Private Slip

[Rinea]

Kaila Irons was invited to another rendezvous aboard the corvette.

Usually, this happened in Deep Space, but this time, the corvette floated at the edge of the Union Fleet, which gathered and revitalized over Rothana. Perhaps near enough to be uncomfortable, but far enough that the stealth courier would remain hidden. The little droid once again led the Sith to the training room.

Rinea walked among the stars, naked to the vacuum. She saw the glint of Rothana against the light of the nearby star. Her fleet floated like little shadows that felt small enough to fit in her palm. Her gaze scanned the expanse, from the glimmering sight of the galactic center, to the distant lights of faraway galaxies past the arm. In the corner of her eye, she spotted the fiery glow of a comet that began to burn up as it approached the star.

The door to the training room opened, and Kaila found the Chiss in a state of deep meditation on the floor. Rinea's startled red eyes opened as soon as she entered. For a moment, the officer saw the comet's flames wrapped around the Sith.

Her lips danced between half a frown and less of a smile. "It is good to see you."

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Things had been different since the assassination.

It felt to Kaila as though they'd been all business and war since then, no personal time what with Rothana and all. It made her think her think back to the look on Rinea's face as she issued that... request, and now she couldn't help wondering if that had something to do with this.

She paused her step at the door, trying to shake the thought, refusing to open until she'd taken a deep breath.

Then she stepped through with that familiar, heavy gait, although her movements were cautious. Her head was canted to one side, watching the chiss meditate for only a brief moment.

Her lips danced between half a frown and less of a smile. "It is good to see you."

"Likewise." a smile, though genuine, ghosted her lips.

Still, concern was evident in her freckled features as she approached, examining the woman's expression.

"Are you... alright?"

 

[Rinea]

"Am I that easy to read now?" Rinea forced a smirk.

The little droid turned around and departed. The door closed behind Kaila.

She slowly rose to her feet, though she walked with a weaker posture than usual. "What do you know about the Chiss and our force-sensitivity?" She asked.

The officer lifted the lid from a box that exuded steam. She plucked out a moist, hot towel and ran it gently across her face and neck.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

"Perhaps I'm just getting better."

Rinea's weakened state soon stole the humor from her breath, reminding her just a little of that moment on Talay, and subsequent recovery aboard her ship. She instinctively reached, leaning almost unnoticeably forward, though her gloved hand never fully left her side.

She slowly rose to her feet, though she walked with a weaker posture than usual. "What do you know about the Chiss and our force-sensitivity?"

The slow frown of realization took her features.

"I'm told it fades with time."

She glanced away, wondering what this meant for the fleet. The command structure was still lost on her, but the young Darth knew Rinea was too good and too clever not to play a valuable role in their survival. An irreplaceable role, perhaps.

Or perhaps she'd developed a bias without realizing.

"...how long?"

 

[Rinea]

"Clever Sith," she replied. Rinea pressed her hand against Kaila's shoulder. "I can walk on my own."

She released her touch and placed a hand on each hip. "Not long," she answered. "Typically, these gifts manifest in childhood and disappear in our late teens." Rinea paced the room as she talked. Found it always helped her think faster when she moved.

"Where I'm from," she said as if she needed to be coy about it, "the Union had a program... Let's call it educated matchmaking mixed with genetic tailoring, to create a new generation of Chiss whose gifts are more potent and last longer. I am a second-generation. My Sight was anticipated to decline at 25, I have exceeded that now by four years... Though such things must come to an end, it seems."

There was sadness in her voice. She stopped pacing and turned to face Kaila directly. Her gaze was ever defiant, but it only served to betray the vulnerability she felt. "I... I need to know if it is possible to extend my Sight. I need to find a way. I need your help... again."

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

The chiss had never been the most expressive in the time she'd known her.

For her voice to do that, the implications were heartbreaking.

The fact Rinea had exceeded expectations for so long, beyond even her natural brethren, it was impressive to Sith. And yet she was about to lose it all, Kaila couldn't even imagine what she'd do in her shoes.

Trapped on the tides of fate with no way to resist.

"I've been severed before, if only temporarily. It's..."

"Bodr'ine'ako, I'm so sorry."

"I... I need to know if it is possible to extend my Sight. I need to find a way. I need your help... again."

"I..."

Kaila could not look her in the eye for long.

