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[demonicbeauty]

[She's not Padmé Amidala. Nor is she Jane Foster. It's just Ariadne, sitting on the wooden floor of her home, in front of an enormous, four-poster bed with a canopy of sheer, white fabric. Splashes of color occasionally hit her face and the background, as her homemade mobiles, flitting with broken pieces of colorful glass, catch whatever sunlight there is. Her long, long, long brown hair is hanging loose over her left shoulder, crinkled to show that it's just come undone from its braid.]

I...I've noticed that a lot of important holidays seem to be in the middle of the winter. And I guess it makes sense. The days are short, the nights are long, and everyone is cold and missing fresh fruits and vegetables. It raises the spirit to have something to celebrate and people to celebrate it with.

[There's a small smile. A memory or two from her days in Valeria.]

Back home, the New Year was the most important holiday. There would be parties and feasts and masked balls. Presents. Lots of music...

[And she misses that music. But Ariadne won't let herself stay sentimental for long.]

Last year, I learned about an Earth holiday. The one where the fat man breaks into people homes and leaves them gifts, instead of stealing stuff. Christmas!

[Makes no sense, but it's a lovely sentiment.]

I was hoping to maybe learn about some other holidays from this time of year. What do your cultures celebrate? Maybe we can find a way to all celebrate together. I'm still convinced that togetherness is the only way we're going to survive this place. And I...I know I'm not alone, feeling that way.

[A small shrug.]

So let's talk to each other more. When there isn't an emergency. Talk about some of the happy things, maybe. Tell me about the good stuff.

[Ariadne doesn't really know where to go from here, so she shrugs again.]

Anyway, that's all. Sorry to interrupt anything.

Comments

[opress]

Boots then. Apparently if you like something, you're supposed to do it often.

[He frowned at the idea of dancing everywhere though.]

[demonicbeauty]

Apparently.

[She considers that a moment, before leaning forward a little bit.]

What do you like to do?

[opress]

[He should have expected this question to come around, shouldn't he? He snorted softly.]

Fighting and hunting. It's what I was born to do.

[demonicbeauty]

Is there any kind of hunting ritual, around this time?

The winter, I mean.

[opress]

[There's a pause as he hesitated. Discussing tradition wasn't something he was allowed to despite having done it before. He wasn't going back to Dathomir, so was there a point to safe-guarding Nightbrother tradition?]

We... The cycle of storms have us making offerings to our warrior god and preparing for the selection trials.

[demonicbeauty]

[Sounds a bit Daruc. Perhaps, anyway.]

If you don't mind my asking...what are the "selection trials?"

[opress]

A Trial set down by the Nightsisters where males of our species compete in combat to prove our strength for an opportunity to be chosen as mate.

[He was growly and bitter sounding when talking about it.]

While a Trial can be called any time of year, the cycle of storms is when most occur.

[demonicbeauty]

Competing in combat for a mate?

[Ariadne wrinkles her nose.]

That doesn't sound very romantic.

[opress]

Mortality is high. Nightbrothers have two purposes: to serve and to mate.

[And Nightsisters were not particularly gentle with them, which was just something one grew used to.]

[demonicbeauty]

Oh...

[Well, that's awkward.

And more than a little questionable. But it's not her place to judge.]

Well. I guess it's lucky you don't have to go through that here.

[opress]

[He cleared his throat a little because... well, one of the zealots was definitely an old Nightsister. He was avoiding her as much as possible.]

It doesn't matter. I assume your species had mating rituals others would consider strange?

[demonicbeauty]

[She laughs softly.]

Only that our males are the ones who bear the children.

[opress]

What?

[It probably wasn't unusual for some species, but he was admittedly taken aback and intrigued at the same time.]

How does that work? Is it... an egg-laying manner?

[demonicbeauty]

[Honestly, she's only slightly startled by his reaction. She hasn't exactly gone out of her way to discuss Alastrian mating habits with anyone. And she's been around humanoids enough to know that they would find it odd.

Still. It's a...strong reaction.]

Oh, well. In, in a way, I guess. I haven't exactly...I mean, there are so few Alastrians left that I've never...

[She shrugs.]

I've never seen or met one younger than I am. Or a mating couple expecting a litter.

All I know is what my father told me when I was a little girl.

[opress]

[It was just such a strange physiology. He couldn't imagine Zabrak breeding that way, and yet... it would probably suit their females better. Of course, it meant keeping their male alive longer than most would like...]

I've never heard of a sentient species mating that way. I'm certain they exist given the vast species in the galaxy.

[He was still... intrigued. She was such an interesting species.]

I suppose it's not a matter to discuss openly... [But if she wanted to talk about it...]

[demonicbeauty]

It's...nothing I'm ashamed of.

[Mating, that is. She's still working through years of self-loathing that come with being an Alastrian.

But no need to get into that.]

I'm afraid I just can't give you any sort of scientific explanation. All I know is that our males are born with a sac on their backs. And that's where the litter develops.

[opress]

As you shouldn't. Every species is unique.

[He might hate almost everything everywhere, but he recognized the uniqueness of it all. And it was such a pain to only deal with humans most of the time.

She was a breath of fresh air compared to having to contend with the usual human weirdness.]

Does the female put the developing litter in there or... mating is backwards?

[demonicbeauty]

[She holds up her hands, palms about an inch apart.]

When a female goes into a heat cycle, she presses her palms to her mate's palms and...well, something kind of...happens. Or more often doesn't happen.

[See? Not even remotely scientific.]

We call it the "Alastrian kiss." That's the best translation for it, anyway.

[opress]

Fertility is low in your species?

[What he learned was that mating in her species involved hand pressing. And that things may or may not happen. It sounded so soft compared to mating that he had heard about.]

Even your species' mating sounds gentle.

[demonicbeauty]

There...aren't a lot of us left.

[Low fertility is only part of it. Genocide is kind of the other part, but that's a downer and there's no point in making the conversation depressing as well as awkward.

She shrugs.]

I know how humanoids mate. We can do that too. Although it's purely recreational.

[opress]

So you've said. And you're alone here.

[Savage was grateful he had his brother, not so much the Nightsister lurking around. Still, to be alone didn't sound like an enjoyable prospect to consider.]

Such practice passes the time.

[demonicbeauty]

I understand it goes with being in love.

[She smiles a little bit. Alone though she may be, Ariadne is a bit of a romantic, at heart.

She can't help it. Her parents were disgustingly in love.]

[opress]

I wouldn't know anything about that.

[Savage has never been in love, and his idea of romance has been heavily damaged by his upbringing.]

Have you been in love then?

[demonicbeauty]

No. I'd like to be, some day. But...

[She looks down at herself, staring at her palms.

And then shakes her head.]

Well. No one would have an Alastrian. I don't think.

[opress]

[Savage growled.]

Everyone will have everyone from what I've seen. Just wait long enough and you'll find interest.