Principles of the Sith (Star Wars SRP) (open to one male)

[Ryn_C]

Principles of the Sith (Star Wars SRP) (closed for kittenofdeath)

(OOC play) Open to: A dominant male to play the role of a Sith Master in the time of KOTOR and KOTOR II. Should have a regal, if domineering and rather sadistic personality type (think Exar Kun). Please, no one-line answers unless really unavoidable.

Yavin:

The storm had begun sometime that morning, and by now, the relentless rain soaked the small figure clad in the dark tunic of a Sith apprentice. Saia shivered, drawing further into herself, forcing herself not to feel the cold as she pondered the day’s events.

It was stupid of her, extremely stupid, to run from him. Why had she been thinking? Was she insane? She knew she had an unbreakable spirit that generally had the other apprentices wincing when she mouthed off to their master, but she had really gone too far this time. She shuddered to even consider what her punishment would be for daring walk out as he was in the middle of lecturing her for a misstep. And the Dark Gods knew her Master was never slipshod when it came to punishment.

She bit her lip nervously, one hand absently tracing the black Sith tattoos on her cheek that extended across the span of her body in a gesture of nervous irritation. What was it about him that drove her to keep committing acts of insolence? A small part of her knew that since she’d barely hit twenty, a trace of that blind, teenage adoration or her master (a fine figure of a man only ten years her senior) had still not diminished, and she used every opportunity she could to gain his attention.

And it had worked too. Saia was not the most gifted in the manipulation of the force among her fellow students, nor was she, at five foot four, with a slight, curvy build, the strongest fighter. But she had a mind like an iron trap, a lust for all sorts of forbidden knowledge, a will like a granite mountain, and a personality that somehow allowed her to remain calm and take the lead in any desperate situation. For that past twelve years, that had earned her recognition in the eyes of her master, and they had come to something of an understanding; she would remain loyal to him even if ambition caused many of his apprentices to turn against him, and he would overlook her inability to control her mouth with nothing harsher then extra chores.

Saia sighed and leaned her head back against the rough bark of the tree, running a hand through black, shoulder-length hair and staring through the canopy of leaves with clear hazel eyes. And now she was lost into the forests surrounding the temple after panicking and taking off after her initial act of defiance. Right. Very smart. No one would find her here; hell, her Master was probably laughing in that silent, sadistic way of his, knowing exactly where and how lost she was.

She closed her eyes and let an irritated breath escape her moist lips. She’d have to go back and swallow her pride. She winced at the thought and pushed away from the tree bark, taking a step towards where she could feel a conglomeration of dark energy…and stopped dead at the sight of her master, not ten feet away, silent disapproval and anger in his eyes. Saia swallowed hard, digging her nails into her palm to cease her own trembling. The darkness he radiate threatened to suffocate her. “Master,” She greeted, dipping her head politely and congratulating herself on the steadiness of her own voice.

 

[kittenofdeath]

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs29/i/2008/136/5/6/Lord_of_Deception_by_Psyconaught_Omega.jpg

Darth Mortalitas, or as very, very few knew, Vylar Wynn, was quite strange for a sith lord, he bore all the trade marks, cruelty, a total lack of morals, a sadistic streak so large that it reached in to the unknown regions, but he lacked the undying lust for power and dominance that most Sith use as their main driving motivation, sure it was there, but he didn’t allow it do rule his actions as others did.

His reward for his more, for want of a better term, logical approach, he had become a rather notable Sith lord, attracting enough prestige to even become the headmaster of an entire academy. He took pride in what he did, the students that managed to survive came out as some of the best Dark jedi of the era… however, there was a rather large number of students that didn’t make it, some didn’t have the will to look in to the dark side and instead of becoming its master, they cowered and fled, that was if they didn’t go insane, others simply didn’t have the talent and were either struck down by the tests, or their fellow students, but even they felt pity for the other who failed, those were sadly sometimes the most promising of all, but their hubris proved to great and they believed that they had surpassed their master and would try to kill him, only to have him defeat them easily and throw them in to torture chambers until they no longer had the ability to even comprehend the pain he put them through.

But he normally speared such fates for those who truly angered him, though there were times he would put the kid gloves away for the more aggravating students under his tutelage, and there was one that was constantly walking the line that bordered that particular style of punishment, Saia, moderate knowledge of combat and the force, at least by student levels. It was her mind that he put value in, she was in tune with the force that way, if properly cultivated, she could bring about true revelations for the sith as a whole, but if she was just treated like everyone else, she would die a futile death.

She had tested his patience earlier today, he was going to let it slide with only a minor reprimand, but she decided to openly defy him, in front of many of the more promising students as well, he couldn’t let it slide this time, she was to be punished, or else he would seem weak and that was a bother he didn’t want. He hadn’t bothered going to her immediately, he had just one to the top of the temple and tracked her through the force, following her every step, she had been walking in circles, she was lost, now was a good time to play with her, but there was no point in letting her knew exactly what was in store for her.

He sat cross legged in the covered veranda and focused, using the tricks he had learnt during his time as a Jedi Knight to focus his will and power over the force, he slowly started to rise off the floor, levitating as the forests she was lost in grew darker, the rain strengthening, the clouds above growing to reflect the anger in his mind. He reached out with his mind, sending a physical manifestation of his power down to play with her first.

The force illusion walked through the trees, a saber in hand, it could see Saia and she noticed him, even bowing her head slightly in reverence, but it was to late for her to ease his anger, he ignited the saber and wordlessly pointed it to her, the red glow permeating the area and making the leaves shine as if they were dripping with blood, it may have been an illusion, but it she were to fall to that sword, she would die.

