Private Them and Us

[Ameli Trahir]

“That’s the difference between them and us. ‘Them’ view foxes as vermin, and ‘us’ identify with the fox.”

Smoke drew out from side alleys. The air was cold. The smell of cigarette lingered softly around them. What eyes were alert to their presence avoided meeting their gaze as the pair passed. They knew better. Somehow, instinctively, they knew. The Ember of Vahl were hunting.

Vermin. Filth. Traitor.

None of the labels mattered to Ameli. The casus belli was but an excuse. Her real purpose lay in the act of killing. That was where she found satisfaction. She hoped it would be slow.

"Why is he so keen on you, again? Like you specifically. Did you hunt his lover or something?" Ameli asked the fiery redhead to her side. She had her serious face on. It suited her. Lassiter's features were always appealing to her, but she enjoyed the variation for flavour.

For this very occasion, the blonde was trying out a new hairstyle. Small side-twist braids with metallic details by the side, the rest left resting against her neck and shoulders like silken strands of sheer delight. For once she stuck to a simple colour scheme, wearing all black. Black leather pants, stopping above the ankle, and a thin low-cut top underneath a leather jacket, which extended into a thinly veiled cape with embroided patterns. Never leave home without accessorising, she always said, and she was richly decorated from the silver-coated fang handing in a long, thin chain necklace to the dagger-like ear ring and upper-ear piercings, all in the same silver colour.

"I don't mind it, you know. Getting off the fleet a bit" She had remained with the migrant fleet for a while now, longer than she normally would. Ameli was growing restless. It made her more prone to becoming easily annoyed, or snapping without reason. She needed something more. Spice, figuratively speaking... Although now that she thought about it... Maybe later.

"But it just seems like a lot of effort for just one guy. You really worried what he might do?" she prodded. The thrill of a hunt was always something she could relish in, but she felt like to Sena this was a little more personal. Or was there something else bothering her?

Lightsaber? Knife? There were so many ways to end a man's life. Maybe there would be something there she could use. A prop. Something primitive, like a hammer. Or perhaps something personal, something ironic... She didn't want spoil the experience by giving it too much thought. You can't schedule art. You just gotta let it happen.

 

[Lassiter]

Ameli Trahir

Them, and us. There were many situations where one could consider the realities as little more than a set of situations that neatly folded themselves into these two folders. Them, the Jedi, us the ones who suffered their ignorance. Them, the traitors, and us the faithful. Lassiter was a simple woman in that regard. She had her servants and all she expected out of them was loyalty, an attribute that she’d seen in those she had handpicked to serve beneath her as the extension of her will and reach.

But loyalty had the dangerous tendency to fall into dependency. This man whose name she despised to even think of was someone that she had come to trust and depend on to carry out his job. He had never shown any form of defiance, no signs of being discontent with his situation or what he was doing. And yet, here she was on his trail long after it had turned cold, tracking down what had been left behind in the wake of his… Undermined faith.

“He was keen on me.” Sena simply said, brows furrowed in anger as they strolled down the maze-like alleys towards their destination. “And it’s not something he might do, it’s something he has already done.”

Her pale hand rose to chop at the air before Ameli, an all too common sign that the redhead had gotten herself worked up enough to grumble over something for a good while longer.

“He betrayed us.” She said and curled her fingers into the palm of her hands. “More so he betrayed me and everything that I stand for.”

Lassiter turned on her heel, continued to walk up to the door before them. “I’d like to say it wasn’t personal, but he most certainly made it so when he did-” She opened the door to expose the bloodied writing on the wall ‘See you in hell, Lassiter.’ “This.”

“He let some valuable members stray further from our guiding hands. Handed them off to someone, and we still don’t know who.” Sena said and knelt down where his body had once been. “Normally I would have wanted to have the pleasure of putting his worries to rest with my own two hands, but he seems to have taken that liberty for me as well.”

Eyes wandered up to meet Ameli’s. “So I figured we’ll make an example of his flock to anyone else who considers following in his footsteps.”

 

[Ameli Trahir]

It didn't take long to pick up the clues that Lassiter was on edge. Not for Ameli, in any case. She was angry. Filled with vengeance. And no doubt, deeply deeply enraged by the fact that she would never get the chance to dish out a long, cold, torturous revenge. Not on him in any case.

It was quite the scene. Even if the body had been removed, murder was in the air, even if it had been self-inflicted. Its stains were clear enough. In a rare moment of calm, Ameli stepped over towards Sena, and placed a comforting hand on her back. "Heyy... It's gonna be okay. Did he have any family? We could murder them if you like?" she stroked her back. It was a moment of tenderness between the two psychopaths.

Ameli's eyes had lit up along with a smirk when Sena put forth her proposition. "Now that sounds like fun." The other woman wouldn't be shocked to learn Ameli was in, and would support her in this quest no matter how bloody or dirty it got. "We thinking bring some of those he lured away back into the fold? Or straight up murder them all?" It was a quite casual tone for something with such drastic implications, but such was dynamic, and indeed their roles.

Ameli made it clear she had no problem either way Lassiter wanted to handle this. Under normal circumstances she would not hesitate to voice her preferences, and quite actively push her agenda to the forefront, but this was personal. Even Ameli was not as selfish as to try and take this from her.

"Wow... He really went hard, huh" She wandered, looking around the apartment. "Quite the mess he made. Was he always this theatrical?" her hands hovered over the wall, but without touching his artwork. She started to wander about, perhaps hoping a clue would pop out at her. She liked that, when the clues screamed 'I'm here', rather than having to go digging for them. Much more work that.

