Less than Apathy (Apillis)

[Silas]

”Sleep well, my brother,” Whispered the Sith to the child as his blade sunk into the man’s chest. A sweet intake of breath and the smell of sin permeated in the air.

Slowly the blade parted from the unforgiving heart, the hum of the sabre danced among the final breath of the man as Silas pushed upon his chest with the tips of cold, long fingers. From the end of the blade hallow eyes drifted slowly through the air as their life flashed through the soulless gaze left behind. The old man had pity for him, he really did, but he could not help but revel in those cold lifeless eyes, for they were more beautiful now as they faded away then they ever had been alive. Before the corpse had fully hit the ground his foot came down to land squarely in the centre of the man’s chest, it might have popped as he moved forward past the cadaver, now a thing of the past.

Someone had once told him that the universe was full of interesting people, and every one of them was unique. When he was little he hadn’t believed that, and now that idea was no more conclusive than it was then. People were all the same; they thought to do well, but ended the same way. A lightsaber to the chest, a fall from ten thousand feet, and starvation; it all led to the same place in the end. For some reason he’d always thought he’d be rewarded when he died, for he had simply been doing the inevitable all this time. All of his actions were towards the chaos which the universe had already set in, and this was simply an extension of that primal law.

This was the same reason by which he came here today; to bring upon the universes forward motion. With one decisive foot upon the tile covered duracreate beneath his feet, he deactivated the blade which shined yellow against the walls of this cold sanctuary. All around him figurines of angels, and perhaps what they considered demons were around him. Slowly the Sith stepped one foot at a time towards one of the closest figurines, their soft face reflected the soft light of candles nearby. This was one of the few places wherein one might find those decrepit instruments still around, and it was in vain they used them. It brought now more holiness to this place than the man who was now dead. This father of theirs had lived a short life, and now his body littered their furnishings.

One of his fingers touched the soft material these statuettes were made of, and with one hook he pulled upon them as he walked away. The clash of porcelain wreaked the hall as he stepped towards the door. ”Oops,” muttered the man as the doors opened at his beckoning.

This monastery was one of the few in the galaxy, to be honest, and it had such a small following in accordance to all the people in this universe. Corellians tended to be a little religious by nature, and he’d spent a few days sitting in this very room as he listened to that man give sermons. Once the man began to meddle, that’s when he became a hazard, and while Silas was here anyway, he decided to tie up a few loose ends before he went off to do business with the soon to be duly departed.

A man young enough to be his son, if not grandson was his target today. The newly elected CEO of a nearby shipping yard who was rallying support against the Sith, and he was here to end that attempt at a rally. While this place was already filled with non-Sith activist, this one was different. Out of nowhere this man had come, taken over this company, and began to not only avidly promote his association with the Republic, he was one of their leading suppliers. In other words he was a man writing his own death sentence. The warrant for his head had come out a while back, and no one had been able to heed the call, so Silas was prepared to use his talents to kill this man. Once a rather skilled bounty hunter this Sorcerer would now employ those talents to kill the man, and bring back his head. So help him if someone got to him before he did there would be two dead bodies on Corellia this night.

One step into the sunlight of the planet brought a cringe to his face, a quick mental shake as he adjusted and moved on, longing for this man’s bounty.

[Apillis]

All Men are the sum of their intentions and actions. All things in the universe is the culmination of intentions put forth to action to bring about motion. There will always be the altruists in the galaxy, making places, worlds adrift as they circle stars within a black void. But, it is this black void that these altruists drift within that leads them astray into the darker realms where they try to shine their light. But when one shines a light within darkness, while all else arounds them becomes illuminated, the darkness beyond want the light can extend to becomes even darker -- denser -- stronger.

It is these lights amid the darkness that she seeks out, using -- fueling herself with that metaphorical darkness the light makes denser to eclipse what attempts to shine within a darker realm. Acalya spent hours, days even meditating night and day to find her next quarry. She is the hssiss hungering to rend flesh from her next prey.

