Dealings in Daylight (Phoenix / Salem)

[Razielle Alastor]

It was morning. Mornings these days found Razielle moving rapidly from sleep, to primped and out of her rooms. Not usually a morning person, it was more of a tactic to avoid running into her new...husband while she was still abed. Instead, she dressed with all due haste, ate quickly and scurried off to become entangled in some official 'diplomatic' business.

This morning was no exception, though the location was a bit different. She'd dressed in a simple jade green dress, tied at the small of her back with a bouncy bow, and a matching ribbon caught her long hair back from her face, while setting out for the Merchants Quarter. She was allowed personal time for frivolities sake! A morning spent perusing the shops would also carry her near the starport, and a few cantinas.

If she were lucky she might spy the silhouette of a very tall, very interesting visitor to Iziz. A Sorceror, some boys had said.. Someone in need of further investigating, as he was anything but normal. In a city of 'nerf', there stalked a predator and she wanted to know what he was up to..

[Lucianus Adair]

The Ancient One always looked so abysmally out of place in the daylight. The brightness and cheery colours hardly suited him, but on this day he made a concerted effort to look more comfortable in the hours deprived of shadow. This required lighter tones of clothing, subtle or hidden weaponry, small smiles, and a kind demeanor. Mars was a master of acts and 'looking the part'. A chameleon, as it were, in many a society. This allowed the predator liberty to act where the average brute could not follow. The monster and the gentleman, in one tightly wrapped and pretty package. If there was one thing he had learned well skirting about the imperial courts during his tenure in the Emperor's employ, it was refined propriety. There had only been so much the master of his youth was able to impress on the predator in his early years, and all of it took, but Lucianus himself had held only so much familiarity with the royal court, having remained largely in obscurity after his own exile from the blessed home some millennia prior.

Iziz was still buzzing from the recent wedding of the Princess Razielle Shadana to the Hapan Prince Tristan Alastor - Hapans were a spot of irritation with this one - and the predator had been made to seem agreeable with many a talkative commoner and wide-eyed child on that subject, and others, his unusual stature included. He saw the fancying in the eyes of many a lady young and old on this day, and made every effort not to encourage their interests in him. Amidst these encounters, he went about his main purpose of the day - exploring the city, the lay of the land.

Again (for perhaps the billionth time in only so many hours), a child tugged at his hem. A boy, about the age of six.

"Mister? MISTER? Why are you so tall? Why is your hair so long? Why do you have such nice clothes?"

The boys' mother, mortified at her child's lack of manners, tried to discreetly urge her boy away, uttering apologies. For what was the umpteenth time that morning, Phoenix Mars Whyte insisted that the curiousity was quite alright. He would crouch down, getting closer to the young boy's level.

"You want to know these things, correct?"

The boy nodded, staying back with his mother. Phoenix made a small smile, handsome by the standards of these humans.

"I am tall, because I grew so. My hair is long, because it grew so. And my clothes are this way because I like them so. Have I answered your questions well enough, my boy?"

The boy nodded again. His mother smiled sweetly, then urged the boy on, heading on her way as well. Phoenix stood, and brushed long strands of his hair off his shoulder, barely hiding his annoyance at the repeated strings of the same questions he had been bombarded with all the morning long. Making with the stride of a most busy individual, Mars headed back to the starport, where he had started out from. Fewer curious, gape-eyed children and flirtatious local commoners there. Once arriving, he walked along the berths at a leisurely pace, looking over each vessel in detail. This was an activity considerably less straining on the tolerance of a man not accustomed to children.

[Razielle Alastor]

With a rustic, branch-woven basket, filled to the brim with a pile of fresh flowers tucked into the crook of one arm, Chume'la Razielle wandered at her leisure through the market district. Her roamings took her to the starport, where she skirted around a idly, catching a fair bit of attention as she did so. Royal guards from the palace followed her at a discreet, but safe distance giving her a bit of privacy without letting her out of their sight.

When she spotted her elusive Sorceror, she smiled brightly and lifted one bloom from the basket to inhale the fresh scent as she approached.

"They certainly don't grow them that tall around Iziz, do they, my lad?" Razielle smilled at the little bow, and inclined her head to his mother, before shifting her full attention on the man who towered above her by more than a foot.

"Clearly you are of more.. privileged stock..", she teased him quietly.

