Ask Alive In A Hive

[Xyrin Davarok]

Spoiler: Music IC

They called this next piece of shit establishment The Twilight Twi’lek. Yet another in a number of dumb clubs from one end of Smuggler’s Moon to the other and there’s your monument. It wasn’t a strip club, at least, though there were a number of dancers so slick with sweat they may as well be in one of them said dens.

For her part, Xyrin was at a bar. There was an Ithorian bartender who spent his moments serving others or passing a rag through glasses. Otherwise he kept his silence and stared past the woman. She stared past him, they barely perceived one another’s existence, her eyes on a viewscreen overhead.

War. More war. The news was as hollow as ever, as insincere, as repetitive as a rag through a glass. “Another.” The woman clad in a black cloak, hood pulled over a red complexion, demanded her round with a tap on the counter.

Bartender nodded, moved onward, and the universe kept its logic, as expected. But what shifts between the blankets? A senator caught red-handed with his opponent’s mistress. “Tsk, tsk,” the Sith tutted. A Hybrid of the Purebloods but just as much of one.

“Nice tats, lass,” some Trandoshan patron sitting adjacent said as he bravely grazed a lone finger over one of her tattooed hands. “Red skin. Black print. I like that.” In a tone that otherwise admitted ‘I’d like to tap that’. Ugh.

“Take your hand off mine.” Xyrin didn’t take her eyes off the viewscreen as the guy moved immediately. “Okay.”

“Go tell that Wookiee he’s two whiskers shy of a full face and have a nice day.”

“Okay.”

He moved away. Moments later and all she heard was the sound of arms breaking if not worse. Typical nonsense in a cantina on Nar Shaddaa, the other armpit of the galaxy besides Mos Eisley.

Oh well. Xyrin had entered the scene, had ordered a drink in this pisspot establishment, for other reasons indeed. What they were remains to be seen. “Here’s to freedom and liberty.” She lifted her Bloody Mary and took a deep drink.

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

It wasn’t like her to be running late. At least, not to these kinds of establishments, where its entire clientele could be swayed to one side or another if flashed with a pretty coin. Usually it was she who took such precautions before a meeting, but Cheriss didn’t have that luxury this time.

As the metal door slid open, revealing the usual mess of blaring music, gambling tables, and of course a bar, she paused in the doorway to think about whether she still wanted to go forward with this. For all she knew, this could be another one of Kayden’s riddles, another one of his distractions to keep her out of the way for whatever he was planning. Though he was still stuck in that filthy tank of his, she still didn’t trust him half as far as she could throw him.

This was my decision. And mine alone. Cheriss reassured herself before finally weaving her way over to the bar. There sat a figure in a black cloak similar to hers and a Trandoshan, before the latter made his way over to a Wookie and what would surely be a successful way to get rid of a few limbs. That left his spot for her, and she took it.

“We could use some more of both.” The Ithorian was surprisingly quick about getting her drink, and she raised her own glass to the toast. However, she only took a light sip afterwards.

“What brings you to this fine establishment? Surely not the dancers, I hope.” Even if there was a very real possibility she wouldn’t get a truthful answer, she had to make sure that this was who she thought it was.

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Spoiler: Music IC (Recurring)

Freedom. Liberty. Those were tenets the Jedi teach. To an extent. Yet, so far, only the Sith had proven to offer these promises to her and mean them. To let her keep them in her heart. Be them.

Fitting, then, given that the Sith species preceded the Sith of today. Pureblood. Hybrid. Didn’t matter to her either way. Freedom and liberty were theirs. Even if it meant making slaves of everyone else in this galaxy and its hell. We’ll see.

Not so bloodthirsty, though, sipping her Bloody Mary alone as another woman spoke. Oh, no, not just with her mouth. Unless Xyrin was blinded that moment she detected a familiar presence, but it wasn’t flesh or even spirit. It was power at the fingertips. Or some semblance of it. So maybe that was what was really being toasted.

“Neither the drinks.”