The immense Sith vessel, the Sensorium floated deep within the blackness of space, while within her personal chambers of the grand ship she focused her mind stretching it out as far as she could -- letting the stillness of the dark to calm her. It is within the dark places of the heart she found her equanimity and quietude. While most reached into find their rage, hatred, and fear -- she sought the eerie stillness -- the place where all the darker wants, needs, and desires act on thoughtless impulse and the emotion of the act became unnecessary. When all one sees and feels is darkness within them and around them, a flicker of light shines brighter than it perhaps intended to.

"Corellia.", she uttered as thoughts of the planet ruminated and swirled. A curiosity as she had never been there nor had any desire to, but she continued to focus on the planet, letting her focus penetrate into the darkness of her mind to find what brought her attention to the place. Hope, rebellion, opposition to the Sith -- unknown reasoning. Those dark grey near black lips of hers curled into a foreboding grin with her greyish pallor - the small spider cracks and creases around the dark rings surrounding her sunken naturally blood red hued eyes -- all signs of one who has indulged the dark side to extremes and has gain a strong affinity to it.

To take a Sith vessel like the Sensorium into the heart of the Republic systems would be the summit of stupidity. Leading her to naturally elicit to taking a unregistered shuttle to the Republic planet. Whil traveling to the planet, she continued her meditations, her mind bent utterly around what she felt - what she perceived about this little flicker in the darkness. The face of a man came to her mind -- an agenda with it -- the altruistic crusader -- but still nothing more than a flicker. But hope is something that must die, for with hope movements begin which in turn begets revolutions. A quiet voice is a dead one with nothing to echo it, and that is why this little flicker -- a candle light within a dark room, must be snuffed out lest a sudden movement tips it over and possibly burn the whole house down. A peoples hope is never something to dismiss lightly; and those who incite it need to be silenced.

The moment the shuttle landed, she wasted no time in stepping out upon the surface of Corellia, and wandering the city she found herself within almost as if waiting for or seeking out yet another disturbance amid the darkness she gazed through. She did little to conceal herself, either because she did not know how or did not bother to or believed her presence may set something other into motion... Who can say...?

[Silas]

They passed, like iridescent lights which tarried by. Not nexus’ in the Force, but pinpricks which danced upon its surface like a plague. Each one confident in his own, yet so naïve to the next that they could not tell what the world was, they could not see this place like he could. Each point was slightly different, yet one and the same simultaneously. They exhibited no reaction to what truly went on around them, for they could find neigh but the slimmest idea of what the Force was like. Some more than others, but they moved with an uncanny diligence towards their own demise.

This isn’t a game, kid. This is real, this is the end. You don’t mess things up here, and you don’t kill without cause. You don’t…. you…

Words of a mentor long succumbed to the fatality of man echoed inside his mind. Their solemn message brought forward a definitive question to Silas’ mind; did he do this for the cause, or for pleasure? People often confused one for the other, the desire for the necessity, but the Sith could see the difference. There was no mistake in his intentions, no false sense of predetermined or unconscious need to kill, only the want to end one’s life. Not for the cause, or the end result, but for the moment at hand. Some people thought themselves righteous, or comfortable in killing, and this murdered knew exactly what he became every time his sabre wrenched someone’s life from their body. It wasn’t simply a confusion of morality, he simply didn’t care. So, to answer his own question; it was for both. The cause induced the pleasure. Perhaps he was a monster, but that was okay, at least he wasn’t a hypocrite.

One hand curiously put the lightsaber back into its spot in the large pocket at his side; theirs’ was a game of stealth. Right now he had no intentions of running out with the eyes of the world fixated on him, nor could he find the insolence to walk amongst these people in his true form. They were not his prey, nor should he waste time on them.

Then, he felt it. For just a fraction of a moment his hand shot to the instrument which he had just hid away, but he hesitated. First things first, he would find what it was. Amongst all this light there was something which burned through those around him. It wasn’t the casual dark intent which some might bear, but instead the Dark Side of the force. Somewhere there stood a figure that might claim his prize, find his bounty, and he simply could not have that. There would be an end to this thing if they brought deadly intent to him or his bounty, or at least an end to their meddling in his business. The child could wait for later, a lightsaber could kill in an hour just as well as it could kill now.

