Kill the Light

[Talia Vex]

Several weeks had seemed to have passed, since the complete uprooting of the life that she had grown accustomed to. Awaking before the breaking of dawn, setting off from whatever crudely fashioned shelter she had settled down for the night within to stalk her prey in an attempt to feed. Often covering tens of miles during the day as she tracked down the Abominations that stalked the permanent winter tundra of Ilum, traversing the twisted and ruined landscape that had been brought upon the Former seat of the Jedi order in the wake of Jedi Grand Master Syresh Lapar's treachery.

Now that life had been turned up on its head, since her encounter with Brandr and Dennys. Two Force users who bore the mantle of what was thought to be a long extinct species, The Sith. The more barbaric of the two had brought her to Serenno, the throne world of the Sith's Empire. The reasoning was somewhat unclear, given the abrasive relationship that had grown between Brandr and the Jedi, If she could truly be called that any more. Since the cataclysmic event that took place on Ilum, the young woman had become a shell of her former self. For all intents and purposes she had became feral, abandoning the teachings of the Jedi order and adopting a life of relying upon her senses and instincts.

Silently the female stared at the holonet screen that was mounted upon the wall of her designated quarters within the Detention center on the throne world, even though her life prior to the pinnacle of the hundred years war between the Jedi and the Jedi Exiles was enough to warrant suspicion by those around her. She was afforded some degree of freedom able to move about but under a close watch of either the man who had brought her to this planet or a armed guard who would follow her every step. Even though she was not a prisoner in the true sense of the word, she was somewhat regarded in that way. Stripped of her armour and weapons, even though it was of little use to anyone, her Jedi dueling armour had been reduced to a cobbled mess of salvaged plating from the fallen bodies of Jedi and exiles alike. Her light sabers had burnt out after years of use without any form of maintenance or upkeep.

Narrowing her gaze as she watched one of the public addresses being made to the Empire, the young raven haired female intently scrutinized the image of the Sith's Empress, Andraste. Despite the difference in name and the change in appearance, the Empress was known to the forgotten Jedi from a different life. Talia had began to recognize her as Alais Drast, who at the time was a young Jedi Knight that she had seen a few times in passing within one of the Jedi temples. The revelation in itself had lead to some very curious thoughts, was Alais, no Andraste one of those who saw through and escaped the treachery of the Jedi Order?

Pushing up from the bunk of her simple accommodation the feral Jedi paced back and forth within the chamber, finding herself becoming increasingly frustrated at the confined space. After a near decade of having nothing less than the endless expanses of the ruined horizons to prowl, being confined within certain areas was unbearable. Coming to a standstill Talia gazed out of the window down onto the open expanses below, regarding the lush landscape beyond the high perimeter walling with a sense of longing. To be able to freely traverse the grounds, feeling the warmth of the sun against her without being chaperoned by either the barbarian or several armed faceless guards was too much of a lure to resist.

Focusing her gaze on the grounds of the detainment center below, the forgotten Jedi channeled her mind into the Force. Drawing upon the teachings of her Dathomiri upbringing and surrounding her body with a light smoke like haze, Talia focused and concentrated her mind and will out towards the solitary spot beneath a large solitary tree. Within a flurry of mystic energies the young raven haired female had teleported herself free from her confines, finding herself standing under the shade of the tree. With a long honed agility the raven haired female scaled the tree to the point that she came to rest on a large branch below the tree's canopy.

With a relieved deep breath Talia savored the fresh air, relishing in the vast improvement over the filtered recirculated air that was pumped throughout the internal spaces of the building. Laying herself down on the branch, the raven haired woman allowed herself to enjoy the brief momentary taste of freedom. Before the guards or Brandr realized that she had disappeared once again from her quarters, she would make the most of some time alone to herself and her thoughts.

@Nefieslab @Darasuum
OOC: Also Tagging some of the OG Exiles if they're interested in doing a bit of Jedi Order betrayal spin @Phoenix @Sreeya

 

[Brandr Jarl]

Brandr had been about to call it a day and have some time to relax when one of the guards assigned to Talia came to him. He wanted to kill the guy but he supposed that would likely be a bad idea. Instead, he just glared at him until he got the message.

