In the Family Way (Verd/Dib)

[Ginnie Dib]

Ashrah
Verd Homestead

Ginnie stretched her back, both hands on her hips, and felt her neck crack and pop. Kneeling on the roof of the Verd Homestead, Ginnie bent back over the shingles she was installing over weather coating and interlocking solar tiles. Her belly swelled with the twins nestled inside her, yet there was still far more work to do before she left the Verd Homestead, to finish the new Dib Compound and move in properly and finally with her riduur Rhae.

“Gin’ika, maybe I should do that…” Asha whimpered, standing below Ginnie on the ground.

“And electrocute yourself again? No thanks, just throw me up what I need, Ash. Rhae should be here soon, I want to be done before he gets in.” Ginnie continued connecting the solar panels and roof tiles, as Asha bit the inside of her cheek. Oh, that Gin’ika was stubborn…

“I got the supplies for the beskar’gam you wanted, why don’t you come down and we can work on that?” Asha grunted, thumbing in the direction of the beskar forge. She shrieked as Ginnie faltered on the roof, catching herself on its’ apex.

“Sure… Yeah, sure Ash… yeah…” Ginnie sat back, taking a deep breath and looking down at the ladder several feet away. “Right… I can get down… totally.”

"Ginniiieeeeeee"

[member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"]

 

[Rhaegar Nemesis Dib]

Having arrived on Ashrah with a supply ship, Rhaegar moved towards the Verd homestead with a satchel over his shoulder. He was dressed in casual attire today, grey suit jacket and slacks with a vneck beneath. The cane moved in sync with his limping gait as he journeyed to his destination. The planet was new to him, temperate and bright. The chirping of avians and the squeals of wildlife revealed a thriving ecosysyem. It was oddly pleasant.

Chuckling lightly to himself he came into view of the clearing where the Verd buildings were clustered. As he paused to take in the view his chuckle left and was replaced with a frown. There on the roof stood his riduur, pregnant belly and all, rebuilding the roof a single at a time. Despite the danger that any form of construction offered, here was his pregnant cyar'ika, standing precariously on the roof. He shook his head as his feet carried him swiftly to where [member="Ginnie Dib"] was arguing with another upon the ground.

"And I thought Metus was the dangerous one. These Verd have no sense of self preservation or ...."

His mumbling speech was silenced in his throat as Gin'ika faltered upon the roof. Grunting he tossed his bag and reached out to gently, yet securely, grip his woman in the Force and raise her from the roof. Lowering her down before him he shook his head lightly until her feet touched down before him.

"Trying to give me a heart attack? Or so anxious for the little ones to arrive that you are giving a helping hand?"

The light tone was playful, yet the worry in his eyes spoke to some of the depths of his love for his riduur. He worried for her, and apparently rightly so. She was nearly as stubborn as some of his own family. Shaking his head slightly he reached out to pull her into his arms. She was a Dib after all, stubborn came with the territory.

 

[Keira Priest]

Her arrival had been preceded by a call from Asha, and from the concern evident in the other woman's voice Keira supposed it best that she arrive as quickly as time would allow. It wasn't that she exactly anticipated something was wrong, but when it came to their family, one could never be too careful. The fact that nothing appeared to be in flames when the homestead came into sight only eased her concerns just slightly, and with the assurance that nothing immediately disastrous had happened she approached on foot. It was the sight of her sister on the roof that set off all the alarms, and suddenly she understood why the blonde's call had seemed so urgent.

"Gin'ika!" Taking two quick steps forward, she squinted at her sibling on the roof, arms crossed over her armored chest. "Get your di'kutla shebs down from there, or I'll come up there and bring you down myself." It was a loving admonition, but one she meant wholeheartedly. Far be it from her to lecture on safe pregnancy practices, but at the very least she hadn't been ascending rooftops and laying shingles once she was visibly showing, and with twins no less. Thankfully her sister's husband arrived in time to lift her from the structure with the Force and lower her safely to the ground, and a relieved sigh escaped her.

