Private Needing A Hand Or Two

[Alina Tremiru]

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Cybernetics were the absolute worst thing that Alina had to deal with in her life. Not even her mother's constant attempts on her life were as bad as this. It'd been weeks since the battle of Bastion. Of when she lost her arms. Even now she could still feel that pain. That loss. It wasn't as bad as it had been in the moment, but still there. The fitting for the mechanical arms she was given made her relive the pain all over again. Relearning how to use his hands. All of it. All of it she hated. All of it made her feel weaker. She needed her real arms back. And she wasn't going to stop until she got them.

Locked in her room she dove into anything that might have even the slightest breadcrumb of how she could get them back. Alchemy was the usual route for Sith, but the cost was too high. And the power she used would likely damage them all too easily. She needed her arms. There was only one thing she found that seemed to have any hope for what she wanted. The Sangnir. It seemed more like fantasy. People drinking blood to heal themselves? But it was enough. Rumors of some being on Nar Shaddaa had her already packed and ready to go. But she didn't want to go alone. Part of her was lost on Bastion. Not just her arms, but the confidence that had come from the strength she had. She'd been humbled and broken.

Darth Strosius was the only person she trusted to help her find these 'vampires'. And maybe he could fix his cybernetics too. She stayed outside the ship they were going to take, her eyes on the nearby door as she waited. She wanted to go, at soon as they could.

 

[Darth Strosius]

When Alisteri had caught wind of Alina Tremiru 's loss on Bastion, it had taken all of his resolve and willpower not to go hunt his friend down to offer some sort of comfort. He had plenty of experience with cybernetics himself, and he knew just as well the hollow feeling that they left in their user. Cybernetics were just too...perfect. Even his eye, as cheap as it was, was still far clearer than it's flesh counterpart. His hand too light and too durable.

Machines were just too accurate to be organic, no imperfections.

Altogether, trying to adjust and cope with having cybernetics could take weeks if not months. Even now he was still occasionally caught off guard by how accurate and fast his new hand was compared to the old one. Sure it could be a boon at times, but for the most part it merely served as a reminder of what was lost.

He had been more than content to accept that reality, but his friend was a different story.

It didn't take long for the door to open, the masked acolyte strolling out of it whilst stretching. "Sorry for being late, I wound up sleeping in for once." Alisteri hadn't even hesitated to take up the offer to accompany his friend on this little journey of hers. To be fair, he hadn't hesitated thus far for any excursion that she dragged him along to.

His gaze ran over the ship before settling on Alina, a sympathetic look on his eye underneath his mask. "Ready to go and...recover your arms? I'm going to be honest, I didn't understand your message about our objective here."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"Nothing wrong with sleeping in." She was impatient to leave, but she wasn't about to get hostile with Darth Strosius about him being late. He was her closest friend after all. Even then, it was pretty obvious just how much of an effect the loss had on her. The usual confident tone in her voice was absent. She didn't even look in his direction. One of the metal arms gripped the other as she nodded.

"The Sangnir are rumored to have regeneration. If I can find one, I should be able to get my arms back."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Mhm." The odd attitude that his friend carried did not go unnoticed by Alisteri. Of course, it was an attitude that he could understand. "So you're going to become one of these...Sangnir creatures right? Or learn their methods and ways of regeneration at least." He wasn't too sold on the idea of the Sangnir yet. From what little he had heard of them, they sounded more like a myth than a real creature. Still, he wasn't going to dissuade Alina Tremiru from trying to find them.

He gestured to the ship, eager to get underway. "Ladies first."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"We'll see what happens. They could just be a false rumor made by some gang trying to instill fear in their territory." Alina was well aware the chances that this being just a myth was pretty high. But it was one path forward. Her master had her own ways to regenerate the lost limbs, but the young woman needed to do this without her help. The only one she'd allow to help her was Darth Strosius , and that was only because it might help him too. She went right into the ship, arms limp at her side. She tried to avoid using them whenever she could.