"The Feral has escaped her quarters."

Well that was... so very, utterly, expected. The Feral might not be all that intelligent but she had some cunning and power with the Force besides. He grunted in annoyance for another reason.

"And where is she?" He asked the guard pointedly, "You can't just tell me she has escaped without giving me some idea as to where she is. You're supposed to be better than that."

The guard swallowed thickly.

"Excuse me sir - the Feral is in the tree outside her quarters."

Huh.

Hardly an escape... but he had to go and respond to it anyway. Waving off the guard, Brandr wandered on out into the clear air of Serenno as he began to slowly approach the tree.

"You're scaring the guards." he told her bluntly as he sat down against the bottom of the tree, content to just look up at her lazily for now, "Think you're hunting them. You hunting them, Tal? Hungry for man-meat?"

@Plebometer @Darasuum

 

[Talia Vex]

Lazily turning her head over to the side, as she continued to bask in the evening sun. The raven haired feral Jedi directed her gaze towards the man who had approached, figured it would only be s matter of time until brandr would be notified of her disappearance. "Guards weak if scared by a woman lying down in a tree" Talia murmured as she watched her chaperone sit down at the Base of the trunk. Slowly her gaze lifted back upwards and towards the evening sky above. Her brow furrowing as Brandr continued to speak after a brief silence had befallen the pair. He was questioning her whether she was hungry and currently hunting. "No am thinking, not hunting" Talia spoke as he ran the tips of her fingernails under the other to pick away the specks of bark that had gotten stuck.

Her head slowly moved directly upwards as she felt the lingering presence of the guards, standing at a reasonable distance. So not to be intrusive, but still have effective weapons accuracy from their position. Such was the underlying tone of the threat they perceived the feral woman to be, even when unarmed and clearly laying down and partaking in one of the simpler pleasures of life. Because she was a trained Jedi, no matter whether she were armed or not she was still dangerous.

"Besides" Talia spoke as she moved her lingering predatory gaze over the two guards, bringing it briefly doe to the side to regard Brandr for a moment before returning her gaze up back to the sky above with a sigh. "If hunting you not see me!" she commented briefly as her eyes focused on the slight flickering of the leaves around her. "On Dathomir when hunt with clan's nightsisters our prey die before know where we are" she elaborated, a slight smirk crossing her features as thought back to some of the past hunts, before directing her gaze back towards the two guards "They only prey for Veshet" Talia spoke after a moments silence of regarding the two now unnerved guards. "I hunt Ssaurian and Rancor, not prey of rodent" she added as her gaze pulled away from the two guards and down towards Brandr.

 

[Brandr Jarl]

The guards being weak? Well he wasn't going to dispute that. They had come to get him to try and calm her down after all - if they had been paying attention they would have noticed that they were armed and outnumbered her by about ten to one. But nope! Time to be afraid of the feral woman he guessed.

"You're not wrong." he grunted in annoyance, "Sometimes I think the Empire is held together by, like, fifteen people at most. The rest is all just so much... fluff."

He stared at her for a second.

"Am thinking huh?" He rolled his eyes a little bit, "What you thinking on so hard then Talia?"

Scoffing in amusement, Brandr smirked right back up at her,

"If you were hunting I'd smell you and hear you for miles." he disputed with a widening smirk, "You think your nightsister hunting compares to Deucalian hunting? You're having a laugh, feral... but I get it. Prey like them? Not worth it. What about...?"

He looked back up at her,

"Prey like Jedi?"

@Plebometer @Darasuum

 

[Talia Vex]

Quietly the raven haired female narrowed her gaze as she turned her head round to look at Brandr through the corner of her eye, murmuring slightly as the barbarian spoke about the Empire seemingly being held together by a thread. A light sigh escaped her lips after a moments thought, as the man's line of discussion moved towards her thoughts. "Faces from Empire, they from the Jedi before the treachery. Don't know Empress as Andraste, remember her as Alais Drast. Floral shirt man not known as Dennys, he remembered as Vancent. Empire lead by Jedi, too much change since Order's betrayal" Talia spoke as her gaze raised back upwards, her chesnut hued eyes watching the subtle rippling of the leaves in the breeze.

