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[Arla]

Arla tried to put some of her hair back together as she walked over to the men strapped against the ship. Her eyes trailed from the bound men to the partners and the chocolate bar between them.

Reaper's head turned slowly to stare at Altair, saying nothing but fixing him with that creepy mask stare. If Altair looked at Reaper during the "Jedi rescue" comment, he'd see Reaper take a slow, silent breath that had a lot of "heaven help me" energy behind it before he stepped forward.

These two have a serum in their blood that we need to extract. We'll need a basin to drain them into so that we can extract it out of their blood, he said, like he hadn't just suggested butchering them like pigs.

Arla put her hand up to her chin in thought and nodded, seemingly completely undisturbed by what they were about to do.

I'll get a tarp. Can one of you two start digging a small trench under them? she asked, disappearing inside and emerging with a small shovel and a tarp.

By now, the men had begun to wake up and the wounded one was starting to moan and scream, eliciting not even a second look from Arla or Reaper.

 

[Altair Din]

“Why do they got a serum?” Altair blurted out, deeply uncomfortable, “Mother fuckin’ vampires out here,” He grumbled to himself as he watched Arla and Reaper act as if this was a casual Sunday roast they were prepping for. He thought back to how Ren ate weird shit and then how Veles and Mrs. Autem ate giant spiders and other nonsense. Arla was probably the same. Fuck, she’d probably saw off his horns and grind them up for aphrodisiac or something. All these and other thoughts went through his head as he dug up a trench with no help from Reaper.

“Fuckin’ trench,” Altair grumbled quietly to himself as he worked, “Diggin’ my own damn grave over here. Arla and Reaper prolly ‘bout to do some shady ass ritual and combine themselves into a giant abomination or some shit and eat my ass. Fuckin’ aliens always get ate first in these damn plots. And somehow I got the bitchwork. Some fuckin’ bullshi-”

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhh,” One of the men moaned as he started coming to.

“You hush,” Altair snapped as he conked him over the head with the shovel to knock him right back out.

“Ayo, the trench is dug,” He called out as he moodily walked off to munch on a granola. He eyed Arla, "I ain't gonna ask why you have all the means of gettin' rid of a body and collecting blood, but I want you to know I ain't gonna sleep around you again."

 

[Arla]

The serum gives resistance to many supernatural mental invasions and also gives a connection that allows us to better track the creatures we hunt, he said to Altair before walking away.

As Arla made several more trips inside, bring out various beakers and contraptions. As Altair dug the trench Reaper... Reaper had somehow managed to find a way on top of Arla's ship and was keeping watch from above. This guy had a serious penchant for the high ground that would put Obi-Wan to shame.

Arla set the tarp down in the trench that had been dug, turning up the edges at either side to make sure none of the blood ran out.

When Altair said something about not sleeping around her again, she just stared at him completely deadpan. This is just extraction equipment. The collecting fluid is just... well, a tarp-lined trench. I'm improvising here, she said, going right back to work to lay down the trench under the men.

She walked over and without even flinching, slit the throats of both the men cleanly across both arteries and veins. The blood began to pour free from both mercifully unconscious men and onto the tarp. With blood rushing to their heads because of gravity and shock, it would drain out the maximum amount of blood. This she knew from gutting game, but the principle was the same.

She didn't notice the several drops of blood that splattered on her face that seemed to make her look even more wild than he had seen her up until this point. For a moment he would really see the Nightsister in her.

It'll take a couple minutes for them to drain out most of the way. It's hot and I'm thirsty. Want something to drink? she asked completely nonchalantly.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair stared at Arla, “Improvising? Compared to being a well prepared serial killer?” He asked as he watched her slit the throats of the men. The gruesome and methodical way she did it made him almost vomit. Killing enemies was one thing, but these people had done nothing wrong in the grand scheme of things. While Reaper was out of earshot, Altair simply stared at Arla.

