Red Dawn Across Dark Blue Skies [EM7, Closed]

[Sharn]

On the slope of the great mountain there was a spot he settled, facing east, awaiting the ascent of the system's star. The chill was gradually easing even though it had not disturbed him. After the night's physical exertions he felt exhilarated, far less confused about his purpose, reconciled fully with the flasity of humanity's old prejudice that emotions are the enemy of reason. His mind could never be sharper, now consciously fuelled by clear, strong desires. He was in control of the self, all aspects of the self.

In his hand, he held the hilt of his weapon. He had never assigned any special meaning to any item as they were just manifestation of larger abstract ideas. But this was different, something that was an extension of him, a hyperenergetic tether to the Force, a medium of his will he now knew how to handle. And so, he head a meaningful name for it.

Ru... in.

Because this was where and how it had truly begun. The bedrock of his rise. The realisation that creation presupposes destruction. Of the prior, of the lesser, of the obsolete, of the opposing. To advance his agendas, he must be ready to do it, not just in intention but also in deed.

And he desired nothing more right now than for her to be with him. And so he just reached through the Force with his newfound power to make the call. The quantum spooky action at a distance purposefully excited.

EM7. Superior Generic Clarion Call Force Check. +2 Dark Pips: 1eF 2 Dark Side


[A signal to Runi through the Force of 4 Pips magnitude]

[Runi Vizsla]

It took a while for her to arrive from the distance she was, but soon he heard the distinct sound of her footsteps. She sensed something different about him... But familiar. Like her mother.

Still, she smiled at the sight of him. "Sharn. You seem happy."

[Sharn]

"I think I am Runi." His eyes flared up with red flames of the rising sun as he sought to douse that in hers. His smile was unrestrained. "I've reached a point of self-definition that awards clarity to my further pursuits. Equally important for my joy is that you've come. It means you've sensed my call through the Force." The lightfoil hilt still rested in his hand as he hopped from his seated position onto his feet to cross the distance to her.

[Runi Vizsla]

She smiled back and reached up when he got to her, stroking his cheek. "I'm glad. And I did." She looked down to his hand. "I see you've been busy, too."

[Ender]

Pantoran | Cannot be Sensed | Savage Witch

Runi wasn't the only one who sensed the disturbance, the brazen boldness of it. Especially so close to where she resided. The Pantoran made her way to the face of the mountain on which Sharn had made his declaration. In her hands and her energy bow was readied.

Raising it at the pair, she approached, calling out. "You!" She was harsh with her voice, chastising the pair. "Do you know what you have done!?" The energy arrow from the bow sparked and crackled with vibrant energy, as she steadied herself.

[Sharn]

He placed a light kiss on her lips and was about to reply but then the witch walked on them and started hurling big words and threatening them with some kind of an energy projectile weapon resembling a bow.

"Clearly, I've done what I wanted to do." He stood between the witch and Runi and ignited the sabre. The energy spike, slender and sharp, not unlike the tone of Runi's skin, projected from it with a hiss. "You are a cousin, Pantoran, however distant, so I'll let you say what you're about to say."

[Runi Vizsla]

Runi turned toward and frowned at the new arrival. Who the kriff was this now? Her expression was as annoyed as it had been toward her mother at first. "Fat lot of good it does coming to yell at us about it after the fact," she replied darkly. She'd had about enough of getting lectured lately, and it was getting harder to resist the temptation to take it out on someone.

[Ender]

Her hands waivered as she held the bow back, slowly shaking her head, her features turned to a sight of sadness and pain. "You woke him up? Why... why did you listen to his seductive words?" It seemed that anger could only be held for so long, her voice shrinking back slightly.

[Sharn]

"I think you should explain why keeping Lord Nygmus chained felt like a good idea to whatever religious sect you belong to." Sharn felt the siren's call of the blade to be used but as the bow was taken back he zapped it off. "Fair warning, do not patronise either of us. We don't suffer demagogic shamans gladly."

[Ender]

"Can't you feel it?" She slowly lowered the bow as the saber came down, the energy arrow dissipating harmlessly. "The Planet. It's infected with it. His power... it'll start to kill everything. It's rot and entropy." Her lips pursed.

Shaking her head, looking to Sharn. "It is in you, too. You let that lust for it cloud your thinking..."

[Runi Vizsla]

"Why didn't you do anything about it?" Runi shot back. "How the fuck do you expect two people with only a partial concept of the Force and only self-training to have full understanding and resist him? You just stood by, so it's as much your fault as anyone's."

She grit her teeth and glared. "Let me guess - you're the one who's been filling Quinn's head with delusions of grandeur."

