On Blade's Edge (Christian Slade)

[Dalansa]

Zeltros. What a world.

Such were Dalansa's thoughts as she walked the streets. It was, in some ways, similar to Shaddaa. Cities, buildings, towering overhead. But, in a way, it was different. The slave rings were nonexistent. There were still slave operations, but smaller, more discrete, and mostly sold for pleasure. She hated it, but she didn't know if she would loose her only safe refuge if she did. After all, [member="Christian Slade"] may be one of their customers. She couldn't. Her hands were tied.
Sighing, she stepped into the Red Dragon, looking for her master.

 

[Christian Slade]

"He's in his office.", a young woman said who was standing behind the podium at the entrance to the ground floor of the casino. The red skinned Zeltroni woman then smiled at Dalansa, despite knowing that it would likely not be returned. She was aware who Dalansa was and what kind of woman she was, knowing that happiness and cheerfulness were not her strong suites.

On high at the top floor, though, Dalansa's Master was busy, as he typically was, hands snapping away at a clear flat board on his desk as his eyes scanned a holoscreen researching the very slave organizations, very similar to the ones that Dalansa herself had been moved though when she was younger.

[member="Dalansa"]

 

[Dalansa]

As the girl smiled, Dalansa nodded, simply asking, "Is he available?" Although the girl wasn't aware of it, the Offshoot was probably more afraid of him than the girl. As she listened for a response, her eyes focused on the corner where a little slave auction was held. Her eyes narrowed, and the anger she knew would get her in trouble started to simmer again. But she still could do nothing. [member="Christian Slade"]'s cantinas were popular, and sending away income wouldn't be a wise choice. Still, she wanted to. So much.

 

[Christian Slade]

"As far as I know, his schedule is open for the day. He made sure that I keep it that way.", she finally said, smiling at @Dalansa.

 

[Dalansa]

Nodding her thanks to the Zeltroni, Dalansa stepped into the cantina. Her focused walk and determined look were hardly lost on the crowd. She strode down the path, waiting to reach the VIP section to speak with [member="Christian Slade"]. Hopefully, such a thing would be allowed

 

[Christian Slade]

"This way.", a young Zeltroni man said, holding his hand out to the lift that lead to Christian's office. It was a long way up, but it wasn't called a turbo lift for nothing. There was no way Christian would be down in the VIP section of the main floor of the building either. He didn't much like being bothered by other people trying to party and play if he wasn't actively trying to bed the prettiest woman there that night.

He had no intentions of wasting his time in that way at that moment. Instead he'd devoted his time to Dalansa that day, an apprentice of his who he was waiting on and was presently late.

[member="Dalansa"]

 

[Dalansa]

Standing in the turbolift, Dalansa tried to figure out why why he was open. Normally he was always busy. So why was his schedule left open today? He must have some sort of plans. She was going to get it for interrupting them. But what if... her. He was planing to train her. If so, she was running late.

As soon as the turbolift doors opened, she stepped out and knelt before [member="Christian Slade"]. "My Lord?"

 

[Christian Slade]

"Get off your knees.", Christian said immediately as he peered across the room at [member="Dalansa"] kneeling there in front of him. "I appreciate the respect, but you're not a slave anymore, so stop acting like one.", he said bluntly as he glared at her, slowly rising from his seat and making his way around his desk, long, confident strides carrying him to stand right in front of the girl.

He watched her with a cold look on his face as he thought about what to do. It didn't take him long to figure that out, though, stepping past her and motioning for her to follow him. "I do not own you, I am your Master, and if you wish to call me Master, that is fine, but remember that you have the freedom to do whatever you wish at any time. That includes walking out the door, if that's really your choice.", he said, walking out into the hall and finding an exit door which lead up to the roof of the building where they found themselves standing on a landing platform, though no ship was in site. He stopped on the platform and turned, watching her from across it as he finally said, "I want you to have the courage to liberate those like you on this very planet when you're ready, but you're not ready yet."

 

[Dalansa]

Standing almost instantly, the Offshoot nodded. Following him, she found herself on the roof. Strange, she had never been up here. It was so open, so empty. But that didn't catch her notice. It was that last comment.

"I want you to have the courage to liberate those like you on this very planet when you're ready, but you're not ready yet."