“How can you just do that so easily?” He asked, “Those dudes coulda been innocent. Just trynna survive by huntin’. How do we know this Reaper guy isn’t the bad guy here and just usin’ us for shit?” Altair sighed as he shook his head, “You may be able to just randomly kill people without even makin’ sure they’re enemies or askin' some questions first, but I ain’t like that.”

He whistled to call Belleza over, “I ain’t gonna be a part of this.”

With that, he started stepping off the ramp to begin the trek back to his ship. He would come back with a massive military force and just nuke the obelisk or whatever the fuck was out there from the sky. Watching Arla casually cut up two perfectly healthy human beings with no clear allegiances was enough to make his stomach turn. It was exactly how Sith treated Imperials. They considered themselves elite and everyone else worthless and fodder to serve a means to an end.

 

[Arla]

Arla was more than a little caught off guard when he up and turned to leave, and that surprise was followed a moment later by a spike of anger, though it never crossed her face.

She did, however, reach out and grab his arm. Not roughly or in a restraining fashion, but in a motion to hopefully make him turn toward her. Her face was hard and her eyes steely, but there wasn't anger in them per se.

Hey, if you've got a problem, fine. But where I come from abandoning your partner is a lot worse than killing your enemies, she said.

If this wasn't your plan when you went out to get them, then what was? she asked. Her assumption was that whatever plan he and Reaper had come up with included this. That was now evidently not the case.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was more than a little surprised when Arla stopped him. He turned to look at her, finding the icy gaze in those silver eyes a bit unnerving. Where had he seen those eyes before? He brushed the thought aside, feeling worse from her accusations of leaving a partner behind. That went against his principles as well. Wasn’t he doing just that? Ditching Arla with that weirdo on the roof?

“I..” He thought about what she said, considering her words. Ultimately she had acted on Altair’s judgment based on whatever agreement he and Reaper had. Wasn’t that the same as when his Imperials acted on his orders? What happened when he didn’t like the outcome of his orders? Would he simply ditch his men?

“I…” Altair began again before sighing, “I’m way outta my element here, Arla,” He explained quietly, “I didn’t think we’d need to drain people for their blood entirely and other weird shit. I came out here thinking there was some cult to wipe out and that was it,” He looked visibly uncomfortable, “You don’t even need me here,” He looked back at the shells of humans left, “I dunno what happened to make you lose your humanity..” Altair slowly turned to look her back in the eye, “But I ain’t lost mine just yet. Somethin' about this just don't...feel right."

 

[Arla]

Arla was once again reminded that the reason he had asked her here was because he wasn't comfortable with this. That he had already admitted as much, and though most of it was second nature to her, it certainly, clearly wasn't to him.

She was going to pull him aside and talk him down, but she was surprisingly hurt when she heard him say that she'd lost her humanity. Something about those words and the judgment behind them seemed to cut her heart in a way she hadn't expected.

There was the faintest recoil of her head when he said them and a slight tensing of her jaw, but nothing else. She shouldn't have cared. This was life, this was nature, and this was the ugly underbelly on which the entire galaxy was founded. While it didn't show externally that she'd been hurt, it did mean that her response to him was slightly less understanding than it might have been otherwise.

This is ugly business, but this is what needs to be done. You want this thing to move on to the next town? Wipe out a whole new area? Because that's what happens. They consume and devour then they move on and consume and devour, and it won't stop until someone stops it, she said.

She motioned back to the dead men.

I don't know who they are or what they did, but you tell me what's more inhumane: letting them bleed out in a few minutes or letting an entire new village get slaughtered, she asked.

That thing nearly killed us. Both of us. Trained people. That guy's probably going to shoot us in the back... she said, motioning vaguely toward Reaper ...and so with the Mare trying to kill us and him trying to kill us, we need every advantage we can get or it's going to go consume the next town, too, she said.

