Raising Hate

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.
- Bill Cosby







Moving about with the ease she was normally accustomed to had become a thing of the past, and Lok s'Ilancy felt distinctly old memories coming to the forefront. Just as she had been with Teagan, the Lupine had become something of a waddling, monstrous eating machine. Oh, she had done her best during the first stages to mentally quell her urges, but halfway through she'd given up and allowed her culinary desires to display themselves in horrible fashion.

To Dan's credit, he fulfilled those wishes with the necessary stoic calmness, and while she knew he inwardly cringed at the requests she made of him, he at least kept such reactions well hidden.

So it was on this day. Nestled as comfortably as she could manage on the sofa of their provided housing (graciously offered as their last residence had been all but demolished), s'Il let her head fall back, eyes closing. She felt a kick from the small life inside of her.

"He will be here soon," she finally commented, knowing that Dan was - though busying himself with his own tasks - well within earshot.

[General Dan]

"Mm."

It was a non-answer. Dan walked across the living room, datapad in hand as he browsed over its contents, looking up just enough to keep his bearings.

"Sounds as if you're just waiting for someone to keep an appointment. Hope he's punctual at least."

He wasn't complaining though. Nonchalance trumped hormonal maelstroms any day.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Oh, if he's anything like you," came the grumbled response, her eyes still closed, "... he will be exactly thirteen minutes early, and come with his own caf mug which I'll be expected to fill with whatever bizarre blend of black sludge from the lowest level diners of Coruscant that you continually insist on having smuggled off of that infernal planet."

She paused then, and finally opting to right her head, the Lupine opened her eyes to look up at Dan.

She watched him for a few quiet moments.

"You may hide behind that datapad of yours, but I know the look of a man who is anxious for this to be over."

And as an afterthought, "... if it's any consolation, the woman is ready for it to be finished as well."

[General Dan]

"Well that shouldn't surprise. There's no way anyone can actually enjoy whatever you ask me to bring home for dinner. I chalked that up to a cry for help a long time ago."

Assured that there wouldn't be any more work to do for the moment, Dan deactivated his pad and tossed it aside. Normally he'd take a habitual few steps to the bar, but out of a show of solidarity he instead detoured for the kitchen, determined to make a drink they could share.

"I doubt it's gonna get easier, so there's no real sense in griping. And I think once we're reduced to two hours of sleep, that uncouth caf of mine might come back into vogue."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She made a supremely show of smug self-satisfaction, carefully fluffing up one of the pillows at her side.

"When your daughter was born, I had not the luxury of an available spouse, and needed no caf whatsoever despite it all."

She thought for only a fraction of a moment before going on, and angling her head in the direction that he'd gone, her voice rose a small bit.

"You know, I've half a mind to make you deal with everything this go-around."

A hallow threat, as both of them knew well enough. She would be hard-pressed to even allow him to hold the boy; such was the nature of her.

[General Dan]

Dan went to work assembling a collection of fruit on the counter, chopping deftly before scooping it into a waiting blender.

"If you're trying to throw down some kind of gauntlet and challenge my ego, I'm immune."

He flashed his wedding band for reference.

"Pride is a poor substitute for peace and quiet. I have little enough of that as it stands."

Fruit assembled, Dan finally added a little ice and yogurt to the blender, giving it a quick whirl to homogenize the cubes without thinning the whole thing out.

"As for the caf, just take into account that you're a few years past your first one. You may want to reconsider."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

As he spoke, the Lupine levered herself up to her feet, taking a moment to acclimate herself to the gravity shifts. After a few seconds - satisfied - she made her way rather ponderously into the kitchen area.

"I've never known a man like you-" it was obvious to only them that she spoke of his true self, "... to cast aside any sort of challenge. Your ego is a thing of closely-guarded legend, and considering your position and what is to gain... "

She let that linger, sidling up beside him and letting a hand rest upon his shoulder.

"My personal tastes for caf notwithstanding, it will not make you a weaker man in my eyes to say that you are nervous."

Her free hand lifted up to gently place a hand at his cheek and turn his eyes toward her own.

"We are beyond that which defines us and permeates our core at this point," her voice quietly whispered, "... and find ourselves at the raw junction of life which defines the totalitarianism of us all, regardless of ethos and belief."

[General Dan]

He carefully eased the knife onto the cutting board.

"Do you want to have that discussion now? Isn't the fiction fulfillment enough?"

Dan reached for a kitchen towel, wiping the moisture from his hands as he set it aside.

"I know what is at stake, and exactly what we are doing. I'm also not going to lift the veil for this child from the outset. Our son will have plenty of learning ahead of him before that comes into play."

The General smiled, a strangely disarming expression as he returned to his task of finding two glasses to pour the smoothie into.

"Our world isn't about lies as much as it is deferred truths."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Every time I think that I am able to understand the depths that you've burrowed to, I am given a fantastic runaround."

She sent a disapproving look up to him, her hands falling to the wayside.

"And no, the fiction is not satisfying enough because that is the truth of it all."

Her shoulders squared back, and for a glorious - if not minute - moment in time she was able to project the grand stature of her own presence within the fabric of the Force.

"The truth that it is all which is so fake; so... false. The construct that has been woven is well and good for those outside, but within - "

The muscles of her jaw clenched, and by some inherent reaction one hand went to rest upon her swollen belly.

"..., within, it is no different. You afford me that same rehearsed disposition that all else consume with reckless abandon."

The Lupine the stepped back, her eyes narrowing at her life-partner as if in some sort of first-time quandary. Far from however, and the both of them knew as such. Finally, she spoke.

"I would have hoped by now that you would speak to me freely; as a man who has gained that which he desired above all else.

