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Tweak says, "Anxiety is freedom."

elektra natchios (skyblack) wrote in crownplazaic,
@ 2021-07-10 06:17:00

Entry tags:

!log/thread, din djarin, elektra natchios

Who: Elektra and ~~Open~~ Din Djarin
Where: The dock
When: Saturday morning
What: Smoking by the lake
Status: Complete
Warnings: None

The lake lapped gently at Elektra’s toes. Now and again, as she swung her feet, she’d touch the water and send ripples across its surface. Laid out on the back on the old dock, she couldn’t watch them widen and fade into the mist. She had no desire to. A puff of smoke left her lips as she exhaled, then brought the cigarette to her lips again for another pull.

Her pack of smokes was pilfered, much like the leggings and hoodie she had helped herself to after her shower. Her boots, equally borrowed without permission, sat on the edge of the dock, almost as though they were about to step into the lake.

The slats of the wooden dock bit into her spine. A spider was crawling up her left hand. She felt its tiny legs gingerly explore the surface of her big thumb, then her index. It didn’t get much farther than her middle finger as Elektra slowly turned her hand over and crushed the insect beneath her palm. She wiped off the remnants against her thigh.

Breathe in, let the smoke sift through the lungs, breathe out.

Sound moved strangely at the water’s edge. What might have been footsteps coming closer could just as easily be her imagination. Elektra went on smoking her cigarette.

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skyblack
2021-07-10 02:55 pm UTC (link)

Elektra turned her head toward the voice. The footsteps had been real, then, and not another trick of this wretched island. Her expectations were so low as to be nearly non-existent, yet she still experienced a flicker of surprise when she saw the stranger's helmet. It was so shiny that she saw herself reflected in the metal alloy, its smooth curves distorting her features. Or rendering them most accurately.

The black slit where the stranger's eyes likely were, assuming he had any, gave nothing away. Neither did his posture, though he didn't seem aggressive. Not one of Bobby Drake's friends, then. Elektra let out a smoky breath. "Is it?" She had awoken in the charred remains of her clothing, smelling of cooked meat, her own screams ringing in her ears. That she had awoken at all should probably have sufficed. Maybe. She'd have to find a better person and ask.

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ddjarin
2021-07-10 03:17 pm UTC (link)

Din looked out over the water, perhaps he could be better about reading people, so many wore their feelings on their faces, it made it easy for him, and others - they were just as unreadable as a droid could be. But then maybe that was the point of all of this, exposure to a wider group, learning things he missed before. Or maybe he was seeking answers where there were none to be found.

"It's what people say," He admitted his shoulders lifting slightly. But maybe it was good too, or at least as good as any of them could hope for. "I like the quiet." He admitted, because he did, and this was one of the few times of day quiet like this could be found easily. "What do you make of it?" He asked her, if she did not agree that it was good, maybe she had some further insight into it all.

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skyblack
2021-07-10 03:35 pm UTC (link)

Elektra took another deep pull from her cigarette, followed by another exhale. "People say plenty." Most of it wasn't worth listening to, much less heeding. She shrugged and, with an attack appearing less likely by the second, resumed her supine position on the dock. To say she was relaxed would have been a stretch, but she could pretend with the best of them.

"It was quiet. Now it's not." Whether he chose to take that as a verbal backhand was up to him. Elektra could always claim she was just stating facts. In truth, she didn't intend to chase anyone off, but there was a small chance the armored stranger had that intention himself. Why wait for someone else to initiate hostilities when she could do the honors? Without raising her head to glance back at him, she volleyed, "You need something?"

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ddjarin
2021-07-10 04:53 pm UTC (link)

"Yes they do," Din agreed, there was a lot of people willing to say plenty about just about anything for that matter, whether it needed to be said or not. He was at ease though, here - certainly he had no goal with this conversation beyond having it. Perhaps that was to do with the setting, or maybe things just didn't matter quite so much here, it was hard to say really.

Din couldn't help the quiet huff of amusement when she countered his comment on the quiet, she wasn't wrong really, but two voices was hardly enough to disturb much of that. He didn't mind being called out though. "No, I don't need anything." He assured her, "Things are locked down inside, so I thought I'd come out and wander around a bit." He admitted. "And then here you were. I can go though, if you want." He just hadn't been great at talking with people, and it was proving to remain true even now, but he thought it deserved a chance at least.

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skyblack
2021-07-10 05:01 pm UTC (link)

The mask distorted his voice, but not enough to flatten all nuance out of it. Elektra noted his amusement. The impulse to latch onto it, to take offense when she knew full well none had been intended, flared like an old ache. But she didn't sit up and demand to know what was so funny, or if he was laughing at her.