"We're gonna have to ditch the Sith stuff again. Last thing we need is to be targeted on Nar Shaddaa as Sith." Really, she wanted to go as underground as possible until she got her arms back. She went right to navigation to set up the autopilot to take them there. She wasn't much of a pilot herself, but she could at least do that. Once she was done she went back to the living area to plop onto the couch. "So.. How have you been?"

 

[Darth Strosius]

"They could very well be that. However, if there is only one thing that I've learned during my time being a Sith," Alisteri was quick to enter the ship right after Alina Tremiru , idly noticing the lack of movement from her arms. "It's that every myth or legend has some little truth within it." He had little hope of finding the Sangnir in truth, or finding them alive at least if they did exist. To him it sounded like some sort of made up horror story, something told to children to ensure that they went to bed at the proper time and didn't wander the streets at night.

A part of him even hoped that they were nothing more than a horror story.

"Nar Shaddaa. A cesspool of crime and villainy. Sounds like the perfect place to take a trip to." He could recall several times when his owner would go to that planet for one reason or another. It was one of those places that he had no desire to go to. To be fair though, he was a bit relieved that he hadn't brought his casual clothes for nothing.

He found himself leaning on one of the walls in the living area as the ship began to get on its course. "Me? I've been...doing a lot of thinking mostly." Ever since Zygerria the masked man had been a bit distant, seemingly focused on something other than just training.

"What about you?"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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There was a very brief smile given to Darth Strosius . Even if it was a little, there was some hope in what he said. Even if it was fake, there'd likely be some truth behind it. There needed to be some truth behind it. Alina needed there to be some kind of truth. She took a seat on the couch within the living area, pulling her knees up to her chest to rest her chin on. The arms stayed more or less deactivated by her sides, as if she willed them to not exist.

Her gaze settled on the table before her, a deep frown on her lips. What had she been doing recently? "Getting use to the cybernetics. It's.. Painful. And sleeping kinda sucks. And, I can't drink, so yeah. Been pretty grouchy, not gonna lie." It felt good to get it out, though it still didn't make her feel better about it.

"What've you been thinkin about? Got me in your dreams yet?" That she smirked at. It was a much better topic than what she was dealing with.

 

[Darth Strosius]

Seeing Alina Tremiru in her current state made his eye twitch and his hand idly freeze up for a moment. She was betting a lot on this myth, but he did hope that she got something other than closure out of it in the end. If nothing else, maybe she would get used to using her new arms by the time it was all said and done.

"I know how that is. When my eye first got installed I barely slept for days," His tone was sympathetic, even a bit somber. Even to this day his eye still itched and bothered him when he tried to sleep, but he didn't mention that. The last thing that he wanted to do was give her the impression that it never got better. "Well, the next time that we go out I'll foot the bill for all of your drinks...somehow."

A small chuckle escaped him at that remark, shifting slightly to look as if he was inspecting his nails even though they were hidden beneath a glove. "You haven't been that lucky to get into my dreams just yet." He responded with a smirk, although that smirk did fade as he rested a hand on his hip.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking about...well...Zygerria. The people that I helped to save, I've been trying to keep in contact with them from time to time. Make sure they get adjusted to life outside of slavery you know?"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"Not yet? I'll have to do something more drastic than turning the shower on on you. I'll think of something better." She latched onto the change of subject as it seemed Darth Strosius was enjoying it himself. The chuckle was a good one. It was nice, not to feel broken. A brow raised as he mentioned Zygerria though. Was that what he was doing? Helping slaves?

It was better than what she was doing. Only rage and anger had fueled her that day. It was.. A terrible day. For a lot of people. A small smile formed though. "You know that's not a very Sith thing to do. Too kind, if we listen to the others." She reached an arm up to pat the seat beside her before letting it fall limp again. "Though, it's not a bad thing to me."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"Well I'll look forward to your future efforts then. You may just make it in one day." He muttered in response, a small smirk returning to his face. His head tilted curiously as Alina Tremiru spoke again, glancing at the seat for a moment before he plopped down beside her. "I'm glad that you think so, I can't tell you how many times I've almost been caught by some random acolyte and had to make up an excuse about giving orders to a cultist or something like that."

