The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
When Shakti had been asked to visit Alpheridies by her latest client, she'd jumped at the opportunity to visit someplace so manifestly different from any world she'd visited. She was actually here to research the Alpheridians themselves and not the Miraluka, but she was quite enjoying herself.
It wasn't necessarily more enjoyable because people were being friendlier to her. Quite the opposite. Many Miralukans seemed to be giving her an instinctive wide berth, and after some thought she realized why. It wasn't her demeanor, it wasn't the tone of her voice or the length of her hair or the way she belted her pants. By the Abyss, Shakti dressed more modestly than most women she could name. She took great pains to cover as much skin as she could and even now wore slim leather gloves to cover her hands.
No, it wasn't her looks. Shakti felt wrong to them, and it seemed that they had an aversion to the dark energy emanating from her.
Well, whatever, she thought. They aren't all so prissy about it, and I've found some people to talk to in spite of that.
Just last night she'd been speaking to a Miralukan man about an statue he'd found of an Alpheridian queen, possibly the only queen. Quite amazing. He'd been willing to overlook the dark Force he was sensing in the young woman in favor of an opportunity to speak with someone so enthusiastic and curious about the native culture of this world.
Now she sat at a small table in an urban bar, peering down at her notes through the slim infrared visor that allowed her to see here and concealed her eyes in accordance with the modest sensitivities of the Miralukans. Writing furiously with a stylus on the screen of her notebook, Shakti flipped through a slim travel guide, trying to transfer as much information into her notes as she could.
She'd long ago stopped working with both hands at a time. For one, switching hands between holding her notebook and turning pages was inefficient. Most importantly, Shakti needed every chance she could get to develop her abilities in the absence of a proper teacher. Reaching out with the force, she flicked the page over to read the next side, scratching down her notes rapidly.
The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Though many kept a wide berth, at least one Miraluka on the premises was feeling something entirely different about that strange glow that the outsider had. It was like the Jedi on Naboo in its intensity and volume, but it was completely different in its timbre, its flavor. Whatever. He still hadn't decided on what words he'd use to describe his newfound enhanced senses.
Nonetheless, she was busy, and it would be terribly improper to plunk down next to her and interrupt with small talk. But he had to know.
One of the pages turned just a moment sooner than it should have. Shakti still got the information she needed from it, but its turn was done by another. Presumably the one who was now approaching the table, hair slicked back, wearing some sort of traditional robe garment that could almost be mistaken for formal garb of a more noveau-riche sort. Almost.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
A human would have cried. A human would have balled there eyes out in this situation. This was where he was born...this was where his mother and father had lived before they had become jedi. And now there son had come in search of information. All Stripe had ever wanted was to join the jedi. Although he knew that they would say his emotions were to be numbed and disdain, the Miraluka couldn't help but feel the slightest twinges of anger that his parents had never left a message of where they were, even there names.
Looking around at the cantina through the force, Stripe smiled at the sight of all the other Miraluka. But....the images began to blurr and fuzz as he looked at the bar. There was a woman there, with an aura of darkness, like smoke coming off her. And a Miraluka talking to her, who was the opposite, a slightly glowing aura around him. A jedi and a Sith....what was a Sith doing here. Regardless, Stripe stood up and walked over to them both. The teenager had longed to meet the jedi and join them and maybe his chance was here.
"Excuse me Miss....Sir...you are a jedi aren't you?"
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
A short distance away, there sat another man in quiet thought. A golden lens covered his left eye, though the right remained uncovered – clearly, he was not a native. Robust in statue, he wore a tailored cloth suit that had made such that it downplayed the size of his frame, for he was a large man and broad at the shoulders but did not wish to appear thuggish. Qutie the contrary, in fact. His entire outfit gave him the air of a man of dignity, yet he carried himself in such a fashion that he did not seem in the least bit pretentious or lofty. His name was Ophion Shai.
