Nowhere At All

[Boethiah]

Anja grabbed three particular books, including the Sith tome she had briefly began to read. Looking to Kiber, "found anything?" Her eyes searched him for what he had grabbed.

Just as she was about to speak again she noticed a life force approaching the doorway, her eyes glanced back to her apprentice and then to the door again; alerting him of an approaching presence if he didn't realize it himself. She was unarmed but not powerless, whoever was approaching likely noticed them entering in the first place. The door was still left open a crack from when they entered the first time, making it clear to anyone that the shack was no longer sealed shut.

The Host Lord stood still, the sound of footsteps outside became audible as the dried leaves and vines crunched distinctively along the cobbled path through the weedy garden. She reacted quickly, slowing on her bare feet she crept to a table and placed the three books down before sliding up against the wall where she waited.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

It wasn't too surprising that she remained at the bookcase, it had clearly left her so enraptured that the rest of the cottage might as well have been made of cheese. Well, assuming that the Host Lord was apathetic about cheddar.

After his mental violation Kiber was still left surly and thus cut the inane babble out of his conversation with her, which all-in-all Anja would have probably preferred. I mean, if he really wanted to convey his annoyance then shouldn't he have cranked up his personality to eleven, yeah that would have really bugged her. Fortunately for her, he wasn't really feeling up for mirth at that moment.

“Not really, just personal stuff and this diary.”

The moment was interrupted by another, with Anja looking to the front door. Suppose it was a bit strange to see two people wandering Dantooine like that, and breaking into what was likely known as the 'Old Dorn Place'. Eh, he wasn't too concerned about it.

It's fine, I'm family.

In fact, that's what he would say to whoever it was making their way down the overgrown front path. So, without hesitation Kiber stepped outside, equipping his most genial expression to prevent hostilities.

“It's f-”

And then he got shot.

For you see, Kiber Dorn had forgotten just exactly what he looked like, and didn't think of the local significance of the cottage that he had just walked out of. Creepy isolated place known to ward off the locals? Black-faced man with tribal markings coming out the door? Shoot first, ask questions later.

Hit straight in the chest the man was blasted backwards through the door, landing on his back with a hard thud onto the dusty floor. Mentally abused, suddenly dyslexic and now shot, it wasn't panning out to be Kiber's best day. Was he going to die? That really would be the cherry on top of a perfect day. There was a peculiar throb in his chest, pain, yes, that would be the standard.

Was Anja mad? Would she kick him for his ineptitude? Would be rude to kick a corpse. There was a loud, prolonged groan as Dorn lay there, feeling that ominous pulse move from his wound to his head and then, there was nothing.

Slowly he began to sit up, body moving as if there was no wound to inhibit him at all. Not ready to take chances the man raised his rifle again but soon found it ripped from his hands and in the possession of one Kiber Dorn, who slowly and deliberately began to bend the barrel in hand, rendering the weapon useless.

Unarmed, he turned to run but at this point it was ultimately futile, for in the blink of an eye Dorn was onto his feet and behind his fleeing aggressor. A small flick of the wrist and the farmer's balance was lost. Fear was evident in absently discarded jabbers of panic as the man continued to scrabble away, now on hand and knee.

The things that he shot usually died.

A hard boot kicked the terrified man over onto his back, and in another blink, Kiber was upon him, straddling his midsection with naught but a passive expression carved upon his features.

“It is fine. I am family.”

Again, in deliberate slowness Dorn placed both of his hands upon the farmer's chest. Mind's eye pictured his lungs, a bubble of the Force enveloping both of the organs and slowly the bubble began to compress. Shrinking and squeezing the lungs of the man in an agonisingly slow fashion.

All the while Kiber simply stared impassively into the eyes of the man, not seeming to take pleasure but not taking dissatisfaction either.

He simply, slowly crushed.

---

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

Anja's eyes glared at Kiber as he went towards the door. The sound of the blaster shot was one she clearly understood, Kiber went backwards and landed on the floor. For a moment Anja thought he was dead, or at the very least dying. No sympathy felt for the apprentice; she would give up on him if he did not make it.

