RocketBoy Posted July 1, 2020 Posted July 1, 2020 (edited) Mato's Tale: Spoiler Mato I: A Death SentenceMato II: Fleeing the StenchMato III: This Your First Time In Hyperspace?Mato IV: Along Old LanesMato V: No Soliciting (If You're Techno Union) Next Post: Mato VII: Learning the Trade Note: This post has minimal build involved. I hope that doesn't stretch the limits too much of what Factions is. The subject of this post is a conversation, but it's an important and meaningful one for the character, so I wanted to give it its own post. There will be more builds in future posts, promise. Thanks for sticking with me so far. Chapter VI Night was falling. Mato emerged from the galley onto the lakeside rotunda. A gnarled tree, purple blossoms dotting its branches, waved over the water. Ko-Yode, the Steward and Leader of the settlement of Bur Wend, stood on what was left of an old pier. Maybe damaged years ago in the fight against the Empire. Mato swallowed hard. This man was the key to his future. He had no idea what to expect. His face, hidden as it was by beard and eyepatch and hair, was relaxed. He was older, but Mato couldn’t tell how old. His eyes held wisdom, but revealed nothing else. Mato could only meet them for a moment before he dropped his gaze to the stones at his feet. Neither of them spoke for several moments. Mato was terrified of what the Steward might say; would he charge him with murder? Throw him out for working for the Hutt Lords? He had killed people just like the farmers he had passed coming here. Good people, helpless victims of the Hutts. He had been their tool. On their orders he had done terrible things. Sometimes he had enjoyed it. This wasn’t something he wanted to admit, but deep down he knew it was true. All of these things mounted on his soul. The weight forced his head low and his mouth closed. Finally, Ko-Yode spoke. “Yigs is something, isn’t she?” That hadn’t been the first thing he was expecting, but he welcomed any topic that wasn’t his past. Mato nodded quickly. “Yes. Full of…fire. She’s quick. Speaks well.” “I heard you two saved each other’s lives. She might as well be my sister. Thanks for that.” “Well,” Mato scratched his head. “She helped me. I am…free, now.” Ko-Yode watched him keenly, his dark eye glinting in the waning light of evening. His tone was calm, friendly. “I’m glad. Welcome to Wayland. Do you have anywhere to sleep?” Mato glanced up at him. He shook his head. Ko-Yode nodded. “I’ll have something set up near my quarters then. I imagine you’re afraid? Some of the people here have suffered because of the Hutts. You’re my guest until we decide there’s no danger. Then we can get you settled. That alright with you?” Mato was bewildered. No one had offered him anything like this before. He had just been told he could stay, right off the bat, with no question, no form, no proving. It didn’t feel right. How could he accept that? What about what he had done? Who he had been? “Mato?” the Steward was smiling. Mato realized he hadn’t responded. “Oh, yes—yes.” “That’s settled, then. Here, come over by the water. These fish come in every color you could imagine over here. They’re crazy.” Mato stumbled over to the pier, standing stiff beside the tall, black-robed man. He watched the water, and the shapes moving under it. After a few minutes of quiet fish-watching, Ko-Yode spoke again. “Why did you want to leave Nal Hutta, Mato?” Mato’s heart dropped. This was a test, he knew it was. He felt his knees shake. He had faced horrors and dangers no one should have to. Stared down foes taken by bloodlust, been taken by it himself. He had been afraid many times. None of those times had been the same as this. This could not be survived with strength or will. All he knew to do was tell the truth. “I—I, well—I did not like the Hutts,” he mumbled. “They treated me like trash. Living as their servant was hell. They stink, and my bed was always filthy, and I had to obey every order, or I’d be killed like the others, and…I was…afraid. I was afraid all the time. I had gotten used to it. Yigs was the first person I met who wasn’t afraid. I guess I wanted the life that—that she had.” He cursed himself. He sounded like a child. The two men stood side-by-side, looking into the watery world below. Ko-Yode nodded, and asked another question. “Do you still think about the things you did?” The memories and the images flooded his mind. The faces of those he was about to kill, the desperation, the pleading. They wanted to live. He wanted to live too. He remembered the horror in their faces when they saw him smile, saw he would not show mercy. He felt powerful in that moment. For once, he felt powerful. All he felt now was fear. A dam broke inside him. He felt his wrinkled face contort. “Stop!” he shouted, turning on the Steward. Ko-Yode was calm. “Stop?” Mato felt tears leak from his eyes and roll down his weathered face. The fear