The Darkest Layer

[Maple Harte]

Katanos VII, shortly after the lungs to dust thread.

Aboard: The Silent Erika.



"So? What are we looking at?" Maple Harte asked the aged, bearded metallurgist.

The metallurgist, a middle aged human in black clothes and a black smithing apron finished scanning the long red spike, his eyes glittering in wonder. His beard was gray like his eyes and he wore glasses. He was covered in the dust of the outside. So was Maple. It had been four days since she fought here. The Confederacy was getting things running quick. She saw patrols out near the dead, ash covered forest the rest of the spider gang had fled to.

"Miss, This material...my scanner indicates it to be some sort of experimental alloy I've never seen before. The core of it underneath is cortosis weave durasteel but the alloy itself is unidentified. Probably synthesized in a government lab or something."

"They were taken from the melee prostheses of a cyborg clone."

"Yeah, our forebears did some weird stuff." he admitted.

"So this near-frictionless stuff. Whats it do?"

"You know a Force Pike?"

"Yeah."

This is the type of metal you put on it if you want to slice through some of the hardest standard production materials known to civilization. This will go through titanium like its nothing."

"Wow. You can tell all that just with a scan?"

"Lady, half my business comes from fashioning Force Pikes. Hell, not like this ain't the planet to do it. A lot of the time, I sell them to mercenaries like you."

"What do you suppose they are worth? What about those powercells?"

The man picked up the golden, hexagonal power cells which had a prismatic pattern on their surface, four in all.

"Oh these are real beauties. I seen this kinda design before. They increase cutting power through special tuning of the ultrasonic frequencies while reducing the gyroscopic effects of the vibroweapon. They're antiques though, and heavily modified. Several heat regulation measures are missing, save for a failsafe that shuts the cells down after fifteen minutes of continuous use at maximum setting to prevent an overheating explosion."

"But they'll work." Maple noted.

"Lady, you put those cells with these vibro tips, anybody not in lightsaber proof armor stands a pretty good chance of being shredded. From what I can tell, they have a secondary setting. Heavy stun. Very heavy stun."

"You never answered what they were worth." Maple said

"Well, they're both one-off prototypes. Only so much you will be able to get. Tips, I wager eighty thousand a piece, powercells, four thousand per cell. You can make a good weapon with this. Sell them both off as vibrospears, I'll make back nearly four times that, so I am happy to pay you what they are currently worth."

"Oh, so tempting but a girl needs to upgrade her arsenal."

"Miss, Harte, with what I am willing to pay, you could easily buy a half dozen high quality force pikes. This tech, its strong, but at the time it was made, it was only half realized. You will get a strong weapon, but it'll go dead if you use it at max settings too long. You're better off making some money. These things are best used for ceremonial purposes.

"They're special to me." Maple spoke, voice soft, handling the parts. "First major job for the Confederacy and all that."

The Metallurgist gave a shrug. "Your choice."

"Two thousand for the appraisal, as agreed." She said, picking up the credit sticks and giving them to him. "Thank you for your time."

Later on...

She had worked into the night, taking apart her beloved staff with a fusion cutter and specialized tools she had 'barrowed' from a dead Spider engineer. It had been extremely difficult, not just cutting at parts in a logical manner, but even just modifying the staff that beat Lur Redtide on an emotional level. But Lur had never rested on ceremony. Nor would she.

Slowly, but surely, it had come together, the tips resinding partly within the staff itself after her modding. The power cells and the jury rigged electrical switch were nestled profesionally in the design scheme. Eventually she finished it. A black stick with light engraving at the ends, which had artificially been widened to allow for installment of the deep red and long tips, which had lengthened it. The control panels were in the middle, which could be seperated still as in the original design. The snakes hiding in her bone marrow approved. Making vibrostaves had been a skill taught by Ursula.

She gave it an experimental swing. She was tired, so she headed to bed. As she undressed, she hesitated as she stared at the bed. Would she see it?

Would she? Doashim gave no indication, certainly...

The next day...

Maple hadn't seen it. Sleep had been dreamless. Peaceful. She grew fearful of when it would happen as she prepared to start up her ship and leave the sheltered hanger when she noticed a message on her datapad that she used for contacts. Her eyes read the message. The Lethane Blasts of the Spider pirates had woken up something big hiding in a tunnel network military scans had not picked up the first time. It had already dragged off two soldiers. They were offering a reward for whoever wanted to see if they could find what kind of creature it was and kill it.

Maple knew it was a bad move, taking a blind job on such short notice, but a small timer took the work that paid the bills.

She grabbed her black bandanna, tying it around her mouth as she grabbed her staff and her rifle, clad in her Sasori armor, heading out to the edge of New Haven, striding across a barren land that rained dust constantly, casting everything in a mild haze as she headed to meet the military contact. She had a bad feeling but she could not explain what. Maybe it was the constantly raining dust, the fear of the Mind-Binder, or her instinct for something about to go very bad, but she needed the money.

Her fears were confirmed as she approached the east gate of New Haven, spotting the contact, as well as a large crater in the distance. The contact was dressed in hazard gear. She herself was already covered in dust again.

"You the one who sent me a message?"

"Yeah. It got another one two hours ago. Also, we finally identified it. Its a Terentatek."

"Sounds more like a job you'd hand to Dark Acolytes."

"They ain't around. And one already tried. Got spread all over the dirt.

"How much of a reward?"

"For a Terentatek? Assuming you survive, we got ship parts we stripped off pirate vessels. High end stuff, some of it. Supplies."

"Deal." She said. She had to make sure the Confederacy knew she would take the dangerous work. Only way they would pay the good stuff, reward the good stuff. And slaying a Terentatek would be a good way to test the staff.

[member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Something had brought her interest around. Rumors as she had been behind the bar of Pandamonia. Standing there with several of the dancers on the stage attracting from the current ones their credits before it was time. The energy vampire looked up hearing about the CIS and their mission on some world as it were. Curious but she had reached out with the force itself. She could feel something, see something there before she pressed the button and the doors of the bar closed. The privacy screens turning on and everything that they had working to kep it secured activated. The energy vampires started on the patrons. Criminals, those who wouldn't be missed.

Sawa was standing there on the planet, after she had arrived with the shiop and mostly been untouched. Her senses leading her towards some caves and she listened in as she was moving. Lithe and well muscled, wearing a bodysuit that formed to every curve of her body but gleamed with shell spider silk and piping in areas of metal. Her power armor was important but going through caves it would be a hindrance. Her eyes flicked over the beings who were here, she could see some of the looks but as she slid dark sister her lightsaber into a pocket without them being able to see she set herself off towards the caves slipping into them.

She let the force breath and come around her as she remained quiet, crouching down in the dark itself where she could grip the walls and feel the texture of the stone itself. Holding herself in place as she breathed in deeply the scents detecting the creature, then the scent of blood and everything else. Her silver eyes gleaming for a moment as she listened intently to someone out there, someone talking with the information about the cave and the creature who was coming after them. Sawa remained in the shadows crab walking back up. She could fel it from her, that familiar brush of the force and her life energies.

