Private Once More Into The Fray

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

The last mission had gone rather well. The Sithspawn free, one Sith Lord made happy and enough time left to file a report. Sure, his superiors hadn't been very happy with him galivanting around with a rogue Lord, but they couldn't argue with the fact that they had also shut down an operation that had been smuggling around Sithspawn across the Galaxy. Only the Order ought to have access to their prized biological weaponry.

Sure, he hadn't brought back said prized biological weaponry, but that was easily explained.

All killed because of a hangar bay rupture. How sad. The truth that he allowed (big word, Catlow was reasonably sure she could crush him with just a thought) Damsy to take them with her to her sanctuary was left out of the report.

Sometimes you needed to play loose with the rules. A fact that pained him, but what his superiors didn't know couldn't hurt them either.

---

A few months later came the time for a new operation.

He had a feeling his superiors wanted him to fail. Perhaps they hadn't quite believed the hangar bay rupture story after all. Either way, he was to go after some exiled Sith Lord that had stolen a treasure trove of Sith artifacts. The fact that said Sith Lord was an accomplished alchemist with an army of Sithspawn didn't stop them from assigning it to him and him alone. No back-up or anything whatsoever.

Be creative, Adjudicator Catlow, you have found success with that strategy so far. Do not fail us.

So he realized he needed outside help.

He'd have to leave that out of the report too, but that was fine. This was all fine. He send a message to his favorite rogue Sith Lord, Damsy Callat, and got a set of coordinates back that would lead him to her stronghold on Kesh. Riordan suspected she was anticipating him to knock on the door (metaphorically speaking), but Rio was an enterprising individual. No wonder he pissed off his bosses so often.

Instead after he arrived on Kesh he used his talents of stealth and invisibility in the Force... to slide himself past any guards... and slipped into her manor house. Tasteful. Dangerous too, which his torched hair tips and acid burns on his thigh could attest to.

She'd find him pouring himself some caf in her kitchen.

"Ah, Callat, I figured you wouldn't mind me showing myself in." The Adjudicator would murmur over his shoulder. "You know me, I can't help myself when it comes to testing the boundaries of security."

It was after all how they had first met. That had been a mess too.

 

[Damsy Callat]

Unexpected noise nor presence had lured the Sith exile down from her balconied office. The transition from the desert sunshine flowing unhindered through the archway leading outdoors to the dimmed sconce lighting of the manor's halls and staircases would have likely been hard on many other humanoids' eyes, but not those of an engineered, aquatic hunter.

Instead, what did cause her to part with her urgent paperwork but not with little Keziah, who was still curled up in the crux of her elbow, was her heightened sense of smell and imagination. The result was a vision of the high priest preparing caf and a lecture about working too hard. She didn't realize that the chef's Force signature proved otherwise until she rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Rio. She immediately parted one hand, the one that wasn't preoccupied, in an exasperated gesture, though she let him finish his piece before saying anything.

"What's it with me an' men who can't wait at the fethin' door?" she asked rhetorically, voice quite a bit softer than it would have been if she had not been cradling a sleepy dragon. First Knight Kaze and now Adjudicator Catlow. What a joy.

She put her hand down back at her side as she walked towards Rio, then past him. She pulled another mug down from the cabinet and placed it on the counter near him expectantly. Suddenly in a bit of a mood or not, she could use the caffeine. As she leaned back against another counter, she continued, "I'd ask Bogan what I did to 'serve this kinda disrespect, but I know what I did." And she did. It started before she had become Sith. She shook her head and those thoughts went flying away.

"Now that you're here, whassup?"

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

Riordan grinned at her exasperated reaction. It was exactly what he had been courting and clearly received in turn.

"Oh? You getting a whole lotta men over your threshold then?" The Adjudicator responded with a conspiratorial tone before nodding and moving to pour her caf after his mug was full. Well, it was also her mug, because Riordan didn't travel with a travelling mug sadly. With his sort of lifestyle it would break really quickly.

"You take anything with your caf, milk, sugar?"

If she affirmed that she did, he'd add those as well, before offering her the cup before he settled with his back to the table so Riordan could take the rogue Sith in. As he offered the mug he reached out to give Kezi a little scritch under its chin. If it allowed that anyway, if it didn't, the Sith would respect its personal space.

