Ask Strange Tidings

[The Storyteller]

Spoiler: Music OOC

"A dreamer is one who can only
Find his way by moonlight,
And his punishment
Is that he sees
The dawn before
The rest of the world."
—Oscar Wilde
​

A woman
Stands
In
An
Aquarium.

I C
A C
IC
AC
OOC
O I C
ORLY?

It is the Gravenell Aquarium.
Which is also located within
The city of Gravenell and on
This moon that is Sevenmoon.

It is a suitably large aquarium.
Silver steel or that of titanium.
Over there is a very large tank.
Has water and fish to bite back.

Day and night, in this city of Gravenell.
Folk of all sorts come here to escape hell.
That is not to say that this city is O so terrible.
Rich or poor, all souls are lost, and it is no fable.

For the same reason there exists the Gravenell Gardens.
People come to this aquarium because there is no ocean.
Out in space, in the stars across, the expanse, is a moon.
With no atmosphere, Gravenell dome, filled with doom.

It does not know it yet.
But soon is to be its death.
It will come for all of them.
The sheep and the denizens.

For now…the Force…floats around…
Searching…seeking…feeling...feeding...
In open space on the first floor—a lounge.
The Force drifts to where a woman is sitting.

She has brown hair.
Brown eyes—a flare.
A woman has a name.
And it is Cheriss Ktrame.

…Hello…
…Cheriss…

He told her to come here.
And a woman came near.
A voice is a lava’s noise.
Deep, like a dark sleep.

…Thank you for coming…
…Have you...eaten yet?...
…Papa-Teen on the left…
…Good chicken breast…
…Hm, just wondering…

…Let’s get to it then…
…Why are you here?...
…In this aquarium?...
…It is the question…
…Listen up, friend…

…I need you to meet me…
…I cannot come to you…
…You need to get a key…
…To unlock one room…

…To your right is…
…A certain exhibit…
…Hot Water Quest…
…Best of certain fish…
…Of hot water climate…
…Rather fitting…for a Sith…
…Don’t you agree...Cheriss?...

…Find an Arcona with a black cane...
…And follow him to the next exhibit…
…And he cannot know you're on him…
...He will stop at this or that next exhibit...
...When he does, he will step out a side exit...
...That is where he will take his cigarra break...
...And there may or may not be security guards...
...Either way, whether he's alone, get his key card...
...Hold your lips, Cheriss, do this first, then the rest...

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

An aquarium was an odd choice for the place of a reunion. However, the Kayden voice in her head had sounded insistent, and the sensation she felt in the Force whenever it spoke was real enough for her to know that she wasn’t losing her mind.

It was unfortunate that the voice hadn’t given her more direction than to simply go to the aquarium, though. When she arrived, she’d been completely left in the dark as for where she could even find him. For all she knew he could be floating somewhere in the exhibits or even in one of the tanks as if he were one of Doctor Sawin’s specimens. So, with nothing else to do and having really no interest in the fish and aquatic life the aquarium had to offer, she would find the lounge to sit down and rethink the decision she’d made to come here.

It wouldn’t be long before she felt something stir in the Force again. This time, the voice spoke for longer, lingered for a moment after it finished, and the presence felt closer. She was still irritated with the fact that it was being cryptic, though. She didn’t understand why Kayden couldn’t come to her, or why she needed an Arcona’s key card.

If she’d known that it would be this complicated to simply see him, she never would have come. But what other option did she have now?

Cheriss would briefly roll her eyes before standing up and heading over to the location that the voice had specified. Sure enough, the Arcona was there as promised, flanked by two guards and just about to head out the exit. A wave of her hand and some concentration on the door would suddenly turn it into a cracked tank holding a shark… at least in the eyes of the trio in front of it. The abrupt stop and the slight yelp of surprise that came from one of the guards was enough time for Cheriss to pull the Arcona’s card over with the Force and put it in her own pocket. Then she continued on her way forward.

Anything else, Kayden?

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

An aquarium was
An odd choice for
The place of a
Reunion.
Kayden.

KAYDEN.
KAYDEEN.
KAYDEEEN.
KAYYYDEN.
KAYYDEN.
KAYDEN.

A SHAPE.
IT MAKES.
MAKES A.
TOMB.
STONE.
WHO.
KNOWS.

I am—
That is.
Matthias.
Extended.
Hyphen.

Cheriss.
Can play.
Kayden.
Can flay.

…Anyway…
Let us say.
A voice, ok.
In Cheriss.

A voice.
Is Kayden.
Can’t mistake it.
Screaming...chorus.

But just a voice though.
His mind and body are
In a place we do not go.
But a voice plays its part.

He can be like a GM or DM.
Right now just for Cheriss.
Cheriss is rather anxious.
To just get this over with.

O-KAY-DEN.
Move on.
THEN.

…Good job...Cheriss…

Periods/fullstops within
Are yet just for separation
Of the telepathic dialogue
Given that it could be a lot.

Oh our Cheriss can also talk
Back to Kayden, if she wants.

Annnnnnnnd
...Move...Along....
...Again...Again...
AN M THEN

…Now...Did you…hurt anyone?...
…Was there maybe any blood?...

Could be where she
Decides to then speak.
Either way, he would say
More to her—lead the way.

…Head upstairs next…
…Past Sea Adventure…
…And Ocean Voyager…
…Then take the next left…
…Move through corridors…
…But first, must make sure…
…You deal with cameras…
…At the end of this floor…
…You will find one door…
…Deal with the guards…
…And use the keycard…
...And enter that office...
…Let me know, Cheriss…
…As soon as you get in…
...Of course, there is risk...
...It's worth it, I promise...
...The promise...of a...Sith...
...Who works with Dr. Sawin...
...You too and this concerns him...

