Faction Night of the Star Cross [ CIS ]

[Vytal Noctura]

Wearing: Royal Red Armor
Location: Rancor Dragons on the Coast
Tags: Scàth Mhaolàin | Aisha | Alluria Ivalice | Open

"Better that I am not standing in a Ball Room as functions like these often demand. It is strange, is it not," Vytal asked, "to be vexed at offers to dance with people I do not know and might only seek to exploit my authority, or to be vexed that no one dares out of fear? What do you think of this, Alluria? Am I blessed to be free of their politics, or cursed?" A soft chuckle followed the question.

It was a strange galaxy. So many false smiles. Vytal could not seek to cloister herself away and ignore the politics of the wider galaxy, however. That would be easy. Convenient. Peaceful, even. Until they showed up making demands believing themselves superior or swept up by fear martialed by the enemies of the Witches left unattended. And of course, her desire to educate the masses of the importance of their spiritual health and balance with nature. One could not do that cut off from the masses. If only such things could be accomplished without being forced to contend with High Society and Politics.

The rancor had a far easier life. Especially those that prowled the skies, here.

 

[Naedira Darcrath]

Location: Banquet Hall
Status: Yep, Still Dead [Ghost]
Objective: Boo
Tags: Alkor Centaris | Lunara Azure | Gerwald Lechner

The ghost of Naedira Darcrath was very much so aware that she seemed to have startled Alkor Centaris . His expression spoke volumes. More than most she understood him, even if, he made a kind of sense that didn’t. His was a path of attrition. Of constantly taking every misstep as a failure. He blamed himself for her untimely passing. The former Knight Commander had relegated her to the Fortressa in a time of war. She should have been safe there. He had no reason to believe otherwise.

The arrival of the Mountain couldn’t have been predicted. It was her fault for choosing to stand between something that held so much power, while in comparison, she held so little. It was her choice to provide a distraction to ensure the safety of the rest of their people. He hadn’t twisted her arm, forced her, or demanded the sacrifice. It wasn’t his fault.

She wished she could tell him that. Only, it would probably make things worse if he took it as pity.

He hid from her visits. Naedira wasn’t sure how. He locked her away, in the pitch, in the dark, with the monsters that were slowly devouring everything she was. He gave her jailors power.

So, he wouldn’t have to see her. Or feel.

She pretended not to know. But, she hadn’t been that thick in life, let alone death.

“Long time no see.”, she quipped. The statement was darker than she’d intended it. His glare of disdain caused a smirk to begin at the edges of her lips. For keeping her buried, locked away, Alkor definitely deserved anything she could throw at him. It wasn’t his fault that she’d died. It was his fault that her suffering was prolonged in a realm of horrors without reprieve. “Also, who dressed you like a monkey? Honestly…You look like some prissy ponce from Coruscant.”

Her gaze drifted toward the nearby table that held a tumbler full of dark liquid. Whiskey. Man, she missed whiskey.

And bantha burgers.

Tawny eyes turned toward Gerwald. Why did he have extra drinks, then, waste them? She frowned. “You. Drink that.”, she ordered, with surprising authority, while spinning around once to examine the horrid ensemble her memory had given her. The wolf asked if she could remember something she’d worn before. During a dance? Her memory flickered. Something gold. He asked if she could search his mind and she shook her head slowly. Almost sadly. ”Thanks…But I don’t think it works that way.”

Even if she could—Could she will something new? Or would it just waste the strength she had let?

She was acutely aware that the lupine seemed to have forgotten the pair they were standing with. For a few moments, he only saw her, the ghost she had become, instead of a banquet hall. She could remember teaching him about the dark side. Showing him how to fight, with everything he was, versus holding back the beast. There was a particular shadow that surrounded him.

The Mountain. ​

She recognized the particular flavor of corruption. The echo of screaming pain. When had he engaged that creature? Naedira averted her gaze. Aye, she missed him too. Gerwald had been a fast friend when she’d been left alone. Suddenly. Without a chance to really think, or, even say goodbye. He’d kept her from falling so hard into her work that she never came up for air.

Instead, she tried to make the group laugh. At Alkor’s expense, sure, but he was a big strong man. He’d live.

The pretty blonde, too good for these ruffians, honestly, seemed curious. If she asked her questions Naedira would answer. She just wasn’t in the habit of playing Q & A when she wasn’t certain she wouldn’t make someone scream for the hills. “I’m Naedira. Or, I was.”, she introduced herself to Lunara Azure . She wasn’t sure how that worked. Was she still herself?

