Ashes to Ashes | Áine

[Darth Metus]

Location: Metropolis, Mechis III​

Tag: [member="Áine"]​

Ash.

In the end, all creation returns to the dust from whence it came. It mattered not if one lived a good life or ill. It mattered not if they were wealthy or impoverished. All men perished. All were fated to return to the earth. And yet, despite this inevitability, those who raced through too-short lives clung to every second. As opposed to laying down in surrender to the conclusion on the horizon, they held fast to every moment. They lived, despite whatever lots their circumstances may have made. They loved. They laughed. They prospered. And when death finally came to collect its due, most would go quietly knowing that they had spent a life well lived.

But there are moments when death attempts to sink its fangs in prematurely. Instants where supreme avarice on its part attempt to snatch a man's life before his time. In these cases, some are simply caught off guard and fall victim to demise. Yet others bite back. Whether it be war, famine, or anything in-between, there would always be those willing to take up the sword. Willing to fight against the descent of death before it was time to slumber eternal. And as a city burned, there was one who rose from the ash in order to keep up this good fight.

Mechis III had been dealt a terrible hand.

The world itself had been a Droid manufacturer for eons. Their efforts created automatons of every shape and size, and earned them renown the Galaxy over. However, in recent history, their efforts were seized by an imperial warmachine which demanded their submission. They would craft for them engines of war or face extinction by their hand. The citizenry of Mechis III did not wish to be fed to death so quickly, and thus complied with the demands of the Empire. But, as their Titans were completed, the Empire turned upon their unwilling resource. They plucked from their world as many of the warmachines as they could carry, and programmed the rest to wreak havoc upon the world.

In doing so, they hoped to prevent Mechis III from crafting any other warmachines for their adversaries. Thus securing their advantage over their foes. It was in the opening moments of the rampage that Cayde found himself fighting. What had been classified as a routine scouting operation, to see if Mechis III would be receptive to Confederate relations, quickly evolved into a battle of life and death. The Executor could not only preserve himself upon this newfound warzone, but willingly threw himself against the rampaging war droids so that the citizens had a chance to flee. He was but one man, fighting against a cacophony of steel.

And if he died this day, he would do so gladly.

Slashed in obsidian, the Knight stood in defiance against a Titan of steel. The Droid had him in height by several meters, and certainly had him outgunned. But what Cayde lacked in stature or firearms, he made up for in being an Executor. He made up for by hungering for the very decimation of the automaton before his gaze. His weapon, a lightsaber which seemed to ignite the very air aflame, moved at a dizzying pace to bat away the heavy blaster bolts which thundered against him. He moved, empowering himself to bridge the gap in but a few bounds before tearing into the durasteel hull. His saber cut clean through the droid's leftmost leg and moved up and into its chassis in one move.

The unit sputtered and teetered over with a mighty boom. Yet this victory was fleeting. For there were so many lives in peril. So many enemies at play. And time was not on Cayde's side. He had called for backup numerous times - but he knew it would take quite some time until his calls were answered. Until then, he would fight. And he would save as many as he could. With the latest enemy felled, the Executor had a moment to set his attention towards prying the innocent from the jaws of death. And, an opportunity came when he noticed a handful of souls attempting to push over a heap of rubble. A woman was among them, frantically screaming as the others did their best to dislodge the fallen debris. A quick assessment said that a Droid had opened fire on the building above them, causing the material to fall down onto their position.

Cayde stepped over and exerted his Dominion over the Force. With great care, his outstretched hand hoisted the largest slab of debris over, revealing those who the group had lost. The frantic one beat the Executor there, relief pouring over her as she witnessed what laid beneath. A woman with fiery hair had wrapped her arms so tightly around a youngling and used herself as a shield against the debris. The child appeared unscathed, but the woman was certainly not having her best day. The youngling raced into the arms of her mother. And whilst the two reunited amidst the chaos, Cayde allowed his lightsaber to rest. He clipped the weapon upon his waist and knelt before the brave soul.

"Can you move?" he asked, the low baritone of his voice being obscured by the scarf over his lips. "What's hurt?" His words were brief, though alive with concern. He hoped the woman would be able to move from the wreckage. At least then he could effectively escort this group to safety at the starport. At least then, he'd have an easier time preventing death from eating its fill.

