Little Firebug

[Aela Talith]

So it was fire was it?

Fire was the thing she feared. That seemed an oddity to Nemene, an oddity that seemed almost...out of place. Fire was the life bringer. It was what made people warm, it was what allowed civilization to thrive, hell, its advanced versions fueled the starships and everything else that society ran off of, and yet, Jenna feared it.

That was curious to her.

More curious than the womans odd lack of experience.

Fear had always been something Nemene had used on her victims, it had always been part of her game. Find the weakness, exploit it, and then use it against them to the utmost. For Jenna, it was a simple little flame. The loud clack of a fire-starter could be heard, followed by the sound of flint pressing against itself. The flame sparked to life, and Nemene stared at it.

This...this tiny little thing. That was what Jenna feared. A smile slowly spread across her face, a slow and wanting smile. The girl was currently in the aft section of the ship...if she hadn't yet run away. There they had found some systems still powered by back up generators, allowing some of the lights to still activate.

That was where they had stayed for the past three nights, using the days to explore what remained of her once great Slave Fleet.

Now it was time to leave, but before then, she had more playing to do.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She had considered running.

Her first teaser, first taster of her prospective Master had been horrifying. It was a mild assault, with a prospect of things to come, more horrors to be faced. Could she even leave now or was that it? Subjugated in one fell swoop. Not the strong bully girl any more, eh?

It made her feel sick, sick right down to her core.

Less about the general terms of violation but more about humiliation. That feeling of absolutely helplessness that allowed her to just relax her body and just accept it. She reckoned the more that she fought, the worse it would have been but at the same time, just giving up showed shades of pathetic.

Would it be worth it? Degrading oneself down to the value of pet, nay slave just for a promise of power that might not even come true. It's not like people don't lie. You help them and then they knock you out and stuff you in a cage.

Betray or be betrayed, she guessed.

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene got up from her place on the bed. It was long ruined of course, torn apart by slaves or wild animals...though they were mostly the same thing. She found herself wondering which one of her favored Slavers had made their home here. In the end it didn't matter, they were either dead or long gone, working for someone else.

Slowly she stood form the bed, flipping open the fire-starter again and then closing it.

The thing was a curious little device, the most basic of technologies that she had never seen. It used some time of gas combined with flint and spark to make flame. Ancient by all accords since most fire-starters used simple batteries.

She had found the thing on one of the ships, likely left over from one of the slavers. Nemene had taken the thing for one reason and one reason alone, to scare her little pet.

Nemene desperately wanted to know if she had been lied to, and although she had waited two days, it was not time to test her little theory. She enveloped the fire-starter in small fingers, hiding it within her palm and entering the hallway of the ship. With the slow pitter patter of her feet, Nemene moved towards where she knew Jenna to be.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She was still considering running.

What could she do? Get back to Coruscant somehow? She was too old for the orphanage now, and they had likely thrown a party when she first left for the Jedi. Turn to the Sith? Show up at the gates and hope that she wouldn't be eaten alive for her troubles?

She would be taught here, but how to fight, or how to be submissive?

However if she remained here would there be a point where it was too late? Where she would grow used to the shackles of the word pet, becoming more attuned with the term slave? When does it stop? The thought of winding up as some content little submissive filled her with the urge to scream and tear this entire place down.

But no path to power was filled with ease.

Jenna sat slumped down at the wall, contemplating such a fate and if it was really truly worth it. Upon hearing the soft padding of feet approaching from down the hall, she froze, body stiffening as she opted to look up at the door.

 

[Aela Talith]

She oddly did not mind this, walking bare foot.

In her old life this would have disgusted her, the very notion, the idea of walking around in the dirt like this. It was...odd, but now? Now she seemed to enjoy it. The feel of it, the feel of her ground so close to her, so connected.

It was almost...nice.

She shook her head, playing with the fire-starter in her palm, a smile growing on her face. Perhaps she would keep it this way. Perhaps she would keep the change. Her toes curled slightly, and she slipped open the fire-starter.

The odd clicking noise resounded in the hall as she passed through the doorway. “Oh little firefly”

She sang the words. “Where are youuuu.”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She remained frozen as the footsteps approached.

