Meetup with Malevolence

[Onrai]

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

Vitor was tending to the garden next to his cabin. Fresh fruits and vegetables were being harvested for a rather nice stew. The hydroponics kit he had received as partial payment for one of his recent archaeological jobs was proving to be exceptionally useful in providing him and his family a source of food that supplemented the meat they ate from hunting down wild game in the woods. It was, all things considered, a pleasant existence.

Then a feeling came up in him of dread.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

NPC: Versateya Lancaster

She was a person to be feared. Her footsteps were dreadful, her voice was one of the most frightening things in the universe. At least it was so to the select few whom she had decided to terrorize. Terrorize for a reason.

Now her feet were on the ground of Zahat'n'ira, where nobody was quite afraid of her. They would have been, had they known who the woman was an what she could do to them if they didn't obey her orders. But they were not the people she wanted to be afraid of her. There was a little bit of a journey to the person she actually wanted to meet that day.

As she passed the locals, she could only wonder how do such people even live. They were so simple, didn't have much to them. They were extremely easy to gain control over. The planet would have been an easy target.

In the distance, she saw a small wooden cottage and a person tending the garden nearby. Seemed like the person he was looking for. She could sense the aura Darrick had left in the are -- so much for doing anything in secrecy. She was sure the man didn't know that, but the fact was that whenever he did something she wouldn't have approved, she would hear about it sooner or later.

"I can see you are devolving to the level of these locals," the woman said to the man, presumably the one called Vitor Imperieuse.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"Hardly." He responded to the woman's comment. "I merely find that the ability to sustain myself and my family helps reduce what I have to pay for. It allows me to save my credits so I may better enjoy life."

Turning around, he pondered over what the woman was doing here. "As is, I believe we haven't met before. I am Vitor Imperieuse. Your name is?" She seemed confrontative - the last thing he desired was to see everything he had built destroyed.

Perhaps the end result would not come to blows.

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

The woman looked at the man, her white eyes keeping track of what the man did and how he looked like. Definitely not a person like any of the Lancasters, that was for sure. His behaviour seemed a little bit worrying as if he was worried she would do something to him or to any of the people close to him.

She wasn't a monster, she would have wanted to tell, but she didn't. She deemed it better to keep her mouth shut about sudden witty comments. So instead, she chuckled lightly, formed a sly smile and prepared to say something completely different.

"We haven't met before, indeed. My family name is not of great importance, so you may just call me Versateya."

She eyed the man. There was some aura of simplicity to him. He didn't seem to over-complicate life, but instead took it more freely, humbly, didn't expect the unlikely to happen. Yet she had gone for a visit, so that was something that would go against the man's lifestyle.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

Vitor nodded - the name had seemed so eerily familiar. Those white eyes, long devoid of humanity, internally startled him, yet he remained resolute on the outside. "I have heard the name before -Versateya. You're one of Lilith's ancestors, are you not?" He could see the slightest traces of Lilith in the woman - yet all she gave off was the cold indifference he had once seen in Lilith when her mind had shifted to being a true monster.

It was a terrifying yet beautiful sight to behold.

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

"You're cleverer than I thought you would be. Odd," the woman said as she walked a little bit closer towards the cottage. She let her eyes look around a little bit more and every now and then, she took occasional deep breaths to get a sense of the whole place's smell.

"The dark hair and wild look is our family gene. I've carefully bio-engineered it for decades to make it a dominant gene which would ignore all the filth which would sooner or later be mashed into our blood," she continued. Her speech was cold, something which was really similar to the way LIlith had talked as the ghostly figure. That's most likely where the girl got the icy coldness.

"But like I can see, the gene didn't make it to these generations of the bloodline," she had to note. "You have children, right?"

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"I do, yes. Two daughters and a son - as well as a son from another marriage I prefer not to talk about." Mivala was someone he missed, but it wasn't as though her family was coming to complain to him. "As is, one of your skill in bioengineering should know that even the most dominant of genes can prove to be recessed in the rarest of cases. All you've done is set yourself up for an eventual generation with so many recessive genes that your creation will remain almost entirely hidden."

