Private Boundaries

[Noelle Varanin]

"Stop. Talking. To. Me."

Noelle hissed, slamming the bathroom door behind her. She clutched the pendant in her fists, a subtle shake growing across her limbs. It wasn't like her to lose control but the spirit inside her head was a clear indication that she had messed up. Quinn had finally fallen asleep, their force meld growing still enough for Noelle to slowly... cease it and gain a moment of privacy to sort out her affairs.

There had been no hiding what she had done from her twin, but Noelle counted herself lucky that Quinn had been too absorbed to pry. Or even care.

Quinn basked in the dark, after all.

It made centering herself in this moment all that harder for Noelle. She leaned against the door and slid to the floor, uncurling her fingers as she uttered three twisted words. The shadow unfurled from the crystal, allowed to manifest from the prison it remained bound to.

"Who are you?" She snapped.

Kal

 

[Kal]

After a lengthy affair with the elder Varanin's sister, he was finally free-yet-not-free. Outside his prison yet inexorably bound to it.

Perhaps he could have jumped her, driven his will against her in an attempt to seize her body and with it the prison it held, but that was risky. Very, very risky. Only a madwoman would perform a summoning without at least some protection from possession; besides, despite her behaviour against him he did not dislike her, exactly. She was bold and talented yet cared for her own - interesting, in other words.

The torso of his shadowy torso briefly turning almost jacket-like so that he could straighten it - that was what one did in such situations if the videos he had seen on the HoloNet could be trusted - he allowed himself a moment before responding. Just to make her wait, for once.

<I am Kal the Shadow.> Trying to seem reasonable, he spread his hands. <It is a bit of a... faux pas, summoning and binding a stranger, no?>

Noelle Varanin​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle glared, her bloodshot eyes filled with exhaustion. As the bacta slowly resolved her injuries, the urge for rest grew. She ignored this, her attention focused on sassy being before her.

"I wasn't trying to grab you. You got in my way. All of that wasted effort, you're all I have to show for it," she accused, as if he was to blame for her botched attempt.

"Why can I feel you? What have you done?"

 

[Kal]

She was angry at him, that was rich. He had been a very gracious prisoner by any standard!

<Correction, you dragged me from the Nether against my will due to an improperly aimed incantation, then entrapped me,> came the fiery rebuke, Kal just about having enough of her treatment. <I have never met your mother and I was not near any shades of the dead. Your aim was atrocious!>

Seeming to calm down somewhat, he shook his head slightly, a twinge of amusement travelling through their bond. <You really are just trying your best and seeing what sticks, aren't you? I didn't do anything, you did. Not quite sure what, but it will probably go away if you release me.>

There was always a chance it'd stick around, however, magic wasn't exactly predictable. Wouldn't that be awkward?

Noelle Varanin​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Her aim was impeccable!

His amusement only furthered her frustration, not unlike a child needing a nap. "I know exactly what I'm doing," she snapped back. "I'm not releasing you, so don't even try. I still need you," she grumbled, pulling herself off the ground and limbering to the vanity. She let the water flow into the sink, turning the heat up inch by inch until steam billowed up under the stream.

She dunked her hands in it, closing her eyes to the pain. Her breath slithered out in a slow hiss, the technique refocusing her onto her own body. Some of the edge left her, her sister's influence dropping off.

It was always a risk, being bonded to a darksider.

Nevermind a damn spirit. She turned off the water, surveying Kal through the mirror as she dried her hands.

"What is a shadow exactly?"

 

[Kal]

She was quite grumpy, this one - almost as if she was the one chained to the other, her royalty evident in her sense of entitlement.

Unable to do much more, he watched with interest as she used the heat - no, not the heat, the pain - to regain her focus. Quite the masochist, was she, or just another of the strange techniques favoured by the Galaxy's various force cults? Did Eshan have one of its own? He honestly did not know.

<Oh, that is simple enough. Opaque objects absorb light, thus darkening the area behind them.> Since amusement and mockery seemed to make her quite mad without actually harming her, it was an excellent fit for what he wanted to accomplish in the short term - long term he would need to free himself, of course. Likely by carefully manoeuvring her into a corner in one sense or another.

Giving her the time to potentially throw a tantrum, a sense of smug satisfaction would flow through their bond. <Oh, my kind of Shadow. Silly me. We are native to this world and the next, wanderers of hidden paths and knowers of secret things. We are also famously good company, just so you know.>

Noelle Varanin​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle leveled him a flat look, turning the tables by this time not responding.

It wasn't in Noelle's nature to be reactive, which made the costs of her deeds bite that much deeper. The throb of her jaw was the only physical thing to betray her inner struggle. Of course there was the bond to contend with, but one might say she hadn't entirely made that connection yet. Her nose flared as she let out a long breath.

'We are also famously good company--'

"I can see that."

She pulled away from the sink, her already white knuckled flushing further as she turned and braced against it. She continued to eye him with that particular exactness, her tired brain spinning for a way to salvage this whole mess.

"A traveler of the Netherworld. A knower of secrets. You just might prove useful yet. You'll do as I say," she tried to command.

 

[Kal]

Unblinking eyes never leaving her, his eyes found find hers the moment she turned around, a slight smile on his approximation of a face.

Going rigid then bowing grandly at her command, his voice turned servile. <As you command, your supremely fantabulous highness. Your every whim is my command, my existence justified solely to service your needs...> Another spike of amusement and his tone returned to normal. <That is what you are used to hear from the lesser Echani, is it not? Alas, you will find me somewhat less impressed by the circumstances of your birth.>

Spreading his hands outwards in a gesture that was equal parts placating and mocking, his gaze intensifies. <Nothing for nothing, Princess. Binding me is all well and good, but it will earn you no loyalty - and sooner or later I will be free, whether you want it or not.>

Eyes like distant stars, he continued. <Instead, I propose a bargain. My aid for my freedom - and a Favour.>

Noelle Varanin​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle's eyes flashed.

"How dare you," she hissed, his impertinence driving her forward. One could practically hear the clicking of heels across stone as her bare feet stormed forward. She might have been dressed down, in nothing more than a nightgown and robes, but every movement spoke of grace and raw confidence as she approached his ethereal form.

She was never told no.

"You are mine. There is no bargaining, there is only obedience. Reditus," she snapped. The light from the crystal burst out from its place at her neck, reaching for him once more. She held his gaze, animosity billowing off of her like of a wave of darkness.

"A few decades in here will help you learn your place."

 

[Kal]

His impertinence driving her into a fury, Kal noted the Dark Side billowing around her, fuelling her actions; she may not believe herself a Sith, but like her sister, she seemed to be well-along on that path. However much she might deny it if asked.

<I am my own, Princess, not another of your pawns - don't you dare!>

For a moment the air seemed colder almost, a single shadowy hand clenching into a claw as he began to do something, but as quickly as it had begun it was over, his formed ripped back into the necklace she so arrogantly wore, as if he was nought but another damned bauble.

<You can't truly think yourself able to keep this up for months, let alone years. You will break sooner or later - or someone will find me and release me, and I will greatly reward them for the act as is only fair.> Surely she must see reason, sooner or later. She was arrogant, entitled, but not an idiot.

Noelle Varanin​

 

[Noelle Varanin]

"Watch me," Noelle hissed, her hands shaking as she tucked the pendant away. She turned back to the mirror, smoothing at her hair in ineffectual agitation. After a moment of fuss, she turned from it all and stormed back for the door. She had a sister to tend to.

Her mother was next.

He would help.