Ask Tatooine Light and Darkness

[Cerberus]

Cerberus noticed the woman's scepticism about the... book. He chose to ignore it for now with only a frown in reaction.

Maybe rental ships weren’t the best…

"Several planets I haven't decided on yet. We won't be staying on a single planet for long. I'm sure you know why," he waved his hand flippantly in the air when he answered her question, "Likely deserted or tribal planets so we can be alone while you teach me what you know."

Ceberus stepped forward past the room's threshold, towards Prani after he spoke, allowing his expression to remain mostly flat as he did. However his eyes probably gave away his curiosity and interest in the girl. Maybe his interest was strange, but that thought didn't bother him so much. If the girl stepped backwards, he'd continue his forward advance in an attempt to close the gap between them once again, just like on Tatooine. At least close enough to reach out and cup her delicate face. This time he wasn't wearing any gloves so he'd be able to feel the smoothness of her skin.

His crimson eyes drank in the symmetry of her face for a handful of heartbeats while he advanced and lingered his gaze over her. His prize. "I want you to prepare yourself for when I invade your mind," he said, obviously referring to using the Force to try to read her mind. He attempted to lock his crimson gaze with her brown eyes as he continued, "It will hurt you, but it's a side effect. It’s not intended," he said, still mostly expressionless even though his words implied emotion on his part.

@Sreeya

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

A chill ran down her spine as he spoke. This man was beyond spooky, and all earlier thoughts she had of him perhaps not being that bad were rapidly fading. The Jedi academy always taught that Sith were manipulative, and she kicked herself for ever trying to see the good in this boy. However, a part of her refused to consider him a lost cause. Her brows furrowed at his use of the word ‘teach’ instead of ‘tell’. That meant he wasn’t talking just about information.

“I… can’t teach ya,” Prani admitted, “You use the Force in a very different way,” She said quietly, one of the few things she was sure about.

When he moved towards her, she quickly stepped back, eyes widening. Her back pressed into the wall behind her, a deep discomfort building at having him so close. Prani winced when he touched her face, his fingers like ice on her skin. She wanted nothing more than to blast him back, her flight or fight responses actively kicking in. She tilted her face away from his touch. When he spoke about delving into her mind, her eyes narrowed.

“Why can’t you just ask me stuff like a normal person?” Prani blurted out before she could stop herself, “I ain’t a bad guy and you don’t have to keep bein’ so rude,” She said, “And you’re hurt, okay? You try more nonsense with the Force and you’ll collapse and I dunno how to fly a ship,” Prani said quickly. There was not a single hint of her lying through any of it and he would be able to clearly see that.

Even if he did ignore her and delve into her mind, she was more prepared than he would guess. Her brother, having stopped by to see her after months of being gone, suddenly stressed the importance of learning how to safeguard her mind. He taught her how to block out intrusions, reminding her that her mind was the only sanctuary she ever had and it needed to be the absolute last stronghold to ever go down. To him it was worth dying for. Of course, Prani had no idea he concluded all that from becoming a Sith...

@Dread

 

[Cerberus]

Her first answer did not make him happy, however it wasn't much of an issue. His eyes mostly followed her movements with curiosity, watching every little expression, every stray blond strand as it moved across her face, until she blurted her question.

First, he commented on not being teachable, "Then instead you will tell me about everything you know. About your powers. About the Light. About your Order. All I want is knowledge. A fair trade for several lives, don't you think?"

To her last points, he didn't need to be reminded about his injury. He wasn't even planning to invade her mind right now. But, she was right regardless, and now he'd acquired new information about her: she couldn't fly. Once he had a moment to think, Cerberus pulled his hand away from her, taking a step back and straightening to his full height.

"You do make many good points though..." Cerberus said, taking several more steps back until his legs hit a nearby bed. When he sat down on the bed he reached up and pulled back his hood. "So come here," he commanded, uncaring about what her reaction might be while gesturing towards himself, "And help me. You shouted you could help me earlier, didn't you?"

For a brief moment he ran his porcelain white fingers through his near pitch-black hair, adjusting it, then carefully removed his robe from his chest. All the while failing to fight back grimacing through the process. He really didn't want to let her see him react to the pain but it was very difficult; this wasn't a small wound and he couldn't change that. His clothing felt like sandpaper against it.

Worst part for him was that he carefully cared for his body. It was part of his grooming ritual. He worked out every day he could. His calorie intake was constantly moderated and calculated: controlled, and now there was this massive scar across his chest.

@Sreeya

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

Prani was convinced he would snap because of her outburst. She prepared for an attack on her mind or even a physical attack. But none of it came. Instead, the boy stepped back and sat down on the bed. His words made her ponder - she wasn’t going to reveal any locations, but he was less interested in intel than he was about the Light. Prani was surprised at the line of question, but perhaps she could work with this.

When he sat on the bed and called her over, she didn’t move. Prani wasn’t too keen on whatever game the man wanted to play, and he already expressed he wasn’t afraid to randomly touch her. She kept her distance, her eyes widening when he casually began to remove his robes. Prani’s face flushed and she looked at the ground.

“I’m…look, I can alleviate the pain, but I ain’t too keen on makin’ you powerful enough to mess within my mind,” She said with a surprisingly firm tone. There was a time when Prani was kind enough to the point of stupidity, but she was slowly learning not to be so naive. This man was sick and twisted, and she would have to navigate carefully.