'Interesting' She said it to herself, watching Maple as the woman was there at the distance, the touch of the force, the brush of her life force in her mind. Sawa grinned to herself allowing the force to wrap around her and keep her concealed. Just enough in the shadows that her eyes could track her, that she could read her surface thoughts and there was something there. Some nightmare just in the back of her mind and the energy vampire reached out touching, caressing, probing as she moved to align her thoughts with the woman's. TO make it easier to slip inside of her head without the resistance that normally would come when you forced it.

'Come here' She said it more as a whisper, mental work was something energy vampires excelled towards, getting others to want to give themselves over to it and she knew how to use it. Letting the force push gently to bring her into the caves, deeper and deeper where she could work. The sound and scents of some creature in the system of tunnels was there.. Something had been or was here a predator that she would likely have to deal with and seeing what it could do... oh she was going to enjoy something to really tear into it. Letting her eyes flick back over the body of the woman until she was going deeper into the cave sending the voice for her head.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple Didn't notice the telepathic whisper, not on a surface level. It tugged her towards the entrance to the cave itself that the contact had pointed out. She had a sudden, overwhelming urge to go to it. Maybe she just wanted to get it done. She had killed one Terentatek before, with Ursula's assistance. But Ursula had done most of the heavy lifting on that. Maple had a stick though. A stick that could cut through hopefully almost anything. If it could pass through titanium...

Maple finished up with the contact and proceeded toward the cave that was the beast's layer. The contact let her barrow some climbing gear he had on hand for the cave in case it was necessary. For a split second, in the dark of the cave mouth as she approached it, she thought she saw something. She tried sensing with the Force. She felt nothing but danger. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and split her staff in two hesitantly going inside. She could see blood stains where some poor victim had been dragged to their doom. Maple went deeper, prepared to run if she sensed the Terentatek. Nothing yet. But the cave network was murky, damp, and cold.

What the hell was it doing here, she wondered. Terentateks like places strong with the dark. So what had those Lethane blasts disturbed?

Carrying both halves of her vibro staff in hand, Maple headed further, spotting more blood. She grew very nervous at this point but was not sure why. There was a fog in the cave, and she had already lost track of the light from the entrance.

She followed a foot print of the beast into a tunnel entrance. It was big. Bigger than normal. Twice as heavy, from the indentation of the print. It had no doubt fed but Terentateks were bloodthirsty by nature. They would kill for the sake of it.

Maple sighed. Not only was she tracking a damn Terentatek, she was tracking some sort of bull of the species. These vibrotips had better be worth the creepy place she had pulled them from, she thought as she journeyed down.

She heard a faint roar but could not pinpoint it. Her grip on her fighting pikes was knuckle white. This was crazy. She was crazy too, but this was crazy.

Keep calm she told herself, quietly moving with muffled steps down the rocky network of damp, cold stone.

[member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

She could feel her, she didn't need to keep her eyes on the girl while she remained in the shadows. Wrapping them around herself, letting her heartbeat still almost and body not move. She was within the blackness. She slid her finger out as the small blade came and she waited for her to pass.. the fog was thicker, the moment clear when she could hear the beast and was able to sense it within the cave. Deeper and deeper. She moved towards the entrance of the cave and focused the earth shaping... the techniques she had learned over the centuries for controlling the elements. Her fist shaping the earth while she moved.

The entrance buckled, thick slabs of stone protruding from the mouth of the cave to seal it and them within. She was not going to let something as fun as this prey escape before it was sealed up with a rumble. Her breathing coming out heavy after she focused. Looking back with hunger in her eyes when she moved quickly. Her features becoming more pronounced, eyes shallow, skin paler, skin tighter on her face so her cheek bones looked more sunken in. The energy vampires true visage was something more or less then human but as they fed they could look and blend in morer. Using that power ate away at it when she started to stalk her prey.

Then she felt it, that first rumbling in the dark as one of the smaller creatures were coming around here. Curious as to what was happening and escaping rhe larger beasts. She ran after it and caught it holding it up to her mouth as her fangs snapped into place and she sank them into the meat of it. Draining the blood to leave little trails on her mouth. Her skin filling out more before she moved itno the fog and was following after Maple with a look on her face. A tight lipped smirk retracting the fangs when she sliped into that place, wanting to whisper more and more. 'Over here' To try and make her turn while she moved to get behind her.

 

[Maple Harte]

The bounty hunter had been moving ahead when she sensed the distress of life, life being snuffed out. It had happened close by, just after the sound of a loud cave in and a flare of darkness that was overwhelming. Then...nothing.

There is more than Terentatek's here to worry about. Doashim warned her.

I wonder what delightful thing is waiting to kill me this time. Probably something. There's always something in these places.

Great, now she was sealed in with a Terentatek. And...something.

The sudden urge to turn around put her on alert. Creeping dread started as a sliver of ice in her brain and spread throughout the body. Something was in here. Close by. She wanted to turn. She turned, seeing nothing in the fog, sensing nothing, seeing nothing. But the urge to turn was sudden, and inexplicable.

She looked around. She was being hunted. Stalked. Dread gripped her. But she had an idea. Since taking this job at all had been crazy, her only solution was to act crazier.

She ran forward, still having not spotted [member="Sawa Ike"].

She began tapping the walls.

"HEY! TASTY SNACK!" she started yelling, not knowing what else was after her. But whatever it was, she was willing to bet it did not like Terentatek's. She tapped the walls with her staff until she heard a loud, nearby roar. She wheeled around still not spotting what else was in here. She was on the verge of being too frightened to, even as she heard the footsteps of the Sithspawn approach but she wanted to wait until the last moment looking for any threats in the fog before bolting.

"MIND-BINDER!" Maple shouted. "IF THAT'S YOU, I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL!"

The Terentatek finally showed and Maple backed off, horrified. The beast was a deep, crimson red, with red, glowing eyes and black, obsidian claws. It towered over her, and it had plenty of room to move in.

The beast roared in the fog, and broke into a run after her. Maple bolted deeper into the cave network still having not spotted her pursuer.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Well that was certainly a surprise... Sawa was watching and stalking before she heard the woman.. yelling and beating the wall with a look on her face of surprise. Before they were moving now with the sound of the beast as it was running. She wrapped the shadows and the fog around her while the girl was off into the cave. Deeper and deeper they could go while this thing was chasing them when she moved around behind it. Seeing its eyes and flesh, feeling the dark taint that it was on the world before she was moving now and speed went itno her muscles. The air in her lungs sharp but she moved along the wall away from where it was and dropped down onto one of its spines.

The thick flesh and bone was there, poison gleaming on it in the low light while her eyes flared silver for a moment with a look. Sawa grabbed it touching the spine and she twisted as her hands dug into the spine. Her small claws likely wouldn't have done much but the spine she could at least have some of the poison to stab at a vulnerable spot. She moved snapping it off as the creature roared from the surprise and pain. Sawa stabbed at a gap in the armor so that she would be moving around to the red eyes. Looking into it while stabbing it. She didn't kill it and here she got bucked off as the tusk grazed her stomach, leaving a crimson line that exposed her pale flesh.

