Private The Paths Ahead

[Devlin Dara]

The sky was finally dark, and the lights of the beautiful city reflected off the wet road. The sky remained cloudy as the moon disappeared behind the over overcast sky giving birth to the radiant neon lights. The strict geometric shapes of the utilitarian designed buildings could seem imposing to most, instilling a fear of uniformity and control. In his mind the buildings need not be designed to appeal aesthetically as long as they served its function. It was often times when question emotion and beauty he wondered what others might think of the matter rather than his own thoughts. He guessed others might find it fearful or as a sign of oppression against creative freedoms. Devlin stopped at a window seeing the reflection of himself in his armor standing out among the civilians and military within the city. It wasn’t uncommon for other species to be walking around in suits of armor, but he often disappointed the others by speaking in galactic basic with no sign of an accent belonging to an alien species.

As he continued his progress down the street the light rain continued to fall and glisten across his armor and the heads of others turned in curiosity to his clearly unique aesthetic. He figured even if it was odd it was better than them seeing him outside of his armor. He had to represent The Sith Empire effectively and appearing as a young scrawny child would do nothing but cause the others to lose faith or even worse cause them to lose respect. He sighed, the moisture of his breath momentarily coating the inside of his helmet across his heads up display that reminded him of the time and current weather condition as if he could not discern it for himself.

Devlin in his current attire stood at five foot eleven inches and appeared to be respectably muscular for his size but this was because he had designed the armor to do so. He wanted to project an air of confidence and hide his insecurities from those that would quickly admonish him for his lack of physicality while being in The Sith Empire. As he continued to walk, and he felt at home in this city surrounded by all the various technologies. Whenever he felt alone as he often did, he could reach out with the force and feel every device with a power source in his mind like a wave of comforting companions. It was not the same though and his brilliant mind was quickly coming to the realization that for all of his intelligence and power with the force he would have to make actual friends that could provide opportunities to showcase the things he was actually good at.

That is where the problem lied though. Everyone in TSE that he knew through the academy disliked him. His lack of physical strength and stamina had more often than not got his whole class in trouble. On top of that he had been and still was socially awkward enough that he missed common social cues often accidentally embarrassing himself or offending others. Luckily, he had been able to compensate for his physical faults with his intellect, tactical sense, and his potent connection with the force. For all of the weakness he was able to overcome with his intelligence his lack of charisma and friends was not one of them. Lately he had been tinkering with the idea of creating his own droids to fill in this role though he was certain that would not get him out of his current predicament. He sighed again as he leaned against the wall of a nearby building and gazed up at the sky contemplating what it was, he needed to do to find his role and purpose in The Sith Empire. After all he had only recently graduated and the others had already been given assignments or seen combat and here he was still waiting.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The Red Hunger was something Alina had vastly underestimated. After the slaughter on Nar Shadaa so she and Darth Strosius might regrow what they had lost, she hadn't bothered to eat again. She hadn't realized just what it did to her to go without blood. She could still eat normal food, but the fact it wasn't actually filling for her was a reality she hadn't expected. She'd started to feel it days prior. That hunger. She could smell the blood of those around her, but she figured it was just a side effect. That she could control it and only eat once and a while.

She stumbled through the night streets, looking far more haggard than she ever had been in her life. People gave her a wide berth. The glowing yellow eyes was enough of a reason to stay away. But the wild hunger that they held was the real reason. Like sheep that could feel a wolf close by they tried to escape the situation before anything came of it. It didn't spare them all, however.

Having only just stumbled into the alley she was unaware that Devlin Dara was there. But the man that'd been following her she was all too aware of. His blood smelled sweet. And it wasn't hard to guess he had less than decent intentions. Alina stumbled in farther, getting out of sight of the street just as the man snatched her arm. "You look like you've been havin all sorts of fun. Why don't we have some more?"

Alina didn't really answer, instead trying to break the grip he had on her. It wasn't hard, but that seemed to annoy him. His eyes narrowed as he reached out to grab her much more harshly.

Except she wasn't there. In the blink of an eye she had ended up behind him. Her fingers gripped the side of his head and his shoulder, forcibly baring his neck. Then the hunger took over. Her teeth sank right into flesh as she drank him down. Not a drop was wasted. He struggled, but he couldn't stop her. Worse, the more she drained, the weaker he was. He gurgled on some blood that had pooled in his mouth before the life left his eyes.

Slowly she lowered the body, taking a breath. At least she didn't feel as terrible as she had. Alina reached up, calmly fixing her hair as she watched the corpse.

"Well. That explains a lot."