Hers wasn’t exactly delicious. She spoke without looking away from the viewscreen even as she lowered her hood. The black fabric glided away from a face of red skin and yellow eyes. Bangs of black hair framed her countenance, tied back in a knot, but it was her species that she wanted her counterpart to read.

“I’m here on business.” She took another sip. An advertisement played showcasing a Togruta and a Human on a beach. “Pleasure is poisonous.” Nar Shaddaa rotted with it. “Then again, to women like us, is there much of a difference?”

Xyrin finally looked at this woman, gave nothing away in her straight-faced visage, but those yellow eyes were like a snake’s bite into those brown eyes.

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

A Sith. That would be who she was looking for. She was right about the drinks— hers looked far better than it tasted. Judging from this woman and the aura she carried though, Cheriss had a feeling that her results wouldn’t be as disappointing as the wine.

She was here on business, as would any reasonable being. As for pleasure, that would depend. What they were looking to accomplish wouldn’t be as relaxing as a day on the beach.

“Here, I’d agree.” Brown eyes met yellow. “What comes next depends on what we make of it.” She took a second sip, and it was just as bad as the first. “Malrev IV isn’t for just anyone. Neither is Sith alchemy.” But it was exactly what she needed. If Kayden was planning on building an army, she’d need something to counter it just in case he turned it on her. If not, it was still a good skill to have.

“What do you say we take this to the ship? It’s less… noisy.” And more private. “Unless you’d like another drink?”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Spoiler: Music IC (Recurring)

They didn’t look away. Those brown eyes. Those yellow eyes. Neither woman looked away. Not like it was a test anyway. If it was, though, if it really had been some silly test of strength and determination, who would lose? Who would win?

Xyrin was Sith as much as a Sith. This woman? Wasn’t much different. If different. Looked like she was, what, early twenties? Thirty, maybe. A pretty face. For a Human. If they opened their blades this moment, which woman would show their prowess? Which opponent would win?

These thoughts are instants within. Only moments. Ultimately, though, Xyrin was no idiot. Only eighteen, and whatever that meant for her species she maybe emulated the Human element.

She was no child but there was a wild fire in her that sometimes not even her parents could contain. But what did that matter on a pisspot called Nar Shaddaa anyway?

“If you’re buying it.”

Breaking their gaze, Xyrin looked away, straight-faced, offering her would-be companion only the slightest hint of boredom rather than forfeit.

As for the prospect of talking privately in a ship, Xyrin was undecided. For all she knew, Sith or not, this woman just wanted a kiss.

“Mai Tai. Maybe it will be better than this Bloody Mary.”

Xyrin slid that glass away and traded her gaze to the viewscreen. What was it playing? Whatever the case, she kept her curiosity and, admittedly, excitement, silent. Sith alchemy... Could it be..?

“Sith alchemy, is it?”

Probably not really any concern over being overheard. The stool on one side was empty. The other had another Sith on it. If not another Sith. The bartender was busy behind the counter. And the music did its trick.

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss nodded at the Sith’s response, hiding a smile as she looked down at the table. Straight-faced and nonchalant as the woman sitting next to her was, that was the answer the champion wanted. One, it showed that she wasn’t stupid, even if she looked a bit young, and two, she was exactly the type she needed for this. In fact, she almost reminded Cheriss of her own acolyte. Who knew what the girl was up to now? So headstrong… She hoped she hadn’t gotten into too much trouble.

“It’d be my pleasure.” Cheriss nodded to the Ithorian and slid him the credits for all three of the drinks. Once the woman had gotten her drink and the bartender was out of the way, her gaze flickered over to the viewscreen.

“Sith alchemy,” she confirmed. “It allows you to see things, change things, even warp reality.” Cheriss took another drink from her glass, looking at the woman beside her, her eyes expressionless. “Combined with science, it has the capability of doing more. Much more.” That’s why I need it. There was a passion in this woman too, she could see it in her eyes. The intensity in their mini staring contest. Their sizing up of each other, consciously or subconsciously. Both wanted more, and both were wary. She could respect that.