[Sharn]

"Creation presupposes Ruin. It is the defence of stasis that is insane. Entropy is but a child's scare. It is just another way of distribution of energy that can be seen as irreversible only to your small mind. Whatever will become of Noventa has little consequence to the recurrent emergence of life, sentience and intelligence. It can be Nygmus, it can be Verlasso, it can be solar flares, unsustainable development, asteroid or another extinction-level event. In a galaxy of a billion stars, some worlds die and other are born from nebulae at any wave-point of the time bubble. I am not the one with clouded judgement here. Someone who thinks that keeping a part of the Force equation skewed for 20 millennia is a good idea is an ignorant at best. Every unchallenged system gravitates toward self-encapsulation and mediocrity. It is powers like Nygmus wields that effectuate change. So stop asserting your shamanistic superstition or I'd consider the hue of your skin lost on you."

What Runi said was interesting. He also relished the passion in her response. Her anger was like pure energy burst he could bask in. It was sexy, it was reinvigorating, it was kathartic. It led to a broad smile.

So there were some opponents groomed by the witch against his course. He didn't seem bothered though. The situation had a major takeaway for him already: it had been the red glow of his sabre that had made the witch reassess. If she was about to respond to his reasoning with more chicanery, it would be obvious to him that charlatans understood only fear, not enlightened discussion.

[Runi Vizsla]

Runi's expression didn't change from an angry glare when she looked over at him, but the cast changed to a more appreciative one. "Thank you, Sharn, that is also an excellent point."

[Ender]

"All life should be preserved. The Galaxy has made massive strides to prevent the loss of life. We've learned how to evacuate systems in the event of natural phenomenae that threaten to destroy civilizations. We've looked at entropy, and said no! Nygmus... all he wants is to see a dead galaxy, an empty void of the dark side! He isn't the only one who's wanted that, but he may very well be the first!" She drew the bow back again, but didn't pull the arrow into position.

"I helped Quinn find what she was looking for. Whatever she saw there, I don't know. Whoever she saw, I don't know either. She came out at peace, and that's all I could sense. All I told her was that someone had taken the book, had set this all off. And now, between an invasion, and a reawakening, Noventa hangs in the balance. And I won't let it slip over the edge. That was my vow."

[Sharn]

"So go shoot your arrows at star destroyers, raise a rebellion against the occupation from adolescents, challenge Nygmus to a duel, or choose to die here, by my hand. You have a lot of options to try to make good on your vow, however misguided it may be." He paused. "But don't provoke me with that bow unless you opt for the last option."

[Ender]

"Your arrogance will be your undoing." She kept the bow leveled, her eyes narrowed at the pair. "Don't think your weapon makes you all powerful, or that your relationship with him will save you from his goals. In the end, all he will care about is the success of his plans, regardless of who he destroys in the process." She stepped closer, the feeling of Light exuding from her, at peace with the galaxy, and everything else. "I won't end you, because I believe that you, both of you, can still step back from all of this. It isn't too late."

[Runi Vizsla]

Runi stared hard at her. "How fucking dare you? You damned hypocrite. Did you not hear a word I said? Don't talk like you're our savior when you're trying for blaster point diplomacy."

She stepped forward, centering the arrow at her chest. "I don't have a saber. I refused that crystal. I'm not hiding behind anything." She held out her arms to her sides. "You want to see arrogance? Look in a mirror. Your holier than thou attitude isn't convincing me. You want to shoot me so bad? Do it. It's not like I can stop you."

[Sharn]

Few things ever surprised Sharn so much as Runi's reaction. Her fiercely independent, life-threatening gambit put him in a hell of a pinch. The urge was to protect her, to jump in and slash the blue woman, not giving her even the remotest chance to hurt Runi. But he also realised that it would not be something Runi wanted to make her point. Normally, he would follow only his own judgement, but this time another variable won and he gave priority to it.

Nevertheless, he sidestepped the blue woman to be to the side of both, ready to elect from any options that would present themselves in the course of the situation. Fortunately, if Runi got hurt, his molecular manipulation skills might aid in keeping her alive.

[Ender]

Her eyes narrowed, and she watched the pair, and the defiance and anger in the woman's voice. Shaking her head, she began to back away. "Then I suppose all hope is lost for you." Her words quiet again, yet she didn't lower her weapon. She opted to not turn her back as she stepped away. "Rejecting the crystal may have been the best decision you could have made." The Witch looked at Runi, her lips tense. "To not give in so freely or quickly. Your friend... you can feel it from him. He's steeped in it. And it will only bring suffering." And with that, she turned to a full sprint.

[Runi Vizsla]

Runi watched her go, glaring after her. "High and mighty asshole."