Little Firebug

[Aela Talith]

Interesting!

That was the only thought that passed through her mind.

Jenna had killed two padawans? But why? Why do such a thing? Oh she understood the urge, she had killed more padawans than Jenna had likely met, but to be in her position and then kill them? That seemed foolish, especially since she was stupid enough to get caught doing it. One should never let an idiot do the killing.

“Now why would you go do a silly thing like that?” Besides of course, because it was the right thing to do.

Padawans were easy to twist, easy to break, they presented little to no challenge unless they were particularly well trained...or simply strong willed.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

A silly thing like that. She spoke to her like she was a child that had worn spaghetti on top of her head. Never mind full on assault and murder.

“There was a fight, and it got heated. I killed the first girl and...and...”

Jenna didn't quite know how to say it, she'd never said it out loud before but if this woman wished to know her motivations then they wouldn't be denied.

“I liked it.”

She frowned, coming out of her own mouth she suddenly felt like a strange person. An ordinary fellow would be prone to remorse or guilt but she stood on the opposite spectrum.

“Felt powerful, you know? It felt good. I was in control, I determined the fate of another.”

Finally she looked up from the ground at Nemene, trying to gauge a reaction from her admission.

“So I did it again.”

 

[Aela Talith]

Power and control. She supposed thats what it was about for most people. She supposed thats why most Sith Killed. For her it was different of course. Oh she liked Control. She liked Control more than anything in the galaxy. That was why she had pets. That was why Evelynn had served her and why she had so many slaves.

Yet she had never murdered for it.

No.

The killing was more pure than that, more innocent. Nemene didn't kill to feel strong, she didn't kill to gain control over her victims. She simply killed because it was an art. It was a way of expressing herself, like dance.

Moving through the sequence, dancing to the tune. Murder was an art form all its own, one that Nemene Talith had long ago mastered.

“But you were caught.” Idiot. She changed the topic. “What happened to your parents?”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

The abrupt topic change took her by surprise.

This was what she wanted to avoid, what she wanted to lie about. The sudden mention of her parents fate caused Jenna to take a small wincing gasp, eyes swivveling away from contact once again as she could feel a tightness in her chest just thinking about it.

Phantom smoke spiralled into her nostrils. Legs itchy, prickly. Felt hot just thinking about it.

They slept peacefully upstairs.

For all Jenna knew they burned agonisingly until their dying moments, screaming, crying, begging, cursing.

“They died….I don't….I don't remember...”

Poor lie.

 

[Aela Talith]

Oh what a terrible liar she was.

That was something that Nemene was very quickly learning about Jenna. That the girl could absolutely not tell a lie. That was be something that Nemene trained her in, because at this rate the girl would encounter their first Jedi, tell them a lie, and then Nemene would end up in prison because of her incompetence.

“I don't believe you.” Nemene Said simply.

Her face did not change, she maintained those soft features, that tiny smile.

“You remember.” Her voice purred. “You remember exactly how it happened.”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

Seen right through.

Her chest grew tighter. Panic settling in. Just thinking about it.

The fire had debilitating effects, more than just physically. It wasn't just the sight or the smell that triggered the aspect of fear. Just talking about it, thinking about it, it set Jenna off in a way that was more than noticeable.

A mentalist's field day.

"Please," she said quietly, deflecting brown eyes back to the floor of the ship, ringing her hands together nervously, "I...don't want to..."

What was the use? She'd get it out of her. Through torture, through Force lightning, through denial of training it would come spilling forth. Save face. Save pain.

"...if was the...f...f..."

Speaking the word brought notions of the thing itself. The itch turned to pain.

"...fire.."

 

[Aela Talith]

Fire.

Of course.

She should have guessed that, perhaps she was slipping with the new sensations that this body was bringing. Nemene couldn't help but smile however, smile down at the stupid little girl. The Fire-starter in her hand clicked open suddenly, though her hand was held behind her back.

The noise wasn't recognizable to most, Nemene didn't expect Jenna to know what it was.

“Fire?” Nemene said quietly. “An accident?”

