Sigh No More [Soliael]

[Hazel Scheler]

Ivy blinked, hard, and shook her head. Last time this had worked to clear the haze, but this time it was no use. The Merc finally looked at the man where he stooped, her vision lagging behind the direction of her gaze. His image was fuzzy as her eyes struggled to focus and though she heard him speak the words sounded garbled.

She groaned, shook her head again and rubbed at her eyes with her free hand, "...what?"

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael stared at her for a few seconds, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. Was she having a stroke or something? For a split second Soliael narrowed his eyes. He had absolutely no clue what was up with her. For a few more seconds he pondered what the hell she was doing, his emotional state turning from powerful excitement to slight confusion. A few more seconds passed and then finally it hit him.

Could it be that his pheromones were rattling her brain about a bit too much? He had no idea if they could effect her this strongly, they had never done so to anyone before. He stared at her through squinted eyes, then realized that something else might be effecting her. Soliael was around powerful force users so often that he forgot about his other aura. His strength within the force constantly had him giving off an air of death, decay, and corruption.

From his pocket he fished out a small ring. The tiny little piece of metal was an artifact he had created to hide his force signature, something that would make the aura around him completely disappear...albeit at the cost of his own force powers.

Soliael slipped the small ring onto his middle finger, and almost instantly the world around him shrunk. He could no longer sense things. He could no longer hear things as well, and his vision faded ever so slightly. For a split second he felt dizzy, not used to the lack of the force surrounding him. He quickly recovered however and looked at her inquisitively. “Better?”

 

[Hazel Scheler]

The overwhelming aura of darkness vanished so suddenly it made the Merc gag. Ivy felt her stomach churn from the sudden change and pressed her fist to her lips, grimacing into it. The need to vomit had reached an all time high.

Eventually the need passed.

Brow furrowed, she dared to open her eyes again. Somehow she'd caught up with the world yet the haze still remained. A pleasant aroma continued to waft through like a lingering cologne.

Odd, she thought, considering all she had been able to smell earlier was the heat and fuel of the engines.

She met Soliael's eyes with a weary gaze, her own narrowing with bridled irritation. He was still here, afterall, and the chances of getting sleep were seeming less and less likely.

"Not nearly as much as I'd like," Ivy muttered back as she sat up and stowed her own journal back into her bag.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“Well that will change.” Soliael said with a smirk, knowing she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Perhaps she was beginning to think him mad, which quite honestly would not be the worst thing in the world. Slowly he moved the journal in front of her, the yellowed and blood covered pages were of course unreadable to her, but perhaps it would spark some hidden memory within her when he began to speak again.

Slowly he slid the journal into her lap, the excitement on his face clearly evident. “This journal belonged to someone nearly four thousand years ago. A man that had a very close encounter with one of your kind.”

Soliael had to explain himself as she would not be able to read the journal itself. He smiled, the pheromones still wafting off him in droves. It was of course because he might be able to learn more about this species, more than just the musing of a long dead Sith Lords.

“So I ask again. What do you know about your species history?” Soliael's tone was eager, almost pleading in a way as if a child asking for a cookie.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Frowning, Ivy looked down at the journal in her lap. Was it her eyesight or were those symbols rather impossible to read?

Grimacing for a second time, she rubbed once more at her head, "I'm going out on a limb here and guessing not as much as you, clearly." She wasn't ready for another story, not with her head swimming the way it was, but he was excited and obviously wanted to jabber at her about these things.

So long sleep, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Hopefully after a few minutes of the exposure to his pheromones Ivy would share his excitement about all of this, after all that was their purpose to make people more...amiable towards the Zeltrons wants and needs. Sometimes he wished that he could control their function, it would be incredibly handy to have full control over such an ability. He reminded himself to ask his mother about it in the future.

For now he gave her a simple look of annoyance at not answering his question, and decided instead to rephrase.

“I know little of your actual history.” Soliael said flatly, though with some difficulty since he still had to try and hide his excitement. “The journal in front of you was written by a man known as Darth Chratis.”

A Sith, she would love that.

“He was intensely powerful, especially when it came to tricks of the mind. He was an inquisitor for one of the Old Empires.” Soliael stopped for a second as if thinking.

Going into the history of the old Empires and what the inquisitors did likely was not a very good option here. Instead he decided to skip over that and move on. “Anywho, Chratis had a run in with one of your kind. Now keep in mind this man specialized in getting into peoples head, he was capable of doing so with other Sith Lords”

He stressed the words, trying to get the point across that it was a big deal. His excitement at this point reached a peak, and the pleasant smell of his pheromones seemed to change into something utterly divine, almost overwhelming.

“Yet, he was unable to break into an Epicanthix's mind.” He sounded excited now. “You're entire species is a strange genetic fluke. You're built to resist telepaths, and I want to know why, and how it happened.”

