Prey Upon The Soul

[Kamon's OOC]

He sighed and set the glass down.

"Still with the fighting. You aren't helping yourself."

Turning back to her, he frowned. Yes, she was chained to the bed, but had she forgotten what had led her to that point? Did he need to remove the bacta patches and poke and prod at her wound once again? No, he figured he could do something more than that. She would be the first to receive his mark, but she wouldn't be the last. Though its intended use would be much different with her than it would be with anyone else. She needed to be controlled. He knew deep down, having seen within her mind, that she liked being controlled. She was a servant, and she didn't like to be free, but she would suffer no fool of a master. The one that owned her had to truly dominate her.

One hand removed his right gloves while the other reached for a ceremonial dagger that he wore at his waist. Lifting it, he pricked his index finger lightly, drawing forth a bit of blood. Returning the dagger from whence it came, he reached over to her forehead. If she tried to jerk away, his other hand would grasp her chin to keep it in place. There, he let the power of the Force flow through him as he traced a symbol in blood upon her forehead and the bridge of her nose. The symbol, though, was more than a symbol, and her skin would absorb the blood, burning into it a tattoo that could only be seen by someone else with the same. A Force tattoo. She would, when she opened her eyes after the burning, find the same mark upon his skin.

The tattoo held power. She would feel it. Not her own power, but his. Forever she was his.

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

"I don't... I can't..."

Her panic was turning to pure frustrations as the damn things simple would not relent. Her eyes were once again begging with him, though her body was acting on pure base instinct. She had to get the binds off herself, even if she had to remain sat in the same spot she had to move her arms. The feeling was suffocati--

Pain unlike any other spread through her as the magic worked its way beneath her skin. She writhed and squirmed and lashed in place as the blood was applied and the Force flowed between it and her. Binding them.

Her head seemed as though it might explode, a piercing pain just behind her ears that intensified with each passing moment until he lifted his finger and stepped back.

Lay there as she had been made to do, Mae's chest rose and fell at a breakneck pace and her breathing was ragged to match. Sweat beaded across the surface of her skin, and as the pain began to subside she did all that she could to regulate the airflow once again.

This was worse than any torture she had ever been subjected to.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

With the tattoo applied she would be unable to harm him even if she wished to. This was beyond the typical use of the darkside, and had delved into the realm of Sith Magic. The tattoo was a blood bond between the two of them. As such, he released her bonds with a simple act of the Force, freeing her naked form from its trap. She was still wounded, and under his control, so even if she tried to run she probably wouldn't get very far. Not that she could considering they were on a corvette flying through hyperspace.

"The mark you now bear is the same as the one you see upon me. It is the mark of the Reformation. It ties the two of us together such that I will always know where you are, whether you're in distress, whether you're feeling pain. Because you have it, you cannot harm anyone else that has it unless I command you to do so."

Reaching over, he tapped the bandage on her wound lightly.

"This will heal in time."

He reached for the water glass once more and held it out to her. Since her hands were free, she could drink it herself if she was really thirsty enough to do so. It all depended on her and what she wanted to do.

"My name is Leos Palle. You've already met my brother, Athelus."

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

The shackles which bound her were released, and instead of using the situation to her benefit she simply slumped in a heap where she had already been lay and pulled her sore limbs to her chest.

Strong. She had to be strong. But how could she when her body had not yet processed its first assault, nevermind those which had taken place since. The unbearable pain which had knocked her outcold completely. The marking he had placed upon her forehead. Pain stacked upon pain.

She knew that she had been branded even before he had need to inform her of such. She could feel it in her core, and the realization made her sick to her stomach. True it was that she was born to serve, to follow, but it had until now been her own doing. Her decision.

And he had taken that choice from her without a second thought.

There were foul words which stuck on the tip of her tongue, abuse she wished to hurl at him for taking that right from her.

But she didn't. In time her strength would return. With time so too would her voice. She had a way of working her way up, even when it wasn't intentional. She would find a way to earn her freedom.

Until then she would do as she did best. Serve.

She listened to his words, soaking each one in. What was the Reformation? Had he just tied her to some cult without her approval? This wasn't going to be fun, far from it... It was the Sith all over again.

Force, what does it take to be a simple Soldier in this Galaxy?

It mattered not. Her path had been set.

Reluctantly she sat up, keeping her body covered by the long black hair that fell beyond her shoulders as well as her legs. Knees were pulled to her chest, one arm wrapped around them while the other finally took the water.

She looked at it dubiously. If he wanted to harm her he could do so freely. If he wanted her dead she would be dead.

So she drank, and only when she began to do so did she realize how thirsty she truly was. She gasped at the refreshing, soothing liquid, and let out a small sigh.

One which caught in her throat.