Closing the distance between them, she made it clear her lecture didn't end there. "You do realize you're pregnant,'lek? Now it's not just about your safety, it's about the lives you're carrying as well. Two lives, I might add. We can do the heavy lifting for now. You need to sit back and enjoy being a mother. Trust me, it's over before you know it." Being a mother twice over gave her a new perspective, and she would be the first to say that before you knew it, your kids were growing and asking for their own freedoms, and before you knew it they were leaving the nest to carve out their own path in life. In other cases, they were stolen before you got the chance to watch them grow. She didn't like to think about that.

Turning, she regarded the man that had rescued her sister, giving him a once-over in the way one predator studied another, deciding how much of and what sort of threat was posed, and how it would be dealt with. Once she finished sizing him up, she didn't offer a handshake, her name, or any other traditional mode of introduction one would give to what had become extended family through marriage. No, her way of going about things was much more blunt, but she'd survived this far going about things in a similar manner. "You must be the husband."

[member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] | [member="Ginnie Dib"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

“Gin’ika!!”

“Good googly moogly! WOA!” Ginnie yelped, her balance shot at the sudden roar of her sister [member="Keira Verd"]. Dang it if Keira wasn’t Force Dead, Ginnie could have felt her coming! “Kiki!”

“I was fine! I was totally stable, until I lost my balance…” Ginnie breathed deep, giving her riduur a soft and delighted smile. [member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] had her back once again, bringing her safely to the ground. Feet feeling the grass, Ginnie grunted and with one hand on her lower back, the other rested on Rhae’s shoulder.

“Is your heart that weak, that a little construction work could harm it? Where's my warrior-man?” Ginnie’s accent matched Rhae’s, as the first voice she recognized when her hearing was returned to her. Nuzzling sideways in his arms, Ginnie pulled Rhae’s hand on her belly as Keira began her tirade.

“Oy, another war path.” Ginnie whispered and sighed. “I’m down! I’m down, Kiki, I’m down. I was totally in control, up until the moment I fell.”

Keira might have been a petite warmonger, but her size was inverse to her ferocity. Ginnie winced, looking up between Rhae and Keira.

“The constant mental lament for my perfectly taught abs reminds me daily that these two dragons continue to grow in me. There was nobody here, and the roof needs to be completed. Asha kept electrocuting herself, it was pathetic! It would have taken hours, and there’s a storm coming. It’s no big d-“ A war on two fronts was never to be a successful campaign. Glancing between Rhae and Keira, Ginnie huffed and cuddled up in her husband’s arms.

“I surrender. No more rooftops, Rally Master’s honour... but I'm still doing Rhae's armour... unless Alkor can forge it.” The youngest Rally Master in Mandalorian History raised her hand, flopping it down.

“Rhaegar Dib, meet Keira Verd, Alor and big sister. Riduur, sister, sister, riduur. I love you both, don’t make me separate you two.”

 

[Rhaegar Nemesis Dib]

His hand joined hers in covering her middle, the baby bump more obvious then ever before. Although maybe the correct term was babies' bump. He allowed a soft smile to touch his lips, even reaching his eyes, as he felt the life they had created together. He never would have imagined love, let alone making a family before Gin'ika. And there wasn't a power in this Galaxy or outside it that could deter him from the path he found himself on.

With one hand upon his children and his other arm around his riduur he looked into her eyes smiling as she spoke about the warpath caused him to look upon the approaching form of [member="Keira Verd"]. Listening to their banter the smile eased from his face as he looked and felt the woman. Rather he didn't feel the woman.

Observing the woman made his spine tingle. Not in fear but rather in a kind of acknowledgement. This was a warrior. Dangerous. The smile returned as he felt her eyes tracking him. Yet this one wasn't the kind one worn moments earlier by Rhaegar, but the cold, calculating one of Nemesis. The warmth of introduction, or even the facade of it was left to the wayside as she spoke to him plainly, referring to him as the husband.

He knew this wasn't just a greeting but the subtle feint of a war of words that perhaps reflected the woman's sentiments. Or this was a light spar to see his reaction. Whichever it was the man knew the games, and knew that sometimes what seemed a game of with was sometimes a duel of war.

"Yes, I am the riduur. And you must be the sister."

