Faction Massive Honor, Shifty Gifting [Black Sun]

[Isar du Vain]

P A G E C L A I M​

“Right, right,” replied Isar, with a mirrored chuckle. He inhaled sharply on the deathstick, a long drag that made the embers at the tip flare orange.

He pulled out the roach and stared at it.

Makin’ it big.

Workin’ together.

No big deal.

That slow, slight smile spread its way across the pink man’s lips.

“Didn’t see you at the warehouse ambush. You must’ve been somewhere else on Sepan, yeah?”

Gavin Restur

 

[Gavin Restur]

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
List of Potential Targets: Vestra Tane, Sars Sarad, Isar du Vain(Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain , OPEN
​

["Didn't see you at the warehouse ambush. You must've been somewhere else on Sepan, yeah?"]

He had brought the death stick near his own masked mouth, though it was peeled away as the other spoke up, glancing over. Now, fortunately, Gavin was smart enough to not place himself at an event that the other was talking about. While he was able to read both news reports and military reports (that he managed to get his grubby little hands on), they never say the full story. The likelihood of something happening that isn't mentioned anywhere is pretty high.

So, he shook his head in response to the man's question. "Nah. Wasn't anywhere near Sepan, was instead helpin' the blockade over Wielu. Not my usual type of work, though. I certainly ain't the best pilot in the galaxy." Continuing to crack jokes at his own expense, as he kept his relaxed posture and tone of voice.

"How was Sepan, though? Curious to hear what Iser did. Heard it was chaotic, though."

Iser? Who the hell is Iser?

 

[Isar du Vain]

"How was Sepan, though? Curious to hear what Iser did. Heard it was chaotic, though."

"Mm, yeah. It was. Only one thing, mate. The warehouse ambush?"

Cold, dead eyes stared at the masked man. Smoke coiled from the deathstick clutched between Isar's fingers.

"It wasn't on Sepan."

The warehouse ambush? It'd been on Sarko VI. A whole other planet.

In the heartbeat of silence that followed, Isar grabbed at his saberfish nose and rammed the tip of the blade down, aiming straight for Gavin Restur 's foot to pin him to the ground.

"Now why don't you tell me who you really are, friend."

 

[Gavin Restur]

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
CONFIRMED TARGET: Isar du Vain (Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain
​

He could see it. No, no.

He could feel it.

The air between the two shifting. How the smoke was coiling around the man's fingers. But above all else...

...his eyes. Cold, dead. Lifeless. Eyes that have seen the worst of what the galaxy has to offer. Eyes that wouldn't look away from anything.

This is the Isar he was looking for.

What came second after the eyes, was the man's hands. Tracking the man as he grabbed his newly-gifted saberfish sword, and looked to test it out on his foot. A sharp drag of his legs to the side thankfully saved his foot from finding a new hole in it, but his boot wasn't as lucky. A slash down the side of the boot from the sheer speed and force the man had put into the stab.

He took a moment to glance down at his boot, before looking back over.

"Try something' like that again, and you're a dead man." And for the first time this night, he wasn't playing a part.

After setting his feet down on the floor normally, he let out a sigh. "So I tell you I wasn't somewhere, and you try to take off my foot when I don't know what happened? Surely, you can't be that dense."

"Should we try this again? Or are you going to try and put that in my neck, next?" Setting the deathstick down on the table.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Isar stood up, his chair squealing back with protest, and swished his saberfish nose about like some swashbuckling corsair.

"Huh. Nah. I like your style, mate. And I have to hand it to you, getting this far, but the jig's up."

Now for his favorite part. He wished he'd had a hit of glitterstim before this kicked off.

"We can do this one of two way's, savvy? The easy way..."

The Dark Side welled around Isar and he stretched out his consciousness, fingers of awareness wrapping about Gavin Restur . Prowling into his thoughts, like smoke leaking under a door.

The voice that came next spoke into the bounty hunter's very mind.

"Or the hard way."

 

[Gavin Restur]

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
CONFIRMED TARGET: Isar du Vain (Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain , Jerec Asyr
​

["We can do this one of two way's, savvy? The easy way..."]

["Or the hard way."]

You know, he wasn't planning on getting in a brawl tonight. And he was especially not expecting to feel a Dark Force user's power and conscious try and creep into his mind. Not to mention, speaking to him from within his mind.

But you know what? Screw it.