But then she saw as her apprentice rised, he was different and she felt the force flow through him in such a way it never had before. She saw in him the apprentice she always desired. Determination, fearlessness, and sheer will. That was the driving force she saw in Kiber Dorn. Anja did not react, merely watching him quickly handle the man and bring him to the floor. She felt the force crippling the man's lungs as Kiber stared menacingly into his eyes without remorse. She simply waited for him to finish.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

His satisfaction was not denied.

Kiber could almost taste the terror exuding from the dying man, as his Force-wrapped lungs were further crushed and compacted, leaving him completely unable to draw breath. Face first reddened, then turned to purple as the whites of his eyes were overtaken by a vast maze of blood vessels and before long, purple had turned to blue.

The gasping wheezes that had filled the air finally ceased and yet for a few moments longer, Kiber stared further into the eyes of the dead, still filled to the brim with those last moments of complete horror.

Finally Kiber stood and turned his attention to Anja Aj'Rou, looking to the woman with the same impassive expression fixed upon his face. His green eyes, now tinged with the yellow of corruption never left her own, the wound from the hunting rifle still plain as day across his chest. The same chest that Cedric had left his wicked mark upon.

Then in a moment, it was all gone and as the blood drained from Kiber Dorn's face he fell forward, landing unconscious amongst the weeds of the overgrown garden.

---

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

Anja watched as it all ended, she felt the life drift from the man's body and then the consciousness from her apprentice.

For a brief moment in time Anja had witnessed an apprentice worth training, someone to succeed her as a witch and to further the cause of The Primeval. When he fell to the dirt she had a particular sadness grow inside her; not for fear of his life but uncertainty towards his future. Was this just a fluke? Or was there perhaps some form of innate greatness within him that even she did not see before? The Host Lord picked him because she sensed in him potential to be far greater than he was, to be someone worthy of her Gods. Yet it seemed he only did the opposite of what she wished.

So when she saw him no longer have that fear, the shame, and the selfishness inside him she held an optimistic hope. She walked past him, no acknowledgement was paid to his existence as he laid there and she wandered up the small hill and found herself at the edge of the blba tree grove. The thorny tree was smooth at the trunk where she sat and leaned against, resting until Kiber came to. In the meantime the evening sky grew a paler blue as starlight descended upon the plains.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

There was no dream.

Only a concept, a feeling. Malevolence. As if something dark had wrapped itself around his chest and kept squeezing. Each breath taken caused further constriction, squeezing out his soul. Was he even breathing? No real cohesive thought. The most base sensation. Was he even still alive?

Apparently so.

Something touched his face, curious and cold. Kiber groaned, the immediate harsh sting of his chest making itself known once again. Face down in the weeds, left exactly where consciousness had departed him last. That strange something returned, snuffling at his cheek with a certain amount of caution. Definitely wasn't Anja.

He groaned again, this time much louder and the visitor backed off once again.

“….pleh...”

That wasn't quite right. Try again.

“….help...”

That was better. Was the Host Lord even still there? He couldn't actually tell, being face down in the weeds. It was colder, that was for certain, day had ended and while it might have been fun to try and figure everything out from the position of his belly, eyes staring into the dirt Kiber made the executive decision to roll onto his back instead.

It hurt and he squealed like a pregnant Gamorrean sow.

The tiny kath hound pup that had been inspecting him backed off once more, looking to the gangly man with a high degree of curiosity that was perhaps too much for the creature's small size.

Force, his chest was on fire.

“….help...!"

---

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

Anja continued to rest against the tree, looking up at the starry night sky. Then she noticed something; a life force... It was near Kiber; wait there were two of them--too small to be sentients, and one seemed strong and the other weak. So what was this that she felt?

