Haunted Hot Springs

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Old ghost, Atrisia had many of them... ancient stories of death, murder, blood and violence. Sawa had been surprised with this.. she had been told that Ni-Ne was bringing up the situation that was coming with the first order and Shoma. She was surprised but she had invited her to this place. To meet on neutral ground as they said it with a look on her face. THe grin was there as she walked in the snow covered mountains following the river towards the bridge that led to the Iris Empress. a hot springs that had been used and a tea house where the rarest of teas on Atrisia was grown. Sawa was walking over the bridge and she could see soem fo the others working here. IN the water they were working cottons and materials with dyes to change the colors on different bolts of cloth.

Sawa looked at the others who were around K1 being the only one here at the tea house as she didn't need her Onna.. the vampires that Ni-Ne created were impressive but they were not stronger then she was. The grey stone that had been carved from the mountain to show them, there was workers around making kimono's, tea leaves and rice. The rivers provided fish and there were these small crab like creatures in their shells that liked to be int he mud. THe water was iced over in some places where she walked to check it out. A smile appearing on her face while she went into the teahouse deeper when she came out in the back and saw the different levels and areas of the springs itself. Changing so that she wouldn't present weapons.

"Lady Ike welcome back." One of the attendants came to her and stood there. Slim and with a mess of black hair from the steam making it frizz up. She was standing there and the glema on her skin from the moisture and heat was in direct contrast as they moved into an area more open and the chilly mountain air came to them. Sending gooseflesh across her skin. Sawa thought about Maple but she grinned and the woman was busy with something for right now. Sawa would stand around until she thought about what to say. "THank you Saya." She said it with a smile and hugged her giving a wicked smile. "Is my spring prepared for me?" She asked it and had a grin from the girl and some blushing. "Yes master but there have been some problems and reports of spirits."

 

[Nine Lives]

Arriving with: Vera Mina (Combat Form)(http://starwarsrp.net/topic/129765-saotome-biot-vera-mina/)

Wearing: Lavender Kimono.


The Lovely Nine, still riding high off that professor was simply delighted to be meeting [member="Sawa Ike"]. Boring Nine had arranged the meeting, but Lovely Nine would be the one attending. Boring Nine was so, sooooo boring, the Thought Eater mused as she examined herself in the mirror of her bedchambers, applying some actual, rose scented perfume to her. Oh, they'd have so much to talk about! Like that time Sawa kept her imprisoned and young for over a century! Or that first time Nine had woke up and drank the really precious stuff out of Sawa's brain. Or that time she had nearly had his descendant assassinated! They should really talk about the chief threat--the Mimes. Vera, of course, had cautioned her against purging Atrisia of the Mimes, even though they were in league with the demons from beyond. The Lovely Nine had banned wearing yellow aboard Castle Morpheus once again, her children delighted to see her back to her old self. Her hood was down, her hair done with expensive aurodium hairsticks she'd taken from a geisha she'd stalked through Atrisia's countryside. She had only eaten 'many' of her lunch memories.

She was actually rather nervous, even though she was being accompanied by Vera, who had just finished recompiling into her vampiric alias and was waiting in dark red combat armor with a red cloak thrown over it, her now-red hair contrasting heavily with blue eyes and fair skin.

"Really, Mother, I 'think' you're dolled up enough." Vera muttered.

"It-mussssst-be per-fect." The Lovely Nine replied. "Sssssoooo ner-voussss..."

That was the truth. The Lovely Nine was giddy with excitement. Teahouses were awesome, and even though she couldn't drink anything, she got to hit on Sawa, like Ni-Ne had always wanted to back at Kagamiri. And discuss replacing that weak willed prince.

"Amazing what a difference in diet change makes for you." Vera muttered.

Obsidian eyes with purple light at the center focused on her lawyer.

"I wasssssn't happy. Can't sssssaaaaave Atrissssia if-I'm-not-happy."

"But of course, My Liege." Vera replied with a cold smirk to her re-arranged face. The Arch-Psy-Pire glided through the lavish room nervously. Was her hair good. Did she smell nice? What the hell was it with her when it came to Ike women?

"Should I weaaaar these robes? She's sssssssseeeeen me in-this-before..."

"Oh Gods, we're going into nervous date territory. I thought this was about trying to convince Sawa to drop [member="Shoma Ike"] like a hot potato."

"It isssss..." The Lovely Nine answered. "But...no reasssssson a girl can't have funnnnnn..."

Vera, still within the scope of her programming, began to wonder whether or not Nine's Fugue State was the Vampire's Id. All the things she couldn't admit on the surface.

The difference between Lovely Nine and "Normal" Nine was like night and day, the biot noted. The biggest being that Lovely-Nine was not ashamed of her vampirism. Oh, and she was fething crazy.

She hated Mimes, thought they were in league with the devils of her culture. All the Knights on the ship, as well as those awakened Psy-Pires had standing orders to drink any Mime they came across. She was also paranoid about her "vital essence" being stolen--whatever that was. And rats. And lice.

"Dooo you think Sssssssawa will try and take my vital essence?" Nine asked in a fit of sudden paranoia. "Maybe I should bring a Rocket Launcher...set that teahouse on fire..."

"That would be a terrible idea Mother. Truce, remember? Semi-trying to get into her kimono, for some insane reason that makes sense only to you?"

"I sssssssuck at dating..."

"And now we've moved to puns."

"That wasssssssn't a pun. I really do ssssssuck at dating."

"Have you considered a dating holosite?"

"Haaaaa haaaaa you're funnnnnny..." Nine croaked.

"You do have a Kimono you ordered made that you have yet to wear." Vera suggested, still standing at attention with her hands folded behind her.

The young looking Psy-Pire smiled. "Exceeeeellllant choice."

Later on...