He knew of the Zeltron's force abilities, so he at least had an idea of what to expect. His mind wasn't like a metal door, but it was barricaded enough that waltzing into his mind isn't an easy task.

Didn't mean it was painless, though.

A gloved hand reached up, clutching against his head for a moment. Wincing underneath the face mask, as he shot up from his seat, the chair he was sitting on falling over.

"What the hell are you accusing me of, huh? You want to fight that badly, you lil' psycopath?" Gritting his teeth under the mask, as his modulated voice spat out words. Grasping onto his own saberfish sword, and holding it in both of his hands.

"I'll give you a damn fight! I'll cut you to pieces!" Knocking over the table that the two of them had been sitting at with the sword in his grasp. It was absolutely nothing like the Force Pike that was attached to his belt, which he was much more used to. But that didn't matter.

He was ready to throw down.

 

[Isar du Vain]

"Come on then, let's see you try," Isar goaded, right into his mind, spreading both hands wide to either side, saberfish nose held out and away.

Guys like these. Always so focused on the physical, ya know. The latest guns. The latest gadgets. The newest ways to kill somebody with a tiny scrap of metal or a big explosive bang. Cool and all, yeah? But whatever happened to the soul, huh? Whatever happened to the psyche? To that war of wills and imagination? Isar thumbed his nose and winked at Gavin Restur .

The Dark Jedi drew upon his talents, raking the fingers of his mind across the masked man's like a tiger raking its claws.

"I'm gonna enjoy this, just for you, special, yeah? Let's go for a walk."

And with that, the world grew dark all around them as Isar sought to drag their consciousnesses beyond this world and into a plane of dreams. The masked man could steel trap his mind all he wanted. But even steel rusts. Even steel leaks. And Isar would be there, with a bucket, looking at what dribbled out.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Somewhere far and distant. A cold place. A lonely place. Nowhere and yet everywhere. Beyond sight. Beyond hearing. No, wait, there's a voice. It's saying something.

"Who are you?"

A spark. A flame. In the darkness, light. Stutter-stop. Stutter-stop. A wild reel of images flickering over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

A name. A name. A name. What's in a name?

Whole universes.

"Greetings. My name is Gavin."

A greeting. A callsign. A byway. A path. Taken? No, untraveled this.

Turn right.

"Name's Gavin, by the way. Pleasure to meet you. After watching all them moves of yours, I'm gon' assume you're one of them Jedi. Am I right?"

A name and a title. Not Jedi, but close to one. Words in greeting. Always in greeting. The handshakes, the smile, the easy lackadaise. Howdy, partner, name's Gavin.

Name'sGavinName'sGavinName's Gavin.

An echo in the solace of the mind. A leak. Drip. Drip. Drip. Dripping down through that steel box. Rusting as it went.

"Name's Gavin. May I ask for yours?" Although there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, the tone was kept lighthearted.

"Hello Gavin. Who do you know?"

"Pretty name you got there, Valery. The name's Gavin, and it is...mighty fine, to make your acquaintance." Lifting one of his hands up from his belts, to give a brief flick to the brim of his hat. "I don't know much about you Jedi folk, but the past few minutes have left quite the sweet taste in my mouth."

There are names, then there are names. Gavin knew names. And- what's this? A spark of familiarity. A face once stolen, a mind once corrupted. Could it be?

My old friend. A face I've worn but I've never met.

Makko, Makko, Makko. Ringing in the hollows. Ringing like a bell. A dinner bell. A bell to feed. Down Isar dove. Deeper and deeper. Pushing and pulling and scraping every last drop from that cage. Oh that cage.

Though, he heard someone mumbling from inside the medical chambers, and glanced over. Watching as [IMG alt="Makko Vyres"]https://www.starwarsrp.net/data/avatars/s/23/23618.jpg?1660633200[/IMG] Makko Vyres was talking to the thin air. Maybe it was another thing with the Force that he didn't understand. But regardless, he elected to call over to the man. "You alright over there, stranger?" Asking the very much so not-alright stranger.

Unwell.

We are all unwell.

Talking to voices, talking to shadows. A name. A face. A name and faces. Jedi all. But still, a question lingered.

"What are you?"

"Well, to be truthful: I'm a bounty hunter. The person I'm after was said to have passed through this planet... this area specifically, actually." There was some motioning, electing to sit himself down more on the bench. Might as well comfortable, if he's going to be talking with this person. "They're already long gone, but I'm meant to meet up with a possible informant on where they could have fled to. There's only a couple of planets they realistically could've went, but if I go to the wrong one, there's a good chance they'll slip away."