[Lucianus Adair]

He did not turn to look on her. Instead, he continued to walk along, looking over the docked vessels. Mars had heard her, smelled her, felt her coming, and knew that in the sight of all these people, he could only act proper, in accordance with the average mortal.

"I do not know what you are talking about, my lady." He returned the tease, toying with the ends of his hair draped over his shoulder and down his chest, giving him a slightly effeminate air for the benefit of onlookers that would make him look much like a pampered prince. He knew the motions, the words, the acts and could make anyone believe anything he wanted them to. He would play along with the pleasantries. It was clear that she was here for more than small talk. Nobody ever approached the Ancient one for mere dalliances and idle conversation. There were always...motives.

"You seem quite well." He was not clear if she would catch his reference (as it was incredibly vague, obscure), but he had observed her dislike for her now-husband upon sight of him at the festival. Clearly he was missing something.

[Razielle Alastor]

Not only a pretty face, but also observant as well.

Razielle had not forgottent hat this man, whoever he really was, had been a front row witness to her first few moments of betrothen bliss. Although the majority of onlookers that night had sensed nothing amiss, she already knew that this man was no ordinary civilian. He was attuned to the Force in some way alrerady, and that fact was what had her attention claimed. If there were going to be other Force predators running about in the hunting grounds of her master's pride, his lioness must be exceedingly vigilant in keeping any prey, or potential danger in her sight. The adage, she believed, went something like; 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.'

Only time would reveal this one's intentions...

Returning the flower to the basket, Razielle smiled in genuine delight because she was, indeed, quite well. "Yes, thank you.. I find the days have been most agreeable. And you? How does Iziz life treat you, sir?"

[Lucianus Adair]

He 'hmm'd' to himself, bowing his head a moment, slightly, in some form of a nod.

"Well enough, but recent events have made finding a place of quiet rather...impossible." He frowned displeasure. "Even after nightfall."

At this point, he halted his walk by a bench, and swept his long coat out behind him to sit on said bench. He then crossed his legs and planted his hands on the bench on either side of himself, and looked on her, noting the varied scents the different blooms gave off from her collection. He closed his eyes, taking it in, a small smile coming to his face - one where no one could tell whether he was truly enjoying it, or if it was all part of a facade.

"Sometimes, what is wanted or needed is found when we are not looking." The predator breathed out. Indeed, his original arrival to this place had been based merely on a small and random whim of the Balance. Piece by piece, Mars was beginning to ferret out why it was that he needed to be here. Intuition strongly pointed to this woman as a piece of that puzzle. He then opened his faintly blue eyes and set them on her.

"Is there something you are looking for?" He tilted his head at her with the question, looking up at her through the very top of where his eyes could reach.

Nobody ever approached him just for chitchat.

[Razielle Alastor]

"Sometimes, what is wanted or needed is found when we are not looking."

Exactly! Razielle thought with a little secret smile.

Of course, it had been a few years now since what she both wanted and needed had found her, but she could recall the instant in vivid detail by doing nothing more taxing than closing her eyes in remembrance. One minute she'd been a kept treasure, observing her world and being observed by it, as though through a protective pane of glass, and then.. someone had shattered the glass.

"Looking.. hmm. Perhaps! I often make a habit out of watching the people. Their comings and goings. Even without knowing them personally you can almost put together a stories for them with enough imagination. The local working class who've lived within these walls for years.", she gestured toward a group bustling by. "Living day to day, getting by with their families.."

"The nobles.. ", she shook her head with a bit of amusement. "Pretentious to the point of hilarity. They do not concern me so much, save for the continual harping at my lady, Her Majesty, about whatever it is they think she should be doing with her private life on a given day." Popping out heirs, birthed of royal blood to secure her great Basillie line for future generations, Razielle thought with a hidden scowl.

"The Mandalorian presence! Only recently admitted to the benefits of life within the safety of the city. Even without their distinctive armor, you can tell them from their stature. Proud and impassive, they resent being 'allowed' into territory they consider their own. That is a peace not meant to last, mark my words.", she said the last quietly, for his ears alone.

"And then.. my good fellow, there is you...", she arched a brow at him, as if sizing him up for analysis.

The Sorcerer..

[Lucianus Adair]

"Mandalorians, indeed." He mused.

