Splinter of the Mind's Eye

[Connor Harrison]

Caprine Dwelling
Iktotch, Narvath Sector​

The Caprine Mystics.

Aercio had heard their name mentioned on Utapau and their place of residence, Iktotch. Rumoured stag-like creatures that could foresee the future, read the past and confirm the present. His only lifeline as a prisoner of the Scourge was to remember that name and planet, and hopefully see them in the flesh to see where his path lay because he predicted it would be a very dark and dangerous one.

Now, the masked man was here on Ikotch, bearing passage with a group of travellers seeking an audience with these Mystics. Of course, Aerico didn’t want to be associated with the rabble, their looks to him and curious glances at the reason he wore a mask – he didn’t WEAR as mask, he WAS a mask – so he waited.

Waited until he was alone, and could make his own way towards where the Caprine were rumoured to dwell in the rocky terrain of Ikotch. From the various pathways, haunting openings and chapel-like buildings, Aerico figured that these Caprine were living or hiding in a place that meant they didn’t want to be found by just anyone. His good eye looked out, the bad eye behind the mask only hindering.

He took the long walk across a lit path way that snaked towards a large structure, one of the biggest, that looked like a monastery. Of course, he knew everything on the surface could easily be a deception to what resided within and he took nothing on face value. Pulling his greatcoat in to his body, he held his throat with a gloved hand and coughed, the tight muscles worn by the infection, almost making him want to be sick.

Composing himself, he cursed under his breath and walked on to the structure; a few others were loitering, and creatures he only could imagine as Caprine stood guard and patrolled outside. Fire crackled in torches and lights shone up into the heavens creating a very ethereal, and somehow creepy, image of these Mystics whom he figured, at the end of the day, were nothing but myth and fakes preying on the gullible.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

A stranger was coming.

Briga’s vision that morning had been unexpected, unfaltering and nearly knocked her off her feet. She’d been washing her face at a basin, just a normal ritual cleansing, and when she went to dip her hands in the water for the final time, she’d seen him.

One glittering, onyx pupil and one stark, white mask.

It startled her, and the Caprine mystic jumped back, heart pounding. She’d seen all sorts of visions, both thrilling and distressing, including violent deaths and even corpses rotting in their graves. So unusual, she thought, to be alarmed by something as mundane as a human face. Grabbing a towel, she wiped it hurriedly across her cheek, and went into her chambers to rest.

Once the moon rose high in the darkened sky above Iktotch, she made haste to the Ancient Caprine ruins, which was where most strangers seeking the mystics ended up. Bulky Caprine guards with thick, downward curling Nur horns, lined the pathways and a stray Iktotchi attendant could be seen making marks on flimsiplast with an ink pen. Like a sentinel, Briga clutched a torch and waited for the unknown man to make his entrance.

And there he was! The smooth surface of his mask glinted in the moonlight. Her breath hitched in her throat as she recalled her vision, his face undulating in the pool of water. The smell of incense and wildflowers wafted in the air, the sounds of drums beating off in the distance, the echo of a coyote across the canyons.

“Uhadi Ax'no,” she said under her breath in Caprinese. Briga’s amber eyes glittered in the torch light. The mask… was he burned, was he ill? “We are not healers,” Briga said, hiding her foreknowledge of his visit. “Though I can recommend some in the nearest village.” As the masked stranger grew closer, he would see she wore a billowing white gown with a high collar and long sleeves. Her bare feet were humanesque and not cloven hooves as some expected of the Caprine.

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

After the horror he witnessed of the Scourge and being held prisoner as some vile subject, Aerico didn’t openly fear others. He had survived an ordeal he knew should have killed him; for some sick reason, he was alive and here for a reason. A moving flame caught his eye and he looked at the Caprine who locked eyes with him and spoke.

He walked nearer, one hand under his coat, one by his side, and looked at her – a species he didn’t recognise. However she was certainly a prophet, the angelic dress and lack of frills made her look almost regal. She held herself high, yet he was surprised to see her features; the horns, shaped ears and human-esque body. Was she human? Twisted by dark magic or some strange hybrid? Or simply a species hiding away from the galaxy?

Again, he had seen creatures far more hideous than this Caprine, and so he didn’t bat an eyelid. The fire crackled and covered them in a warm glow, casting deceptive and dancing shadows across both their faces and clothing.

”I do not require healing, Caprine. No healing can help me now.”