She ran a hand through over her scalp, through golden curls.

But the longer she stayed there, the more narrowed eyes began to dart at the floor, so many thoughts behind them. She was a quick thinker, always had been, already forming plans and weighing risks in a process of elimination.

But the answers were far from comforting.

"...my master could bring out the force in ordinary folk, but his help would mean slavery or a death sentence to us both."

"Bota injections would be a temporary solution, and finding an unmutated sample from the clone wars would be..."

Kaila sighed worriedly.

Suddenly she blinked, looking up at Rinea.

"No, no there is a way I think."

"A ritual, one I've used myself, perhaps with some tweaks we could manage?"

But would the chiss disapprove?

"It is a dark power. a Sith power."

 

[Rinea]

The thought of Kaila's master... Did she mean the Emperor? The two never got around to having that conversation--not yet. Though Rinea didn't pry. She listened as the Sith listed off a series of options. The mention of 'bota' did not ring a bell in the Chiss' ears. Neither did this 'Clone Wars', but that was a matter for a different time.

Did clone armies clash once upon a time here? Okay, she thought about it a little. It was fascinating.

Then, Kaila's tone changed. What she suggested next sounded ominous.

"It is a dark power. a Sith power."

Her heart sank at the word Sith. As far as she was aware, the Cipheurm never had some secret means of manipulating the Force. Augmentations? Sure, but those were physical. Exceptional training? Again, not something that could make the impossible possible.

She was skeptical of Kaila's words to say the least. "What power?" She asked coldly. Unable to make eye contact as she did.

As soon as the words slipped from her tongue, the officer wondered if she had already crossed a threshold. She didn't need her Sight, did she? It wasn't going to kill her if she lost it. She would manage just find. She had talents that even the greatest Cipherum-Masters lacked, without the Force. Yet...

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Kaila had issued warning, but despite Rinea's hesitance, there was more to that question.

It stirred something sick in her. The part of her that no only wanted to help, but the part that wanted to punish the force. To spread the dark side until at last the light was choked from this world once and for all.

Rinea had crossed a threshold.

And Anathemous was delighted.

"They call it Force Walking."

Her approach was slow, predatory.

"A ritual, perfected by Darth Nox, thousands of years ago."

She was no longer breaking eye contact.

"Darth Moridin pioneered it's true potential, brought whole worlds to heel."

Unblinking.

"But it was killing him, which means I have found a way to push the boundaries my predecessors could not."

Her lips curled proudly, and having alluded to her expertise, that Rinea would be in safe hands, she stopped before her. One hand held in a closed fist behind her back, the other aloft in a gesture towards empty air, at pieces of the puzzle only she could see.

"We will need a Sith spirit, or that of another powerful force sensitive."

"I will teach you to bind it, shackle it's will, and powers, to your own."


"Your will must be stronger, or it shall destroy you." she raised her finger in warning.

While Anathemous certainly wanted to corrupt this woman, the whole of the force, it needed to be her choice.

An educated choice.

"I do not know for certain if you will retain the spirit when your time runs out."

"But if you do, I suspect you will be more powerful than you've ever been."

 

[Rinea]

Rinea practically reeled in disgust at what Kaila described. It wasn't so much the risk, it was the casual delivery, and the expectations of 'domination' and 'pushing boundaries.' The push and pull between life and death, ever hanging in the balance.

You certainly talk like a Sith. She wanted to spit back. Instead, she held her tongue. Clenched her fist. Stood there and thought.

The worst part?

"I do not know for certain if you will retain the spirit when your time runs out."

"But if you do, I suspect you will be more powerful than you've ever been."

A maybe, followed by a grand proclamation. What she heard--'you'll be more powerful than ever... if it works.' A big karking if. At the same time, she felt closer than ever before to an answer. Rinea knew this was coming for a long time. She resigned herself to the possibility, but when she started experiencing the signs...

Vivid dreams. A sudden surge in potential. She knew. She knew that her time was upon her and that eventually those powers would be gone for good. It was always described as such: 'You'll know you're about to lose it when you're at the highest peak.' It was expected that her power would soar to its grandest heights the moments before it was lost forever.

She sighed and dipped her chin low. She still could not maintain eye contact. "I don't like the way you talk..." There was fear and disappointment in her tone. "It feels... gross."

