Long Have I Hidden [Zarack]

[Matron Malgus]

Nar Shaddaa Undercity

The Smugglers Moon as it had come to be known to many denizens of the galaxy. A place that became a safe haven of criminals and their ilk. An ecumenopolis that rose from the bosom of crime into the sprawling cess pit that it was today. It was on this world that a child had been left, abandoned to its own devices to survive and thrive among the largest congregation of galactic scum and lepers. A child that had indeed thrived in the darkness and created a name and a home for herself among the shadows; she had become known as the Beast of Nar Shaddaa.
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"I'm telling you Dyrand, there's a beast down there in the lower levels. It has made a home for itself and it doesn't let anyone near the lower level." A worried zabrak spoke in its harsh native tongue to his companion. The look of fear was plain on the eyes of the zabrak and he was no small creature in stature or build.

His companion on the other hand, a smaller though no less intimidating female of the same species held a look of disapproval at her companion.

"I don't care if the Beast is a karking sith. We are supposed to kill it and collect our money before moving on to the next job." Came the sharp and authoritative response of the female zabrak.

Followed by a swift and precise backhand that sent the man sprawling to the floor and gathering the attentions of all that were in the dilapidating cantina. The gazes that had watched the scene unfold were not held long, for it was a common occurrence to see violence unfold in the dens of greed and alcohol. Nevertheless, the female stood and made her way to the exit of the cantina with her companion in tow.

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Syndri walked purposefully through her domain, her sharp and aware eyes searching for anything out of place to her. She had lived here for nearly 10 years now, withstanding the assaults of the various gangs that occupied the upper levels, and always defending her territory with savage violence. None who trespassed upon her ever made it back alive, and those rare few that managed to do so had only fed the legend of the Beast. She was well aware of the rumors that circled the upper levels of the city, and she was perfectly satisfied living up to the details of the legend. She was a beast, the city had made her one and now it would have to deal with her.

Her gaze glanced across the massive piles of junk that she had collected over her years in the Undercity, junk that ranged from discarded tech to broken droids. It was a wide array of treasure, anything that brought her a sense of who she was, what she was meant to do.

At first, violence had been her friend. The constant killing had brought her some measure of peace until she began to hear the whispers in the dark. Whispers that promised power and an identity if only she would give in to its call. Of course, she was far stronger than the darkness that whispered to her, so she rejected its offer and made her own power.

But, she grew tired of the life of violence and constant battle to drive back those who invaded on her territory. She grew tired of seeing the same old piles of junk, and grew tired of living in the shadows. She wanted to see more of the galaxy, she craved it; and if she had her way, it would come to be as such.

[Member=Zarack Arkaos]

 

[WolfMortum]

[member="Syndri"]

Nar Shadaa, this was a world not unfamiliar to Zarack, he knew the reputation all too well. This was all Hutt space once, possibly still though every race and species of people had come to acknowledge it as the black market center of the Galaxy, the haven for criminals, thieves and murderers of all kinds. The Republic never bothered to try to even out the playing field here, what with the vast amounts of pirates they had to contend with just to reach the system let alone trying to barter with the Hutts who respected none and nothing but financial gain. Moralist society couldn't work in good standing with those sorts of people yet the environment, the planet as a whole suited Zarack's needs perfectly as he was searching for a place to lay low following the incident on Coruscant. Fortunately Zarack had no trouble with Pirates, he had contacts within the Brethren Court, a recognized and well established colony of fortune hunters of just the sort. Over his past exploits he'd gained a bit of favor with them and though he hadn't remained with them long it'd done him well enough to be able to carry certain falsified identification tags to his vessel shielding the Baccara and disguising her as a friend to most of the criminal and mercenary types that were big enough to attempt taking the Freighter out of the skies above Nar Shadaa.

Finding a quiet docking bay and landing went far smoother this time around, the few that worked the landing bay responded well to a few credits on the side and demanding silence over who he was and the name of his vessel parked there, he continued on, this time baring a hooded robe to keep himself mostly out of sight and out of mind. His weapons, nestled within their holsters, always at the ready to be drawn in the case of need though Zarack craved a drink more than anything else and made it his priority to first seek out the nearest Cantina before attracting any particularly unwanted attention.

His timing had in fact been quite opportunistic, though completely unintentional. Zarack had been seated at the nearby bar when the Zabraki Male behind him had been dropped and caused his seat to stir, nearly knocking his drink out of his hand. Turning a moment to eye the pair, he shook his head to himself before dismissing them and focusing back on his drink, his right hand swirling the glass in his hand as he wondered what exactly they meant by some 'beast' being down in what he only assumed were the lower, more polluted levels of such a well populated world. Eriadu hadn't been much different, people figured Nar Shadaa was of it's own kind of hell yet every industrial world held darker tides the further you dove into the depths of the city states. As Poverty grew, so did dissent, resentments and criminality so easily influenced into people young and rebellious as Zarack himself had been...-Or perhaps he still was.

After a moment of consideration, Zarack decided to leave the Cantina, finishing his drink quickly and turning to move off after the pair. If they were by chance hunting a bounty then perhaps that meant they had some sort of coin on them as it were, at the very least they'd have potential armaments that Zarack might be able to make use of and if none of these things; perhaps he'd see what this supposed beast was for himself. Very few people compared to the experiences he'd found with Shinju Ayasha.

 

[Matron Malgus]

[member="Zarack Arkaos"]

It seemed that whatever force governed her life, whether it be divine or otherwise, had favored her with a prime opportunity to be rid of the world that she had grown up on. Her limited force-aided sensory abilities gave her a bit of an advantage to most of the gangs that came to test her dominance in irregular assaults. Every assault against her would fail and she would find herself alone yet again, left to her own musings and massive piles of scrap and junk. In an ironic truth, she found that she often enjoyed the challenge that the assaults against her gave, it kept her sane and gave her a purpose. Even still, that purpose had diminished over the years, the feeling of challenge being lessened greatly as her skill and legend grew.