Amid a gallivanting tongue
That is talking in Cheriss' head
She may already be walking—the
Sith of a woman who walks on men.
KAAAAAAAAAAYDEEEEEEEEEEEENNN.

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

What do you care? Cheriss shot back before continuing on her way forward. Kayden had never been one to shy away from blood, and he knew that she didn’t either. Whatever it was, he would move on, and she would go along with whatever other nonsense he was saying. Maybe it would be done sooner if she did.

Following his directions, Cheriss would turn into the hallway that Kayden had specified. The cameras were first. She could see the security room on the left, and she made her way in to see a sleeping security guard at his chair. That made things more convenient. Quietly, she would reach over him and flip a few switches to turn off the recordings in the hall. She paused for a moment to make sure that he really was asleep, and when she was certain, she would head out again.

At the end of the next hall, as promised, was a bored-looking guard. He looked up to see her coming, and his eyes went wide open.

“You’re not supposed to be here, miss,” he said, moving to block the door. Cheriss gave him a smile.

“Yes, I am. I’m here to meet with a friend. And you’re going to meet with yours.” A hand wave was enough for him to blink and move aside.

“I’m going to meet with a friend.” His voice was faint as he began to walk down the hallway and back towards the main facility. Cheriss would make sure he turned the corner before taking out the key card she’d swiped from his back pocket and putting it into the door. It slid open, and then she spoke to Kayden again.

I’m in. Where are you?

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Alone in a room

Spoiler: Music OOC

A voice.
Is voiceless.
The voice is his.
That voice is Sith.

KAYDEN.
Cheriss?
No, idiot.
Oh. You.
Douche.
What is it?
Don’t tell her.
Tell her what, sis?
CORRECT, BROTHER.
What the heck, bitch?

I’m in. Where are you?

I’m close, I’m far, just keep doing as you do
But I need you to access the computer first.
The black cane exec will not be back just yet.
Should take seconds to gather the information.
Look for something within the system: 'RD-27'.
Detailing shipments heading to the same location.
Copy the data, technometry, whatever works really.
Find out the name and where. It is a research facility.
This moon but not this city. Shipments funnel into it.
Files, folders. Get them. Then you can leave the room.

Time passes—forward, most believe.
Indeed but not really. Time is yet a web.
Tangled and curled, twisted, like maggots.
Like maggots so curdled in raw rotten flesh.

It is about time for Cheriss to reveal her findings.
She speaks, mentions shipments, Spero station.
Of course. Do you believe in coincidence, Cheriss?
I believe in…inevitability…and ligaments are links.

A voice, it’s deep, like the abyss of an ocean.
Far be it from an aquarium; O hollow cage.
A cave, lair of the dead, souls so broken.
A sea is freedom—as is skin so flayed.

Our late Thur Rashnik and the Daggers are tied to Spero Station.
With less than legitimate shipments headed to the same facility.
Back on Thila, I learned much, including about this aquarium.
There are secrets buried in the deep and you need to come see.

It had been a minute since their last encounter.
Way back on the planet with the windy weather.
Thila, factory, ghost town, laboratories, those men, women, children.
Experiments, data collected, and a charitably butchered Trandoshan.

There is an abandoned section in the lower levels.
Restricted, floors flooded save one. I'll guide you.
You will find me in that room at the end of it all.
I ask much, Cheriss, but for you I do have a gift.

Some say the gifts of Sith are actually just poison.
That the dark side is, but Kayden is no mere Sith.
Oh and…look out…I may have spoken too soon.
Looks like Mr. Cane is already on his way to you.

Can a Sith just sense this?
Or is a Sith watching a Sith?
Is Kayden watching Cheriss?
Is the eye of Skyler upon her?

Stairwell is beyond the corridor.
Unless you prefer the elevator.
Yet the stairs are more discrete.
On the way, you can't be seen.

KAYDEN,
KAYDENNN.
CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING?
I'M BLEEDING. KAYDEN. BLEEDING.

A voice...such hate...such pain.
But...Kayden...isn't...listening....

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

While Cheriss had previously thought that this was just some kind of strange game Kayden wanted to play, it was all proving to be more. Once again, Spero Station came up. Coincidence?
Kayden asked her the same question.

I think you know as well as I do that this is all connected. Inevitable is one way to put it. She straightened up again, looking around for the so-called Mr. Cane. If Kayden was telling the truth, which she reluctantly had to admit he’d been doing so far, then he was probably going to arrive soon. So she’d have to hurry.

Quickly putting things back the way she’d found them, Cheriss would make her way out of the door and toward the main hallway, checking both ways to make sure no one was there before heading for the stairs. From here it was a clear path down, though she saw no mention of a flooded basement. Hopefully Mr. Cane hadn’t followed her down, but looking up, she didn’t see anyone as of yet.

It was only farther down that she felt the air begin to get damp. The cold humidity was unpleasant, but this seemed to be the place. Opening a door, she would make her way onto the floor before shutting it with a soft click behind her. It was dark, but she could still see with the dim ceiling lights.

Do you have any more for me, Kayden? She had a feeling that this floor didn’t have a map.

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

Do you have any more for me, Kayden?
Cheriss’ voice can make hearts bleed.
I might yet still find out if she’ll listen.
Either way, she’ll do as he’d please.

It was the way of the Sith.
Of others, take advantage.
Step on the backs of the masses.
Climb them to the top of the bridge.