She finally looked up at her. "As does your clear desire to see this happen." It was a guess, but it wasn't as if Kaila tried to hide her emotions well.

Yet... Rinea never said no.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Anathemous sighed slowly.

Maybe it was gross, she didn't know anymore, wasn't sure how to act outside the Blackwall.

Her mission, her obsession, could not come between her and Rinea, but neither could she allow fate to bend her to it's whims. How the hell was she supposed to help someone who didn't want her help?

She closed her eyes a moment.

"I knew a woman, once..."

Maybe she couldn't reveal the scope of her plans yet, but she could communicate the emotional significance.

Her eyes opened in a thin, sidelong stare at the floor beside her.

"Leven. We were... fond of one another, I think. She showed me that I could be more than my master's apprentice."

In that one small ways, she reminded her of someone, now that she thought about it.

"When I was called to defend Echnos from the Jedi, she was deployed to nearby Dorvalla."

"I saw her death in a vision."


"...It came true..."

Kaila looked to her again, frowning. Not only for her sake.

"I need strong allies, Bodr'ine'ako. because I'm tired of losing them."

 

[Rinea]

She crossed her arms as Kaila told her tale. Listened intently, but the skepticism lingered.

It didn't help that this story appeared all too unrelated to the subject at hand. She felt a pause at the mention of this tragic consequence of Kaila's vision. At first, it seemed like venting, maybe a confession of guilt. Did the Sith hold herself responsible, somehow? Then came the declaration--it caught her more off-guard than the conversation itself.

"I need strong allies, Bodr'ine'ako. because I'm tired of losing them."

Whatever the source of Rinea's emotional friction, it bubbled up to the surface. "Was Leven not strong enough?" She twisted Kaila's words. "You?"

Rinea glared at her. "Do your perceptions fool you about everyone you care for? Because I don't see how this has anything to do with my situation." Her hand reached up to cover her own mouth. Whatever she prevented herself from saying, it stung.

When it lowered again, Rinea merely sighed and looked at Kaila with sullen eyes.

"Listen... I--" She felt her tongue twist already. Cleared her throat. "I'm not unsympathetic to your experiences, I just..." Rinea placed a gentle hand on Kaila's arm. "I'm sorry." Her hand slid away, and she took a seat on the padded floor.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Kaila flinched.

The chiss was right of course, in her own way, that way she hated so much but respected somehow.

She crossed her arms and looked away, pushing her tongue to her inner lip. It stung. To this very day it still stung and she hadn't the faintest idea what to do about it.

Rinea's touch was almost comforting, but the woman's mind was trudging through old memories and plans.

"Me." she finally confessed, voice small.

"I wasn't there, I couldn't-"

Kaila sat down, padding sinking, the floor vibrating beneath the impact of her implant. She brought her knees in close, still staring at something only she could see.

"I am here, this time."

A glance was spared, lasting only moments before her eyes dropped to the floor again.

"Maybe losing one's connection to the force isn't life and death in of itself, but it's not something I'd wish upon anyone in this galaxy."

"...well..." maybe there was one.

She shook the thought away, gesturing towards her.

"Point being I have the means to do something."

"I'm not too late."

 

[Rinea]

Rinea stared directly into Kaila's golden eyes.

She leaned forward a little and spoke with sudden resolve. "I do not lose." Leaned closer still. "My power is not my life, and neither of them is your justification to exist."

Until their noses almost touched, eyes still aligned; unblinking. "I see you... On a tiny rock, sinking into a sea of blood. It is your despair, and most of all, you see yourself cornered by one choice. Drown."

Her voice reduced to a whisper. "So... Drink! Drink your lungs full, refuse to cough it back out." She exhaled on Kaila's lips, then leaned back.

Rinea's voice shifted with a hint of acceptance. "I feel better talking about it.... Perhaps there will be a solution for my problem, but I realize it was a mistake to ask you to fix me..."

She sighed and offered a bittersweet smile. "Spill your guts to me, Kaila. You need my help, and I want to help." Intentions twisted.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Justification to exist.

Something about those words set her nerves afire just under the skin.

She saw crimson in the corner of her eye, slowly turning to face it. Rinea came so close as to still her breath, overbearing. Her head tilted back, lips pursed. The intelligence officer had a way of making invasion feel like invitation.

