You're Going to Be A Handful, Aren't You?

[Juliet Varos]

"My Gods, this place is tasteless!"
Juliet looked around her Master's private sanctuary in horror, her violet eyes wide as she took in her environment.
"This dresser; what is this wood? It does not match anything in here! And these drapes are simply dreadful."
Disgusted, Juliet tried to shrink away from this horrible environment, but found it closing in on her, surrounding her.
She was going to have to straighten out [member="Darth Carach"], get him to see that his taste in decorations was simply awful. She had not seen the man himself, yet, but she had the horrible fear that perhaps the Triumvir was as dreadfully clad as his room. Ugh. How disappointing.
Being a Sith was not just about brooding in the dark and reveling in one's own amazing power. It was also about presentation. How could someone properly fear you if they were too busy laughing at your ridiculous choice in attire?

Trying to calm herself, Juliet began looking over her nails, which were painted a deep scarlet, only to gasp; one of the nail's paint was cracking, likely from scraping against this tacky furniture.
Resisting the urge to scream her pain to the heavens, Juliet took out her emergency polish, and began redoing the paint, her focus completely on the task at hand.
If her Master did not show up soon, she was going to be very upset with him.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[ [member="Juliet Varos"] ]

"My Lord."
"Yes, Thorne?"
"Your apprentice…"

"Shae? Competent if lacking in the humor department."
"Oh, no. No I like her fine, I am talking about the other one."
"Right. Right."
"I could kill her for you, my Lord. It would be quick and easy."

Carach snorted. "I have handled Adekos for the past two decades, if I got the count right. I have all the experience dealing with little girls I need, thank you very much."

Luca barked out a hearty laugh, before shaking his head.

"Rather you than me, sir. Will you need anything of me then?"
"Oh, no, no. Well, keep the aspirin handy, if you could. Other than that you may go for tonight."

A salute and Thorne left through an adjacent door leaving Carach to ponder about Varos herself. Powerful girl, if foolish to a fault, but he had broken worse, with the right application of pressure anything was possible.

Even the forging of a weapon out of… that.

The presence of her Sith Master would pull at her attention a moment before Carach actually entered his own study.

He took a moment to evaluate the situation. Her doing her nails, a look of complete concentration and dedication… it wasn’t too late to call Thorne back and end this charade right now. But the Dark Lord just suppressed his sigh, moved around Varos and settled himself in his seat.

The Sith Lord was taller than her by a few miles, broader in the shoulders too and now those burning eyes studied his latest student. Chin leaning heavily against his tented fingers.

No word was uttered, though.

 

[Juliet Varos]

Juliet was vaguely aware of [member="Darth Carach"] entering the room, but she ignored him. She would finish her nail before her lecture, to ensure her composure. She could not claim to embody perfection with an imperfect nail, now could she?
Finally finishing applying the polish to the nail, Juliet put away the container and brush, and slowly turned around.
"Ah, Master! What a delight to see you! I must say, you look especially-"
As Juliet's eyes turned down to Carach's attire, their purple irises widened in horror, and her mouth opened into an 'o'.
"My Gods, what are you wearing?!"
Showing no fear of the Triumvir, she strode up to the desk, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at his clothes.
"That top is three shades darker than those bottoms! Are you insane?! Such a minute difference will leave your underlings and enemies staring at your attire, trying to spot what bothers them about it, never realizing quite what it is! And what then, hm? They will concentrate on that instead of you! You will be ignored, your orders will be ignored, and the Triumvirate will fall apart, all because of your tacky taste in unmatching colors!"
Juliet took a deep breath, trying to get her breathing back to normal as she stared at her Master, waiting for him to apologize to her, and to immediately go change.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[ [member="Juliet Varos"] ]

Carach waited calmly for Varos to finish her rant.

Truthfully he wasn’t even really listening, the moment her mouth had opened light buzzy white noise had filled his ears with blissfully ignorance. It was the one evolutionary trait that almost every sentient man possessed in this Galaxy, the ability to tune out whenever a woman was ranting at them. A defense mechanism of sorts to help them retain their sanity in times of extreme duress.

Silence suddenly reigned.

His eyes noticed that Juliet’s lips had stopped flapping around and this signified to him that the lecture had finally passed.

He mentally willed himself to hear again.

After a few more tentative moments of metaphorically groping around with his senses his ears started to be filled again with sounds. The greatest sources of sound was Juliet’s laboured breath as she was trying to regain some measure of decorum after that small outburst.

"You are done, I trust, miss Varos." the Dark Lord responded, but immediately pressed forward without giving her any room to respond herself.

