Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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What Paper Cannot Teach (Matsu Xiangu)

So often Darth Raven found herself in a library. Whether within the Sith Temple on Courascant itself or on some distant planet the Sith either controlled or were in the process of taking anyway, she was always looking for the closest place to sit and read. She read for the sake of history. She read for the sake of learning. She read for the sake of simply passing the time. Had others been so cruel she may have been given the name "Darth Book-Worm". But come what may you would not have to look to far than the nearest place with books to find her, sitting and studying or engrossing herself deep within the pages.​
Though today she seemed somewhat more aggravated than usual. Darth Raven was trying to look into the accounts of old Sith magic, trying to better understand it. The section in particular to her pertained to Necromancy. She would not tell anyone why, only that she felt it was a 'necessary power' for someone with her 'resume' to learn. But the texts she found were often either confusing or too familiar with only magic-bound people that half of the techniques became lost to her. Though that didn't stop her from pushing one aside and trying to dig deep into another.​
She may not have been as familiar with magic but she intended to have this ability one way or another. The drive in her yellow eyes made that clear enough.​
[member="Matsu Xiangu"]​
 
She rarely ventured to the Sith Temple on Coruscant despite presiding over the planet. She hated the draconian décor, finding it depressing and unimaginative. However there were few places better than its hallowed halls to find information, and if there was anything Matsu loved it was the pursuit of knowledge. She preferred hands-on tasks – digging through bodies, rooting through abandoned temples for holocrons, all a hallmark of her thrill-seeking personality and constant fascination – but there was something to be said for getting lost in the Temple’s library.

Carach had recently allowed her a peek at the Adas holocron, a repository of some of the very first knowledge gathered in one place of sorcery, and her mind was full to bursting with questions. Nothing that couldn’t be solved through a little experimentation, but first she needed more background information. Sorcery was a delicate area of expertise, one that always threatened to backfire on its practitioner. Matsu was careful to avoid that sort of pointless death.

But when she got the section of shelving she was so intimately familiar with, a good majority of the tomes were missing. Strange. It was not a subject there was usually such a run on. Acolytes had lessons in which they were required to understand the theory of sorcery, but very few could do it in practice.

One was born with sith magic. One could not learn it.

It didn’t take long to find the woman who’d taken all the books for herself. Matsu couldn’t begrudge her that – it was a fascinating subject. Moving over to the bank of tables, the Atrisian lowered herself in to a seat across from the dark-haired woman. “Do you mind?” she asked quietly, barely interrupting the hush of the library as she reached out and snagged one of the books the other Sith wasn’t currently involved in, flipping delicately through ancient pages as she looked for what she wanted.

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Darth Raven had been so engrossed in her reading she had not even sensed the presence of the powerful Sith Lady until she had spoken. She looked up, her yellow eyes casting looks of surprise, to see [member="Matsu Xiangu"] sitting there in front of her. She was a little taken back. Darth Raven knew of Master Xiangu and how she was among the powerful Sith Lords of the One Sith. While she was vaugly aware of her abilities she knew that she was among the more talented when it came to Sith Magic.​
Trying to shake the feeling of surprise Raven indicated the books and said "Of course, my lady." After that she was silent for a moment before adding "I do apologize if I'd caused any inconvenience." referring to have taken all of the books.​
 
Matsu couldn’t remember whether back in the beginning she’d thought herself destined for greatness. The girl she’d been then was multiple galaxies removed from the woman she was now. It almost felt like an entirely different person that had once worn her skin. Matsu, for all her darkside trappings, was hardly a conventional Sith. At first glance she was friendly – if fashionably chilly – didn’t think overmuch of herself, and didn’t showcase the cliché that all Sith loved to hear the sound of their own voice. Unless speaking on a subject on which she was passionate, she was a woman of very few words.

“Not at all,” she answered simply.

It was another moment or so, passed comfortably for Matsu though whether the other woman felt so secure in abrupt silence was unclear, before the Sith Lady spoke up.

“Darth…Raven, is it?” Matsu made no secret of paying little attention to the majority of the acolytes in the Academy. She was willing to teach only those that showed promise and these days most were lacking, flocking to the One Sith because it was a promise of survival, not because of commitment or belief. She wouldn’t know one from the other. This was less true with Knights, and it would be difficult to forget yellow eyes like the ones looking across at her. “Interesting moniker, considering what you’re currently studying. They appeal to me, creatures that prey on the dead.”

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Raven was a little calmed by her words before trying to read again. She perked up, however, when [member="Matsu Xiangu"] had asked her name. She only nodded before hearing her comment about the irony in her Darth name being related to something that prayed on the dead when she herself was looking into necromancy. Even more so that she as interested in them.​
She nodded a little and said "I can see why then, my lady." After that she added "I'm only trying to do what I can to learn necromancy. I feel it's one of the more unique powers one can have, especially if it fits in the name." she added with a smirk.​
 
Matsu had fallen to necromancy quite naturally. It was a sickness – a disturbance in the mind, of this she was aware – that made her love that which could not think for itself, had no whims but the ones she gave them. There was something so elegant, so perfect in decay, in putrid rot, that she was often at a loss for words.

