Sugar

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Korriban - The Academy[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.6666666666667px][member="Auswyn Nothrael"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Dust, sand and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]death[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px].[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Those were the words that could be descriptionaries of the tomb world of the Sith. His shuttle had landed in one of the private landing bays that they had managed to rent, secluded and with a lot of extra facilities that made it worth the extra few coins they threw at the Overseer to look a few inches back and not pay a lot of attention.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Easy reason for Khal’s presence here, they were finally furthering along in the negotiations with the Overseer for further [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]presence[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Tash-Taral was a good first step, but there were still a few worlds that needed to be sealed before the metaphorical ring could be properly called claimed. The artifact smuggling business was profitable to say the last, Tash was bringing in creds like nobody’s business.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Sithies like their little amulets and trinkets. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Ziost, Thule, Dromund Kaas, Malachor V and of course Korriban.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khal looked around - landing pad affording him a wide view, a view that was filled with red sand and simple death.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Beautiful in its own way.[/SIZE]

 

[Auswyn Nothrael]

*Sometime prior to the Invasion of Wayland.

Shortly after arriving at Bastion, she and Loxa had been informed of the various amenities available to the members of the Primeval, throughout the worlds it governed. Of note was the small collection of Sith worlds that this government held within its grass, and of particular interest was a Sith Academy. She had never been to a Force Academy before, and after querying on the subject of Korriban, she was very interested in the planet itself; little time was wasted in hopping a shuttle to the tomb world to stick her nose in the business of how a Sith was trained.

She fit the bill of what qualified as Sith quite easily, and she wanted to embody the name by a much more significant margin, even if she had to do all the work herself. When clear-headed, she could be very ambitious, and it was this ambition that took her to Korriban, where she was off the shuttle as soon as the ramp descended. Just her, the very-well-fitted clothes on her back, her two trusty daggers, and one lightsaber hanging on her belt that was of sentimental value instead of a tool; she was untrained in its use, which was fine given that such a tool did not spill blood, which was crucial to her internal processes.

After descending the ramp, she was greeted with a panoramic view of the red, cold, dry landscape of the Sith homeworld, and considered for a moment the history sunk into that endless red dust, until her green-eyed gaze caught sight of an indication that she wasn't alone on this landing pad. She stole a look for a moment longer, then returned to looking over the dust, a particular smile curling her lips.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Auswyn Nothrael"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Korriban, land of opportunity, land of the dead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A long time ago - or at least it seemed a long time ago now - Khaleel had been given the questionable honor of visiting the Nether. An honor given to a lot of people that time around, but the Underlord liked to think that he had [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]seen[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] more than most.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Was that a good thing?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The man doubted it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But as he stood here amidst the reek of death, the Darkside humming and the sand crunching beneath his resting feet there was only one thing that Khal could think to himself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Home, at last.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It wasn’t his own thoughts, it were the thoughts of the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]other[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. One does not simply escape the Nether with knowledge, wisdom and a bunch of tricks in your bags, at least not for free and Khal had paid a fairly reasonable price for it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]At least it had seemed as such back then.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Miss.” Khal would simply address the woman who had stopped walking and started exploring the wylds with her own eyes. He did not need to turn to see her, she was all bright and red and dripping in the currents of the under.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“You have traveled far to come here.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A random statement it seemed, but perhaps there was more to it than that.[/SIZE]

 

[Auswyn Nothrael]

"I have," she said, not turning to look on him again. One eyeful was enough for now. Thumbs hooked into her trouser pockets, long, chestnut strands being blown by an errant breeze one moment and laying to rest against her person in the next, "I'm here with no intention of going back to where I have come from."

In truth, there was nothing for her on Exocron anymore. Its transformed landscape was empty without those whom she had stood beside, no longer a home, but an exercise in solitude... and that drove her crazy, which was quite something, all things considered. Home would have to be made somewhere else. Here, perhaps? But, then... oh, yes. What might Loxa think? She pursed her lips, before a slow smile curved them again.

"I'm curious to know," she said, drawing the words out slowly, hitting just the right pitch of sultry depth, "how you know I've traveled so very far."