Just as she had stripped him of his status within mando'a, he did the same for her. A subtle riposte. Yet here he stood a seeming civilian, a dar'mando, but that was not the truth of the matter. At least not anymore. Not since being offered cin vhetin from the Mand'alor herself. He knew what he appeared to be, even to one without the use of the Force. A tall gentleman in well dressed attire, a cane, and red rimmed blue eyes. A darkness seemed to permeate his presence, though that wasn't strictly true either. Appearances were deceiving.

His arm tightened slightly as he arched a quizzical brow at Keira. He figured the fact that [member="Ginnie Dib"] was no longer just a Verd had to have a part in his less then welcoming greeting. Or the fact that he was of Sith origins. Then again it may have just been the sister's personality. Yet he wasn't finished with his own verbal fencing.

"So which Verd are you? Like my Gin'ika, or rancor osik shabla crazy like Metus?"

The cold smile never eased away, as one predator looked upon another.

 

[Keira Priest]

The name given was silently acknowledged, but her eyes never left the man. Even without the Force, Keira knew what he was, and it brought that instinctual animosity to the surface without a second thought. Her eyes narrowed as he spoke, the muscles of her jaw working as the depth of what was said sunk in slowly, slowly. And then all at once it exploded, white-hot and abrupt as it always was, tearing through everything in front of her as indiscriminate as an inferno. Her left hand lashed out to grab him by the throat, crushgaunt adorned grip tightening to nearly unbearable levels, the fire behind her eyes capable of melting beskar.

With a flex of her arm she attempted to drive him back into the wall of the homestead, everything happening in a matter of seconds. "Don't you ever compare me to that hut'uunla darjetii shabuir, you understand? Married or not, I'll break your neck and sleep fine after. You don't know anything about me, or our people." She seethed through clenched teeth, releasing him and taking two steps back but never turning away, fully prepared for and anticipating a retaliation of some sort. It was something that would give her an excuse, because even though she'd had time to heal, that path certainly wasn't linear, and more times than not she relied on self-medication through alcohol to get her through things. At present, however, she was the farthest from intoxicated she'd been in a while, and that made her even more dangerous.

Turning, she took her sister by the upper arm, guiding her a few feet away before finally turning to face her, the anger in her expression having softened into something far more malleable, a warmth rising behind her eyes that was reserved strictly for family. Still, there was an edge there, one that was only present when it was absolutely clear she would refuse to budge on whatever it is she was about to say. Stubbornness certainly did run in the family. "Cin vhetin or not, you know our clan's history with his kind. Our people's history. My history." She took a breath, knowing full well her sister's reaction would be less than pleasant. "I married one of them once. I don't want to see what happened to me happen to you, too."

[member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] | [member="Ginnie Dib"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Love and family. Cuddled in her riduur's arms, Ginnie knew nothing but the embrace of their shared and mutual soul. That was… until Keira stormed up ahead of the weather report.

“Oh kriff and vinegar.” Ginnie got out, as [member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] met [member="Keira Verd"]’s challenge with the same verve he met every challenge. It was one of the reasons she loved him, that beskar spine going ramrod straight and an elegantly docile man breaking out the inner dragon within. “Did you have to mention our shabla dar’vod, Rh-aaaee!”

In her fury to grab Rhaegar by the neck, Keira had to bowl through the pregnant woman in his arms. Balance tempered by the added weight of their young, the normally spry Ginnie tripped and landed on her elbows and knees the dirt. “SHABS!”

Ginnie coughed, her lungs seizing in the shock of losing her breath. Asha screamed and dove for her ‘vod’, “Gin’ika! Hey, Keira! The heck!?”

“Oh that’ hurts… shab it, Kiki, back the feth off!” Ginnie’s eyes went to Rhae, knowing well how he took care of his own physical safety. A grudge match between Rhae and Keira would be as vicious as a planetary conquest, and as Ginnie shook off the sting of a scuffed elbow, she tried to get a hand up from Asha. Keira was faster. Tugging Ginnie by her upper arm, Keira walked them off. Stumbling on the uneven grass, Ginnie panted.

“Kiki, let go, I can’t breathe!” Yanking her arm out, Ginnie coughed and put both palms on her knees, catching deep breaths from lungs temporarily narrowed by the growth of her babies.