He turned his eyes away from her, instead choosing to idly watch the throng of passers-by. The populace had a great deal of energy. Energy that could be put to good use for a great purpose... but that was not his domain, not usually. Oppression was not his style, so to speak. He listened to her prattle on about things, beating around the bush, not really getting to the point... until she did.

"What of me?" He queried, focusing on a man, his wife, their daughter, then another couple as they came in and out of the port area. "I am a mere stranger, my lady..."

...what use have you for another 'sorcerer'?

"...a stranger in whom you appear to have taken, at least, an idle interest."

[Razielle Alastor]

Appearing equally as interested in the people as she was in her conversation, Razielle smiled passively.

"I would not be very wise at all, were I to miss the fact the you stand above the rest, sir.." She turned toward him, grinning slightly to show she meant no offense by her little pun.

His stature was impressive, but nothing compared to the other tendencies he had shown.

Sorcerers can either go very far in this city, or they have also been known to perform amazing feats spontaneous disappearance...

Had she just threatened him, or invited him to stay?

"I am merely curious.. I do so enjoy spending time getting to know those interested in remaining in our fair city..."

[Lucianus Adair]

Her pun managed to bring the slightest of upturning to his lips, not only for the sake of apparent normal conversation to the eyes of those not knowing, but simply because it was indeed clever. His stature, combined with the way he carried himself, his physical beauty (and some would say his aura) made him one most would be nervous to approach or simply avoid altogether. This woman, however, showed no such flavour of caution. Her quiet forwardness intrigued him, as did other seeming commonalities.

"The pace of this city, this world, is much different than that of Coruscant..." He noted, and it was true. Coruscant was all durasteel, duracrete and progress. That wasn't to say there was no progress here, but the focus of the populace was on the simple pace of life and the royal court. Whereas the royal court... He looked on the woman again, a thin and polite smile painting over his lips before continuing in the deep baritone his voice gave to words. "...it is, how do I say? Enlightening."

I have yet to vanish in any fashion outside of my own will and doing. His smile faded. It is my intention that it should remain as such.

"It would be well within my interests to indulge further in this place." The predator-man finished, finally. The manner of indulgence - obvious, if she were to catch it - did not imply anything in certain realms of impropriety as of yet.

[Razielle Alastor]

"Aha! I am delighted to hear it, sir."

Straightening her skirts, she was obviously preparing to leave. Tucking the basket of flowers once more in the crook of her arm, she lifted another blood red bloom, from the confines.

If you are the ambitious sort, I may be able to help you secure those indulgences.

She began to hand the gently budding rose over to him, but pulled it back at the last possible moment. "Thank you for the company, sir...? You know, I do not believe we have been properly introduced! How remiss in decorum!"

She left it open ended, hoping he would take the initiative..

[Lucianus Adair]

I would secure them by my lonesome, were there not a more subtle avenue.

At the mention of the improper procedures their conversation had taken, his eyes were drawn momentarily to the deep red of the rose in her small, feminine hand, then again to her face. He rose from his seat on the bench, removing the note of equality that sitting would give in height. The ancient then swept one hand behind his back and long coat, the other hand held lightly to his abdomen, and tipped his head and torso slightly to her as he spoke.

"I am Phoenix Whyte, my lady. And you are most welcome for my company, as I am for yours." And he rose from his respectful action, tucking his hand from out front to the back with the other. While it was one name of several, it was the first proffered until others were earned from him, as a man of ages cannot live by merely one title. It had yet to happen, and he was interested to see how far down the rabbit hole would go.

[Razielle Alastor]

A slight smile tugged at the corners of her glossy lips as she tucked the name away for later. She nodded benevolently to the tall stranger, Phoenix Whyte, he so desired to be called. "I am Princess Razielle Alastor, and the pleasure has been all mine."

She strolled along, as if the pleasant interlude was now concluded.

Stick to the area. Tonight we'll see about getting you to those indulgences.

Razielle turned and smiled again in farewell. "Enjoy your stay in Iziz..."

[Lucianus Adair]

"I will be sure to do such."

And he watched her go, pleasantly, as if nothing were amiss... and that was the apparent truth, to those that were none the wiser or otherwise capable.

I shall be waiting.