He stepped closer, well aware of image his half covered face gave. Maybe she would catch the raw pink flesh just peeking out under the eye socket, and the broken skin just curving under the line of the mask under his cheek. Signs that what was underneath wasn’t going to be pleasant compared to the rest of his face.

”Is it true, you foresee the future and glimpse the past?”

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

“Yes it’s true,” she said. She didn’t necessarily see that far back into the past, but occasionally she could tie the shifting timelines together in her visions. Nothing was ever as lucid as the future dreams though.

But the masked stranger didn’t need to know this.

Briga titled her head to the side, trying to examine what was underneath the stark, white mask. She noticed the marred flesh, glistening and raw. The Caprine mystic wondered if anything worse lurked beneath the concealment – disfigurement? Something alive? Something contagious?

She grimaced for a moment at the thought of a burrowing creature embedded in his flesh eating it alive, or at a virus which caused oozing sores, but composed herself. The galaxy was full of hardship, and why was this man’s past or fate any different? When she was young, Briga had endured painful ritual whipping from elder mystics, especially those that were convinced she was Ax’no. Luckily these lashings caused no scars – the elders were smart as this would have been a practice hidden from her mother and father.

“You look weary,” she said, although with the horned seer, it was never really known if these were truths or lies. “Would you like to come inside? The nearby village is preparing for a harvest festival tomorrow, and we have more than enough to go around for guests.”

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

With a slow 180 degree turn to see the other visitors to the mystical mountains, and to see the other Caprine, Aerico nodded slowly and faced his host.

"I don't need charity, however I would appreciate your time. Thank you.”

He followed behind the Caprine and looked at her up and down, a fascinating creature. He couldn't place her species at all, but she spoke and walked liked someone very much in charge and in high power. A perfect subject for him to seek council with.

"Tell me, Caprine," he said softly as he looked around next to her, "what sort of people are you? You aren't a species I can place and this looks like nothing I've ever seen before. Are you anything like the Dathomir Witches or even the Jedi Knights?"

The more information he had on the secrets of the galaxy and those factions within, the more he would gain power over those who had wronged him and anyone who turned their back on him and his kind.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

“Don’t think of this as charity then. Just shelter, conversation and a meal,” Briga said. She was still trying to hide her unease at the fact that, just that very morning, she’d seen the stranger in a vision.

“This way,” the Caprine mystic said, ushering him into the temple ruins. Everything in the village was rudimentary, crafted from the wind-blasted, white rocks of Iktotch, including the structures. They would last centuries for sure, but there was nothing modern – no automatic doors, no holo-displays, no data terminals. "We are Caprine, a Bovidae species related to the Iktotchi. Aside from a strong precognitive ability, our race is not much like the Jedi at all. Some of us, however, do know the Force."

As they walked the torch lined halls of the ruins, Aerico would be able to hear more noises ahead of them. The sounds of music and revelry, pungent smells of food, not meat, but spices which had never graced his nostrils. When the quiet, horned mystic stopped they were in the entrance of a great hall filled with Caprine of all ages and even races. Some were shorter, with more diminutive head prongs and others of the ram-like species were giant, muscular and brawny with downward curling horns. Despite Briga’s graceful demeanor, most of the Caprine were highly unsophisticated, eating with their hands, spilling drinks and dancing with wild abandon at the small band, playing string instruments. The food itself, lay out on a long banquet table, was decidedly bereft of meat. Acid-beets, vegesparsine, sing-fruit and other such vegetables and herbivore dishes were available to any who were hungry. Drink was also plentiful – mead, wine, spirits, almost all of it appeared highly alcoholic, also illustrated by the amount of lurching and swaying Caprine in the room.

Priestess Tiin was undeterred at the raucous environment and turning to the masked visitor, she asked: “What is your name?”

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He listened intently to the Caprine, but was distracted by the noise that was increasing in volume the more they walked into the community inside the mountain. When they stopped, Aerico turned slightly to angle the natural side of his face towards the grand hall they were in so he could look around with his good eye and take in the sights and sounds that assaulted his senses.

"Aerico.” His answer was as blunt as they come.

To be truthful, he was taking everything in around him. He couldn't comprehend it - from the outside it seemed they were reserved and surrounded in strong ethics and a very quiet people, but here they seemed to be as wild as they come. Loud, merry and displaying little to no care about anything except their fellow man and woman.

