Private Going Somewhere?

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: HUMBARINE | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

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It was unclear yet where Humbarine would fall on the edge. The Covenant had come in force in space and for now the Mandalorians were absent. But that didn't mean they'd be able to fully control the sector, it was large, Lord Admiral Bao had build up its defenses over the decades she was in power. If the rest of the sector rulers fell in line, they'd be fine. If they began to put up a fight to try and become the next Lord Admiral, it was possible they'd have to abandon the planet and wait for a better opportunity to come back in. In the meantime the Sith did what they did best when ambiguity reigned.

They made themselves at home.

Medical facilities were put up in short order by the Legions of the Core. Lysander von Ascania had arrived with a detachment of them, Mercy had to remember to find him later and give the boy some praise. At their age, well-timed targeted praise was one of the things that allowed boys and girls to grow into fierce men and women. And if there was one person she wanted to see grow into that, it was him.

As close to a son Mercy could imagine herself accepting.

She had send a few people out to find other individuals worth talking to. One of them was in the tent she had just slipped into. Lily had a big fucking mouth and she knew it.

But the young girl had performed admirably under the circumstances.

For a Mountain, Mercy could be surprisingly quiet and stealthy, as if her huge mass allowed her to simply become part of the scenery. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she had no remarkably presence in the Force unless she touched you.

As it stood Mercy watched from the shadows before finally saying out of nowhere-

"Are you going somewhere?" And then a golden arm snatched out and grabbed Lily by the back of her neck, before she could flee, as she was seemingly planning to before Mercy had caught her.

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily had woken up with a nurse hovering over her, her head pounding, the wounds on her back had been stitched and bacta bandages were already working to heal the wounds left by Arris Windrun 's shrapnel. Not that she had any idea where the wounds had come from, she had been so consumed by the web she hadn't even noticed. Her head was pounding, echoes of what she had created still whispering in her ear as it all slowly came back to her.

Vess.

She needed to find her, to get both of them out of here. Lily should never have called her, never have gotten her tangled in this. She rose wincing, pullling on her boots, snatching the jacket from the end of the bed and moved towards the exit.

Thick fingers closed around the back of her neck and Lily froze like a cat grabbed by the scruff of their neck.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Fucking Mercy.

Lily let out a huff of frustration. "None of your fucking business. Let me go."

Mercy Mentioned: Vess Sadragen

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: HUMBARINE | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

"Hmm... I make anything I want my business." Which was different from 'everything is my business'. It implied that Mercy was selective with what she decided to care about, but even more important (and perhaps terrifying), it implied that Mercy had decided to make Lily her business. It was one thing when it was Arris Windrun taking an interest in her and offering her a job. That was simple. You did a task, you completed it, you got money and you got out.

Mercy seemed rather... less transactional in that regard.

"I must say, you impressed me during the battle." She finally dropped Lily as she stepped out of the shadows. Which is exactly when the damage Mercy had sustained during the battle became apparent.

Half her face was burned, her eye was gone. Her shoulder still slouched under the weight of scar tissue and burns. Her mouth was more or less intact, but she would still see the impression of burn marks there as well. It was no surprise that the yapper that was the Core Empress had made sure that above everything else her ability to speak had been restored first.

"A girl from nowhere carrying the weight of so many minds for so long..." Mercy smiled and with her burns it looked downright terrifying. "You remind me of my first apprentice." Alcariel had come out of nowhere too and ended up a true nightmare. She was particularly proud of her accomplishments.

"She is also a mentalist. And just like you, she needed to be taught focus and ambition." The remaining eyebrow raised itself up.

Lily could try and run. She looked so damaged, who knew if she could catch up. Then again... the grip in her golden hand seemed incredibly strong even still.

"Are you not tired of running and fighting for scraps?"

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily took a step away from Mercy, hand reaching to rub where her fingers had dug into her neck and turned to face the Mountain and froze. Half her face was a charred mess, one eye missing, her gaze swept over the rest of her, where the battle had left its mark. Lily swallowed but said nothing, tearing her gaze away as she complimented Lily on her performance. Lily's stomach twisted uncomfortably. She took a very small, but very pointed step back.

