Another Bird Under the Wing

[Zion Mirtis]

Darth Raven was awaiting the arrival of her newest apprentice, [member="Alyssa"] , in one of the lower levels of the Sith Temple. It was something of a private bathhouse with a large pool and plenty of servants to attend to the whim of whatever a Sith could want. Given the new lessons to be taught to this girl it seemed the perfect place.​

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And to think she was yet another apprentice without a master whom she had come across during the meeting of the Sith sisterhood, the Covenant of the Black Rose. Another unattended student in need of guidance. And Raven intended to do just that. The more skillful sith the more power the One Sith as a whole could have. It was needed in the battles against the Jedi, who Darth Raven now held more resentment for due to personal reasons.​

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Darth Raven herself sat in one of the chairs near the pool, dressed in her more casual wear, while reading a book. A servant was on standby with a tray of drinks and the like for her.​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa entered the Sith temple like she owned the place. Much as most other Sith did, which meant that Alyssa likely faded to the background of most in the hall. Had she come in meekly or demure, she would have been spotted right away, coming in as if any who got in her way kept anyone from asking questions of her.

The fact that she was a Sith, with a malevolent streak and a chip on her shoulder also helped her to both fit in and not be challenged. She belonged here after all. She was here, in fact, to meet her new Mistress. [member="darth raven"], whom Alyssa had met aboard the Sisterhood's station, had deigned to take Alyssa under her wing and train her in the ways of the force. Alyssa was just glad it hadn't been a man to make her the first offer, the political ramifications of turning down a male Master in the manner that was just as likely to come out of her mouth as not were too great to truly think on.

Alyssa made her way down to the area where Darth Raven had said their training would take place. She hadn't described or labeled the place, just gave directions and said to be on time. Alyssa was always on time.

She stepped from the corridor and into the bathhouse and slowly looked around. The smile on her face grew more wry and a delicately curved eyebrow rose above her right eye. She easily found Darth Raven on the other side of the expansive bath in the middle of the room, so Alyssa sauntered over. She was wearing her typical clothing, a dark grey armorweave bodysuit (ala Black Widow) with a gun holstered in the small of her back, a pair of bracers on her wrists and a bantha hide whip at her side. When she approached, she said nothing at first. She removed the gun and holster and placed it on a table next to Raven's chair, then slid into and reclined in the chair on the other side of the table. She took the whip off her belt and lay the coil around the post at the top of the chair and looked over at Raven, leaving her arm extended up above her head.

"What shall we be doing today, Mistress?"

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Darth Raven had already sensed her apprentice approaching the moment she entered the temple. The aura was unmistakeable, the way she thought and felt and moved. Practically uncanny. That didn't stop her, however, from still continuing to read her book. She would await until she actually arrived within the bathhouse area herself before actually acknowledging her.​

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When [member="Alyssa"] had arrived Raven saw her, admiring her look and beauty. Even as she walked over, obvious about showing off what she had. Raven found it both amusing and smart, the way to play closer to an opponent was always trying to sway him, or her, with feminine wiles. And, lo and behold, the girl knew that she would not need any weapons for this training. Smart. Very smart indeed.​

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Finally putting her book down and looking to Alyssa Raven smirked before saying "Today I'm going to teach you a very useful technique. One that may save your life on more occasions that one." She looked to the servant and gestured for him to leave until called for again, before asking her "Tell me, my dear, have you ever tried holding your breath to see how long you could last?"​

 

[H3xle]

"Today I'm going to teach you a very useful technique. One that may save your life on more occasions that one." She looked to the servant and gestured for him to leave until called for again, before asking her "Tell me, my dear, have you ever tried holding your breath to see how long you could last?"

Alyssa's grin grew. She could think of a number of ways holding her breath could be useful, particularly now that they were alone. However, sad as it may be, Alyssa truly was here for training. Fun would have to wait.

