Keenava Dira

Lallu let the emotional euphoria of a single act fill her with every sweep of her legs. She pulled herself up with the force of her own muscles and swept into a series of extravagant bodily movements around the Ballroom. Her hands flew into the air with a twirl and took her entire body into a spin. The world around her meshed into a hundred different colors and pooled into a single blurred existence. The tips of her fingers began to tingle and her head swam, but she kept propelling herself into spin after spin, again and again. The vertigo wasn't important. The room wasn't important. That moment, underneath the crystal chandelier and dancing in a field of stars, filled Lallu with a potent joy that she hadn't felt in ages. It may have been ignorance, but Lallu was absent of logic. She had spent so much time worrying, so much time putting on masks and suffering for her own inexperience, that she loved the exhilaration. She felt the beat of her heart fall in sync with the rhythm of her feet and she became one musical entity. The rise and fall of each movement took her in a whirl and before she knew it, the dance changed. The step fell into s different pattern and the silent music that filled Lallu’s heart pulled her onwards, as if on the strings of a marionette. Pulse… Lallu’s dance was interrupted by his presence. Her thoughts were the fluttering inconsistencies in the floor pattern and for a moment, her heart split. The indecision she felt hours after that eternity on Coruscant flooded back. The burning sensation in her lips didn’t die and the confusion in her refused to die. She could see his luminescent amber eyes staring deep into her as his passion met hers, but was it real? Does he love me? Hot tears leapt to her face without compulsion. The salted bitterness stung more than her scarred heart, but the contemplation of affection sang with a contemptuous cacophony. She couldn’t contain it. Her stomach was fluid in her body and the hole left by so many hollow partners left her prone on the floor. Hold yourself together Lallu. He’s your master. He doesn’t have to love you… Lallu breathed in the potency of that statement and wept. She held herself up and stared at the crystal chandelier, wanting it desperately to end her misery, but it mocked her from its place on the ceiling. A thing of beauty that was infinitely high above Lallu; always to be cherished, but always out of reach. What did it mean? Why did he do it? Lallu heaved slowly, her sobs coming in a little slower, but the pain of question still stabbed. The emptiness of confusion and derision spilled to the floor in a metaphoric crimson. They played together in harmony only to pull her apart. Lallu sat in silence, but was brought from the floor of the ballroom with the sound of voices filling the halls. Her spine shot ramrod straight and she immediately got to her feet. She dabbed hopelessly at her eyes to remove the evidence, but when they couldn’t be held back, she settled with turning away from the door and feigning enthusiasm for the artistic pieces on the walls. Hold yourself together...

It wouldn’t make for a good opening ceremony if she smelled like swamp and although they were away from the planet, it was clear that parts of the planet still lingered on her. Whether it was the dirt that clung to her face or the muck that got stuck underneath her fingers and toenails she didn’t know, but she did know that she stunk. She couldn’t escape the shell of acrid odors that wafted up from her skin. Lallu paused for a moment outside the shower, opposite the one the man used, and gingerly removed her greasy cloth top and bottom. With one arm she flung them across the room and the other she strategically used to shield her nose from further bombardment. The fluorescent lights that hung above her, made the spectacle seem startlingly sterile. Her scars shone, exposed under the light as pale memories made flesh, but Lallu continued to disrobe regardless, ignoring the nauseating realization and whatever thoughts came with it. She pushed the shower’s on button with her right index finger. Then, after waiting a few seconds for the water to transition from cold to warm, the Twi entered the shower and shut the door, immediately setting to work with the soap she was allotted. This facility was designed for public use and lacked certain amenities that Lallu got used to on Talus; that much was clear in the first few minutes. But Lallu wasn’t here for fancy. She couldn’t ever wrap her mind around the necessity for products, salves, perfumes and shampoos because it never seemed necessary to her. Clean was clean and that was that. Even though she had access to new cleaning solutions on Talus, she took advantage of them on a practical basis and she wasn’t inconvenienced if they were removed. It may have been because she wasn’t trying to impress anyone, or that she didn’t consider, ‘flowery scents’ to be a particularly impressive feature. She didn’t really care. She figured it was a way to mask your scent, but there were only a few practical reasons for such a practice. And if you used too much, then you ended up exposing yourself even more so the entire thing seemed a little tedious. The run of the soap across her rough skin and the articulate spray of hot water against her sore muscles was enough to satisfy the function of what Lallu called a shower. She worked to scrub every bit of dirt out of her black skin and once she could see her fingers begin to prune or her scars turning a lighter shade of grey, she knew she was finished. It was a simple process that lay methodical in its implementation. There was no perfect trick that Lallu held on to that told her how take a luxurious shower, because every single session was exactly the same to her. She memorized it and went through the motions like a dance. Once the motions were done and the music was over, the dance was over. It was a monotony that seemed hardly consistent when it came to others of her gender. On the other hand though, one of Lallu’s biggest guilty pleasures and yet another female cliché shone in the beautiful fabrics she enjoyed wearing. They weren’t essential to every situation obviously, and Lallu still held onto a practical base when it came to wardrobe, but if she saw a glittering dress it drew her eye more than any plain one did. It was one of the most vivid parts of her past that she could always remember. Her mother wore the best clothes. So, while she scorned frilly scents and useless chemicals, she adored glittery and slinky dresses. They held an infinite source of pleasure for her and made her feel more like a woman and less like a tool. The consideration of clothing didn’t normally possess Lallu’s mind though and didn’t when she exited the shower; at least, until she looked down toward her extraordinarily dirty clothing on the floor. She could see the scorch marks, the dirt marks and everything in between clinging to the fabric in a disgusting play of colorful mess and almost felt disgusted with herself for letting them get so dirty. Not seeing any other alternative though, Lallu was a little frantic. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her body. In fact, quite the contrary, she was indifferent toward her body and anyone who saw her due to previous experience, but the simple feeling of nakedness filled Lallu with a sense of immediacy. She wanted clothing or something to wear. Now! Lallu took her towel, wrapped it tightly around her body and tied it at the corner. She let her lekku drip dry as she walked, and started off toward the back of the craft where the passengers kept their luggage. When she came upon the door, she found herself at the foot of a proverbial baggage mountain. She took one look at the mass of bags arrayed before her and immediately felt the need to discard modesty and use both of her hands to dig through the stack, package by package. She scavenged for something her size, anything. She would settle for a tank top or simple pants, but the layer of bags on the top of the pile didn’t yield anything her size. She began to see more and more female clothing as she ripped through the baggage with a vengeance and although she found a number of undergarments that could and could not fit her, she couldn’t find anything else. It was frustrating that nothing seemed to fit her right and she was about to give in and wear something bigger than her, when she spotted a piece of glittering red fabric underneath the hoard of miscellaneous garments. Feeling curious, the Twi’lek tugged at the fabric until it revealed a slinky red dress; a slinky red dress that taunted her from the bottom of the pile and summoned a curious need that she hadn’t felt before. This’ll do. Lallu thought to herself, quickly wrenching the dress - along with a few silky undergarments - from its resting place beneath the other, less noteworthy clothing. The towel fell from her body almost automatically. Anticipation and glee filled each motion as putting the slinky dress on became the equivalent of Lallu’s birthday. She took each silky undergarment and threw them on within seconds not caring enough to pay them any more mind than was necessary. Then, taking care to slip the dress on last, she made sure it was carefully shaped over her head and pulled down at the right spots without destroying the material. It wasn’t too tight and managed to slide a little easier than Lallu thought, even if it kind of pinched at her shoulders, but the dress was so amazing that she paid no heed to the slightest discomfort. It showed enough of her navel to expose her jewelry and it managed to hug her curves well enough to sculpt her into a glittery visage. She silently thanked whoever thought to bring such a lovely dress, and admonished their sacrifice by stealing a matching set of ornate silver earrings. They won’t miss them… ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ Lallu came from the back, just in time to catch the ship decelerating into a normal flight pattern. Knowing that the autopilot wasn’t sufficient for the next stage of their space voyage, Lallu shot to the captain’s chair like a madwoman and immediately seized control of the vessel to ease the transition. She could tell that her wardrobe change might be an issue for conversation, but any compliment or insult thrown her way was quickly discarded. She kept her eyes on the viewport and entered a series of codes into the ship’s computer. Each press of a button accelerated her heart rate and soon Lallu’s head was sweating with strain. At first, it seemed that her panic was useless, but the silent black of the viewport was soon broken in a torrent of black holes that consumed almost all visible sections of space from where they sat. Lallu was taken aback by the sheer volume of the stellar formations, but she held the steering yolk firmly and guided the ship through each coordinated flight vector given to her. She could feel the tense buildup of nerves filter through her as the shuttle continued and Lallu held a moment of utmost clarity as the ship sailed a little out of the indicated vector. Lallu saw where the shuttle needed to go and how much of a correction it needed, but the yolk struggled against her. Oh shit… Lallu grabbed the yolk and pulled roughly at it, putting as much pressure as she could in her movement without breaking anything. She could feel no yield in the mechanism. Lallu pushed random buttons on her console in the hopes that it would help the situation, but it seemed nothing would abate their eminent end. Lallu banged her fist on the console in frustration and when she took her fist away, expecting death to greet her, the yolk finally responded to her touch. The steering mechanisms re-engaged and she immediately set the shuttle back on course. The Twi’lek sighed with exasperated relief as the last black hole passed them by and their destination sailed into view. The aptly named Spite station sat just ahead, and as soon as Lallu was within range, she was hailed, acknowledged and given a place to land. After that, I need a nap. Lallu concluded. The hot sweat of her anxiety still visible on her forehead as the ship’s autopilot took them in for a landing. “Whew that was rough.” Lallu said, looking over at the man for the first time, adjusting her safety belt and snapping it back to the side of the seat with a flick of her hand. She sat up a little and collected her thoughts for a moment before she got up from the captain’s chair and started to leave. At the last moment though, she turned back to the man and smiled. “We were expected, so I would wager that something is coming up soon. However, I don’t sense the dark lord’s presence, so it would seem that we have time to make ourselves comfortable for the time being. I will be exploring the space station a bit so you don’t need to follow, but if you would like to you are welcome.” Lallu turned away from the man, left the cockpit, made a quick stop on the way to grab her knives and bag from one of the coach seats, then opened the shuttle door. ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ ____ ____ ___ ____ The station was massive. It was a lot bigger than what Lallu expected and filled to the brim with exciting places to explore. She made a short stop at the hub that branched off toward a series of bunks and picked one for her own, placing her bag upon it. Then she flew through the complex taking note of each and every little thing. The presence of Furion was thick in the walls of this place even with his absence and because of it, nothing could affect her joy; even her exhaustion from before seemed to melt as she moved. She came close to tears though when she saw the ballroom. She couldn’t contain the awe she felt in its design and swept into a long series of dances with invisible partners. She was happy. She was home…