Then she felt herself thrown against a wall and her head snapped back with the air escaping her lungs to better move around. She rolled and was loiking in the fog when she scrambled on the ground after Maple giving them a moment where she could speak. "Must you yell woman, such pray is dangerous enough when you get them by surprise." She sneered a little but she was working with her mental energies, to whisper and put where they should go into the cave. A small alcove that would go deeper into the cave system but it would be smaller then the creature would be able to get through for the time. Sawa watched her while her eyes shifted.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple had been out of breath nearly being chased when she heard a thud behind her. The Terentatek had been injured momentarily incapacitated by...a woman it seemed. No ordinary woman could survive a Terentatek assault. It didn't matter to her strangely, because at that moment she had a sudden, glaring urge to lead the beautiful woman to safety at a nearby alcove, one small enough to jam the beasts efforts to have them both for dinner as she followed Maple angrily into it. The Terentatek finally recovered, rushing after them both, but she had already led herself and the woman further into the smaller portion of the cave network, too small for it to follow.

The woman had asked in the process whether she had to yell, and how such pray was dangerous even when you did take them by surprise.

"Guess me and the Terentatek have something in common then," she said calmly, getting a feel for the woman's aura, struggling not to recoil in terror. This...woman...was a seething darkness.

Ah, you found your hunter. Careful, Uri. This one is dangerous. If she has a heart at all, I suspect it to be smaller than a thimble. Doashim warned her. Maple kept silent, studying her new problem, ready to twitch if she pulled anything. Was it the Mind-Binder.

A roar alerted her to the fact the creature waited just beyond. Its red eyes stared from the alcove entrance, snarling and drooling sticky green saliva.

"Oh, relax, I'll get to you soon enough. Chill." she told the beast, who seemed to roar louder in response before stomping away.

"Well, pissed a Terentatek off. Its probably swearing several kinds of vengeance, she said to the lady. She could sense the darkness in her, and the strange woman probably knew she could sense it. But she made no voice of it for now. Nor did she ask why the woman was in there. This was the jungle. There was no need to ask what a predator was doing in it. Especially since she got the feeling she was the prey. But the woman had been wounded in the process. She thought she could see blood trails from her mouth, but they did not look related to the wound she now sported at the Terentatek's hands.

There was, instead, only one question she did want to ask. The aura seemed right.

"Are you the Mind-Binder?" she asked quietly. "You are not as...scarred as I had imagined."

The woman was beautiful but there was a hunger to the eyes. Not the hunger of desire. Hunger as in hunger. It was the look of a jungle cat.

Maple backed off slightly, waiting for the Woman's response...and in case she chose to attack.

[member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa was looking at her, focused and ready in case she tried anything else crazy but was watching. Eyes focused on the woman and she was taking it all in but giving her full attention... there was a trick to looking at someone in the eye but being able to take in everything that was around them. She could see her, she could hear her... focused and ready there as she moved now. Her body in pain but her limbs could still move like a predatory cat. With muscles in places most didn't have. An almost boneless type of movement that didn't make a sound. "Mind bender." She was curious but this seemed important to her... this seemed to be a way in.

"What is this mind bender?" She said it and her voice went from aggressive to silky. She wasn't angry and calmed down before she was looking her over and allowing it to be felt. Her voice like a mental caress of warm furs, her eyes giving a heat as they roved over the body and her hands while at her side she was giving the impression that they were everywhere intimate within the force and mind. She was proejcting it as a thought process, surface thoughts that would be trivial in many cases and hide what she was really doing. Listening to her, listening to her heart in the force and her mind. With her movements going around her as she was focusing energy on herself.

Her torso specifically, her healing energies as the slash across her chest slowly started to heal and she slipped the bodysuit to look at the other wounds on her. The small gash on the back of her head that had knocked loose some of her hair, the bruises and other cuts were healing acorss her body as she stood there and the bodysuit slipped to be around her waist like a skirt revealing pale flesh. "I am not a mind bender my dear, I am just here hunting the beast and I found you. A little lamb in the woods." She could fel other things from her and she knew how to play off of things. She was focusing on making her words sensual.

'Come here, respond to me.' She was projecting it and using the force to lap at and focus on that aura. The feeling of her mind and body to make them connect. She caressed at it until she was standing still with silver eyes looking at Maple. Her ears listening to the creature stalk around an thinking about a way that it could get in and at them now that the cave itself had been sealed. Sawa could smell it, could smell many different things and she tapped her finger along her chin for a moment at the blood. Pulling it away and licking it for a moment while she looked at the girl. "We'll just have to figure out how to handle that creature or escape through the tunnels."

 

[Maple Harte]

She studied the woman, studied the silver eyes for deceit as she seemed to express genuine confusion towards her question. She paid attention to how effortless her transition from sneer to seduction went in her voice. Doashim was right. She was dangerous.

"Not Mind-Bender, Mind-Binder. As in to 'bind' something. Or someone. And it doesn't matter who she is. You clearly aren't her."

She felt herself being subtly studied but said nothing. Jungle behavior. It was to be expected.

The silver eyes drew her in more than the feline motions as the woman said she wasn't the witch, but someone hunting the Tarentatek. Maple internally resisted the gentle touch of the woman's voice on her brain as she felt compelled to step a little closer, suddenly getting the distinct sensation of being touched. She was being lured and she knew it, which was confirmed when the body suit came off slightly, giving Maple a good view of the wounds. How quickly they healed. Nor ordinary Dark Force user healed like that. What was she? There were so many ways to bend the rules these days when it came to surviving the unsurvivable. That cut on her head should have given her a mild concussion at least. But no. Just zip it all up like it had never happened.

Fast metabolic rate. What are its upper stresses? she wondered about the woman's healing rate as she stepped a little closer, feeling compelled to get a little closer to that pale skin, those silver eyes. The way she healed quickly. All presentation, like the lure on an anglerfish. But it was seductive. Silver-Gaze was gorgeous, and she knew Maple knew it. And it wasn't like danger hadn't gotten her hot under the collar before, and often with women very much like this. But the hunger and lack of nearly anything else made it different. Made it terrifying.

"If there is a lamb here, it is not me." she stated, literally having to Force herself with all her might not to step closer, even as her mind played wild images of the strange woman's hands caressing her everywhere. Skip. She was nothing but a simple nurse in a hospital, changing a bandage. Skip. She was in the cave. A week had gone by in the delusion, but it was fast fading from memory and back onto the beautiful woman with silver eyes that part of her desperately wanted to step closer towards, only to be held back by a powerful survival instinct. Could feel the aura trying to connect with hers now, with Doashim's help. Telepathy specialist.

Silver-Gaze wanted to see into her. See all the sins. If she could handle the mess inside her skull she was welcome to try.

Hmmmm...perhaps this is your Mind-Binder after all. Doashim hypothesized.

She doesn't even know who I am. Maple thought.

What was it your fallen comrades said on Mimban? 'Not Yet', as I recall?

...You have a point. she thought at the spirit.

