Private Meet Me Where I Am

[Anet Raine]

CORUSCANT | LOW ORBIT
ABOARD THE STARWIND EPIPHANY
Kirie
Theme
​

Anet Raine was rather reclusive as of late, spending more time aboard the Starwind Epiphany, a 'borrowed' yacht from her father's fleet; her home. The opulent vessel hummed in its slow dance, falling ever gently in Coruscant's gravity.

Aboard, the half-pantoran secluded herself in study, rarely leaving her suite save for the base necessities. But hours earlier, she had sent a message to Kirie Corsell.

"Come aboard my ship. We need to talk." Her tone urgent and arrogant as always, with that something else secreted between the lines.

The starship groaned when the shuttle finally docked, and Anet turned to face the door as it slid open moments later. She offered Kirie a mixed expression of impatience and smug knowing. Like, somehow her arrival was a victory for Anet in and of itself... But something was missing. Raine's presence in the Force - it wasn't there, but something sickly and sinister was. Nearby, not a person, but certainly alive.

Anet cracked a slight grin. "Well," she stretched both arms out as if presenting. "What do you think?"

Her suite was a mess, if stronger words seemed impolite. Bed? A disaster buried under expensive clothes, someone like Kirie would toil to afford a fraction of. Then there was a desk converted into an alchemical station, and the signs of some half-finished ritual in one corner; Anet stood at the center of it all. But it wasn't the room to which she referred. It was that thing which was impossible to ignore. Other than herself.

 

[Kirie]

Location: Aboard the Starwind Epiphany, Orbiting Coruscant
Tag: Anet Raine

Like many Covenant vessels, the shuttle that brought Kirie up and away from Coruscant was a rusty relic, an aged reminder of a more prosperous, more egalitarian era. Now, a shuddering machine with a peeling lime-painted interior and copious plasteel patch-jobs.

But, it worked, and if it worked, the Covenant took it and ran it ragged. Take, and use, then discard. Never build. Never fix. Just keep taking.

Kirie heard the whirr of the docking arm, and she felt the bump as her ship came to rest against Anet's, but she saw nothing. It was dark inside the shuttle and the viewports had been welded shut besides. Kirie rose, approaching the door and eyeing the crack of light pouring from beneath it.

When the crack widened to a yawning portal that coated her in a film of yellow light, Kirie stood steady, yellow-flecked eyes flickering across the space, refusing to settle. Her gaze skimmed over discarded clothes, an overflowing desk, books spilled all over the floor alongside other things she couldn't identify. Messy. Disorganised, but not dirty. The kind of room owned by someone with too many things and not enough discipline.

Honeyed words pulled Kirie's attention towards Anet. Like she was caught in a gravity well, the rest of the space fell away from her. She tried not to meet Anet's eyes, then she tried to look past her, but she couldn't manage either. She just stood there, staring, caught in a trap she had willingly walked into.

"What do you think?"

Kirie bit her lip. She made an effort to look around, to notice something she hadn't seen walking in, but she felt her gaze dragged back to Anet's pale eyes. She managed a small shrug.

'What-' What do you think you’re doing even calling me, Anet? Why would you think I'd want to see you, Anet? How do you expect me to answer that question, Anet?

Kirie swallowed.

'What do you want?’

 

[Anet Raine]

Kirie​

Icy, sidelong eyes kept pace with Kirie's signs as Anet sauntered proudly over to her desk.

'What do I want?' Her grin parted.

The tip of Anet's tongue ran sharply along her bottom row of teeth. A single finger collected a bit of the blood and touched the seamless edge of a lockbox. The lid hissed as it was released and set aside. The acolyte removed a mask from within, holding it aloft under the light as if it were an archaeological find.

Clearly, her power had grown since they last crossed paths.

A twisted aura emanated from the mask, filling the room with violence and gloom. She lifted it to eclipse her visage, and in the moment it touched and fastened to her flesh, that power poured. Suddenly, her presence had returned in the Force. It was hers, alright, albeit gorged on the vergence, and it revealed just how far she had climbed in such a short while. Acolyte, to her, was merely a rank now, rather than an approximation of her strength.

Yellow, corrupted eyes flashed from behind the mask.

"Don't think I haven't noticed yours," she made eye contact. There was a pause. "You inspired me, Kirie."

Anet walked towards her, hands clasped behind her back. "I always knew you were special since the library, but when you undid your healing, that was when I realized you're so much more... 'Prodigy' lacks the weight, I think."

She stopped mere inches away, assuming Kirie held her place. "I refuse to be weak - for you."

