Welcome To My Zoo

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]"I have seen much and many, this is true." Khal replied, evasively. Can someone spend half their life in a slam with a horse bit in their mouth and not believe? Can he start out in some liquor store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and not believe? No, Khal had always believed in something [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]greater[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px], something that guided everything and he had been so sure it was malicious, hateful or at the least apathetic about the plights of those living. But that was the problem with [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]belief[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px], it was fragile, shaky, a single thing could happen and that belief could go tumbling down and that was what happened with Khal.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]With most it would have meant a deconstruction of their believes. They would have been shown the errors in their views, maybe swear off the Gods altogether, but in Khaleel’s case… he had received confirmation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]That was the thing though. The moment you [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]knew[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px], was the same moment belief turned into knowledge and for the Gods? That just ain’t the same damn thing. So, yeah, Khal used to believe, then he saw and felt, and now? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Now he was just a man. Cigarette between his teeth. Faded whites behind a jacket, faded red hanging lazily from the neck like a noose, a dead man walking.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]She came closer and Khal received a minor of insight. He craned his neck, pondering about that foreign thought inserted in his mind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“But that’s not what you really want to ask of me, is it?” the Underlord pondered, what was it that she wanted from him?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE]

 

[Blackthorne]

"Come."

The Sha'Matri turned then, leading the man through the tangle of Eogorath's roots and back out into the jungles.

They walked for some time in silence, the Priestess willing forth a pathway through an untrodden landscape. Though the surrounding thicket of the great tree had been bereft of beast--ensnared as they had become in his roots and vines, sapped of life and nutrients--here the sounds of animals returned and so, too, did the looming sense of being watched. Hunted.

A darkness settled upon them as the canopy overhead turned thick with overgrowth and ancient, gnarled branches. A few spoken words of magick conjured up a waking sphere of golden flames to illuminate their path. Loxa lifted her hand and set the orb floating ahead. Vines, plants and dense underbrush pulled away from her steps and eventually they stepped down into a grotto where all around them a disease had taken over.

Not the same corruption so prevalent on Wayland, but something stranger, more powerful - the ire of the Gods perhaps. Even here, as they emerged into a small clearing where a sickly sapling held on to the last vestiges of existence, her orb of flames seemed to dim. Its presence unwelcome. It flickered and faded in a chilled wind, turning into smoke.

No light where the Gods are scorned.

"This is what becomes of broken faith," Loxa stated as she rounded the sapling, "fear in her heart. A woman did not believe in the salvation of her Gods. She is forsaken and this one is shamed."

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]This was the real weakness of fueling your works with divine might.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Your belief had to be staunch, unyielding[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]and beyond reproach. Even a [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]shimmer[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] of weakness in that armor of faith was enough to sent it all spiraling out of control, as was made apparent by the scene set out before them. Khal knelt in front of it. His knee deeply embedded itself in the rotting dirt and granted him closer contact to the source of the malaise.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“She suffers still.” the Underlord responded softly, by closing his eyes he looked farther into the pain, shame and agony. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]There was a lot of it and he was not surprised that Loxa had been unable to 'fix' this. The sickness came from the anger of her Gods, her magicks were fueled by her faith and the Divine, to try and mend this was to go against all of that. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]But Khal did not have that problem. His magicks had a different source. It was a manifestation of his own will, fueled by it, strengthened and reinforced. This had a consequence, of course, it meant that his power was only as strong as his own will, but it also meant that he was not restricted to act only according to the tenants of the Primevalian Gods.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]In a lot of ways he was still a 'fixer'. When Khal saw that something was subjectively wrong, he sought out to fix it in any way he could and that was exactly what he did now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]It was as simple as breathing and as difficult as moving a mountain. His will pushed against the reality of the moment, [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]willed[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] it to be different, to change according towards his own personal thoughts and feelings - slow, painful, but the transition was there. The rot evaporated in a tiresome fashion and when it was complete… [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Khal opened his eyes, stood up in a clearing that was not… beautiful, because his will was not of beauty. But it was [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]functional[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]efficient[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]more destructive[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] - wildlife harsher than the wylds of Wayland had appeared, waiting at the borders.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]A soft feminine sigh would pervade through the clearing before dissipating.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“Forsaken no longer. She found peace.” [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]or at least a shred of it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE]

 

[Blackthorne]

Quiet marvel was the Priestess. Despite her short stint across the stars still did she experience things of the unknown. She had seen Gods rise and fall, performed and been witness to miracles. She'd viewed the almighty powers as they bent the galaxy to their will, and yet here stood a man of no profoundly claimed God imposing himself against them.

Purifying their disease as a Jedi Healer might clean a wound of infection, dismissing their anger.

Or, Loxa thought as she felt the ebb and flow of their presence within her, had they willed this to be?

The Priestess looked to the tree, reaching out to the small branches with curiosity.

It was not dead - in fact now it thrived, unburdened by the sickness of a God's scorn. Cleansed, but empty. It was a soul tree without a soul. A husk of its intended glory, casting buds without direction nor purpose. Loxa's eyes slowly refocused from the weathered limbs to the man standing opposite of her.

