You remind me of someone.. WAIT IT'S YOU!

[Arage Bao]

I haven’t been in a bar for a long time, too busy with important stuff. Training the apprentices, running a corporation and dealing with the ins and outs of the Confederation. Not an easy task, but even though I don’t feel tired or burned out I know my body ain’t agreeing with the way things are going right about now. Gotta take a break, might be I will pick up a girl again. Haven’t done that in a while, might be the time for it. Or maybe just take a few drinks and then get some sleep, might be a good one too.

So yeah, after a few hours of travel I finally arrived at some random space station, parked the ship and found my way to an itty-gritty bar. Patrons gave me a few weird looks, probably because I was too groomed to mingle with the greasers and the spicers. All the same to me, this is where it all had started, so I ain’t judging. Had worse in my early life anyway.

Walked up to the barkeep, girl with tats all over the place, gave her one of my grins and ordered a drink. “Wodka, keep the bottle on the bar, love.” she too gave me a weird looking glance-over, probably wondering why I didn’t go to some trendy fiesta on Alderaan or whatever. Didn’t mind that, she would melt before the night was over, they all do eventually.

Took a shot, and then turned around, leaning my back against the counter. Gaze swept over the bar/club, wasn’t much to see. Pazaak tournament in the corner, couple of folks dancing on the floor and a whole lotta of players at the tables enjoying their own vices. I saluted them in my mind, as I took another swig.

Was probably going to be a long long night, but whatever. We will see where it goes. Somewhere in the back of my head alarms went off, familiar force signature somewhere here. Tried to ignore it, today wasn’t a Lord of the Fringe-day. Didn’t want to investigate, just wanted to get slammed hard and then take a girl with me home. Too much to ask?

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

 

[Louise]

They had escaped.

There was action, excitement, drama! Of course, only half of it had been written so far so I mean if you're left waiting them I'm terribly sorry there, mate. If you could hold on just a mite longer that would be fantastic. No really, it's going to be good! There's going to be blood shed, some mild animosity, perhaps even an explosion and if we're feeling a bit jazzy a subtle hint of romance combined with a pinch of cumin...

...or is that my potato wedges recipe?

They couldn't stay amongst the stars forever, and thus when it was time to refuel their helpful pilot and part saviour Nina took them down to Anonymous Space Station C to refuel, and it would be fine to stretch their legs somewhat. The slave craft was disgusting and uncomfortable for the twins of up to this point had lived in a prison of luxury.

Welcome to poverty, with not a single credit to your name.

Ilyena, keen to explore a world that wasn't a suffocating gilded palace upon Zygerria slipped off into the dimly lit corridors of the station in the name of exploration. Rahvin didn't care, he was just as hungry for the galaxy, if not more.

Wandering legs brought her to first dingy bar of no doubt many, she couldn't even make out the name on the sign given that half of the neon had given up, making it an indecipherable mess. Always a good sign when choosing your watering hole.

T- C-TY P-

Walking with that same confident stride that her heritage thrust upon her, Ilyena made her merry way to the bar, being very careful as to not rest her elbows upon it as it looked atrociously sticky. With no credits to spend there was only one poison to pick.

“May I have a glass of water, please?” The raven-haired twin enquired, instantly thwarting any illusions of Nemene Talith with a simple display of manners.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

Was still busy with ‘nother shot of wodka, when this woman arrives. Wasn’t too clear to me at first who she was, familiar in the sense of the Force, but as I said. I didn’t want this to become one of those nights, where I solve one mystery after another. Give me a bottle, and a woman on my lap and I would be content. Sadly the Gods weren’t interested in giving me what I wanted, because just then her face appeared and it hit me like a goddamn brick. Nemene. She had been killed, officially it had been an accident, freaky one at that. Unofficially a slave revolt, which had meant her end, took me a whole fekking day to quench it in the butt and mindwipe everyone involved. There was no Slavery in the Confederation, and so I made sure everyone was reminded of that simple fact.

