A World Of Hiding Places [Krius Syonis]

[Matsu Xiangu]

In her moments of greatest freedom she often found herself drifting away, her brain grasping at the edges of the experience as if to neatly wrap the moment within itself, packaging it away for safekeeping. She wouldn't forget. Even if she could, she'd hold on to each memory with a grasp to rival Apollo's on the world. And even then, with the sun of Utapau beating down in to the sinkhole she wandered through...she drifted.

There is a table on the middle of a beach, nestled against a stand of rocks that she's walked past every day for the last twelve years without thought. The table has not always been here; if anything it’s an addition that makes no sense. Knowing that it doesn't belong means she's still real though. She still knows she's drifting dangerously between safety and lunacy, and that is what keeps the scales as they should be. But she could stay here forever, a master in her realm, the woman with the delicate hands who lay on the table on the beach as the tide comes in.

When he appears she is not surprised. This is her dream, and within it she pulls all the strings. It would not be complete within her distant head if he did not appear. He wears a robe and she thinks it's perhaps one of the stranger things he's ever worn, though she doesn't find it disagreeable. But this, gray and tight, suits him. If anything she's lost in the crosshatch of its stitches as he leans in close, his hand on her hip as she moves to her back on the table. He smells like whiskey and a hint of something less savory. Like rot. And when he turns his head to look her in the face and the bleached white of his cheekbone fills her eyes she smiles. His lips are so full and she is lost again, dreaming in her dream. Perhaps she is so far down she will never escape.

No, she knows the table doesn't belong.

He sits on the edge, his hand gripping at the side opposite himself over her body, looking down at her and then out to sea. The ocean curls around the legs of the table the longer they sit here. "The most beautiful thing about you is that I never have to convince you to come back. You know what is reality, and what is not, but choose the world inside your head and make it your own - and that, Matsu, is what makes you the Queen," he says, his hand running down her side.

In here, they can never catch her.

Dreaming, dreaming - always dreaming.

There was no particular reason for Matsu to be on Utapau. The world was one giant sinkhole after another, arid wind tunnels kicked up by ships lowering themselves in to the depths. No one looked at her twice as she padded through the tunnels and out on to walkways, the strange call of the creatures some rode echoing along the cavern walls. She looked far away, dreams from nights before pummeling through her head. She was beautiful, but she was…off. Sometimes it seemed others could smell it on her.

There was no reason but…the planet was inhabited by ancient creatures, gaunt near-humans with sharp teeth and delicate fingers. Some were supposed to be 500 years old and there were parts of her that hummed with the idea of what they may have seen. She was on the hunt for one when, caught up in her head and the strange, strange heartbeat of her creativity she paused, moving to look out over the cavern that descended down, down, down towards the planet’s core.

[member="Krius Syonis"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

"Tell your friend to hurry up - I don't have time to waste here in this delightful sink hole with you!"

Turning away before the small Utai could reply with some pathetic excuse, Krius walked away from his scavenger ship, something he hoped soon to get rid of because it wasn't exactly small and sleek ofr solo travel. Still, it got him around the galaxy enough to search for what he needed. And that search had brought him to Utapau, the farthest planet he had been to in the Outer Rim. After Utapau he would move onto Bastion and then back to Coruscant if nothing came up.

He kicked the edge of his ship gently as he waited around, something he hated doing. All he wanted was some Phrik, or Cortosis even, if any had been salvaged from the depths of the planet via the numerous sink holes. The sooner he could get his hands on some, the sooner he could fashion his custom made attire to help protect him when the danger came.

Exhaling softly and standing looking up at the rim of the large sink hole they were in, Krius did love the geographical wonders of the galaxy. It was nothing memorable of course, but just another one of those natural wonders dotted around the thousands of planets out there for Krius to see one day.

Arms folding on his dark brown and fuchsia jumpsuit,, a cool and flexible outfit that he wore with a dark brown jacket to keep him warm against the brisk winds funnelled in through the various tunnels around him, Krius looked all around in one smooth movement and saw another being on the adjacent walkway connecting the landing pads. She seemed rather peculiar to be out here, it wasn't exactly a place for visiting. Still, it wasn't his business.

Looking back over his shoulder, the frustration was getting to him.

"I won't ask you again, but if I have to ask him myself I won't stop until I get my answer!"