Why did Soliael want to know? Becuase If he could figure that out, then he could replicate it.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes...

Ivy had very, very little experience in dealing with the innate powers of a Zeltron halfling. She couldn't say she'd ever even met a Zeltron in her time, at least not to her knowledge. Yet despite what powers he had and couldn't not particularly control, what excitement there was to share was hard pressed to spring the otherwise sleep deprived woman into enthusiasm.

She felt her mind grow foggy as her eyes roved from the pages in her lap upwards, locking onto his gaze.

"You have..." she began, "such beautiful eyes..."

Woah nelly.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael instantly switched gears, it wasn't a very far leap for him, sex never was. The part of his heritage that made him produce pheromones and have an interesting effect on other people also had an incredibly interesting effect on him. To put it simply, Soliael couldn't resist a beautiful woman. Whether she be blonde, brunette, redhead, or even blue hair, if she was in anyway pretty it was pretty much a guarantee that he would try to bed them.

One could argue that it was not his fault, that it was the way his brain chemistry made him and that he couldn't help it. On the other hand you could also argue that he just used it as an excuse to get with pretty girls, but really who knows.

“I've been told this before.” Soliael said quietly, his voice almost seductively hush. Black specs floated across his iris' obscuring his vision for just a few seconds. The air within the room became less thick with excitement, and more something else. The air of the cargo-hold took on an almost sweet scent.

His smile became less of an excited child, and more charming confidence. Not smug, but as if he knew something that no one else did. "Would you like to get a closer look at them."

He breathed, his tone flat and easy.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

A somber expression took the Mercenary's face as she watched him. Slowly, quietly, the woman moved towards him. Gloved hands found his face and she peered at him for some time, searching those eyes of his. Looking, perhaps, for something with a strange sense of hope. Something she knew was not there to find.

"You remind me of someone I met on Garhall..." she said finally, shaking her head slightly, "you're nothing like him at all ... but there's just something about you I can't explain."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael let his shoulders rise very softly, not wanting to shake her out of her current trance. This was curious, she was obviously enamored with this person that she spoke of...though why Soliael reminded her of him he had no idea. Perhaps his pheromones were effecting her far more than they normally did with others, perhaps she had never been exposed to them at all. A slight smile crossed his face as he looked into her eyes, his own became obscured with thousands of black blotches flying across them.

“Never been there I'm afraid.” Soliaels voice was smooth, almost a hum in fact. His eyes seemed to give off a certain glow beneath the black specs and his skin seemed to shine. Pheromones really were a fantastic way of meeting women.

Slowly Soliael simply moved forward, and kissed the strange woman.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

In her right state of mind Ivy would have put the Vor'cha stick to use again. Drugged on his pheremones, however, it was a different story. The kiss brought an odd surge of emotion to the surface which she held back with a pained expression, her hands pressing around his face enough to break the contact between them. She held him at bay, internally reckoning with the remnants of anger and disgust that had momentarily flared up.

But Ivy was only human, and one that dearly missed the sensation of positive touch. Her hands loosed their hold, brushing past his ears to ensnare the back of his head, she leaned to kiss him back.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael pushed into her and nearly pulled her from her place on the cargo pods. There was something about his manner that was harsh, but almost gentle. It was a strange combination to be quite truthfully, but somehow the Sith made it work. His grasp was firm, but gentle. He kissed her, and with his left hand began to strip her of her armor. It was a long and difficult process given that it was a hundred separate plates on a body suit. Really this was not the sexiest attire.

The Sith Lord however had experience in stripping down women who wore armor and in no time at all Ivy would find herself in nothing but a black body suit.

He kissed her, hard, pulling her to himself as he did so and pressing her against his chest. Scattered plates of armor went flying across the floor of the cargo bay as he kicked them away from himself and her. The air was almost unbreathably thick with pheromones and he began to kiss her neck.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Later on...


Ivy sat with her back to Neth, pulling the pieces of her body suit on. Pale skin gleaming with drying sweat in the dull light of the cargo hold, the scars litering her hide were now more apparent than ever. She worked in a cold silence, going about the routine of methodically suiting up. It was slow work but only for the reason that she hadn't anywhere pressing to be and for the fact that focusing on something helped her maintain ... mental balance. Now that the pheremones had run their course, Ivy was thinking clearly again.

What she was thinking wasn't exactly positive or motivational either.

She did not look at Neth but seemed to stew in a growing bitterness at nothing in particular. All this idle time had her getting cabin fever.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael didn't say anything either, instead he simply layed on the cold metal of the cargo containers. This was probably one of the least odd places he had made love to a woman, and that thought drifted across his mind as he looked at Ivy getting dressed again. He frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. Her emotional coldness didn't bother him in the least, in fact it was a welcome reprieve from the absolute worship he received from other women.