"I meant no disrespect whatsoever, my Lord. I just figured I'd spare you the walk... if you look at it that way... it's nothing but respectful of me." A wink offered before he sighed and took a long sip from his caf. Ah, that was much better. In a job like his, you could use all the caffeine you could get to keep yourself going.

"Need your help." Getting serious there once the caffeine entered his bloodstream. "I am going after a Sith Lord that stole a bunch of artifacts and I am not getting any back-up. I'd prefer to finish the job and be alive, so I wondered... who could lend me a hand with this sort of job?"

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Mh-hm," she affirmed, "but most of 'em know manners, an' they were brought up in bonds." Chances were that he wasn't referring to the male Spawn who had visited their savior in her home, but she did nonetheless. When they told her that they were interested in stopping by, with either a missive or a literal knock at the door, she was able to switch off her traps. Politeness for politeness. Rio's getting caught in them was not the Siren's responsibility, but it felt like it was as she glanced over his singed ends and the slightly discolored patches on his robes.

The urge to tell him that she took blood in her caf was hard to swallow, but she did and told him that she took a little of both mundane additives. Though he might not believe it, black caf suited neither her taste buds nor her personality. Sure, she acted rough around him and others whom she wasn't sure of, but some healthy skepticism was the hallmark of a good leader. Sithspawn especially couldn't be too careful, for they were fighting an undeclared two-front war from the moment of their creation, and every moment after that was a struggle for survival. To recognize that as she lived it and to provide safe harbor for those like her required a heart of gold, if not heavily coated with harder metal.

All told, she did emanate a lighter shade of shadow unheard of by other Sith, complete with small grains of sweetness if one was lucky enough to taste them.

Kezi chirped softly without opening her eyes as Rio scratched her. The tops of his fingers, overturned to touch the water dragon in such a way, momentarily brushed against Damsy's upper arm. The desert heat found her again until he moved away to sit.

Luckily, her skin tone didn't show blush.

She listened to him through once more, though she did hum out an unconvinced "hm," at his logic. They had totally different ideas of what constituted respect, which was just as well; she wasn't in the mood to smite anyone today, especially not with Kezi resting on her.

The insinuation was that she would help him. Quid pro quo. That was fair and Damsy was nothing if not fair, but—

She rose a brow. "I ain't goin' nowhere with you 'til I know your target ain't me."

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

He probably could have avoided touching Damsy entirely when he scritched Kezi's little chin.

Could have... did not and their eyes met in that moment. Rio wouldn't put it into words, but they both knew that he had felt the momentarily heated exterior there. It pleased him. It had been a while since their last meeting and he had wondered if those fragmented moments of interest were accumulating to something or if they'd remain as such.

"Oh, come now." Rio said with a chuckle as he blinked in somewhat surprise.

Was she joking? No, Riordan didn't think so.

"If I was going after you I wouldn't be here pouring myself and you caf, would I?" To punctuate that point he'd take another sip before shrugging softly. "No, you are not the target. I left your name out of every report. I figured you wouldn't mind that, so they have no idea you were involved in the previous two times we banded our skills together."

And there he'd reach out casually.

His hand settling on her shoulder so softly.

"I promise. I just need your help, because really, I enjoy living and I am not gonna be able to do this one alone."

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Fine, but gimme a name," she said before setting her teeth. She did not acknowledge his touch this time; the last few moments had settled her focus elsewhere.

"I 'preciate your discretion," she added, which she did. "Your naiveté not so much. My secret ain't yours ta keep. This secret?" She wagged her finger between them. "Sure, but it's not all up to you." She put her finger down into a fist. "I can count on one hand the Sith who know I'm doin' my thing. You," she put one finger up again, "my Alchemist," two, " Alina Tremiru ," three, "an' some furry I met on Lorrd," four.

"I hadn't seen that last one in my life, so someone knows somethin'." With a blink, Damsy's clear blue eyes had gone fiery red. They stayed open for a few beats until she closed them and put her hand over them. "'m pissed 'bout it, but it ain't your fault. I'm just tryna say that... I can't be too careful."

