Peak A Boo

[Kyrinov]

Scintilla, Ivory Peak​

1623 Local Time​

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]​

​

It had been far too long since he last relaxed.

Truly relaxed.

Not drifting aimlessly in space, not off on some special mission all the way across the Galaxy, not training or learning with his nose stuck in the nooks and spine of tomes and scrolls and books. But, just taking time to sit and talk and live and just be. And truthfully, he needed to catch up with people. He wasn’t exactly the most social guy in the Galaxy. He did prefer his alone time.

But, there was one person he’d been dying to catch up with. An old mission partner from the Confederacy, one he unknowingly followed into the Agents of Chaos. He decided to send her a message. If her information was still the same, she’d get it soon enough.

He sat down and wrote within the air control tower with the Sphere.

< Dear Scherezade,

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? I know we worked together on a few missions in the CIS and again on Zosha and I enjoyed those operations a lot. I was wondering if you’d like to come by my home to catch up and get to know each other a bit better. I’m in Scintilla, my Sphere is black and blue, I don’t think you could miss it.

When you get here, your clearance code is CH405. I’ll meet you on the landing pad outside of the hangars.

Until later,
Kyrinov

END TRANSMISSION >

It was extremely short for a message, at least he thought so.
But, it would get his point across and that’s all that mattered. Now, he just had to wait for his guest to arrive.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="Kyrinov"]​

Scherezade had been, for a change, doing utterly nothing. After all the missions that required her to go spill blood, she'd decided to take the day off, and had been given it with blessings. Rather than remain cooped up in her ship, she'd taken Baal with her, and the two traveled around Eve. Though Eve was small compared to actual planets, the eighty kilometers it offered meant that there were still many gems unseen there by the Sithling, and she knew her Loth wolf loved every chance to stretch his legs. He would never admit it, and utterly refused to speak to her (or anyone who was not a child), but she saw the expressions on his face when he was out of the Scimitar-class ship. He could not fool her.

That day, they had traveled further from Eve's center than ever before, finding a large lake in the direction opposite of the sun. Fish swam inside of it, and Scherezade noted some growing weeds and water lilies that had surprised her to see there. While Baal ran around, barking and chasing butterflies, Scherezade went swimming. It was only later, when she'd exited the water, she noticed the little light on her commink that she'd left by the shore. Pressing it, the message sent to her by [member="Kyrinov"] played, and she smiled.

"Hey Baal," she said, turning to face the nearly 6 foot tall wolf that would forever be her puppy, "how about a trip to another sphere?"

Not an hour later, they were already speeding through the tunnels. These were days in which the Scintilla was relatively new, and while many tunnels existed to support many people, traffic was still not happening outside of the actual growing cities of the construct. Traveling from the inside though, was different from the out; for the most part though, it was because she couldn't rely on her eyes to see the sphere from the outside. But that mattered little; a few buttons, a few questions to people behind control rooms, and she knew which tunnels to take where.

Shortly thereafter, both she and Baal stepped down from the unicorn speeder, and punched the clearance code in.

She knew that Kyrinov had been among the first to have their own sphere constructed. Discordia, as well as other Heads and Firsts, had often encouraged the people of the Agents of Chaos to do that, but many were slow to take up on it. Her own sister, Madalena, had preferred an apartment in the city instead. Scherezade herself, so far had opted for nothing, still sleeping on her ship in the dockyard. And yet, some people had begun, and since Scherezade had not been involved in the construction of his sphere in any way, she had no idea what to expect.

But when the doors opened and she and Baal could see, her jaw almost dropped to the ground. It was…

"Beautiful…" Scherezade whispered, her glowing green eyes taking in the sight of the sky and the towers, the water, the colors… And for a moment, she forgot to take a step forward.

