Sleepless Wake [Ask]

[Butler]

His eyes burned, glaring deep into space; searing a hole into the miserable nothingness that torments his sleep. Brooding, he dwells on the dark circles that are undoubtedly marring his features of perfection even as he forbids himself from checking a mirror. Legs folded in the image of the Jedi, he waits for some revelation to whisk him away into freedom. But he cannot survive it. Every time it comes he feels it escape his grasp like a whiff of smoke. But the scent is upon him. He vows to devour it, day and night. Night and day are his tormentors. He sits in utter truancy.

Lucifer's eyes refocus upon a spec of dust, falling from the shimmer of dimmed light within the dark of night. It trails and sways, committing to inconsistency and the demands of a whimsical fancy. He is enamored by it, low in the grim face of insomnia.

It hits him. Somehow, as inexplicably interpreted millennia passes before it finally touches the floor, its meaning touches his heart. His neck pulses, a twitch of the head, and he painfully unfolds his legs to get off of the bed. In the dead of night, he is ill prepared yet the heart beat calls. His bare feet innocently clap upon the hall floors, stark in absence of his reflection with simple white pants loosely kicking upon each step, as he makes towards the training rooms down through the catacombs of this castle's maze. Indifferently shirtless and untamed, Lucifer treads with a casual purpose. His soft breath whispering like the flicker of candle light under aching scrutiny, this Initiated wanders towards his calling. For the call of the night has awoken him from his deathly slumber.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Silence was such a strange thing. It's great presence felt distinctly for the fact that it possessed no presence. The absence of anything gave it more weight then most things in the galaxy in a room such as this.

The training halls and rooms of this great temple nazar had since begun to call home were filled with silence at this hour, most minds and bodies firmly held in the embrace of their ethereal dreams, the nights gift of sleep held fast and true for most. Others simply didnt want to train at this hour, making it an ideal place for nazar as he sat by himself, eyes closed and legs folded in mediation as he practiced a simple training exercise he'd done for a while now.

Using the force to write was not a practice most jedi had used when he'd first begun his tutelage on the path to using the force. But he found it helped with the finer aspects of manipulation; a steady and controlled pressure, and the patience to seek perfection. For Nazar, the force no doubt a living thing, with a will and presence all on its own. And to use the force well, one could not simply harkin to it as a master would his pet nor call upon it as one would a deity to smite ones foes and rain blessings upon him, but instead a willing partner to be coaxed and lured into aid, persuade with ssubtlety and fitness just as one would a friend, or someone more then a friend...

Nazar stopped his thoughts as his pen floated in the air above the holographic pages of his journal, his thoughts interrupted as he heard something break the long and looming silence. His yellow eyes opened to look upon the pitch black room, pupils wide as they adjusted to the low light. There was someone coming. He could just barely hear the light patting of steps meeting ground, a lone individual coming towards this place at a slow and methodical pace, at least he assumed so from the sound echoing from the open doorway leading into the corridors of the temple.Nazar's pen slowly lowered itself into the small holster his holobook had attached to it before he closed his eyes once more, breathing slowly as he reached out with the force, subtle mental hands like a creeping fog as they invisibly snaked forward, grasping and feeling to see who or what was coming down towards the hall, and if he were lucky, to glean what purpose they had for coming at this hour.

 

[Butler]

Sagging eyes lifted sway to the song of echos in his mind, whispers only life could tell. His patting feet turned, influenced, down this hall instead of that. And he wandered, a silhouette in the night.

His thoughts were as splintered glass, gripped on all sides by a grin of madness and dug into matter; mind fraught with fractured dreams and a life distraught by fear in loneliness.

Yet he sauntered on. And those who felt the touch of his intensions either bled from thorns or reveled in its sickness. Lucifer could not decide which he himself suffered. But his imagining speech blurred, internal conjecture forgetting prose in eloquent soliloquy, with fogged glass grinding its resin edges in struggle for a clearer view absent complex judgement. Sometimes a clear head, even if cluttered with dementia, was better than logical reasonings.

His feet stopped.

Lucifer stood just passed an opened door, planting his pale skinned flesh yet assuaging any friction in the air. Nonetheless, the absence of his image, after walking passed the door, now left an eerie emptiness to the dark; despite his presence being felt by those who could feel it to know he was there.

His fingers crept along the inside of the door, pulling back his head to peek in. First his curly white locks hung into sight, followed by the obscured roundness of his head. He sat there just staring into the darkness, at a person he could not see with his eyes, saying nothing but what their silence said to one another that asked the question for the both of them. Who are you?

