Maybe Not the Answers You Wanted

[Darth Caecus]

"Hello?"

Darth Caecus had watched as the woman approached. She hadn't been particularly concerned, mostly because she was accustomed to being over looked. It was where so much of herself was wrapped into. Shadows and silence. Most people passed right over something that did not jump out at them and yell boo, did not offer a distinct threat.

But some people..... as with the woman peering around now with a certain suspicion, felt the discomfort inherent in silence. Instead of being so caught up in the workings and chattering of their own mind that quiet was taken for granted, she was canny enough to notice the unnaturalness of this particular corner of the facility. No mere undisturbed air this, but the ersatz still of a pool slicked in oil. Of course there were no waves- not because it was at peace, but because something smoothed the surface. Enough of a breeze that a ripple ought to have shivered across the surface, and in noticing that anomaly she had realized something else simply was not right here.

It was a deeply animal reaction, settled on instinct. Not a bad thing. Something, in fact, that she had largely thought to be overly suppressed in this era.

She considered letting it ride. Offering nothing more than that vague unease of something ten degrees off of right, and waiting until she went on her way.

You should give some of them a chance.

She grimaced slightly beneath the mask. Tai Fa's voice echoing at the most inopportune of times.

Or was it the exact opposite of that?

The voice, low and raw, buzzing through the mask's vocoder, preceded the figure that stepped out of the shadows. Middling height, cloaked in grey and masked, there was no indication of identification. With the shifted voice, gender, even species, was not fully clear. But a rumor had been growing, after the events at the Clocktower. Of a masked sith with questionable allegiance. Even Tai Fa had not been able to keep her involvement in that a secret. It left some to wonder, just who, or what, was behind the mask? And were they an ally of this fledgling empire?

Or an enemy?

[member="Aria Vale"]

 

[NightSister]

She couldn't quite put her finger on what she'd expected this impromptu search to lead her to. Aria was many things, but a seer was not one of them. The time it had taken her to piece together the way had been quite time enough to think through the worst, the best, the least interesting and anything in between. She'd always had a fondness for daydreaming.

But she had expected she would find something. Discomfort rippling through silence needed a stone thrown into the pond. She'd had a few years by now to finetune her ability to detect those ripples. When that still sense of uncertainty reached her, more often than not there was something worthwhile to be found in tracing where the stone had dropped through water.

If nothing else, a healthy dose of curiosity had never hurt her. Not yet, at least.

Eyebrows lofted at the synthesised voice that filtered through a mask a moment before its owner stepped forth.
Low, mechanical. And utterly unidentifiable.

Aria didn't recognise the creature in front of her, and somehow she got the idea that the latter Sith was quite fine with that. Mystery intrigued her, but she appreciated the number of Sith who preferred the shadows, preferred secrecy; out of habit, or safety, or a general desire to stay away from the crowd. Aria stayed somewhere in between. Without forcing herself into the limelight she was easily overlooked; she gave her name without fearing repercussions, she fought for the Sith without worrying who would see her face. The subtler approach was for those whose very identity merited attention. Fear, hatred.

Interesting.

"And you're a good hider."

She spoke evenly, neutral with the faintest note of curiosity.

"But I don't suppose you have a name?"

| [member="Darth Caecus"] |​

 

[Darth Caecus]

But there was no further elaboration forth coming. The other woman would wait a heartbeat, two, before realizing that. Either the creature behind the mask was unbearable literal, or a pain in the arse.

In truth, Kith just disliked stupid, unnecessary questions, and tended to give them the response they deserved. Which in fairness, sometimes was no response at all. Everyone had a name. Whether they would share it or not, or in rare cases, knew it or not, was unimportant. But she hadn't asked what her name was, and so she did not tell her. Honestly, Kith wasn't certain if she would or not, even if she sighed and clarified. She wasn't a particularly fickle or capricious creature.... but she wasn't known to waste her time on things that simply didn't matter.

Revealing herself had been a mistake. Oh, not a serious one. But possibly a waste of time and energy.

This one had power. But what else?

And did she care what it was?

The jury on that was still out.

[member="Aria Vale"]