The question sounded almost rhetorical, almost as if she knew something, almost as if she wanted Jenna to lie again.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She had never confronted it before.

She certainty wasn't ready to now either. Nemene repeated that word, the itching in her legs turning to pain. Real? Imaginary, she wasn't sure.

An accident. Choice words. In truth it had been an accident, a young child being left alone to play with fire, it was like all of the PSAs we'd seen before. Keep your children away from the bleach, the pills, the lighters, the drugs. Jenna's parents hadn't done so and for that they perished in what was an accident.

"...I....I....didn't mean...."

The girl herself was still wrapped in the thick suffocating sheets of her own guilt. She took a step back, but with nowhere to run the former-inmate only found herself pressed against the wall. Trapped.

"...it wasn't...sup...supposed..."

 

[Aela Talith]

“Oh.” Mock sympathy ran through her tone. “You didn't mean to? You didn't mean to ignite the blaze that killed your own parents?”

She guessed thats what happened.

It didn't take a genius to figure out where Jenna had been going, and Nemene was in fact a genius so that really helped things along. Now she had Jenna on the back foot, quite literally speaking, so it was time to press her advantage. The hand that was held behind her back slowly slipped down to her side, her hand still obscuring the fire-starter.

“Are you sure about that.” She rubbed the flint of the fire-starter.

A long dragged out spark erupted in her palm.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

The mocking cut deep.

Her own hands moved up to cover her face, as if she could physically hide from crippling emotional guild and the girl with her back against the wall began to slide down.

She could feel it now, smoke filling her lungs, the prickling heat at her arms, her thighs as she desperately tried to smother the flames. Flashes of orange. Just how quickly the flames managed to climb in the trash can, licking the ceiling, spreading further.

She snivelled and sniffed, head still in hands as panicked tears began to flow.

"IT IT IT WAS....IT WAS AN ACCIDENT...!"

 

[Aela Talith]

“Was it!?” She screamed at the girl, her lungs booming, the sound of her voice berating and screeching at her like a banshees call.

Part of her wanted to laugh...no, the whole of her wanted to laugh. To her this situation was humorous, laughable in fact. It amused her to no end that this girl would cry so badly about murdering her parents. Of course, before she had died she would have balked at murdering Moridin, but now it was simply another blink of an eye.

The old Nemene was forgotten.

That was why instead of understanding, Nemene pushed and prodded at Jenna, screeched and yelled at her, tried to bend the girl...and then break her.

“Or did you mean to do it!” Her voice carried again. “Did you want to see them die!? Like the padawans!”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

The accusation seared her.

Nemene's voice surrounded her, licking her flesh and already open wounds like they were flames themselves. No no, it wasn't her fault, she didn't mean it, she didn't, she couldn't! It was an accident!!

Sunk onto the floor Jenna's legs came pulled up to her chest as she receded into a human shell, breaking down into pain-racked sobs.

It hurt, physically, legs feelings the bite of the fire once again.

"N-n-n-n-n....."

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene chuckled. Berating the girl was too easy.

She was already having a nervous breakdown, and Nemene was willing to bet that if she continued on her current path the girl might very well have her will entirely broken. That was the intent of course, to break will and allow Nemene Talith to control her, to guide her, to dictate what she did and thought.

“WAS IT!?” She screamed at the top of her lungs, the fore gripping Jenna and surging her back to her feet.

Nemene actually doubted that it wasn't. Though Jenna had killed a padawan or two she likely hadn't killed her own parents. It was one thing to murder Jedi, another to murder ones own Mother and Father, that took a different kind of person all together.

She pressed anyway.

Another spark from the fire-starter.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

She was dragged back to her feet by the Force.

Jenna could barely stay standing in the state that she was in as Nemene continued her verbal assault of guilt and horror.

She was crumbling right there and then. There wasn't even a fire there to be frightened of but the mere mention, the memory of such brought the young woman right back to the scene. The smells, the sounds, the heat. She could feel it, all of it.

It was an accident, but at the same time she herself began to doubt if it was true. Insanity yes, but manipulation could go far in these affairs.

