Gateway of Strength

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]
[member="Niysha"]

Daria spent a lot of time wandering. When she'd washed out of the Jedi Agricorps, she'd gone on a pilgrimage that'd mostly convinced her that all she could count on was her own strength and self. When she'd met her father, she'd been temporarily tied down by his training regime and expectations - But he and Daria were adversarial in the BEST of times, and there were times where she simply needed to get away. Get away from him, away from his ideas of strength or propriety. Get away from the disgusting lie he sold the clueless morons of the Galaxy, get away from his parade of sycophants who saw her as an easy in on either the boss's fortune or good graces.

Daria hadn't been able to see herself as Sith when he'd tricked her into signing over her agency, but after several years of actively fighting the urge to brutralize Jacen Cavill's simpering encourage for want of enough power to harm the man himself? She was beginning to understand hatred. Rage. Fury. Every minute in his presence was a reminder that his boot lay against her neck, just how he liked it. Her intermittent walkabouts were the only time she got to feel like herself.

Daria was, unfortunately, just starting to grasp how little she liked herself, though, which put a damper on the whole thing. So she decided to make a change. She booked passage from the Core to the Kathol Outback, and promptly, surreptitiously traveled in the opposite direction.

She needed a change. She needed tutelage that didn't revolve around worship of the Master. The Jedi wouldn't take her, even if she wanted to go - But there was another option to pursue. She's already experienced the worst a Sith could possibly, in her limited experience, offer as a teacher. But her father was singular among even Sith. She'd done research, she'd talked to people, she'd kept her eyes open, and she liberally abused the Considerable resources of her father's company. A decent, spent infochant had barely been a drop in the bucket, honestly.

And that was how a tall, sturdy young woman with a thick mess of black hair and a metal rod over her shoulder drifted off of the spacelanes and would up on Darth Ignis' front door. He seemed to have something of a preference for teaching young women, as far as she could tell, without all the unsavory things that implied. He exercised judgement and a fairly cool head... though her information could have been wrong. Sith Lords weren't the easiest persons to find decent information on, even with Blas-Tec money.

 

[Mr. OOC]

He rin formation was more or less valid, which was why when she wound up at Iliabeth she would findo his place of residence. It was a large facility set into the mountainside, but it was also non-descript as those things went. It was large, but it wasn't decorated in Sith emblems or anything of that nature. It looked merely like a private residence for someone that wanted to stay out of the limelight most of the time. Someone with money, too.

Leos was there with his apprentice, [member="Niysha"], as she continued her training. He, in the meantime, was tending to his Cadre of captured creatures, as one would do if they were a beast master. The Maalraas were always with him, but his myriad of other creatures were not and he liked to spend time among them when he was back at the estate. With his relationship with them as it was, they were often desirous of his attention after long times away.

It was as he was finishing up a game with the Hssiss that he was alerted to the presence of an unknown individual at the front entrance. The guards were wanting to know how to proceed. He pursed his lips and reached out through the Force to assess the one at the entry. What he felt was a considerable amount of strength, but raw, for the most part. He felt an edgy unease, and at the same time an air of haightiness. Interesting.

"Let her enter. Keep out of sight. Let's see if she makes her way to me of her own accord."

The door to the manse would unlock and swing open slightly before her. No one was there to open it, but it was certainly ready for her to do so. Leos was in the far aft of the place, and she would have to weave her way through halls to find him, but he was certain that wouldn't be a problem.

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

The doors swung open like she'd stepped onto the set of a cheesy old holovid, and Daria couldn't help but roll her eyes. Her posture spoke a thousand variations of 'really?', the sort of exasperated resignation of a young woman who presumed she'd seen it all and had found herself unimpressed. Crossing the threshold, Daria waited a moment to see if she was going to receive a proper greeting by a, servant, droid, or the man himself. To just invite herself to explore would be rude, and to be rude to a Sith was to invite all kinds of trouble.

But a welcoming party was not forthcoming. They clearly knew she was here, by all the spooky door action, so... this was some sort of game, most likely. Daria didn't much care for games. The young woman shrugged her bag off of her shoulder and let it fall to the floor, freeing her posture up for what really mattered. A simple, spinning flourish, and Daria carried her pike along one arm in a defensive, ready stance.