 

[Kirie]

Location: Aboard the Starwind Epiphany, Orbiting Coruscant
Tag: Anet Raine

The person she was looking at was still Anet. It was not quite like the stories she had heard as a child where a loved one turned into a hideous monster after a chance encounter with the Dark. But, there was no denying she was changed, somehow.

Kirie had felt it when she had first stepped aboard the Starwind Epiphany, but the wrongness had been hidden, as if veiled in cloth. Then, as Anet donned the strange mask, she felt the woman's awful, twisted essence roll across her in a wave. There was a semblance of the old Anet in there, enough to recognise, but it was tainted, bloodsoaked and rotten and stronger by a thousandfold than she had ever felt before. Anet had always been weak, like Kirie. But she wasn't weak anymore.

A loud clunking sound close by started her and Kirie's head snapped towards the sound. She could see out the luxurious viewport that it was the shuttle disconnecting, its engines firing up to return to Coruscant without her. Kirie shivered, and turned back to Anet.

The mask was certainly striking, but it also hid all the soft features that had drawn Kirie towards Anet in the first place. The face that peeked out from beneath it was sharp, leering, mean. Beautiful, but also frightening.

"Don't think I haven't noticed yours," she made eye contact. There was a pause. "You inspired me, Kirie."

Kirie's stomach dropped. Anet had seen her staring. She had noticed Kirie staring at her now-blazing eyes. Fear churned inside her gut. How long until she herself ended up like this?

"I always knew you were special since the library, but when you undid your healing, that was when I realized you're so much more... 'Prodigy' lacks the weight, I think."

'That was- a mistake.' It was unconvincing even to herself. The memory of that moment in the temple was potent, and she often found herself returning to it, trying to reconjure the feelings it had stirred inside her, before shoving the thoughts away guiltily.

Anet strode towards her, and to Kirie's credit she did not shrink back, but her eyes found the floor.

'What do you want from me, Anet? To see you like this? I see you.'

But Kirie knew Anet wanted more than that. She was a woman of ambition, of plans and machinations. Kirie served some purpose to her, surely. Kirie set her jaw and resolved to refuse whatever the woman called her to do.

“I refuse to be weak - for you.”

Kirie frowned, not understanding.

'What are you saying?'

 

[Anet Raine]

Kirie
​

"No mistake," Anet whispered.

Her head swayed slightly at Kirie's fearfully confused inquiry. She reached under the woman's chin to tilt her gaze up. "Really? You see me on the floor?" That amused her easily.

Anet took a backwards step and reached up to undo her mask. She held it down at her side in one hand, and the worn corruption was swallowed by her familiar features. Dark lines receded into soft, pale-blue skin again, and that yellow glow replaced by icy irises. Most of all, her presence in the Force disappeared almost immediately, save the mask's stence.

"We both stand here today because of each other. I saved your life. You saved mine. I protected you from your doubts, and you brought me to my knees to remind me of what you are... Of what we are." She explained.

Then, with a smirk. "But more than that, you showed me that you Kirie, are more powerful than you let on. Or maybe you just haven't noticed, but your gifts? It isn't just that you're studious. The Force doesn't work that way. I am a far greater scholar than you could ever be, and yet it is you, not I, who has mastered the line between life and death." A sigh followed her explanation, quite dreamily, too. Anet was utterly infatuated with Kirie's potential.

"I will help you rise, Kirie Corsell."

She took another step back and fell to one knee, resting her arm, mask in hand, across it. Her eyes slid up so they couldn't possibly leave hers.

"Unto the final throne - I am your weapon, and you are my savior; the future Dark Lord of the Sith, the last student and first master of the Universe."

 

[Kirie]

Location: Aboard the Starwind Epiphany, Orbiting Coruscant
Tag: Anet Raine

Kirie's first instinct was to step backwards, fear growing inside her at the words trickling so low and so sweet from Anet's lips, at the fire in her eyes and her strange, frantic demeanour. It spoke of madness, made Anet seem like some sort of sick and violent animal, circling Kirie for the kill.

Kirie almost turned to run from her. But run where? She was alone with Anet on her own ship. There was nowhere to go.

Maybe, then, she could fight. Kirie's hand hovered over the saber at her belt, but as her eyes locked back onto Anet she was surprised to see the terrible Sith-corrupted visage receding, leaving behind Anet's familiar striking and very human features when she set down her mask. The young Sith continued, seemingly unperturbed by Kirie's reaction. The words flowed around her, hardly making sense, wrapping around the sticking points in her brain, leaving behind impressions of themselves that Kirie could not shake.

Stop. said a traitorous voice in her head. Stop, and listen, and let her in. And, despite herself, Kirie did.

You brought me to my knees to remind me of what you are...