How simple.
How perfect.

“Necromancy…” She put aside the book in her lap for a moment, resting the side of her face on tented metal fingers as she looked at Raven. “A difficult path, one that requires an innate gift and after that a willingness to know excruciating pain before any true mastery is achieved.” She paused, thinking of the time she’d spent among the dead and the dying, the hours in silence working on cadavers, picking apart brains to try and learn more of the mind. “Tell me why.”

In the Galaxy she was one of the only living sorceresses, and the only that she knew of that practiced the art of raising the dead. She wouldn’t humor just anyone.

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Hearing her explain the means for necromancy had made Rave grimace. It was because of the need for pain that apparently required having any mastery over it. She looked down when [member="Matsu Xiangu"] had asked why she was interested, something she felt conflicted to reveal. But if it was the only way to convince her to teach her and train her in the ways of manipulating the dead then she would tell it. But she would need to start from the beginning.​
"When I started out in the Jedi Order the one thing I always wanted was knowledge. But the sort they offered wasn't enough. My...former master had shown me the darkside was the path to true knowledge. She showed me so much and the more time I spent with her the more I began to feel...closer to her. But in the end she betrayed me. She betrayed everything she taught me. And after thinking she saved me from the lies of the Jedi she instead turned to them for some new path." Her yellow eyes began to flare at this point. "I want to show her the very lesson she denied. That the Sith are true power. That we can command anything and overcome any obstacle. Even...death itself. And when she finally realize it....I intend to cut her head clean off."
 
She wasn’t prone to hate, nor anger. She was Sith because she was selfish, cruel, and sick. But it took much to move her to hate. When asked why she would simply explain that most beings in the galaxy were not worth the effort such emotion would require. They were smaller and less significant than worms, filth that she would not waste her precious time on. She had no particular hatred for Jedi either though she found them misguided and an endless thorn in her side.

But…suppose Reverance were to turn on her. Suppose Kesare proved their entire friendship a lie.

Betrayal was pain as much as losing her arms had been, as real as every scar that riddled otherwise perfect skin. It would suffice.

“I knew your old Master only through word-of-mouth. If there is one thing I despise and that the Sith do not need, it is weakness. Her conversion proves she is not worth being here. And I can see why it might be nice to crush her with that knowledge.” Matsu smiled, something absent and reptilian, before tilting her head at Raven.

“I found my first Raising to be easier because I had a connection to the person that died. I saw myself in her. I have labs in Coruscant’s underworld that I trust you won’t have a difficult time finding. Get yourself a body and meet me there later tonight.” Closing the book on her lap, she stood, taking the tome with her as she turned.

“Happy studying.”

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Raven didn't do anything accept nod once after [member="Matsu Xiangu"] acknowledged her pain was something real enough to suffice for magic. When she'd mentioned weakness it was yet another coal on the fire she had in her mind, knowing it was true that weakness was something no Sith should have. But then came her odd request for her to bring the body of someone she could connect with to her lads, making her give a questioning look. As she walked off Raven began to put the prices together of whom she was to bring to her, something Raven had to think hard about.​
There were so many people, yet all were important in some way or another. Mainly her apprentices or fellow Sith who could not be expended for this. There was, however, someone she'd not seen in some time. Someone she nearly fogot. Standing she made her way out of the Sith temple and worked her way out into the neighborhoods of Courascant. It took some time before she found a small apartment complex, not wasting anytime and making her way up to one of the rooms on the second floor.​
There was someone who'd worked as a maid in the Sith temple before leaving on her own accord. She left because the temple scared her too much, despite the times she spent with Darth Raven and how she assured her she would be fine. She'd not spoken to her since, mainly because the girl feared her too. But during there brief time together they connected, bonded, shared love. It was this or nothing. Raven eventually knocked on the door, only for a Nautolan girl to answer.​
Seeing her she said "S...Sophie? Is that you?"
A sad smile was on her face as Raven reached back to her saber and said "Hello, Cheena, my lovely dear..."
**********​
Raven carried the bloody sack over her shoulder all the way back to the temple and into Master Xiagu's labs. No one dared to ask or look twice at a Sith carrying what was obviously horrid remains of someone. As she made her way down the only thing Raven mentally told herself was this was all for the better.​
 
Matsu had few people that she cared about. She had her closest friend Kesare. She was close with Vrag. Reverance was perhaps the person she closest to in all the galaxy. She’d not been confronted with a choice between them and something she wanted and she did not dwell on what might happen if she were. Such things couldn’t be planned and the outcome would be what it would be.

