A Contest for Cannibals [Kat]

[Slade Xandir]

"-I don't blame you for wanting it and stealing it from my master." The idiot child truly believed he wanted to demote and destroy such a monumental piece of the Sith. To take the rays from the luminous sun. However he hadn't shown her the war Tormentous had just gone through with them all, nor the Thought Bomb that he had unleashed at that war which had weakened him remarkably to the point where Blood- no, Slade, himself, had begun to fear for his factions existence. He had grown into the Sith as an entity, and would not be accepting of Tormentous' absence in it's unending upbringing. The Dark Lord had gone into hiding to heal, and immediately Bl- Slade had felt the turmoil and riots which soon followed. He had to do what needed to be done. The perfect ploy, a gift for the Dark Lord should he be able to unwrap and murder it, or his own undoing. Either way, the Dragon King had done right by the Faction, not selfish desires. Yet, he had not shown Kita this. Would he tell her of Tormentous' weakness at that time? No,... She thought him the villain in this tragedy. Let her.

Her little threat threatened a laugh from him, but he only allowed her a sad smile as he turned over on his rear and stood. Dusting himself off, even from here his height dominated the slight Kita, but it was even more clear his influence outweighed her own. Yet he was not so arrogant as to believe he was better than her in survival. If he were able to bring ways to the table to lay Tormentous low with his own wiles, then he knew she could bring the same treachery to the table with his own life. Or well, she could try. He welcomed her testing her assassination skills against him. Not like he had anything else left to lose. That's what ultimately made him dangerous. Unless he wanted to save his own life, then well there might be a chance Kita would have. Yet when he no longer cared whether he lived or died, there was no weakness left for him. He had no mate, no spawn other than his dragons, nothing materialistic he would die for. Tormentous had successfully ingrained within him the lesson he had brought to his Son so long ago- everything is replaceable, removable, redeemable...and there was no need to live or die for any of it. There was only yourself, and should you even spare yourself that, then well-...you would have nothing that anyone could hold over your head. With as many times as he had perished by Silas' hands and sabers and experiments, as many times as he had been fed another soul and forced back into existence...would he truly care whether he lived or died?

His single sun gem looked Kita in her own azures, so much history ingrained in the single orb. However his lunar eye whispered something so much more plainly violent to her, vile and hateful things riled underneath that pale pearl eye that were barely kept in check. His desires, his creative passions that had concocted the majority of his silent wanderings. That fed his innate ability to even stand up to Tormentous and survive, and coupled with his own sneaky wit, kept him able to evade and endure many things in this faction. And as he had asked Tormentous, the Dark Lord delivered. Not just with words, but with trainings, with lessons, with experience. Slade already had his wit-

yet once Tormentous fully engrains strength into him, the strength and might he would need to end even him, then there was no possible way Kita could stand up to him. However, another thing "He is not your master, silly Kita," he teased her emotions with a bit of fun. Emotions she wasn't aware she foolishly projected to a predator who knew those emotions undyingly well. He understood them, as he had them. Even still had them, yet to a different spectrum. "You are your own Master. He is merely your teacher until you outgrow him. And once you outgrow the best, you will become the best until you are no longer the best, as someone will better you." His head canted, a deep tilt as he ran a slow and gentle wash of his warm and knowing Sense despicably over her heart, across her mind, and plucked free the very thread she thought she hid so obliviously. No, this familiar thread, this little string, was the only thing that kept this little girl here, in a place, like this. A sweety in a bitter house of murderers and psychopaths. Of people and aliens that wouldn't hesitate to admit they had easily killed little girls such as she, and not regretted it in the slightest, for shallower reasons. Slade knew her reasoning too easy. Entirely too easy. As he had too been on a similar path. "You've fallen for him. You claim him so intimately when you know nothing of him. Yet you do... You know something that many others have not had the privilege of. And from the sounds of it, you've found something so unexceptionally valuable, you're disregarding the true objective of the Sith, just to not lose it." His silvery white eye hungered for this girl's terrible reaction to the news while the glittering golden watched her amused, narrowing as he pieced together her pathetic reason for tiptoeing in this glass house. "No Sith claims their mentor so passionately, so desperately unless they were in love with them.'' He wanted to bellow out an incredulous laugh, to season this ripe conversation with even more reason to hate him. She already wanted him dead- let her! Let her rip the trachea from his throat and drag his heart out through the gaping hole! Let her! But he knew. And he understood it.