"Now then. Let me educate you in why people do not care what kind of attire I decide to clad myself in for the day."

A big hand raised itself and then he snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened for a moment, until it did. For Juliet, at least. A blinding darkness wrapped itself around her eyes, dulling out her eyesight, her ears would be filled with white noise - amusingly enough the same kind that had allowed him to retain his sanity, but it would not be a source of comfort for her.

In a moment’s notice all of Juliet’s senses were completely blunted.

She could not see, could not hear, could not taste, smell or touch. Even her own muscles were working against her: she could not even utter a word with her mouth to cry out, no matter how much she wanted to.

"You see, miss Varos, you are right in some small way. We gain and retain our power and authority through appearance, but, in truth I could show up wearing only my underwear or prance about in an oversized chicken suit and these people would still follow my command." He shrugged, not that she would be able to see, but that was less relevant. "Oh, they might snicker the first time. Until they realize I can read their every thought. Nothing, absolutely nothing can be hidden from me, Juliet Varos."

Carach rose from his seat, rounded around the table and walked up to Varos. Who was currently almost suspended in the air as her muscles involuntarily kept her on her feet.

"I could leave you in this state forever, you know." It was almost casual conversation for the Sith. Leaving a young woman in a permanent catatonic state of silence… well, that was just a regular Wednesday for him.

"Your next thoughts will be an apology for wasting the first three minutes of our meeting, if not I will retreat and leave you to your own thoughts."

 

[Juliet Varos]

If there was one thing Juliet loved above all else, it was herself. The sound of her voice, the sight of herself in a mirror, it excited her beyond what words could truly convey. The feelings one might have when being united with the love of one’s life after a long separation were what Juliet experienced seeing herself in the mirror in the morning. She was, in fact, quite enamored with herself. So obsessed with her own person, many made the mistake of assuming her to be unintelligent.
She was not.
Despite the rather ditzy manner in which she normally acted, Juliet’s thought process was more complicated than most believed. While not an outright charade, her behavior was exaggerated. There were many reasons for this, one of which was to get others to underestimate her, to make mistakes around her. After all, she wouldn’t be a manipulator if everyone assumed her all-powerful, now would she?

So when [member="Darth Carach"] froze her, she did not panic for more than a moment. Her cold and pragmatic mind analyzed the situation, determining the young woman’s next course of action. Carach was showing off, attempting to cow her, to force her to submit to him. This was to be expected; Juliet’s personality was rather abrasive, after all, and it was easy to see that she had annoyed him. Cut off from her senses as she was, Juliet could not follow her Master’s movements, but she could hear his voice speaking into her mind.
Hmm. He wanted an apology.
Juliet’s immediate reaction was to rattle off every expletive she knew, but she managed to restrain herself. This was a show meant to intimidate her, a bird preening it’s feathers. It was to show her that Juliet was weak, that she could not compare to Carach.
If she wished to usurp her Master, she had to make him teach her in the ways of the Sith, and that meant going along with this apology.
I apologize for wasting your valuabletime, Master. I promise it will not happen again, and I swear to make it up to you.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[ [member="Juliet Varos"] ]

"I can taste the deception, my dear."

Good.

It meant that the qualities Carach had sensed in Varos hadn’t been buried so deep that it would take years to uncover them again. It meant that there was a Sith inside of her, no matter how far she tucked it away to confuse her opponents. The Sith Lord was quite amused with his pair of apprentices at this point.

One a brick wall with no humor and the other a fashion harpy who pretend to be more stupid than she really was.

Both had potential in their own ways.

One a hammer, the other a scalpel, perhaps.

Would one of them succeed him like they desired? Carach wasn’t sure, perhaps if one of them managed to find just the right time, but that meant being patient and calculative in approach.

The hammer wouldn’t do for that, but the scalpel… would she command the respect needed?

Only time would tell.

His hand waved and suddenly all senses would return to Juliet. She would first notice that he was way closer than he was before, then she would notice that there was no real annoyance in his eyes.

Amusement, perhaps.

"Now that we got that out of the way, apprentice. What were you saying about my attire?" He brushed past her and returned to the seat behind his table, chin once again resting on his hands and looking at her expectantly.