The nickname was cruel enough, no sooner after screaming out the reveal of what her fear in life was had this woman crafted a nickname from it. The word itself made her flinch, made her uncomfortable, itchy even.

There was a sense of omen there. That clicking, her voice, that sing-song mocking that only told of vicious thoughts cycling through the mind of a complete sadist. It was a voice that compelled her to hide, to not utter a peep and hope that Nemene would get bored and walk away but she could not allow herself to become the mouse, constantly hiding from the teeth and claws of the cat.

That mindset would kill her, fit a collar around her neck that bore the brand of slave.

"I'm in here," she called out hesitantly.

 

[Aela Talith]

She could hear the hesitation in the girls voice.

Good.

That pleased her for some unknown reason. The sound of the tremble in Jenna's voice made her happy, the hesitance was a sign of fear, something that Nemene Talith loved to cultivate more than anything in the entire galaxy.

Fear was the best method of control, right next to trust.

“Oh goodie.” She sang again, stepping into the room with another clack and click of the fire-starter. “Are you hiding little firefly?”

Her voice was soothing now, wrongfully so.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

The whimsy of a sadist could never lead to a pleasant turn of affairs.

There could be no masking of Jenna's fear. Pride belonged to those at the top, where they could wear it, flaunt it and eventually worry about it when their demise came to pass. Down here at the bottom any attempt at pride would be squashed out with glee, stripped away and left there would be fear, shivering away in the corner.

Cut the middle man out, give her nothing to beat out of you.

These were the things that Jenna had been contemplating. Higher concept emotional stuff for a twenty-year old girl. The price of power, pride and dignity. What she was willing to sacrifice just for that chance.

"No," she responded very carefully, with a wonder of what the woman was clicking in her hands, "just resting."

It was understandable that Miss Rayley had since avoided all kind of fire making paraphernalia since her trauma, leaving her blissfully unaware of what exactly was producing those clicks.

 

[Aela Talith]

“Excellent.” Nemene purred.

“I'm afraid i've been neglectful.” She smiled down at the woman, hiding the fire-starter in her palm. “I've been paying attention to my wants, my needs. This fleet meant a lot to me in my previous life. It was what I used to subjugate thousands, to form my Empire. It was supposed to have been something great, but it simply turned to ash.”

She touched one of the walls almost longingly.

“That's over now.” There was a bite to her words.

Of course Nemene was still better, but the past was the past.

“It's time to move on.” She said. “It's time to being your training.”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

Choice phrasing.

Jenna winced at the notion of turning to ash, flashes of a building burning violently playing across her mind. Just a moment and she could hear the roar of the flames, the crackle, the heat prickling her legs. It even tickled right there and then.

She actually missed a lot of what Nemene had said in that moment, only catching the end snippet after getting caught in that moment like a paralysing spider's web.

Training. Good. That's good.

Without prompt, Jenna got up from her position against the wall and nodded. The fear was definitely still present, she lacked the attitude and cruel jibes that had been oh-so present in front of Surah.

"Where do we start?"

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene played with the fire-starter, rapping the pads of her fingers against it.

Jenna was eager, almost overeager. That was a good thing, a very good thing. Nemene would be the one that controlled the pace and flow of the training, and Jenna would lap up whatever she gave her.

Of course, the first step was simple. “What do you know of the force?”

Another wrap of her fingers against the fire-starter.

Not yet.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

What do you know of the Force.

Not a lot. The beginning lessons of being a Jedi Padawan funnily enough focused upon the Force, what it was, why it was, where it was (namely all around us) but Jenna, not being a particularly good student, or person had not paid attention. Nor was she planning on mentioning her time spent with the Jedi either.

She looked down, casting a glance down at her feet as if they would speak instead of her. Provide Nemene with this first dose of disappointment.

"Not much."

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene looked down at the woman, displeasure in her eye. She had figured that Jenna knew next to nothing in the force, they usually didn't.