“So,” she took another sip, “are you interested? If not, I’ll gladly leave you alone and find someone else.” There were plenty of other options out there, and if this woman didn’t want to take advantage of the power Cheriss was offering, so be it. “If you are… I have a prospect for you.”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Spoiler: Music IC (Recurring)

The viewscreen was playing something…interesting…to say the least.

Truthfully it was just another reason to look away from the woman’s face. They were playing the same game, it seemed, giving each other their undivided attention while appearing to have their attention divided. That wasn’t limited to just their eyes. It included their mind. This game had science to it.

Games. Xyrin might not look like it with that quiet, rigid countenance but O did she like to play.

“I know what it is,” she quickly interjected into the conversation, if not stiffly. She wasn’t an idiot. She might be three (or was it thirteen?) years younger than this senior mistress with her plump lips but she knew what kriffing Sith alchemy was. Shit.

“Ha.”

It wasn’t much of a laugh. Wasn’t even a laugh. More the opening of sarcasm’s hand.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find another person for what they’re worth. Small universe but I doubt there are many others like us in this establishment and I don’t believe in luck.”

Their drinks came. The Mai Tai was better, as expected, if not necessarily delicious. It was good enough for Xyrin to lick her lips after taking a sip of the smoky sweet alcoholic beverage.

“Or fate. But I’m interested.”

Amid her speech, she never looked away from the viewscreen. Just held up a finger as if to wag it but decided against it.

“But I don’t dig.” No. She was no slave owner at the moment. It wasn’t so beneath her.

“Not alone.” So Miss Pretty better be willing to get her hands dirty for their adventure.

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

She really missed these games.

“Good. Then you know its value.” Though she was looking at the viewscreen, she wasn’t really watching. They were just moving, talking shapes on the screen, relying on the stupidity of their audience to pay for such entertainment which brought no additional value to the mind. Alchemy, on the other hand…

“Wonderful.” She doesn't dig. Cheriss nodded. Even if she had wanted to, it wasn’t as if Cheriss would let this woman do all the work alone and steal the holocron for herself. Nor would it be physically possible. “If you already knew about Sith alchemy, then you should know this, too. ‘Two there should be. No more, no less.’ The temple that holds this knowledge was built by Emperor Palpatine, so it follows the rule.” If there had been an option to go alone, by the stars she would have been gone already.

Cheriss returned to her wine, though in truth she had no desire to finish it. The idea of alchemy was far more appealing, and the more she thought about it the more she wanted it.

“If we go, we dig together.”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Though she was looking at the viewscreen, she wasn’t really watching. To be honest Xyrin didn’t even know what the hell was going on with it.

Subtitles to begin with given the music blasting in the establishment. Something something assassin? Something something…wait what the hell species are these anyway?

The woman continued to speak. The other woman. The Sith wasn’t truly Sith. In a manner of speaking at least. She moved her lips, and who knew the true extent of this lady’s wickedness, but Xyrin just listened as she sipped her drink.

Two there should be. No more, no less. It wasn’t a riddle. It was a requirement. Xyrin might be only a Sith Acolyte but she liked puzzles, she liked rhymes, she liked texts and tenets and treasure. Palpatine, however, was another story for another time.

“Glad you agree.”

Not really. Xyrin had no reason to be glad at the moment. Her first drink was trash. Her second drink was just not bad. Didn’t need to pay for either, granted, but she’d only be glad when this pitch of Sith alchemy proved to be in the palm of her hand after digging treasure together.

Ignoring the bartender, ignoring the viewscreen, not bothering to slide the unfinished beverage forward or offer a tip at her would-be partner’s expense, Xyrin promptly got off her stool and made her way to the exit. To this Sith’s ship. With a comment at her back.

“Waiting on you.”

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

This woman, more of a girl, really, left Cheriss alone at the bar as quickly as she’d left Kayden that day. For a different reason, though. That would soon change once she had what she wanted.