Maple struggled to control her emotions as she watched her lick the blood off. Pure seduction attempt. Very hot, of course but incredibly creepy. But the woman did Hot-Creepy like a pro. It was a rare art form.

Maple forced herself not to be drawn in, retreated into a memory of Veronika's face. The silver eyed woman was trying to check all her boxes.

For now though, Maple played along. Even though she knew the woman was dangerous. Seduction worked both ways though.

"Kill the creature. I never did like Terentateks." Maple suggested flatly, knowing her subtle resistance would make the woman more determined to get to the darkest layer of her. But she had no choice.

She stared down the rocky network, hearing the monsters thud.

She turned back to [member="Sawa Ike"], trying not to let her eyes slide too much from the gaze. But seduction worked both ways, so she decided something else crazy was necessary. She decided to indulge the woman.

"Not that you aren't a specimen, gorgeous. But you should slip that on...for now..." Maple said, thinking quickly. "Lets walk this route. Bound to be some path that leads elsewhere."

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

She watched her, pausing and growing still... still... becoming like a statue as the small motions of her body and chest ceased. Making her appear more as a statue that didn't even blink. The wry smirk was there on her face. SHowing just the barest hint of teeth and she could feel things from the woman. Could feel her mind shifting, conversing with itself. Running thoughts through at lightspeed as to not look simple. A good way to do it but she waited until her words came out and then moved. Her body barely twtiching or revealing itself as she slipped into the bodysuit again. Securing it but there were the slashes as her skin finished healing.

She stood closer to her, while Maple seemed tentative about making the distance smaller.. Sawa didn't mind it. She wasn't afraid of the girl before she was looking over her from up close. Her head roving and lingering when she came to her neck to let the heat of her gaze rest there and then trace up the side of her face. "Perhaps you are not a lamb my dear but you have such tender flesh, such inviting lips and succulent thoughts. Oh imagine all the things that could happen to you in the dark." She let her grin appear and it was tight lipped at first but as she finished healing and licked her lower lip as her incisors were visible for a moment.

Her fangs appeared, more like snake fangs... The sound of them snapping into into place as they elongated her incisors before she moved her head forward and down. To go for the neck and she stopped scenting her, breathing in the scent of sweat, dirt her skin. The sunshine was on it and below it that scent of Maple (whatever you want it to be). Sawa remained there before a sound came from her throat a small and almost imperceptible reverberation. Thrilling of excitement as she had found prey worthy of... well worthy of her at least. She would love to show why the girl should be afraid... would love to tear into that flesh.

'It would be so easy.' She said it in her head, said it in a way a force user could hear on the surface of her mind. The small and trivial things you didn't really do much with. Sawa was thinking about that pulse in her neck the sound of her blood rushing throughout her body, her thoughts and she spoke. "So simple my dear, I could take you now, make you my pet, have you beg me to do unspeakable things to you, your body. All over and you'd welcome it... you would crave it." She thrilled a little under her breath, putting the force into the vibrations that came fromt he back of her throat. She let force empathy and projected the emotions.

Lust, passion, energy, heat everything that could go to it and give a sense of pleasure that would wash over her. Make her want to give into the feeling of it before she pulled her head back with silver eyes lingering on her. Sawa moved quickly, a blue of speed and power before she kissed at her to steal the kiss. Give her a taste of copper from the blood on her lips, a taste of the balm she used that was like exotic fruits, danger and a sense of power. Raw energy waiting to be unleashed but hiden down deep before she was letting the force and her own bodies movements take her back to where she had been standing.

She was a statue again and brushed with the force, brushed with the energies to make it seem like if she could do it... a day dream... something that Maple imagined happened instead of actually happening. Sawa watched her and remained in her original position giving a moment before she spoke. "Precious girl, tell me where is the shadows you want to walk and I will gladly go with you. The least I can do in this case since we are sealed in here for now. Finding a new way so that we can get out." Sawa said it before they were moving around with some of her attention to the smaller details walking around her finally and into the caves.

 

[Maple Harte]

She had been waiting for a response when she noticed how still the woman had gone. Like she wasn't living. And then...

Skip?

A beautiful nightmare, up close to her, could feel her breath on the neck. Too fast. Too fast to block with the staff. No use running with a jungle cat anyway. All it will do is chase you. "Lady, things have happened to me already in the dark. Not so much because of the whole succulent thoughts thing which is weird, but definitely because of the whole 'Tender Flesh' and 'Inviting Lips' bit.

She thought she saw fangs. Her spine chilled but she felt no bite. Frighteningly, she was almost disappointed. The creature spoke with a dread seduction in her brain, warping her perceptions, making her want Silver-Gaze. She never let the face of Veronika leave her mind completely. Part of that was survival instinct.

She was staring into Silver-Gaze's eyes, wondering if this would be it, her cut-grass-scented skin prespiring with fear. She agreed with the message on most things. She could turn her into a pet. Could make her beg for the unspeakable and like it. But she would not do it easily, even if the emotions the woman projected and perhaps aided by her own subconscious desires were close to overwhelming.

The kiss came as an surprise, a seizure from warm flesh in the darkness. And it was a good enough kiss that Maple despite the lethal predicament she was in, dared to draw the creature in closer by almost unconsciously pulling Silver-Gaze in by the waist, tasting the blood on the lips. Not human. Animal. Intoxicating. She almost forgot Veronika's face. Maple returned the kiss, slipping the creature's arm around her own waist and stroking the black hair. She wanted to drive the creature wild, whatever the hell she was. Make her thrill in the chase. Half of it was because that was a genuinely good kiss and it would have been criminal to overlook that, despite the lethal situation.

And the other half was when you encountered a jungle cat you didn't run, because it would just chase you.

Skip?

Silver-Gaze was back in her position. And Maple blinked in confusion. Had that just happened? She could have sworn the whole evil seduction attempt had been real.

And there Silver-Gaze was, acting all innocent. All cooperative. And why shouldn't she? Cats, after all, sometimes play with live food to get the adrenaline up. Makes the meat taste better. If she was screwing with her head, she was in the perfect place to do it.

Maple wordlessly pointed down the tunnel. That was the creepiest thing about the real jungle cats like this one: They could be all collected and patient. Right up until they were sprinting for the wounded beast.

"That's a bull we're hunting." Maple spoke softly as they walked in the near dark, not sure if the taste of her lips had been a delusion or not. Was Doashim right? Was Silver-Gaze the Mind-Binder, and simply did not know yet?

That great and massive darkness within Silver-Gaze beckoned Maple, who tried to keep her eyes straight ahead.

In the meantime as they walked through the narrow, rocky passage she decided to get the name of her potential killer.

"Got a name. Must be a hell of a Terentatek to get someone with an aura like yours out of bed.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa kept her grin while she was walking and moved using much the same movement towards the tunnels. Happy to take the lead and willing to give her bqack tot he girl. She wasn't afraid of that and had her senses trained on her. SHe would be able to feel the danger if she was going to attack and Maple didn't seem like she wanted to attack. She seemed to be wanting to... to entice, to make the situation her own as she struggled to maintain that mental image. Sawa had been working with it, to align their thoughts, to instead of forcing her to popen up.. she had been gliding across the surface.. waiting for small pinpricks of entry.

