Private Fangs and Falsehoods

[Lyli Dragi]

Wearing: Torchflare Armor

Armed With: Blade of Falsehoods (Red Lightsaber)


Syd Celsius had taken a break from being Lyli for a day or so after rescuing Thelma Goth on Coruscant in an extremely brazen last minute plan. Nathan had forbid over-planning it as spontaneous light on detail schemes seemed to have a better chance of working on Jedi.

But Syd still wore Lyli's skintight crimson leotard and matching gloves and boots in case she had needed to become Lyli again. But after the escape, she had taken the X-70B to hide on Denon instead of the asteroid field they had hidden in, parking the phantom deep in a well furnished hideout owned by the original Lyli Dragi, going occasionally by that last name Drajin, such as when she had been killed by Syd.

Lyli had been a vain, self absorbed creature, adopted by a rich nobleman she had never appreciated, and eventually rebelled against. But a noticeable fascination with ship models was present. She also seemed fascinated by shiny things, like the old Syd had been. But there was a collection of rare rifles also. Lyli hoarded wealth also.

Nathan, interestingly, had absolutely no intention of letting the Battalion's victory stand. He was plotting to steal back what she had stolen from Syd...with interest...

He hadn't communicated this plan of course...but she felt it through her bond to him.

She had to admit at least this much about Laertia's father: Disturbed though he was, he was not a lunatic. He had a plan, and not some short sighted Dutch Van Der Linde type of plan either. Legit.

Thelma was welcome to stay as long as she had to in this little mausoleum of a long dead Dark Jedi...as long as she could handle being next to an extremely powerful and dangerous Force Spawn who had massive, massive identity issues.

Syd winced in Lyli's old quarters as she tried to meditate. It was the essence of Lyli...such a large fragment of Ersethy was bound to leave a trace.

She blinked and suddenly was no longer in Lyli's quarters, but amidst the burning ruins of a fallen castle. Syd was in her old red and gold catsuit, though her face still looked like The Amalgam's.

She was deeply frightened, and only hesitantly walked through it, seeing a figure on their knees in chains atop a hill of crumbled ruins, surrounded by statues five of which were gigantic. Syd's horror grew greater when she realized the giant ones were those of The Battalion, Arianna Belasko, Darth Phyre, The Amalgam, and finally The Parliament herself all pointing down at the figure caught in an absolutely maniacal laugh frozen on their faces.

As she got closer, she saw more statues, all in Jedi or civilian clothing, all pointing at the chained figure in the center with the same frozen expression of crazed, open eyed, glaring laughter. Unfamiliar faces. People he knew. Maybe.

Syd started trembling as she approached what was a statue on its knees. It was shaped like Nathan Bloodscrawl in his biker gear, a quarter of his face fallen away to reveal the skull beneath.

He held something in his hands. Two somethings.

Terrified, Syd took a closer peak at the objects in his hands and stepped back, wanting to be sick.

They were stone representations of the severed heads of Lysandra Crownwraithe and Laertia Io, both looking remarkably similar to one another. Both had multiple holes in their faces out of which crawled maggots and worms. Syd could tell which one was Laertia's because while Lysandra's expression was one of permanent frozen agony, Laertia's was a maniacal smile. His head was bent down, forced to look at the maggot filled stone heads of his destroyed family forever.

Syd's horror grew to its most severe as she realized she was inside Nathan's personal hell.

"N-Nathan?" she called out hesitantly.

There was no response.

"Nathan? Nathan Bloodscrawl?"

No response.

Syd tried one more time.

"Morris Crownwraithe?"

Get out. came the response. I didn't ask you here.

"I don't know why I'm here any more than you do. I was drawn here."

You invade even my sleep.

"You're asleep?" Syd asked quietly. "So this is a nightmare, then?"

This is normal.

Syd wanted to choke but couldn't.

"You always go here when you sleep?"

Yes.

"I-I..."

Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it.

"But--"

Go. came the answer. Now.

Syd forced herself out of Nathan's hell and ran to the toilet to vomit.

Hours later...

Syd had no desire to fake being a Dark Jedi more than she had to. She had explained Lyli's nature as a fake personality to Thelma but still, Syd wanted to limit her exposure to Lyli. Lyli had selfish streak and she didn't see want it rubbing off on Thelma.