“Excited now, are we?” A smile flickering on her face, she put a light hand on the Sith’s shoulder as she made her way in front of her. “This way.” She slid the hood of her cloak back over her head before speaking into the commlink on her wrist. “Get the ship started.”

A few blocks later, the pair were in front of the ship. Tonica Corp, green text painted on its side read. It was nothing more like a delivery ship, but it wouldn’t attract any unnecessary attention. Cheriss frowned when she saw that the ramp wasn’t lowered.

“R6!” she snapped into her comm. “Can’t you see that we’re down here? Get that door open.” Maybe she shouldn’t have kept that old rust bucket, but it did have its uses. Fortunately for the droid, the ramp lowered then, followed by the squeaking of the R6 unit.

“No, this isn’t Nova. And no, don’t bother her. No more questions!” The droid beeped a few times before moving out of the way to let the two women on board. “Set a course for the Sith temple on Malrev IV.” To the woman, she gestured at the mini lounge to their side. It wasn’t really a lounge given the obvious lack of amenities, but the seats were larger and more comfortable than the ones in the cockpit. “Make yourself comfortable.”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Xyrin’s lip stiffened at the hand on her shoulder, whether it was a light touch or otherwise. She would have to remember that one. Who did this woman think she was to lay a hand on her? A Sith touching a Sith unbidden? Wonder how much blood this bitch bleeds.

But Xyrin honestly wasn’t so bloodthirsty and just as quickly curved an eyebrow upward in place of a grin. If one thing could be said about this brown-eyed woman, she didn’t waste time, didn’t get upset by the nature of the younger woman’s character, and was of the same mind as both women pulled hoods over their heads at the same time.

“Problems?” Xyrin asked flatly after her would-be companion announced to her droid that they were down, not up. Waiting for things to actually start happening, the Sith Acolyte sighed, thinking of the adventure that awaited her.

That vast expanse. Stars and darkness between planets. Oceans. Omens. And the promise of power beyond the likes of a Pyke’s profit. Assuming this other Sith was being honest and…what did they say about Sith?

The R6 unit named R6 was nothing to write home about and tell her parents. Xyrin didn’t need for her companion to tell this metallic idiot not to bother her because she completely ignored it and boarded the ship.

Malrev IV. Terrestrial world. Sith temple. Forested terrain. Palpatine came to play. Whatever. There were two Sith women to visit it today. Or tonight depending on how long the Sith, her rust bucket and her ship would take.

“I’ll try,” Xyrin dryly obliged at the offer to find comfort. Masking a sigh, she found purchase on a surface for her backside and…sat. Observed. Heard. Waited. With patience. Arms crossed. Quiet countenance. A moment later and she posed a question of her own.

“You’re a Sith Champion?”

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss merely gave the woman a look of raised eyebrows at her snide comment before turning back to her droid. Goodness me. If the younger girl was looking for trouble right now, the champion certainly was not.

“Time of arrival?” A few beeps indicated a few hours. Cheriss nodded, and the droid went off to the cockpit. A few hours wouldn’t be too bad, though she figured that the young woman on the sofa would find it excruciating. So impatient. Just like the other one.

“Mhm. Good guess.” Cheriss reached into the upper cabinet to get a cup. “Water?” She glanced at the woman on the couch. She didn’t know about her would-be partner, but water was the only drink available on the ship, and Cheriss needed some after that wine. She brought over the cup(or cups) and placed them on the glass coffee table.

“What are you, then? An acolyte?” You don’t look old enough to be a champion. Cheriss took a seat diagonal from where the woman was sitting, crossing her legs and leaning back into a more comfortable position. “Whoever you are, you have a lot to learn.” Brown eyes met yellow once more. Though that first game was over, Cheriss wanted to see how far she could push her this time.

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Champion. The Sith’s equivalent of Knight on the Jedi side. Question given. Answer provided. To be honest, however, this Sith mistress certainly didn’t strike Xyrin as a Master. The true Sith had half a mind to take her for another Acolyte. She wasn’t much older. Just wasn’t younger.

