While Masters Away the Pets Will Play [OS]

[Blackthorne]

Prakith - Sith Citadel

Something about Citadels that made a soul restless, especially ones like this. Places where torture of the mind, body and spirit left a mark upon the fabric of reality so profane one could feel it upon entering the premises.

Shai was strongly reminded of Korriban.

Whether or not she had stepped foot on Prakith in a previous life, a previous body, the Togruta could not say, but there were certain things the mind could forget but the soul would always remember. For her, it was a bit like a homecoming despite the foreign soil. Everything about this place, from the dark halls to the sense of macabre and the smell of blood, sweat and tears rang profoundly in the far reaches of her memory. Even the strange musk that spoke of the arcane struck her like the scent of grandmother's homemade cookies.

She was the Wrath's pet, and in some way this afforded her access to many places the normal Knight might not enjoy. But today the Wrath was away, off to some mission that he cared not for her company. This mattered little to the woman, but eventually she did grow restless. That was when she began to wander. Shai prowled the halls with little regard to protocol, searching out the far shadowed corners where memories hid and wretched played.

[member="Hal Terrano"]

 

[Hal Terrano]

Lira Dajenn was dead.

The snap of her neck rang through his ears still, a little over a week after it had happened and it was likely that the sound would stay with the man for much longer.

However instead of guilt, Hal only found anger. The emotion had no held no aim, the ire wasn't directed towards his former-Padawan's killer, nor did it self-cannibalise like so many emotions before. It was just there, in the pit of his stomach and the forefront of his mind. Anger permeated through his very being like heat, showing through crimson irises that hadn't shifted since the event.

The routine remained.

Wake up. Run. Breakfast. Train.

It felt different.

Before the Sith Acolytes used to jeer at the man in passing, in training, knowing full well that he was a former-Jedi that refused to strike anybody within the circle. However since their second return from New Plympto they had been so unusually quiet. As if they knew.

Having just eaten (still porridge) that meant it was time to temper, and silently Terrano gathered himself and made his way through the halls, on course to the training room for the Acolytes.

---

[member="Shai"]

 

[Blackthorne]

Anger.

A prevalent emotion here. It hung on the air like too much salt, nearly palpable. Shai drank it in with growing amusement and followed the trail through the expanse of halls. Here and there dotted noteworthy signatures of the rarer, more powerful sorts, but it was one in particular that truly caught her attention.

Shai turned a corner into a main corridor junction, coming to a short pause as she spied the source of festering, heated feelings. A man. Had he not been exuding such dark and delectible things she might've mistaken him for a Jedi. Though his build was impressive, he came across simple both in style and in mannerisms. His movements were staunch, his expression stoney, his aura wonderfully tantalizing. She wasn't one to wonder about the why, there was only the essence of it which drew her in, the proverbial moth to the flame.

Suddenly [member="Hal Terrano"] had two shadows.

Swift and silent footsteps carried her after him at a distance while the gleam of blue eyes watched him curiously. He did not seem to command a presence here, but it was evident enough his was well-known. Down the hall and through a set of doors he went, Shai stalked him wordlessly and followed him into a large open training chamber where the Acolytes were hard at work. She drifted to the outskirts, wending by practice duels, blue eyes trained on the skulking Terrano.

 

[Hal Terrano]

Oblivious to his second shadow he continued his silent pilgrimage to the training chamber.

With Acolytes focused upon training little attention was actually paid to his entrance. In the world of the Sith, despite their moniker of being One it was survival of the fittest, or perhaps the most underhanded, death was no stranger to this hall.

There was no time in a Sith-eat-Sith world to stand and gawk at any Tom, Sue and Chakat'ar that stepped into the chamber.

He came to a stop, sanguine gaze surveying the inhabitants of the room. There was a stiffening of the jaw, teeth grinding together as he observed those in training, hands balling into fists leading to nails trying to puncture the flesh of those calloused hands.

Since his return from New Plympto he had yet to step into the circle with another. Was he afraid of the consequence of such? It was difficult to say, fear was just another concept lost and overwhelmed by wrath.

Hal simply stood, and watched.

---

[member="Shai"]

 

[Blackthorne]

It was almost as if her mind still bent towards her former body. The tuk'ata mindset kept her honed in on [member="Hal Terrano"] as she prowled the training floor, sizing up what could very well be a formidable opponent or a potential mate. It was the way of the wilds on Korriban, back in the seas of sand, memories from which cause the presence of Shai's spirit to writhe within the alchemized band fitted around her waist.

Old mannerisms kept for centuries died hard - not that she was about to get back on all fours - but she felt compelled to make this man move. His stillness disturbed her on a level of malcontent that stirred darker things within. Clearly he was a dominant force here, so why hold back?

Perhaps, Shai thought as her gaze finally broke from him figure to peer at those partaking in the circle, he simply hadn't a proper partner.