 

[Áine]

Metropolis, Mechis III | [member=Cayde]​

​

A civil war between man and machine ripped through the shell of what was once Mechis III. In the half a millenia she had been alive, Áine had never seen such destruction with her own eyes. Great titans crashed through steel structures as though they were made of butter. When the destruction began Áine, and the family who had been unfortunate enough to take her in, assumed they were safe. They were on the edges of the Metropolis, able to watch the shadow of Purgatorio wreck havoc on the world around it with a sense of false security. But it would not last long. The last thing Áine could remember was the terrifying feeling of the floor giving way underneath. The stomach dropping sensation of nothing but empty air underfoot.

​

Falling...
Falling...
Falling...

Darkness. Nothing but eternal darkness. Even the sounds of frantic screaming and crackling infernos had abandoned her to the swallowing black that stretched as far as they eye dared see. Time had long since been discarded, all she felt was the warm embrace of approaching death as she danced through his realm. Her only source of comfort were the foggy images of intense events that flickered through her mind like an old holofilm. The fire, the destruction, the chaos. A beast of metal, its rusted joints creaking with the heavy weight they bared, coming toward them at an alarming speed. What little she could do but grab the tiny life form and protect it with all her might. The struggle she had made as the debris had crumbled in around her, pressing down on her with a weight so heavy it stole the air from her lungs. Áine didn't know if they were dreams or memories. Whatever they were, they were fading, disappearing into the black hole of demise as death came calling.

The world drew itself back in, bulldozing through the darkness like a knight atop a white steed. So suddenly and sharply she almost felt as thought it was spinning uncontrollably beneath her. Hellish red flames crushed the blackness behind her eyelids, casting her gaze in a bright orange glow. Something wriggled in her grasp, something that longed to be free from the firm embrace her slender arms had managed to encase it in. Áine could not seem to force her eyes to open, whether they simply refused too or they could not there was no telling, but the squirming object in her hands didn't seem to care. No thoughts passed through her mind as her body reacted and released its iron vice grip on the child. So the visions she had been gifted in her dangerously close dance with death had not been a lie. There had been a building, and a titan on the path of destruction, and a helpless child.

A shift in the warm air around her gave tell to a second presence close by. As the atmosphere stilled again a voice carried through the sounds of chaos and tragedy. Perfectly pruned brows furrowed in the centre as Áine tried to work out what it had said. Whoever had spoken was close by, but their tone sounded muted somehow. Had something damaged her hearing? In a dazed state a fair skinned hand reached up to press against her ear, the tips of her slender fingers brushing through strands of fiery red hair. When she pulled her hand away again her eyelids finally yielded to her demands that they open, revealing behind them bright green eyes wide with confusion. The first thing they took in was the hazy outline of a figure before her. Cast in the light of a thousand fires that raged through the city behind him, the shadow questioned her again. As the mist of confusion began to lift her eyes trailed from the figure to the family, and from the family back to frame who had freed her from the icy clutches of death.

Instinct told her that the longer she took to answer his question, the more she wasted the precious few minutes that they could have been using to escape. 'I don't think so.' The melodic tone left her crimson red lips littered with hints of confusion. Her blurred vision finally drew itself down to the hand she had held to her head moments ago. Where there had once been milk-white flesh there sat a sheen of sticky scarlet liquid. 'Maybe a little.' With time came sense, something that Áine was quickly gathering after the almost fatal blow of a three story building. As the situation finally dawned on her she rubbed her hand free of the crusted blood and propped herself up on slender arms. They didn't feel too feeble, and neither did her legs as she wiggled her toes in her boots. 'I can walk, I think.' Her words mixed with a soft grunt as she pushed against the debris littering the floor beneath them. Áine came to a stand slowly as if to test the weight on her feet before she decided to trust them fully.

When the ground had finally stopped attempting to smack her in the face, Áine set her bright green gaze on the man who had rescued her from the rubble. In the heat of the moment, back in the house just before the droid had attacked and brought it down around them, Áine had taken charge. She had taken charge because she possessed powers beyond the mortal families ken, but she was way in over her head. Beside 'get out of the house', the red haired woman had no idea how to lead, or where to go to find genuine safety for the family and herself. At least now, thankfully, she had someone else to rely on who seemed to know what they were actually doing. 'Where do we go from here?' She spoke plainly, though quickly, to the scarfed stranger.

 

[Darth Metus]

Metropolis, Mechis III - [member="Áine"]​

The ache remained.

