Klazzik Zentaris was a quiet planet. Quiet enough it didn't receive much in the way of air traffic, and quieter still when the travel and tourism board deemed it unhealthy for most sentient bio organisms to visit. This cut the population of the central city down to a handful of natives and the fleet of empire run machines meant for manual labor and construction. While there wasn't much in the way of things to do, mining operations ran smoothly, and those tied to the process had their cantinas and storefronts to see to their general needs. A local had commented that their way of life was 'slow and steady', but Braxiskroi Destros saw the desolation in empty apartments and barren streets. A ghost town, left to those unable to find a living elsewhere.
Something about the still faces of the people remaining stirred unease in the Auroun.
Ganjion and Tessa were more impressed, or so they seemed, with their questions and their comments concerning the lifestyle. How did they get their food? Where did they put their children through school? Were children even allowed? What made the atmosphere of the planet so toxic in the first place? These weren't necessarily bad questions to ask, but Brax wasn't particularly settled in the details. His thoughts were elsewhere, away from the empty, sulfurous landscape of Klazzik Zentaris, and off further in the galaxy where his sister now found herself. Those questions remained unanswered. Those questions, fueled by natural concern for someone he had once kept so close, were the questions he would find answers to regardless of the consequences.
"You're going to contact her again?"
Asked over their meals, in hushed vocals, Tessa's head canted to one side. She waited for what Brax might say, but his response was to disapprovingly shove around a clump of the dried paste they had been served.
Ganjion happily scarfed his portions, though between bites, seemed more than content to answer for the leader of the three. "She stiffed him before, I bet. Hard to work towards finding someone when they're not looking to be found."
"The trace is there." Brax said bitterly, drawing shapes in the mush with his utensil. "I just don't want to push. If I push, she runs again. If she is in danger, her running might set off a chain of reactions I can't afford to cause."
The other two nodded in turn, their expressions more somber than they once had been. Reality had a way of sobering their moods, and Brax was forever a realist. A cautious and quiet realist, surrounded by silence and personal reflection. "Besides, it's been a day. Just a day. I'm in no rush."
But everyone at their table was well aware he was lying, as there was always a rush involved when seeking to learn the status of a loved one. He would wait only because he was forced to. No longer. Answers would be given, and Rhailo would give them.
Despite the seriousness of their discussion, the Auroun cracked a wry grin at the mention of painting the ship pink. Had she come off as the type of woman caught up in a bubblegum haze? Sure, at the strip club, she had worn stilettos and little else, with her hair held high in a bouncing ponytail - but pink? Oh, no. That simply wouldn't do. Especially if she wished for Demagol to keep his rugged appeal. Pink certainly didn't mesh well with his current lifestyle choices, meaning it wouldn't fit with hers, either. "Let's not be hasty, and move on to painting the ship outlandish colors. Could you imagine the eyesore it would be on long journeys? Just, pink... Everywhere. Have a meal, pink. Have a shower, pink. So on and so forth..." She trailed off before flipping snowy locks away from her features. "Let's not do that. Baubles and trinkets work just fine for me. Maybe new upholstery and new sheets. You know, reasonable additions."
For every scar Rhailo had been privy to seeing, there was a story. Demagol was a body of stories, a being held together by countless near death experiences, and for that, she would show him respect. Neither of them had lived easy lives, but she didn't see them as comparable in most accounts. Her world was one of the mind; the endless branching network of synapses cranking raw energy through her neural network. Frail in body, but with such mental potential, she was sought after. Hunted. Demagol was just the right hunter for the job, but what charm she did possess seemed to work in her favor. The S'zari weren't able to play catch up to the two escaped bounties, and Demagol Sento had made it his business to protect the Auroun as well as he could.
Loyalty came in many forms, but the fastest way to earn someone's loyalty was to seat them as high as possible on one's list of priorities. Rhailo could see where she was kept, even if others might not agree with the arrangement. She hadn't asked for their opinions in the matter. "i don't doubt my potential, but I'm not Brax. I never will be. Just as there might be some who hunt bounties who are no where near your level of skill, I'm just a novice. A novice of a great art, yes, but a novice none the less." The food was delicious, given how hungry she was, and bite after bite was consumed happily while she pondered just how to explain her life to someone who knew little of it. Where to start, where to end, and what to leave out. That was what the woman focused on as she began with, "i suppose you wonder what made me wish to leave my home planet in the first place. That's a good start to the story, isn't it?