The flourish was her way of declaring that she was armed and not without skill, just in case.

Pleasantries exchanged with an empty foyer, Daria made her cautious way deeper into Darth Ignus' manse. The layout was complicated and, to her mind, not very intuitive. Luckily, as physical a creature as she was, Daria wasn't without training. She could sense the Sith Lord quietly burning at the back of his labyrinthine halls, and while her sensory abilities weren't enough to find her an efficient path to him, Daria was able to glean a rough direction. She followed that direction towards Ignus in as straight a line as possible, which frequently led her down dead-ends or detours, but she did eventually arrive.

By the time she found Leos, the young woman was practically smouldering with impatient irritation. Her shoulders squared, her legs tensed, she almost looked ready to attack him for the relatively minor obstacle and discourtesy that'd been put in her way. But Daria's VOICE was another matter entirely: carefully measured and neutral, she spoke without tone or inflection. It was perhaps the kind of voice one might expect from the daughter of Jacen Cavill, a man who'd done far worse things to people for far less than a haughty tone. "My Lord, then you for opening your doors to me." Daria intoned 'respectfully'. "I humbly request and submit myself for training."

 

[Mr. OOC]

It took her a bit to make her way back to where he was, which was not unexpected. The manse was designed to be difficult for invaders to navigate, and to make it easier for the creatures that lived there to kill those that were dumb enough to enter unbidden. Suffice to say, her exasperation and irritation only served to prove that he'd done a good job. Good to know for future reference.

In the meantime, he didn't immediately respond to her. The first thing he actually did was remove his gloves and move to a basin of water, which he promptly dipped his hands into, taking the time to clean them. He knew she was impatient, and that this would try her patience. That's what he wanted. In fact, he hoped that she would get angry enough to lash out at him so he could teach her a valuable lesson.

Instead of saying anything to her, he gave her a glance and then turned to walk past her, heading back towards the manse itself. She hadn't offered him her name, but she'd asked for him to train her. He knew he would end up taking her under his wing, but he wasn't going to make it easy for her. This girl was no @Niysha. She was full of raw strength, but she didn't seem to have the finesse or patience of his other apprentice.

Inside he would walk to a den filled with archaic texts and tombs. He picred one off the wall at random, not really caring of he'd read it before, and took a seat in one of the lounge chairs. Cracking the boo open, he proceeded to begin reading, only paying attention to the tall girl with the Force so that if she explode Don him he cold react in ample time.

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"] left her standing there without a word, having washed his hands and quietly walked away. More games? Or perhaps a simple dismissal, a non-verbal declaration of disinterest. Sith could be like that, truth be told, especially the ones who played at sophistication like this one with his big, fancy house and his froo-froo gloves. Suffice to say, Daria - much like her father - did not take to being ignored especially well, and Leos would likely be able to feel the fury baking off of her as he walked by.

It took a great strength of will not to lash out at him, verbally or not, though that strength of will was helped by the knowledge that regardless of his fancy-pants lifestyle, that'd be a fight she could not win and would be lucky to walk away from. But boy, did she ever want to try. Once Darth Ignus was out of the room, Daria struggled mightily to not vent her frustration on his furniture, and helped herself to several minutes of pacing back and forth to compose herself. It helped very little.

Especially since finding him again was as infuriating the second time as it'd been the first.

She didn't give his fancy library a second look, Daria typically assumed that such large collections were entirely for show. Designed to impress visitors, to imply that the owner had read the bulk of that impossibly large library. It was pretentious, Daria judged, and simply more headgames. She hated a great many things, but pretension and mind games were absolutely among the things she hated.

So was repeating herself. Daria stormed across the den, her face red with anger, and stood opposite where Leos was reading; a furious sentinel, a silent, simmering ball of irritation. Her pike was held blade-down, as non-threatening as she could hold it without holstering the polearm. Over the rim of her glasses, Daria stared down the Sith Lord, mentally counting to a hundred.

The count was less to calm herself down, and more to give him a chance to be civil before she did something stupid like smack the book out of his hands.