But after seeing...and feeling...just how much absolute pain Nathan was in...

She grabbed Lyli's simple red lightsaber hilt and concentrated on the essence in the crystal, now warped to her will. She used it as a focus.

She felt her addled mind being subsumed by Lyli's arrogance and aggressive nature. Her flesh bubbled and melted piggish, metallic squeals escaping her throat as her mind and body warped into Lyli.

Lyli sneered at the darkness of her quarters. It was like a mausoleum in here.

"Computer..." she hissed in annoyance, unable to remember why she had wanted it so dark. "Play music! I don't care what kind! Play it loud!"

Loud rock like music started to play and Lyli made air guitar signs, before leaving it to play to go check on Thelma. It was dawn. Lyli herself was hungry.

And Lyli might have been itching to teach her some tricks of the trade, in case she couldn't square it with the Jedi.

Lyli had even provided animals for Thelma to feed on in the privacy of her quarters, Small ones, tensed to by Droids in a separate room that she could request brought to her.

Lyli casually knocked on the closed door of Thelma Goth .

"Hey, Thelma? You feel like getting out of this cigar tin? I'm bored..."

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma was in her quarters, sitting on the bed with a white rabbit in her arms. Though she had requested it be brought to her by the droids, she had yet to feed from it. In fact, she’d been struggling to feed from any of the animals, plagued by lingering feelings of guilt and moral uncertainty. Old habits die hard.

There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Thelma said, giving the rabbit’s soft fur a final stroke before she set it down on the bed beside her. It was Lyli who entered.

"Hey, Thelma? You feel like getting out of this cigar tin? I'm bored..."

Thelma didn’t know what to say at first. An introvert by nature, she didn’t mind hiding—although in many ways her hiding place resembled her locked quarters in the Temple. She was in an unfamiliar environment, with her social interactions limited to a woman whose double-identity nature she did not understand. But she was content to keep to herself. Deprived of her beloved antique sewing machine, she stayed busy with a needle and thread. She owed Lyli, or rather Surt’r, her gratitude for saving her, and had been hard at work preparing a gift as a show of her appreciation. But alas, she wasn’t sure which of the two personas she ought to make it for. In the end she opted to make two articles, one for each.

If Thelma was content in solitude, she was also obliging. “If you want,” she finally replied, summoning a droid to take the rabbit back to its pen. “If you deem it safe. Where would you like to go?”

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli smiled.

"I know just the place..."


A half hour later...

The rooftop of an old city power plant had a great view of the city itself. Lyli had shown Thelma how to evade the watch of city cameras as she used the speeder bike.

"Ah, what a view..." Lyli spoke happily as she got off the bike with Thelma.

"You are a fugitive, Thelma, so you will need A Sword for Fugitives..." Lyli explained, handing Thelma the mystery weapon from her mystery employer.

"I wanted to show you how that works, and then I want to help you use it. To hunt..." Lyli explained. "You will have to be very skilled at hiding now just to eat regularly and properly...there is a very shady night club down below us. Perfect to hone your skills."


Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

Lyli (or was it Syd?) was as good of a teacher as Thelma could have hoped for. The little vampiress listened intently, learning how to evade city cameras which could recognize her face and track her down.

They stopped on the roof of an old power plant. Lyli turned to Thelma and handed her a lightsaber. “Thank you.” Taking it in her hands, Thelma activated the blade… and was surprised to find it was both silent and invisible. A stealthy weapon. “This will come in handy,” she said, deactivating the mysterious blade.

"I wanted to show you how that works, and then I want to help you use it. To hunt..."

Had she made such a suggestion any earlier, Thelma would have bristled at the idea of feeding on people. But her feelings had grown more and more ambivalent ever since she left the Temple. She knew she would soon have to make a choice, decide how much she was willing to risk for the sake of following a moral code. Her attempt at gambling for a better future had resulted only in her losing everything. Even Silas.

She nodded silently, then said, “Lead the way.”

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

A red blade slid out of Lyli's hilt.

"The crystals within your Lightsaber are unknown to me..." she confessed. "Some kind of pearls. The first one, as long as you channel your energy into it, will dampen all noise you make. It is also naturally silent when swung."

Lyli then went into a Juyo guard...and turned her back.

"See if you can take advantage of it..." Lyli encouraged.