At the offer for water, Xyrin slowly shook her head. After Bloody Mary and Mai Tai she wasn’t really thirsty. Neither was she tipsy. She simply didn’t need a drink. The woman moved and the woman watched her movements, watching the cup (singular) on the table, spotting that it was made of glass. Ha.

“Yes.” She answered as simply as ever without meeting her Champion companion’s eyes. Said Champion sat crossed-legged, as ladies tended to sit in this position, but she did it…smugly. Smugness on her lips. Yes. Like she had guile in her smile to guide any guy into her lap.

Xyrin didn't. She sat back straight, knees together, arms crossed, watched and listened.

“Ha.” No grin on this Sith's lips but her eyes finally found the woman’s yet again. “So do you. That glass, for instance. Glass tends to smash if something crashes into it with one wrong movement in your ship. Then it’s goodbye glass and goodbye cup.” Dumbass.

Xyrin's eyes narrowed in challenge. Games were made to be played.

And goodbye pretty face if it ends up being what crashes on the glass.

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss’ head didn’t move as her eyes went from the yellow eyes of the acolyte to the cup on the table and then back again.

“Are you criticizing me for putting a cup on a table?” Cheriss wondered if the Sith really thought that she would somehow crash the ship or move it the wrong way. I could smash your smug face in the glass, too. Or with it. Would she give a lecture on the properties of glass then? “Well, I suppose you’re right.” She smiled. “I’ll be sure to file a complaint against the agent who lent me this ship. It’s borderline attempted assassination.”

There was no viewscreen here, so the two women were left to look at either the beige wall of the ship, at the dangerous glass objects, or at each other. So Cheriss opted for the final despite this absurd conversation.

“Do you have a master?” Cheriss asked, resting her hands on her lap. And before the woman would make another comment, she made a point to clarify, “As in a teacher. Of course, no one would dare try to enslave you.” Her gaze didn’t flicker once.

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Question asked. Question answered. As far as Xyrin was concerned nothing else mattered. At this other Sith chick’s other question about criticism, Xyrin just offered a quick shrug, expressionless. Yet apparently being criticized had served its purpose.

Champion smiled, acknowledged that Acolyte was right so that was fine. Offered to file a complaint against the agent. Naked sarcasm as she intended, of course, but the Hybrid won’t acknowledge it in her own performance. Xyrin isn’t an idiot even if her ‘companion’ might think it.

“Great. Glad we got that squared away.”

Advice taken. Moving on from that then and what came next was another question. But it wasn’t dumb.

“They could attempt it but it would be their mistake. Not mine.”

Xyrin’s eyes barely blinked while her gaze never wavered.

“No. I don’t have a master.”

She waited, timing the moment, and quickly followed up her own tongue the moment Champion would speak simply to interrupt her in this exhilarating conversation.

“They tried to enslave me, see.” Head tilt to the side. “Why? Who’s your master? Palpatine?”

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss tilted her head. Finally they’d gotten somewhere interesting. She could sympathize with this woman about “them” and enslavement. For her, it was a group of thugs on Corellia. But before she could ask the question, the woman gave her one. One question, one answer. It was only fair.

“Do I look that old?” Cheriss took a drink before putting the glass cup back on the glass table. “Not Palpatine, just a Sith lord. I didn’t know his name. As to why, just out of curiosity.” She smiled, leaned back into her seat, fixed her gaze on the woman’s eyes again, ever-probing. This mental game was getting interesting.

“Who is ‘they’?” she inquired at last. “Are they what made you decide to join the Sith?” A flashback of the shadow of a man in a tank prompted her to ask a third question. Unwarranted, perhaps, but the rules were flexible. It might have just been that Cheriss didn’t like to play by the rules. “Or was it the Sith themselves?”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Okay. So maybe she didn’t look that old. Then again the comparison wasn’t apt given Palpatine looked like a mutated fish or something. Older than the oldest ancient with that pallid skin of his.

