Because I am a plant.

[Sirella Valkner]

It had been a long time since Sirella had walked amongst the vagabonds of the galaxy preferring the company, and silence, of her vast gardens. “It has been too long…” she said walking among the streets. There were people tending to their myriad of affairs, each going about their lives oblivious to the dangers that lurk around them.

As she walked she noticed a boy, late teens, giving her a goofy look. She smiled at him and blew him a little kiss, weaving her spells into the very motion. She winked before walking off. The sun was high in the sky absorbing into her exposed flesh. Life giving rays powering the very cells of her body. The woman let out a little sigh as she looked straight up at the bright orb in the sky. Sunny days were the best days, although rain was nice.

Sirella walked away, around a corner down an alley sparing only the slightest of glance to see if any of the mammals were giving chase. Hunter and prey, prey and hunter. Nature was a funny thing. A man and the boy were giving chase. Less pedestrians were on the street as she continued her journey, luring the two males with traces of pheromones and mental powers. Fewer, and fewer people lined the roads blocking her path, but two remained, stalking slowly behind her with a glazed look in their eyes.

The warehouse was large, having once housed thousands of droids being programmed before they were sent to their new owners. The droids were gone now, not even the stench of oil and industry remaining. Sirella stopped at the door and turned to the two admirers. She curled her finger beckoning them onward.

Inside the dull building life was managing. Sun shone through the Transparisteel roof into the great bays below. Fine soil had been brought into the building and piled up on the floor. From every inch of ground plants shot up. Flowers in great beds, trees, and bushes made pathways through the mighty jungle. The walls were covered to near completion in vines.

“Wow,” a voice called softly. There was no echo despite the large space. It was afterall filled. “This place is…”

“Beautiful,” Sirella figured the sentence. She approached the two mammals at the door. Appraisingly she glanced at the pair, looking them up and down. She went first to the older one. His mind was weak, his desire apparent. The younger one was no better, but his smooth face made her cringe a little. “You,” she said finally choosing the older of the two. She pulled him by his collar onto a path of dirt. “And you stay here and wait.” The youth nodded blankly. Yes this would work out.

“So.. you live here?” the man asked her.

“For now. It is a safe place, safe for me, for my plants…” Sirella pulled him into a grove, water flowing freely through artificial rivers. The ground wasn’t as dark as the other areas, the soil not as fertile. Vines scraped about the floor moving aside as the pairs feet fell into the dirt. “Tell me, why did you follow me here?”

The man snorted, “You know why.”

“You want me?” A nod was the only response. “Prove it…”

Mind to mind she was clearly the stronger. Sith mind control could make one do crazy things, but what was more impressive was making someone believe they wanted to do those crazy things. “Anything.”

“I want you to feed my children….”

“Okay, I’ll go now…”

“No, no, no. You don’t need to go anywhere.” Sirella smiled moving the man around in her arms pointing him in another direction. “Just walk straight that way.” Ahead of him was a great plant with an open blossom covered in pointed barbs, teeth. It was a maneating plant, something akin to a sarlaac, but on a smaller scale.

“But..”

“Shush, you said you’d do anything for me. You only need to walk forward…”

“Of course.” A dopey smile appeared on his face as he took the first few steps forward. And into the jaws he walked as Sirella, confident in her control, made her way back to her other victim.

Screams of pain heralded her arrival back in front of the young man. “You are lucky, you shall serve me here, and tend my gardens….”

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Orcus strode into the warehouse full of plants. Supposedly several of the Tion Hegemony leaders were supposed to meet here. He grimaced. Plants made him uncomfortable. Not because he disliked living things, he just preferred aquatic plants. Or maybe because the first sight to greet his eyes was a man being devoured wholesale by a toothy plant.

The Herglic looked from [member="Sirella Valkner"], to the plant, to half-eaten man, and back to Valkner.

Yes, he definitely disliked plants.

"Hauum."

 

[Caulder Dune]

Many an hour had he spent in in the Pellaeon Gardens during his tenure as Emperor, hoping to gleam even a little bit of the wisdom that had been inherent in the garden's namesake. It didn't work. The Empire crumbled, along with his hopes, aspirations, and entirety of his dignity. That had been a long time ago, though. Even after all that, Janus was still not adverse to a leisurely stroll in a calm environment. As opposed to burning down villages, massacring families (but leaving at least one child alive so they could seek vengeance later, obviously), and otherwise being a raging, seething phallus.

Darth Janus liked plants well enough on their own. Not these plants, though. They ate people.

Frankly, Janus found just about anything that was abnormally large and existed off a diet of humanoids to be distasteful. So when he entered the area, he made sure to linger near the exit and as far from the man-eating sunflower as possible. He was not sure why he was here or what purpose his presence would serve, but threats of physical violence from Adam had prompted his presence, and so there he was.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sirella Valkner"] [member="Hion the Herglic"] [member="Darth Janus"]

She'd thought a little too much about how to address Sirella. It had, after all, been a while. When they'd last spoken in any serious way, Rave had been a young Knight, barely older than she'd been when Sirella had taken her as her apprentice. Everything Rave knew of Sith Magic's healing, and virtually everything she knew about plant surge, had come from She Who Sprouteth -- not to mention her first taste of the alchemy that had made Rave respected, feared in certain circles, and very, very rich.

"Welcome back to Tion, Lady Valkner." There'd been a time when she would have bowed, but she hadn't started her apprenticeship that way and she didn't feel like genuflection. There were better ways to show respect.

Like the heavy, flat case she laid on a flowering pedestal. It opened to reveal a series of chunks of stone, different kinds in different scripts, as well as portions of metal scrolls. All of it was older than the Republic, and it had cost her tens of millions to get many, many contractors to recover it. A datapad was wedged in beside the artifacts. "For you, in honour of your return: the complete Taurannik Codex. With translation." She smiled, faint but genuine, and fished a small cloth pouch from her pocket. "And the seeds of the Dromund Kaas dart flower -- something of an endangered species now that the Mandalorians put fifteen asteroids through the crust and sparked a little ice age."

 

[Sirella Valkner]

“I accept your gifts in the spirit in which they were given,” Sirella responded looking around at the seemingly random collection of Sith. “It has been a long time since I have seen you. What happened to that adorable little girl who didn’t want the mean boy to torment her with pheromones? What happened to that shy little girl?” Lips slowly formed into a smirk mimicking those around her. “I hear many things have happened in my short departure. Many things have changed.” Waving her hand around the warehouse she added, “Once there was so much more and now…” Sirella shrugged.

“Still, to see old friends,” she patted Rave shoulders and then moved to Tyrin eyeing him and giving him a firm pat on the head as one might a small animal, “even if they are incompetent former Emperors,” she passed by him and gave the whale an appraising look, “and to meet new ones.” Her gaze turned to Rave, “They sure make them big now don’t they?”

Sirella knelt down and felt the dirt in her hands. “IT isn’t such a bad place, not in the long run, if I had to make a home of it… but I don’t do I? That is the point of this meeting. This Cabal that is gathering, what does it want from me?”