As a means to rest from his training at the Sith Temple, Ophion had elected to take sojourn of sorts and endeavor to finish reading a series of texts he had begun before arriving on Korriban. He held the third volume, of six, in his hands – a slim, well-bound tome with no distinct markings on the cover – and turned the pages with a ponderous care. When he had noticed that he was not the only one reading his attention had been drawn elsewhere and, at the sight of the readers aura, his curiosity piqued. It seemed that, for now, she was occupied with another but when a prudent moment arose he would speak with her himself.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti's lips parted as she inhaled slightly in surprise. She'd been so caught up in transferring her notes that she hadn't even noticed Enset.
A Jedi? Huh. Interesting.
She nodded that the seat was available and with half a smile and a slightly confused frown she opened her mouth to ask what he--
"Excuse me Miss....Sir...you are a jedi aren't you?"
In a burst of annoyance she slammed the book shut, waiting with her chin resting on her palm. Shakti was a perfect picture of modest and attentive patience except for her fingers tapping her pen on the top edge of her notebook.
"You can't tell he is by looking?" Shakti asked with one eyebrow raised. "I'd think you'd have an easier time than I."Edited by: Darth Shakti at: 7/18/07 9:10 pm
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
The man with the blindfold turned to face the questioner, and shook his head. "Not...yet. I have spent much time at their lands on Naboo, however." This apparent padawan...his Master was not to be sensed anywhere in the vicinity.
Though he was not untroubled by the tumult of forces that apparently were contained within he who posited the question...so far, though, he seemed...benign. Force sensitives, or masters of combat technique, might notice that Enset took upon the manner of one who was ready for such a thing to break out, just in case.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)"Not...yet. I have spent much time at their lands on Naboo, however."
Finally. Stripe could have fainted in relief. He had been travelling for so long to find the jedi. Since leaving Tatooine, he had been plagued with the feeling that the time had come for the question of who his parents were and for their legacy to continue with their son following in their footsteps. He had been searching the cities on the planet for a sign of them but he had turned up nothing. It surprised him that an entire race of force-sensitives and these were the first ones he had found to use it here before him.
Not yet... the Miralukan thought....Perhaps he is a Padawan. No matter who he was, he was jedi, one who could help Stripe in his journey. Even tell him where he had to go too met the jedi. However, the woman who had been conversing with the jedi seemed less than impressed by the interupption.
"It is best to keep ones manners when talking to one as a jedi....I can see you Sith still hold your stereotypical wit about you." the young man spoke mockingly to the woman. The Sith was not as dark as she could have been, most sith were rife with corruption, this one had just a touch of darkness about her.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
A grin spread across her face at Stripe's response. It was entirely possible he'd impressed her more with his mockery than his timidness.
You Sith. Because clearly I belong to a homogenous collective of child-torturing puppykicking monsters.
"I'm glad you're willing to be so respectful and courteous... to Jedi. I guess we Sith aren't expected to worry about such things." She could have laughed. He might actually add a little spirit the conversation and more power to him for that. "So? You going to sit down?" She offered. "I seem to have found the popular table."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Enset's suspicions, and hopes, were confirmed. "A sith?" He tried very hard to hide the relief/joy mix in his voice. "I have never met one of your affiliation before." His tone, this time, did not try to hide that he wanted to learn more.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti blinked. Strange man. He seemed pleased.
No, it was more than that. He seemed curious.
Ah! So that's why he sat with me. Neat!
"Well, I can't claim to speak for all Sith. I mean..." She shrugged. "I don't get along with all of them but then... I don't get along with all Jedi either, and we seem to be not murdering each other just fine." Shakti couldn't really even begin to educate anyone about the Sith order, as she was still learning more about it herself.
From what she'd seen, several were sadistic hedonists with little thought for anything but their own short-term gratification and possibly the destruction of all Jedi as long as it didn't interfere with their seven o'clock bondage session.
But others... others simply didn't limit themselves. They were people, individuals like Shakti, people who needed to find their own way of relating to the universe and the Force. People who couldn't flourish under the dogma of the Jedi. They looked out for their own and pursued their goals without a dogged devotion to senseless mayhem. These were the Sith that had spoken to Shakti, through the pages of books and flickering holovids. They were the Sith she was looking for and the Sith she could become.
She just had no idea how many of them there were, or if she'd ever even find them in the sea of dehumanized blood-slavering monsters.
