Private A Matter of Perspective

[Damsy Callat]

H A T R E D​

Location: Ruins of Carnuss Gorgull, Gamorr​

Equipment: Beskar'gam (wo. helmet) / electrotrident (w. one broken prong)​

Tag: Ala Quin​

The aura was thick and palatable, like smoke clouding around a clan bonfire. It tasted like the first bite of fresh-killed fanteel, flesh not yet salted by the seas and tanging of metal. Pilot fish swimming before the saberjowl, or the squaloid.

"Haar'chak..." she muttered to herself, pushing off her thighs to stand from her bleacher seat. As she made her way into the standing crowd below, the sithspawn rose a clenched fist and rapped on the side of her head just hard enough to jostle her focus from her alter ego to the pain she had just caused herself. Just like the right preventative measures could stop an oncoming seizure in its tracks, she hoped a sprinkling of self-harm would garble Syreni's genocidal intentions.

Damsy had found that the easiest, albeit most exhausting, way to make sure such thoughts didn't take was to focus on the moment. She just had to get to the next one. And the next. And then the one after. But she needed to whatever the cost to her sanity. If she could steep herself in the current object of Syreni's hatred, the Gamorrean culture, she might just come out of the experience as one woman again - whole, and with just a regular amount of daddy-issues-anger.

The only trick would be to not skin pig hide on her way.

Oinking snorts soon drowned out both of her problems as she traversed the only sea that had ever made her skin crawl, and she had once swam the swamps of Dagobah. Somehow, everything here smelled even worse without all the peat and algal mat. Damsy's ungloved fingertips twitched over the handle of her trident as she fought not to arm herself with it.

 

[Ala Quin]

Wearing​

This was the first day in the last couple of weeks that the area had been without the persistant thunderstorms that were so common during this season. At least, that is what Snibri had told her. The Gamorrean woman had been so kind as to give Ala lodging during the few days the young Jedi had been present. It had been a joy to learn the Gamorrean culture and see them interact with their litter. The love that Snibri had for his offspring was ever apparent, and quite disarming.

Still, there was an air of inevitability that hung over the home. The father of the home worked the farms, but moonlighted as a bouncer for a port-based Cantina. It was not nice work, but it had decent pay due to the short life expectancy. This father was Snibri's sixth mate. Each had met their fate attempting to provide for their brood. Some had died on distant worlds, only having been able to send one paycheck home to the desperate family, and all the hungry mouths.

Gamorr could be seen as a wretched place if you did not look far beyond the surface. Ala saw the suffering of a race that had been typecast by the galaxy as canon fodder and cheap life. One day, maybe Ala could play a role in opening the galaxies eyes to the treatment of this porcine species.

Podracing was done for the day, by the time Ala returned to the area. The regular crowds were starting to dissipate, but there were still a few folk about working on their Pods.

"I tell you," came a voice as it neared Ala, "Rengar was cheating. He had Scythian power couplings..."

"...those things could have blown at any time," came the reply from behind Ala, as she turned to see a couple of Ugnaughts toddling by, "if they had gone off in the pit area...it would have been really bad."

A single brow drooped as Ala eavesdropped. Cheating and pushing the limits was nothing new in the world of Podracing. She would have been more surprised if there hadn't been some form of skirting of the rules. She would warn Snibri of the possible danger, rather the increased danger, if this Rengar was racing tomorrow. Probably wouldn't hurt to tell the authorities either.

Spinning around on her heels she was about to push forward on her previous path when a woman caught her attention. A ripple of discontent and agitation through the Force. Ala couldn't resist. Skip-stepping her way over, she tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Did you enjoy the race?" She said without greeting nor warning, "did you hear about Rengar!?"

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

H A T R E D​

Tag: Ala Quin​

It wasn't very Mandalorian of her, but she flinched.

Thank the ocean tides that her uncle wasn't here to chew her out for it.