Her gaze soon darkened as Brandr continued to speak, comparing the hunting techniques of the Deucalian's to that of the nightsisters. The fact that he was claiming that he would smell yet alone hear her from miles away was laughable. "If Deucalians like you, we know you close by smell of drink in air" she retorted before her gaze turned down towards Brandr, the darkened expression over her features twisting into a bitter scowl.

"Hunt Jedi?" Talia spoke, her tone sharp and bitter. "Jedi Order, they betray us on Ilum!" she added before snapping her gaze away from the barbarian Sith. "Grand Master of Jedi, he and order desperate to end war. They kill Jedi and Exile alike all because they scared of Dark side, they destroy Ilum and leave us for death" the raven haired female continued as she started to pick at the underside of her nails once again. "Dark side not evil, Nightsisters use darkside and Spirit Ichor as tools, they not evil as Jedi regarded. They not perfect as they exile me for being halfbread, but book of law teaches about respecting balance" she added before adjusting herself so that she was sat upright and looking down towards her chaperone.

"Galaxy not need all light" Talia resumed once she had gotten herself comfortable. "Galaxy like forest, needs order and balance, too much light and trees grow big, trees starve undergrowth, prey unable to feed, predators have no food. Too much dark trees grow weak, undergrowth grow strong, prey thrive, but predators grow lazy" she explained, her brow furrowing as she tried to piece her case into galactic basic, knowing that it would be much easier for her to talk in her native tongue. But there was the obvious limitation being that Brandr couldn't understand a single word she spoke. "Jedi think only the light what needed, but they willing to destroy planet, Jedi cannot be trusted"

 

[Brandr Jarl]

She was babbling on again.

At least this time he understood most of what she was saying but it didn't change much considering he didn't agree with what she actually was managing to convey. She kept going on about how she had known the Sith leadership when they were Jedi. It was an amusing piece of history but that was all it was.

Amusing.

"Change is good." he told her with a shrug, "Change means you get your arse moving - you get to growing. Andraste and Dennys? They changed. And Andraste made something - made a legacy."

What was this fresh load of tripe?

Was she seriously considering that the Light and the Dark sides of the Force were meant to be in 'balance'? What a load of absolutely shite. Brandr wasn't a philosopher but he knew that the Light side of the Force 'felt right' - it was natural and it was pure. It was the natural state of the Galaxy.

The Dark Side of the Force was vile and disgusting and corrosive. It was proof that they could bend the very strength of the Galaxy to their whims as they chose. But it was, very much, a perversion of the natural order of things and anyone who thought otherwise was, in his mind, deluding themselves.

"Well I'm not even gonna touch half of that crazy." he told her bluntly, "Instead I'm going to ask you - will you hunt Jedi with me? With the Sith?"

Brass tax time here.

@Plebometer @Darasuum

 

[Talia Vex]

Nodding initially to the Barbarian's words. The raven haired female slowly retreated back onto the branch, once again laying g herself out to bask under the evening sun. "change good, mean we evolve" Talia commented before pursing her lips in thought, a slight furrow of her brow crossing her features in part to her earlier words. The joys of having not spoken her second language in over a decade meaning her message wasn't fully conveyed. "I just not sure if Vancent and Alais change because they saw Jedi's betrayal coming" she added after a moments silence before turning her gaze sideways to meet Brandrs again. "Make think that I blinded to the Jedi lies" she finished with a sigh before allowing her arms to fall down towards the side and towards the ground.

Despite the contentment she was feeling being out in the open rather than being cooped up in a duracrete box, there was a slight irritating feeling coursing through her as Brandr dismissed her beliefs so easily. Whether they were truly right or wrong was for the sages and seers to debate, the philosophy over the nature of the Force was not hers to shape. From birth she was taught an understanding about the Force from the teachings from the book of law, a sacred text among all of the Dathomiri tribes. something so heavily ingrained was hard to dismiss, but then again it was likely that the warrior below her was brought up with a completely different set of scriptures or teachings.