There were so many who had fallen victim to the cold embrace of death. So many who were consumed years before their time. When the vibrance of their being was snatched from the world, those whom they loved were left in the cold. Like a limb exposed to frost, they would ache for their loved ones - both now and evermore. In the case of the frantic mother, she had been spared from this sordid reality by the woman of fiery hair. The instinct of she who knelt amongst the rubble had seen the youngling spared an early demise. But there were so many who were not that lucky. For but a moment, the Executor watched the reunion out of the corner of his eye; and just like fingers at the mercy of winter, an ache erupted in his chest. It mattered not how hard he tried to bury the memories of what was - loss always found a way to remind its victims of how they failed. How he failed to save his own from a similar fate.

There was a thunderous tremor underfoot which roused Cayde from the memories of once was. In the here and now, sparing thoughts about the dead would only see his own premature destruction. With the world around him in flames, the Executor reminded himself of the mission and renewed in himself a sense of urgency. His heart quickened within his chest as he returned his attention to the brave soul. She, despite being covered from head to toe in the debris, seemed to be in one piece relatively speaking. And by the chime of her voice, seemed to be able to walk. She was slow in her rise - as she should - but once ascension gripped her form the question then became where from here? The inquiry informed the Executor of just how long she had been buried, for the fleeing masses had managed to form the collective mindset of the Starport as salvation for several minutes.

For the moment, Cayde said nothing and instead reached for his belt. His gloved digits searched within the pouches until they found a patch. It was a pallid green in hue. He did not ask permission from the woman of fiery hair, but rather invaded her personal space in order to affix the patch to the exposed skin upon her arm. The field bacta wouldn't restore her the way that a bath in the medicinal substance would. But. It would ease the most nagging pains and enable her to think with some degree of clarity. After all, compared to the frantic mother and the youngling, she was the most capable of the group of survivors. "Good." came his eventual response in regards to her ability to walk. He then raised his hand, indicating the city center.

"The Starport. Evacuations offworld have begun. If we get there, you'll be safe."

He did not have much time to share additional thoughts beyond that, for the thunderous tremors grew all the more severe. The rhythmic thunds were indicative of one thing - something large was coming. And fast. At once, the Executor's dominant hand returned to his belt. A single, deliberate motion unclipped the hilt of his saber and held it aloft whilst he jutted his chin to the woman. "This your family?" he asked, motioning to the survivors within earshot. "Get them moving. I'll cover the rear. Quickly!" As the words formed and fell from his lips, the monstrosity made its presence known. It came from around the corner of the building the family once called home. A massive, clawed hand crushed into the second floor, heralding its arrival onto the main street. Cayde's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he sized up this particular war droid.

Its shoulders were adorned with explosive ordnance. Packed with rows of warheads just waiting to let fly. The arm which did not crush into the building did not feature an organic-like hand, but rather a literal blaster cannon. It stood just shy of the third floor in height - making it far larger than the last war droid that Cayde had felled. To give the family time, he would have to pull its attention and have it set firmly upon him. With but a flick of his finger, the Executor's blade roared into being. He then set the lightsaber hilt flat upon his palm and raised the weapon above his heat, setting it into a deadly spin with but a telekinetic whim. The flurry of crimson light was certain to draw the beast's attention - but what he did next would paint him as priority threat number one. With but a grunt of exertion, the Force ferried the weapon at a blinding speed through the air. The lightsaber spun, moving as a crimson windmill, until it bit clean through the war droid's blaster cannon in one fell swoop.

It did not stagger, for pain was not a weakness programmed into his form. Rather, as the blaster cannon thundered to the earth, the beast tore free a handful of rubble and motioned as if it would hurl it at Cayde. He sprinted forward in response, hand yet outstretched to recall his spinning saber to his grasp. The rubble thundered down, which he narrowly avoided by a neat dive, before continuing his sprint. "Get moving, NOW!" he yelled. Live or die, every second he fought bought the family precious time. Such was the Executor's way - kill, so that they may live.