If you don't want me to tell you what I'm going to do, then fine. I'll let you have your humanity so I can clean up this mess and come get you when it's done, she said. The final statement was entirely unnecessary and it was the momentary lapse in her screen that betrayed just how much his comment had bothered her.

There was the faintest shift in her posture as she finished speaking, as if she were reminding herself that she needed to stand up a little taller and look confident despite the fact that she didn't much feel it in that moment... or since the moment they'd landed here and nearly been killed.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair noticed how she recoiled, and saw the faint twitches on her face to know his words had hurt her. It was surprising to behold - he had considered her to be largely emotionless. He knew at once it was a silly notion and he felt as if he took a solid blow to the chest. His own expression softened as he heard her, his tail drooping slightly. He wanted to kick himself for how he came across.

“The humanity thing…” He ran his hand through his hair, “That was fuckin’ stupid for me to say,” Altair said sheepishly, “I’m sorry,” He said as he looked at her. He wasn’t afraid to own up to mistakes and was likely one of the very few people among the Sith that actually apologized for any wrongdoing.

“I let my own fear get the best of me,” Altair placed his hands on her shoulders, looking at her, “I ain’t gonna leave you behind, okay? You literally saved my tail out there and I’d be a fuckin’ porg to walk out on ya,” He sighed, “I’m just not used to this kinda enemy… Can we try to limit the blooding to just these two?” It sounded like a decent compromise to him if that was even possible.

 

[Arla]

Arla looked at him for a long moment, a quick snort of air leaving her lungs and her lips pressing together more tightly into a thin line for a moment.

It's fine, she said, shaking her head. In truth, Arla was not typically one to linger and negative emotions for long, and the fact was that they were both quite out of their elements at the moment.

Her face seemed to soften with each passing moment, returning to its regular, less upset resting position. She reached up and somewhat awkwardly patted his arm that was resting on her shoulder, glad to see that it didn't seem like it was a lasting tension.

Then she did something that she didn't often do. Let's talk it through, she said. You're not comfortable with this stuff and I'm not... I don't have much experience teaching it. And even less experience explaining myself to people, she said. As a habit, she hated having to be questioned, but in this case, it didn't bring up the same negative emotions and indignation that it normally did. Perhaps it was the genuineness of his statements and the intensity of the life threatening situations they'd already been in together that made the difference.

This is just because we need this serum from them, she said. I don't think something like this will come up again, she said. But honestly, whatever this guy's working with isn't like anything I've run across before either, she admitted. They were both putting a great deal of trust in this man but what other choices did they have? He hadn't betrayed them yet...

I can finish getting what we need out of their blood by myself, she offered. Then we can figure out what we need to do next from there. As for banishing the actual creature... I don't think that will require blood. Our magicks tend to require much less blood than Sith magic, she said. That was... almost in the neighborhood of being reassuring.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair wasn’t sure how to feel about Arla being a little out of her element as well. However, they had honesty between them and ultimately that mattered more than anything. He offered her a sad smile, “I don’t know if I wanna learn this stuff..” He said as he looked at the dead men, “If all magick requires sacrifices, I don’t think I can stomach it honestly,” Altair wasn’t afraid to admit where he had his lines that he couldn’t cross.

“I’ll help where I can,” He assured her, “But we gotta hurry,” Altair glanced down at his chrono, “We ain’t got too much time before it’s night again.”

—​

Meanwhile, a figure was sitting by a fire carving an arrowhead to a sharp point with a knife. Her movements were almost neurotic, concern clearly bleeding into every scrape. She looked up when another man walked towards her. He crouched down and sighed.

“I’m sorry..” He began, “There was a lot of blood..”

Her grip on the arrowhead tightened till her knuckles were white.

“How?”

“Based on the shells, Reaper.”

The stick snapped in her hand and she was almost shaking with fury.

“There were other footprints,” The man continued.

“Impossible,” She said, “Reaper works alone.”

“Not this time.”

She sighed as she tossed aside the broken arrow. She rose to her feet and grabbed her things.