 

[Lassiter]

Ameli Trahir

It was difficult to show that tenderness, but Sena had her moments. Her brows remained furrowed and yet she gave Ameli a slow, gentle shake of her head as she exhaled to take it all from the top again. Her hand patted against the blonde woman’s lower back before Lassiter took a knee by the dried up pool of blood which was seemingly all that remained of her former hunter now.

“Technically we were his family.” She said, finger dipped in the liquid to smudge against her thumb. “Hamish wasn’t one for theatrics, at least not that I knew. He was always very upfront about who and what he was, and he followed orders without question. To think that someone like that would…”

Sena chuckled at Ameli’s suggestion. “Yes, I definitely I do want to put at least some of them down to make an example.” She nodded and gave the other woman a nod. “He would like to think I can’t track them down, but he forgets that I have been doing this since I was still in my teens.”

She scoffed, the rage simmering beneath her skin like a brook down a steep hill. “The goddess finds a way, and I am her sword. We will find these traitors, reforge them, or grind them to dust.”

“Now look around for clues, anything you can find to give us a good idea of where he might have gone before he went here.”

“And uh, any credits you find… Feel free to keep them. You deserve it.”

 

[Ameli Trahir]

Lassiter

"Hmm" Ameli made a sound, just to feel like she was contributing. But in her pause, a thought actually popped into mind. "You think he came to this all on his own? Or you reckon someone, you know... Pushed him?" she examined her features, but quickly turned to glance away at some blood splatter. Wouldn't want to get distracted. This wasn't quite the ideal location.

Ameli started her scan of the apartment, looking for anything of interest. Trying to get a sense of the man as well as browsing for anything she might like herself. "Any idea where to start looking? For his people I mean"

"Yes yes, we shall burn them on the pyres." Ameli chimed in on the topic of Vahl's vengeance, although with much less enthusiasm than her counterpart.

Credits? She say credits? Ameli had just crossed over to an adjacent room, but Sena could see her head pop back out sideways, looking out. "Credits? Was he rich?" How quickly could she burn whatever she found? On some new boots maybe? Buying new was preferable to having to deal with getting all the blood off, but maybe something water-repellent? But it had to look good. Style over comfort. Maybe they could make a quick pit stop before heading back to the ship...

"There's something here" Ameli called out. On a table in the centre of the room there were one or two datapads lying about, and a holoprojector. Picking up one of the pads she started scrolling. Luckily for her it was unlocked. "Zeltros..." she said out loud. He had a folder categorized that "I think he might have been- Oh no" She accidentally double clicked, opening the folder as well as the file, and the holoprojector cast about the room a vivid imagery of three locals going about their favourite cultural pastime. "No no no no" Ameli dropped the datapad and ran over to the projector, clicking furiously to turn it off. If Sena walked in now that would be awkward...

"Actually nevermind, I don't think it was about his travel plans" Why won't you turn off? Oh for the love of Vahl, the sound was on! Ameli turned bright red. The Zeltrons in the video sounded way too excited to be there. Finally she managed to click it off. She turned around, fully expecting Sena to be standing on the other side, arms folded and judging. "Hi" she said with a big grin through gritted teeth. Smiling always got out of trouble, she'd learned.

 

[Lassiter]

Ameli Trahir

“No.” Sena shook her head. “He wasn’t that stupid, or so I thought.”

The lack of adherence in Ameli’s words still irked Lassiter to this day, but she couldn’t deny that she had shown her reverence for the goddess in other ways. Even if said ways mostly meant keeping those that served the greater good in a much greater state. It was a mutually beneficial case of symbiosis. A form of chaos and order that complemented the other.

… And, well, that was to say that while Ameli was all about hot-blooded murder, Lassiter prefered her to be ice-cold and calculated. The sight of one of them coming for the estranged was enough to make them hesitate for a moment. The sight of them both was enough to make them kneel in penance, and today was all about penance.

They would-

Okay, what was that sound? Sena raised her brow and began to approach Ameli as she frantically tried to turn some form of hutt-based entertainment video off or something. She rounded the corner and-

“Oh.” It was fair to say that even psychotic killers had their moments of surprise. Sena’s eyes set on the brightly lit scene that snapped into non-existence. ”Hello.”

“Could you… Turn that on again?” She asked, and motioned for the blonde to flick it back on. The scene came up again, and there right before her, stood Hamish in what some would call too much clothing. For people of Ameli and Sena’s disposition however, well… Frankly it was just far too little.

“That’s him.” She pointed at a man in the background. “The one enjoying some, uh, creative drinks right there.”

She turned back towards Ameli. “We need to find these people. Fast forward to the credits.”

 

[Ameli Trahir]

Could you... Turn that on again?

Ameli raised a brow. Then she smirked. "Here? Now?" She hadn't thought that was on the table, but she flipped the show back on without looking and took deliberate steps towards Sena.

She stopped. Her eyes followed the pathway of Sena's finger. "Oh" Realization dawned. Right. Always on the clock, always working. Should've figured that one out. She brushed her own disappointment underneath and to her own surprise, didn't make a scene.

"Huh. He doesn't look like much in this." Certainly he didn't install her with fear. But she knew what he had done. "Right" she said, again focused on the control panel, forwarding. Images flashed forwards until they became a blur, only stopping now and again as Ameli made sure she didn't skip past something importance. Then she froze the image.

"Well... We have some names. What, we hunt them all down and interrogate them?" Ameli wasn't opposed. She could go for a torture session. "You see a location or something here?"

Lassiter