"I do not judge you for it, Kita. Honest. In fact, I respect you for it."

He drew his hands behind his back, a familiar fashion of someone who too, was a teacher, someone analyzing the entire situation from all angles, not just the one he was involved in. No, Kita would have to learn the hard way, but as they were more alike in ways she hadn't even remotely realized, she would be given another gift of history. Another piece of knowledge that history had washed away in the sands of time. "I had asked him, long ago, in the chambers of his personal room aboard the Malevolent his former Dreadnought flagship, how should a Sith encompass all emotions, and utilize them lethally, when love too exists in that very same arsenal. And he told me after much time of weighing that subject - I waited minutes and minutes to hear that lesson, Kita- , that Love was undeniably powerful. And that it can in fact be utilized." A pleasant lower of his voice promised he spoke the truth to her, that it wasn't something he would lie about. Atleast not with his Sire's words in his mouth. "That it can be one of the most powerful powers you can wield in the entirety of the universe, conquering galaxies and millenia of planes and worlds with, in, and for it, or it could be the very thing that brings you your ruinous demise." He inhaled and held it, many thoughts racing through his mind, memories of his own spawn, his own emotions for them, his own Apprentice who'd he once shared much more than lessons with. Their offspring. But in the end, the thoughts reeled back to his Maker, Tormentous, who held much more weight in his life than Kita could ever wrap her little bright blond brain around. She couldn't possibly understand the lengths Slade had and still would go through for that man. Yet, they loved two different individuals. Slade had nothing to do with Jacobi's mental presence. He knew it was within Tormentous, yet that was not the eye he sought. He sought the man who molded him within Krynn's dark embrace, and made him beyond what he had been. Jacobi was not his love. Tormentous was. And he would love him until there was nothing left to love of his Father. And even though Tormentous had taken Kita under his wing, Slade still believed he was truly Tormentous' Last. His true heir.

"What will you do with your love, Kita?" He genuinely wasn't expecting an answer. Throughout all of this, in fact, he expected her to attempt killing him for figuring out her little hidden secret. But alas, whatever happened next, would not be undeserved.

[Kita_Ikari]

The sad smile he flashed her only peaked her curiosity and held her guard up even more. Whatever he was thinking was knowledge unknown to her, and being the curious person she was, she wanted to know ultimately what was on his mind. His golden eye seeming to express hidden intent. If she was as timid as she seemed, Kita might have found Slade intimidating as his height and presence clearly stood out more within the darkside of the force. Kita was still small in comparison, knowing only a small amount of knowledge thus far within the force. Yet she gave her all to apply the teaching taught to her from Jacobi and Lord Tormentous.

"He is not your master silly Kita..."

She growled inwardly at his smug tone of voice as he began teasing her. A part of her wanted to knock Slades block off as she righted her grip around her vibrolance.

"You are your own Master. He is merely your teacher until you outgrow him. And once you outgrow the best, you will become the best until you are no longer the best, as someone will better you.

Kita opened her mouth about to argue on that matter, but found herself closing it again as those words rung true. But she wasn't necessarily trying to be the best like the rest of the Sith. She was for survival, yes. But she wasn't for the same reasons they were. Much less outgrow Lord Tormentous. She didn't have to explain everything to Slade. He didn't need to know she didn't intend on being the best in the faction. He didn't need to know anything. For knowledge was power in the hands of her enemy, as she would come to find.

"You've fallen for him."

Kita froze, her bright blue gaze wide in shock as he stated this fact. One she never told to anyone.

You claim him so intimately when you know nothing of him. Yet you do... You know something that many others have not had the privilege of. And from the sounds of it, you've found something so unexceptionally valuable, you're disregarding the true objective of the Sith, just to not lose it. No Sith claims their mentor so passionately, so desperately unless they were in love with them.''

