For the Night is Dark

[Evaelyn Zambrano]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

Even the way the other woman moved was fascinating. Her steps were calculated, she was in complete control of her environment. There seemed to be some kind of cold, deliberate finesse to every single action she made. She stood as a stark contrast to Evaelyn's straight-forward and bruteish approach, with little concern for the consequences. First of all she had to survive the present.

"Good" Elyn replied emotionless. If he would hurt her sister he deserved to be made unrecognisable. It was a strange thing, how many atrocities became justified when viewed through the lens of self-preservation.

Elyn nodded, having confirmed that this was indeed the datapad. She tucked it away. There was time to look at it later. Now they had a bloody murder to cover up. As the woman continued to speak, Elyn breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment there she had half expected her to ask her to leave the axe. Not a chance. With another nod, Elyn did as she was told and tucked her phrik-decorated axe out of view.

"Wow. Well. Works for me" the creativity had surprised her a little. All the details were planned, the weaknesses of the plan covered by adding pirates into the mix. It seemed solid to Elyn. She didn't know if she could've thought of that, not this quick. This woman had done this before. "Does that mean we make the girl next door disappear next?" This one hadn't truly done anything. She would not have been a part of Scace's schemes against her sister. But still.... If they didn't, Joy was put at risk all the same. In the end death would be delivered to her as well.

She started helping her cleaning off the fingerprints, at least to the best of her abilities. Like in most things, Evaelyn seemed more clunky, a bit sluggish in knowing what to look for and effectively taking care of what she saw. Slower, but she got the job done in the end. "So... Who are you?" Evaelyn asked while working on it, figuring now was as good a time as any to do a little bit of extra digging. "Why are you helping me and my sister?"

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"She heard your racket, so I silenced her before she could interfere."

Standing up in her full height, the Rattataki brought a com-unit to her mouth and spoke in a soft voice. The language was Rattataki, harsh and quick paced. Very few spoke it unless they had frequent dealings with Rattatak or came there from. 'Darling, detach ship. I will take a pod. Come pick me up.' Swiftly, the com-unit disappeared between her fingers. It was no trick of the force, but a practised slight of hand.

"She would be alive if you had been more quiet, as I told you. Remember that."

Darth Ophidia did not care much about the life lost, but it was a wasted resource and a complication to the mission. The least she could do was to try making it worthwhile. Ophidia had made mistakes like these herself, and she knew there could be no slack, no leeway. Not if she wanted this young woman to become what she was: A hand of death.

And there came the questions, 'who' 'why' She had waited for them, and now there were only so many answers she could give.

"I am not here to help you, my ends are my own. Yet, I used you to achieve them and I did not leave you to take the fall. You have seen what I do and spilled the blood I demanded."

She turned to Evaelyn, wiping her gloved fingertips on a handkerchief. Ophidia liked presenting riddles, forcing the young to use their minds rather than just giving them straight answers. The galaxy did not give straight answers, and intelligence was wholly underestimated.

"What am I, Evaelyn Zambrano?"

[member="Evaelyn Zambrano"]

 

[Evaelyn Zambrano]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

"Oh" was all Evaelyn said, processing what the pale woman had just told her. So it had been her fault. Her death could have been avoided. No one was innocent. But there was one thing to take out someone who was coming for you or someone close to you, striking someone down in combat, and simply taking out someone because they were at the wrong place to the wrong time. Evaelyn hadn't even considered this outcome. She was a risk-taker. If she failed the only one who suffered was herself. That was fine. This was different. Was she bothered by it? She imagined she'd get over it. The person was no one to her. It was Elyn's own agenda that mattered. Still, here she was, thinking about it and finding it hard to get her mind over onto another thought pattern.

