Surprise Guests

[Koil Solus]

♠ THEME ♠
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D R E A M

Koil sat in the living room of Dio Solus. The man and his family had been friends of his for a long time and had a beautiful home. Strange though how Dio’s family home was not destroyed. He could have sworn it had been blown up in the Battle of Mandalore. 5 he smiled underneath his helmet glad that it had survived somehow.

The kids ran from one room to the next, playing with the various dire badgers that had come with the other guests. Nearly a dozen people were present now. All the adults were smiling with drinks in their hands. It was a good party. One of the kids came up to him, giving him a hug. Koil’s own body language must have been one of surprise because the others that caught it seemed to laugh. It was fair. He was used to being the somewhat scary yet silent type. Kids were not his thing usually. But he gave a one armed hug back to the small child before they ran off to join their friends.0

Several moments would pass as he continued to sit there and watch the others talk. They’re mouths moved but he could not hear their voices. Koil’s brow furrowed in casual confusion. 8 He wondered if every was doing some kind of gimmick.

As he stared at Raz talking to Narir he squinted, trying to read their lips. The man had become adept at reading lips but for some reason he could not understand them. He wondered if they were speaking some language that he had yet to learn. It had to be

5 No, that did not make sense. He would have known if they had started chatting in some new language. 0 He blinked, wanting to rub his eyes and clear them for some reason. 8

Leandros was off to the side standing there with a drink in his hand. 5 But he was different. 0 Something was wrong. 8

Leandros. Koil thought of his comrade’s name and mouthed the words but he heard nothing. The man still looked at him though. The same usual smile widening as he raised a glass to Koil. The Echani could not help but raise his own.

508 Koil’s hand remained motionless. Looking down he saw his hand was bound, chained to his side. The man’s head snapped back up. Wait. What’s going on? He said. Still nothing came from his mouth.

Leandros! What is this? But his helmet was on. Leandros, Raz, Narir, Wyatt, Danny, Drace, all of them looked at him and just raised their glasses like he was offering them a toast instead of trying his best to break free. Koil pulled hard on the chains but they did not budge. If only he could get his helmet off. Maybe he could sign his distress. But then they were speaking some language he did not understand without uttering a word.

New arrivals came into the home. Nobody seemed to pay them any mind, except Koil. Several of them were wearing non-specific Sith marauder armor. In their hands they clearly held the metalic cylinders that were lightsaber that remained unignited. Never forget It flashed in his mind but he was too worried about the several sith enforces following in weilding blaster rifles.

The kids stopped playing as they were somehow called silently to the banquet that had been prepared. Never Forget, 508 Even the chains as he pulled against them did not give a single clinking sound. It was deafening silence.

“Why not a toast?” Koil stopped and slowly looked up. Everyone was staring at him with a pleasant smile. They were expecting him to give some kind of speech? No, this was wrong. This was all wrong.

no you have to get out of here... He turned to the nearest Sith who was not even looking at him. Spare them. Let them go! But his voice had remained silent as it had thus far. “Ha! That’s just like you Koil.” came Leandros’s jovial voice. “Quiet as always. That’s what we can expect from the Silent Badger. Amiright?”

No, Raz, you have to- The next sound he heard was several crimson lightsabers activating casting half the room in crimson light. Koil hollered, veins popping, arms bulging as he did not stop trying to warn his friends and family. He cried out with everything he had but no sound came from him as the lightsabers swung, executing everyone before him

“What’s the matter Koil?” Looking down he saw Leandros’s bodiless head staring up at him. A quizical expression on his face like he had just seen Koil give a moderate amount of distress and not the full blown panic he was experiencing. “Don’t you-”

The sensation of sound returned as Koil sat upright. The stiffness of the couch told him he was not where he thought he was. The living room of his own apartment quiet for a few moments. His heart was beating faster than it usually did even when in the field. Sweat beaded on his brow. His crimson eyes darting around to find out where he was. Where had the Sith gone. Then he remembered where he was. He remembered what had happened. Nearly a minute would pass before he layed back down. His heartbeat would return to normal. ”how can I forget?” He asked himself as he stared at the ceiling until the sun came up.

So many new things, so many changes had happened in such a short amount of time. Koil felt himself changing with it. But it was not something that happened overnight. His demons still lay within him and were not something that just got turned off. The Echani's mind drifted to Keira. His heart beat slowed and calm returned to him.