It was so strange, being here, The Lovely Nine thought as she strode upon the wooden bridge to the Iris Empress teahouse. She missed the taste of tea. So she drank a civilian she'd watched drinking it before coming here, drinking the tea memory and the memory of the attack. She was clad in a special Lavender Kimono that bared her finely shaped shoulders, the head of an Atrisian tiger with over-developed fangs covered in red displayed prominently on the back. As she crossed the bridge, she spotted a face she had seen only in the reports of her Knights. Maple Harte waited at the end of the bridge, arms folded, clad in her biker leathers, Cortosis Weave cane resting on a bridge post next to her, a lever action gun that doubled as a pistol holstered on her right thigh. She was staring very pointedly at Nine.

Even Vera was caught off guard when Nine spoke perfectly normally.

"Ah." Nine remarked in a near-demonic contralto "The Pet."

"Ah." Maple echoed back. "The Relic."

I like this one. Nine thought to herself in the snow fall. She felt weak in the sun, but that was what Vera was for.

"Worried I'll hurt your squeeze?" Nine asked nigh mockingly.

"Sawa can handle herself. I'm just here to warn you against trying anything to begin with."

"Don't make warnings you can't act on, girl." Nine replied with a grin. "You might be a badass. But I'm badassier."

Maple raised a brow. "That's...that's...not even a word..."

"Well I invented it just now. Badassier then you by a factor of ten..."

"If you try anything, Nine, anything..." Maple warned, walking right up to the Arch-Psy-Pire, instantly winning Nine's respect, "...I'll storm that floating Castle of yours by myself. Never mind the Onna's wrath. You've never fought a pissed off Marksman."

Nine patted the quiet Ex-Shadow on the head with a cartoonish flamboyance. "You're so cute. Run along now. The grown-ups are talking."

"Ooooo, snap..." Vera quipped.

Maple glowered, but headed away.

"You enjoyed that..." Vera noticed.

"Immensely..." Nine admitted.

"You do realize from the reports she's a notorious assassin, right? Seven hundred confirmed kills?"

"Duh, Vera. Thatsssssss why I diiiiid it: Adrennnnaline..."

The pair finally reached the teahouse, Nine making note of the activity. She finally reached [member="Sawa Ike"], going through the lavish teahouse.

"Sawa." Nine spoke, using her old human voice, again surprising Vera. How much of that hissing talk was forced?

"You look lovely today. You picked an excellent spot...and you have such a fiercely loyal killer at your side...she must really like you..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa could feel Maple and she scented it in the air first... the intermingling scent fo the two of them. Maple and Nine.... then her biot was there while she stood there present with all fo the others. The crowd around them were clearing though, the teahouse once inside was beautiful and simple, a retangluar room with threeish levels. One normal and around it, one sunken and a second one higher up as the sound of water coming from a small alcove in the corner of the room was used for purification and cleaning dirt off. Sawa let herself enjoy the sight of Nine when she arrived and looked at Vera who was with her. "Ni-Ne."

She said it giving a grin, black hair over her shoulder on one side exposing her neck to Nine, silver eyes watching and learning all that she could about her and this different state. After what she had seen in the holorecordings before it was shut off.... Nine had changed a little but she moved forward wearing a beautiful kimono while Sawa remained fixed in place. Her shoulders were exposed and it felt like she was young again.... nervous again. This was her.... this was Ni-ne whom above all she loved and cared for at one point and something like that.... something like what the pair of them had gone through was not easily forgotten.

"Thank you." She said it and moved forward finally long strides that let the kimono's sides slip up to reveal pale flesh, her leg and thigh between the golden silks, embroidered with dragons intermingling with tigers and flowers. Sawa had designed the kimono long ago but there was not much symbolism to it where as she moved gently now. The wider smile on her face though before she stepped in close. her nostrils flaring for a moment as she k=took in the scent and stopped just short. Eyes going over her in a not too subtle way, she loved her fiercely.. she wanted to just reach out and hold her, to touch her and prove that she was real again.

She was looking at it, she was looking at the room they were in and she smiled to her almost ignoring Vera as K1 was there and beeped to try and distract her with his new gleaming chassis plating. Black and gold with purple ocular sensor that could spin around on his head. No visible weapons but he had a tray of drinks and under that when you looked carefully he had two gripped heavy mandalorian rippers that would make nasty work of the organics in here. Sawa was sectioning an area off for the two of them until she stopped turning around to watch the few who reacted. "Continue." THey went back to what they were doing and she held a hand up.

Servants, her servants who weren't fully slaves but they had chosen to stay with her as she fed off of them in her fortress. Moved to join them and have a pathway so they could go. THrough the center sunken area that had been set up with an honor screen. The one woman who was sectioned off within it wasn't known for many here but she was regarded with the utmost respect so that her discretion was cared for. Sawa passed by and through the screen she couldn't fully be seen, vague features made out as she sat there in a kimono with her hair falling around her shoulders. She had to have credits on Atrisia to merit such pravacy in the middle of a tea house.

"My lady." Sawa said it while she pased by her and went outside, the wooden pathway through the different springs. Men and women were in the hot and steaming waters, a private area was large but they were relaxing... they were enjoying themselves in the hot waters while around them the signs of winter came. Snow and ice ere visible, the mountains bringing swirls of snow. THe servants she had brought here walked quickly, low cut kimono's with their legs exposed showing different tattoo's. A dragon gripping a pearl, their hair with highlights and tips of different colors. Scented perfumes intermingling to make them smell like a flower nursery.

"Mistress." One of them spoke standing there and she came to Sawa's side eyes downcast, hand clasped in front of herself. A smile appearing on Sawa's face though as she traced a finger along her jaw and stopped on her chin. "Ah Sayuri." She spoke touching her and brought her under her arm between her and Nine at the side. "This is Ni-Ne, my sweet and she may require your special brand of attention." The grin was on her face, small... tight lipped with silver eyes watching and letting her finger trace to expose the girl neck. The barest glimmer of scars where puncture wounds had been healed. She was holdiong the girl gently as she seemed almost docile.

"I shall mistress." There was a look on her face though with blank eyes but she offered herself to Ni-Ne to feed her. To nourish and build up some trust betwent he two fo them once again. "In case you are hungry Ni-Ne, I know you don't enjoy it... I know you do not enjoy what was done with you but I swore long ago I would protect you. even fighting I would keep that and take care of you." She said it and offered a hand to her while moving towards one of the pathways that went up. Bamboo screens dividing the springs and making a wall that allowed small waterfalls to appear and be released cascading down into a shower like effect.