She grew tired. Tired of the isolation that had been imposed upon her by circumstance, and by the irreputable abandonment by her parents. She wanted to see the world above, but knew that she would not be welcome. Her vicious defense of her home had left her with many enemies from the upper city, mostly though a part of the larger criminal enterprises that sought to rule the city proper. Nevertheless, she was stuck in isolation with no foreseeable way out. Her lot in life had been cast, but that did not mean that she could not want more for herself, or that she would not have more.

Amber orbs flashed in the little light that found its way through the darkness, what would appear as a mere yellow flash from one who gazed at her from a distance, the shadows concealing the larger part of her form. Her senses were sending warning bells echoing through her body in the form of the hair on the back of her neck rising. She took a crouched stanced and allowed the shadows of the dimly lit Undercity to conceal her from unwanted eyes, just as two forms appeared in direct contrast to the normal shadows that called the Undercity home. Golden eyes used to the darkness narrowed in on the two aliens; a male and a female with a cautious curiosity.

She slyly began to make her way towards the two, allowing the shadows to conceal her presence from them.

"I told you Dyrand, it's down here. You can feel it watching us even now!" the zabraki male spoke to his female companion with a hint of nervousness to his voice - a fact to which Syndri smiled slyly.

"Be quiet, you fool!" came the sharp response of the female zabrak. Her eyes flashing angrily as they strode deeper into the heart of Syndri's territory. "If it is watching us, you will die first. You have no skill in the Hunt." her voice and words reproachful to her companion. It was certainly made clear who was the authority in the partnership - a fact Syndri took note of for a later time.

In the meantime, she would continue to watch them and see what they were doing so far from the upper city. She slunk back into the shadows and got comfortable, it was going to be an interesting night.

 

[WolfMortum]

Zarack wasn't exactly certain how many levels he'd descended in order to follow the two Zabrak but it wasn't the darkness or the deterioration of the air that smelled of decay, that left him feeling on edge. Among all of it, he could feel something else sitting in anticipation and awaiting for the moment to reveal itself. This beast that these two spoke of, Zarack had assumed it not to be a creature but a person of significance and through Tactus otium, the ability to look beyond what one could see with their own eyes and instead reach farther with the Force in order to sense those still distant, the feeling that he got in response to finding [member="Syndri"] out there somewhere was not that of what you'd expect from a beast but an emotional response, sensing that need to remain alerted and to fight, to stand their ground and do what had to be done to survive. One of the most basic of sentient needs.

Zarack continued to follow the pair, refraining little from keeping his presence known, had either of them the desire to look behind them they would have seen the hooded figure following them. The lack of subtlety, the need to remain within sight was not for their needs nor purposes but instead to draw out the attention of the elusive one, the one that these two idiots thought were some sort of myth or monster to be hunted and exterminated. It wasn't until Zarack felt movement from afar that he finally stepped off to the side, taking a stationary lean against one of the nearby walls accompanied by one of the large drainage pipes that ran down the massive buildings side, while his eyes remained on the pair and he waited in the quiet to further see what was to come.

It still seemed difficult to adapt to the way the force challenged Zarack's youth in response to the many different scenario's he put himself in, making no attempt to stray clear of danger, it often found him by some reckless action and though he was good at masking his eagerness to prove himself to become something more than what had been expected of him in the past, he found himself gaining in skill over the duration by his own means rather than the training of another that he'd heard was paramount to ones progression in harnessing the power of the Force. With every new day, every new threat came the opportunity to grow stronger, to find real might through his time fighting, stealing, flying, anything that required the slightest focus in the force to do so skillfully, it all helped in the long run. Here, in this place it was Tai Vordrax that he was trying to practice, the ability to look into ones environment and try to do more than simply sense what was but try to find signs of what had been before his arrival and what might come in the next moments that he remained, observing and silent.

 

[Matron Malgus]

"We're getting close to our target, Kythan. Place your fear behind you and keep your mind to the task ahead." the female zabraki ordered harshly. If it was unclear before, it wasn't any further, the female was certainly the one in charge of the two.

The smile rose again on the face of the woman concealed in the shadows, but the faintest of presences touched her mind and she froze in surprise. She felt his patience, his observing eyes, and his expectant gaze as her own narrowed in on the source of the tremors in her mind. It was another lifeform, though his features were concealed from a hooded robe, further enshrouding him within the shadows. A thought crossed her mind that caused her smile to deepen into mischief.

Mustering her innated and limited powers to her, she called on her innate gifts and triggered a landslide of one of her massive piles of junk. The sound that followed the fall of the junk pile was magnified in the silence that had fell upon the four life forms. Syndri was attempting to draw attention to the hooded figure, seeing why he was following the two aliens and establishing some measure of what his own abilities were. She settled into a more convenient position, allowing her to have an unobstructed view of what was hopefully going to be an interesting altercation.

She turned her expectant gaze to the two aliens as her ploy seemed to work. Their own gazes turning to look at the pile that had fallen, pointing in the direct direction of the hooded figure that had been trailing him.

Unsurprisingly, the female was the first to speak. Her harsh voice carrying across the darkness to the hooded figure.

"So, you are the beast that has been plaguing the Undercity. Fortunately, your time has come to an end." she turned her gaze to her companion, "Kythan. Go." her words rang with command. Her gaze flashed victoriouly as she turned towards the hooded figure again.

