Dodging the Charging Bull

[Onrai]

@[member="Asterion"]

The feelings of abandonment were familiar for Circe. During her youth, she he been abandoned by her friends on Nar Kreeta and left to die. The world was now rife with chaos, the Black Sun's slowly collapsing influence resulting in chaos across the world. Domino has believed, the last time they were together, that the palace would've been destroyed by now. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

She intended to change that. Perhaps with a little help.

 

[Stephanie Swail]

It was the last time Asterion was going to risk his life trying to pilot a ship again. Once he had finished is research of the diminishing Jedi Order and their presence across the galaxy, he was done travelling. He would return to Korriban and stay there until he found his calling.

He was on the outskirts of one of expansive Hutt crime lords facility, one that had apparently seen Jedi action centuries ago. His scavenger ship almost jutting out of the sand, due to his bad landing, thankfully not near the small rocky outcrop of one of the sinkhole valleys.

There was plenty of life and urban stretches around him, but he wanted somewhere where he wouldn't have to endure any pathetic interruptions and life forms questioning him.

The weather was humid, but not exactly baking. His black and gold jacket was undone, his white vest showing underneath. Rubbing his jaw, fresh with stubble, he continued looking over his holo-pad; half interested, half bored.


@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

A sense of power washed over Circe, the power that only one deeply filled with the essence of the Dark Side would be able to generate. She looked around the ruins of the facility and, for the moment spying no one, entered into the building. While it was crumbling and decaying, she still knew most of the pathways by heart, a smile on her face as she moved to step towards Kobeer's throne, remnants of blood still covering it. Sitting down, she focused, meditating.

"Come to me."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Turning his head to meet whoever had the nerve to call him, he saw nothing; just sand, the dark sky and the Hutt facility. He squinted, but saw no-one.

A chill ran up his spine, rocking his body suddenly. Returning to his holo-pad, Asterion was confused. He could have sworn he head a silky female voice, but was it inside his head...or was it something else? A voice he wanted to hear, or something darker...?

No, it couldn't have been. No-one else knew he was here.

He turned his head again to wards the facility and stared at it. Looking for something, or someone.

Nothing.

Smirking, he went back to his reading, this time that little more disturbed than before.


@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Come to me."

The voice would again repeat in his mind. He would know that it was coming from the Hutt Palace. He wouldn't know, however, who it was coming from - exactly what Circe wanted.

She preferred such anonymity after all.

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

He threw down the holo-pad on the sand. The voice again, inside his head, echoing from the facility behind him.

Pushing himself up, brushing some of the dusty ground from this thighs, he pulled up the zip on his jacket and made sure his belt was tight; blaster and frag grenade. His lightsaber could stay hidden on the ship; he wouldn't be needing it.

He looked out towards the facility but saw nothing, bar a low flying speeder passing overhead, probably heading into one of the settlements.

Starting out to the building, he maintained a watchful eye around him. He wasn't sure who the voice was, unless...it was some calling from a memory of his mother? He hoped not, for her sake.

The Force flowed through him, but it was safe to say he was not in control of it and so couldn't rationalise happenings and callings that came to him from it. This could be nothing more than crossed communication perhaps?

Asterion climbed up a steep sandbank caused by countless storms and found a 10ft wide hole, possibly from a battle, gaping into the facility. Perfect. Reaching out with his hands to hold onto the structure, he climbed inside, jumping down a little to hit the stone floor below inside.

A chill ran through him. It was damp, cold and very grey. It looked like some old living quarters. Walking softly through, wary for any idiotic ambush that surprised him, his boots tred carefully through the stone arch leading into a corridor, moving deeper into the facility itself...

@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Come to me."

Like an eerie and ghostly remnant of the past, Circe repeated what she had said. The man was much closer now, and Circe could sense even more of his dark power. It was truly delectable.

"Come to me."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Lowering his head to step down some stone spiral stairs, he came into a wonderfully eerie room, a main chamber perhaps? Probably where many a few beings had lost their loves, lives and fortunes.

He stopped in the frame of the stairwell and looked across the room as the voice spoke louder in his head.

Come to me...

It sounded as if the voice was right beside him, but he saw where it was coming from. The large, dominating throne in the far end of the room.

He squinted, because the being was seated on the throne itself and looked dwarfed by it. A slender female with emerald skin and fiery coloured hair. Quite an image. A small, sly smile crossed his face. This would be interesting and a nice little time waster if she turned out to not be what he was searching for.

"You called? Or at least...I hope you did."

@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Indeed I did."

She smiled, giving a soft chuckle to the man who now stood before her. "I can sense your darkness. And how wild and untempered it is." She smirked, considering his current situation before making a proposition.

"Assist me and I shall teach you."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

He smiled. She was forward enough. Asterion crossed his arms and leant against the stone arch, not giving anything to this woman who so far was just adept at a bit of black magic. He had nothing to give to her. There was nothing she had that he wanted.

