to a single fact: someone was coming. Suddenly, the Mandalorian began to feel rather uncharacteristically. Confidence was one of his strong suits, and it served him well both on and off of the field of battle; but when it came to meeting his new, extended family, Isley found himself nervous. A horde of butterflies conjured themselves into existence within his stomach. His palms began to perspire underneath their armorweave gloves. His nerves were on edge. Isley had to make a consious effort to calm himself down before turning around.

He then began to stride off in the direction of the incoming footsteps, contemplating who it could be that was joining him in the Stronghold. Searching his brain, he began to run through the small list of names and faces that he actually knew; but that list paled in comparison to the enormity of the family tree. As such, when he rounded the corner and saw the beautiful Nessarose deWinter, the Mandalorian had absolutely no idea who in the world she was. However, manners were something he was frequent in; and tact supposedly went a long way. So, he raised an arm in greeting, gave her a polite wave, and made his way over. "Good afternoon." he said with a smile, speaking Galactic Basic as he was not yet fluent in the tongues of Dathomir, "My name is Isley, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss. How are you?"

@[member="Nessarose deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Footsteps. Heavy. Every hair in her body stood on edge as she realized she did not know who the life signature came from. Things always changed around the world, in the Galaxy. Not every change was good.

She paused in her steps and waited for the person to arrive. And when he came into view, Nessarose had to exercise all she had to keep herself from hissing and spitting in his general direction. She had no love and no desire for Mandoes to say the least. And then to make things worse, he... He introduced himself.

Herein lay the catch. Without knowing who this Isley person was, Nessarose could not know if killing him where he stood would be a favour, or a diplomatic disaster.

She took a deep breath, and gave the Mando an ear to ear smile that was sweeter than saccharine. "I am the person who will cleanse the Mandalorians and all that is theirs from the Galaxy, and bathe in their blood. Hi!"


@[member="Isley Verd"]

 

[Darth Metus]

It took every ounce of restraint for the Mandalorian to keep composure. He had to literally fight his body to keep his teeth from baring, his eye from twitching, and his freehand from reaching for his holster. In the immortal, yet cliche words of the Holovids: Them there was fighting words! However, Isley combated his natural instinct to tear the wan before him to shreds by forcing on sense down his throat. Like any world, he rationalized, there would be those unhappy with life under the Mandalorian banner. For that reason, he inhaled a calming breath and returned the smile with just as much warmth as she had given him. After all, it would be ill-fitting for the adopted son of Petra Cavataio herself to be anything less than tactful to any of the clan...or Dathomirians as a whole.

"Well I sincerely hope you'll make an exception in my case." he said, keeping his smile very much alive, "It'd be a true shame if I did not at least get to know all of my new family here on Dathomir." Pausing momentarily, the Mandalorian shifted his helmet from underneath one arm to the other and flexes his fingers in a totally non-threatening manner. "Well, you know my name...Might I learn yours miss?"

[member="Nessarose deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Family?" the teenager asked, lofting a brow. Now there was a funny statement, "there are no Mandalorians in my family. Only Mandalorians that want to hurt my family. And so in turn, they shall be eradicated from the face of the 'verse."

Eyeing the Mando from head to toe, she shrugged. "Nessarose," was the only name she would give him.

Her hands moved quickly; a moment they were bare, a moment later they bore tiny arms as a holdout blaster appeared in each of them, aimed at the Mando's face. "So who's idea was it that you claim familyship on me?"

[member="Isley Verd"]

 

[Darth Metus]

Before the Mandalorian could open his mouth in response, he found a duo of hold out blasters pointed directly at his face. Swallowing, Isley debated what action to take. His lightsaber was only a mere inch away from his grasp, and he was certain he could do something in defense...but raising a weapon against a family member was not exactly the best first impression. As such, the Mandalorian inhaled a breath once more and shook his head softly, whilst raising his freehand to denote that he was no threat. "Petra Cavataio, mother superior of Dathomir, adopted me as her own son. For that reason, we are family. Now, I cannot speak for the other Mando'ade, but I look out for my own. The people of Dathomir are my aliit, and I'll gladly bludgeon anyone to death who raises a hand against them. No harm shall come to the people of Dathomir by Mandalorian hands, not so long as breath as within my body." he said. He hoped that this would be enough to keep holes from being shot into his head...

[member="Nessarose deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Nessarose squinted her eyes as the red began to form in her cheeks. She could feel the anger spread form her inside to her face and back out to the arms and fingers. Force, she wanted to pull the triggers. Both of them. Shoot the shmuck, one bullet in each eyeball. But now she couldn't. Because he was telling the truth. Lies could be tastes, and she tasted nothing.