For, a voice knows, a bridge is but a ladder.
There is no up or down in the upside down.
Chaos, order, Jedi, Sith, all will come to burn.
As Darkness swoops in and her tongue curves.

…Darkness…
…Yes, Kayden?...
…Can we kiss?...
…Cheriss….
…She is…
…Your fist…
…For the Sith…
…For the bridge…
…Darkness…

I have more for you.
Here’s what you do.
You’re on the right floor.
Now take the right door.

His eye upon her.
That eye of Skyler.
Cameras perhaps.
Or a helping hand.

You will find a door at the end of a corridor.
Open it and step in and you’ll see steps.
They descend into a flooded corridor.
Suit to your left. It’s time to get wet.

Kidding. No swimming. Cling to the railing on the ceiling.
Cross to the other end. Left. No more corridors but a door.

I left it unlocked for you, Cheriss, so walk right in.
The room will be dark so you’ll need to flip a switch.
I can…feel you…Cheriss…I can...sense your...presence.

…Darkness…I crave your very essence…
…Kayden…I am bringing with me…death…
…In the grave? Black ocean from that pit?...
…We will flay the denizens...then we'll kiss...

Forget death, Cheriss' hand is still part of this plan.
In that grand theater, Cheriss has her parts to play.
The room you will enter is an operational medbay.
In the middle, a shuttered capsule. Just stand still.

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Right and right— Cheriss was now faced with the flooded corridor that Kayden mentioned. She didn’t know what was in the murky water, and she didn’t want to know either. There was no way that she would be swimming through that.

You forget that I don’t even have to do this. Fortunately for him, she saw the railing above her just as Kayden mentioned it, and she jumped up to grab on. Then, she pulled herself so that she would essentially be upright, carefully balancing on the railing as she continued on her way forward.

She soon reached the door on the other end of the corridor. Jumping down and softening her landing with the Force, she would then open the door to get inside. Kayden hadn’t been lying when he said it was dark. She switched her saber on for some light before finding the switch, and the lights turned on after that.

Strangely enough, the place really was a medbay, and she wondered what that was doing underneath an aquarium or how Kayden had even found this place. But her gaze was focused on the capsule in the middle. It looked a little out of place, but the entire room was… strange. Either way, Cheriss would only stand an arm’s reach in front of the door, just in case Kayden tried anything.

“This time you’d better be finished with your games, Skyler,” she muttered under her breath as she stood and waited.

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

…A man…can think…
…A man…he dreams…
…A man…is Kayden…
…A man…is naked…

Kayden. He sees planets.
Words curve. Worlds unfurl.
Korriban. Zeltros. And Karazak.
KAYDEN. WHERE IS MY H-HEAD?

A naked voice.
MY MELTING HEAD.
It is thus a moist voice.
KAYDEN. SKYLER. AGAIN.

AGAIN.
AGAIN.
AGAIN.

…In my head…
…A man thinks…
…All of them…
…A man dreams…

A woman enters the room of a man.
A Sith returns to a Sith as was bidden.
She doesn’t know it, doesn’t realize this.
That she is, ultimately, here to serve him.

Every move she makes, his Cheriss Ktrame.
Every breath she takes, that Sith Champion.
Without Kayden, she would be dust in wind.
Would she ever need to be reminded of this?

In the darkness, Cheriss steps in.
She doesn’t see Kayden. Just dark.
Lightsaber, she then flips on a switch.
The light arcs, a pale yellow, like vomit.

At the perimeter of this circle so round.
Along walls do many terminals surround.
Computers, work stations, none of them on.
But within that room, power beats like a gong.

In the middle, in the center of a cold steel floor.
Where the woman walks forward toward a tube.
A capsule, a tank, an iron circle that is so round.
A sphere, dark as black iron, of metal so bound.

A circle hums, center of the room.
As Cheriss comes toward a door.
A Sith lady walks across the floor.
To a distorted pulsing music tune.

From the looming orb, like a whale of the deep.
A flayed heartbeat stretched apart and bleeding.
In her body, it is vibrating, even at arm’s reach.
And the chamber’s door, finally, begins opening.

Upward, toward the ceiling, outward toward walls.
In place of metal, a window like that of a viewport.
Thicker than glass and transparent instead of black.
In the middle of this circle...Cheriss sees…darkness…

The liquid within it is utterly dark, no blue hue of bacta.
It is a…deep sea…a dark ocean…oil…or like...black...blood.
Motionless, so silent, a sea bereft of wave within this abyss.
Circle so round, the sable orb, ebony in a dreary liquid form.

Scream for me, Kayden?
I can no longer feel my knees.
My sister? What happened to her?
I flayed them. Maids as well. 'Twas swell!

...Closer…Cheriss…
If a Sith ever dared.
Kayden hasn’t forgotten that Cheriss doesn’t have to do this.
However, she has proven to be here for the same reason he is.
They had not come together but they had yet come after Thila.
To pursue Thur Rashnik's information and extend their horizons.

Either way, within that medbay, she would feel his presence.
She would sense it the closer she stepped, and no mistake.
For it was weak, so frail a thing, that lonely Force signature.
Pain—No—Awake—Shadow—Glow—FLAY—GO BURN HER.

A bubbly person, Kayden is, but not as much as Cheriss.
Feathers in wind, snowflakes in the mist, O quite like this.
Bubbles, that is, in a sea, in that tank, bubbling suddenly.
That presence, it comes closer, water parts for the shark.

It glides like a voice surfboarding over ice and curves.
An ocean of oil curls like black smoke of a massacre.
Gently, slowly, swaying like chains by moonlight bench.
Cheriss is standing, watching, with her cold air breath.

