Private Apprentice to Ions

[Lucretia Lister]

Wearing: Liars Flesh

Armed With: Turncoats.

Double Agent (Blue Saber staff)


Vera Mina waited in her private chambers aboard one of her family's magnificent Crimson Doves in one of her favorite gowns for the Arrival of Draco Miles . Her husband Nathan Bloodscrawl waited close by.

She had given him a couple of weeks after he had recovered from his capture before bringing him here to spring the news. As time had gone on, Vera Mina had been allowing Arianna more control of the body since they had fused together. Today was a day Arianna was technically going to be out and about. But Vera and Arianna had agreed in their now shared skull that this was Vera's right.

The former Countess of Khemost was now Countess of Kytrand. The game was different. The faces remained the same.

"You've been acting funny since I got back..." he said.

The ivory skinned Vera smirked.

"Much has changed. I have wonderful news..."

Nathan blinked. "What news?"

"That exowomb tech I put in my body has been fruit." Vera answered, watching with delight as his eyes started to widen.

"I'm Pregnant. You are going to have a son."

To her absolute shock, for the first time she saw total, unreserved joy spread across his face. Her database registered the expression and burned it into her brain as he teleported to her, clasping her softly by the shoulders.

"I can't see your armor, Husband." Vera said quietly, blue eyes staring into his cybernetic green gaze.

"I have no armor left..." Nathan Bloodscrawl replied. "You've stripped it all from me..." (Weeping blood: 2000 XP)

"It's too bad we don't have time to see what else I can..." Vera trailed before emphasizing the last word with open lust.

"...strip..."

"We could always cancel..." he suggested slyly with a grin. Vera giggled as she felt the tips of his fingers dancing along her shoulder.

"Draco hasn't seen Arianna in over a week...and Arianna is attached to her apprentice something fierce... especially after losing Percival Io ." Vera said, feeling the heartbreak of that loss as freshly as Arianna did. "Therefore, I am attached to her something fierce. Besides, You'll be going with us today. It will be the first time we can be together in public without you wearing a mask."

"But you'll be wearing the mask..." he pointed out...

"It's a pleasant enough mask..." Vera replied. Besides it'll allow you two to hit it off deeper than helping her kill The Battalion..."

Nathan rolled his eyes. Draco had gotten the better of him the first time he met, and while he had resisted betraying the Jensaarai to her, he had none the less taught her a few things to get out of that spot of bother. He was much stronger now, but Draco still had that win . And her skill had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in helping him take out The Battalion.

Draco Miles was someone to cultivate. Especially if you wanted to keep her out of the Dark's clutches.

"It'll be dicey, keeping the pregnancy hidden. Eventually, it will show..."

"Worry not, husband..." Vera said, face and mind warping to that of Arianna Belasko ...

"No combat missions for me while I'm carrying the baby, scout's honor..." she said with a wink.

"Damn right there won't be any combat missions..." Nathan said, stroking his wife's face. Arianna was fascinated by the change that had come over him.

This was literally the happiest she had ever seen him so far.

Arianna found herself suddenly understanding just how hard a life he had experienced during the Plague for the first time. The expression on his face would have caused someone like Elias Edo to do a double take because he didn't seem to be the same person at all.

He pulled her closer.

"Is there anything special I can do for you today?" He asked.

"You and me out in broad daylight on Fondor as a couple will be special enough..." Arianna assured. "Even if it's as Lucretia..."

"Is it true, what they say? Is she really as difficult to stop channeling as I've heard?"

"Lucretia Lister as a persona is among the most infectious of all absorbable personas. Even Amy was hesitant to channel her for too long. Even Batty, and keep in mind this was after stealing Syd's knowledge on Korriban--was hesitant to channel Lucretia. The only reason I maintain full confidence is because of the Super Majority I maintain in my own body." Arianna explained.

"But why her, specifically, then?"

"Every Force Spawn occasionally has to channel one of their most powerful personas on occasion. It's like a muscle...you don't work it, you lose strength."

Arianna's face and mind warped to that of the basis for the newfound conscience of the previous two personas, Vivian, the Spawn that had killed and replaced the real Arianna Belasko years ago.

"And that can lead to difficulties down the road..." Vivian said.

"So Nathan..." Vivian trailed, going behind a privacy screen. "What do you want to name the child?"

"Didn't you have any ideas?"

"Clan Li-Ves Tradition: The Patriarch of the family always gets to name the firstborn if its going to be a male..." Vivian said as she stripped off her gown behind the screen, putting on a silver catsuit that reflected everything around it.

Nathan thought a moment.

"Grendel." he said finally.

Vivian peeked out from behind the screen.

"Grendel?" she inquired.

"My father's middle name..." Nathan said. "It was almost my first name. Mother seemed opposed to the name for some reason. They used to tell me they debated the name almost every day up until a week before I was born, where they finally settled via coin toss. Mom won."

"Grendel Bloodscrawl...hmmm ..." Vivian mused, stepping out from the privacy screen in Lucretia's catsuit, Vera retaking control of the body.

