Daddy Didn't Give Attention

[Lief]

His was a gilded prison.

If not for the fact that the door was dead-bolted on the other side it might have seemed more like a guest house in a well off location spot; but he had tested the door and found it unrelenting. There was also the small matter of windows, of which there were none. The bed, he found, was surprisingly comfortable, moreso than anything he'd experienced before in fact. But that just made him uncomfortable, so that first night - or perhaps it was day, it was difficult to tell in the artificial light - the Last Seren had crawled beneath the frame of the bed in order to lay down his head.

Perhaps someone would open the door and, upon finding him missing, believe they had entered the wrong room. Maybe that would prompt them to leave said door open, giving him a perfect means of escape. He had, of course, been wrong. When the door did open it was only done to slide in some refreshments and a clean set of clothes, the wardrobe at this point having been empty. After all, there was no way [member='Darth Vornskr'] could've been anticipating him. The door had slammed shut afterward, causing a slight tremor which worked its way across the floorboards to where he lay and marked his failure.

Day one passed, and then five, and then... Kobe lost count. He hadn't been the best of students the Jedi had, more focused on introspection and drawing than learning his ABCs and 123s. It had been difficult to focus after his Mother left the last time, and his Father vanished from the Temple. At first the Jedi had tried to push him harder, to use the lack of any parental involvement to their benefit, but then they simply stopped. He remained in their care only because of their loyalty to his parents, and the knowledge that he had nowhere else.

Kobe barely moved. When his tummy grumbled and hurt too much he would crawl from under the bed to grab something from the plates, then scurry back like a mouse pinching cheese. Beneath the bed he felt safe, this was his haven among the darkness. Yet slowly and surely that darkness had crept into him, seeping into his clothes and clawing at his skin. Everything Vornskr had said played over in his mind, he had been abandoned, he had been forgotten, and now here he was. And failure meant death.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He had left on an errand several days ago, leaving the handling of the last scion of the Seren lineage in the trusting hands of his army of servants who monitored him every hour of every day via cameras and other monitoring equipment built into the walls, ceiling, and floor of the exquisite room until their Lord returned. All of the rooms were wired the same way (save for Vornskr's own bed chamber and private sanctuary deep within the palace) and were all connected to a central security hub stationed at the center of one of the towering spires that rose up from the palace's gilded dome. It was a sterile and dim world with the endless beeping and whir of machines accompanied by the incessant blinking of lights and the dull flash of monitors. Wired into the machines were grotesque shells of former men and women, their limbs, eyes, and mouth replaced by cybernetics that directly interfaced with the large security console they were permanently affixed to.

They had no names, no conceptualization of their own identity, and were rendered eunuchs by the cruel work of Vornskr's doctors. Their own job was to monitor the endless corridors of their master's domain, an ever present set of eyes and ears that made keeping secrets in the building a literal impossibility. Despite the fact that Kobe had taken refuge under his own bed, they were still able to monitor him; their equipment was so fine-tuned that they could hear his breathing, and even his heart beat.

The other servants that came in to check on him were relatively average look young adults, save for the fact that they too were rendered eunuchs to serve in the King's home. They were utterly silent, never saying a word to the child or even giving him attention as they came and went as quickly and orderly as possible. In fact the other social interaction Kobe would receive would come from his captor as he strode down the silent halls and with a flair for the dramatic flung open the child's door and quickly filled the empty threshold with his imposing form.

His gaze fell to the edge of the bed; "I know you're there, little Kobe. I can hear you breathing... Come out, it's time we begun."

[member="Kobe Seren"]

 

[Lief]

Kobe heard the man's entrance, the only real sound he had heard in what felt like an eternity, and leapt out of his skin. Backing up slowly to the other side of the bed, away from the sight of Kaine's boot, the child bit his lip to refrain from crying out and took in a small breath of air to quench his fearful spirits. His left hand reached into the pocket of his trousers, he was wearing the same ensemble he had come here in, and wrapped around the holocron that had once belonged to his mother. Force keep him sane and safe.

And then the monster spoke.

Kobe had no intentions of leaving his sanctuary. In fact that was very much the last thing he wanted to do. Instead he curled up and tried to block out the sound of Kaine's breathing as he stood waiting for his latest charge to present himself. Only the little Seren did not move out from under the bed.

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Do not vex me, child." rumbled the Sith Lord as his lips curled back to reveal sharpened incisors, his hellish eyes burning like coals as the lights seemed to flicker as power fluctuated within his muscular body. He raised his right hand and made a pulling gesture and without warning a suddenly force began to pull at Kobe's being, dragging against him; pulling him out of his sanctuary and into the devilish light. Another simplistic gesture would raise the child up into the air, nearly strangling him with it's coarseness as he was brought up to eye-level with the six foot nine inch tall monster of a man. He would remain suspended for the duration of Vornskr's next words; "A flimsy mattress and some sheets will not save you from your destiny, little Kobe. You disappoint me already with your sincere lack of enthusiasm to what lies ahead, and than can quickly turn into motive for failure..."