“Rhae isn’t his kind you crumbum! We were dead, Keira. When Isley went Sith-o-whack-o, Rhae tore his soul off and tied it to mine. His soul died the same way I did, and went the same place I did. There’s no time there, ‘cause we’re… beyond it. Experiencing everything, all of the Manda and the Manda’s past, present, future… encompassed in the collective soul. Rhaegar and I spent an eternity clinging together, the only individuals in paradise… How’d you think I fell for him, huh?! One fight and I go google-moogs for a multi-centarian with a limp and a suit? Be real. He only did those things to end Metus, because he owed Isley, the real Isley. The one who’s in the Netherworld babysitting Yasha Mantis’ child-soul. Lay off him, he’s never going to hurt me. Although your concern is appreciated and kinda loving so there!

He’s your brother, not your foe… although he’s livid ‘cause you pushed me to the ground! The heck!? Oh Gin’ika! Get off the roof, you’ll hurt yourself, SHOVE! Kad dang it, Kiki!”

Panting hard, GInnie looked back to Rhae and reached for him as her body drifted to the side. “I’m a… I’m a little light… little lightheaded… Rhae?”

 

[Rhaegar Nemesis Dib]

He watched the anger course through her, not in the Force but in the clench of her jaw as the muscles there pulsed. Such rage. He knew rage, and was waiting for the explosion whether it was verbal or physical. He didn't have long to wait as the subtle flex of her shoulder revealed a coming strike that was telegraphed. First lesson of a fight was that eyes could lie, the body however had certain mechanics that did not.

It wasn't a punch, but rather a stranglehold upon his throat. As he was slammed back he lost sight of his riduur, the wall behind him groaning as he surely would have if breath could have escaped the vise like grip. Instinctually the Force flooded in, strengthening his muscles, tendons, and bone as he reinforced his body from an snap of the neck by cybernetic appendage.

[member="Keira Verd"] spat her words angrily at him as he listened. Angry eyes met his calm, cold ones as he listened, finding the nuances of meaning within. Most beings in the throws of passion rarely lied or hid their real persona. And as he was robbed of the ability to gauge her in the Force, he had chosen to push her to find what he sought. She was not another Metus.

Once she released him he stood facing her, eyes unrepentant. Their stand off lasted mere seconds, yet he would not assault his riduur's sister when he had provoked the response. When the moment passed Keira turned for Ginnie while Rhaegar bent and retrieved his cane. Yet his spine stiffened as he felt the discomfort and light headedness in his soul.

He had refused to rub his throat and give Gin'ika's vod the satisfaction of seeing it, yet he felt ... unwell. However upon closer inspection he found his body was sound which meant ...

Turning he watched [member="Ginnie Dib"] sway to his side saying she wasn't feeling well. The slight surge of memory he sought flashed between them to explain what he had missed. Gin falling. Gin being pulled to her feet. Gin feeling unwell. It was enough.

He gripped the pommel of the cane and unsheathed the imbued sword, letting the sheath fall to the ground. His left hand waved toward his riduur, cradling her form within cushions of telekinesis as he took two strides toward Keira. Eyes flashed as a mirthless grin stretched across his face. The force reached out to her and found no purchase which made the smile stretch even more as he stared at the other woman.

"You think me Sith? If I was Sith I would never have allowed you to treat me in such a disrespectful manner. If I was Sith I would take joy in peeling your force dead skin from your broken body. If I was Sith I would show you the error of you thoughts believing you are untouchable in the Force. I sense the power cells in your replacements. All it would take is a little friction within these molecules to have the cells to explode. You think you are immune to the Force? But with every breath you take, microorganisms enter your respiratory system, oxygen in your lungs right now that exist in the void that your body may be. But the air you breathe? I can sense it. I can constrict the air itself, or inflame it. I cannot touch you, but I can create a barrier that would stop the air from entering your cursed body."

He paused as he stared at her form.

"If I was Sith."

Turning the sword sideways he pointed it at her with a cold smile. Then with a flash of motion he threw it. The blade flashed across the short distance and buried itself less then a meter from her feet. His left hand kept Ginnie in a cushion that helped to steady and comfort her while his right pulled the collar of his shirt down several inches.