and the anger inside him snapped against the meek silence he had maintained since he left. The conflict between the person he had been and who he had been pretending to be. He started to rant, raising his voice. “Days ago, I was a killer. An evil person. I am not some charity case, you idiot! Some poor, sad hound looking for a home! I am not allowed in! I have murdered people, do you understand?” He heard venom in his voice. Bitterness that drained and cracked. He frothed with rage, towards himself, towards this one-eyed man, towards Nal Hutta and towards Wayland. “The kinds of people that live here! Parents! Peaceful people! The Hutts made me this, but make no mistake, I did not stop them! I chose to kill! I chose to enjoy it! I chose to survive!” He thrust a finger in the Steward’s face. The man did not blink. Mato’s voice was hoarse. He snarled his words through weeping. “I do not BELONG here! You should NOT accept me!” he snarled. “The person I was, the things I have done have exiled me. EXILE ME! Send me away! Do not give me—do not give me a bed, you FOOL! Put me in jail! Kill me! THAT would be just, not your—your—insanity!” Like an animal, he slobbered and shook. “KILL ME!” With his last scream Mato fell to the floor, a shivering, sobbing, angry heap. Ko-Yode didn’t speak. He just waved away the guard, and sat down beside the Weequay on the pier, looking quietly between the water and his fetal form. It took time, but slowly Mato went from furious to frustrated, weeping to ashamed. He held his knees, wiping his face constantly. It was twenty minutes before he spoke. His voice was a croak. “What have I done?” “Nothing that I’ll hold against you, friend,” answered Ko-Yode quietly. He smiled at the Weequay. “You’re still that person, you know. We don’t ever lose our past.” Mato looked at him like a child, through bleary eyes. “Can I ever be free? Can I ever make it right?” Ko-Yode considered it. “That’s a difficult question, isn’t it? I think, for your sake and others’, you’ll have to reckon with what you’ve done. But how you do it is something you find for yourself. You’ve been given questions to which you can’t be given answers. You’ll have to live them out—maybe a little at a time.” “How long will that take?” “I don’t know,” Ko-Yode admitted. “As long as you live, maybe.” “That might be a long time.” “I hope so.” The Steward turned to him, and put a firm hand on his shoulder. “You’re still the person you were, but you’ve made new choices. That’s all we can do. But you know what, Mato? That guy? You? Even at his worst? I would’ve given that guy a place here too.” Mato wasn’t used to hugging people—he had probably never done it in his life, except in a fight—but he embraced Ko-Yode without thinking. It was awkward, but earnest. Ko-Yode took it in stride. “I will work hard,” the Weequay said. “I will earn my place.” Ko-Yode smiled seriously. “You don’t have to earn anything, but I’m sure you will. You belong here now, understand? Tomorrow I’ll take you around, show you how we do things. But for now, you best get some rest, don’t you think?” Mato agreed. He was exhausted. He was accepted. And one day, he thought, he would really be free. He didn’t quite understand yet that in the most important way, he already was. Edited August 27, 2020 by RocketBoy Quote
n1majneb Posted July 2, 2020 Posted July 2, 2020 As you say, not a lot to the build but a nice coda to the story so far, Quote
RocketBoy Posted July 3, 2020 Author Posted July 3, 2020 10 hours ago, n1majneb said: As you say, not a lot to the build but a nice coda to the story so far, Thanks for reading. This one was surprisingly emotional to write. I mean, it's just Legos and Star Wars but somewhere along the way I guess I bought in, haha. I think I'm around halfway through the story I want to tell here, so I'm excited to continue (and do some builds I've been planning haha). Quote
Ross Fisher Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 This is getting to be quite a serious story. I like it, but I hope you can find space for some levity as well. Quote
RocketBoy Posted July 4, 2020 Author Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, Ross Fisher said: This is getting to be quite a serious story. I like it, but I hope you can find space for some levity as well. Me too! Stories like this have always been personal for me, but by the nature of what it is it should be a bit lighter from here on. Metaphorically, Mato just "died" and was brought back to life. Going forward he gets to learn how to live that life in his new context, so expect more wacky Farmers and joyful agrarian community life! (But also Techno Union conflict, naturally! There's more to come on that.) Also, I just like jokes. I'm planning to make my Episode builds more comedic/whimsical in tone. Thanks so much for reading! Edited July 4, 2020 by RocketBoy Quote
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