Her body had been.. well.. it wasn’t pretty, same deal for Evelynn. Hell, I couldn’t even make out if it were really them, but now it seems like maybe their deaths were overst-- Hold on. The moment the girl opened her mouth I knew some batpoodoo crazy stuff was going on right here and now, Nemene would never say please and why the hell does she have green eyes? Something ain’t right here.

It might have been the drinks, me being tired or even annoyed at the fact that I couldn’t even get a drink in some random vice-ridden bar in a random Space Station in the Unknown Regions without being pulled into some weird kind of adventure. Could have been one of the above, or maybe all of ‘em. But something wasn’t right here, was sure of it because like Nemene this girl had a closed-off mind. Couldn’t touch her, which again, only enhanced my annoyance.

I did something stupid right there and then I think. Didn’t really care at that point, I reached out with my mind, not against her. Would be pointless, I did something else.

“Sleep.”​

Forced this command right on everyone in the damn bar, and lo behold.. everyone suddenly dropped everything they were doing and started drooling like an idiot. Same time I put up an Aura of Unease, moment someone wanted to enter the Bar, they would feel a sense of… well.. unease and decide to run off somewhere else.

“Tell me, little girl. Why are you wearing the face of my dead friend.”​

Wasn’t so much a question as an order, I was tired. Didn’t have the energy to screw around ‘ere.

 

[Louise]

Could have waited until she got her drink there, buddy.

Ilyena witnessed, much to the horror of her thirst, the overly tattooed barkeep grow vacant. She just, just stopped, right there dropping the grotty looking glass onto the ground with a shatter that only seemed to startle the brunette. Thank goodness she hadn't filled the glass with water a la tap yet, otherwise she would have needed a mop instead of a broo...I have some strange priorities.

She turned around on her stool to see if anybody else noticed this peculiar behaviour and much to her displeasure found that the rest of the patrons were currently engaged in the same act of absolutely nothing.

Then he spoke.

There was no mystery behind his words for Ilyena, she knew of who he spoke. Her mother, Nemene. She had seen the pictures, the paintings, the sculptures, heck, she had interacted with the holocron. The resemblance between mother and daughter was somewhat startling. Mother and son, not so much...

...but then again they didn't know about Evelynn.

“It's my face,” she responded, this time rather haughtily, that's more like it! But hold on, this was a chance to get information. Both Ilyena and Rahvin's view of their mother had been heavily skewed by their caretaker/captor Cerise, who held nothing short of worship for the woman. This would be an opportunity to learn.

If the young woman had a drink, she would have taken a sip before speaking again. “A friend of my mother, are you?” Ilyena inquired, eyebrow raised and ready to rumble.

It was an absurd question. Mother? Nemene? Where did she hide a child for all these years! She's not old enough to have a daughter of this age! Questions rendered moot if you happened to be the person that introduced Nemene Talith to the world of genetics. She had been playing laboratories.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

I didn’t answer her immediately, just took a good look at her. Didn’t take long to see that she had green eyes instead of eh… whatever eye color Nemene had under the amber miasma of corruption that had plagued her in her later life. Which brought us back to the question who this wench was, definitely not Nemene; way she spoke. Mother? Ridiculous, which could only mean one thing. The damn woman had finally accomplished her experiments, instead of finding herself a man, she had done the next eh.. best thing? Meh. Anyway, clones or something close to it, green eyes; Evelynn. Case solved. Though that brought us to the next question, was I responsible for the kid? Probably would have been, if I wasn’t the guy I was.

Still, couldn’t help but inquire just a tad bit. While ignoring her question with surprising ease in the field of being an nerf herder. But before I could ask anything, my eyes caught the way she was trying to make me feel bad about the water. Which solicited a response I guess, my hand waved and the bottle of wodka flew over the counter to her side. Bottle didn’t have any wrapper, was just a see-through thing with what looked to be water in it. If she drank it… it would be hilarious. Took me some effort, but my face kept a neutral expression.

“Drink.”

Just the right amount of worry in my voice, as if I wanted her to stay hydrated and felt real sorry. I am such an ass. I love it.

 

[Louise]

So much for digging deeper into the heart of things.