Out of the darkness, that bath of night sky ink, is something.
Emerging, glimmering void, frozen star of dead gold gilded.
Elliptic eclipse, a face of petrified ash, grey as mirror smoke.
Appears in the dark, buried corpse, charred flesh and bone.

Hooded head, shoulders right and left, black leather garment.
A mask, if it is that, grey against black, that shape of no soul.
If head and shoulders have a body it is lost in the sea it is in.
In bacta tank’s speakers, if it is that, a voice. “Hello, Cheriss.”

Spoiler

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss stood her ground, not moving a muscle even as Kayden asked for her to come closer.

Not until you explain what all this is. She could feel his presence nearby, and she was relatively certain that he was in that capsule in the middle of the room. Still, she couldn’t sense his intentions, and for that she stayed wary. She knew as well as he did that they were not friends, and that he would use her the way she would use him. And when there wasn’t a clear goal that she could see for either of them, she would stay cautious.

However, as the liquid began to bubble, Cheriss couldn’t not go closer to take a better look. She still had her saber out as the figure emerged, but she would lower it when she heard its voice.

“Kayden?” She blinked a few times as she looked him over. “What happened to you?” The last time she’d seen him on Thila, he’d seemed fine except for some kind of strange liquid on his face. This was… unexpected.

“You have much explaining to do.”

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

A man wonders…can I count the strands in a woman’s hair?
She has brown hair; bite of chestnut red; strands that dance.
He has…counted these…before…pulled them…like…wings.
The dark…they scream…night…mare…stallion’s daydream.

A man is…soundless.
Yes…like dead breath.
A man…has…no...eyes.
No light…dead…seas.
They see…dying life…
…O my…Champion…
…Kiss me...Cheriss..?

Rose red lips, those of Cheriss.
Eyes of chocolate, but also ice.
A bloody lady, my stone cold Sith.
Devoured hour—in red blood rich.

“Kayden?”
“What happened to you?”
Kayden?
Kayden..?
…Kayden?
KAYYYYYDEEENNNNN.
“You have much explaining to do.”

So. Cheriss can see me.
Can she see all of me?
Or only some of me?
She cannot see me.

She cannot see his face.
She can only see grey.
Black grey—charcoal.
Hints of light in abyss.

A man can see a woman. What can a woman see?

In the darkness, a faint reflection of light in that cold mask, a black hole’s ellipse, and overall it gives the appearance of charred bone, with no face it is faceless, with no nose or lips, no brows, just a soulless oval so round.

Is it a mask? A man or a woman may ask, a droid too, a boy too, a girl, about that man’s face or even if he is a man, whether the fool, whether bloody drool like a kiss from a spiked fist from a guy so violent.

As a boy, he was too. In the darkness, floating in the abyss, he knows who and what he is, there is no mistaking it. He is Kayden.

In a tank, a man is naked, despite what a woman might see and think. She can barely glimpse him at best, shoulders and a head, his form even darker than the frozen storm that is his countenance, wherein the hood around his head, with its dark gold edges, is like wet leather and whatever that inky ocean is. It is maybe a scuba suit, too?

Actually, it is quite like liquid obsidian, deep sea, dark rain, the blackest of dragonglass at a palace painted in vantablack; onyx, though ironic, given its inherent symbolism at heart, and what even are two Sith anyway if not honest and symbiotic when they're playing this game of chaos and carnage?

It puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the potion up its nose again.
Kayden thinks, Kayden breathes, motionless, floating weightlessly in that frozen abyss.

He emits a field in the Force, his presence is real, whoever and whatever he is, Kayden has not closed his door to the Force.
It is…within him…it is…quiet…like…Silence…sleeping…like a…dragon…or...a...kraken...

Madness, some may call it, but Kayden will never let go of the voices that sing inside this guy’s head. They are his, he made them, with the Force, as a king makes a throne out of swords.

KAYDENNNNN.

It takes a moment for Kayden to answer her, Cheriss. Hello, I Am That Is.
In seconds, less than it takes to flay skin, Kayden forgets them, the dead men, women and children, and gives Cheriss his attention.

N-NO, PLEASE, KAYDEN, PLEASE! N-NOT AGAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII—

“I would show you the rest of me but it would only frighten you.”
The Sith have feelings too. But only one Kayden. I am—I am.
Behind the face, can a man breathe? Or is a man in the tank?
Is it even Kayden within? Useless questions. Only death is truth.
O mouth of agony, deep as purgatory, my teeth I made of blades.

“It has been a minute, Cheriss. Glad you made it and in one piece. Now…where were we? Right. Thila. Those kids. That bastard. That bitch. The Human. The Togruta. Jedi schutta. They survived. Left me to die. I don’t mind. It is what it is.”
I am—that is.

There was no stopping an unfettered Sith the same way the wind could not stop a feather from drifting within it.

“Thur Rashnik, that legless Trandoshan idiot who managed to find his bones broken, I found his lab. A tank was in the center of it, smaller than this one. I climbed into it, it filled with liquid, healed my wounds, the factory went boom. I emerged onto the surface, too. You should have seen the sky, Cheriss. The stars, how they arced, it was...brilliant.”

They wanted to know if you found the dossier.
On the monkeys at Zeba Popa or the dinosaur?
Hell’s it even mean when you can’t see your eyes?
Heyyyy ya wanna buy some cookies or spiced rice?

“I held onto the data I found and skipped town. You went and did your own thing, whether gallivanting around the galaxy, I did me.”

