The Blood Hound
Somewhere in the Core…
It always had to be a cantina. Dark, smoky, and when jazz playing non-humans weren't available for the entertainment, mannequins that looked non-humans stood in a corner gathering dust while music blared, usually from bad speakers. Most cantinas also offered backdoors and cellars where all sorts of not so great things happened; illegal dog fights, illegal fighting pits, illegal… Other stuff.
But not this one.
This one was so damn… clean, that it felt wrong. Scherezade looked around, blinking. There were even no smoking signs on the walls. No sticky residue on the seats. Hell, she caught a glance of the back door earlier and it seemed to be leading to a place with legit food stockpiles. She couldn't even detect a lingering scent of blood, of someone having been hurt recently. The only thing that hinted at that came from the kitchen, where you could more or less expect that.
Still, she sat down, and looked around again, glowing green eyes feeling like a fish out of water. This was where she'd been brought? Been heavily suggested to go to by the blood? Her gaze cast to the ring on her finger for a moment, the one that had been called the Jin'Tutai, or the Forgemaster's Ring. It had been on her finger since before she had attempted to use blood magic to kill herself and had seen some terrifying days, as well as a few incredibly happy ones.
It had been several weeks before now, that Scherezade had begun to develop a strange feeling in her gut. At first she had assumed it was because she was buried under work; with her sister held captive by the Coalition, she'd thrown herself into covering for her as well as taking on extra work with her own company, Whimsy. But Scherezade had never been too good with distractions. She was a kick the door down and set the whole planet on fire type of a girl.
So she'd started working on something else. It had been a few of them, months ago, that had abdicated the Southern Systems. Scherezade, Madalena, Alwine, and more. Alwine, she knew, had given up everything to come with them. The petite woman had time and time said again that everything had already shattered and was gone before she took that final step onto a ship to get out, and Scherezade didn't know if the girl was speaking the truth or was mostly trying to convince herself, but there was something in the Lupine's gaze that spoke great volumes of her loneliness, even now.
Scherezade knew too much about the history and situation of the Lupines. It was a species she could not escape, much as she tried to. If she shut one out, another popped somewhere else. It was almost as if she were a magnet for these creatures, and while she loved Alwine dearly, the situation was trickier with some of the others. Still, she knew of Alwine's desires and hopes, especially the ones she had growing up.
The mental process from there to the Heart of the Lupine had been short.
But ideas were always a dime a dozen; Scherezade knew how to create certain things, knew how to use the Force, was a Blood Hound with all that entailed. But with the Heart stone, she had found something that had finally challenged her to a point in which she'd considered asking someone else.
It was only by pure luck and chance that she got the glimmer of the ring on her finger in the light. A man had given it to her, but she had never met the man. She knew what his ring was meant to do, yet in all this time, she had not once had a good opportunity to use it. And yet, it felt like it was part of her now, a flip of skin that had always been in her hand, like her five fingers.
The ring didn't want anything from her, of course. But the Force worked in mysterious ways. Wordlessly, Scherezade rose from her seat, sent word that no, she wasn't going to Coalition space, and yes, she promised, and left the Unknown Regions, following the pull and the tug.
To this clean place.
"Full fat cream, heated, with the froth still on top?" she asked the weird looking alien whose species she did not recognize that was standing behind the bar, her voice giving away just how awkward it felt to be here, "blue cream is best, if you have it."
Wearing: Armatura | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis | The Sofitor
Wielding: 7 Nozhi Blades | 2 Czerka knives | 2 Nastirci Combat Knives | Clarion | Copero's Wail | Fire and Smoke | Combat Gauntlets | 2 TOTT-001 Arc Light Blaster | 2 Dissuader KD-30 Pistols with Glitter Bullets
It always had to be a cantina. Dark, smoky, and when jazz playing non-humans weren't available for the entertainment, mannequins that looked non-humans stood in a corner gathering dust while music blared, usually from bad speakers. Most cantinas also offered backdoors and cellars where all sorts of not so great things happened; illegal dog fights, illegal fighting pits, illegal… Other stuff.
But not this one.
This one was so damn… clean, that it felt wrong. Scherezade looked around, blinking. There were even no smoking signs on the walls. No sticky residue on the seats. Hell, she caught a glance of the back door earlier and it seemed to be leading to a place with legit food stockpiles. She couldn't even detect a lingering scent of blood, of someone having been hurt recently. The only thing that hinted at that came from the kitchen, where you could more or less expect that.
Still, she sat down, and looked around again, glowing green eyes feeling like a fish out of water. This was where she'd been brought? Been heavily suggested to go to by the blood? Her gaze cast to the ring on her finger for a moment, the one that had been called the Jin'Tutai, or the Forgemaster's Ring. It had been on her finger since before she had attempted to use blood magic to kill herself and had seen some terrifying days, as well as a few incredibly happy ones.
It had been several weeks before now, that Scherezade had begun to develop a strange feeling in her gut. At first she had assumed it was because she was buried under work; with her sister held captive by the Coalition, she'd thrown herself into covering for her as well as taking on extra work with her own company, Whimsy. But Scherezade had never been too good with distractions. She was a kick the door down and set the whole planet on fire type of a girl.
So she'd started working on something else. It had been a few of them, months ago, that had abdicated the Southern Systems. Scherezade, Madalena, Alwine, and more. Alwine, she knew, had given up everything to come with them. The petite woman had time and time said again that everything had already shattered and was gone before she took that final step onto a ship to get out, and Scherezade didn't know if the girl was speaking the truth or was mostly trying to convince herself, but there was something in the Lupine's gaze that spoke great volumes of her loneliness, even now.
Scherezade knew too much about the history and situation of the Lupines. It was a species she could not escape, much as she tried to. If she shut one out, another popped somewhere else. It was almost as if she were a magnet for these creatures, and while she loved Alwine dearly, the situation was trickier with some of the others. Still, she knew of Alwine's desires and hopes, especially the ones she had growing up.
The mental process from there to the Heart of the Lupine had been short.
But ideas were always a dime a dozen; Scherezade knew how to create certain things, knew how to use the Force, was a Blood Hound with all that entailed. But with the Heart stone, she had found something that had finally challenged her to a point in which she'd considered asking someone else.
It was only by pure luck and chance that she got the glimmer of the ring on her finger in the light. A man had given it to her, but she had never met the man. She knew what his ring was meant to do, yet in all this time, she had not once had a good opportunity to use it. And yet, it felt like it was part of her now, a flip of skin that had always been in her hand, like her five fingers.
The ring didn't want anything from her, of course. But the Force worked in mysterious ways. Wordlessly, Scherezade rose from her seat, sent word that no, she wasn't going to Coalition space, and yes, she promised, and left the Unknown Regions, following the pull and the tug.
To this clean place.
"Full fat cream, heated, with the froth still on top?" she asked the weird looking alien whose species she did not recognize that was standing behind the bar, her voice giving away just how awkward it felt to be here, "blue cream is best, if you have it."
Wearing: Armatura | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis | The Sofitor
Wielding: 7 Nozhi Blades | 2 Czerka knives | 2 Nastirci Combat Knives | Clarion | Copero's Wail | Fire and Smoke | Combat Gauntlets | 2 TOTT-001 Arc Light Blaster | 2 Dissuader KD-30 Pistols with Glitter Bullets
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