Lekku quivering with anticipation, the togruta woman pressed forward through those watching on the outskirts, her eyes focusing once more on Hal. In a single movement, one of blistering speed, she apprehended the nearest combatant who had, up until seconds before, been backpeddaling from his opponent. First she took him out at the knee with a jarring strike with one booted foot. Next she shattered his wrist. By the time she called upon his saber hilt with the Force the man was making an awful racket.

Shai, still watching Hal with a growing flame of intent within her eyes, stepped over the downed Sith and ignited his blade just in time to catch his opponent now bearing down upon her. The blades sizzled angrily against one another until she ducked out from beneath him, allowing this one's momentum and balance to carry him forward where he tripped over his own partner and landed in a heap. She ignored his swearing.

Shai fixed an unnerving grin on Hal and began slowly, patiently pacing back and forth.

 

[Hal Terrano]

Watching eyes were transfixed upon nothing, looking without seeing, a heavy throb beating at the back of his eyes, in the core of his mind. He felt everything. Right down to his pulse which thrummed with such intensity that it would have once seemed completely deafening to the man he once was. A roaring of blood in his ears, temples pounding, that crashing rage of emotion sitting in such hard contrast with the way that he stood so completely still.

Crimson gaze flickered, drawn in for a moment by a Togruta who had, in a swift display of skill, decided to insert herself into a duel between two Acolytes.

Still Hal stood and Hal watched, his face of broken stone still unmoving as his pupils made hard work to keep up with the speed of this unknown woman. Evidently she was far above their level of skill as the pair were dispatched in what could have only been a few moments. They would likely retreat to lick their wounds and plot revenge in the name of broken pride against her.

She focused her attentions upon him, something almost wild in the way that she stepped, the polar opposite of such a stiff, starched man, still managing barely to keep his composure. Hal stared back, rage evident beyond the red in alien irises.

A step forward, as he discarded the black robe that clothed him silently accepted her invitation. The grin was not matched, his mouth forming its familiar grim line that somehow seemed so far away from prior strict disapproval. Hand out-stretched it called the lightsaber from the hand of the second downed Acoylte, who continued to swear despite such protests continuing to fall upon deaf ears.

The blade was ignited with that familiar snap-hiss, bathing his hard features in that traditional red hue as he advanced still, finally stopping when there was naught but two metres between them. Stance shifted, rage still coiled tightly within his chest as even still Hal took a defensive posture.

---

[member="Shai"]

 

[Blackthorne]

There was something about the stoic nature of the man before her that made the togruta's skin crawl. His fury was a silent simmer, a heat beneath the surface of the mountain ready to burst forth and incinerate everything in its path. This rage only served to feed her strengthening interest in him - awoke the beast that had slumbered for nearly five centuries now. Lips peeled back, Shai inhaled deeply, drawing that boiling tension over her tongue.

Delectable.

Without warning the viper struck. A blur of motion, a single cutting stab inwards served on a balanced, reaching step before a bouncing recoil off her toe brought her back to ready. It was a test on his reaction time and on his mobility. If he stepped, she'd move to match or advance, unfurling another strike and recoil, again and again, all in an effort to move him.

[member="Hal Terrano"]

 

[Hal Terrano]

His stillness could be deceptive.

A man did not train every day without purpose, his body was not honed for it to be put on display and simply looked at. The objective of tireless exercise was to have a body and mind prepared for such occasions as these, even if he had never once intended to use it.

Instead of attempting to make the more difficult parry Hal opted to step backwards with her advance, however the togruta's ready feet kept her on the ball for another, forcing him to move backwards once again and then still she stabbed forward, unrelenting. She would force him against a wall if he kept moving backwards, not ideal.

Upon the third riposte instead of moving backwards Terrano took a sweeping step to the right, trying to circle around to the side of the woman, although he did not follow this up with an attack. Holding the red blade in his right hand across his body, he continued to stare, remaining barely chained.

---

[member="Shai"]

 

[Blackthorne]

Blue eyes glinted with the growing fervor of a predator on the move. The prey was reacting and that alone was enough to drive her instinct of the hunt forward. Shai twisted in match with his step, unfurling a downwards diagonal strike. It was not a movement carried by the effort or the strength for a killing blow, now was it one made in trickery. Shai was being blunt, direct, obvious.

Showing him the moves to a dance that was as old as time itself. That of battle, aggression and blood.

A strike meant to be parried and blocked followed by another flowing glance. Their sabers hissed and hummed through the air, a veritable light show of finesse, strength, control and skill. Feet fell in tune, wending and folding in and around one another as Shai remained leading.

It was practice. It was a test. It was childsplay.

When upon a sizzling forward strike [member="Hal Terrano"] raised his blade to block her own, the pair stood at an impasse. Shai held, taking in the fettered rage of the man before her with desire in her eyes. She could feel it now, stronger than ever, the boil of anger beneath the surface. It made her skin crawl.

So...

...delicious...

She leaned in, fangs bared in a somber grin, and passed her tongue over the edge of his saber blade, relishing in the bite of searing pain. Her flesh sizzled against the molten plasma, feeding the fire within.

Move.

The intention along the Force was powerful, willful.