"Do not strike to kill... merely disable. That weapon...whoever made it crafted it to be highly adjustable." Lyli remarked. "You will have to show even more restraint now as a fugitive than you ever did as a Jedi. Make the wrong corpse, get too aggressive, and you will draw too much heat on you."

(Cutaway of Syd Celsius sitting in an elegant chair by a fireplace)

(Syd: Leans Forward in seat)

(Syd: A Pyrokinesis Joke!)

"By the way...what made you want to be a Jedi anyway?" She asked Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma’s eyebrows rose at the mention of a stealth feature. She fiddled with the hilt, lowering the intensity to a mere stun setting and cycling between the two crystals before settling on the first pearl. Then she activated the blade. Sure enough, it was as silent as the grave.

"By the way... what made you want to be a Jedi anyway?"

The question caught Thelma off guard. She stared at Lyli’s back before answering, “I was only a child when Master Koschei began teaching me about the Force and Jedi philosophy. I was an only child, living in a big castle full of adults and older people, so I didn’t have much else to do. It seemed... useful.”

It wasn’t that she hadn’t had a choice. If at any time, she had expressed no more desire to be a Jedi, Maxim Koschei would’ve stopped her training. Of that she was certain. The problem lay in the fact that she hadn’t been given access to other schools of thought. She knew nothing of other ways of using the Force, let alone other philosophies. Perhaps that was why she tended to lose every battle. She didn't understand her opponents.

Thelma used telekinesis to turn off the lights, then crept forward in the darkness. She made a diagonal slash at Lyli’s head, intending to knock her unconscious.

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli heard the footsteps but barely perceived the danger of the swinging blade, not hearing it as it swung. She reacted more on instinct, her red blade barely intercepting the swing of Thelma Goth as their blades met, though not fully...Thelma managed to scorch Lyli's shoulder, causing her flesh to shudder, her face reverting to Syd's for a split second. Her ability to pretend to be others was always unstable now...some fundamental part of her, the part that allowed her such great control, had been fundamentally stolen when The Battalion defeated her. Even a mild injury could destabilize the technique now. It could take Syd years to relearn the control.

She absolutely HAD to get back what The Battalion had stolen. With interest.

"So you became a Jedi due to influence from a mentor. I can understand that...sorta..." Lyli admitted.

"I got into the biz for the thrills myself."

That was absolutely what had NOT happened. Not with THIS Lyli, anyway. Syd had explained it carefully: When she was "pretending" to be Lyli, she had to go by Lyli's past. Not her own.

A ghoulish way of keeping records.

"My parents suffered from affluence... spoiled me rotten. Eventually I couldn't stand it, started to use my money to find me dark side teachings, and here I am."

Dead memories from an even deader woman.

Lyli lanced her blade in a Juyo strike for Thelma's sword hand, deliberately having her blade on the lowest setting so it would only leave a welt, at worst.

But Syd was clearly channeling Lyli's love of a good fight...you could tell by the grin...

 

[Thelma Goth]

Though the stealth properties of the lightsaber were considerable, Thelma was surprised she managed to hit Lyli at all. Her blade bit into the woman’s shoulder, causing some sort of reaction. For a moment, Syd’s face was visible, only to revert back to Lyli’s.

Syd had explained the reality of Lyli’s existence earlier, but it was difficult for Thelma to comprehend the extent of the disguise. She did realize that she had to take everything “Lyli” said with a grain of salt, as it probably wasn’t true.

“My parents could remember an age when vampires ruled our world… But by the time I was born, they were living off the decaying splendor of a past already long-gone. I never saw any of the glory they claimed was ours…”

She narrowly evaded the Juyo strike, shifting into the stance she knew best: Ataru. Her small, lithe frame moved with speed and precision, executing the fast-paced acrobatic stunts of Form IV with unearthly fluidity and grace.

The shadows continued to be her friend; she used them to hide her form for a time. When next she spoke, her voice seemed to come from various different directions, making her exact location unclear.

“I couldn’t live in the past. I had to make my own way, find my own glory.”

She lunged out unexpectedly, battering Lyli’s defenses with sudden rapid strikes, only to disappear into the darkness again before she had a chance to mount a counterattack. It would seem she was a natural at this stealthy style of fighting.