Damsy's hand jolted up away from her weapon and towards where Ala had tapped her shoulder. She turned three-quarters to face her. "Step off, lady!" she exclaimed. She blinked in the next moment and let the gears of her mind grind away behind her ocean eyes. "I--" She shook her head into a more or less cordial expression, but looked slightly away from Aya. Something about her was churning the pit of Damsy's stomach. She assumed it was just the expended effort of fighting Syreni, but, actually, somehow she was easier to overcome in the moment.

Quieter.

"I'm sorry. What? Yeah, it was a'ight."

She squinted before canting her head. "Only that he won, though I think that call was real generous." She hadn't heard the racers' talk about the illegal power couplings, but she had seen that last lap. He shouldn't have come in first, but Damsy wrote it off as the reality of an dirty game. Went with the territory. Just like if someone didn't fancy corruption, they shouldn't go into politics, if they didn't fancy unfair advantages, they shouldn't podrace.

 

[Ala Quin]

With a reaction like that, what was Ala to do? She removed her hand promptly, and stepped back with the expression of a scorned puppy. "I...I...I am sorry to have bothered you," she said with a stutter that was not her norm. Though just as quickly as she was scorned, she became curious, as the woman also seemed to find the way she reacted as unbecoming of the moment.

Hands behind her back, Ala just examined the woman for the time that it took her to process her thoughts and get the words out. Pursing her lips to prevent her from blurting out the information, the 'dirt' as it was, that she had on the winner of the race. It's not like the woman was giving a huge speach or anything. Just Ala's natural exuberance saw her going from OK-she-isn't-really-angry-with-me to I-can't-wait-to-tell-her in the blink of an eye.

"He cheated! Rengar cheated. Some power couplings or something. He totally cheated," she blurted in a string of words that almost became one.

Promptly, a hand shot out in an offer of friendship. Ala could see that the woman was struggling, and just perhaps the Force had brought her here for such a one as this. "My name is Ala."

What was that that Caltin had tried to teach her? Don't talk to strangers? No. Don't talk to strange people? No. What was it? OH! That's right.

Not everyone has good intentions, Ala. You have to play it safe until you know their heart a little more. Don't go barrelling...

She brushed the thought away like one of the flies in Snibri's guest room.

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

H A T R E D​

Tag: Ala Quin​

He cheated?

No revelation there.

Damsy pursed her lips and shrugged rather nonchalantly. "That's the name of the game, girlie," she said simply. "I suggest you don't watch in the future."

She was ready to move away until the pointy-eared woman introduced herself. "I'm..." Damsy began. The thought to offer up her current alias - Risha Upasi - flitted across her mind, but when a glance down at her own armor to remind her she looked very much like a Mandalorian and that doing so would compromise Risha's name. "Uh, D-damsy. I'm Damsy."

She did have a revelation when she realized the spunky personality carried a lightsaber on her person. What else could she be but a Jedi? Suddenly, the sithspawn's budding headache made sense too - a Force aversion. As if things hadn't already been awkward enough.

 

[Ala Quin]

Not watch?

Forlorn was probably the best way to describe Ala's expression. But it didn't last long. The thought of not watching the podraces was a truly unpleasant thought indeed. "I shall be watching...although I would not cheat myself...I do find all the drama quite engaging," she said with a pert smile returning.

She tilted her head briefly. There certainly seemed to be something...off...about...the woman before her. And there was something else not quite right. Ala felt a, well, it was...a tremor. Yes, that was the way to describe it. She felt a tremor through the Force. There was something, or a group of somethings coming their way and it was not a pleasant group of somethings.

"Damsy?" She said in reply, "that is a lovely name...quite unique." Her voice trailed off as she looked about the area.

Someone, not something. Someones!

Eyes closed briefly as she stretched out beyond the border of the small town they were in. Fast moving life forms...flying? No. Close to the ground, on speeders...rage. Rage...she could feel the anger directed in their direction.

Ala's face drained of colour, as she turned back towards Damsy. "Do you have anyway to protect yourself?" She said with an intensity that contrasted her natural glow, "there is a raiding party on the way..."

Unclipping the on-loan saber form her belt, Ala held it off to the side. "...and I should probably tell you that I am a Jedi."