What did peak her interest was the cutting to the chase, with Brandr directly asking her whether she would help him hunt Jedi. The weather beaten features narrowed over the feral Jedi in brief thought, she held little love for the Jedi order. Those who betrayed then left her to rot on Ilum, leaving her a shell of who she once was. "No loyalty for Order that destroy planet and leave for dead" Talia remarked coldly before narrowing her eyes, figuring it would be better to try and reword herself. "I Hunt Jedi" she added hopeing it was a clearer answer. "But I no have Lightsabers or armour. Guards sieze before put me in room" she continued, despite the fact her weapons and armour was well and truly worn down and barely functional, the Sith guards still took it upon themselves to force her to surrender what remained of her possessions. Leaving her with only a few basic changes of simple robes to wear.

 

[Brandr Jarl]

Blinded to the Jedi's lies huh?

Well, Brandr couldn't really say much about that. While he had been fighting Jedi in recent years, before he was fully accepted as a Sith, he hadn't actually had any experience with the damn monks. He had gone from being an untrained Deucalian to being a Sith and there hadn't been any interaction with the Jedi during that time.

"Sure - I think it probably takes some kind of balls. To make the change." he shrugged a little bit, "I didn't need to make a change. I've always been like this, just some guys got the bright idea to make me better at it than I was already."

She seemed annoyed by him cutting to the chase because of what it meant cutting through, but appreciative at the same time because it meant cutting to the meat of their issues here. He looked up at her for a long moment.

"Prove you can be trusted to be our ally and the Jedi's enemy? And you'll get your weapons and armour back." he told her before frowning slightly, "Going to have to get you to accept Imperial rule better though."

Right now she was as trained and as disciplined as a two month old Nexu cub.

@Plebometer

 

[Talia Vex]

Rolling her head over to the side, to regard the Barbarian Sith beneath her, Talia pursed her lips in thought. How to prove that the Jedi were her enemy, was something of a hard ask, how could she hunt Jedi without her weapons yet prove they were her enemy to get her weapons back? "You have Jedi?" she spoke after a long silence. "I no hurt you or guards when can use magics. You give me Jedi I kill Jedi, proof they enemy" she added. Although it was perhaps a more primitive come primal sentiment crossing the womans mind, if it meant she could show that she were willing to kill a Jedi openly then it should show there was no love held for the order.

As for imperial life, that was difficult to openly accept if what she had experienced so far was anything to go by. "Imperial life need improving if this it" She spoke as her gaze rolled back upwards, before a hand gestured towards the building of the detention centre behind her. "keep in small room, only get out with people follow me with guns" she continued as her gaze gradually returned to meet Brandrs "No life if like caged Ssaurian, that why I use magics to come here, small time feel home" she added, before her gaze lifted back towards the tree canopy, a hand reaching up towards a dangling branch just above her. As she did so wisps of iluminescent green energies radiated from her open palm, reaching out into the low hanging branch. Talia's brow furrowing in concentration as she channeled the spirit ichor from her body and into the branch using it to strengthen and enrich the poorly formed limb of the tree.

 

[Brandr Jarl]

Killing Jedi prisoners might work well as a way of getting the feral woman to prove her loyalties but he supposed that could wait. He didn't know of many prisoners that lasted long in the Empire when they were identified as Jedi but he supposed that was something that could be addressed in the future. He could ask around for Jedi who were captured he supposed.

"I'll ask around." he told her bluntly, "No promises. The Empire tends to kill Jedi prisoners quickly so their Order can't try and rescue them."

As if the Order would actually bother for any but their strongest members.

He looked at her for a moment before looking away.

"One day soon you'll know what it is like to be a Sith, if you work for it." he told her honestly before humming slightly, "And you'll realise that Imperial life is both hard and soft. You will have luxuries - but you'll have to earn them in blood and sweat. You will have good food and drink - but you will need to pay for them from your own pocket. The Empire will provide you with a good life and, in return, you will give your life to the Empire."

@Plebometer