"I don't know what to tell you. I guess it's obvious how I do things, but I don't know if the Sith would even really call me one of their own."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
The conversation had taken any interesting turn. Ophion listened, whilst seeming to still read at his ponderous pace, and wondered what would become of the three. At least one among them was a Jedi, and they had managed – thus far – to act with civility and respect to one another.
When the young woman voiced her concerns as to whether or not she would be accepted as one of the Sith, Ophion could wait no longer. With a gentle brush of the Force, he sent her silent words that would reach no mind other than her own:
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
While the woman spoke to the jedi, Stripe felt a burning shame within him. He had just assumed all Sith were what he had been told, sadistic killers. But this human didn't seem so bad. She seemed nothing like what he had been told. Patient, and intellectual, The Miralukan youth silently berated himself for insulting her. She hadn't even retaliated at all, typical Sith would be up and slicing him into meaty pieces.
"Lady Sith....I...Apologize for my earlier remark."
The Jedi was treating the woman with respect, and that was enough for Stripe to do the same. But it was odd, the woman who was perhaps the most unusual Sith the Miralukan had heard of, still had an aura of darkness about her. It was all very confusing to him.
"Tell me, what is it that the Sith stand for? It seems I have been misguided in my information on you."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
It really wasn't all that obvious how this woman did things, unless Enset was missing something that was metaphorically staring him in the face. "Is that to say, then, that you are not actually a Sith? I presume that you are also not a Jedi..."
It was hard to tell, even for Enset himself, whether this made him more or less interested in the idea behind the conversation. On one hand, he might not have found a legitimate Sith to talk to about their organization. On the other hand, he might have found a lead to a third option in finding counsel in the ways of the Force--and that was to be considered a great thing.
Edited by: Enset Kallun at: 7/18/07 9:58 pm
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
She started inwardly at the touch of another Force user's mind. Whoever he was, he was right.
I know that, she replied silently.I know.
"Lady Sith?" she repeated archly. "Call me Shakti. Everyone important does. And you don't need to apologize for anything. I don't actually care." She chuckled. "I was just messing with you."
She looked from Stripe to Enset and couldn't hold back another laugh. "Man. I come to do a little reading and find myself in the spotlight!" With a grin she took on a low and grandiose tone. "See a real live servant of darkness in her natural environment!" Shakti threw her head back and laughed.
"In all seriousness, though. I guess the short story is that I don't do things the Jedi way. I don't like it now and I liked it less when I tried it. They pissed me right the f@#$ off to tell the truth. But..." She spread her hands in a theatrical overstated shrug. "What can you do. I don't have an official connection to the Sith either. Just wandering around hoping not to get my skinny ass killed when someone more skilled comes along."Edited by: Darth Shakti at: 7/18/07 10:07 pm
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Enset rubbed his chin. "...What was it about the Jedi way that you dislike? I do not recall any of their tenets to be particularly abrasive, at least to my recollection."
She had a point about people being a bit overly attentive to her presence. But Alpheridies rarely got visitors from outside, and it seemed Force sensates had something of a tendency to find eachother and congeal into groups of some sort. So much the better, he thought, if it gives me a broader picture of the way things work.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti shrugged with one shoulder and held in an annoyed grunt in the back of her throat. "Maybe not to you..."
Some Jedi would accuse Shakti of lacking discipline, and maybe they were right. The injustice of it came in accusing her of failing for lack of discipline. For being unable to control her anger and unwilling to shove aside everything that made her who she was to become a perfect stoic vessel of unimpeachable serenity.
"But I wasn't interested in being taught how to live my life. I can handle guidance, but that 'our way or the highway' crap does not fly because I have to be suspicious of anybody who tells me to do things their way or face utter damnation or some stupid thing." She rolled her shoulder, willing herself to calm down a bit.
