Ask Dathomir Casting Shadows

[Xoie Bai]

"C'mon... c'mon..."

A vibrant shade of green illuminated the otherwise dim room, casting dark shadows of her hands against the walls as they moved methodically from one position to another. Her pale fingers bent individually from one another, shaky from time spent in unnatural positions. Xoie's eyes were tense and narrow with concentration, completely focused on the positioning of her hands.

She began to channel the Force into her body, slowly moving it around to her hands and holding it back like a dam holding back the floodwaters. She could feel it buzzing in the skin of her fingers, just waiting to be unleashed. She just had to make the final sign and it should-

"Damn it!" The muscle in one of her forearms suddenly began cramping, and the girl was forced to drop her signs to alleviate the sharp pain. The tension of the Force in her fingers and the green ichor dissipated into the air, and she let out an exasperated groan. At least she knew she'd done all the other signs correctly up until that point.

Xoie threw her hand out behind her and snatched the book that came flying toward her. She propped it up on her knee, and while balancing on one leg, began furiously scribbling down notes into it.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla had come home to Dathomir... well, she'd come home to keep studying because the Veil on Dathomir was weak, and she was sick of being on Ziost or Korriban. She taken her grimoire and a couple of other books into one of temple's deep chambers with the intent of practicing some of the Sith sorcery she'd been studying.

Much to her surprise, there was someone already in her preferred practice chamber. She opted for this particular room because there weren't often people here, which meant less risk of damage to bystanders, but the room still had several pools leading into the underground seas of Dathomir. In other words, it was a pretty peaceful and secluded place.

Despite her technical title as First Sister of Dathomir, the truth was that Arla saw the other women of Dathomir as just that: her Sisters. She was sure some people would have tried to lord it over and use it to get what they wanted, but for her part... it just wasn't really her. Not when it came to her people.

Oh, didn't realize someone was already here, she said, mouth twisting up slightly in thought as she tried to consider the next best place to practice her work.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Unsurprisingly, this particular chamber was also Xoie's preferred room thanks to its unpopularity. It was kind of out of the way compared to the other chambers. It wasn't that she disliked practicing around others, but she always felt awkward walking into a chamber that already had people practicing in it.

"It's fine," Xoie assured the stranger, not bothering to look over at whoever had just entered the room. "There's plenty of room." The witch didn't want to tear her eyes away from the page and lose the mental image of the signs. She was almost done with the second one. "I'm just practicing signs. Take up as much room as you'd like."

Xoie continued to stand off to the side, perched like a flamingo as she furiously sketched out vaguely hand-shaped figures onto the thick paper.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Good, she said, nodding despite the other woman not looking at her, and she moved over to one of the other corners of the room. She unslung the backpack filled with supplies she might need for her practice, and got to work.

Tegu's Itik Kia Savaka, she muttered to herself in ur-Kittât, entirely for the purpose of just keeping her mind fresh and in the habit of using the language. Sith magic was entirely based in it as Dathomirian magick was based in the Dathomirian language.

She pulled out one of her books and set it on the ground in front of her, looking over a couple of other pieces of paper and parchment to make sure they were in place before glancing up at what the other woman was doing.

Ooo, Sign Casting, she thought to herself, watching for a moment the movement the other woman made.

I think you need to straighten your pinkie more, she said, holding up the hand gesture in question. She had, of course, butted in without being asked, but hopefully the helpful tip might cover over the interruption.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Having finished sketching down the details into her book of shadows, Xoie set the thing aside and placed her foot firmly on the ground. She began to go through the signs once again, unaware of Arla's eyes on her but was again left with fizzled-out frustration when the attempt failed.

Arla's voice interrupted a string of curses about to leave Xoie's lips. The Dathomirian turned to glance back at her, curious to see if the woman was demonstrating. She was, but her attention was immediately stolen by the realization that she the First Sister was standing in the room with her.

"Oh! I- My apologizes, I didn't realize- " Xoie immediately began to stammer out a mixture between an apology and a formal greeting to the Sister. She eventually just shut her mouth, clearly unable to form a coherent sentence, nodded, and awkwardly returned to practicing the sign casting. This time she paid extra attention to the positioning of her pinkie, as Arla had instructed, and just when things got to the point where they fizzled out... they didn't.