This time, when Anet approached her, she did not shrink back. In fact, she felt no fear at all. She didn't know what exactly she felt. She was waiting for something she didn't quite understand, and when Anet stepped backwards instead of closer, Kirie let out a little voiceless sigh.

you Kirie, are more powerful than you let on.

A spark of something that was at least identifiable: Pride, excitement at being recognised, at having potential, of being noticed again. It was like Anet could see into the darkest reaches of Kirie's heart, for her words awakened desires Kirie didn't even know she had. It should have been scary, but it wasn't.

"I will help you rise, Kirie Corsell."

Anet stepped back again and kneeled. Kirie wanted to move closer, to place a hand on Anet's head, on her face, but she found herself rooted to the floor. She wanted to ask Anet how she knew these things, how she could possibly come to such conclusions, but her arms had become statuesque, folded protectively across her chest and stomach.

I am your weapon, and you are my savior

'Okay.'

The gesture was short. Kirie knew there was more she needed to tell Anet but her brain lacked the words. The logical part of her brain knew she needed to ask if that meant all was forgiven, if they were friends again, or partners, or servant and master. There was so much she needed to ask, but she didn't.

'Stand up, Anet.'

Kirie looked down at at Anet, her eyes locked to the woman's until she rose up above Kirie again.

She stepped closer, breaking the paralysis that had overtaken her, stopping a hands bredth away from Anet.

'You mean it?'

 

[Anet Raine]

Kirie​

Light - renewed life flashed behind her eyes.

'Yes.' She felt. 'This is exactly right.' She smiled, a little too warmly given the context. More fitting for emotions uncompromised by her twisted intentions.

But Anet didn't feel sick. She felt righteous.

When Kirie asked her to stand, she did so swiftly and with gladness. She held the mask in hand, dangling at her side. She shook a little, subtle but noticeably, when the brunette stepped closer. When Kirie asked, Anet's eyes closed, and she let out the deepest breath, unraveling impossible knots of tension.

They opened again, sharper than before.

"Utterly," she whispered.

 

[Kirie]

Location: Aboard the Starwind Epiphany, Orbiting Coruscant
Tag: Anet Raine

Kirie searched Anet's face for any sign of dishonesty, or amusement, or any tell at all. She saw nothing, and in that instant resolved that she believed Anet completely.

'Good.' Kirie signed. 'That's good.'

Not for the first time, Kirie wished she had her voice to speak with. After more than a year living without it, her command of Sign was more than passable, but she lacked the sophistication for truly nuanced conversations. In the realm of gestures and expressions, Kirie was blunt, lacking the subtle inflections and breathy syllables she had always relied upon in times like this. It was… Frustrating, to know what she wanted to say but to be unable to communicate it.

If only Anet could hear the voice that rang so clearly through Kirie's mind, then the woman would understand her completely. Or at least Kirie thought so.

Still looking up into Anet's eyes, still standing close, Kirie was filled with a strange tension, an echo of the sensation she had felt in the temple when she had finally unleashed her power unto Anet. A heady cocktail of frustration, and longing, and disgust, and giddy excitement.

Kirie fought the curious urge to grab hold of Anet's chin in her delicate grip, to press herself against Anet and give the woman all that she so clearly wanted. She leaned in close, wide dark eyes still locked on Anet's, hesitated…

You always do this.

It cut through her head like a chime and Kirie froze, breaking Anet's gaze and just barely managing to turn her lunge for Anet into an awkward embrace, letting out a held breath as the tension unwound into embarrassment and shame.

Kirie broke the hug and stepped back, reinstating the distance between them, her face as impassive as Anet's mask.

'You know.' Kirie signed, determinedly pushing on from her moment of weakness. 'You are not the only one who has been studying.'

 

[Anet Raine]

Kirie​

She didn't move an inch. Not as Kirie wished for perfect expressions; the range, the vocabulary, the inflections and oral poetry that Anet didn't know she ached for.

It was a combination of deep, lagging satisfaction--a certain contentment--and devotion that held the acolyte not a moment out of place. She would be there, perfect and still, until Kirie decided how she wanted her.

And at no point did her sharpened stare falter, remaining steadfastly locked on her dark eyes. Which is why she noticed something when Kirie made her move.

Oh.

'You cowar--'

Anet yelped. Surprised when Kirie wrapped her in an awkward and very unexpected embrace. Kirie's shame was nearly palpable, worn plainly in her body language, and the half-pantoran saw it, too, in her shifting body heat. Anet reached out a touch, brushing against Kirie's arm as she restored the distance between them, and changed the subject.

'You know.' Kirie signed, determinedly pushing on from her moment of weakness. 'You are not the only one who has been studying.'