Her head tilted back and forth a little. Did Lunara get to call dibs?

Eh, why not.

“Suit yourself!”

Someone courting Alkor was akin to trying to court a rancor. Better luck with the rancor, really.

Naedira moved around, carefully, swaying with the music. Inspecting this and that. But she never moved too far from Centaris. He was her anchor. Her tether. She was bound to him through the ring he so guilty kept hold of. “Someone eat one of these for me.”, she called out, watching as a waiter walked by with a snack. Her stomach felt like a pit. But eat? Nah, that was reserved for the living.

 

[Alkor Centaris]

His expression soured the more that they spoke. Whenever Naedira appeared or he heard her voice, that strange feeling in the pit of his stomach returned. Alkor never gave death a second thought before he became part of the Confederacy. For some reason, as they were forced to work together and she worked to wear him down and spend unnecessary time around him, he developed something.

Something that when she died, thrust a dagger deep into his chest.

The only time he ever felt something like that was in the instant that Cicero betrayed him. The moment where they gunned down his mother. That was the moment where everything else but his duty died.

So why now, staring into the empty glass did it hurt?

His knuckles whitened, and the Force pulsated through his hand.

The glass shattered.

Alkor dropped the ring on the floor. His eyes were wide, his flesh pale. He realized that he had stopped breathing unintentionally. No. No more.

"I need some air," he said suddenly, and stood abruptly.

Naedira Darcrath | Lunara Azure | Gerwald Lechner

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

Wearing: xxx
Tag: Alkor Centaris | Lunara Azure | Naedira Darcrath

Gerwald had not meant to seem so fixated on Naedira, but this was the first time he had seen her since before she died. There had always been some hope that she was still alive, a touch of something every time he was around Master Centaris, but now he knew. Her command to drink the whiskey was what pulled him out of the stupor. The giant of a man had a vague awareness that he had missed some kind of jest from Lunara Azure, and immediately felt guilty for ignoring the others present.​

​

The Lupine took a swift drink of the whiskey as he was told, and felt the burn of the liquid as it ran down his throat. Whiskey was something Gerwald had gone without since Naedira's death, mostly as he used whatever glass he got as a memorial for her, along with the fruity cocktail Centaris had been handed. The gesture was small, but carried significance for their story, however it was meant to unfold. A small part of Gerwald's smile faded when Naedira mentioned she did not think she could simply use his memories to change her dress. Could she even search his memory? Had her death impacted their bond, or was it because she existed on a different level now?​

​

He sighed and Gerwald looked to Lunara.​

​

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you. It's just..."​

​

A tray of food came by and Gerwald snagged a few of the snacks as Naedira told the group to ensure someone ate one for her. Gerwald smiled and popped the treat into his mouth. The cooked meat was a little overdone for his taste, though being a wolf who liked his meat raw and rare, his judgement was not best. ​

​

"It's edible," Gerwald commented to those in his group, when the sound of a glass shattering caused Gerwald to give all of his attention to Alkor Centaris.​

​

The Lupine watched as the guilt which overtook the man swelled. His guilt was unlike anything the knight had seen before, and almost the same level as the deep anger and sense of vengeance Gerwald carried himself. Perhaps something could be done, as certainly the former Lord Commander knew that death was something which came to everyone, and that no one could have anticipated the Mountain known as Prazutis to attack the ship. It was no more predictable than the same Mountain using the memory of Naedira to lure the lupine to his torture. Did Naedira even know, could she sense what he had experienced anymore?​

​

"He dropped something," Gerwald said to Lunara, and looked to Naedira.​

​

Curious the Lupine walked over to the ring and looked at it for a moment. His crystaline blue eyes darted back to Naedira as if Gerwald suddenly came to the realization the ring was the thing which allowed Naedira to be present. At least, that is what Gerwald thought. ​

​

He picked up the ring.​

​

It was evil in every sense.​

​

Gerwald dropped it again in reaction, though soon picked it up once more. ​

​

There was a sudden clarity to the bond the two once had where recently it had simply felt like static. ​