 

[Devlin Dara]

Dameoin continued to ponder in silence watching those around him take a wide birth to void a potential interaction with him. On his HUD the local new from the HoloNet appeared as he sat down and started to listen to it for a few moments. Something was not quite right, and he could feel it in his stomach. As he read the weather reading, he realized the light rain had stopped yet he could hear the sloshing of what he could only assume was a heavy wet bag. His head turned from side to side curious about the noise as he looked for the source and noticed the alleyway only a few feet from his current location. He moved forward toward the edge on his hands and knees in a very comedic manner, much like someone would if sneaking up on a child or searching for eye correcting spectacles. He slowly peered around the corner his head popping out from behind the corner horizontally. The light reflecting off the water droplets of his visor.

His HUD zoomed in in the scene as he quickly closed his mouth shut, he was not entirely sure if it was to keep himself from making any noise or to avoid an unnecessary evacuation of his food from this morning. His head quickly retracted back around the corner as he stood up to his feet slowly and started to slowly walk away from the scene he had just witnessed. She had looked much stronger than him. Hell, the man she had been sucking on so fervently was easily twice his size, he would be nothing more than a juice pack to the Sangnir. He was not foolish enough to expect his armor to hold up against her it would likely be the same result as someone opening a can of minced fish. He turned another corner a couple feet away into the entrance of the building he had been leaning against. He had not paid attention to what business occupied this building and he did not care as he continued to peer across the corner as he backed behind the wall his visor trained on the path he had just taken. Something else was bothering him though.

He opened a picture of the zoomed in image of the woman. He was more the certain he had seen her somewhere before. He might have even known her name or heard it at one point in passing. He cursed to himself completely taking his mind off of what had just happened as he searched his mind for the name he had forgotten or to recall if he had ever learned it. His intellect wresting control over his survival instincts to try and solve yet another irrelevant problem as he became distracted looking at the image of Alina Tremiru .

 

[Alina Tremiru]

The sound of movement caught her attention almost immediately once the body was dropped. Someone seeing her was, well. This was bad enough on it's own. Having a witness on Dromund Kaas? She couldn't exactly afford that sort of news going around. With a heavy sigh she started to move after the figure that had started to flee. She could feel Devlin Dara close by. The smell of his blood. No, the flow of Anima. He was wearing something that blocked the actual scent.

Calmly she stepped into the building he'd taken off into. It was easy to follow the flow now. There was no reason to rush, especially since they had entered a kitchen. Last thing she needed was to freak him out with others watching. Others that were already far too curious on the pair. "I believe you've seen something you shouldn't. Do you mind turning around so we can talk?"

 

[Devlin Dara]

‘Ariel..no. Amanda…no that’s not it either. Alice? Doesn’t sound familiar’ he thought to himself trying to think of as many ‘A’ names as he could think of and immediately ruling out sever in various other languages. He had been distracted standing in the entrance to this building peering around the corner. A chill ran up the base of his spine as some of the lights from inside became muted and he heard the voice of someone behind him, a feminine voice.

"I believe you've seen something you shouldn't. Do you mind turning around so we can talk?"

‘F*ck’ he thought to himself realizing he had gotten too caught up in trying to remember the possibly not a stranger’s name. He slowly turned around and looked up at Alina Tremiru as she cast her gaze down at him and could clearly still see the remnant of some blood on her lips. They would have been the same height if she had not been wearing shoes and he definitely would have been shorter if he were not in his. He thought to himself quickly. He had practiced this he needed to act stern and imposing like any member of The Sith Empire would. He opened his mouth to speak looking up at her imposing frame and face.

“I did not see anything. I do not know anything. Please do not kill me,” He said trying to sound as confident as he could but unintentionally a bit louder is his nervous fear. His voice masked lightly by the small amount of voice distortion coming through his helmet that he was pretty sure had turned into a sauna. ‘Nailed it’ he thought to himself as his blood pumped faster and his face started to sweat more. He continued to look at her face seeing the trace of blood still on it bothering him as he fixated on it and brought his hand up to his helmet where his mouth presumably was and gestured even though she would only see a reflection of herself in his visor.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Odd. He wasn't a spy who was watching her. Alina's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she watched the masked figure. She hated masks. She couldn't sense the feelings of others, so the mask made it impossible for her to know just what someone was feeling. A brow raised as the masked figure whipped at his.. Mouth? Oh. A coy smile returned as she stepped closer. She licked her lips, cleaning them of the last couple of drops. "You know, saying you didn't see anything, then immediately pointing out the result."

Her faintly glowing yellow eyes turned to the group around them that had been watching. "Why don't we take this outside? Let these good people go back to their cooking."

Devlin Dara

 

[Devlin Dara]

"You know, saying you didn't see anything, then immediately pointing out the result."