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli could barely keep up with Thelma's relentless battering strikes, due to her styles notorious lack of defense. She simply wasn't as skilled as Syd was in this department. Had it been Syd, Thelma's prospects would have been far more iffy. Even Laertia in her prime had been nearly defeated in their one serious duel.

Not that it had mattered with The Battalion.

One of Thelma's strikes gashed Lyli across the shoulder, and the shock of the pain, caused Lyli to momentarily vanish, her body and mind bubbling and warping back to Syd's, who staggered back for a moment.

"Hold on, give me a moment..." Syd requested, catching her breath before closing her eyes and forcing the change once more back to Lyli.

"I understand completely, not wanting to be held down by the past..." Lyli said, not missing a beat, having perceived no loss of time between the moment she stopped existing and the moment she started to.

"I sought my glory on countless battlefields. Wanted more than anything to prove I was more then some airhead spoiled adoption case..."

She paused.

"Perhaps that was my problem. My real problem, anyway."

(Cutaway of J Jonah Jameson laughing uncontrollably)

"Oh well."

Lyli conjured a weak flame in her hand, trying to light the area and find Thelma.

"Your enemies will do everything they can to remove your advantages, or even use them against you. Impressive voice throwing by the way..." Lyli called out, trying to find Thelma Goth

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma gawked in morbid fascination at the brief lapse in glamor. It was grotesque. At Lyli’s—or Syd’s?—request, she backed off, though she still stared. Her violet eyes were full of compassion. “Does it hurt?” she asked softly.

Then Syd’s visage was gone again, replaced by the clueless Lyli, who began rooting for the vampiress in the darkness. Thelma slunk back into the shadows, avoiding the glow emanating from the conjured flame.

"Impressive voice throwing by the way..."

“Thanks,” she replied sincerely, albeit throwing her voice far away from her actual position.

Lyli had spoken of seeking glory in battle. “Were you a soldier?” Thelma asked, curious about how she came to be like this. Syd had hinted at being a former Jedi, but Lyli's past was far more mysterious.

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli chuckled at the question.

"Oh, no, no spit and polish for me. I fought for myself. My father, Count Tycho Dragi, found me on Atrisia...raised me to function as his bodyguard and Assassin. I had other ideas..."


Many years ago, prior to being killed by Syd.


Lyli had always been a bad seed, ever since being found as a roadside Bandit on Atrisia by the count's bodyguards after she had robbed an entire caravan single handed. There was no tragic moment that hardened her heart and made her embrace selfishness and cruelty. She had simply always been that way.

By the Count's reasoning, it made her a perfect Assassin. He had given her the training necessary after winning her over with his seemingly limitless wealth, and hadn't really needed to alter her mindset. She took to killing like fish took to water, and by the time of her original death at Syd's hands, Lyli had VERY MUCH had it coming.

But killing singular targets to affect beneficial change hadn't really appealed to a Thrill-Killer like her. Her bloodlust had eventually begun to slip the Count's grasp. She wanted challenges. The fight of a lifetime! So she sought it out constantly.

Such as tonight, here, on Denon, in an underground fighting arena, Lyli had slinked in in her skintight red leotard and matching gloves and boots, armed with only her red lightsaber which had been something she had owned since Atrisia (She could never quite remember where she got it). With a feral anticipation she waited. Killing "Father's" rivals had grown boring. And not killing 'enough' was even MORE boring. Lyli had had enough of it and decided tonight would be a 'her' night.

The cheers gave her a thrill, and her flesh wriggled everywhere for a split second as she fed on the crowds lust for blood.

The gate began to open and The grim faced Massassi warrior stepped out from the shadows.

"MY HUMBLE SENTIENTS, I PRESENT TO YOU THE FINAL MATCH OF THE NIGHT! In one corner, we have a genuine, Dark Jedi! GIVE IT UP FORRRRRRR! LY-LI! DRA-GI!

She grinned as the crowd cheered even harder for her...

AND IN THE OTHER CORNER! HAILING FROM KORRIBAN, THE! SILENNNNNNCED!"

The crowd cheered equally hard for the red skinned burly Massassi in fluted black power armor, brandishing a Phrik Alloy, double edged Battle Axe.

"CONTESTANTS! YOU! MAY! BEGIN!" shouted the announcer over the loudspeaker.