The sound of footsteps made him sit back up. His father walked into the open kitchen not even bothering to look up at his son. Koil's parents had been living at his apartement above his tattoo parlor since the battle of Mandalore. They had survived and thanks in part to also Keira's relief efforts, saved a significant number of mandalorians in more rural locations. Now they had lost their own home so Koil had offered for them to stay at his apartment while he stayed elsewhere. Often this just ended up with him sleeping on the couch, in his ship or usually taking dozes in the official facilities the mandalorians of his status frequented. The Crescent Club House was his most frequent stop. Rarely did he stay more than a few days before heading back out. There was a lot to do.

For now he had some time off. The doctor had ordered he make sure to take some personal time so that his injuries healed up. It allowed him to also check up on his business. Koil's sister, Vidian, had been seeing to it while he had been away. Not a skilled tattoo artist necessarily, but the woman knew her business and when not out partying like another particular Ordo clan member she was a more trust worthy Mandalorian than any other.

"It's already afternoon and you're still sleeping?" Atin, his father's gruff and aged voice berrated him like the War Councilor had been slacking. Koil rolled his eyes and got up. "You're mother will be back soon." He said that like it meant Koil had to get his butt into gear. Just another day then I guess. Koil got up and headed to take a quick shower. The least he could do was not smell like he had just returned from the gym. This was his apartment and his parents were his guests. Dinner would have to be worked on sooner rather than later. "You're sister is coming for dinner too." His father yelled from the kitchen. "Great." The Echani's voice said with ladened sarcasm. "Maybe I should make sure the first aid kit is stocked." He added with a mutter. Knowing their family one of them would need it before the night was done.

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira felt strange coming out here again after the last few times hadn’t gone over so well. Her efforts to offer medical help and supplies always ended up getting raided, and she gave up in the end for her own safety. However, she had been able to help countless soldiers before she did so, and that was good enough for her.

She had returned here to pay a visit to….was he her boyfriend now? It felt strange to give that title to a Mandalorian War Councilor, but they had decided to become as ‘official’ as you could. Keira rolled her eyes, thinking about how juvenile her line of thoughts went. She arrived to surprise him and hopefully get to spend some time experiencing life as he did - when it involved not killing anyone of course.

He had told her where his apartment resided, and she made her way there, taking a break from her formal duties. In fact, she had chalked it up to a ‘foreign affairs’ meeting with the Mandalorians. No one questioned it, and here she was. Keira only hoped she wouldn’t run into any raiders this time, and her journey to his apartment had been thankfully uneventful.

She brought a bottle of wine from Tirahnn and a recipe book for them to make cryo custard together since he enjoyed it so much. Taking a deep breath she brought up her knuckles and knocked on the door. Keira was already smiling in anticipation of seeing Koil, having no clue that she would be running into more than she bargained for...

@Darasaurus

 

[Koil Solus]

One luxury Koil never took for granted was a good shower. The hot water just loosened him up. The white noise of the shower put him at ease. It was not quite silence but also not exactly something he was trying to listen to. It was just a comfortable constant. Of course this meant he did not hear Keira when she knocked on the door to his apartment.

Atin, Koil's father did though. His cut a slice of the apple in his hand. It went directly from the knife into his white beard framed mouth. In Atin's mind his wife was probably locked out or something. Koil had not exactly trusted them with a key. <"Not even for emergencies."> He muttered to himself in mando'a as he opened the door. <"Honey you ne-"> but he stopped as he quickly saw it was not his wife.

Keira of course would see a very differently white haired person than she had expected. Atin's left eye was covered with a patch but his still working eye squinted as it showed immediate suspicion of the woman. In his hand he still had the small knife meant for paring. "Hmmmm....you seem familiar" The way he said that was hinted with a tone that said he also knew she was not Mandalorian. "Who are you?"

Behind the old man Koil stepped out into the main area of the apartement that was visible from the door. "Don't leave the door open stuff will-" Koil's eyes looked up in time to see Keira at the door. "Keira!" He said, also looking at the tension in his father's body. "Buir, she's a friend." that was not exactly true. She was more than a friend. But he had said it so quickly because him not being there to introduce the two of them felt pretty awkward.

