Private Bird in a box

[Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax]

Spoiler: Music

Lightning forked across the skies snapping into a loud rumble as large doors hissed open. The heavy rain that pattered onto the container slowly disappeared behind the doors now sealing closed. A purple face appeared in front of the small screen, the only visibility Teresa had. "Heh heh heh. Welcome to your new home or... your place of death child." The twi'lek said going into manic laughter making his sharpened teeth visible as he turned with the bag of her belongings. "Maybe... heh heh, ohhhh yes just maybe this catch will gain me favour with the great emperor. Child you've been on my to catch list for some time." She would glare into the back of his head with furrowed brows and anger arising. The Twi'lek would talk to the guards as they checked credentials. Two more guards appeared by the side of the container as two large slowly opened. The red light illuminated the dim light hallway opening up to a grand room.

The hum of the repulsorlift container started again as to floated forward. Teresa could hear the footsteps either side of the container and she could see two people in front. "My great and wise Emperor." The twi'lek said as he bowed from his knees. "I've come to you today baring my latest... gift." The man stood up and gestured with his hands to the container. "Your eminence, I do believe I Skawn Kairn think you will like this one. Ohh this one alluded me many times. Not this time though, set up was she, believed she was to go kill some noble man on his ship. Instead tis was me waiting, and like a good little birdy she flew right into her cage... by cage I mean a containment field. Took half my crew it did to put her into that container. Not that they had a choice mind you. I am blabbering aren't it, I should stop, yes stop. hah." Skawn Kairn would avoid direct eye contact. Even in a box Teresa could tell the signs of fear and nervousness. His hands would drop to his sides and wiped along the silk of his drab dark attire to dry up his clammy palms.



Darth Carnifex Ahani Najwa-Zambrano

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The chamber that Skawn Kairn walked into was gargantuan in its proportions, the ceiling barely visible against the thick wreath of smoke which obscured it from view. Braziers and hanging thuribles billowed forth acrid plumes of incense, settling the entire chamber with a malignant haze that seemed to play tricks upon the mind. The faintest glimmers of moving shadows could be seen in the darkest recesses of the fog, queer aberrations that were only noticeable on the periphery of one's vision, disappearing as rapidly as they appeared when one attempted to train their eyes on them.​

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A single window framed the far wall behind the rising throne, the glass panes tinted a deep crimson red so that the only light which illuminated the central thoroughfare of the chamber was bathed in an ominous scarlet glow. Part of that light was blocked by the throne itself, which was situated upon a raised dais ringed by gradually sloping steps. The throne itself was constructed out of dark material, almost like stone, and was heavily worn and chipped with age and degradation. Despite this, it held the bulk of the once-Emperor's frame quite well without issue.​

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The Emperor himself wore simple clothing, black vestments accented with gold highlights. His sword, the dread runeblade Derriphan, levitated in a meandering circle around the top of the throne. The runes inscribed upon its blade throbbed hungrily in the presence of fresh souls. Somewhere off to the side of the throne was a gage suspended from the ceiling by a single large linked chain, inside was a blue-skinned Pantoran wearing the bare minimum of translucent silk, with her wrists and ankles chained to the cage she was trapped within. A pair of gold-white feathered wings protruded from her back, an obvious abnormal artificial graft rather than a natural mutation.​

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"I do hope that this is worth my time, hunter." Carnifex's eyes flashed red as he leaned forward to accentuate his point, "I do not enjoy being played for a fool."​

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He reached out with his left hand, signaling that the box should be moved closer before it was opened.​

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Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax | Ahani Najwa-Zambrano ​

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

Ho hum. Audience time with the bric-a-brac and where am I? Nowhere particularly interesting, other than the bastion of my husband’s official life. Usually a place I remain as far from as possible, except for a niggling in my chest, and the audaciously comfortable position I have on my dear Darth Carnifex ’s lap. What can a woman say walking through such a palace?

I was cold. He is warm. I sit on his lap and cuddle. Yet, one thing alone could get me off my perch.