Rhailo cleared her plate before turning attention to the water, which was drained completely before she picked back up where she had left off. "I hop around a lot with my stories, but there's a great deal to cover, and with time to talk, I find myself more interested in discussing matters. You know, like where I hail from, and why I no longer live there." Now free hands spun through the air, creating a ethereal fog that took shape in ways similar to the light produced by her milky irises. "First, actually, my real name is Rhailosioabhan Taicho Destros, but it's long and kind of annoying, so Rhailo or Rhai works. Okay, so I'm originally from Ixxin'lo, which is a very hard to find place. I doubt you could find it, and while I could find it, it's best we not find it any time soon. Not yet. One day, hopefully, but not yet. Anyway, this place I'm from isn't quite easy to explain so I'll show you."
The miasma of supernatural fog presented images, like a city made of crystal, glass and other reflective surfaces not at all similar to what might associate with a humanoid city. The grand and towering structures rose from floating islets, all cast as rocky solo plots, with no visible roads or bridges closing the plummeting drops between one another. Were one to fall from such great height, they would surely die, as the planet itself seemed to be glazed in treacherous spikes and massive pits created in the crystalline exterior. Aside from the floating megaliths that seemed to house the entirety of the Auroun race, there was little else living on the planet. One of Rhailo's hands directed over a massive orbiting crystal cluster, where the brunt of the civilization compiled. "This was where I lived, on Tor'at. My father worked for the council, and my mother was, uh, my mother. She did mother things. It was in her opinion that I would eventually follow in her foot steps, and take the mantle of homemaker."
The image grew hazy as it dimmed, Rhailo's hands coming to rest in her lap after her plate and glass had been pushed away from her general vicinity. "I guess it made sense at the time, but I didn't want that. An arranged marriage wasn't appealing, having children wasn't what I wanted, and try as I might, I couldn't be Brax. I wanted to be him for a long time..." Her expression seemed pained as she looked away, off at the ship interior, rather than face Demagol as she explained. "Not in a literal sense. More like, hm. Well, if he could do such great and awe inspiring things with his abilities, why did I struggle? We're twins, he and I. Wouldn't one think such a close relationship would entail similarities? I always thought I was justified in wanting what he had - in becoming what he had so easily trained to be. Just, as I grew older, and my failures caught up to me, I knew it couldn't be. I couldn't master the art as he had."
"If anything, I realized I needed to give it up. Not what I knew, but the life I was stuck living, because it only had two options in my foreseeable future. Were I to master the gifts of my people, I would be able to work with the council, and perhaps one day join them. If not, I would be married to someone I barely knew, if I knew them at all... And I just wanted away from Ixxin'lo. Away from my family and from obligations I couldn't follow through with. I lost the battle, but the war proved to be coming up with some other choice for my life, and it took some months of thinking before I chose to leave. I had to beg and plead with Brax for it, because no one leaves Ixxin'lo. My people don't go wandering the galaxy. If anything, we're prisoners on our world to keep those who seek our kind oblivious to the colony's whereabouts." Rhailo was being incredibly candid, and she knew this. The danger that was attached to the information she shared was always looming in the back of her mind.
Yet, there she sat across from Demagol, hopeful he would listen. There was trust between them, even if they had only been together for a few short days. "But, i eventually was granted leave, with Brax as the one who vouched for me. The council trusts him as one of their own, and one day, he will join them to keep the planet cloaked from offworlders... So, to have me leave the planet I was last given permission to live on scared him. For my well being, yes, but also because I have secrets no one outside the Auroun should have. If the S'zari had hired a prober, or something more adept than myself psionically, they could pick me clean of information. Telling you this isn't something I'm supposed to do, but if I'm honest with you, you can be honest with me. That's how it works, isn't it?"
Her field of vision returned to Demagol as a ghost of a smile returned to her pale visage. "Smitten, as you said. I'm smitten with you. Alien or foreign or different as you might be, you're special to me. I can't keep such details secret if I'm meant to stay here, with you, and I'd like you to continue to trust me." Their journey towards Grezik wasn't forgotten, and in light of this, the creature shrugged her shoulders before asking softly, "Would meeting Brax on Grezik work for you? In a neutral place? I doubt you want him to come aboard the ship, and I doubt he would want you aboard his ship... But in the main city itself, we could meet."