 

[Mr. OOC]

It took her longer than he expected for her to find him. Not surprising, really. It had taken her a decent amount of time to find him the first time. But that said, the reason for doing what he did was rather simple: he wanted to frustrate her. The moment he first saw her he could tell that she was the type that was quick to anger, and used that anger to brutalize people. That wasn't acceptable to him.

So when she came in, he didn't look up at her or acknowledge her in any way, shape or form. The book was actually quite interesting anyway. Unlike what she thought, he had read omega of the books within, but he was also a collector so he bought them faster than he could read them. That just meant he would always have something to read in his downtime.

Her anger was wafting off of her, and she was holding g the pike in a manner that signified she was ready to use it, but all Leos did was turn the page to the next one and continue to read. He was prepared to defend himself, as he anticipated her exploding soon. It was going to happen. She was one of those, after all.

He was going to have to teach her patience.

[member="Daria Cavill"] [member="Niysha"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

Daria reached a hundred, and was still left standing there, unacknowledged, feeling like a fool. There were two options, now. She could leave, or she could express her KEEN frustration physically. The first one was the smart choice, and Daria generally considered herself quite smart. But she was a little past the point of intelligent decisions. Not FAR past, but just a little.

One smooth step brought the tall, mop-headed girl in, growling. "I at least deserve a..." She began, drawing her hand back to strike. "No!" The end of the sentence was especially appropriate, given how she'd gone to knock his stupid book across his vanity den, but he'd pulled the thing away before she made contact. Not even a dramatic pull, but a relatively minor adjustment. Just a little one.

A miniscule gesture from the Sith Lord, and Daria felt herself pushed back by a comparatively huge force, and suddenly she was quite willing to reconsider how foolish her decision was. More importantly, she was clear-headed enough to realize that she'd put herself in a very, very unfavorable position. And although regret and dread didn't often come quickly to her, Daria began to regret what she'd done and dread what was about to happen. Just a little bit.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Now Leos snapped the book closed and really looked at the girl who had the audacity to try and force him to give her attention. She seemed very much like a spoiled brat to him. She'd probably come from some rich family or something and was used to everyone giving her attention. So when she didn't get it, her natural response was to lash out. She also lacked in patience. If she'd stood there long enough he would have acknowledged her.

"It's incredibly rude to demand something you haven't earned. You lack patience and restraint. That makes you dangerous, but it also makes you stulid."

He didn't move from the seat, but leaned forward to regard her where she'd ended up. This was another acolyte with potsntial, but she was going to be a lot of work if he was to train her. The girl would be trouble for [member="Niysha"] as well. Of that he was certain. She was more like the Sith that had abused the Miraluka girl than she was like their breed of Sith. Bad for the smaller, weaker apprentice.

Though Niysha might have some tricks up her sleeve and could certainly outsmart this one.

If she tried to move towards him again, she would find herself thrown back further. He wasn't going to play actual games with her, but teach her a lesson. The Sith were notorious for hard lessons. Though he could certainly tear her apart if he wanted to, he didn't have the desire to do so. Simple applications of the Force could be just effective.

"What is your name, girl, and why did you seek me out?"

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

To be honest, getting shoved back hadn't hurt that much - she'd been lucky to not hit anything, was the real story, but still. The farm-raised girl set her shoulders squarely, fixing her glasses, and gave no indication that she was going to approach or attack him. Because she wasn't. He might be a little condescending, but at least she wasn't being ignored anymore.

"My name is Daria." She replied evenly, visibly calming down. Her temper burned hot, clearly. Now that the reason WHY she'd been upset had been addressed, though, it was cooling just as quickly. Granted, that left Daria just as bull-headed and direct as before.

Standing at a rough 'at ease', she continued to answer, her pike leaning against her shoulder. Holding the weapon was a comfort, a point of pride, a way of declaring that she'd practiced an esoteric weapon long enough to feel comfortable carrying it as her primary defense. It was equal parts resume and insurance, Daria reasoned, and she'd not put it away until asked. "My previous master has failed to educate me - I'm a toy to him. A status object to feed his vanity." She explained, sounding a little terse as she adjusted her glasses.