He might have been able to feel some tension in the air release as a fraction of her Dark energy drained from her aura. Likewise, she dropped her hand, opened her now-normal eyes, and took hold of the handle of the her mug that she was drinking out of. "I get ya don't wanna die. I don't either. Do me one more solid, then I got your back."

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat was certainly in what seemed to be a prickly mood.

But he didn't take it personally, she had a lot to carry on her shoulders. Riordan just had to do his job right and didn't truly have to worry about anything other than himself. She carried the responsibility of many other lives along her. It was one of the things Rio respected. It reminded him of his earlier years when he had been so dedicated to caring for his parents.

He still did, but not with the income flowing, he didn't have to do it as much as before.

Then again Damsy's care was a few orders past his regardless.

"I understand, my Lady." Then a beat. "Well, perhaps I can't truly understand, but I empathize and I don't take your passion personally."

Under the circumstances it was fully understandable.

"Lord Tycho Zhul. He was one of the first to give his vows to the Worm Emperor and one of the first to go against the laws set out. He was exiled with his life intact, but he was supposed to simply leave the realm. They did not anticipate he'd use his access to steal numerous artifacts." Perhaps that was naive in its own way, but the more powerful the Sith became... the more hubris there was to go around, yes?

"He is a fierce alchemist and has an army of Sithspawn protecting his newest holdings on Rishi."

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Sounds like the type a' man that might wait at my door."

Sarcasm. She wasn't letting that go.

Neither was she intrigued by the mention of Sithspawn. Everything that he told her suggested that they couldn't be saved, at least not wholesale. Given the chance, Damsy would try to convert some of them, of course, but she suspected that she would be accomplishing little more than wasting her time and energy. Every Sith that as little as dabbled in Alchemy was attached to their creations to some degree—some more than others. Damsy assumed that Zhul, having everything to lose, would have spared no effort on assuring the loyalty of his Spawn. If that was the case, she had to be prepared for it. Was it better to let beings beyond saving be or to grant them the ultimate reprieve? She would meditate on that question in the qabbrat spire later.

Not wanting to betray such thoughts, she gave a wry smile behind the lip of her mug before taking a sip. "How ya wanna get Zhul? Don't s'ppose he'll fall for a tax collection cover or sumthin' equally borin'."

She could tease him too.

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

He laughed there with a shake of his head.

"You're never going to make me forget that one, are you?" Bemused as feth there as he kept enjoying the caf. It was the exact right temperature and it had nothing besmirching it.

The question of how to get to the exiled Sith Lord was a good one.

It was something Rio had been struggling with for a while. Until the idea came to him as from a dream. It was something that he suspected Damsy wouldn't like however. "Well..." He scratched his chin. "I had something else in mind... see... I could pretend like I am a runaway, inspired by his exilement... and if I bring him a gift?"

He grimaced there and hid it behind the mug.

"I think he'd let me in. And... as we established... he likes-" His eyes on hers. "-Sithspawn."

 

[Damsy Callat]

If Damsy didn't like it, she hid it exceptionally well, another unusual trait for a Sith Lord.

"Best treat me to a nice dinner first."

Once again, there was no indication of a joke.

She continued smoothly, "Let's pretend he knows me, somehow, 'right? He's gun' know you ain't my Creator. Even if he don't, somehow, I think he's gun' still have doubts." She smiled matter-of-factly. It really was a roundabout way to insult him: it was unlikely that Rio could conceive someone of Damsy's caliber. "So the story should be that you caught me unawares, don'tcha think?" It was an actual question. "Finders keepers an' all that."

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

A smile blossomed in response.

"Oh, I'd love to take you out for dinner." He purred there warmly. "I know this lovely place on Coruscant..." His eyes on hers, intently, now that she gave him an opening without perhaps meaning for that to happen. But Riordan enjoyed grabbing the ball and running with it too. Then she continued and it made him snark just a bit.

"True... I could hardly conceive such brilliance. I am not creative enough for that."

She insulted him.
He used it as an opportunity to compliment her instead.

Rio pushed himself off of the counter and approached her, getting very close at that. "Do you think I can do that? Take you... unaware, that is." Smiling down there as his hand settled against the table next to her.

"...and then keep you?"

 

[Damsy Callat]

She faltered at the mention of Coruscant, but not for the reason that he had wanted her to.