Lyli was already bounding towards him with a battle cry savagely attacking him with her red blade over and over and The Silenced didn't budge an inch, deflecting with the shaft of his axe to try and behead or bisect her, which drive Lyli back multiple times, but each time she came back her strikes were stronger and The Silenced was forced to move back an inch as she grew more and more enraged as she struck at him.

He red blade gained a fiery aura as she struck at the constantly twirling and deflecting shaft, that always forced her to dodge at the last possible second.

The arena walls flashed as their blades slammed against each other. But the fiery aura surrounding her red blade had begun to bite through the shaft and the edge, which now glowed orange. Lyli had a crazed look of bloodthirst on her face as she struck at him.

HIs shaft melted and snapped in half but he simply used both end in a Jar Kai fashion, now driving her backward with more rapid strikes from improvised weapons in both hands.

With a howl of pure delight at killing she swung her fiery red blade in a massive arc, and spilt him in half vertically.

The crowd erupted in insane cheer but she ultimately didn't care for praise as she stared at the sliced apart warrior. This was what she wanted.

To constantly snuff out life and grow strong for it.


Lyli of course, didn't tell her that story.

"I fought because I loved fighting. Proving my superiority. I live for that. For the moment." Lyli explained to Thelma Goth . "Though admittedly even someone like me has to pay bills. But you...I was feeling generous. I charged a quarter what I normally would for a job like that."

Lyli got an idea.

"Let's try something different. How about I show you how to channel incendiary effects through your blade with the Force?"

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma said nothing. She hadn’t paid a single credit for her rescue. Presumably the Progenitor was footing the bill, assuming Syd had actually charged her anything. That seemed unlikely. She suspected Syd had done it as a favor…

"Let's try something different. How about I show you how to channel incendiary effects through your blade with the Force?"

Drawn out of her thoughts, Thelma nodded. “I would like that.”

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli nodded and held out her red blade.

Flame is energy. The saber is Energy. Most ordinary weapons can channel Force Energy. Most times this manifests as making an object in question resistant to damage. But it can be used instead to inflict damage.

Lyli concentrated, and the red blade began to sparkle and it's aura became flame like. Lyli swung it around, leaving flame trails that grew more intense with each spin, each swing, until she scorched the nearby railing with the tip of her blade, leaving a trail of flames and melting metal. Way more flames than a normal lightsaber would have left.

"You can do this with common blasters as well. Here. You try now. Be one with your weapon, and the heat of your own feelings..." Lyli encouraged, unexpectedly enjoying instructing Thelma Goth .

She didn't understand why. Perhaps she sympathized with someone who had gotten on the wrong side of the law through no real fault of her own. Perhaps Syd, hiding in Lyli's mind and flesh, didn't want to see Thelma suffer for getting indirectly mixed up in her and Nathan's mistakes.

Perhaps Syd simply wanted some kind of second chance, any kind of second chance, at training an apprentice fully...

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma followed along with the lesson--or tried to. The more she tried to listen to what Lyli was saying, the harder it became to focus.

"More firewood," her master, Maxim Koschei, ordered. "We must ensure that no part of her remains intact."

With the help of Silas Westgard , Thelma gathered more dry brush and fallen logs to use as kindling. Soon they had built a pyre, upon which they laid the dismembered body parts of her mother. Genevieve Goth had been driven mad by her own nature, her sense of identity drowned out by the memories she consumed to survive. Thelma tried not to look at the severed head. She was afraid she would see herself in those lifeless purple eyes.

"Stand back," Maxim ordered. Using the Force, he produced a flame. The fire darted from his hand onto the pyre, setting it ablaze. As the flames climbed higher, consuming both wood and dead flesh, she felt Silas' hand slip into hers. But Thelma felt no comfort. Only all-consuming terror at the unknown future which awaited her.

"... Here. You try now. Be one with your weapon, and the heat of your own feelings..."

Thelma tried to do as Lyli commanded. But when she channeled the incendiary power into her blade, the fire went wild, catching on her long left sleeve. Letting out a shriek, she dropped her lightsaber and flung herself on the floor. The flames were swiftly smothered and her clothes were only slightly singed, but the girl didn't get up immediately, overwhelmed by panic and fear.

"I... I'm sorry," she rasped, tendrils of smoke still rising. "I think I... I have to go."

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

"Ohhh... y'know...maybe that was a bit advanced for you..." Lyli admitted, seeing how it distressed Thelma Goth .