‘Stupid. Stupid. Stupid,’ he thought to himself as he mentally reprimanded himself on the painfully obvious mistake he shouldn’t have missed. He really was helpless when it came to social interactions. He watched as she licked her lips clean as he stared at her faintly glowing yellow eyes and wondered how he could talk himself out of this. He had no physical way of defending himself, the lightsaber he was working on still needed a few more parts. He looked at the people that had apparently started to watch their interaction and if they could see his face, they would see the worry expressed on it. Perhaps the helmet was a double-edged sword. No if either of the parties had figured out he was with The Sith Empire he would feel ashamed for how he had been reacting so far.


"Why don't we take this outside? Let these good people go back to their cooking."


“But that lowers my chances of…” he stopped cutting himself off before he could mention survival. ‘Be cool. Be calm. Be confident,’ he thought to himself as he stood up straight with a fake display of confidence as he rested his hands on his hips.


“Good idea. I will go with you…willingly,” he said once again a bit too loud as his voice cracked through the helmet as her was not used to being so intently watched. Under the helmet he was sweating buckets as he took a step back bumping into someone else and nearly falling over as he regained his balance. The fumble revealing the logo of The Sith Empire in gold on his shoulder pauldron.


“Aha sorry,” he said completely apologetic and in a softer tone to the civilian he had nearly set falling over into the street.


“Uh…whe…where should we go?” he asked looking around the somewhat populated night streets.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Right. Willingly." Alina rolled her eyes at this point. There was a smile on her face at this point, though. Whomever Devlin Dara was, he was at least entertaining. Though, who exactly was he? She watched him curiously as he stumbled around. So he was part of the Empire at least? That'd make this easier. She kept her head up, hands calmly clasped behind her back.

"You're a Sith I take it? I am Alina Tremiru. A pleasure to meet you, Mr..?"

 

[Devlin Dara]

"You're a Sith I take it? I am Alina Tremiru . A pleasure to meet you, Mr..?"

His expression under the visor changed to a frown as he hung his head a bit rubbing the back of his head. Now that she knew he was a Sith he would undoubtedly be reprimanded for the way he had handled himself like so many times in the past. He continued to walk waiting for her instruction on where she had wanted them to talk in private feeling much like a hostage at this point, but the feeling of fear was overpowered by the sense of personal failure.

“Dara. Devlin Dara. I graduated this past graduation class,” he said unenthusiastically as if talking to a teacher. Memories came back of training where a trainer would call his name out as a sign of failure. For twelve years his name in the academy had been synonymous with physical frailty and failure. Even if he could not recall if he had met her before his was fairly popular but not for any of the reasons he wished. He cursed himself for not giving her a fake name, but he felt defeated enough at this point that he didn’t care if these were his final moments, he probably deserved them.

He turned into the next alley way the exact opposite one that had what he presumed was an empty humanoid laying in a disposal container. There was a stone bench there in the alley one side had its supports completely broken so that the seat leaned at an angle to the ground. Effortlessly he waved his hand lifting the stone bench and fitting the broken slab into place, so it was once again at least sitting normally. He took a seat staring at the ground towards his feet.

“This a private enough spot to kill me?” He asked half-heartedly not bothering to look up at her.

 

[Alina Tremiru]

A look of concern formed as Alina watched Devlin Dara sort of lead the way to the alley. When he finally sat down, after casually showing his strength, the concern only grew. The young Sith crossed her arms over her chest, a single eyebrow raised as she leaned against the alley wall. "You sure you're a Sith? You have power, sure, but you're acting way too soft. It's a wonder you even survived the school if this is how quickly you give up." She wasn't being hostile. The fact he was another Sith Acolyte actually made this all easier for her. Why kill what could become an ally? He was privy to a minor secret of hers, so reaching out for an alliance might work.

And if it didn't, she could always kill him. But now that he was acting so pathetic, she wasn't even sure if he was worth any trouble. "At least pretend to have confidence. Jeeze."

 

[Devlin Dara]

"You sure you're a Sith? You have power, sure, but you're acting way too soft. It's a wonder you even survived the school if this is how quickly you give up."

She had very quickly discerned the main reason why he did his best to try and act differently. It was like a punch to the gut being called out again by someone so soon after meeting them. What was worse that she had turned from threatening and imposing into pitying him. This was definitely how he wanted to be seen especially by his peers. He sighed as he stood upright and faced her.

"At least pretend to have confidence. Jeeze."