Another pointless species.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu was obsessed with the mind, caught up in her own and the workings of others.

As a creature, a dreamer with strange ambitions, she simply found the mind fascinating. It could be strong, a controlled powerhouse of purpose and thought. Or it could be amazingly weak. Matsu had wandered many a back alley, stooped down before the homeless with death sticks still needled in to their veins and wondered if they didn’t see just what she saw. (What do you see? Is it me, fanged and horned, an aberration warped by your weakness?) She lived somewhere in between, a strong mind with a tendency to drift, dream. It was sinking to a base, primal urges that whispered to destroy, consume, devour! She supposed in an effort to dream forever the study of the mind had captured her.

But there was the practical end of her interest as well. When she’d first struck out in the galaxy, a girl with no purpose besides seeing anything other than the surface of Corvanni, the seeming logic behind the decisions some beings made absolutely mystified her. It had sometimes left her at a disadvantage – if she could not understand the path of thought, she could not preempt their movements against her. But Matsu had taken to the strange but consuming hobby of people watching: finding a place to perch, resting her chin on one delicate hand, pointed nails gleaming in the sun of whatever planet called her name that week…and learning. Every species had its own customs and beliefs, and even more difficult were their facial expressions and gestures. But at their core they were all driven by avarice or love or fear. And slowly but surely she learned how to use each of those to her advantage. She despised the weak and saw the strong as obstacles. Few garnered her respect and even then she wanted in, in, in.

The people-watching was habitual now, and as she looked up from watching the activity in the sinkhole she saw a man in a jumpsuit and jacket. His gaze wasn’t on her, but she could swear that maybe moments before it had been. She had that spine tingling that came with being observed.

Either way he was handsome, and Matsu craved experience. Men were often disappointing, easily broken – but she had nothing better to do. Utapau had proven rather dull so far and maybe a little distraction would convince fate to throw something her way.

She picked her way around the sinkhole, eventually approaching his ship and getting close enough to observe him. Irritation drifted off of him in waves – she didn’t need her rudimentary use of the Force to sense it. It heightened all her senses, a low predator’s hum starting to buzz at the top of her spinal cord. “I’m not sure they’re intelligent enough to have an answer,” she said, walking forward.

She usually didn’t judge a species based on the behavior of a few individuals but she’d seen enough of the Utai in the last few days to know they were unendingly dim-witted.

Maybe the man was off to somewhere exciting – she was bored enough to take up just about any adventure.

[member="Krius Syonis"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He could feel the girl coming over. It wasn't a problem to him and didn't require any exertion in the Force awareness, but being around so many pathetic beings, those who carried the Force inside them stood out to him easily. And she certainly had that inside.

Turning his head to hear her silky voice, he pushed himself up from his ship and stood before her.

"You know, I think you're right."

Casting his eye over the petite frame before him, she did look rather...lost, but again that was no bother to him. He looked over at the group of talking Utai near the fuelling station and, with the flick of his wrist, sent a number of crates piled up beside them clattering to the floor. With a satisfying jump, they shouted even more to each other.

Giving her a coy smile, Krius faced her again.

"It just take a little push to change someone's mind."

A little push was putting it mildly enough. He went back to leaning against his ship, distracted by a large freighter rising from the sinkhole to disappear up into the atmosphere above.

"Such a beautiful planet. What brings you here?"


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu smiled at the sound of his voice, a cultured hum that simultaneously put her at ease and set off alarms – the kind that warned that perhaps the cave you’d just walked in to was the den of creatures best left undisturbed. It was a strange combination of sensations…this was a man that no possible amount of people watching had prepared her for.

She liked it.

The woman watched as with what seemed no effort he sent crates crashing around the small Utai, urging his bidding without even opening his mouth.

“It just takes a little push to change someone’s mind.”

She thought her heart had stopped in her chest. She’d made things like that happen when she was angry, when her emotions ran away with her, but this man…he had just made the same thing happen with a deliberateness that made her heart pound. Perhaps it was just a continuation of that dreamer’s nature to never have questioned what happened when she grew angry, or maybe it was just that she never spent an extended period time around anyone but her parents, assuming those things happened to everyone but…it had never occurred to her that such things could be done on her own will.

