maskormenacelogs | [Semi-Closed] Night breaks through the day...

WHO: Alex Marino and General Grievous (Maybe Ahsoka)
WHERE: Maurtia Falls, a little park by the River
WHEN: March 2nd, 2018
WHAT: Grievous wants to know how best to get Revenge. Alex is REALLY good at revenge.
WARNINGS: Language, Talk of Violence, Betrayal, Murder and More.

If there was one thing Alex was good at, it was revenge. Literally no one who had crossed her had lived in the end, with one GLARING exception, and most had met their ends under incredibly painful or humiliating circumstances. And usually after she had taken everything from them that she could find to take, maim or destroy. Seeing Grievous' plea on the network had struck a chord in the Saints leader, and so she'd offered to meet him here.

Alex stood out, even if she hadn't been loitering suspiciously by herself and staring moodily off into the river. At just over six feet in her heeled boots, with nothing between boot top and a hoodie so long it was almost a skirt, and a long read ponytail down her back, she cut quite a figure. The beer bottle dangling from her right hand was somewhat less impressive.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Something in the woman's stance reminded him of the warriors within his own people. A fighter; someone in control who took no nonsense. At least, that was his first impression of her.

Currently, in human form, he was about the same height as her and otherwise he seemed like a regular man. He certainly wasn't intimidating, not like his true alien appearance nor the cyborg. All the better to blend in, of course, which he supposed was the point of seeming human at all.

He didn't particularly stand out, dressed casually in loose shirt and jeans.

"I believe you contacted me," he began.

He'd already spoken to Ahsoka in this same park and had some other interesting conversations on the network. Grievous didn't want a simple revenge. No, just killing Dooku would accomplish nothing more than a temporary inconvenience and more parole time for himself. It was pointless and unsatisfactory. He was open to other ideas.

"Oh hey." Alex turned from where she'd been contemplating the river, seeming to outside glance to have been staring off into space when she was, in fact, remembering a betrayal that had happened near a similar river.

"Grievous right? Cool name. I'm Alex." She offered her left hand to shake, the fingers of the right still entwined around the neck of her bottle. "I'm something of an expert on revenge, even the kind where you can just cap a motherfucker and be done with it. So I guess I should ask; What do you want to happen? Or did you need like, credentials or something first?"

There was a brief shake of the offered hand. Polite but no more.

"This is not something I would wish to hire others to do. This is personal," he replied grimly. "The man in question took many things from me. My will. My memories. My self. He made me a pawn in his little game. He must pay for it all."

He frowned to himself before going on.

"I only seek other options, aside from death. Suffering can have many forms."

"Alright." Outwardly Alex was unfazed, but inwardly she had to admit that was a HELL of a lot of terrible things done to this guy. Maybe this wasn't going to do much for him either way? Focus Alex.

"Again, it kinda depends on where you want to go with this. Physical is easy to start. Does he like, regenerate or anything? Have a way to heal himself? If not, you start with torture. Broken fingers and toes suck, crushed fingers and toes suck a hell of a lot more, and don't heal quite right. Broken or twisted joints don't usually heal right either, depending on what you do to 'em."

She watched Grievous closely as she espoused the benefits of torture, trying to gauge any reactions or potential reactions. Her gaze, in effect, said: 'Should I keep talking?'

His expression darkened. He didn't seem to be upset or bothered by her suggestions but he also didn't look pleased.

"While that sounds promising, it also sounds too simple. I think that we need to move beyond the physical."

He wasn't sure what would work best in this case. While he'd been blindly following Dooku's orders, he hadn't really gotten to know the man himself very well or to know what he most feared.

"His own mind may be his worst enemy. I considered dismemberment at first but it was too easy. There was not enough suffering in it," his tone remained deadly serious - and he'd already put some thought into the possibilities. He was, after all, a strategist. "I left him only with a threat at present, the foreboding notion that one day we will have a confrontation and that he will be paying dearly for his crimes against me. The anxiousness that preys on the mind is my only weapon for now. It's effectiveness remains to be seen."

"Mind games are some of the better ways to get revenge on people...so other people tell me." Alex shook her head, taking a pull from her bottle. "Me I'm more of a 'hands-on' kind of person when I can seize the opportunity. What about family, friends, or loved ones? Does he have anyone that he's close to, that he cares about?"

This was dark territory for some, but Alex had walked it before. Jessica's death at the unwitting hands of her own boyfriend had been one of the many steps too far Alex had taken while building the Saints. If this Dooku had someone he cared about, there was a chance Grievous might walk the same path.

"I am unaware of anyone here that he may care about. Only himself," Grievous reluctantly said. There were certainly others that Dooku worked with, but actually caring? He doubted that.

So that didn't seem like a possible option.

"We're running out of options here." Alex frowns, taking a long pull on her beer. "What about things, something he cares about? Like an organization, or some kind of Legacy he was trying to leave behind? Doesn't sound like this guy cared much for physical things, but intangible things can still be destroyed."

If anyone knew the truth of that, Alex did. After all, she'd destroyed the idea of the original Saints, and had likewise had her faith in Julius destroyed.

"I suppose he does care about his pride. His dignified place in the world," he mused aloud. "It has been unsettled recently but not completely destroyed. It may be something that could be exploited and chipped away at..."

Doing nothing felt wrong but Grievous also doubted that any revenge would be enough. But it was, for now, a fine thing to speculate about. How best to bring Dooku down.

"Well that's a place to start then." Alex nodded, starting to pace a small path back and forth. "You can start as big or as small as you like, but you embarrass him, make him look foolish in front of any friends, peers or potential business partners he might have. Undermine anything he tries to build, any kind of position or influence he makes for himself."

She stops and turns to him. "Assuming you know how to do that kind of thing yeah?"

"I will be keeping a very close eye on his activities and make decisions when I see an opportunity. It is good to get these thoughts out there... Bring them into better focus," he made a gesture to emphasize his point, from mind to the air. "Currently, I cannot speak so freely on the network."

So he appreciates this more private conversation.

"Yeah I don't know if there's any way to guarantee privacy on that thing. Heck I can't even get it to stop saying my full name. Meetings in person are almost always safer."

Almost always. Other times they result in gunfire.

"I always found sharing the ideas made them spring to life more." She nodded along. "Sometimes things sound perfect in your own head, but once you speak them out-loud you realize they're either totally crazy or won't accomplish anything."

"I have to consider what to do very carefully. The betrayal has been severe and perhaps beyond compensation. He expects my retribution but he underestimates me. He thinks me only a brute to be ordered around," Grievous frowned.

His tactical skills had often been thought of as secondary to his power on the battlefield. At least to those who had used him. But he had proven himself brilliant at both in his own home world.

"That's an important window then. If he thinks you're weak somewhere you're not, that gives you the advantage. Although if you want him to know exactly who it is that's making him pay, it won't be a secret for long yeah?"

Alex frequently lacked the patience to really press an advantage that came from seeming weak. She preferred to always be strong, and for everyone to always know exactly how strong she was.

[Semi-Closed] Night breaks through the day...

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