The Caprine themselves seemed to vary in size and stature and looked like they could easily crack a man's skull open in the blink of an eye if it came down to it. Aerico swallowed slightly at the thought of these seemingly primitive people on the war-path. Maybe he had expected cauldrons in dark rooms and lots of books and potions, with priests walking in unison and women stood serving drink to their Masters. Nothing like this.

"And what do I call you, Caprine.”

He looked to her this time, trying to make out what part she played in all this hocum, because right now he wasn't buying anything about foreseeing the future at all.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

The visitor was filled at unease with the scene, but nobles usually were. This was the first indication that Briga had that the masked visitor was perhaps, a highborne man. Was he a King? A Prince? Or an exile? She would have to find out, but was in no rush as Briga was in her element.

"Aerico," she intoned, rolling the vowels around on her tongue. "I am Priestess Tiin, Caprine Mystic of Iktotch and the personal divinator of Ax'no, the goddess of the Caprine species." She didn't want to reveal that she was actually Ax'no herself. That knowledge was normally too much for mortals to absorb and would elicit a laugh or a snort of derision from her audience. The horned mystic knew better.

Suddenly, she turned to him with a look of utter fascination. A curvaceous nymphette sailed by with a tray of vegetables and cheeses, holding it out for Aerico, the newcomer. The Caprine themselves suddenly began to notice him, and while they didn't all rush him at once, there was definitely a fascination with the "other" in the room.

"I saw you in a dream of mine," she said. "What do you think that means?"

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Another Caprine caught his eye, suddenly standing beside him on the masked side of his face. He turned his head to see the creature properly, and looked at the tray, then back at the servant. He eyed the cheese and took a cube and didn't hesitate to eat it - it tasted rich, nutty and full of flavour. He savored it as much as he could without looking idiotic. Taking the time to look at the other gawking at him, he chewed and swallowed slowly.

"It tells me you said you saw me in a dream, Priestess Tiin.”

He looked at her and didn't look impressed.

"Well are you going to tell me how I stood in this dream?”

Aerico looked around again at those eating and drinking and watching him talk to this Priestess. He didn't like the idea of him being mocked or laughed at for his condition or his appearance. Anxiety wasn't something he suffered with a lot, but he certainly felt it in his condition. A small dip of his eyes would show he was doubting himself now and feeling out of his comfort zone. He turned and leaned his head a little closer to the Caprine.

"Caprine, if you can't help me take me to someone who can - I have nothing and no-one but need to know where my fate lies. Please.”

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

“I saw your face as you approached the planet. There was water surrounding you.” Briga did not want to conjecture as to what that would mean in a vision. Elements were often seen and even felt by sooth-sayers. “Would there be a meaning to that in particular?” Perhaps the masked man would know.

But he became uncomfortable, so much that the Caprine Priestess thought perhaps the dining room was too raucous and wine soaked for his tastes. She grabbed a torch off of the wall and beckoned him to follow her through a long dark stone hallway.

“I can help you,” she said. “But you must give me some time with you."

She brought Aerico to the precipice of a large room, also glowing with candles. There were two plush red chairs situated by a warming fire. The room smelled of gardenia and spiced tea.

“Not all of us are savages,” said the mystic with a raise of her shapely brows. “Sit and first tell me about yourself. Where you come from and where you plan to go?”

Briga curled up herself in one of the chairs, tucking her bare feet under her and positioning her gown so that it cascaded over her knees. She watched him carefully, hawk-like. There was a feral quality to her movements, and while most of her resembled a human, her aura was, at times, bovid, much like her horns. She was cordial, but there was a subtle gloom that settled over the room as the minutes ticked by, despite the crackling fire.

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The Priestess’s question about the vision and the water took him by surprise. He didn’t react, but inside he was racking his brains thinking what it could mean. The fact these beings were known to see into the future was eerie enough to Aerico, and he did genuinely believe they had that ability, but didn’t want to appear desperate for knowledge.

He nodded at her lead, still thinking, as she took him away from the raucous crowds feasting and making merry. Into another room they went, and his nose ruffled with the smell that greeted him, and thankfully a much more serene and quieter room at that.

He removed his greatcoat, folding the fabric over the back of the closest chair and sat, the light crimson waistcoat over his clothes quietly glowing with the warm fire that also gave his ivory mask an orange sheen. The man sat.

Aerico steeped his gloved fingers. "Water. Water. I do not know what this means, I have never been surrounded by water.” He looked at the girl, her features fascinating to him. "It could be…no. That’s nothing.”