Athelus?

He was behind this?

She glared daggers into her captor in that instance. Forget the pain, forget the abuse. Betrayal was something all together worse.

That rat would pay.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Your thoughts are easy to read, Maelasi. Athelus has no knowledge of this and likely never will."

She could continue to hate his brother if she wanted, but he honestly had no knowledge of the fact that Leos had stepped in and taken her as he had. It could have been something he'd done to spite his brother, but it wasn't. He'd done it purely out of the desire to make her his. He wanted her skillset at his side, and the only way that was going to happen was if he'd taken her and broken her. She respected power, so he would show her power, and that was precisely what he had done. Yes, he was a Sith and she was in his cold clutches, but she was not a part of a cult, but rather a movement to better the galaxy. And she was, technically, a soldier.

Her thirst seemed unquenchable, so he reached for the pitcher of water and refilled her glass. No, he would not be a monster to work for unless she forced him to be, though he would certainly take advantage of her presence in numerous ways now that he had her. Truthfully, he was quite lonely, and since he couldn't have Paa'lee with him, he did long for company.

"How you are treated is entirely up to you from here on out. Pain can become a constant occurrence or you can be treated benevolently. I won't hurt you if you don't make me."

After returning the vase to the nightstand, he turned his attention back to her.

"You can speak when you're ready. Ask me what you will."

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

Each twist and turn in this rollercoaster of an experience hurt her head all the more.

Athelus didn't know?

"Where is he?" she asked, quite out of turn. She had grown rather fond of the man back on Nadir, he who had foolishly bet his crew's wage on her match. Luckily for him she probably made him a small fortune.

But the ominous way in which this man told her that he would likely never know was not welcome. Did he mean to keep her here, away from any she might seek contact with?

She was not a slave.

"You didn't have to do all that to get me here" she finally said, with open disdain. "You didn't have to hurt those people. You didn't have to lower yourself to fighting over me like I'm some slab of fething meat!"

Clenching her fists, she tried to quell the rising anger. Her gaze tore away from his, and she fell into a thoughtful silence. Force was she cold, what she wouldn't give to reclaim her clothes. If she carried on the way she was going though she doubted she'd see such for some time.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Elsewhere. On some smuggling run, I presume."

It was always the same with Athelus. The elder Palle was more inclined to live a mostly simple life than he was to actually spend his life doing something meaningful. It wasn't anything that he could change, though. He'd tried before. All there was to it was to accept the fact that Athelus would never be anything more than a common criminal with little aspirations for anything beyond money and protecting his crew. He hadn't even had the good sense to invite Maelasi to join him on his endeavours. Or perhaps he'd wanted to but decided against it for some reason. Who was to say? It wasn't as if he could read his brothers mind from afar.

"I could care less about scum like those people. The galaxy would be better off without them. As for fighting over you, I wasn't fighting over you, but fighting for you, at your own choice. You could have submitted without combat. I gave you that option. You chose not to."

He removed his other glove and laid both upon the table before he stood and walked to the door. Opening it, he spoke briefly with the Guard member on the other side. It would seem that he was requesting something, which he was. In this case food for the both of them as she would undoubtedly be hungry and need sustenance to help regain her strength. A weakling would be of no use to him. He needed her strong so that she could serve him. He returned to the bed, sitting on the edge to regard her.

"You lacked a purpose, languishing away there as you were. I've come to give you one. Serve me as a protector and confidant, perhaps also concubine. Keep me safe so I can fix this mess of a galaxy we live in. It's better than spending your life doing nothing but wasting away in some port. You are suited for more than that and I will treat you well if you allow it. Despite what you've experienced I do not relish hurting you."

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

She remained silent for the most part, eyes following him warily across the room as he tended to whatever business he deemed necessary. She shifted her body just a touch, adjusting to sit a little ways away from the bed with her back against a wall. Her movements remained slow, so as not to startle him into thinking she was up to any tricky business.

Truth be told her back simply ached from having had no support for so long. Her posture was usually nigh on perfect, but the past days - or however long it had been - events had left her stooped over.

The wall was freezing though, and she practically leaped from her skin. Sometimes she forgot just how cold the depths of space could be. She knew how to keep herself warm with her gear, but none of that was available to her now.

He had returned to the bed by now, which she was no longer settled against, and she listened as he continued to explain himself. Why bother, was her first thought, he already had her where he needed her. The whys of it were irrelevant.

But the more he said, the more the discomforting knot in her stomach seemed to twist. At the word concubine she scoffed, though truly she had not meant for the noise to leave her at all.

Instinct bade her to immediately look away. You did not scoff at your superior, no matter how much you may have despised them.