Prani finally stepped closer, still keeping her face firmly on the wound. It was the first time she caught sight of the nasty saber burn on his chest, an angry and ugly wound against the pallid skin. She channeled the Force, raising her hand to hover just above his chest to start drawing away from the pain. He would instantly feel better, but the weakness from the injury wouldn’t be gone quite yet.

“I only recently joined the Jeedai,” Prani said, still working on his injury, “I wasn’t trained as a youngling. Most of what I know comes from my family. We’re simple folk - travel in caravans and heal folks that need it,” She finally raised her eyes, meeting his gaze, “We can do the things we do because our intent is to help others. The moment the intent turns to hurt others..we can’t use our powers no more.”

@Dread

 

[Cerberus]

The young Sith noticed she didn't follow his command immediately and filed that away in his mind. Her next words about not being keen on her mind read prompted a very blunt answer from him, "It will eventually happen anyway."

When she finally began to cautiously approach, his eyes continued to study her. He enjoyed her expressions most, but his complete attention and eyes instantly fixated on her hand when he felt two things. First, the Light again. Part of him felt naturally aggressive and wary towards it, despite the soothing of pain. It was also then that he could hear whispers again from the Qo iv Lord: Alchemija (tome) despite it being locked away in a cabinet. Maybe it was objecting to the use of the Light Side near it.

His eyes remained transfixed on her hand despite it all, even while she spoke, and when he spoke, "Then they wont be used to constantly living in fear for their lives" casually after she mentioned they were travelling healers. By the time she finished speaking he met her gaze.

"Do you only mean you lose the ability to heal? Because your master tried to kill me," he said mostly without emotion in his voice again, his cold eyes matched the tone. Her master's murderous intent was not the part that bothered him so much. "And speaking of that, if you manage to kill me, you should know that I've sent a list of names from your call log, credits and instructions to a droid," he purposely did not say my droid, "if the droid doesn't hear back from me regularly, it will follow through with the threat I made earlier."

Cerberus was very interested in the girl's reaction this time, considering he wanted her to be more pliable and obedient. Unfortunately an odd click followed by a muffled metal screech, coming from the direction of the cockpit, stole his attention and gaze for a split second. Still, he looked back at her despite the noises worrying him.

@Sreeya

 

[Prani Shalrazi]

Likely to his surprise, Prani didn’t have any strong reactions to his threat, “You have no reason to worry about me tryin’ to get the jump on you..and I got a feelin’ I’m one of the few you’ve met that ain’t gonna try and kill ya,” She said with a shrug. He could continue with his cheap threats, but Prani wasn’t going to give him the reaction he sought.

“Helpin’ others takes far more courage than threatenin’ them or breaking them down. Anyone can bully others, but it takes a lot more strength to show mercy,” Prani explained, “And even that Jedi Knight didn’t have that strength,” She added. He may have been a Jedi, but that didn’t mean she agreed with his methods. She was horrified he died and how he died, but there was no denying that he let his impulses rule first.

“Sometimes even the smallest gestures matter,” Prani said, “Like when you shoved me outta the way of the bantha when you didn’t have to,” She stated flatly, gazing at him. She didn’t give him an opportunity to contradict her, turning away to start tidying up the messy rental room. Prani heard the beeping from the front, but had no idea what it meant. After a moment, the ship gave a sudden lurch, and she almost fell over, using the wall to catch herself.

“What’s goin’ on?!”

@Dread

 

[Cerberus]

I got a feelin’ I’m one of the few you’ve met that ain’t gonna try and kill ya.

That was something Cerberus couldn't deny, if she was telling the truth, though so was the annoyance he felt about her not reacting in fear. Then there was her stubbornness. Many of the following points she made he wanted to answer too; he was truly interested in conversing despite his other less palatable desires for her.

An ill boding lurch of the ship caused Cerberus to snap out of his fixation on the girl. More unfortunate luck. Cerberus senses went wild after the sudden movement, picking up on danger, but the one and only first reaction he had was, "The Vade Maecum," nearly breathlessly out loud. It's (the tome's) full name was, in fact, the Vade Maecum Infernal, or so it had told Cerberus anyway, despite the title on it's cover being Qo iv Lord: Alchemija .

Everything but that washed away in his mind for the moment, and he immediately went to the locked cabinet it was in, typing in the code to unlock it and plucking out the Vade Maecum Infernal. It whispered to him in response. "I know," Cerberus spoke to it, running a single finger gently down the tome’s cover. "Yes, I will protect you."

Cerberus put the tome into a pocket on his belt then turned around, walking quickly past Prani. Nothing but her forcing him to stop would prevent him from getting to the cockpit. As soon as he did he took a seat, typing on the console. Despite his worry, he still spoke, partly because he was unsure about what was going to happen next. "You think too much of little gestures, people will use that to manipulate you," he said with a snide tone. "And your kindness is the reason you're here with me and on this bantha poodoo ship that... that I don't know will make this landing before falling apart," he grumbled.

Another large lurch of the ship sent Cerberus into full on work mode, especially when the ship uncontrollably turned downward and began to break the atmosphere of a planet, shaking as another part of it broke off. It headed down towards a primitive planet that he hadn't been to before, or ever planned to go.

@Sreeya