This… Skawn Kairn fellow’s presentation of a feisty and dangerous bird in a box. My eyebrows twitch at his story, how hard she fought to escape his clutches…

“What kind of evil-doing poodoo licking crumbum puts a woman in a cage as… as a present!?” My tirade stops short, as the sound of a creaking cage-chain meets my pale ears. There, to the side is Kintsugi, our pretty blue concubine in her favourite birdcage… “Huh… yes, but you like it, Kintsusu…”

I flick my hand and the cage bearing our winged concubine swings back and forth, just enough to rock the cradle, as it were. Then, silver eyes flicker to the woman in containment.

“Don’t you turn into her, every blessed time I yank her out of that thing she claws to get back in.” A long languid stretch and I rise from my comfortable spot, lips pursed. “So she fought. She fought you harshly, attempted with everything she had to get away from your… confinement games. And you still brought her here… what a disgusting display of toxic manhood. As if my husband wanted to be given a broken bird in the same box he once put his boots.”

If there is one thing I cannot abide, it’s the mistreatment of my fellow gender. I walk behind the man, his lekku twitching as I move. Only a single look toward Carnifex, before my hand opens and the mighty blade veers from its’ circle into my palm.

“The Devourer is hungry, filthy peasant.” Before he retracts, I swing. Lekku sever, as does the man’s neck from his shoulders. I feel the pulse of energy, a glee at the twitch of him as he falls to the ground. The side of the container clutches into my telekinetic hand, before it’s ripped away. I point my blade at Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax and scowl.

“You will neither fear or fight me. Free yourself and stand before us.”

 

[Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax]

Skawn Kairn began to sweat more, the red light glimmered off his drenched smooth skin. He had a sense when people had intent to kill. It was at this moment Skawn Kairn realised he had karked up. Thoughts raced through his mind feeding his fear. "Y yes milord." He nodded his head as he spoke. The box moved forward and so did the Twi'lek along side it. Teresa could now properly see the person sat on the thrown along with a woman perched on the mans lap. Rage filled her, like that of a wild beast ready clasp it's teeth into a preys throat.

The Twi'lek's eyes did not wander or so much as stray from the floor. It was then the woman sat on the emperors lap began to speak. "Well I─" The sound of the creaking made him jump a little. His thoughts raced more, "There's no way I will die right? I would not call that thing in the box a woman, more like a rare exotic pet?" He said in his own head as denial set in. "Wait would not call this thing a woman. Far less than that. A... a wild beast." He blurted out. Skawn could feel the eyes trained on him.

As the woman moved from her perch on the Emperors lap. Skawn's heart pounded, it beat so hard he could feel his pulse throb through out his body. "I was told to bring something exotic. I won't ask for anything, just let me work out of here." He said bargaining. As Teresa was force to stand there watching. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the schutta brake. Her black and orange eyes watched the woman carefully as she walked around the man to where she could no longer see her. Skawn Kairn was frozen with fear. Then finally the wet squelch of flesh being cut echoed through the room followed by three thud.

Teresa's eyes watched the metal crumple severing its connection to the mechanical hinges braking the box completely. The bindings that kept her in place released its lock. However she did not move yet as the blade that dripped with blood was pointed towards her. She was clear in her warning however Teresa did not contemplate attacking, and as far as fear goes she was not scared of the predicament she was in may that be down to ignorance of who she was before. She was angry, frustrated and hated herself for allowing this to happen. As she stepped from the container a chain would rattle quickly and yanked on the collar around her neck.

Teresa would stumble backwards as her rage flared back up to max. A hand reached out towards the bag being gripped by the corpse and flew out her lightsaber. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in anger as she spun around igniting the saber, first slashing at the chain that connected her, then the box in a diagonal cut. Both wings had stretched out, arms hung from her side and breaths that was mixed growling. A frost began to form around Teresa's feet creeping towards the head rapidly freezing it. The skull cracking was a sharp quick sound almost like that of glass splitting.

It was obvious from her display that she had little in the terms of social interaction as she remained faced away.