"It worked!" Xoie's voice came from a shimmer in the air where she was hidden behind the masking illusion of invisibility. She dropped her concentration, faded back into view, and turned to thank Arla. "Thank you! I'd been struggling with that all day." She could feel the warmth of embarrassment on her cheeks, but she did her best to ignore it.

"What language was that?" she inquired, curious about the familiar-sounding words she'd heard the Sister speak.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla waved off the apology with a literal wave of her hand, quite clearly totally undisturbed by it. They were both just here to work, after all, this wasn't some great ceremony that was taking place.

She glanced back over a second as the other woman tried using the sign again, this time with much more success. Her face lit up and she exclaimed in excitement, causing a small smile to tug at the corners of Arla's mouth.

Of course, glad to help. Signing is incredibly useful, she said, something she, too, had been working on in order to free herself from the need to carry or use weapons.

ur-Kittât, she replied. The language of the ancient Sith. Its role in Sith magic is the same as Dathomiri in our magicks, she said.

I've been trying to expand my knowledge to include some of the old Sith ways, too, she said.

Arla, she said, motioning to herself, though it probably didn't need an introduction. She still didn't know her partners name. Are you one of the off-world hunters? she asked, trying to find out if she was one of those who went off world to help the Sith. Most of those around this temple were, but not all.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

”Ur-Kittât?” Xoie repeated, her head tilting ever so slightly as she spoke. It had sounded vaguely familiar, and the name did as well. She brushed it off as something she’d studied at some point but promptly forgotten about. ”That’s interesting.”

From what she understood, Sith magic and sorcery was something that required extensive study, much like the Nightsister magicks. Fortunately, there was an abundance of Sisters to aid Xoie in her study of it. Anything else? A bit harder to find.

”Uh, yeah,” she replied. ”I mean, I haven’t really yet, but I was recommended to. I’m just kind of waiting around for a reason to leave, I guess.” Part of her was excited at the opportunity to see other parts of the galaxy, but there was another large part of her that was apprehensive about it. ”And I’m Xoie. Nice to meet you.”

”So when did you start learning other magicks?” she asked, curious about when and where Arla had begun expanding her studies.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla tilted her head to the side as Xoie said that she was recommended to go offworld. Perhaps it was just the Nightsister's perspective, but she somehow felt that something was... a bit off.

You're not excited about going off-world? she asked. It wasn't unheard of that some of the Sisters didn't want to leave, but most of those assigned to the role were enthusiastic.

When I left Dathomir, I started dabbling a bit here and there, trying to pick up what I could. It wasn't until more recently that I started really trying to delve deeper. Sith magic is... well, I prefer our magick, she said, but she had her own reasons for wanting to learn Sith magic... namely, the teaching of it to others. She wouldn't pass on the secrets of her people, but passing on that of others... that was fine.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

"It's... it's not that I'm not, it just makes me nervous to think about. I've never been off world." The idea of being surrounded by strangers in a strange culture was intimidating. "I'm sure I'll get over it," she added with a shrug, trying to deviate the conversation away from her and back to Arla.

The Sister stated that she preferred their magick over Sith magic, which made sense to Xoie, even if she knew little to nothing about it. It was in their blood, after all.

"Has it been helpful with our magicks? Or is there not really any...crossover?" What spirits would the Sith call on anyways? The spirits of old lords? But perhaps the techniques learned in one place would be helpful in the other. Arla had certainly caught her attention at this point, that was for sure.

"Sorry for all the questions," Xoie awkwardly laughed after a few more moments, her hands rubbing the back of her neck as she spoke. Her clan mother had often scolded her for bombarding her with too many questions.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla could understand some of the anxiety. There was definitely a certain level of fear to leaving the planet, and the rest of the galaxy was... very, very different from Dathomir. If Arla hadn't traveled off world with her Mother, she was sure she'd have been shocked. Even all these years later, there were still a lot of things that went right over her head.

Uhh, it's been... additive, she said. It was quite different from what they practiced on Dathomir despite that fact that many people insisted it was all the same.

Invocations of the ancestors and the dead are similar, but they call on an entirely separate sect of Spirits than we do. Spirits of pure emotion and idea instead of the ur-spirits of nature, she said, motioning for Xoie to come over and have a look.

No need, she said as Xoie apologized. She realized that - if the person she was talking to was worthy - she may actually enjoy teaching others. Possibly.