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Nazar's yellow eyes opened as a growl escaped his throat, a slight sneer forming on his face for a moment before it returned to a simply frown. Whoever was coming, he could not tell right away, the tiniest he'd gleamed from the surface of the approaching individuals mind little more then an indication of something very troubled and potentially dangerous. He stood from his sitting position, rising away from the darkened shadows of the room, for which he doubted would camouflage him very effectively, until he stood tall against the shadows, his metal breastplate reflecting what little light filled the room naturally against the darker areas of the hall where the shadows were cast quiet thickly in the nights embrace.

In the doorway to the temples training hall, stood a human, or what appeared to be a human. It was thin, and small, and looked almost to fragile to be walking as it was now, it's pale skin contrasting against the black of the room and the pale color of it's hair not doing much to help blend in. The clothes, or lack thereof, was enough to make nazar raise a brow at the person standing in the doorway, as his hands guided gently towards his hip, stopping and hesitating every so slightly as he determined which side held the weapon he trusted in this situation before his left hand found purchase by hooking it's thumb on his belt, and his right found its place on his thigh, over the weapon he had attached to his belt, it's cylindrical shape and almost ornate design making it obvious as to what it was as he rested his hand upon not. He made no motion to draw it however, not until he was sure he needed to.

"...You seem...under dressed for an intruder..." Nazar said more to himself then anyone else, as his yellow eyes focused intently upon him, "And you didn't seem to make much effort in hiding yourself from my detection...who are you, stranger? And what is it you're doing here, may I ask?"

His voice was calm and curious, no hint of malice to be found even as his eyes spoke of mistrust, his heading tilting ever so slightly to the side as he waited to see this new comers reaction.

 

[Butler]

The light flickered in his eyes, drifting a second's thought to delight in rampant violence. Picturing his rage rotate himself along the wall and into the room where his lightsaber burst blue down a hacking slash of pulled rib muscle into the reaction of splashing light.

He grinned.

But he returned to his senses from the fantasy and disregarded the urges, disregarded for many reasons; perhaps for none. Perhaps the urge wasn't strong enough. He didn't much care, but for the reasoning that he had won the long and loud fight within his head.

He somberly melted free from the door and stepped one toe in past the entrance what lined the distinction between room and hall, as though he wished to step over a fictitious line that signified respect. For he so loved to disturb boundaries of respect. It distracted him for a time. And yet his face seemed to take the dark Jedi seriously.

"Lucifer..."

It was as though he slipped his slimy tongue into the air to arose it to his song, whispering his profligation like gold coins fed through kisses. He did not believe it himself, though he liked the name. Believing he was an ancient destroyer named Gabriel or a young man whom he inhabited was of no consequence to him currently. Instead, he quite liked the mystery as he spoke it.

His toes stretched out for another step towards the lizard to push every protocol past the safe and boring.

"You seem ...overdressed for a servant, Lucifer quietly prodded in sinister rebuttal. "No... Perhaps a sycophantic proselyte," he hypocritically pandered.

It didn't matter that he was now with these men of Bogan. To deny his devilish urges was to imprison his mind within his own crushing guilt and agony. Challenging and ridiculing a proud warrior was enough distraction for now. Perhaps the dark Jedi might even have the wits to engage Lucifer intelligently? Though Lucifer doubted anything beyond garbled grunts from subspecies such as these.

"Not used to tasting anything but the grime treaded in on minion's boots? Oh, well I'm sure foot sweat sweeps cleaner from the tongue."

His teasing knew no bounds, praising the dark Jedi for his boot-licking skills only before assuming even greater pride in his shirtless, shoeless freedom. And if that didn't provoke a response, Lucifer was sure to incite greater sting. Just for fun.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Nazar stood tall and straight as the small human male dislodged himself from the door and crept towards him, taking note of the deliberate footsteps he took and the pacing and timing between them and the words he spoke, this new provocateurs less then distinguished appearance obviously not a statement of his wit. Clearly, nazar had been mistaken in his previous assessment of this individual before him, and was not in the presence merely of one who belonged, but one who commanded to be know. That, or perhaps one who was either foolish or self-deceived enough to believe themselves a better man amongst lesser stock. In either case, nazar glared at the human as he proclaimed his insults in a voice almost out of tune for such rhetoric, eyes darkening as he held fast and still, until the man had seemed to pause, and grinned.

"Well, well, well...it seems I am honored to be in the presences of a rather gallant rogue..." Nazar said as his eyes tracked lucifers movements, making sure not to take his eyes off him as he spoke, "And so Cordial as well, to have the manners to introduce yourself before beginning your bellicose prattle, and with such idiom to be found..." he said before he brought his free hand to his chest and lowered his head in a bow, extending his arm out in a mock bowing as he looked lucifer in the eyes.