He gave no answers, he didn't give much reaction at all which was frustrating. Much like her mother Ilyena was used to getting things her own way, it caused a slight frown to erupt onto her features. Although given the lack of demands being made and blood being shed it stood to reason that the prodigal daughter was a hell of a lot more level-headed than Nemene Talith.

Noting her mildly disgruntled state of thirst he summoned over a bottle. Well well well, he was actually a gentleman underneath his seemingly sour demeanour.

She unscrewed the lid, and brought it up to her lips, and as soon as the powerful smell of alcohol hit her nose Ilyena instantly decided that he was not in fact a gentleman, no, he was a bit of an arse. Re-assessment made. Thankfully the woman did not take a swig.

“What is this? Paint stripper?”

 

[Arage Bao]

I smirked and with a handwave the bottle left her hand and entered mine. Without blinking I took a major sip from it, crucitorn set in and I didn’t even batted an eyelash. Didn’t drink too much though, didn’t want to seem to cocky. Finally put down the bottle again, and gave ‘er a wink.

“Tastes like chicken. So what do you know of your.. eh.. mother.”

 

[Louise]

Not only an arse, but also a bit of a show-off.

An eyebrow flickered in annoyance in response to the wink. Still, the clear liquid could have been paint-thinner, even if it did taste like chicken and thus Ilyena felt as though she had made the correct decision, the no-fun nancy that she was. Put that tequila bottle away, pal, I don't think we'll be having shots tonight.

“What do I know?” she repeated, laying both of her hands upon the bar, “Not enough.”

Her fingers began to drum upon the sticky wooden surface, “The vision that I have been granted of my mother is skewed at best, and completely warped at worst.” Their caretaker Cerise had so clearly worshipped Nemene that it couldn't have all been truth. “I have been told so many times how brilliant she was, how beautiful, how she was a blade master unparalleled.”

The drumming stopped. “There has to be more. I want truth."

 

[Arage Bao]

Hmm… her image wasn’t too far gone, flawed of course. But that was to be expected. Nemene had been brilliant, intelligent as few others could be, talented too. She had picked up genetics like riding a bicycle, proof was sitting right in front of me. Well… more next to me, but you catch my drift. She had been beautiful too, not entirely my taste, but only a fool wouldn’t see how cute she had been. Hell, might have tried to woo her myself, if I hadn’t known that she would try and shove her lightsabre down my throat if I tried. Which brought me to the next thing, she had been goddamn crazy. One of the most corrupted individuals I had ever met, and that said something in the circles I moved.

Wasn’t sure if I just wanted to drop that a-bomb on ‘er though, didn’t seem that nice and hey. I was just being a queen, because for a single short moment I thought I had my… friend back. Such stuff makes a person unstable, ya know.

“You sure you can handle that, love?”

 

[Louise]

Oh dear, there were things to handle.

Ilyena Valera Talith without a doubt was a spoilt young woman. In her so-far short existence she had only been doted upon, only given love and affection. Any unpleasantness in her existence could only have been called a first world problem, perhaps even above that, a zero world problem, a new level of entitlement and comfort.

“No, I'm not,” she conceded, staring at the back of her own hands, the perfect alabaster skin.

The young woman turned to look at the man, emerald eyes studying his face as if she was trying to get a sniff of his intentions, but she couldn't read him, not one inch.

“But I have to know.”

 

[Arage Bao]

I regarded her back for a few moments, while sipping from the drink. Burn didn’t get to me, not anymore at least. Eventually I coughed and gave her a grin, one of my infamous ones. Honestly, I had been an ass, and I knew. Gotta work that out somehow, and I ain’t one of those guys who doesn’t like apologizing when he is in the wrong. So I just came out with it, while waving a hand again. A glass flew under the tap and with another wave it was filled up with water.

“My apologies for the previous behavior, my Lady, came a bit as a shocker. What do you want to know?”

Information wasn’t free though, especially not in the world I lived in. Wondered if she realized that we were going to work on the same kind of deal her.. eh.. mother worked out with me in the past. Nemene had wanted information, but it had costed her something. Wouldn’t be any different here.