Well, not quite true, but that was neither the point or relevant right now.

"Just what do you want. You snuck in my head and disturbed me from my own business."

What did she mean though; she could sense his darkness - that part was true of him, he'll give her that.

"And teach me what, how to get inside peoples heads?"


@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Oh, you know... The usual sort of stuff. Bolts of hatred, Force Blasts, other sorts of techniques such as that. Perhaps I'll teach you how to create realistic images of space grazers, or other enormous, near-mythical beasts."

A soft grin crossed her lips as she stood up from the throne. "This is where my life as a Sith began. This is where I killed my master and became a free woman."

It was a very important moment in her life, and as such, she wanted to place as much emphasis as possible that this was where the Circe that had lived before her had died, and where the Circe that everyone knew came from.

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

He looked around sarcastically after her speech.

"Oh, sorry, were you talking to me? Only I didn't ask for your life story, I asked you what you wanted."

Asterion tapped his temple gently.

"What were you doing in here? I'm no Sith, but thanks for telling me of your troubles."

Stepping down into the throne room slowly, he looked around at the vast eeriness of the room and the woman now standing before the impressive looking throne. She was tempting the nearer he got, so he paced over to the left, keeping his distance.

"I'll ask you once more; what do you want from me."

@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Your studentship." She smiled, looking him over.

"See, I know you have immense power within you. Power that can be used for great acts of darkness. And I want to be the one responsible for showing you how to use that power. It's that simple."

She smirked. "If you're interested, that is."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

"Just who are you, and how did you know I was here?"

Asterion rolled his shoulders gently, looking over the woman.

"Convince me you're worth my staying around here, and I'll listen to you. I'll see what you have to offer."

He walked slowly towards her and the throne.

"I..I want to use what I have for the right reason. But I have no allegiance to the side of good and virtue, you can be assured of that."


@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Circe Savan. Former Sith Lord in the Sith Empire, Empress of Serpena, and partial head of Subach-Innes." She smiled.

"But then again, the Sith Lord part is probably what caught your eye. I had no idea you were here, but do you hardly think it's a coincidence that I felt your dark presence outside the ruins?"

A chuckle exited her lips as she eyed the man over. "Honey, I've been a very bad girl during my time in this universe. I've done bad things - been accused of doing even worse things too, though they're false - and am in no way affiliated with the side of the Light at all. Do I have my good moments? Of course, but who doesn't? I free slaves as a form of revenge for when I was made a slave."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Listening to her talk, Asterion couldn't help be impressed with her credential. A Sith Lord? Former, maybe, but still - she knew how to control and harness the Dark Side, something he yearned for to become the person he was born to be. And am Empress? This deal got better by the second.

He circled the throne as she talked and he came to stop as she finished. Looking at the impressive creation, he sat down on the throne itself thinking over his options.

"Alright, Circe Savan. You got me."

His head nodded slowly.

"If you speak the truth, you are just the sort of person I've been reading about all these years. I don't trust you, but I like what you say. So I'm yours. For now."


@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Excellent." She smiled, giving him a soft grin. "Your abilities will not be wasted. That I guarantee." Standing up, she gave a soft smile.

"Now please, tell me a bit about yourself. I'm curious as to how someone of such dark power isn't with anyone."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Perched on the arm of the throne, Asterion watched her rise. She moved like silk; fluidly and smooth. A true Empress indeed.

"Well, you call me Asterion. Yes, half-man, half-beast, just like the old galactic myths. I have a failure of a mother to thank for that name. I was born on Korriban to a Jedi student, but I was surrounded by distrust, resentment and no love for this fatherless child."

He smiled at her.

"Please, no sympathy required. Abandoned by those I trusted back on the planet I was born when I was older by the Jedi, I've pretty much spent the remainder of my years studying and searching for knowledge about the Dark Side, the Sith and the ambition that comes with the connection to such a power."

Inclining his head slightly, he continued.

"But I've not sought anyone or anything. Don't ask me why, but the galaxy seems to want to tear itself apart at the best of times so I'm not sticking my head up to be shot. If someone wants me, they'll find me.

He jumped to his feet.

"I guess that's where you came in sweetheart. I'm here, so I think it's time to unlock what I have inside me. If you're capable of finding it that is."

@[member="Circe Savan"]

 

[Onrai]

"Well that's not the case. If it was, you'd have a bull head instead of the one you have now. I also don't see any other truly bull-like attributes. There is one, but I don't think I'll be checking that out. Not now, anyways." She cleared her throat.

"Anyways, Tell me what you want to learn, and I will teach you. if I don't know it, I'll find the resources to teach you."

@[member="Asterion"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Asterion turned his head slightly, looking her over out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm. Ok..."

He walked towards Circe and started to circle her, taking her in.

"I want to know how to channel the darkness and use it to dominate. To use it in battle, to inflict damage."

He smacked his hands together.

"It's all inside, but I don't know how to release it like I know the Sith can do."


@[member="Circe Savan"]