A Beacon in the Storm

[Ra'a'mah]

"After I meet Shadow of course since she is already here."

Petting Ace again and without a real thought on anything special, Ra fell into silence for a few moments. Having noticed him move slightly in the chair, she didn't think anything of it as more than getting into a comfortable position.

"How long would you like to stay?"

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen swished his tail behind him and grinned a bit. "I can't say that I've got the faintest idea. Since my entire goal right now is something of a vacation from my work, I don't really have a set schedule. I've just been hopping from world to world, coming and going as I pleased. Though, on occasion, I'll visit a few of my people who've got work to do nearby. Its a good image for the Valde to lend a hand whenever he can."

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"You are welcome here as long as you want to stay. There's plenty of room as I've said and no bother at all."

Ra wondered what else he had seen in his travels, but didn't ask. Having just met him, there would hopefully be more time in the future to learn this from him.

"Do you have any near to here?"

He was the first of his​ kind she had ever heard of and was genuinely curious.

"What kind of work do you like to help with?"
​
[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"Thank you. Not often you meet a sith so willing to open up their home to you." As she asked about the were abouts of his people, he gave a small shrug. "There's probably a few around the area, but none that have attempted to contact me. As for our work, as I said before, we're the guard dogs of the galaxy. Humanitarian works, security services, or taking the fight to slavers and kills. Anything that my men need a hand for, I'm happy to aid with."

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"I never claimed to be a conventional sith. Sadly they get lumped together. You know in thinking on some of the conversation we have had tonight, you're right about something."

Petting Ace a little more, Ra took a moment to put her words together of her slightly jumbled thoughts.

"Sith a might be, but in being one, people automatically view me as evil. It is all the others that give us a bad name and reputation."

Raising a hand as she continued, "does the fact I am unconventional as a sith, make me any less of one?"

While what he did was commendable, she didn't see herself as fully fitting that role he and his people played. She could support it, but more from the side rather than being a part of it.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Upon hearing her question, Vulpesen sat and thought for several long moments, his hands folding over his tail. After a bit of silence, he would finally open his mouth. "As a man who disguised himself as a conventional sith, I can say this. Its an all or nothing philosophy. Once you're in the order, you're supposed to belong to it. The emperor's word is your law. I would say that to follow the path that you've decided to take, you are hardly a sith as it is. But one day, your emperor may call on you to prove yourself. You may be called to war against the jedi, or to some mission to display their dominance over the people of the galaxy. Then you will have to choose. Open treason? Or drop the illusion of innocence despite affiliation." His head lifted back up to face her. "I encourage you to decide, if not who, then at least what you are before that day comes."

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Even though the conversation was a serious one, Ra still had a small smile as she asked her next question.

"If I am hardly sith, then what am I?"

While what he said was true, Ra had been able to stay out of the domination and subjugation factors, she was aware there were those that didn't.

"Just because I don't enforce my code on other people or consider them anything less than me, does no make me any less of a sith. There was once a Dark Lord many millennia ago that shared my views. He had a family and friends, didn't care about the Jedi. He was all about the self empowerment of the ideals in the code. My master was a bit like that and it rubbed off on me."

Ace forgotten for the moment, Vulpesen had her full attention. Her own golden gaze looked at him, while her voice was calm, the tone was one of surety, security and confidence. No anger or hostility came off of her, but a sense of power did. The power of belief more than anything else.

"If he did such a thing, then I would likely die as I will not kill without reason."

@Vulpesen

 

[Vulpesen]

"The sith are a religion. The emperor is their leader. I won't pretend and act like their code doesn't have its merits. in fact, I was taught fro a young age that it had a purpose and that in quite a few ways it was better than the jedi. It isn't a lack of belief in the code that removes you from them Ra. Its a lack of loyalty. I can't say that I know what it makes you either. Who's to say that you can't be Ra'a'mah? Or the lady of Bast Castle? You are what you wish to be, yet perception is reality. Therefor, do you wish for your reality to be that you live in the company of slavers and murderers?" Speaking calmly, Vulpesen found some idly part of his mind wandering back in time and looking at himself. Years ago it had been the opposite. He had believed in the jedi, and they had his loyalty, but their code had never sat well with him. Then when their fear took over, he found a reality that he could not face. He sat not among the heroes of legend, but rather cowards and politicians who waved around glowsticks. It had changed his life when he asked these questions of himself. He only hoped he could do the same for the woman in front of him. He knew her final statement was true. Which made him want even more to bring her away from the path of evil before it could destroy her.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"They never asked for my loyalty. In fact, I only joined at the time I did was because my own life was in danger. At the fall of the Dominion, I was faced with joining them or dying. Well, faced with that, I decided to live. Little did I know what it meant to the galaxy to be lumped among their number."

Pausing a moment, Ra pet Ace again. With a single little laugh, she looked up at Vulpesen.

"A rogue sith? I'm sure not all belong to the Empire. In fact, I know they don't."

Her people on Helska had given her the title of Baroness and welcomed her there when she visited. A brief mention of her second home had been said earlier, so she didn't do it again.

"I would wish to be perceived by what I do or don't do. And I don't exactly live in their company."

With a small motion, she would indicate the world outside of the castle.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"Perception is reality. And a title gives quite the impression as to how one acts. One ancient sith and a few modern rogues don't quite do enough to turn one's thoughts away from the main body of the empire. And when one of those independent sith do make a difference, it rarely casts a good light." He looked over to Ace who shifted a bit more under the hand. "Still, I suppose perceptions can be changed if you work hard enough. One person at a time." He gave her a grin as his eyes seemed to shine a bit brighter. He was after all, one of those people.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"A very good point. All sith are perceived in one single light that all are evil. However, even I have my moments. I'm not perfect."