"It is intriguing to see one so bold tread so weightily in the night, and one with such a silver tongue for insult." His voice was deep and low, it's reverberation marking it as clearly non-human as his speech was paced and deliberate, every word sounding like a hand picked note on an instrument not meant for such long and flowing speeches, yet produced them just fine in their own dark melody and rhythm, "And as you were kind enough to give me your name, I see it as only fair I give mine." he stood back up from his mocking bow, the smile on his face fading behind a new look of indifference as if it had been a mask that he simply had no more use for, as his back straightened and his hand still held his saber.

"My name is Nazar..." He spoke plainly, the mirth within his voice now gone and disposed without a trace, "And I would ask once more, as I only have half of my questions answered...what is it you're doing here, Lucifer?"

 

[Butler]

Nazar's bend and bow prompted the immediate pivot of Lucifer's foot, shifting one bare foot to reach a new step around the mocking Nazar's left side; beginning a circling pace of intellectually fanciful footwork. Yet Lucifer devilishly grinned to the lizard's capable mind, far more content to face a sharp mind than a burly bodied brute. So Nazar watched Lucifer as he bowed. But he'd have to watch Lucifer walk past his sightline, or turn and show his inability to confidently present his back to a potential threat as he continued talking to Lucifer.

"Nazar!" Lucifer barked with an unnervingly quick echo of the name given not less than a fraction of a second after Nazar had said it, and likely having said it from behind Nazar's back.

"Well, Nazar. What I am doing here -and first let me thank you for the fine compliments though I cannot promise promotion from petty brown nosing- is what any power hungry creature does in the dark of night: prowling. You see the deeper you touch the great mystery, the hungrier you become. And someone of my abilities is ...very hungry."

Lucifer nearly completed his encircling scrutiny, feet clapping together to a halt behind Nazar just off his right shoulder.

"Might you be my meal tonight? ...You're awfully soft..." he rated the poor grade of meat Nazar represented with a single prodding finger point pressing into back-arm flesh.

The poke was meant to disturb something, upheave the calm facade of both characters and start something. Whether it did or not, Lucifer's finger would easily turn into an open hand and react as he hoped he would have to but would be interested in walking further down this road of an electric tightrope.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

"I'm afraid I wouldn't make a very good meal." Nazar said simply as he turned his head and shoulders slightly, yellow eye staring at the child man as he lightly poked his arm, a raised ridge brow at the display showing simple curiosity and little else. His anger grew, as did his irritation, as his eye seemed to smolder, a ember of a dying log of charcoal receiving a fresh breath of air to rekindle its flame.

But he would not fall for this game, not when it was so obviously layed out. Nazar refused to let himself be stripped of so much dignity as to literally be led along the end of another man's finger like some puppet, he had experienced enough of that in his previous lives.

And so he simply grinned again, a small one that showed off a few of his sharp teeth as they lightly glinted in the faint light, almost matching his light blue scales in color in the bluish light from the windows above.

"Not unless you enjoy a meal that kills you as you eat it..." he simply said as he continued to stand his ground, even as lucifur moved about him. "And of course prefer the taste of steel and heated plasma then actual flesh and blood..."

 

[Butler]

"No, you're right," he quickly agreed in patronizing assessment of Nazar, the insufficiently poor meal.

Lucifer toyed with his fingers now, limp wrists, as he took confidence at the lizard's back. True he was strong enough to hold his stance without turning around, interestingly enough. And true, he hadn't given in to Lucifer's obvious begging for a fight. But Nazar's stationary reluctance only informed Lucifer's confidence he had even more room to proudly prance over pleasantries.

"Ooh! Now that is exciting! I must admit I've had my fill of flesh and blood these past few days. So perhaps it is time to try a new platter of -what did you say- steel and heated plasma? Yes I think I'll try that delectable dish."

Lucifer's eyes fell to slits in the dark, now pondering the true reason he came prowling down these corridors.

"I wonder. Are you up for a challenge? See I know of a program that instructs in the ways of Kinetite. Dare to test your limits...?"

Lucifer had a game in mind, a game of catch.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Test my limits?" Nazar asked as he looked at Lucifer curiously.

The chistori's anger had slowly ebbed away, slowly being replaced with an uneasiness about this lucifer human and his intentions. Something about him seemed simply off, his aloof attitude combined with his unusual responses all seemed to be just point to him being completely at ease with a stranger who might fully well turn his blade upon him. Which spoke volumes for either his foolishly trusting nature, or in his utter confidence to be able to beat him.

Still, the metaphorical gauntlet had been thrown, and the challenge now hung in the air between the two dark jedi. Nazar saw now the choice that he had walked himself into, to accept this strange humans offer of joint training, an offer he was certain would contain more then a few dangers to him. Or to back down, and admit defeat to this human and his games, a bitter pill by any measure of the word.

Nazar was silent for a few moments as he considered and weighted his options, not wanting to rush into things before he finally decided.