He brought the child uncomfortably close now, their noses touching while Vornskr's teeth ground together angrily as his eyes bore into Kobe's with such vehement disdain. "And failure is death." He retracted his telekinetic hold on the boy, letting him fall to the ground at his feet. He gave the boy an encouraging nudge with the toe of his boot, "But brighten up, it'll all be over one way or another." He made a signaling gesture with his left hand, and a pair of guards wrapped in cobalt armor entered the room and proceeded to firmly grasp Kobe by the biceps and drag him out of the room and down the hall. Vornskr had already taken the lead, but said nothing about where they were heading or what he had in store for the child.

All Kobe had was his thoughts.

[member="Kobe Seren"]

 

[Lief]

The second Kaine spoke the boy knew he had made a mistake. He began to move from under the bed, only to feel himself gripped and pulled by an unseen hand and cast into the air. His legs flailed, neck craned back to try and avoid the gaze of his captor as he was brought eye to eye, nose to nose, with the grim visage of [member="Darth Vornskr"] - a sight terrifying to behold. He could feel a pressure at his neck and panic rose within the core of his being, eyes widening. He wanted to cry out, but even that seemed impossible.

Once again reminded of his fate should he not be compliant, in that instance Kobe knew that what the man said was true. He would not hesitate to stamp him from existence, and the ease at which he held his life in his hands presently had the boy realise that his every living moment was at the mercy of this man. And that could be snuffed at any instance.

All at once he fell to the ground, a crumpled heap of a child at the boot of his captor. He flinched as Kaine nudged him with his shoe and told him to brighten up. What a cruel man he was. What a cruel fate Kobe had inadvertently carved out for himself. Then Kobe was dragged from the ground, held on both sides by the firm hands of Kaine's guards the way he had been when brought to this room Force knew how long ago. Dragged from the room and down the hall after Vornskr, Kobe simply bowed his head and waited to see what was in store for him today.

One thing was for sure, if Kaine was going to kill him Kobe simply wanted it over with. Suspense was overrated.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Oh no, Kaine wasn't going to kill him.

Not yet, at least; first he must judge the boy's worth. He could feel it, the Dark Side slowly permeating through the boy's flesh to infect his heart with the blackness that so freely coursed through the tyrant's own body. A vile sickness that would gradually take him over bit by bit until he willingly gave himself over to the Dark Side, and then the boy's fate would be eternally sealed by bindings of hate, fear, and doubt. And like a grand flame they would burn him from the inside out, but whether or not he would survive such apotheosis was uncertain. He had their will, but did he possess their constitution? The mating of Jedi and Mandalorian was a curious one, such different ideologies and mannerisms, but what of the child they produced?

He cast a cursory glance back at the child that was being so brutally dragged by his stoic guards, their gloved fingers digging into his flesh with enough force to bruise the skin. He chuckled and then returned his impious gaze back to what lay ahead, and before them stood a set of great durasteel doors that slid open with a hiss of hydraulics as they neared. Beyond the threshold was a room not unlike a classroom that could be found within any institution of education, but with it's angular architecture it felt more like a tomb than anything else. Waiting patiently inside were two individuals, one man and one woman; who met Kobe's questioning gaze with a gracious bow and wide, eerie smiles.

"Meet your new instructors." Kaine's voice was startling, and excessively loud in the otherwise dead silence.

The woman stepped forward first, "Good afternoon, your excellency. Oh! And good afternoon, pupil Kobe." Her voice was sweet, but not too overly feminine. She wore the standard garb of an Imperial bereft of any form of rank identification, but rather there was a silver emblem pinned to the left breast of her olive gray double-breasted dress tunic. It was in the shape of a phoenix with it's wings outstretched in magnificence, the same symbol could be identified on one of the many flags or banners posted about the capital. It was the symbol of Kaine's regime on Panatha, it's colors the inverse of the former regime that Kaine had violent usurped seven years prior.

The man stepped forward now, "Yes, yes. Good afternoon, your majesty. This must be little Kobe, we've heard so much about you." The man was a little too thin, his body practically skeletal in contrast to the rather curvaceous figure of the woman. His garb consisted of a black single-breasted overall, and a black cover was firmly affixed to his head with a few wisps of graying hair poking out from beneath the fabric. The same emblem was attached to his left breast.

They then quickly identified themselves as Educator One and Educator Two, royally ordained tutors to the newly minted ward of his most holy excellency, the King of Panatha. "These two will complete your formal education, something I've learned was sorely lacking at the now defunct Coruscant Jedi Temple. You will avidly listen to both of them, obey their every instruction, and complete your education. And then the real training will begin..." He gave a passing glance to the two Educators, and then left with both of his guardsmen.

[member="Kobe Seren"]