 

[Louise]

He was certainly keeping the brunette on her toes. Intimidating one minute, brash the next, and now here we are at apology junction, wherever will we branch out next? Hey, as long as her thirst was finally quenched then it was all gravy, right?

Wait no, this had evolved into a quest for knowledge, never mind the water (although thank you kindly, sir).

“That's quite alright,” she responded in turn, still inspecting the features of his face. It was a scrutinising look, one that would make an ordinary person very conscious about every sore and pore upon their visage, but he was a family friend, so that made him beyond ordinary.

“Everything. Anything. I want to know what she was really like, the harsh and honest truth,” Ilyena said rather abruptly. Finally she looked away from the man and scrunched up her face. There was another thing she wanted to know, it was a long shot but that woman, with the book, the one that Cerise refused to talk about.

“I want to know if there was a blonde woman.”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

A blonde woman.

It seemed the little thing didn’t even know about Evelynn, which was just as well. Seemed someone had been telling her awfully a lot about how great Nemene was, which really had only a few possibilities in terms of who her caretaker was. Probably some old slave who managed to snatch ‘em away while the rebellion was going on, how quaint. It was almost one of those old stories of ancient past, where the former slave loves the children so much she rescues them… with some twisted elements I am sure.

Point being was, I doubted she knew anything. Nemene wasn’t known to be very kind towards her slaves, neither did she share anything she didn’t want to share. Almost chuckled at the irony that I probably knew more about her mother..s, than anyone else at this point. Fate had a funny way of turning things upside down.

“Nemene… was brilliant. In every way. Beautiful, Intelligent, Charming. All that and more. But both of us ran in a very different atmosphere, my dear. Now don’t get me wrong, I ain’t much of a Judge in that regard, Heavens know I ain’t a Paragon of Virtue myself. But Nemene was corrupted, even before her descend into the Darkside. From the inside.. she was twisted, cruel and malicious. Loving the pain and fear she inflicted upon others. One coin… two sides.”

I offered her a small smile, she wouldn’t understand. Not really, few really could. She hadn’t been there, hadn’t seen the results of her many experiments and fun projects. Again, I ain’t a Judge, I really could care less what she did in her freetime. Which probably made me as bad as she was, but… that too I didn’t really care about.

“The Blonde… hmm. Who told you what you know about your… mother?”

 

[Louise]

She'd heard all of the first part before, as if the words themselves could permanently enforce that image of perfection in the minds of the children. Evidently they had inherited that touted intelligence, given that the pair of them knew the scrutinise the vision of their glorious mother, Nemene.

But the cruelty was practically unheard of. Cerise had painted her as a deity but not a malevolent one.

This reveal caused Ilyena to frown slightly, the young woman knew that it couldn't have all been sunshine and roses but to what extent was Nemene a sadist. Well I mean, given their fondness for slaves, the fact that they lived upon a slaving world meant that the morals started off skewed, but where did it end?

Perhaps a further line of inquiry would have been unwise.

“Cerise,” she said quietly, as if caught in contemplation, “she was the woman tasked with raising us,” the girl continued, bringing the us into it. Ah, she had not yet mentioned that she was one of twins, “and had mother not perished she would have still remained our caretaker for the more motherly duties.”

“She is nothing but blind devotion,” Ilyena conceded with a bitter taste in her mouth. This still delved no deeper into the case of the tragic blonde woman with the book. “Why?”

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

Didn't have a clue who Cerise was, probably some runaway slave employed by Nemene or something. Didn't really care either, fact was that this Cerise never told anything about Evelynn to the gal. Meaning she probably wasn't a big fan, either way. Time to tell her a story.

“The blonde girl was your mother’s… hmmmm. Hmm. Mmmhm… consort? Honestly, it changed with times. She was your mother’s friend, sister, loved one, consort, pet, slave and more. Their relationship was fairly.. twisted, as you might imagine. I have to say though... you have your… mother’s eyes.”

I studied her for a while, her eyes in particular and then added.

“Anymore questions?”

 

[Louise]

If anything he added more yet more mystery to the blonde woman.