Her question and her pose pushed him to continue, and her eyes were fixed on him.

"I came from Corellia. Then, Utapau. A sink-hole world in the Outer Rim where I was kept as a prisoner for years, a man infected with a disease that ate away my flesh that hides under the mask. For years I rotted away as a subject to these freaks known as The Scourge.”

The disgust at himself and the lepers was evident in his voice.

"By grace of the Force I survived and was cast out to walk the galaxy a masked man, but by God I will make sure any and all those who cast eyes on my and those like me suffer. The Force saved me, that much I know. Where it will take me? I can’t say. One thing for sure, it will not be the way of the Jedi Knights.”

He twisted in his seat and looked at the Priestess, trying to see what she was doing behind the eyes.

"You are touched by a darkness, Priestess. I can feel that. You are powerful.”

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

The man settled himself into the oversized, red-velvet chair with the utmost grace. He was so well-dressed, polished and erudite that Briga was now convinced he was royalty. And she did have a direct gaze, but Aerico wouldn’t know if this was just part of her charm or a racial trait. The Caprine as a species were not shy, but rather loud and boisterous. While Briga was not, she was very curious, and you could tell much about someone by how they gazed back at you.

This man was no sheepish cur… but the mask did make it difficult for her to read his expression. She only had half of the story, after all. She listened intently, still not breaking eye contact, then she idly stroked one of her horns.

“Yes I am powerful, but I still have far to go to fully bring the goddess’s word to the galaxy. Praise be to Ax’no,” Briga said.

She slowly rose from the chair, her gown making a swishing noise, and she walked over to Aerico. With the fire at her back, warming her through the thin cloth of the dress, she knelt down and then she reached out very carefully as though not wanting to scare off a bird with a broken wing.

“Your mask,” she said. “Would you take it off for me? I may be able to see more that way. Sometimes you need to touch the past to intertwine it with the future.”

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Aerico was comfy in the chair, and now in the room. It reminded him of his years captive. He was in a better place than where he had been. It was warm and safe, and the company was far better. The Caprine talked of a Goddess, and he slowly turned his head to study her. It seemed this race was fronting a much more powerful leader.

However, when she came closer, he turned to face her fully again and didn't move. When her arm carefully came out, that was when he moved. Up from his side, the right arm bolted and clasped around her dainty wrist.

"No.” His eyes found hers. She would see the grey eye under the mask, the pink skin creeping out under it. A stark contrast to his good brown eye and smooth skin. His voice was low, and certainly carried weight. "The mask stays.”

Nobody had seen under the mask since the day it was grafted to his face. To remove it, he would have to be either dead or unconscious. The dead flesh and muscle had stuck to the cool coating of the mask itself years ago, and pulling it off would tear the fused skin from his already decayed face - more pain; more disgust.

It would take a great deal of care and aid to remove it without it torturing him. He wasn't going to let anybody in. Not yet. It was nothing but a reminder of who he was now and what he had lost.

Gently, his hand stayed clamped around the Priestess, inches from him.

"If you can't see for the sake of a mask, then I think you have done nothing but waste my time”

@Briga Tiin

 

[Ax'no]

Briga gasped as Aerico clutched her wrist. The mystic froze, statuesque as he held onto her. She had attempted a bold move for sure. It wasn’t as if the Caprine was that surprised at his reaction. Because her position was not comfortable, even less so as he grabbed her wrist, threatening her stability, she moved from a crouch into a kneel. Normally her flock genuflected before her, but it wasn’t as if Briga was a complete stranger to being on her knees. Not with the dark secrets that she also harbored, safe from the scrutiny of the light.

She still didn’t quite understand that the mask was attached to Aerico’s face, but the warning was enough. With her clawed fingers she took his hand and digit by digit unwrapped his grip from her lithe wrist.

“If you are going to grab me like that, you better be prepared to kiss me as well,” she said with a sly smile. The Priestess then stood back up, assessing him with her ever-curious gaze. He may have noticed that her comment wasn't the stale joke of a devout religious figure. Her words were coquettish, a phrased turned by a temptress not a theocrat.

The man likely does not receive any kisses from blushing maidens currying his favor, thought the Caprine. But aside from the grisly disease, he had a handsome face – for a human. Her personal tastes ran more towards alien species, and she’d probably bedded half of Iktotch, horns of Iktotchi lovers leaving marks in her headboard. Her Master, Darth Prazutis was satisfying the Caprine on a nightly basis, so she recovered fairly easily from the man’s touch. She was learning to control her desire as it once controlled her.