“Let’s go,” She said with deadly calm as she picked up her weapons, “I’m bringing my brother home. Whatever state he is in.”

 

[Arla]

Not all... just some, she said, but she also knew that the arcane was not for everyone. She knew that many people couldn't stomach it and even more feared it. She knew that people called the Nightsisters 'witches' and she knew that most sane people wouldn't set foot on her planet.

You can swap points with the other guy if you want. You can keep watch. He knows more about this anyway, she said. It would give Altair something of an out while still being able to contribute. They could sort out all of... this later if need be.

Arla knelt next to the trough as Reaper came down to make his appearance and she turned to look at him.

What can you tell me about what I'm extracting from this? she asked, looking down at the mess of blood in the trough.

It's a serum derived from ancient arcanistry. You should be able to separate it out with magic... most likely, he said.

Arla focused on the blood, letting her senses pervade through it as she searched for the contents. This wasn't quite so different from what she imagined Jedi Force Healing was like, but for a very, very different purpose.

She could sense it coursing through the crimson pool and nodded even with her eyes closed.

Yeah, I feel it, she said, reaching over to grab a beaker and set it in front of her.

Ah she rah nez ken too rot tar. Ah she rah nez ken too rot tar. Ah she rah nez ken too rot tar, she repeated the chant again and again, whisps of green "smoke" filling the air as the blood began to separate out, the pure crimson of red mixed with a darker red substance that looked almost like congealed blood in its own way. It began to float its way into the beaker and Reaper stood by. Behind that mask was a look of amazement at what he was seeing.

 

[Altair Din]

“I don’t wanna just leave you alone with him,” Altair stated flatly. However, he thought for a moment and cleared his throat, remembering no one liked being treated like a damsel. Sometimes he missed it entirely when someone wouldn't mind that every now and then, “I mean… lemme know if…any weird shit happens,” He cast a glance at the bodies. Let’s be real, Arla and Reaper were probably the weirdest things here. Altair gave her a nod and walked out to swap places with Reaper, taking macrobinocs with him.

He climbed up top and kept watch for any movements in the distance. Altair felt much better up here - he had no desire to see the ritual or what happened with the bodies. After a moment he spotted what appeared to be a dust storm. He thought nothing of it till he looked for a bit longer.

“Uhhhh guys,” Altair called out, “There’s a janky ass speeder heading this way real fast. Are we expectin’ company??” He asked as he hopped down from his vantage point. He ignored whatever was going on, running towards the two of them.

“We can’t deal with a fight right now,” Altair said quickly, “I say we pack up and move the ship before that group overwhelms us,” He looked at Reaper, “I think it’s more hunters.”

 

[Arla]

Arla's concentration was broken as Altair returned to comment on the incoming enemies. She swore and looked back at the two men.

I'm not done yet. I've only got about half the serum out. Can you buy me a couple of minutes? she asked. She left the call in Altair's hands, but if they left now, they would only recover enough serum for one of them.

Chick-chunk. Reaper cranked his rifle as he raised it to his hand and looked back at Altair. How many? he asked, mentally cursing himself for being down here, distracted by this stupid ritual rather than being up top on watch.

Behind his mask, his eyes flicked between the two and for a moment he considered just leaving them. Letting them fend for themselves or just throwing in the towel on half the serum. Kriff.

Meanwhile, Arla had gone back to her chanting unless she was once again stopped, trying to extract what remained of the serum before everything hit the fan.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair saw the way Reaper glanced between him and Arla, “Oh hell no,” He said with a tone of irritation, “Don’t even think of ditchin’ now,” He said to Reaper, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re friends of these two,” He pointed at the bodies before he rushed out, making sure Reaper came with. It didn’t matter how tough guy Reaper was, Altair wasn’t exactly a pushover. If it came down to it, he would beat the shit out of the hunter if he tried to run.