Space… The idea of silence felt so real, so solid, Lallu could almost feel it manifest like cold, slender fingers running across her scarred, black skin. Fingers that sang sensations down her spine with every caress and pulled at the strings of her heart until they were close to breaking. It was a symphony of ‘nothing,’ that wrote its harmony in the absence of everything and the flux of each musical movement resonated within her. She could feel the engines of the shuttle ignite and accelerate, but the sensations were hollow. The hypnotic sound of emptiness drew her in; the dark poetry of the void called out to her and reached to cradle her in its soft embrace; the solace of that moment, weighing more than any word ever could. It was intoxicating. She sat for hours, transfixed within that ebony cloud and fell into her mind; trapping it in thought. In the past, it was hard to imagine spending her life in silence, but time solidified her need. It molded her into something else. Now Lallu couldn’t see life without the comfort of silence. She embraced it like a second skin. It consumed her thoughts and brought clarity to even the smallest sensation. But, like all things she knew, even silence was deceptive. The complete absence of sound was never truly without noise, and hidden deep within the black of her comfort, there was always pain. The ache she felt, surrounded by shadowed faces and lecherous intentions; the putrescence that hung deep in the bowels of her happiness. She was alone. Taken from loving arms was a harshness that refused to scar. The wound festered and rot upon the peak of her consciousness and never left. The warmth of that affection never returned and without it, she had nothing to fill the gap it left. Futile twisted echoes of hope did what they could to bleed into the gap, but they led the Twi’lek into misguided illusions of happiness. Dreams of her past were hollow comforts and faded away with the morning. They were shadows that clung to the small happiness that Lallu could find in her cell and plagued her with distorted visions of unattainable euphoria. They teased her with illusions of grandeur and wrenched it all away with the beginning of each day. Like a flower lying delicately in its vase. One breeze would push the entire thing away without warning and without question… Lallu’s mind spun for a moment as the lucidity of her eyes returned, finding the cockpit bare against the breadth of space. The shuttle was about to jump into light speed and was prepping for the transition. Soon the entire portrait of black would light up in streams of fluorescent blue. Lallu saw the man’s form slide into the co-pilot’s chair and barely noticed a difference before she left the cockpit and started wandering towards the lavatory herself.

Lallu could hear a familiar metal sound coming from behind her. The sound of a knife jostling against its hilt was something that Lallu was familiar with and ready for. His indecision was novel, considering the bitterness of her previous comment, but Lallu wasn’t willing to give up suspicion. Lallu gripped her own knife tightly and was poised to follow through should he choose to attack. It wasn’t the best scenario, but Lallu didn’t know who this man was or what he was capable of. She didn’t want to allow him the chance to take her by surprise. He took a pregnant pause to work out his priorities, which allowed time for Lallu to prepare. But in the end, he decided not to fight; a wise choice, given the circumstances. Still, Lallu wasn’t so sure that his mind was made up. She could hear his words flowing around her, but something about him seemed off. His muscles were still tense as he walked and something about him seemed chaotic. She had seen it before in her own animalistic tendencies of earlier years, but that didn’t mean she knew anything about it. All she knew was that he was a mystery; he was a mystery and she was a closed book. She wouldn’t give away the key to his freedom willingly and would probably try to find a way to blow the shuttle to kingdom come if he decided to stab her in the back. She wouldn’t even let the man know her name. No name, no attachment. But, he was intent on following her for now and for Furion she would allow it. If she knew his word was worth anything and the situation was different, she would follow him without question. Presently however, his choice meant little. She held her knife firmly in her hand as she walked and let his words echo with no answer. She wouldn’t allow him the satisfaction. When he offered a smart ass counter to her insult, Lallu had to stifle a giggle, but instead of offering a biting rebuttal, she remained persistent in silence. She didn’t know him and as far as she knew he was like any other man. Lallu had scores of judgment when it came to ‘other’ men. So she thought it best to keep her defenses up and disregard any comments that she wanted to make. She wouldn’t be goaded. Every few minutes Lallu took time to look around , but painstakingly made sure that each movement was careful and silent. She wanted to see if the man was still following without giving her suspicion away. And each time she couldn’t see him right away, Lallu would clench her hand tighter around the hilt of her knife until her knuckles paled. You didn’t live long with your head in the clouds. She wouldn’t take any chances. The breadth of silence allowed her time to focus. It allowed her time to feel the world around her and it allowed her to remember exactly where the shuttle was. All things considered though, they were making good time. She didn’t have to travel very far from the shuttle to where the man’s house was and through the maze of the planet’s atmosphere, she could still feel the gaping holes in the force that death held in the shuttle’s hold. In fact, as they approached, the smell of death consumed her before the smell of shuttle's exhaust, which reminded her that she failed to clean up her mess. She stopped at the shuttle’s side door and turned to look at the man. She found his eyes with her own ruby red and with a straight expression, introduced him to the shuttle. “My apologies for the mess; it seems I failed to clean up after earlier. Considering how long they’ve been dead, that may be something for us to do real quick before we leave.” After offering the disclaimer, Lallu opened the shuttle’s side door and was immediately overwhelmed with the smell fecal matter and death. She sheathed her knife almost immediately and with her arm clinging at her nose in futile attempts at shielding it, made for the first body. It was a woman’s; an innocent woman who stood up and looked at Lallu with glowing concern while the Twi’lek burst into an emotional tirade. It wasn’t one of her best moments to be sure, and the pain of killing innocence affected her for some time, but now the woman was just meat; worthless smelly meat. Lallu picked up the woman’s body and promptly dropped it to the floor as she tried to adjust the body for optimal efficiency. She tucked one or two under her arms after a few moments of effort and shoved them into an airlock, indicating for the man to follow. It took the better part of an hour to finish up the passenger hold and heft the rotund pilot from his chair, but once the entire shuttle was cadaver free, aside from the stuffed airlock, Lallu made for the cockpit. She stopped by the man’s work on the way to see how he was doing, then vaulted over an aisle seat and continued on her way. She wasn’t going to let her suspicions die, but as long as he was helping, she would offer him indifferent contentment. She could tell their games wouldn’t be over, but she would content herself with letting his mystery linger. She found the cockpit messy with the captain’s blood. A gash across his throat splashed the viewport and the controls in sticky crimson that were heavily crusted with time. She could see the outlines of her work present in the art against the screen and something about it brought both pride and shame at the same time. She couldn’t help but shun her negligence, while admiring a perfect cut. What kind of animal am I? Although Lallu was capable of flying through the grime, something about that seemed barbaric. She couldn't help but remember each slash she made with every look at the controls. She couldn't help but hear the screams that fell to her deaf ears as people fell to the deck plates in a chorus of foul thuds. She couldn't help but feel their fear as their hearts cried out in unison, only to be snuffed out. So, to shove away the evidence that haunted her, she decided it would be a good idea to take some time to clean up the area before launch. Lallu searched for a clean rag and struggled for a few minutes against the harsh substances glued to the cockpit. When she finished, Lallu tossed the rag in a waste disposal bin and wiped her hands off on a clean Officer's uniform nearby. Lallu punched in a series of given coordinates, established the launch vectors and pulled at the yoke once the ship left the ground. Once the ship was a decent distance from the ground Lallu opened the airlock and let the waste spray out the side. Animals cried with glee and gathered below. Lallu didn't even look.

Lallu had to restrain herself from smacking the smug grin from the man's face. She knew the cruelty of man and she knew the cruelty of the Sith. It was entirely possible that this man was left on the planet for one reason or another, but Lallu neither knew nor cared. It wasn't her place to know these things and it wasn't his place to be an insolent whiner. This man was a contradiction made flesh. There was evidence of struggle written all over the man's body, but it was clear, from his tone and behavior, that his mind was far from hardened. Lallu wasn't here to judge him though. whatever trials and tribulations he suffered wasn't her business. Her job, was to get this man off planet and to the Sith space station. Alive. She was beginning to understand just how much of a task that posed as the man's total disregard for her and the Sith order grew. His words, such as they were, kept outlining sarcastic plans for himself, but in the end, his words were just hot air. This man had nothing. Ten seconds ago he was ranting about a tree that had burned down. So either he had assets that Lallu didn't know about somewhere on the other side of the planet, or he was bluffing. Lallu looked at the man up and down and snorted. "Nah. I don't know what my master saw in you. You're not worthy enough to tie his drawstring, let alone be apart of the Sith order. My mistake." Lallu said, her eyes narrowing. "I think I'll take my ship and leave you to your worthless pile of charcoal then. Have fun rotting here, I'm sure the planet won't care either way." Lallu answered a bluff with a bluff, but her face stood, motionless and filled with disgust. She spun on her heels and walked away, subconsciously listening for any answer on the way. If he didn't take the hint, I'll knock him out. If he did, let him come. Lallu wasn't entirely sure she'd win the fight, but she'd do what she could. While her back was turned to the man, she withdrew a knife from a sheath at her side. She didn't know what he was thinking or what he would do. She only knew that she needed to be ready for it.

Lallu's nerves cascaded into a scattered array of guilty feelings. She could feel the man's ache even before he approached and something about his tattered feelings was eerily familiar. Lallu knew heartache. The gut wrenching feeling she felt on the shuttle ride over was the worst she'd ever felt, but this man cried like he had lost everything in the world. His rage felt drawn to the charcoal and although Lallu couldn't see the possibility of her ever loving a tree, she could feel a similarity between them. It may have been just a tree, but that was how Lallu saw it. Furion may just be 'a person' to some, but to her, he was everything. She could see the man over the small precipice of her muddy rock and held her ground in the brush to avoid detection. She controlled her breathing in case he could hear her, but as he walked around, heaving his frustration into the desolation, her cover was no longer useful. She could see the rage build in his eyes, seething ever more with each rock that pummeled into the ground. He was furious. Lallu had the smallest inclination to let this man know what she'd done; to just say something about it and give him an outlet for his frustration, but she couldn't help picturing her own face in the path of those rocks and decided against it. When Lallu was caught, she stood quietly, still behind the rock. She hung her head a little lower; a small picture of guilt written in her expression, but she gave nothing away. In fact, she didn't really have the chance to give anything away. The moment the man noticed she was there, he was in her face and immediately talkative. Lallu tried to back away to give herself a little breathing room, but the rock that was her salvation, only served to box her in. Lallu almost reached for her own knives when he thought of reaching for his, but stifled the motion, thinking that fighting would only make things worse. Lallu tried to speak about half a dozen times before she was allowed. Then, when she finally had his attention, she almost forgot what she wanted to say. She stood for a moment, blinking in the breadth of his scowl. It was a little frightening, considering the bloody visage before her, but something about his scowl summoned words to her mouth. May name is unimportant. I just got here. No. I recognize you too and yes. The words were a little broken, but she was trying to make up for the questions that were lost in his tirade. She wondered if he'd even care with the expression stuck on his face, but she had a mission and needed to carry it out. Lallu let the small silence linger to give her enough time to relax into a fairly comfortable stance. She looked the man directly in the eyes, making sure she held his gaze and spoke. I am here at the bequest of my master Dark Lord Furion. He has asked that you join him and the other Sith as we come together in order to re-build the strength and infamy that our order was once known for. Her speech was so flat that it almost felt automatic. She maintained no bias or subjectivity in her voice for fear that any emotional weakness shown would lead to unexpected consequences.