"I've done so...at varying levels of willfulness on my part." Her life as a slave had been quite...lively. It was likely to blame for her present interests and predilections, but she didn't dwell on that much. Each person is built upon their experiences. A different person experiencing her life might have gone a different route, but she was only herself, and to herself she would remain true. "Though I should warn...I can actually breathe under the water." As she glanced at the pool, she turned her head and tilted to the side. She brought her hair around so Raven could see the barest hint of the slits in the side of her neck. When out of the water the gills sealed in precisely the same way that a Nautolan's do. "Though I am assuming you would prefer I tried for asphyxiating as long as possible...gills don't save me from gasses."

She had an inkling on the training that would be taking place, so she had revealed one of her little secrets. She pushed the memories of scorn and juvenile ridicule she had received before when revealing her gills. Most of her other gifts from the now dead geneticist were hidden right out in the open, her beauty was augmented with Zeltron DNA, though she hadn't yet exuded any Zeltron pheromones. Her agility had been augmented with the DNA of Terrelian Jango Jumpers, her eyes and ears with Clawdite DNA...and those were the augments she knew about.

She tensed as she showed off her gill slits, ready for ridicule but hoping for...better.

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Given her answer Raven had given [member="Alyssa"] a curious look to her curious comment. Before she could even question how she could actually BREATH under water her answer was already given when she showed off her odd mutation. Raven had tilted her head first before taking a few steps closer to see them for herself. Actual gills on a human. Instead of seeming freaked out of the like Darth Raven was more amazed by this girl's newer modification. She even reached out and touched them for herself, feeling them without trying to harm the girl.​

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"Amazing." she said, only to snap back to attention and take a more prominant pose. "That is to say...they are amaze use in water. But you are right.There is more than water you'll need to deal with when taking on the enemy. That's why this Breath Control ability is important. It teaches you focus and helps you to concentrate under pressuring moments. So, if you can, focus on your regular lungs and now your....other ones."​

 

[H3xle]

As her Mistress touched Alyssa's gills, Alyssa would close her eyes and crane her neck more. Then, Darth Raven was back to business and Alyssa turned the crane into a stretch then came to her feet, a small smile on her face. She nodded silently and reached into a compartment on her belt. She pulled a long black ribbon made of some sort of silk, she started high on her neck, above where the gills opened and began to wind the ribbon around her neck. She wound it rather expertly, it was tight enough to not come undone, but not restrict air flow or cause discoloring of the skin. The ribbon wound all the way down to below the bottom of her gills and was secured with a simple looking fold and tuck. She offered a wink to Raven as she finished.

"I've got a little experience in some...strange arts." She said in a conversational tone, as if speaking of the weather instead of what it was. She looked at the pool of water, then back at Raven. "My gills won't be able to move like this, so I'm down to normal modes of breathing. What would you like me to do now?"

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Watching her tie the ribbon had perked Raven's interest a little more. The black silk complimented her more darker features, and added a little "midnight tone" to her. Her wink had made Darth Raven smirk before trying to shake it off. She was here to help [member="Alyssa"] in training first, anything else was after.​

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"Now you'll learn how to use Breath Control." she said before starting into a pace in front of the apprentice. "The ability itself is designed to help you sustain as much air in your lungs as possible. For anyone else it would take 5 or 6 minutes before they started feeling the need to gasp. But if done right this technique will allow you to hold for hours. If you advance further for some they're able to hold for days." She stopped as she demonstrated to her via gestures with her hands. "You simply breath in and hold. And then, using the Force, you create something of an internal shield within your lungs. You keep mouth closed and not taking anything in through the nose and just hold. The best way is to think of it as reverse meditation or Force Sense. Instead of pushing out with the Force out push inward. Understood?" ​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa nodded, she thought she had the jist of it. She settled into a comfortable standing stance and focused. It was harder to focus in the beginning with ones eyes open, but Alyssa had learned to deal with it, her natural and trained in paranoia didn't really allow her to not pay attention to her surroundings and Alyssa wasn't going to try to use force sense while trying out a new technique.