A lot of the invocations are similar, she said. So from that perspective the two are similar, she said, thinking again about what Xoie had asked her about if it helped with her magicks.

So, I guess, yes. It has been helpful, she said. This here... she said, pointing to a series of words in ur-Kittât ...is pretty similar to this, she said, flipping several pages over in her grimoire to a summoning spell that was written in Dathomiri.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Xoie crossed over to where Arla was and peered over at the pages the other woman pointed to. Her lavender eyes lingered briefly on the ur-Kittât writing, recognizing nothing, but seemed more focused when Arla flipped the page to reveal Dathomirian writing.

"Ah, okay." Though she couldn't read the former, there were a few things she spotted between them she assumed were similarities. But without being able to understand the written language, she could only trust what Arla was telling her. "Did someone teach you, or have you been studying on your own?" She lifted her head to glance at Arla, curious.

"I imagine trying to learn something like that on your own must be quite difficult. I can't imagine where I would be if I didn't have our Sisters to teach me our magicks as I grew." Xoie certainly wouldn't be where she was today.

"Even sign casting continues to kick my butt, and I've been studying it for a bit now," she added with an awkward chuckle.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

A little of both, she said. Specifically the ur-Kittât I learned by spending some time with a Sith tribe out on Korriban. They say the best way to learn is immersion. That's been the hardest part for me, at least. A lot of the concepts are similar, so knowing Shadow Magick has sped up my ability to learn Sith magic, she said.

But most of the individuals spells and incantations I'm digging up in my own study, like this, she said, being more wordy than normal. It was clear this was a topic she not only enjoyed but could probably talk about until she was blue in the face.

But you're right, without a baseline knowledge, learning it myself would have been... considerably harder, she said.

She thought for a moment about what the other woman said about Sign Casting and what tips she might have for making it easier.

You don't really have to learn every Sign to become proficient. Mostly it's about drawing the attention of the Spirits. Pick one or two motions that you can use to draw their attention, and try implementing those couple of Signs across a wide spectrum of abilities, she suggested. It was how she had learned it. As there were countless casters, there were countless gesticulations one could use to draw the Spirit's attention. One needn't necessarily learn all of them so much as... practice with those they did use.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Sith tribes out on Korriban? Xoie continued to listen to Arla speak as she tried to picture the woman before her spending her days with Sith tribes. It sounded...unappealing to the Dathomirian, but she believe her when she said immersion was the best way to learn.

But she was studying on her own now that she had a grasp of the language. Xoie found that impressive.

"Really?" Xoie glanced down at her hands as her fingers began to curl into place out of habit. She had about a dozen hand signs memorized at this point, but she only really had a fourth of those committed to muscle memory. If Arla was right, she would save herself a whole lot of time.

Deciding right then to try and follow the advice, Xoie backed up a couple of steps and held her hand out in front of her. Levitation wasn't particularly difficult, so attempting to draw the attention of the ur-spirits with just a single sign cast seemed the least daunting.

It look a little bit of experimentation, but to her delight and surprise, she could feel the attention of an ur-spirit swing her way as her pinkie straightened out. She grabbed onto it, curled her fingers into a new position, and imposed her will upon it to raise herself off the ground.

"It worked!" Her lips widened into a delighted grin. If she could simplify the other sign casts she was studying, this was going to cut the time it was taking her to learn the signs in half! "You must be a natural at something like this to figure that out," she complimented. "This is... this is really helpful to know."

Xoie touched back down on the ground. "Can I ask what you're trying to learn now?" She couldn't read the ur-Kittât, so she could only ask about it.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla smirked slightly as Xoie tried something new with great success. She enjoyed seeing people succeed and light up, wondering to herself if the skill would someday keep her Sister alive.

Oh, just trying to get one of these summoning rituals down, she said. There's a lot more blood letting in sorcery, which is... less ideal, she said.

You could copy this down on to this parchment, she said, pointing to a symbol from her grimoire and pushing a piece of parchment and specialized ink across to her.

It's a ritual to summon a Shade. A shadowy creature that we can control and see through its eyes. Useful for scouting and things like that, she said.

She was sure that Xoie could imagine the various uses for such a thing.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Ah, summoning rituals. Those were always daunting to Xoie, but she didn't hesitate to accept Arla's suggestion to copy down the shade-summoning ritual. She'd known Arla - personally - for all of five minutes now and she'd already learned more than she would have learned in an hour here by herself.