*****


Night had fallen, and went deeper as the hours between sunset and present set the times at a great distance from each other. The activity within the city walls had died down considerably to where there was the dull roar of the nightlife composed of chatter that lost its inside voice to a drunken state, and other more sinful and salacious activities. The citizens were, after all, only human... or some approximation thereof, if that. Mars did not begrudge them their indulgences, for there were those activities he himself partook in - nothing like the usual interests of a mundane existence, however. It was activities of the variety in the predator's interest that led him to remain here, at the luring of another privy to those ends. While the princess had not promised much in specifics, she spoke the language, knew the right words to communicate possibilities and intentions.

At the Festival, however, there had been more than just her. The power base was not beyond him to discern. For although she had apparent skills, they had been learned from another, and he knew with certainty that she was rather bent to the will of that master, whoever that may be. Not completely, but close enough. Over time, situations evolve or devolve. Which would happen within this court, in time? That was something to be observed.

Mars kept to himself. An occasional straggler or harlot eyed him with passing interest and scurried along faster when the unease secured itself to them from a moment's too long of staring at the above-average height and handsome features. There was something looming about him that warned off any that could be so easily influenced as such. Otherwise, with his eyes observations continued and he remained near to the outer walls. Just a lone man, seeming to care for nobody's business but his own.

If only they knew...

[Salem Ave]

Iziz, it seemed, had entered an era of peace and prosperity. Thanks to the savvy trading of Victer Dejan, the city could afford to reduce taxation and provide an increased variety of imported produce for the populace to spend their spare credits on. The dependable casks of locally brewed ale, found in most all of the city's taverns, were now complimented by finer things – wines and liqueurs whose flavor and potency left all who drank them in the highest of spirits.

Yet, whilst there was merriment and decadence in abundance, the Prime Minister maintained his abstinence. Intoxication was not a luxury he could afford to indulge in. Long strides carried him through the streets of Iziz, the chill of the cool nights air kept at bay by a heavy, dark cloak. No one spoke to him, nor attempted to interrupt his solitary progress. On one occasion, someone tumbled out of a bar doorway and almost collided with him, but recoiled at the last moment, suddenly feeling quite unnaturally cold and queasy (a fact which he accredited to the countless cups of Naboo blossom wine he'd down earlier).

Salem had no time for such distractions. There were more important things afoot in the city that night...

[Razielle Alastor]

Although hers was a face that was well known in Iziz, Razielle was quite capable of going unrecognized when the situation warranted it. Such as tonight. She'd pulled her signature long tresses up into a topknot, and shed a few layers of clothes in favor of a more flirtatious style (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/Drakania/dress.jpg), something she'd had imported, as she did most of her vast wardrobe.

As promised, she had returned to the district near the starport, where she would eventually find her new friend, the ever charming sorcerer, Phoenix Whyte. First though, she had to catch up with the puppet master she'd invited along to meet the potential new marionette. Spotting him, she stepped off onto the street and walked until she fell into step beside her master. Her sparkling studded heels clicked on the duracrete sidewalk with a determined cadence.

Catching their reflection in the windows at their side, she grinned, always pleased at the image of perfection reflected there. To him alone, she spoke her thoughts.

He's close. This was where I left him earlier.

[Lucianus Adair]

Nighttime was the preferable section of hours to a day. Less chance for crowds and more for the silent roam, the unseen hunt. The 'nerf', the people as it were, remained oblivious to what went on truly right before their eyes and furthermore behind solid walls and closed doors.

It took only mere moments to record a scent, a presence to his mind and catalogue it for future reference - and it was this that he had done earlier in the day on his second encounter with the Princess Razielle since his arrival to Onderon and the city of Iziz. And now, long after nightfall, the faintness of her presence increased in small increments towards his position. Mars remained nonchalant about the fact, also noting the evenly spaced repetition of clicks underneath the nightlife's murmur, and a strangely indiscernable presence that perhaps made him ever so slightly uncomfortable with its anonymity. It was small things like this that struck appeal with him, ever curious to see what would become. Phoenix lifted his tall frame from the city wall as the pair of presences approached, accompanied by nightshadowed figures on which the moonlight slowly crept toward revealing.

The predator quirked a brow, watching in interest as they came to him, muscled arms (not ridiculously so) tucked and folded against his chest. This was the hinted meeting of intentions and indulgences, the moon to witness it all.

