To Cull a Crow [Kress]

[Slade Xandir]

Blood allowed the Guarlara to take them wherever, only idly touching the mind of the elegant beast occasionally to resolve any abandonment issues the beast might have. His priority was his Sith, his faction, what little remained of this shambled family of theirs. And while he called it family, there was no single thread of emotion in him that loved any of it, nor any of them. Love was careless and useless to the Pied Piper. Tormentous was right, as he had always been, but Slade had swindled him yet again in messy hints and sloppy potentials. His sneer spread over the maw, ivories glinting in the starry night glow. "You are a Goddess, Kressara. We are Gods. We create, and we destroy as we see fit. All of the Gods, the Devils, the Heavens and Hells - all of them reside in you. And it up to you to create a future for the Sith, just as much as is up to me to destroy any who get in the way of that goal." Blood was fully aware of the state of disrepair the faction was in. And as many uprisings that had occurred, it had been made clear to the Devil that much was needing to change in order to ensure their home stayed secure.

"You've got no choice but to prove useful, Kres-" His sentence halted, flooded by a sudden urge to snatch the woman up and erase her from existence. Clawed fingers dug into the dorsal of the beast, and a startled nicker left the hair curtained muzzle. A misstep in it's beat could be felt as Blood tried to desperately figure what had flexed such a sadistic muscle so easily in him. What was that?!
Raphael's voice, a discussion about Kressara and her trainings, just the whelp uttering her name had brought acid into Blood's heart, corroding the sense and stability that he feigned so easily. Kressara...he didn't like this name, anymore.
A bated breath was exhaled as he made his decision. "You will not be Kressara. You are just not. Kressara is a terrible name. It's too long, too telling, and has left lips that smudged beauty from it. It is ruined, and i'll not have it in my mouth like the bedswerving peasant it is." They arrived to the resort's gardens, so gothically wilted that it's macabre backdrop was perfect for this anomaly. "Mnami. That is your new name under the banner or the Blood Bound, and is fitting for you. It reflects who you are, inside and out. You will become it as it has become you." The steed stopped before the gardens where Mnami was doing her tending and tilling. The droids remained, picking up boulders and relocating the mess to clear the grounds for her, while a couple others had kept turning over the dirt and preparing the coming seeds and such. A working scene. Beautiful.

He lowered the woman free of the beast and remained atop it, trying to figure out his next step in this affair. "I will see you at dinner in an hour. We will discuss whatever other questions you may have remaining, then. I have to get a bit of business attended to." In all reality, it was a lie; he didn't have any official business to bother with. He had an item to retrieve, and wanted to be sure it was still living and usable.
Turning the equine away, a 'sks' kicked the beast into an immediate gallop, and off he was to the labs.

[Kressara Thryn]

Nami. The name was far less grand sounding than her original name, yet resonated with Crow in a special way. Blood gave this name to her. He accepted her. It was as if he were taking away her past and giving her a key to unlock the future. Without so much as a thought of disagreement Nami nodded. “As you wish.”

So the pair, apprentice and master was made official. Nami was to at last find a bond in a stable master who could teach her far better than any novice or passing trainer. It would be the start of a relationship between two sith aiming for greatness and the resurrection of a dynasty. Together they could raze and build far greater things than the mountain of the moon.

Blood halted their ride and dropped her off in the gardens she’d recently began tending. Her full attention was on him and for a moment she seemed almost afraid to let him out of her sight. Crow quelled the fear though and reminded herself that it’d be very unlikely he’d suffer a near death experience twice in one night.

“Yes my lord. I will meet you then.” And with that he was off again.

As the night continues...

Sleepy feet trudged onward down the hall before stopping at her door. Nami turned the key and open it slid to allow the familiar smell of rose oil to waft past. She sighed deep and shuffled into the apartment without turning on the light. She recalled the layout well enough to traverse her own quarters sightlessly. Her bedroom was illuminated by moonlight anyways, rainbows catching on the beads in the window. They painted her form in deep blues and purples, greens and greys giving her an otherworldly look with that lengthy straight platinum draping over her shoulders like a vale.

She unzipped the duster coat from her torso and slipped it off so that she only wore a black tank, matching pants that clung and ripped at the thighs after her mad scramble to rescue Blood, and knee high leather boots. Nami dropped the coat on the floor and leaned heavily against the wall nearby her moss jars.

“I feel like a zombie.”

[Slade Xandir]

A bit over an hour had passed after he had left the woman to attend to herself, and there he had been sitting at the dinner table, actually dressed in his tasteful, almost bacheloresque fittings of suit and a majoratively buttoned up satin shirt. The food had been prepared, and thus is hadn't been served, as the woman wasn't here. A swift glance at the holowatch on his wrist before a sigh left darkened lips. Uncrossing his lefts, the Dark Lord whisked a hand about, effectively hushing the candle lights that had been administered for their dinner, lazily shadowing the entire dining room, and through the floor he fell into the Void he had created beneath him.