"You're not creative 'nough for that either," she said finally, in response to his question. She shrugged before straightening and standing up, angling them a bit closer still. "Breakin' inta my house to make me caf ain't really that charmin'." She turned to the side his arm boxed her in on and reached out to touch him. If he'd allow it, she would wrench his arm from the counter and toss it aside, back to his side. If he moved it away himself, she would simply walk towards the middle of the kitchen.

There, she crouched down and lowered Kezi to the floor. The water dragon stirred and placed her front paws on the ground, gave the biggest stretch, and then stepped out of Damsy's cradled arm. "Go find Gtejarsa," the Siren bade gently. Kezi bounded from the kitchen to do just that.

She was too innocent to hear any more of this, even if she didn't fully understand.

As Damsy stood and turned to Rio, she said despite her better judgement, "I'll take that as agreement. There's no way he don't know Old Tongue, so call me grotthu. It means slave. If you misuse my permission, I'll feth right off," she pointed over one shoulder with her thumb to illustrate her point, "an' leave ya for dead, ya hear?"

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

She didn't have to wrench anything.

When it became clear she wanted to pass Rio took his arm back. Best to do it that way then be surprised to find his arm cut off at the source and be smashed with it in the head. Sure, Riordan didn't think she'd kill him at this point, but with a Sith you never knew. Emotions flared and passion took control of your movements.

You always had to be careful.

"Oh, mayhaps not, but I think part of you can't be helped but be charmed regardless." He teased after her as Rio watched her back. "It must be rather annoying."

He swallowed there and inclined his head.

"I wouldn't dare and abuse anything linked to you, my Lady."

Riordan scratched his beard absently and nodded before mouthing the word. Grotthu. "Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" His Sith wasn't that fluent, he was still going through the tomes and lessons. A self-respecting Sith could never reach Lord without at least being a passing Sith speaker. "What else do you give me permission to do?"

His tone was innocent but his eyes were on her... and they had a heavy quality.

 

[Damsy Callat]

Whatever interest she had been feeling towards him before was gone, replaced by gently simmering self-hate. Perhaps that was why she managed to stay engaged in their conversation and answered his question in a way she otherwise probably wouldn't. "I should look the part," she replied shallowly. "Like you broke me." Her lips drew taut. "I can do it, but I'd prefer if you did. Take out your hate. It'll be good for ya."

She was aptly ignoring what he had said just previously about not daring to abuse her. But, if she asked...?

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

Riordan's job was reading people. The Zeltron part of him allowed to do so with ease that didn't come to regular folk. When he wasn't on the job he did his best to close that part off however.

Easier that way.

Damsy's roiling emotions were difficult to ignore however.

He looked at her with some concern after she made the request. "You know, ever since I mentioned Coruscant..." Keeping an eye on that cloud of emotions hanging around them as he spoke the name of the planet once more.

"...you wanna talk about it?"

Already preparing himself for the inevitable outburst.

But they had gone through some chit together already.

It could be helpful to her.

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy stepped back. She wanted to say that him acting concerned wasn't charming either, but all that came out of her throat when she opened her mouth was a strangled, "Y'kn—"

What made her eyes start to well: that pitiful sound and the associated embarrassment or the ever-flowing memories of Coruscant? Even she was not sure. All she could be aware of was that she was suddenly falling towards the floor. When her knees connected with the tiles, they cracked, not under her weight but her frustration.

Equally as suddenly as Damsy's emotions had reached their pitch, Rio would heard the hissing voice of Syreni in his mind.

Leave usss, Adjudicator.

Damsy held her head and rocked back. It was likely that she heard it too.

"Leave us!" she repeated tensely through clenched teeth, swelling throat, and teary eyes; though she did not share her meaning. In fact, she desperately wanted Rio to stay.

It'sss your fault…

"No!" Damsy wailed even though she knew that it had been, pulling her hands free and slamming one, fisted, into another tile. This one cracked too. Darkness rippled over her knuckles for a moment after impact, just to fade to glistening blood. But Damsy didn't notice the pain. She was preoccupied by the silence broken only by her periodic sniffles.

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

Anyone else might have been intimidated by the angry hissing voice suddenly welling up in his mind.