His bare feet quickly padded along the ground. Droplets of water left on the ground since he had not even dried off all the way. Atin just grunted a little as if he had already forgotten about Keira. Turning around his place in the doorway was replaced by the half naked Koil with an apologetic smile on his face. "So THAT is why you've been speaking basic since you've returned. Your mother is going to want a key to your apartment Koil." His tone indicating that there was no way he was going to win an argument even if he tried. The War Councilor rolled his eyes briefly. Even around his family he was used to having his helmet on but at least his back was turned.

Taking a deep breath he looked down at himself and then back up at Keira. "Sorry for...that...come on in. I uh...just got out of the shower." The Echani kept a hold on his towel as he moved back into the apartment. "I'll just get changed and be right out. Hold on...please." His step quickened not wanting to leave Keira alone and awkward with his dad. The man was not what he would describe as a warm person. Atin just leaned against the counter and munched on his apple, slicing slowly into it and taking thin pieces of the apple after he finished chewing the previous bite.

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira audibly gasped when she saw the older Echani with an eyepatch. She almost dropped the bottle of wine and remained frozen as he gruffly muttered about her being familiar. Did she have the wrong house? Her eyes took in the white hair and the facial structure, and it looked oddly similar to Koil’s.

“Erm...I’m…” Her words died as he seemingly brushed her off and she heard Koil in the background. Her alarmed face was replaced with mild relief, though her cheeks were bright red. She hadn’t exactly expected to run into his family. As Koil introduced her as his friend, her eyes narrowed slightly. Friend? She felt immature, but the word stung more than she would admit.

“I can come back another tim-” Koil motioned for her to come in and quickly went to get dressed. Keira could only stare awkwardly at the older Mandalorian who was calmly chewing on his apple. She stood at the doorway for a few more minutes, thinking about just walking back and leaving. However, she heard a distant rumble of thunder up above as a storm began to brew.

With a sigh, Keira walked inside and set the wine and supplies on the counter. She felt too awkward sitting down so she stood there looking around, “So...um…. Nice to meet you...Mr...er.. Solus..” She muttered awkwardly, blinking at Atin.

 

[Koil Solus]

"Atin. There's too many of us Solus to call us by our last name so just call me Atin." He said in response inbetween one of the bites. His eyes looked Keira up and down. It was clear he was trying to figure her out. "Keira..." it dawned on him but it only showed as his mouth curled into a smile. A slight chuckle came from him and he shook his head. "fill me up with spunk and call me a-" Atin did not get to finish his profane remark because another knock came from the door.

Koil came out of his room with more of his clothes on wearing. "Who's it now?" He asked and was immediately answered by Atin with a deadpan tone. "Probably your mother."

Sure enough the door opened and it was a beskar clad mandalorian. <"Glad to see your awake sleepy head."> But behind her was another person. She was armored but not in the same kind of combat gear as the grey armored Mandalorian. The HPK helmet began to part and slide back to reveal the face underneath. This woman spoke n basic. "You owe me bro. I had to listen to her complain for like an hour."

Gods please kill me. He thought to himself. His expression was just already done just because he knew a whole lot of drama and awkwardness was ahead. But there was now way to stop it now. His mother and sister were there and they were forces of nature."Yeah...sure...come on in." It was said with barely any enthusiasm.

Moving to allow them to come in he lead them back from the entryway. "dad and you two aren't the only guests I have." He would bring them fully into his apartment and gesture towards Keira. "You may think she looks familiar and that's because she's the Chancellor of the Republic." The two women stopped once in view. Vidian looked like she was having trouble stifling laughter. Her eyes darting between Koil and Keira. The other woman still had her helmet on and remained quiet for a moment and then looked over to Koil, no longer centered on Keira. "So you're making dinner then?"

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira wanted to disappear. More and more people kept flooding in, and she couldn’t be more out of place. She took in sight of the two female Mandos, surprised they were speaking basic at all. She knew Mandos not to trust outsiders, and she wondered if they felt that way. Keira knew there were many Mandalorians that were unhappy with what she represented - she was, after all, taking back several of their worlds.

As Koil blurted out that she was the Chancellor, she grimaced, almost wishing he wouldn’t have said anything. Thankfully, they continued to take little note of her, looking right at Koil and mentioning dinner. Keira felt entirely too awkward here, and Koil didn’t look comfortable either.