[Salem Ave]

The shadows clung hungrily to Salem Ave, his aura a mass of pulsating and writhing darkness. More than cloaking his physical presence, they also enshrouded him – and more importantly his thoughts and emotions – behind an impenetrable veil. As he approached the stranger, even his facial expressions were impossible to read, masked as they were by the death's head of Darth Callidus. When he spoke, his tone was even and curt.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”

[Razielle Alastor]

Although her glance flitted up toward Phoenix once with knowing amusement in her eyes, Razielle, or more aptly Anxia, did not speak. Rather her gaze lowered, her fingers loosely linked before her as she too submitted to the first of the interrogation.

She hoped Phoenix was aware that he would not be the only one judged tonight. Originally she had only taken an interest in discovering the intentions of another force user in their midst. It had not been her intention to drag her own master out into the night for a chat. The meeting could go either way. Either his answers would be accepted and they might have a potential ally, or things could go horribly wrong..

[Lucianus Adair]

His arms remained crossed, as he looked down upon the princess and the... amassed shadow - more than mere shadow - that accompanied her. It was not difficult to deduce whom followed whom, however. The distinction was clear and his inability to discern much at all of the shrouded, clinging darkness of a man - or woman, perhaps. There is nothing I can see that would prove to me either selection - did not produce anything of fear in the predator, the discomfort from their approach no longer present as well. It was mere curiosity now, at how he had not encountered such a thing as what stood before him until recent days. The last time Marsuo'ur'stalis had come across it, he was but a young boy. It still appealed to him as ever it did those stacked centuries prior to this night.

However, he was not in the position of asking questions. As such, curiosities would have to wait. The cool color of his eyes showed nothing of warmth or any emotion, as if to be devoid of the look of life, as looking straight down on the shadowing. His response would be honest. There was nothing to hide.

"Who I am is but a name and of those there are several." The depth of his voice rumbled, albeit softly, normal. "Why I am here is attributed to the Balance."

Honest, if a little cryptic.

[Salem Ave]

Unseen, Salem's lips twisted faintly at the edges into the barest sneer. Their time was short, whether the stranger realized it or not, and Callidus had no patience for games.

“Spare me your riddles.”

[Lucianus Adair]

The urge to retort barely registered, but the fact that it was there was of ultimately mild annoyance. The arms of the ancient remained in a cross, the measured weight of his stare set on the demanding one. He was not here in this section of time to speak in knives and wit. One brow arched. The volume of his words dipped a notch, the baritone of his voice taking on the tones of other voices seeming not his own.

"I am a watcher of the Balance." His eyes narrowed down to slits, scrutinizing the shadow, shifting, examining. The true Beast, reigned in by learned civility, took its turn now alongside the pale-faced predator. "I am here to assure the full realization of your enterprise."

He dipped his head. There were many names. Each one appropriate to him. Only one that truly belonged to the Beast. The eyes raised, the head followed them.

"I am Marsuo'ur'stalis."

[Salem Ave]

The name had a Chiss coloring to it, yet the face did not. Callidus had the vague awareness that he was dealing with an anachronism, an individual whose appearance belied his true years. Age did not ensure wisdom, however, or worth. Those things would be determined in time.

“What do you have to offer to my enterprise, Marsuo'ur'stalis?”

[Lucianus Adair]

The predator raised his eyes again, devoid of any semblance of emotion, feigned or otherwise, that might have been there mere moments before. His arms remained folded, his eyes only on the one giving query.

"What I offer, Sith..." He paused, as if to consider his words. "...is the height, breadth and depth of my experiences, my blade and ever-watchful eye. I will not brag of my past conquests, less it pique your interests to hear of them. Otherwise, that is my business alone."

And that was that. There was not another word, unless the shadow before him asked it of him. There was no sense in wasting words.

[Salem Ave]

“You would offer all of this freely, desiring nothing in return...”

The words were not so much a statement as a question, and even then one which Callidus knew the answer to. Nothing in the galaxy – at least nothing worth having – was given freely.

[Lucianus Adair]

He thought on the statement a moment. Indeed, nothing was ever given freely. Even the predator had his wants and needs and desires.

"Would I be so selfless? No." One brow twitched upward. "My requests, you will find, are nothing that should be of threat or concern."

He paused, a thoughtful look crossing him. Upon continuing, there was a glint in his eye. Negotiations such as these were never very straightforward.

"If I were to be threatened, however, I would be forced to act regardless of the identity of those who would act upon me. I am prey to no-one."