“I will not waste your time,” said Briga. “There are powerful alterations that will occur for you. But you need to welcome them with open arms.” Ironic that Aerico had not welcomed the Caprine’s investigative touch. And if her description of the divination was too vague? Well, that was the purview of a soothsayer.

“How would you interpret that?” she asked, still standing beside his chair.

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He wasn’t sure how to take her comment. His Adam’s apple gave away his gentle swallow, and he flicked to her hand with his eyes to watch her peel his fingers away, which he didn’t fight. Aerico was still human after all, and – no, this was simple manipulative, goading comment that he couldn’t take for anything.

It had been far too long since he had interacted with anyone not trying to abuse him.

As the Priestess stood by his chair and spoke, he sat back and rested both his arms, as if he were in a throne with a deity by his side. His right hand started to slowly move, his index finger and thumb rubbing together in thought. He looked into one of the torches on the wall above, watching the flames dance.

"I interpret it like I interpret anything. With deception behind every intent.”

With that he stood up and turned to the Caprine, and moved his head closer and turned his mask to her. She certainly was an alluring creature.

"My arms are open,” he said. "Question is, are yours?

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Aerico was close enough now that she could see more of the detail on his face, enhanced by the glow of the fire. Briga finally realized the mask was fused to his skin, and with an unusual spike of empathy, she shuddered at the thought of having her own flesh attached to such a smooth, jarring surface. Is it because I'm vain, she thought. That I wouldn't be able to endure the pressure of a mask like that obscuring my features.

Possibly, but it was also because Briga used her features - and her body, her movements, her strong voice - to her advantage.

"My spiritual arms are wide," said the Priestess. "But my corporeal arms are bound. To another."

There, she finally admitted aloud that Darth Prazutis held her sway. That the desire that had been so uncontrollable... so dangerous... which made her so vulnerable. It was contained.

For now.

"I see you as a great figure someday. A little like myself," said the Caprine mystic, taking her place back in her chair, again the folds of her gown, stroked and flattened by clawed hands.
"Do you have a sermon that you'd like the galaxy to hear?" she asked.

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He watched the Caprine stand, adjust herself slightly and return to her chair opposite. So she was bound to another. All the more interesting. She was toying with him. The human male at her doorstep. A masked man. A walking enigma. Aerico crossed a leg over the thigh.

"I don't see you as great,” came his casual reply, "but I can see how you use your assets to such a position.”

Continuing to twirl his thumb and index finger gently, Aerico felt more and more relaxed for some reason. Maybe it was her voice, or the cozy surroundings, or the tinges of malice and darkness in the walls, but he felt almost at home. The sound of laughter and music could be heard still from down the stone corridors.

"I will infect others with the disease I carry. With the plague I was savaged with in an attempt to show who is worthy to survive and who isn't. If you're strong, you live. If you're weak, you die. That's it."

Aerico pointed at the Priestess.

"You, I think, are weak. Bound to another? Sounds more like a mistress than a Priestess."

He sensed a darkness in her that was thriving inside.

"Is that what you are? Slave to a Master who fills your head with voodoo and a promise that he'll bed you every night? Hm? You rattle off cryptic messages and front this Caprine power to protect him. Or her."

His leg rocked slowly back and forward, his lip curling just under the mask, his fingers arched.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga could sense Aerico finally relaxing. The room in the ancient ruins was designed specifically so the mystic and one of her companions or confidants could escape the raucous fray that followed almost every other Caprine. The bovidae creatures were notoriously afraid of solitude, so she would rarely be alone. It’s why she traveled with a trio of maidens and sought out company at every turn.

“My my, you have a barbed tongue,” she said, smiling slyly as he chided her on being “great.” Then her eyes lit up with intrigue over the fact that his disease was spreadable. At this revelation, she felt both curiosity and fear. Was he contagious right now? Could he infect her entire flock with the flesh-eating virus?

Her eyes narrowed, however, when he spoke of her being a slave to her Master. This happened to be a sore spot for the independent Caprine. And ultimately Aerico was right about most of his assessment. Briga was the reincarnation of Ax’no, yet the goddess was in subjugation to another. At the cold and unforgiving hands of Darth Prazutis, she’d been tortured, humiliated, whipped and broken… all so she could eventually be molded into a lethal sorceress, serving the One Sith.