Lily let out a huff of a laugh and shook her head finally looking at Mercy, at the smile that twisted her face. "I'm not from nowhere." she said quietly, and then a little more confidently. "I happen to like my life."

Partly true, but mostly a lie. "I don't answer to anyone, I go where the money is and most importantly, people like you left me alone. So let me make this abundantly clear to you."

Lily took a small breath. "I am not interested. Not in what you have to teach, not in your merry band of murderers and definitely not in you. I'm here because Arris had a job for me. and now, I'd like to get my partner and get our money and get the fuck out of here."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: Humbarine | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

It was almost believable.

Lily had that whole 'big fucking mouth' routine down to a T, but there was one exact issue with it. Even if you could confidently speak, it didn't mean your heart would cooperate or that your body language would match your words. And Lily was up against the worst kind of combination. A woman who had grown up on Eshan and spoke kinetic language like it was her mother language. And a Sith Lord who could hear a heartbeat from some distance away because of her peculiar specialization in the Force.

Half a face looked at Lily with something akin to pity.

"Oh, darling, I was so close to respecting you." Mercy drawled lazily as she shifted lightly, still between Lily and the exit. "Speaking your mind so boldly in the presence of people who you have rightfully branded as genocidal." Her golden arm, horrible and eldritch, reached out to pat her on the head.

"But you absolutely fucking hate your life. And no wonder why, weak, on the run, paycheck to paycheck." She rolled her eyes. "It is no surprise you keep getting yourself caught in absolute messes, something inside of you is attracted towards a more interesting life."

Then Mercy shrugged.

"But I am not in the business of drawing stubborn horses through the doorway. You wanna feel better about yourself by lying? Go right ahead. Die in obscurity, poor and unremarkable."

Then the large Mountain pulled open the tent flap and stepped out of it.

It was a beautiful night for a smoke. The pipe came out seconds later.

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Mercy's words landed like a slap to her face, Lily’s mouth fell open. She didn’t even flinch at the head pat, something she’d normally have swatted away and seethed at being patronised. She felt a lump form in her throat and swallowed hard against it.

"You're not weak because you lack power or skill. Those can fail even the most adept with them. Even an insect can slay a giant in the right circumstances. You're weak because you lack conviction."

She didn’t want to be weak. She didn’t want to be nobody. She’d been nobody for so long, powerless for so long… she looked down at her hands. Today had been the first time she had given in to it, in to the desire to be more to prove that she was someone worth noticing and despite all the pain, despite the deep seated self loathing that it brought on there was some part of her, some sick twisted part that had felt good.

Lily folded the force around her, teleporting in front of Mercy, she looked up at her, jaw set, the perfect picture of determination but something in her eyes wavered. Like she was teetering on the edge of something she wasn’t quite ready to give in to yet.

“I don’t want to be nobody.”

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: Humbarine | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

By the time that Lily teleported in front of her Mercy had already sat down on a barrel and was smoking happily away.

The teleportation did give Mercy pause.

She blinked, or tried to anyway. With just the one eye it just looked like Mercy had closed her eye for a second. The Mountain looked down at the young girl with renewed interest.

"Then you need to stop behaving like a nobody." Mercy responded without hesitation. If the previous reaction hadn't hit it home yet, then this one would. Mercy wasn't interested in recruiting Lily unless Lily wanted to be recruited. She wouldn't sweet talk her, or try to coax her into the proper direction.

"You keep whining about the people that die or get hurt as if they matter." She drew from her pipe, breathing in the smoke before letting it go into the air shaped into perfect circles.

"They don't. The only one that matters is you. And those you care about. Your partner or whoever it might be. Everyone else is just background noise on the path to your ascension."

Again Mercy shrugged.

"If you can accept that, we will make a Lord out of you. People will fear you. You will have the power to protect yourself, those you care about and nobody will fuck around with you like a play thing."

One more smoke draw and then Mercy got off of the barrel. She grunted as her whole body shook with pain, but beyond the grunt and a grimace it didn't seem to slow her down that she half her body was burned. Mercy was the quintessential example of what a Lord could be, someone who took what she wanted, enjoyed it, protected those she cared about and burn all the rest.