He observed her for quite some time, his orange eyes shifting and changing several time as the black specs floated across them. He noticed them himself now, each time they appeared they blinded him slightly. Soliael did not concern themselves with them, he knew there was nothing he could do.

“Curiosity does interesting things doesn't it?” It sounded far more a taunt than it was actually meant to. Soliael did not mean to rub anything in, but it was the thought that occurred to him.

He looked at her putting his armor on, and he felt a slight hint of envy for her. She was something else, she was something not tied down, something free. It was something that Soliael would likely never be. He was tied down by responsibilities. By the expectations of billions. By the expectations of his family, and even the darkside itself. He frowned slightly, and then a shiver fell down his spine as though the thought had a curse upon it.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

There came a despondent sigh from the woman. Her movements stopped as she stared at the floor, hunched over the pile of allotted armor pieces. From her neck dangled the only piece of jewelry she owned: a leather cord from which a small red stone carved in a jigsaw shape hung. The stone swung gently to and fro like the pendulum of a clock while all those unspoken thoughts slowly wound, like clockwork, through her mind.

After a moment she seemed to come to the conclusion that what Neth said had been rhetorical and required no further response. She continued about her work and slowly threaded her arm into a form-fitting black sleeve and pulled the material up over her shoulder, covering up what appeared to be numerous bite-mark scars.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Their proximity allowed even the half blind Sith to notice the strange scars that dotted Ivy's neck and back. He smiled slightly as a realization dawned on him about what they were and how they had probably gotten there. Soliael had seen those very same marks before on dozens of different people left by both his Mother and His Oma. Soliael himself had never had the need to feed, but on occasion when there had been a lackof blodwyne on hand he had witnessed both of the matriarchs feed. Albeit on his Oma's part it had been an incredibly rare sight.

Still he remembered it well, and the scars they had left were even more distinct. He frowned slightly as he pondered the meaning of this. She had most assuredly been around a Garhoon, and the amount of the bites and their location suggested it had been either willing...or forced several times.

He doubted that Ivy would let herself be caught by a Garhoon for too long, so he decided that she had likely been...involved with one of his kin in the past. He smiled slightly, and placed his hands behind his back, a satisfied smirk crossing his face. “So you have a thing for Garhoon huh?”

Soliael asked the question, fully expecting to be smacked.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Another pause, this time Ivy gave a fleeting glance back at the man. She didn't seem terribly off-put by this, though admittedly he was the first bedmate ever to guess correctly. Everyone asked about the scars, no one really knew about them, though.

"My husband," she replied simply, "was a Garhoon."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael smiled, so that was it. Husband, interesting. His next question would have been about her apparent infidelity, but the caught the word was in her short retort to him. That either meant that he was dead, missing, or she hadn't quite gotten the idea of divorce just yet. Slowly the Sith lord sat up from his laid back posture, placing his arms in his own lap and causing the small blanket he had randomly found to drop off his chest.

Doing so revealed Soliaels completely blank flesh. He was incredibly muscular and tone, and unlike Ivy had absolutely no scars to speak of. If ever there had been a perfect skin to make a coat out of, it would've been Soliaels.

“I met a Garhoon once.” That was an understatement. “They can be quite...hostile.”

Soliael didn't feel the need to mention that he was Garhoon, that he was in fact descendent from perhaps the greatest Garhoon blood line. He doubted that he and her husband shared any sort of connection, after all it was a big species.

But like before Soliael couldn't help himself from digging, and the subtle dance began once again in his mind.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

A brow lofted faintly at this, bemusement apparent on her face now. "You don't say," the woman gave a snort and turned back to her business, fishing her other arm in through the second sleeve. Adjusting the skin-tight material she zipped the front enough to cover her breasts but left it open enough for air. The cargo hold wasn't particularly cool - this she blamed on its proximity to the ship's engines.

Ivy picked up the nearest piece of armor and slowly began to pull them on, locking the pieces into place. She kept back to her silence again. The subject of her husband wasn't one she talked about.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“I am curious.” Soliael said now beginning to inspect his arms and upper shoulders, as if searching for something. “How does an Epicanthix run into a Garhoon.”

He decided to skip asking what happened to them, he could find out later. For now he assumed that the man had died in some battle or fight. Ivy was clearly a mercenary of some sort, and he would think any permanent mate of hers would have to be in the same line of work. If he assumed this to be the truth then he also had to assume that the Garhoon she had married would have to be of Lesser Blood.

None of the High Bloods would stoop to something so low as mercenary work...or at least none that he knew of. Of course that in it of itself opened a wide range of possibilities. With that all being said...or thought however, Soliael still knew that Garhoons were not at all common in the galaxy. Even before the gulag plague his Mother and Oma had practically been the only ones around for a long while. Now their numbers were even fewer.

If one added together the rarity of his own people, and that of Ivy's...well lets just say Soliael wasn't one to believe in cosmic coincidences.