Faction Vanishing Act - [JO]

[Braze]

Tags: Leos Dirk ​

Something far larger than either of them moved in the darkness beyond the faint ring of light.

It was hard to see clearly in the depth of the darkened antechamber...just a shifting mass of shadow that swallowed what little illumination reached it. A low, wet sniff cut through the silence as the thing tasted the air, pulling in their scent. Then came the slow, padding of heavy paws circling the perimeter of the ring. Every few steps, the faint metallic jingle of bells drifted from the gloom... sounds that should have been harmless perhaps instead may have now created a creeping-sensation of dread.

Whatever prowled the edge of the ring was massive, black-furred, and far too intelligent. Its glowing amber eyes caught the firelight for a heartbeat before vanishing again. The creature kept to the shadows, never fully revealing itself, yet its presence pressed down like a physical weight. Muscles rippled beneath its dark hide with every silent step. It was studying them....Hunting them.... And it was enjoying the game.

 

[Dirk]

Location: Dantooine
Tags: Braze | Leos

Dirk turned his head back some towards Leos after he was addressed. Watching them get lower the Dantari would crouch down lower, not quite prone like Leos, but still much lower. He watched as they summoned forth a cone of light to illuminate more of the room.

His senses heightened some in the dark and quite antichamper. Getting the feeling that there was another skulking in the darkness. Perhaps it was Braze still with them. Silently observing them from the obscured periphery. It was a less worrying thought than the alternative of there being an unspoken threat here.

With the low noises and brief twinkles of light reflecting from its eyes Dirk felt the hairs across his body bristle in primal trepidation. They weren’t alone here, but he wasn’t sure yet who or what else was here. All the while trying to slowly move his body over the black sand below. Leaving behind small imprints in it as he did so.​

 

[Leos]

Dantooine
Tags: Dirk , Braze

Epo-1, YT-1760 small transport
​

Whatever prowled the edge of the ring was massive, black-furred, and far too intelligent. Its glowing amber eyes caught the firelight for a heartbeat before vanishing again. The creature kept to the shadows, never fully revealing itself, yet its presence pressed down like a physical weight. Muscles rippled beneath its dark hide with every silent step. It was studying them....Hunting them.... And it was enjoying the game.

Chit.

Leos didn't say the words aloud, but he did mouth them. The glimpses of a creature moving with intent. It avoided the bells so far, as though to not announce itself. This was a problem. What was the plan now? Just crawl and pray? No, they needed some sort of plan here. Something that could keep the creature off their back.

That was something he could do. He was good at plans, right?

Concentrating, Leos used the Force to make a ripple occur on the other side of the chamber. The little push would disturb the bells on the other side of the room, in the corner and out of their path. Then, after signalling for Dirk to follow, he would begin to move forward.

 

[Dirk]

Location: Dantooine
Tags: Braze | Leos

Dirk let out a deep breath as quietly as he could manage. He hadn’t realized that he was holding his breath. In his mind’s eye he saw the stalking beast as a kath hound. Large canine-like predators he’s dealt with before on his own. Not knowing that the beast stalking the chamber was far more than that.

However, he didn’t recognize what Leos was doing so his body tensed when the bells on the other end of the room began to jingle. Almost spiking his adrenaline and making Dirk think there were more than one creature here in the darkness now. If not for Leos’s single, DIrk might have grabbed Themia and rushed to the exit while forcefully dragging them behind. But he followed Leos’s lead instead, choosing caution as they advanced together.​

 

[Braze]

Tags: Leos Dirk ​

Kujo, the vornskr Braze had been making great friends with ever since Okuma Milogen was sent on his mandatory hike of shame, had been spending a great deal of time at Braze's side. Training him.... Befriending him... Teaching him all sorts of little games.

Unfortunately for the boys, Kujo had learned quickly.

The long tail swept this way and that, slow as a pendulum. His ears turned toward the false noise, then flattened, unimpressed. Those amber eyes remained fixed on them through the dark as if he just knew.

One paw slid forward through the darkened dust. Then another.. A slow and steady, all too quiet approach of a creature that had decided the chase had already begun.

Braze's voice drifted from the dark. "Oh… clever boy," he murmured, though it was hard to tell whether he meant Kujo or Leos who was trying to distract him. "But he doesn't hunt sound."

Kujo lowered his head further, breathing them in with a sniffing snout.

"He hunts fear."

 

[Leos]

Dantooine
Tags: Dirk , Braze

Epo-1, YT-1760 small transport
​

Leos felt a chill run down his spine. He hunted fear? Well, that was fine, wasn't it? Leos wasn't afraid...

No, he was afraid. He was lying to himself.

That wasn't fair, was it? How was he supposed to hide himself from something that could sense his fear. Leos knew how to put on a face, he had done so back home whenever he was faced with stress, but to be told that it just wouldn't work? It was illogical. It defied all reason, caused him to entirely overthink and freeze in place. The task seemed impossible, like stopping yourself from breathing.