She stepped forward and offered her hand up.

"You should feed though. That IS partly why I brought you out here. But no more Force Power practice, I swear..." Lyli promised. "I didn't mean to make you freak out. I...I've been kind of a jerk most of my life..." she confessed.

"Not really good at trying to play nice. But then, you're the longest guest I've ever had..."

Due to the inherently schizophrenic creature she was, one had to constantly assess reality from whatever the Spawn thought about themselves as being the reality. What little she had seen of Syd was a woman who was shy to the point of awkward silence but nevertheless did try to put others at ease around her. It was moments like this where one could be reminded just how bizarre Lyli's nature as a false persona really was, how everything they said could feel legit, yet it was all psychic theatre.

But what came out next was one hundred percent the truth, because both Lyli and Syd meant it.

"So I do wanna help you. After all, with the effort I put into rescuing you, I...I guess I can't help but feel responsible for your safety somehow..."

 

[Thelma Goth]

"Ohhh... y'know...maybe that was a bit advanced for you..."

Thelma remained on the floor, her small body trembling uncontrollably. The initial flush of panic had begun to fade, but she still felt terrified. She was slow to accept Lyli's offered hand, rising on shaky legs.

"You should feed though."

Another surge of panic. Thelma shook her head vigorously. "I-I can't," she stammered. "I mean—It isn't as if I've been s-starving myself." A bold lie, considering that Lyli and her allies had been able to observe the little vampiress' eating habits while she was under their protection. Indeed, the psychologist-programmed biots had already determined the root cause of her disordered eating. Thelma's fear of ending up mad like her mother had led to her developing anorexia. She starved herself in the belief that it would keep her safe and sane, at the cost of her physical health.

What little of the rabbits' minds she did consume had done her little good. The thoughts and memories of the domesticated creatures were influencing her to timidity and cowardice. It was like being fed a thin broth instead of meat.

Lyli offered an awkward apology. Thelma felt ashamed, but said nothing. She let Lyli take the blame for what had happened. It was easier than confronting her own weakness. Still, Lyli was trying to help her, trying to teach her skills she would need to survive, and here she was acting like a frightened little girl.

"So I do wanna help you. After all, with the effort I put into rescuing you, I... I guess I can't help but feel responsible for your safety somehow..."

"I know," Thelma murmured softly. "I appreciate your help. I will try to absorb your lessons in the future. Just... not today." Dizzy with hunger, she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall just to stay upright.

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

"If there is one thing someone like me recognizes..." Lyli trailed.

"It's when someone is starving. Fighting your nature will kill you. It was not your choice to be born like this...feed now to learn how to be strong enough to hold it off later."

She watched Thelma Goth get worse. She was dizzy.

"Has it occurred to you that holding back your feeding will lead to what you fear becoming real? That you'll go around mindlessly hurting. You might not know this but there are many vampires who deny their hunger and go on a rampage when they starve. A true predator, Thelma, eats only what they must in the wild. It is not done out of hate, but survival--"

Lyli bore her throat at Thelma.

"You must feed. You won't make it back in your state. You're in a free fall metabolically. Probably something similar to a diabetic without insulin. You'll only deteriorate from here..."

"It's ok..."

 

[Thelma Goth]

Lyli was quick to see through her lies.

"Fighting your nature will kill you. It was not your choice to be born like this... feed now to learn how to be strong enough to hold it off later."

Thelma continued to shake her head even as her shrunken stomach ached and her head spun. Tears of frustration and despair pricked at her eyes. She couldn't feed. She wouldn't feed. Not even if it killed her.

"Has it occurred to you that holding back your feeding will lead to what you fear becoming real? That you'll go around mindlessly hurting. You might not know this but there are many vampires who deny their hunger and go on a rampage when they starve. A true predator, Thelma, eats only what they must in the wild. It is not done out of hate, but survival—"

"That—That hasn't happened to me," Thelma protested weakly. "My mother went mad from feeding, don't you understand? She consumed their thoughts and memories. It broke her mind and remade it in their image. If I feed, I'll end up like her..."

She trailed off as Lyli bared her throat. It was an act of compassion, but to her, lost in a moral maze of her own making, it felt like cruelty. Look, but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, but don't swallow...

"You must feed. You won't make it back in your state... You'll only deteriorate from here..."

