Private Ravenous Beasts Don't Sleep

[PERSENUS]

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Lothal, a planet far in the "northeast" Outer Rim, was once occupied by the Empire all those many years ago. When it came, the cities faced mass depopulation as the military moved in, turning their homes, their planet, into one giant factory. The world descended into darkness as the people, what remained of them, protested against the occupation only to be cracked down and arrested for their fight for freedom. Lothal's lush plains and spine tree forest found their rivers oozing with industrial remains as they put their foot down on the planet. The trees crumbled into decay. The marshes became near toxic to march through.

Though, with time, all things healed. As the Empire crumbled into pieces, Lothal over the many centuries, would bounce back as their factories were ripped apart as a symbol of rebel victory. Still, the marshes were a dangerous place to linger. It would be unwise to head into their depths with the sludge and predators that have been mutated by its presence. Few ever ventured there and that is why Perenus chose this as his current spot as he gathers the resources to travel once more. Bouncing across the trees, avoiding the marsh floors and whatever lay underneath, he would eventually make his way to higher ground.

Perenus was a good ways away from any civilization. No surveillance and whatever trace he left likely needed a very, very good and perhaps force sensitive tracker to follow in this place. Now, he sat on a long plateau, in the middle of the swamp. He'll start a fire and meditate - he needed to keep his skills sharp on the run. He has never been good at meditating when he was younger. He was out for a fight. He was in this for the rush. Well, he got what he wanted. There is a target on his back, held up by the Sith Empire, calling all the fight he'd ever want. The thought of this irony made him sick inside. He spat the sickness out into the murky waters.

Aristeia Zambrano

 

[Aristeia Zambrano]

Location: Dromund Kaas, Aristeia's Residence.

How does one find a rat? Well, either lay out a trap and wait, or destroy the foundations of the house and seek it out. Or, if you were smart like Aristeia, you could just use the force to locate it. She needed a way to distinguish herself from the rest of her siblings after all, so what better way to do that than to take up a bounty? And not just any bounty, a jedi bounty. So, having selected the most interesting subject she could find, Aristeia had set down and began her scrying, looking through the force as her mother had taught her, and finding the man that would be her target. It took a little more work to figure out he was dwelling on Lothal, but once she had settled upon that tidbit, it was time to head out.

She had never tried being a bounty hunter before. How should she go about it? Suave and seductive? Brutal and thuggish? Or, maybe a mix of gunslinger with a heart of gold. She would give it thought on the way there, though she didn't really give much thought to how she would subdue the man. Maybe she would trick him into thinking he was beaten, warp the world around him with illusions until he believed he had gone insane. Maybe tire him out with endless swarms of illusions, or maybe she would just drop the act and actually try fighting for once; though the idea of doing that seemed...well less than enjoyable.

As she boarded her ship, she could only wonder how this day would unfold; thankfully there would be room in the cargo hold for the body once she was done. Placing the crown upon her head, she felt the bond between herself and the ship become one, and with that, Aristeia was off. The sphere lifted, tilting as it mapped out it's route in the stars, and was gone. Hyperspace would see her to the world in short notice. This Perenus man was in for a rude awakening.

PERSENUS

 

[PERSENUS]

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He fell into his meditations. His mind absorbed by the Force and its whispers. When he was younger, still training under his Sith Master, he would barely ever spend time sitting down unless his master told him so in a manner that was perhaps more than stern. However, in the silence of the swamp, in the weariness of escaping the clutches of his former Sith brothers and sisters, he found a calmness in the eye of the storm. Though, perhaps he was just getting old. It amused him for a moment as his mind was dissolved back into the flow of the Force.

In his mind, the Force revealed to him a vision that was gone as soon as it came. Eyes that darted across maps, flickering as his own visage came into view. He felt disturbance. He felt the ground shake beneath him, the pebbles bouncing about. It had awoken him from his musings. Cracks had danced across the earth in which he let himself go. A piece of the plateau crumbled into the marsh with a resounding sickening splash as polluted water rose in a wave. He understood what the Force had told him for all that it could within those precious few moments.

Then came the voice of his master, whispering to him. The crawling voice of that ancient Pau'an, having lived through centuries of history, still lingered and held a firm grasp around his mind. "Playful little thing. You always wanted to play, didn't you. I'm sorry I was too old to amuse your young, primal wants. Though, I do hope you enjoy the playmates I have sent in my place." He said with that slow, repulsive creak that had always managed to rouse his emotions. However, he would save the turmoil within him. He would let it set, fertilize the seeds of wrath for whoever comes to him.

He would attempt to return to his meditations. Managing to slip back into the realm of the Force, he extended his senses, preparing himself for whatever was to come. Though, his trance now was no where near as deep as the one he had previously. A shallow pond in comparison to the Ocean - meditating still would not come naturally to him. It likely never will.

 

[Aristeia Zambrano]

The flight towards the planet was nothing to write home about, as Aristeia fixated on image of the man, her mind reeling into back and forth between consciousness, watching the man progress little by little. He had grown lazy, comfortable with his routine. Predictable, and foolish. The ship flew of it's own accord, with little to no input of the Sith's hand. He dwelt in a swamp, befitting of his lowly station. Lothal was a rather mundane world, one that she had not thought to dirty herself with, but there were worse places to be.

In time, she would arrive at the world, and as she did, her mind would search for the one they called Perenus. Once she found him, she would speak to him, letting him know that he would receive a visitor today. "Are you the one they call Perenus? You seem to fit from the glipses I caught. I suggest you surrender, or, you can suffer when I find you. Not if mind you, but when." She let the words drift, assuming she would receive some generic hero bravado, about how she would never catch him alive, and he would fight until the end. You know, the generic stuff that the holofilms loved to throw out. Her ship would find itself into high orbit, as the Sith would await a response, then she would launch her attack; after confirming where the man would be. It truly wouldn't be so hard, her mother had taught her every trick in the book for tracking. Taking her saber and tracing over the hilt that she cherished. She hadn't been able to use it in a fight yet, but she would find use for it soon enough.

PERSENUS

 

[PERSENUS]

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In place of an answer, she would instead feel the pull of the Force. The strings tugging her towards a source, as if aided. If anything, he was not hiding from her. He would not waste time and now, he perhaps has something to gain. As he sat there, eyes closed, using the Force to sense the world around him, he would issue only in feeling to her. He was beckoning her. He was keen to be rid of annoyances, and be gifted one thing she could give him, if he played his cards right.

He spoke not with words, giving her a challenge only another Sith could understand. That is, if she dared to come to it. For all her cunning, the mind of steel that was Perenus, was not one to play in games, in spite of all that his master made him out to be. In spite of all that has happened, he was still a Sith, and he would not back down from a challenge, and he would not back down from a fight. He could feel the sudden darkness enter the world as she came, his meditative trance amplifying his reaches. He knew she was coming and the Force told him it was only a matter of time till he was found. He'd rather be over with it sooner than later.