Alyssa took several deep breaths, expanding her lungs out to be able to hold more air as she had been trained to do in other situations that had nothing to do with the force. Finally, Alyssa took a deep breath and held it. She focused her mind on building that shield, blocking off her nose and mouth and using the shield within her as a form of filtration system. The first time, however, was almost always doomed to fail. After about seven minutes, near the maximum for holding her breath without the force, Alyssa started to feel it and knew she was doing it wrong. She released the shield and her breath and focused more.

She drummed up memories that she kept handy to fuel her anger. Once stoked, she pulled in more air and held her breath. She shielded off her nose and mouth, but this time went over what Raven had said before.

The best way is to think of it as reverse meditation or Force Sense. Instead of pushing out with the Force out push inward

Alyssa half lidded her eyes, focusing her anger and pushing it inward. She pushed the center of her being in the force until it encompassed her lungs, letting the dark anger roil around her lungs but not trying to force it to do anything but sustain her.

She stood like that, eyes half lidded and force centered around her lungs, focusing on being sustained and nothing else.

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Darth Raven nodded as she watched [member="Alyssa"] begin her meditation. The best way to start was within a natural enough condition. She could feel her darkside energies fluctuating as she sat there and began to focus inward. She was doing well for her first time. Once she had taken in enough breath Darth Raven found a nearby seat and waited. She sat there and watched the girl, glancing back at the clock to check and see how much time had passed. Little by little the minutes passed into a hour, and the next and next.​

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After three house Raven had stood, saying "That's enough." She walked over to Alyssa while she still sat, and commented "Very good, dear. Very good indeed. But now for the next part." She gestured to the pool before adding "And this time you'll need to move. You never know how long you might have if you're swimming for a mission. A few laps around the pool should do." ​

 

[H3xle]

There were few things that Alyssa loved more than swimming, and most of them were less than mentionable. She exhaled and breathed for a minute as she nodded and looked at the water. There were also few, if any, work outs that were as good as swimming. It worked out the whole body, and thus would be a great way to train this style of breath control.

She wasn't in a swim suit, but her armorweave body suit would allow her the range of motion needed to swim well and would probably cut down on drag more than her other option, to go nude. She glanced back at Darth Raven and grinned. No, that might lead to rushing the training and Alyssa seriously wanted the training.

Again, Alyssa took a few deep breaths, then held it and focused her anger and energy inward, focusing on being sustained. She walk to the pool and, without a single hesitation, dove in, swimmer style. She streamlined for about ten yards before she popped up and began to forward crawl across the pool. Her form in the water was near perfect, her hair had plastered back instantly and her face was canted forward to prevent the center ridge of the face to break the water.

Water barely splashed as she slipped each hand in after the other and pulled it back behind her. Her feet kicked beneath the waves, not causing much splash either and remaining far quieter than any competition swimmer would have done. Alyssa could compete, but if she were on a mission, she would try to be as silent as possible.

Alyssa got through five laps, then pulled herself out of the water in front of Raven. Water dripped from her face, hair and hands, but the bodysuit seemed to be as dry as it had been before, though that was an illusion brought on by the water slicking properties of the suit rather than it truly being dry. Any fabric retained some water, the tighter the weave the less water, but it would take something woven air tight to truly keep out all water.

Alyssa maintained the breath control, though she could tell that her time in the pool had exhausted more of her supply than simply standing here had. She smoothly dropped to the floor and began to do a set of push ups and sit ups while maintaining the breath control. She was interested in seeing how far she could push it, though she didn't know if this was part of her Mistress' plans or not.