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia took a step forward, fully prepared to apologize and take her punishment…only to freeze as her master ignited his lightsaber, her blood instantly running cold at the sight of the ruby glow. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind, ranging from plans for escape to panicked jolts of fear that he’d finally run out of patience with her. Never mind that the Academy was the only home she’d ever know, after having stowed away on the ship of a few elder students a little more then a decade ago. Never mind that Darth Mortalitas, only an senior apprentice at the time, had taken one look at her and demanded they keep her instead of kill her. He was angry now, and there was no changing that. She placed a hand on the hilt of her own lightsaber, preparing to draw it, even in full view of the fact that she couldn’t win against him, and that merely drawing her weapon against him in a non-training situation could spell her untimely demise. She knew, however she tried to deny it, that if he decided today would be the end of her, not a single soul in the academy would even notice. Oh the joys of being an outcast among outcasts, She thought sarcastically, eyes scanning her surroundings to formulate a plan.

She stepped back almost unconsciously, and then steeled her nerves. No, she wouldn’t run. Hell, that was one of the things that had always earned her a lashing, her stubborn will. Well, if he had enough of her and was deciding to do away with her as he did many other students who’d defied him in the past, then she refused to go down like a coward. Survival had been etched into her instincts at an early age; no matter who her opponent was, she would live, that was the plan.

The sardonic voice in the back of her mind told her that yes, that might be well and good, but unfortunately, plans were never carried out the way they were supposed to be. One of the things she’d learned was that there were too many factors in the present to predict the future; the wise did not try to bend time to their will, they merely directed its flow. Saia wasn’t stupid enough to give up her life just like that (if she had, she would have been a Jedi), but that didn’t mean she couldn’t stall.

She stepped back once more and, with her danger instincts screaming at her to draw the blade, took her hand off the metallic hilt of her saber. Not breaking eye contact with what she didn’t even suspect was a force illusion, she went down on one knee slowly, reverentially, unable, even with the aid of the force, to hide the way her heart beat faster as the stinging heat of the blade paused inches from her throat. Hopefully, she could either resolve this peacefully (if they fought, there was no way she’d get away unscathed) or catch him off guard. She reached out with the force, looking for any indication of forgiveness in his aura, or any hint that he was about to strike, either way, she wanted a warning. To her carefully shielded dismay (and secret admiration), her master’s command of the force was as perfect as always, there was no crack in his armor, no way she could know exactly what he had in mind for her. It thrilled her as much as it scared her; with a personality like hers, which was impressed by little and scared by even less, it was an accomplishment indeed.

“Master…forgive me…” She managed, her voice slightly hoarse from fear. Frustrated at the weakness in her own voice, Saia cleared her throat and went on in a steadier tone; “I should have know better then to undermine your authority. There is really no excuse for what I’ve done, and I apologize deeply for my insolent behavior. I…” she paused, wincing at the effect her next words would have. “…I am prepared for whatever punishment you deem fit for my indiscretion.”

 

[kittenofdeath]

The illusion didn’t move as she pleaded with it, a slight smirk growing on its master’s face when he realized that she hadn’t even noticed that what she was looking at wasn’t real, or at least not entirely real. He let her wait, allowing her mind to run through all the different things he could do to her, and if she didn’t do the right things, the images in her mind just might come to pass.

“You…” Darth Mortalitas’s voice echoed through the forest, but the illusions mouth didn’t move “are Sith, or at lest you wish you were, and Sith do not apologize, stand up, you were wrong to defy me the way you did, but you should have stood up, remained where you were and taken it, the only way to become powerful is to survive, but running away only makes you weak, scars toughen your skin, now” the illusion raised its saber and advanced, a few drops of rain falling through the forest canopy and landing on the blade, fizzling in to steam “draw your weapon, you will either survive, or you will die, and the academy will be through with you!” the booming voice went dead and in a flash the illusion dashed forward, its saber arcing through the air and aiming for her neck.

 

[Ryn_C]

The first shock came when she realized the voice and the body weren’t connected. Damn, I didn’t even notice it was an illusion, that’s not going to sit well. The second emotion upon hearing her master’s response was anger. Evidently, self-preservation was an overrated instinct where this was going. But that was fine, lessons were meant to be learned after all. The blow to her pride however…

”You are Sith, or at least you wish you were…”

The phrase repeated itself in her mind, and flush stained her pale cheeks as she bit her tongue to keep from retorting. She glared determinedly at the figure before her at it continued, and smirked insolently, feeling her control slip a little. “Scars? What? You haven’t left enough of them on me already you sadist?” The whippings he’d given her through the years had left a network of scars on her back, all of which healed in time with the aid of the force and lots of bactine, only to be replaced by new ones. Saia hated the feel of the rough skin on her back; it reminded her of a time in her past that was even more painful then the whippings.

She barely registered the permission to draw her blade before it was in her hand, anger fueling the movement as much as fear. She twisted away from the first strike, activating her blade to slash towards the force illusion. And now that she was fighting, all else was forgotten. The anger burned dimly inside her, but all that mattered was the comforting darkness of the force, flowing in her as steadying as her blood, as she used her judgment, the layout of the land, and her own temporary, but absolute hatred of this man to strike.

((--Here’s a picture of Saia in case you wanted one. http://tyrine666.deviantart.com/art/Saia-86587419 :3))

 

[kittenofdeath]

The illusion kept up the assault, strong, brutal swings without an gaps in-between, but there was always room for her to escape, one window to block, parry or dodge, but Darth Mortalitas chose where the window was, constantly herding her like a rampaging sithspawn he would force in to his enemies.