 

[Kyrinov]

Ivory Peak became a haven for the Epicanthix and his wolf companion, Anat. With its towering white spires and vast fields and flowing rivers and waterfalls, it was a bastion of rare and much needed safety. It was the one place where Kyrinov could relax, where the Galaxy did not present itself as the chaotic, war-ridden speck of the cosmos that it truly was. He did not see the world through a calculating and hypervigilant eye, he did not see it for a scramble for dominance and power that many organizations did. Not here. Inside of this sphere, inside of his home, there was only peace however temporary or arbitrary it may seem in the grander scale of galactic going-ons.

If he could, even momentarily, forget the machines of war, the churning of mechanics far larger than him, perhaps it would be here within the seclusion of the Peak. For reasons both personal and business, he forbid violence within his sphere. He’d made that much public knowledge within the repository of spheres that was maintained to organize what each sphere was and who it belonged to. He also listed that civilians were free to come and go as they please, however, the main structures would be off-limits.

Today, the Peak bustled with the citizens of Eve. They milled about the plazas between the main structures and the landing pads. Children ran about in the small parks and admiring parents watched from benches, some worked in the forge, others sat under verandas to escape the rays and warmth of the “sun” outside. A light breeze passed gently over his skin and the smell of wet earth filled his nose as he walked along the central path to the landing pad. Anat brushed his hand and he reached down to scratch behind a fluffy, black ear, offering her a soft smile.

He fondly remembered the day he explained to Valrayne what each of the paths diverging from the landing pads symbolized. The one which he just walked upon represented Moderation, a path of personal balance in all things. The left represented the Dark and the right stood for the Light. The design was deliberate, a reminder to himself about what was at stake. It was bittersweet, all things considered. But sweet nonetheless. Valrayne had been exceptionally surprised and awed that day by the Peak. He briefly wondered how Scherezade would react to her first sight of it, he’d made sure that details and schematics of the Peak’s Sphere were private. He loved surprises, especially if he was surprising a friend.

The door from the tunnels used to traverse spheres opened with a light signature hiss and he saw Scherezade quite clearly for the first time in ages, he actually struggled to maintain his composure. But, he gave a broad and genuine smile and walked towards her, giving a light laugh as he heard her speak softly. Though, for the most part, he laughed at the way she gaped at the sight of the Peak. Anat went ahead of him, curiously sniffing at the deWinter woman and her own wolf, quite friendly and openly intrigued only because Kyrinov did not see Scherezade and Baal as threats.

“Like what you see, Shery?” the man chuckled softly, hoping to gain his friend’s attention for the first time since she arrived.

Scherezade deWinter

​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Kyrinov​

She'd stood there like a duckling, her mouth literally open as she just stared. Of course, she's known that the tech and resources to create something like this existed, but that… That was entirely creative use of what they had and it worked out so perfectly well. The result was beyond what words could convey, and her open mouth turned into a wide grin.

Until he'd said Shery.

Scherezade looked as though someone had smacked her in the face, punched her, and then ran it through a cheese grater.

Her focus shifted, no longer looking at the sphere but now at her friend. Had she told him? She racked her brain, trying to remember. Did he know who Shery was, and what the name meant to Scherezade? A long long time ago, someone else had tried to call her that, and in return she'd nearly slit his throat.

But this was Kyrinov, not some random Mandalorian.

"No," she said softly before shaking her head, breaking the spell that had taken her over. Walking over to Anat, she pet the large Loth Hound, pressing her nose into the side of her head. Baal was next, and his familiar scent calmed her insides down. A little.

"Yes," she said then with a smile, ready to embrace her friend, "I mean yes, I like what I see. You've made Ivory Peak a wonder to behold. People will want to visit here when you get those brochures out."

Taking a sharp inhale, she let it out slowly. "Please, never call me by that name. That name belongs to a woman I've sworn to eliminate from all existences."

That was taken care of then… She gave him a knowing nod, and another smile. Next time… If there was a next time, she wouldn't battle her insides so hard. There'd be a knife, and someone's blood. Lots of it.

"Now," she smiled, "Will you show me around?"