Another small laugh escaped him, but it was cut short slightly as Alisteri reached up to touch his mask. His hands slid back into his hood and after a quick moment, his mask was off and resting in his lap. The bags underneath his eye seemed to be deeper than usual. "Someone has to help them you know? Ever since their masters..." He paused, his remaining eye seeming to light up a moment. "...disappeared amidst the Graug invasion."

"But enough about that, tell me more about these Sangnir things."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"Oh I'm sure you are. Wonder how you'd handle it if I just went into the shower with you next time." She only grinned wider at this, though it faded as Darth Strosius pulled off his mask. It was the first time she'd actually seen him take it off willingly. She just stared, silent for a moment. Not even noticing his question about the Sangnir he had asked. Not for a little bit at least. She cleared her throat as she did though, glancing away to pause her thoughts.

"From what I've learned, they have some shapeshifting abilities, immortality. The ability to regrow what was lost. And, power over blood."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Alisteri almost immediately regretted taking his mask off, his face lighting up red as he coughed awkwardly to try and regain his composure. He did notice how Alina Tremiru merely stared at him for a few silent moments, but he assumed that she was just hiding her amusement. If that was true however, then her reaction to his question was an odd one indeed. Was she just...staring at me for no reason? Hm...

"...Right. So they're very hard to find and even harder to kill." He wasn't sure just how many of those abilities were something that the Sangnir actually possessed, if they were even a real thing, but he did know one thing. "Well at least we'll be known as legendary hunters eh? It takes a legendary hunter to take on a legendary creature after all." He spoke with a small smirk, as if trying to get his friend excited about the idea. Better to do something out of excitement rather than necessity.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"I don't plan on killing them. The last thing I learned was how they breed. They don't. They make more. I'm not sure how, but anyone can become them. If that's the case, then I want to become them." Then she'd have their strength. Their power. Maybe that would change a lot of what she could do. Maybe she'd be able to use the force. Like Darth Strosius . But she was excited. If they were real, there was so much to learn. And if she could become immortal, well. That's just a bonus.

"And we could heal you. Your hand. Your eye. We can become so much stronger, together."

 

[Darth Strosius]

His eyebrow raised up in both confusion and concern at that. A species that didn't breed but instead made more of their kind by using other creatures? To him they sounded rather akin to some form of parasite, and that did little to quell his concern for the whole venture that they were going on. He didn't voice his concerns of course, but he was clearly on the fence about the whole mess.

"Heal me?"

Oddly enough, it hadn't occured to Alisteri that he could also benefit from Alina Tremiru 's hunt for the Sangnir. He supposed that was halfway a symptom of not believing that these creatures were real. His gaze wandered to his right hand, his left coming to touch the cold metal of his eye. "...together..." For a brief moment, the times when he had lost his hand and his eye flashed through his mind, his right hand clenching into a fist at the mere thought. "Let's...let's focus on tracking these Sangnir down first before we get too excited."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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There was a nod to his question, though she didn't say anything more of it, given the expression he made. It was easier for her, probably, because she was determined not to keep the cybernetics. But for Darth Strosius who already settled, having a hope and then it being false would be pretty cruel. She cleared her throat as she nodded again, her gaze falling to the floor.

"It will be a couple hours or so before we land."

 

[Darth Strosius]

"A couple hours?" A small note of surprise snuck its way into his voice for a moment. Then, a small smirk spread across his face as he nudged Alina Tremiru playfully. "Don't tell me that I have to get out and push this thing all the way to Nar Shaddaa." It wasn't all that long of a journey in reality, Alisteri had just gotten used to the high speed travel of Sith-Imperial forces by now.

"Well we have to do something to pass the time then. Ever heard of twenty questions? I spy?"