Kayden would lean in closer if he could. Skyler would reach out and touch her, cradle her cheek in his hand, dance with Cheriss around the ocean of a black hole, a circle so round, like the center of the galaxy, like Darkness. Yet, they are separated by glass, but glass can be broken.

“I came across a name, discovering his links with Gravenell City and the Daggers as well, or the last Dagger, according to that Trandoshan. Nothing unusual, criminals in general, but I trust my feelings and after Rashnik he was my next best lead. He is a drug dealer, supplies spice to the Daggers, and this guy is a Pyke.”
He leans in closer, no, the dark water simply shifts his distorted image in the mist.
“Cul Laaster. Whatever he is up to, take him with you. He may lead us to the Dagger and our answers, too.”

Arms, legs, if Kayden has them, they are hidden in the pool. He moves his head instead, subtly, right and lift, tilting it, as if struggling to see Cheriss yet again.

“Take the Pyke to Spero Station. That is where the tech within this very aquarium was taken…such as the tank I am all but naked in…pun intended.”

Kayden..? Is...is that my daughter...is...is th-...that...is that my daughter's...my daughter's...f-face...on...your...face?

...A man...has no face...and Kayden...isn't...listening...

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss chuckled out loud at Kayden’s first statement.

“Frighten me? I thought you of all people would find a more eloquent way to say that you can’t leave that thing.” She would let him go on, however, without interruption at the next part. Thila still left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she knew that neither of them were particularly happy about the ways things had turned out. It wasn’t all unexpected that the Jedi had left him to die— she had too, without a second thought.

“Well then, I hope you enjoyed the view.” She’d always known Kayden to be one who appreciated the finer details in life. She took a step closer when he went back to business, bringing up the name of a Pyke. It seemed that there was more to him than she’d originally anticipated.

“Laaster… and here I was, thinking he was just another petty crook.” She looked at Kayden thoughtfully, though she couldn’t see his eyes. “He can come along, I suppose.” So long as he didn’t get in the way.

“When will you be getting out of here?” she would ask after a few seconds. “I almost miss your company.” That was a lie, but she would prefer to have him close. It was slightly unnerving how he was able to speak to her despite being so far in distance, or how he was able to track her even in here. Hopefully that wouldn’t be the case in the future, but she couldn’t be sure.

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Skin. Fabric. Just one kiss on the lips. But one flick of the wrist.
It didn’t take much, never did, not when you are an artist.
Insert sharpened blade between the topmost layer of skin
And the tissue beneath and peel. They squirm…like a fish...

One day, one night, Kayden will do to the galaxy what he does to them.
Flaying, he thinks, is no simple thing. It takes effort to put all the work in.
After all, a sun spends all of its time burning while a black hole is eating.
In the dark, in the black water, it swallows souls whole, screaming, feeding.

He remembers a face, there in black water, drifting like driftwood; no, like bodies from a slaughter.
Another face, one is Jedi and one isn't quite that bright, one guy is blind and the young guy is high.

YOU ARE A FISH.
SHUT UP, BITCH.

He can’t tell her what happened to him, not yet, it is too soon for it. Cheriss cannot see his face but she senses this is Kayden, she hears his voice, so surely it must be him. Whoever he is, whatever he is, at least he certainly isn’t a fish.

Communicating across the galaxy within the mind, that took quite a feat of a Force bond. Of Cheriss, Kayden felt a kind of bond, but not to that extent and they did not always get along. Yet, they are connected enough to engage in telepathy, especially now that they’re in the same city.

However, like it or not, they are in this game together. The great game. The one that Sith play. Cheriss had come here for her reasons, and maybe they weren’t so alien to Kayden, not really. Of the future, their desires burn like fire. Question is, are they losers or winners?

When will I be getting out of here?
Kayden asks as he floats near.
All alone, O little lonely bee.
Voices again, never leave.

“I almost miss your company.”
They were never really friends.
“Please accept my apologies.
But I'm afraid I can't leave yet."

In the tank, that Sith must rest.
The Sith are a means to an end.
Graves, Kayden. They are all dead.
When darkness and I are all that’s left.

They needed the information in Spero Station, its research as much as they needed it on Thila, but of other secrets to uncover would be resting in the head of the Dagger. Other projects, other options.

“Turn toward the computer stations, Cheriss.”
He wasn’t going to burst through the window though.
“Power is limited, dedicated to this tank, but that console works.”
Whether it or any other console has access to cameras is another matter.

“The datachip still inserted is everything I managed to recover from Thila before it burned down to the earth, and more. It also corroborates the shipments you found in the office about Spero Station. Specimens from this aquarium were sent there then along with the tech in this very room. This…bacta…tank is basically all that’s left and it barely even...functions.”

Kayden.
Kayden.
Kayden.
Kayden.
Kayden.
Kayden.
Kayden.

He wants to swim, like a squid, but he isn’t a fish, the voices promise him, but he isn’t convinced, for the water is dark and grim again, and if he isn’t Kayden, then is he even a Sith?

O...Darkness...
Am I…that is?

“Do you see, Cheriss? Everything is connected, like a web, like a lattice. The specimens, the tech, Thur’s research, Cul Laaster, the last Dagger—answers to uncovering whatever it is that will in turn benefit our own project with our good friendly neighborhood Dr. Sawin."

He does miss the old coot, too.
Apologize to her or I will KILL you.
Dr. Sawin tended to rub his chin.
As he watched screaming victims.

“Strange things are going on in Spero Station. One question is…”
Dark bubbles again, like something is breathing but can't be seen.
Voice in the abyss, voiceless save for the voices inside a Sith's mind.
“What are you looking for? What is it you want from all this, Cheriss?”