"My people are House Dib of Clan Farr. My alor is Muad Dib, once named the Mad Knight of Manda'yaim. My Mand'alor is Yasha Mantis. My riduur is my family. You, even you, are my family. I would bleed for my aliit. I would die for my aliit. And if you wish to cleanse your family of a stain such as me, this is your only opportunity."

His eyes flickered to Gin and the cold smile melted from his face as he looked back to Keira.

"Your sister is my wife, mother of my children. I would never hurt her or them. That means forgiving you for your rough handling of her this once because I pushed you to anger, but if there's a next time you cause her harm... Only one of us will walk away. So what choose you? Spill my blood? Or grudgingly accept what has already come to pass, that you and I are vode?"

He waited for her answer, whether it be with words or action.

 

[Other Space Kaiden]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9chF9gYZqI​

'Fashionably Late' wasn't the excuse written on the whiskey-soaked jacket and cargo pants that strode towards the Verd Homestead, dying cigarette slumped against the crease of his lips. Squinting past the sun, Marvik raised a bladed hand to his glossy eyes and did his damnedest to make sense of the blurs in the distance. It wasn't hard to spot Keira, he'd recognize those assets anywhere - the other hangover blurred blobs meant nothing to him, but they looked human. Probably. Sighing, he drug the hand down his face and cursed himself for not hitting the caf before he came here.

His shoulders creaked into a roll, his neck slowly arcing from side to side as he braced himself for impact. Luckily for him, it seemed like the ship got blown out of the water before he had a chance to sink it himself. He froze as Keira grabbed one of the other blobs by its throat and stopped short of shaking him around like a piggy bank with a stubborn penny inside.

"Huh...well then" The cigarette rolled to the other side of his lips, his feet shuffling forward in increments. If he strained hard enough he could almost make out the words, but at ten meters it was still a mash of the woman's usual 'pissed-itude" as he called it. So, foot by foot, Marvik inched closer and watched the charade with an increasingly perverse grin growing on his face.

You just didn't come across entertainment like this. Wonder what he did to piss her off? Must have been good. Shame he missed it, probably would have been popcorn worthy.

But all at once the thin reservoir of amusement and peace was drained from his face, leaving behind only the dredge seething underneath. Sith? Dib? Peeling skin?

An all too familiar chill stiffened Marvik's spine, bowed his arms and gripped his chest. Anger. True anger.

The Dathu had made it across the rest of the five meters before he'd fully realized what he was doing - focus locked on the face of the blob that'd been choked, only now it was far from indistinguishable. The black cropped hair; the sharp, stubbled jawline; the Minock ears. Everything down to those beady eyes. He wanted to make sure he remembered this one.

Stepping beside Keira, Marvik hooked his cigarette between his fingers and twisted - sending the burning buds and crumbled body catapulting into the man's suit. In the same, fluid motion the Dathu pushed aside his jacket and unsnapped the lock of his Westar pistol and let his fingers curl into a rest on the thin-necked grip.

"Hey there - tall, fugly and stupid." Marvik grinned, pushing aside his jacket to reveal a second pistol which he readied in the same fashion as the first.

"I'm not a flashy guy, I like simple things - so I'm not going to make some melodramatic threat from the first page of 'how to be a scary Dar'Jetti'." Storm-blue eyes locked onto the man in front of him, "I'm just going to put three rounds in your head - and I hate for graves to be lonely. So unless you have a family plot figured out, I'd watch who you threaten."

 

[Keira Priest]

The impossible to miss odor of day-old liquor caught on the wind, preceding his arrival by a handful of seconds before the threats continued. Still, Keira didn't seem to take note of the new arrival just yet, reaching down to uproot the blade from where it had planted itself in the ground and turning it over in her hands. Looking up at Rhae, she took a handful of steps forward. "Let's reach an understanding,'lek?" Her grip on the weapon didn't lax, but the flames behind her eyes wavered just slightly, lessening to far more manageable levels. The blaze within had been quelled by concern for her sister, that love for family winning out as it nearly always did.