Except for one finer point.

Anger washed over her features and her brows furrowed. As she spoke, her voice rose in its cadence until she was almost shouting. “I don’t protect him,” she said. “It’s the other way around. Because he knows that someday Ax’no will return, and when she does, the galaxy will be need to be scorched first to make way for a new dawn.”

“But I digress,” Briga continued in a softer voice. She glanced at the fire for a moment, the reflection of the flickering flames making her amber eyes dance with light as she gazed upon Aerico again.

“Tell me about this disease. How do you plan to infect others?”

The seeds of a plan began to germinate in the mystic’s horned head. Depending upon his answer, it could be time to form an alliance with the mysterious man. Provided he would agree to it.

[member="Aerico"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Aerico smiled, and made an evident chuckle, before leaning his head back into the seat and feeling like he was in control of everything. How it should be. Listening to her, the same old dream about resurrections and whatnot - what earache. He looked at the torch as she spoke, paying her little head because he knew, inside, she was doomed to serve Masters who would abuse both the body and the mind to get what they want and make her feel immortal.

"Ax'no. Can't say I've heard of that one before. Don't think I ever will either because nothing like that ever happens I'm afraid, my dear Caprine.”

Thinking about how to explain the reality of darkness to the Caprine, he pursed his lips and tapped his fingers together as he hummed gently, a soft poem that had stuck in his head for years.

"And so you want to know how I am the way I am. Five years ago I was captured with members of the Black Sun organisation, a business empire, and kept prisoner on Utapau in the Outer Rim by a cult known as The Scourge. Their leader, a diseased and disgusting man, was infected with something even I don't know what, but he experimented on us in a view to infect the galaxy just because he could."

His hand slowly went to his ivory mask and tapped it.

"I survived because I am a Force sensitive being. The Force around me and inside my body helped repel the disease but I'm not without the reminders of what I carry. This mask was grafted to my face over broken flesh and tissue and, if removed, bears the abhorrent face of man who once had everything and now has nothing. Plus, it will tear any skin from the rotten muscle and not be pleasant on the eye I can assure you, regardless of what greater divine you believe in."

He looked at her, and smiled.

"As for infecting others? Well I would simply cut them with my blade and I myself, and then just a drop of blood will do it. Maybe even more, I don't know really." He considered other options at that point - maybe there was so much more he could do with the right tools? "Alchemy. Force transition. There's so much. I just know that I have no purpose for good anymore and want to get everything I can and deal hurt and pain to others as I had! Those who stand above society and act like they are immortal - they are NOT! I was shown no compassion so why should I for anyone else!"

Aerico didn't notice he had leant forward on the chair, fist pushing into the palm of his hand in anger.

[member="Briga Tiin"]

 

[Ax'no]

Briga honed in on the one part of his story that he might not expect her to.

“You have nothing,” she repeated. “What is it that you want?” The Caprine rose again and walked behind the large red chair, resting her hands on the back of it, claws digging into the fabric. He was angry, resentful… and why shouldn’t he be? It appeared his livelihood, his handsome looks, his pride was taken from him. Did he try to return and his lover fled with terror at the sight of him?

"Did you lose your fortune? Did your bride-to-be run away when she took one look at your scarred face?"

There was so much she didn’t know about Aerico, but Briga also had much to offer him. He did not need to believe in Ax’no and her resurrection. Although she would be more beholden to him if he did. But the Priestess had allied with many individuals who did not give themselves over to the Church of Ax’no. When she spoke of the harvest goddess, even her Master’s eyes would glaze over. Even if only one being in the galaxy believed, that was enough for her. Right now, that happened to be the Caprine herself and hundreds of worshippers on Iktotch. But she had been to the Force Planet and she’d seen visions of her word spreading across the galaxy. It was only a matter of time. And means.

Noticing his anger, fists balled up in his palm, she poured a cup of herbal team for him and put it on a tree stump table besides the chair on which he said.

“That tea is medicinal and calming. Now, what would you like in exchange for a couple drops of your blood?” Briga asked, getting right to the point. "Affection, credits, infamy... I can offer all of them." None of these would be given directly by Briga, but she had access to them nonetheless. Starting with a Caprine slave if he wanted one. A maenad to adore him and spend time in his bed.

[member="Aerico"]