Regret is a Most Terrible Feeling (Kaeshana/Invite)

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien had been alone, sleeping blissfully in her bed in the villa. She'd been on a completely separate schedule from the rest of the household of late. It all had to do with a project she was working on for Firemane and the time differences between distant worlds, required her to sleep when the others were awake.

In her dreams, all tangled in the sheets she lay as Siobhan peered out from beneath the covers and came to join her at her side. More than happily, the former Inquisitor snuggled right against the woman and breathed a contented sigh. Something in that sweet moment had been so prefect, so comforting to Mirien's soul. For a woman who had known seldom few nights where she could even remain asleep without being startled awake and grabbing a weapon for fear of something happening to her, nights like this could not have been more welcome.

It was then that everything suddenly changed. Mirien felt a most powerful pull upon her body. And everything went dark as she tried to scream out. There was a sensation of falling, tumbling and still she cried out as she came to a halt against large stones near a river. Except there was a distinct feeling that she did not belong here. Nothing about the place seemed right as she took a moment to get her bearings.

Her gaze fell to the river at the bottom of the ravine. Instantly she felt like her heart had stopped and body grew cold. Ice cold. She'd seen this place once before when she was on the cusp of death. "Oh feth no. I am not dead." Sighing, she pulled her nightgown tighter around her shoulders, "It was such a good dream too...." So much for that plan....

[member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Valiens Nantaris"] | [member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Phylis Alince"]


The location...a rather morbid basement on some remote planet. "You're so sweaty...sweet and delicious. Such a nice girl," Naamah purred like a cat as she licked across the blood-stained cheek of a young human woman who was trembling with fear, though she was utterly helpless and unable to resist, being tied to a chair. Naamah was...very good at restraining people and the force collar kept the girl from being able to call upon the Force, though she could not have matched the Clawdite anyway.



"Please...let me...go...," by now the will of the brown-haired girl, who had been one of many young Jedi Padawans cut off and left adrift amidst the collapse of the Republic against the One Sith onslaught, had been all but broken and tears were dripping down her face. Various cuts and scars marred her body. Wounds inflicted with scalpels, razors, small knives, ice, along with burn marks caused by the creative application of a lighter. However, Naamah knew just when to apply pressure, when to soothe and when to let it be. Torture was a thing she knew well, but then she had been taught by the best. For a long time the girl had simply been left to rot in a tiny cell in chains, forced to stand for hours on end. Sometimes such a way of doing things was better than brute force.


"I like it when you beg. It's music to my ears, sweetie," Naamah continued, stroking the girl's hair. "You're sweeter than your boyfriend. He was...bitter. But that's just the way I like my meat. He tasted well with some ketchup and potatoes. I'll let you eat the rests," Her madness became apparent not just in her words, but also in the calm, almost melodious quality of her voice.


As for the girl's friend, also a young Padawa, what was left of him could be found on a plate from which Naamah had just been feasting on. Rage began to manifest inside her captive, directed against the vile, sadistc and probably insane she-demon that was treating her like a piece of meat. "You sick queen I hate you! You're a...monster," and with that the girl spat at Naamah and then even managed to bite her in the hand, before she suddenly felt unbearable agony surge through her body and felt like she was drowning as the Clawdite exerted pressure upon her lungs.


Finally, just when she was on the brink, Naamah withdrew, licking the blood from her hand. "You're right, dear. I am! And I take pride in it, unlike all these 'dark is not evil' twits. Or those 'I'm using the dark side to bring order' hipster morons! But I think we need to go over ground rules again and teach you some discipline," she took a step back and raised her hand, orange tendrils of darkside energy leaping from her being to engulf the girl. The Padawann shook and cried out in extreme pain as Naamah exerted her will to drain her very life force.


Over the screams of the poor Padawan, Naamah giggled like a schoolgirl. "Would you like me to look like him?" she asked rhetorically as she briefly closed her eyes. The morphing into the girl's friend was already beginning when she suddenly felt a powerful pull upon her body. Everything around her went dark as she tried to cry out, but her screams were to no avail. It felt like she was falling, descending from one high until she suddeny came to a halt upon powerful stones near a river. Slowly getting to her feet with a groan she looked around, trying to place where she was. Somehohow she could not shake off a strong feeling of wrongness, the certainty that this was not her world....or was it. Her reptilian eyes fell to the river. Naamah...smiled. "I knew it. I just knew it."

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Mirien Valdier"] | [member="Naamah Aesham"]

“No, no, no, no!” Phylis said grumpily. “This one goes here, this one goes there.”
Six-Nine tooted something indignant.
“I’m aware of that, but people don’t always make sense. Sometimes things aren’t how you expect them.”
A snarky warble prompted her to give the droid a light smack on the dome.
“None of that! Now, hold it still!”
The item had once been of small value to someone, but to her was priceless. It was ironic in a way, the things most important at the time gave the archaeologist the least interest, whilst things thrown away gave the greatest insight.
And here it was…a receipt from Dexter’s Diner, Coruscant, around 22BBY signed by one Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Phylis sighed and went to go get her notes when it happened.

Suddenly there was intense pressure, a feeling of movement, and she ended up in an icy cold river.
Spluttering, she got to her feet and shook off the water from her robes, heading to the bank of the stream and sniffing in disapproval.
“Oh…poot,” she said mournfully. Suddenly her cozy den and receipts from past heroes seemed very, very far away.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien was watching as she saw someone else tumble down the slope and to the waters below. For a moment, she only watched before she started to make her way down the steep slope. Though she stopped at the banks edge, unable to ignore the eerie feelings that came hand in hand with the place.

"Are you alright?" She asked, reaching a hand out to help the wayward Jedi along. At least she wasn't utterly alone in this miserable place. Though, she really wished she had something more to cover her body with than a thin satin nightgown, but alas one didn't exactly plan for these sort of things to happen. They just sort of did.