He turned back, motioning for her to enter the house as well. "Of course, you could inbreed to ensure that the gene remained intact - but you would all begin to suffer a cocktail of genetic problems after several generations."

It was an issue for her - damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

She had to laugh. Not because what the man said was funny, but because his speech was true and absolutely stunningly worded.

"I don't support inbreeding. Because like you said, it would mess up the whole gene pool. I prefer the act of engineering people whose Lancaster gene has been suffocated by dirt," the woman spoke as she followed the man's lead to the house.

Her black leather boots made a fun noise as she walked on the wooden floor of the cottage. She liked the simplicity of the place, but she would have never wanted to live in such a place herself. Just like everybody else in her family, she preferred to live a more majestic life.

"Your daughters... One of them is a Sithspawn, ain't it so? There's some clear dark side aura in this place, one I've only seen in select few creatures." She sighed.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"My children are not Sithspawn. They merely suffer from a curable genetic corruption. In the case of Lilin, her ability to drain the life from what is around her is seemingly forever active. For Merikh, she is eternally enraptured in shadow. For Vindi, technology fails to work in his hands. Well, electronic technology. He knows how to work a forge."

He sat down, motioning for Versateya to sit down in a wicker chair across from his own seat. "But for what true reason have you come here? An interest in your descendants, or in me?"

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

The woman sat down as well, on a chair which she was afraid would break under her. It didn't, but she still couldn't quite sit on it comfortably. She tried to make it seem like she was having a good time, though.

"More like interest in what Darrick finds so amazing in your family. He seems to have really loved his daughter, which was a horrible thing since I didn't allow him to have any interest in her."

She looked deep into the eyes of Vitor.

"I wanted to know exactly what is so interesting about that Lilin and her father, whom Darrick has spoken of. I clearly don't see why you would matter so much to him, but you do."

Her eyes now focused more on the inside of the building. It seemed to be really homely, she had to admit. Nothing like her own home, but it was still quite interesting and she could tell living in it would be awesome. Well, in case you were a person who'd love small spaces.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"I suppose it could be that I am a genuinely good person." Vitor responded. "That I care nothing for the imagined sides of the Force and only care to be good to people, friends, and family." He gave a soft smile before turning back to directly look at Versateya.

"I suppose it was that acceptance, that willingness to look past Lilith as a sorceress, that made me so appealing to her. She was a wonderful woman herself - caring, loving, and honest with me."

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

The woman looked at the man with the most bland, blank face she'd ever had on her face. She didn't know how to reply to the man nor did she quite have anything to comment on at that moment. But staying silent was not quite her thing, especially if she wanted to be as cruel as possible.

After a while, though, she said, "So Lilith really loved you." She said that with a voice suddenly so calm, so warm. It was nothing like the voice she typically used, yet it was also not very new to her.

"Well, either way, there are things I despise about that foolish girl. And about her father," she said. "They're reckless, don't seem to understand what life really is. Lilith died, but her father is too valuable for me to kill him."

She sighed.

"They could have ruined everything I and my descendants have developed."

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"And what do you mean by that?" He raised an eyebrow, curious as to what she was attempting to say. "I'm certain that they will learn the value of life - in due time, certainly." He pondered for a moment. "As I assume you have - assuming you are similar to that one woman I heard about from my employer, you must be quite old - yet exceptionally attractive."

After all, perhaps a compliment would ease the tension away somewhat.

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

"Contain yourself, man," the woman replied coldly. Her tone was suddenly a lot more serious and her eyesight could have killed people. She didn't like being flirted with -- she had a husband, so there was no way she would get cheeky and flirty with other people.

She crossed her legs as she asked, "Do you happen to have any wine? I would have brought my own, but I guessed everybody has a wine cellar in their house. That is, unless you are too poor and simple to afford one." She looked around, trying to understand whether the man had any wine or not. To her, if a person didn't have anything fancy to drink, they were not a good person. It was as simple as that.