The smell of smoke seemed to fade after a time. The charcoal that was left, sat mournful. The pieces, in unison, mourned the passing of life between them and the hollow shell they retreated from. The utter black of their bodies consumed them in their sorrow and the smoke was their weeping. It was a silent song, but Lallu watched on, sympathetic to their woe. She was ashamed of her foolish actions and could feel the heft of disappointment leveled against her. Lallu was a little girl again, playing with fire and stumbling to the floor in misunderstanding. She sat and watched as the carpet burned underneath her and could feel the hand of retribution cresting her backside. Only, when Lallu turned to look, it wasn’t the hand she expected. It was someone else’s. She could feel the same punishment cast, but cold blue eyes were replaced with gold. So much disappointment was writ in those beautiful eyes that Lallu’s stomach lurched. She wanted to cry; she wanted to scream, but somehow she knew it wouldn’t make a difference. She did something wrong and it wasn’t going to just go away. Lallu rubbed the tip of her right index finger on the clammy rock she sat upon, breaking designs in the consistent gray surface. She pushed the loose mud around and formed shapes to draw her mind from the messiness around her and hoped that, in some way, it would occupy her need for attention. It didn’t. Her thoughts drifted to the emptiness. Her ruby red eyes drew away and she continued to stare at the barren land of charcoal strewn before her, pouring salt into a guilty wound. She wouldn’t do this again. She promised. Lallu’s eyes darted to a point off in the distance. She heard something. She was sure of it. It wasn’t definitive, so Lallu considered ignoring it, but the sound grew with time. It was a subtle sound that mixed with the ambiance around her, so she couldn’t quite determine what it was, but Lallu kept her eyes open and hid behind her rock to be safe. It could have been the man she was looking for, Lallu thought, but it could have also be a predator. Lallu knew little to nothing about this world. She had made impatient mistakes already and wasn’t about to die for negligence. If it were a predator, the rock wouldn’t protect her forever, but at least she’d buy herself a little time to get away. If it was the man, she would make up some random reason about the rock; and the fire. Lallu’s heart beat faster in anxious temptation. Her nerves were bundled up and her eyes continued their constant vigil. She was suspicious of the animals around her, silently accusing any number of movements to the earlier sound, but she could hear the sound growing louder and louder and discredited each rumor as it passed her lips.

Keenava Dira’s Character Sheet Last Edited: (03/16/2023) - fixed clerical error Identity Chosen Name: Keenava Dira (Key-NAH-vah, D-ee-rah) Birth Name: Keenava Ootunavi Birthday: January 20th (or equivalent date in-universe) A.K.A: Keeva, Ki Ki, Kana, Kara, Kava / Lallu, Lals, Lallunia Kallemi / CoreSec Officer Ullanna Gwynn, Ulanna, Ulina / Zythma Birthplace: Ryloth Homeworld: Talus Species: Twi’lek Physical Description Face claim: Natalie Dormer Age: 34 Height: 1.7526m / 69in Weight: 71.214kg / 157lbs Body Type: Lithe frame / Acrobat musculature / Slight hourglass shape Gender: Cis (Cisgender) Woman - Femme presenting Lekku: Long ~ 1m / 39.4in Eye Color: Amethyst (Former color: Ruby) Skin Color: Deep obsidian Skin Markings/Deformities/Tattoos: N/A - for the moment Equipment Clothing or Armor: - [Legacy of Anilara Starbane Kadav]: a form-fitting deep-black Kevlar jumpsuit with indigo contour lines. - [Legacy of Anilara Starbane Kadav]: a long well-worn black leather duster. - [Legacy of Sara Corion 'Scorpion']: A pair of dark-brown, leather, steel-toe, long boots with a sturdy heel; the boots start at her knees with an articulated knee-pad and go all the way down to her feet. Her boots have a mess of straps on them. These straps fasten the boots to her calves and conceal two small sheaths--one on either boot. <empty> Weapons: - [Legacy of Sara Corion 'Scorpion']: One long-barreled metal (handgun) slugthrower. - [Legacy of Lallunia Kallemi]: <Inactive> lightsaber hilt. (Sparking Freedom) / Creation: https://tinyurl.com/3eet6p54 General Inventory: - [Legacy of Idara/Ida/Idejjen]: Functional A.I unit-- limited functions. - [Legacy of Starfire]: Adjustable, silver-plated, weighted training bracers with emerald inlay. - [Legacy of Aleria Thorne]: Two lavender lightsaber color crystals. - [Legacy of Adwin Antares]: A drawing of Keenava as a Sith Lord. - [Legacy of Liv]: An MP89 player w/ MC2310 Master Headphones [needs Twi'lek audio mod]. - [Legacy of Liv]: A simple necklace in the shape of a moon. - [Legacy of Kailen Aeli]: A hydrospanner named 'Locksley' - [Legacy of Kailen Aeli]: A metal memento with Delta's face on that Keenava will try to get to Delta. - [Legacy of Esmernia Langarmie]: Dress - https://tinyurl.com/2p9dfb79 (While you dance and shimmy with the dress, small lights dance across the fabric, making it look like the stars are dancing across your dress). Shoes - https://tinyurl.com/4bk3pr79 Necklace - https://tinyurl.com/4v4hp9nr (The diamonds are actually glass, but the Amethyst is real) Faction Information Force User Dark Side/Gray/Light Side: ???? Alignment: Neutral Good Current Faction Affiliation: Jedi Current Faction Rank: Jedi Padawan Former Faction Rank: Sith Lord Event/Training Log Current Master: Alcmène Trained by: Jzora, Furion, Torin, Ason, Exodus Trained who: Kern (briefly) Killed by: Darth Nyrys Known Skills Force Skills: Dark Side Force hunger/Drain - Umbara survival trial Force stealth - Observational learning/Umbara survival trial Force choke - Observation/Umbara Light Side Force Stealth - Revisiting Umbara. Discovery post: https://jedirp.net/topic/475-falleen/?do=findComment&comment=286611 Neutral/Utility Force telepathy, Force telekinesis, Force speed, jump, push, pull, sense < observational learning > Non-Force Skills: Lockpicking/Slicing < trial by fire/slave background > Dance < slave background/dance work at Last Call > Fighting [Hand-to-hand] (Amalgam: Kung Fu (White Crane Fist)/Dance/Tai Chi/Kyusho Jitsu) < observational learning/trial by fire/anatomy studies > Fighting [Knife] < observational learning/CoreSec + mercenary work (Talus)/slave background > Fighting [Whip] < observational learning/slave background > Fighting [Lightsaber] - wild - (closest formal description is Ataru) < observational learning/slight formal education > Background Genealogy Father: Feenak Tokavi Ootunavi < Deceased > Mother: Veridiana (Aya) Dira Ootunavi < Deceased > Sister: Seela Oma Dira Ootunavi Assets Mansion on Talus Starship - - [Legacy of Malin Wrynn/Helena Ortwind/HK-52]: 'The Bloated Tortur' https://tinyurl.com/nx4j9aps ~~ Always a slave... ~~ 'Mistreated' by her father and sold to alleviate a crippling debt, Keenava's life didn't start at an agreeable pace. She was seen as naught but flesh, and that had ways of destroying what little identity you had. And when you're deprived of kindness, validation and genuine sincerity start to look extremely similar. After spending the better part of her life a slave, Keenava's mind was broken. She forgot who she was, where she came from, and where she was going. With the help of the Sith, she began to open up and realize more of who she was. But, due to the corruption of the dark side, each new realization brought pain and split her personality. She would eventually remember her birth name and why she became a slave in the first place. But finding herself turned out to be even more damning than remaining lost to her brittle mania. She battled attachment to a lost cause, being tossed from one master to another—no one cared. No one should care. She suffered continuous mental breakdowns from sustained betrayal, abandonment, and having no real control of her destiny; always a slave, she was never free. This chain of misery was finally broken with her death on Korriban. But even in death, Keenava's spirit wasn't free. She was bound to a pearl held by the victor, doomed to stay as some macabre prize for however long she was deemed useful. ~~ Clean? What's that? ~~ Clean. Free? Keenava wandered the desert, free of another slave attempt, with an odd sort of clarity. There she met an unlikely duo, and is slowly beginning to see redemption in the ranks of the people she once despised. Read on to learn more. (This story had been greatly abridged in favor of brevity. If you wish to deep dive and find more, then feel free.) Detailed reading: 1st appearance: Lallunia Kallemi > Last Call [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/412-the-last-call-coruscant/page/252/#comment-197838 1st meeting with Jzora Scorpio > Last Call [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/412-the-last-call-coruscant/page/253/#comment-198387 Academic Lecture > Jedi Enclave/Former Sith Temple [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/1196-jedi-enclave-coruscant-formerly-the-sith-temple/page/126/#comment-198608 Close > Jedi Enclave/Former Sith Temple [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/1196-jedi-enclave-coruscant-formerly-the-sith-temple/page/127/#comment-199087 Abandoned > Naboo: https://jedirp.net/topic/411-naboo/page/85/#comment-206802 Re-captured > Naboo: https://jedirp.net/topic/411-naboo/page/85/#comment-204076 Wallow is a dirty word > Coruscant Undercity [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/815-coruscant-undercity/page/43/#comment-229816 1st official meeting with Julio Furion > Coruscant Undercity [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/815-coruscant-undercity/page/43/#comment-230389 < Two year two month gap. Feel free to search for answers if you wish > Love? Or tragic obsession? > Upper Levels Coruscant [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/595-upper-levels-of-coruscant/page/221/#comment-254398 A game of survival > Umbara: https://jedirp.net/topic/1594-umbara/page/2/#comment-258173 < Three year gap of varying levels of activity> Feelings are... complicated > Coruscant Undercity [Archive]: https://jedirp.net/topic/815-coruscant-undercity/page/49/#comment-267131 Patricide > The Jedi Library: RP Side Story: Family Matters: https://jedirp.net/topic/4024-rp-side-story-lallu-kallemi-family-matters-complete/#comment-267959 1st official meeting w/ DL Exodus > Arachnakorr: https://jedirp.net/topic/4036-arachnakorr/#comment-268579 Embrace the shadow > Dejarik Board: https://jedirp.net/topic/1246-the-dejarik-board/#comment-277718 Foolish mistake > Korriban duel w/Ailbasi: https://jedirp.net/topic/397-korriban/page/82/#comment-278327