"I don't give a damn what you do to me. If you decide to make good on those threats one day, be my guest. I've had worse." Her head cocked to one side, and she looked up into his eyes, standing mere inches from him now. "Your promises right now mean nothing to me. If you ever hurt her, I'll kill you. Slowly. And then, when it's all said and done, I'll put your head on a spike outside our homestead so everyone knows what happens when you cross us." Holding his gaze for a few more seconds, she eventually picked up the sheath and slid the blade back home, holding it out as a sort of peace offering.

A slight turn of her head told her that Marvik still stood in place behind her, ready and waiting to follow up on his own threats with far more immediacy. As much as she didn't mind the idea of letting him put a couple rounds in the other man, she'd gotten her point across, and that was enough. There would be no more violence today, as cathartic as it would be. This was about family meeting family, and now that Marvik had decided to show up, she could return the favor insofar as introductions were concerned. One could only hope this one would go more smoothly, but she knew Marvik. He'd already done his own part of demonstrating his true colors.

Turning to face the other Mandalorian, she raised her hands in a gesture to bid him peace, reaching out with her hands to lay them atop his own where they rested on the grips of his pistols. Gently, slowly, she unwrapped his fingers, guiding his hands to his sides from within her own, looking up at him with a small smile no less fierce than her words previously. "Udesii, Dathu. Nobody's getting killed today." With one hand still intertwined in his own, the other reached up to grab his collar in a firm grip, yanking his head down to her level. "And if you lay a finger on my sister, I'll kick your ass myself." That smile didn't fade by an increment, nor did her hand leave his own as she turned to face the other couple.

Jerking her head towards the man at her side, she made her own introductions. "This is Marvik, Alor be Aliit Dathu. And he won't be shooting anyone today." She squeezed his hand at those words, though her gaze didn't stray from her sister or her husband.

[member="Marvik Dathu"] | [member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] | [member="Ginnie Dib"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

[member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] cuddled his wife in a cushion of security so she could catch her breath. Not particularly hurt by the fall and more shocked by it, Ginnie allowed herself the surrender of releasing to her husband’s faith and trust… and telekinesis. Sore muscles relaxed, breath evened out and Ginnie smiled for Asha, until the moment Rhae opened his shirt and threw his sword to [member="Keira Verd"]’s feet.

“Rhae! Kiki, no!” Pulling to her feet, Ginnie staggered forward. The warm Ashrah ground sprung under her boots, welcoming. Calming. This was to be the place where love of aliit held all connections firm. A place where children played, and learned and adults drank until Ginnie slapped the bottles away.

And there was Rhaegar, as far removed from Nemesis Nemonus than Ginnie was from her murderous brother Metus. A Mando’ad, cleansed by the same forgiveness which brought [member="Alkor Centaris"] near tears in front of the Infernal. The same young woman Ginnie remembered saving as a child, who offered Cin Vhetin to Keira and Alkor even as her infant daughter laid dying in the Sundari Royal Palace. Ginnie remembered waiting in Yasha’s office, safe beyond the security and guards in case Keira and Alkor wished her death. She saw the crushed spirit of the Infernal as she donned her wolf-helm, temporarily arthritic hands shaking, sacrificing precious breaths of her infant child’s fading life to stand before Keira and Alkor and give clemency.

Cin Vhetin.

It was the whitest snow, and all which happened before Cin Vhetin was expunged. Forgiveness caused sacrifice of the forgiver, and as Ginnie watched her sister reach for the cane sword of her beloved, Ginnie’s blood boiled.

“Rhaegar got the same forgiveness you did, Keira. The Infernal does not forgive half-way, for the Manda does not forgive half-way. What past he had is done. What past you had is done. Cin Vhetin isn’t two words and three syllables, which require consent through committee. His soul is a new creation, just like yours. The past is done. We cannot go back. And so help me if anyone takes a step toward him to do him harm, I will introduce them to the Manda faster than you can put a Sith’s head on a pike.” Her feet centred on the ground, the soles of her boots sinking into the sod as the smell of burned grass rose around her.

Yet, Keira understood. She threatened out of love to save her sister from the wounds she held on her own heart and soul. The children she lost. It all seemed fitting, a proper Verd union, until [member="Marvik Dathu"] came carrying a gun and threatening Rhaegar, Ginnie and the babies.