"So... Drink! Drink your lungs full, refuse to cough it back out." She exhaled on Kaila's lips, then leaned back.

"I..."

She did not breathe, not until the chiss pulled away.

The young Sith blinked and looked away, so many conflicting thoughts in that blonde head of hers. Her desire to help, her instincts screaming at her not to run from Rinea. Her sense of failure at odds with the arrogant pride in all that she had achieved and overcome.

Spat on by the outside.

A mistake.

Her frown thinned into something more controlled, features steeled in that unreadable way she'd always worn around her own kind, around those from whom she must hide all.

She shifted her weight onto one knee, about to stand.

"This was never supposed to be about me. You gave me reason to justify myself, so I did."

A grunt as she pushed herself up.

"You can't help me."

 

[Rinea]

Rinea grabbed her arm and used it to pull herself back up, whether or not Kaila approved. The Sith had firm feet, this much she knew already. She wouldn't allow her to separate so suddenly. The Chiss closed into that space, the hand on her arm slid up to wrap around Kaila's shoulder.

"I've been open with you from the start," she led with. "I know I haven't exactly prioritized you... I've used you as a weapon twice now."

She wanted to frown, but stopped herself. The officer was conflicted. Was that a genuine urge, or just an attempt to be familiar? Her other hand wrapped firmly around Kaila's side. Rinea made sure the only way Kaila would break eye contact was either by closing them or turning her head away.

"I'll use you again, I know that... But I mean it, Kaila--I do not lose." There was that same fiery conviction as when she said it before.

"I can help you... I can give you what you want," and next she muttered softly. It was only at this point that her red eyes lowered. "You can help me, too. I will trust you with that choice. You can decide what happens, who you want to be, who you need me to be."

The Chiss eyed the Sith's lightsaber. She wrapped her fingers around it so gently, leaned in until there was barely any space between them, and pointed the emitter at her own gut. "Or... You can let Anathemous decide to be done with this. Free yourself from me and walk away."

Her red eyes flicked up again, and her face was nigh unreadable.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Few were allowed to touch her in moments like these, and live.

Kaila was unsure whether to embrace her or push her away, and so did neither. She just stood there while the chiss coiled around her, forced her to look, to put herself on display. Slowly her features loosened, not relaxed, just in acceptance of truth she'd not wanted to confront since Talay.

"I'll use you again, I know that... But I mean it, Kaila--I do not lose." There was that same fiery conviction as when she said it before.

Her eyes sank closed.

It was a more honest statement than most would give her, she supposed.

And yet deception infected the air between them. She didn't notice at first, the way blue fingers snaked over her hip, wrapped around her saber. Despite the tension, Rinea had cultivated enough trust in Kaila that she was not so physically guarded in her presence as she'd once been.

Warm breath shot through her lips as she glanced down.

"Or... You can let Anathemous decide to be done with this. Free yourself from me and walk away."

Her red eyes flicked up again, and her face was nigh unreadable.

Her heart beat hard in her chest as she pulled the chiss that final inch, enough to feel through her robes. Gloved fingers hooked splayed across her back, chin atop her shoulder. Her lips twitched into something not quite a smile and not exactly a scowl as she began to grip the saber tightly.

"...I know what you're doing..." she whispered.

It would have been so easy.

But she wasn't that person anymore. With a strong hand she ripped the saber away, sending it skittering across the floor.

"All or nothing? All of me, all to yourself, right? Do you need a weapon so badly that if you cannot have it, you'd end it all?"

"Or is this all an act because you know I can no longer follow through, hm?"

Her jaw tightened in the crook of Rinea's neck, so too did her grip.


"...you remind me of so many Sith..." she breathed.

 

[Rinea]

"It's more simple than that," she whispered.

"It's all acts and consequences." Her fingers ran up Kaila's back until they rested on the back of her neck.

She pulled out of the grip, gently, slowly. A nudge to allow Kaila to be the last to let go. The hand on her neck slid to her shoulder. Rinea's expression and tone were softer. The muscles in her cheeks were not so tense, her jaw was loose, but her eyes held that stubborn intensity.

"I am yours to use, too. You need to flip the axis of what you expect. Our vulnerability is our most lethal weapon." That last part hinted at Rinea's past experiences.