 

[WolfMortum]

[member="Syndri"] had forced his hand, the two Zabrak had been turned back to face him and Zarack had felt the shift in the flow of the force throughout the area enough to sense that it was by this other ones doing. "No Dyrand, I am not" Zarack responded coldly with the emphasis on the female Zabrak's name using it as a way to shift the balance of fear back on the male that accompanied her, "Both yourself and Kythan are in way over your heads and you're too blind to know it" He added the males name, he'd been listening to them long enough to find some sort of mental image of the two and who they possibly were. "I suppose that is to be expected from Tlestri..." He used the Zabrak's own native word for outsider; The 'Tlestri' were those who failed their trials to adulthood back home on Iridonia, 'Res Selenoran' it was called there. Those who did not make it or refused to take part in it were outcast from social standing never to return as part of the Zabraki Society. Banished more or less. All the time reading and researching while spending countless nights aboard the Baccara dormant in space had paid off in many aspects and Zarack was more then eager to play this card, to enjoy himself in the moment.

Dyrand ordered Kythan to make his move, the Zabraki Male reaching for his blaster though it was already too late, Zarack's left hand snapped out from within his robe and though meters away, he held the Zabrak's neck within his grip, his hands visibly tightening around the air itself and there across the clearing beside the female, her counterpart gasps and grabbed at the scruff of his neck trying desperately to breath. "There are far more powerful and menacing beings in this life than this Beast that you hunt..." His voice was directed to the female though his eyes remain locked on the male Zabrak's, "Far more dangerous than myself...-I am little more than two seasons beyond the age of twenty one. I can wield powers beyond your comprehension and yet..." Zarack paused, considering how much he was about to say would explain too much when there was still the unknown factor nearby, "The Power of the Force is limitless in the hands of those truly capable of using it...".

Kythan suddenly dropped in a heap upon the rock bed, dust and dirt wallowing beneath the weight of his body while he coughed and sputtered loudly like the fool that he was to follow the female into such a place. "Leave...-Before I decide to kill the both of you..." Zarack added, more or less spitting the words with the added aggression that hoped to intimidate the pair away from the lower district. They were second rate targets in comparison to this other who had him more than intrigued now. They said that curiosity often killed the Cathar and perhaps they were right but Zarack had been led down here with no former ambitions of treading so long into the cities underworld so why, he wondered, had he found himself here with no real motivation to intervene aside from general intrigue.

 

[Matron Malgus]

So the hooded figure was a force wielder, and a young one at that, Syndri mused to herself as she watched the events of her manipulations unfold. In truth, she had not expected either of the zabraki hunters to stand much of a chance against her, but rather she wanted to test the extent of the hooded figures own abilities. It seemed however that he was not willing to play along with her manipulation, a fact to which a frown played across her face. She was younger than the hooded figure, but only by a full rotation of seasons, and he was certainly far more experienced in the usage of his own gifts than she was; the Force he had called it.

She had heard rumors and tells of the Force, even in her isolation. The tales of Jedi and Sith: Ashla and Bogan, the Light Side and the Dark Side and their unending struggle for dominance in the galaxy. She did not fear the darkness, but she was certain that she was no ally of the light either, and in her isolation there existed no light and dark - only her and her choices. Choices that started the day the gangs sought to encroach on her territory and she was forced to defend her own, choices that began the moment her parents had abandoned her on this forsaken planet; she had chosen to kill, to survive. There was no influence of the light or the dark, just her own choices.

In her internal musings, she missed a larger portion of the hooded males words, but his presence through the Force gave enough of a reading for her to summarise what was said; leave or die. But, regardless of what their choices may have been, she could not allow them to leave alive. They had encroached on her territory, and they would die.

That was her choice, not the choice of the hooded figure. He did not dictate who lived and died in her territory, she did. Choices. These choices were hers to make and she had made hers -death to the trespassers, though she was not sure if the word applied to the hooded figure at the moment.

With a swift and deadly aim, Syndri loosed four metallic objects that pierced through the throats of the two hunters before landing in one of the many junk piles with a muted, near silent, thud. Yet, she did not move from the darkness, instead sinking deeper into it and this time using her own voice to talk to the only remaining life form.

"Who are you to dictate who lives and dies in my home? I am the sovereign of this place." her tone was casual and her words simple. She was the one who had built the fortress of scrap and junk. It was her home, though it had not felt like it much to her lately. The fact still stood, he was a trespasser and she wanted to know why he was there.

She gazed at him from the shadows, her amber eyes glowing against the darkness, giving her the guise of a creature of shadow. She knew that the façade would not likely hold long against the man, but she was determined to hide as long as she could, if only to learn more of him.

[member="Zarack Arkaos"]

 

[WolfMortum]

"Sovereign of this place..." Zarack murmured to himself, repeating the words whilst casting his gaze upon his surroundings no longer searching for this supposed 'beast' but rather looking at their seemingly guarded sanctuary. It was mostly junk, scraps of things scavenged and discarded by others that no longer dared come down this far for some legend of a beast that might gut and kill them. One person responsible for so much fear when so few of those that believed such stories had likely even seen the source of the myth. [member="Syndri"] was however rather difficult to read, and in most cases Zarack could get a feel for who he was facing whether friend or foe from a distance without relying on line of sight yet this one; there was certainly something there that whispered of the Dark Side of the Force; Anger, resentment...-But also fear and vulnerability, some where there...

