Come Alive [Cerita Sarova]

[Sitara Qin]

Her body skidded against the grass, crashing into various debris of rocks and dirt. Her lightsaber slid beside her, tinging the grass and leaving a slight burn on the side of her right arm.The sun was sinking behind trees that towered above her. She groaned, her fingers gripping onto the blades of grass as she struggled to push herself up.

She hissed, her left hand applying pressure on her arm. She had no time for this BS. Fething green lady was somewhere on her trail and she was at a disadvantage. Sitara should’ve known in hindsight; she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

She picked up her lightsaber, pressing her body against the rough bark of the tree behind her. She tried to calm her breathing as footsteps approached her hiding spot. The next sound heard would be the crackle of lightning leaping at the advancing figure.

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Hindsight was a fething schutta. When you gotta realize something you are far too busy karking it all up, but once the dust has settled and your realization don't matter none... well, that's exactly when it's gonna knock on your frontdoor and start listing the things that could or should have gone better. Too much to do to really get into that right now. Cerita had a little minx to hunt. This girl was getting on her nerves at this point in time - really, get on her nerves.

Trained by the best Alchemists that the Galaxy had to offer -- Rave, Valik and Dissero in no particular order, she should have finished this one off an hour ago. Instead they got into this... hunt, a little game of cat and mouse. It was fun, no doubt about it. But part of her thought she could have done better.

Perhaps immediately going for the kill would have made this entire affaire a lot less lengthy. But that wasn't the way she operated, that wasn't the way she handled things.

Luckily enough they were in a forest. The life here spoke to her. And currently it was whispering about a hidden person... right... around... Lightning.

The blunt manifestation of the Darkside lashed out as Qin tried to electrocute her pursuer. Cerita fell down to the ground, the lightning brushed her shoulder, the touch burning her green skin a shade red, but that pain only made her focus more. Made her feel more in touch with what she was about to do.

Her mind pressed forward and suddenly the vines of the forest jumped at Sitara. Their long, strong forms would try to wrap themselves around her, in a choking hold.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Her arm was bleeding. There was no way she could prolong this battle. She was already running out of stamina and energy, and her body wanted to collapse. That slimy green schutta was holding on way longer than Sitara could; plus, her injury wasn’t making things any better. Burned by her own lightsaber and bruised by the dirt beneath her, Sitara felt like for once, the whole world was against her.

It surely made her realize to choose her battles wisely.

There was no way in hell she could run away from this.

There was no way in hell this crazy green witch was going to let her try.

The vines lunged at her, in an attempt to choke her. With one clean slice from her saber, Sitara waved off the first batch of vines. Yet, more came. In a weak attempt to defend herself, she fought. She cut. She sliced through the pesky things till her body gave out and the tendrils wrapped around her.

She coughed, struggling to breathe, struggling to calm herself. Her lightsaber hit the ground as she struggled to free herself from the vine’s hold.

And for the first time, the cockiness that was so normal to her faded away and replaced itself with this newfound fear. It was in this moment that her fear of death kicked in. This was no kinky fun session with Ali, this monster was really out to murder her. It was no laughing matter, and perhaps if she found herself alive after this, she'd be able to blow this unpleasant memory away.

But there were no laughs escaping her full lips; just the sound choking.

“Stop.” She struggled to get the word out. “S…s…stop it.”

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

See. Cerita wasn't really a bad person. Of course, she experimented on living animals every once in a while, maybe created a deadly virus in her free time for some creative trial runs or kicked the living feth out of people, but that didn't make her a bad person. It just made her... more interesting? She wasn't really sure. But the only thing she did know was a lesson that both [member="Rave Merrill"] and [member="Dissero"] had imparted within her.

Don't let people steal from you -- an ironic lesson, considering Dissero was one of the finest acquirers this side of the Galaxy and Rave had been apprenticed by Velok back in the day. Suffice it to say that both of them had enough experience with thieves to know that once ya let it happen once...

Ain't nothing to stop people from trying again.

So you have to make a statement. The green-skinned woman entered the clearing where Sitara was struggling with the vines. The bushes parting themselves to let Cerita pass without getting torn to shreds by the thorns.

"I haven't heard the magical word yet, my dear." the Alchemist would say with a soft, soft smile. Her arm raised itself and in reply the vines pulled Sitara up and pushed her against a nearby tree.

The tree started humming softly. Deep inside its core a conversation was being exchanged.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Sitara could feel the world fading to black as she struggled to breathe. Her arms clawed at the vines, but they wouldn’t budge. She was feeling too weak, and the green-skinned woman taunted her with her words. The knight’s hearing was buzzing, and the world came to a blur.

“Y-you….can…have….it…back.” She gasped. No way was this thing worth her life. Whatever it was her client needed, it wasn’t worth her life. Sitara had gotten cocky, she underestimated the alchemist who caught her red handed. She had tried to run, she tried to fight back; this was where it got her.

She wasn’t sure what she was hearing, nor did she know what the woman wanted her to say. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. The most pressing thing in Sitara’s mind was her survival, and at the rate of her vertigo, she was certain she was going to black out soon.

She wasn't quite sure what death felt like, nor did she really believe in the afterlife. As the world grew darker and darker, Sitara could feel her efforts in escaping slowly cease, till her fingers simply clung onto the rough vines.

“I’m…sorry.” She coughed. “I….won’t…take….” Every word was a struggle to get out. Her voice was hoarse, weak. “Please….”

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Please.

There ya go. How hard was that? Not hard at all. Except for [member="Sitara Qin"] apparently, because it took choking the living feth out of her to get this reaction, but she had done as asked. And a good girl should be rewarded for appropriate behavior. That was the best way to stimulate people whose behavior was unacceptable. Beat them down and then build them back up again. It was honestly not so different from taming wild animals and keeping unruly mutants in line.