Then again.

Lily could actually read Mercy's mind if she cared enough to reach out. It was a thunderous storm within the Mountain's skull. But beyond it were designs and shapes that went far beyond simple conquest and pleasure.

"Or don't accept it. In which case, fuck off and go back to being a scavenger on the margins. It's up to you and nobody else."

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily stuck her hands in her pockets, her gaze dropping to the ground as she processed Mercy’s words. Acting like nobody had saved her more often than not when she was younger, but now? Now she knew who and what she was? It had done nothing but harm.

She blew another sigh out of her nose and looked up watching Mercy’s ruined face as she talked. Her jaw tightening slightly, “I don’t whine.” she snapped.

Her feet shifted and she heaved out a sigh. “I don’t do it because I give a shit about them, I do it because I can’t stand the noise. Do you have any idea how noisy a person's mind is when it’s suffering in pain or close to death? You know what they say about having your whole life flash before your eyes is true, and I can hear it, all of it..”

She blinked, looking away to hide the tears that jumped unbidden to her eyes, the lump in her throat harder to swallow. She closed her eyes for a second and took a breath in through her nose and let out a slow shaky exhale. She was not going to fall apart in front of Mercy.

“I remember them too,” she said again, her voice quiet “every death replays whenever I close my eyes. Everyone on Celanon, on Echnos on Coruscant and now here. They are all just there.” She opened her eyes and sniffed, wiping away tears that were escaping despite her determination to hold it together. "So yeah, So I avoid it, but not because I give a shit. Not anymore."

Mercy moved and Lily took half a step back eyeing the mountain warily, she really did not like getting grabbed.

“I don’t give a damn about being feared, but protecting those I care about and not getting fucked with? I can get behind that.”

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: Humbarine | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

Ah, that changed things and raised her regard of Lily, if only fractionally.

If it was about self-preservation then Mercy could find her way towards understanding it. It was still a weakness, yes, but one that could be mitigated much easier than trying to rearrange someone's moral fabric from the ground-up.

"Solvable issue. My first Apprentice was a mentalist too. I have no talent for the mind, obviously. But I know people who do." Studying her quietly before shrugging. "I can make introductions. They can teach you how to close your mind, so you can wield a knife and cut someone's throat without having a mental hang-over for the next few days."

And then they'd see if Lily had a Lord in her or if she was doomed to be a nobody for the rest of her life.

"So yeah, So I avoid it, but not because I give a shit. Not anymore."

Someone with more empathy might have asked Lily what had changed. Mercy was not equipped for such considerations.

"Good. One less weakness I have to excise from you."

When Mercy moved she didn't try to grab Lily again. Instead she began to walk and she gestured for Lily to follow her out of the field hospital.

“I don’t give a damn about being feared, but protecting those I care about and not getting fucked with? I can get behind that.”

"That is because you aren't feared now. But trust me. Once you feel their fear for the first time, you will be hooked." The eye glanced towards her mid-walk. "Or not, I am not your mother, you can decide your own motivations."

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Mercy’s dismissal of it all somehow made it easier to swallow, easier to breathe. It was solvable. And then she had to go and say something like that.

Lily paled, looking at Mercy like she was insane. Cut someones throat? And she said it so callously as well, like it was an everyday occurrence. Lily brought her hands to her face covering it for a moment before slowly sliding them down. Blowing out a heavy sigh.

She moved hesitantly to step beside Mercy as she walked, though she was so damn tall, Lily was taking two steps for her every one.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Something in the back of Lily’s mind was screaming at her, telling her to stop, to think about what she was doing but with every step forward it got quieter.

“Have I just inadvertently agreed to be your apprentice or something?” Lily asked, her face wrinkled in distaste. She hated the idea of it, she always had. She had mentors, and teachers but a Master?

No thank you.

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: HUMBARINE | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

She felt her heart rate spike at the mention of cutting someone's throat.

Oh, sister.

This one would be a tough nut to crack. She was trying to walk several paths at once rather than walk one path fully committed. Either shite on the pot or get off of it, as far as Mercy was concerned, but she wasn't going to belabor the point. She had already told Lily to fuck off if she couldn't handle this new reality. For now she had opted to stick around, who knew for how long.