"Okay, thanks." She took the ink and paper and began copying down the symbols as accurately as she could, writing moving her arm along rather than rotating her wrist. It was a little trick she'd learned to make much more even lines on lineless paper.

"So, what is the galaxy like off of Dathomir?" she asked as she continued to scribble the runes down. "Is it true that the Sith are... different?"

Here they had sisterhood. In the Sith... well, she'd heard otherwise.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla began working on several runes of her own while Xoie worked on the others. Her eyebrows drew together in focus, her face becoming hard in a look of concentration that probably could have easily been misconstrued as anger.

She finished the first and moved on to the next until the two of them had all five markings finished.

Yes, they're very different, she said, though the question was vague enough to give Arla a moment of pause. She looked up from her work and at the other woman before an eyebrow arched up ever so slightly.

You have something specific you're wondering? she asked. They are not Nightsisters. They shouldn't be viewed as such, she said. They had an alliance with the Sith, but she was adamant that each should remember where they first came from. Who their family actually was.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

"I've just... heard things about them that makes me nervous," she admitted with a shrug. "I would trust any of my sisters here to have my back, but I've been told the Sith...don't. That they don't care about each other."

Xoie looked down, realizing she was kind of just venting to someone she'd just recently met. She shook her head ever-so-slightly, then looked back up. "I mean, I'm sure it's fine. I'm just nervous." The Nightsister laughed softly, trying to ease the awkwardness she felt.

She went back to writing down the runes for the shade. It wouldn't take her long to finish.

"But I am excited to see more than just Dathomir," she said after a bit. "What planets have you been to?"

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla understood her Sister's concerns. The Sith were... well, they were often cold and dispassionate. They saw only the strong as capable of surviving, and while there was truth to that... even predators often hunted in packs.

They have very different philosophy than we do. And they also have very similar philosophy, she said. There were many points of both agreement and disagreement that made the groups logical partners, but also not fully compatible in every way.

Trust yourself and rely on yourself. Become as strong as you can be, she said.

A lot, she said. You might try Felucia as a first stop. It has a strong connection to the Shadow, many tribal natives, and a large coven of our off-world warriors, she said.

In other words, it was a good location to introduce oneself to the off-world environments.

She finished copying down the final rune and then laid them out on the floor. Okay, you ready? she asked.

@lizziie

 

[Xoie Bai]

Trust in herself, rely on herself, and become as strong as she could. Those words made Xoie nervous for multiple reasons, but the Dathomirian gave Arla an acknowledging nod either way. She wasn't very confident, and she was often chastised by her clan mother for worrying too much. Maybe leaving Dathomir and throwing herself to the galaxy would change that, or maybe she'd have to work on it. Either way...

"Yeah," she nodded. She took a few steps back, rolled her shoulders, and looked down at the runes before her. She'd done rituals with others, but seldom by herself. Hopefully, she could do well enough to avoid embarrassing herself in the process.

Xoie closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. The image of the runes displayed themselves in her mind, crystal clear and intangible before her. She began searching for an ur-spirit to impose her will upon, one which might take the shape of this 'shade' Arla spoke of and become her eyes and ears.

She was finding nothing, so the girl twisted her fingers into one of the signs she knew worked for her, hoping to capture the attention of one of the spirts.

tag: @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla could sense the uncertainty from Xoie, but she knew that with time the other girl would figure things out. She would become more confident in what she was working on, but sometimes you just had to... start.

Xoie began attempting the summoning, but this was where things deviated from the magicks of Dathomir. She attempted to summon an ur-Spirit, but none would obey. None would act as she was commanding.

You have to command it. Command it in a tongue it knows to be our eyes and ears, she said.

Ruh, beni gözüm ve kulağım gibi dinle, she said, indicating for the other woman to repeat the ur-Kittât incantation. She would repeat it again if necessary, and she had no doubt things would be more difficult for Xoie due to the fact that she would not only have to focus on remembering the - to her - nonsensical sounds and words but also on using her willpower to pull the Primal Spirit across the Veil.

Arla opened herself up to the Shadow, letting her will pull one of the Spirits closer as well, tempting it to them to allow Xoie to more easily draw it across. This exercise was as much about teaching as learning. It could be accomplished by only one person if they were experienced, but neither woman was yet practiced in such a technique.

@lizziie