Something about the still faces of the people remaining stirred unease in the Auroun.
Ganjion and Tessa were more impressed, or so they seemed, with their questions and their comments concerning the lifestyle. How did they get their food? Where did they put their children through school? Were children even allowed? What made the atmosphere of the planet so toxic in the first place? These weren't necessarily bad questions to ask, but Brax wasn't particularly settled in the details. His thoughts were elsewhere, away from the empty, sulfurous landscape of Klazzik Zentaris, and off further in the galaxy where his sister now found herself. Those questions remained unanswered. Those questions, fueled by natural concern for someone he had once kept so close, were the questions he would find answers to regardless of the consequences.
"You're going to contact her again?"
Asked over their meals, in hushed vocals, Tessa's head canted to one side. She waited for what Brax might say, but his response was to disapprovingly shove around a clump of the dried paste they had been served.
Ganjion happily scarfed his portions, though between bites, seemed more than content to answer for the leader of the three. "She stiffed him before, I bet. Hard to work towards finding someone when they're not looking to be found."
"The trace is there." Brax said bitterly, drawing shapes in the mush with his utensil. "I just don't want to push. If I push, she runs again. If she is in danger, her running might set off a chain of reactions I can't afford to cause."
The other two nodded in turn, their expressions more somber than they once had been. Reality had a way of sobering their moods, and Brax was forever a realist. A cautious and quiet realist, surrounded by silence and personal reflection. "Besides, it's been a day. Just a day. I'm in no rush."
But everyone at their table was well aware he was lying, as there was always a rush involved when seeking to learn the status of a loved one. He would wait only because he was forced to. No longer. Answers would be given, and Rhailo would give them.
---
Despite the seriousness of their discussion, the Auroun cracked a wry grin at the mention of painting the ship pink. Had she come off as the type of woman caught up in a bubblegum haze? Sure, at the strip club, she had worn stilettos and little else, with her hair held high in a bouncing ponytail - but pink? Oh, no. That simply wouldn't do. Especially if she wished for Demagol to keep his rugged appeal. Pink certainly didn't mesh well with his current lifestyle choices, meaning it wouldn't fit with hers, either. "Let's not be hasty, and move on to painting the ship outlandish colors. Could you imagine the eyesore it would be on long journeys? Just, pink... Everywhere. Have a meal, pink. Have a shower, pink. So on and so forth..." She trailed off before flipping snowy locks away from her features. "Let's not do that. Baubles and trinkets work just fine for me. Maybe new upholstery and new sheets. You know, reasonable additions."
For every scar Rhailo had been privy to seeing, there was a story. Demagol was a body of stories, a being held together by countless near death experiences, and for that, she would show him respect. Neither of them had lived easy lives, but she didn't see them as comparable in most accounts. Her world was one of the mind; the endless branching network of synapses cranking raw energy through her neural network. Frail in body, but with such mental potential, she was sought after. Hunted. Demagol was just the right hunter for the job, but what charm she did possess seemed to work in her favor. The S'zari weren't able to play catch up to the two escaped bounties, and Demagol Sento had made it his business to protect the Auroun as well as he could.
Loyalty came in many forms, but the fastest way to earn someone's loyalty was to seat them as high as possible on one's list of priorities. Rhailo could see where she was kept, even if others might not agree with the arrangement. She hadn't asked for their opinions in the matter. "i don't doubt my potential, but I'm not Brax. I never will be. Just as there might be some who hunt bounties who are no where near your level of skill, I'm just a novice. A novice of a great art, yes, but a novice none the less." The food was delicious, given how hungry she was, and bite after bite was consumed happily while she pondered just how to explain her life to someone who knew little of it. Where to start, where to end, and what to leave out. That was what the woman focused on as she began with, "i suppose you wonder what made me wish to leave my home planet in the first place. That's a good start to the story, isn't it?