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Kayden couldn’t leave. How disappointing. Cheriss drummed her fingers on the hilt of her lightsaber now on her hip. She sensed that he had more to say though, and when he revealed that the information from Thila had been saved after all, that was the first thing she would go to look at.

“Wonderful.” Taking the chip, she would put it in her pocket before turning back to Kayden. Or whatever was left of him. Though he appeared to be physically in one piece, something about him still felt different. The calmness in his voice hadn’t changed, but… After a few moments of trying to put a finger on what it was, she would take herself out of it. There wasn’t any use worrying about trivial things like that.

“Of course. The Force runs through it all. Everything is tied together in some fashion— we’re merely exploiting those connections.” That was how they’d found Dr. Sawin, after all.

Then, Kayden took an unexpected turn when he asked what she wanted out of this. They’d never openly talked about it— both of them had hinted at their true intentions, but neither had stated them explicitly. Surely Kayden knew that they weren’t really friends and that she had no intention of telling him the truth. They worked well together so far, but who knew how things would change if either one of them had a goal that might get in the way of the other’s? Although, she didn’t need to lie to Kayden this time.

“I believe that the virus has qualities that are, as of now, unknown,” she said. “As such, anything we don’t know has the potential to become something more. I’d like to find out what that potential is. Nothing more, nothing less.” She looked at Kayden. “What about you? Why go through all this trouble to give me this?”

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

It puts the hand on the console and takes the chip.
It is a Sith and a Sith is a woman named Cheriss.
Maybe she’s thinking kriff Kayden, don’t need him.
Just take the data and be on her way, that bitch.

Apologize to her or I will FUCKING KILL YOU.
Voices again, in his head, ever tormenting him.
Not quite. You are mine. It is all of you who lose.
He killed them, he flayed them, did worse. BITCH.

A Sith is a bit of an idiot if he keeps no secrets to himself.
If he keeps only one copy of that data Cheriss has as well.
Truth is as naked as skin, and hers is ripe, kind of pink pale.
I exist…to skin with...razors...Kayden…I can...hear them...wail…

Cheriss Ktrame, that is her name, Sith Champion, his champion.
A pretty thing, intelligent, ruthless, selfish; they share a connection.
She’s no idiot. It isn’t coincidence. Convenience, their sense of fashion.
To explore, exploit, expand, exterminate. That was the way. Our…mission.

For her, maybe all she wants is power for power’s sake, her answer so vague.
She spoke of qualities unknown, anything goes, to learn the makings of the brain.
That was Dr. Sawin’s game, though, they both know. Knowledge is...power…Ktrame...
She’s after something else, won’t tell, but he had to try. He relates. It’s more than flay.

The question pivots, turns toward him, there as he floats and drifts in that black water.
Darkness in a tank; if the dark side could manifest into liquid it might look kind of like this.
She looked at Kayden. What about you? What about you, Kayden? You flayed my daughter!
He did much and more, Kayden Skyler, for pain drives the brain. Beautiful, aren’t you…Cheriss.

“Look at my condition.”
He’d shrug if he could.
“I’m in a poor position.”
BURN her! Like WOOD.

The voices, they never cease, never fade, not really. Cheriss. Ktrame. That is her name.
Kayden needs to regain his strength, in one of the few tanks left, and no one would think it.
To be seen in public, others would poke fun at him, and he likes the water...tickling his skin...
Darkness…can we kiss..? Not yet. I hunger. I'm hungry! Feed me! Maim. Murder. GO. FLAY.

“You are my hands, you are my feet, but the day you become a slave will be the day I die.
No, you do this for me, I need you to, but you do you as well. That is our way. That is…life.”
And death. A voice in his head, it sounds familiar, sounds like her. BITCH.. BASTARD. YOU. LIE.
“Black hole, at the center of the galaxy, it needs to feed. What better way than with an army?”

Cryptic, knows it, exchanging vagueness with his counterpart. He’d spread his arms if he could.
“A black hole, a sphere, a circle so round, orbiting the upside down. Know it, the Force should.
Whatever my answer, we are better together, Cheriss. Learn the answers, uncover the secrets.
Speaking of secrets, you should know...our competitors may have a Force-user to treat with.”

A Jedi, a Sith, who knows the truth of it? About any of this? Kayden isn’t lying, whether Cheriss can sense it like separating lines between sentences, so clean and clear, unbroken. Speak, my dear, tongue of potion.
IT PUTS THE LOTION ON THE SKIN OR GETS THE FISH AGAIN. Words are weapons.
Immortality, a galaxy, a black heart like dark chocolate, and he’s onto it. KAYDEN.

@Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss smiled at his answer. It was true enough that Kayden was in a poor position— she almost pitied him being stuck in that tank like a helpless fish. She knew, however, that he was anything but helpless. For better or worse.

“You’re not wrong.” She laughed wryly. As much as they may be partners, she was no slave, and she never would be. Even if she were, she could kill him right now if she wanted to— a bit of lightning would do the trick— but she had her uses for him. As he did for her. So she would play this game, for now.

She wasn’t surprised that he wanted an army. What else would he be doing with zombies? It wasn’t as if they had any other use besides stinking up the place. He wanted the virus for an army, and she, well, time would tell. Kayden did pique her interest when he mentioned the Force-user, though.

“They have one. We have two.” Cheriss eyed the tank. “Or, one and a half. I do hope you’ll get out of there soon.” She couldn’t do everything herself. “This Force-user, what do you know about him? Can we turn him, or is he a lost cause?”

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

There he is. There it is. Yes. Yet again.
He knows what he is. HE ISN'T A FISH.
He has a corporeal form beneath skin.
Even if his current outfit lets him swim.