At least, not to their face.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

Leos didn't mind, to be honest. He was not foolish enough to expect her to simply accept his control over her so soon. Since she'd moved away from him, and the bed, he knew that she would be cold. As he truly did not wish to have to do her harm, he stood once more and walked to the closet, withdrawing a simple dark robe. Moving to her, he draped it over her lightly. She could use it as she wished. He wouldn't force her to wear it, but given the chill of space he did not doubt that she would end up accepting its warmth. He didn't want her to freeze to death.

"You can talk back to me if you wish. I know you're not truly happy with this arrangement as of yet, but I think you will come to enjoy it. You'll be paid, you'll have excellent accommodations, and you'll get to be the soldier you want to be."

He sat on the edge of the bed once more, looking across at her. Aside from the pain she'd experienced, was it truly so horrible what he was proposing? She got to be a soldier. He would treat her well and care for her provided she didn't act foolishly. She would enjoy a life with a purpose rather than languishing in nothingness. Honestly, he was trying to make life better for her, but also gain something out of it himself. Could one expect anything less from a Sith, truly? He had to benefit in some way from their arrangement or it was worthless to him. The whole reason he'd gone to get her was because she had the skills to actually serve as his protector and confidant.

"I sent for food. I'm sure you're hungry."

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

No repercussions, neither physical or verbal, presented themselves.

Looking up, she flinched out of habit when she saw him nearing her before realizing that his actions were not malicious. He was confusing, this man who with one hand beat her down and with the other soothed her wounds.

He was right, though, she was freezing, and when the robe was draped over her she swallowed any remaining pride and immediately hung it around herself, burrowing her face into the warm folds.

What a relief it was to be covered again.

"I don't know anything about you" she finally said, after silence stretched on between them. "I don't know what it is you fight for, what you'd have me fight for... I don't just go after any old cause, you know? I won't simply follow someone because they demand it. I do have integrity, I do have a purpose of my own."

She didn't look at him. He may have given her this one mercy, but that didn't mean he had dug himself from his pit. He was holding her here against her will, no matter how he tried to dress it up, she was little more than a slave.

Worse than that. Because she was bound to him directly. At least a slave had a chance at escaping.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"That's fair," he said, moving to pour himself a glass of water. "You know my name, but I am also called Ignus. You may call me either."

He moved back further onto the bed and sat in a cross legged position as he regarded her. Yes, she was more or less his slave and she was going to remain such for the rest of her life, but even so she would eventually have more freedom than she currently did. The only reason she didn't yet was because he did not wish for her to have such until he knew that she understood everything about who he was and what her purpose was. When she served willingly he would allow her to come and go if that was what she wished to do, though he hoped that she would instead choose to apply herself to the role of his protector. Time would tell.

"I mentioned that the mark I gave you is the mark of the Reformation. I am a Sith, it is true, but I desire more than the typical status quo that such usually entails. The galaxy you've been hiding away from is dying. It is literally killing itself from within because of the various wars waged by the Sith or Jedi or anyone else. Unless someone does something to stop it, the entire galaxy will one day perish in its own fire. I want to change that, but in order for that to happen change has to be enacted. I'm using the Sith to try and take control of the galaxy. The use my tools to wage their war, and when they're done, when it's all under control, I will use those tools against them.

"I don't want to kill people. I don't want to destroy everything if I don't have to, but people will have to die. The Jedi and Sith must be brought together as in the old days. Rule must be established to cover the whole galaxy. If not, the galaxy will fall into ruin."

He took a drink of water.

"People will try to kill me for this when they find out. I won't even achieve this goal in my lifetime. My children will have to finish it. But it must be done."

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

She did not look to him when he spoke, did not focus all of her attentions on him. She doubted that anything he could say in this instance would work in his favour, she remained bitter about the whole experience. She seemed to jump from cell to cell, from hand to hand, prisoner to any who could catch her. Adekos, Ashborn, and now this fiend.

Burying her face against her knees, clinging to the cloak for both comfort and modesty's sake, she could not help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. He brought her here and chained her like some animal, yet was asking her to be on a first name basis with him? Toying with her, holding an apple out so that she might forget the bridle.

She knew what she was to him. Nothing. Something to be used, to keep close at hand - nay, underfoot - until needed.

Maelasi would not allow his silly masquerade to take place. She would not refer to him as Leos or Ignus. She would not refer to him at all if she could help it. The fire within seemed to swirl. She would play the role of meek bodyguard... Until the tides shifted and she could step from beneath his thumb.

It was not wise of him to keep a trained mercenary in his grips. Who knew what accidents may occur.

She tuned back into his explanation, and she could not help but roll her eyes. Not that he could see it, or so she hoped. Another Sith with grand schemes to better the Galaxy. Why could they never just admit that they were in it for themselves? Was it so hard to do so?