Lallu's mind was still swimming as the after effects of the sedative wore down. Her thoughts blurred in and out of focus as she came to and it wasn't until the autopilot began the landing vectors that Lallu was fully conscious. The black Twi'lek rolled unceremoniously off of the cot she commandeered from the deceased pilot and plopped to the cold metal ground with a thud, but callously ignored the pain as if it weren't relevant; just another passing sensation. She looked up from the ground and immediately regretted her action. Black spots emerged intermittently with lucid vision and she couldn’t keep herself from fading. The remainder of strength she had left was enough to consciously push herself to her elbows, but she had to wait a few minutes before she could fully reach a standing position. Note to self, Lallu thought, have a full meal before losing my mind. It was ridiculous to anticipate her episodes. She knew. But she wasn’t about to let that stop her from posing the thought for consideration. Now, where am I? Lallu took a moment to shake the dregs of exhaustion from her mind and let her thoughts settle. Parts of her body clamored in pain, cramping in the wake of their idle discomfort and sore in their use. It wasn’t something that Lallu was foreign to, but the pain was still enough to give her pause. The Twi’lek breathed in and out quietly and looked around the room, making space for her legs and body to move about. Then she began to channel what energy she could to the balls of her feet and stretch her legs to make sure they were limber. They weren’t, but with each stretch, her muscles loosened up that much more. The residue of pain left in her muscles due to the time she spent in a cot became a distant memory with each movement and sounds of approval filtered through every fiber of her body like the rushing of a wave. It embraced her body and she relaxed into each extension. When she was finally satisfied with her work, the Twi’lek untangled her body from the shuttle’s deck and moved quietly toward the cockpit, despite the mess. Bodies were scattered all over the floor and made it harder to move about the central aisle, but she navigated through the viscera quite well and looked out toward the swampy planet through the blood stained viewport. It wasn’t really much to look at, but she didn’t really expect it to be. It wasn’t the prettiest planet she had ever seen, but it wasn’t consumed in vice either; an attribute that often found the Twi’lek whenever she lived in places like Coruscant or Nar Shadaa. No, this planet was different. The overall green hue of the planet seemed a little disconcerting at first glance, but a probing curiosity, mingled with the objective of her mission, guided her to the door and out into the musty atmosphere. Wherein Lallu took a few moments to acclimate herself to her surroundings, locked up the shuttle and took off into the brush. A choir of smells greeted her nose with an overwhelming force and her eyes caught the grime as it slowly rose from the swamps she passed. Lallu could hear beasts growl all around her, consuming her body in their primitive cries and holding her mind in thrall, breaking her of needless considerations. Mingling amongst the aimless peons of Coruscant’s busy streets, Lallu was something of a specter, mimicking their meaningless activities because of the slavery that discretion imposed. But here, amongst beasts, Lallu was free to let her mind feed on her more primal instincts. Her mission, still echoing in her mind, provided the mental fuel to push her onward, but Lallu’s actions were guided with a different hand than her thoughts. Her eyes narrowed, her fingers curled inward and she crouched lower to the ground as she moved. Her heart beat with a feral clarity and she set upon the nearest trail with inhuman speed. Power filled her muscles with each invigorating stride she took and the air that rushed passed her filled her with the motivation to move further still. It was a violent cycle that her muscles begrudgingly abided by, but she wanted to finish the mission as soon as possible to get back to Furion. It wouldn’t be that easy. She knew. But Lallu could almost feel Furion’s hand guiding her on. The ache from before, although a whisper of its former presence, still plagued her mind with its influence. She was a slave to his will; an arbiter of his strength; a puppet to his affection. She could tell that it would take some time, but her target was more obvious than she expected. He was doing little to hide himself. Furion had left an echo of the man in the Twi’lek’s mind to make him easier to find, but as she grew nearer to him, the presence of a foreign agent in this land of muck and bile wasn’t hard to find. She could feel him grow closer as she flew past and there were disturbances in the brush to provide evidence of this. In fact, one path in particular seemed a little more disturbed than usual. It could have been a predator’s hunting grounds, but a beast wouldn’t have left such an obvious trail if it were hunting, would it? Lallu’s thoughts meant little on this matter, because time was of the essence. She looked over the site for a minute more until she decided to follow it all the way to a large hollowed out tree that Lallu could only assume was the man’s home. It was a weak assumption drawn from an initial glance, but there were signs. There were signs of humanoid presence all over the area. Footsteps leading away, brush left in awkward places and a large durasteel plate that held a majority of the opening away from prying eyes. Not only that, but the man's presence in the force seemed to echo off of the hollow tree as if a piece of him was left there. Lallu’s curiosity to further derive the truth almost led her down a pitfall trap, but after seeing the consequences of such a trap befalling a much smaller animal, she decided to go no further. She should have suspected traps in front of his home, given the wildlife here, but she didn’t know how many there were or even what all of them did. All she knew was that this confirmed the alien presence here. The force echo, the traps and the signs leading away were enough to pin him or another humanoid alien to this place and even though the evidence wasn't conclusive enough to say whether or not he or it currently resided in this shelter, this was where he lived now or at some point. He would come back here eventually. He would have to come back here. Lallu’s thoughts were riddled with considerations on how to get this man, who she knew very little about, to willingly join her on her shuttle. She didn’t know his view of her master, and wouldn’t know his impression of her until they met, but one thing was for certain. One of the only ties he had to this planet was this shelter. It had to be. So, in order to push this man into coming with her without objection, she would have to rid him of his ties. It would be simple and the last vestige of his shelter would be gone. Then he would have to come with her. It was the only way. She saw no campfire. She had no flare gun - even though there were several in the shuttle - and she didn’t carry matches. She knew a way of summoning flames from her body, but the power was highly unstable and she wasn’t anywhere near mastering it. She was considering going back for an easier and safer solution, but the flares in the shuttle might as well have been miles away and her impatience begat swift action. Lallu held up her hands and felt the fury of unstable power rush into them. She allowed her mind to unhinge and spilled the remainder of her emotions to bear upon the air in front of her. It was a small transition, but the reaction in the air was not immediate. A subtle observation would show that the temperature of the air had increased, but it took a few moments before the air began to crackle. Lallu pushed forth with visions of her master and with one final break, she exploded in flame. The fire consumed her like a shell and although she controlled the faint tide pouring from her limbs, the white hot rage of the fire spread further and tumbled out of control. The hollowed tree was only one of the victims consumed in its path, but soon the entire area was drowning in beautiful amber wrath. Lallu noticed and put her hands down, hoping the fire would stop, but her attempts were to no avail. She couldn’t care less for the chaos that spread, but now she was caught in a torrent of flame that she couldn’t control and had to get out. Lallu ran quickly through the fire, coughing and suffocating through the smoke as she went and escaped its pursuit. Lallu sweat violently under the heat weighing down upon her, but the adrenaline of survival found her and carried her muscles through the disaster of circumstance. She knew it was her fault and immediately regretted the haste of her actions. It was a disgrace to her mission and Furion would have surely scolded her for it. It was done though, and there was nothing she could do to stop it aside from waiting for it to stop on its own. So she found a comfortable place to settle on nearby and watched from afar. The flames continued, damning the marshlands with their hands of destructive power. They were beauty in color and death in execution, but as with all things, the flames faded after a time. The humidity of the air and running out of brush to burn, were what brought the downfall to its fury, but its wake was immense. The hollow tree was black and broken, lying atop the durasteel plate in an ironic display that mimicked the plate’s former use, but the rest of the land was simply broken. The ground, the brush and the flora that was strewn about before, were now amidst the charcoal black that permeated the atmosphere. Ash rose into the air and Lallu could smell the smoke even through the fire’s dying breaths. Oops…

Lallu was a little glad for the warm reception, but to be completely honest, she wasn't expecting it. She had exiled herself from the Sith for so long, following the coattails of her master's legacy, that her own presence in the Sith was contested. Still, when the slug offered her a position at his side in the war to come she figured a path was better than no path. She crept from her hiding place, took her hood down and unbound her lekku so they could get some air. Then she took her knives from her hands and holstered them at her hips, adjacent to a rather long leather whip, which was also at Lallu's hip. She could see Emily out of her peripherals and wondered what she would do now that they weren't bound by the same tether. She kept a mental guard up just in case, but it was Sheog that held the bulk of her attention as the Twi'lek followed him into his ship. ______________________________________ It was a fairly quiet ride for Lallu, but the twi didn't mind. For all the down time she had, she took time to practice. She would set up dummies in any open hold she could find and riddle them with knife holes, or slash them with the edges of her barbed whip. She didn't really have too many people to talk to and although the people she was flying with were fellow Sith, she only really felt mild kinship to them. Still, the silence was fine. She didn't really like to talk.

A year or two had passed on Talus, with still no sign of Furion. Not even his vessel came in sight of the complex and before nightfall the very same day she was promised his return, Lallu let loose a scream that shattered the windows of several houses in roughly a mile radius. It was unbearable for Lallu, because her master had always been there for her and for him to be gone, was unthinkable. She felt emptiness in her soul and sobbed more than her share of tears for several weeks. Rose did her best to comfort the Twi’lekk, but Lallu needed to be alone. She needed to expend her emotions in her own way and didn't wish to hurt Rose if she lost control. She would sequester herself in the underground chambers of the house for several weeks after that, tearing through useless furniture in a passionate flurry of emotion. Splinters of wood and warped pieces of plastasteel fell about the floor with reckless abandon with each strike and she could feel the power of her emotions pulsing through her body and fueling each movement. She was a fighter possessed and her movements had a will of their own, but in the light of her fury, she found an interest in the profound sensations she felt in each strike. Although the object of her exercise didn't call for focus, but for a means of venting her excess emotions, she couldn't help but notice the transition. She could feel the swell of power flow within her as if it came from another place in her mind and over time, she began to understand the fabric of what Furion and the other Sith practiced. She didn’t really feel like she could decipher the meat of their powers, but she could feel her master's words echoing around her every time she moved, controlling her; guiding her movements. Before long, honing this ability became a way to get closer to her master, or at least her master's teachings and this, in and of itself, provided her sufficient motivation to move forward. This discovery led to months of fighting practice. Lallu, sometimes with the help of Rose, would take large sacks filled with rice or flour grains down into the lower levels of the structure and use them as dummies in her combat demonstrations and skirmishes. First she would start with hand-to-hand to see the visceral responses she could learn from throwing her emotions into each punch and kick. This experiment turned out almost exactly like she planned, but blew up a few times in her face and ended up dislocating her shoulders and hips a few times. It wasn’t so much that a trip to the bacta tank and auto-doc weren’t enough to fix her, but the pain supplied more motivation. She didn’t let her motivation go. She eventually managed to quicken her hands and feet in small intervals, because she felt any more power would cause the ability to transition quickly into levels of destabilization. Next, Lallu moved on to knife practice and by that time she had begun putting her name out in a few discreet channels on the planet for small odd jobs. She needed to provide for Rose now that she was alone and they had low reserve money in their bank account. It was an easy fix, but if Lallu was to do mercenary work, she needed to know how to kill more effectively. So she worked on focusing her emotions some more and using them to recreate an ability she previously experienced in one of her tantrums. She knew enhancing her senses would work, because it had happened before, but after a few failed experiments in that realm she had only managed to gain some control. Her knife work began improving though and as time went on she integrated her dancing into her knife work and developed a fighting style that worked with knives, knife throwing and dancing. There were a few accidental tantrums like before, when Lallu would explode in a fiery ball of anger damaging herself and anyone nearby, but Lallu was learning to avoid these by spending more and more time pushing her emotions out in practice. The more she expressed her emotions and pushed them through her body, the less emotional build up she had to let out and therefore Lallu had no reason to explode. This training regimen became the norm for her and over time her mental ailment began to fade away until Lallu was in control of her mental and physical faculties. _____________________________________________________________ The dust that lay upon the stone gripped the cloth of her shoes as she ran full tilt at her assailant. Then, when her pursuit climbed toward the proximity of her target, the Twi’lekk sprung from the ground and flipped in the air, letting loose a knife and catching the broadside of her victim’s neck, spraying white dust everywhere. But she wasn’t done yet. Lallu caught the floor with both feet and rolled away, panting as she went. Then, she pushed herself back to her feet in one smooth motion, turned around and used the strength of her hips to send one more knife at her mark’s chest, which caused the mark in question to explode in a huge puff of white powder. The Twi’lekk paused, poised to strike the final blow at her target, but within a few seconds, the flour sack ceased up and fell to the floor, spraying its contents all over the stone. Rose smiled a little over in the corner, due to the humor in killing a flour bag, but Lallu ignored her. It wasn’t that she didn’t find it funny too, but she was trying to work for something; she was trying to work toward something and this just wasn’t cutting it for her any more. And that's the question, isn't it? Who are you? What do you want?... You don't have the answers. And I will be honest with you, as I will always be. I don't have those answers either. It is something only you can discover. But I can show you the way. I can show you how to see yourself for who you really The path I am on is dangerous, and uncertain. You may question my methods and my choices. You will certainly question my intent, but I will tell you this only once. You will know both what I tell you, and what you can figure out for yourself. Never expect me to tell you everything. Follow me, and I will lead you to the freedom your heart craves