"You make this sound almost like it'll be more then simple training." Nazar said, a amused tone to his voice as he brought his hand off his saber, and instead crossed them in front of his chest as he turned to face lucifer, the tiniest of smirks working their way onto his maw. "I accept your challenge. Though first, I believe some proper lighting is in order..." he replied with a simple raising of his hand.

The room seemed to lighten as nazar focused his attention on the light controls, switches moving as the force worked upon them, the artificial lights brightening the room until there was at least a dull white glow cast onto the area, cutting away the shadows and the night as the two finally got a good look at each other, nazar's black breastplate and blueish scales glinting slighting in the moderately brightened room.

 

[Butler]

Lucifer laced his fingers together, inwards, and flexed them out with the popping cracks of his knuckles in Nazar's silence before deciding. Lucifer knew he would agree, or he would look the fool. So his fingers stripped free with the roll of his wrists and he rotated them down to his sides with the readying shrug of his shoulders.

Then he smiled, knowing full well that this was going to be more than just "simple training".

Lucifer's face deformed with a double squint under the rise of the room's lighting. His eyes searched back towards Nazar. That deformed expression of his soon melted into a ridiculing smirk at the sight of the black breastplate. It was Lucifer's own opinion that more armor meant more artificial confidence. And he was never practiced at holding in his opinions.

"Good," he snickered wildly through his spitting cheeks, dressing the sides of his teeth in a glaze of giddy saliva. It was all he could do to refrain from cracking up entirely.

"Hah..." he composed himself with a lofty breath, "Let's see." Lucifer's head swung right then left. Then he saw the training room's center podium beneath a curved square outline hidden in the floor.

His artful left hand whipped out, then flipped upwards with an effortless rise. And the podium, the center console, stressed its gears with a hiss of steam before obeying his call with a lifting extension of its unfolding form into a small 'v' shaped expresser; one that showed capability of sound and visual light. Lucifer's bare feet clapped against the floor as he opted to circle around the other side, putting the console in between Nazar and himself. He folded his arms over his bare chest and grinned a perfect white grin.

"Archives," he commanded. The little lights flickered in recognition of Lucifer's voice, categorizing him with necessary clearance to access certain files while blocking him from those he cannot. "Reference. Kinetite."

The console flickered again, thinking as it garnered all necessary files and began governing sequencing of the room's lighting controls on its own. The lights just barely dimmed, still remaining mostly lit, as its holo-projectors fluttered into life. Pixilating a product of symbiosis between pure definition and demonstration, a picture of two Bogan training in a recording of their training fluttered up into sight. And as they fought, silent double-sided words typed across the air with stretching lines that pointed at specific areas in which it detailed in definition. Explaining the whole process with text as one Dark Jedi drew in a static compression of atmosphere around his hands and unleashed it onto the other Dark Jedi, the computer's typing glitched before wiping the text clean to continue with enough space for more typing. It repeated from a different angle, explaining the physical statistics through respiratory read-outs and numbers on every possible measure except that of the Force itself. Then, the other Dark Jedi reached out and assimilated the ball of static with difficulty. And the computer did its best to explain with more statistics and technical jargon. It was not the same as a teacher demonstrating it to a student, being right there and feeling what they felt. But quotes popped up from different lessons and notes taken throughout history that did its best to explain what Kinetite was and how it could be countered, it's strengths, it's weaknesses. All statistics. Nothing completely true as everything varies in application. Yet it was just enough for Lucifer to follow somewhat vaguely. He'd read it before. He understood Force Lightning. He'd used it before. And he understood the basics of Tutaminus. He'd been taught it as a Padawan in a large classroom setting. And he had an idea of how he'd start his first attempt, a sort of mesh between a launched shock and a telekinetic ball of focused energy. He knew that if he could begin to master this technique, that he'd be one step closer to greater freedom in destruction. And that was where he desired to be.

"Recognize anything, Nazar?" Lucifer posed with a hint of sinful spite in his smile, keeping their relationship properly defined and unchanging.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Nazar did not answer as his eyes fixed onto the hologram, shifting rapidly as he began to memorize every single detail the instruction hologram provided. Gone was his formerly stern and unreadable look, replaced instead with a look of focused concentration, a trance like state surrounding him as he found himself slipping into a much more comfortable state of mind. Speaking to others was a frustrating but necessary task, one that required constant caution and censorship on his part to pick every word with great care, every manner of using his chosen words with the diligence of a sculptor. Conversation was a required tract, as was dealing with the most unpredictable and frustrating element to ever be born into the galaxy, individuality and thought.