He offered conversation and she might have even registered the words but no answer came to her mind. She could have offered a million things in response but instead she was suddenly intense, her gaze still on the scrambling Utai as they hurried to fulfill the man’s demands.

“How did you do that?” she asked, a breathlessness to her voice.

[member="Krius Syonis"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Finding it nice to talk to someone far more responsive than a Utai, Krius was somewhat amused by her reaction. She looked...surprised, but he didn't know why as she emitted a Force wave from inside her even if it did feel a little weak. Turning his head to look at the confusion created by his little flick of the wrist, something to him that was as easy to do as blinking, his brow furrowed slightly at her reaction.

"What?" Krius didn't even move this time, instead simply nodding his head gently towards a pipe above the Utai, creating a large bang as it snapped and fell down beside them and the crates. "That?"

The confused creatures all but vanished as it looked like a Pau'an was now moving towards Krius and the girl in light of his earlier request.

He turned to look at the girl.

"It takes the same effort as breathing my dear. It's what we were born with."

As the tall, robed, green-skinned Pau'an slowly came from inside the walkway and out towards the landing pad, Krius stood up from the ship and turned to face him.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

His second use of the mysterious power seemed even more effortless and suddenly Matsu felt like she was clutching at water, desperately trying to grab a hold of something that by its very nature seemed it could never be truly tamed. Such mastery! She obviously had no experience and for all she knew, [member="Krius Syonis"] was barely scratching the surface himself. But she was willing to bet what he had just showed her was nothing compared to what he – and eventually she – could do.

‘It takes the same effort as breathing, my dear.’

Ironic then, that the woman felt out of breath, in awe, forgetting all about her quest to find a Pau’an to speak with. As the creature came to discuss Krius’ request Matsu’s head was buzzing. She felt on the brink of something life-changing and though she could not tell whether it was good or bad…it felt like fate. The Pau’an was moving languidly, trying to use its serene nature as a buffer between itself and the wrath it seemed to be worried about incurring. The soft hiss of nearly exhausted steam and the hurried whispers of the Utai only added to the atmosphere of barely contained patience and Matsu wondered what the stranger could…or would…do if the Pau’an had an unsatisfactory answer.

She still could not get a bead on him and it just made her more determined.

When the Pau’an paused for a moment, turning as if to check on something, Matsu took her chance. She wouldn’t run the risk of being left behind. “Show me how! Please, I want to know how…” she said, not even realizing that she had reached out to put a hand on his arm. If it meant following him to wherever he was headed, she didn’t care. She had nowhere to be and no one to inform of her comings and goings. This life was hers – and she’d found the next step.

 

[Connor Harrison]

"I am SORRY Krius but we simply have never come across Cortosis or Phrik. And we most likely never will."

The Pau'an locked his gaze with Krius as their conversation reached a predictable conclusion. Of course he had tried Utapau on a whim on the basis of sinkholes reaching far into the planets surface, but maybe he had hoped this would turn up a result. It hadn't.

"Please - if there is anything else we can do, we would always help those who need it if we could."

Krius licked his top lip.

"You're a waste of oxygen." He turned away from tall alien. "It's a pity your race wasn't wiped out centuries ago to save wasting my time."

Krius waved his hand. It was time to leave and head to Bastion; his last resort for finding what he needed. He noticed the girl was still standing almost in some sort of shocked state. His eyes glanced over her, but then he looked back to the Pau'an.

"It seems you have a leak."

The Pau'an turned, confused by the strange - The water pipes were leaking!

In a sudden movement of alarm and distress, the alien shouted in his tongue to alert the bumbling Utai to fix the pipe any way they could. A nice scene of chaos ensured, thanks to Krius, a smile on his wry lips. And then she touched him.

In the second she placed her gentle hand on his arm, he could feel her desperation and loneliness, masked by a façade of determination and excitement. What was she after, and who was she? Why was she so eager? Still, she had a natural gift inside her but she probably didn't even know it. Krius looked down to her, taking her plain beauty and lithe body.

"What do you want to know my dear?"

He smiled and took her hand in his.

"Do you want to know how to become a Goddess?"


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

She managed, despite her shocked state, to notice how he spoke to the natives. She had seen prejudice before – she’d been to enough planets with enough species to know there was always someone who hated someone else. But the way he spoke didn’t sound like prejudice. It sounded like…indifference with a hint of disgust, like he couldn’t even be bothered to tilt his head to look down at those beneath him.