An image of a woman came to her mind and Sawa pulled at that, to bring the thoughts to the surface like it was a murky pool in the sea of Maple's memories so that she could test it. This bond, this thought of a woman.. oh and it was a woman. One she could almost feel becoming aware of what was going on. Her thoughts about Sawa were there as well and the energy vampire lapped at them, enjoying the thrill that it brought to her mind, to the surface of her own thoughts with a small turn of her head when her name was asked. "I am Sawa and the creature may only be half of why I got up. perhaps while you were searching for your mind-binner... I was searching for you."

She said it with a smile and waited for a moment moving just far enough ahead that she could set the pace if the woman didn't want to lose sight of her but just slow enough that if she was tracking she wouldn't lose sight of Maple. She was teasing, inviting and sending the impressions in the force of herself as the object of maples thoughts. She couldn't erase her memories but she could work to befuddle them, she could work to weaker that thought of Veronika... was that her name.. Pretty. She could think of it she could fel it but Sawa wanted to pull it bring the emotions that might be felt for her to the surface.

'Come to me.' Her mental enticement was meant to lure her in deeper with the caves and the sound of everything going on. Her movement, the speed to keep Maple from thinking to hard about what might be going on in her hed just below the surface and as she whispered with the force, the overwhelming sensation of the creature was there. Able to follow them, to smell them. Sawa motioned going into a smaller network that went down. She was following the sounds of water, of a possible stream or maybe some dripping that came from above. To provide water to the creatures who were here in the darkness of the cave.

She was pushing he memories.. or fantasies of what had happened, the emotions towards the girl and where there were some skills that let you torture with fear and embarrassment that had been a danger... Sawa was using its ideas to make a mental loop on repeat for her. Letting the emotions and sensations play on repeat over and over at lightspeed. The small purring in the back of her throat she let reverberate down the cave and she pushed empathic vibrations of wanting, of need into it. Not hard given she had used a great deal of energy to heal and was wanting to drain the girl but she allowed it to be there.

She allowed it to give the feeling she craved Maple like she was a bottle of water within the desert, that she was the last lifeline from hell. Maple was all consuming, all important and all that she could feel while she was walking and thinking about her. Slowly using the thoughts to shield her body and motions leading them deeper into the cave. She was going and following the scent of power, of need to rend their flesh and consume them from the beast but they might be able to use their skills to take it down or escape from it. Sawa tapped a finger to her chin in thought walking over to the stone and leaning against it to wait for Maple. fingers grasping and plunging the seamed zipper lower to expose her naval. "Coming dear?"

 

[Maple Harte]

Cocky. Maple thought as [member="Sawa Ike"] walked ahead, offering her back to the bounty hunter. Not that it wasn't a nice back.

She has a right to be cocky, Uri Doashim rumbled within. She has you where she wants you

Silver-Gaze's movements were feline, almost without sound as she moved. Maple followed quietly, retreating into thought of Veronika and her blond hair for the time being.

This is no ordinary hunter that has corralled you.

Kinda got that impression, Doashy. Thinkin' personally tutored by a Sorcerer.

Silver-Gaze spoke up, finally offering her name. It was a nice name.

"Really? Little old me drew the attention of one such as yourself?" Maple asked, getting the sensation the woman wanted her, and badly, a wild lust that ran its fingers over Maple's spirit, beckoning her to follow. There were a few things that made it creepy. One, they were in a dark scary cave stalked by a big, scarier predator. Two, if that kiss Sawa had given had not just been her imagination, then Maple had sensed as much hunger as desire, and it was difficult, but she was guessing the hunger was a lot stronger. Three. If that kiss was real, then it meant the fangs she spotted were probably real as well.

Wild images of being kissed by Sawa played over and over again, tasting the blood on the lips, forced Maple to shake her head slightly as she focused, even as she restrained a very dark and violent part of her that wanted another. Half of it because she just wanted it, and the other to test her suspicion.

She felt overwhelming desire from her, whatever she was. But she felt that dark hunger underneath that, and it was terrifying. Sawa terrified her. Part of her liked that, which was equally revolting. She focused on the first time she had met Veronika to stay as focused as possible.

They came to another part of the network, one where Maple heard the drip of water. She looked down it. It was a wider passage, that split off into five different areas. And then Sawa leaned against the stone, in the darkness, and the Vampire's already insidious grip on her spirit drove her almost up the walls with lust when she heard the zipper go down and in the weak light she spotted the naval of the woman through the unzipped suit.

Maple walked towards her, fighting the part of her that wanted to rip Sawa's suit from her and take her with the terror of common sense at such a proposal.

She got real close though, right up against Sawa, her piercing green eyes looking deeply into her silver ones. She saw mostly hunger, slowly creeping, and a little desire, but also the thrill a jungle cat got from stalking.

Maple could still be considered a jungle cat herself. She pressed against Sawa, breathing in the coppery sent of her lips, reached down...

...and zipped Sawa's front back up.

"Tell me Sawa." Maple said breathily, lips inches apart. "You seem to be too powerful to be just some academy adept that merely managed to survive long enough to be considered a master. I'm guessing...full on Darth. Am I right? I'm Maple by the way. And...no need to try 'quite' so hard."

Maple innocently stroked the vampires smooth hair for a few moments. Let that sit with her awhile. Let her think about the way her hair had been brushed. Sawa had her seduction technique, and Maple had hers.

Maple pulled back from the bewitching woman, and proceeded down the passage. Don't run from the jungle cat. Make it want to follow as you walk. She activated her staff ends as she entered the new passage, the snarls and thuds of the Terentatek growing ever closer. It knew where they were.

Maple grinned as she waited for it to appear, the fog up to her waistline.

The Terentatek soon rumbled through the passageways, stalking the two new scents down here.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa looked at her and could feel something interesting. This one wasn't just mushy thoughts that would be manipulated. She had something else there, soemthing in her mind that was helping her.. Almost unfair but she was older, stronger and knew how to survive compared ot many of the others when the girl got close to her. Touching her hair, almost grazing her lips while keeping eye contact. She wasn't going to blink but oh the thoughts running thorugh her mind in those dark places before she smiled. SMall, tight lipped, licking her lips and tasting the copper taste from her prey.... she felt the lingering touch of the girl before she was zipping up the suit.

Sawa remained there for a moment lingering as Maple walked away and went towards a cave now. Time to follow the leader when she tookl the time to watch her in the shadows. Her vision enhanced compared to the others and she was able to make out her movements before she projected herself towards Maple. IMagining and letting her see what she wanted to do with her hands. "Oh such a tease." She said it and slid off of the wall more like she was boneless and able to go after her.. kind of. She was more interested in the woman's mind, in the feeling she was using and whatever mental defenses she had.

