Private Cheap Perfume

[Ishani Dinn]

In a forest clearing somewhere on Hapes, Ishani Sibwarra landed. She had flown there, not in any vessel, but with her own wings—powerful, hideous batlike appendages which had sprouted from between her shoulder blades sometime after Tython. Her golden blonde hair was braided to be out of the way, and she was clad in armor made from an unusual green-toned leather. Certainly unusual attire for a hike through the woods.

The wings folded against her back as she stood and looked around, clearly searching for something. She began to walk, leaving the clearing and heading deeper into the forest. There was no mistaking her distinctly Dark Side aura anymore. The stench of corruption clung to her like a cheap perfume.

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Checking in on his father's wellbeing only took up so much time, outside of that Brandyn found himself involved with the growth of the families sawy on Hapes. It was political maneuvering that was ill suited to his temperament. So when he was meditating a got a wave of shadow pass across his mind, he found it not just necessary to investigate, but oddly a welcome reprieve.

So it was too the dark forest of Hapes that he found himself wandering. It was a place alive with the Force, creatures moved in his periphery startling him occasionally, but usually only when the shadow looming in the Force cast itself across him.

"What are you?"

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

A voice stopped her in her tracks. She looked around, trying to spy the source among the trees.

“What am I?” she echoed the question, sensing a presence approaching. Human. Killable. Perhaps her purpose here could be put on hold while she devoured him. “I am a goddess, mortal. What are you?”

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

His words were mirrored in such a way that brought a subtle crawling sensation over the back of his neck. The presence was...more...than he had sensed before, something other.

"I guess I am a mortal, goddess," he said as he pulled his saber hilt to hand. A goddess would surely not be intimidated by a lightsaber, but it gave him a wisp of comfort.

"What brings a...goddess...to Hapes?" He said while he looked around for some physical sign of the being.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She was honing in on him, like a shark having caught the scent of blood. Tracking him through the forest, she sought to sneak up on him, get the drop…

“Decadence, rot and decay,” she replied. “Mmm, I don’t think very highly of Hapans, so I thought I’d stop by, kill a few of them, and feast on their—”

She halted, coming face to face with her prey. Her green eyes widened.

“You?!”

His face was aged, but still recognizable. How could she forget the idiot on Naboo who had attacked her with a breadstick?

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

With every word that came from the hidden beings mouth, if it had one, Brandyn began to wonder more and more that he was in way over his head. This was a scenario was such as called for one with far more training. He quietly pressed his emergency beacon on his belt, alerting the families private security to his location, hopefully this would inform his mother as well. She had much more experience with the things of the Force.

"You?!"

Brandyn wheeled about in a start. His expression went from surprise to confusion, with a detour through an attempt at Jedi styled serenity.

"Wait...what? Breadstick girl?" He said, shaking his head in disbelief, "wait...what?"

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Wait...what? Breadstick girl?"

"I—you—I am so much more than breadstick girl now!" she shouted, spreading her wings in what was meant to be an intimidating pose. "You are nothing more than a peon—an insect before my power!"

She summoned her sword, assuming a combat pose.

"I will devour you just like I did those breadsticks!"

Then she lunged, aiming to impale him through the chest.

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Dumbfounded by the admittedly intimidating display, Brandyn could still not shake the fact that he as looking at the young woman that he had met some time ago on Naboo. "What was in that bread?" He muttered, as he dodged her charge with a jump to the right, then off a large tree trunk to land where she had just taken off.

"Look...I see we have...advanced from carbs...to people," he said with hand outstretched as if that might do something to stop her, "but if you think about it now...I was kinda right to suspect of you of being dangerous...I mean...the wings...the sword...the whole...I'm a goddess bit..."

Stall for time.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“I don’t know!” She pried the tip of her sword out of a tree trunk, where it had become embedded in the absence of Brandyn’s torso. “You’re the Nabooian, surely you know what Naboo bread is made of!”

So far he hadn’t done much more than evade. She reached out with the Force, causing the vines at his feet to grow at a supernaturally accelerated speed, wrapping around his ankles and yanking him off his feet.

“The girl you met that day was only a child. Now I am a goddess, and you are not making it out of this encounter alive!”