Or at least it did to her.

When he took her hand in his, a small delicate thing enveloped in what she saw as power manifest, a dream flitted across her mind like a breeze. Her hand trails the banister as she spirals upwards, square upon connecting square of staircase elevating her to the very top of the great, empty place she calls home. She sits in the window seat, her hands folded across her lap as the ocean crashes against the sea wall. It is coming. But it was gone in but a second, seemingly meaningless. She brushed away the dread. Whatever he held inside of him must have tapped in her, dredging up the things she so coveted.

‘Do you want to know how to become a Goddess?’

A Goddess, he said? At this she tilted her head, a predatory expression strange on such a delicate face, her blood-red lips curled in a sunshine sickle of a smile. “I have that inside of me – that power you wield. But I don’t know how to control it,” she said in response to his question. “I can feel it right beneath my skin,” she finished, almost a whisper.

The Utai scrambled behind them, rushing to fix that which [member="Krius Syonis"] had broken, but as far as she was concerned they were a million lightyears away.

If he was teasing godhood, he must have been one himself.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Around them, Utapau had suddenly lost all purpose and Krius had found something else worthy on the planet. This girl. She was a Force user, she was alone and she wanted greatness. A perfect specimen. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, guiding her around to his scavenger ship, leaving the Utai in a world he would never return to.

"That which you have inside you isn't a power. It's a gift. It's our birth right. It's something that comes natural to use such as talking, breathing and even sleeping, but as will all things it comes down to simply controlling and understanding it."

As he guided her onboard his small ship with enough room for only 4 people, they had an entire world to discover together and it didn't matter for the moment how big his ship was. The landing ramp itself led directly into the main quarters, a large stretch of seating by a dark table took up the left of the room with a doorway leading into the rear of the ship that housed the scavenger droids and storage compartments. The cockpit tailed off to the right. Cosy was probably the word.

Krius seated her gently.

"Don't go anywhere."

Smiling to her, he backed away and quickly moved to the small archway decorated with small pipes and wires leading into the cockpit, leaning over to a nav droid at the controls.

"Take the Hydian Way through to Bastion but prepare for an alternate destination at my command. Don't rush."

A chirp from the droid signalled the command was processed, ever faithful to the Syonis name as he was to Krius's father when he operated the ship, and now to his son. He leaned back in and looked to the girl, still seated and looking mystified. Walking up beside the girl he took a seat next to her and tapped his fingers gently on the smooth table before them.

"I hope you don't mind, but we are leaving. If you care to come with me you can, if not I can leave you on a planet of your choosing, but I think you'd be better of here with me."

The hum of the engines could be heard behind them, a few groans and exhaust vents rumbling as the ship gently moved to part the planet.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

Matsu wasn’t used to anything smaller than a freighter. She rarely – read: never – was offered transportation from anyone with access to a more personal ship and her family had never had need of one either. Her parents stayed put. So when the man put an arm around her shoulders and steered her on to his ship she got that sensation like she was moving in to a lion’s den again. It didn’t matter to her in the slightest – if anything it made the experience sweeter – but she knew it wasn’t smart. It was a ship not built for more than a few occupants, a fact that was obvious to her immediately despite her inexperience. It didn’t bother her. She was oddly drawn to closeness.

When he seated her, telling her not to go anywhere, she just nodded.

His words were still swirling in her brain. A gift. Natural as breathing. And he controlled it! She couldn’t imagine what he must know, what the inside of his mind must be like. And there was something about him that drew her like a moth to the flame.

[member="Krius Syonis"]’ re-entrance caught Matsu daydreaming, her eyes fixated on the fluid motion of his tap against the table before her dark eyes dragged back up to his face. She shook her head when he mentioned leaving, smiling softly again. “I’ll go with you,” she said almost before her mind caught up with her. The answer would have been the same regardless. Thought would have just urged her on. The hum of the ship was soft around them and she felt encapsulated, as if they were the only two beings in the entire Galaxy. It was heady. She had so many questions but she held them back, trapped behind her teeth. “I’m Matsu Xiangu,” she offered then, her last name an oil-slick curled off her tongue.

She was tired of calling him Stranger.

 

[Connor Harrison]

What a wonderfully exotic name.