“Let’s catch up another time,” Keira forced a smile and turned to the others, “It was nice to see you all,” She nodded, and she began to quickly shuffle towards the exit. This was entirely too much at once, and she had only banked on coming across Koil alone. If she weren’t stopped, she would walk out the front door and exhale. Keira had to simply breathe and release the anxiety that had rapidly built up.

 

[Koil Solus]

"you're not staying?" Ivinia said. If Keira could catch it, Atin actually look surprised at this question. "Koil. You should be inviting her to eat with us." The War Councilor inhaled sharply and quickly made his way to Keira's side. "Yes. Please. Don't go. Stay and...maybe you can help me cook too. He knew that his father would just criticize if he asked him and this way they would still be able to maybe talk if the rest of his family was busy with one another for a little bit. I'd like you to actually meet everyone. Not just introductions."

He could only imagine how she must feel. He was pretty freaked out himself but was trying to think of how he would react in her place. Probably not much differently. "This man is my buir, my father, Atin. This is my mother Ivinia. And-" "I'm Vidian. I am so happy you are here. Tonight is gonna be awesome." Koil gave her a look of casual disapproval. She was going to get a kick out of seeing him squirm.

"You helped a lot of our people after the battle. Plenty of people would have been worse off without you." The grey helmeted woman nodded her head forward. "You have my thanks Chancellor. I would appreciate it if you stayed for dinner." Koil had nothing to add after his mother finished. His eyes just looked back toward Keira wondering what she would decide. He wanted her to stay. Everything would just be weird after this so the only thing he could hope to do was to maybe lean into it. It was uncomfortable but they could survive a shared dinner with his family. "Anybody want a drink? I want a drink. I'm going rto make myself a drink." He said and walked around the kitchen counter to head towards the bar cart with malt liquor. "I'll take mine neat hun." Ivinia said and pulled off her helmet to reveal a face with a pleasant smile. Afterwards she headed into the living room. Vidian followed soon after but not before punching Koil in the shoulder as she passed him.

It left just Keira and Koil in the kitchen. The apartment was not very large but at least they had some privacy. Koil hopped he could come up with some kind of briefing to dealing with his family. It was going to be interesting if nothing else.


@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira was still overwhelmed, but she got the sense that it would be beyond rude to leave now. Everyone here was oddly welcoming, and it was far from what she would have expected from a household full of Mandalorians. They also had no issues with taking their helmets off, and it was clear they were very different from Koil in personality.

In the end, she managed a smile and took a seat at the counter. As the woman thanked her for her work, Keira’s smile widened, “I tried,” She thought about the mishaps she ran into, “What happened was awful, and I’ll always try to help where I can,” Keira had no idea what kind of food she was signing up for by staying for dinner, but she was curious to know his family.

Keira introduced herself to them one by one, taking note how they all had their own very unique and individual personality. Once they all flooded out of the kitchen and she and Koil were left alone, it was pindrop silent for a moment. She turned to look at Koil with a quirked eyebrow.

“How is it that they’re nothing like you?” She couldn’t help but blurt out. They were all cheery and loud, Koil was completely quiet, reserved and preferred to hide beneath the helmet. Keira popped open the bottle of wine she had brought, pouring herself a glass as she favored the Tirahnn flavors.

“And I see you’ve mentioned nothing about us yet,” She said quietly, the hint of being slightly upset clear in her tone. Keira didn’t look at him as she said this, swirling the wine in her glass before she would take a sip.

 

[Koil Solus]

His brow immediately furrowed in confusion at Keira's words. "What do you mean? I'm adopted." He was not sure if she meant biologically. Did she not know that Mandalorians often adopted children? But maybe she meant their personalities and mannerisms.

His head turned to look over towards his family as if trying to see something that he couldn't quite make out. "I'd like to think I'm a little bit like them. The good parts of them at least." They were each a pain in the ass sometimes but they were still family.

Her second question had him opening his mouth as if to try and quickly come up with some excuse for why he had not brought her up in conversation with his parents or sister. But he had no good answer because he also felt guilty as he finally admitted he had not. "Yeah...um...sorry. Probably should have done that with this kind of hindsight."