Sawa waited to see what might happen but then continued standing there and making some headway up as she stood waiting for Ni-Ne to pass and then stood next to her to walk up the incline through the mountains. Murals, statues created from the rock and imported marble busts. Beautiful women, striking men and a mixture of different gods from Atrisia itself. Sawa looked on as the pathway went into the mountain. A gate of black ebony wood, iron and gold with gemstones revealed carved stonework. Sections of the spring here fed into smaller channels designed to connect and send the excess water into the other springs.

She looked at the spring itself as well, high cliffs around them, snow in some areas and it was curving with carved seats, a stone table that was made to eat food or drinks. Tea had been set up for the two of them and she motioned for the servants to spread out. They had food, fruits and nuts. SMall things that wound't really fil you up but functioned to quell hunger. The two fo them didn't really eat but it made an illusion for the others who were here. They did see all fo the people heading up into the mountains. SMall shrines were within the mountain itself. Three of them with screens similar to the one in the teahouse's main building.

Behind them priestesses sat, observing and being purified here in the mountains. THeir minds and bodies had been given over to the gods and so they remained in places like this or some of the other more religious sects of the mountains. Sawa had chosen it because at this time having their eyes on the pair of them was almost holy and welcoming here until she started walking into the water. Letting the kimono open to reveal pale skin withe scented oils that gleamed. It gave her a semi reflective quality, her hair was loose and floating in the water as the heat of the water reacted with the oils releasing the scent of jasmine and other flowers.

Sawa stopped as she was walking, wrapping her arms around herself almost like a hug and she turned her head just enough to let her eyes be seen with silver orbs watching. "Come on Ni-Ne we can talk in private." A small smile appeared, thin with a rose colored flush rushing to her cheeks. She almost seemed bashful and it had been so long since she had been in a position like this with her... so long since they hadn't tried to slice and dice each other that she was almost certain something would be happening to ruin it. Sawa turned her head back and sliped down lower into the water until it was around her waist and she knelt.

Sawa remained there as the thin material for the springs was easily seeped through and left little to the imagination but she had a small tattoo at the small of her back. A dragon and tiger circling each other, each holding a gemstone. One white and one black, the ring created by their tails and three heads of the dragon. One for each of the Ike sisters at the time. The tiger had the colors of the Li-Ves clan for its coat and stripes. Fanged barred but the yin and yang symbol for her was a small thing. She turned her eyes as there was the sounds of music, Keisei had been requested and brought in to entertain the pair of them.

'Spared no expense.' She mused to herself when they started to dance to the soft music and voice. Sawa turned in the water and sat a the one side of the stone table. A tea pot set up while the servants milled about silently int he water. The sheer white kimono's they wore worked for water and springs or bathhouses and when it was damp or wet looked a little puffy and obscuring to the eye. You couldn't see much as it clung to the shape of the body. THe energy vampire was sitting there though while she watched and offered a smile to Ni-Ne until she checked it all out. She wasn't expecting them to fall back to what they once were but if they could be civil she saw no reason to ignore that chance.

 

[Nine Lives]

The bird like movements of Nine, fingers twitching even while standing still, tried to hide a stunned reaction to something.

When she blinked for a split second, she was not staring at the energy vampire who had turned her into this lovely creature through creative torture and experimentation. She saw the lonely prefect, set upon by a callous God that had cared not a wit for either of their happiness.

True, if she had to do it all over again, she would have still ended up going through with biting Sawa after her transformation...a century of painful torture, mind games, and the attempts to turn her into a blood sucker 'had' frayed the nerves, and The Lovely Nine had been genuinely furious with Sawa, but without Sawa...she wouldn't have any of her children to take care of. There would not have been any children to start with.

In a sense, a twisted one, Sawa was as much their parent as Nine was, though Sawa could be considered an estranged one.

But just like that, the innocent prefect she had fell for, had nearly died to save from The Sacred Ancestor's true Commander by making what, at the time, had been the most painful sacrifice of her life--that woman was gone, replaced by the seductive source of Nine's vampirism, comfortable and confident and different from her human self in all the ways that counted. Human Sawa had melted the heart of a woman who had a violence at the core of her that she had never really acknowledged but tried her hardest to overcome. Vampire Sawa made her want to be proud of that violence to entice Sawa with it, despite the wretched thing it was, and how it twisted in The Lovely Nine even now. She could see how that ex-shadow was willing to storm a castle to avenge even a small injury for her...she had that effect, could command loyalty. Obedience.

The dead part of her that was Ni-Ne wanted to rip itself from the grave of the vampire's heart, take her, kiss her, cry at how she had abandoned her to that freak Xavier. Caress her, taste her...but it was too early for that...not that Sawa wasn't off to a good start wearing a number like that.

Following her past the luxurious yet simple and elegant innards of the teahouse, watching as that droid K1 beeped up holding a tray. "Awww that's cute, he's got murder-blasters..." Nine remarked quietly, eying Vera. "Why don't you hang out with K1 awhile? I'm sure you too have a lot in common..."

"Of course, Mother..." Vera replied, eyeing the excitable but horrifyingly lethal droid.

"So...you into razors?" Vera asked innocently as Nine headed out of the teahouse, along the wooden pathway to the springs. There were gorgeous women here, but [member="Sawa Ike"] put them to shame. If they were milkshakes, she was surely drinking them. Hell, that was probably true, in a meta-sense.

Still, the shapes and curves were admirable, and a particularly demure one walked up to them, and by how Sawa stroked the chin, Nine was guessing Sayuri to be Ike's local bloodbag. She was even offering herself up as a snack.

Well...it couldn't hurt to indulge...

"Don't worry, little sugar cube..." Nine said, switching her voice for a moment to a deep, sexy baritone of a man. "I promise not to eat anything important..."