Breath. His breath was higher now. He had a moment to reflect on the state of his body. The things that he felt that other people didn't was like breathing for him. The sensation that let him have a presence and exude himself. He couldn't stop breathing, but he could still his breath. Slow his functions down and make it steady. Blend in with the background noise. How did he ignore something that permeated everything? The Force reverberated like sound, dancing from surface to surface to grace his ears. It wasn't like you could just ignore that... And yet.


Leos sat on a large, luxurious bed in a dimly lit room. The young boy, perhaps no older than nine, wore the weary expression of someone much older. It was hard for him not to be in such a state. A smuggler who had been in the long-term employment of his father had double-crossed him and failed miserably. Now the screams of the man echoed through the halls.

His father clearly wanted the consequences of the man's actions to be heard by all who served him.

It had been hours now. Leos desperately wanted to sleep, but all he could think about was the terror. With little other option, the boy dug through his pockets...


...and retrieved a pair of ear buds. Leos slowly inserted them into his ears and tapped a button on the side of the left one. He already had the music he liked queued up and ready.

Is it a trick of light or a dare to raise the curtain,
Or a cave to enter just to face your fears.

Abruptly, Leos stood up. He didn't turn to look at Dirk, only speaking to him.

"I'll distract the creature. Make it to the other side."

From there Leos moved backwards, going to the boarder of dim flames that surrounded the sandy pit and began to use the Force to push the sand over where they emerged from. He was snuffing them. It wasn't to hide where he was, but rather project where he was. The fire going out wasn't something he could do from afar It was telegraphing his exact location... he wanted to lure it in. He didn't even bother avoiding the bell or two that lay in his path.

Leos saw well enough in the dark, he reasoned. Maybe he could use his surroundings to keep the creature occupied.

Unplanned, however, was that as he blocked out the over-stimulation of his thoughts a still would fall over his presence. Leos didn't know what he was even doing, but he would very slowly vanish to the senses.

 

[Braze]

Tags: Leos Dirk ​

The large beast was closing in fast when he leapt forward from his crouched position, sending a wild wave of motion through the dangling bells as he landed where Leos had been only a moments before.

Perplexed, Kujo snarled and lowered his head, sniffing at the floor. His ears twitched this way and that as he searched for his quarry. He might not have been able to sense the boy through the Force any longer, but he could certainly try to follow his scent… and after all, Braze had promised Kujo a fun game of tag.

The fact that Leos had seemingly vanished only seemed to rile the vornskyr further, excitement coiling through him at the challenge of hunting the little Force-sensitive who had eluded him moments ago.

From the outside, it might have seemed like a cruel trick by Braze, something with real danger behind it, but Braze had trained Kujo well enough to know they were safe from any true harm. He sat high in the rafters with a visor on, keeping watch over the training floor below and studying their breathing and vitals from a distance as best he could.

Inducing fear in his students was a mean trick, perhaps, but a necessary one. They needed to learn how to see the beast for what it was, how to name the danger beneath the pounding of their own hearts, and how to act despite it.

Still, Braze intended to control the environment as much as he could. Every bell, shadow, beam, and open path had been chosen with care. He wanted the lesson to feel real, but he did not want real harm to befall his students.

"Very good Leos... " He praised softly from above.

 

[Dirk]

Location: Dantooine
Tags: Braze | Leos

Run ahead? Dirk wondered what would happen then to Leos if that happened. Were they risking failure to ensure that the Dantari could see success. He was unable to articulate any sort of counter before they moved away. A moment later Leo’s presence was replaced with the creature and Dirk recoiled harshly from its visage. Falling back onto the blackened sand with his rear. It was no beast that he was familiar with. Canine like a kath-hound but sleeker, leaner and faster looking.

Dirk wasn’t as calm, he didn’t have the appropriate knowhow of introspection to combat his own frightful instincts. He scrambled on his hands and feet against the sand, practically running on all fours for a few seconds before properly getting himself into a two legged sprint. Knocking no less than three hanging bells as he did so. maybe more, or even all in his path. All the while the softer sand did little to mask the sound of his advance given the cacophony of bells.​

 

[Braze]

Tags: Leos Dirk ​

The vornskyr lifted his head, his ears pinning back as the bells erupted all around him. The noise left him briefly befuddled; it turned out hearing a whole chorus of bells made it much harder to track another in the dark.

Harder... but not impossible!

Kujo prowled low, abandoning Leo for the moment as he began to stalk after Dirk instead. His path was wide, uneven, and a little wild as he tried to determine the difference between materials, motion, breath, and sound beneath the ringing confusion.

 

[Leos]

Dantooine
Tags: Dirk , Braze

Epo-1, YT-1760 small transport
​

Leos, as the creature drew close, blinked. That was that dog thing that Braze had been taking care of, the one that was left behind by Okuma when he was banished. He paused and tilted his head before looking back at Braze and mouthing silent words.

You piece of...

And then the dog-thing started back towards Dirk. He really had to think fast. In a split-second decision, he hastily removed a meat stick from his pack and cracked open the plastic to where it could be smelled. After a moment of hesitation, Leos called out to it in order to get it's attention. He hoped it worked like a normal dog.

"Hey, boy! Over here!"