Of course Kita hadn't realized that her heart had been so open to Slade, allowing him to find the one and main reason she stayed within the Sith despite her better judgement. She didn't know how to shield herself yet from the thoughts of other force users. So for her enemy to find her deepest guarded secret so easily concerned the Sith apprentice. She wasn't naturally the kind of person to be in the Sith. Kita was mean't to be the opposite. Possibly a Jedi! But of course fate had its own little jokes by throwing her into the lions den that day on Tibrin, and throwing the dangerous but attractive Mandolorian her way.

"I do not judge you for it, Kita. Honest. In fact, I respect you for it."

Kita was left unable to speak. She grew angry at the fact this raven haired man was telling HER he respected her for loving Jacobi!? It bothered her her enemy was even saying such a thing when it SHOULD have been the complete opposite. She kept quiet as she let the hunter keep talking. Her blue gaze narrowed, watching him silently from across the room as he moved on with the rest of the story.

"I had asked him, long ago, in the chambers of his personal room aboard the Malevolent his former Dreadnought flagship, how should a Sith encompass all emotions, and utilize them lethally, when love too exists in that very same arsenal. And he told me after much time of weighing that subject - I waited minutes and minutes to hear that lesson, Kita- , that Love was undeniably powerful. And that it can in fact be utilized.
That it can be one of the most powerful powers you can wield in the entirety of the universe, conquering galaxies and millennia of planes and worlds with, in, and for it, or it could be the very thing that brings you your ruinous demise."

The young Sith apprentice had already figured Love was stronger then any hate. But how could love possibly be the demise of someone? That was what interested her.

"What will you do with your love, Kita?"

Clutching her jaw tightly, she refused to answer that question. Because she wasn't sure what to do other then stay by Jacobi's side. If she had found a way to free Jacobi from the Dark Lord, her master...she would have been more then happy to escape the Sith with him. But that plan seemed impossible. Because so far she had heard and seen nothing that suggested such a thing. So...she chose to become what she hated most in order to stay by the mandolorians side. She loved him enough to put her innocent soul on the line to support him. To remind him he wasn't alone.

"Wouldn't you like to know." She replied back with a smirk. "I'd ask what you were planning to do with this knowledge...but of course I have very little doubt you will not tell me anyhow. So I'm not even going to bother asking." She held nothing buy a smile and straight face as she looked at Slade. What was his game?

[Slade Xandir]

She was so sassy. But he knew bravado when he saw it. How quickly her shock had flown to that ugly little smirk as though she hadn't just voicelessly confirmed that he was correct in his call. He had called her out, and she had just confirmed it. He needed nothing more from her. Unbelievably, he had been more honest with her than what she might have been expecting from a man of his caliber. He had nothing to hide. He had no shame. For frakks sake, he had been turned into a frakking piece of furniture. Frozen in his agony and defeat, he had lived out his use, and was kept alive, back to start once more under Tormentous' banner. They were somewhat allies, for now. "Nothing, Kita. I plan to do nothing with it. I will remember it, and that is all." Sure, she would doubt him, and call him a lying snake probably and blah blah, but he had no reason for it, right now. He would know when it was time to begin making himself known. Until then, the Hunter was an ally under the same House as Kita. "There's not really much to be so testy for. I too have mastered a good heft of the Force. In fact-" he offered her a passing smile, something soft and inviting on gently tanned lips. "We could learn from one another, and teach each other. That way we both are compatible for Tormentous' use against our enemy. I love to teach." he rolled his shoulder lightly, working out a crook he had from laying on the sandstone floor. He was in essence trying to be nice, somewhat. And he had sired Apprentices before, so it wouldn't be new for him to aid her in her teachings. Tormentous wouldn't always be there to entertain her teachings, he knew for fact. It would help her learn him better, and more often than not, to get closer to your enemy allowed you to slay them much more easily. Should she claim to want him dead so effortlessly and so passionately, then this invitation he offered her would be nothing short of a perfect opportunity to learn him.