It made her realize however how little she actually knew about Jenna. The woman had simply...appeared on Kashyyyk, plucked out by the waving cords of fate and chosen to serve Nemene Talith by the whim of the force. But where had she come from? What had she done before Kashyyyk, and why had she been with the One Sith?

That was one detail she knew.

Nemene remembered. She remembered the girl begging for her life, claiming a side. She remembered Jenna telling her that she was fighting, but why? Why bother serving that atrocious little cult? Nemene scowled, then looked at her.

“What do you know.” Nemene said. “Anything? Anything at all?"

If the answer was naught, then all the better.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

Unfortunately there was likely to be more displeasure to come.

The only words that might have escaped her mouth were likely to be, 'the Force is like a Force' which sounds absolutely terrible, juvenille and stupid. Even if it was true.

Studies had just never appealed to her, Jenna preferred to disrupt the classes rather than learn anything from them. The looks of ire and scorn that the Knights and Masters gave to her suggested a limited time amongst the Jedi for her but she went on her own terms with blood on her hands.

A few teachers had faith, like they could reform the bad girl like it was some predictable movie plot line but that was never going to be.

"I...don't know anything," she said still looking down at her feet.

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing?” She said quietly, as if she were fuming with rage.

In truth however, she was slightly pleased. That meant that Jenna was not only mould able, she was entirely and completely changeable. No Jedi teaching, no silly One Sith philosophy. Everything. Everything was teachable, nothing needed to be changed, nothing needed to be altered. All she had to do was instill her own teachings in Jenna, all she had to do was change her views to Nemene's own.

“You know nothing!?” She screamed, berating the girl as loudly as she possibly could. “How do you even know you can be taught!”

She could, but she didn't need to know that.

It was good to beat them down after all, good to kill that hope.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She winced.

This wasn't a teacher that she could offer the backchat and the cheek to, it would likely lead to unfortunate circumstances were she to do so to Nemene.

Jenna had to stand there and feel the scalding sensation of shame rise up through her cheeks as she was screeched at with frightening decibel action. Even bratty, disruptive young women know the sting of disappointment and the hot flush of humiliation when called out for their ineptitude. Especially when they were finally willing to learn.

"I...I know I'm Force sensitive....if that's what you mean."

 

[Aela Talith]

Well. That was boring. This girl knew she was force sensitive, so no point in driving that point home. She smiled slightly, her features softening. It was easy to do, she was manipulative, not actually angry. Of course to Jenna, Nemene would just seem bi-polar, like her emotions could switch on a dime.

That was what she wanted.

“How?” The word was kinder. Nicer.

Yet it was by no means soft. Her face still maintained those soft features, ones that told of calm and acceptance, like she was ready to hear Jenna out...just this once.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

It made her uneasy, how quickly the woman shifted from screaming rage to a calm and kind nothing. It left Jenna on unsure footing, not knowing what reaction her words would bring next. If it would garner that same soft smile or something a lot more sinister.

Something that's red and crackles.

Sooner or lately Jenna knew that she would have to delve into her history for Nemene, who she was, why she was. She would avoid other details as much as possible however, you know what that detail is.

“I lived in an orphanage,” she admitted, “and the Jedi came by to find new recruits. They told me.”

 

[Aela Talith]

Her faced turned down.

Jedi.

Oh how she hated Jedi.

They were weak, insufferably so. Weak and annoying. She had tortured dozens of them, perhaps even hundreds of them. It didn't matter how many, she just simply hated them, all of them. Her lips turned down into a frown.

If she was to be believed, they had at least taught her nothing.

“Then why are you not with them?” Good question, Jedi generally didn't let their charges go.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

The frown made her hesitant, even if she wasn't on the side of the Sith this was a woman that was definitely not going to be aligned with the Jedi.

“Killed two Padwans,” she admitted slowly, ringing her hands together in what could only be known as a nervous display. This woman was unpredictable, this tidbit could have given a small sliver or pride, or further disappointment or likely just neutral whatever.

Instead of waiting for Nemene to inquire the whys and whats, she continued on.

“They arrested me, and I went to prison,” she continued very slowly, very cautiously, “and when the One Sith took over Coruscant they decided to release us to help their war effort. Not that I'm complaining."