He did not wish to kill, but would do so? You didn't choose a path like hers, or his, if you did not relish the fight in some way. He'd be sat in a Senate booth otherwise, yammering away like all the other old fools who rehashed the same sentiments for millennium. All while sending troops to enforce their word.

"You have the silver snaked tongue of a politician. Same empty promises as all the rest. What makes you think you know the path to peace? Wars have waged for millennium, countless men and women have tried all methods to unite, and you think... What? That you can get by on a good thought and an iron fist?"

She shook her head, still talking into her own lap... Yet with a voice that carried across to him all the same. Firm, and self-sure.

"Give me a break. Your revolution is going to end the same way as all the others, with the leaders dead and the followers scurrying back into the shadows they crawled from. Empires rise and fall all the time, the Galaxy is in disarray because of men like you. People who try to change too much all at once. War, war, war. That's all it brings. That's all it will ever bring."

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"It might end that way, yes."

It was likely that it would, to be honest. The way that the galaxy worked it was likely that his efforts were in vain, but he did know that if he tried nothing then it was worthless altogether. If no one did anything, the chances of anything changing were zero. If someone tried, at least there was something of a chance of something actually working. Doing nothing just wasn't in the cards as far as he was concerned.

"If I do nothing to try, how will I be any different from anyone else? Would that benefit anyone but myself to do nothing? If there's even a remote chance of it working, does that not make it worth trying?"

There was a knock at the door and he lifted a hand to activate the switch that allowed it to open. Two individuals dressed in military garb entered with a tray of food that they set on a small table within the room before they departed. The door closed behind them and he locked it once again, not wanting them to be disturbed at the moment. Of course she was lashing out at his efforts, thinking them foolish. It wasn't surprising to him. Most seemed to think wanting to change the galaxy for the better was foolish. Such thinking made little sense to him. Why would people not want to fix the galaxy? Did people really want to fight all the time and kill each other.

He motioned towards the food, indicating she could help herself.

"Change too much at once, you say? No, not really. I won't be alive to see the fruit of my efforts. I've known as much since before I tried. My children will have to carry on the efforts. I don't believe in the practice of artificially prolonging ones life, so it is what it must be. I want your help to ensure that I can do as much as I can such that my children can continue the effort to enact change. In the meantime, I'm using the Sith to my advantage. I've planned this out for years and it's a plan in constant flux.

"Is it so hard to believe that I could actually want good just because I'm a Sith with lofty ideas? Why do you suffer the stereotypes?"

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]

 

[Lief]

This time she truly did not answer him. Did not lift her head, not even when there came a knocking from the door. She knew there'd be no chance of escape so soon, it was pointless trying. Would likely only end up with her back in chains, so she remained where she was. While the scent of food made her stomach grumble, and the prospect of eating was painfully welcome, she did not move.

She did not wish to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he held all that she needed within his grasp.

She turned slightly, until her right hand side was leaning against the wall and her eyes fixed upon the one which stood adjacent from her. She could hear him still talking to her left, and fought every instinct she had to look his way and listen. And respect.

Her tutors would roll in their graves right now. Her parents would be mortified. But how could she respect a man who had humiliated her in such a way? Who had captured her? Who thought her allegiance was so easy to garner.

She set her jaw tight, and glared holes in the wall.

It isn't a damn stereotype if it's true. Just you watch, fiend, in time all I said will come true. And who's to say you'll even have children to carry on your so called legacy? Who says that they will choose to carry that burden?

Mae bit her tongue though. No more would she play his games. She wasn't afraid of him.

[member="Ignus"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

She said nothing. Every ounce of her being was fighting against his control of the situation. She was acting like a petulant child. Yes, he'd hurt her. Yes, she belonged to him. But she refused to look past those things at all. She refused to see the bigger picture. She'd stuck her feet in the mud and was screaming at her parents that she wasn't going to move. It was ridiculous and it was childish.

Instead of saying as much, because he knew it worldly only make things worse if he did, he stood and moved towards the door. The food would remain where it was. The foolish girl who occupied the room could eat or not. It was up to her whether she lived or died. Yes, he could control her if he wished, but he was giving her free will in most cases. Even affording her the time to process everything he'd said. Would any other Sith do that.

"Eat if you're hungry. Explore the ship if you wish."

That was all he said as he opened the door and stepped through it. The Guard members fell in step beside him as he made his way towards the bridge. The door remained unlocked and nobody was guarding it. She could leave if she wished. In hyperspace there was nowhere she could go save for within the ship, anyway. Really he was just affording her space so that she could think. Leos wasn't like the other Sith. He genuinely had good intentions. They might fail, that was true, but at least he was willing to try.

[member="Maelasi Eramar"]