[member="Phylis Alince"]

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Someone was waiting on the other side for Naamah. She just wasn't aware of it just yet. Walking down the steep slope, he came to a stop a few few away only watching Naamah for a moment or two, taking in her beauty. For she was a most glorious specimen. Someone he'd certainly like to keep for all of eternity.

"You know, you are more beautiful than I recalled the last time I set eyes upon you." He gave a small pause, "I suppose seeing would be a relative term since I held no physical form the last time we were together, but I just knew, your mind was a most glorious creation of pure evil, beautiful, beautiful evil."

A smirk danced upon his lips, and for a moment he did wonder if she would remember him, know him from the last time he touched her mind. "There has been much distance between us, and today distance is a thing of the past." With that he stepped forward grabbing Naamah firmly and forcefully, pressed his lips to hers. After a moment, once he'd tasted her he would release her, "You do remember, don't you?" Asked curiously wondering if she'd put it all together just yet.

[member="Naamah Aesham"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Coryth Elaris"]


Everything was perfect. Just the way the spirits of Chaos had whispered into her mind. Just as...no, actually it was better than that. The shape of darkness spoke words her...each and every one of them just brought forth a surge of excitement inside her. But words were not needed after what they had shared, while he was still lacking a physical form and entrapped in a Sith artefact.


Oh, yes, this was a lot better. Naamah could not resist the urge to girlishly giggle when the spirit of evil grabbed forcefully and kissed her firmly on her blood-stained lips. She definitely liked the forceful part and so she smashed their lips together, pulling him into a heated kiss that was bound to leave a bruise, though she cared not, while her arms wrapped around him. "I knew it...I knew it. Just like the voices told me. I must say...I like this body. So many things I can't wait to do to it," she purred happily, while she pressed herself against his strong body. "We are together at last...and have a hell-sized playground just for ourselves."

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]
Phylis was trying to wring water out of her robe when a semi-familiar figure appeared and offered her a hand.
She peered at the other woman, who seemed to be wearing a thin nightie.
“Ah, yes, thank you. Hmm, I know you! You’re…uhh…” she waved a hand vaguely. “Myrtle? Mara? Mirian? Mirien! Mirien Valdier! I remember now, Siobhan’s friend.”
She looked a bit suspicious. She knew the other woman had been doing vaguely dangerous and generic ‘dark things’, but what they were was a mystery.

“So…where are we?” A researcher at heart, she knelt down and examined the sand, then held out her hand. “Hmm, lack of Force sensitivity, unreal terrain, unexplained arrival. Netherworld? Hmm, yes, must be. However, I’m not dead, I know this…unexplained phenomena. Not your doing, I take it, Mirien?”

 

[Mirien Valdier]

Mirien almost laughed, almost as Phylis searched for her name. "Yes, Mirien." She said thinking through her reports and who this most likely fit of Siobhan's associates. "You must be Phylis." There could only be one after all.

With a sigh she pulled her nightgown tighter around her body, "Truthfully? I have no fething clue. But if I had to guess Netherworld." Her eyes drifted to the river thinking through the lore, "Possibly the River of the Dead, given the location and what I've seen so far. Though, there is no knowing really. People who are living don't exactly walk this place." She sighed softly, "No, no noooo... Definitely not my doing. I may have a dark streak but some things are even too evil for the likes of me. And this most assuredly counts in that realm of things I'd not touch ... ever. "

"Last I checked I wasn't dead either." Slowly she glanced around them, "We might as well start walking. Ain't no telling where we are, but maybe we can find a way out, or someone to guide us. No sense just standing here."

[member="Phylis Alince"]

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]
[member="Mirien Valdier"]

“Yes, I am Phylis…Jedi Master,” she added, as if the brown robe and lightsabre wasn’t proof enough.

“Hmm, I agree with you about the River of the Dead. Did you read Zoleer’s work on the Netherworld? No? Hmm, very interesting. Not a Jedi of course, so I take his findings with a critical eye, but he was able to project himself into the Netherworld briefly and present a map of its different areas. Of course, it’s not a topographic map as we might understand it, but a psychic flow diagram, as this is mostly projection. Naturally, Zoleer’s work came under criticism from…”
She trailed off. Who else would spout exposition about centuries old material whilst standing by a river of death in hell.

“Hmmph, well, sorry.” Taking off her outer robe she passed it to Mirien. She still had three layers on though so this wasn’t the sexy striptease Siobhan might have hoped for.
“Here, you must be cold. I’m afraid I have no shoes or such for you to wear,” she added. Even if she was a bit vague she always tried to do the right thing.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

"Jedi, right. Forgive me, but uh ... I've not exactly mixed with lightsiders often. Little too ... too tainted a life I suppose." It was complicated, very complicated and within her mind, she was far from a good person. So far from the Jedi Master before her.
Mirien nodded, the place certainly seemed creepy enough to be just that. "No, I'm afraid not. I'm no scholar my dear. My job is intelliengce, reasons I know details like that." She said with a shrug.

A soft smile crossed her lips, "Thank you. I didn't exactly plan for this trip, was in bed dreaming before all of this." She pulled the Jedi robe tight around her, happy for the warmth it brought as well as the coverage of her body. Here she didn't like being so exposed, feeling so naked.

"So the question is ... Where do we go from here? And how the hell do we get out?" Those were the questions she wondered. Even around them she couldn't help but sense that they were not alone. Hush whispers surrounded the river and for a moment she did wonder if it was other souls like Phylis and she, or the dead. "And I do not believe that we are entirely alone. So do be careful." Right now, she really wished she'd kept her saber on her. But alas it lay still under her pillow in the Villa.

[member="Phylis Alince"]