However she’d given Darth Raven a choice, and as the woman appeared with a bag tossed over her shoulder it seemed she was just as willing as she’d made herself out to be.

Matsu felt the ghost of a smile tug at her lips, nodding once and waving a hand over one of the metal slabs she kept for this very purpose. Her labs were startlingly post-modern, the height of fashion even here where she dissected the dead or brought them back to life. There was no reason to surround herself in the draconian just because she was doing something unsavory.

When the Nautolan was revealed she tilted her head in curiosity, blinking in sub-human fashion. “Who was she?”

I am SO sorry for the wait on this post. I had to work two weeks straight at work and just moved for the summer so I've had almost no time to post. Thank you for your patience and from here on out we're smooth sailing. :)
 
After putting the remains of the girl down on the table Darth Raven did not answer the question straight away. In fact she did not even look to [member="Matsu Xiangu"] when she finally answered "No one important....anymore." It was clear this had been a great enough sacrifice for her to deal with but it was worth it. She wanted to learn the powers of the undead and control over them. This was worth it if it meant having a grand enough power to use against her former master and the Jedi in general. Along with all the other enemies of the Sith. She finally turned to Matsu and asked "What happens now?"
(It's fine. I was gone a whole week anyways lol)​
 
She nodded, something of a smirk curling one end of her burgundy-painted lips. “Eventually a body can be little more than a stranger to you and they’ll do as you ask. But the first time...you know her mind, or what it was.” There were levels of control when it came to necromancy. At first one could simply raise a body and watch it go. But eventually one could learn to shape their movements. A corpse had no desire, no goals, no motivations but the ones given to them by their puppetmaster. It was simply a matter of understanding how to shape their movement.

But first, to the rising.

“Every spell has its words in the sith language, as I’m sure you’re aware of from your reading, and each has its own hand movements to accompany them. Speak the words incorrectly or move your fingers incorrectly and the spell will backfire. You will be haunted by the souls of those whose bodies you attempted to raise, or worse – you will die. This is best attempted when you can concentrate, or when you become proficient enough to work the spell without speaking.”

She raised her hands, delicate metallic fingers bending and twisting slowly as she waved her hands. The movement itself was intricate but she repeated it a few times before adding the words. “Tsai…winokka…hoya…kut.”

She paused, allowing a moment for Raven to try for herself and ask any questions should she have any. Matsu could remember distinctly the thirst for knowledge when sorcery had finally opened its doors.

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Raven, being the dutiful student as she always was, listened careful to what [member="Matsu Xiangu"] told her of the neccesity behind using the necromancy spell. In truth the fear of death was not the greater concern but the idea of being forever haunted by the spirit of the dead nautolan girl before her. Enough was on her mind as it was, but to have her spirit forever blaming her and haunting her was something Raven could ill-afford to have as a burden this time. She watched Mastu demonstrate while taking note of the finger movements and the pronunciation of the words. Her own hands tried to mimic while she mouth the words to herself. Finally it was her chance to try and for the first few minutes Raven only concinuted the mock attempts. She would look back to Mastu only for further reference to see if she was doing it correclty before turning back to try on her own. Practice was a matter of perfection after all. Eventually, after the nine or tenth try, she finally tried for herself.​
"Tsai...winokka...hoya...kut."
 
Her ears perked up when Raven tried pronouncing the spell herself the first time. The Sith language could be spoken by anyone, but the pronunciation would sound perfectly fluid only from those with a gift for sorcery. She nodded, appreciating the clipped annunciation.

“You may try,” she said, indicating the corpse lying on the slab between them. “The key is to let go of all distractions. On a battlefield this is difficult but here you have time, here you have nothing but you and the body you are trying to raise.”

Matsu closed her eyes, settling in to the silence surrounding the two women.

“Concentrate on her body. Speak the spell and move your hands as I’ve showed you, imagining her sitting up on this slab. She may speak to you, try and stop you – but you can’t let her.”

[member="Darth Raven"]​
 
Raven nodded when [member="Matsu Xiangu"] confirmed she would be allowed to try for herself. She looked down to the dead girl and touched her forehead, reminding herself how cold she still was. This was it. The moment of truth to see if she had what it took. She needed to have it. For the sake of everything she had planned, everything she wanted. All of it depending on this one grand test. She held her hands over the body and began to move her fingers. She breathed a few times to remove the distractions from her mind. She'd meditated like this before, back when she was still learning as a Jedi. It was easy to remove any and all thoughts from your mind if you tried hard enough. And now, finally, she spoke the words.​
"Tsai....winokka...hoya...kut!"
She began to feel it. The power pouring through her fingertips down to the dead autolan girl. It almost streamed to her in a fluent wave. Once it finished she watched and waited. for the longest time nothing seemed to happen. Until, finally, her fingers began to twitch. Her eyelips quivered before sprining open, with two dead black orbs staring up. Raven backed away at the sight. She did it. She brought someone back from the dead,​
 

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