Slight travel through the nightly Nothing was all he had to follow, trailing the thin thread he still had connected to Mnami through the Force, and he was brought affront where the steps of her resort suite was. It loomed invitingly in the Overworld, and he followed through the threshold, and crawled out of the shadowed pool behind one of her couches. Standing, he leapt up the stairs, landing with elegance on the top step and treading lightly over the wooden boards, it wasn't long before he stood just outside the door.

A slight sigh left his lips while a darkly clawed palm lay over the cold barrier between he and the wench who made him wait.
He laid his forehead on the cold steel, and rose a forefinger, tapping it ominously on the shut mechanism. He could open it should he have chosen, as he had the master keycard, or even saving himself the swipe, he could obliterate the lighting within her room and simply be there. But this was his viable patience, and it was a diminishing thing, it was. "You must have either died in there, or you're awaiting it, personally."

[Kressara Thryn]

The room started to spin around Mnami and it felt like the floor itself was floating atop a lazily churning sea. How long had it been since she was this active? Over a year? The strain was catching up to her and muscle fatigue slowly consumed her ability to move above that of a languid stumble. Pale blonde hair fell in front of her eyes and tangled around bare arms. If ever there was a time Crow could use a nap, now was one. Still, she soldiered on with the intent to dress into something less filthy and join her lord. The time however slipped away from her as she slowly made her way about the base and finally to her room.

A tapping on the door had the girl jumping, then relaxing as she recognized her master’s voice on the other side. When next the door opened, Blood would see his apprentice in her tank top and form fitted pants, barefoot and swaying in place. Raven blues and purples glowing by the light of the moon filtered in from behind and splayed across the both of them from out of her sanctuary.

“Lord Blood...is it late already? Please forgive me...I meant to change before joining you.” She was hardly awake as the words left her mouth.

“I’m afraid staying still for so long in the spire has stolen my stamina away...I will try to improve upon...this…”

A dull droning in her ears made her own voice sound twice as loud as normal, even though she spoke in a very soft tone.

[Slade Xandir]

The tiredness leeched out of her voice in a miasma of thick woe, and he could taste how distraught she was over not having attended him sooner. Pulling his forehead away from the door, turning and laying his back against the door as close as a pair of dragon wings would allow, head tipped back to relax himself from the impending rage threatening his internal promise to not Force Choke her through the door. Instead, he inhaled deeply, and protruded his manipulative aura through the door, feeling, tasting, touching, smelling, hearing everything in her room. He could mentally paint a picture of her sleeping quarters in his mind, and he could almost swear he was in there with her, had it not been for the steel door telling him otherwise. An exhale left his nostrils, slow and controlled, and he made sure not to over exhert himself in this, as he didn't feel like wiping up and dripping blood from either nose or eye, tonight.

His mind drifted to where she stood, awaiting for him to enter, and lifting his hands before him he forced his energy to make itself known to the pale woman. She would feel that breeze, tinged with ice but filled with fire. His hands encompassed either side of her, and began to make effort to push her gently before the tall body-length mirror that awaited her to make her mind up on her attire. Once she was stationed before it, Blood took the time to run his energy over her body, a fiery wave blushing over her frail body while ice trailed it in a trace effect. Once he gathered every inch of measurements of her body size and height, his mind went to work in bringing forth her a new level of luxury. In her mind he connected the two of them, and should she still be watching herself in the mirror, she would find herself draped in a plume of inken soot smoke, and once it had blew away, she could see herself in a stunning obsidian cocktail dress, spaghetti straps holding the top half of the garment up while wider straps, trimmed in a decorative rivet of indigo feather-thin lace that met in a gracefully daring V-arc over her chest while it was the drop in her backless gown. It crossed and doubled as a break through the sea of darkness, allowing itself to trail down the length of her tailored train, not too long, but long enough to form a trim on the furthest ends of her dress. She wore onyx teardrop diamonds as her accessories, a bracelet of onyx and specially hued sapphires that gleamed a subtle violet should they be held aloft the light. A despicably gorgeous collar of white gold herringbone chain joined with a choker of black satin, clasped at the back with a miniature crow holding the pair together. Her makeup was simple, only to darken into a dangerously seductive cat-eye of indigo blend into the slate arc. A pair of simple lace flats sat next to her, promising both comfort and enjoyment of such a perfect fit.

She was perfect in her own candlelight glow, a true goddess of the making, and the queen of the crows.

And all of this lay in her closet. Who knew if it fit or not, still?

Through the effort, baritone traced the air just on the other side of her door. "Do you like it?"