Once Silas saw it, there would no doubt be some kind of confrontation. While he could do many things with the Force, stealth was no one of them. As he relied on simple tricks to keep from instant notice, he did not keep his abilities or his face hidden like many among him. The other person seemed to share similar sentiments for the moment, and while it might soon change, the man would find it in the end. One hand itched to pull his lightsaber, but this person could simply be in the wrong place, in the wrong time, and it could all move along quite flawlessly. Or he might have to tell someone quite vigourously to leave his prey alone. Whatever it was, though, he could tell as he came closer that there was a particular strength within it. Someone wasn’t idly using this power; they knew full well the strength which they held.

There stood his diamond in the rough. The cry amongst silence which he had sought out, and it hadn’t disappointed him. Someone might have mistaken her for someone else, but the moment he saw the small, lithe shape of the woman cloaked like so many of his kind, Silas knew she was the one he had sought. It wasn’t simply potential which radiated amongst the woman, but power. Now whether that be a façade or absolution was yet to see.

Now he did no more to hide his being Sith than ever, in truth he might have shown the true side of him a little more. Neither cloak nor lightsaber were visible on this man, but no one could mistake what he was if they knew what they looked for. Still, his thoughts whispered through the Force as they travelled to the woman, child. Silas was the first to realise appearances meant nothing when it came to age, but this woman did look quite young. However, he had an intuition which begged to differ. Whether or not she noticed him he made his way for an alley, wherein they could talk. It might not have been classy, but it was better than the middle of the street.

[Apillis]

It was an exercise in patience and curiosity. Quite familiar with he cat killer, she often indulged it, but what separated her from countless eons of slaughtered kittens was her patience and willingness to observe. She stood there amidst the throngs of people going about their daily lives. Some seemed oblivious to her, others seemed to unconsciously avoid her as they each passed her by. It was that curiosity of hers that lead here not to this planet, but lead to crawl over the feelings within the minds of each of those who walked past her.

She did not have the talent or ability to her ones thoughts, but definitely she could brush upon what each one of those amongst the throngs that walked by her was feeling. Far more amusing to her was what she saw within them in the Force when compared to what she preceived they felt. With the troubled times of the era, what she seemed to find the most was hope and desperation. It made her smile a little.

Yet... during this time, she felt something -- a pair of dark eyes upon her back... belonging to a strong dark, malevolent presence... not unlike her own... She ignored it for a time, waiting to see what they would do first in reaction to her as she amused herself with her idle observations. Though, she paused a bit when she heard the words, "Child.", crawl within her mind. It was directed at her... a little condescending if anything. She wrinkled her nose at the condescension.

Spinning around on her heel to face this dark one, and her brow furrowed at the sight of them. She did not see people as they see her unless they like her perceive through the Force like her mother's blood does. A thick aura of the dark side within a tranlucent silhouette of a man. Her brow furrowed a little at the sight with a purse of her lips and a slight tilt of her head to the right.

Perhaps her estimation was a bit off, it was not just the presence of the unknown man generating a movement of light upon this planet that lead to her to feel its echo. But also the presence of a dark one not unlike herself. To say this intrigued Acalya would be understatement, however, with the dark one gestuing to follow him to a dark allyway she could not help but be suspicious. Typically this meant either a trap or drawing to a duel among their kind. That notion seemed to disappoint her a bit, and letting otu a sigh she followed along. After all, even if were trap or some such nonsense... she was quite curious to see if the dark side willed it to be her end or his.

Of course, all of that was nothing more than suppositions. Nethereless, the further curiosity of the situation compelled her forward to follow the dark one to see what he wanted...

[Silas]

Someone had once told him that life was precious. One lie that had been told since the beginning of time was that dying was a hard thing; it was the great lie, indeed. Dying was the easiest thing to be held; it ended as soon as it started. However, it was the difficulties in life which brought it the greatest reward, and it was in those difficulties which he thrived. Not the ones in his life, but the ones which were so easily exploited in the world around him; the ones which might lay for the taking. Any one Sith which he might meet would like to say that they were flawless, that they were better than anything which got in their way. This was why they were the most fun to play with, because when they realised they were of fault they got angrier, and thus the challenge got harder. They were almost as bad as the Jedi, but not quite as good at hiding their darkness abroad. Jedi were great liars.