Darth Carnifex Ahani Najwa-Zambrano

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Carnifex did not intervene in the murder of his hunter, and instead, he watched with rather muted disinterest.​

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Like watching a bug be crushed under someone's foot.​

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In the end, to garner the ire of one of his beloveds was to court death regardless of their usefulness. As the head bounced across the floor, Carnifex's mind was already conjuring up images of who he could appoint to replace poor ole Skawn Kairn. There were many, and undoubtedly they would all jump at the chance to take his place.​

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He would have to make them earn the spot, of course.​

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The side of the container was ripped away, metal scraps clanging in every direction. At first, there was only darkness. Then a woman emerged from the box, a manacle around her neck still shackling her to her confinement. She took one step too far, and the chain snapped tautly and yanked her back violently towards the box. Rage exploded, and a lightsaber ruptured from the back that Kairn had been holding to fly into the prisoner's outstretched hand. ​

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The instrument in hand, she used it to great effect to destroy not only the chain which choked her but also the box she had been confined to. Her wings unfurled and frost began to grow around where she stood, freezing the corpse until the bone snapped like glass.​

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Carnifex had already risen by that point, slowly descending the dais to stand on equal ground with his wife and the winged woman. Kintsugi remained silent and still in her cage, eyes transfixed on not only the scene that played out before her but also the new arrival's black wings. A stark contrast to the white ones which had been artificially grafted to her back.​

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"Most interesting," he mused, "Most interesting, indeed." He approached without fear, his abilities far beyond the ability of a single individual to overcome. "Do you have a name? Woy uba gee wa peekasa?" He spoke first in basic, and then repeated the question in Huttese as a precaution.​

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Ahani Najwa-Zambrano | Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax ​

 

[Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax]

Looking over her shoulder she caught the sight of the dark lord now approaching. Another face she did not know, nor cared to fear. Then again it was hard to know a man who's face had changed so often. The woman's wings folded inward hiding her face from view. The saber remaining tight in her hand as she squeezed harder, the purple blade did however retract. The adrenaline ran through the young sith pumping through every vein, dulling the pain in her hand as the sharp metal dug into the Palm. A droplet of crimson dripped from the curved point.

As the giant spoke Teresa turned with a light pitter patter of bare feet on a cold and dark floor. "Teresa." She spoke with a light grown. Both shoulders remained high and tense, her chest raising and falling as deep breaths filled her lungs. Teresa's orange eyes surrounded by black shifted between the man and woman who was stood close. Neither looked as if they was going to attack, few many times had she let her guard down to been proven wrong.

"Where am I..." Her eyes shifting the the frozen and shattered head by her feet. "Why was this one so keen to bring me here?" Teresa's gaze once more returned to the man who towered her even from this distance. If the words of anything along the lines of slave or servant was to be used. There would be no hesitation. Nothing in this galaxy would force her to kneel to another owner, it was a life she had been running from the day she had escaped.

Darth Carnifex Ahani Najwa-Zambrano

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Oh for the… let go of the saber, you're harming yourself. By the Force these young Sith, look how hardcore I am, grief! Grief to all of us who have to clean up after… not like I'm the one who cleans up, but you married me for my mouth and the sounds which echo from it." I slide my arm along Darth Carnifex 's, pursing lips and watching this…. dreadfully formerly caged thing.

"Oh good! More questions and no answers. Exactly what all of us need." Leaning against Kaine's side, hands firmly back into my trouser pockets, I shake my head. A languid roll of my eyes. "Teresa, then. I want you to stop for a second. Unruffle your feathers, take a few deep breaths, shake out the heebie-jeebies. You were presented to us by the now deceased pile of poo-doo on the floor. We might be Sith, but we have standards. You clearly didn't choose that cage, so choose this.

Anytime you want, this door right there, will take you away from this place. You are in the court room of the Dark Lord of the Sith upon the mighty planet Bastion. And for some uncanny reason you are not worth harming. Honestly, I'm not in the mood unless someone enjoys it…" A coo out of the birdcage, I snort and smirk over at Kintsugi, "Yes, darling, but you want me to. There's this thing called conse… unless it's a villain torture thing where we're all 'you have information' or 'hah take this, Jedi'… anyway…"

Up my gaze goes, to my husband's dour face. Sure, the man has certain proclivities, but hah! Take that, wait, why am I … nevermind.