"Why would someone settle for a place like this as their Home?" Zarack called out, countering her demand for answers with a question of his own, "What good is surviving in the pit of depravity if you're going to do so alone, where no one can see the mark you leave upon your world, nor ever hear your name...". Perhaps the Isolation was right for this one, Zarack couldn't be sure but there felt to be some doubt there bordering on the edge of her persona within the Force. He himself had survived the hostile life of living on the street in similar conditions though if Eriadu had been abandoned or everyone run out of the district where he 'survived' then he'd wonder what was the achievement, the triumph. "Anyone can drive others away with enough incentive..." He added in open, vocal thought. How can you learn to overcome your weaknesses, your hardships if you push them away unwilling to face them. That was Zarack's line of thought though he had lived all his younger years being at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak. Just another rat on the street needing food to survive and rarely having the means to acquire it. Had he not gotten involved with the old swoop gangs, perhaps he'd have turned out the same way as this one, yet he'd done all he could thus far, to show the galaxy that he would not settle for being walked upon like he was nothing.

Turning back to look to the fallen Zabraki Pair, he moved to check their belongings to see if anything was salvageable, in doing so putting his back to the direction where he was certain the others voice was coming from, though hard to tell as her words echoed off of the walls of her trash keep. "I followed them down here..." He called out, explaining his arrival and his means; "Heard rumors of some 'Beast' down beneath what even this world claims to be an underground. The whole of Nar Shadaa is the same in my eyes though, go figure. People choose they're own lies, build up walls to block out the reality and potential for better things thinking themselves incapable of getting there on their own..." He was rambling a little though she wasn't exactly much of a conversationalist so he made the most of having to hear his own voice, to busy and try to down-talk the situation, giving the impression that nothing was of threat to either of them. "Can't say I'm too disappointed, honestly. I didn't hold much to the story, didn't expect to cross some kind of creature of darkness down here. This world is a haven for people like us, Outcasts and Criminals. The real beasts are out there in the Galaxy, the ones with the true power...".

 

[Matron Malgus]

The man was a talker, whether that was a good thing or not was to be determined. She found herself enjoying his company however, and decided that she would entertain him a little while longer. She was an outcast, a forgotten and irrelevant member of galactic society, but here in her home; she meant something. She was someone who mattered and made an impact. The upper city feared her and they had never seen her, the shadows had been her companion for two decades, had been her closest and most trusted friend for all her life. Yet, it could not provide her the satisfaction of another being to talk to; this man could and so far he seemed willing.

Her sharp amber gaze followed the hooded man carefully, watching for any signs that he meant her harm. But, he continued his steps bypassing her gaze entirely and settled by the two zabraki she had killed. He was scouring their belongings, looking for nothing in particular it seemed. Most importantly, however, was the fact that his back was turned to her.

She stepped from her concealment, carefully timing her footing with the occasional tinkering of loose pieces of scrap so as to make her steps unheard. She closed the distance between herself and the hooded figure, still keeping behind one the the many piles of salvaged scrap and junk. She responded to him simply.

"It is not a settling that has forced me to call this place home. Abandonement." her voice grew cold and distant, as if remembering some long forgotten memory. "Left to the under city, a newborn child was. Parents that never wanted to see her, so they gave her to the shadows; hoping she would die. But, she wouldn't, instead embracing the shadows and gaining help from a few kind souls. A help that was discarded as soon as she could survive for herself." anger now laced in her words.

She smiled ruefully at the man's next question, wondering why she had chosen to live in such conditions where her name was not known, only her legend. She did not need her name known, did not want it known. She had no place in the world above, no reason to venture beyond her own environment. She had made a home for herself, and she did not belong anywhere else.

"I do not belong above. My mark has already been made. The galaxy does not need to know my name. It is for me and me alone. I do not need their approval, I have made it this far without it." her words echoing her thoughts exactly. She was an outcast, forgotten amidst the widescale galactic events that occurred every day. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she listened to what he said next.

"I choose my reality. What I have created here is mine, a place that I can belong; my reality. I am not incapable of leaving, I choose to remain." her yearning to leave set aside in defense of her choices. She was certainly capable of leaving.

She watched him a few moments longer, before settling back against the pile of junk with a soft jingle. If the man hadn't known where she had been, he would now, the soft jingle echoing around the two.

"True power is a false ideal." Her words were simple and resigned. She did not believe that power was held in authority over people or the usage of one's gifts. Instead, she believed power to stem from ones own self, in their choices.

[member="Zarack Arkaos"]

 

[WolfMortum]

Her parents had abandoned her to the underworld yet she'd survived off of the backs of possible drifters, other vagrants as they were supposedly. Refused the life that so many other more fortunate people were allowed, those born to a higher class of peoples, the hierarchy of galactic society just never quite reaching out to offer help to people alike [member="Syndri"] and himself, Zarack could relate to an extent though he'd at-least known his parents before one abandoned them and the other lost their way to stress and the depression of the mind. "Like you, I choose my own way...-But it does not hide me behind a concept, like yours does you. Those people above us, they fear what they don't understand as all people do, though what they know of you is a word. 'Beast' is hardly a name to be known by and it would seem that most of the people that aren't afraid to come down to find you, end up dead as these two here..." He slowly stood back to his feet, turning to look across the small clearing to where she now rested back against the junk heap, in open sight and watching him.

"I on the other hand, go where I please and those who cross me more so than often feel that sting of retaliation in the exchange yet where I go and what I do holds me barred to no one single place, I am free and the memories that I leave on those who do survive are of myself, my face, my actions. Not some name that pits you in the same category as some feral animal..." Zarack's eyes watched her carefully now that they were both standing face to face, though his hands rose to that of his hood and offered her a better look at who she was speaking too by lowering his hood to fall loosely around his shoulders revealing just how young he is. "I do as I please and what would please me the most would be to rise above everything that's tried to hold me down, to keep me grounded like some slave to a moral system that, like you, never worked in the first place"

Why he was speaking so openly to this woman surprised even himself though he did not let that show through how he held himself, he had been led here by chance and intrigue only to find a darker soul, less willing than he had been to fight her way out of her own facade. Was it sympathy that he felt, or perhaps empathy being able to relate so closely to the words she had spoken; regardless it fueled something in Zarack, a sense of anger and resentment towards others that had never had to undergo the same trials and torments that life had thrown at them with almost no incentive but to make their years harder than others. "You do not want more then?" He asked, breaking the lock of his gaze with hers only to sway his left hand in gesture to the junk pit around the two, "All of this represents who you were meant to be when you were cast down, has it never occurred to you that you could be more, do more and all you had to do was reach out for it and take it for yourself. Not to please anyone else but because you are stronger than what these others have made you out to be; you are here because you were not wanted by society, by your parents...-Down in a place like this, you allow them to dictate your life long after they have gone, caged like some Beast...".