Here she was, indeed. Elektra scattered ash from the tip of her cigarette, uncaring of where it went. "Don't care. Free hotel." Except in the one way that mattered to most of her fellow residents, all of them so desperate to go home. And although it was part of the reason she was out here in the first place, Elektra couldn't help it; she let curiosity get the better of her - "What do you mean, things are locked down?"

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ddjarin
2021-07-10 05:11 pm UTC (link)

Din wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, he could stand there a while longer enjoying the water and the quiet until they'd both had enough of one another. He might not be great at things like this but he was self aware enough to know when he was making a situation worse. Still things weren't unbearable just yet.

"Oh," He was surprised at her sudden interest. "It seems like everything is locked up in there," He tipped his head back in the direction of the hotel. "All the extra rooms and things," He went on, "All that seems open is the kitchen and our rooms, but I tried a few other doors this morning, they all seemed locked up tight." Even the doors that were normally kept open, like this was some sort of punishment for something that Din wasn't quite certain of, or why they were all having to deal with it.

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skyblack
2021-07-10 05:28 pm UTC (link)

For one long beat, there was silence. Then Elektra giggled. Then that giggle became laughter. Then an outright cackle, her stomach cramping as she curled into herself. It went on for less than a minute, but by the end of it she was sitting up, on her knees, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

What were the odds? "Ah, that's funny. Locked doors. Hilarious." She wiped her eyes, though not before disposing of her cigarette with a careless flick of the wrist. Whether it landed in the water with all the other maggots or somewhere on the dock made no difference to her. She picked up the pack and propped another cigarette between her lips. Her hands were steady up until she picked up the lighter.

Like the cigarettes, it wasn't really hers. Unlike the cigarettes, the struck flame made her jerk back like she'd been slapped. Or singed. The lighter clattered to the dock and bounced a couple of feet before coming to a stop. Elektra's heart hammered at her ribs. She wasn't laughing now.

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ddjarin
2021-07-12 02:45 am UTC (link)

What Din hadn't expected was laughter, starting a little silly before it became the full on laughter of someone caught up in something that he didn't quite understand. But perhaps there was a joke he was missing in all of this. Whatever it was it seemed to have done a good job of catching her up in it.

"I expect we'll have a lot of people making their way outside today." He admitted, after all it was either being out here or in their rooms and he was sure that was going to be too much for some people. So getting out early in the quiet of the morning felt like a good idea to him.

And just as suddenly as her laughter had come on, she seemed startled, the lighter she'd used skittering over the dock. Din moved to pick up the lighter, different than anything they had back home, and offered it back to her. "Are you all right?" He asked.

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skyblack
2021-07-12 04:27 am UTC (link)

No. I'm a dead woman walking. But that was no different to what she'd been when she had arrived at the hotel. Why make a big deal about it now? New York hadn't fucked her up like this and it had included a rabid monster.

Elektra snatched the lighter back. "What a stupid question." Rather than light the cigarette, she returned it to the pack and turned to sit with her back to the stranger. Even if she couldn't see his eyes, she could feel them on her. "What's with the helmet?"

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ddjarin
2021-07-13 04:00 pm UTC (link)

Din could admit he did often ask stupid questions, but then that was the way of the world really. And he could spot a deflection when he saw one, so he didn't let the response bother him. All of this was strange and different, and it wasn't just him who was in this situation, they all were. It was easier to make allowances for people here than it might have been back home. At least for anyone who wasn't Grogu.

The question about his helmet though was something, and Din tipped his head just a little. "It is part of my armor," He gestured a little vaguely to himself, "Part of the creed I follow, as a Mandalorian." He went on explaining. "We do no show our faces to any other living being." Though even as he said it Din knew that he was no longer one of the Tribe, he likely shouldn't be wearing his helmet any longer, he knew they would consider him unworthy of it after what he'd done, both here and at home.

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skyblack
2021-07-13 05:07 pm UTC (link)

Creeds and their rules. Elektra folded an arm behind her head, her inky hair hiding the way her fingers folded into a fist. "What happens if you do? A dozen lashes as punishment? Death to the one who can identify you?" She was spitballing, indifferent as to the truth.

Or at least telling herself she was. If nothing mattered and other people were irrelevant, then this place, her time here - it was all meaningless. She could do as she pleased or nothing at all and it was all the same.