She hopes he'll get out of here soon.
Yet poor Cheriss doesn't know truth.
How can a fish swim without water?
Where do souls go after a slaughter?

“I always liked you, Cheriss. No pretenses. Always straight to business. You are a Sith. Only you don’t need a half-naked outfit to show it.”

Then again, that was an aspect of their relationship, wasn’t it? Maybe that’s what Kayden really liked about this woman besides how attractive she was. Such a pretty face. They did not always get along but that didn’t bother either of them. Theirs was a partnership based on consequence. On mutual gain. She doesn't really like me. That's okay, Kayden. You wouldn't find her amusing otherwise.

Kayden never felt like he had to pretend in her presence. To wear someone else’s face. She had seen him make a man scream as he flayed him. She had seen him deliver the mutilated corpse of a Yautkan as if it was some burning bag on a porch.

She had seen more, of course, and maybe she simply thought him an idiot, like his sister did, but his sister was aimless, purposeless; an emotionless husk forever struggling with what to eat.

Kayden Skyler knew exactly what to eat. Mouth around the edges, his plate would take him to the center of the galaxy. And she would be free. Finally.

Maybe Cheriss was finally so fed up with him though that she might fry him with lightning. Maybe that wasn’t black water in Kayden’s tank but…something else. Maybe her electricity would shower sparks into the darkness, surround his tank with lightning, and maybe it would bounce back into her. Maybe the floor was rigged to turn Cheriss into a corpse the moment she attempted it. The first soldier in his zombie army.

Then again…what about an army of Sith?

Then again maybe all of this was bullshit.

Yet, despite the violence in Cheriss’ eyes, despite her lies, she wasn’t so full of nonsense. She knew who and what she was. She was a Sith. No more and no less. Kayden wouldn’t hold this against her of course. She was a bit like him. If kind of different. Even if he didn’t really give a shit about the Sith to begin with.

Their tenets and creeds were piss in the wind to him. Kayden was not simply some sadist. He had a purpose. A method to the madness. Yet he was a man for whom nothing was sacred. He didn’t need to read text to realize peace is a lie, there is only passion, through passion I gain strength. The Force shall free me.

No. It had already freed him. Freedom was his. If anyone disagreed? Hard to argue with someone who feeds on passion, who feasts on pain, who drinks screams, whatever the cliche, but they wouldn’t understand anyway. How could they?

So Kayden didn’t bother with the Sith and they didn’t bother him.
Except…Cheriss…uhh…oh hello, Cheriss…my lovely, lovely…Cheriss…

They have one. We have two. I think I’m in love with you.

“He. She. They are a different breed, I believe. After all…we know who and what we are. We are Sith.”

It isn’t. Kayden is an it.
You are a fish. Haha. Fish.
I am that is. I am existence.
You’re naked. Naked Kayden.

“But what is someone who is neither Jedi or Sith? Someone who electrocutes and executes darksiders in a prison? Who identifies, not as a shadow, not as light or dark, not as some grey ape, but as…something…in between?”

Maybe Cheriss is shrugging. Maybe Kayden would shrug if he had shoulders to shrug with.

Oh no! Poor Kayden! So sad! Sadge face. Waaaahhhhh. ):

Here in his tank, this circle so round.

“That which fights the upside down?”

In his circle so round, that tank of maybe-it's-black-bacta, Kayden the Fish begins to spin, to turn around, until he's floating upside down, but all that Cheriss can make out is that black void for a face and listen to a modulated voice.

"Makes sense I guess. Daggers had their mad scientist, Thur Rashnik—granted I severed his contract by severing him in half—and we have Maff Sawin. Strange if quaint little man. We have two Sith and they have...sommat. I don't know much. Or do I? Whatever. If you encounter them, Cheriss, do try not to die and bring him/her/it in alive. We have...so many questions...and I have...so much patience...but all in good time, right? Right."

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

“Is that all the Sith are to you, Kayden? A band of whores?” She knew she needn’t ask the question though, she knew him better than that. That to him, being a Sith was nothing more than a title, a vehicle that got him where he wanted to go. That he would turn his back without a second thought should the Order get in his way. That was Kayden’s way. And his. He and her old master were remarkably similar in that regard.

She looked into the swirling black abyss that was Kayden’s face, wondering what was really beneath that surface. Despite his ghastly appearance, if she could even call it that, she knew that the information he provided would be crucial. As much as she hated to admit it, even two little Padawans had thrown a wrench in their plans, and without Kayden giving the chip to her now she would never have gotten that data. An older, stronger, more experienced Force-user had the potential to do them even worse.

“Oh, aren’t you sweet? How kind of you to care for my well-being.” Cheriss had heard of Force-users who refused to take a stance on the Force, and none of that surprised her. But fighting the upside down? What was that supposed to mean? If this is another one of his riddles, I will personally crush that tank right now with him in it. The thought satisfied her. “I won’t kill them. Not unless they decide to get in my way.”

She turned her back, ready to take her leave. Save for one last question. “And you think… it will be on Spero Station?”

@Die Shize

 

[Kayden Skyler]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Whore. It rhymes with war.
War. War. It rhymes with gore.
Gore. Gore. It rhymes with more.
More. More. It rhymes with whore.

“I simply think this galaxy needs a better class of darkness. Darksider? Whatever.”

Darkness…yes…you are the one…only you…the one I love…the one I will…kiss…

"Ahahahahahahaha!"