Giving a bit of a shrug and not one bit of ego speaking in her voice. Lifting her hand slightly to allow Ace to find a more comfortable position, Ra lowered it once he was done moving to lightly rest on his body. She smiled slightly at the ball of fuzz in her lap. While he was bonded to Vulpesen, she could imagine herself having one as well. In time, it would happen, she just knew this.

Giving her guest a return smile before she spoke, "but I have only been myself."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen smiled and nodded to her finally statement. "That's a good thing." As they then fell in silence, Vulpesen leaned back into his seat, enjoying a bit more comfort in the sith's home. Though, after a few moments, his ear would flick in the air. "It would seem the rain has stopped." His smile widened a bit more. "So, want to go meet Shadow? After all, its probably about time for me to feed her." Rising up from his seat, he stretched out his limbs, hearing a few pops in his joints as a groan escaped him.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"One person at a time..."

Looking to his ear when it moved, the answer to her unspoken question was given a moment later.

"I can only hear it when it's really going strong out there. Like when you appeared magically earlier. The storm blew you in. I'm glad it did."

He then offered for her to meet Shadow and that it was her feeding time. Looking down at the sleeping Ace, she pointed to him.

"Want me to find a bed his size? I'm sure there is a box somewhere in this castle."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"As am I. Though I'd hardly call myself magical. Fantastic will do." His face broke into yet another grin as he lifted a hand and used the force to call Ace into his hand to be tucked into a pocket of his coat. "He'll be fine." Turning to the door, Vulpesen started to walk towards the exit while his tail swayed and wagged behind him, the tip curling a bit in a different direction during each step. "So, shall we be off?" He leaned a bit against the door frame, waiting for her to follow him.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Shaking her head with a large smile on her face, she watched as he placed Ace back in the pocket of his coat.

"I said it was like magic, not that you are. Then again...who isn't magical? In our own ways, each of us is. Yes, I suppose he will be. It's where he came from anyway."

He stood up and moved to the door, revealing his backside and she got clear view of his tail for the first time. As he walked it swayed and the tip acted almost like a whip as it moved with his body.

"Yes, give me a few minutes. I will meet you by the front door you came in. If you get lost, just call for Vincent and he can guide you there."

Showing the amount of trust he had gained in the course of their conversation, Ra walked out of the room before he could. Turning in the opposite direction that lead to her own room, she would change her clothes. Putting her weapons on this time. Not because she didn't trust him, but because they were leaving her castle.

If he found his way to the door, when she did reappear, she was wearing dark brown boots, black pants and a tunic with sleeves that were loose enough to hold her short saber hilts. On her hips were a double bladed lightsaber hilt and a blaster. What he couldn't see were the knives she had in her boots. Having learned how to fight on her own with the knives, she had kept them. When she walked up, she was just finishing braiding her hair and placed a spiked ball at the end to hold it together.

If she had carried herself with confidence before, it was much greater now. The different clothes and addition of the weapons turned her demeanor into something different. Ra was still the same person that was in the library, just carried herself different.

"Ready when you are."

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Having found his way out of places with far more twists turns and security, it was fairly easy for the Valde to make his way to the front door where he would wait, his hands pulling his coat a bit closer to see that it was properly secured. With a final cinching tug, he looked up and saw Ra returning to him in her new attire. "Practical... I like it." Waving his hand, he opened the door with a small display of the force "Speaking of practicality. Perhaps there's a more practical way to get to my ship beyond on our two legs?"

 

[Ra'a'mah]

"Only in my own home is where I'm comfortable enough to not always wear something built for combat."

Most of the time the attire didn't need to be used for that, but it was what she liked to wear. It was comfortable and allowed her freedom of movement.

He opened the door with the Force and she walked out again before he could. In passing he asked about a more practical way to get to his ship from here.

"Of course, I have a speeder we could use. I have the feeling you have a different suggestion though?"

Ra was not at all opposed to what she thought he was going to offer and attempted to hide a small smile.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"I never much cared for riding things that don't know better than to slam into a tree." He could sense her eagerness through the force and that was all the encouragement he needed. Focusing on the amulet around his neck, he started to call out to the ur-spirit. "Varos, lend me your legs." Once more, his body burst into dark black fur and he rose into the much larger form of the great fox.

Turning to face Ra with intelligent golden eyes, he leaned down and swept his tails around, forming a sort of stair case onto his back. As he sat, he couldn't help but be a bit taken in by the rush to his senses. Sure a Zorren beat a human in most any area of hearing and smell. But what he had now dwarfed even that. It was intoxicating, even if the majority of his smell was occupied by the acrid acid rain.

 

[Ra'a'mah]

The hidden smile came out to shine as Vulpesen changed forms again in front of her. Ra couldn't help but wonder if it was uncomfortable to do that and would ask later.

Giving him a slight bow, Ra reached out a hand to rest on his side as she climbed up steps he had provided for her with his tail.

"I just hope I don't fall off."

With a bit of a laugh, she made herself comfortable on top of his back and felt the fur under her hands.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Rising up, Vulpesen flicked two of his tails around, wrapping them around Ra's waist as a sort of double ultra-fluff seat belts. Then, giving a bark as if to say, hang on, Vulpesen started to trot off, slowly increasing his speed as he headed towards his ship. Behind him, his three others tails would wave and bob, keeping his balance for him as he raced through the barren Vjun landscape.