Champion places the glass cup back on the glass table. Nothing worth noting. A basic gesture. Except it was deliberate even if Xyrin spotted it from the corner of her eye. She didn’t want her gaze to waver.

Brown Eyes liked to kick back and relax, didn’t she? Slouching in her seat as if she’s already winning. Claimed she didn’t know her master’s name. What do they say about Sith? Right. They lie.

“That is a vague question requiring specifics.”

Xyrin finally moved as if she had been a statue this whole time. Immovable. Unbreakable. She lifted a hand, ran a finger from the skin of her eye to her chin, but wasn’t trying to turn this chick on or anything like that.

“Sith. Hybrid. But Sith.”

She nodded at her counterpart’s more pallid complexion.

“You are Sith but not Sith. See, in my species, where I am from, there is no decision. You are born Sith. You are Sith.”

Xyrin offered another shrug. With her eyebrows, that was.

“Sith, Sith, it rhymes with Sith. Suffice to say that ‘they’ are someone you will never meet on account of their failure to exist so don’t worry about it…Champion.”

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Vaguery and specificity. Two very different things, yet somehow the woman managed to have both in her answer. Cheriss didn’t mind, though. At least she didn’t talk in riddles like someone else she knew.

“I see.” Cheriss was somewhat familiar with the differences between the Sith Order and the Sith species. She’d encountered both during her time at the Sith Academy, though she’d never cared to do more research in that area. As for the failure of “they” to exist, Cheriss mirrored the other woman’s brow shrug and said, quite simply, “Good for you.” She meant it— there was no underlying sarcasm in that statement.

She waited for the younger woman to ask another question, but there appeared to be none. There was just one more thing she wanted to learn about her. It wasn’t that she minded referring to her as “acolyte”— as a matter of fact, she enjoyed it. She just didn’t want to call her “champion” when they would be of the same rank. If she made it that far.

“What is your name, acolyte?”

@Die Shize

 

[Xyrin Davarok]

Humph. It wasn’t expected. It wasn’t unexpected. Champion pulled the same tactic out of her bag as Acolyte had. She wasn’t goaded. Didn’t take the bait. Didn’t poke at Xyrin’s vaguery despite specificity.
If this woman was trying to push Xyrin’s buttons, it hadn’t worked, however the same attempted strategy applied in reverse.

“Thank you.”

Lies and deceptions. Exaggerations and sarcasm. Maybe, in the end, there was no ‘they’, no slain master or slave master, and the distinctions between Sith and Sith as order and species were more different than Xyrin had suggested were similar.

Maybe, in the end, and in that same vein, this game was utter B.S. to begin with.

Though, what the Sith did not show in her visage was that, despite her vicious attitude, beneath the surface of red flesh, of Sith’s skin, was the skeleton of an eighteen-year-old woman ready and willing to learn something new.

A woman who could appreciate another woman, another Sith, who was willing to play the game. Another question came. Only both women would sense that there was no game to play when it came to names.

“Xyrin Davarok.”

Stated plainly, as expected.

“And what is your name, Champion?”

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss was expecting a fight when she asked Acolyte her name, so it was a nice surprise that she gave it quite willingly. Unless she was lying, which Cheriss didn’t think she was. They understood, the two of them, that the game was just a game and that names were something else entirely. Maybe they were earned.

The champion nodded once in acknowledgement. Xyrin. Pretty name, but somehow still sharp. “Cheriss Ktrame.” Same plane tone as Xyrin, but with a slight smile on her lips. “Pleasure to meet you.” And to play with you. For once, she meant it.

She stood up, finished the rest of her water, then placed the glass cup not on the glass table but in the sink instead. The droid would get around to it later. Once she was at the door to the cockpit, Cheriss turned back to Xyrin.

“I’ll be in the cockpit if you need me. Otherwise, feel free to sit or sleep or… do whatever pleases you. I’ll let you know when we arrive.” The door slid open as she pressed a button. “Oh, and do try not to break any glass. It tends to smash if there’s one wrong movement.” Without waiting for a response, Cheriss would take her leave.

@Die Shize