 

[Áine]

Metropolis, Mechis III | [member=Cayde]​

​

Free from the clutches of the dark embrace her bravery had rewarded her, Áine was able to take in the destruction of the city that moments ago was strong and powerful. Fallen to the clutches of their own genius, prey to the powers of the thing that put them on the map in the first place, Mechis III was now a shell of what it once was. Skyscrapers had been reduced to the rubble, the air was thick with ash and smoke, and all around Áine felt flickers of life going out like candles in the wind. Nowhere was safe from the menacing blows dealt by uncontrollable guardians gone awry, spurred on by the earth quaking blows of their commander Purgatorio who overshadowed the sky itself. Destruction and devastation stretched as far as the eye could see, even the horizon had taken on a crimson glow inflamed by the chaos in its midst.

A shift in the shadows drew her attention back to the group, but by the time she had focused he had already moved. The stranger walked with the gait of someone who knew how his steps would fall, even if the terrain underfoot was unreliable. Emerald pearls narrowed as he approached. Without even a passing thought to the action, her now alert muscles twitched at the invasion of her personal space. Almost the instant the bacta patch latched onto her wound, Áine snatched her arm away from the stranger and clutched it to her chest. Allowing him to apply the medical aid was as close as she would permit him to get again. It went without saying that he had risked his life to save hers, which was a debt that could never be repaid in full, but she had known this type of kindness before. It was all temporary, all false. The siren herself had been designed to play such kindnesses and they followed her wherever she went. It was her salvation and her sorrow. Sooner or later sweet tones would sour and kind eyes had always turned dark. Whether by her hand or their own, it all came to an end. She had lived it all before.

The man's words were drowned out by a terrified scream from the child she had saved moments ago. Thundering footsteps quaked the ground beneath as Áine snapped her head toward the oncoming threat. A flash of light catching the hilt of his saber told her he had reacted before she even had the chance to set eyes on the droid. His deep words rumbled through Áine's ears as he spoke. They were not her family. She couldn't even remember all of their names, but there was little time to argue the fact and she could see they still looked to her for guidance. One foot after the other, with much more confidence than she had stood with, the crimson haired beauty picked her way through the dust and debris toward the petrified group. As she reached them the deafening crunch of crumbling concrete filled the air, Áine threw her hands up. With the precise movements a shimmering white curtain cascaded down in front of the group, protecting them from the debris that came with their attackers arrival.

As the worst of the rubble exploded into shards of rock and clouds of dust, Áine spun to face the family. Before he had even had a chance to ask it of her, the crimson haired woman decided she had made up her mind. With movements quick and purposeful she directed the family to a narrow alley way that lead off the main street toward the spaceport. 'Do as he says. We won't be far behind, but do not look back. You know the way to the city centre, yes?' As the nod of confirmation came from both the parents Áine spoke as she ushered them through a narrow alley way. 'You will be safe there. Whatever you do keep moving.' Her final words of warning came with a comforting smile that looked natural on her face despite the devastation surrounding them. Too much in shock to do much else, the family nodded and left as quickly as their feet could carry them. Finally, she focused her attentions on the droid that crushed and crashed its way through whatever dared stand in its path. She had to help the stranger somehow. Despite being created for ultimately dark purposes, she felt she owed him something at least, and she couldn't in good conscience let him die. Not after he had taken the risk to stop and help.

A bright, crackling light cut through the backdrop of blackened rubble that surrounded him as his saber burst into life. Áine felt the rush of force as the weapon left his hand, she heard the hiss as the ferocious blade cut clean through the cannon. The impressive feat would remain impressive for only a moment. The towering droid did not hesitate in its response, with no pain to hinder his movements the debris was thrown without mercy toward the stranger. His words fell on deaf ears as she scanned the shells of whatever constructions had survived the devastation enough to remain standing. Once something suitable had been found her body darted into action, graceful frame making elegant fox like leaps over the uneven terrain with feet as sure and steady as the rising sun. Aided by the dark forces that had helped to craft her, she eventually reached the peak of the most structurally sound building.

Now eye level with the titan that dared threaten her existence, Áine's scarlet brows furrowed in the centre. While useless in anything to do with up close and personal combat there were plenty of things she could do from here. The first thing that came to mind was to hinder it somehow, to weaken it enough for the stranger to land a crushing blow. 'I'm going to blind it!' She shouted down the to the stranger over the sound of destruction, following it up with a warning. 'Cover your ears!' As slow as the time constraints would allow, Áine drew in a breath of the sooty, ash filled air. With it came power. A power so great it was almost palpable. The darkness inside begged to be set free as it gathered in her throat in preparation, buzzing like an angry bee in her oesophagus. With little warning, she released it. Deadly in its accuracy, the force yell was so pitched you could see it as it broke through the air toward the titan's metal head. It only stopped when the sound of the lenses in the droid's light receptors shattered loudly, though it was surprising she could hear it over the amplified note she screeched out. As her mouth snapped shut she forced herself to take a few steps backward from the edge of the building.

