remembrance

when evil ran rampant

"You said that you were tortured by Vader."

"Yep." Alora glances up from the ration packs as she opens one for the child. "The man himself." She scoffs after a moment, sitting up when she realizes what she had said. "Or rather... hm... he really wasn't a man, was he?"

She turns back to the food and mumbles to herself for a few moments as she thinks of a better word to describe the dark lord than simply calling him a monster.

Din is silent, unsure how to continue his question and what exactly he wants to know. All that he knows is that Alora was locked away... tortured... for Maker knows how long. She hasn't gone into much detail about it. He's not even sure if she knows how long she was in captivity herself. 

Her mutterings silence and Alora rises from the box of supplies, handing Din one of the packs while shooting him a smile.

"Is that all that you wanted to know?" She tilts her head to the side in interest and her smile dies slightly as concern flickers through her eyes. "What is it, Din? What's on your mind?"

"I-..." Din glances down at Alora's scarred arms. Her sleeves are pushed up and out of her way while she was sorting through the supplies, and her vine-like scars are vibrant on her skin. The vambrace coverings and wrappings that she normally wears have been discarded for some time now, stored somewhere in her room. She doesn't seem to want to hide them anymore; either that or Alora no longer feels the need to... 

"I know that you're not much of a talker but this is one hell of a conversation starter," Alora smirks, trying to lighten the mood. "You want to know what happened, don't you?"

"I-... yes... but if you don't want to-"

"I don't mind. The more I talk about what happened, the less everything haunts me. It's like you're my therapist."

Din chuckles, taking the ration pack from her.

"But first, you need to eat," Alora scolds.

"Hey... I eat," Din grumbles.

"Not enough, you don't. And I know it's 'cuz the child and I are here. And 'cuz of that damn helmet." Alora raps her knuckles against the cheek of the helmet as she walks past him.

"I-... I just don't want to leave... that's all."

"Din," Alora sighs. "We're just a room away."

"That's too far," Din mumbles shyly, trying to lower his voice so Alora couldn't hear.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

There's a glint in her eyes as if she knew what he had said.

"How about this? The child and I will go hang out in my room." At that, the child coos happily as he shovels food into his mouth. Alora chuckles and turns back to Din. "You stay in here and eat. We can talk through the door and I'll tell you about what happened."

"... okay."

Alora takes the kid into her quarters with their rations and Din watches as they disappear behind the closing door. He stares at the door for a moment before walking towards it, taking off his helmet with a quiet hiss. Din settles down by the door, sliding down to sit on the floor and rips open one of the ration packs. She's right... he did need to eat.

"So..." Alora's voice is muffled through the metal as she sits by the door as well, her back pressed against it just as he is.

"So..." Din smiles. It felt strange to speak to her without the helmet. His unmodulated voice sounded alien to him and he couldn't help but cringe at the sound of it.