As the fight went on, he began to taunt her, reminding her of the whippings, the beatings, telling her how pathetic she was, pointing out the flaws in everything she had ever done, especially the things that she viewed as her achievements, for every ounce of prestige as a Sith that she had ever earned, he made sure to tell her how he viewed it as a failure, taking time to tell her of the holes in her Lightsaber technique.

Dun-moch, one of the oldest practices of the Sith, a way of fighting not only your enemies body, but their mind, to drive your enemy to anger so that they would slip up, but that wasn’t his idea, his was to plant the seeds of doubt, that was the only way for her to actually learn, god knows that just hurting her hadn’t worked. Though even given the bond between a master and apprentice, the way he chose his words… it spoke subtle undertones of intimacy that he didn’t even realize.

But soon he was done, he had pushed her through the forest and jungle until he had her right where he wanted her and he had made it take so long that she was panting from exhaustion, cuts and bruises from branches falls and thorns covering her exposed skin “now I leave you with a question” the illusion moved forward that made his previous speed look like a snails pace, easily knocking her saber back and moving beside her with ease before lasing out and cutting in to her leg, just a shallow cut that many Sith masters would give to insolent students rather than killing them.

“Why haven’t I killed you? Find me when you have an answer, though I suggest you wait until your sure that the answer is the right one before you do” the illusion thrust its arm to her, lightening arcing from the tip, the sheer force of it throwing her from the edge of the tree line and on to the steps of the main training temple, his influence over what she saw fading away as the storm overhead continued to thunder.

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia lay on the cool granite steps of the temple, watching the illusion of her master fade with a sigh of relief. After that last painful lesson, she really did need relief, not to mention some bandages. And sleep, for a week perhaps. Every part of her body burned, and not only from the brief, if excruciating, flash of lightning; her muscles throbbed, heart pounded, wounds ached. She put her head back, welcoming the freezing rain on her exhausted form now; it felt good against the burns and cuts, washing away grit, blood, and the pounding anger she was struggling to get a hold of. Every one of his taunts and insults ran through her head, enflaming her hatred, awakening the small, irrational part inside her that told her to kill him, told her that he’d never cared for her, that this was all she’d amount to in his eyes.

“Shut up.” She said out loud. Saia had never been one for allowing a moment’s irrationality to dictate her life. She knew mind-games were a part of fighting as much as actual technique was, but that didn’t mean his words stung any less then his blade. As much as she told herself she didn’t care what he thought; that she was only doing this so that she could gain knowledge, she knew she was lying; if a student didn’t care what the teacher thought, there was no point in learning. She took a deep breath, fought down the lingering urges to either kill him or leave, and let it out in a slow sigh, opening her mouth to catch a mouthful of rain with a small smile. The liquid was soothing against her parched lips, and ran down her dry throat smoothly. There. Thinking clearly now.

“Why haven’t I killed you?”

Of course, that was the question wasn’t it? How the frell was she supposed to know? The girl groaned lightly and put a hand to one of the bigger wounds on her ribs, where her master’s lightsaber would have made short work of her if she’d dodged just a bit slower. I don’t know, why do you do this to me, make me feel like nothing, and then leave me here? Why do you allow me to get away with so much in the first place? Why can’t I hate you?

She raised herself onto her knees slowly and got to her feet, willing her legs to carry her up the flights of stairs to reach the veranda at the roof of the training temple, where she could feel her master’s force signature. She opened the door to find him in a rather relaxed position, sitting against a pillar casually, showing no signs that the fight had taken any effort at all.

Saia took another breath before walking over to sit like her master, almost ten feet away from him, leaning against another pillar. “Because you’re not an ordinary Sith.” She began, voice still hoarse from her previous exertion, but determined as it always was. “Because you’re aware that things have to change, that time has to pass and that that our way of life has to evolve with it or die out. And students like me…” She paused, fighting down the onslaught of memory that sought to tell her how she was a failure, how she would never be good enough, “…students…who…aren’t the best in the conventional sense, we have a trait in us that might allow us reign in the future if not the present. You look ahead instead of behind, seeking to polish and promote that, through whatever means necessary.” She traced a scar on her arm slowly, smiling slightly; the mar on her skin didn’t seem too bad now. That was the acceptable, sane, well-thought-out reasoning. She didn’t dare offer her other hypothesis on why he’d let her live; a bout of wishful thinking that he may actually like her.

 

[kittenofdeath]

He didn’t even bother to turn and look at her when she entered, she felt her presence and that was enough for him, nobody would be foolish enough to attack when in a sate such as hers, he just continued gazing out over the horizon, questioning if the stom was natural.

“Because you’re not an ordinary Sith.”

He smirked for the briefest moment, he knew there was a reason he put so much value in to her

“Because you’re aware that things have to change, that time has to pass and that that our way of life has to evolve with it or die out. And students like me…”

Arrogance, she was Sith after all then, though her guess wasn’t that far off the mark

“…students…who…aren’t the best in the conventional sense, we have a trait in us that might allow us reign in the future if not the present. You look ahead instead of behind, seeking to polish and promote that, through whatever means necessary.”

He took a look at her in the corner of his eye and a calm smile graced his face, she had a grasp of what he had been teaching, in all the years he had been teaching it, she was the first, pride swelled in his chest, she had passed his test today, if felt good to actually have a student he was actually proud of for once, the storm raging outside quelling as the one within him did.