"Krius Syonis, at your service Matsu Xiangu."

Affecting a mock bow with his head, he smiled at her, trying to ease her confidence a little. He could feel how on edge she was; how curious she was. It was natural, but there was no need to doubt herself because it was his chance to see how well he could forge something from the template before him.

She was beautiful, young and perfectly formed to be something of a Goddess herself even without the Force as her ally. If he could work on her ability and have her see what power she could wield, then there was no telling what the two of them could achieve going forward once Krius was ready.

Not yet, Krius. Not yet.

"So come, tell me about what brought you to Utapau to end up here with me. Do you not have any...family, or anyone close to you?"


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

If her name was as exotic as her looks his seemed to fit just as well. There was a bite ending in a lush burst of a consonant that would probably sound like honey in the rasp of her voice. It sounded…dignified, handsome. Like him.

His question immediately set off small little buzzes of warning in the back of her mind. It could have been innocent enough – it was strange for her to be on Utapau. It wasn’t the kind of planet one visited on vacation. But at the same time it felt like opening herself up to trouble if she admitted that no one out there would come looking for her if she disappeared in to nothingness.

“I explore,” she said simply. “I left home a few years ago and ever since then I’ve been hopping planets and learning where I can.” And learned she had – she’d been shown licks of hand-to-hand combat, the very basics of slicing, all less than reputable skills that had nonetheless served her very well. But now she was on the hunt for something greater, that low hunter’s drawl of a buzz flitting at the top of her spine. “I have nowhere to be and no one to answer to,” she said truthfully. So much for caution.

She shifted in her seat to face him head on, though one arm rested on the table, her hand splayed on its flat, cool surface. “And what were you doing there? Certainly not to make friends with the natives…” Her smile was a bit teasing then. They had time, traveling that expanse of space, and she wanted to lose the edge of excited jitters that coursed through her. She craved the smoothness of his voice already and she was sure in due time his explanation for the “gift” would come.

[member="Krius Syonis"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Sitting forward, resting his hands on the table, Krius listened to her silky, soft spoken words. She was an explorer, another honourable trait and one he favoured. There was nothing better than to explore the far reaches of a galaxy one inhabited to understand all the weaknesses, the strengths and shatterpoints one could work with. This was the final leg of his exploration, and he was rather glad of the company from one such as he.

He didn't move as she spoke, he just listened and worked to paint a mental picture of her notable strengths and weaknesses from how she sat, how she spoke and her vocal tone. So far she had inner strength but no awareness of what it could come to be, and in that regard she was open, but cautious, and willing to learn.

Perfect.

And then her question came, and he met it leaning forward slightly, resting on his elbows. The comforting noise of the engines and faint chimes from the cockpit were a welcome, and somewhat cosy addition to their conversation.

"I was, like you, exploring. And I was seeking a material, well, one of two. Cortosis or Phrick. Have you heard of them? They are durable, each with advantages and weaknesses, but both resilient to certain damages."

He brought up his hands to paint a picture for her.

"I only need about this much, as I want to craft some armour. Nothing major, nothing too intrusive, but something to protect this," he tapped the side of his head, "from the dangers out there I will soon face no doubt."

Krius looked down and cupped her hand in his, placing an index finger in the center of her small palm.

"Imagine, Matsu, that we, right now, are in the centre of the galaxy at a crucial turning point in history."

His finger gently began to swirl, his eyes not moving from her gaze.

"Steadily, with careful planning, I will send a shockwave from one planet to the next, outwards, to all those like us who want to be free from the oppression and slavery forced upon those who have our gift."

Stopping for a moment, placing both his hands now over hers, Krius looked deeper into her very soul.

"Now all you need to decide is will you stand with me and let me unleash your gift to the galaxy... and become a Goddess."


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

The soft hum of his ship as it drove through space, a lulling drone mixed with the occasional click and creak of machinery, seemed to shrink the room. It was just the two of them there in the stars. She had the sense that she and [member="Krius Syonis"] might have entered their own little world and she liked the idea – the man who held all the answers and the woman who thirsted for them so desperately.