 

[Matron Malgus]

"You do not hide behind a self-created concept, a self-made reality?" her amber eyes rolled in disbelief as her mahogany eyebrows rose in incredulity. She watched in further silence as the man removed his hood that had concealed his features from her and she was struck silent, if only for a few moments. The man - no he appeared to be a boy - was handsome in a youthful way, his eyes nearly mirroring an untainted, dulled, star-line blue. He was certainly one of the more attractive trespassers that she had come across, and she found herself glad that she had no killed him.

"I am a feral animal." she countered simply and matter-of-factly. She stood, brushing herself off before she came fully into the light, revealing her true form in its entirety. Her outfit was extremely weathered and worn, the black having long since faded into an ash-gray color. Her hair, a normally vibrant mahogany had taken on a near red-black sheen from the lack of frequent washing. Her skin was covered in grime and dirt, and he face was hidden behind a layer of dirt and make-shift warpaint. "I am an animal born in captivity and trapped behind a sheet of transparisteel, for all the galaxy to see and judge." her voice had taken a significantly softer, if not downtrodden, tone. "I do not belong above, I have nowhere to return to. I have no purpose."

She smiled ruefully at the boy-man before stepping back into the shadows to conceal herself once again. This was where she thrived, where she belonged. She was open to [Member=Zarack Arkaos], and she could not place why she was being so honest with him; perhaps they held a similar history, perhaps not. In any case, she has decided that she would not kill him. He had made no attempts to harm her, or to destroy her way of life, so she would allow him to remain as long as he wished to. It was his next words that caught her off balance and unaware, his inquiry as to whether or not she wanted more; of course she wanted more, but he would not know that.

"What more is there for me up there?" she motioned upwards with her hand before continuing, "My strength is what you see around you, what I have made for myself. This is all that I have, all that I am. Whether by dictation or otherwise, this has been my lot in the galaxy. I am caged, and as you have witnessed... I am certainly a beast. I fit here."

By the end of her words, her voice had fallen to a sudden and fallen resignation. She knew well her position and what strength she had; she had witnessed it all her life, in this place. By her strength she had what was around her, and she managed to keep it.

 

[WolfMortum]

[member="Syndri"] was certainly determined to keep herself a footnote on the world that the rest of the galaxy looked down upon, content with being at the bottom of the hierarchy in the Universe from his point of view, he caused him to frown in disagreement with her belief that she belonged there, that she was meant for nothing else. "No...I don't believe that" He took the liberty of disagreeing, not telling her she was wrong but rather pointing out that he thought there was more to her than what she was allowing herself to see, "That fierceness in your eyes, that's not the look of a caged animal; wounded perhaps though temporarily at best, there's more to you than you're willing to acknowledge...-Why I can see this and you can't...-That I don't understand". He was not often one to offer pity towards others though Syndri seemed so confident that she was worth nothing of value to the world above and that she might gain nothing from being a part of it, spoken with such confidence that it frustrated Zarack to see someone who could hold such potential, be driven down time and time again until they'd begun to see what the rest of society saw in them and none of what was meant for them.

Moving to step off to the left, Zarack took a moment to consider his words and how he might get through to the woman, though why he was trying to provoke her to see more for herself, he did not know. There were very few others he'd felt the need to help but like her, he'd received little to nothing in the way of help from others until much later on in his life when he'd met with Sanya from the Order of the Black Rose; she'd helped him acquire his ship, The Baccara; Now perhaps this was his way of paying it forward but there seemed to be something more too it, something he couldn't place his finger on. Knowing and understanding some of the Force and how it connected the Galaxy together, it was difficult for him to argue with his instincts that he felt driven to this point. Reasonable doubt told him the notion was a foolhardy one and yet at the edge of his mind, he couldn't help but feel it so.

The nearest junk pile to him shifted and toppled over as he stretched his left hand out towards it, summoning the force to work through him before propelling an invisible wall against the trash heap showering the ground behind it in broken debris and discarded belongings, it was a telekinetic burst thrown against part of her 'home' though directed well away from her. Not to attack but to prove a point. "What I see around me right now is a farce....-As easily broken once you learn to free these shackles that pull you down, chain you to this belief that you are no better than this, that hold you captive over yourself", Zarack did not wish to insult her though he had more to say and knew that it might push her to turn hostile had she miss the genuine desire to help redirect her self loathing, "You are a slave to your past by telling yourself that you are not worthy of a future beyond all of this. Your freedom is above you, worlds by the thousands fill the galaxy with lives, far less deserving than your own enjoying all that it has to offer. People that have been given everything simply by being born into the right families, rich and self-entitled and yet you who have gone through so much struggle, who have earned the right to fight through so much weakness, are destined to remain here groveling in the dirt?!" his words were betraying his formerly calm exterior now, without realizing it Zarack had become frustrated with just how submissive this woman was to the life that he truly felt was beneath her.

"Do you even know who you are?" He added, turning to look back at her with both hands extending out to his sides, "It's so dark and depressing down here, have you even had a chance to discover what more there could be that's meant for you. Without the Force, I would struggle to see ten feet in front of me, down in this place".