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ddjarin
2021-07-13 05:42 pm UTC (link)

Din huffed softly and shook his head at her questions, guesses as to what the reaction would be if he did take off the helmet in front of someone. "Nothing quite so outright." He told her, "If I take my helmet off, or allow it to be removed in front of another living being I lose the right to wear it again." Even saying it Din felt the hollow weight of the truth settle in his chest.

"The Mandalorians too me in when I was young," He went on, he hadn't really talked about himself to anyone here apart from Luke since he'd arrived. "They saved me, raised me, and taught me how to defend myself." Being cut off from the Tribe was entirely unthinkable. Even knowing that in truth he had already broken the creed, and he deserved no less. Here though - Din wasn't sure how his own world fit in here with these people, most of whom had never even heard of a Mandalorian, much less knew the creed.

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skyblack
2021-07-13 06:06 pm UTC (link)

"Sounds familiar," Elektra muttered. Inside the hotel, where there were people coming and going all the time, doors slamming and floors creaking at all hours, it might have gone unnoticed. But it was quiet by the water and Helmet Guy knew how to leave room for pregnant pauses.

Damn him. And damn the barest flicker of kinship Elektra felt; it had no place here.

"What's the creed's stance on dead people?" She rolled her shoulders. "You said living beings. I say living's relative these days." Impermanent, too.

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ddjarin
2021-07-13 06:25 pm UTC (link)

Din was a little surprised to hear that she heard some kind of familiarity in his story, but didn't press - she felt a little bit like a trap, waiting for the opportunity to snap closed and Din wasn't certain he'd come back from that unscathed. But he found that quiet was a good way of drawing people out too, it served him well in his experience.

Her follow up question drew him up short though, "I think an argument could be made." He admitted, the same sort of argument he'd allowed when he'd been dying to allow a droid to save his life. "It might go against the spirit of the creed," He went on, "But what is life if not depending on technicalities?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders just a little.

More than any other question about the helmet he'd gotten since he'd arrived this was the most compelling he'd heard to forgo the armor entirely while he was here.

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skyblack
2021-07-13 06:31 pm UTC (link)

"Beats me," Elektra replied, retreating into the solace of her indifference. "Philosophizing makes me sleepy." Still, she glanced back at him, sizing him up. "I won't tell if you won't."

Two days ago, she had talked six people into attempting to break into a locked room with her, offering no prize, no payoff. She was curious if she could do it again, with this guy.

Hell, she even had a lighter if he was feeling frisky.

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ddjarin
2021-07-13 06:37 pm UTC (link)

"Never been very good at philosophy," Din admitted of himself, big thoughts were the sort of thing that other people did. His focus had always been on the next job, and then the next, and so on. Things had been changing recently, even before he ended up here. His path had gotten complicated in a way that left Din uncertain he'd ever made it back to the steady certainty of the path he'd been on once before.

But this place was entirely removed from that reality. And in truth he'd been thinking about why he was still wearing the helmet, after all he'd allowed Luke to see his face here. Did it matter if he continued to wear it or not?

He considered a while longer, looking out over the water, before he reached up and lifted the helmet from his head, tucking it under his arm. "Do you really think you should be counted among the dead?" He asked her.

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skyblack
2021-07-13 06:44 pm UTC (link)

The helmet came off and Helmet Guy was revealed to... have a very normal, average-looking face under there. Two eyes and everything. Decent nose. Nice lips. Elektra stared for a bit, just because the option was presented to her and she didn't care about potentially making him feel uncomfortable.

When he asked his question, she broke her study and turned back to watch the water. "Maybe you should finish the job, just to be sure. Can I try it on?" She was referring to the helmet, although the rest of the armor had some merit, too. She wondered how buoyant it was. If she threw Helmet Guy into the lake, would he sink to the bottom or would he float? Would she?

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ddjarin
2021-07-13 10:26 pm UTC (link)

It was an odd feeling, and Din suspected it would be for a while yet as he got used to the idea of revealing his face more and more. Whether it be back home or here. He was used to people watching him, Mandalorians had a way of drawing eyes wherever they went, but he always had the armor between the eyes and his face, now though - she was watching him and there was nothing to hide behind like this. But what better way to get used to things like this than someone who seemed to have no problem staring.

"I only kill when I'm being paid," He shrugged, at her suggestion that he finish the job. Maybe they were all dead in some way, everyone had conflicting ideas of what this place was and meant, they all might as well be dead in some respects though. As for whether or not she could try on the helmet, Din shook his head. "The armor can only be worn by the Mandalorian it was forged for, it is a part of me." It was one thing reconsider his take on the creed, to accept that this place was his current life and as the only one of his kind here he didn't necessarily have to be beholden to certain ideals. But this was one he could not break.