Sayuri nodded with the distant stare of so many mobile blood bags she had run into. Nine bit her, eating a lunch memory...and a few dinner memories also. Mmmm...this one liked chicken. Nine's mouth salivated at the memory taste. She drank cocoa memories and tea memories. She gobbled candy memories. Many candy memories.

She pulled away, having eaten a month's worth of trivial stuff. The richer stuff tasted better on its own merits, but even in her fugue state, Nine preferred to be as merciful as possible in most cases. Except for First Order. Feth those guys.

Sayuri looked dazed, shook her head a little, and stumbled off. "Ah, service with a smile..." Nine joked, following Sawa past the incline and to the great jeweled stone gates, a marvel among all the other ancients. The Lovely Nine had missed Atrisia. She swore to purge it of both the First Order and the Mimes. Especially the mimes, who wanted her vital essence more than the First Order did.

Half expecting a talking rocket launcher to spring out from somewhere, (That had happened to her in her wilder nightmares.) she felt and welcomed the cold mountain breeze, saw the banners displaying the symbols of the Ike and the Li-Ves, saw her strip off her kimono and wade into the water like she had in all those hidden dreams where the dead human in her still pined for her lost prefect, ashamed and seperated from her love as she was carried off by a thunderstorm in a flash of lightning.

The Keisei added to this lovely scene, though surely they were aware of the nature of their guests on a spiritual level. Sawa was strong with the Darkness. Nine was a grayish muck in the Force that only wanted to save Atrisia, costs be damned.

As she stripped off her own Kimono, undoing the pins holding her hair up she waded in, letting her long black hair fall around her glow-dot eyes, and it became clear at that moment that this was not the struggling woman who was starved for affection. This was the Mother of all Psy-Pires. The arch Psy-Pire.

Glow dot eyes focused on Sawa.

"This reminds me of the first time we encountered the Keisei...I had that little pink thing they called a kimono on and you...I think you went slackjawed..."

Nine leaned forward. "Its a nice set up. You have done well for yourself.

"Atrisia has a problem. That problem is called the First Order...which your 'Jedi' Prince [member="Shoma Ike"] surrendered when all they did was bloody his nose. And now our people are taking orders from the bastards. Before I go further...I want to know how you feel about these...usurpers..."

Nine relaxed in the water, letting Sawa get a good look at her figure. Nine looked much as she did at Kagamiri, though looking a few years slightly older, thanks to her vampirism.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She looked at her and listened to her, the delicious sight of her.. the tone of her voice as they had been moving around. THe sound fo the water gently lapping at the rocks and against skin. THe distant sound of K1 trying to entertain Vera with his stories of using a blade or maybe a demonstration. The energy vampire though only had her silver eyes for her here. The long haired and purple eyed being who was talking to her and she was very much changed as well... from those first days to now. The original might be visible and able to be seen underneath but they had gained thousands of years worth of history as she remained there.

Her mind went back, tney had much int he way of history and thinking about the first time they had met the Keisei, had stumbled through the mountains after bandits and come across the village of them. THeir beautiful tower, the streets that were lined with buildings. Each house filled with more beautiful woman then the next. The tantalizing way they had felt in the force and seduction of their movements. She would never deny well she couldn't deny that it had stuck with her and five thousand years later she was still employing and bringing them to court with her. TO have their dances, their music and their poems even.

Sawa and Ni-Ne had both been so taken with them and when she saw the young student in the kimono. There was everything here when she looked back up at her and spoke. "He is young and inexperienced." She said it while looking at her and she moved so that she was close to her. Just drinking in the scent of her once again "THe first order is a problem but we do not have the numbers to fight them. Resisting would have meant destruction on a scale the world has just started to recover from." Looking at her though she never said she was against getting rid of them or SHoma.... more she was being practical and patient.

"We have a luxury my dear though, we have each other and time. We have the ability to prepare and ensure our survival." She didn't again try and provoke it but the curve of her smile as she was sitting there int he water with its steam between them. Sawa watched with interest though for a reaction. Ni-Ne seemed very different compared to before so she didn't want to set her off or be led into a trap but one arm instinctively came up. Offering the place next to her so they could discuss their plans and what would have to go on. "I don't want to waste our people, honor is important my sweet but without the humanity to recall it. WOn't mean much should everyone is dead."

Sawa waited for her to hopefully come and join her something for them to watch the show as the Keisei were still dancing and they were renowned for their discretion. It was rare they would reveal tioo anyone whatg happened or what they heard. it would ruin the effect that they had. She was waiting there for her to speak and give some information. "We will handle Shoma when the time comes Ni-Ne... he is young and might be open to direction from his elders. He has already shown how much he is welcoming to you yes? He brought back your clan and opened atrisia to all fo the wayward children who wish to come home."

 

[Nine Lives]

The Lovely Nine observed [member="Sawa Ike"], felt the dead Ni-Ne stir in her heart, but the thought vampire reminded the corpse of Ni-Ne's soul that this wasn't Kagamiri's prefect.

Ironically, she was still Nine's type more than ever. Nine hated most vampires with a passion. But she'd found, even while quite lovely by this point, that she could not quite hate Sawa. It was why she hadn't killed her upon her..."emergence"...though she had made a point to brutally murder all of Sawa's guards and retinue once she got loose. The first fifty kills had been conducted with what she had later called her Progenitor's Sword. Then she'd gotten her hands on Hundred-Handed Giant and the amount of darkly hilarious gore that had ensued had tripled. The rest was history.

She watched the Keisei entertain them and do their dance. She moved next to Sawa, making no sound, even in the water. They were beautiful, yes, almost hypnotic, but she had long since grown immune to their charms. But not to Sawa's. Not entirely.

"The thought of our people suffering under them enrages me..." she admitted. "Boring Nine was at Coruscant when it happened. They're all savages, Sawa. Every last one of 'em."

She slid closer to Sawa in the water, still frowning.

"They will destroy our culture the longer it is bound to them." Nine said quietly, tears of fury at Atrisia's newest enslavement.

"What was the point, Sawa? What was the point of saving Atrisia from The Sacred Ancestor, or the plague? Was it just so we could watch this travesty play out while the Force laughed at us? Laughed at me?"