"I want to further my education as a Sith, which meant seeking out a new master. You struck me as level-headed and cerebral, which if I'm being honest?" Daria paused, her expression carefully unreadable. "I respect the latter, and recognize that the former is a trait I could... use, in a master." She explained. "You also seem unlikely to take sexual advantage, which is something I value."

She'd clearly shopped around before reaching a decision, and done some research. Her impatience WASN'T universal, it seemed.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Interesting. She'd put some thought into her decision to come in search of him. Perhaps he had misjudged her, at least in part. This would also make her more dangerous. If she had the mental faculty enough to do her due diligence in choosing a Master, as well as the physical acumen that he suspected of her, then not only was she a threat to [member="Niysha"], but possibly to him as well. He would need to keep Arus and Milan around her.

Still, that didn't disavow the fact that she was a hothead who needed to learn to cool it. That was something she was going to have to learn with time. At least with him she could actually do that. Without knowing who her former master was, he couldn't comment on the inability to teach her. He could simply say that the person hadn't taught her.

"That much is true. I don't tend to take advantage of students in such a manner. I find such things distasteful."

Not only distasteful, but he had someone else in his life and didn't need to receive sexual gratification from girls younger than he was, or anyone else for that matter. He preferred to think with his head and not the part of him between his legs. Rare among Sith of the day, especially the humanoid variety of them. Humans seemed the worst about keeping it in their pants, really.

"You're going to learn patience with me. You demand much but the more you demand the less you will receive. I am not harsh like some are, but I can be equally as devastating to you as they. Best to to think before speaking and acting around me."

He stood then and went to put the book away.

"Who was your master before and what did they teach you?"

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

Patience? Daria was GREAT at patience, at least in her own estimation. She could wait forever, provided she knew how long she'd be waiting, wasn't being messed with, already in a bad mood, wanted to be doing something else or didn't have anything to distract her. On her own terms, Daria could be VERY patient, even considering her own flatteringly high estimation of her own abilities.

The more she demanded, the less she'd get? That was obnoxious. Slightly backwards. It reminded her of the Jedi. Daria decided that it was less a lesson she has to learn and not Darth Ignus' way of framing their relationship so he'd retain even MORE control, which irritated her... But not enough to say anything, especially since that'd only encourage him to follow through. Still, she didn't see the point of not encouraging a student to be as diligent as they wished... unless he was worried she'd use it to kill him.

Okay, that was maybe understandable. She'd never killed anyone before, and Daria wasn't quite haughty enough to think she was badass enough to take on the Galaxy alone, killing potential allies, but still. Sith did that, and she did kind of enjoy the suggestion that he thought she was capable of that kind of strength. Even if he wasn't suggesting that at all.

Who taught her? Now that was the million cred question. "Darth Kryptus." Daria answered honestly. How to frame her education without giving more about herself than she had to? "He taught me to harness my hatred, the basics of Forms III and V, and provided me with the resources to hone my own martial skill without his supervision." Daria explained. Harness her hatred? He'd taught her to hate, to burn with fury and resentment whenever he walked in the room, to burn with endless fury at someone she couldn't touch or escape, until that fury nearly consumed her every waking thought. And he'd occasionally beaten the tar out of her, when the mood took him, so she'd had plenty of time to examine how he was doing it and study the best ways to try and lessen the impact. Hadn't helped much.

Daria realized she was glaring, forced herself to calm, and added a reluctant footnote. "I was occasionally called to act as his secretary, as well." The dour girl added absently.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Leos was quite unfamiliar with that name. It meant next to nothing to him, but he had ways of finding out more information about this Darth Kryptus. That was something to take care of at another time, however. All he really needed to know was what she had learned so far. She explained it, but it wasn't enough for his liking. She was more advanced than he'd expected, but she still had much to learn.

The question was, where to start. She knew the basics of lightsaber combat, which was good because he wasn't one who could teach her such. He knew well enough how to use a Saber, but he was by no means an artist with a blade. In fact he mostly carried such things for ornamental value and as a deterrent to keep people from messing with him.

"Hatred is a good place to start, but you don't always feel hate for someone, or something, you must deal with. Fear is good to learn to harness too."