Her hand swept to grab Kirie by the wrist. Firm, but not cruel - her way of saying: 'No more talking.' Whatever Kirie wanted to say could wait. The mask, in her other hand, slipped and hit the floor with a heavy thud.

She denied the space between them. Refused it, really, so long as Kirie accepted the move. If so, then her hand remained wrapped around her wrist, pulling Kirie's arm up beside her head as if the beginning of a courtly dance, all so Anet might be only a hot breath away without releasing her grip, face to face - close enough that her eyes reflected in Kirie's, a depth to infinity if she stared long enough.

"Let's not second guess ourselves," She breathed.

 

[Kirie]

Location: Aboard the Starwind Epiphany, Orbiting Coruscant
Tag: Anet Raine

Kirie was so very glad when Anet's long, delicate fingers closed around her wrist. At last, here was a game that Kirie knew how to play. There would be no more Arris Windrun punishing her for relying on other Sith, then pretending to be her friend, no more looking over her shoulder wondering which Acolyte would try thinning the herd next, no agonising about her utter failure to help Nilira, no more guilt over Quinn. There would only be Kirie and Anet. As partners, they would be unstoppable, doing whatever they pleased, taking charge of the Covenant, or destroying it, if they wanted to.

What an intoxicating dream. So much better than running away, letting pride get the better of her and cutting every string, every loose end until she was alone, or run through with a vengeful saber. If she was doomed to a life enshrouded in choking Darkness, why not wield it, instead of being swallowed and destroyed? Why not indulge, for once in her life?

"Let's not second guess ourselves,"

No. Let's not, Kirie agreed.

She let Anet pull her close, into a slow spin and then a close embrace that reminded Kirie of her happiest nights spent dancing. Her dark eyes bored into Anet's, then fluttered closed. She felt the heat radiating off Anet's skin and leaned closer, face tilting upward, her lips nearly grazing against the sharp curve of Anet's jaw, but never quite making contact.

Through their clasped hands, there began to run a current. Anet would first feel it as a strange numb, tingling sensation, then an an insistent poking and then a torrent of power, flowing out of Kirie and tumbling over Anet, twisting its tendrils all around her, filling her with power as it dug in like thorned branches into soft skin.

Kirie's knees buckled slightly and she had to concentrate to stand up straight, her head spinning, making her lean all her weight against Anet. She opened her eyes, shining with gold, and looked up at Anet, raising her free hand to cup the woman’s face, her index laying flat against her cheekbone. The words that followed would ring like a gong in her disciple's head, more emotion than thought, a sudden torrential flood encapsulating Kirie's inner world, gone as soon as it appeared.

'Do you feel it?'

And then, for it could only be then, Kirie pressed her lips to Anet's.

 

[Anet Raine]

Kirie​

Oh.

To have her so, so close.

Anet inhaled sharply, with Kirie against her in that far less clumsy embrace. Her fingertips pressed and hoped to tangle in the fabric of her robes. A necessary, fidgety detour to keep her urges yearning a little longer, lest her nails, like claws, tear the threads apart. When Kirie's visage tilted upwards, her jaw turned aside slightly, if only to give the woman's lips more room. That torturous, teasing non-contact surrendered a needy sigh.

"What keeps rudimentary creatures alive? Fear to run, anger to fight..."
​

A current ran through her. Mistakable at first, perhaps of nerves deprived, or for a bit of blood rush as her heart pounded in her chest. But without the Force to call upon, Anet was all the gladder for their exchange, to feel no power but hers. More. She wanted more. She needed more. More more more. Every other word paled in comparison to describe the only desire left to fill her. Rudimentary creature, indeed.

When Kirie buckled, Anet refused to let her fall. She pulled her up and a touch closer, just in time for the brunette's weight to fall against her chest.

Oh.

Those eyes.

Kirie's hand rose to cup her soft, pale blue jaw. She tilted into the touch.

"What fuels your power but your passion?"
​

Pleasure and philosophy. What difference did it make for one who rejected the notion that there were ever such lines of separation?

Anet stared into those promising, golden orbs, as if in them she would divine the universe. With no means nor desires to withstand the penetration of thought and emotion, she felt the woman's voice fill her mind.

'Do you feel it?'​

"To think us creatures beyond the need for simple passion is a delusion."

Power.​

And before she could conceive another thought or move her tongue, Kirie's lips were upon her. A touch, a seal to make her oath sacred. Anet pulled Kirie further into that kiss, kicked aside the mask that lingered between them, then walked backwards, pulling Kirie with her in a slow motion towards the mess of clothes - and somewhere beneath it, a bed.