“I am trying…I just don’t have a good grasp of it. I entered the academy late but never really developed physically into what The Sith Empire was looing for. Being beaten down and never being built up for the past twelve years does not really help either…it is my own fault though. My superiors have no idea what to do with me and I can I have a buildings electrical system from a mile away sure, from orbit? Maybe. That does not mean much though if they do not think you have the confidence to do it under pressure. I am the laughingstock of the academy. I wasn’t even assigned a master to train under or given an assignment yet,” he said venting without even realizing it as he stood up and paced back and forth. At the end of his long-winded barrage, he sat back down on the bench and as if to highlight his point the foundation he had just fixed fell away again and he fell to the ground. Laying on his back he just stared up into the sky as the light rain started to fall once again. Part of him didn’t even want to stand back up and he felt even worse now that he had just awkwardly spilled all of his insecurities to a stranger that had just murdered a guy not five minutes ago.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"And?" Alina looked rather unimpressed. Or unamused. It was hard to tell, but she didn't seem too sympathetic to his plight. "My family is a group of sorcerers and alchemists. And I, the one that can't even use the Force to lift a pebble let alone that." She nodded to the seat. "Am heir. My mother has tried to kill me since I was a child. I learned other ways to be strong. Only a fool focuses on their weaknesses and use them as a crutch. A fool, or a coward." She pushed off the wall, stepping over to loom above Devlin Dara . All of her face was covered in shadow, only the glowing yellow eyes she had visible in the darkness.

"Which are you?"

 

[Devlin Dara]

‘And?’ what did she mean ‘and’? he thought to himself clearly annoyed as he considered his response not wanting to upset her. He listened to her talk about herself and her past troubles. He continued to lay there in contemplation trying to understand the meaning she was trying to get at. He had always focused on what he was good at, so much so it had been to his own detriment and often to the detriment of others at least that had been his experience within the academy. He did not think he was a crutch to himself but a crutch to others.

"Which are you?"

“Both. I suppose,” He said simply thinking logically about the four paths to the answer. He could be either one or the other, neither, or both. He was a fool and often the brunt of everyone’s jokes entertaining them at the cost of his own mistakes and failures. He was also definitely a coward. He knew none of his superiors would take him seriously and the people around him would not either if he had walked up to them and introduced himself as a Sith.

“Definitely both…but not for the reasons you might think. Seeing you kill that man was the first time I had ever seen someone die. I did not think it would affect me as much as it did, but I was more concerned with my own life. Therefore, I am a coward and a fool for thinking I had a chance to get away. I had a twelve and a half percent chance of not being noticed given the scenario,” He said bringing his hand up to where the chin of the helmet would be as he quickly crunched the math pausing as he spoke to double check if he had been correct.

“My point is. Those around us expect something that I cannot accomplish regardless of what strengths I possess. I had concluded the only way to advance forward was to work on my weaknesses. The problem with that is I have no idea how to approach it. I was an orphan put into a center for gifted children, kidnapped and sold as a slave to slice stolen technology or hack credit chips. Nobody would accept me, so I was put into the academy at eight. I figured if I made it through alive I would finally be accepted somewhere and others would accept me for my skills but that isn’t the case,” he said sitting upright and he sat there staring more at her legs rather than looking up at her as he out of shame.

“I am a fool to think that I could change anything. I am a coward because I never stood up to those who beat me down because I deemed it illogical and yet I am going out of my way to try and make them look good in front of their superiors. I always had figured I would be playing a supporting role given my talents as a tactician and connection with the force but there is this feeling in my gut that I am meant to do more but I keep second guessing it. When the people we protect think about The Sith Empire and the Sith they do not want to see a scrawny weakling like myself, so I am doing my part to try and maintain morale. So, both,” He said still sitting there distracting himself with the side of his boot as he logically tried to explain his answer to her and self-analyzing himself out loud. It was clear to see from your angle the armor while it served other functions was clearly embellishing his features. The soles on the boots added a couple of inches and from the top-down view one could tell his chest armor was puffed out more than it needed to be.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

She listened. Through the whole spill Alina listened. It was the least she could do, given he was a potential threat to her reputation. And yet, by the end, she couldn't hold herself back. Annoyance flashed in her eyes. It was the only warning before she moved. In the blink of an eye she was in front of him, fist raised to strike. And strike out she did. A single, powerful blow seemingly to the mask he was wearing.

Alina glared at the man as her fist instead slammed into the wall. Which cracked under her punch. "You're being annoying. You're a Sith. Stop whining. You can use the Force, right? What can you do with it?" Her face was mere inches from his mask, yellow eyes glaring into his despite the obvious barrier between them. She'd had enough.