But there was one haven Nazar had always had, and could always rely on, that being the world of knowledge, and all their many gateways. It was the pursuit of knowledge that nazar held in the highest of regards, with information being a treasure in it of itself that should be coveted and sought out in all forms. It was here that nazar could relax, slip into an ever familiar world, and be allowed the comfort of simply being inside of his element. He had not heard lucifer or his question, the human now being moved to simply a secondary concern over this new shining treasure laid bare before him. Every flicker of text and fountain of information was gladly drunken from, each holograms movements broken down for easy to understand reference, even if there was more allegorical and conceptual messages then he would have cared to read. He studied the posture, switching to their vital read outs, then onto a text detailing the theoretical causality between the psyche-emotional state of mind of the opponent, the force sensitive, and the balls external shape and internal power, to a detailing formula of the maximum velocity of the kinetite orb, to the rate per second of energy conversion and dispersal, blinking only a moment at the mention of cybernetics and the effect of forming kinetite from them. It was a lot of information to take in, and nazar made sure he memorized as much as possible, mind spiraling as he held out his right hand, aiming it at a wall nearby as his fingers flexed, shifting into the position of the holographic body, followed then by the forearm, then the rest of the arm, soon followed as well one by one until he was in a near exact post of the other individual in the hologram, though a scaled up version.

His body began to slowly move, mimicking that of the assaulting individual in the video, acting out the motions with a deliberate repetition and speed to memorize as much as possible to physical and psychological memory. Nazar's eyes never left the hologram however, still reading out whatever information his eyes could glance as he took in what he could. Force lightning had never been his forte, mainly due to his handicap compared to most dark jedi making electricity a rather double edged sword. However, this technique was not simply a manipulation of energy, but a conversion of it, from one state, electrical, into another, that other form being kinetic. It was a simple concept to grasp in it of itself, however the act of perpetrating such a technique was a much taller order to fill. As he continued his mimickrey, his mind began to work at bringing him into the right state of mind, bringing him back into reality and away from the world of learning, to the person who was in the room with him, a source of both uneasiness and frustration. He grasped those emotions, holding them in his minds hands as he began to mold them, turning it into something purer, more untapped, to fuel his strength and connection to the force.

As nazar did so, he could feel a sensation through the force, a prickling feeling, odd and slightly discomforting as it snaked through his limbs and core, as if searching for release. From his finger tips of his right hand, the tiniest of sparks flickered and died in tandem with his motions, synching its arc and dispersal with the moment of the kinetite orbs release. It was a small step, but one that could lead to many a thing, if allowed to progress along the proper course.

 

[Butler]

His pale flesh pixilated behind the projected images, blurred into obscurity even as his eyes peered right through them ever so clearly. Lucifer tilted a studious gaze, eerily ignoring what was right in front of him. He watched Nazar across from him, more interested in the physical sensations, the unreadable emotions, than any scientific diagnosis. He started a short stride into pacing, feeding off of Nazar's intellect through the expenditure of that process into physical form; Lucifer's gifting.

See he'd seen this, read this, log before. But the written word was like broken shells of something born within of greater purity: raw, unexplained and scientifically preceding, genesis. Learning, reading, was natural, proceeding record; though unnaturally transforming and distorting in its processes. The sentient is at first transcendent in its capabilities. Yet as it grows, it teaches itself that the way to properly learn is entirely the opposite standard than what grew it to that awareness. It was in Lucifer's opinion that true higher learning comes not from reading about oneself, but living in oneself. Living in others to define oneself is simply an advantage of the Force.

Lucifer's arms writhed down at his sides, contorting handfuls of air into grip as he felt what Nazar felt; as though immersed in a womb sack of Nazar's enrichment. Acute empathy was his illness, emotion his sickness. And he ached to devour nourishment for it, a need to empower himself inside its intoxicating euphoria.

He paced back and forth alongside his hemisphere, enraptured eyes sliding along every muscle ensnaring every ounce of power unto the lizard's control. If at first Lucifer was at a disadvantage, Nazar establishing himself more quickly in this style of study, than that advantage was short-lived. As Nazar felt that unnerving sensation, that prickling feeling snaking round and through his being, that sparkling flicker and dispersal glittered within the reflection of Lucifer's inner eye; his soul. In all that time it took Nazar to understand but a flicker of a moment, a step towards comprehension, that moment was taken as all the time spent had been shared. By these eyes, this body, this core soul - Lucifer's raw natural urges clung to Nazar's progress like a beast's claws clutching at its still struggling feast within the jowls of his tyrannous teeth.

Lucifer's feet clapped still, stopped.

After Nazar's fingers demonstrated their infantile understanding of the Force in this regard, Lucifer's own self surged with a reflected enhancement of what he had just learned; felt by his peer within the room.