Ike's scent filtered into her nose, but the vampire took no pleasure in it. She'd been holding her anger in for days at the injustice. And it just came out then.

"I want to eat their memories. Personal-like. And then I want to break their backs..." she confessed. "We do have the advantage of time...of patience...but every second their stormtroopers walk on Atrisia is a needle to my eyes...does it hurt you as it hurts me?"

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She felt it, her sliding into her side and her arm moved. Touching across her waist as she held her close to her and listened. Feeling much fo the same emotions when she just wanted to keep her there. "Yes." She said it and it was simple, it was to the point and it was vague. She didn't want to anger Ni-Ne, she didn't want to fight with her anymore then she would have to. "THeir troopers boots shall be a problem, their influence on the people will be a problem but we have survived and endured many more things. Mythos, the one sith, the republic, the atrisian empire, the chiss, the fringe, the galactic empire. Much has been changed around here."

She didn't say that she had been around through those. Ni-Ne was asleep, confined to her casket and sealed far away as Sawa thought about it. "There is always going to be someone who wants to destroy our culture Ni-Ne, always someone trying to claim the world. Shoma may be young but he thought about what would be best about the people. We could fight, we could have thrown ourselves at the soldiers of the first order ina glorious battle that would leave a lot of dead on all sides. He wanted to protect the people and compared to some of the people he at least got them to agree to stay in Jar'kai leaving much of the world unmolested."

Sawa was watching the dancers yes but her senses were on her... focused on Ni-Ne as she thought about it and what they might be able to do. She was focusing on the force to bridge and share a little. She leaned back in the seat a little as she thought about it. "But what about you though Ni-ne.... I know we fight and we rage and we want to hurt each other but I care about your well being. I want you to have a life. I have always wanted that for you. Selfishly preferably with me. We can't run away again, we can't go back but I can do everything to try and help you, your children can be dangerous but you control them well."

 

[Nine Lives]

"I do not 'control' my children, Sawa. I care for them..." Nine clarified to [member="Sawa Ike"]. "I lead them. Guide them. That's pretty much what I was up to after being...'born'..."

Nine gave a thought to her other statements...

"Y'know, I always wondered who created who first...was it me, when I left you to Xavier, or you when you used the Painkillers on me..."

Her head dropped a little.

"I wanted to stay. With you. After The Sacred Ancestor was destroyed...but...I'd just killed my mother Sawa...I didn't want to live with that pain. I know it was either her or Atrisia...but sometimes...sometimes I just wake up at night...and I still feel her blood on my hands...and I wash and wash and wash my hands, but the slick feeling of blood doesn't leave...it just lingers for days until something distracts me, and I forget...for a while.

The memory had never left her, even when a Jedi. She secretly feared it was part of the reason she had gotten into vampire hunting on the side...a desperation to legitimize her act in saving both Sawa and Atrisia.

"I didn't blame you, of course. If I had to make that choice between her and you...I would have still picked you...but I was too destroyed...on the inside...to be with you after..." she explained. "That's why it was years before I returned to Atrisia. And even when I did I couldn't bring myself to go near the Ancestor's crash site. But Xavier had already gotten you...and then that damn energy vampire plague...

Given Xavier's close proximity to Atrisia thanks to Sawa when the vampire contagion had been released from Castle Morpheus's labs, she had held the suspicion for years after her imprisonment by Sawa that it was Xavier himself who'd unleashed it. But she'd never be able to prove it. She was glad to know he'd bitten it eventually. Pun intended.

"I 'want' to trust you, Sawa. I 'want' to...we'd make quite a team, wouldn't we? But...you have no idea how much I had to work myself up to arrange this..."

Nine finally looked at Sawa. She gave a small, regretful frown.

"We really hurt each other, didn't we?" she admitted. "But you're right...we can't live in the past. Besides, we're both Master-Tier Asskickers now, so it'd just be an exercise in frustration."

Curiosity developed on Nine's face.

"Soooo...about that assassin...how'd you meet her? You two...y'know..." Nine inquired with a small smirk.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

She looked at her and smiled weakly, "We are both to blame, it was selfish for us in a way. we were both losing everything at the time and with everything that had happened to lead up to it." She spoke and just looked at her while she moved around the stone table to sit next to her. Looking out and only speaking when she was within contact her her. Arm to arm. "I don't know what happened between us, what led to what or what accident and situation was the real cause but when you were gone and Xavier found me I just wanted to be somewhere else... be someone else, be someone stronger... and he did fulfill that promise to me."

Sawa was looking at her though and had some sense to blush at the mention of maple as she spoke. "She is.... different... in some ways and like you in others. I am uncertain, for the most part I have amused myself and never taken another husband since Xavier died." She said that and thought about it but well there was a whole lot that had gone into that. If anything she was trying to figure out her own feelings... she liked even cared for Maple but there was a lot to be said about love and lust and knowing the difference... she was uncertain completely which it actually was. "She i a good one to be around and makes things interesting."

 

[Nine Lives]

"She's a keeper. Promised to go One-Woman Army on me in case I was setting up to attack you. I wouldn't discount that kind of dedication. Its rare to obtain..." Nine admitted as she relaxed, next to [member="Sawa Ike"]. The sights of her lovely surroundings soothed the vampire. She was serious about it. She had needed that kind of dedication so badly, that unquestioned devotion she had ended up creating Vera. But still...

She had always wanted this. A quiet, intimate moment with Sawa. And it was better than she had imagined. Just them together, talking.

Talking to Lovely Nine that is. Boring Nine was still submerged. She might have a chance to warn her of the mimes and the benefits of tinfoil to keep your thoughts from being stolen, but that could come later.

"So...I heard this area has been suffering hauntings." Nine mentioned, admiring Sawa's features, how it was the same as the prefect's yet not. "After we finish admiring how good the other looks we should investigate, because frankly, I haven't been in a good scrape lately..."

Plus, it would also offer the chance for them to work together again...this haunting might prove a good trial run.