Devlin Dara

 

[Devlin Dara]

He flinched as she quickly swung and punched the wall next to his head. That was not normal at all how could someone with such raw strength exist. It was fascinating and horrifying at the thought of being actually hit by a blow like that. His head turned toward the crack in the wall observing the damage she had done and then he looked down at her hand even going so far as to gently take it and check if her hand had taken any damage. It was fascinating to see next to no damage to her hand compared to that of the wall. He was so caught up in trying to figure out the physics of it that he seemed to completely miss how she was glaring at him seemingly through the visor as if the distraction towards the unknown had revealed a moment without fear or a care for his own self-preservation.

"You're being annoying. You're a Sith. Stop whining. You can use the Force, right? What can you do with it?"

“Oh…mhm…sorry I was distracted. I had read interesting things about your kind before, but you are very resilient no doubt a prime example for your species. I guess in a way that makes us polar opposites from one another based on not just our species but also our areas of focus. Yes I can use the force and I have mastered most of the basics but more specifically I specialize in interacting with various forms of technology. They are my only real friends in fact although one would argue that the non-A.I forms of technology are limited because they can only function to what their coding has allowed but I have learned to change that as well if I wanted but sometimes it upsets them,” Devlin said continuing his observations and explaining in far greater detail than he needed to about his abilities as a technomancer. The distraction and your interest in his field causing him to explain it more rationally and showing a completely different personality than he had moments before. It was as if he had decided emotions of any kind were not needed to explain.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"See? That's something you can do." Alina let out one last annoyed huff and even tapped Devlin Dara 's mask with her fist before stepping back. The young Sith took a moment to dust off her knuckles. There was no actual damage to her skin, but the remnants of part of the wall were still there. "Go learn Mechu-Deru. Start manipulating all the tech around. If you don't like being weak, get some cybernetics or something instead of whining. Jeeze." She turned her attention to the alley, humming with thought. With that out of the way, well, now what?

"You hungry? I could go for a bite."

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Chaos what happened.

 

[Devlin Dara]

"Go learn Mechu-Deru. Start manipulating all the tech around. If you don't like being weak, get some cybernetics or something instead of whining. Jeeze."

“Mechu-Deru? I am already aware of that power, but I try not to use it unless it’s necessary. I also would prefer not to get cybernetics. In a lot of ways cybernetics are more vulnerable than normal limbs,” He explained as he stood himself up all the way and smacked at his clothes to remove the dust and dirt from them.

"You hungry? I could go for a bite."

“How are you hungry? You just drank about one and a half gallons of blood from that guy earlier,” He said almost anticipating her getting frustrated at his response and bringing it back up he raised his hands up extending his palms outward.

“Sorry, sorry. No I am not hungry. I only eat once a day really,” He said in an apologetic tone.

“I will pay for whatever you want though,” He suggested not thinking about the consequence that could come from his offer. He knew and had come to the conclusion earlier that he needed to meet people and try to make friends in order to stand a chance at being recognized and positioned well within The Sith Empire for his talents. She was such an opposite to him the muscle to his brains, the brawn to his brittleness. She would make a good ally if she didn’t decide to kill him first.

Alina Tremiru

 

[Alina Tremiru]

"Try not to.. What? If you can use that power, why even bother not using it?" The disbelief was back as she stared blankly at Devlin Dara . Ultimately though, she dropped the subject entirely, instead focusing on the fact that she was actually hungry. Though he wasn't? Was he even human? Actually, was he? Thinking about it, the masked figure could be just about anything underneath that armor. So probably not a good idea to judge him too harshly.

"You're kinda weird, y'know?" Alina blatantly ignored the fact she just ate a man straight up. She turned from the alley, heading towards the busy street again. "Let's at least get a drink. I'd like to get to know you, Devlin. Someone good at tech isn't something very common among Sith."

 

[Devlin Dara]

"Try not to.. What? If you can use that power, why even bother not using it?"

“Its…complicated. You probably wouldn’t understand,” he said not really wanting to dig himself into a hole even further it would only expand upon his physical and emotional weaknesses. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he only dabbled in the Dark Side and while it was useful he never tried to exert more control over something than what was required to accomplish a task. On top of that he was bad at emotions in general. It wasn’t a subject he understood not one that he could or couldn’t control. He couldn’t easily become angry or joyful such efforts were just wasted energy and ultimately never contributed to different degrees of success or failure in most things.

"You're kinda weird, y'know?"

“So I have been told my entire life,” He admitted matter of factly as she headed out of the alley.

"Let's at least get a drink. I'd like to get to know you, Devlin. Someone good at tech isn't something very common among Sith."

“I could use some water. I am pretty parched,” he replied as he followed her after all he had offered to pay for whatever she wanted. He hoped she didn’t hold him to it.