[Kressara Thryn]

Did she like it? Of course she liked it! The gown was stunning, and certainly not something she recalled having in her possession. Blood’s presence was in every fiber of the dress though so much so that Mnami new it was merely an illusion. She could feel the force pressing upon her already tired mind, making it oh so easy to craft scenery like the elegant image before her. In the mirror she was covered head to toe in the garment and matching attire, but with a considerable effort to regain her own natural sight in spite of his mirages, she looked down to see just the same old clothing covering her body. Those looked more natural on her than anything, however the finery Blood wished to adorn her with was indeed lovely.

A small chuckle of defeat would reach his ears as his apprentice broke out into a tired smile. No rest for the wicked, even when it was badly needed. Instead she called back, “I do...both the dress and the sorcery.” Even exhausted the apprentice could tell the difference and made a point to express such.

After some rustling, footsteps, and a distressed, ”Ouch! following what could only be a knocked elbow to the closet door, Mnami stepped out into the hallway dressed in the gifts her lord left her. As soon as her eyes met his a fierce blush crept onto her cheeks, though her makeup remained undone. Kressara...Mnami, didn’t actually know the first thing about applying the stuff. She grew up on a...Well never mind that. She just realized that she actually couldn’t recall where she was raised at this point. Certain that was a bad sign, Mnami made it a point to simply ignore it. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her right?

“I feel unnatural.” She blurted a bit awkwardly, even though her reddened face betrayed her enjoyment. The fact that it was all tailored towards her personal fondness of black birds and glittering stones showed that her master actually did know her to some degree. What he might not know however was how unconfident the girl could be in formal wear. While she couldn’t remember it, she certainly did not come from class. Mnami was more suited to be chasing down his enemies in a trench, covered in blood and grime and smoke rather than glittering in expensive clothing and having dinner. Like putting a diamond collar on an attack dog, but she did pull it off well even without the same near vampiric charisma Blood carried himself with.

His apprentice was unusually shy all of the sudden when she cleared her throat and admitted, “It’s beautiful...however, my lord, that gown was not there when last I lived here. Did you place it there in my absence?” If he had, she’d have to wonder why. Did he miss her?

Hooded eyes looked up to her lord as a dreamy fog glazed them, giving her an unintentionally refined look about her in her sleeplessness.

[Slade Xandir]

A grin broke the thin place of irritation as he felt a heightened sense of humor cascade through her grateful, though weary body. He could feel the roses and falls of her chest as she gave those little tired little giggles and though he didn’t verbally respond, his own connection to hers wouldn’t hide his mental laugh fast enough.

He pulled his influence away from her quarters, allowing her get dressed in her own right, and he almost boyishly predicted her choosing his preferred outfit. It was gorgeous- she admitted it to herself! How could she not??
It almost ran through his mind maniacally this sort of possessive grappling of how their evening would go, what they would discuss, their meals for the night, their evening, and he wouldn’t allow anything to step in the way of their night. He needed a good night to rest this returned body of his. He needed an opportunity to just relax from his responsibilities and have control over things that had no choice but to go his way, tonight.

While he categorically ordered himself through the affair of the evening, the door soon opened and out stepped the frail woman in the ideal outfit, something classy, representative, demure. It was lovely on her, and should he have had a heart to yearn for her, he just might have. The only difference was her lack of makeup, though her facial expressions made the canvas much more colorful than any plain paint could. “You are breathtakingly awkward. But you are equally as dazzling.” With that, he held a crisp arm out to her to escort her out to her threshold, and eventually to the resort.

Her words however, stopped his mental processes as they came, throwing a wrench in the cogs and effectively halting him. Why did it matter when he put the dress in there? And how did she know it hadn’t been in there all along? How was he supposed to answer this? “It was placed in there just before I came to release you. I had it made a week or two ago.” He met those thickly lashed hazels with unquestionably brilliant golds, his lie as smooth as softened butter on fresh breaded toast.

[Kressara Thryn]

A compliment was worth a thousand awkward silences. Mnami smiled, and not her usual grin which she wore like a mask in place of an actual sith facial armoring, but something long since unseen. That twist of the lips came from a place her mind had not drawn from since the moment she gave her devotion to the sith. She was standing by his side, linking her arm with his, as nothing more than her most base self. She was quiet, gentle in the way she held onto him, soft, and her presence was happy to simple move in time with his own like a shouldered bird. Gone was the snide sideways glances and the insufferable snarky commentary. She was simply at his side as his companion, satisfied to exist as only that for as long as the moment lasted.

“Thank you...master.” The title was forced from her tongue with some measure of apprehension. It felt odd to finally be the apprentice of another, though she’d trained with the sith already. Raphael had been her equal, but never had she followed the instruction of someone quite like Blood.

Mnami followed his lead and allowed her master to ponder the question. Her smirk returned. Regardless of it being the truth or not, Blood admitted to thinking of her even as a dragon before her release. The fact that he did all this in her absence only made the growing warmth in her chest spread upwards to her head.