Meanwhile, the binocs reveal that there were at least ten people headed their way, packed inside and hanging off a large speeder. Altair cursed to himself, looking as one of the figures mounted something on his shoulder, “Rpg! Rpg! FUCK WE’RE SITTING DUCKS!” Altair yelled as he hopped up to his vantage point again.

“Shoot him,” Altair said quickly, rattling off the positioning, the distance and other markers with surprising levels of accuracy to assist Reaper with the shot. Unfortunately, even that wasn’t good enough for Reaper to get a shot off in time. The rpg was fired, the warhead charging right at them. Altair cursed rapidly, panicking to himself. He gathered the Force, knowing he had to act fast. Likely Reaper would think they were dead meat by now.

As the missile came close, Altair abruptly batted it aside with the Force, sending it sideways to explode into one of the houses in the village. Altair exhaled the breath he didn’t even know he was holding, collapsing to his knees, “Holy shit..holy fuck..holy shit..”

—​

“What the fuck?”

“How did that happen?!”

“Jedi,” She stated curtly, venom lacing her words, “Veer into the village. We have to find cover immediately.”

The speeder took a hard left, using the smokescreen from the explosion as cover. The hunters all spilled out, taking up different positions around the buildings. She looked through her binocs, spotting sets of horns on a figure up ahead. She had a clear shot. However, she was more interested in spotting Reaper. A quick scan revealed him and she quickly aimed and fired in his direction.

"What're you doing?!" One of the men screamed at her, "Get the Jedi! Put your grudge aside!"

 

[Arla]

Fortunately for everyone involved, Reaper thought better of up and ditching the two of them, and instead turned his attention to the ten people they were potentially facing on the outside.

As soon as the extraction's done, cut the bodies loose and get ready for take off, he said to Arla before turning back toward the oncoming group of hunters.

As soon as he heard the shout of "RPG" his gut dropped. There went the team ride, and they didn't have the advantage of the village. With the desert at their backs and enemies between them and the town, that was it. He cursed himself for making such a rookie mistake. As a solo hunter, positioning was everything, and he'd kriffed it right up.

As the missile tore through the air, he simply committed to taking as many of these kriffers with him as he could... and then something completely unexpected happened: the rocket streaked off in a completely separate direction, striking the ground harmlessly in the distance.

KRIFF, he swore loudly, perhaps the first time either of them would have seen the first crack in his otherwise stoic composure since they met him.

His hands were shaking, which didn't help his aim as he raised his rifle and fired at one of the men hanging from the speeder.

He was backpedaling when the shot struck. He was fortunate it only tore a small grazing gash through the side of his arm, but it was still enough to draw blood as he fell back toward the ship and took cover behind the landing gears.

I'm done, let's go! Arla shouted as she brought her knife up and cut both of the bodies free, letting them fall into the blood-filled ditch under them. She grabbed the jar of... serum and scrambled inside the ship, up the ladder as one of the droids started warming up the engines.

Altair and Reaper had about thirty seconds to get inside before they'd be airborne, and no one wanted to be left behind.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair crawled around to recover from the major close call they had. He was still shaking, but he knew he had to get it together. Slugs were firing from all directions and one grazed a leg. Altair cried out in pain, but he couldn’t slow down. He wasn’t a distance fighter, but he did have the Force. From where he was, he manipulated the flames and fanned them towards the groups of hunters. This resulted in several of them getting burned and scorched at once. If Reaper was watching, he would likely find it unsettling to behold.

The tiefling was still trying to take more of them out when he heard Arla shout for them to come in. Altair hopped down at once and half limped over, feeling pain shoot through his leg. He practically launched himself up the ramp to land flat on his stomach as the ship rose into the air. The ramp was riddled with slugs by the time it closed up behind him.

The survivors from the group below continued to fire towards the ship, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down. Altair could hear the exterior being pelted until it eventually stopped. He heaved a sigh of relief, glancing down to spot his black blood spilling from the open wound. He wasn’t used to getting hit like this and bleeding from rifle wounds.