Plus, she just wanted to spend more time with Sawa. Dealing with anything supernatural led to greater opportunity to learn and get stronger.

Nine stared at that face and felt the familiar butterflies sensation in her stomach...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa listened and she had an amused smile on her face while she sat there and thought about it. Maple wanting to well do that if Ni-Ne didn't behave was endearing and she moved a little trying to think about it... she didn't know what to do and this.. this was making it harder. She cared for both of these women.. she didn't want to harm either fo their feeling when she spoke shifting her arm to just soak in the water that felt colder now on her skin. Where she was looking around at the mention of it possibly being haunted and she thought about it. "Yes that is the legend, there are supposed to be spirits here and in the mountains that come down."

She said it though and rose up for a moment as she watched the area become silent and she spoke. "A mujina, something dangerous maybe or playful... spirits you know can be any number of things if you are not careful." She was looking at her though and stood there with a look on her face unabashed with the water dripping from her kimono and it clinging. Instead she was more then happy to move before she was checking it out. Maple would be around and she heard the sounds of K1 who was there scanning the area and she spoke. "Yes yes K1 there is a chance we are going to shoot things... or burn them or something." She smiled.

 

[Nine Lives]

Apparently it was time to get out. Just as good. She'd start to prune if she stayed much longer.

Nine rose, dried off and redressed while [member="Sawa Ike"] was considerably more nonchalant about redressing. Nine preferred a little more order, inbetween drinking First Order troopers. Which she loved to do no matter which Nine she was.

"A Mujina...not ringing any bells unfortunately. Its been a while since I really set foot on Atrisia." Nine admitted to Sawa as she saw that K1 droid and Vera following him.

"Mother this assassin droid is delightful!" Vera said with a cold enthusiasm smiling wickedly. "It advised me on several plasma-related methods of torture I'd never even considered..."

"You up for killing a spirit 'Beckinsale'?" Nine asked keeping up Vera's alias in her red haired form. It wouldn't do if the Keisei heard someone being called Vera when they were not supposed to be. Or anyone, really. Sawa could no doubt smell it was the same biot she had first come to Atrisia with, but these Keisei did not have her range of senses.

"I'm up for killing anything, Mother." Vera answered with a smile.

Nine didn't doubt that. The Biot was a sociopath by design. It meant every word. Nine never fully took her eye off her artificial daughter...it had the mother of all restraining bolts locked into its very consciousness but the thing was clever...the chance of it finding some loophole Nine hadn't thought of in its programming was never so minimal as to not be worth considering.

"Lead the way Sawa. I don't know any magic that could really help but I do know some..."Alkahest"...of a sort."

A psy-pire corrupted-alkahest but still alkahest. Any work done though would have to be done on site.

"So, how do you kill a spirit? What causes them the most pain?" Vera asked Sawa with a faux-innocent smile. "Because if we can cut it with a razor..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

"Assuming it is a real spirit." She said it with a look on her face while she was looking at the two droids who were there and she could smell it where she looked. "K1 what are you telling her?" She was looking at it while she stood there and slid her robe on out of the water. ONe of the servants coming around to look at her while waiting for orders. Sawa spoke softly stroking a hand along her face as she sent her off. "Go and make sure nothing disturbs us when we are searching." K1 was there and handed over her saber as Dark Sister gleamed with black and crimson metal bands. Sawa was looking at Ni-Ne and then the droids.

"Well lets be off, if it is real, or it could just be something cooked up from the Inn for the tourists who come here.. drive up sales with an attraction." She shrugged and well it could happen, not everyone who died became a spirit and not every legend was true... the real fun was seeing which one was which as her small grin became wider. They were in some places of the galaxy things of legend so it seemed more amusing then she might have needed it to be. K1 was moving beside her with a whooping sound while it brought out some of its weapons and one of the compartments opened to reveal a flamethrower. "Well he is ready."

 

[Nine Lives]

"Regardless..." The Lovely Nine trailed as she seemingly floated forward towards [member="Sawa Ike"], endlessly twitching her head like a bird, fingers flexing as she sensed something faint. Something far off on the same path they had taken to get here.

Something dangerous. Her shoulders haunched instinctively.

"So what did this 'Mujina' do that makes it so dangerous?" Vera asked as she followed Nine Lives down the path to where she sensed a far off disturbance.

"I dunno, probably something about Mujina-ing." Nine theorized.

"That's such a vague answer its almost not worth responding to, mother." Vera remarked as she walked, admiring the ancient sculptures with that distant, clinical sociopathy of hers.

"Look, daughter, Atrisia was pretty lousy with this sort of thing even before Sawa got fangs and went cheesy action horror on everything around her like I did when I got my fangs. I mean, the old mythology is just rife with screaming, stringy long haired ghost women, men who sell their souls and become demons, demons in general, some of whom have really odd weaknesses like mosquito nets, more ghost women popping out of the holoprojectors seven days after watching their crap art house flick on the evil looking holodisc--that last one's real by the way, scared the hell out of me when she did it. I dunno how many times I had to punch that creep in her waterlogged face before she fled back into the projector...ask Bobbi next time you're aboard he'll tell you the whole story..." Nine explained.

(Epic cutaway of Nine punching the ghost woman in her personal chambers while Bobbi cheers her on, then joins in on the punching.)

"Speaking of which...Sawa, I don't think I have had you aboard my Castle yet...I've spruced the place up. Once we get done with this spirit you should join me up there. Wonderful place. Roomy. To think such horror came from it. Such a strange destiny that ship has had. I know it was built by vampires...the biometrics only respond to vampires...but the exact vampires who built it are unknown, and believe me, I've tried to figure it out. But Castle Morpheus is a complete anomaly in Atrisia's history. Its design matches no other in the record. You'd think a massive ship like that would have been documented somewhere on this world. But nothing...its creepy..." Nine mentioned as she walked.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa listened to thema nd she had a small grinon her face.. thinking about it and the invitation was well a welcomed thing before the energy vampire waited there for a moment. "Perhaps when this is over, the ship is something different compared to many but the mysteries of Atrisia are vast and not much is known." There was also much that wasn't known about the world. THey had been working on uncovering some parts of tghe past but it was not entirely certain to them all. She glided through the winding path to follow the feeling that Ni-Ne had been able to detect. She moved a hand towards the wall with a tilt of her head. "We'll see though, real or not we might just have an adventure." She was excited and K1 was whooping with several weapons appearing inclusing a buzzsaw as it nudged Sawa more towards the pathway.