She seemed surprised by that. She had thought him to not care, or to simply see it as profit, but this, this was unexpected. But she wasn't ready? "So what do I need to be ready?"

 

[Christian Slade]

"The strength of will.", Christian said, walking out across the roof of the building, his grey eyes glancing around as the wind picked up hinting at the coming storm that evening. "You don't kneel to anyone. Not even me.", he said, stopping at the far edge of the platform and slowly turning to face her.

"You will show me the respect of calling me Master, because that is what I am, and that is all.", he said, reaching up and pulling his duster up and over his shoulders, dropping it to the platform and kicking it off to a lower section of the roof to keep out of the way.

"You need the will to survive, and the knowledge of killing.", he said, rolling up the sleeves to his grey button up shirt and loosening his tie until it slid free, dropping it on top of his duster. "Today I'll see if you have the will to survive. We'll worry about giving you the knowledge and skills needed to kill whoever you please once you've shown me you came here for a reason, and you're not going anywhere any time soon."

The next moment, Christian wasted no time and flicking his right hand open, showing his palm in [member="Dalansa"]'s direction, watching with interested eyes as the force bolted out from his body in her direction. Would she avoid the blow?

...or would she let it take her over the edge of the building and save Christian time?

 

[Dalansa]

As she saw his hand come up, she moved. Diving to the side, Dalansa readied herself. She was watching him now. She didn't plan to let him out of her site. And nor would she put herself at risk of the same thing again.

Moving towards him, attempting to put enough distance between herself and the edge that she could atop herself from going over easier if needed. Although her steps carried her ever closer to [member="Christian Slade"], she started to circle. The calm of battle was setting in, and her face drained of anger, surprise, fear, anything. Instead,a blank look treated him as she drew her saber in one hand and a blaster in the other. The last look that so many opponents had seen. She raised her blaster hand, seeming to be aiming. Really, she wanted to see if he cared. Or what he would do.

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian didn't move a muscle as she raised the blaster to him. In stead he raised his other hand and began releasing bursts of the force at @Dalansa. One, two, three bursts he shot at her, the first designed to make her choose a side to run to, the second designed to make her jump out of the way and the third to come right down on the spot that she was about to land.

He had pinpoint accuracy with the force, but one could never be certain that what you implemented would, especially on an opponent, would come to fruition.

 

[Dalansa]

One thing became certain to Dalansa as she dodged to the left. There was no safeguard anymore. She kept moving, rolling away from the second blast, and getting clipped by the third as it sailed past. She spun, as it struck her hand and sent the blaster she had been holding spinning down into the street below. She continued to move forward, now drawing her saber. The pair of sapphire blades flashed out, and she moved forward, twirling the saberstaff.
[member="Christian Slade"]

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian watched carefully, those golden eyes not leaving her form for a moment as she quickly adjusted her footing after getting clipped by his last push. As she continued forwards, she began to twirl her blades, the vibrating sounds humming as she spun them.

For a time, he stood perfectly still on the edge of the landing platform. Soon, though, he glanced over his shoulder down at the small area of roof below the platform they were on and watched over the edge for a time. Ideas on how to approach the duel were flowing through his mind, but if one might have been watching him they might have thought differently as he had an emotionless, absent look on his face. He was always thinking and planning, though, and to think otherwise was to put yourself at a disadvantage.

Looking back up to Dalansa, Christian changed his tactic, squatting down just slightly as he took a broader stance while pulling both arms back against his sides, forearms snugly tucked against his ribs as he balled either of his hands into fists and bowed his head. "Ventus elementum invocabo...", he whispered as all of a sudden a vibrant, violet light rushed out from the cracks in his fists in all directions, and then as soon as it was born, it was gone.

The next moment Christian rose up from his stance to stand straight up again, though his legs remained spread. His arms shot forwards and his hands opened up, palms facing Dalansa, but there was nothing seen nor felt by the motion. The wind picked up violently, though, and rushed back and forth across [member="Dalansa"]'s form, pushing and pulling her, intending to pick her up and throw her, or at the very least, throw her off balance as she prepared to attack.

 

[Dalansa]

Seriously? He could control the winds at will?

