Endgame

[Nisha Skaiyr]

Location: Vain Hollow​

Objective: Help a friend​

Music: Worth Dying For​

​

---

Nisha Skaiyr didn't have all that many friends. Most of them were dead, slain by the Butcher King, her Master. She'd made a few new friends, however. Started building something resembling a family once more. Chief among those she held dear was Irajah Ven, Vain Hollow's resident healer, and the first person in the wider Galaxy who had shown her any affection. Ven was the closest thing Nisha had to a sister, her best friend.

And Nisha knew what Kaine did to her.

She hated Kaine already, of course; he'd slaughtered her family. But she understood why. She was to be a Sith. Her old life had to be cast aside, let go. That understanding did not lessen her hatred, but it did temper it, did give her some form of closure. But what he did to Irajah? That was unforgivable. There would be no reconciliation. There would be no letting go of this, no moving on. Kaine had harmed Nisha's family once. He would not go unpunished for doing so a second time.

So with hate in her heart and purpose in her stride, the War-Witch made her way to the apartment of Irajah Ven, the anchor unit Beetleby stashed discretely in her coat pocket - other than her respirator, she carried nothing else, not even the weapons she held so dear. The Crownguard stationed at Ven's domicile posed little challenge - there was a bit of harassment, a few withering looks that Nisha could sense even when the guards' faces were shrouded by their helmets, but the Witch was allowed in Irajah's room, by order of the good doctor herself.

Once she was inside and the door closed, the grey-skinned warrior simply turned to Irajah. Her eye, the one healthy one, was red as blood, and when she spoke, her voice held fury and heartache in equal measure.

"I know what he did to you."

---

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[Kuzo]

These days, Irajah rarely left her suite. Sometimes, necessity demanded a jaunt to the labs on Maena, but otherwise, she stayed here- her study had been turned into a remote lab, she took her meals here. Before, the cheerful doctor could be found all across Vain Hollow.

But if the last two weeks were any indication, it was as though she'd become a ghost, haunting just a handful of rooms.

If Boo had been there, perhaps it would be different. But her only company was [member="Darth Prazutis"] and a nervous mouse droid named Bantam. So she flitted from room to room, silent, alone more often than not.... at least during the day. Trapped in a body that wasn't fully hers any longer, and in a spirit that flinched at anything unexpected.

The day [member="Nisha Skaiyr"] came, she would find her friend in her study. Through the main sitting room, it was where she spent most of her days. Confined to a repulsor chair as crushed hip finished healing properly, she hunched over the desk. The wane light of the monitor, the only light on in the room, illuminated her pale, drawn face. Deep shadows circled beneath her eyes. Though the bruises had mostly faded, she still kept a heavy fringe of bangs over her forehead this days to hide the scar there. Her slender fingers (no longer all her own) tak takked swiftly over the controls. Sinking in to work was, and had always been, an escape mechanism for her in times of stress. It gave her the illusion of control over something, anything. And if she worked, kept her mind occupied on the problem in front of her, well. That left less room for everything else.

Hazel eyes flickered back and forth over line after line of genetic code, reading it as easily as someone else would absorb a fairy tale. There was the slightest tremor in her left hand, the three fingers that were still her own, but she didn't seem to notice. A cup of caf- half finished and cold, an oddity- sat abandoned to her right.

Unlike times past, Nisha's arrival did not go unnoticed. Her ears were keyed to the sound of the suite's doors these days. And no matter what assurances Braxus made, there was always a moment, a frozen heartbeat, where she waited for [member="Darth Carnifex"] to step through that door and finish what he had started.

She didn't relax when she saw it was Nisha, but a little ghost of a smile flickered across her face. It vanished again in a heartbeat, but she *was* glad to see her.....

Until she spoke.

Irajah had just been backing her chair up from the desk when the words slunk across the room. She froze, breath caught in her throat, simply staring at Nisha for a moment.

"I-I don't know what you mean," she said carefully, her right hand plucking absently, nervously at the blanket across her lap, a recent tick.

"It's good to see you?" She said quickly. "Do-do you want to stay for a cup of caf? Or something?"

Irajah was not very good at keeping her feelings under wraps. She was lonely, in pain.... and afraid.

 

[Nisha Skaiyr]

When she'd first arrived, Nisha had been convinced of her own righteousness. It would be hard, but she would do whatever it took to get the information she needed, no matter how much it hurt her- or hurt her friend. There would be no quarter, no mercy. She needed a confession from Irajah. Justice, and more importantly, vengeance was at stake.

And then the War Witch saw the look on her best friend's face. The ache and the anguish, the fear and the loneliness. Fury melted in the face of utter helplessness and total fear. Nisha knew the pain that discussing trauma could bring on; it was one of the reasons she rarely spoke of what Carnifex did to her. To do that to her best friend, the woman like unto a sister to her, was utterly cruel. Nisha may have been a hard woman, but she was not heartless.

She couldn't do it. She'd get her revenge against Carnifex some day, but it wasn't to be this one.

With a soft sigh, Nisha leaned against the wall, beside the door. When next she spoke, the sound of her voice, distorted by her Respirator, held no rage, no malice, no hint of anger.

"...Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. I think I would, Irajah."

---

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[NightSister]

It would never be said of Aria that the Knight was in any way a social being, but even one such as herself could occasionally find herself wanting company. Her preferred choice for said company was Imperia, of course, but Rhelg was quite a trek from Maena - the Sith was doubtless worth the flight, but at present Aria was lacking the energy required to make the trip. She'd be certain to come visit soon, she assured herself, or invite Imperia to Maena; but just for today, she'd find company somewhere more nearby.

Irajah Ven was the first who sprang to mind. Granted, they weren't perhaps the closest of friends - whatever the hell had happened at the beach couldn't have helped either - but the doctor was so very likable and Aria so very socially clueless that at some point in her train of thought, the idea that she'd quite possibly be unwelcome was painted over. She'd figure out a way around it, in all likelihood. Or something.

Aria was quick to work out where she would find Irajah; the place called itself Vain Hollow and nestled itself in Panatha. Still a bit of a journey, but certainly less so than Rhelg all things considered. It wouldn't hurt to visit a new planet, after all - from what she knew, Panatha had close links with Maena, and if she was going to work towards an influence of her own then being familiar with the planet could only be to her benefit - not that such was her main focus today, but still.

It was, indeed, a short trip before she found herself landing by Vain Hollow - her arrival had been cleared, of course, mercifully. From there, finding Irajah's apartment was a simple (well, simple was hardly the word Aria herself would use) matter, and so that was how she ended up at the door of a nice little flat, talking her way past the Crownsguard standing watch.

Luckily, it didn't take a genius to notice that Aria neither could nor would pose a threat to Irajah in any great measure, and she was let through presently.

"Hi, Irajah!" Unusually, Aria was seemingly the most upbeat in the vicinity. "I know I should've probably called up first, but I just thought you might feel like -"

She noticed two things right away. First, that the doctor was not alone. Joining her was an unfamiliar and exceptionally intimidating woman - a Sith, she guessed at once, noting the red eye silently; that made sense, all things considered. And then she became keely aware of the unsettlingly tense atmosphere she'd walked into, thick enough to cut through. Aria cringed inwardly.

"Sorry, I didn't realise - I can come back later if you want?"

[member="Irajah Ven"] | [member="Nisha Skaiyr"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"]​