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

[member="Alyssa"] had indeed adapted to the training far better than Raven had thought. The last apprentice she'd taught this ability to had a little more trouble perfecting the means of keeping control while moving about and performing other actives. From the surface she was able to see everything Alyssa was doing, smirking at the fact she was so active and willing to push herself as forward as possible. A promising apprentice she would make indeed.​

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For the time Raven had walked back to her seat and pulled out her book again to read while waiting. Often she would check both the clock and Alyssa, making sure she was still breathing through the force and not cheating with her gills. She had noted the looks the young girl gave her, Raven actually smirking to herself at the idea of taking yet another young apprentice to somewhere other than the training grounds.​

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Eventually a few more hours passed before Raven had stopped, stood, and walked over to the water to gain Alyssa's attention; letting her know she could come up.​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa had waited for her Mistress to decide when the time was enough. After a few of the sets of push ups and sit ups, she decided to dive back into the water and swim out the remaining time. She didn't go for all out, as she wouldn't do such on a mission. Instead, Alyssa focused on her form. She made sure that everything about her front crawl was as perfect as possible. Such was the way she had passed the hours.

At the point when Alyssa had thought she would have to breath again, which was far sooner than she had felt when she was just standing, [member="Darth Raven"] motioned for her to emerge. Alyssa slid out of the water easily, letting the focus go and taking a lungful of fresh air. Her face had reddened from strain and her nostrils flared to try to allow as much oxygen through them as possible. She didn't gasp with her mouth, she'd been trained better, both as an athlete and a lady.

She moved to stand before her Mistress, the water dripping off her form. There was no hiding, after hours of soaking, that her bodysuit was wet. Rivers of water dripped from random points on the suit as she stood there watching her Mistress, taking in deep breaths to regain her full composure.

Once her composure was completely regained, she nodded.

"It's going to take something extraordinary to make training more fun than that." At the thought of it, Alyssa's pupils dilated for a moment. She had some peculiar things she considered fun, though it would be obvious that the pain of the strain she had been feeling towards the end had excited her.

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

"Indeed. But you've done well for your first time." Raven commented. "Practice, my dear. Always practice." She reached over and took a towel from nearby, walking behind [member="Alyssa"] before helping to dry her off. She was careful as she tried to help try the young girl off, even though her clothing was now soaking and clinging to her. Raven smiled, trying not to show her enjoyment, before adding "Now we move into something different. Have you ever chocked someone...without your hands?"​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa quirked an eyebrow as her Mistress began to help her towel off. Alyssa allowed it without complaint or hesitation, though she did maneuver the more...valuable real estate...out of [member="darth raven"]'s reach. As she did, she smirked, her thoughts likely along similar lines of her Mistress's thoughts.

"Now we move into something different. Have you ever chocked someone...without your hands?"

Alyssa reached up and unwound the silk ribbon from her throat, her gill flaps opened and closed once, then seemed to fade to near invisibility as they sealed.

"I've heard of the ability, but I've never attempted it before. Luckily, it's never been attempted on me before either." Despite being anti-authority, her antis had never gotten her more than lashes since joining the Sith. Said lashes did nothing to improve her behavior, much to the confusion of the less intuitive of her previous trainers.

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Raven had noticed the way [member="Alyssa"] reacted to helping her dry off. Playing tough, was she? Raven smirked more, obviously with respect, but she liked when they played hard to get. Her comment about never trying to Force Choke while also having it never done on her was something of a double-handed response, one Raven was going to put to use. Holding her hand up, while she was still behind her, Raven reached out with the force and seized Alyssa by the throat.​

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"You can feel it, can't you?" she asked, knowing the girl would feel as though no air was coming into her throat. "What I'm doing it using the force to cut off the circulation from your mouth and nose to your lungs. The air is stopped because of my use of the force. Like an invisible hand gripped around your neck. If you squeeze tight enough you can snap a person's neck. But if you give leverage..." She finally took that moment at let Alyssa go "You see why we started with breath control now?" ​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa was used to pain. Pain was exquisite, pain was the only thing that let you know you were well and truly alive.

Pain blossomed in Alyssa's throat as her Mistress applied the technique in question to her. Almost instantly, Alyssa's eyes dilated in pleasure. She could feel her heart beat in her chest, racing harder and harder, adrenaline pumping into her blood along with a cocktail of endorphin laden neurochemicals that caused shivers of excitement up and down her spine. Strangely enough, as her Mistress continued to hold the pressure evenly, she grew to know trust in her. At the moment it was just a seed, but this act of showing her the technique and not utilizing it for her own pleasures sparked that rarely felt emotion in Alyssa.