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

H A T R E D​

Tag: Ala Quin​

As Ala reached, her ripples caressed Damsy. The skin up her spine broke out in goosebumps.

She worked out a curt nod. Yes, she had means to arm herself. Also yes to the Jedi bit. "Way ahead o' ya, Ala," Damsy said to both matters as she reached for the handle of her trident. She gave the head a shake at her side, extending the weapon to full staff length. Then, she nodded sideways. "What's the plan?"

After Ala had responded, even as she did, Damsy chewed at her lip. Truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth, somehow seemed to be the best possible policy with this one. Perhaps from here on out.

"I'm sithspawn."
​

 

[Ala Quin]

Ala's first thought was of Snibri and her family. This raiding party had arrived while the warriors of the area were away on their own warband. Ala had arrived after their departure, and had attempted to learn as much as she could about the culture. The Gamorreans seemed to thrive on the tribal warfare, some would likely consider them less evolved than othe species, but Ala saw a possible way forward. It only took a spark in one brave Gamorrean to set their people on a new path, and with Snibri and her litter she had found the vessel for change.

"I'm sithspawn."

The young Jedi Knight's attention was ripped away from her thoughts for a moment. Brows furrowing, she turned with a look of suprise and then morphing to nonchalance. "So?" She said, like the phrase meant something to her, but she didn't care. "Your actions define you. Let's go do something good..."

In her years she had heard of sithspawn, some mix of Force and alchemical processes bringing forth a being of corrupted dark side nature. Call it naievete or eternal optimism, but Ala saw this as merely a hinderance to goodness not an exemption from it. Nevertheless, she would keep an eye on Damsy beyond just the caution she expended for all Dark Side Force users.

The raiding party was nearing the edge of the town, and already explosions and such were beginning to rock the buildings on the perimeter. They would likely storm the central part of the town, and aim for their main defence infrustructure - the turret tower in the centre square.

Ala extended her hand and her 'loansaber' flew to her grip. The blue blade ignited with a fshzzzwooom and she pointed it towards the tower.

"We defend that tower and the Gamorrean entering it. That will be the definitive point of the raid."

She cast a glance back to Damsy, with a hint of uncertainty shadowing her normally serene face. "Will you stand with me?"

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

A N T I C I P A T I O N​

Tag: Ala Quin​

Something good. Damsy repeated the words with an air of disbelief. If doing kindness to the galaxy was a permission, she had never been so bluntly been given it - and she had certainly never self-indulged. As a Dauntless, she had always done so because her stripes depended on it. Fighting whoever the Confederate government willed for her fellow countrymen or some soon-to-be had never felt wrong, but would she have taken up the mantle if she had never enlisted to submit to orders? And would be now, flag- and factionless, as the chance to do greatness stretched before her again?​

​

Maybe, though maybe not. She supposed the answer to that latter question was hidden somewhere in this moment.​

​

The presence, not figure, of Typhan Berrezz shimmered out of nothing before her. His eyes were boring the same holes into her that they had after she had commed into Gerwald Lechner after the beheading broadcast at the Ryl Founder's March. Flight, fight, or freeze coagulated her blood as her body involuntarily chose the last. Was it guilt for what she had done to the Omegas on the road to haran paved with good intentions? How about anticipation for that day's chaos she knew was coming daydream or no?​

​

...[h]is black eyes [swam] with sunset coloring. They flicked down, lighting fast, to the arm she had just returned to her side, and so hers did too. She almost gasped, instead sidestepping away from the lieutenant, carefully as to not move with a magnitude that might alert any others watching. Back at a few feet's distance, she tugged down her sleeve hem to cover her glove. And copper skin giving way to a patch of blue-grey-tinted scales. "Berrezz, eyes front."​

​

His gaze didn't falter, but his voice did as he asked lowly, smally, "...Damsy?"​