Koil walked to get closer to Keira. He spoke in a soft voice so his family would not hear them. "Hey, I'll tell them. I also wanted to kind of tell you about them more. I feel kind of bad for not preparing you for that. They might seem nice now but... they can be ruthless in more than just combat." He was returning to the line of thinking that tended to put him on his toes. "My dad he's old school. I think he just put some amount of two and two together already and so he's having a surprising amount of restraint. You have my mother to thank for that probably. He is the man of the house, or at least was...but she was the one that actually ran it. There are three people in the galaxy I'm afraid of and they're sitting in my living room....NOT USING COASTERS!" He yelled as he saw the table with several drinks on the wood surface and tossed a fleck of garnish at their general direction. "Ope...my bad." Vidian said with clear apathy that earned a growl from the Echani. "Don't throw perfectly good food. That's how you get ants." His mother exclaimed like she was some simple housewife. She was a total badass and just liked messing with people.

Sighing he turned to look back at Keira. "My sister...""love you bro""love you too Vid'ika...is a probably just glad to have you over because she a sadist who likes to cause sadness and suck the souls out of all living beings." He added a wink to reassure Keira that he was totally joking. His sister was probably the most understanding out of all of them.

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira quirked an eyebrow, “Since when does being adopted mean being raised any different than a natural born child? Unless you were adopted as a teenager, your parents would influence you just the same - meaning I’d expect you to be more like them,” She shrugged. She didn’t understand at all why there would be any difference between adopted or being born into a family. She chalked it up to him thinking Keira was ignorant of Mando culture, which only made her roll her eyes.

When he explained about his family being ruthless, Keira remained silent. She looked down at her drink, thinking about all the times she had her life in danger. She had been attacked by Mandalorians, seen a fellow diplomat get shot, had a cordial relationship with a man that had no qualms with declaring war or killing Sith Lords on Holonet. Keira couldn’t help but chuckle softly, taking a sip from her drink.

“When I said I loved you,” She looked at him again, “I meant all of you. That includes all of the chaos that comes with you, the good, the bad and the ugly. And that also includes,” Keira looked over at the people yelling or causing a scene in the other rooms, “..All of them.”

She only had her mother, and Keira hadn’t spoken to her in years. Keira didn’t think he would be meeting her anytime soon, mainly because she had no idea where she was now. Despite her attempts to help the woman, her mother had been stubborn and living off odd jobs or even prostitution. Keira preferred not to think about it, though the media often tried to dig up that ugly side of her past.

“So, what’s for dinner?” Keira asked with a smile, finally loosening up a little. If this is what she signed up for the evening, she would make the most of it.

@Darasaurus

 

[Koil Solus]

He had actually been a teenager his first family had died. His eyes dropped a little as he thought of his biological family. But Koil had lived as a Mandalorian now far longer than he had lived as a non-mando. Maybe he had tried purposefully to be different than his family. As much as he hated to admit it sometimes, he ended up sharing commonalities with his father. A therapist would probably have a field day with the two of them. Atin was a man of few works and merciless when it came to his children and anything mandalorian. However he was soft in few areas. Those were the things that stood him apart from other Solus clans and had estranged his direct family long ago from the rest of the clan. Like adopting a non-human before we were so progressive. It was Atin who had taken him from his biological family's corpses. But it was he who also caused him a lot of pain over the years that had molded him into the man he was today. That was the type of thing between a father and son.

Koil's expression softened though as he heard Keira talk again. "Well in that case I suppose I should ask you for how I should tell them about us. You're the one with a diplomatic touch." The Echani's mind was trying to think of ways to bring it up in conversation without it becoming too dramatic. Their eyes occasionally looked over glancing at the two of them.

"Well I was going to make some stir-fry but if you want me to make something else I will. Whatever you choose I'll put any hot spices on the side." Koil knew she did not have the same acquired taste as the rest of them.

"How are things? Anything you want to talk about?" He did not want to pry about anything specific. Her work was her own as was his. Koil understood if also she just wanted to leave her stresses in the office, as did he. But maybe there was an annoying coworker, troublesome speeder maintenance, or some sports team she wanted to talk about. If she wanted to small talk and just enjoy one another's presence he would also direct her to help him out when it came to the ingredients of their dinner. Occasionally his parents or sister would come up.

"How is the state of anaxes going?" Koil looked up to see his mother's eyes looking over at them. "Mom it's rude to talk politics." Vidian said with the intention of defending their guest's comfort in a home full of strangers. Ivinia shrugged as if she had not meant anything by it. She may not have, but the War Councilor knew she was as clever as they came. "So this is not an official visit then? Interesting." The Echani stiffened. She was already on to them without even him needing to say a word. His eyes looked over at Keira giving her a look that said he was ready to tell them if she was fine with him doing it.