A scarlet rose fell through an endless stream of torrential thorns. Blacker than night itself and bereft of any mercy they lifted their vice and fell ruthlessly upon the rose, tearing into the rose and breaking it apart. The crimson petals beckoned fruitlessly, struggling against bonds of shame; against bonds of weakness, but the frailty of the rose was held and the silence that answered was thick and deafening. This was its life; this was its fate. It was, after a time, left to acclimate to the chill of its depth, laid bare across an ethereal dais and the moments to follow would mock peace. The impending dread hung upon the delicate flower and even in the warmth of its own thoughts, it could feel a cold hand groping its petals. It worked only for hunger, for greed. It was a monstrous thing and it would never release its own menace to give the flower peace. The flower could not fight; it could not struggle and sought only to give in. It longed to forever embrace the frigid hospitality. She wanted the complete chill of her predicament to absolve herself completely and leave her with nothing, but inevitability would not be defied. The rose was left, still to be coveted; still to be abused; and still to be ignored. The dark hung heavily over her until the color of crimson faded from her petals; the green of life fell from the stem and the husk of her empty beauty was left to grace cold emptiness. No peace... No chaos... No light... No dark... No Love... The spirit hung in the balance, fading upon the weakness of her will, and blind from everything precious. Everything slowly drifted from her and she could no longer feel the heart of her struggle; her mind was broken and left misshapen at the feet of those who would seethe at her incompetence. She rest at the pinnacle of fate and even when certainty drug her further into silence, a small tug sent perception spiraling. Passions ignited and pushed new heights of consciousness. The petals burst into red flame and pulsed violently, burning the dark hands that sought to touch, grab and hold what they never respected. The flower fought her own surroundings, wrenching herself from the cold depths and destroying the infallible hands once and for all, but to what avail? The flower hung silent once more, her assailants absent of their cold residence, but now”¦ With a cold irony burning deep in the sad flower's bosom, there was nothing there to hold on to. She fell quickly this time, a path of smoke trailing behind her. It was the evidence that lingered. The charred remains of the flower's passion felt like whispers on her trail and even with her path clear, she could never forget. She would never forget. _______________________________________________________ Lallu woke abruptly, feeling her entire body immersed within a liquid she had not encountered before. Her first thoughts probed it and figured it was water, but the warmth that pooled within it was alien though strangely welcoming. The peace and flexibility of her body as it regained strength was an odd feeling after such a vivid dream of weakness and death, but there was a reason she was here. There was a reason. Rose Without thinking, the Twi'lekk shifted quickly and a few of the mechanical implements holding her in place lurched, breaking at their fragile joints. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but the broken metal limbs were then pushed into her face as jets of air pushed kolto around to the mandatory areas of injury, that now felt perfectly fine. In a quick flurry of movement, the Twi'lekk swung around and managed to break all of the other metal limbs around her and it became clear that she was no longer held in place. So, seeing her opening, the Twi'lekk swam to the surface and worked her way over the side of the transperisteel container and onto the cold stone basement floor. _______________________________________________________ Realization swept over Lallu's form as the sensation of water left and was replaced by an ice cold chill that embraced her entire body. She recoiled from the oppressive feeling with haste, but was supplanted by a small figure holding a towel. The small robed figure was unkempt in her dark robes, but her smile was sincere for now. Her face held evidence of sleep loss and there was guilt in Lallu's mind, but something else pushed it out. A feeling, not unlike a spark, popped lightly in her mind. A presence was approaching; a familiar presence. She could not feel the energy within him, but something in the air seemed to stir and Lallu knew that her master was on his way. ...Rose...

The only question was, how exactly was she going to handle it? Lallu stood there, her left hand against the main doorway at the threshold of exit and the other in a makeshift sling, puzzling to herself and gripping with the lingering pain that drifted through her limbs. The Twi'lek couldn't find anything more than bacta patches for her wounds and had to painfully reset a few of her bones for the splints and patches to actually work. So she wasn't really enjoying the prickling sensations that came to her as her shakily connected ribs altered position with par to her movements, even if they were healing. All in all it wasn't a desirable situation, but if the letter condemned anything in its hasty writing, it was impatience and impatience didn't bode well for targets. Well... If I sit here and bleed while Rose is contained, Furion will have my hide for sure. If I go after her though, there isn't a definite chance I will succeed. Lallu searched her mind for answers, but ultimately gave in to inevitability. She had no reason to sit and sulk when pain wasn't something she was unfamiliar with and if she didn't do something about the situation at hand, the consequences would be far greater than what she was suffering through now. Her right leg rebelled at that statement, as did the bickering of her ribs, but her arm was quite comfortable in its cloth and was on its way to a full recovery. She slowly removed her hand from the side of the doorway, cringing a little at the sharp painful sensations jabbing her side, but did her best to ignore them. It was hard, but she managed well enough as she walked further into the house to retrieve her knives; crude tools robbed from those with the negative will of fate upon their actions. They weren't the sharpest blades around and Lallu had limited implements through which to sharpen them, but she only needed them to be sharp enough to make a dent. A dent is all I need”¦ The Twi'lek panted silently to herself, trying to compensate for the weakness in her limbs, but failing miserably and falling to her knees. The motion was swift and unpredictable. It pushed her hands straight to the floor, following her knees and sending more pain rattling down her spine, shattering her will to stabilize her body. I've got to do this”¦ Lallu felt the healing of the patches taking their time, but knew patience would not win this day. She had to act fast; she had to act now. Failure is unacceptable”¦ Lallu grunted loudly as she struggled against her weight on the floor. Sweat dribbled down her skin and her muscles screamed with heated agony. She could barely feel the pain anymore as it continued shooting up her arms, but she persisted. After a few moments, at the behest of her wailing limbs, she pushed herself to her feet. She was shaking slightly from side to side, but felt the adrenaline pumping her limbs through their adverse conditions regardless. She looked, her red eyes scanning for any other clues that the captors might have left in their haste, but treaded carefully to her knives and moved with deceptive haste. They will know pain... Once she willed herself to the threshold of the house and locked the door, she fled into the night. They will know misery... _____________________________________ _ _ _ _ ____________________ _ _ _ _ ______________ With the pain of each step pushing her forward, the dark skinned Twi'lek moved through the night air like a woman possessed. Her eyes flared crimson even as the sway of her body, encouraged by the sounds and consistency of broken bones swinging about, pulled ravenous vultures from their roosts. Their degraded feathers flapped in the wind behind her, making more sound then they were conscious of, betraying their stations and forfeiting their lives. As if their sounds didn't betray their positions enough though, the vultures could not forgo the insatiable lust for exploiting vulnerability that was pungent in their actions and hung in the air like a thick smog. It littered her senses as she moved and even at the sole contempt of her determined notions, she couldn't help but smell it. It was a smell - an ever present feeling - she was familiar with and one she wouldn't soon forget. The faults of sinful men that couldn't control impulse freckled the sensory attack, and before Lallu could register the moves of her assault, she had already stopped. The cloth of her arm splint fell away; discarded, like a single crimson flag, waving in the heart of chaos for the fallen wastrels. Her attention was single, it was focused. Lallunia felt the tenuous tingle of the fracture as its lingering effects still tickled her mind, but the black wound blocking use of her right arm was healing quickly at the behest of the patch still clinging to it. Due to its small size, it didn't demand recognition, but it was still present even as it moved into the back of Lallu's mind. The tools of her dark dance lay upon her hips once more within the confines of their cloth wrappings, fresh blood covering their corroded blades and a silver glint accenting the aftermath of her art. It was a necessity. Each supposed 'innocent' that looked upon her with judging eyes was met with no return, no reciprocation. Their probing eyes that groped her form as it shambled, limped, and finally walked down several lengths of street weren't a concern to her. Rose... Mortality didn't even find concern in the Twi'lek as the fresh blood of her bountiful deeds took to her body as much as her own. Even when she stole witness to the urban sprawl melting away behind her and the warehouses of durasteel gray fading in to replace them, she was so immersed in the poetry of her own existence and that of her mission, that the other parts of the galaxy didn't seem to matter. Large warehouses with walls as thick with durasteel as twenty moderately sized vehicles smashed into one, swung above Lallu's head as she neared their home on the outskirts of the town's industrial sector without a reasonably cautious approach. For a moment, standing at the foot of one particularly large warehouse, Lallu had trouble remembering which one of these particular warehouses was the site of the meeting, and began picking around each one instead. Her hunger still pulsed deep within her mind and soul though, even in this contemplative state. Even while she stood, subtlety begging itself the better option, the amount of pain that overwhelmed her basic senses urged her to ignore any other alternatives. It was the strength of clamor though that ultimately drew her intentions away from eminent strokes of senseless destruction and vandalism. Noises erupted from an open door near her and revelation emerging from the depths of the hollow metal, rang in her ears and carried her onward toward a more reliable path. _________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ (5/11/2011) An amorphous shadow stalked the building, silently moving from a series large crates upon the warehouse's broadside to the catwalks that littered its middle level. The shadow was shaky, giving form to its procession with the apparent draw of black fleshy limbs due to its inept attempts at sleight, but the captors beneath were covering its faults. The shadow was able to make mistakes because the more potent ineptitude lay beneath it as it lurked within the darker pockets of the catwalks to make up for its lack in finesse. It surveyed the scene with brilliant eyes through the crutch of unconscious power, and although its crippled and inept form found an ideal perch on the side, which allowed the shadow full view, its form drew more ineffectual means of balance. It tried to wrench the plague of chaotic pain from its consciousness in fear that its wrath would be relentless and uncontrollable, but the shell of strength cracked and the fragility of her fading condition clamored in the dark as it spilled out. It tried to return to the shell in hopes that the strength may still be there, but her crude attempts at recovering logic were countered with a fragile consciousness, and she lost control. The prone form of the black Twi'lek emerged from the shadow and fell with an unfettered 'thud' upon the side of a crate and slammed into the side of another, unsettling the healing of her already fractured side. The boisterous men continued to warble, settled about their captive, as if their mouths were good for nothing else and only inclined their heads within interest to the noise. More suspicious men fought their suppressive instincts though and began to roam the area, searching for the sound. Lallu's form hung, like dirty laundry upon the backside of a crate and was curiously avoided. The scavengers failed to notice the cadaver hanging above them and in the end, their efforts didn't claim the bounty of her body. No, instead, Lallu's body unceremoniously plopped into their unsuspecting laps, pushing them to the ground and causing even the boisterous few to come and see the commotion. Their surprise at the situation that the other, more suspicious men had gotten themselves into, was warranted. It was even expected. The actions that followed though were consistent of a harsh inevitability that stalked Lallu in her darkest of thoughts. Rough callused hands grabbed at her and even more groped. Eyes littered about and pried cloth away from the unconscious form to see what treasure laid beneath, but in the rain of limbs and speculation rest a set of crimson eyes... Burning... I've been holding this in, for way”¦ too”¦ long”¦ With a scream that curdled blood, the Twi'lek erupted from the forms of men covering her body and in an act of renewed strength, cut them down. She could feel as her tools lept from their cloth sheaths and into her scarred hands, casting asunder each usurper with every beautiful silver arc cascading above, below and around her; a beautiful metallic symphony in a river of blood. The lecherous assailants did their best to flee any way they could to avoid her murderous procession, but each felt the bite of her blades and the bitter taste of copper upon the cold durasteel floor. _________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ (5/12/2011) Her visual savagery sated, the beast remained. Her eyes savored the site of her gruesome retribution; her ears indulged in the sounds of cracks and her own callused fingers tempted enthusiasm with each tear of limbs upon the ground, but she wanted more... She craved... She hungered... The weakness of her sanity protested through the consciousness of her actions, but the steps she took were not her own. One by one they would all fall, regardless. The beast knew this. The beast rounded a nearby crate and propelled her body hand and foot through a few milling sycophants and sent them crashing to the ground with powerful strikes to muscle and bone alike. She was nothing but flesh to them... NOTHING Painful boiling tears shot through her eyes and she screamed once more, pushing the girth of a crate onto unwilling perpetrators and feeding on their pain. The vastness of her wrath exploded in a subtle perversion of the air that was ever present, but had just recently - per her outburst - emerged to a presence capable of register. It was the encore of her macabre dance that seemed to hang in the air; a morbid reminder to those that remained, of what was to come should they stay. YOU BETTER RUN!!! Fire burned in the beasts eyes as she didn't hesitate to run after each wastrel until the lot of them were gone. It seemed futile, but she didn't care; the beast was a creature of impulse. She forgot her mission; she forgot her purpose. She was an avatar of rage and culled a river of carnage upon the cadavers of her fallen enemies even in their limpid states. She sought unending retribution and would never be sated. Lallu? The word seemed to lag, distant and away, but the echoes off the durasteel around the beast began to ebb away at her chaotic marble. Lallu, is that you? The voice was small, but pleasant. A pleasant ray of light in her chaotic swarm of consciousness and even in her blood raged state, the beast turned to see a small blond girl tied up and relatively unscathed. Immediately perceptions rang to the forefront of the beast's mind of a similar form, black in skin, terrified in expression; abused in a state of mind and body. The parallel seemed to resonate sourly in the beasts mouth for a few moments. She could taste the emotions she felt all those years ago and didn't desire the recollection. Her subconscious prisoner of sanity could curiously predict the oncoming swarm of fury and wanted to divert the flood of emotions, but she couldn't budge. Help... Save me from myself.... The thought was small... weak... Hope of any kind seemed lost... Fate... inevitability... A set of golden eyes appeared in her mind, outside the metaphysical cage, linking the beasts' sanity to imprisonment. A set of golden eyes that appeared to care for her fate even if its motives weren't intentional. The sanity found renewed strength in the golden gaze that fell upon her and its struggling form gained presence in the beast's mind once more. The control of fate seemed to be granted to her again and sanity could regain control of the beast at the cost of strength. Like a brick wall springing up from the floor, the beast stopped its attack mid-leap and shuddered. Her legs were like jello and the pain seemed to flood back as an echo of what it once was. Lallu re-emerged and looked upon Rose with a somewhat timid smile, Yes, Rose... Its me. The Twi'lek coughed a little, her blood surfacing from time to time to remind her of her own mortality and its fragility, but Lallu didn't care right now. She disregarded perceptions of the practicality of her own predicament, for the warm thoughts of relaxation and healing. Let's get out of here... _________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ (5/13/2011) The process was arduous and the pain so brilliant that it numbed all she could feel. The Twi'lek had vague control of her limbs as they faded in strength, but her pace was slow. She used a mixed effort of stability through the artifice of an acquired two-by four and the blond girl that walked alongside her, covered in a rag to hide her appearance from the dark of the street. The vultures still lay upon the ground where Lallu left them, providing motivation for even more vultures after, to come and pick through their arrogance. Her sight did not linger upon them... The world of Talus, in Lallu''s addled mind, seemed to drift away from her as the blood loss she suffered began to take over her conscious thoughts. She managed to safely lead Rose to the house and was now embraced by the warmth it provided, but she was barely a moment before she lay prone on the floor. The blond girl ran through the house in attempts to help, but a golden wisp was all Lallu saw... Her heart still beat, like a whisper within the furious tides of a blizzard; a blizzard in the heat of winter, but her heart's strength wasn't long for anything... Pictures... Became... Hazy... Her.... though- Rose... Darkness clouded the weary mind and silence was all that came to greet her. She could feel warmth in the barest tips of her fingers, but it too began to drift away from her... At.... least... Ros-e is safe...