"No offense to present company. You seem like a stand-up guy. But you get a group of stand-up guys together, they get some respect... some power and prestige... they decide everyone ought to be just like them, and soon you've got yourself a monster. That's not for me."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Enset nodded. Wait, he nodded? He could hardly believe it himself. He, who was raised and lived his life in a monastery, where everyone was taught the same thing? He could still see her point--if he ever decided to leave his old monastery, he was free to go--which was something that he did, indeed, end up doing, and nobody stopped him or even genuinely tried. Everyone was there for a reason. Because if students do not wish to learn, then they shall not. It was this basic idea of freedom that Enset had espoused for his entire adult life--the idea of servitude to someone else being no more than an exchange. It was why he went to the Jedi, as well. He only recently came to truly understand that, now that he was outside of his familiar temple, but it had become something he could hardly forget.
"I can see your point," he said, less conceding the point and more finding agreement. "I have not met any Jedi that match your description in my short time on Naboo, but I have little doubt that these Jedi exist. I also have little doubt that they are not truly Jedi--such insistence of their own ideas is but ego, and that is not in line with their code, as I am to understand it.
"But, I must wonder--from whom did you learn to use the Force, if not the Jedi? Did the Sith teach you more properly?" The irony of uttering the words 'Sith' and 'properly' seemed to be lost on Enset.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti was annoyed and delighted and curious and frustrated and quite simply having a wonderful time talking to Enset. On an individual basis she could generally handle Jedi. Individuals usually worked in fairly predictable and reasonable ways, and unless they were grossly offensive, Shakti could generally have an engaging conversation even with what ought to be a sworn foe.
"Oh, I was with them for a while. Little while. Other students did well and the whole Jedi thing worked for them. But it wasn't for me. Either the lessons had to change or I had to change, and I didn't like what the Jedi order wanted to turn me into." She slipped her stylus up behind one ear. "I like myself just fine, and I think there's a difference between helping someone reach their potential and telling them that who they are and what they want are wrong."
"So like I said. Works for some people. I'll be the last person to tell you that everyone needs to do things my way, wandering around contemplating full-fledged allegiance to the Sith. I don't think that'd work for everyone any more than becoming a Jedi."
A brief vision of her brother, smiling and laughing with other padawans came unbidden to her mind and she dismissed it with a sneer.
"But it works for me. And I'm not going to let anyone tell me that what works for me is somehow objectively evil just because it isn't their way."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
There was that word again. Evil. His Master had said it, too, of the Sith. It didn't seem quite right then, and it still didn't settle right with Enset--it is not a word to use lightly, and he had begun to suspect that those who used it the most often might be those who did not understand it.
But he was no more enlightened about the Sith, something that apparently this woman--wait.
He knew he'd forgotten something. He extended a hand to the woman with the book, and then to the Miraluka without a blindfold. "Enset Kallun, padawan to Master Tantor Aden and student to the Path of Water's Fall."
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Taking the outstretched hand, Stripe shook it firmly. The Jedi and Sith had been conversing at length about each prospective groups and the many intricacies that each had within itself. It had been a very enlightening experience for the young Miraluka. Although it didn't annoy him that they had ignored him in such a way, like he was beneath there notice. It actually infuriated him. When he was at the jedi temple, he wondered if he would feel the same way about the jedi that this one did. And he would remember that the Sith were not all bloodthirsty killers. There were those that just didn't suit the jedi belief.
"Stripe Krexel, prospective jedi."
Stripe bowed his head to the woman as well and repeated the sentence. He was doing his best to be polite, but the fact that they had ignored him was something he couldn't get past. The Jedi had just spoken to him and left it at that, turning to talk to the woman.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti took Enset's hand and returned Stripe's nod. "Well Enset, your master can't be a total fanatic if you're still allowed to socialize with the enemy." She returned Stripe's nod as well. She really did like him better when he was verbally sniping at her than when he was be so withdrawn and uncertain of himself. At least then he was being engaging.
Prospective Jedi, huh?"Nice to meet you too, Stripe. If you end up joining the Jedi order, try not to become an ass and I'll try not to go crazy after joining the Sith. Sound like a deal?"
It was strange to talk about doing it so openly. 'Oh, I think I'll go have a kebab and then join the Sith.' But that's what she was doing and why should she be ashamed of it? There was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing evil about facing and embracing who she really was instead of locking down all of her feelings to become The Perfect Monk.