"I...I...I....I..."

Then it kicked in. Flight. She tried to run, bolting forwards and actually at Nemene. It wasn't her intent to run into the sadistic monster, but well, she was in the way and her fear-induced flight didn't account for dexterity.

 

[Aela Talith]

No matter how fast Jenna was, no matter how quickly or desperately she tried to move. Nemene would always be faster. The Force was with her, years of training and mental alertness that allowed her to move faster than the blinkof an eye.

She had displayed the talent again and again, and this time was no different.

As soon as Jenna came towards her Nemene lashed out.

Her leg shot forward, hooking between Jennas and grasping on to her before pulling her own leg. The girl went flying into the air for a few moments, then fell onto the ground with a harsh clatter of limb and clothes.

“YOU RUN!” She screeched, her voice berating and daring. “WHY? BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE TRUTH!”

Break her.

She had to break her.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

For a second she felt home free.

Then her leg was taken out from underneath her, and she went down, slamming her other knee against the harsh unfeeling floor of the ship. That would very swiftly be swelling up to ridiculous proportions.

More words. More accusations.

Jenna kept trying to run, but now on the floor she began to crawl. Weeping and wincing over her now injured knees, her prickling flesh that still held the scars of horrific burns, pale supple flesh now warped and disfigured. No, pride didn't matter at this point as she tried to drag herself past the woman.

"N-N-NO! I...I...I...DID...N'T...."

 

[Aela Talith]

"THEN WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID!” Because it was natural.

Nemene knew that of course.

She knew exactly why Jenna was afraid, why she was so terrified, it because she had an angry Sith Lord hounding her about the worst thing that had ever happened to her in her entire life. It was a perfectly natural response to this situation, but of course Nemene didn't really care. She was doing this because she knew it would break the girl, because she wanted her broken.

She moved up behind Jenna, stepping on the womans back and pressing her flat against the ground.

“Why else would there be a fire?” Nemene said. “It was you. It was your fault.”

 

[Beatrice Govan]

Poor Jenna.

She didn't have the answers to these questions, to these accusations. All she had was great stuttering sobs while she tried to oh-so pathetically crawl away from her problems.

The young woman barely registered the foot on her back, keeping her mobile, keeping her from running away from this scenario. Nemene was the fear, the fire at her back that licked at her backs of her legs, that kept her immobile, that held her back and kept her prisoner.

The guilt came piling on. It was her, it was her fault, there was no other doubt about it.

"I-I-I-I'MMM.....SUH-SO....SUH..."

Instead of managing to finish her words the woman broke down into even more manic sobbing, shivering upon the floor like a wounded beast about to perish in a harsh winter, leg caught in a trap that left it crippled.

 

[Aela Talith]

Nemene smiled.

It was a cruel vicious smile, one that looked like it intended to inflict pain. She didn't say anything more though. At least not for now. She had achieved what she wanted. Jenna lay on the ground, broken, crying, emotionally distraught and probably at the very end of what her nerves could actually handle. Nemene only watched her with amusement, joy driving through her.

She had missed this

She had missed the ability to break people, seeing their will be driven into dust, seeing them cry and sob.

The Fire-starter sparked again.

Nemene smiled, looking down at Jenna. Her toes curled down the womans back, moving across the fabric of the womans shirt. It had been so easy, so simple, just a bit of yelling, just a bit of screaming.

It sparked again.

Again.

Then a flame came to life.

 

[Beatrice Govan]

Jenna didn't really bask in this moment.

Face down upon the floor she wasn't aware of the smile upon Nemene's face, wasn't aware of the fire starter in her hand, was barely aware of the foot upon her back.

She was spiralling into a void, a void where the walls were aflame, slowly closing in upon her. Claustrophobic now. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Her breaths came in harsh and ragged as if she was plagued by smoke inhalation but we all know that there was no smoke there to inhale. It was all in the poor creature's head.

So lost in her own horror-laced dismay, she didn't even notice the very real flame that had just sparked to life.

Oh dear