 

[Nine Lives]

As the vampire walked with her killing machine and [member="Sawa Ike"], she had an ominous feeling grow on the pathway. She had not brought weapons, and she would have to rely on Vera and her force and vampire abilities.

Vera, speaking of which, had worked out far better than Nine had thought. Nine hadn't forgotten it was a monster, but her ability to flawlessly navigate Atrisia's legal system not to mention her willingness to get rid of certain problems...when they arose obviously.

If anything, Nine was beginning to fear Vera's initial mandate and design was too...limited. Vera's capability was too good to simply leave her a lawyer/assassin/bodyguard.

But her current body would have to be...removed. Removed, preserved, and have a new body, one much more capable and with less drawbacks, grown around it, albeit heavily modified even further than she had the first time. It'd be an extremely time consuming and delicate process however...it might be safer to just make a new biot altogether...nah...Vera was the one. The one to raise to glory, despite the shortcomings of her current flesh.

But how? And would she keep the murderous attitude?

Hell yeah, Nine decided.

Nine's nose flared as she spotted a corpse covered in runes along the ground.

"Vera." Nine ordered as she stopped. "Check it."

The currently red-headed biot took a few steps forward, pointing her assault rifle at it. The biot's eyes scanned it, thermal imaging in her eyes seeing no heat.

"Dead..." she spoke confidantly. "Pity."

The corpse lurched up. It had been a young man, from the looks of it. His eyes had been torn out. Vera emptied her rifle into the corpse with a smirk but it remained standing.

"You...are not welcome..." the corpse hissed, before dropping dead again.

"Okay, seriously, how did the Keisei not notice that?" Vera asked sceptically.

"The Keisei never show all their cards. Sawa, could a Mujina do that?" Nine asked, striding over to it, picking up a nearby branch and poking it with a stick. The mountain path was silent and cold. Nine felt danger everywhere.

"Where there is one corpse, there are hopefully more..." Vera remarked. "Permission to kill wounded civvies, Mother?"

"Granted..." Nine muttered.

Vera smirked and began walking ahead...

"Mercy kills, Vera. Don't prolong it..." Nine elaborated crossly on her previous.

Vera huffed and stomped ahead. "Damn, thought I'd slipped one by you..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was looking at Ni-Ne and spoke as she looked at the body and gave a small nod. "You know as well as I that the Keisei are many things but they don't lie specifically just don't way everything." There was a difference, they wouldn't do it to harm but they also weren't going to do much outside of their own community to help people who weren't paying for them to try and talk. Sawa had paid for them to dance not reveal history of the hot springs which might have been a mistake as she was walking and K1 was rolling next to them. The sith vampire herself focusing and coming up to one of the older pathways leading into the mountains as the sounds of water could be heard.

"Well that isn't ominous." The little droid beeped and whistled. "Yes I am being untruthful about it... this is not something you want to see and be led down." THe droid whooped at her as Sawa was wlking and there wasn't much here... if anything it looked like they had covered the path as the sounds of water was around and the grove was overgrown. Jei statues of females lounging in the waters, smooth and featureless but curved and feminine where they were. Sawa moved some of the vines and raised an eyebrow but it looked like more a display, from a distance even you might think it was populated before you had a decent longer look at it.

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera did not fancy herself an art critic. That said, even the artificial sociopath thought the statues of the Jei females looked rather artistic and catchy, even though she would have cut up their makers as easily as any other person if given the permission.

Vera had grown comfortable as the weeks had passed. Despite having no true affection for Nine or her Psy-Pires even the Biot had to admit she had a place around them. Security. Familiarity.

Vera looked to [member="Sawa Ike"] and wondered what it was about her that made either version of Nine go jellified in the brain. Boring Nine didn't know whether she wanted to kiss her or strangle her. Lovely Nine was just paranoid and wanted to get into Sawa's kimono. It was rather irritating to the Biot for some reason.

Vera could recognize nearly any emotion...and exploit it but Love was something her processors, her severely (and hilariously) illegal programming didn't quite understand, because the processor that controlled her shapeshifting was implanted over (and subsequently interfered with) the part of the Biot's brain that dealt with empathy. Empathy wasn't all that useful to an assassin, so Vera didn't mind as much as others might have.

Nine screeched as she spotted a corpse. Vera, in her red headed form, sighed as she stared at the type of corpse, dressed in the elaborate robes and make up of an Atrisian Mime. Nine had force leapt onto a rock above, hissing at the corpse like a cat.

"Mother, please come down from the rock. You are making yourself look like an ass in front of me AND your ex..." Vera called.

"No!" Nine called back petulantly like a small child under the shade of a tree above her.

"Mother..." Vera called out tersely.

"No!"

Vera looked dryly at Sawa. "I'm so sorry about this. She freaks out every time anything even tangentially related to Mimes of any type occurs..."

"Get rid of the corpse! Even dead they're in league with the demons from beyond!"

Vera rolled her eyes at this. "You want me to shoot it too?"

"Yes please..." Nine answered quietly. "You're such a good daughter, Vera. Mommy is pleased with you."

"Whatever..." Vera muttered, dragging the stinking corpse off the dirt road, then put two bolts into its head with her assault blaster. Nine happily hopped down, straightened her kimono and elaborate Atrisian weave out and proceeded ahead as though nothing had happened.

"What's a dead mime even doing in these parts?" Vera asked out loud.

"No doubt they're in league with the Mujina...to steal our vital essence!" Nine theorized with a crazed look on her face, though otherwise she was the prim and proper definition of a lady.

"I think its a lot more complicated than...that..." Vera said, coming to a stop near the lake as she saw what was ahead of her.