Yeah, a majority of my characters tended to end up with Isabella, more because my own moral compass intervened when it came to actually playing the game. I don't actually have the rival achievement because I haven't pissed any character off to the point where they have been my rival. I figure that is something I bring over into the RP here on Jnet and I am moving away from that mentality as I go, but it is still something I struggle with. Anyway, I have decided what I want to go with, so... If Tiana could close this thread? I know its kind of silly to post a thread this small, but I don't really have the opportunity of asking all of you on AIm and PMing all the people I know have played DAII would last forever and be extremely annoying.

Lallu carefully made her way to Talus with little added trouble, aside from the large burden of injury she regrettably endured; a badge of dishonor that she wore with every step she took, with every movement she made. She consciously disobeyed her master's order, even if the situation deemed it practical, and it pained her to exist. Lallu didn't exactly understand why, but as her body throbbed with a physical ache, an emotional pain seemed to hover above her like a lingering colossus; it wasn't to be seen, but the colossus' weight would be felt, pressing slowly down on her as she continued flying toward her destination. At the time, she dismissed it for continued ailments from her years as a slave, but her own mind wouldn't let her forget even just a small part of that feeling. A small inkling of it lingered even if she couldn't place it anymore, but new problems arose once she hit atmo that effectively pushed whatever personal business she had further into herself to be dealt with later. Her pain became a factor in her landing space regardless of her will pushing it otherwise. She had originally intending on landing ten clicks or so from her destination to phase out her path and defend her intended direction, but through the blistering pain of her body, she desperately reached out to find the path of least resistance. There were no landing pads at her destination, which would have inevitably been more fortuitous for her, but she settled instead on an unmarked landing pad five or so clicks away instead of the original ten. It would still be enough distance to give any pursuers a run for their money within the crowds she would be walking through, but something in Lallu internally punished herself for settling with the shorter path even if it meant the subtlest comfort. Even though the landing pad was unmarked, it was not completely abandoned and there seemed to be a palpable irritation rising in the air as she committed to the landing procedures as if nothing was wrong, essentially slapping any worker in the face without cause. However, once the grizzly looking, limping black skinned Twi pushed out of the ship with a lingering scowl ridden all over her face, the workers scattered away from her as if her skin bore an inevitable leprosy. The technicians and clerks simply marked the vehicle's registration down to avoid conflict with the Twi'lek and went straight back to what they were doing before, while Lallu kept the inevitable ragged pace her injuries condemned her to; each step composing a nightmare of new pain singing into her mind as she walked, cascading through her numb receptors, tickling her darker side. It was a temptation wise to avoid in a public street, but a temptation she sourly wished she didn't need to deal with. It was a familiar beast that seemed to subtly pour over her at every turn, but in this unpleasant state of affairs, the creature seemed to leer at her from the corners of its black habitat as she walked, threatening to leap into her judgment, but remaining still. She regarded it from her consciousness as she fought the fading strength of her body and for a second wished that all of her effort could amount to something, but even as she passed the one kilometer marker, she could predict the impending task of the four that remained. It was going to be a long walk... ((for the purpose of speeding things up a little... Time transition!)) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Lallu's mind screamed with joy as a familiar form blew into her perception, but an inkling of discrepancy crawled into her thoughts that didn't seem to leave as soon as the Twi'lek touched the code lock to the door. Her hands instinctively reached for the numbers, without pausing to look through the blood drying on her body and the pain still piercing through, but when her fingers met bare circuitry her pulse accelerated quickly. Her adrenaline shot and her eyes widened as the door opened without much effort and decorations were cast every which way under pain of struggle. Lallu couldn't feel the pain of loss that lingered through the air in remnant to the deeds that passed by, but she could see the hasty marks of feet on the ground, swipes of hands, burns of blasters and cuts from vibro blades on the fine Corellian wood of some pieces of furniture. Each new discovery drew more attention from her and renewed her growing sense of worry, feeding her insecurity and pushing the situation into bigger proportions until her fears were confirmed by a note on the table. ---- To whom it may concern We have taken the girl; we don't know who she belongs to, nor what should happen with her, but if you want to see her again, you must bring five million credits to our rendezvous point here, the letter indicated with a crudely drawn map of the area. We hope to see you soon, she may not last long enough for you to dilly dally... Then, at the end of the short letter Lallu could barely make out what looked to be a signature scrawled quickly at the very end as if in a rush, "Onyx?" she questioned to herself before folding the piece of paper and stashing it in the only place she could think of. Regarding the urgency of the situation, Lallu quickly walked a few more steps into the house to see to her wounds a bit, drop off her stuff, send for a technician to fix the door and after all of her preps were done, whether or not she had been fully healed yet, her mind was made up minutes after she realized Rose was gone. It wasn't a question of whether or not she figured it was a trap, it was more a question of how fast could Lallu get there. Rose was important to Furion and as such was important to Lallu. The Twi'lek would find her, no matter what it took...