“I am appreciative. What do you have in mind, my lord?”

[Slade Xandir]

She clutched him as dewlike as a feather drifting to the grassed world beyond that front door. Leading her down the stairs and through the access door, he began their evening with an easy walk, the stars above and beyond providing ample light to magic the night away. A slight shiver was suppressed as the night had cooled on him, Autumn approaching much more swiftly for the nonsense moon. Knowing his Apprentice hadn't brought herself a shawl or even a petticoat, his left wing extended behind her, and he flooded it with thermal energy from his core, alighting the wing in an embry smolder of radiating warmth. Luckily it wasn't much further to their destination, to which the door was opened with a swipe of a card, him using the sideways glace of 'trying to ensure no one has followed us here' to hide the minor grin of victory he had of garnering her to label him finally as her Master. Bringing himself inside of the building, he retracted his energy and refolded his wings fittedly against his broad back.

The initial dining room was set apart from the master dining in his quarters. A couple of droids had accompanied them to their journey to his suite, opening the door for them and allowing them to make themselves comfortable before pulling out the chairs for the both of them. The rich mahogany wood was easily picked up and slid back for them to sit and adjust themselves after Kressara might have awed herself through the manor's expert expensive touch. An indoor pond lightly trickled away as background noise, and the smells of food made it's way deviously through the parlor, obviously giving them a heavy whiff of the dishes as they came. On the 15-seat dining table, a roller droid had brought out with it a couple of others, and placed down a gold-gilded platter and uncovered a massive and well-roasted bird. It nestled beautifully between the lit candelabras atop the ebony tablecloth, emanating rosemary and delicate wafts of garlic. It was a simple set up, but the smell of the food only got more muddled as the other pairs of droids brought out the other two entrees and sides. One sat the most impressively seared bantha steak before his Apprentice, cooked to a safe medium well, enough for there to retain moisture and keep it butter-soft while ensuring she didn't catch a parasite and die. His own was brought to him, a heavily seared but lightly seasoned rare. Mashed potatoes with ample butter on the side, chives, and sour cream was brought for her liking, all separated in case she hadn't want any part in it, along with a sectioned plate of steamed vegetables, namely string beans Frenchly cut, steamed onion, steamed cabbage, and another side of cheesed pasta accompanied the mashed potatoes in case she wanted a different starch. The same was set affront the Dark Lord besides the steamed onion, which he had no preference for. Then, the two were left alone for the rest of the night until he would summon desert for the pair.

"For the rest of the night, I had more or less envisioned us simply enjoying the night. It's been a hectic level of existence for us both, and even though we are the most loathed of the galaxy amongst other factions, we need to destress." Picking up a steak knife, the villain began to carve apart his main entrée before he dropped the utensils and stood to carve the thick bird. "I'm more of a 'wing' kind of man; any particular preference for yourself, Miss Mnami?" He turned a 'considerate' slur of gaze to her, dark brow raised as he awaited her response.

[Kressara Thryn]

Mnami didn’t manage to catch his pride in the victory he was celebrating internally. While she was fighting with the awkwardness which came with stepping into the paces of a brand new life with someone who was at last in rhythm to her stride. For once, they weren’t missing each other by a hair, always heading to the same destination yet never crossing paths. Now master and apprentice we’re free to travel arm in arm.

Warmth radiated from the wing at her back, keeping the night winds at bay as a mansion Mnami remembered well towered over them both in due time. It’s doors opened into a beautiful foyer the likes of which put most luxury homes to shame. Her lord’s opulence began to sink in once again. To a degree, Mnami found the notion dangerous. Such things might make her soft...but then the charming world her master surrounded himself in drained the thought from her consciousness like blood from her veins. If Blood really was an anomaly in the darkside manifested into the body of a man, then maybe he was a great deal more correct in his ways than the rest were.

They were seated in the dining room where a staff of droids prepared a meal that Mnami could only dream of in her prison. While she wouldn’t outright reveal the side of her that was completely broken down by the experience, taking everything handed to her without reservation, she would pace herself and accept what her lord offered with restraint and dignity. No crow worth their feathers ever let themselves look the part of a starving animal.

It was the wing comment that broke her concentration. Mnami’s eyes darted from the bird on the table to the wings at his back, then back again. With a gracious grin she noted, “If you think I’m going to retort by saying I prefer the breasts, you’re not entirely wrong.”

She stuck her fork into a steamed cabbage piece and took a bite, teeth scraping the metal. Nothing on the plate before her looked unappetizing. Her steak was heavenly by comparison to her diet for the past year.

“I forgot how much I missed actual food.” Mnami tried not to laugh between bites. “I was worried my tongue wouldn’t work properly anymore after so long.” Nothing in her admission was actually a complaint or a grievance. In fact, she spoke rather light heartedly.

“Thank you, sincerely.”