She didn't know what to think. She struggled onwards, forcing herself to step closer, closer, to ignore the winds whipping by. She began to focus on something. A reason to get close. In her mind, she was no longer looking at [member="Christian Slade"]. He had changed. He was shorter now, but not by much. His face changed, his skin growing lighter until it was almost pale. His hair grew out until it reached his shoulders. In his hand now, was a whip. And a voice echoed in her mind. Her old master's voice. The one man she hated the most.

The jump between the two wasn't that hard, really. Both treated her the same, and both acted as superiors, although they say it differently. Both would act the same to her, and both had a habit of being rather... intimate with their hands at times. Although Slade was better. For now. Her saber seemed to slash the air in front of her, as if she was attempting to cut her way to him.

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian watched with interested golden eyes as the woman battled through the wind that picked up around them. He could see the determination in her face, that hatred starting to grow that she needed in order to become the Sith that she wanted and needed to be. As he watched her, it reminded him of the determination he showed himself once upon a time when he was young and alone, his only company a memory of his father trapped forever in a holocron.

"That's it...", Christian whispered as he pulled both hands to his side, clasped his palms together and locked his digits in place. As he did, his palms pushed against one another like magnets of the same polarity. He forced his hands together, though, the look on his face growing almost angry as he fought against himself, the purple light rushing out through every crack between his hands as the wind stopped rushing backwards and forwards past [member="Dalansa"] and started encircling Christian. When they did, the swelled, a vortex surging up from beneath Christian as if were going to pick him up and carry him away, but it did not.

As the winds whipped around the Sith Lord, they finally grew unstable. That was the exact moment that Christian raised his hands over his head and threw them down, into the metal ground of the platform beneath them, a large pothole bending inward as the winds burst from around him and rushed out in all directions around him.

 

[Dalansa]

As the winds stopped blasting her, she turned with a mix of curiosity and hatred. He was readying a blow. Only one thing came to her. Turn the blade off. And as she did, the blast moved, and although she jumped, the blast caught her feet, sending her rolling across the rooftop. The saber handle held close to her chest, and her head tucked in, she let herself continue on for another full rotation before pulling out. She wasn't focusing on the anger, the rage, but on reaching him now. It was there, boiling over, she wanted to scream at [member="Christian Slade"], to cut loose and tear at him. But she needed to get to him first. Stepping up to height, she glared at him. Her saber activated, and she charged once again.

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian smiled that cocky little smile at [member="Dalansa"] as she charged across the landing pad at him. As she did, he knew that saber was going to come full circle, but still he wasn't going to take out his saber unless he needed to. He never did, and he'd truly be able to gather some form of respect for the young woman if she could find a way to make him. A mere apprentice was going to have a hard time forcing him to resort to that, however.

Finally when she neared him, Christian darted from his place, a few long strides taking him right up on the woman. Instead of barreling into her though, Christian dropped to his knees and slid across the landing pad, his leg swinging out to sweep her feet mid stride.

 

[Dalansa]

As he came closer, Dalansa swung, her blade flashing high above him as he dropped. Instinctively, she moved sideways. Her responses were almost automatic now, years of combat engrained in her mind. Although she wanted to kill him, cut him up, she wasn't going to. Not now. Where did HE learn to fight, but the thought was lost as [member="Christian Slade"] made contact. Pain shot through her leg as his heel caught her knee. And he was back to himself. "Master?" She asked, her voice barely audible in the moment. She'd fought with a dislocated knee before. What ever had happened, she could probably carry on. Her vision was fringed with red. The saber in her hand, only one blade now, flashed downwards at him.

 

[Christian Slade]

Christian watched with the slightest hint of alarm on his face as she swung her blade down towards him while he was mid slide. Turning his shoulders and head, leaning them in towards [member="Dalansa"], Christian narrowly avoided the heat of her blade as it passed over his head. As he slid past the woman, he kicked his head back, flipping his long hair over his head and smoothing it back with one hand as he popped up from his knees to his feet, slowly standing to his full height as he looked across the landing pad at his apprentice.

"Good...", Christian whispered, watching the red begin to overtake her eyes. "There's the anger I've been searching for.", he said, turning and squaring off his shoulders at the girl while he raised both arms out as if waiting for her to embrace him. Instead, though, it was meant to taunt her as he took slow, calculated steps away from the woman intending to lead her on in the game of chase.

"Let's see what you've got when you add a dash of hatred, shall we? Hah ha ha!"