 

[Matron Malgus]

She had listened to his words, albeit hidden within the darkness and having moved well away from his position; she had listened. Now, it was her turn to contemplate his words and to think of a response that would satisfy the man a few hundred feet away from her. A time to think that she did not have, for he continued on with his speech. She was able to detect an underlying desire to help her, and her skin crawled at the fact. No one ever wanted to help out of the kindness of their heart; there was always a price. What was his?

She continued to watch and listen to him further, even as he summoned his own abilities and destroyed a wall of her home, a fact to which her eyes flashed dangerously. She had allowed him to stay in her home unharmed, and despite his good intentions, he had caused harm to her home. She would not, could not, abide by that. But, she would not enact her vengeance just yet, she would allow him to finish his words and then she would strike. She could sense - no, she could feel - the building anger within him. That was good, his anger would cloud his action for a few seconds, long enough for her to strike and escape again if necessary.

And, then came the end of his words, beginning with a single sentence that shook her very core. Did she even know who she was? She didn't know the answer, but her mind was already to pre-occupied to form an answer. She would enact her vengeance and then she would form an answer to his questions. She nodded in confirmation of her thoughts and began acting upon them.

Without word of warning, she ran from the darkness with a primal grace and leaped through the air, tackling [Member=Zarack Arkaos] to the ground and holding a sharpened piece of metal to his throat. She moved to cut, but as she stared down at the man, her fury faded and her desire for vengeance died. Without a word, she got off of him and turned her back to him, confident that he would not harm her. This was the first time that her desire for vengeance had died, she no longer wanted to harm him for his actions to her home. Instead she quivered and latent telekinetic power permeated the around her, causing tremblings in the massive piles of junk.

"[Color=FF00FF]No. I have no idea who I am. That was taken from me the day that I was left on this moon. I have no memory of anything from before my time here, save for my name; Syndri Dahl'Karani.[/COLOR]" her words were filled with a sense of loss and a buried anger, the two most powerful driving forces in her current life. The source of her telekinetic quivers that were shaking the piles around them. She did not turn back to him as she continued to speak.

"[Color=FF00FF]Dark and depressing it may be, but it is my home, all that I know. It is where I am at my safest, my strongest. What more could there be than the security of home and safety, when there is nowhere else to turn?[/color]"she finished with a soft sigh. Her internal anguish easing as the telekinetic shaking stopped. She was beginning to calm and see the merit in the boy-mans words, though she was still reluctant to act upon this. This is where her life had been, where she had grown up and thrived; where else in the galaxy could offer her the same as this place?

 

[WolfMortum]

She'd moved so fast, so incredibly fast that Zarack hadn't the sense to react by the time the Force screamed out at him warning him of the incoming impact that tore him from his foothold on the ground and with her slamming against him, she tackled him to the ground landing harshly on his back gasping for a desperate and deep breath while she positioned herself over top of him with a make-shift knife, a shard of something that looked of metal against his throat. With both arms pinned under her, he sought to focus his full potential to his hands intent on throwing her off of him with another stronger burst of telekinesis, the energy channeling down through his arms and strengthening as it drew near.

...And then, without any warning she tore herself away from him and stepped aside, her back to him leaving Zarack to slowly push himself up to his feet, glaring at the back of her head whilst rolling his right shoulder as if it'd been put out of place, though only to relieve himself of the discomfort in the awkward landing. He could have killed her, could have drawn his weapons and pierced her through and through but he did not. As shocked and damaged to his pride that she'd taken him down so easily, he refused to let himself give in to that need for vengeance, for repayment. It was the first time he refused to kill when everything in him was yearning for it but he knew when the anger would subside, he would know he was right not to take hold of the opportunity because he know more than ever recognized that there was a kind of strength in her that hadn't been tapped into, the Force that seemed to flow around her, he could feel so immensely. "[member="Syndri"] Dahl'Karani..." He repeated the name quietly, looking down to his cloak and brushing the dust and dirt away from the material, "I will remember that..." he chuckled darkly, a hint of coldness in his breath though he'd not hold it against her for long, for he too knew the way that it felt being driven by emotion, Zarack thrived on it himself.

"You have nowhere else to turn because you let no one close enough without attempting to end them..." He spoke up after a long moment of recollecting himself and ensuring he still held all his belongings, most importantly his lightsabers still strapped across his torso. How many others were there like her out in the Galaxy, he wondered. How many other people with their affinity, their connection to the Force were there that were ridiculed and spit on by galactic society; furthermore what of those that attended the Jedi schools and did not make it or those refused by the Sith for being too 'weak'...-How many hundreds of people could there be out there with the same yearning to distinguish themselves, refusing to stop until they vindicated themselves and their lives.

"Memories of the past are worth less than knowing that there are days ahead, a future that you can shape all of your own" His gaze looked passed her momentarily, his senses extending around the environment they shared, briefly probing the area for any other potential life signs, soon to withdraw satisfied that they remained alone. "If you are so confident that this is all that your meant for then I won't force the matter, though if there is doubt...-I have a ship docked on one of the main platforms a few levels above. If you've the courage perhaps you can experience the galaxy as I have. If it's not for you...-You can return here". He knew the risks here, he knew next to nothing about this women and he knew her to be hostile when provoked, the same could be said for himself and he'd never respect anyone who didn't stand up for themselves yet she was such a wild card, that reasonable resonated in the corner of his mind yet his instincts told him that this was right, the offer was the right decision, regardless of whether she'd accept it or not.

 

[Matron Malgus]

She sighed.