The bodies had been arranged in a pentacle, skinned and nailed to the rock face they walked alongside opposite the lake. They were on fire.

"Mother, about your homeworld..."

"I know..." Nine mumbled dryly, going to examine it as a voice carried on the wind.

"Yoooouuuuu doooo noooot beeeeloooonnng..."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Vera Mina"] [member="Nine Lives"]

Sawa was looking at the statues and then there was something happening. her senses tingled and alerted to Ni-Ne as she was jumping away and afraid. Sawa watched her silently and clenched her jaw.... her fists closing and holding there for a moment.... She had done this.... she had hurt her and now things were slipping. "Ni-Ne." Sawa moved as Vera was talking and trying to calm her down, her mind reaching out to try and sooth her, to read and understand what was happening before she reached out when she came back down straightening her clothing. "Ni-Ne.... I'm...." She said it and felt something she hadn't felt before in a long time.

She felt something warm on her cheek while looking at her. She knew it could be bad... Ni-Ne had shown things before her ruthless nature, her deep feelings for everything... but she hadn't wanted this.. she wanted to hurt her.. to break her the way she had broken her.... this was... this was... Sawa just reached out to look at her. "I'm...." She felt her throat close up and was choking on the words... she never tried to really understand what had happened.. for them it was just something there... Xavier had been the target... he had captured her and.... and she had gotten a chance to have revenge.... but more then that she had a chance for something else.

Ni-Ne had fled atrisia and Sawa had been devastated.... she wanted to run away... flee with her but had been afraid of it and paused. Ni-Ne hadn't... she had left her... she had gone with the jedi. Sawa had been found by Xavier and he held her for so long it felt like until her tears had stopped and he had let the fires of her anger be stoked. He hadn't taken her where she didn't want to go and the chance to be away and free... to rule over something away from everyone was nice... then he had changed... turning her but also kidnapping Midori and holding her for his queen. A chance to practice her abilities and Midori had suffered from it in ways others did not know.

Sawa had wanted to punish her but Xavier had done something worse... far worse as he tore her soul apart imprisoning her spirit within a music box that Sawa still had. She didn't know how to free her even if she wanted to and there was still times when she was angry at that woman... but she was unimportant. Ni-Ne needed her and Sawa just stayed close to her as they were looking at the grisly sight before them. Her mind was playing tricks with them and she thought for a moment she had seen this before... she had done something like this before... kind of... best way to protect Aoi was when she had torn apart Xavier... he wanted to hurt Ni-Ne and Aoi.

What was bad was she agreed with him, about their power and skills. That they had the ability to rule for thousands of years over worlds and the people.... they were superior now with the force.... and she agreed with him. She stuck with that but he had threatened Ni-Ne... he had threatened to do things with their daughter and use her for goals.... and that was something that she couldn't allow as she had torn him apart to stop his regeneration. She came out of the thought and vision moving to stand near Ni-Ne and she had her nostrils flaring from the scent of fire and burning bodies. "Well this si soemthing that I wasn't expecting."

 

[Vera Mina]

Vera, looking for something to slaughter could only give a faint huff so far. It would seem she had already missed most of the fun. She would have enjoyed gutting a few clowns with her mother and her Ex. Instead, creeping around near a lake full of corpses that had already been slashed. What a waste. They had been killed too quickly for her liking.

Vera watched how [member="Sawa Ike"] looked at her mother. She found it strange, and could never imagine wanting another the way Sawa wanted Nine. It seemed so strange. So foreign, to her, desiring another as something beyond a target, beyond something to bleed out. Vera tried to comprehend what was going through Sawa's head but felt her processors start to overheat and stopped. She might ask Sawa about it later though.

"It was done recently. No more than forty minutes ago, I would wager." The Android surmised, walking up to it.

"Daughter, there could be magical traps, be careful for Mommy!" Nine called out, much to the artificial vampire's annoyance. "The Clown Ghosts might want your soul. Fend them off with breadcakes."

Vera rolled her eyes as she went up to the pentacle of gore. Some strange impulse made her hold out her hand, and she touched a spot below the bodies nailed to rocks.

The rock face parted and a golden gleam shown from within, making the currently red headed android blink, before stepping into the chamber. Nine quickly followed, mischievously beckoning Sawa to follow with a grin as Vera stared at the strange golden, glowing ingots nestled in a large stack in the center, twelve in all. Nine's face went instantly serious as she beheld the Chrysanthemums painted on the wall, along with images of Yovshin in red armor.

"Whoa..." Nine whispered. "You know what this is?"

"Something shiny?" Vera asked dryly.

"Well, yes, but these ingots...these...they are Atrisian Solar Steel..." Nine explained, getting a little closer. "All examples of the stuff are technically the property of the Atrisian Emperor...but the old bastard who asked for these is long since departed...go on, Daughter...they are safe..."

Vera picked up an ingot and felt invigorated for some reason.

"How is it made?" Vera asked, eyes glittering in fascination.

"Bloodshed. You take standard Atrisian Durasteel, work in elements from local meteorites close to the sun...and you drench it in a combination of blood and gore and local tree resins. Closely guarded secret. You would need bloodshed just to open a solar steel vault...so who learned about this one?" Nine asked herself.

The door shut, and Vera heard the voice telling them they didn't belong. The Android had had enough.

"Why don't you just attack us? We're clearly not retreating..." The Android called out, eyes turning back to the steel. "What can I do with it?"

"Its resistant to lightsabers, so it makes for good weapons and armor. It becomes so sharp it can cut through all but the toughest armors, and cannot be cut by regular vibroblades. But I don't know the exact formula to recreate it properly...and besides we have bigger problems." Nine answered. "Like how to get out of this place. Sawa, you got crazy Force powers these days, why don't you blast the door--"

A hidden panel in the rock wall opened behind Vera and the surprised Android gave a help as a pair of golden armored hands grabbed her and dragged her into the darkness. Nine sighed in frustration.

"--open before something like that happens she grumbled, spotting an old tanto on the ground as she went into the new entrance, looking for Vera...