Only then did she look on him again, a lingering glance over the shoulder, before the greens were drawn back to the landscape. There may have been intent to see the Academy, but... it could wait just a little longer.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Auswyn Nothrael"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Khal leaned against the balustrade, feelings of archaism waving around in the air and brushing past him, it was a reminder of some sort. Korriban wasn’t sentient in any sense of the word - but when you stood there amidst the salt, smoke and dust? You were almost doubting that fact, the Darkside was strong here and it had warped the planet to its own designs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Perhaps a reminder that you aren’t as immortal as you think, Kally.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“I can[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] smell[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] it.” the Underlord would reply in kind, and to a degree it was the truth. But to a degree it was also a lie.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Because it wasn’t him who had smelled the madness inside her heart, but our dear Kally doesn’t know that. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Let’s keep it a secret for now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Scratch of the chin, eyes lazily closed and feeling the aroma wash over him once again.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“What brings you here, traveler?” [/SIZE]

 

[Auswyn Nothrael]

’I can smell it,’ he’d said, and it made her muse in the recesses of her mind just what else he could smell, and if he liked the scents that crept into his nostrils. Scents could create and evoke memory, feeling, and physical response. Words could do the same, and his words along with her musings put a soft, pulling smile flavoured with invitation on her face when she again turned her head to look at the only other soul occupying this platform.

’What brings you here, traveler?’

She looked to the dust again, the cool temperature of the air coming in several degrees lower than the atmosphere in the transport had begun to sink down to her bones, but as yet she showed no signs of the effect that would come to have.

“The same that has drawn countless others to this world for so long,” she said, “and the place of learning and power that lies beneath my feet.”

The shortest and faintest of one-note laughs escaped her.

“My ‘fervour’ needs to be focused to an edge, I’m told.”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Auswyn Nothrael"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Her laugh was met with his own little chuckle. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]An apprentice then, looking to be taught the ways of the Darkside - not particularly new to it either if his senses weren’t mistaking him. The madness was deep inside of her, it churned, a miasmatic whirlwind of emotions that rolled around and just [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]waited[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] to be released. Khal’s own self reacted to it, not on this plane, but the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]other[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. On a more abstract and esoteric level it seemed that the both of them could [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]understand[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] each other. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And that ain’t no joke in this world of theirs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Fervour[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], mmhmm.” the Underlord would reply with a knowing nod. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Flashes of slaughtered corpses, gore scattered all across the clinic surroundings, passion amidst the blood and filth.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She would see a portion of it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Been there.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Their eyes would meet. “Show me.”[/SIZE]

 

[Auswyn Nothrael]

There it was, the knowing that passed between, like to like. Implicit understanding, so deep from one that felt so infested with Light. How interesting. Such strangeness piqued her interest; the flashes of scene that came only sealed that deal. Perhaps not so imbued after all…

Been there? “So you have.”

She bodily faced the unnamed one upon her words, but the pull to move on him didn’t come until he commanded to be shown; this was no request, and the flavour of those two simple words was quite different from any others he had given until this point, such that the black of her pupils began to spill into her irises. The Dark that merged with the fibres of her entire self liked to drink of potential outcomes.

“What...”

She began to ask, lifting herself away from the railing. She carried quite the catalogue of blooded snapshots within her psyche, art of her own making and curation, created by a physical form so deceptive in its apparent litheness; it was such a form that hid the strength of muscle and bone required to do the things she did, such a form that moved on him.

“...would you like to see?”

The form, the works it created… or both? Was it to be given, or taken? Pertinent questions.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Auswyn Nothrael"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A presence far more dark and older than him started to grow at the edges of his sight, it deepened the icy blues of his eyes and brought upon shadows to muffle the whites. When she stalked at him, the Underlord would simply stalk back - silently approaching with predatory grace and a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]His presence would wrap itself around her, no longer light, no longer dark or gray; it was beyond the approach of colors or alignments. It was as old as time itself and it held one single devotion, one simple [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]word[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] to it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Hunger.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The voice - his? - would slink itself between the crevices of her fractured and miasmatic mind and would leave a single message, tugging at her with the need of an eternity of waiting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Everything.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]By then the Underlord and his Devil stood nose to nose to each other, close enough to [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]touch[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], to [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]feel[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] and so much more than that.[/SIZE]

 

[Auswyn Nothrael]

She went to him and he came for her, such a proximity coming to pass that left little space to distinguish the each of them as separate from one another from a significant distance. Eyes of abyssal noir - a reaction to the call of the thick, all-consuming darkness that was the underbelly of the Force, all which emanated, pulsating from him - passed up the length of his face from jaw to rest on the darkened eyes that she found. Her chestnut-framed face tilted to a side in a mimicry of the curiosity of a bird, and her lips followed the suit of his own. Then that word came...

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Everything.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]”[/SIZE]

...and she rose on the balls of her feet, hands pressing soft against him, and dropped some words of her own in his ear:

"Then take it, dark one, take it all," she breathed, before a lobe was grazed, taken with tooth and tugged slow before release, "take what you want."

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]