'Now lets see.' Sawa was peering at her focusing and using what she had, the weight of ages. Five thousand years of survival and mental honing to seduce, kill and hide among sheep. She knew how to do it and she knew what she wanted to do here with her. She could feel the image of the woman was stronger.. Focused and almost spat on the cave floor. As the sound came to her though she was using it and focusing on it. A driving force to enrage her and give her focus. Anger didn't just make sith powerful, it was a focus, something to wrap around yourself and make you warm at night. Sawa felt the brush of whatever else was within her head and able to push her out.

She was then walking but more gliding behind silently. The prickle of her presence into the fog as she heard the creature stalking after them but Maple seemed determined to... nothing. Sawa vanished, allowing herself to bleed into the thicker shadows while using her enhanced senses to creep and crawl along the walls away from Maple. Into a small gap of rocks that her lithe body could fit into with a grin apearing as she spotted the creature. coming at them. She was leaving Maple there but allowed herself to scatter around the area. Her aura and presence feling like it was within the fog itself instead of one area.

 

[Maple Harte]

The Terentatek finally appeared in the foggy, dark passages, its red eyes zeroing in on Maple in the distance, who looked about for the strange woman. She could still feel her presence, but it was like it was everywhere. Not just some localized spot. Maple darted around, looking for Sawa in a panic when the idea that she might have been just a delusion occured to Maple.

Oh, what a hell of a time to have one, if that was the case, Maple thought and snorted as the Terentatek approached. It did so cautiously, but its hungry eyes reninded her of Sawa, which was all the more reason to be scared of her if she was real. She called on Veronika's face to help her deal with the wild images of Sawa's hands everywhere sent shivers of residual lust through the bounty hunter, almost too distracted as the beast approached at surprisingly fast speed. A swipe from its claws aimed at Maple's midsection. She had both staff ends set to kill, and the red electricity arcing from the red rods built into the staff went active as she dodged the heavy deadly swipe, its obsidian claws glistening in the faint light. It snapped its massive jaws to her, only for her to retreat in a series of backflips as it charged, swiping.

Part of her wanted Sawa to be real, because of that kiss...and part of her wanted to know whether she really had truly, finally come upon the Mind-Binder.

She rolled out of the way of its deadly swipes, to busy evading its great speed to actually counter attack. She was backed against a cave wall, and when it charged she was forced to make a desperate running slide under it, barely clearing the inbetween of its legs, when she ran one of the staff ends past its hide, hearing it roar in pain and fury, as a wide gash of split open flesh and muscle on its leg appeared. She barely got out of range of its next claw swipe, but not its backhand. She was lucky in truth because it only clipped her, but what did connect rammed into her arm mostly and sent her flying into a wall, and by some miracle didn't gash her head open on any sharp stone. She still had the breath knocked out of her and felt severe pain in her elbow. The creature advanced on her, though now with a limp, and slower, but it was still to fast for her to properly attack it, and too strong to fight face to face. Had to get around it. Had to stall for time first.
Maple slowly backed away as it advanced, using seperated staff ends and warding it away with the threat of lascerations. She ducked under another swipe but she was still winded from its one blow earlier.

She spotted a small chasm, and did not know where it would lead, but staying any longer was likely going to be suicide. She needed to get behind it...somehow.

Maple ran for the small chasm and it gave chase, even as it bled. She barely dropped down it before it had reached the chasm, missing a swipe for her head by centimeters. To her surprise, she hit a smooth floor not too far down and looked up. The thing stared from above, drooling, seeming to give a roar of frustration before it left to fo reacquire her another way. She looked around. She was in a deeper part of the cave system, one that seemed to have signs of habitation, for there were symbols she did not recognized covering blackened cave rock surface in glowing red.

A hint of power below her tugged softly. Silently.

"Oh, crap." Maple said out loud. "I'm in a literal tomb."

Maple spotted at the end of one passage a staircase leading lower, built into the rock. She spotted an even wider chasm in the distance from the ledge she had dropped down on. She proceeded down it, still feeling a potentially non-existant woman's presence, the only hint of being real the still faint taste of animal blood on Maple's lips. But she could not afford to wait around. If Sawa did not exist, she was fortunately not next to someone who seemed to want to eat her or worse. But it meant she would have to fight the creature, and she wasn't so sure she could on her own. It was a toss up. One hand, alone, other hand...that kiss...

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa was watching the fight and waited until the creature was... standing over a chasm in the floor and she slipped towards in. Landing on the floor of the cave when the thing seemed to sense her for a moment and turned to look. Stalking around but she moved seeing the limp and using dark sister, her lightsaber as it slipped from her bodysuit. The black metal folded over with crystals embedded in the hilt. The metal taking on a semi silver sheen to it that was different before it hummed to life and showed a black and silver blade. The core like ebony pulsing white-silver arcs from the unstable containment field. She slashed at the beasts leg and dug the saber blade in.

The flesh that had been damaged by Maple worked to let her in and she stabbed gashing it more and more when the scent of burnt flesh came to her. Sawa was reaching out and she could fel Maple was there at the botom before she reached up and grabbed a tusk of it. Bringing the saber up to slash it and she got a sliver of the tusk that was coated in the venom they excreted. She knew the power of poison and with the right concentrate she could really mess with Maple.. she could accomplish so many tbings as she moved crouching down lower and lower to get to the chasm. 'See you later.' Sawa thought it to the creature when she dropped down.

Sawa didn't make a sound landing on the ground, she didn't speak when maple was thiknking it but she was able to feel things from her... she had been thinking about her in those early instances of the fight. Wondering about her and everythign that was going on as Sawa moved. The sliver of tusk with its poison coating was there and she flipped it between her fingers, testing it until she positioned it just right. Her thumb and index finger holding it before she flicked it towards her like a small silent bullet. Something she could embed in her flesh and try to have it stay there just under the surface to weaken her. The poison was made to weaken prey after all.

Sawa was looking at it and she didn't want to kill this one.. she amused her to much, was intriguing when it came to things. She kept using a memory to bolster her mental defenses to protect herself.. That was the key to it though. She was looking at a way to get into that mental fortress, to get itno her head and she continued to give the same.. more of a repeat yes but Maple seemed receptive to the idea of the woman caressing her, of making her sweat as she sent images to her mind. Ideas of the vampire dancing for her, moving around and gyrating in the tomb somewhere deeper needing to be rescued and always more then thankful. That was where she disappeared to after all right?

Sawa didn't move ahead, she didn't come back into her line of sight but she hugged the edges of the walls and projected a whisper from the areas deeper into the tomb. "Help me" It reverberated and echoed, coming like a scream and offered another reason why she could have vanished. Maybe she was a mind game, maybe she had been taken and dragged down here when Maple took her eyes off of the woman and leading them into that tunnel had doomed her to a fate worse then death at the hands of unknown things in the dark. Sawa was hoping for the poison to make her a little weaker, make her more open to the mental probing she was doing to get in.

She continued to push and could feel it here, the faintest whisperings of power and promise as she looked around. Sticking to the shadows with her eyes on some fo the walls. Seeing a different sith with her subjects. A zeltron queen who had ruled over them and she had her arms crossed in approval. This was the way to go while she was reading some of the ancient sithese script talking about what happened to her. On the planet, to her subjects and most importantly how when she died they buried her on a world no one else would find with all of her servants to serve her in the afterlife and more. Sawa grinned to herself when she crept around into a tunnel.