"A Skarsovi tree must have a soul," she said, "but the time of the rituals is too long. A willing sacrifice must be made before the heartseed withers."

Not she, nor he but something else entirely.

"A child," Loxa breathed, "given freely."

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Khal pondered about that. There [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]were[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] ancient rituals written in forgotten texts. They spoke of self-conception through elaborate rites, impregnation by the wild magicks that could result in life of the highest order - this could theoretically be used in the same way as Eogorath had been created back from where they first came. Difficult… difficult, but with his help she might be able to recreate such a circle.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“Hmm, I think we could do this, yes.” the Underlord replied, still in deep thought. Not realizing exactly what he was signing up for. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“Difficult, but together? Yes, when should we begin?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE]

 

[Blackthorne]

"Now."

The sound of material crumpling to the ground followed that word. Loxa stepped around the tree missing her outer robes, the horns upon her head now visibly marking her as a pureblood zabrak. Few people knew this and most assumed her to be of human stock for as rare a sight it was to see her without that hood obscuring her face. She lacked the zabrakian tattoos that were the greatest giveaway - in place the visible scars of half a lifetime spent in slavery.

She moved with serene purpose, slipping the sash from her waist and wrapping it around the only weapon she carried: her former Master's lightsaber. It, too, dropped to the ground.

Loxa reached last to untie the lacing of her base robes, yellow eyes locked on Khal.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]To his credit, Khal did not blink or look away from those eyes. The entire proposal was cast in a different light now. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]Their [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]child would form the base for this new creation. He wasn’t a stranger to that kind of play, but usually it involved more… passion of the moment, sexual tension and intimacy, this seemed less that and more- he couldn’t put it into words. His coat was on the ground. When did that happen? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Tie went next. He moved towards her - determined steps, hunger was spelled in them. Coming in close, his hand would brush her cheek, eyes still interlocked. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“Now.” Khal agreed, pulling her in closer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE]

 

[Blackthorne]

The last of her robes went leaving in Khal's arms a zabrak whose life story was spelled out across her flesh like a canvas, raised in perfunctory scars slashed like the staccato of of written symbols. Beneath the blanket of long, dark brown hair and across her shoulders and back lay the brunt of it - years of savage punishment for the pleasure of others. Small wonder she'd turned out so well and so powerful at that.

As though performing a duty she'd memorized long ago, the woman lifted her hands to begin undressing the man, distant detachment in her gaze that yet left his own. There was no passion or tension here, merely purpose. Her fingers moved deftly, diligently, going about a task they'd done countless times before.

Before only at the command of an owner, but now in the name of the Gods.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]His gaze left hers, but what they found was not what the Underlord had expected. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Understanding filled his eyes, he reached out - with the purpose of gingerly touching one of the scars, but Khal halted himself in the middle of the gesture; searching for permission from Loxa first. Regardless, he would speak next.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“You have suffered.” the obvious was stated.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]It underlined many things seen. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]As she moved deftly, removing his clothing, Khal’s secrets would surface. At first glance the plethora of ink on his skin would be noticed - esoteric symbols, a murder of little crows and so much more, [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]moving[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] in and around and over each other. The overlap and sheer amount of ink made it hard to make out at first, but [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]then[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] it happened.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Khal’s eyes closed, almost as if he was focusing. The movement of the ink slowed before completely stopping, and then… disappearing. Fading away. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]In its place were the scars of his life. Gunshot wounds, slashes, a stabbing wound where his heart should be, multiple places scorched with old burns - as if someone had tried to burn him alive. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]I too, have suffered.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] His voice would reach into her mind and calmly state, no shame made apparent.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE]

 

[Blackthorne]

Her hands froze in place at the unveiling of the tattoos. Moving, flocking, as if alive. She'd seen a great deal of strange sorceries in her time but never something quite like this. A golden gaze followed the progress of the birds as they winged, stricken, and slowly came to freeze in place. Fingers reached to touch at them, making contact only in time to watch them fade away.

She felt, instead, the same smooth flesh of scar tissue as what had plagued her own body for as long as she could remember. Loxa traced the line of a particularly long scar with a gentle touch, glancing up at the voice in her mind.

Her expression was not one of concern or pity, but the world-weary gaze of someone who had long since put the past behind her. It shifted momentarily to focus on the hand he held aloft, intent on knowing her but hesitant to trespass.

"Do not pity this one for the pain she no longer feels," Loxa lightly took hold of his hand and placed it upon the skin over which it had hovered, "a man has lived, has survived, has risen above, just like this one. Become more than what was."

<<I am not broken.>>

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Understanding was replaced by respect. It was a strong woman who could step over the agonies of the past, who could reforge herself in the flames of trial and become something [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]greater[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] than she was before. Loxa was great. This was not to be disputed, the sheer strength in the Force coming from her told all the tales that needed to be told.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]His hand brushed, felt the scar tissue behind it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]Then…” [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px]the Underlord’s voice whispered softer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]<< Let’s celebrate our triumph. >> [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px]Khal pulled her in, the beginning of the first kiss, the first move in an extended, long dance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6667px][member="Loxa Visl"][/SIZE][SIZE=10.6667px] [/SIZE]