When [member="darth raven"] ceased the technique, Alyssa's hands flew instinctively to her throat, massaging it gently. Alyssa turned, her eyes still dilated in the memory of the pain. Alyssa's breathing was heavy, though only partly from the restriction of air. She nodded to her Mistress's question.

"Yes, Mistress." Of it's own accord, Alyssa's voice took on a husky tone, almost a purr. "Because it both shows us what the feeling of lack of air is and gives us an effective counter to it..." As she replied, she took control of herself once more. She evened out her breathing and smoothed out her voice.

[member="Darth Raven"]

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Hearing her answer she nodded while saying "Good. And now it's time to see how well you can do." With a harsh snap of her fingers one of the servants entered the room. A timid little zebrak boy, around his late teens, who hurried in order to make sure he could please his Sith Masters in anyway. Raven glanced to [member="Alyssa"] and nodded, knowing what she would figure she was supposed to do. She only stood to the side and looked at the servant as he seemed to be awaiting orders.​

 

[H3xle]

Alyssa turned to the servant boy, a cruel smile on her face. She was to use the force choke, not any mentalism or other forms of force power, so trying to get the boys affection wouldn't help her.

She focused on the feeling of not being able to breath, not the pleasure of it as she knew most would not consider the experience to be enjoyable. She mentally visualized the young zabrak choking from invisible force on his throat. She then sent the visualization out to attack the boy.

The boy flew back as a telekinetic push shoved him out into the water. He rose from the water sputtering.

"Return." She told the boy in a voice that brooked no disagreement. The boy rushed over and pulled himself up and out of the pool sopping wet. "Good. Now stand there."

She focused again, beginning to visualize the choke again. This time she continued to visualize, perfecting the image of the young boy choking .

Spoiler

OOC I am playing it as if she is going to take a few minutes to focus the choke, giving you time to post something or something.

 

[Zion Mirtis]

Watching her actions Raven smiled at how easily [member="Alyssa"] had used the force choke. She addec cruelty into the mix. Good. The servant needed to know his place, nit that he would keep it for much longer. She walked around as he felt into the pool before coming back out, only for Alyssa to choke him again. Her hands went up behind her shoulders as she looked to see it from Alyssa's perspective.​

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"Good. Now...finish it." she whispered into her ear.​

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(Sorry, didn't see until now :/)​

 

[H3xle]

"Good. Now...finish it."

Alyssa grinned wickedly at the boy, who now hung practically suspended in the air, scrabbling at the grip on his neck. Her Mistress had ordered her to finish it, but there was time for some fun. Alyssa broke her concentration into two parts, one maintained the force choke, though by the looks of it this eased some of the pain from the boy. The other slid into the boys mind. Once past the feeble, panicking defenses, she began to insinuate things.

'This is it...all that time devoted to your masters and your life ends here.' Alyssa could feel the fear boiling up within the boy, who did not have enough sense to realize the voice in his head wasn't his own. The boys eyes darted wildly and Alyssa drank up the fear tat emanated from the boy.

After a full minute of the boys squirming torture, Alyssa put her full concentration into the force choke and twisted her hand. A loud, hollow snap resounded off the smooth expanse of water, and the boys body went limp. A broken neck didn't mean instant death, only instant paralysis. The true death would come several excruciating minutes later from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen getting to the brain. With an almost delicateness, Alyssa laid the boy down using the force choke, kneeling in front of him as she did so. His eyes still roved madly, bugging out of his head at the need to breathe. The eyes constantly slid away from Alyssa, angling from side to side trying to pull oxygen into lungs that were no longer receiving signals from the brain.

The sheer terror of the boys death was sweet nectar to Alyssa. In the last minutes, she leaned over and whispered something in the boys ear. He went to death with the sound of her in his ear, though not the comfort he likely desired in his last moments. Finally, Alyssa stood up and turned to her Mistress.

"Well, that was fun." Her smile was large and wicked.

[member="Darth Raven"]