​

​

The memory of her name upon his lips meshed to Ala's question, then faded into her Light. Adrenaline flooded Damsy's veins and liquified the ash clotting the tubes. A good-natured quip that she might have said to him or Luna Terrik or Jorgen Fengris worked its way out of her throat: "Well, I'll not stand against you." In that moment, she picked back up the duty of a solider with a volition entirely her own. It still fit like a tailored glove. Though her former comrades might hate her - all or a few, she didn't know - but she was sure they'd approve of what she was about to do for both herself and the memories of them. That was enough to carry her onward. And to drown out Syreni's fiery disgust.​

​

"Go!" she exclaimed to Ala. She would follow after her towards the tower. Once inside, Damsy collapsed to one side of the doorway. Her trident clattered to the floor, adding a metallic edge to her strangled grunt. "Dank...farrik," she hissed through pain and teeth. She flinched as the soft pattering of falling rain twanged off the structure.​

​

And the apple of her left cheek began to break out in dry scales. Deep blue color rose into them.​

​

 

[Ala Quin]

"Well, I'll not stand against you."

Given the circumstances, that was enough. Ala didn't really smile, but nodded with soft appreciation. She was already headed off in a sprint by the time that Damsy called on her to run. She found her way to the base of the one story building, with its ramparts on the roof and a turret bearing down from the notches in the wall. Taking a post before the entrance to the short tower, Ala planted her feet with left forward and right back further, ready to push into any blocks that were required. Her saber ignited, and instantly started to spark and emit puffs of steam with the now falling rain.

A clattering of metal rang out from behind her, drawing her attention with a glance over her shoulder.

"Dank...farrik."

Wrinkles formed in Ala's forehead as a concerned look became a deep frown. She could see Damsy's leg jutting out from door, but not the rest of her. The attacking Gamorreans were not quite here, they were moments away sure, but not close enough to hit anyone.

"Damsy?" Ala called, concern coating every syllable, "are you alright?"

She took a couple of steps back, and glanced inside to see the so-called Sithspawn lying on the ground, her face covered by some strange scale type substane. Was it a parasite? Did something fall from the sky and hit her face? Her lips parted with a question prepared that would hopefully not come across too heartless, but the roar of speeder bike engines pulled her attention.

Blasters rang out, from the speeders that had just arrived. Most were poorly aimed, hitting the wall or flying past the building in general. But it seemed their shock in seeing a Jedi standing guard had sent them into a frenzy of hopeful potshots. One of the bikes was positioned fairly well though, and caught Ala on the wrong foot. With a twist, she managed to deflect the blaster up and over her shoulder but she could feel the heat of the plasma ever so briefly as it grazed her tunic.

The crazed potshots seemed to have a general purpose though. Distraction. One of the later arriving speeder bikes was towing a mobile gattling turret. Ala's eyes widened. "Dank farrik indeed."

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

Dammit.

Dammit.

No.

Not now. Ideally not ever either.

"A-affirm!" Damsy made herself call back before she knew she was, indeed, alright. She rose a hand to her affected cheek; a few seconds passed but the scales failed to spread on like the time. Pre-shift panic was quick to drip down her limbs as she stood and subsequently flow from her body, but it'd be quick to return if any more of the rain got to her. She wrapped the grey cloth mantle of her beskar'gam around her braids, worked her foot under the shaft of her electrotrident, and kicked it up into her extended hand.

Battlefield adrenaline was quick to replace any relief that had settled in her joints, knowing she was safe for the time being from involuntary metamorphosis. She flourished the weapon in one hand before joining Ala outside of the tower. The rain wasn't coming down hard, but was drizzling more than it had been mere moments before.

"How do ya--" ahem, clearing of her throat, "--vibe with killin'?"

Ala Quin

 

[Ala Quin]

Another blaster shot came near to Ala, to the left of her left leg, and was deflected towards the ground immediately in front of her. Standing their ground was not going to cut it when the turret started unloading on them though. "Vibe with killing?" Ala said with a glance over her to Damsy, "not sure what kinda Jedi you have met before...but the answer should always be...I don't vibe with it at all."