“Some of that was right, though not all of it, its not students like you, its you, sadly there is no other student like you, believe me, I’ve looked, I’ve studied in the presence of Jedi masters, engaged them in philosophical debate, I’ve talked to long dead Sith ghosts in the tombs and ranted against them in epic battles of will.” He stood up and dusted himself off, then walked inside “it is people like us that must make a future for the Sith, all other paths will lead to a never ending cycle of self-annihilation”

He reached in to the folds of his robes, pulling something out from within their depths, it was obscured by his hand, but it glowed with a red fire that illuminated the surroundings “your saber” he pulled it from her with the force, holding it in the space between them and deconstructing it without laying a finger on its surface. The parts began to float around the barely intact frame of the saber until the cheep, artificially created and alchemically treated crystal was all that remained.

“Now” he turned over his hand, the source of the intense glow revealing itself as a red crystal of utter perfection, the sheer power it emanated making a few random pebbles levitate “reconstruct it” with little more than a sharpening of his gaze the inferior crystal shattered in to a thousand pieces as the one in his hand floated over to her “when you’re done, you will have taken the next step towards becoming my apprentice”

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia followed her master’s movements with her eyes, still exhausted but drinking in his words with every sigh of concentration and understanding while trying to quell the little burst of pride in her chest at his words, slightly startled that mere praise like this could inspire so much emotion from her. She allowed him to pull her weapon from her belt and disassemble it, getting to her feet slowly as he presented her with her next task. She almost begged for him to allow her to rest, almost told him that she’s work on it tomorrow, but bit her tongue. As exhausted as she was, she couldn’t help but fill with a sense of excitement at the sight of the glowing blood-colored crystal.

“Yes Master.” She held out her hand to receive the stone, startled to find it both heavier and warmer then she’d expected. It pulsed with energy and Force sensitivity, and she felt a strange sort of connection to it. It would take an all-nighter to put the weapon back together of course; the construction of a lightsaber was a delicate process, likely to explode if it wasn’t done right. She gathered the materials from her deconstructed weapon and, after bowing a good night to her master, retreated to her room.

She took a shower first to make sure nothing was poisonous or infected, and took care of the more grievous wounds; she could waste energy trying to heal if she was to concentrate on reconstructing her weapon. Fortunately, Saia had always had an affinity for technology so she didn’t expect it to take more then the twelve hours she had until sunrise. She locked her door (a useless gesture, seeing as her master had all the codes anyways, and no one else ever visited her) and sat next on the desk beneath her window in nothing more then a thin bathrobe; it was a warm night and plus, wiring responded better if there was no static electricity to affect it. Working by moonlight, the dark-haired girl fell into her traditional trance of concentration as she modified, welded, wrapped and slid the components of her lightsaber into place, determined to perfect it. The construction of the weapon was not as hard as her first one had been, although there was nothing surprising in that fact.

The sun had peaked over the horizon before she had put the whole thing together, gathering it up in her hands and feeling the reassuring weight of the superior crystal inside. She took a deep breath and ran her thumb over the activation switch lightly. Moment of truth… If she made it wrong, the whole thing would blow up in her face, but if she made it right…

Saia smiled as the warm, familiar hum of the lightsaber grew into life for the first time at the touch of the button. She spun it a few times, admiring the beautiful red glow, and deactivated it. She yawned and stretched, her body finally coming back to cash its checks, exhaustion filling her form. She flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes, asleep in minutes, her hand still wrapped around the hilt of the symbol of her advancement loosely.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Once Saia had left, he went back out on to the balcony, just watching the lands, his mind in meditation. Unlike his students, he didn’t sleep, at least not much, he survived with just a deep state of meditation that allowed his mind to wander, he did have to sleep occasionally, but her preferred not to, quite a few of his extensive network of scars came from cowards who struck at night, not that anyone would ever see them, he had been masking his appearance through the force for a long time.

At first, his mind drifted to the room of his new student, but he didn’t interfere, she was going to either succeed or fail on her own. He observed the whole of his grounds, the dark dealings between the students while they thought he wasn’t watching, not that he cared, none of them had enough power to succeed at their plans, nor did they have the scope to plan around that. He let his mind wander again, this time to the spaceport out past the jungles, quite a contrast to the more ancient temples that they resided in, the type of scum willing to dock there would make most spaces shudder, they didn’t matter to him though, he would know if any of his agents had arrived from whatever e had sent them to do.

It went on like this every night, he would wander as a ghost, observing, and on rare occasions, intervening, though he preferred not to, it was surprising what you could learn by watching the beasts fight one another in the forest.


But soon he had restored what he had used up testing Saia, and he awoke, in an exceptionally good mood as well. He walked off and made his way to the student rooms, quite a few of the students taking notice and trying to earn some favor with him, others hiding away whatever they were scheming, the only thing the all did was look rather content with themselves when he stopped at Saias door, nobody knew of his tests upon her, so they believed that he was going to administer punishment for her insolence the day before.

He taped one of his master codes in to the panel and walked inside, the door locking shut behind him. He saw the saber, but he also saw her rather shapely form, he ran a finger along her hip as he passed her on the way to the back of her room and to the terminal, she stirred, her body shifting slightly, but she didn’t wake yet, not that he cared much if she did. He just ignored her and began work with her terminal link to the main database.

 

[Ryn_C]

On an almost subconscious level, she had felt the touch of Mortalitas’ hand as he’d brushed it against her hip, and responded with a shift and a small sigh. If it had been anyone else, they would have found themselves pinned to the wall, probably permanently, and with the aid of some weapon or another. She wasn’t a fan of physical contact to begin with, and due to her past, males in general had never rated very highly in her book. However, she’d always felt safe around her master. A part of still told her every day that she shouldn’t trust him; that he wouldn’t be a real Sith if he could be trusted, and that this particular feeling would probably be the death of her. On the other hand, it seemed only natural to her that he was around; his presence in the Force, at once soothing and strikingly oppressive, provided an ambiance that felt like home.