A resigned, defeated sigh. She had certainly seen the merits in [Member=Zarack Arkaos]'s words and furthermore, she knew that he spoke the truth. She had, since the very first day that she had carved out her existence here, driven anyone and everyone away from her territory. She hadn't given them a chance to prove that they were not going to harm her. In those early days, she was angry at her situation and she did not trust anyone that trespassed upon her. She turned to face them, her amber eyes softened in defeat, hearing the cold bitterness in his voice.

"Perhaps you are correct. I may not let many close to me. There is pain in letting people close to you, eventually they too will abandon you." her voice was soft and full of pain, but her face showed otherwise. Her face was impassive, neutral, unreadable; betraying no hint of emotion. Her amber gaze meeting his topaz eyes with an equal impassiveness. She moved to step closer to him and stopped only a few feet away from him, the light again revealing all of her features to the boy-man.

She kept her gaze leveled on him, and drew upon her own reserves of latent power, giving a ripple of power through the Force before loosing a telekinetic burst that blew apart her remaining piles of junk, shattering the last remants of what she had created. It was clear what her answer to the boy-man would be, or at least she hoped it would be clear to him. Her face was slightly ashen from the over-use of her gifts. She had not been trained, but even so her gifts were potent all the same. She offered a slight smile before turning towards the the direction that he had come from originally.

"So, it is that the Beast has been flushed from its lair by the handsome prince. " she murmured to herself as she began the walk towards the upper city. It would be a long walk to the surface and she was certain that they would run into the gang that hired the two zabraki to kill her. They ruled just outside of her territory, and had tried taking it from her ceaselssly since she had made it her own. A small, cruel, smile formed on her lips as she thought of all the invasions that she had repelled against her home, and then a much more ironic one as she thought of how one man.... Wait, she didn't even know his name.

She paused and turned to face him once again, " You never told me your name." her words were expectant as if she was certain that he would tell her his name.

 

[WolfMortum]

The air around them swept passed Zarack's ankles and blew his cloak out behind him, dust lifting up from the ground in a cloud that spread throughout the area with the pair in the epic-center of the telekinetic maelstrom that [member="Syndri"] sent against the place that she called home. With the movement of his cloak being torn from his body and remaining attached only by the lace around his neck, his weapons were rendered exposed. The two Lightsabers held facing opposite to one another sustained on an angle by the leather strap that circled him from his shoulder to his hip, that of which carried the heavier SBP-200 light blaster pistol. He bore no armor nor seemed to protect himself in any way, wearing only the worn black pants and a long sleeved grey shirt, pushed up to the elbows; his boots probably the heavier piece of his attire as they were capped in steel to safeguard his toes, fit for shipping jobs dealing with the odd ends of cargo that he sometimes found himself hauling for a few credits now and then.

Much to his surprise as all the dust began to descend and settle upon the ground, Syndri began to move, walking straight passed him in the direction that Zarack had taken in his approach. As she passed him, his eyes followed her, turning to half look over his shoulder a moment in pause. He didn't have a great deal of experience with women but to be labeled a 'handsome prince', well that just had to be a joke. He scoffed to himself in argument before breaking through with a quiet chuckle in his own expense, soon moving to take stride and gradually find his place to walking the long climb alongside her. "Zarack...-Arkaos" he answered her, turning to offer a slight tilt of his head in a sideways nod of acknowledgement, "And for a moment there I wasn't entirely sure names would be given but seeing as you know mine now, you should also know that there's usually a fair amount of attention that comes with it and my ship. Nothing to worry about of course, just the odd space pirate looking for a bit of coin..."; the case was more like bounty hunters searching to bring him to justice before the government residing over Eriadu and her nearby systems though he didn't give those details much credit as it was the same end-game. Someone would come and they would kill them, and move on with their lives.

For the next while Zarack mostly kept silent, his focus on their surroundings as they crossed over from the isolated junkyard and into the more lively yet none the less cleaner commercial underground. It was a haven for criminals here, thugs that wouldn't think twice about killing him and doing worse to the woman; the kind of people Zarack wouldn't think twice about killing and leaving to bleed out in public sight for all to know and remind them just who they were dealing with. "How far above your level have you been exactly?" Zarack broke the silence between them in order to keep them both distracted, looking casual and from calling any unwanted attention to themselves.

 

[Matron Malgus]

"You think far too quickly, Zarack...-Arkaos." She was careful to lay heavy emphasis on the pause between names, hinting that she had also noticed his pause before he spoke his full name. This led to two options in Syndri's mind; he didn't trust her and it wasn't his real name or he was that nervous around her, the latter seeming the most ridiculous and least likely. A slight smile found its way on her lips yet again, and a faint glow appeared in her eyes. The boy-man was not trusting of her yet, and she understood well. But, she would have her fun with him yet.

"Let us be honest with one another Zarack. Your name is not Arkaos, it is falsified to protect yourself..." she paused before continuing, "... Or a loved one." The force could do many things for her, having honed her talents while alone, she could often tell when people were lying, though it wasn't a faultless art. She could certainly be wrong about him. The challenge that his name brought did not scare her away from him, she relished in the opportunity to see what was beyond her home for a change; though she was fairly certain that the trouble follows him because of his very nature.

The silence following his words was deafening. She had chosen not to answer his last question, instead keeping her eyes on their surroundings. She was not avoiding his question out of unwillingness to answer it, but rather out of concern for herself and her companion. He would not know it, but they were in a rival gangs territory and she needed to be alert and ready to attack should something come. Her amber gaze scanned the area as they walked in even intervals, keeping a careful eye on her companion as well.

He was a handsome boy-man, maybe not a prince, but handsome. It would be shameful to allow the gangs of Nar Shaddaa to mar that boyish face, least of all because he was in contact with the Beast that had plagued them for so long.