Lucifer's energies, an unsettling strife, seared in blue lines of static up from his arms' skin and pushed along the peeling hairs down towards his hands. Fingers curling, both wrists pulled in a dancing cross of hands that barred together a build of tension within. Sinister eyes staring still, watching Nazar's as he blatantly stole from him, Lucifer charged a small and insecure sphere of translucency before shaking a trembling release that shot the orb into the floor at his feet. It splashed like liquid, untamed electrical current dispersing insignificantly into the hard surface. The attempt wasn't much better than Nazar's, though credited entirely to Lucifer's examination of Nazar's demonstration. For Lucifer worried about neither metal limb nor the accidental loss of flesh, unhinged in his natural state of experimentation; dangerous. He was unreserved, somewhat experienced in his chaotic manipulation of Lightning, and completely settled in his unpredictability as shown. The chances of him hurting himself were great, a part of what made him so powerful.

"Looks as though we've both begun in strides. ...Your anger of me compels you. Let's speed this along then and focus that compulsion. Hmm?"

Both hands raised, two fingers and thumbs flexed, he waved on the darksider's attempt; egging on his ego and asking for his best. If Lucifer was to learn quickly, learn efficiently, and learn first hand what it felt like - he'd have to take a hit first in this game of his.

"Go on..."

Shoot first, ask questions later. Their respective Kinetites would be pitiful in comparison to those more practiced. And so, Lucifer expected himself to be capable of handling Nazar's ball of anger; training himself and his defenses in tandem with his understanding for aggression and building his own anger for greater release in return.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

As Nazar focused his feelings for his now training partner into a rawer and more energized form, he began to make more and more progress with generating his lightning in his limb. Energy sparked and arced from his fingertips, each bolt enveloped and shaped by the force like a skilled smith at a forge, until the moment it left his clawed blue hands, where the power of the force embed energy lashed out in all directions to seek an outlet for its emotional charge. He'd never been too keen on learning force lightning in the past, he much preferred a controlled and precise means of manipulation over the chaotic bursts of raw power that constituted the lightnings nature. And so his task was doubled, improve his skills with force lightning and find a way to form his lightning into a ball of kinetic energy.

It was not, however, as daunting a task for nazar as it might have been for most, due perhaps in part to his aversion to force lightning. The lightning was a component in forming the kinetite orb, it was the source of power and form that allowed the kinetic ball of energy to take form. But the lightning was merely the catalyst and fuel, the true power came from the formation of the ball itself, shaping the energy of the lightning into a sphere and making it take a new form, one where its energy was both contained and not contained. A sphere of energy, free flowing and truly boundless, without a form nor state of being to restrict it, and yet bound within a sphere of compressed energy, allowed to be directed and manipulated only because of his spherical encasement.

As Nazar worked, he did not care what lucifer was doing, at first. But as nazar began to feel his will acting upon the orb, using both his frustration of this situation and his slow grasping of the concept and passion for learning and collecting this new piece of information for his collection, and like a smith worked them into a beautiful and powerful new form, he noticed that his opponent seemed to be doing just as well. Almost too well, like this was not a task for him but merely a reminiscence of the movements and actions. It disconcerted nazar to no end, and began to ebb into his mind before nazar seized upon this feeling as well, wrapping into the forge of his conviction and add to his power and his control. Existence was a struggle of suffering and strength, if not for fear of suffering and will to overcome such suffering, there would be no life in existence now.

This competition, this struggled between nazar and this being, was a testament to the depths one could accomplish in accepting the teachings of a bogan. Through suffering, their feats will be greater and greater.

Luficer’s next statement however, caught nazar’s attention from his near single minded focus on perfecting his kinetite. The human had not only known nazar’s focus for harnessing his emotions and directing them, the anchor of his concentration, but had welcomed him to direct those feelings towards him. Nazar had to admit, he was beginning to gain an appreciation of his human, as a motivation if nothing else. The Dark Jedi of the Bogan do not hesitate, they do not let the force decide their actions. They act on their own judgements and understandings, using their own instincts and decisions and never showing hesitation. Nazar turned his body to face the human, a snarl and smile seeming to fight for control as his right hand began to gather energy, feeling a surge of power as the lighting began to gather in a ball, arcing and lashing out all around as nazar’s anger found a target it deemed should not be held back against.

The lightning danced and arced in all directions, and nazar winced in pain as they struck back at their caster as well, his hand beginning to singe and small patches of scale and flesh burning in tiny patches wherever the unrestrained lighting went. It was then that nazar did something he rarely did, and acted upon his base instinct, moving his other hand over the ball and channeling his own kinetic energy around the sphere. Sparks flew from his metallic appendage, fingers from both limbs twitched as stinging pain and jolts of nerves traveled in both. But in a matter of seconds the lighting that had been so unchecked moments ago had stopped, and within the cusps of nazars grasp, was a tiny ball of crackling energy, trapped within a sphere and rippling along its surface, like a plain of water constantly being disturbed from within. It was no bigger than a ball one might hit with a bat, and it was not a very stable form even with both of nazars limbs working to contain the sphere.