“Fuck that was a close call..” Altair said, glancing up at Reaper, “Someone out there really wanted your ass,” He said with wide eyes. There was a hunter in the group that was dead set on killing Reaper the entire time firing bolts from a crossbow.

---
​

"They're getting away!"

She watched the ship zoom away, but she didn't move from her vantage point. The hunters began to emerge slowly, looking over their casualties. The man from earlier walked by and spat at the ground near her feet.

"That was our last rpg, Ice," He said, "And you fucking wasted it because you can't let go of ancient history. You saw what that Jedi did. You could've had him! Instead you-" Thunk!

The man reeled as he took a solid hit from a set of macrobinocs.

"Talk to me like that again and I put a bolt between your eyes," She said to him, venom dripping from her tone, "And that thing was something else. Jedi wouldn't have done what it did."

"Ice..." A voice called from the distance, "I...found your brother.."

 

[Arla]

As the ship coasted into the distance, she let her droid take over the flying and emerged into the main chamber. Both men looked like crap and were generally bleeding all over her yacht. It would certainly require a deep clean after this, but after a quick glance in both of their directions, she was satisfied neither was dying.

Two things happened then. The first was that she slapped the jar of red liquid - the serum - onto the table and the second was that she grabbed some of her spare medical gear and tossed it to both of them to begin patching up with.

Kriffing Ice, Reaper growled as he started patching up his bleeding arm. She uses a crossbow, and has a long grudge against me, he said, finally getting the bleeding to stop and slapping bacta over it.

You stay in this business long enough, some people go ballistic as soon as they smell blood in the water, he said.

Arla's gaze swapped back and forth between the two men as she tried to decide which of her questions to ask first. Ultimately, she settled on the one that still needed answering from their previous... last several hours.

She jutted a finger toward the jar on the table and her serious, silvery gaze locked on Reaper. This serum had better be worth it. We've got it after all that work, killed two people, nearly got killed. Now what? she asked.

Now you inject it. Half to each of you. Two full doses in there. It'll keep you from being influenced by the Mare and it'll let you track it more easily, he said,

Arla cast a glance in Altair's direction, but she was half expecting him to be looking at her. She was the "expert" after all, but he had spent more time around this stranger than she had. Fine, she said, heading to the medical closet to grab a syringe for herself and starting to draw the liquid. She was determined that if they were going to take it, she was going to go first, and that look was written all over her face. After all, she was at least relatively confident that it was what he said it was...

 

[Altair Din]

“Right on, bro,” Altair said as he peeled himself off the floor and started to work on his injury, “I have a penchant for pissin’ off the ladies too,” He said while he finished bandaging his leg. Between losing his tail and this, he was starting to get banged up before they even faced their enemy. Arla on the other hand was perfectly fine of course. When Reaper suggested injecting the serum, Altair actually laughed. It took a second to realize he wasn’t joking.

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” He said incredulously, “I dodged STDs and other bullshit for this long, I ain’t about to willingly inject some rando’s blood into my veins, the fuck?” The logic didn’t even make sense to him. How could something in his blood make him less susceptible to influence? Altair opened his mouth to rattle off a long list of reasons why this was a horrific idea when he spotted Arla preparing to stab herself with the syringe.

“What the fuck, Arla?!” He shouted at her, “Do you just fuckin’ do what you’re told without question?!” He said as he hobbled over to snatch the syringe from her hand. It didn't matter if she knew about this, it was Reaper that Altair didn't trust, “If Reaper just told you to blow him right now, would you just do it? For fuck’s sake,” Altair glared at Reaper.

“You best start talkin’,” He growled at the man. For once, there was no humor or lightheartedness in his tone. He was every bit the way Holonet portrayed him. He wasn’t deadly serious very often, but this was one of those moments, “You’re gonna tell me exactly what this serum does. You’re gonna tell me the dangers of it and the risks. I’m not playing around - I will fucking pull the information from your head and leave you a shell if I have to,” He looked him right where his eyes were, his posture and demeanor making it clear he was in no mood for bullshit right now. There was no way it was as simple as tracking and being undetectable - almost everything had a cost, "I ain't no Jedi."