Even the tattoos that he had given her, which had forced her to expose the entirety of her body to him two years ago, did not feel awkward or strange in her memories. Although, she recalled with a little smirk, they had been rather embarrassing at the time. Eighteen years old and full into the phase of her life where her attraction to him was almost unbearably strong, being naked with him for the entire day as he marked her coming of age with the traditional ceremony. She recalled her own mortification when he’d looked up at her and sneered as the tattoo needle paused between her hips and he’d stroked up her sensitive inner thighs sadistically, knowing it took everything she had in her not to respond to the sensual touch. He had never shown any further interest in her body in any sexual way since that one mocking caress, but she still remembered it well. The memory seemed comical now (even though she wanted to kill him for it then) and Saia couldn’t help but smile. And the emotion had carried through to the present, expressing itself in a variety of small ways; he was the only one she could fall asleep in the presence of, and her paranoia dictated this was not an easy thing to achieve. His silent footsteps didn’t register in her mind, but the low hum of the terminal activating did.

She opened her eyes slowly and rolled over on the bed, putting her saber to one side as she watched his deft fingers playing across the controls. Allowing her curiosity to get the better of her at last, she got off the bed and walked over to him, running her hands through her hair to tame it and pull it back into a loose ponytail. “What are you doing Master?” She asked, peering at the screen. She hadn’t bothered to pull her disheveled robe into any semblance of order and it parted in the middle, the ties draped loosely across her hips; plus, besides the natural growths her body had gone through over the past couple of years, it was nothing he hadn’t seen before.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Mortalitas typing halted for a moment as he turned to look at her, his eyes lingering on the skin exposed by her robe before he turned back to his work, she looked like she had grown since he had marked her long ago, but he cast the thought from his mind. "For one? I’m converting this terminal to display in ancient Sith language, I expect you to figure it out during your training"

He stopped typing and turned around, bringing his hand to her chin to lift her eyes and meet his, a sort of.. Possessive streak running though them "two, unless you intend to go out on display all day" his eyes broke their gaze to wander over her body again before he continued "put your clothes on, you wont be resting today" he let her chin drop as he went back to his work, he had already completed the terminals reformatting, now he was doing something else, but without any understanding of the language, it would be incredibly hard to figure out anything of what he was doing.

Once she was dressed he stopped his work, taking a moment to do what looked like a message to someone, but the address he was sending it too and the subject matter was completely unknown to all but himself and its recipient. “lets go” he walked from the room with her in tow, moving past the prying ears of all those who had gathered in order to figure out what her punishment would be “today we will start working on your connection with the force, knowledge may be key to what you are intended to be, but without the wisdom and power of the force on your side, then you will accomplish nothing”

They continued through the temple until they reached the garage, the officer on duty standing to attention, a zabrakian, truly a race that was gifted with machines “Sir, how we assist you today?” he asked reverently.

“Nothing for now Sor-zer, I’m just getting a speeder to go to the space port” he turned to Saia “go with one of the soldiers and bring back something fast” he waited until she was out of earshot before continuing his conversation with Sor-zer “what is the condition of the suspect readings you reported?” his eyes growing cold as his mind switched to more cryptic business.

“It’s been narrowed down, it should be remedied before schedule sir, and we have already prevented a repeat occurrence, I will have a report for you by tomorrow”

“See that you do” he was going to continue, but he heard the unmistakable sound of a speeder approaching “you’re dismissed”

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia fought the urge to smile as he told her of her next assignment. Her gift with languages was one skill that she had kept to herself; or at least never had an opportunity to display. The girl could understand ninety percent of the native languages spoken around the academy, and could even pronounce some of the more annoying ones, but never having anyone to talk to except books and terminals, there was never a need to display this skill. She stumbled across snippets of articles and books written by the ancients and had read their translations; although she hadn’t studied the language thoroughly up until now, she was sure she could work it out.

Lost in thought of where the materials for her new studies would have to come from, Saia nearly started as she was jerked forward by the grip on her chin. She flushed at his words, watching his eyes dip to the opening of her robes for a second, and jerked her head away the moment he let go, angry at herself for being so affected by him. She pulled a uniform out of her closet and dressed as he finished working on her terminal. The hum and quiet clicks of the terminal told her that he was sending message to some one, and she glanced over to the screen curiously as she shed her robe and pulled on a pair of pants. What was that about? What was so urgent or cryptic that he couldn’t use his own terminal?

She clipped her new saber to her belt and followed him down the corridor, attempting to drown out the whispers and sneers directed at or around her. The girl flushed as she caught a few stray thoughts; Saia might not have been too gifted in the physical manipulation of the force, which allowed her a bit of a disadvantage in battle, but her sync to the mentalities and thoughts of sentients was still rather notable. And evidently, the student body’s view of her punishments was a lot more sadistic and perverted then Mortalitas was.

She concentrated on what her master was saying, following him passively to the garage and watching his exchange with the Zabrak officer carefully. An underlying current told her there was more here then met the eye. And really, “ ‘go with one of the soldiers and bring back something fast’?” Could he get more obvious? He was sending her away from some reason or another. Huffing a little, she obeyed, lingering for as long as she dared at the area just beyond the doorframe before the officer with her began to give her strange looks, prompting her to leave.