"How are we supposed to know why that idiot decided to dump you here? Quick, someone bring me a kiffar, so we can read the memories from his corpse." Out of the corner of my eye, a servant starts running… I don't stop to tell them I was kidding. Mostly, it might be fun to see if a kiffar could psychometrically read the dead. Only known one to be able to do it, in my time. "Why don't we start with you. How did you get in that cage? Facts only, don't give me sob stories, I'm too old to enjoy them and my patience is as thin as the blade-point upon which you dance should this be an elaborate ruse to infiltrate. Now, if that blade in your hand helps you feel better, you may keep it as a security-saber, but know now if you dared attack us your death would happen so quickly your soul would be in the Nether before your body fell. Unless, that is, we killed you slowly and my husband isn't in a playful mood. In other words, do not give me reason to doubt you. Speak plain, speak quick, prove your case."

Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Because he believed you to be an exotic oddity," answered the Dark Lord. The Epicanthix towered over both Ahani and Teresa by several feet, a fact that was incredibly apparent the closer they came to stand beside each other. "Because I dispatched him into the galaxy to bring me exotic oddities, so that I may display them as testament to my magnificence." Where the white-haired Ahani was given to speak her mind, often at a rapid-fire pace, the Dark Lord was reserved and meticulous in what He said and how He said it. They were an odd pair, but the underlying connection between them was apparent even to someone who had never met them before, like Teresa.

Kintsugi was one such oddity, one that the Dark Lord's hunters had brought to him many moons ago. Plucked from Chandrila against her will, beaten and broken before being brought before the Dark Lord here on Bastion. By the time He had His way with her, she had been fully broken and bent to His will. Now she was reduced to a mere bauble in His court, confined to a cage with a pair of avian wings surgically grafted to her back. Her mind had splintered following her torment, and the Dark Lord had reassembled it into subservience. No longer did she fight against her fate, she readily embraced it.

"But I can see that you are more than a curious oddity." His eyes briefly looked from Teresa to Ahani and then back to Teresa, "It would be prudent to appease my Madame. She has a curious mind, but a terrible tolerance against laborious tedium. Your fate rests in her hands alone." For many, this would have been little more than a death sentence, as the clock wound down to the moment that Ahani would grow bored with her new plaything and cast it aside. However, the Dark Lord suspected that this 'Teresa' would prove to be more than a match for Ahani's lethal malaise.

But only time would tell.

Ahani Najwa-Zambrano | Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax ​

 

[Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax]

It was not until mentioned that Teresa would look down to her hand that held the saber. Just looking to acknowledge it was the trigger to feel the slight tingle of pain in the scarred hand. She loosened her grip then finally it fell from her hand tapping onto the ground till it laid still. It was in her pulls reach so she was not worried; though not the smartest either.

The words that followed felt like a lecture, or perhaps venting Teresa could not tell which it was. Just as told the woman did take deep breaths, deeper than what she already had. The blood that was boiling inside cooling ever so slowly. Dark lord was no real name, just a title. Least now she hand one answer to the question she had asked. "Bastion, never heard of it." Teresa thought, then again she rarely did know the names of worlds till looking them up on the screen, a holosomething.

Her attention moved to be fully on the woman with silver hair as she asked questions of her own. "Was asleep by fire, next thing I am in a cage when I woke up and in rags that itch. If this was some kind of... umm." Teresa stood there trying to think of the right word. The flow of her simple wording halted for a good moment. "Ploy? Rrruse? I would pro'lly been more prepped to move straight into attack." It was probably obvious by now that she did lack an actual education. Most of her mannerisms seemed common compared to those she stood before.