The Gamorrean prepping the turret was super efficient, Ala noting that the battery pack was already starting to thrum with the power being pumped into the weapon beside it. A few shots from its comrades, who were now behind cover, were redirected by Ala towards the battery pack but her aim was not up to the task. She took a risk, and moved her saber to the side to reach out over the many meters to the Gamorrean that was about to grab the turrets controls, and pulled through the Force. The large green pig-man flew through the air towards the tower she and Damsy were protecting.

"I don't know if wearing these guys out is an option," she said, feeling resigned to another in a series of horrific events unfolding, "but perhaps a bit of finese can lead to injury without death?"

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Not sure what kinda Jedi you have met before...but the answer should always be...I don't vibe with it at all."

Good I asked.

She'd been working in one military or another for way too long.

"I can shock 'em," she offered. "Alternatively, sing. It'll draw 'em to us, but at least they'll be away from their toy."

Ala Quin

 

[Ala Quin]

Of all the things Ala expected to have suggested to her, not at any single moment did she consider singing to be one of the possibilities. And to be completely frank, it thrilled her that Damsy would suggest something so lovely, however impractical it might be. Surely, no one motivated by evil would be distracted by the signing, or even dancing, of someone trying to stop them. They would just do the thing they were doing...surely.

"Singing?" Ala said, as she reached out again to the turret specialist who was running back to his weapon, and then tossed him to the side and off his feet, "I do not believe signing is an option...though I would love to hear you sing!"

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

Sometimes, she forgot to preface that. That not everybody knew exactly what she was even if she told them, as she had generally informed Ala. That there was much more to her than 'sithspawn.'

Those were times like these.

She cursed under her breath, sidestepped, and twisted the handle of her trident harshly. The metal of the prongs began to hum in resonance, then purple-outlined, white-cored streamers of electricity took to dancing between the tips. Just in time. She absorbed the plasma of a bolt into the energy field with a well-timed flourish of the weapon.

"I'm sithspawn, remember?" she asked rhetorically. Part of her didn't want to explain - just kill...or no, not kill - but if she wanted to remain part of a team she knew she had to. "It's sirensong. Think Angels."

Luring unwitting spacers to an early death all metal and fire and void, except they didn't do it on purpose.

Ala Quin

 

[Ala Quin]

A flurry of blaster fire fell from a high vantage point, taking Ala a little by surprise. Several Gamorreans had taken up spots on the roofs of some of the buildings around the square in which the tower stood. Screams could be heard coming from within those buildings which served as homes. Each scream stirred Ala's stomach and tied them in knots. They needed to act fast.

"Angels?" She said quizzically, while deflecting and dodging shots that were raining down, "if you think it will help...by all means!"

Whatever they did, they would need to do it quickly. Defence was not a long term solution to their problem.

| Damsy Callat |​

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy nodded. "I can't do it for long," she warned, "and havfta focus real intent', so you'll be up. That 'right?"

She didn't wait for or mind the answer, though. It'd have to be. It was their best choice as far as she could figure.

Shaking her trident again, this time the pole part collapsed into the main handle. She flipped the head around to point the prongs at the ground and reattach the weapon to her belt. Then, cleared her throat. "Plug your ears or something." Another warning, one she hadn't thought of until now as she stood on the precipice of her plan. The siren song would effect all who could hear it, excepting Damsy herself - grounding them all to a halt - without differentiating between goodies and badies. As for as nature was concerned, there was only prey and predator. But it was just as well if civilians were categorized in that scheme as prey - nothing about that fact necessitated that Damsy had to eat them. Not here. Not on land. At least keeping the good Gamorreans still would keep them out of harm's way.

As her eyes fell closed, her mouth opened, but only somewhat. Not to a degree most humanoids needed to speak well, let alone sing. Her voice box began to visibly move, but no sound was made, not yet. Or, at least not at a register that Ala could hear. Soon enough, though, a melodic trill spilled off her lips. High, low, light, dark - swimming out into the air like her sqauloid form and wrapping her lithe body around any body she could reach. Into one ear and out the other. Rooting their will to the cobble they stood upon.

Ala Quin