Ask I Am No Good or Evil, Simply, I Am

[Ahriman]

Ahriman stood at the precipice overlooking a training grounds, regarding those below with a vacant look. This place wasn't a particularly hot planet, not usually, but a recent heat wave had vacuumed all the moisture up from the ground and left everything dry as bone. The summer sky was muddled with fluffy grey clouds, but she could still feel the relentless heat on her skin.

The clearing below, thanks to several months' worth of activity upon its soil, had been stripped of its grass and vegetation. This made it a landmine of dust, especially on a day like today where the wind was almost worse than the heat. Even up where she stood Ahriman could feel the dust on her face, and it was not doing a good job of encouraging her to hurry down. Plus, Ahriman could barely manage to go a few seconds before needing to brush her hair out of her eyes again. It was a terrible day to do training in her opinion, which was probably exactly the reason the lot of acolytes here had been called down to do so.

If it wasn't for Daeva, she wouldn't even be here. She still wasn't sure why she continued to stay, other than having nowhere else to go. She didn't belong here — among the Sith who cannibalized both their weak and strong alike, among the brutal and merciless, among the wolves — and yet, she hadn't left.

"You're late." The instructor's terse voice reached Ahriman's ears as she approached the group gathered in the clearing. Master Falkes, as they were to call him, was an aging man, some type of human, with a shiny bald head covered in runic tattoos. She knew they were some sort of ancient Sith runes from Daeva's off-handed comments, but she hated looking at the man for too long in fear of him singling her out, so she'd avoided trying to see what they said.

"My apologies, Master. It won't happen again," she droned off with a bowed head before joining the others in the half-circle that had formed in front of him.

"No. It won't." He answered coldly before turning to address the group as a whole. "Today's lessons will require you all to work together. Split up into pairs of two; whoever is next to you."

Ahriman glanced to one side. No one. She glanced to the other side and stared down into the green eyes of black-haired fiani girl. There was a familiar expression on the girl's face — none at all. Looking past Hikari, Ahriman could see that the acolyte on the other side of the fiani had already partnered with her, leaving them left to one another.

"Guess we're partners," Ahriman stated plainly. By now, there was no other option for either of them if the fox-eared girl had a problem with teaming up with the one who'd already earned the master's ire. "Ahriman," she added briefly after so the other one knew her name, then turned her attention back to the master to wait for their next instructions.

@Remileah

 

[Hikari]

Location: ????

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___ You should suffer in this life before you suffer in the next.

___Long, shallow breaths steadily passed in and out of the rebreather on the decrepit girl's face, fastened like a muzzle on a dog.

___ You need to understand how it feels to go on, living when the person you treasured with all your soul languishes in the torments of the fires of eternity.

___ "Today's lessons will require—"

___The words around her were an incessant buzzing, muddled with the clamouring in her mind. Why was she here?

___ You can do nothing to help them.

___ —you all to work——together.

___It started to come to her, slowly at first, then all at once. She was here—where was 'here,' again?—for training a distraction. She was scared of snapping, that something would simply 'click' in her mind and suddenly, she would lose herself. It was the preternatural fear that the past would burst from the ground beneath her, clawing, ripping, and tearing at her feet to pull her under.

___The girl's empty, sluggish gaze slowly pulled to the side to gaze at Ahriman past long, knotted tendrils of inky hair. She had been pulled out of the calm tranquillity of the void, trapped again to have this bodily existence. The girl couldn't feel enthusiasm or even fear about her situation, only numb disillusion.

___She didn't introduce herself. With stark silence, the girl slowly turned to face the man whose words were still quietly drumming in her head. There wasn't a reason to give her name, nor would she likely remember the one given to her. She, like everyone else, would simply do as she must. She would do as she was told and do what was easiest. What else was there to do but solve one sordid problem at a time?

@lizziie

 

[Ahriman]

« Partners. » Ahriman glanced to her left at the sound of Daeva's scoff and followed his unnatural form as he stalked from her left to her right, his empty eyes fixed on the fiani girl next to her. His snarling lips pulled back even further — an eerie imitation of a cocky grin — as he came to a stop before the shorter girl. His nostrils flared, and Ahriman felt a shiver down her spine. When Hikari didn't respond to Ahriman's introduction, Daeva's ears flattened against his skull. « Disrespect is a challenge. She should be taught a lesson. »

The half-Sephi side-eyed the shorter girl next to her, little on her face, but a hardened look in her eyes. It wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption that the apparatus on the girl's face affected her ability to speak — or maybe she couldn't speak at all — but it was just as likely, knowing the Sith, that she couldn't be bothered or felt herself above giving her name back. Her ears swiveled back toward her skull, but she said nothing.