She returned so moments later, knowing that she’d completely missed something, although it was probably not related to her or not important enough to talk about if he wasn’t telling her anything. “What was that about? And why does my training require us to go off planet?” She asked as he got in beside her. She took his previous statement about picking out a speedy vehicle to mean that they needed to get there fast; so she spared nothing when it came to the drive, headed for the nearest space port.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Mortalitas climbed in to the seat beside Saia and shot her a warning gaze for her question, his eyes cold in the promise of punishment if she continued the matter, but he did answer the second of her questions, it actually concerned her "I never said we would be going off world, i just said we were going to the spaceport, for all you know i just want you to kill someone there" he turned from the road to look at her, noticing how she looked with the wind in her hair and enjoying the sight "don’t assume, when you do, you leave yourself open to the other possible outcomes, unless I say we are going off world, then you shouldn’t assume that we are, I could tell you to change were we are going half way there, I could dump you somewhere and have you make your way to the spaceport as a test, the possibilities are endless and you have to be ready for anything that could happen." he turned back to looking at the road and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his face.


After a few minutes of fast driving they were there, a valet quickly coming to park their speeder for them “this way” he motioned for Saia to follow and entered the spaceport, leading her through to his own personal hanger, the guards noticing his approach and opening the doors for him. Within was his own personal craft, a custom made interceptor class light freighter that he had named ‘the Zephyr’ lying within. The landing hatch was already down by they time they where there “wait here, the security systems are live” he left her at the ramp and walked in to the security disable panel inside, quickly pressing his palm to the scanner “its safe” he called out, but he didn’t wait, instead going deeper in to the ship, he trusted her to not touch anything, anything she would touch would probably have some way of touching her back anyway.

 

[Ryn_C]

She didn’t press the issue of whatever he wasn’t telling her; trusting him to let her know if she needed to. On the other hand…she frowned at his tone of voice and the extended explanation. It exasperated her that he still talked to her like he did ten years ago; really, hadn’t she grown up at all in his eyes? “Alright, I get it; you don’t have to treat me like a youngling.” She gave herself a mental slap as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Evidently, she had a death wish embedded into her very genetics and a loss of control on her vocal cords that spanned many galaxies. She winced at his silence to the low, muttered comment and glanced at his completely expressionless face slightly before returning her attention to the road, a few of the wounds from the previous night twining at her sheer stupidity, as if to remind her was pain felt like. She was almost afraid to stop the speeder, knowing that doing so would allow him to punish her without worry.

Making sure to walk a few steps behind him as the entered the hanger, Saia looked up at her Master’s flagship with obvious awe. She’d heard rumors about the magnificent vessel converted, personally, by the master, of course; all the students at the academy had, but no one could have claimed that they’d been on it. It was a bit of a pity she finally could and had no one to tell, but it didn’t matter very much; she valued the opinions of two people and two people only in this world; Mortalitas and herself. She hesitated as he ordered her to stay where she was and again as he stated the safety of the ship. Biting her lip a bit, she made her way up the ramp cautiously, still fearing retaliation for the earlier outburst.

The ship was even more impressive on the inside then it was on the outside; a difficult feat to accomplish, and Saia was sufficiently distracted by the tasteful décor and simple elegance. She followed the presence of her Master deeper into the ship, wondering with well-guarded excitement about what was going to happen.

 

[kittenofdeath]

The ship wasn’t extravagant or lavish, but it was far from the patchwork horror it used to be, where once was exposed wires and posters covering holes where there was just nothing, now was finely crafted and exceptionally durable metal, all color schemed to his personal tastes, most of the ship gave off minute hums of dark power, but there was one place in the ship he had set up the block out all but the most powerful wells of force power, be they light or dark..

“in here” he called to Saia, the room he had taken her two was quite… bare, in fact, apart from two storage lockers at the back of the room, it was just that, bare, empty, but that was just the thing he wanted for now “sit in the middle of the room, meditate, and wait for my return” he shut her inside and the went to his personal chambers on the other side of the ship, quickly retrieving an ancient ball and blindfold, both ornately decorated, the first an artifact of true power, the connection it had to the force making his skin tickle, but the second? It was dead, totally dead, even the most basic of things normally had a connection to the force, no matter how minute, but this blindfold was truly dead.

Once he was done in his room he returned to the chamber he had left Saia in, walking in cam and tossing the ball to her “take a look, tell me what you see” he mused as he paced around her, the blindfold hidden securely in the folds of his robe, it wasn’t quite time for that part yet.

 

[Ryn_C]

To tell the truth, the strange, empty room made her nervous, but there was no way she was going to show fear at a time like this. She sat down obediently, following her Master with her eyes until he shut the door, and then settled down to meditate. Her eyes snapped open in the span of a second when she realized that no matter now hard she concentrated and focused, she could feel no shred of the force around her. The effect almost made her panic; it was like being blind. Unsettled, she took a deep breath and tried to relax, reaching out for something, anything, that could tell her she wasn’t loosing what Force abilities she had.

It was the room, she concluded, and not her. For when her Master returned, she could faintly feel his presence. And when he tossed the object at her, her basic instincts, deep-rooted in the force, allowed her to reach up and catch the ball without having to open her eyes. She did opened her eyes after that though, both to observe the thing she now held, and to glance nervously at her master, who moved with the worrying grace of a predator circling its prey.