Biding him to leave.

Riordan... was not unfamiliar to the sensation of voices in his head however. Just walking through a busy shopping corridor would leave him assailed by foreign voices and emotions attempting to bury itself into his mind. He shook his head regardless, because the intrusion was painful and surprising to say the least.

"I don't think I will." Rio murmured calmly as he knelt down next to Damsy, his hand gently settling on her shoulder. The dark heavy emotions were roiling off of her in waves.

It was a lot.

Too much for a person to handle alone.

"But I know something about pain and dark clouds on your shoulders." Wrapping an arm around Damsy's shoulders as he closed his mind and extended his mind towards her. He couldn't take the pain away- or rather shouldn't. It was what made them strong. But in their mind's eye he supported her, holding a part of the weight with her.

So she would not feel so alone.

 

[Damsy Callat]

Damsy almost didn't feel the soft, physical pressure on her shoulder as a great emotional weight shifted its distribution on them.

She turned her head slowly to look at him. His visage was blurry through her tears. She swallowed some gunk in her throat and the urge to say that he didn't need to help her. Being grateful for a moment or two, even a whole minute, wouldn't kill her.

Instead, she brought her hand up from the floor to wipe at her cheeks, smearing flesh water and salty blood. She smelled the blood before she saw it as red fringe on the fuzzy top outline of her cheek, seen out of the bottom of her vision. She still didn't feel the pain of that variety; she had too many other scars opened within her consciousness.

"I've tried this before," she began to explain weakly, "on Coruscant, bringin' Sithspawn together. But it... I ruined it." The way she uttered the word didn't connotate blame alone. It connotated guilt. It connotated acceptance but also obsession. Her manner was hollow with no pang of self-forgiveness. Ironically, though, she deserved it, as she had learned the tragedy's lesson. She had taken the step that was most likely to protect her people now that she tried again: embraced Syreni, even if it hadn't sounded like it a few moments before, and become a Darth.

"Don't... I don't wanna go there. Please don't take me there."

Riordan Catlow

 

[Riordan Catlow]

Damsy Callat

He hadn't known that.

Couldn't have.

He squeezed her shoulder softly and didn't say anything in response. Because what could Rio say? That she had at least tried? That they all failed every once in a while? That she was doing her best now? It was all true, but it mattered little in the face of the gaping fraying wound in her psyche. It had clearly left its mark on her and there was nothing that Riordan could say that would suddenly improve it.

But Rio could be there, almost standing vigil, in the face of her sorrow.

"We won't go there." Agreeing easily once there was something he could say that didn't ring hollow. "I know a nice place on Terminus too. Noodle bar with great sauce. Does that sound agreeable?"

It was just aimless babble, but sometimes... that could help in its own way.

 

[Damsy Callat]

"Terminus…" she mumbled back to him. She nodded. "Yeah, 'greeable…"

The urge to feel further ashamed for acting so childish abated with each passing moment. It was what allowed her to shift on her knees towards him. She had to be careful to not slice herself up any further, which she didn't, as she wrapped her arms over his shoulder and pulled him into an embrace, keeping her bloodied hand hanging in the air behind his back.

She held onto him for what felt like two or three minutes but was more likely only half of one. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe both from those who would want to do her and hers harm but also from herself.

But then—

"Chit!"

Her eyes shot open, pupils dilated with fear, before she jolted away from him. "Aah, you 'kay?"

As he responded to her movement, she could see that he was. She ran her unwounded hand over her braids. Of course he was okay. He was not some kyber crystal that she could accidentally bleed, alter forever with her indignant touch.

"N-nevamind." She bit her lip shyly. She felt warmth again, tinged with another wave of embarrassment plus that damned interest.

However, she knew better than to let the look and feeling linger. Acting on desire when you were vulnerable wasn't a good look for anyone, especially her. The affair she chose to have during her unpermitted absence from the Confederate military had taught her that. The sex hadn't been a long-term solution to her problems, because of course it hadn't, and the fallout had sucked her into an even bigger one.

She had lost A'Runda and an honest part of herself that she could never, ever get back.

She stood up and stepped back, not trusting herself to as much as give Rio a hand. "Thank you."

Riordan Catlow