Evidently she wasn't the nothing that Cerise had let on, which of course would likely have found itself attributed to jealousy. The structure of a relationship had been set out before her, and although still completely vague it was the beginnings of filling in the blanks.

Another grimace.

Did she want to know? Twisted relationships with sadists, pets and slaves. It sounded like a bad holo-novel for the extremely repressed housewife in us all. However the man's last comment piqued her curiosity.

Nemene Talith had orange eyes, those twin suns were almost signature.

With a trembling hand she lifted the glass of water to her lips and drank deeply. Was he insinuating...? The frown grew deeper as she quenched at least one of her thirsts. The glass settled back down to the bar and her head turned back to face him.

“Should I dare to delve deeper?”

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

I too took a sip from my drink, though it was hardly to satisfy a sudden urge to quench my thirst. It was a moment for me to think on her question, did she really want to know more? Would she even be able to understand the level of… depravity that had surrounded her two mothers? Understandment was an important thing and yet I doubted she would be capable of it.

People often miss the point, the world in which I and people like Nemene travel… it’s a different world. It’s not the Galaxy Bob with the Hat and his household wife consort in, it’s a world of destruction, deceit and… pure and utter satisfaction. We take what we want, when we want it and nobody can stop us because they are nothing in comparison to us.

This wasn’t me being arrogant or filled with pride, I didn’t feel that sort of emotions anymore. It was purely a statement of infallible logic, when you live in a world where people fly and chuck skyscrapers with the flick of a wrist. When you have daily conversations with a woman who summoned a God from the Veil of Maybe and killed him, skinned him and sold his pelt as a coat… when you are good friends with a man who poses himself as a Godlike-being and has a whole Pantheon in honor of him…

You might finally find yourself with an epiphany. That we were something entirely else, living in a different kind of world of unlimited possibilities.

So who was this girl? I could feel power radiating from her, even though her mind was closed off from me as Nemene’s was. But Evelynn too had been powerful, yet she had squandered her gift… would this girl be any different? Did I want to bother with her?

I think I knew the answers to those questions, before I even asked them. It was fairly simple, a tool was a tool. This girl could be a boon, or she could be useless. Either way, an attempt had to be made to mold her into something… better. Maybe this try-out would be different… maybe this time. She would surprise me.

‘Hmm. I think… I can show you. It will have a cost though.’

 

[Louise]

He was the king of suspense, that was for certain.

An incredibly short lifetime of being adored and waited upon by both hand and foot had left Ilyena as a woman with certain flaws, a spoiled quality surrounded her, much like one mother she got what she wanted, although she reacted far more reasonably whenever she didn't.

Although Ilyena was hardly going to stomp her feet and make demands of a man who had put an entire bar to sleep with little issue. No, she wasn't daft. There was, at the very least a pout that formed upon those lips, but no great protest came from the young woman. What were the chances? Meeting somebody who knew her mother (or mothers, rather) on a personal level in this big bad galaxy? It was slim to none.

Take it.

“What cost?” she said bluntly, almost impatient. Nice girl. “I have to know.”

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Ilyena Talith"]

Well, she at least inherited the manners of her Queenly Mother, which wasn’t entirely fair because Nemene could be very, very courteous. When the situation demanded it from her, or when she had needed something from you. Such a sassy, little minx she was and her daughter was more akin to her than Ilyena would ever find out, at least if this didn’t work.

A lazy grin spreaded over my lips, as I studied her for a while.

‘One you cannot hope to pay, but… we can start with increments, my dear. A kiss will suffice for now.’

I tilted my head slightly, one eyebrow raised in a challenge to deny me.

 

[Louise]

What.

Ilyena's eyes widened somewhat as her brain tried to process the abrupt request. A kiss? Was he some kind of fruity Alderaani noble? The woman had never been but in her so-far short life of studies she had learned much about the cultures of other planets, likely preparing her to deal with said fruity Alderaani nobles one too.

Then they moved, emerald eyes rolling hard, actively shifting tectonic plates beneath the surface of the....space station? How is that even possible.

“You have, got to be joking."

[member="Jared Ovmar"]