Yet not even the Sith could see it. They couldn’t comprehend. They didn’t understand.
A number of them were idiots. Too busy having silly parties. Had a bad fashion sense.
Then again they had accomplished much individually. As a group. He had to admit this.
While Kayden Skyler stayed and played in the shadows, the Sith got down to business.

It swims the ocean with the fish but it has no notion of what it is.

She knew she needn’t ask the question. She knew him better than that.
Yet Cheriss doesn’t even know Kayden. She only assumes that he's mad.
What was insanity to sanity? What was reality to one's fantasy so flayed?
Madness? This is the galaxy. A black hole like a well. Filled with the slain.

She calls him sweet. She is sarcastic. Oh yes. Cheriss is a bit of a bitch.
He doesn’t mind it. He likes it. Amusement. Kayden’s kind of taken in.
Though, he isn’t so foolish. Isn’t an idiot. He knows she won’t be his.
Fish. Fish. It rhymes with dish. Put it on a dish. And come get your fish.

She turns her back to him. Maybe that was a mistake. He likes pain.
Do it. DO IT. A voice tells him. A lonely, lonely voice. TAKE AND FLAY.
Break it. Engage. Maybe leap out of this tank and crush her anyway.
Kayden liked Cheriss. She had brains. Her brain. How may it taste?

“I think the answers to our questions will be on Spero Station, Cheriss. Keys. Secrets. Him. Her. It. Anything. Everything. No, maybe not everything, but at least a gate to show us the way to the end. To get what we came for.”

WHORE.

“To claim what is mine. Yours. Ours.”

FUCKING WHORE.

“Sawin would likely have a field day in that station but I have a feeling he will love what we bring home.”

DIE YOU FUCKING WHORE.

“It is…our home…isn’t it…Cheriss?”

Kayden didn’t expect her to answer.
He could only watch as she turned.
He floated, drifted, naked in silence.
Quiet mind. Serene sea. Darkness...

Only she wouldn’t be able to leave.

The lights would go out, dim though they were to begin with, and the door that led to the corridor would lock, and maybe she would turn back around because she thought it was Kayden doing this, keeping her from leaving, but she was…wrong.

“Something. Is. Happening. Cheriss.”
He was never right. Right. But wrong.
Unfettered. Determined. Had purpose.
Had eyes. But Kayden’s eyes were off.

A lonely, lonely voice…

Drifting in a soaking void.

That was his face, wasn’t it? His mask at this moment. It is motionless, that black pit with its eclipse and gilded edges, the semblance of a hood and good riddance to the fish.

Only…the grey in its midst, like petrified ash, began to blink, began to flash, as lightning glittered across the tank, around the circle so round.

Still floating upside down, Kayden is. Attempting to Force Slide the door open, maybe Cheriss is, but it would be stiff. Or maybe she is curious. If she was, if she stepped closer to him, to glimpse his visage, she would see...it.

Darkness. Brightness. Something in between. For Kayden Skyler was drawing the dark side to him, whether he wanted to or not, as electricity didn’t electrocute him but lit up his black sea, and it sounded like a scream.

What would Cheriss see?

Some may gaze into the eyes of Skyler and see only eyes, brown and alive, naked, like any man’s. Others would see only lifeless eyes. Violent. Left. Right. Bad eyes. Wrong eyes. Eyes that were...off.

Cheriss would see a mask, a mask that masked the face like a modulator masked the voice, a mask in the shape of a void, but amid the flashes of light like flashes of lightning she would glimpse the hints of the face beneath the mask, and it would not be Kayden’s.

It would not be his skin. His lips. It would not be his eyes. For the left eye would be alive. But the right eye would be…dead.

And the door would finally fly open as the tank began to shake, violently, like an earthquake, like the smaller tank back in that Thila factory of which Cheriss had already left Kayden and had not witnessed what had…happened…to…him. To it.

“You need to leave.”
Kayden stated simply.

Though, probably, Cheriss would not need to be told twice and, if she did, electric currents that crackle across the floor might prompt her to go through the open door and leave a madman’s cackles behind.

And that man, that thing, began to dance, began to sing.

Ocean’s foams in madness
In the center of our galaxy
Straddling the in between
Beating wings of dragon
From the blood of drum
What it does—is done
Sing to infernal gods
Dance eternal chaos
This circle so round
Is our upside down

@Sicadorito (@Cheriss Ktrame)

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

He’s mad. Her back turned to him, Cheriss reached for the door handle. She touched it, but didn’t turn it as he continued on to respond to her question. Somewhat. Cryptic as he was, it was clear that at least some answers were on this Spero Station. She knew for a fact that that was where she would be going.

What do you know of home? She scoffed quietly, turning her head slightly over her shoulder. There is no home. Let alone one that's ours. She turned the knob. It didn’t budge. She turned it again, still didn’t work. Even a hard tug didn’t move it. Then she heard what sounded like a scream.

“Kayden…” She inhaled sharply, turned around, ready to snap at him again. Of course something was happening. Something was always happening with him. But it wasn’t Kayden’s face that she saw now. It couldn’t be. What she saw was a shadow of a face, one that she didn’t recognize. Darkness, she thought instantly, but darkness didn’t have a face. But it does. “Oh, god.” The words were barely whispered.

Where curiosity had been, something else took its place. Something sharp, vaguely familiar, and something the Sith hadn’t felt for a long, long time. Fear. Her mind didn’t register it, but the minute she turned around and saw that the door was now open, she didn’t have a second thought about walking briskly out. You need to leave. As soon as she did, Cheriss felt the crackle of electricity behind her followed by the sound of a crazed man’s song. A song so long…

“So long, Kayden.” She made her way as fast as she could down that hall without breaking into a run.

/Exit
@Die Shize