Before she did so, however, Nessarose pulled the guns back, and they vanished to where they belonged. "Ugh, Don't do that," she groaned with a shake of her head, "that half speech. Like people who aren't Mandalorians are supposed what this or other words in your language means. You don't hear me tossing random words in Huttesse into my speech, do you?"

Still glowering though, she sighed. If Petra had decided that he was now adopted... There was little she could do to fight that decision. Family was family, and now she had to overlook his Mandaloraneseesh. Bugger.

"If we're really family you would have to extend that promise," she began chattering, making the calculations in her mind, "because I am not a Dathomiri."

[member="Isley Verd"]

 

[Lauda Cavataio]

She inhaled the still not cleansed air of the mountain. Though they remodeled and life was slowly returning to the stronghold, it was not as it all once was. Lauda should have left it by now, should have gone to find her home but the courage had not yet been build and the Cavataio-Peacecraft remained in whatever state it had been, her eyes not laying upon it. Instead, she merely took the time to walk through the old hallways, her eyes closed as she let the memories flood her sight. Memories of lives old, memories of faces of past. Memories that were no longer valid. In her mind, even these walls were wonderfully new, so alive. It was just easy to pass through them that way. To make her forget how much time had passed and how many were lost to her.

Another deep breath used was center her, to push thoughts that only sent her back but did not give her the strength to move forward. Such things were bad and ultimately useless. It was then that her mind slipped into the Force, reach as far as it could reach in search of Ma'dri. Instead, she stumbled on two signatures of power. [member="Nessarose deWinter"], her heart recognized immediately and the other took a moment as it was still unfamiliar to her but soon enough, she realized it was her newly adopted Mandalorian brother. The business of adoption was not foreign to her in the least bit, her daughter La'Ca meant the world to her even though she had not given birth to her. And when there were so few Cavataio left, family was even more important than it had ever been.

It was in that moment, that the Witch remembered the not in the last bit private choice of feelings many of deWinters had for their new allies. Quickening her step, she hurried to them. 'Nessa...,' Lauda called out through the Force as she reached to the girl's mind for a moment, turning a corner without even taking the conscious note of it. The Force whispered of no trouble between her two siblings and yet she hurried her step even more. Foolish thing was, her new brother [member="Isley Verd"] was powerful in his own right but there was something in him that reminded her of Nox. Not the trouble Nox would cause, far from it. But when it came to younger siblings, males especially in their culture, Lauda have a protective streak. On an even sillier note, she realized then that her adoptive brother had not still been given a name characteristic of his new connection to the family. They all had names unique to being a Cavataio and yet had not been given one.

When she was close enough, she heard her deWinter sister say she is nothing a Dathomiri. Before even making the last corner for them to see her, Lauda spoke up: "What a rare occasion this is..." The following moment, she did make that lest turn, showing a wide smile at the two. "Perhaps not a Dathomiri but she is certainly an outsider that has come to understand our ways and language well enough to be accepted with warm hearts upon each visit." She added, keeping her chocolate brown eyes on her sister while she revealed an important fact about the child of her father and his former mate. While Lauda loved her Starkiller and deWinter siblings, Nessarose was unique in this regard, having actually taken the time to understand her ways, for accepting their language and even being strong enough to learn spells which was not the easiest task for outsiders. It was most likely because of all this that even Ma'dri liked the child.

 

[Darth Metus]

It was not the crimson which spread across the woman's cheeks that clued the Mandalorian to the fact that she was livid. In fact, if he had a blindfold tied about his eyes, Isley would have still be able to tell that [member="Nessarose deWinter"] was angry; only due to his particular talents in the Force. For him, such things manifested themselves in his mind's eye as...radiant beacons of emotion; and right now Nessarose was glaring red. However, despite the aggravation that characterized her, the duo of blasters were promptly returned to their holsters. A gentle, relief-filled sigh escaped the Mandalorian's lips at this turn of events and his tensed muscles relaxed ever so slightly. "My sincerest apologies." he said in response to her complaint, "I will do my absolute best to keep my words in one language at a time." This was uttered with the beginnings of a smile, to which he added: "And if you're family, then I will gladly extend my promise to include you too."

Then came the words which heralded the arrival of [member="Lauda Cavataio"]; yet another face that the Mandalorian was unfamiliar with. Yet, despite this, he extended to her a warm smile and waves his offhand politely. "I can only hope that I can come to be accepted as warmly as Nessarose someday." he began, "But until then, I'll do my best to learn about the culture of my newfound kin. By the way, my name is Isley. A pleasure to meet you."

Spoiler

[member="Nessarose deWinter"], [member="Lauda Cavataio"]