Rhailo cleared her plate before turning attention to the water, which was drained completely before she picked back up where she had left off. "I hop around a lot with my stories, but there's a great deal to cover, and with time to talk, I find myself more interested in discussing matters. You know, like where I hail from, and why I no longer live there." Now free hands spun through the air, creating a ethereal fog that took shape in ways similar to the light produced by her milky irises. "First, actually, my real name is Rhailosioabhan Taicho Destros, but it's long and kind of annoying, so Rhailo or Rhai works. Okay, so I'm originally from Ixxin'lo, which is a very hard to find place. I doubt you could find it, and while I could find it, it's best we not find it any time soon. Not yet. One day, hopefully, but not yet. Anyway, this place I'm from isn't quite easy to explain so I'll show you."
The miasma of supernatural fog presented images, like a city made of crystal, glass and other reflective surfaces not at all similar to what might associate with a humanoid city. The grand and towering structures rose from floating islets, all cast as rocky solo plots, with no visible roads or bridges closing the plummeting drops between one another. Were one to fall from such great height, they would surely die, as the planet itself seemed to be glazed in treacherous spikes and massive pits created in the crystalline exterior. Aside from the floating megaliths that seemed to house the entirety of the Auroun race, there was little else living on the planet. One of Rhailo's hands directed over a massive orbiting crystal cluster, where the brunt of the civilization compiled. "This was where I lived, on Tor'at. My father worked for the council, and my mother was, uh, my mother. She did mother things. It was in her opinion that I would eventually follow in her foot steps, and take the mantle of homemaker."
The image grew hazy as it dimmed, Rhailo's hands coming to rest in her lap after her plate and glass had been pushed away from her general vicinity. "I guess it made sense at the time, but I didn't want that. An arranged marriage wasn't appealing, having children wasn't what I wanted, and try as I might, I couldn't be Brax. I wanted to be him for a long time..." Her expression seemed pained as she looked away, off at the ship interior, rather than face Demagol as she explained. "Not in a literal sense. More like, hm. Well, if he could do such great and awe inspiring things with his abilities, why did I struggle? We're twins, he and I. Wouldn't one think such a close relationship would entail similarities? I always thought I was justified in wanting what he had - in becoming what he had so easily trained to be. Just, as I grew older, and my failures caught up to me, I knew it couldn't be. I couldn't master the art as he had."
"If anything, I realized I needed to give it up. Not what I knew, but the life I was stuck living, because it only had two options in my foreseeable future. Were I to master the gifts of my people, I would be able to work with the council, and perhaps one day join them. If not, I would be married to someone I barely knew, if I knew them at all... And I just wanted away from Ixxin'lo. Away from my family and from obligations I couldn't follow through with. I lost the battle, but the war proved to be coming up with some other choice for my life, and it took some months of thinking before I chose to leave. I had to beg and plead with Brax for it, because no one leaves Ixxin'lo. My people don't go wandering the galaxy. If anything, we're prisoners on our world to keep those who seek our kind oblivious to the colony's whereabouts." Rhailo was being incredibly candid, and she knew this. The danger that was attached to the information she shared was always looming in the back of her mind.
Yet, there she sat across from Demagol, hopeful he would listen. There was trust between them, even if they had only been together for a few short days. "But, i eventually was granted leave, with Brax as the one who vouched for me. The council trusts him as one of their own, and one day, he will join them to keep the planet cloaked from offworlders... So, to have me leave the planet I was last given permission to live on scared him. For my well being, yes, but also because I have secrets no one outside the Auroun should have. If the S'zari had hired a prober, or something more adept than myself psionically, they could pick me clean of information. Telling you this isn't something I'm supposed to do, but if I'm honest with you, you can be honest with me. That's how it works, isn't it?"
Her field of vision returned to Demagol as a ghost of a smile returned to her pale visage. "Smitten, as you said. I'm smitten with you. Alien or foreign or different as you might be, you're special to me. I can't keep such details secret if I'm meant to stay here, with you, and I'd like you to continue to trust me." Their journey towards Grezik wasn't forgotten, and in light of this, the creature shrugged her shoulders before asking softly, "Would meeting Brax on Grezik work for you? In a neutral place? I doubt you want him to come aboard the ship, and I doubt he would want you aboard his ship... But in the main city itself, we could meet."
BDRP Admin. Writer. Villain. Personal Blog.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.
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