Private Becoming The Phantom

[Vazz]

"Acolyte."

She had been improving. Vazz had been deliberate in feeding her scraps of information. Half truths, parts of a whole picture, never fully filling her in so her natural distrust could be nurtured. It was one thing not to trust his words, another to search for her own answers both in what he said, and what he didn't. The life of an Assassin was learning that most basic of skill; how to read someone who would never tell you the truth.

In return, she'd learned. Gotten stronger, picked up on some of the skills he'd taught her in passing and truly committed herself to them. Vazz smiled as she approached. The ship she'd been given had a useful training room within it.

"How would you like to learn something useful?"

Ansisa

 

[Ansisa]

Ansisa raised an eyebrow. Vazz never taught her anything outright, everything was subtle hints, cryptic words and puzzles for her to untangle. In fact the last 'lesson' he had taught her had her fighting a terentatek unarmed. But, they were on their ship...his ship. she might have use of it, but it was out of his good graces. she doubted very much he could smuggle a terentatek on here, but she also wouldn't put it past him to do something devious to make this time difficult for her.

"That depends, Master, " she said stepping into the room fully, unease and distrust in her movements as she scanned the room beofre settling her gaze. on him "Do you promise not to try and get me killed this time?"

Vazz

 

[Vazz]

"Success or death, Ansisa. Your life will more often than not be at risk. But it will make you strong, if you don't succumb to the fear it brings." He spoke from beside her this time. An identical illusion, smiling, breathing. Even the Force felt the same around the duplicate as what seemed to be the original Vazz motioned towards it. "What I will be teaching you won't put you in danger for the moment. Tell me, do you have any experience with illusions?"

The second stepped past her, standing side by side with the first. Identical and for all intents and purposes real.

"Which is the real one?"

That was a trick, of course. The two before her were both fake, both illusions. The real form of Vazz stood in the darkness of one of the corners of the room. He didn't truly hide himself, at least in the Force. As a Defel he was invisible in the dark to the naked eye, but the point of the lesson was just as much to test her skill at sensing through the force.

It would be there, faintly. His presence buried underneath the presence the pair of illusions gave off.

Ansisa

 

[Ansisa]

To her credit, Ansisa didn't flinch as the doppelgänger appeared at her side and spoke, but Vazz would no doubt feel the involuntary flicker of fear in the force. Stars she hated him for that power he had over her. One day, she'd take his head for it but that was a long way from now. Now she felt the tension ease from her shoulders as the doppelgänger moved to stand with him.

She cocked her head at the question. She'd been travelling with him for long enough now, observing, learning his patterns and tricks. Vazz was never where you thought he would be, he was never brazen enough to stand right in front of you as he was with her right now. Which meant he wasn't. The chiss smiled, a small chuckle escaping her. "Neither, but I know that from observing your habits. The real question is where are you actually hiding?"

Ansisa closed her eyes and extended her awareness. They were perfect copies, identical in everyway down to his force signature. Ansisa knew if she struck them they would look and feel every real. Such was his mastery over them. Extending out from them she dug deeper beyong the loud signatures and listening to the softer movements of the force. Pulling a knife from her belt it, she flicked it toward the corner where he was hiding, aiming for a rough estimation of where his head was.

She'd probably pay for that.

Vazz

 

[Vazz]

The dagger froze just before the shadow as the Defel opened his red, burning eyes. He chuckled just a little as an illusion of him took over the shadow, giving him substance, form. Color. Just as he reached up to take up the dagger between his fingers to look it over. "You've been branching out your weaponry. Good." Then he threw it back. Full force, just enough to cut through her cheek if she didn't evade it.

"Illusions are useful, as you already know. But only by how clever you are in using them. They can disguise you, create a distraction, even get you information, amongst other countless uses. But to make them, sustain them, is the difficult part. It requires focus. Thought. There are some more advanced applications that help with it, but everyone has to start somewhere."

He held up a hand, forming in it the illusion of a flame. It made no sound, gave no heat. Just the image of a flickering flame.

"Focus your thoughts. The Force will bend to your will if you make it. Make it create the image. Fire will be the ideal first step. You know all about fire after all, don't you?"

Ansisa

 

[Ansisa]

Ansisa leaned out of the way of the blade and it hissed just past her hear, embedding in th opposite wall with a thud. She called it back to her with a tug of the force, slipping it back into her belt. Her lightsaber was too loud for hunting, she'd had to branch out. The sooner Marcus finished her chakrams, the better.

"Whatever could you mean by that, Master?" She replied coolly at his mention of fire. Likely a reference to the little jedi who'd singed her hair. Still, she did what he asked, extending her hand and focusing. It was not easy, transferring a mental image into something everyone could see. She could see the fire about her hand clear as day in her own minds eye, but the illusion did not come, not straight away at least.

After a minute something faint formed around her hand, growing slowly in strength as she found the right parts of the force to tug on and bend to her will.

Vazz

 

[Vazz]

"I suppose in the void of space there wasn't much of a fire at all, was there?"

Now he was just laying seeds, though not without reason. He learned more about her of course. Her connection to Csilla. There would be trouble if she left herself fall to the panic that might bring in an actual mission. For now though, the illusion. "Don't just picture the flame in your mind. Visualize it in your hand. How it would burn, how hot it would be. Don't just try to make an illusion. Make it real, as real as you possibly can. The more you believe an illusion to be real, the easier it will be to convince others."

Ansisa

 

[Ansisa]

No fire in space?

A frown creased her forehead, the illusion she'd created flickering and dying as realisation dawned. "If you're talking about Csilla, I wasn't even born."

She still had dreams though, ghostly memories that weren't hers, visions of the past permanently haunting her. Anger flared in her chest and she closed her eyes. He was seeking to derail her, to distract her, a lesson within a lesson. She drew on the anger he'd flared within her opening hers eye as the illusion erupted from her hand again, the flames danced flickering as if a breeze had brushed past them.

Hot blue at her skin, stretching into thin orange tongues of fire the danced at her command.

Her red eyes slid to meet his and she lifted her other hand mirroring the effect she'd created.

Vazz