As he pointed to his head in explanation of the armor he was seeking to create she became – if possible – more intrigued. Something to protect his mind? He might have simply meant the actual structural integrity of his skull but this was Matsu – she would just assume he meant the less tangible idea of his thoughts and dreams. There was power that could control those things? She felt a shiver down her spine like something had pinched in at the nape of her neck and was crawling over her vertebrae, a skin-tingling excitement and she was about to ask him what he meant, how she could come by such an ability, if her gift meant it was open to her when –

A pause. A heartbeat of silence in which her pulse quickened, the touch of his finger in the center of her palm feeling decidedly personal. Her fingers were curled slightly in his touch, the ends of her dangerously sharp nails brushing against the inside of his wrist as he spoke. Her gaze was on his finger at first, the beginning of his tale humming through her ears. The center of the galaxy? For all she knew they could be and besides, she had the imagination he was asking her to use anyway. It was imagining decidedly unwholesome things about him right at that moment. But…back to business.

When he began drawing his finger in a slow outwards path around her palm she looked up, her dark eyes locking with his steady gaze. She was a dreamy woman and always had been, sick with a beast’s nature that would horrify those with less backbone. He spoke of oppression and slavery and the very idea sparked anger deep in the pit of her stomach. (Cage me?! Put chains on my wrists? Hobble me? Tell me what I must do, what I must not do? Never. Never. NEVER.)

Perhaps it was that, the threat of having something taken away that she had only just discovered merged with his promise of knowledge, that made it so easy to say yes. “Show me what to do,” she said with her honey-rasp, running the tips of her fingernails against the edge of his downturned palms. She wasn’t eloquent like him despite her educated upbringing. She could coerce or have conversation as well if not better than the next woman but she chose not to. An animal, a predator…she wanted to cut out the meat of the point and devour it.

Oh, it had been so easy to agree.

 

[Connor Harrison]

She was electrifying to the touch. He had never been around someone so intense as Matsu. She bore into him with an intensity that was something he found very attractive; that someone was feeding of the very morals he lived by and wanted to enforce to help those like him, and now her.

And as her nails scratched his skin, for the first time in a long, long time he shivered slightly at the touch of a girl who could be as powerful and determined as he. It thrilled him, and her soft, silky voice eager to develop her power only made him more pleased.

He nodded at her, stroking his thumb over her palm for a second, lost in her eyes and wondering how fate had brought them together. Snapping himself out of his dangerously dreamy stage, Krius nodded at himself again and moved his hands from hers, turning to a shelf behind them on the wall. His eyes scanned it over and he took and small tube off and in his hand, placing it on the table in front of them.

"Here. One of the batteries for the scav droids. The smaller ones."

Very simple and very insulting maybe, but starting small was important.

"Now my dear, all I want you to do, is sit there, but move this battery and place it in my hand with your mind."

Krius slowly turned his hand and opened the palm.

"With the Force, it doesn't matter what size the object is you want to manipulate, but whether you can honestly control and open yourself up to extend your physical and mental self with it. Use the Force as an extension of your mind to see the item, take the item, and move the item."

He looked at her and nodded slowly.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

When his hands were gone, that trail of flesh he’d left wanting after the soft drawing of his thumb tingling strangely, she tilted her head slightly to watch him. She was young but she had known attraction before. However watching Krius brought about a different sort of magnetism, a sense of fate perhaps. She just let it happen. She wasn’t one for throwing gears in the machine – at least not the one dictating her own rise.

He came back with a small battery. If she had known better perhaps she might have been offended but she’d lifted things of her own volition only a handful of times – the rest had been during moments of anger.

When he nodded she turned her eyes to the battery. She imagined something extending from her like invisible hands, plucking at the battery and lifting it in to the air.

Nothing.

She imagined a gust of wind blowing the thing in to the air, putting her will behind it.

Nothing.

She felt frustration building and as it built thinking became harder. Any control she may have had over the battery left her with the rise of distraction, of the fact that she couldn’t do it.

But in the moment where she may have failed she stopped thinking completely. Open yourself…

Open yourself…

Open yourself…

And she did, floating away to a place of her own creation. Fingers, firm and demanding, plucked over her ribcage and pressed against skin pliant and smooth between the train tracks of her skeleton. In the center, where the cartilage began and her sternum ended, the fingers pressed and tore her open…a little escape of air. A gasp. A rending blush of color, sanguine! The crack of ribs pushed back, the machinery unveiled. Relentless. Exposed.

Open yourself.