“No. He won’t.” Ginnie’d had it.

A rumbling growl surged from her lungs, as Ginnie stomped on the ground and a fissure of stone broke between Rhae and Ginnie, and Keira and Marvik. Fists clenched, Ginnie spread her arms in a wrenching motion, as vast shales of magma surged from the rip she caused in the earth.

“You will not harm my Keira or my Rhae or my children. I have had enough!” Ginnie’s voice echoed across the plains around them, as the ground rumbled and the magma flowed upward, ever upward, sloshing into the form of a massive and uncontainable dragon. Its claws slashed at the earth, leaving scorch marks and burnt soil as it roared.

Ginnie’s body combusted, as smoke curled, fragrant and obscene, to the Ashrah sky.

“I did not survive death and resurrection to have some feeble-armed man walk up to my family and condemn what he does not understand. Silence yourselves, because I’m pregnant and spent three hours on the roof only to get yelled at, and instead of hugging my husband my sister threw me to the ground, and instead of a moment of joy we got a Dathu raising a firearm at an unarmed man. I have had enough!”

The dragon roared in its’ thirty foot height, scorching the grass around it into an infernal wildfire around the Homestead. Feet touching down on the ground, Ginnie slammed her fist down into her open palm, and the magma dragon hardened into a statue of steaming stone.

“You ever figure you want to test me? Look at that and think again, Dathu. My sister’s been through more hell than I have and if you so much as make her frown, I will burn the marrow in your bones from the inside, and slowly turn your blood vessels to ash, while you get fethed by your own tongue ripped from your mouth. Welcome to Clan Verd, Rhae.

We’re the karking normal ones.”

Power. Ginnie’d always had it, but never shown it to her siblings in such a way. She hid her greater powers, a good little Mandalorian who played with fire… but this was not the good little girl playing with figures which danced on tables.

Gin’ika grew up. She stared at the barrel of Marvik’s gun and the metal grew white hot.

“Drop it or lose your hands… and then someone get me a Kad danged bar of chocolate and some warm milk. My back’s killing me and I want to sit down.”

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"Looks like the fun started without me," the mechanical monotone crashed like a stone through glass into the turmoil. He glanced at all parties present through his HUD in what by rights was his home, and Alkor folded his arms intently. "What's a family reunion without infighting, I guess," he spoke quietly to himself within the confines of his helmet. Sarcasm would do little to abate the heated conflict he had happened upon.

"Welcome to Ashrah," he said to [member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"] with no pretense of offense or disrespect. He was a guest, and technically family by marriage. [member="Keira Verd"] was slow to warm to newcomers, especially ones who shared the dark disposition of their estranged brother and her former flame. "You've already met our Allit'alor, Keira."

He marked down "hospitality" as an area that the fledgling leader of Clan Verd needed to brush up on in his mental list of "horrible terrible what else could possibly go wrong" and proceeded to reach up for his buy'ce. This was his house. If he wasn't safe here, he wasn't safe anywhere in the Galaxy.

His voice was a stern, slurred Corellian drawl as he chided the collective. The man almost always hid his accent. It came out with his irritation. "What're'ye, ad'ike? I did'n get called offa job t' babysit."

Alkor felt his gaze harden on the display of Force power meant to deter [member="Marvik Dathu"] from waving his gun around. As much as [member="Ginnie Dib"] was his adoptive sister and part of the Clan, his feelings on the Force were unflinching. With a set jaw, he exhaled slowly and reminded himself to say nothing.

Before he was ever Mandalorian, Verd accepted Force Users. Nothing was going to change about that. He was adamant about that, in fact. It was Alkor's opinion that people be judged not by what they were, but who they were. The culture embraced those who embraced it, so who was he to go against the grain?

"If'n you ladies are all done comparing sizes," he looked from one to the other and cleared his throat. That accent had to go. Disgusting. "I don't care who any one of you is. This is a place of family and friends, and if you don't respect that, you can leave."

He glanced sidelong at Keira and shook his head. "Do you have to pick a fight everywhere you go?"