Here he reached through the Force and touched her mind. Everything around her would suddenly appear different. She would find her weapon gone, and that she was within a dark cave with no light. The sounds of something scraping, claws?, on rock would reach her ears. Leos was nowhere to be seen. Everything would feel real to her, too. The art of illusion was extremely useful, he was finding.

[member="Daria Cavill"] [member="Niysha"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

Daria found herself in an abyss, her mind and eyes scrambling to adjust and account for what had just happened. Unfortunately, the darkness of a cave wasn't something human eyes could handle, no matter the adjustment - especially when it'd been engineered that way. But her mind, while not nearly as sharp as she liked to think, was still fairly efficient. Daria deduced that she'd either been drugged and relocated, or was under the effect of an illusion, the latter she'd heard and read about but never really encountered herself. Unfortunately, much like her father, Daria's mental defenses were best described as 'cursory,' bordering on 'nonexistent.'

"There are BETTER WAYS to teach fear!" Daria called out angrily, her voice echoing through the cave and returning faint, almost like it was mocking her. It was her only companion for a moment, and then something moved in the darkness. Daria whipped around to draw her pike, but found it missing.

Anxiety wormed it's way into her heart. She wasn't used to being unarmed, and entirely uncomfortable on the back foot. Daria shifted her footing, suddenly defensive, the simple motion sending pebbles skittering across the stone floor. Those sounds echoed, too, until it was hard to tell what was the noise she'd caused, and what was a beast in the shadows, come to attack her.

She masked her growing fear with defiance and bravado, glaring angrily into the uncaring dark as though her knees weren't shaking. "It doesn't work if I know it's an illusion!" Daria hoped, loudly and angrily, the echo again mocking her.

The scrambling, scrabbling, scraping sounds only got closer. Daria's mind raced in the absence of other sensory input, filling her mind with images of what large claws could produce such a sound on stone.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Were there better ways to teach fear? Maybe. He could throw her out into a lava pit and watch the horror in her eyes as she fell towards it and tried to find a way to survive. She'd die if he did that, though. Would kind of be a waste. No, he was pretty certain that this method would be a good one to use, especially since he was starting to become more and more advanced in it. The knowledge he'd gained while on Obroa-skai, and his time spent practicing, were paying dividends to his ability to utilize it in practical, more tangible ways. As she was soon to find out, the illusions he could create weren't just something she saw.

Of course he said nothing to her, because he didn't want her to know he was really there. In her mind she might think she knew he was, but with what was coming, that could very easily change. The sound she heard of claws on stone would grow louder and louder until she was actually feel something with scales brush against her before it moved away again. Not just an "oh he used the Force to do something to me" moment, but an actual physical touch. If she had any exposed skin on her legs, it would leave cuts. If not, it would tear her pants a little bit. Yes, the illusions were tangible and could actually cause her harm if she didn't take them seriously. That was the power of his dark side control.

Whatever the creature was she was faced with, it didn't move far away after touching her. She'd no doubt hear it, feel that it was close, watching her. Why it wasn't directly attacking might be a mystery, but it could also be that the creature was semi-sentient, and was sizing her up, waiting to see how she would react to its presence so that it could better set itself up to bring her down and devour her. There were a million scenarios that could have been going through her head in regards to the creature. It didn't really matter. His goal here was only to make her feel fear. Real, true fear. The kind of fear that made you piss your pants and scream in terror. Would it break her? If he went on far enough with it, which he might do. It might do her good to understand just how powerful he could be.

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

In that stygian darkness, nothing answered Daria but the sound of her own breathing echoing on cave walls and the rasping, scraping talons of whatever was stalking her in the shadow. Her waking mind insisted that this read all just an illusion, but the primal, animal part of her didn't really care. The sensory input was too convincing, too real to disbelieve.

Something heavy brushed against her leg, and Daria failed to bite back a startled shriek. She recoiled, practically lept away, her trouser leg shorn on mere contact with the thing. In desperation, Daria struck out at where she had felt the creature, aiming a powerful kick... But it had slithered out of reach, away from what little harm she could do. Even if she had hit hit, she belatedly realized, she would have succeeded mostly in tearing up her for and making the thing angry.