Pushing off of the tree, Anja stood upright and walked down the grassy hill until her feet pressed into the soft dirt that trailed up to the old shack. She saw Kiber struggling to stand, or something like that. Good, you're awake, she thought to herself. Her eyes then followed an invisible dotted line which lead to the small Kath pup that curiously stalked Kiber, wondering what sort of creature this disfigured man was no doubt.

Then her eyes scanned further down into the weeds where another pup hunkered low, getting ready to pounce the other pup. It had three little nubs where one day two proud horns would rise, and a thick tuft of fur around its neck. The tiny creature leaped from its place, charging and darting around until it landed on the back of its friend, the two played roughly for a moment before once again realizing that they weren't alone. The small kath hounds silently sat, no mother hound arrived to claim them.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Anja seemed more preoccupied with the pair of hounds than with him.

Mildly hurtful, especially given the massive wound still present across his chest that gave him heaping spoonfuls of pain every second. Of course, it would have been massively unlike the Host Lord to have given him any aid in this situation.

He hadn't forgotten either.

The farmer's body didn't sit too far from either of them. He still remembered, remembered as a cold unyielding hatred came over him, a desire to see all life snuffed from the wretched planet. He remembered killing that man, slowly, deliberately. Not quite himself but all the same, not somebody else. A worry.

There were too many worries.

Biggest of all the large wound still sitting upon his chest as his Master chose to stand and watch the cute kath hounds instead.

“Are you….really...not gonna help?!” he asked almost angrily, still laying on his back.

---

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

Anja didn't even glance in his direction, "You'll live," from the angle she stood, her voice went in the direction of the pups and not her pupil. The animals were clearly lost, or perhaps their mother died from something. Maybe the man was out looking for Kath Hounds to slaughter; who knew. The Host Lord walked up to them, kneeling onto one knee, and reached out with both arms to pick them up. The scraggly one squeaked weakly, and the more outgoing one squirmed before accepting defeat.

How helpless, it seemed adolescent Kath Hounds didn't bite at this age, or maybe they didn't feel threatened by her. Odd.

Finally, only after she had them in her arms, did she look down to Kiber who was still struggling. "They are strong creatures and worthy of much respect... They staved off extinction and even through recent struggles the beasts remain on this word. It'd be an honour to have them in our company." She spoke fondly, but in the same way a single woman usually would.

Anja, the 36-year-old virgin, should be the kind of girl who had eleven cats and lived alone in an efficiency apartment on Corellia. Instead of companionship, she saw a fearsome ally, something to help her in battle--maybe even a beast to deal with unwanted guests and prisoners.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He didn't know why he was expecting any form of aid or sympathy for the woman, whose interest was entirely taken up by the pair of kath hound pups. It wasn't like he had a large wound in the middle of his chest or anything. No, it's fine, we'll hang with the dogs instead. Don't mind me.

“Force,” he groaned, “it really...hurts, man.”

He managed to sit up, it took a lot of effort and involved a lot of pain but slowly and surely Kiber got there. Not that Anja would have cared, gushing about kath hounds and cradling the small creatures in her arm. It was almost strange to behold given the coarse way that the woman treated him.

Staring at his Master for a few moments the gangly man found himself with nothing to say, brain still trying to process everything that had happened and then, then he remembered.

“I killed that man,” he said quietly, expression fixed in concern.

---

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

For a moment, Anja turned her eyes to the victim of Kiber's rage. Indeed he had killed him, but Anja couldn't figure out why he spent so much time reflecting on the issue... It wasn't murder, the man attacked Kiber without warning. Which, Dantooine being their world, was more or less an offense akin to attacking a government official. So in the end, his actions were just and understandable--so why did he seem so concerned?

"Yes, you did."

She hadn't much else to say... She didn't even need to say anything at all, but she did anyway, because he looked concerned. That attention soon drifted away from Kiber and once again all eyes were on the two pups cradled in her arms. Time was beginning to prove its existence, sooner or later they'd want to go down and she had no place to put them. "We need to head back to the ship, come along now." Anja commanded of her apprentice before heading off towards the way they came.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]