“Have I just inadvertently agreed to be your apprentice or something?” Lily asked, her face wrinkled in distaste.

Mercy made a harsh and guttural sound.

Only a moment later Lily would realize Mercy was laughing. It was just her vocal chords still being fucked up, good enough to talk, but not so great to make barking laughter like that feel natural.

"Fuck no." She said the moment she calmed down. "You couldn't handle being my Apprentice."

Still amused.

"Besides, it's not something you agree to. You earn it and then you are thankful for the opportunity. Neither of which are hallmarks of your little shitbird behavior so far."

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

The noise the Mercy made made Lily's head snap round so fast she cricked her neck. It took a moment for her to realise the Mercy was laughing at her and the confusion on her face faded into something a little more indignant.

Couldn't handle it?

Why? Because she balked at the idea of slitting someone's throat? There were worse things than death. Lily imedietly regretted the thought, it made her stomach twist, nausea rising with the sensation. Yeah okay fine, maybe Mercy was right. That didn't mean Lily enjoyed being called out on it. She might have well as called her weak, and that was something she never wanted to hear again.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Whatever." she muttered.

The little shitbird comment might have earned a sly grin any other time, putting Mercy on her list of people to go out of her way to annoy simply because she could, but there was so much running through her mind she didn't have capacity for humour. "Right, and how would someone earn that 'right' with you?" she cast ehr a sideways glance "Just so I know how to avoid it."

Alright, so maybe her sense of humour hadn't completely evaporated, it just devolved into lets take a stab at a woman who could crush your skull between her fingers and would forget your name within a week.

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: HUMBARINE | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

Mercy certainly felt her indignation.

Not through mystical force usage or mentalism, but by the simple fact that her heart rate spiked after she got mad. After this long a time Mercy had an easier time figuring out what every bodily reaction was, what it meant to each and every individual person she met. That combined with her Echani heritage meant that she could suss out people's feelings and intentions without needing to read their mind.

It was a shame that usually Mercy didn't do anything with it besides be privately amused about it.

"You need to be fearless." Mercy drawled, eyes squinting at her continued prodding, but decided to let it go. She was a smol child who didn't know any better than to poke someone five times her size if that.

"Bold. Opportunistic. You need to know what you want and be willing to do whatever it takes to seize your desire. You need a big fucking mouth... oh, look, that part you already got covered." Smirking lightly there as they kept walking, out of the tent camp, and towards the large mansion in the distance.

If Mercy had been feeling good they'd be there in a minute, just a few jumps or a running sprint. But now they were barely making progress. Slow, steady, each step causing the ground to respond with indignation at the weight it was suddenly expected to carry.

"No squeamishness. No delusions that you can attain Lordship without stepping over bodies you made yourself. The ability to shatter the chains that hold you back... and that, darling, is your biggest issue."

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

That Mercy thought Lily’s biggest issue was squeamishness over killing people wasn’t surprising. This was a woman who was violent by reputation, she didn’t fight because it was necessary, she fought because she could and because she relished in it. Lily had never found any pleasure in it and nor would she ever but did that mean she couldn’t step over a body?

Probably not.

Lily’s biggest issue was that she had no idea what she wanted.

She’d spent her whole life surviving, her only goal had been to get off Coruscant, which she’d done when she was sixteen and from there? She had just been coasting. There had been no real future, no real direction. Just survival, moving from one day to the next, letting the people she ran into push or pull her in whatever direction.

The only thing she’d ever known is what she didn’t want and even that was falling apart in front of her face.

“I hate that in the last ten minutes you’ve hit the nail on the head twice about my stance on everything. You’re not in my head, so how the fuck are you doing that?”

Was Lily avoiding the topic at hand? Yes. She had her answer, now she wanted to see what lesson she could grab for free along the way.

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

MERCY

EMPRESS | WARLORD | STAR-ARM

Location: HUMBARINE | Tags: Lily Rhodes​

Again a raspy voice, again the realization Mercy was laughing.