Now, this woman which he’d found looked young, but since when did age have anything to do with looks? Silas knew this, hell he lived that. Some human would look at him and think he was in his twenties, and yet once he killed them only then might they realise not is all what it seems. If they would look at him, and see the power which he held in one hand they would realise their folly, but people did not trust their sense like they should, and that was why he didn’t believe this woman was the child he had called her by. Some innate ability told him this wasn’t just some bantha fodder Sith, but someone he should be weary of. Thus was the reason he would confront her; this should not become a battle between the two of them while they tried to kill this other man. There was a chance this would not be the easiest mission, much less with someone strong in the Force on his tail.

Perhaps this place which he chose to meet was not where someone of his stature should be found, but then again there was a certain persona which it held that spoke to him. Water pooled along the uneven pavement beneath his feet, and there was a certain chill to it. From the street it had looked innocent, yet now that they walked amongst the crevice it was not what it had first appeared. More likely to be filled with a man who might mug you than the carry someone who could probably kill every man, woman, and child on that street out there, this street seemed like a nice stereotype for them to behold.

With an exaggerated pop of his neck he could sense the woman had followed him, and with a sly smile he spoke aloud, “I came here with the intentions of finding a fox amongst the sheep.”

Quietly he turned to one side, and his hand touched the side of the alley way as cold stone touched the tips of his fingers, and he could feel how volatile it was. On the fringe of the break it could be smashed with one of his fists, and yet he left it alone. One broken hand would not be worth destroying the thing, no matter how weak it was. Sometimes he felt these missions did the same thing as one broken brick amongst many; nothing.

”And yet here I come upon a diamond in the rough.” He all but whispered as he turned around to face her for the first time.

That cloak which signified her to him from the beginning lay upon her shoulders, and he thanked his ancestors for the symbol which they had created. There was an image to be presented among this woman; one which people would soon come to fear. It made him smile to see the near perfect embodiment of a Sith before him, and yet there still hung the chance she might be a Dark Jedi. This would be a shame if it turned out to be as such, because there was just enough light to see those eyes beyond the fall of her cowl; the darkness in her eyes. Someone could look among his associates, and simply the persona which she held would be one in the midst of many. Yes, appearances were very deceiving.

”And it seems you are in a similar position,” Told the old man to a woman more mysterious than he would wish. Perhaps soon he could uncover this enigma, or things would go much less smoothly for the both of them.

[Apillis]

As she followed the dark woman surveyed her surroundings. Not necessarily for whom -- if anyone was watching, but if this man attempted anything, she would already know what she could bring down upon him. After all, those of the dark side are never allies to begin with, and those who become allies it is only for a common interest which only lasts for as long as one of the parties in part deems necessary and takes steps to end it and everyone involved.

Would this develop into such a similar she was uncertain, but Acalya had always been one to hear someone out... at the very least... before snuffing them out. In nothing else she would extend this blatant dark individual before her incorporeal sight the same courtsey.

“I came here with the intentions of finding a fox amongst the sheep... And yet here I come upon a diamond in the rough.”

She blinked with a slight cant of her head to the right.

”And it seems you are in a similar position.”

She then grinned.

It was in that moment she realized they were both after the same thing. Why he was after the shining beacon of hop within this city of Corellia she did not know or care. In fact, had she known another dark one was here after it she would have ignored it. But given he wanted it -- wanted to end it -- desired to kill it. How could she not take joy in the attempt of trying take it from him? After all, if he is indeed strong he will beat her to the shining hope of the city, but if not... she will beat him to it and end it herself. Besides, what fun is a hunt without a bit of competition and sport? Dull and insipid.

"Is that so...", she replied with her diabolical grin.

Utilizing such things like Force Speed and Force Jump while not exactly her forte and a bit mediocre at it; when backed with her immense telekinesis to propel herself it became another matter entirely. With her natural willowy poise and alacrity she bound and rebound from wall to wall of the alleyway they were standing within scaling up the walls of the buildings on either side of them zigzagging her way up.

Upon reaching the very top of one of the building she expediently scampered across its rooftop before launching herself to another...