"There will be no sparring today- " Master Falkes was briefly interrupted by a variety of sounds from the gathered acolytes. Some exhaled sighs of relief, some grunted in acknowledgment, and others grumbled about the news. "No matter how you may feel about it, it is imperative to work together with others at times. Today with be a lesson in teamwork, communication, and trust." More grumbling ensued. "Today's winning team will be rewarded; and the losing..." He was interrupted before he could finish, but the implication was there. Failure would result in punishment.

That made Ahri nervous, not to mention the mention of communication. She was usually the quiet one; hopefully the girl could talk.

"Ah, Master Ieren is here already. Please follow her; she'll be leading you all to the cave system."

Ahriman glanced over to watch as an elderly zabrak woman approached, stern wrinkles creasing her tattooed skin. She stopped, placed one hand on her hip, and waited as the pairs shuffled over to her. "A cave system?" What kind of fuck ass shit were they about to make her go through today?

@Remileah

 

[Hikari]

___The announcement about the day's lack of sparring meant nothing to Hikari. Her mind was empty, or at least felt as if it was one large anaesthetised wound. She had become so numb to the lashings, the yelling, that it no longer mattered whether the instructor or someone else might strike her. Hikari would let her basic survival instincts operate unimpeded, and the rest of her feelings would be blocked.

___Even now, she couldn't understand how these people around her could find any modicum of solace or contentment with the meaningless existence they had been shackled to.

___As her and Ahriman's turn to approach came, Hikari shuffled towards the elderly zabrak woman with heavy limbs. The sedative made everything feel like it took more energy than it should, but it was the only way. Without it, she would likely succumb in a matter of hours.

___ It's not fair, is it?

___As they approached, the woman requested their names. Didn't the girl standing next to her ask the same thing? Hikari's head turned again to peer at Ahriman, her eyes as dead and expressionless as the other girl first surmised them to be. There was nothing. She gazed at the other girl, the only sound coming from her being the filtered, almost staticky breathing through the rebreather on her face. Then, Hikari uttered a single word, distorted and muffled through the machinery.

___"Hikari."

___ Is that your name? Are you sure?

@lizziie

 

[Ahriman]

"Ahriman," she answered, repeating her name just after Hikari finally revealed her own. Her voice had a weird tone; when she spoke there was some sort of underlying static or distortion that scratched Ahriman's brain in the wrong sort of way. Though to most people it would just sound filtered, Ahriman's sensitive Sephi ears easily picked up on the grains and pops from the filter. It almost sounded painful.

"Right then — Ahriman, Hikari — please turn in any weapons you have on your person."

The half-Sephi blinked, then hesitantly handed over the vibroblade she had attached to her belt. "I don't have a lightsaber," she explained, to which the woman responded, "Strange. Most acolytes your age have long since earned theirs."

Master Ieren moved onto the rest of the pairs while Ahriman deliberately avoided eye contact with anyone, her ears pressed against the sides of her skull. It was only when they arrived at their destination and the Zabrak Sith began to explain the task ahead of them that her gaze returned.

"Today, each team must complete a total of two tasks," she began, her voice louder than usual as she was using the Force to amplify it. "One, enter the cave and locate the relics within. Two, bring the relics back to me along with your partner." There was whispering among the acolytes. Master Ieren continued.

"Teams may bring back as many relics as they can carry, but only one is required to 'win.' Teams that come back without a relic, or perish within the system- " Her thin lips curved up into a cruel smile. " -will be considered a 'losing' team. Winners shall be rewarded; losers shall be punished.

"I give you no rules otherwise. You may form alliances with or sabotage the other teams. You may fight; I do not care. But remember, this is a test of teamwork. Should you return with a relic but without your partner, you will have failed."

Ears still pressed against her skull, Ahriman frowned. She would have much preferred sparring to this.

"The entrance is behind me. Once you enter, the game begins."

@Remileah