The ball sent a tingle across her skin the moment she touched it, and continues to send its little electronic whispers of power through her fingertips. It felt like the force, even more so then the presence of her master, which was stunning enough in itself. She turned it over in her hands lightly, touching the runes and engravings on the surface of it. “Is this…a Sith holocron?” She’d read about them and had seen illustrations, though she’d never actually seen one; they were rare and contained many security measures. Inexperienced students were often overcome. “It feels like power…”


((Another piccy. :3 http://tyrine666.deviantart.com/art/Saia-Complete-86955571))

 

[kittenofdeath]

Her face was like that of a child in a candy store when she figured it out, he just knew that would make her happy "yes, it is Saia, that holocron contains more knowledge than most could ever hope to amass, the designs for this ship we're on of the things I found on it.... but, its incomplete, when I found it, it was barely functioning, I doubted that I would retrieve anything"

He flicked his hand upwards and the spherical holocron flew in to the air, floating just before her face briefly before it cracked, then shattered it to tiny fragments "you see it now in the way I saw it countless years ago, and in order to earn the right to its secrets, you must fix it as I did" he let them fall to the floor once again "the way you are, you will never fix it, your technical knowledge is unrivaled, but to repair something that isn’t totally machine, this you can not do, but I will teach you how, close your eyes"

He circled around behind her, the blindfold slipping from the folds of his robe to his hand by the time he was looming over her sitting form. He crouched down behind her and gently fastened the blindfold over her eyes “you wont need them today” he turned around, moving in to the same position as her, his back resting against her own, he found it comfortable, but that wasn’t why he did it, he needed her to be in a place devoid of the force, or as close as he could get to it, to let her see him during this time could blind her for some time.

“Have you ever heard of the miraluka? They are a blind race, but they see better than most, through the force, it is a most useful ability, and it is the only way you will repair your holocron, you need to cut yourself off from your eyes, and instead see with nothing but the force, when you do, not only will you see the broken pieces of the holocron, you will see the force that still ties the pieces together, it would be as easy as a puzzle for you” he titled his head back until it rested against hers, his mind reaching in to her own and helping her along, it had taken 3 days for him to teach himself this trick, and although he wouldn’t have minded sitting her for that long, there was business he still had to attend to.

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia couldn’t help but smile as the tingling sensation in her fingers grew a little stronger with the knowledge. She watched unflinchingly as the holocron was broken in front of her eyes, knowing that there was a point and purpose for everything her master did. She almost rolled her eyes at the task though; it seemed extremely complicated, as all his tests were, but the anticipation of victory made her smile instead.

The Sith apprentice tensed automatically as her master put the blindfold over her eyes, fighting the urge to bite her lip in apprehension as she realized she couldn’t feel the blindfold at all through the force; it had probably been specially made; there were certain materials in the galaxy that repelled the force after all. Ysalamiri fur and what-not. She suspected the room and the blindfold were lined with these. She looked back futilely as she felt the back of her master’s outer tunic press against the bare skin on her back, nodding to show she knew of the strange people of Alpheridies he spoke of, even if she’d never met one. And she was supposed to imitate their method? That seemed fair. Now the only problem was to find out how to do it.

“I can barely feel the Force in this room at all. How am I supposed to…” She trailed off as she felt him rest his head against the back of hers, gasping at the sudden flow of his force signature into hers. And suddenly, she could see. Well, not exactly see, in fact, it was completely beyond seeing at this point; it was knowing. With his aid, she knew were everything in the room was, starting from their subatomic placements to the faintest traces of Force in every object. Was this how he felt all the time? She had much more to learn then, so much more.

“Focus.”

The singular command snapped Saia’s mind back to the present and she took a breath, reaching out to touch the pieces of the holocron again. She felt a wave of disapproval from the imposing presence of her master and hesitated, recalling his words. “…see with nothing but the force, when you do, not only will you see the broken pieces of the holocron, you will see the force that still ties the pieces together…” She put her hand down and reached out with the force, feeling the fortifying tendril of her master’s control at her aid, and allowed the pieces of the holocron to levitate in front of her. She allowed her control to flow around them, testing, shaping, and remembering placements, cracks, and runes. She lost track of time as she began to piece it back together, confidence growing as she felt the task become easier with each shard that slid into place, the shape of the thing reforming before her unseeing eyes.

 

[kittenofdeath]

She was reacting just the way he expected her too, not exactly overwhelmed by the sensation, but she was far from being unimpressed, but her mind wandered, he was hoping she would stick to the task at hand, it was so like her to try and run before she could walk.

“Focus.” Was all he said, using the influence he had over her in the link to enforce it, giving her a taste of his power to augment her own. He felt his mouth grow in to a grin as she started to make some progress with the holocron, she was a quick study, but this was something that would take time, by the time she had all the pieces together it had been almost two hours, but she had managed to get that part done at least.

“now comes the second part, if you release your hold on it, it will fall to pieces yet again, you must fuse the individual parts together, focus the force on where they join, warp it together and then solidify it with your power, when you think your done, try turning it on, but if the pathways aren’t joined properly, you will obliterate all the information held within, and there are punishments for breaking your tools, not just another whipping either, there are many dark techniques for torture, so many that no man could ever hope to know them all, let alone master them all.”

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia could feel herself shudder involuntarily at his words and she worked hard to keep from swallowing nervously. He was trying to scare her of course; it was one of the tried and true methods to motivate her, and he’d learned that early on in her training. She may have been unable to contain her random outbursts or her mouth even in the face of certain punishment, but that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to look for pain. And what was with that ‘dark techniques for torture, so many that no man could ever hope to know them all’ talk? That doesn’t sound good at all… Snapping her mind back to concentrate on her task in case that threat came to be, Saia took a deep breath and let it our slowly, raining the fear from her voice.

“Yes Master.”

Determination. Her voice was the personification of determination. There were not many things Saia wanted in her life, and her lack of greed also made for a horrible lack of motivation. The one thing he’d discovered she was truly passionate about was knowledge. She’d gotten tired of the books in the academy’s library long ago and begun to hack the older student’s database, as well as the online archives usually reserved for those with a password. He’d had to write an entirely new set of code to keep her out of those, and had given her extra chores for a month as silent reprimand. She hadn’t given up after that and so he’d smiled and put up with it.

