Much Snuggles.

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

Circe smiled once more before standing up and sultrily sauntering towards the massively tall merc. She lept on the woman, wrapping her arms and legs around the tree trunk of a waist before giving her a kiss.

"I've missed you."

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

It was a static kiss on Ven's part. More like she was just trying to get it to stop than actually enjoy it. "I missed you too. But you need to understand... I love Ventasia. And though I understand the idea of polyamory... I wish to stay true to her. As true as I can be. Surely you understand?..." She was quiet as she looked away. There wasn't much to be said on the matter.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"I do... but you are in my domain." She smirked. "And I made you who you are. Not in a metaphorical way, of course, though our interaction has significantly shaped you - no, I'm referencing the creation of your physical body.of course. Vongspawn, with a hint of cybernetic Zeltron and your perfectly sculpted original face."

It was a valid point.

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

Sigh. "I'm here, for the most part, to see my son. This is your ship, and you did get me my current body, but I, this body, my everything, is oath-bound to Ventasia Terana. For a Sekairo that means more than a marital bond. Far more than a temporary one. Even more than a promise for one. I belong to Terana. Not you. To touch another the way I am supposed to hold her is akin to the highest form of treason."

"I can't."

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"So if you were to, say, have an accident, were reborn in a new body..." She let the thought linger for a moment. "Well, our son's still expecting such. We should make something up just to kark with him."

It would be for the lols.

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

A snarl formed on her lips. With a great amount of patience, and tolerance, she refrained from slapping anyone. "No. A thousand times no. My son will not go through anything else, I will not go through such a thing again, and we will not lie about it in some twisted attempt at humor. I will hold myself to my oaths. Forever." That was the Sekairo way, after all.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"Very well."

With that, she dismounted from the large mercenary, turning to look back at her. "You're so much different from the Ven'Rain - or was it Ven'Rains, I could never tell how truly distinct you are from them - that I used to know. I suppose death combined with a sudden personality reintegration would certainly explain such, but there must be more to it. There has to be.

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"I haven't changed much, Savan. I simply decided to side with my morals. And made an oath. Sekairos honor oaths, to a degree no others could." She frowned, taking a deep breath through her nose as she did. Something told her this was going to be a long, long night.
[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"You were three people once." She sighed. "Or do you remember that? Rage, Caged, and Ven'Rain. But now you're only one." She sighed once more. "I almost wonder what happened to the others - if they stopped existing, or if they were you all along."

A fair enough point, after all.

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"I was one person with three splits. There was never more than one. It was a crack of the mind. All three are me, I am all three. They were parts of me amplified. That is all." The topic was a sour one for Ven. It reminded her of far darker times.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"And yet each split acted as though it ultimately comprised a seperate individual. The best analog I suppose I can come up with is that of a central database with individual AIs sharing their collective memories, even drawing off of it. If I could put such in clearer terms, I would , but it isn't that easy."

Circe was really bad at this.

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"Your point is? Those days are long gone. They have been gone for awhile. It's over. That chapter of my life is over." She felt like adding something along the lines of her chapter with Circe being over as well. But she held her tongue. Literally bit her words back.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"And yet you're still here." She smiled. "I very much appreciate the fact that you still have immense loyalty to me - you would never truly abandon me." She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry for bolting that one time at the support group, but I had to get out of there so no one else, including you, got hurt. I believed they would leave once the one they were after disappeared, but I shouldn't have left you."

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"I'm loyal to family. Which means Darren. You're also his mother, making you secondary family. In addition you've unofficially adopted my niece, further integrating you into the Sekairo family. Sekairos first, Savans... third. Teranas second. Simple as that." Ven took a deep breath before pulling out a cigarette (likely to Circe's surprise, seeing as Ven wasn't known for smoking). Quietly she lit it and took a long, deep breath through it. "Well, they didn't. Bastards wanted to interrogate me. So I let 'em. They threatened to hurt Darren if I didn't cooperate. I told them what they wanted to know. You're pretty damn lucky that you're as secretive as you are. Otherwise you'd have a dozen hunters swarming this stupid ship right now. What the hell did you do to piss them off this time, anyway?" She asked, frowning.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"Ven... You've seriously breached my trust." She frowned. "If the information - any information - that you told them was truthful, a lot of my things - and my person, and Darren - are in danger." She sighed. "I haven't done anything this time. There was a glitch at an auction for some starship specifications, and as such, Subach got a design made by the Fringe. Danger Arceneau had an issue with that, and because of such, she tried her hardest to turn Subach into a pulp. I had to make a deal with the Lord Protector to get the company to survive. We're reorganizing and rebuilding."

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"You were already in danger. Darren was already in danger. It's not like I know enough about you to actually do them much good. If there's one thing you're really, really good at, it's worming your way out of trouble. And disappearing. You're pretty fething good at that too." Ven closed her eyes, leaned back, and simply focused on getting as much out of the cigarette as she could. After the pleasure faded she put it out on her arm. A few marks made it clear this wasn't the first time she had done that. "Look, this isn't the first time a bounty went up on your head. Knowing you, and the rest of the galaxy, it sure as hell ain't gonna be the last. Somehow you've managed to stay alive. For the most part. Every time you do end up as a burning carcass ya come back. That's your specialty: Not staying dead. You know what mine is? Keeping my goddamn family alive. Darren is coming with me, sometime soon. Ventasia has already agreed to help me talk care of him. You're a danger to him, Circe. You don't always mess up. But you've pissed off the wrong people enough that they don't need a good reason to get pissed again. So for the sake of both you and Darren, I hope that this new changing thing pans out. Fix your mistakes. Until then I have to do what a Sekairo has to do to keep my kid safe."