And Nazar didn’t hesitate as his eyes locked with lucifurs, a glint the only warning that this attack was coming before he shot both arms forward, palms held outwards and apart as the kinetite orb shot forward, soaring towards the fellow dark jedi.

 

[Butler]

Lucifer's eyes flexed open, drawing in the excitement of the coming pain; heel and toe scooting out into a deeper bend in readying grip of the air as it charged around Nazar. The more Nazar felt with his emotions, the greater Lucifer understood; casting aside a fearful preparedness in defense for a deeper intimacy within Nazar's bond of manipulated Lightning. He could sense the development within Nazar's flesh as if it were tissue shared between them, Lucifer worming his mind through the processes of Nazar's instincts and growing with him. It was invigorating.

Lucifer gritted his teeth, breath seething in and out as all his muscles clenched; standing strong against the growing threat of warping light. Insanity stretched across his face in the ripples of fleeing shadow, a crazed desire that recited Lucifer's tenet of freedom of which he truly believed in. Chaos, the ultimate freedom. To be burned. It was the only way to become one with the fire, to express that heat through the purity that is utter release.

It was released, shot through the short distance between them. Lucifer threw his hands out. Contact.

"Ahhhhh!"

He screamed, the flares of spitting light snapping out over his wrists in a splash of spiraling light. He recalled a morning in the cross of streaming daylight, a dream passing through the reflection in his mind. It was warm. He wasn't alone. A Jedi Master stood before them, the other students and he. Yet he bit down on his gnashing teeth as he remembered the bitter sweet love of their company, alone in their midst. They toiled lazily, as if there was no war or reason to fight. Each of them gently sewing a stream of the Force into the other, others absorbing their energies and dispersing it through their bodies or back into the atmosphere whence it came. A single tear welled in the corner of his eye, skin of the forearms searing scared flesh, red tendrils reaching through his nerves, lifting tiny fissures of air trapped into pockets that pulled from the skin. They were such fools then. His voice trembled indiscernibly, in pain, as the light began to fluctuate.

His fingers reached through the violent light with great difficulty, the sphere peeling back and clawing into the wounds along his hands. And suddenly its source rippled through his limbs traveling towards his core with a concluding flash. Darkness returned.

"Tch," spat the clenched breath of air from his teeth.

Static wrung through his forearms, residually clinging to the air atop the lifted hairs. But as the light subsided, there circled a compressed darkness, invisible light, swirling about itself in the confines of space between his cupped hands; like a double helix, a two headed storm that bulged at its center. Lucifer hardly breathed, jaw shivering tight. He forced an exhale, gurgling trapped saliva in the back of his throat as he just stared at Nazar with an unashamed nakedness; a singular focus on doing, disinterested in his contorted expression and reckless charge into the unknown.

Yet his limited experience in absorption and manipulation, the telekinetic bond he shared with the raw unstable side of the Force, allowed him to struggle and stand firm against the damaging intake of concentrated energies.

His hands slowly pulled back into his side, rattling, fighting for control. His own Lightning, blue streaking lines, began sparking out about the growing ball of black. He was doing it. The blue lines fed through his fingers as if attacking Nazar's captured energy, pillaring the twisting torrent of rippling, liquid air. It began to take form, light flickering within.

Hairs beside his neck started to rise with static, a sudden escape of blue striking the flesh below his ear. He clenched a groan with the shrink of the neck. But he kept pushing.

Stripes of blue light pulsated down into the ball, his hands flexing apart wider now as the blue lines pushed out from within. The ball took shape, not much bigger than Nazar's a moment ago. That flicker returned, this time in Lucifer's eye; the same as in Nazar's just before sending his first attempt. His torso constricted, hips tweaking a sudden pull of the spine up through the shoulders. And, with a dispersing ring of force, Lucifer's hands shot out at the behest of a controlled scream; hurling the return of their mixed energies within the compressed Kinetite, a violent orb of translucent black riddled with striking light launched straight for Nazar's center.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Of all the things Nazar had expected of his "training" partner, to take his kinetite full on was not one of them.

He watched as his attack made contact with lucifer, the human seeming to want to get hit as he took the brunt of his electrical and kinetic attack. Saw as it began to claw into him like a rabid animal, his own emotional energy fueling the orb as it did its work, an unstable force almost like a trapped storm, striking at any opportunity to escape.

"What have I done...?" Nazar said aloud, his voice a whisper and with a hint of surprise more then anything as his emotions began to slowly fall back into place, the turmoil that had raged and whipped like a dazzling tempest now beginning to clam back down, their winds dying and their waves settling as he gazed upon his attack do its work. He had expected the lucifer to dodge his attack, having used himself simply as another one of his goads, or perhaps to have had some trick to neutralize his kinetite, not that he had been thinking of such things while creating the orb, he had been too focused on learning the technique and venting his frustration.