"Am I mistaken in such estimations?"

[General Dan]

"I can speak to you on any level you'd like. What exactly do you want me to say?"

Dan poured the drinks he'd prepared into two cups, setting aside the pitcher. He didn't yet offer one to his wife, as it seemed she had other plans at present.

"That our future son will be the vessel of our ambitions and intentions and will carry our work far beyond us? If you can't abide a charade, what must you think of an echo? Of course I know what is at stake. It's also something better left for a time when we can actively instill lessons into our son."

He took his own cup and sipped at it.

"There is time for that, I assure you. No sense in lifting the veil before he understands what he's seeing. There is a reason from the mouth of babes is a saying, after all."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Our son is not yet born," she spoke smoothly while letting her hands both drop to the countertop in a strange sense of angered expectancy.

"I was talking about myself."

Her head tilted away as she looked to the far side of the kitchen, away from him.

"It is not what I want you to say."

"It is what I want you to be."

She made a face away from him, where he could not see.

"I wish for my master to be himself, and to be truly happy with what his desired one has striven to provide him."

Was that a tear in her eye?! A Sith did not allow such outward displays, and the Lupine swiped the offending drop of ocular moisture away before he could see.

[Darth Decepis]

"Does this please you?"

It wasn't a question of expectation, but simply spoken to let her hear the timbre of his voice change. The face remained the same, save for the eyes.

"Don't mistake my intentions. You have done well. What makes you suddenly question this?"

There was nothing accusatory in his tone. Their plan was moving exactly as intended, and there was no need to impel any different outcome from his closest apprentice.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She finally looked back in his direction.

"You show such aloof mannerisms - in the presence of others I can understand, as that is the accepted norm for those of the male species."

Her own eye seemed to shift, yellow tendrils creeping in from the iris as if to infect the rest of her natural crystalline blue.

The drinks that he'd made were ignored for the time being as she pressed forward into his body, invading his personal space in the way that he'd so invited in time's past.

"We are the same, you and I. But only because your will has made it so.. My Master desires an heir - a creature to perpetuate his will and desires... "

One finger went up to Dan's lips, to still them before they could make a sound.

"... except your desire is before you, and ready to make all of your dreams and visions come to fruition.

"The heir that you so desperately want... "

Her hand moved to grasp his own, and she pulled it up to rest his palm atop her swollen belly.

"... I carry that heir, and I urge you to remember that I hold your immortality."

[General Dan]

Somewhere between two visages, the features of Dan's face seemed to crease, whether it was due to a deep-set frown or something else was in the eye of the beholder.

"That sounds perilously close to a threat, Acera. Perhaps it is you who have forgotten who you are."

He held the stern look a moment longer, and the veil was drawn once more.

"We're both close to everything we desire. So very close. I haven't come so far to underestimate the last few steps and undo our hard work with naked bravado."

Dan, once more 'himself', crossed his arms as he regarded his apprentice - his wife.

"Until then, perhaps there are lessons that bear further exploration. Sith ascend through our passions. Why focus on just one?"

[Darth Acera]

And in that moment the creature that he'd fashioned showed beyond the simple yellow eyes of Sith. In that moment, Darth Acera, the creation molded from his own two hand in more ways than just one, blossomed forth.

"You and I are more than the trivial 'two' that you sought to rise above and to be more than," she bit back, reminding him of the vision of the past that he'd shown her. Of his past.

"We are our own entities, brought together and pulled into one being that transcends the rule that Darth Bane himself put forth!"

For a precious few moments the Lupine said nothing, as if she busied herself with the task of collecting her thoughts and intentions.

"If you perceive a threat than it is because of your own doubts. I have none; rather, I have only the desire to bring you into my soul," despite her condition, the Sith Mistress was adamant.

"... and it is my fervent hope," her own arms moved, hands tracing down the lengths of his forearms in a move that would bring the two as close as her swollen belly would allow, "... that you are of the same mind... "

[General Dan]

At last she was understood. The hard edges on Dan's face relaxed.

"Two become one."

His hands traced the contours of her middle, but for once, his mind wasn't fixated on the heir within her.

"Conjuring and quenching desires all at once. Now, I see you."

Dan remained in the lie of the familiar. Let Decepis be shown to those who need to be reminded of power. But this visage that he gave to all others? It was for her too. Not from the need to deceive, but for something more.

A hand rose from her belly, to her face.

"Strange that there's still more for me to learn. You can live forever and still find room to understand passions untended. And still have forever again to explore them."

Dan closed the distance between, a task that was perilous on account of her condition. He kissed his lover's expectant mouth, delivering an answer to a question she'd long posed and remained unseen.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

His closeness was something that she was grateful to have, and the understanding that had shown in his eyes something that stilled her heart. Even as their lips met, and she felt his hand upon her face, she let her thoughts smooth away from the tense moments of before. On arm rose, her hand moving to twine fingers into his hair, and gently she pulled back, eyes closed as her head angled downward.

"My master is kind," she murmured, winding a lock of grey hair around her index finger.

With her free hand, she eased his hand from her face to once more rest on her stomach, though unlike before her touch now was tender and soft.

"... And I hope that I have given him all that he wishes."

More so than the obvious, her words carried so many countless undertones, as her actions leading to the point the two Sith found themselves now had been done in his name; done at his bidding; done for his pleasures and needs and wants.

As if to punctuate her last words, the life within gave a kick.

[General Dan]

He smiled as they embraced, his face inches from hers.

"My apprentice is faithful."

Dan's free hand caught at the base of her neck, leaning her forward to kiss once more.

"And he will always have a place for her at his side."