[Member=Zarack Arkaos]

 

[WolfMortum]

Every now and then Zarack would catch her eyes glancing him over, he had to suppose that it was because she wasn't used to the company of another though that didn't do much to make him feel any less unnerved by it. The Force didn't sound him off to anything alarming about the way she moved or looked at him, there seemed to be no hostility there as they sought to make it to the freighters docking bay. Here, in the lower levels there were a lot of others, some that glanced in their direction and quickly turned away when met with a similar glare and then some who only seemed to act tougher the longer you stared at them, like they had something to prove.

"You're right about one thing..." Zarack spoke up again, noticing she'd failed to answer his question and instead finally deciding to offer an answer to her accusation that he wasn't being completely honest with her, "Arkaos is not my given name, though that is who I have become. I had a Brother back on Eriadu, he was too weak for this life, too innocent to comprehend the things we sometimes have to do in order to survive..." Speaking of Karrus brought a hint of nostalgia and genuine care to his tone though he quickly dismissed it and turned to glance back to [member="Syndri"] "The name Arkaos is as much an alias to me as it is a new beginning, the change veering away from the old life that offered me nothing, to this new path where I've learned to take what's owed to me...".

His eyes soon darted about the people within their immediate vicinity as he continued to elaborate, "Look around a moment, at all of these people living down here. Most don't choose it, they're stuck with the hand they're dealt and many are forced to bring harm to others in order to get ahead; many more do not have the strength they need to survive and so you end up with children like I was, living on the street and getting beat by gang members until they finally kicked some sense into me and I found a way through. The name Arkaos, to me, means 'Survivor, beyond all means'". He chuckled softly to himself, dropping his gaze briefly to the ground as he felt a little bit the fool for making such a speech to someone who knew nothing about him though as he picked up the pace again, he shrugged it off, "Sorry, I'm a bit of an idealist I suppose but it's a good thing I'm a hell of a better killer...".

 

[Matron Malgus]

The boy-man, [member=Zarack Arkaos], felt a true and unbridled compassion towards his sibling, that much she could feel in the way that he spoke and the feelings that she could pick up on; though the care had disappeared as quickly as it had come. She turned her amber gaze towards Zarack with a light of amusement but did not speak. He had a kindness in him, whether he wanted others to see it or not, and that meant that she could trust him. If she thought that he was a vicious killer just for sport, she would likely attempt to have killed him already. Fortunately, she did not believe him to be as he wanted others to believe he was.

"Weakness is irrelevant. The world would certainly be a darker place should there be no innocence of good left. I may be a beast, but even I am not without my kindness." her eyes glittered pointedly as she spoke, pausing her steps to turn and face him fully. If he had caught her meaning, he would realize that she was referring to her not killing him. Her senses tingled, a teasing at the edges of her mind and the hairs on her neck rose on end. She turned swiftly, the words of her companion fading to the background as her senses centered on what had triggered the warning bells. It did not take long for her to find what has caused her internal alarm, two nikto warriors, heavily armored and armed.

The gang that had long hunted her, these two belonged to them. She forcefully pushed her companion against wall and leaned in very close to him; her body grinding roughly against his and her lips close to his ear, her breath coming heavily against his ear. " Do not move. Forgive me for this, but we will not survive should they realize that I am the one they hunt."

She pressed closer into the boy-man, so as to outwardly make it appear as though she was initiating certain services to him; a fact that was not uncommon on the Smugglers Moon. She continued her ragged breathing, and shuffled movements as the two nikto passed them by without a second glance. She remained as she was for a few more moments, before stepping away from him when she was sure they were gone. She did not look to the boy-man, but rather continued her original direction as if nothing had happened.

She continued her steady footing, going so far as to ascend three more levels in silence before stopping again. She had frozen at the lift that would take them to the upper city, to a place she had not seen since she was but a newborn child. Despite her feet wanting to continue their steps, she found that her mind would not compute with the idea and she had found her body at an impasse with her mind. A battle in which neither side could gain the advantage of the other, and so she was rendered immobile; frozen in a mixture of fear and rising hope.

 

[WolfMortum]

"What the he-..." His words were taken from him as [member="Syndri"] pushed his back against the wall and took whatever space that was between them as if they were lovers, she ushered an apology quietly into his ear yet the way she moved against him, took a great deal of his common sense and ability to concentrate on anything or anyone else away completely. In the moment of confusion and sudden intimacy, he had completely missed any warning of beings that might harbor ill will towards them; he could smell the dirt in her hair, the sweat upon around her neck and then suddenly as if life needed to remind him that not all things were so easily given, she parted ways and moved off with little hesitation leaving Zarack standing there wondering what in the depths of space brought that on.

Zarack eventually found his mind enough to step lightly and quickly pursue her, eventually jogging to her side and looking ahead, uncertain if he needed to even ask yet being distracted by the sight of the heavy duty lift that would lead them to the upper platforms of the moons larger City. Turning, though hesitant, he looked to her trying not to feel like a fool in what had happened prior, only to notice just how vulnerable Syndri herself now seemed staring skyward as if the world were coming down upon her. She'd not been further than this point, that much was obvious and given her knack for avoiding most others, killing those she did unfortunately run into, Zarack could clearly see she was struggling with herself now.

While he had been utterly dazed only moments ago, he found the courage to take Syndri by the shoulder and speak firmly to her whilst remaining possibly a pace behind her on the left, "You are no less than anyone up there and you're about to know it" He soon pushed her forward towards the lift, moving in stride to keep up and soon extending a hand towards the control panel, using the first to initiate the lifts climb. "Forgive me for this..." He mused, repeating her own words with something of a cocky smirk. He was arguably playing with fire and doubted she would share in his sense of amusement but it was either they move or they end up having another reason to be put against the wall. Not that Zarack would complain.