​

Gerwald felt it deep within, the moment of Naedira's final breath. His mind saw the moment Prazutis felled her, and was forced watch as her soul was bound to the ring. He wanted to decide when her suffering would end. The Mountain was not content in simple retaliation for her defiance and opposition. Naedira had been doomed to suffer. Darkness, just the briefest of glimpses. It was not an empty darkness, however. Gerwald could feel something. It was ancient and deep, a power none spoke of because they did not know of it. ​

​

The lupine was almost broken reliving it again. Though this time he had seen what happened. The number of times Prazutis had made Gerwald watch Naedira die were nothing like this. It was fresh, raw and real. Then to know wherever she was trapped she was suffering and running from some ancient evil, Gewald struggled to contain himself. ​

​

His blue gaze fixated on Naedira once more. Gerwald wanted to something, anything, but he did not have the words. Nothing could be said which would remotely come close to ending her suffering, or bringing any amount of comfort to her plight. ​

​

Had Alkor known about this all along? The thought itself made Gerwald livid, the fact she was still alive in some way and Centaris had not told him. Yet, Gerwald also understood his actions and own feelings may have caused him to take even more drastic steps and measures had he known so early in his grief. ​

​

"SO I guess we should follow him," Gerwald looked to Lunara for guidance. "You put up with me at the shrine, we both know I am not good at comforting those that mourn."​

 

[Lunara Azure]

Wearing: This
Interacting with: Alkor Centaris | Gerwald Lechner

​

“Right…we should probably go to give him his ring back.”

There was seriously something going on here that she wasn’t getting, something deeper more emotional than she’d ever expected. She’d only really met Master Centaris but he didn’t strike her as the kind of man who wore his heart on his sleeve, who let emotion drive or control him. Except that’s exactly what had happened mere moments ago. The man had stood abruptly and for a moment the white-haired sorceress had seen something in his face, sensed something roiling off him. A sadness, a pang of deep-seated guilt that seemed to be eating the man up from the inside.

Crystal blue eyes flicked over the crowd for a moment, following the man’s path as he wended through the crowd, a direct path to the closest doors. A deep breath, a swirl of her glass before Lunara took a sip of her wine and placed the glass down on the table, slipping to her feet as her gaze slipped over to rest on Gerwald’s face, her hand coming up to press between her breasts, fingers tracing the familiar shape on the ring under her dress.

“I don’t think anyone’s good at comforting mourners, I don’t think it’s possible to be good at comforting someone in that situation. All you can do is be there for them, let them know that they’re not alone and that you’re here for them.”

It hadn’t helped her, she couldn’t see that other people were suffering, that other people were in pain. The woman had been so caught up in her own pain, in the agony that had seemed to sear her body with every breath, every memory that she hadn’t been open to the offerings that surrounded her. She hadn’t seen how people had opened their souls, shared their own pain with her, all she could feel was the aching void, the gap that seemed to be all that was left of her life.

She could look back now and see them, see all the people who had surrounded her and held her up, even though the wound was still there. Even though the pain still cut through her. It wasn’t all the time, but a sight, a memory could set it off, reducing her to tears, leaving her talking to ghosts who didn’t exist anywhere but her imagination.

At least these men had more than that, she didn’t understand the relationship that existed between all of her companions, but there was surely something. It was more than she had, at least more than she had anymore. For a heartbeat that familiar pain shot through her, threatening to overwhelm her, to drive her to her knees. A pain that always cut through any defence she tried to build.

For just a heartbeat it almost drove her to her knees, for a moment it left her on the verge of breaking. Then a breath, eyes closed against the edge, in the space of a heartbeat the pain ebbed away as Lunara shook her head and opened her eyes, reaching out a hand to rest on Gerwald’s shoulder.

“He’s not the only one who needs comforting Gerwald, he’s not the only one feeling pain right now. You might be better at this thank you think. You’re sad and mourning, and so is he. Just talk to him, share how you’re feeling. He’ll probably slap you away, I know I did but, one day he’ll remember. One day he’ll say thank you.”

Blue eyes flicked down to the ring in Gerwald’s hand as Lunara extended a single digit, running it over the cool metal of the ring, feeling the force wound through it, the pain and agony captured in the ornament. A short breath, a sigh as her gaze flicked up to Naedira, eyes laden with emotion.

“I’m sorry.”

That was a fate…a nightmare she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy. A nightmare that she couldn’t even hope to understand. A nightmare she hoped she’d never need to.

“Let’s go catch up with Master Centaris and…you can do the talking. At least to start.”