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skyblack
2021-07-14 04:30 am UTC (link)

The water lapped gently against the dock. Sounds drifted to the mist: the hoot of an owl, the rustle of leaves. No one was coming, though. No one would have stopped Elektra from launching herself and her companion right off this dock and testing her hypothesis.

She didn't move. "Spoilsport," Elektra chided but couldn't make herself sound like she meant it. "What was it for? Your training, your... salvation?" What had the Mandalorians asked of him and had he given it?

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ddjarin
2021-07-14 11:57 pm UTC (link)

He grinned just a little when she accused him of being a spoilsport, lifting his shoulders in a sort of apology, but didn't make further explanation for why he wouldn't be offering up his armor to someone else. "Salvation?" He asked tilting his head a little, "That is not really a part of my world." He admitted, though he'd heard some about those sorts of beliefs since arriving there at the hotel.

"The Mandalorians saved me when I was a boy, my home world was overrun, they gave me the chance to improve myself, to become one of them and find a new home." He went on, it had never been much of a trade really, he'd never seen it like that, and even now he didn't really consider the creed to be a trade, one thing for another. It was simply the way. "I became one of them, and I follow the code. This is the way." He finished.

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skyblack
2021-07-15 04:57 am UTC (link)

He sounded indoctrinated. But who was Elektra to judge? Maybe all children were. Maybe that was how the world - all worlds - worked. "And if you didn't want to be one of them? If you wanted to leave, to make your own way?"

The Hand wouldn't have allowed it, but the Hand had come into her life when she was already grown up. The Chaste were a different story. Elektra rested her chin on her knees, trying to think herself back into her old training room, with her old training master. Would he have let her go, if she'd asked? If she hadn't been so desperate to belong?

This was the way of it, indeed.

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ddjarin
2021-07-15 02:55 pm UTC (link)

Din shrugged, he supposed he'd never given it much thought before, if he wanted to leave. It had never occurred to him for most of his life, though things were changing now - maybe he would leave the Tribe, let himself align with Bo-Katan and her Mandalorians. Or maybe he'd set out on his own, a clan of one once more.

"If I wanted to leave, that would be it." He said sure of that much at least. "I would no longer be welcome in the Enclave, but they would not stop me. I could make a life as something else. But I would be alone." That was what the Mandalorians had given him more than anything else, they had given him a tribe, a group to belong to - so even when he was traveling the galaxy on his own they had always been there to come back to.

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skyblack
2021-07-15 04:24 pm UTC (link)

For a moment, lost in her own thoughts - her own trauma, though she'd never willingly call it that - Elektra forgot he was standing there. She held a training staff in her hands for the first time. She watched another child bleed because of her. She watched Stick die.

She saw Matthew before the roof came down on them.

A stranger's voice brought her back: to the lake, to the dock. To the hotel.

Elektra looked down at her hands, unblemished now, and remembered the flames cooking her skin, boiling her blood as it spilled. "There's always a catch. Follow our rules or enjoy exile. Hm." She was tempted to ask more questions, to dig her claws into a stranger's past until whatever she found underneath helped her make sense of her own world. But that was asking a lot.

So she got up in one fluid motion, scooping up her cigarettes in one hand and boots in the other. "You win. Dock's all yours, Mandalorian."

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ddjarin
2021-07-18 04:24 pm UTC (link)

He supposed it was a catch, but Din couldn't bring himself to regret his time with the Mandalorians whether or not it was something that continued when he made it home one day. Maybe he would be cast out, maybe not - maybe he'd join with Bo Katan, maybe he'd make something of himself and the dark saber and become the Mand'alor, whatever happened would happen. They were stuck here for now though and he supposed all of that would be there waiting for him whenever he managed to make it back home.

He watched as she pulled herself up easily, gathering up her things. "Perhaps we'll talk again?" He asked her as she prepared to leave. He wouldn't have claimed to understand her at all, but she was interesting to talk to at least. And that was more than he could say for some people here. Whatever the answer though, Din was pleased at least that he'd managed this, a conversation, the helmet off. Things might be strange inside, but at least he'd had something.

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skyblack
2021-07-18 04:28 pm UTC (link)

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Elektra replied, as though other residents were lining up for the chance to chat with her. It didn't matter if they weren't. After all, she wasn't in the business of making friends. Mythical warriors didn't have those.

She brushed past the Mandalorian without giving vent to her more destructive impulses. If she caught a glimpse of her reflection in his shiny chest plate, she pretended not to see it. She was exactly who she'd been two days ago. Nothing had changed. That was her creed.

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