 

[Arla]

Arla was quite baffled by Altair's reaction first because he seemed to be so opposed to the injection and then because he seemed to care if she injected it. Sure, maybe he objected to injecting it himself, but she was willing to take the risk herself.

His follow up question was... direct, and for a moment her eyes flicked over to Reaper. Hmm. He seems pretty athletic. No! she said, though it was really more an answer driven by the spite over not liking to be told what to do than anything.

It's not blood, Altair. And it is... Force-vibrant, she said. This probably wouldn't have been the weirdest thing she'd done, right? She wasn't sure.

Reaper, meanwhile, didn't seem to flinch, though his mind was already racing through the outcomes here. The reality was that as deadly as he was, at this range he didn't like the situation against this guy. He'd already seen what he was capable of in glimpses, and this wasn't not Reaper's best position.

I already told you what it does. Use your brain and stop treating me like your enemy. No one's holding you captive to working with me. You want me off, then you land the ship and I'll go, he said bluntly.

That's how we track these things. Same crap's in my veins and Ice and her friends and all the rest of us. Most of us don't have the luxury you Forcies have. You want a study of long term side effects, then go study it for yourself, he said. Things in the Outer Rim were a much more gruff and grueling life than the "civilized" worlds.

Arla was not the diplomatic type. Not by a long shot, but she could clearly see where this was going. It was like watching a couple of Nightbrothers about to brawl it out rather than talking. Maleli... er... men, she thought to herself.

How about we all just slow down a bit, she said, putting on her best diplomatic voice that really didn't sound very diplomatic. There's been a lot of side issues and conversations going on and we all need to get on the same page, she said. What had the galaxy come to if she was keeping the peace?

Where does it come from? she asked, looking at Reaper and awaiting his answer.

Reaper looked at her then back at Altair. I don't have any answers you're going to find satisfying. The Association doesn't share its secrets even with its hunters. It's produced by a ritual only known to a couple of people, he said.

You don't want to inject it, that's your call, but you put yourself at your own risks, he said. Was the serum the reason he had such an addiction to the hunt? It was a question he'd never really thought to ask himself before, but as he thought it over now, it seemed more likely that that was the case. The thrill, the rush... he was tied to the creatures he hunted as much as they were tied to him.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair’s jaw dropped as Arla looked actually contemplative at his very rhetorical question, “Are you serious?! The dude’s like a thousand years old!” He pointed at Reaper.

It was a good thing Arla interjected. With the way Reaper was irritating him, Altair started taking steps towards the man. The Force was roiling within him, mixed with rage as he prepared his fists to do some serious damage. The tiefling paused as Arla started to rapidly explain herself. He looked at her as she ‘clarified’ that it was a Force-vibrant.

Altair immediately got the most sarcastic look on his face, “Oh is that all? Why didn’t you just say so?” Who the fuck even knew what a Force-vibrant was? It did nothing to make him feel better. The tiefling crossed his arms over his chest, moodily looking between Arla and Reaper. He couldn’t decide who he wanted to space more - Arla or Reaper.

“So this is mystery shit that some Association made up and even you don’t know the long term impacts,” He recapped as he looked at Reaper, “Tell me. Can you ever step away from this life? Have you thought about leaving the planet? Would you actually take up that offer if it came to you? Or would you keep makin’ excuses to stay?”

Altair didn’t wait for answers as much as he wanted Reaper to think about them. He glanced at Arla, “Tell me what this serum allows us to do that we can’t do with the Force,” He stated flatly, “We’re trained to resist influences and we can track with it too. Tell me how this serum ain’t just a boost for normies like him to do what we already can,” He jutted his chin towards Reaper as he spoke.