A gun spinning, a force pike twirling. Shoot and stab. Kill and hunt. The lone tracker, the far seeker, the hunter in the hidden valleys. What's in a job? Nothing. What's in a profession? Everything. A man had a name. And a profession.

"What else..."

Isar pushed deeper, pulling, pulling harder.

He wanted every last drop. And he was so close. There were images there, just in the distance.

A pathway.

A shrouded path.

A-

Gavin Restur

 

[Gavin Restur]

A child's bloody hands.

What Isar saw, was from the perspective of a child. Standing alone in the dark, with their gaze off to the void. Staring at emptiness, as their hands were covered in a thick crimson. Full of cuts and burns.

But it was quickly revealed what they were staring at, as the void shifted. Twisting and morphing itself, as if every stroke of paint on a painting was being placed all at the same time.

Revealing a village in flames. Bodies strewn about, lifeless and unmoving on the floor. Armored figures, who were clearly the perpetrators, doing as they pleased.

However, the memory faded, as a new one presented itself. Panning into view from the side, as if wanting someone to view it.

In it, was another perspective from the child. However, this time, the once-ruined village was instead perfectly fine. Faceless beings walk about, as the village was full of life.

The child was following two adults. One of them turned to look back at him, with its facial features being practically nonexistent.

"...ready...first...others..."

The figure spoke, but most of the sentence was cut out, as if it was a holomovie having its audio glitching every few seconds. The other figure turned to face the first one, clearly supposed to be talking, though all that was heard was muffled noises.

The second figure looked towards the child, after.

"...do...no worries..."

"...believe in you,"

"Selic."
​

The memory visibly cracked down the middle, as if it was made of glass. Before shattering into hundreds of pieces.

In his attempts to find out about one man, Isar had ended up discovering two. "Gavin", a bounty hunter who was trying to do good to the galaxy. And "Selic", someone who had to flee their destroyed community.

However, before the man was able to dig through too many memories, something started happening. The memories which had previously been shown, started playing in reverse. Flying past the man, disappearing almost as quickly as they had showed up.

[".yawa pils ll'yeht ecnahc doog a s'ereht ,eno gnorw eht ot og I fi tub ,tnew ev'dluoc yllacitsilaer yeht stenalp fo elpuoc a ylno s'erehT .ot delf evah dluoc yeht erehw no tnamrofni elbissop a htiw pu teem ot tnaem m'I tub ,enog gnol ydaerla er'yehT" .nosrep siht htiw gniklat eb ot gniog s'eh fi ,elbatrofmoc llew sa thgiM .hcneb eht no erom nwod flesmih tis ot gnitcele ,gninoitom emos saw erehT ".yllautca ,yllacificeps aera siht ...tenalp siht hguorht dessap evah ot dias saw retfa m'I nosrep ehT .retnuh ytnuob a m'I :lufhturt eb ot ,lleW"]

[".htuom ym ni etsat teews eht etiuq tfel evah setunim wef tsap eht tub ,klof ideJ uoy tuoba hcum wonk t'nod I" .tah sih fo mirb eht ot kcilf feirb a evig ot ,stleb sih morf pu sdnah sih fo eno gnitfiL ".ecnatniauqca ruoy ekam ot ,enif ythgim...si ti dna ,nivaG s'eman ehT .yrelaV ,ereht tog uoy eman ytterP"]

As the speed of the memories continued to increase, faint whispers were able to be heard by the man. Incomprehensible, as they were too faint to make out what they were saying.

[".nivaG si eman yM .sgniteerG"]

The last memory flew by the man, before he was returned to the place where he had started.

Beyond hearing. Beyond sight. Nowhere and yet everywhere. A lonely place. A cold place.

Somewhere far and distant.

. . . .

But a voice cut in.

A scream of words, clear and concise.

With a very simple message for the man.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD.​

. . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

---

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
CONFIRMED TARGET: Isar du Vain (Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain
​

To the crowd of onlookers which had inevitably formed, they had seen a pretty odd strange of events. Two guys looking like they were about to get into a fight, before they had suddenly froze. As if their consciousness had simply left their bodies at the exact same time.

However, the masked one started to move first. It was initially at a painfully slow pace, but it started to get faster.

And faster.

Until eventually, he had closed the gap between the two of them.