If it weren't for the deafening ringing in her ears, left behind by the scream, she would have noticed the brute turning to face her. She would have noticed the vehement red glow behind the cracked window of glass that had once been the key to it's deadly accuracy. What did alert her was the groaning, creaking sound of rusted joints raising to blindly lash out in the direction of the noise. In the direction of Áine.

 

[Darth Metus]

Location: Mechis III​

Tag: [member=Áine]​

​

She hid her Darkness well.

Perhaps it was the fact that the world around them was ablaze...but for the most part, Hisashi did not notice the wellspring of might slumbering within the fiery-haired woman. When he first set eyes upon her, he did not immediately recognize that a midnight tempest roared just beneath the surface. Perhaps it was due to the literal weeping of the Force all around them - for with every death, the omnipresent entity recoiled quietly. Perhaps it was the heat in the air or the ash caking his lungs with every breath. No matter the source, when the strength of the woman was revealed to his sight, Hisashi mentally chastised himself.

How could this have evaded his notice? He was a man whose very survival depended upon noticing the finite details. His entire history revolved around the preaching of the inpenetrable and navigating past concealed defenses. It was his lifeblood to identify those who carried power - those who may have been a threat to his own survival. But in this case, he had failed, despite being so close to the woman. In the moment when the bacta patch settled upon her flesh, his proximity to her did not raise any of his personal alarms. He did not feel the same power as he would standing in the presence of a Sith Lord - and yet, she exercised that same might in mere moments following. As the newest adversary entered the field, she did as necessary to protect "her" family.

And in doing so, the warrior's eyebrows raised. Momentarily. There would be time to address his shortcoming later and to rectify it evermore...but for now, there was quite literally a larger fish in the sea that needed to be addressed. Once the debris had concluded its cascade down upon the woman's shield, Hisashi's offense had managed to steal its most dangerous armament in one fell swoop. However, the mechanical titan was not organic by any means - it was not programmed to feel pain or to recoil at the loss of its limb in the slightest. Therefore, it would not be truly impeded until its mobility was taken away - or until its power source was rent clean from its chassis. Having spent the last several hours facing down against similar monstrosities, Hisashi had a tentative strategy forming within his mind on how to deal with the threat.

But before he could so much as put it into action, the fiery-haired woman surprised him. Again. She did not head towards the spaceport with the family - but rather decided to stay and fight. She did not communicate this to the warrior verbally, but rather moved with a speed that was aided by the Force. With an otherworldly grace, she scaled to the top of an adjacent structure until she was eye level before crying out for Hisashi to hear. I'm going to blind it! Cover your ears! He couldn't. Whatever offense the woman was going to take meant that, if it succeeded, there would be a few precious seconds where the beast was focuses on her and not upon him. He had to take advantage - for both of their sakes. Therefore, as the woman drew an ash-filled breath, Hisashi leaned upon the same darkness that empowered her.

At once, the obsidian depths of his eyes brightened into a burning sulfur as the shadows fell mightily upon his soul. Coaxing. Corrupting. Pleading that he succumb evermore. But that struggle was one for another day - for the moment he would simply borrow the might which came from the Dark Side. With his dominant hand outstretched, Hisashi focused the whole of his energies upon the beast's chest. Destruction raced from his form, erupting as an unseen bubble of wrath that surged across the gap. And as the woman's bellow shattered its photoreceptors and left it effectively blind, Hisashi's assault was posed to rip a literal hole through its torso.

It did not have the opportunity to blindly flail against the fiery-haired woman, for just as it began to turn, her ears would be graced with a cacophony of crunching metal. Descent would grip the beast's form at once - a backwards fall until it thundered upon the pavement. As for Hisashi, having gone unguarded during her assault, and having spent more energy than intended on the destruction...he too descended. The man sank to one knee as the world began to spin about him. Her scream had destroyed his balance. The drain had destroyed his ability to combat this shortcoming. For the moment, however, he was safe. He turned his head towards the nearest building and managed to force himself upright for the moment. The gaping opening would provide cover for just a few moments so he could right himself - and as he moved, he motioned for the fiery-haired woman to join him.