"Why not?" and with that the vine loosened just a touch. Fresh oxygen would find its way down her lungs again, but her movements were still restricted as before.

Her conversation with the tree was still moving along.

"Now, then... what should I do with you." it did not seem to be a question directed to her.

 

[Sitara Qin]

For the first time in ages, Sitara breathed air as though her lungs were begging her for it. Of course, she’s been close to passing out before, but never in this context where she actually didn’t like it. She was glad she wasn’t unconscious, it could give her time to plot her escape. The only thing she needed was for this green chick to mess up before she passed out of exhaustion, which probably wasn’t likely in the next few minutes.

“Let…me go?”

Her voice was audible, yet still hoarse as though she was still choking for air. It was definitely worth a shot, and Sitara needed to take all her chances. There were things she needed to do back home, and getting held captive was definitely part of the agenda. She continued to take deep breaths, afraid the woman was going to choke her again within the next few seconds. Sitara was dead tired and all she wanted to do was leave.

“You’ll never see me again, I swear.” Did bargaining with the enemy ever work?

She doubted it.

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

An audible snort.

"Nice try, honey."

Without hurrying herself Cerita glided over the ground towards Sitara. The vines were doing all the work for her at this point. Strong, resilient and ensuring that she wasn't gonna be moving around anytime soon. A few steps more and she was as close as she could get without it getting... a bit creepy. There was a sirene, relaxed expression on the Alchemist's face. One which should worry the Sith, considering the extended battle should have left the green woman at least a bit tired.

But she didn't seem tired at all. Strange, no?

"Do you know what I do?"

Cerita did need new test subjects. She always did, and force sensitive subjects were always hard to come by.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

This was definitely not going to lead into some spice-filled cookie eating session. The green-skinned vixen was far too calm for her own good, which meant Sitara was probably going to go to some sort of psycho torture room as this woman was clearly a sadist. She could see it in the schutta’s face, and she could feel the hair on her back stand. It was no time to get snarky, but as she was regaining consciousness, she really couldn’t help it.

She feared death a few minutes ago, and now that her bargain was rejected, she wasn’t quite sure what to feel anymore.

If she did escape, it would only lead into another game of cat and mouse. Sitara really didn’t want to be eaten by some giant venus flytrap this woman could control. Her thoughts travelled to other worst-case scenarios she could come by, it never occurred to her that she may actually live.

Everything came with a price, however.

“You make things people want.” That’s all that really mattered right? Taking things from people to get ahead?

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Oh dear.

"That explains a lot." You make things people want. It was true, in a very lacking sense of the sentence, but she shouldn't have been surprised that this Sith couldn't look further than her grabby hands could reach. That much had been shown already, when the girl tried to rob her and this entire situation arised in the first place. Good thing Rave taught her best though. When Drey tried to feth her over Rave showed her every corner of the Galaxy multiple times.

That's how ya handle that.

"What I do... is change the nature of things."

It could be as easy as making a sword more durable or as difficult as modifying a living, breathing creature while it was still alive. Her hand stroked Sitara's cheek just a bit, before smiling.

"Would you like to be changed?"

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Would you like to be changed?

“Don’t touch me.” Sitara flinched as the woman’s hand touched her skin. She felt her body tensing up as well as the hair on her arm rising at the woman’s words. Change the nature of things… An alchemist? Did she literally find herself tied up in a dangerous situation with an alchemist? Sitara gulped. This was definitely not good.

Who is this woman? The question bothered her. What is it her client wanted from her? Sitara glanced at the woman’s pale green eyes and realized she had never seen anyone like her. The galaxy was huge, and Sitara had a fair amount of travel, yet she wasn’t quite sure she knew what exactly this…green-being was.

She seemed to have an affinity for plants and took the green-thumbed thing to a whole new level. At least she let her breathe now. “I really don’t want anymore trouble. Just let me go and I won’t be back.”

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |

 

[Jairus Starvald]

"Don't be afraid. I won't take away the one thing you have going for you."

Even Cerita wasn't cruel enough to take away Sitara's prettiness. It was probably the only thing that people liked about her, a pretty little thing standing around on display for all - because what did the Sithling have besides a pretty face? Arrogance, a natural inclination to steal and think it was her due, probably not a lot of brains either.

No, it would have been far too mean-spirited to take away the beauty.

"I change the nature of things. I am not going to change your looks, but I can take away the insubordination. Make you more respectful, compliant perhaps. Who knows... I could even give you some intelligence."

Her hand reached past Sitara's head where an opening had appeared inside the tree's bark. Once she pulled her hand back a little bug sat resting in the palm of it.

"What do you say, little Sitara. Do you want to become useful for once in your life?"

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Here the woman was insulting her. She gritted her teeth and glared at the plant-like being. If only she hadn’t underestimated her, if only she brought others with her on her mission things wouldn’t have turned out this way. She mentally slapped herself and swore that once she was out of here, she would have her revenge on this woman for insulting her pride. It was a shallow reason to resent someone, but Sitara wasn’t thinking fairly logically at this point.

Do you want to become useful for once in your life?

Change her? What was she planning on doing. “Like hell you can.” Sitara spat. “Don’t you dare touch me!” She shrieked, panicked by the insect on the woman’s palm. She didn’t want to stay around long enough to find out what it did. Whatever the parasite was, she knew it couldn’t be used for any good. Cerita’s intentions seemed nothing short of evil, and she was certain at this point that no amount of pleading could do her any good.

She was going to fight this, even if it meant her death.

| [member="Cerita Sarova"] |