Thelma's stomach lurched. She heard only bits and pieces of what Lyli was saying. Her focus had tunneled, purple eyes fixated on the throbbing veins in the other woman's neck, tongue sliding over dry lips.

"It's ok..."

If she had intended to say anything more, it was cut off by Thelma's sudden lunge at her. The little vampiress' hand closed around the other woman's throat, gripping it with surprising strength despite her starved state. Her fangs descended, their metallic purple sheen glinting in the dim light before she sank her teeth into Lyli's neck. She drank, and drank, and drank, devouring her rescuer's memories with mindless abandon...

Lyli Dragi​

 

[Lyli Dragi]

Lyli almost went paralyzed from the sudden pain and it took all the discipline of both herself and the creature pretending to be her to prevent Lyli from getting effectively lobotomized. She guides the ravenous, starving Thelma Goth to consume memories of old battles, stuff that had happened to the real Lyli. Syd made sure it was tame stuff, nothing that would permanently psychologically damage Thelma to consume. The thrill of a flight through space in racing starfighters, one of many such memories from the real Lyli.

The glory of being crowned champion in an underground lightsaber tournament between Dark Jedi (Yes, yes, in case you are wondering it was basically Bloodsport with Van Damme) The thrill of robbing a mansion undetected in the dead of night, all carefully selected by Syd and fed to Thelma to avoid damaging her ability to channel Lyli.

To understand hunger is to control it. Lyli and Syd's voice said in unison to Thelma. Hunger is an instinct. Instincts can be controlled, not through denial, but through acceptance and rationality.

Another memory, this one of surviving a massive ship crash.

To deny your need to be what you are and to try and find some good out of that, do you not see how it hurt you more than if you had maintained a regular diet? What you choose to do with your hunger defines you. What you choose to eat defines you also. You can let yourself lose cohesion to an endless flow of thought and feeling, as your Mother did, or you can strengthen yourself by being the great tree in the roots of a flowing river of minds, drinking from the flow, but not being drowned by it. By extending a greater trunk above the surface of the water in the certainty of knowing yourself, in spite of what you drink.

With a soft spell whispered, Lyli was able to gently pry Thelma's fangs from her neck.

"Thelma? Talk to me, are you alright?" Lyli asked...

 

[Thelma Goth]

The part of Thelma which was horrified by what she was doing had gone silent, smothered by the sea of memory. Her fangs snapped and scraped at the barriers Lyli put up. Her hunger was a yawning chasm, a starving abyss, a black hole seeking to consume everything around it. Yet Lyli held firm, refusing to let the vampiress devour her. Her voice was in Thelma's head, echoing through her skull, drilling in a lesson:

To understand hunger is to control it. Hunger is an instinct. Instincts can be controlled, not through denial, but through acceptance and rationality.

A lesson that Thelma, even in her current mindless state, didn't want to accept...

The bite of a Psy-Pire is horrific for both the victim and the vampire. The former loses their memory; something they can ever get back, a piece of who they are. The latter will be forever altered by the memories they consumed, becoming less like themselves and more like their prey. Yet to resist this change in the name of individuality had the same result: a long, slow descent into self-destruction.

Thelma could feel her personality fragmenting even now. This was her mother's true legacy, her inheritance. She knew this would change her in ways she couldn't foresee, altering her unpredictably forever, but she was too far gone to care.

The memory of the ship crash slammed into her, a major event in a past that didn't truly belong to her... before now. If Lyli's goal had been to throw her off balance, she succeeded. Thelma was left reeling as she relived the trauma, unable to fight back as her fangs were pried from the other woman's neck.

"Thelma? Talk to me, are you alright?"

She lay insensate in Lyli's arms, blood smeared around her mouth. Her emaciated body had filled out and her skin was flushed and healthy. Even her hair had regained its luster, the dull grayish tones brightening to auburn.

She twitched, then jolted back to her senses, tearing herself from Lyli's grasp. Her eyes were open and alert, the purple light inside her pupils fading. She had never looked more human—and had never felt less so.

"I... have to... go!" she blurted, an echo of her earlier reaction, now more desperate than ever to disappear. She ran toward the exit, fleeing not just the room but the compound altogether, with nothing but the clothes on her back and the weapon Lyli had given her...

Lyli Dragi​