Ullanna huffed lividly as she got off the transport in a rather awkward situation. It appeared her new name had garnered her some attention and not only did she come out of the transport in full CorSec garb, but with a weapon or two holstered at her side with a nice shiny badge flashing in the morning sun. Her new name was 'Ullanna Gwynn' and it was written in her new dossier, that she was associated with a CorSec unit that had been on leave for quite some time. Apparently there were quite a few officers on board, so she was given an extremely nice greeting. When they asked to see her uniform and credentials, she presented the credentials, but said she lost her uniform in an accident she didn't want to talk about... Something about it going through the wrong machine for a wash and ending up being incinerated instead of cleaned. Somehow they bought her false honesty and she managed to entertain them further as their joy at seeing a fellow officer coursed through the situation and a large part of the ship as well... At least it isn't the entire ship... Ullanna muttered to herself, remembering the huge orgy back on Nar Shadaa. In between questions and fond hellos though, Ullanna just couldn't help but play with her hair. It was so long and soft; it tingled with life and exuberance. It was the same as having hundreds of lekku sprouting from her head that all responded at equal potency. Lost in the revelry of the situation and her charming presence, the officers quickly remedied her un-uniformed situation and once she was geared up, they began talking to her as if they had been buddies all their lives. Ullanna was thoroughly confused, trying to make up stories as fast as she could process all of the new jargon swimming through her head, but her head was still a little queasy from the operation and when it was all over she was reacting as if she was caught already; her hands shot to her face in embarrassment, but it appeared that her reaction was more appropriate than she thought. When it was all over, it appeared she had done enough of a performance to fool everyone there. Her heart was pounding and her words were jumbled, but she managed to pull off innocence enough to get a certain level of sympathy. The stress was beginning to wear on her until it let up near the end, but now that she was off the boat, she was beginning to realize exactly how tiring being stressed really was. Especially in a body that wasn't used to it. I need to go home and collapse.... On the floor... Heh, we really need furniture. A few of the CorSec that had happily reprimanded her earlier were commenting on her stories and jabbing at her arms, but they eventually let her be as they moved on to their own duties and let her make the trek to her new home. It seemed that their merry emotions had dwindled into a more fatigued sense of apathy as they walked away, mimicking Ulanna's own, but she didn't really care anymore; she just wanted to go home. It was a decent distance from the starport and located amongst other buildings of roughly the same type. In no real way did the house stand out by any means, but that was exactly what her master wanted. He wanted low-key ID's, a low key house and no trace to exactly where it is they were and what it is they were doing.

Lallu cleared the landing platform smoothly, where hundreds of bored patrons were wafting their way through the smoke stacked stenches of people that moved about in a similar chorus to Coruscant's busy packed roadways. The only difference was that this place, this area... heck, this entire planet was covered in a smog like residue that just reeked of poverty, malice, greed and desperation. Nothing like a cruel city to get lost in Huh? Lallu thought to herself softly as a stranger breathed the very same, extremely close to her left ear. His breath was clammy and his mouth covered by sharp brown stubble; his eyes were a mystery hidden behind a half-assed black satin hood, but Lallu was convinced he thought it looked cool. Soon however, before Lallu could rip the man's tongue out from his head, the stranger was joined by two friends who pushed their way through the crowd; men who also looked like pieces of crap who only gave vague necessity to their criminal professions and aesthetics. Before Lallu knew it though, she was surrounded by these ignorant thugs, moving through the crowd. Each one of the thugs looked only somewhat capable with their weapons. It wasn't their capability that set Lallu on edge though, but their number. Ten men would be enough to overwhelm her if she wasn't careful and the number was enough to draw anyone's attention. Even though she had a little more experience in martial weapons and whips than these men looked like they did in all of their weapons, combined, she knew there could be many different outcomes. "What do you want?" Lallu said, her tone staying dangerously close to freezing, her words dropping like inaudible rocks amongst the din of the crowd that slowly limped by. "Well... Sweet cakes" The man next to her face said, pulling her around to get a good look in her ruby red eyes, "We want you." The man's smile widened deviously. Lallu chuckled inwardly at her own thoughts as to how little that threat meant to her, but something about this scene wasn't right. Ten men just don't pop out of nowhere and begin to interrogate someone for no reason. There had to be something going on here and although she couldn't fathom the reason, within the little silent moments she had before their assault, she knew one of them knew. "Well then," led Lallu as she faked a swoon towards the gawking male and looked at the disgusting scrawny man as if he were the finest commodity imaginable, stroking his ego with every smooth gesture and intricate word. "We have an interesting situation here... Let me tell you a secret though." Lallu playfully chirped as she pranced merrily over to the man's side and leaned in closely to nibble at his ear. Lallu smiled devilishly as a small sound at the base of her palm gushed into being. None of the men before her wielded guns of any kind and would have to trust their hands with what they had in them; it would become increasingly obvious whether they wanted civilian casualties or not, based on the virtue of their actions, but Lallu hadn't the slightest worry or care toward the innocent men and women that now fled for their lives at the site of a sadistic Black Twi'lek with a rather large knife. The man before her, kneeling at the ground and clutching at his sticky red abdomen looked up at her with a wretch, his eyes boiling as he let out the last few breaths of organic life he had left. ”œAh yes”¦ my secret was, that none of you are getting out of here alive, starting with you.”

"Well Mr. Worthington, it seems I have another task to perform before I can move into the place, do you think you could lock it down for me and give me the card keys?" Ulina said as she looked up toward a tall regal man with staunchly, bushy eyebrows. He had a rather fair complexion and deep blue eyes that gazed idly into Lallu's with mild fascination at her curious honesty. "Why yes ma'am, I will. Here are the card keys you requested, and all I will be requiring is the money for our transaction." Said the man as he held over four copper colored cards with the number address on them. "Oh! You needn't have to worry of that Mr. Worthington", Lallu said, her hands receiving the cards rather quickly and a small smile tempting the surface of her face. "Oh? And why is that?" The inquisition of his statement burned into her face, but he found no questionable glances or deceptive stare hidden in her gaze. "Why, because it was handled by electronic transaction, here is the receipt." Lallu or 'Ulina' handed over what looked to be a small data card that was loaded with all of the info the man needed. With that handled, Mr. Worthington nodded in a farewell agreement and pushed a few buttons on his remote to lock down the house from the outside. So, thought Lallu as she got out of reach of Mr. Worthington's penetrating gaze, I need to make a stop at Coruscant and I suspect that this will drain a decent amount of money from the account, but it will all be worth it, in time...

Lallu was thrilled to know her plan was working so well. Her lekku rested softly upon her back, touching slightly the common red dress, as she listened for a comm beep that came within minutes of her initial message. Step one was all going so well and she was enjoying it all. Lallu knew enjoyment wasn't necessarily the best way to learn anything, because getting cocky was sort of an anti-teaching mechanism, but as she listened to Sheog's rambling voice, she began to twirl the end of her right lekku in her finger, slightly rubbing off the powdery black makeup that was established to hide her tattoos. Once the message was over and her smile tripled from its initial size, she worked to send a reply in order to not sound suspicious. Quickly she held the device to her ear and voiced a small message, but enough to get the message across. <> With a snap, Lallu wrote the number down on a small piece of paper and headed toward the nearest bank, simultaneously calling up the Realtor of one of the properties she had been looking at earlier. It would be a slightly lengthy process, she knew, including a lot of fabricated information that would be made legitimate in time to come. Lallu had already been able to convincingly change her own ID so the name she put down was easy enough to finagle, but the previous address listing, her other info and numbers needed checking out. It was all a matter of time though before she would be done with her first mission... ____________________________________________________________ After the mountain of paperwork was crested, Lallu followed the Realtor to her favorite place, which stood as one of the better buildings near the middle of the City's outskirts. Lallu didn't know if Furion had a preference on furniture or if he even wanted furniture, but she had the down payment on the home handled and managed to pay out the entirety of the bill with no need for a mortgage and plenty of change. So, if he wanted something, she easily had about five-hundred thousand left over and was eagerly awaiting her next mission. It is only one call away”¦

<< An encrypted comm for Sheog >>

For the past few hours, Lallu had been sleeping on the rim of a cold durasteel bench, resting only footsteps from a lovely pseudo-Corellian park. Her snores were but small whispers that probed the silent tranquility the environment, warily trying to find reasons for suspicion. Ever since her consciousness had solved its own cryptic riddle upon the heels of a violent blow to the head, Lallu had been getting phenomenal sleep and even though her attitude had soured with the victory of her violent alter ego, her health both physical and mental perked up remarkably. Her dreams were as corruptible as normal and her mind was an empty vessel once again. The only drawback was that her existence was now dreadfully lonely. Small sloshing sounds from her mouth were the only few sounds heard before her prone form stirred, reaching hands irrelevantly out from her body to stroke the Talus morning air. Her preparations had been small but deliberate in her swift acknowledgment to her master's wishes. With a slight change in identity, makeup and wardrobe, ”˜Ulina Gyra' had not only scoped out a few of the outer-lying buildings for her purposes, but she had secured their prices and their designs. The Black Twi'lek, whose red tattoos were now covered in black makeup, settled onto the cold durasteel bench in a now comfortable seated position, feeling a shrill cool feeling prickling up the base of her spine. She opened up a small casually designed bag and began rooting around what little personal credits she had left, calculating how much she needed for food and how much she would need for the future prospect of buying one of the aforementioned properties. Since Lallu had settled in the capital city of Talus, Dearic, and the properties of note were located on or near the outskirts of the city, the property value stood at about five hundred thousand credits each, on average. Getting that money short of robbing a bank would be heroic indeed, but she needed this money to be somewhat hidden, to be traced only by a third party. Granted it would be unrealistic to expect a hardened researcher not to find out who originally made the account, but it would be better if that person wasn't who they were pretending to be. Which is precisely why I registered a different Id after the second public transport picked me up. The only similarity would be hidden underneath an elaborate, but common red dress and that was the whip she had pilfered from a taskmaster. She would buy her own eventually, but as a practicing implement it served her needs well”¦ Didn't Sheog say something about having lots of Money? Do I still have his number? Lallu took a moment to page through a long list of comm numbers in a small device that had been strapped to her waist and thumbed up the Hutt's from the middle. In all reality it wasn't that long of a list, because Lallu had little in the way of a public presence, but she had all she needed. Now”¦ All I need to do is pretend I am still the dimwitted naïve little Lallu I used to be and this should be a piece of cake.