Daria backed away, until she felt the hard, uncaring stone of the cave wall pressed against her spine. Her hands were tight fists, ready to strike against anything she perceived. Terror had filled her with desperate adrenaline, a keen awareness of all the nothing she could see around her. A low, moan-like whimper escaped the girl, her heart pounding in her throat and her skin beaded with fear-sweat.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Good, she was afraid. He could see the sweat on her skin, hear her whimper. Her body had grown taught. Even as she backed against the stone wall of what she was seeing, she was really just leaning against the bookshelf in his library. She was in no danger from him physically, but the illusions he crafted were that powerful. Her pants really were torn where the illusionary creature had brushed against her. Such was the power of his skills in the Force. They were largely confined to small locations, but he had something in the works to remedy that for future usage. He didn't need it for this, however.

The fear could only be amplified as the creature moved forward towards her again. Her fists would be no use against it. If she swung she'd feel solid creature, but she'd scar her hands up pretty good on its scaly skin. It was a sufficiently dense being so as to prevent itself from being clobbered by fists alone. That and he wasn't going to allow it to be. It would even resist an application of the Force if she tried that. Yes, he was being quite cruel to her here.

The creature came forward towards her, looming before her in the darkness where even her eyes would now be able to see it as it leaned forward towards her, opened its mouth, and growled in a gurgling, slimy manner before digging its claws into her stomach. This one he didn't actually allow to do real physical damage, but he made it so she would see it doing so, and her mind would think it was doing so. He didn't want to kill her, he just wanted to teach her the power of fear and what it could do to a person. He was trying to break her of her attitude issues and show her another emotion that she could draw on.

Inevitably everyone was put into a fearful situation. How they reacted to it was what mattered. Incidentally, at this point, if she harnessed her fear to strike the creature with the Force, he would let her blow it away and the illusion would dissipate. If not, it would keep ripping her apart.

[member="Daria Cavill"]

 

[Daria Cavill]

[member="Darth Ignus"]

It was killing her. He'd put her in a cave with a monster and now she could see it killing her, could feel it's claws against her spine. She could see her intestines spilling out of her gut like wet sausages, fresh and glistening with the blood and fluids that should never, ever be exposed to the air. She'd grown up on a farm, worked in yr Agricorps, she knew a slaughter when she saw one. Fear, rage, pain all faded away by the sudden shock-blue thought that rushed to the front of her mind; no matter what happened in the next couple of seconds, she was dead. There was no force in the universe that could find and fix her in time.

This was where her life ended. In a cave, at the hands of a stupid-looking fish monster. Daria gurgled miserably, remembering keenly what she'd once been told. 'Going into shock,' her mother had taught her, 'is nature's mercy. Predator kills prey, but after that first strike, they go into shock and don't feel a thing. It's a kindness, like going to sleep.' She felt lots of things, though. Dull, distant pain. Wetness. Pressure. Hatred, also, but fear as well. Fear of death, fear of pain. Terror that her father would hunt her spirit down and bring her back just to kill her for dying such an ignominious, embarrassing death. Horror that she was going to be eaten by such a dumb-looking creature.

In desperation and with nothing left to lose, Daria's fists were the final vessels of her terrible fury and overwhelming fear. She struck without thought, fueled by white-hot emotion, raining blows down on the beasts' head as it eviscerated her.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Her fists fell on thin air.

The vision would dissipate before her eyes. Only the superficial wounds would remain upon her body, but the emotional scarring was sure to last. Before her stood Leos, looming over, the pike she'd thought she'd lost held within his hand. The weapon was pointed square the center of her chest. He could drive it home without hesitation. One such as her did not have her head in the right place to become a part of the Reformation. Not yet, at least. If she continued in this manner it was unlikely that she ever would. But perhaps she had learned a valuable lesson in dealing with his illusions. The only way to find out was to ask.

"Speak."

Or demand. That worked to. Sometimes. In this case, with showing her that what he could do in the realm of illusion could be both physical and psychologically destructive, she would be wise to heed his words and do as he said. True, he was not as bad as some Sith. In fact, he was starting to doubt if he could truly call himself a Sith. Still, the darkness was within him as it was in all darksiders.

"Tell me what you learned."

[member="Daria Cavill"]