11-08-2017, 12:22 PM
Malik's smile lingered as she left. The promise of power reached out to him like sinuous hand, gently caressing his cheek. He felt that if he tried hard enough, he could almost envision a thread connecting her Dr. Zayed, stretching out endlessly.
He had collected another. Perhaps the most interesting so far. More so than Pyotr. The fascination at her joy seemed to pulse, but he pushed it away. It wasn't that. No. Control. It seemed a natural thing, to him. Collect people. Find their handles, maintain those threads, strengthen them over time, be what they needed him to be. A thousand levers to push and pull at need.
He laughed at a perverse thought. Perverse because it violated the very heart of the expression of St. Paul. "I have become all things to all sorts of people." Indeed. His thread with Ascendancy was of one sort. It required the delicacy, handling with the most care.
And there were moments when he'd let his guard down and speak from the heart. There, in the bowels of his apartments, just before the attack, he had done so. For a moment, shame at his pathetic weakness threatened to burn him and instinctively his mind tried to shunt the thought away. It was not what a Sith would have done. But as he had learned, he embraced the feeling, examined it, followed it. Analyzed it from that place of freezing cold on the mountain top.
It hadn't been calculated, not in any premeditated sense. But perhaps it had been instinct. That had to be it. Instinctively, he was adapting, being what he needed to be in his relationship with Ascendancy,
So it would be with Dr. Zayed. Malik smiled at the thought, a bit of relief flooding him. Strangely, an image came to him of them working together, the universe revealing itself to them in all her glory. Such power...its heady scent lingered, a hint of light perfume in the air, as she left.
At his doorway, his eyes watched her attractive form retreat before focusing on the shape seated in his ante-room. Immediately, his demeanor changed and he adopted a smile of a different sort. Another thread presented itself. "Mr. James. This is an unexpected surprise."
To his secretary, "Please move my appointments back a half hour. Thank you."
He extended a hand to Jensen James, ushering him into the his office. He had to be careful.
There was a debt- not that he believed in them-
but Jensen might- he owed the man. Ascendancy owed him too.
More importantly, the man had something he wanted. He'd watched and learned something of his healing. But the one time he'd had an opportunity to try it on a small mouse had ended with the thing writhing in agony. He'd had to break its neck to end the squeals. With more time, it would make more sense.
Especially if he could get the man to more forthcoming. Not this visit, he was sure. The man had been notoriously close lipped despite all his efforts at playing the religious angle. But the thread could be strengthened, a dependency or patronage developed. There were always possibilities.
"Please, come in. I trust you are well."
He gestured to the chair previously occupied by Dr. Zayed and then took the one next to it, for very much the same reasons.
"How can I help you?"
He had collected another. Perhaps the most interesting so far. More so than Pyotr. The fascination at her joy seemed to pulse, but he pushed it away. It wasn't that. No. Control. It seemed a natural thing, to him. Collect people. Find their handles, maintain those threads, strengthen them over time, be what they needed him to be. A thousand levers to push and pull at need.
He laughed at a perverse thought. Perverse because it violated the very heart of the expression of St. Paul. "I have become all things to all sorts of people." Indeed. His thread with Ascendancy was of one sort. It required the delicacy, handling with the most care.
And there were moments when he'd let his guard down and speak from the heart. There, in the bowels of his apartments, just before the attack, he had done so. For a moment, shame at his pathetic weakness threatened to burn him and instinctively his mind tried to shunt the thought away. It was not what a Sith would have done. But as he had learned, he embraced the feeling, examined it, followed it. Analyzed it from that place of freezing cold on the mountain top.
It hadn't been calculated, not in any premeditated sense. But perhaps it had been instinct. That had to be it. Instinctively, he was adapting, being what he needed to be in his relationship with Ascendancy,
So it would be with Dr. Zayed. Malik smiled at the thought, a bit of relief flooding him. Strangely, an image came to him of them working together, the universe revealing itself to them in all her glory. Such power...its heady scent lingered, a hint of light perfume in the air, as she left.
At his doorway, his eyes watched her attractive form retreat before focusing on the shape seated in his ante-room. Immediately, his demeanor changed and he adopted a smile of a different sort. Another thread presented itself. "Mr. James. This is an unexpected surprise."
To his secretary, "Please move my appointments back a half hour. Thank you."
He extended a hand to Jensen James, ushering him into the his office. He had to be careful.
There was a debt- not that he believed in them-
but Jensen might- he owed the man. Ascendancy owed him too.
More importantly, the man had something he wanted. He'd watched and learned something of his healing. But the one time he'd had an opportunity to try it on a small mouse had ended with the thing writhing in agony. He'd had to break its neck to end the squeals. With more time, it would make more sense.
Especially if he could get the man to more forthcoming. Not this visit, he was sure. The man had been notoriously close lipped despite all his efforts at playing the religious angle. But the thread could be strengthened, a dependency or patronage developed. There were always possibilities.
"Please, come in. I trust you are well."
He gestured to the chair previously occupied by Dr. Zayed and then took the one next to it, for very much the same reasons.
"How can I help you?"