< An encrypted comm message comes for Julio Furion >

Lallu, in her over enthusiastic euphoria, smashed into the broadside of a tree and felt the unconscious hand of darkness grip her feeble mind and thrust her to the ground. Such a beautiful energy was hastily plucked from the air by an immovable force that rattled her mind like a child's play thing. For a few moments, as Lallu lay motionless at the foot of a large oak, it seemed that Sheog was fairly sympathetic to the Twi'lek. His large eyes were welling up with what looked like tears and he even shared a few words, but, after a few moments of minor grieving to what Sheog thought was a Twi'lek corpse, it appeared his priorities changed on the heels of his immediate haste to the departing supply ships not 4 miles away. It would take him a while to get there, but by the time Lallu woke she would be alone”¦ All alone”¦ "Well looks like you are up shit creek without a paddle huh?" A rather cloudy version of Lallu exclaimed, looking particularly serene as she stared down at a prone version of Lallu, which seemed to mock the actual Lallu's outward appearance and posture. "Do you ever leave me alone?" The prone Lallu mumbled at the ground before turning herself over and trying to get up. "I am a part of you, you crazy bitch and until you get that in your crazy empty messed up skull, I don't think you will ever live with yourself, because you are me”¦ Get it?" probed the cloudy Lallu as she poked at the prone Lallu with her bare darkened foot. Lallu's playful side, painted as the face of innocence and called Grace for this particular tale, looked with shock upon her alternate ego, continuing to stare only under sheer disbelief. "No Malive, I don't get it”¦" "Malive? Really? Is that supposed to be a nickname comprised of different biting words? Let me guess”¦ Malicious, Malign, Vengeance and Rage? Is that supposed to insult me? Child you are one of the wo”¦ Whatever. I'll respond to it if it makes you feel better. Now, as to our current delegation, what is it about my statement that you didn't get? Was it the ”˜you are' part? Or the ”˜like me' part?" "All of it really", Grace plaintively shrugged as she sat on a hillock that materialized out of thin air. "You can be a real pain and you are such a meanie that I don't understand how your scum can equal my fluffiness”¦" "Well”¦ Fluffy", Malive suggested, wincing at the word's mention, "we are merely part of the same coin. Two sides, if you will of the same person". "Well”¦ I understand that you can make me see stuff that happened from my younghood”¦ Childness? Childhood? I dunno. The past! I know you can do that, because you've done it before, but does that mean you are me because you can do stuff to me? Or because I let you do stuff”¦ I am so confused”¦" Malive lifted the palm of her hand to the bate patch of what looked to be a tendril coated forehead. "You naïve foolhardy ass! Have my exhibitions brought you nothing? Have you no wisdom from these traumatic lapses of consciousness?" "All I know is that they hurt a lot”¦" "Alright we are ending this right now”¦ I am not sharing this insufferable existence with someone who can't even spell insufferable!!" Malive yelled, her hands rushing to her sides in a plight of heated rage. "What are you going to do?" Said Grace as her eyes welled up into huge orbs that shone under an artificial ambient light like a cute kitten mewing for its evening meal. "I am going to do something I should've done a long time ago." Then, without any other words, Malive, the crazy psychotic embodiment of a corrupt symbiotic existence, launched towards Grace in a rapid flurry of fervid beating. It threw Grace for a loop as she tumbled backwards in hasty response, but even when she was threatened she tried to back away from the hostile situation, bringing up hands to try and quell the thundering tide. "We can settle this without hurting”¦ Right?" "NO!" Said Malive as her eyes flashed like red flame and the ambience of terrestrial existence darkened, leaving the floor beneath them, which stood as a mere illusion before, in a blanket of cold darkness. Grace looked around in a panicked episode of flighty resolve and ill consequence, but after a few moments of corrosive battling, her eyes went red as well and the two of them parted only to be brought back together in a chorus of pounding and crashing. Blow after blow, grab after grab and throw after throw each personality dueled until, in their rapid haste, they crashed directly into each other sending a mental shock wave throughout Lallu's mind, culminating in the contusion that rose only slightly visible upon her black head, nestled lightly adjacent to her right lekku. After a few hours of long winded passivity and a regretful episode of unconsciousness, Lallu looked around with careful eyes, began brushing herself off and got up off of the ground, stretching as she lifted each muscle. So, my position hasn't changed, but where is the tub of lard that followed me earlier? Lallu managed a few moments to look around more aggressively, swiveling her head quickly from one side to the other only to find that it hurt to swing her head too far to one side and found soreness there that wasn't a good sign. Other than the small lump and neck injury though, it appeared her body was recovering well. What did this to me? Was it the slug? It was then that Lallu turned to find a rather large imprint in the nearest tree that seemed to be Twi'lek sized. Oh great, it seems that girl got into more trouble”¦ Wait”¦ Lallu took a moment to dwell within her mind echoing her inquisitive thoughtfulness off of the bare chasm walls, searching for a shadow, or even a halo, something that would tell her she was the same as before, but nothing echoed her call. There was nothing left of either distinct personality; she was truly alone. You mean”¦ I'm free? Lallu paused for a moment until a broad smile creased her lips and broke into an explosion of joy that shook her entire body. Oh I missed this. Lallu thought as she hugged herself heartily, I have control now and I am not letting go”¦ Now, what was I doing? The black Twi'lek stared at the temple in the distance with relatively hazy, still recovering eyes and laughed out loud, finding her steps carrying her in that direction without qualm or haste. Alright, so maybe if I grab a whip on the way and hypnotize one of the guards in my own special way, I can get them to dish about the overseer. Finding the nearest Taskmaster's Den was no easy task though, as it was intentionally hidden from slave's eyes. After a heated span of ten minutes though, Lallu located one of the places in question behind a large row of trees, and set to work. She hadn't decided on any cover and was almost unsure of this plan's security, but the cover of night seemed too good to be true in answer to this dilemma. However, the taskmaster's tent still seemed heavily guarded. Must be the leader. Lallu kept her hands and body wreathed behind a large mass of bushes and other shrubbery, staring at the assembled rabble for a long time. She began taking note of each guard's shift in posture and level of interest. She didn't really take into account the actual shift change, but her luck seemed to pick up as both of the guards waddled away to switch with another set. This wasn't a bad move considering the elements and time, but Lallu took advantage of it anyway and slipped into the tent with relatively little difficulty. It seemed that the coast was clear as she tumbled quietly into the tent, but a large lump in the corner of the tent scared the Twi'lek so much that she almost gave away her position. Her feet left the ground momentarily and her hands rushed to her face in abject, useless horror. It wasn't the taskmaster, but it was enough of a decoy to spook Lallu and even with her rapid save, she could tell from the shift in postures outside the tent that someone heard something. Ok... Get what you need then get out. So, Lallu looked around quickly, leafing through papers as quietly as possible, heart pounding. Gripping at small objects and wrenching them away to get a better look, heart pounding. Pushing things around, heart pounding. Then, just when Lallu thought her heart, which had been beating away for the past 30 minutes in a loud cacophonous gesture of anxiousness, was going to burst, she found a whip right next to a curled up note. Taking the whip and adding it to her tattered red sash, Lallu unrolled the note and a wicked smile unfolded across her black face. Ok... First, I need to get out of here, then a quick call and I am off of this planet. ((I know the end is a little choppy, but I want to get off planet so there...))

Lallu watched as the over-sized, muscular, slug went over to what appeared to be a small wriggling mass of something and in abject disgust, Lallu watched and saw a huge swarm of worms begin to pour from the sky in what looked like a large hail of fleshy pests. Guts flew as the Hutt bit into their flesh without remorse, and Lallu was thoroughly sickened. It was of course something she was bound to expect from one hungry enough to eat such things, but the sheer mass of broad insecticidal carnage and wretched noises almost brought a small amount of puke to the back of her throat, and only really succeeded in burning her esophagus with stomach acid, leaving a rather distasteful and acrid taste in her mouth. Well that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen... And We've seen disgusting... What? Nothing? .... C'mon... If you're going to be in my head you might as well talk to me even if you are spiteful sometimes. Fine... Yes, I agree. It is a rather egregious display of rancid feasting habits, but what did you expect from a Hutt? I dunno... A big slug? There was a clear audible sound in the mists of Lallu's consciousness that almost sounded like a palm hitting a forehead, but without an actual visual, it was impossible to read exactly what happened. With her little internal escapade vaguely concluded, Lallu was almost caught unaware as to the Hutt's redirected attention at her. For a moment, she merely stood, trying to avoid touching her arms even as they healed, and instead contending merely to massage her lekku. There was a mischievousness in her eyes, that reflected her young personality and even as injured as she was, Lallu was thinking about dangerous things. "First," Lallu said, her ruby red eyes aflame with interest, "I want to steal a souvenir... And then I want to get off this planet, because it is soooo boring here." Lallu rallied, spending particular strain on the word "so" expressing exactly how bored she was. The black Twi'lekk wandered away a few steps and pointed out towards the temple a bit, straining her arms and wincing for a moment, before she resumed her previous youthful anxiousness. "Over there in the fields," Lallu said, her eyes and eyebrows open extremely wide, as if to capture the Hutt's attention on her enthusiasm alone. "As I ran after Lucifer and tried to catch the other Twi'lek that served as our master for a period of time, I saw a couple of what looked to be ships in the clearing. They were made to be invisible, but I managed to catch a glimpse of supplies being brought from them. However... They don't seem to come to terribly often." Lallu said her hope deflating slightly, but not completely leaving her bright eyes. "I want to take something, or see if I can take something for these slavers here and then I want to see if there is a supply ship docked there." Lallu continued, gesticulating her arms instrumentally in the air and jumping about a bit. "Then... I am going to try and get out of here..." Quite a brilliant plan that... Tell me? If no one wants the apprentices to leave, would they make the access to the supply ships easy? Would the even be remotely happy that you were leaving. And even if you find this illusory man, what's to say he will even want you? Jzora wanted you and she abandoned you... Lallu had forgotten about Jzora; a mystifying woman in her own right, and a brilliant figure in Lallu's life however short their relationship had been. That was different... You'll see! I'll find him and we'll be great together... The same sound of a palm hitting a bare forehead rang off the sides of Lallu's mind, but she still didn't connect the dots. "Ok... First things first, I want a whip!" yelped Lallu as she threw away the pain in her arms and flew through the woods toward the temple in hopes to catch a slaver off guard. Her arms pumped viciously, and her legs worked simultaneously, plying her feet from the ground and forcing her to float through the air in an acrobat's grace. The force wasn't even present as she ran with bright speed, but she did so regardless and held a broad smirk across her features even as leaves smashed into her face.

Lallu took a moment and wavered slightly under the blood loss as her arms tried to scab unsuccessfully, but her consciousness was still amusingly rolling over the idea of a helpful Hutt. The idea was generally ridiculous based off of the normal attribution to their race, but without medical experts within range and with her crude vanity expressing her desire for her skin's salvation, she surrendered to the Hutt's helpful medical treatments and shriveled out of reach upon the appropriate stinging solvent's applications and bandaging. the beautiful day around her, which seemed haloed by a cap of foreboding dark clouds, was an illusion compared to the biting pain she felt as each vial of medicine and patch of bacta was administered to her flesh; the pain of mortality; the pain of humility and disgrace. However, despite the pain kneading at her sides, pushing toward her mind, the medical processes were fairly quick and managed to take a small amount of the net pain from Lallu's arms. It still hurt to move them though, so her movement was isolated to small flourishes and careful gestures. Lallu backed away from the Hutt only slightly, feeling gingerly the area around the bandages with her hands, probing the wounds as if she hadn't seen them a moment before. The bandages were an effective disguise, but she recoiled when her hands found a particularly sore spot, indicating that the mask shielding her wounds was just that, a mask. She didn't know how long the treatments lasted nor how effective they were, but in a bout of rather fanciful ADD, the Twi'lek's eyes were focused on where the group of Sith from before had been. Had... being the operative word... Apparently the Hutt and Lallu were now the only Sith aside from one and a few lesser known lords that stayed behind. Hmmmm... well there goes boredom dispenser no. 2. Needless to say, although Lallu may or may not have been thankful to the Hutt for what he did, she was still no further to finding the man from before. How did he command so much respect and obedience? How could he command so much power? His aura stood before her even now and although some may have come to disregard what they viewed as simply a man, Lallu had never had the gratification of meeting him. He was a god to her in more ways than one and since she was a victim of his soul, she chose to follow in his echoed doctrine as well. Still, the deliverance of her safety was of Hutt hands and not her own. So, she breathed, sighing slightly, as her gaze shifted back to the Hutt; her red eyes pushing through the silence and gazing toward Sheoq without any distinct emotion. ”œThank you”¦ I guess.”