 

[Rhaegar Nemesis Dib]

His eyes never left [member="Keira Verd"] as she claimed his sword and moved before him. Her words washed over Rhaegar as an understanding was made. The ferocity in her eyes dimmed somewhat, not gone but merely in hibernation that was still a hard glint. Briefly he wondered just what she had been through to forge such a will as was hers. It was a magnificent spirit, one that makes a great warrior.

As the sheathed cane was offered back to him he reached out and took it from her hand, his own eyes as steely as hers. Mutual understanding that both cared for [member="Ginnie Dib"] and both would kill if any harm came to her. There had been less common ground where alliances had been formed. This would do. With a slight nod of approving agreement to her terms he watched as she turned to the newest addition to the reunion of sorts.

He was the cut of tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous. Which as Keira moved to his side revealed a hint of why the Verd alor was attracted to him. The barrel that aimed at him was unwavering. He didn't move, not because he was afraid, but because this was to be a day of rebuilding, not of battle. Even so, he allowed the corner of his lips to twitch into a smile for a moment. Ginnie's sister introduced [member="Marvik Dathu"] as alor of Clan Dathu, perhaps another common ground for thw building blocks of their apparent attraction.

And the Ginnie had enough. He felt rje power feow within in, amplified by her emotions and physical state of hormones (which he would never mention because he was a gentleman first, but more likely the true reason he preferred being able to breath), and created a fiery golem that formed into a dragon. Even as it cooled he couldn't help the smile of pride in his riduur. Her power and control, but more so, her instincts as a warrior that was not dimmed by being with child.

Easing over to her as she glared daggers, he slipped his free arm about her waist and leaned in to kiss her on the temple, letting the calm he felt in his soul to intermingle with her own, also entwined within him.

"Peace ner cyar'ika. This is to be a happy day."

As another mando'ad appeared and offered a greeting to him first, Rhaegar watched as [member="Alkor Centaris"] spoke to them as a group, then specifically to the Alor of Clan Verd. While normally he would not be one to interfere on anyone's behalf, Rhaegar spoke up.

"The fault of the ... altercation lies with me. I spoke out of turn in an already highly emotional meeting. And her ... friend only responded in kind, as did Gin'ika."

He raised the pommel of the cane up in a sort of salute to Keira and Marvik before glancing once more to Alkor.

"Family get togethers seem to promote threat of violence initially before the festivities of being reunited begins."

His head turned as he looked at his riduur in his arm, gauging her emotions and physical well being, knowing she should be off her feet and relaxing ... That is, as much as a Mandalorian woman would ever truly relax.

 

[Varzali Khorza]

Elsewhere on the compound, Torin Verd preoccupied himself at the forge. His knife had gotten dull during the raid on the slaver compound. He carefully was putting the blade's edge against a whetsone, sharpening it. In the corner nesr him was his souvenir from that time. A young Corellian hound male, that Torin had become accustomed to calling Cabur. Despite the fierce and unfriendly nature so ascribed to the breed, Cabur was quite the opposite. Dopey, loving, but no less protective. Torin paused as he heard shouting and rumbling from outside. He stood up quickly and whistled for his hound to follow.

He ran to the front of the complex, Cabur close behind. As he rounded the corner, he did not see any immediate threats. A bunch of angry faces and some scorched earth. He took a deep breath, sliding his knife away. He was dressed in simple clothes: a tank top, some leather workman's trousers, and the accompanying heavy boots and forging gloves. He gave Cabur the gesture to sit before addressing his kin.

"What's all this then?" His raspy voice came, watching over them all through dark eyes. "On second thought. I don't wish to know. All I see are scowling faces. How's about we all adjourn to the mess and I'll put a pot of shig on, eh? Calm everyone's nerves."

He began removing his leather gloves, motioning Cabur to follow. As he came close to the entry of the complex, he looked back with stern eyes. "And by Manda, leave any incivility outside these doors. You all are either my kin or guests. Only hospitality from here on out. We clear?" He passed through the entry way and made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a tea pot and some herbs. Shig was one of the first things his.Mandalorian mother taught him to make. Hopefully it could help ease over dysfunction like ot used to...

[member="Alkor Centaris"] | [member="Ginnie Dib"] | [member="Keira Verd"] | [member="Marvik Dathu"] | [member="Rhaegar Nemesis Dib"]​