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira raised an eyebrow, “Let me do the talking while you hide?” She grinned as she took another drink, “I’ll eat whatever you make. You haven’t disappointed me yet,” She turned to look as Koil’s mother came and asked about Anaxes. His sister cut in, but Keira only smiled.

“Anaxes is all yours if you please,”Keira shrugged, “We’ve tried to reason with the Senator, but he insists on it being a Sith planet,” She grimaced, taking another sip from her drink. There was nothing Keira could do to save them if they were going to be astonishingly stupid.

She looked at the older woman for a moment, “And no, this isn’t an official visit. It was a surprise visit for Koil, but…” She turned to look at Koil, “I ended up being the surprised one,” Keira took a sip again, thinking about how to cut through the tension.

“It was the least I could do after Koil kindly visited my home planet and spent an entire week with me there,” Keira kept a poker face on as she continued to drink casually, wondering how his family would react to the bomb she just dropped.

 

[Koil Solus]

Things were going well. He could not help but smile as Keira reacted with the confidence and intelligence he knew she was capable of. Then she mentioned his trip to Tirahnn. His cheeks turned slightly pink for the first time in a long time. Koil's ears burned and his eyes widened. All three sets of eyes in the living room silently looked at him in unison. Their entire focus was on him now.

Koil took a deep breath picking his words carefully as quickly as he could. "Keira'smygirlfriend." Well that did not work out how he had expected it would. So much for thinking that out. His father remained silent, just staring and hard to read as ever.

Vidian just seemed impressed, as if she had expected Keira to say their relationship before Koil. Her gaze turned to look at their mother. Ivinia sat there. Her gaze calmly looking at Koil still, not even glancing at Keira since Koil's statment. "It's serious?"

The War Councilor brought his hand over to Keira's. The woman's eyes flicked to Keira to see if she gave any inkling to the contrary. She was still a protective parent. While the two parents were more progressive than a great deal of their clanmates and had been for decades, they still were suspicious of outsiders.

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira rolled her eyes as Koil practically vomited out the words. For all his scary demeanor and mannerisms, he was a complete marshmallow when it came to this. Keira lightly elbowed him in the ribs to tell him to get his shit together, her own gaze remaining on his mother.

The woman looked instead at Koil, asking if it were serious. Keira felt Koil’s hand over hers. As silence hung, Keira’s patience began to run thin. If Koil wasn’t going to speak up, she would, and it wouldn’t exactly be on his terms. She shot him a glare before turning to look at Ivinia instead, “Yes, and I hope that’s not going to cause problems,” She said firmly, looking over at all the family members individually.

“I understand how you may view me as an outsider, and I’m never going to tell you to think one way or another,” Keira shrugged, “The most I can ask is that you give me a chance to show you who I am so you can decide for yourself,” Keira smiled at Koil’s mother, reaching over for the bottle of wine.

“Why don’t we start with you all sampling some wine from my home planet so we can allow Koil here to recover his guts off the floor and remember how to speak,” Keira said as she slid over a few more glasses and began to pour them all the wine.

 

[Koil Solus]

She is way better at this sort of thing than I am. Give him an IED to defuse, an enemy general to assassinate, a platoon to train, those things he knew how to do. Keira made it look so natural and easy. The man could not help but smile.

Ivinia cocked an eyebrow at Keira's words. Koil's father squinted and Vidian just kept the hint of a smile at her lips. She was enjoying the family drama for once when it was not focused on her. I gotta give her a headbutt later. Koil's mother eventually sighed as if she had no other options. "Alright. I think we can do that. Don't you dear?" Atin brought his drink to his lips and resumed what he had been doing before. "Girlfriend huh?" Koil tightened his hand for a moment what rude thing his father might say that might make him want to fight his old man. Atin could be crass but his son was not about to allow that sort of thing to happen. Koil's father had not said anything up until that question. When he spoke he expected an answer. "Yessir."

A moment passed that felt like it lingered but then just Atin shrugged. "Bout time you brought someone home. Your mother wants a key to the apartment." and like that Koil was relaxed again. His father liked Keira. "Yeah, I'll get you one." He answered with a relieved smile. That seemed to be the end of it for, for now at least.