She could make out some of the story and there was a chance for her to maybe find something or another here, the terentrek itself was likely drawn here and enslaved to guard it being corrupted by whatever they might have found here and around the galaxy. She let the grin come to her face though before she watched the woman and pushed at her mind. To try and keep herself going into it. TO make her presence feel like it was coming from the tunnels and letting her feel Sawa's body under her hands. Her breath on her neck, taste of her lips and the scent of jasmine, rain and thousands of years under the moonlight.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple didn't feel the sharp sliver slide effortlessly through her sasori armor. It had been that sharp.

Maple tasted the animal blood on her lips, remembered the kiss, fought the part that wanted to surrender to it.

Skip.

Uri Udinia walked into the ruins deep in the woodland. The Jedi Shadow in training could hardly believe she had been granted the honor of what was about to occur.

He awaited, glorious like she had always imagined, clad in royal red robes holding a vibrorapier made of a magnificent black metal whose exact forging process and combination of alloys he still refused to disclose. Even his terminal diagnosis could not get him to disclose the secret of Lur Redtide's sword. His iron grey hair were twisted in large, thick braids and his beard was neatly trimmed, and of the same complexion as his locks.

Uri's piercing green eyes stared with pure hero worship as she held her beloved staff, which meant more to her than even her own cane-saber out in a saluting gesture. Redtide chuckled and returned the gesture. She was dressed in purple robes, her hood drawn over her face.

It was a duel for his ship, the black, J-type 327 Nubian The Silent Erika.

She bowed, unable to fathom how she could defeat him...

Skip.

She writhed in the tomb in her mind, dancing, gyrating hypnotically. Did she exist? They must have nabbed her. Nabbed her when Maple had not been looking. Wait...who was 'they'? Didn't matter. It was they.

Maple watched in the delusion as Sawa danced for her, at the same time hearing shrieking cries for help.

"Is she real?" Maple asked out loud of the spirit Doashim.

Difficult to say. I've learned quickly not to trust anything involving your brain

"Real helpful. Thanks."

The blood on your lips is real enough.

"If I had a credit for everytime I accidentally got blood on my lips...no wait. That only happens in that 'one' delusion.

As Maple continued to stare at the illusion of the gyrating Sawa, she fought the powerful emotion, the darkness in her wanting the woman to be real, so she might touch that beautiful hair once more. She realized that she had been in the jungle far too long since any sane person would be utterly terrified if they thought they wanted a potentially overwhelming foe to be real. She thought she felt her flesh, tasted that kiss of death, smelled her.

Maple shook herself away from the desires. If she was real, she was likely sending her those images. The lure of the anglerfish. Trouble was, the angler fish was very good...if it was real.

The scent of jasmine made her grip her staff ends hard as she recalled Veronika's face. But it was harder this time. She felt her, and this dark hunger made her want to go deeper, to smell it, if it was real. To gaze into Silver Eyes and not care if they wanted to eat you. Veronika's face smiling a golden smile--

Skip. Maple still wandered deeper, fighting the influence she was not sure was real. It was dark. She was terrified of Sawa. She wanted to brush that hair. She wanted egg salad.


[member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa watched her and she could feel it, allowing the force itself to whicsper to her as Maple seemed to be falling in deeper. She was curious about this cave and came to the main chamber of it. THick walls, massive areas of bodies... mummified and buried down here with her along with riches and earthly pleasures the zeltron sith lord would hopefully be able to take with her. Sawa moved towards the alter and kept her mind locked to try and lure Maple in.. kept enticing her as she used the poiison which should slowly start to make her weaker and the mental foreplay of rubbing Veronika just enough she would be the one on her mind.

Sawa saw the tomb, standing in the center of the room and carved of stone that opened it all up. to reveal nothing. The remains of a body but the rags and dust were disturbed as Sawa sat down to meditate and reach out. As far as most knew she had been captured and Maple would be abel to come in here to find her. The energy vampire was reaching out to twist her, to bend her and bring her here. The feeling her her hand on her hair was something she could use and sent it into overdrive. The sensation of touching the silky smooth strands, the clining of the oil, the scent of vanilla from the shampoo, the warmth of her skin underneath.

She breathed out a little and the tomb itself wa colder then even she had been expecting as she looked around at all of it, whatever they were bringing here, whatever they had done... whatever questionable thing was happening the sith would have to figure it out. This was exactly the most... helpful thing with a spirit she was imagining that had bound itself to its own tomb... She could feel it creeping around and railing against her. Wanting to harm them but netherworld spirits required a lot of power and energy to become a threat if you were not directly feeding them power. She could work to keep it at bay.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple had not spotted the sliver or noticed it until a few minutes later, when she pulled the small tip of it out of the armor. It thankfully had not gone very far into her. But the damage was done. She felt the poison. She must not have been as fast as she thought--

--Sawa's hands, Sawa's scent. The fragrance of her hair, the hunger, the feel, made her stop and clutch at her head a moment, trying to shake the images desperately to focus, but it was getting more and more difficult to recall Veronika's face, what with the poison ruining her concentration somewhat. She also heard the whispers of whatever or whoever was in this tomb, and whoever was buried here felt upset.

Maple felt the images of Sawa play over and over, thought she could even smell the shampoo she used. She felt that kiss. The dark part of her grew a little stronger the more she thought of it. Veronika. Veronika...

Maple forced herself up and to continue walking through the tomb network. Her arm, still injured by the fight with the Terentatek earlier, hung a little more limply to the side, her staff in the other hand. But to stop was death. Sawa needed her help. Sawa needed that suit to be ripped off and kissed. Sawa was a threat. Sawa was maybe real.

The tomb network had been relatively small, and with more eleborate carvings on the walls of some Zeltron Sith queen. Great. Just. Great. Maple ventured cautiously, though she was not as strong against the whispers of the spirit as Sawa was.

So gorgeous. So lithe... she thought she heard the spirit say. Maybe it was just one of the voices. She could not tell.

Let me draw strength from you... she heard it again. Let me caress you...

"I draw the line at being fondled by spirits, though I suppose if you were a particularly fetching Sithspawn I would reconsider." she joked, Sawa's skin literally being felt in her hands and compelling her ever deeper.

I sense great strength.

The girl is mine, ghost. Doashim growled, deep, commanding voice rumbling from inside her.

She felt frustration in the air from whatever was here.

Still think Sawa isn't real?

"Doashy, I dunno what to think at this point."

After a few minutes more of journeying down elaborately carved tomb tunnels that were wide and spacious she finally came to the center, the vast, disgusting center of it, saw the women that had been buried with the mummified psycho that was just dust and a corpse at this point--

--and Sawa, lovely Sawa, right at the center.

Even at this point, badly affected, Maple struggled to maintain control. To maintain focus. Recalling Veronika was like trying to gaze at someone through a thick flowing sheet of mollases. But she could still make out the face, with great effort. But was any of this even happening? She could not tell.