Saia’s hands were starting to shake from extended effort on holding the sphere together in order to meld it into place piece by piece. She almost panicked as she felt Mortalitas draw back his own power, leaving her on her own for the last stages. A flash of anger helped her keep her concentration up and drive her to the finish line, allowing her to seal the last crack in the sphere and take her hold off it, letting it fall into the soft cloth of her lap. She felt her master stand up, the small waves of contentment telling the story of his approval. She felt him slip the blindfold off and gesture to the completed sphere. Hesitantly, she raised it to eye level, examining the runes for a moment before tracing her fingers along the indicated lines and pressing in where she should in order to activate it, waiting with bated breaths.

“It works.” The breath let out as an exclamation of relief was not as loud or as relieved as it should have been. This was due to the utter awe and captivation etching itself across every feature of the young Sith apprentice’s face as the holocron activated for her. The shadows, ghosts and figures of the past, all with their own stories, their own experiences and their combined wisdom, streamed out of the cracks of the sphere, encircling her in a Force-enhanced illusion, bringing with them the scent of knowledge from ages long past. Saia inhaled slowly, the cacophony of spirits and voices reaching a crescendo as she reached out to touch one of the spirits, who smoothed a ghost-pale, semi-tangible hand though her hair before diving back into the sphere, closely followed by its companions.

Saia collapsed back onto the cold floor with a sigh, happy, excited and thoroughly exhausted. She looked up at her Master, still panting from such extended use of the force and concentration, imagining, right before he turned away, perhaps a small smile on his face.

 

[kittenofdeath]

She was doing well, but she was a little too confident for his liking, so he pulled out his own power, leaving her to her own devices as she made the final adjustments, he did it mostly to test her, to see if she could do it without his support, but partly he just wanted to vex her.

When she did finish on her own he smiled, letting her feel a indication of the contentment and pride he felt, but there was more to do, he begrudgingly pulled away from her and stood up, taking the blindfold with him, a slight waving of his hand telling her to activate the sphere and see if her work paid off. The look on her face when it activated amused him, if he let her he had no doubt she would die of starvation as she studied it, but then he would be out an apprentice.

When she collapsed back he turned away from her, hiding the look of pride and amusement on his face as he went and unlocked the door “you did well… for your first time” he cleared his face and walked back to her “you still have a ways to go before you have those skills mastered, if you were to use them now, without my guidance and the specially crafted environment, it would be more a hindrance than a help” the holocron jumped from her lap to his hand “you can work with it later, now you have to rest, there is still more for you to do before I dismiss you for the night.” He held his gaze with her, fighting not to look at her heaving chest “are you going to get up? Or must a carry you to a bed?”

 

[Ryn_C]

Ah, so that was a smile she’d seen; he could hide his outward emotion and all appearances so completely that even with the Force, it would have been a near-impossible task to find any trace of emotion in his face. But his voice was a different matter. Saia had never told him that he tended to talk a little softer then he usually did when he was pleased with her; she didn’t want him to find out and actively change the habit.

She listened carefully, doing a few breathing exercises to get her heartbeat back to an acceptable level. She groaned lightly as he proclaimed she wasn’t done for the night and put a wrist to her forehead. “Oh Dark Lords, you just can’t give me a break, can you? First that sadistic lesson of yours last night, sending me to bed, then rushing me out in the morning, then giving me this task without any sort of explanation. If I didn’t have the Force, I think I would’ve fallen into an exhaustion coma by now. Sheesh, I think I’d have more luck in being your apprentice if I was a droid.” She smiled up at him to show she was joking and considered rolling into a sitting position for his satisfaction. Then again. That last sentence was quite the idea…

She held out her arms to him, still lying on the cool floor, hair spread in a rather fetching halo around her face, with a childish pout on her face that still somehow managed to convey sarcasm. She didn’t really expect him to pick her up; she just wanted to tease him a bit.

 

[kittenofdeath]

A sneer replaced the look on Mortalitas face at her answer, really, to be so nonchalant about his commands, it was so hard not to reprimand her and take her for a whipping, but she wanted to be carried "that is why I’m still pushing you, the force will be all that fuels you many times in the future" he grabbed her by one of her wrists and wrenched her upwards, his iron grip cutting in to her, then he grabbed her by the thigh and unceremoniously hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, holding her in place with a firm grip on her upper thigh.

"now, I am giving you time to rest, to prevent persistent injuries, be thankful I allow you that much, I could have you run lightsaber drills until we are at our destination if you would prefer" he didn’t wait for an answer before carting her off to one of the sleeping chambers, four beds along the wall and footlockers at the end of them. "this should do" he dumped her down on the closest one and then turned to leave, pausing at the door "there is some water and basic rations in the trunk, along with some other items you might wish to use, but spend your time wisely, this ships in atmosphere speed is quite fast"

He left for the cock pit afterwards, sitting in to the central command chair “she has no idea what’s coming” he remarked with a chuckle “it wouldn’t be as fun if she did”

 

[Ryn_C]

Saia smiled at the annoyed expression on his face at her complaining, then gave a sharp gasp as she was yanked off her comfortable position on the floor and instantly offered two things. One was a rather unparalleled view of her Master's attractive ass as she was thrown over his shoulder, another being the lingering soreness from when he's pulled her up. She couldn't tell if he was making fun of her or not. Either way, the position he had her in was rather embarrassing and she had to resist the urge, while rubbing her face to circulate the blood away from it faster, to demand he put her down.

She landed with a light "oomph" on the bed and watched him leave, rather grateful that he'd pointed her to some sources of nutrition. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten. She unwrapped a ration and munched on it while she settled on the bed. She disposed of the empty wrapper with a little yawn and drank some water before leaning comfortably against the wall behind the bed, getting ready to place herself into a meditative trance state rather then sleep; that would allow her time to think.