"I love it..." Vera said, before she warped into Arianna once more.

"Can he have my hair?" Arianna asked. "Vera's okay with it..."

"You can do that?"

"Anything in our body is inherently malleable to our will..." she said with the voice of everyone in her in unison.

"Our son ...will he be like you?" Nathan asked.

"He will be like you, me..." Arianna trailed, body and mind warping and bubbling into that of Lucretia Listed, who looked considerably older than Arianna but not quite as old as Vivian.

"And everyone a part of me by the time he is born..." Lucretia finished with a pleasant smile.

"Husband, I intend to show Draco a few things while we make a day of it...but I think I'm in the mood for a little pasta and sightseeing while on Fondor. What about you?" she asked.

"No objection..." Nathan replied. He was barely used to the constant shape shifting at this point. He was still stunned he was going to be a father again. He felt weak in the knees. Weak everywhere. He wasn't used to feeling weak.


Twenty minutes later.

The couple waited on a park bench on the great city planet, the new capital of The Alliance. They waited for Draco. Just because the hive mind training her was pregnant didn't mean she could slouch on training her apprentice to the best of her ability.

"It's a pity we must so often resort to subterfuge to make our living..." Lucretia said quietly..."

"Subterfuge is the only means I ever used. I'm pretty much nose blind to it..." Nathan confessed.

"I don't want that for Draco..." Lucretia said with a sigh. "I want...better, for her...like I want better for our son. He shouldn't go through what you went through."

"Agreed. But he will still need to be able to defend himself." Nathan said.

"We won't have any trouble there..." she assured.

The couple chuckled at that.

"What about after training Draco? What do we do then?" Nathan asked

Nathan was trying not to blush as Lucretia whispered certain desires she had in his ear that rapidly had his eyes widening. The tall platinum blonde muscular beauty seemed to delight in his reaction, her whispers in his ear growing ever more salacious...

 

[Draco Miles]

Wearing: Personal Armor

Armed With: Dragon's fangs + Double Bladed Lightsaber

Cultivation was already something she was doing herself, though possibly not to the exact way Arianna Belasko would have liked. An obsession with perfection engrained into her very instincts to be the best, to know the most, to be an unstoppable force on the battlefield through her own body as well as utilizations of the force. Draco sat meditating on her ship, her face twisting and contorting into grimaces of anger and pain while recounting past battles spent with House IO. Most notably the more recent battle between her and The Congregation, how powerless she was to need assistance from her master to overcome such a foe. She should be smarter than that.

In her mind as she sat cross legged she ran the battle through her mind over and over again, coming to different conclusions and how she could have won... now all she had to do was test it. A training droid was her unfortunate victim, augmented and upgraded with Neutralizer components to go way past its intended specs, to mimic that of The Congregations strength through the force rage power, noting her tendencies for breaking out of grapples and planning as such. Charging in and holding back from trying to grapple, instead keeping her distance and utilizing her height to deliver fast and hard blows to critical points such as face, stomach, liver, and kidneys. Eventually even going for a leg sweep before stomping down on the droid with so much force it caved in the head of it. She sucked her teeth in annoyance, a loud "Tch" echoing through the training center on her ship before she went to go shower. It had been days, weeks, since she last saw her master, but the scheduled training was something she was eager to go to.

Practicing what she knew already was great, but there was always something new to learn, and she was hoping this session would be no different. It felt wrong not being attached to her master's hip, not learning something new every day, but the constraints of being a husband to Nathan Bloodscrawl and a leader to this faction was something she knew would be time consuming, something she knew would take precedence over someone like her. It didn't stop her jealousy though, shamefully. She missed combat... she wanted missions to go run havoc, run amok, to feel like herself. It had been all what she knew before encountering Countess Belasko and the Force Spawn which wore her skin, and it was where she had felt most comfortable. Yet here she was in a time of peace, not knowing what to do with herself and feeling completely alone because of it

"What am I to do..."

She muttered to herself, the neutralizer assigned to be her pilot and navigator was nothing for company to her, its computations too complex and delicate to allow for meaningful conversation with Draco outside of small talk. Who the hell asks about the weather inside a ship?! Draco felt like she was going slowly mad the more time she had spent in her self prescribed isolation, almost like an emo teenager staying in their room all day doing god knows what. Unlike said teenager though, Draco was eager to spend as much time with her master as possible. Belasko was really her only friend, anyone else she had spoken to never really stuck close by, or turned into anything meaningful. In a galaxy with hundreds of trillions of denizens, not one of them outside of Arianna had interested the draconic hybrid, and it was taking a toll on her mental health at this point if she were to remain walking the path of the light.

Arriving to the park wearing her armor, she walked up as those salacious nothings were whispered into Nathan's ear, and deeply bowed to Arianna

"Master, it's good to see you again! I am elated to start todays training session. What are we to learn this day?"

She said with a bright beam and smile on her face, showing those pearly whites which had almost vaporized Nathan when they last fought. It wasn't often he joined, and foolishly she was wishing for a rematch with him, to show still how much more powerful she could hold, and taking pride in her combat prowess