The Dark Academy on Korriban

Waking up for the forth day in a row she rediscovered the truth of what had happened to her. Dressed again in her gray undershirt and normal ensemble for being back at the academy she turned off of her bed and let her feet touch the cold floor. Looking down with a few strands of blonde just making their way into her vision she focused in on two feet, one hand.

It hurt like hell, but not physically. Pushing herself up she tried to make it through the day. While she was still on Yavin IV in the med tent she had some help with her hygiene. Without that she might have forced herself to shower today. However she couldn't bring herself to it. Letting people see her like this, so open, it would have made her feel more naked than she's ever been.

Foregoing that part of the day should have helped her speed everything up, right? Wrong.

Long after she would have left her room deserted for at least half an hour Kristal was still inside her room. So far she had gotten her pants on, with that accomplished she now fiddled with the belt. Trying with little success to put it on with just her one hand.

A knock on the door disturbed her complicated routine of getting dressed.

"Enter," she called out to whomever it was. Though she knew there was likely only one person it could be.

Giving up with the belt for now she stepped back until her legs caught the bed and then leaned back until she was sitting on it. Right beside her shirt laid out for herself when she got to it. Looking up as Shaisha would enter one thing would be clear in her expression; dressing was a frustrating process without the use of her other arm.

Shaisha entered and closed the door behind her before taking a look at Kristal.

Then she assumed a rather cheesy voice and followed up with the most cliche imitation of an Adult Holo-actor. "Need a hand?"

"Sorry, sorry... bad joke."

"It's been three days," she said, highlighting how that would sensibly be too soon for that joke. However, she also couldn't hide the little smile that came from it because it actually caught her off guard enough to be funny.

"Father a traitor... mother gone.. and I can't even dress myself.." she said, falling back against the bed. Followed with an exasperated laugh.

"Come see the great Serasai."

"You'll see her again," she said and walked over to Kristal. And without caring if she objected or not, started to fix her belt into place.

"And you'll still be the greatest Serasai of them all. If anyone here is meant for greatness, Kris, it's you."

"And my father isn't a traitor," she added in a way similar to how Shaisha elaborated on her mother.

Watching from where she was it was awkward. Reminding her of when she was a child in a way, even though she'd never had a belt put on her before. It was, odd. Though, as much as Kristal would have protested she saw the look to Shaisha as she was going about it and decided against putting up much of a fuss.

"If I have learned anything from these events, it's that being meant for greatness doesn't help you for a moment."

"If we don't learn the meaning of defeat, how can we truly know when we've won?" she retorted with a gentle smile. "Life is hard, we're taught this from when we're young. The Jedi speak of peace and harmony, but they forget that the natural state of life is to struggle..."

The belt in place, Shaisha sat down next to Kristal.

"What are the chains you want to break to gain your victory, Kris?"

With Shaisha sitting beside her, she struggled a little with figuring out the best way to but eventually pushed herself back up to a seated position.

"If I have chains left, I cannot see them," she said after a moments thought. "I need to become better, better than I was, but that is all I can see before me. I've no one, nothing left to hold me back."

Though the words seemed to inspire a hopefulness, the hurt that was involved getting herself here certainly brought that mood down to a solid neutral point.

Then, with a little less gloom, "Nothing to hold me back... but I do have you."

"And do I hold you back?" she said with a teasing smile. "Have the three of us held eachother back?"

"Never, of course," she said, leaning her bare shoulder against Shaisha. Still in her sleeveless gray shirt she wore underneath it all.

"I just needed to remind myself that I have you," she said honestly.

Her arm slipped around Kristal and held her friend tight in a hug.

"And I'm grateful that I haven't lost you. You, Syl... you've both been my world for so long."

"I've had my parents in the past, but military Family, they were never around quite like you and Syl through much of it. Not sure how I would've survived to this point without you two," she said resting up against Shaisha's shoulder.

"I'm not sure how we survived all the stupid things we did together, without having all three there," she chuckled. "Syl the one to always talk us out, or into, trouble. And you would always be the one that had our backs when we got into too much trouble and made sure we stayed together as a group in a tight situation."

"... You're going to make a great leader, you know."

"Your constant support is starting to make me feel more like an invalid," she said in tease mostly, it was a touch true.

"I miss those days, just the three of us and wild adventures on Dromund Kaas. Though in comparison they seem pretty tame now. Even the ones where I had to step in."

Kristal reminisced for a second, but then came back, "And you're going to be a great counselor someday," with a tease.

"Yeah, I am considering a future in counseling," she chuckled. "Doctor Shaisha Vreysk: therapist, Force User, handy with a lightsaber."

"That aside though, our greatest adventures are still waiting for us. We three have been together for so long, I think we will pulled to eachother again in time. It's just the way some things are."

"Some day," she said softly but with a tinge of hope for it.

"If only I didn't love him," she added, highlighting the part of this that would make moving on far more difficult for her than anything else. Kristal Serasai needed someone she could be honest with. What feelings that were there with that had dulled quite a bit, but clearly they still lingered in her thoughts.

"We can't help how we feel, Kris," she hugged her tightly and nuzzled the blonde hair. "But you can make it your strength, rather than your weakness."

"Never did get a chance to ask... how did it go? Your chat with Syl after our last one. Before everything had changed."

It made her feel cared about, the closeness.

She sighed a little. "Nothing positive I can say about it, to be honest. He didn't put up much of a fight when I slapped him around, and he just kind of admitted to it all and made excuses, like a spineless brat. I recorded it, but... deleted it. It wouldn't have done any of us any good to keep it."

"It seemed like he wanted to make it right again, and I advised him to give you time and distance, like I had given you before."

"Makes it hard to just hate him when he responds like that," she says as she lets herself quiet a bit.

"I am glad you deleted it then. If it was just more of.. that. He said much of the same back on Yavin IV... before everything else that happened as a result. Sounds like lies whenever I hear him speak those words anymore."

"I don't think he lies," she sighed. "Just very dumb. Forgive me for not knocking more sense into my stupid foster-brother when we were younger... though not for lack of trying, I assure you."

"I was there, I know how much you tried," she teased leaning into her with a bit of a push.

"Should have heard the conviction the Twi'lek had when I spoke with her that she was the best for Syl moving forward. After he already confessed to me and told me I was the only one he loved."

"Did she now? I wasn't aware the two of you had talked..." she looked at Kristal with curiosity, wondering what else this twi'lek had said.

Looking to Shaisha, she smirked and shook her head.

"We did, but I'm not telling you any more than that... I'd prefer she didn't wind up dead," she teased. Even if what Moyr said had hurt her; it was true and she knew quite well how good Shaisha was at doing what Kristal could never allow herself it. It's a big part of what she adored about her.

"He doesn't love her, or he does, either way it occurs to me that Sylvain is lying to one of us. On top of everything else... I am sure you can see why my trust isn't as solid as I wish it could be."