Hisashi ultimately settled against an exposed steel beam and slumped to his posterior against it. The woman would be able to clearly see that droplets of blood were falling from his ears. However, he would live. Nothing a bacta bath couldn't handle. "You..." he breathed, whilst attempting to blink away the sudden double-vision. He would have spoke again, but the comm affixed in his ear began to buzz with chatter. Immediately, he plucked the piece out of his wounded ear canal and held it in his palm, which caused the transmission to play loudly for her to hear. Purgatorio had fallen. The threat was beginning to end. Help - the Confederacy - had finally arrived. A relieved sigh escaped him as his fingers closed about the piece.

"Your family should be safe now." he began. "The Confederacy will see to it that they are treated at the spaceport for any injuries...Though, with you protecting them, I hardly think any of them are in bad shape." The compliment was simple, but warranted given how she literally protected them from falling buildings not once, but twice, within the span of a half hour. And contributed to taking down a titan before it was all said and done. "My name is Hisashi. What do I call you?"

 

[Áine]

Metropalis, Mechis III | [member=Hisashi]​

​

Cracked concrete pillars rumbled underfoot as the metal titan lifted the great weight of its arm. The crimson haired woman remained unaware of the imminent danger, instead focusing entirely on attempting to stop the ringing in her ears. A force not unlike her own bubbled up, breaking through the thick blanket of chaos enough to make Áine open her eyes. Bright green orbs came face to face with the mechanoids shattered visor. Even behind the tendrils of cracked glass, the visor displayed an vehement crimson glow that cast strange shadows over Áine. Before she even had time to react, to step back and avoid the crushing weight of the droid's remaining arm, the stranger once again came to her rescue. The dark forces that had been building up from the moment her eyes opened exploded with the unmistakable sound of metal being crushed. There was a brief moment where the droid simply stood, face to face with the pale woman who could do nothing but stare dumbly back.

When it finally fell, mere moments after she had released her screech, the heap of rusted metal landed heaving on the concrete ground below. The great mechanoid shattered stone and metal beneath it, sending them whizzing through the air in the most dangerous fireworks display Áine had ever witnessed. Breathless and surrounded in a cloud of dust that had swallowed her the moment the heavy droid and crumbled to the floor, Áine did her best to clear the air of the thick ash in front of her. Surprisingly, she felt less drained than she had assumed she would. Of course, that alone didn't stop the remnants of her scream tearing through her ears. When she finally cleared her mind of the fog the brief display of impressive force use had caused, Áine found herself looking for the man who had seen fit to save her. A flash of pale white skin caught her attention as her saviour gestured over to a partially standing building. Áine had no idea why she chose to follow him, she could have just as easily slipped down from the building and disappeared into the chaos, but she didn't.

Instead she found herself navigating her way through the dishevelled structures that once belonged to a mighty city, instead she found herself diving into the crumbling ruins to chase after a stranger. By the time she joined him in the crude shelter, he had already seen fit to slump down against a pillar. His words seemed cracked and broken, filled with breath that he couldn't quite hold. His face seemed much the same, wearing a dazed and confused expression with a paper white sheen that told many tales of his ailments. The stranger had begun to speak, but something caused him to pause. When he pulled the comm from his ear Áine had the foresight to step a little closer, close enough to catch the crackling words as they filtered into the ashy air. Even through the painfully consistent tone that still echoed against her ear drums Áine could pick out the words that told them the worst of the danger was over. The great mechanoid Purgatorio had fallen and the worst of the civil war had come to it's chaotic conclusion. Mechis III had a long way to go, but at least the worst of it was behind them. The porcelain woman did not smile at the revelation of victory, but she did have the decency to nod her head to show she had listened.

Hesitant to approach, Áine stood a foot or two away from the slumped stranger. Her bright green eyes narrowed as she focused in on the trickle of crimson liquid that drew a path down his pale face. Conscious of the fact that he had tended to her injuries, her lithe frame did twitch in his direction, but she had no real intention to get any closer. 'Are you hurt?' Concern wasn't something she found herself feeling often, especially not for strangers, but he had saved her life. Áine managed to make herself look and sound moderately concerned at the very least. Her voice stilled as slender arms crossed over her chest, pale hands settling in the curve of her waist. The question seemed moot considering the soft flow of blood that left a streaks of scarlet skin behind, but Áine found people often surprised her, especially humans. They were a lot more resilient than she or any other species gave them credit for.