Assuming Isar snapped back to reality, he was greeted with the masked one striking his saberfish blade aside with his own. Launching his arm over, as he looked to slug the absolute hell out of Isar's chin.

Beneath the mask, Isar could definitely feel the man's eyes glaring daggers into him. They'd be glaring into his soul, if they could.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Pain flared as the punch connected and sent Isar stumbling backward, stars dancing in his vision and pain flaring white-hot in his jaw. A coppery tang filled the Zeltron's mouth. Bastard must've slammed his cheek into his teeth so hard that the skin tore inside his mouth. Isar spit a wad of blood onto the ground, then smiled - teeth red.

He chuckled, not a bit of sanity in it, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his cheek.

"Not bad, Gavin."

Isar cocked his head, "or should I say... Selic?"

The Zeltron gathered power into himself as he spoke, making himself an axis of the Dark Side, drawing upon its energy. His form flickered, then the world flickered, and then there were two of Isar.

Another flicker.

Four of Isar.

Another flicker.

Eight Isars smiled at Gavin Restur and not in one did it reach their eyes.

"Who are you working for, Selic?" eight Isars said in unison, a chorus in the hall. He didn't care who watched. In fact, why not have them watch? Turn it into a spectator sport.

It didn't matter what fancy equipment the bounty hunter had in that mask, this was no simple illusion, but Fallanassi magic, which would fool even the most thorough of scans. After all, what was all that tech but just the culmination of a bunch of scientists' work, trying to measure the galaxy and instill their own sense of authority and order into the universe? Well, the universe rejected their authority. As did Isar.

 

[Gavin Restur]

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
CONFIRMED TARGET: Isar du Vain (Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain
​

After landing the clean blow to Isar's cheek, he pretty quickly stepped backwards, anticipating a counter from the man. But, nothing of the sort came his way. So, he merely lifted his saberfish sword in front of himself defensively. Staring ahead at the man as the other spat out a wad of blood.

["Not bad, Gavin. Or should I say... Selic?"]

Despite the mask that covered his face, it was pretty obvious that there was a grimace that formed over his face. Tightening the grip on his saberfish sword, as the modulated voice of the man spoke up. "If you think your sorcerer ways are goin' to help you here, you're sorely mistaken."

And then pretty much instantly after those words left his mouth, did it come back to bite him. As Isar decided that mitosis was a direction he wished to go in, as one Isar became two Isars.

Then two, became four.

Then four, became eight.

....What.

All he could do was stare blankly at the increasing number of Isars that appeared before him. Not even mentioning that the methods that were used already made it impossible to distinguish which was the real Isar, Gavin's mask just outright wasn't advanced enough in the first place to detect such a thing. He bought a mask on the cheaper side in order to hide his face, not to pierce through an illusionary veil to determine what is false and what is true.

As far as Gavin knows, Isar legitimately just cloned himself in order to gain a numbers advantage, and that all of the Isars are equally capable of throwing down with him. Letting out an exhale, as he briefly thought on the fact that whatever higher being existed, if any, decided to have him miss out on the insanely impressive feats that Force users have.

["Who are you working for, Selic?"]

While this was all going on, more and more people formed a crowd around the two. To them, it was drinks and entertainment, and they weren't going to miss out on that.

After a few moments of contemplation on what the hell he should do, he did get an idea. While knowing that he'll need to use a weapon in his arsenal that is more for larger groups of people, he couldn't start throwing out grenades in the middle of the banquet hall, as that was a quick way to have everyone go from spectators, to very pissed off teammates of Isar. But, he did think of something else.

His offhand left the grip of his saberfish sword, reaching down to his belt. Unclipping the force pike that rested on it, before it is flicked open. Electricity crackled at the tip of the force pike, currently on the highest setting. There was a slow reel of the force pike across his body, as it initially looked like he was about to purely dual wield against the Isar Gang.

However, there was a sharp slash of the force pike in front of himself. Electricity shot out from the tip, acting in the sense of a lightning whip that intended to strike all of the Isars at the same time. A flashy light show for the spectators, and a potential problem for the other.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Electricity crackled, whiplike from the tip of the Force Pike. One of the Isars leaped in front of the spray before it expanded across the room, taking the full blast. The Zeltron's body shuddered and contorted, smoke pouring off of him. Then he vanished into thin air.

"Neat," said the other seven Isars in unison.