Evaelyn listened to her words. Another riddle? This one she felt like she understood more though. The pieces kind of fell into places. She didn't know much about this woman, but based off of what she had said she figured she could deduce at least this: "You're a Sith." she had to be, right? Powerful Sith were a dangerous lot best avoided. Evaelyn wasn't very good at following that kind of advice either. "What do you gain from this? Why didn't you leave me to take the fall?" how was this woman connected to all this? She wasn't too concerned with being used, as long as they had the same goals and interests. And it was good that she had not left Elyn to take the fall. She certainly could have. Though she was curious. "And what do I call you?" Did she have a name?

 

[Darth Ophidia]

"Sith, yes. That does indeed match the description."

Ophidia moved out into the hallway, picked up the neighbour's blaster and carried it back into room 9-0685, closing the door behind her. She pointed the blaster up at the ceiling and fired three shots then threw it under the bed. The sound echoed within the chamber, but the noise was necessary in order to set the stage.

"Options, opportunities, and a small measure of personal amusement."

The pale woman looked Evaelyn over once more, considering what to do with the bloody clothes. That, Evaelyn would have to deal with on her own. Or rather, Ophidia needed to see that the young woman didn't crack under pressure. She had noticed how Evaelyn was somewhat bothered by the unintentional loss of life, which was indeed part of why she had brought it up in the first place.

"As for what you call me, well that depends entirely on who I am to you; teacher, threat, or just a bad dream."

As she spoke, her left hand traced over the sash that kept her inner robes restrained to her slender form. As she removed it, something metallic glinted between her fingers before being flicked from her thumb; a coin. It was of a weathered grey colour and marked with an image on either side. On one side an open hand, on the other, a skull. The object had a certain presence in the Force, as though it whispered to whomever held it.

After flicking the coin at Evaelyn, the Sith Lord turned and simply begun walking away. The blue diamond-shapes imprinted on the back of her robes swayed like the scales of a viper with every fluent step. And unless Evaelyn gave immediate chase, she would vanish the moment she curved out the door, taking the corpse of the neighbour with her.

[member="Evaelyn Zambrano"]

 

[Evaelyn Zambrano]

[member="Darth Ophidia"]

Sith. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. Suppose indifferent. It was a name she knew her father by. She believed Joy would associate herself as such. There was no shortage of Sith within their circles. Though it was not an ideology Evaelyn subscribed to nor identified with. Perhaps she would, but she never pictured herself to be the religious nutter. Sorry Vahl. But there was a level of predictability within their unpredictability, strange as it sounded. While you might not be able to trust them, you could trust them to act according to their self interest and Code. The tricky part was knowing which act furthered those goals at any given time.

Elyn watched as the blaster fired off a few token shots. The following answer to her question was characteristically vague and mysterious, while still holding just enough information to be considered a proper answer. Curses. Having a casual conversation with this one would be a challenge. Then again, Evaelyn wasn't exactly the casual conversationalist type. She spoke with her axe.

Teacher. Threat. Bad dream. She imagined all of those could be a fitting description for the pale lady. One of those stood out as beneficial to Evaelyn, however. One of them she could grow from. Had she really said teacher? Was that on offer? Her head filled with even more questions than answers, something she was slowly realizing was going to become a trend. She gained nothing from having this be just a bad dream. She wasn't ready to call the woman a threat. "Teacher? Wait, really?"

Evaelyn snapped up the coin. The speed and focus was intense, as if the mere prospect of missing and letting the coin touch the unholy ground might threaten the existence of everyone on this ship. "Why would you teach me? What could you- ahhh kark it, yes!" she didn't have time to ask, didn't really have time to think. The woman was on the move and Elyn was not prepared to let her walk out of her life. The blue-haired beast fell in step right behind her. "I choose teacher" I will not let you become a bad dream. This was one of those rare occasions when Elyn displayed a touch in insecurity in her voice, instead of that brash overconfidence. Could she do this? Did she understand the woman correctly? All she knew was that this one was powerful and had taken an interest in Evaelyn. In the world they lived in, that was a gift too unique to ignore. She was a risk taker. If permitted, Evaelyn would fall in line with the pale lady. Where would they go? Elyn didn't know. She just kept walking.