The best thing was -- this way she could probably get to see who the real Vitor was -- what he was like when he was unable to strictly control what he said and did. And even though most likely it would take a lot of time to get a Force-User drunk, she had a lot of time. She was in no hurry.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

"How quaint... I wonder what culture you come from." He pondered over the woman's haughty attitude. "As is, I do have a bottle of wine. Made it myself. If you'd like a taste." He smiled, turning away and reaching a hand up to grab a bottle that rested on a rack nailed into the wall. He grasped a pair of thin wooden cups, pouring the drink into them slowly and cautiously as to not waste a drop.

Once finished, he placed them on a table, re-corking and putting up the bottle on the wall before handing the woman a glass.

"I prefer creations that I myself have made. Gives me more a reason to trust them."

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

The woman looked at the man blankly. She'd never drank any homemade wine in her life so she didn't know what to expect. She could have suggested it was a terrible bottle of wine, yet there was no evidence. It could have as well been the best wine she'd ever tasted. So she had to try it out. If she loved it, perhaps the future would get interesting. If not, she would have another reason to detest this man.

"Let me taste this," the woman muttered before taking the cup and bringing it closer to her face so that she could smell the drink first. She was definitely not a simple woman, meaning she would never just drink a glass of wine without any ceremonies to it.

As she confirmed that the smell was somewhat acceptable, she was ready to drink it. A part of her told there would be some kind of additional poisons to the drink, yet then she remembered her proficiency in the skill of Detoxify Poison, so instead of worrying too much, she did take a sip.

And she had to admit, it was some nice wine.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

"Thoughts?" He smiled, leaning back in a chair before himself taking a sip. "I wouldn't give you anything that I disliked myself. That would be rude of me as a corporate officer - and as a person." Taking another sip, he slowly felt the feel of the alcohol go down through his throat, a sense of relaxation beginning to come over him. "You know, it was an odd set of circumstances that brought me and Lilith together."

A very odd set of circumstances indeed.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

"It's good. Not perfect, not superb, but good," the woman replied. She'd had better in her life, but she guessed for a homemade one, this was quite a nice set. She took another sip and tried to understand what it tasted like. It had some nice undertone taste which she would have wanted to enjoy a little bit more than she could.

"I am not here to listen to your life story, but if you really have nobody else who would want to listen to that crap, I am one big ear," she said as a response to the man's statement that he and Lilith had been brought together by a set of odd circumstances. Her voice was as cold as confident as typically, letting know of her high status and probably the act of not giving a kark.

She would let the taste of the wine sink in a little bit more as she would listen to the man's story.

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]

 

[Onrai]

"Basically... I was responsible for planting the seed of corruption in her." He sighed. "It's the one thing I've always regretted. Here she was, a wonderful Jedi, who could've gone on to solve so many of the galaxy's problems - yet I was the one responsible for corrupting her. And she charmed me - charmed me right into making a daughter with her." He gave a sound people gave when thinking about things. "But we fell in love. I accepted her for what she was. And we had a nice family until she passed away." He frowned, taking another big sip of the wine.

"That's one thing I regret. She was one of the best women I could ever ask to be my wife, yet here I was, responsible for practically making her into a monster." Another big sip, and he would soon forget.

[member="Darrick Lancaster"]

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

"How sad," she muttered. "But the darkness had to go on."

"I've heard Lilith's sister has taken the road of the Light, which I have nothing against, but either of them had to become a Sith one day. It's inevitable. It goes through generations -- some generations fall in the whole entirety, some only have a few members in the ranks of the Sith. But the Dark has to go on in the line."

She looked at Vitor, her look telling more than a thousand words.

"The point is, the Dark Side will be able to go on -- the high probability of falling could be considered hereditary. And you have to know that sooner or later, at least one of your own children will turn their back on the Light."

She sighed.

"Who will do so, I believe you know better."

She took another sip of the alcoholic beverage. Sometimes she wished she wouldn't be so mean to people; that she could be a simple person. But that would have not been her. It was her thing. She had to be cruel.

"How come you didn't fall when you lived with a Darksider for so long?"

[ [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] ]