There in the sickness she lifted the battery. She was watching it, dark eyes intent, and at first it was obvious she was concentrating deeply. But as each second passed – when she was convinced that she had control over the battery – she relaxed. Eventually her expression was of ease and really she wasn’t even thinking at all of the battery. She let it float, rotating it in the air and testing how to manipulate it and once she had a hold of it…

She turned to look at him, the barest smile curling her lips as she directed the battery not towards his palm, but his cheek. With her mind alone she traced it lightly along his jaw, much as she would do with her fingers were she able to just reach out and…touch. Her heart fluttered lightly in her chest, a bird in a cage as the endless drone of the ship grew louder in her ears. When it seemed the moment was on the edge of imploding she drew the battery downwards and placed it neatly in his palm without looking away from his face.

[member="Krius Syonis"] had opened the world before her feet and she was suddenly prepared to follow him anywhere.

 

[Connor Harrison]

He watched her with great interest as she tried to control the power inside her to show her competence. She was a creature who evoked a great mystery; lots of hidden desires, emotions, worries, dreams.

Would he be the one to help her unlock them? Possibly. He hoped so. For his travels across the galaxy had brought him before Sith Queens, junk traders and mere mortal humans. Each had changed his path forward slightly, given him a new motive and direction, but none had transfixed him more than Matsu. She was eager to follow him, to learn from him... no, not learn - to explore with him... and shape her future in his hands.

He was no teacher, it was not his place to TELL someone how and why they should use their own gift, but he wanted to ensure his prophecy of eradicating Non-Force users from positions of power in the galaxy and also the Force warriors who enslaved their kind with dark magic, lies and deceit were also punished.

Force users were their own masters. The galaxy was full of good and bad beings, you just had to find your place amongst them. But Krius knew his gift would elevate him ABOVE them, and he wanted others to follow. Matsu was the next one.

She could be his greatest ally; she could be the one to walk with him, side by side, leading the charge against oppression against those in the galaxy, planet by planet, until Force users could stand up and be proud of their own individuality and follow them both. Krius and Matsu would be the saviours of the new generation of those with the Force inside them.

She's doing it...

The battery was in the air, moving and swirling as if dangling on a bit of rope above them. His eyes flicked from the battery and to Matsu, now a picture of peace as she controlled the Force with ease. As the battery came nearer, Krius did not move as it drifted by his skin, forcing a small grin at her confidence. It was wonderful.

The battery gently fell into his hand. His fist clenched over it and he stood.

"First, this small battery - next, an old Star Destroyer!"

He threw the battery to one side; it clanged of the side and onto the floor. His eyes met hers again, the thrill of this developing relationship and his own dream coming out in his smooth voice.

"That is the beauty of the Force, Matsu. The only limit to it's power is our own conscious. The more impossible the thought in our head, the difficult the task. As long as you FEEL the Force as an extension of you, and you FOCUS your mind to harness it, then you can move, pull, push and throw anything."

Krius leant forward over the table and hovered by her left ear, taking in her scent. A whisper left his lips;

"Now you push...me"

Pushing away, looking at her as he backed away, he stood a few feet back from the table, hands by his side and exhaling to himself.

"Size matters not when you have the focus inside your mind. I want you to tap into the aggression inside you, and use it to push me back."

Krius patted himself on the chest.

"We will come across those who want to hurt and kill our kind, and the Force can be the greatest weapon over any blaster, lightsaber or bow. See me as one who wants to rip us apart. Repel me!"


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

She expected some snap of energy when she let go of the battery but there was nothing. Controlling the little thing came with ease and when he spoke of controlling great ships with her mind alone she flared. She imagined her hand up, deep red claws bent as if to tear the air and an entire city quiet at her feet as they accepted what she could do to them. In her mind’s eyes the ship came crashing down, its nose plowing in to the Earth with a finality that exploded their world in sound and light. She could almost feel the wind whipping through her hair, almost taste her victim’s futility on her tongue.

But there was no time to dream for as soon as he leaned forward her mind was blank save for the careful savoring of his closeness, of the whisper of his breath so close to her neck. Her hands twisted in the fabric of her clothes and threatened to tear through. It was a distraction from doing the same to his.