But this time it had a different quality to it. Not quite 'The Empress is laughing in your face' and more her chuckling with you. The distinction was rather important because one was a punch to the face, while the other was a pat on the shoulder. Both hurt coming from a Mountain like her, of course, so maybe the distinction wasn't that important.

"I have always been a good judge of character." She paused there and considered that statement for a moment. Then she amended it. "When I bother to give it good consideration anyway."

She shrugged and then groaned as another spike of pain laced through her body.

"But that is why you will not be my apprentice. I demand clarity of mind. I do not fuck around with trying to coax people towards the right path. I got no patience for it and no interest. I only teach those that want my lessons and are committed to it." She thought to Arris Windrun and how easily she somehow managed to influence the minds around her, even though the black-haired cyborg was a technopath at heart.

How did she get so good at twisting organic minds?

"I never understood why Lords bother manipulating and forcing people to learn from them. There is a whole Galaxy out there, full of hungry creatures who crave power... and are waiting to be handed the opportunity."

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ERASE THE PAST

 

[Lily Rhodes]

That was such a none answer that it irritated her. ‘Good judge of character’, whatever. No one was that good unless they had specific tells and ways of reading people. Before Lily read minds she read the atmosphere, the little tics in peoples jaws, the twitch of a hand, the micro expressions people could never truly hide.

The groan of pain drew Lily’s attention, her gaze sweeping up and down and for a brief moment she felt concern for the Mountain, then her face wrinkled, remembering everything she represented and she reminded herself that she wasn’t supposed to care about monsters.

Then she thought about Velok Brokentusk and something sad pulled in her chest.

“Manipulating people makes them a slave to you, you can bend them to your will and make them think it was their own idea, and they are less likely to want to overthrow you.”

Shit, Lily had spent far too much time among Sith.

“Shouldn’t you be resting or something, you look like shit.”

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Lily Rhodes

That was such a none answer that it irritated her. ‘Good judge of character’, whatever. No one was that good unless they had specific tells and ways of reading people. Before Lily read minds she read the atmosphere, the little tics in peoples jaws, the twitch of a hand, the micro expressions people could never truly hide.

Mercy felt her irritation. In the way her heart rate rose, the blood flow under her skin. In a way Mercy was still doing what Lily had done prior to her mentalism. She read someone's face and body in a way someone else read a book. Mercy had simply pushed it to its very extreme.

“Manipulating people makes them a slave to you, you can bend them to your will and make them think it was their own idea, and they are less likely to want to overthrow you.”

A sigh there and Mercy shook her head.

"And that is why the Sith are so often doomed. Slavery is all well and good." She did not have any real philosophical opposition to it, not even now. "But your apprentices should not be your slaves. That defeats the point. You teach the young to forge them into Lords. So that one day they will replace you and become better than you were."

That is why the Sith failed. They grasped too tightly. They held on too fiercely. They allowed fear to infect their being, concerned with their power, with the spoils they had conquered, until it poisoned everything. They allowed what could have been their legacy to become their tomb. What did it matter if your apprentice one day came for you?

It was right for them to do so... as long as they succeeded.

It was why Mercy had tempted Acier Moonbound to try and come after her. It was why Arris Windrun 's advice had been so solid. The only way to defeat Mercy was to not play at all, because any other move, including victory over her was simply supporting her philosophy.

You couldn't win by force against an enemy that would smile and congratulate you, while you carved through them.

“Shouldn’t you be resting or something, you look like shit.”

"I will rest when I am dead." Even as Mercy said that, her one eye cast around the scene, making sure Srina Talon was nowhere nearby. If her sister heard that, she'd force-feed her more of that force-saken poison she called medicine.

"Right now I am delivering you to what you were after. Windrun, right? Then Vess Sadragen and your prize." Mercy still did not think that Lily would be sticking around. There was too much weakness in her bones. She shied away from violence and destruction in a way that would make for a brittle Lord as far as Mercy was concerned.

In a way she reminded her of Kirie .

Both of them wanted to be powerful without letting it change the shape of their soul.

"After that, you can do whatever the fuck you want and I am gonna go up to the mansion, the party and drink heavily fortified wine until even my body blacks out in celebration."