She leaned into it--it felt appropriate. "We connect with the world around us, we allow ourselves to slip into our deepest feelings, but we discard the fear of consequences... Potential for loss. Potential for failure. Potential for obliteration. We accept every outcome."

"I have to die each time I act. It's the only way to win."

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

She leaned into that touch, despite her frustrations.

Neither did she let go, despite the cold glare they were locked in. It didn't matter if she were the last to let go because she wasn't backing down this time. Someone had clearly hurt Rinea, or perhaps the chiss was just used to turning vulnerability against her targets, Kaila could not say.

But so had she.

And Kaila couldn't except every outcome. Rinea should have learned that the last time they spoke of fate.

She would shape it to her own designs, put her armored foot down, even if she risked breaking the foundation.

Kaila leaned in close, the corner of her lips touching blue skin as she whispered in her ear;

"Except I am done acting."

Her hand slipped around the officer's waist, holding her there, while the other crept up the back of her neck, threading leather-clad fingers through raven hair.

All the while she glared daggers at the space behind her.

"You wanted a pet Sith...? You've got one."

"I am Darth frakking Anathemous, Lord of Blades." she hissed.

"You do not get to hold some moral high ground while wielding me like a sword."

"You do not get to ignore what I am just because..."

Kaila pressed herself into the woman.

"...I have a soft sheathe..." she exhaled.

"So you will learn to tolerate the parts of me you are so eager to use, not only the parts of me you enjoy."

"Do I make myself clear?"

 

[Rinea]

Rinea felt control slip from her grasp the moment Kaila seized their closeness.

"You wanted a pet Sith...? You've got one."

And then it was these words alone that chained her to the conversation. Whatever attempt the Chiss had at regaining control, she no longer wanted it. She resigned herself to occupation. Listened as the Dark Lord put her proverbial foot down. When Kaila pressed against her, Rinea swallowed the words whole.

"Do I make myself clear?"

Only when she finished. When he laid out an ultimatum of her own, did the director pause. No, she froze. Instinct and experience told her to turn the moment against Kaila. She could lie. She could twist words again. She could find a weakness in Kaila's heart and nail it to the wall. Seduction was also an option--things were pretty karked up as they were, but the tension was definitely there.

Rinea gripped Kaila's back tightly. If her fingers were claws, they would almost certainly scratch against her. She radiated with anger, clenched all her muscles with a silent scream. Her shallow and light breaths seethed more than biting words could.

She wanted to say yes, but it felt like a lie. Each time the word crawled up her throat, she couldn't part her lips. Couldn't flick her tongue.

"I hate it, Kaila. I hate that you're a Sith." The words came out like a confession, though she's alluded to this feeling before.

Rinea tried to pull away but stopped herself. Shuffled an inch, if at all. "I want to know you. Inside and out. I think I will come to see this galaxy better than you ever could, and that you will come to rely on it. On me."

"If I can influence you, I will. I can't make any promises to the contrary--I won't... I don't want to lie to you anymore." That last part held the deepest truth of all, and she hated it.

"But yes... I will not ignore it. You are my Sith."

She felt herself slip as soon as she said it. Like a taboo had been broken. A line never uncrossed.

Kaila Irons

 

[Kaila Irons]

Wearing: Robes
Tags: Rinea

Her posture straightened—no, arched—with a wince in that clawed grip.

Finally they were face to face again, even if this tilt required that Kaila look down her nose and into those red eyes.

Rinea's confession hurt, even if she knew from the beginning. It softened her scowl but only a little. She was so tired of the chiss trying to have it both ways when she was no different from the young Darth's own cultivated allies. But how was she supposed to show her that? Every time one of them made progress with the other, they stood their ground elsewhere.

A stalemate of parallel ideals.

"If I can influence you, I will. I can't make any promises to the contrary--I won't... I don't want to lie to you anymore." That last part held the deepest truth of all, and she hated it.

"But yes... I will not ignore it. You are my Sith."

Kaila closed her eyes and sighed. Not quite in defeat, but neither acceptance.

"Good." she muttered, letting go.

"Perhaps one day we'll stop pretending to be better than one another."

By the time she opened them again she was already turning.

Her chest felt follow.

"Of the two of us, I'm the only one who hasn't asked you to change, or hide yourself."

"You should think about that."

Finally she was pushing herself away.

"Maybe then you can 'know me', not just your idea of me."

She said as though practiced.