"When's dinner?" Vidian finally spoke up after all the tension seemed to evaporate. None of Koil's family was holding any suspicious glares or abnormal attention at this point. No expressions of judgement and they just seemed to be three more people in the apartment enjoying a few beverages. With a whisper he spoke towards Keira again. "That's about as good as I think it could have gone."

@Sreeya

 

[Keira Zale]

Keira was secretly glad that the tension had been diffused. It was a skill she had learned on the job, and she applied it even here. As everyone began to mill about, she sipped her wine, not looking at Koil as he whispered to her, “I really thought you had more guts than that,” She muttered, making no effort to hide her displeasure. He had made her do all the talking and his parents hadn’t even known about her existence.

She ignored all the other commentary, putting on a smile for the sake of not wanting to cause a scene. Only Koil would be able to tell she was irritated, and she was perfectly fine with that. Keira helped out in the kitchen where she could, especially in terms of setting the table and food out.

Keira sat at the table, marveling at the delicious aroma of the food. She could be grumpy, but she couldn’t deny Koil was quite adept at cooking. Her own skills in the kitchen had a lot left to be desired. She poured herself another glass of wine, looking over at Koil’s father who always looked slightly skeptical.

“It’s nice to see you all here like this,” Keira said quietly, “Koil’s very lucky. I haven’t spoken to my mother in years and my father died a long time go,” She smiled sadly, “It’s quiet back in my home. Quiet and peaceful….but can also be lonely.”

 

[Koil Solus]

Koil cocked an eyebrow in showing some visible surprise at Keira's response. But looking back at how things had suddenly happened he had not handled things as best as he could have. A sigh followed the realization. Koil could not blame her for her choice words. "Sorry." He just wanted her to know he was sincere when he said that.

The rest of the time in the kitchen was spent mostly quiet. Koil did not want to add to her frustration with words and instead just had them focusing on a joint task together. But he did not engage his family either. The mostly spoke with one another. Vidian did not see their parents very often so they were taking their turn practically interrogating the young woman about what she had been doing since they had last spoke. But Koil just tuned it out so that he could just be content with being with Keira, even if she was totally pissed at him.

The two parents looked at one another and gave a warm smile to one another after Keira spoke. "We are just happy to still have so much." Koil knew that plenty of families even normally were not so fortunate. He knew this because Keira had been denied a father, just as she said. "If only we got to at least see our kids a little bit more. A mother worries" Ivinia's eye glared at both of her children like they had no excuse for not holo-calling them more often. She turned to Keira though and thanked her for helping out with dinner. Atin and Vidian soon followed as well in thanking Keira though while it was delayed it was still sincere.

"Koil has told us a bit about you. Obviously not as a boyfriend but looking back he did seem to always have extra detailing when he told us a story or two involving you." Ivinia looked at her son but he was just smiling pleasantly. He remembered telling them about her, about how he had thought she had a sound mind and impressive intellect. Koil had complimented Keira's passion for her cause and her resolve. "She could have been a great Mandalorian."

"Actually...mom...I think I said something different." Koil took a sip of his water after correcting his mother. The woman furrowed her brow in response. "I think I said She could be a great Mandalorian." He did a quick glance around at everyone as fast as his eyes could take in their expressions wondering if the significance of that hit anybody. They were all smart people and could figure it out. Ivinia smiled, she had maneuvered the conversation where she wanted it to go. "you're not getting any younger son." Koil just grunted at the reminder knowing his mother was just poking fun at him. "But you're right. I can see why he liked you Keira. You could be a great Mandalorian." At one end of the table a few simple and slow nods from Atin came as he chewed his food quietly.

The Echani knew he may very well still be in the badger house but he was not going to shy away from his admiration for Keira. He was especially not going to be ashamed of how strongly he cared for her. It was not his way of trying to uncomfortably bring up the idea of marriage. But now it was something that was unavoidable.

They had not really talked more about their relationship or future plans yet. Maybe they had just been happy with what they had in that moment. That was what their time on Tirahnn had been. Maybe it was time they think about the long run. Koil did not want to press it further if she would rather have it in private after dinner was done at least. But it was unavoidable one way or another and Koil was fine with expressing himself honestly to everyone present if he needed to.

@Sreeya