"Even if it means hurting someone I used to love."
[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"I can give him the one thing I know you likely cannot, Ven." She paused, crossing her arms. "I can give him the ability to defend himself with the special talents at his disposal. Talents that you could not possibly fathom to train him in, as you are unable to touch the Force. The Reborn project has not been tested on this body, and considering its base template was Vong, you would likely be better off if I added Yammosk tissue to your brain."

She turned away from her former partner and current bodyguard. "Darren will always be safe with me here. And once we make the move to the Omega Protectorate, the bounty hunters will not be causing us any trouble anytime soon." She turned towards the mad merc. "Your visits will of course be accepted and even encouraged - though I wonder how he will take the Ventasia thing. But unless you utilize legal methods to remove him from my custody, I will keep him with me, and he will be safe."

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"Have you forgotten who I'm oath-bound to? A master in the force. Someone who's capable of doing more than just hiding her presence and absconding! He shouldn't have to learn how to defend himself anyway! Not for many years to come. If you weren't so goddamn reckless with everything, he wouldn't have to be strong! He would have never lost a parent! Terana can teach him the force, I can teach him to use a blaster. When the time is right, that is. Together we'd make him strong. We'd keep him kind, teach him to not make the mistakes we did. To not make the mistakes that lead to this karking situation in the first fething place!" Ven growled, standing up abruptly. By now her voice was nearly as loud as it had been when she was Rage Ven. Her breathing had sped up, and her shoulders heaved with each intake of air. "Darren will never be safe with you. He'll never have a normal childhood. How long before her catches on? How long before he realizes who all those people who come to 'visit' you are? He's gonna find out and he's gonna be... he's gonna be so sad! And so fething what if you sided with the Protectorate? Do you really think that's gonna unruffle all those feathers? I doubt it. Because you're pretty good at pissing people off, Savan. Moreso than maybe even me. Someone will always be hunting for your head. So you have two options: One, give me Darren. We'll leave and go somewhere where Ventasia, the Protectorate, and myself will keep him safe. You'll get to visit, even leave the house with him at times. Or option two: Say 'feth it', keep him, and ensure that I'll never help you again. I'll leave this stupid ship. And you'll find out how many good lawyers I know. How many good lawyers my friends know. And you'll find out just why I'm called the Mad Merc. Because you, Savan, haven't seen nuthin' yet."

Oh, how she wanted to flip the table for effect.
She settled with 'accidentally' breaking the half-full glass in her hand.

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"]

"She isn't Darren's family, and she never will be. You and I are his family. Either way you try and cut the cake, Ven, will not be in his best interest. Either I'll come after you for custody, or you'll come after me. This cannot end well in his best interest." She crossed her arms, trying to get the mad merc to notice that they would have to come up with a compromise. "The best option, truthfully, is that we have an official legal arrangement allowing us to share the custody of him for equal periods of time - for example, I have him for a week, then you do."

She paused, then looked at Ven with a look that would horrify the mercenary - her eyes were solidly black, and her voice sounded horribly demonic. And if you so much as make an attempt to steal our child away and keep him from me, I will reverse the process I made to create your body. You will be a disembodied spirit at best, and eternally damned to Chaos at worst. But I know you'd never do that... you're a kind-hearted, lovable sentient being deep down inside. Now please, let's work this out rationally and fairly for the both of us."

 

[Antoir Setrrin]

"She's my family. Which means she's Darren's family. Got that? She's more my family than you are." A snarl was forming on her face. She wanted to pick up the whole damn table and just throw it at Circe. "What if I don't trust you with him? What if I don't trust the twenty-something people you've pissed off? How many sectors are you banned from now anyway? Fifteen? Renn'Dar can't travel without you. Traveling is good for a kid, within reason, of course. And who says you aren't going to mess up again? What if next time leads to him being in even more danger than before? Do you want him to be safe? Because he'd be far safer with Ventasia and me than with you." God, she was starting to tear up. Very... out of character for the merc. "Your little eye trick doesn't scare me. The pathetic attempt at a scary voice doesn't frighten me. You have no power over me, Savan. I could crush you with a single kick. And last time I checked... you didn't create my body. You put my soul in it. After the Vong and Sith slaved away to make it. All you did was put a single piece of the puzzle in."

She paused.

Meanwhile a young boy slid down a wall. Tears were falling rapidly from his eyes as he slowly sat down. Renn'Dar Sekairo was very good at a certain force skill. One that allowed him to hear things from far away. So, even at the end of his hallway, he knew what his parents were speaking about. And it terrified him. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME, SAVAN. I AM KIND TO THOSE WHO DESERVE IT. I AM KIND TO FAMILY. AND YOU... ARE NOT... MY FAMILY!" She was furious. So much so that the chair she had once been sitting in found itself being hurled against a wall. Ven wanted nothing more than to destroy everything around her. Mostly Savan. But for now she held back, settling for just the chair. Because if a fight was going to break out... she was going to need that anger.

All of it.
[member="Enigma"]