Isar was no expert on Force Pikes, or any kind of pike really, but he sure hadn't seen them spray lightning before. Must be an after-market modification.

Seven Isars leveled their saberfish noses at Gavin Restur . And as he stared down the saber, the darkness would grow and loom as once more Isar dove back, this time prying at the man's very mind.

The room now reeked of the Dark Side as Isar twisted and pulled, unseen, at the man's mind, flooding it with images of a village on fire and bodies strewn about. One of the perpetrators of the massacre turned around, revealing her face. Dark haired and tall, the woman bore a lightsaber and stood above the corpses of the villagers, the place engulfed in flames behind her. She pointed her lightsaber at Gavin and as she did, all of the Isars forms suddenly took on her face and her clothes and the saberfish noses in each of their hands became her lightsaber.

"Surrender, Selic," said Not-Valery Noble.

Gavin Restur

 

[Gavin Restur]

ACTIVE BOUNTY HUNTING
CONFIRMED TARGET: Isar du Vain (Alternative Bounty)
License: Here
TAGS: Isar du Vain
​

The lightning crackled as it barreled towards the Isar Gang. One brave soul had leapt in front of the electricity slash, taking the full brunt of attack. Contorting and molding, before it...disappeared?

Huh?

There had been a raise of a brow under the mask, seeing that. So they vanish after getting hit-- maybe they were merely illusions, after all? And even if they aren't, they clearly are not durable.

But, his attention was taken by the room turning dark, once more. Electricity continued to crackle from the tip of the force pike, as he put himself in a defensive stance, ready for something to leap out at him from the dark. The clones all pointing their swords at him had briefly caused him to prepare himself, but for the time the room had gone dark, he kept his guard up, and his eyes peeled.

And from the darkness, came light. A lot of light, burning. Burning of fire. A village in flames, decimated and raided of everything it had.

Ohhhhh, greeeaaaat...

There were some mumbles under his breath at the sight, before his eyes locked onto a figure. Dark hair, tall...lightsaber...and that lightsaber pointed towards him, and-

-Valery??????

["Surrender, Selic."]

Oh, he did not like that. Not at all.

Cringing underneath the mask, as he flinched back. Not in fear, but merely confusion and...yeah, more confusion. He glanced between all of the members of the Not-Valery Gang, as they all held their lightsabers towards him. For a moment, he wasn't sure of what to do. But then, something occurred to him.

For all intents and purposes, he's been winning this fight so far.

He doesn't know much, but he knows that these clones are not durable. They disappear in a single hit, and he doesn't even know if they are capable of actually attacking him, at all. While it's something he's not wanting to exactly test, they seem to be more for intimidation than anything else. He let out a brief exhale, before chuckling for a moment. Lowering himself down, as he stabbed the tip of the saberfish into the floor.

"With everythin' I've heard about you, I was expectin' more of a...fight." Some trash talk. Mostly to simply try and get under the other's skin, but there was some truth to it.

With the same hand used to stab the saberfish into the floor, there was a quickdraw of his blaster. Yellow bolts firing out towards the Not-Valerys, as he kept his force pike close to him in the event they rushed at him swinging. Intending to use the blaster bolts, to find the real Valery, and by extension, the real Isar.

 

[Isar du Vain]

Two more of the illusions went down, gunned down by blaster fire in the blink of an eye.

Isar sighed.

Guess this guy wouldn't just talk it out.

"Fight, eh?" said all the remaining Not-Valerys at once. "Heh. Fine."

One of the onlookers gave a clap and shouted, "Finally, that's what I'm talking about. Some entertainment."

The remaining Not-Valerys raised hands, blaster bolts disappeared into palms as if absorbed. Their figures began to glow.

"You can fight your Fear."

The air warped and distorted in front of Gavin Restur as Isar pulled upon the Dark Side to draw out the gunslinger's worst fear, summoning it forth to take shape in front of Gavin, as if it was alive. Demon, monster, or some other being from Restur's past would coalesce before him to torment the man. The longer Isar maintained his control on the spell, the more realistic and terrifying the illusion would become.

To those on the outside, it would seem as if Gavin was going insane and seizing. Unless, of course, the gunslinger had anything to stop this particular spell. More willpower?

Heh. Who'd win, a human man's will or a five thousand year old Sith spell and the Force?

They were about to find out.

Isar didn't want to kill the guy. Not yet, anyway. He just needed him softened up good and proper, so he could answer some more questions.