 

[Juliet Varos]

He saw right through her attempt at flattery. Of course he did. He was a Sith Lord, after all. She imagined he had dealt with quite a bit of deception in his time. Juliet gasped as her senses returned to her, the young Sith’s hands shaking as she moved them, and checking the new paint job. Still pristine.
Her violet eyes looked up to find [member="Darth Carach"] much, much closer, with amusement in his eyes. Though the close proximity was somewhat unnerving, Juliet stayed confident, not breaking eye contact until he moved back to his table.
Ah, good, an invitation to continue; though Juliet never really needed an invitation to hear the beautiful sound of her own voice.
”As I was saying, Master, the colors don’t exactly match. If I may make a suggestion, you should not dress in black so often. It’s rather gloomy. Perhaps a more feisty color, such as red, to match the intensity of your eyes?”
Juliet put a finger to her chin, thinking.
”Yes, red would be good. But not bright red, no; perhaps a scarlet, or crimson. . .”
Few things got Juliet as excited as fashion, as her eyes roamed Carach with a critical eye, mentally replacing the current clothing with various colors and styles.
”But you also need an accessory; how do you feel about capes?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[ [member="Juliet Varos"] ]

No hesitation before she went right back into the fashion discussion. It was clear there was more to this girl than you would assume at first glance, which at least did something to diminish some of his concerns.

It would have been annoying to have to execute her after all.

"No capes."

Simple as that. He wasn’t a Darth Tyranus-style Count who flourished himself around with a fancy cape here and there.

That didn’t even touch upon the fact that a cape would be hazardous during a possible fight. Not something Darth Carach wanted to think about. His opponent would have a field day exploiting that particular ‘accessoire’ in mid-battle.

"You may sort out my wardrobe, if it makes you happy, but if I find a cape or anything else as garish, there will be words."

 

[Juliet Varos]

Juliet stuck her lip out in a pout at the rejection of capes. Damn. She liked capes. Such fanciful things were very appealing to her, but if he did not like them, she would not press the issue.
Much.
At the suggestion that she could sort through [member="Darth Carach"]’s wardrobe, Juliet’s violet eyes lit up in excitement. Few things got her as giddy as fashion. Of course, those few things included putting others in their place, watching the suffering of her enemies, seeing the fruition of a master plan, and her own reflection, but that wasn’t important right now.
What was important was that she was going to get to give her Master a semi-makeover.
“Why, you are simply the best, Master. It will be a distinct pleasure to finally show you the wonders of true fashion.”
Actually, what would be a pleasure would be seeing him broken, and him submitting to her perfection, but that would come at a later date. She was weak, for now. But one day, if she simply waited, bided her time and increased her playing field, she would see that dream a reality.
The thought brought a sick grin to her lips, though her face remained as warm and ditzy as ever.
“Was there anything else you wished to discuss, Master?”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Juliet Varos"]

Yes.

Yes, there is.

The thought would worm itself straight through the naturally fragile defenses of the Sith acolyte. She had potential, strength even, but her ambition was not tempered by sense and that posed an issue to her further development. There was a sickness inside of her and sadly it would have to be rooted out, before she could be made into a proper weapon.

All of a sudden Juliet would find it impossible to move, again.

Her other senses were still very much intact.

This time around that wasn’t in her favor though. She would feel the warm caress of fire simmering over her skin, her throat growing dry and cold shivers running up and down her legs.

You really need to guard your thoughts more, miss Varos. It’s hard to overlook treason when you are shouting it right at me.

Of course most Sith Apprentices thought they were destined to supplant their Masters at one point or another. It was in their nature to strive for it, but the sad truth was that it rarely happened, very rarely. Carach truly did not understand why the Sith Lords of this galaxy kept on training individuals with clear treasonous thoughts though.

That seemed counter-productive.

Today you will learn respect.

The period zeroed in on her and the only thing she felt after was agonizing pain.

 

[Juliet Varos]

As she was once more frozen in place, Juliet's eyes widened, then narrowed at her Master. They were doing this again? Was he showing off his Sithiness again? Well, she certainly wouldn't-
His thoughts were in her head. Her grandmother's journal had described this process, this feeling, in great detail; but it couldn't quite prepare her for the strangeness of it.
He was warning her, warning her that he knew what she was doing, what she wanted. Well, to be fair, she wasn't exactly shy about it. Juliet was many things; a diva, an actress, a Sith, but a liar was not one of them.
She was about to mentally retort when the pain hit.

It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. An agony that permeated through her entire body, and if she had control of her movements, she would likely be rocking in the fetal position. She wanted to scream in agony, to let out her pain in some fashion, but she couldn't. She was forced to hold it in, to experience both the agony and the frustration of not being able to express it.
She wasn't exactly sure how long it went on. It could've been minutes, it could've been days for all she knew. But finally, the thought came:
Please! No more, no more!

[member="Darth Carach"]