Seeing Sawa there, meditating, serenely. It was all Maple could do to not walk over to her and steal a kiss. She instead forced dignity upon herself, even as her brain grew more confused by its surroundings. Had that meeting with the military guy even happened? Or had she wandered into this place in some sort of horrible fugue state? To her distress, she could not tell. This could all be fake. All fake--

She was standing next to Sawa. The overwhelming urge to touch her was great. But even so, Maple managed to find the strength for a few moments.

"Y'know, back in the days when I was still in the Marksmen, none of us would have dared to try and take you up close. That's a compliment by the way." she said, walking around, looking at the dark chamber filled with bodies.

"I never talked to any of you before, you know. Not really. Not truly." She said to her, still not sure if she was real. But what the hell. It was the jungle. Sometimes the big cats from two different species interact.

"I never understood what it was I was accomplishing, in retrospect." she said as her fingers ran over the tomb walls, reading the inscriptions. "The Sith were everywhere. Hell, in a lot of ways, if you really stop to think about it hard, the Sith vision has come to pass...maybe not exactly the way you guys and gals expected or even wanted to...but its come true, in many ways."

Desire pulled her back to the meditating Sawa. She seemed more focused on the spirit of this place.

"But I persist. Soldier on. But your kind are everywhere now. Genie isn't going back in the bottle on that one. Not even really sure it should...won't you guys just figure out some other way from Deaths door? You know what I'm talking about, more than likely. How could you not? You've probably had to do it yourself, once or twice, I'm betting." Maple said, before she harnessed her nigh overwhelming urge to submit to her. Don't give the jungle cat what it wants. At least, not easily.

The game was still being played. Maple decided to do some disturbing of her own, maybe get into her head a little.

So she did something crazy. Sawa liked blood. She knew that. She suspected she was dealing with a Darth, which was terrifying. She was now both simultaneously terrified of Sawa...and wanted her.

She decided to do something she suspected Sawa might remember more than any kiss. Something that was insane in the very context it was taking place in. But it was also a way to test if she was real.

She removed a light armored glove, cutting her finger on a rough surface. A pindrop of blood showed on her finger. Walking up to Sawa, she gently ran the blood drop across her lips as she meditated, blew on her ear gently and then continued back to the other walls of the chamber, not quite sure what the reaction from her would be. If she did not exist it would not matter.

If she did exist...she did not know what the reaction would be. Either to her words, or that gesture.

It would help if Maple knew more about Sawa, but this was not the place for twenty questions.

[member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27dfqU_NyeE&t=54s​

[member="Maple Harte"]

Sawa had been surprised... she couldd feel Maple... she could feel so much more from all around them as she was remainign there and meditating. Reaching otu to her until she felt somethign was there with the girl... Maple seemed to have become interesting now as she fought back against the mental intrusion of the sith. She could hear her voice as well, that sweet caress of power as sawa opened her eyes and licked her lips. She wasn't in the tomb anymore here, she was sitting in the middle of a room. The sound of movement all around her but she wasn't seeing who or what it was. The area around her was expansive, with posts around her.

'Interesting.' She said it to herself as she took in the detail and could feel something gliding across her mind, wanting to get into her, wanting to keep her here and taste her power. The spirit was railing, and screaming to be let in before but now it was trying to become invited into her mind by enticing her. Showing her this scene as she made out the posts. Dark ebony wood with carved bleached bone inserts detailing zeltron history and sith rites. Images that were on all four making a story for one to see and she knew they were in the halls as well. Sawa's mind reached out to make the image clear and the zeltron with her amused look was there.

Tall and muscled across her body, with the defined areas and you could just see the outline of her abs across her stomach. The tightness was there, the purple to the skin with hints of red making it look different. She was wearing red and gold robes, sheer and made from zoosha fabric, deceptively made while the energy vampires roved over her form and saw her hair. THick, dark and cascading across her body while she laid there twirling a finger through the hair of her servants. Several of them were laying around for all of her needs, one with a trey of food, another a pitcher of something she was drinking. Feeding her or pouring it into her small goblet.

Sawa could make out more detail as Maple was getting closer, the proximity making the spread out vision instead fall into focus before she saw the armlet on her skin. A blood red crystal gleaming as the eyes of a crystal snake. The sensation in the air of pheromone induced lust from everyone bringing her eyes to see the bodies writhing and what they were doing. SOmeone was approaching and it looked like a jedi from the looks of her. The sith showed no real interest in her actions as the jedi's face became disgusted and she tried to hold her breath to avoid the scents in the air. The language was murky at first almost like they were speaking backwards.

'Everybody loves Maranon.' looking at it and seeing the jedi as the she moved forward to try and fight the power that was there.. pressure int he air making the others seem to stop what they were doing. 'No everyone lusts for Maranon.' There was no more sound, suddenly anger flared and she could almost taste the power in the air as the sith pulled the girl towards her with her hand coming out and she grabbed her by the throat. The anger was like a boiling wave of heat and energy bringing everything to the surface as she tasted something on her lips. Something pulling her back and her eyes opened up with a gasping.

Sawa was noiselessly drawing in air, her chest heaving, her body confused but she licked her lips with eyes flicking over to the scent of the blood. She could see Maple now standing there and talking and she moved. Her body one moment there on the stone floor fo the tomb and the next she was moving to pin the girl to the wall. To hold her in place before she was scenting her, smelling the blood that was there. "You are so loud, she will hear you." Sawa said it while she was looking at her and smiled with a grin on her face before she was looking at parts of it.. she was moving with her attention when she slid next to Maple. To hold her against the stone.

Sawa moved then, being this close she didn't have to try hard now... the girl was giving her bloodd to break her out of the trance, the dream or vision of the past whatever it was had been done to induce lust. Whoever this sith was she wanted to break their resistances to control them and lure them in here. The jedi she had seen, she could feel her presence here, she was one of the bodies that had been mummified along with other servants. The feelings that had been built up in her was almost maddening when all she wanted to do was tear at the armor and explore every inch. "Oh you are so.... wonderful."

The beautiful scent of her was there in her nostrils, she could use that. She felt thourgh the force, through the energy to that small part of Maple on her lips. That blood was like a siren's call luring her there and she raced heartbeat after heartbeat to get at her head. She could see the image of her.. this one who stood in her way that she was pushing the force energies into her. To rub at the memory, to obscure it more and more. Here it was only her she could trust... yes it was only her she wanted to think about. The other.. the other thing in her head that she couldn't do much with aside from trying to press it down with the weight of her age and power.

"Oh my sweet Maple." Sawa spoke and let her eyes rove over her as her mouth came close to her ear just barely touching it. Allowing some heat to roll off and tickle at her. She was feeling everything the sith spirit had been wanting to induce and she had enhanced strength, speed and power to enforce a whole lot more. Her mind was befuddled with the urge to get out of this heat and feeling of the force as she knew the spirit was enjoying this scene. Sawa almost wanted to just rip all of the clothing to shreds and they could spend hours days even here just the two of them. She had the stamina and five thousand years of learning tantric.