A Touch of Crimson

[Vrak Nashar]

Athiss
[member="Sochi Ru"]

Vrak had never enjoyed torture.

Other Sith got a sadistic sort of pleasure from it, they enjoyed it and reveled in it. For Vrak it was the mark of a lesser being, a butcher enjoyed torture, a true being of power saw it as a means to an end. He did not like breaking people, even if they were human. Every time he did it he felt as though he were debasing himself, somehow pressing himself into something less. Yet he understood the need for it, why it had to happen.

[member="Irajah Ven"] had experienced it at his hand, Seraphina in a way, a dozen others.

All of them had tested him just a bit too much, had pushed him too far.

This one? This one hadn't gone quite so far. Oh she had fought him upon the sands of Coruscant, she had broken his rib and bloodied him, but that wasn't enough. Not yet. He had a better way for her, a much better way. Perhaps it would be a surprise, or perhaps she would think it a dream, but either way it didn't matter. Vrak would have his way, he always did in the end, no matter what came about.

When the Togruta awake she would not find herself in some dark cell or ancient dungeon.

Instead she would awake within a brightly furnished room, laying on a bed with the only restraint upon her being a single collar that denied her the use of the force.

Breaking someone was more than just torture. It was more than just the cut of a knife or the turn of a press. It was the shifting of the subjects mind, changing not how they acted, but thought. That was what Vrak would achieve here, what he would have.

 

[Cortana Jade]

She came to life, and her exotic pigments became prevalent again as the blood flowed. She perched herself up and quickly tried to take in her surroundings as much as she could as she gasped for air. Calming herself when she came to the realization that she was not truly dead she felt...nothing.

It was almost as if her perception was no longer what it was...only what her physiology allowed. The spatial awareness was there but even its reach was not what it had been previously. She wondered why she could no longer expand herself over this room and beyond. Her lips parted as she scrambled for words but she said nothing.

Feeling the weight upon her neck, she reached up and her fingers collided with the cool surface that was usual to metallic materials or those similar. "Wha..." she whispered

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

Vrak pushed open the door to the room a few seconds later. His face was impassive, though bruised, a cut ran the length of his jaw, somewhat healed but clearly received within their little scuffle back on Coruscant. His eyes flew over her rather quickly, inspecting the bruised splotches across her tempered skin before settling on the hand that gently rested on the collar around her throat. The sight brought a small smile to his face, especially given that he had yet to see it.

A servant had applied the collar to her. "Nice isn't it?"

There was no small amount of sarcasm within his tone. Such a collar was a nightmare for any force user, a Master? Terrifying. Vrak had experienced such a device for nearly sixth months. Time he had spent in a cell that was much less lavish than this. The memory of his imprisonment on Naboo still stung him somewhat, and he couldn't deny the feelings of bitterness that prickled throughout him whenever he thought back on the situation.

"I wore one on Naboo." His fingers curled. "You get used to it."

That was a lie. Even after six months he'd always felt like a piece of him had been missing.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Her nostrils flared, his presence meant she didn't take his life. Well...

She heard him speaking but his words failed register, "I see you survived?" she said lowered her head as she slowly shut her eyes. Her words, however, had a slight hint of sarcasm. She failed to look upon his figure beyond what she'd seen when he entered. Was she to be a prisoner again...

"Tell me...how'd you receive that cut along your jaw? Was it by my blade?" She said pushing words through her exotic tone.

She turned her head and looked off to the side, sure he'd probably respond...however she wasn't interested in the direct answer. She wanted to push the fact that she didn't fear him and would likely attack him again if she hadn't known the effects of this collar beyond the fact that it separated her from her abilities.

Hmmph.

"So...what do you plan to do with me?"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

"How...direct." Vrak said flatly.

She had of course injured him quite badly. The medics had needed to tend to him for nearly three straight hours, and Vrak had only made it off of Coruscant in the first place thanks to an emergency beacon that he'd had on his person. Sochi had very nearly brought his life to an end, though the challenge of her defeat had put in in a rather...good mood. He smiled slightly, rounding the edge of the bed so that he could inspect her own wounds.

The Togruta seemed to have healed well enough, the doctors having seen to her after Vrak. There was a reason for that of course. "It seems that I never encounter anyone who actually wishes to converse with me."

A shame really.

"I intend to break you." He told her simply. There was no point in being coy about it. "Push you to the point where you'll kill for me."

The Pureblood stopped in front of her.

 

[Cortana Jade]

While her gaze had trailed off, when he spoke again she turned and looked upon his figure. He mentioned conversation, and she assumed her slight threats had gotten her no where...he was too sure of himself. Her eyes followed him as he trailed around the bed...she assumed the worst of course after their bout; She was ready for him to touch her...she thought it might come to that.

She was taken back a bit by his words, but she was able to gather herself. This would not be the first time she was in a situation like this where she was to be broken and used by others...

"You would not be the first..." she leaned forward, closing in a gap between their faces before withdrawing herself and looking down.

"You may try...but poison has no true master..." She spoke those words, before shutting her eyes.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

Amusement played across his face as she neared him, speaking and threatening.

He couldn't help but smile in that moment, he couldn't help but remember what Seraphina had said. The words were close, though not exact. This was a different situation of course, but similar in many others. The Pureblood reveled within his amusement for a few moments, then reached out and brushed his fingers across Sochi's cheek. The pad of his index slowly traced down her jaw, the finger eventually curling beneath her chin to tip her head up towards him.

"You don't understand." He said, making no effort to hide his amusement. "I'm not going to do a thing."

His thumb stroked slowly over her skin. "You will."

Perhaps that would all be nonsense to Sochi, perhaps she would be confused or enraged by his claim, but the Sith Lord seemed entirely confident within his own words.

"Everybody wants something, needs something. I'll make you realize that I'm the only thing that can give you what you want." Or help her find what she wanted in the first place.

 

[Cortana Jade]

She made no initial attempt to resist his fingers upon her face, her head snapped towards him as he tipped her chin up by the length of his finger. His words, and obvious amusement made her sick...and it seemed all too familiar. She pulled her head away, snapping it in the opposite direction.

"I will not serve you..." she mumbled to herself, "We will see who breaks whom..." her nostrils flared and her lips protruded into themselves.

She looked back at him as he spoke the last of his words, and she could say nothing. Her eyes shut as she looked away again. "Leave..." she said softly, "Go on..."

She thought back to when she was made to be the hand of one of the most powerful Sith Lords, she assumed that's what he meant...and she refused to go back to that way of life...

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Sochi Ru"]

Again amusement.

Vrak didn't particularly care about Sochi's past, nor did he particularly care about what she was. He saw opportunity here. The Empire had risen, and he needed all the servants that he could get. The future would be wrought with death, fighting, and attempts upon his life. The more people he surrounded himself with that could aid him in that the better. He already had mane, Sera, Joon, perhaps even Neesa, but another simply couldn't hurt. "No no."

He said as his hand withdrew.

"You're going to tell me." He insisted, using nothing more than words.

Slowly Vrak wandered away from her, taking a chair from the corner of the room and simply placing it in front of her. The Sith Lord sat down, his face impassive, his eyes set upon her even as she tried her best not to stare at him.

"What is it you desire?" The Pureblood asked. "The return of someone close? The death of someone far? A purpose?"

He smiled. "I can give it all to you."