'They're not my family.' She dismissed the first half of his sentence with a wave of her hand. 'I'm sure they'll be fine, but I won't be looking for them once you're gone.' There was no concern in her tone for the people who had taken care of her since her arrival on Mechis III, and there wasn't a soul in the Galaxy who would have crafted it. Sure, she was marginally pleased that they had survived, but the child had only been saved because he was in arms length, the shimmering shield of light had only appeared because she was standing next to the family. If she had been in another part of the building, or simply not there at all, Áine wouldn't have batted an eyelid at their deaths. For a moment, as she considered telling the man she now knew as Hisashi her name, the words she spoke lingered in the air.

When she finally broke the silence, it was with the crunch of her boot against dust and debris as she turned to face the crimson skyline. 'Interesting name.' The woman with fire in her hair pressed her lips together, cautious of the fact that though she now knew what to call him she still knew very little. At least for now, much to her chagrin, she couldn't find a good reason to withhold her own name. 'My name is Áine.' With little else to do, she let her hands fall from her waist as she twisted to face Hisashi again. 'Can you walk? We shouldn't stay here long. The big one might be dead but I don't doubt the others are still running rampant. I can take you back to wherever your ship is.' Even beyond that, Áine was growing more and more eager to leave Mechis III behind. She had already overstayed her welcome by leaving a trail of dead bodies behind. Now, with the civil war having destroyed most of the worthy parts of the city, Áine could find little reason to stay.

 

[Darth Metus]

Location: Mechis III​

Tag: [member=Áine]​

Are you hurt?

In truth, when gravity seized the calamity of iron, the shinobi could scarcely hear its fall. As its hulking form came crashing down, shattering pavement and parked speeders beneath, the cacophony was as a muffled din. Were it not for the fact that a typhoon of exhaustion now ravaged Hisashi where he stood, he may have put more thought to this reality. However, despite the blood now leaving crimson rivers down the side of his neck, the man was too proud to ever admit injury. To ever admit weakness. The stranger - the strangely powerful woman who had aided him in felling the destructive beast - saw fit to approach from her perch above.

She was an enigma to the warrior. As her radiant form - a stark contrast to the oblivion that was Mechis III - entered his field of view...his eyes began to wander. Her hands were not calloused, not in the way that constant wielding of arms caused. Her skin was free of old blemishes, though the dirt and debris of the initial collapse was fresh upon her person. The woman appeared to be a page out of a children's storybook: a fae of mystickal origin. The way she moved. The way she fought...well...perhaps she was a fairy tale after all. Hisashi's lips twitched bemusedly at the thought, though the muffled tone of her voice drew his undivided attention.

She inquired as if he was hurt. A fair question given the lack of energy in his person. Given the blood which trickled freely from his damaged eardrums. Ever the personification of hubris, Hisashi moved his head in a slow shake. "I'm fine." his words were not intended to be intentionally stiff; but it took tangible effort for him to keep his tone open. Slow, purposeful blinks attempted to combat the darkness pooling at the edge of his vision. A fact that was slowly becoming a losing battle - though he would never admit as much. He attempted to focus his attention elsewhere and instead clinged to her words.

She wouldn't attempt to look for them? But she so willingly dove after the child. Hisashi mulled it over for a moment, only to come to the conclusion that she was cut from the same cloth as he. Perhaps she was a blade seeking her place. And the family, at least for the moment, offered her a temporary, fleeting purpose. Hisashi offered a knowing nod. "I see." he remarked softly, before forcing himself upward. He parted his lips to say more on the subject, but her words of movement were sound. He took a tentative step forward, testing his resolve, before another. This one more sure than the last. "You are a mighty one, Áine." he said, testing her name upon his lips.

"I can move. If you are not seeking those you were with, then come with me. I serve the Confederacy and my vessel is not too far away from here. It is a better alternative than waiting for the starport to clear."

With that said, he motioned for her to follow before turning east of the starport. Landing in this hellscape would have been a fool's errand, and thus the starship had been on auto-pilot for the duration of the sortie. A few brief taps upon his wrist-mounted datapad summoned the vessel from the heavens, one that was easily traceable from the device. "Only a few blocks east - there's park that it will be touching down in."