Screw that crap.
The more she thought about it, the more comfortable she was self-identifying with the Sith. Shakti knew she could never be anything else, and that was all right. Now her only obstacle lay with the Sith themselves. The only obstacle was still being accepted by them, and Shakti wondered what she would be required to do to earn that acceptance. She knew how far she was willing to go, but would it be enough?
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Well, at least this man, though he didn't wear a blindfold for whatever reason, had a firm handshake and a sense of politeness. That was to be counted in his favor.
It, on the other hand, was fairly bothersome, that red knot in Stripe's spirit that burned with such intensity. It had spawned there so quickly, and showed no signs of dropping off in intensity. Enset wasn't familiar with that color, but whatever it was, it looked to be somehow interfering with the rest of his inner spectrum. Scent. Whatever.
For now, he stayed out of the conversation, and let the others talk as they would. He'd taken enough of Shakti's time himself as it was.
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)"Nice to meet you too, Stripe. If you end up joining the Jedi order, try not to become an ass and I'll try not to go crazy after joining the Sith. Sound like a deal?"
It seemed as if this Sith had a sense of humor. Letting the smile that he couldn't stop breaking through at the remark, Stripe laughed quietly at the woman. He felt much more comfortable around her now.
I don't know.....I think for one to be a Sith you must be insane. Maybe I would be better off there, I mean, I want to be jedi and I am talking to a Sith....my plan is working great.
Letting out another laugh, Stripe looked to the jedi and winked, which was actually just closing his eyelid over the gaping maw where eyes were situated on other species to let him know he was joking. He wasn't going to screw up his chance of becoming jedi for the sake of a joke.
Edited by: Stripe Krexel at: 7/19/07 12:18 am
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Okay, so Stripe just went with that one motion from being slightly questionable and inconsiderate in dress to downright unsettling. It would almost be impressive, except....ugh. Enset couldn't even properly think on what he had said, that...I mean, his retina was visible and everything. Seriously.
Easily amused and determined
to understand it all.
Posts: 14
(7/20/07 11:26 pm) Reply
| Edit
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Shakti smirked at Stripe's jest, and as she was going to hit him with a witty retort she noticed that her other companion seemed... a little uncomfortable.
Well, granted. The winking thing was creepy. But it was also instructive.
The average Miralukan would never have made such a gesture. First off because the average Miralukan would have covered his eye sockets as Enset was doing. Even Shakti herself had complied with local sensitivities and chosen a nightvision visor that concealed her eyes. The fact that such a gesture came naturally to Stripe suggested to Shakti that he had either been raised by other humanoids, or had spent enough time offworld to learn the subtle social tics of other species.
The combination of the wink and his lack of proper Miralukan modesty suggested to Shakti that he was not deeply embedded in the culture of his people. The real question was...
Is he unfamiliar with the local culture, or is he deliberately rejecting it?
"Stripe, if you don't mind me asking a personal question... I'm a little curious about how things work on Alpheridies. You from around here?"
Kiths Apprentice Has no eyes Eats dead people
Posts: 23
(7/20/07 11:38 pm) Reply
Re: The Blind Leading the Blind (Open)
Not noticing the reaction that Stripe had gotten from his fellow Miraluka, he continued to jest with Shakti. He was enjoying the jesting with the Sith, as he was surprised and curious about her. Most Sith he had heard of were sadistic killers, slaughtering everyone they met. But here, this one was more of a verbal combatant. It was as if they were in a battle of words, parrying with jibes and attacking with jests.
"Well Ms. Shakti, This is more of a holiday planet for me. I originally lived upon the wonderful wonderland of Tatooine, but yes now I find myself upon here. Why everybody covers there eyes HERE I find rather odd. We are all without them and we all know it."
He knew perfectly well why the Miraluka averted and hid their eyes or the lack of. It was for the comfort of others who found it disturbing that the near-humans could see all there moevements and such as well as them but without the organs to do so. But here they were all Miralukans, and they all had the same 'mutation'. Why they hid it here was beyond Stripe, and he himself never hid the black holes of his sockets.
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