For a split second she was angry with him for wresting her usual self-control. Despite her tendency to drift she was always in control – her heart and her mind were her own. How dare he reach in and shake her! But almost as soon as it bloomed it withered. It was Krius (lush, lush name on her tongue) despite the mere minutes of time they’d known one another she felt some burst of promise that made her comfortable with his allure. He was exciting.

She watched him back away, tilting her head in question. Push him? With her first true manipulation of the Force she had come to find an inexhaustible vein of it within herself and she had more than enough power to do what he asked. But she didn’t have the will. Push him?

See me as one who wants to rip us apart.

The woman should have realized he’d know just how to guide her, to push her to the logical conclusion. A volcanic anger – that inexhaustible vein made manifest – rocketed through her bones and sinew at the very thought. Her mind easily constructed a different face for him, a certain and smug expression of righteousness at tearing her from him. There was almost no thought as she raised her arms and, with an animal snarl, threw the Force out of herself with rage. She was so caught up in a red haze that were it not for the symphony of broken and falling shelving she’d sent him flying towards she may have come for blood.

Her breathing was a bit heavy, her cheeks flushed as she pushed her dark hair from her eyes, the realization that she had done that powering her. He’d shown her, perhaps inadvertently, how to channel both power and will in to something dangerous by using her natural creativity – imagine it, and make it so.

She said nothing, watching him instead, a reptilian expression on her face.

[member="Krius Syonis"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Nothing seemed to happen after he said those little goading works. He rocked softly on his feet, ready or not to take a tumble if she managed to exert...

She didn't even stand as her face contorted, her eyes - seemingly darkening into a bottomless, dark void; her arms thrust out and an explosion of power surged from within her, not just from her fingers but from in her soul.

It hit him like a charging Ronto would blast through an army standing before it. Knocking off his feet and twisting him to the side, the Force rage carried Krius back and over into the side of the ships lounge, carving through a large shelf holding more batteries and going so far as to knock through the surrounding pipe and storage containers, creating an orchestrated explosion of noise and small sparks.

He slid down the wall amongst the debris, his face a little dirty and wet from a smashed illuminated water display feature he had from Hapes, but no wounds evident except a sore ribcage. The sound started to come back to him, taking a moment to see he was on the floor, and little Matsu still sat where he left her, composing herself.

She could have killed me. Perfect.

He stood, wiping his hands down, looking back at the damage.

"Well, that worked better than I expected."

Like an uncaged beast, Matsu was sitting on something far deeper and more complex than she was letting on, and Krius had to tread carefully to ensure he didn't spoil it. He said nothing as he walked over to the table and extended his hand, beckoning for her to take it.

With a look that blended innocence yet confidence, Matsu place her hand in his, delicate fingers wrapping around his hand as he slowly led her around the table and out into the centre of the lounge area. He stood her feet away form him. If there was one creature in the galaxy he wanted more than anything, it was this girl before him.

Eyes cast over her body, making sure she could feel him looking at her, his eyes returned to fix on hers for another test of her ability; of her gift.

"From what I learnt with when I found my gift, you are already doing so well. I'm impressed, but there is another factor that could break a man without you even having to touch him - through his mind."

He slowly tapped two fingers against his temple.

"While others may prove to be an obstacle on our journey, he is also a living being. He may not be menacing by nature, merely an employee or servant. He may have a family, others who care about him. Had you met him under different circumstances, you might have discovered him to be a friend and ally. What to do, then? Make the guard see you as a small, nonthreatening creature? Make him go to sleep? Project a frightening image that will cause him to flee? All these things could very well work, but have you considered the consequences? What if the guard enjoys shooting at small, nonthreatening creatures? What if his species is physically incapable of sleep? What if you strike such fear in him that he dies on the spot, or forgets the nature of gravity as he tries to escape over the edge of the nearest cliff?"

He let the words sink in for a second before he snapped his fingers.

"If you think of the consequences, then you already show your weakness. We can control a mind, we can influence a mind and we can BREAK a mind. Our enemy will not think before they pull a trigger or take our heads, so we must not think as we destroy them with our gift. Terror is a cancer, devouring the mind from within. Strength, hope, and wisdom are nothing but thoughts to be consumed."

Krius brought up his hands, stroking back the loose hair falling down the girl's face.

"Project the darkest image you can into my mind. I will not try and stop you. I trust you Matsu, so use the Force to manipulate or turn me away."


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]