Shortly came the explanation of the second half of the question. What did that make her, some kind of trinket to appease the whims of the man before her? Teresa wondered why she never let and being close, this was a clear reason. They care little for others and uproot them from any semblance of a life to be used as a bargaining chip and a pat on the head. The "Dark lord" spoke once more using fancy words she did not understand. His words simply making almost no sense without the missing pieces. Teresa did understand the last part clearly however.

One hand she was offered the door to leave had she chose to accept it, her ship on another world, not a shiny bar to her name. The other was deeming that her own life was in hands of the woman now attached to his hip. The situation was a conundrum and neither was a clear cut option. Teresa folded her arms and placed her weight onto one side. "So to get my options, I stay, she what owns me? I leave, be left to a place I know nothin' about." There was a bit of attitude to how she spoke trying to simplify the situation.

Darth Carnifex Ahani Najwa-Zambrano

 

[Ahani Najwa-Zambrano]

"Exotic? Eeeehhh… Oddity?" I smack my lips a couple of times, the time passing in silence as I see Kintsugi rocking in her cage, chirping a cheerful little song. "YEP!"

Wait, I just de-headed one of my husband's hunters? Score. About time, he's got spares I'm sure. I hold significant doubts the one who lacked the capacity to defend himself when I lobbed his head off was one of the good ones. If he was, somewhere, he goofed.

"Thank you, Kaine my darling. I do always love presents." Bobbing against my spouse's muscular side, I smirk with a loose chuckle and look back up at Kaine. "Oooohhhh, I'ma going to need a tutor for this one…"

The girl continued, words as stilted as Kaine's were elegant. I watch her drift from side to side, mind working as well as it could for the disadvantages she'd been given earlier on in life. Chewing on my lip, I hum and crack my knuckles with my thumbs.

"Or you could be deemed of no benefit whatsoever and be killed. You're with the Sith, we're not altruists and certainly not running a charity. Even I have my impatience, if you cannot be moulded into your own useful woman, you are no use to me. I don't own people, he does." I rock my head to Kaine. "I take potential and make it better, or you are nothing but a bit of atomic matter for the universe to break and eventually remake. Stay, drift off or die.

It matters nothing to either of us which one you choose."

Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Worth is proven quickly, the alternative is destruction."

Some might say that it is no choice at all, submit to the will of a stranger or be killed. The Dark Lord cared not for people's opinions, His will was absolute and would be followed. The ultimatum had been given, the terms reinforced by not only Himself, but by His wife as well. It would be up to Teresa to decide her fate now, to choose what she thought was best for herself. In time, perhaps she would come to see the gift that had been given to her.

Or she would die, it mattered not to Him.

"She can show you a great many wonders."

Ahani Najwa-Zambrano | Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax ​

 

[Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax]

Darth Carnifex Ahani Najwa-Zambrano

The two on the surface made it look like she had options as they dangled the golden carrot of education and growth, the same time making her sound like something to be owned or disposed of. Once more the woman used words that flew over her head. Altruists, potential they where strange words and Teresa could have sworn that Mould was that stuff that grows on food or something after some time.

She felt the rumble of anger inside her as she mulled over the choices. She stood there silently for a few moments. Really she did not have so much of a choice? Teresa had no way to get back to her ship, the instinctual feeling of this world made it obvious that out there she was probably going to be simple pray. She paced back and forth, a droplet of her chrome nail would separate floating between both palms almost mimicking her movements, even her wings bopped with each step.

The harder the woman tried to think of what choice to make, the harder it began to think of reasons. Perhaps she was trying to think of a way out, one that no imagination could even succeed. Letting out a defeated sigh Teresa stopped, the droplet returning to once it came and her eyes now peering up at the giant. "I'll stay, but I some set terms. I'm no slave, or possession, do not treat like one either. Want shadow back... my ship." The expression of her face, showed she meant it especially how she looked at the figure as the words where directed at the man.

Her gaze shifted down to the woman. "Anything else fair. I wont take for nothing. Chance to grow, to not feel a fool, would be dumb of me to deny it." Her hand reached towards the bag that was still clutched in the hands of Skawn Kairn, very slowly came to her as she wrapped her arm around it as. Teresa did the same to the saber on the floor and placed the weapon inside.