And then lucifer did something even more unexpected then having taken his attack, and began to manipulate the force around him, nazar feeling it ripple and bend through the air as his attack was countered, lucifer standing firm as he looked at nazar with an expression that managed to send a shiver up the chistoris spine, a small twinge of instinctual emotion flashing up from within his chest as nazar felt it come and go. A feeling of fear shooting from within him before it was quickly swallowed and snuffed out by nazars other instict, one of defending himself from this new highly underestimated person.

Nazar took a single step back, his hand going for his saber on reflex before he ignited the weapon in response to seeing lucifer began to fire off his own force lightning, unsure of whether the other dark jedi planned to attack him in retaliation. The large shaft of malachite colored plasma cutting through the lights from the hologram and the dimmed light of the temple, shining like a sudden beacon as nazar held it in one hand, moving it in front of him to guard against possible lightning strikes, his left hand held behind him to shield it. However, as nazar saw what was coming, his yellow eyes widened with realization as he saw lucifer forming the orb of force energy, and directing his lighting into it.

"Malachor's Damnation." Nazar cursed as he realized what was to come, his grip changing to a two handed stance as he brought his blade before him, concentrating as he focused his emotions along his blade and arms, gathering power through it as he held the blade vertically as he raised his saber up and above his head, angling it behind him as he heard the other dark jedi let out a yell and launch his orb. Nazar did not need to see the ball of translucent black and streaking light, he could feel it within the force, its power making him realize he could not afford to take his attack directly. He would need to do something insanely risky if he hoped to avoid major damage, acutely aware at that moment that the armor he wore would not hold up much defense against an attack of kinitite's nature, and that should he fail, he would most likely be in no condition to fight, or even quite possibly perish.

As the ball came towards him, Nazar let out a cry of his own as he brought his saber down in a massive and powerful strike, his glowing blade shimmering through the air like a blur before it came down onto its target, striking the kinetite orb as nazar focused his concentration on his blade, and the force it came in contact with as it connected with the kinetite orb. A lightsaber was capable of blocking force lighting, in the hands of an experienced practitioner, and if one part of the attack could be lessened, the other part could begin to fall as well, as was the nature of such constructs. Nazar held his saber firm, his shoes grinding against the stone and mud below his feet as he concentrated with the force, feeling the raw energy before him the millisecond it met his blade and pulled at the orb at two ends, his blade acting as a separating line as he worked hard to try and mitigate the kinitite's power. In doing so, and feeling a connection through the force with the kinitite, nazar realized a flaw in his own strategy, that while he might disturb the outer layer of energy and change the way it functioned, he could not simply get ride of the energy all together. The kinetic and electrical power contained in the orb had to go somewhere, even as nazar continued to push and pull against the attack, it wasn't enough to shield him from the power as it found its escape in the new area of tension directly facing nazar.

Nazar hadn't blinked or taken his eyes off his blade as the kinetite orb seemed to burst out in a massive bubble of sorts towards him, striking him hard and simply flowing around his saber as if it were no longer there. Nazar had watched as lucifer had rapidly gotten farther away, felt the air become charged with electricity as it pushed against him hard, sending him back at a great speed as his entire body felt the pain on an entire field of electricity surrounding him. His eyes shot open as he finally made contact with solid matter once more, slamming hard against a pillar of the temple back first, indenting the stone as small cracks appeared around his impact area, sliding down a couple of inches until his feet were on the ground, and slumping forward as he fell onto his knee, stopping himself from fully falling from the surprising attack. The world was engulfed with the sound of a loud ringing as the back of nazar's skull had struck the pillar behind him, and he looked up, even as his hearing was still slow to return to him, at the dark jedi whose attack had done this to him.

Nazar stood kneeling, saber now deactivated but held firmly in his grasp, undamaged from the blast as nazar labored with every breath, each inhale and exhale marked with pain, even as everything felt numb around him, his yellow eyes still staring at lucifer. The pain and numbness that surrounded him boiled and simmered as he rose to his feet once more, rising as he continued to hold his saber, unsure of what the other dark jedi's move would be. There was anger, to be certain, and pain as well, two emotions nazar was no stranger to and which could be twisted by the dark jedi into power, should he need it soon. But there was something else as well, coloring the other mix of emotions that bubbled within him as he looked to lucifer, having gotten a taste of both his madness and the power the human dark jedi wielded.

Nazar now had a caution for his comrade, a hesitation that could be felt from within as he stood, injured and battered in front of one another. One born from fear, quickly stomped out, but still able to be sensed. Nazar had found an enemy for which he wanted to do nothing but attack, and a new found respect of one who knew the risks of starting such conflict.