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Vines began to tangle up around Brandyn's legs, pulling him off his feet and then up into the air by his ankles. Blood rushed to his head and left him dizzy for just a moment. "Hey...this whole dying thing," he said before pulling out his saber, "is not really my style."

Snap-hiss

His Jedi weapon ignited with a brilliant green flash and he cut away the vines that held him in the air. He fell, unceremoniously, to the ground. The impact was less than pleasant, but he tried to roll with it, even as other vines started latching on to his legs.

"If you're a goddess...who worships you, Breadstick Girl?" He said, slashing away at another vine.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

More vines came to grasp at him, though he continued to cut them down with his blade. She approached him, sword at the ready.

“I have an entire world full of my worshipers,” she replied, girlish voice full of bombast. “Someday, perhaps, the whole galaxy will bow down before me.”

Raising her sword, she brought it crashing down, slicing at his neck. If Brandyn wanted a proper fight, he would get one. She would see him driven before her on his knees before she drained him of life.

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Having sliced a few away, and vine rose and tripped Brandyn even as he disengaged his blade and rolled away. His efforts at evading her had brought him to a point of being merely a metre away from her and directly behind her.

"Look...you have a planet...maybe..."

He jumped to his feet, hands stretched forwards with his saber hilt held by a thumb in one hand.

"...maybe we can work on getting you another one to worship you...after all...you are pretty awesome..."

He shrugged.

"...I would even offer myself as your first Hapan worshipper...but I don't know the name of the goddess that I shall worship!"

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“You’re too much of an idiot to be a worthy disciple,” she said irritably. On the other hand…

“Perhaps I can find a use for you. I am…”

She hesitated for a few seconds, which was rather comical considering that all he had asked her for was her name. It wasn’t that she had forgotten her name, but she had recently changed it, and with changing your name comes a host of issues, one of them being brand recognition, and the other being remembering that you had changed it and having to remind yourself not to just default to your old moniker out of habit.

“... Rhiannon Dinn,” she said, hoping her lengthy pause would come across as dramatic rather than stupid. “Goddess of all things above the ground. What are you called?”

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

What was it with so many people calling him an idiot? Time for some self-reflection?

You attacked her with breadsticks.

Oh yeah. Idiot seems fair.

The 'goddess' seemed to be cooling slightly, less inclined to make him an orderve. "Pleasure to properly make your acquaintance," he said with a bow of his head that never relinquished eye contact with the woman, "goddess Rhiannon Dinn...my name is Brandyn Ee'everwest Sal-Soren."

Would using his longer name provide any greater level of distinction for him? In her eyes, unlikely, but the aim was to stall for time.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Her brow furrowed, and for a few moments it seemed like the human being she had once been poked through.

“Ee’everwest? The feth kind of name is that?” she asked incredulously. “Why not just call yourselves the Everwests? It's a lot easier.”

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Brandyn's reply was pure incredulity. Face crumpled up and head shook with a subtle "Huh" silently crossing his lips.

"I didn't choose my name," he said, finger pointing with an unexpected anger rising within.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Yeah, well, I suggest you be the first in your family to ditch the Ee’ part, because it sucks,” she retorted with a sneer. “It sounds goofy. But then, you look pretty goofy yourself, so maybe it fits.”

Brandyn Sal-Soren​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Hands fell to hips, and Brandyn paused for just a moment. "You know. I just might. But not now, and not because some weird-looking, winged, people-eating...BREADSTICK GIRL tells me too," he said with a consistently rising volume.

"Hapes has plenty of wild animals. Have a snack and leave," he said before stalking off into the forest.

| Ishani Dinn |​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

"Good," she said.

But then Brandyn started to leave. "Oh, no you don't, bread boy!" she exclaimed, flying after him and landing in front. "You said you'd be my servant. Are you reneging on your offer?"

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

He stopped dead in his tracks. What was taking Hapan security so long to get here? Was it wise for them to arrive at all?

"Last time I checked, worshipper and servant were not synonyms," Brandyn said, brow quirked curiously, "I have to admit...you have been a little underwhelming when it comes to godhood...you have been quite...human."

This whole situation was clearly not going to end with him getting away scot-free.

| Ishani Dinn |​