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"H.. Hey! It's not that fast of a hyperdrive. I think. It's not even my ship. I picked it off a spacer some time back and just kinda been going with it. Too lazy to buy my own." She huffed indignantly, though a smile did eventually form. Then into a laugh. Especially as he mentioned passing the time. Alina cocked a brow when the laughter died down, watching Darth Strosius from the corner of her eye as she turned her head away. "Usually I drink, or do some kind of drug to past the time. Not play games. Well, somewhat. There's a couple games I do play, but I don't think they'd be up your alley."

Not that she really knew his alley to begin with. There was a lot she really didn't know about him. The fact he was once a slave was still something she was trying to wrap her mind around. "How did you keep yourself from falling too far into your hate and anger? Or how did you pull yourself out? Growing up as a slave, I honestly figured Sith like that wouldn't have a heart left."

 

[Darth Strosius]

He merely hummed in response, nodding as he wracked his mind to try and think up some sort of activity for the two of them to do. There had been pretty much no travels during his childhood, so he had no idea what sort of games there were that involved traveling. Other than what little he had picked up from his time with various Legionnaires.

"Oh you'd be surprised to know that I do let my hatred take the wheel sometimes." Another chuckle left Alisteri as he looked back at Alina Tremiru , but this one wasn't one of amusement. "The easy answer is my parents. They raised me to temper myself always, to steel myself against the world and not let it push me into a rage. Otherwise I make bad decisions, and the world wins."

There was a brief pause, his gaze shifting to his hands as they rested in his lap.

"...but that was before they died. Afterwards I was tempered by my owner's lack of patience." He almost hissed out the word 'owner' as he spoke. "It does seep out at times, but it's always there. I remember the first time I allowed it to truly take hold of me, it was when I had my first kills as well." There was almost a wistful tone in his voice now, like he was remembering something fondly. "Pirates had raided my home and killed my owner. Myself and the rest of the slaves were divided up between them while the main party took over the mine. I wound up alone on a small pirate ship. There were five of them."

"I recalled all that I had learned of the Sith, and I remembered that hatred was a key part of their power. So I prayed, and I unleashed all that I could until...all of a sudden I was freed from my bonds."

He held up his right hand, one of his fingers extending. "Choked the first to death, he came to feed me." Another finger raised. "I gouged out the eyes of the second with his vibroblade." Yet another was then raised, then another, then another, each one coming as he listed off his first kills. "I slit the throat of the third. I shot the fourth with the third's blaster. I saved the pilot for last, had him set course for the nearest Sith world before I put one through his eyes."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

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"I wasn't saying that you didn't. We're Sith. Supposed to use our hate. It's no surprise it can be too much to actually control." That was the only thing she said as she listened to Darth Strosius tell her about his past. The Tremiru family certainly had their own slaves. How many had she passed by without thinking about the kind of life they were trapped in? Were any ones Alisteri knew? Her gaze stayed down on the floor as that pang of guilt formed. The last thing she wanted to be was the kind of person to have slaves.

They weren't needed to be Sith.

Her gaze lifted to him once he started listing out his kills. It made more and more sense that he didn't know what he could do at first. He didn't know how he even got free. Probably literally broke his chains. Without a word she got up and stepped over to him. Without a word she sat down beside him. Without a word she leaned against his side, purposefully avoiding touching him with her cybernetics. She rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

 

[Darth Strosius]

It seemed like Alisteri hadn't even noticed that he was listing things off at first, almost as if it was just something that he repeated in his head all too often. Once he was done however, he quickly hid the hand that had been counting. "Sorry about that...I didn't mean to..." He paused as he noticed Alina Tremiru move, silently watching her. When she laid her head on his shoulder he tensed up, glancing at her warily as if he was concerned. Whether said concern was for her or himself, it was difficult to tell.

He relaxed after a moment however, his gaze shifting away from his friend and towards the wall ahead of them instead. A small sigh left him, one of his arms slowly sliding behind her to rest on her other side. He was careful not to touch her arms of course. "We'll find them Alina. You'll get your arms back..." The words were almost whispered, said in a soft tone that it seemed was rarely used by the usually-masked acolyte.

"Get some rest. I'll wake you when we get to Nar Shaddaa..."